The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Having been born in Gt. Yarmouth Norfolk my playground was obviously the broads.
My school friends dad owned Filby bridge boatyard and cafe and every weekend was spent fishing Filby broad, especially the roadside which had around 12 cut out swims by the road.
I remember one summers evening being in the last swim just over a small bumped back bridge, always a bit spooky as you were the most isolated along the stretch.
Anyway I had just fired out a few balls of ground bait in preparation for the bream which would surely show up at any time. It was a muggy evening and the light was fading very fast as I finally cast out the 2nd feeder rod and settled into my chair.
Suddenly out of the gloom and no more than 40 yards out I saw a rowing boat with two hunched up figures silently rowing from right to left. As I was helping my friend out with the boat hire as a school holiday job I immediately thought these two guys were very late back and I would go anyway to help them unload their gear from the boat however they didn't get to their destination. I was always suspicious how silently they rowed and how there was no ripple or noise, it sent a chill down my spine and unnerved me. I can honestly say I was scared. I remember telling my friend about the boat and it's ghostly occupants but he just laughed though took me rather more seriously when I ran along asking every angler if they had seen a boat going past their swim. I know they had not gone under the bridge as the green scum on the water had not been disturbed and seeing as there was a half moon and you could make out the far side of the broad I also knew they hadn't carried on past. Basically they had just melted into thin air, these two eerie dark silhouettes.
It was very unpleasant going back to my swim to continue a night session and I ended up spending the rest of my session in my friends swim.
I know it's not the scariest story on here but it is very real and actually happened and has stayed with me for a very long time. I've always wondered who these ghostly occupants were and how they came to materialise on this night in front of my eyes.

Matty

I don't find this hard to believe as in the late 60s and early 70s as a small fisherman I used to take family holidays on Filby Broard, staying at a guest house called Filby Villa,which had a jetty onto the broad. Either early morning or late at night we would be out on the water and if the mist came down it could be a very eerie place indeed.

People scof when we tell them so a lot of us keep quiet it's only later when you realise it made no sound or something else to make you know what you saw mike

Hmmm...knowing the boats there they could have just sunk? As a Caister boy I spent a lot of time on the Trinity especially Filby in the 60's and 70's . As a family we still go there for lunch and the boats are still the same :-) As a coincidence my first fixed spool was a Black Prince ...it just blew up one day, probably for lack of maintenance on my part.

Love a good angling ghost story Matt....I think that would have given me heebie geebies too!

Thanks guys. It's certainly an experience I wouldn't like to repeat and although not super scary it's an accurate account of something which was supernatural without doubt.

Being a pragmatist, I'd say that it's a great example of a trick of the mind, and certainly not supernatural!

I believe you - and thanks for posting a great story - really enjoyed it.

I believe you as well great tale mike

I believe you as well! That you saw a rowing boat with two men in it. A ghost boat, so to speak! Possibly two swans in the mist. But whatever it was there is absolutely no reason to think it was a supernatural occurrence, because there's so many other more rational explanations. Especially since our minds fool themselves all the time. I believe everyone that says they've seen a ghost, yet I never think that's what they've actually seen. Just like when I see a magic trick, I know it's just an illusion and not real magic. Reality is difficult enough for most folk to grasp as it is without other folk always trying to add extra layers of make belief; especially these days when certain world leaders are trying to erode science and scientific principles in favour of mumbo jumbo! For a great scientific explanation of ghostly experiences the casual reader might Google Narcolepsy and Sleep Paralysis, which are known conditions linked to other worldly visions etc.etc. Yet I much prefer the supernatural idea, but know it's totally inadequate! Then again, the scientific explanations and the working of our minds is much more interesting, and very surprising. For example, food actually tastes different when we eat it with our eyes closed! We also actually use our eyes as well as our ears to hear what someone says, and if the two contradict we believe our eyes (that's how the mind works, it twists our senses). And then there's the placebo effect, which can be manipulated just by changing the colour of the fake pill. Our minds lie to us all the time and rarely records what actually happens. False memories can even be implanted, and folk can be brainwashed into thinking lies are truths. Sadly, the human brain is not so perfect a recording instrument as we all tend to think, and we all fool ourselves with ease; especially through our eyes!