Mark Chadbourn - Testimony

[dem bones]

Mark Chadbourn - Testimony (Vista, 1996)

Cover by Splash Photograph Independent / Christopher Jones

Blurb:
By the end of this book you will never sleep peacefully again,

For Liz and Bill Rich, two people trying to rebuild their lives, the house symbolized a new beginning, a haven in an enchanted landscape. But within weeks of their arrival, the enchantment turned to horror, and their blessed home became a malevolent prison.
Footsteps thundered along empty landings, apparitions inhabited deserted rooms; possessions flew, furniture moved. Bill's business collapsed; his son retreated into a blood-red hell, uttering demonic curses in a rasping, guttural, alien voice. The house consumed enough electricity for an office block.

Christians, spiritualists, dowsers and plain eccentrics tried to exorcize whatever malign influence had the house in its grip; each had a different theory, from unquiet spirits and ley lines, to a force from ancient Egypt. But each time the horror seemed to recede it returned, inexplicably ...

This is a true account of what one family, and those around them, saw and heard and experienced. Read it - and-decide what you believe.

And then try to sleep.

From Vault Mk I, Oct 8th, 2006, JerryLad wrote .

jerrylad said:

Mark Chadbourn "Testimony" Vista 1996

"The terrifying true story of Britain's most haunted house "

Sorry I cant do a cover scan but scanners out of action and I wouldn't know what to do anyway, but has anyone ever come across this one before ?
It is about a couple who move to Wales with a young family to a house that seems possessed by various evil presences.
"Footsteps thundered along empty landings,apparitions inhabited deserted rooms ;
possessions flew,furniture moved. Bill's business collapsed; his son retreated into a blood-red hell,uttering demonic curses in a rasping,guttural,alien voice.The house consumed enough electricity for an office block."

Chadbourn tells the story of this unfortunate family with the help of many testimonies from the various people involved.These do give credence to the events though it does seem like reading a lot of the stuff twice.
I would have to say that this is one of the most disturbing books I've ever read. I felt very sorry for all those involved .I lived for many years in a house dating from the 15th century and experienced a few weird happenings so I am always sympathetic to" factual "accounts of these things. But there is no doubting the events in this book.
Well worth a read IMO ,

Bill and Liz Rich. He, the senior of the two by ten years plus, is a professional artist of some repute still recovering from the shock desertion of his first wife. She's a herbalist with a troubled background of teenage drug and drink abuse, who has recently conquered a long-term struggle with anorexia. Desperate to escape the trauma's of their respective recent pasts, in May 1989 the newly-weds rent their dream home, Heol Fanog, at Brecon Beacon high in the Welsh hills. With a breathtaking view and no immediate neighbours to spoil it, life is looking kindly upon Bill, Liz, Laurence i(Bill's fourteen year old son by first wife, Denise) and baby Ben. Bill's business is flourishing; everybody wants a piece of his work - Sylvester Stallone may even buy one of his paintings at a forthcoming exhibition in the States - and, thanks to her expertise in homoeopathic medicines, Liz has saved Ben's toe, perhaps even his life, despite doctors advising first, an abortion, then, when he was born with everything inside out, the amputation of his diseased leg.

After an initial Honeymoon period, the horror begins one November evening. While Bill is using the upstairs toilet, somebody in hobnailed boots comes charging down the staircase - or that's what it sounds like to a terrified Bill, who fears he will soon be called upon to tackle a violent housebreaker. Liz hears nothing. There is nobody in the house that shouldn't be there. The inexplicable thunderous stomping and slamming of doors will persist for five years.

The toilet terror is fast followed by the first of the overpowering stenches - sulphur, if Bill's nostrils do not deceive him - which upsets him so he calls in manpower services to check the cesspit. They can find nothing wrong.

As winter closes in, freezing cold spots travel from the kitchen up the stairs, past the troubled toilet and on to the room of Laurence who has began acting proper weird of recent weeks. When his natural mum left home, Laurence chose to remain with Dad. The boy is clearly troubled by the split and, while initially he was fine with Liz, the relationship has soured since they arrived at Heol Fanog.

