Society & Culture

Have you ever seen a ghost or encountered anything spooky?

Society & Culture

Posted by: Rainbow

15th Aug 2011 10:44am

Perhaps you have a room in your house that never quite feels right. Do you hear bumps in the night or see shadows out of the corner of your eye? Are you a medium or clairvoyant who can communicate with the ‘other side’?

Palladin
  • 17th Aug 2011 09:03pm

When I visited a friend in Palermo, Sicily where he was employed as an official, he dared me to spend a night inside the Chinese Villa which is a big tourist attraction and allegedly haunted by three long-suffering Mandarins who are headless.

This interesting residence was built for King Ferdinando I of the Two Sicilies during his sojourn in Palermo while his mainland capital, Naples, was occupied by French troops.

Another resident of the Chinese Villa was Ferdinando's son and heir, Francesco I, who lived here with his wife, Maria Isabella of Spain, who gave birth to the future Ferdinando II at Palermo in 1810.

Unable to resist a dare at the best of times I was made comfortable in one of the smaller bedrooms and given three battery-operated torches which all worked when I checked them.

As darkness turned to deep night in the Favorita Royal Park near the hamlet of Pallavicino (where the Chinese Villa stands), I began to hear footsteps running along the corridor. Thinking it was a joke I ignored it for three hours until in the end I simply had to go and investigatge.

I took a torch in each hand and opened the door into the corridor. Suddenly it was very cold but in the room it had been warm. I tried to turn on both torches but neither would oblige. I walked back into the room and they both worked -- I tried them in the corridor and none of the three worked.

The noise in the corridor continued until daybreak and then suddenly subsided.

I left gladly when my friend came to collect me for an early breakfast and this is the first time since 1986 that I have had the inclination to recall the experiences of that night in Palermo, Sicily.

''' which all goes to prove that in Palermo there is more than the Mafia that goes 'bump' in the night.


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