Senseless things

Almost every book on ghosts I buy - and I buy too many to fit my shelf space - presents me with some absorbing new story, some memorable account which had previously escaped my notice.

Such a case impressed me early on into leafing through my recently acquired copy of Graham J McEwen's 'Haunted Churches of England'. McEwen describes an extraordinary occurrence in a churchyard in south Devon. I outline this bizarre and inexplicable incident in the latest article to be added to the 'More Uncanny' section of www.uncannyuk.co.uk The article, 'Hole lot of nothing' can be accessed by any registerd reader of Uncanny UK. If you havent registered (it's free), please follow the 'Register now' link from the home page.

So much strange phenomena has been recorded and analysed, patterns of behaviour recognised and theories expounded that there's a particular attraction about an occurrence that makes no sense whatsoever (even in supernatural terms).

I remember reading a strange first-hand account in a newsletter of the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomolous Phenomena. This chap had been walking home from work when he met his ex-wife, with whom he was on friendly terms and who lived further along his street. She couldn't resist pointing out that his coat looked a bit threadbare and could do with a couple of buttons being sewn on it. She invited him to call round later so she could make the necessary repairs.

After he'd had his tea and a bit of a sit down, the gentleman decided to take his wife up on her offer and went to fetch his coat from where he had earlier hanged it up. He was astonished to find that someone - or something - had sewn several very large, very red and entirely inappropriate buttons on it in that short space of time. His ex-wife was as mystified as he was. It was almost as if some helpful fairy or other cosmic being had overhead the conversation about the coat and had tried to clandestinely help - but not very efficiently. No explanation for this weird little domestic incident was ever forthcoming.