Bill, who dotes on Laurence, hands him a small fortune to buy paint for his room. Laurence opts for wall-to-wall blood red, and develops a taste for violent horror films. He snarls, swears at, and repeatedly spits in the face of his heartbroken dad. What can be wrong with the lad? Such obnoxious behaviour is absolutely alien to his sweet nature! It is as though the Riches are living their very own The Amityville Horror!

To be continued ...

[dem bones]

Authentic footage. A crack team of scientists have confirmed that this chilling photograph of Liz pointing to a the controversial electric meter has not been tampered with in any way

The local Catholic Priest blesses the property. That seems to do the trick - until Liz spots the sad, wrinkled, deathly pale face of an old woman watching her from the nursery window. And .....

..... and here's what I don't get about Testimony and any number of these 'non-fiction,' happy home in peril from supernatural forces blood-freezers. You've deliberately chosen to live in a remote location because you value your privacy and wish to keep a fair distance between yourself and your nearest neighbours. So, having decided that your house is haunted do you (A) visit the nearest library and make discreet enquiries of the local historian, or (B) get straight onto the local newspaper, thereby ensuring an endless procession of Exorcists, Clairvoyants, Dowsers, Spiritualists, Satanists, Documentary makers, Chiropodists, attention seekers and sundry 'eccentrics' lay siege to your home for the next five years? Bill Rich, being a bookish type whose library includes several rare occult titles, decides upon the latter course. Clearly the strain was beginning to tell.

The ensuing article in The Brecon & Radnor Express does its job. First off, Bill is contacted by a brickie who worked on the construction site during the sixties. He confirms that his apprentice was scared witless of the ruin and that perhaps gravestones from it's small private cemetery found their way in with the other building materials. His is a rare voice of sanity. Afterwards, the visitors to Heol Fanog come so thick and fast, it's hard to keep track of who said and did what. Ray Williams of the Christian Spiritualist Church (Cardiff Chapter) provides an instant diagnosis of their problem over the telephone, the gist being that Laurence's anger has manifested a poltergeist, and the troubled teenager should leave the family bosom immediately. Much to everyone's relief, the problem kid agrees to move in with his mum, whereupon his 'demonic possession' passes just as swiftly as it arrived. Mr. Williams and his colleague, Larry Harry, then 'cleanse' the property. When that doesn't work, Mr. Harry - evidently a recent graduate from the Glenn Hoddle Academy of Tact & Diplomacy - helpfully explains that it's all down to Bill's behaviour in a previous life. Back in the Sixteenth century, he got on the wrong side of an Alchemist, and is now cursed for anything between eighteen and twenty-two years. It's maybe not the solid 'advice' the Riches need to hear just then. Worse is to follow. Satanist-turned-Medium Anita Dick sees the Devil's work in everything. A dowser divines the influence of negative leys and sets to purifying the black streams. A father-son clairvoyant combo insist on removing a number of Bill's rare books and original paintings from the house as they are a negative influence. 'Don't worry, we've burnt them!' assures Dad. Poor Bill and Liz are at such a low ebb they don't know who to believe, so they put their trust in all of them. Doesn't make a jot of difference,

Toilet of the living dead. Bill was enjoying a quiet post-prandial when the Heol Fanog terror struck.

The place is more spook infested than ever, the apparitions coming and going with as alarming a frequency as the 'experts.' An Egyptian hooded Demon; a shapeless black mass; an executed murderer and his victim: the woman in white; Bill even receives a midnight visit from a Succubus. When the family take an extended break at Liz's mum's place, the phenomena follow them.

This goes on for ever until, as a last throw of the dice, the Riches contact unassuming celebrity medium, Eddie Burks, who - sometimes assisted by respected SPR veterans Maurice Gross, Ralph Noyes and Montague Keen - performs a series of exorcisms to finally rid Heol Fanog of its ghouls ... but not before he's inadvertently transformed the grounds into a halfway house for the recently deceased!

I'd love to report that Testimony terrified me to death, but that would be a lie. These days I can only take this kind of material by treating it as a novel, and, on that level, it's a super read. There's even an eight page photo inset by way of bonus material. Anyway, here's a thing. Was reading Testimony late into the night when I suddenly became uncomfortably aware that the carpet had developed a bulge, a very big bulge shifting this way and that as though a colony of rats were scrapping it out underneath. Must have dreamt the entire episode, of course, because I just checked and it's back to normal now ....