The Shadow Line, Two Mile Ash

You might remember that a few days ago, I started telling you Jadee’s story — and I promised I’d come back to it.

When we left her, she was still at her childhood home in Woolmans on Fuller’s Slade. Jadee grew up with a companion only she could see: a shadow-child who would appear on the stairs. That silent presence shaped her early sense of the world but it wasn’t the only strange encounter she shared with me.

Tonight’s story is about what happened next.

I should say up front that this part of Jadee’s story includes a reference to domestic abuse. I’ve checked with her that she’s comfortable with me sharing it — but if that’s something you’d rather not read, please feel free to skip this one. I’ve included some support links at the end of the post for anyone who might need them.

Jadee’s grown up by the time we meet her again. She didn’t say exactly how many years had passed since the shadow on the stairs, but it was long enough for her to have moved out and entered a new phase of her life. She’s settled into a flat on Two Mile Ash with her partner and her cat. A fresh start — or so it seemed.

But something darker began to unfold.

Her partner, she said simply, had started to become abusive. And around the same time, the strangeness returned.

“The bathroom door would just open and close by itself — no windows open, no draft.”

Pets are often said to sense things their humans can’t, and her cat certainly seemed to be sensing something.

“My cat,” she said, “would claw at the walls in my bedroom. Scratch and scratch, like there was something there. But there was nothing. Nothing I could see.”

The detail that’s stayed with me most, though, is a photograph that Jadee described.

“I took a photograph of him once, sitting on the bed. There was this big black shadow line above his head.”

She didn’t send me the picture — and I didn’t ask. Her description was vivid enough. It didn’t sound like a trick of the light, it felt more like something appearing in the picture to remind Jadee that they weren’t alone in the flat. The mark of a witness — or possibly a warning.

Jadee didn’t say much more about that time, or how she moved on. I’m finding that many of these real stories come to me as fragments — emotionally-laden moments that have stayed with people, without ever tying themselves up in neat, cinematic endings. No exorcisms. No thrilling escapes. Just… life, continuing.

Still, that image lingers. A shadow appearing over someone who meant Jadee harm, invisible at the time but caught on film. I am fascinated by the places where the paranormal intersects with technology — my very first story for Revenants involved ghosts seen on CCTV. I think there’s something even more haunting about a photograph that captures something that no one noticed in the moment. It’s as if the entity in the flat decided to step into the frame to leave no doubt as to its presence — a silent assertion that it had been there all along, watching, waiting.

In this case, it’s even more striking because it echoes what came before. A dark shadow line following a shadow-child on the stairs — the one who was always just there.

It makes me wonder: did whatever had lingered in her childhood follow her into adulthood? Not as something malevolent, perhaps — but as something watchful. The cat seemed to sense it. Something opened and closed the bedroom door. And maybe, just maybe, the shadow appeared to say: I see this. I’m here. 

The emotional atmosphere in the flat feels important too. There’s a long history of people reporting increased paranormal activity during times of distress. Some researchers — especially in poltergeist cases — suggest the activity may be triggered by the people themselves: latent psychokinetic energy, or unconscious manifestation of trauma.

I’ve always been cautious of those theories. There’s a fine line between interpretation and implication, and I worry they risk placing the blame on the very people who are already suffering. Especially with this story, that doesn’t sit comfortably with me.

But then, the point of this project has never been to explain or solve or prove.

It’s simply to tell the stories I’ve been trusted with — to put them on the map.

Jadee’s story does exactly that. And I hope — truly — that life has treated her more gently in the years since those dark times in Two Mile Ash.

Thank-you to Jadee for trusting me with both her stories, and thank YOU for reading!
If you have a story of your own to share, I’d really love to hear it.

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If the abuse themes in this story resonate with you, here are some places you can get help and support:

• MK-ACT
  📞 0344 375 4307
  🌐 https://www.mkact.com
  MK ACT is a charity in Milton Keynes which works to help people move on from fear and abuse.
• National Domestic Abuse Helpline (24/7)
  📞 0808 2000 247
  🌐 https://www.nationaldahelpline.org.uk
  Run by Refuge, offering free and confidential support every hour of the day.
• Women’s Aid
  🌐 https://www.womensaid.org.uk
  Resources, safety planning, and live chat for women in abusive situations.
• Men’s Advice Line
  📞 0808 801 0327
  🌐 https://mensadviceline.org.uk
  Support for men experiencing domestic abuse.