This book and its contents was ‘given’ to me by a member of the public who had heard that I was interested in curious objects found in books. The woman, who gave her name as Denise Storey, phoned to say that she had obtained my number though Glen Morris, a mutual friend, and had an object that I might be interested in. We agreed to meet in the Wig and Mitre pub on Steep Hill in Lincoln.
Denise arrived as arranged and showed me the book that she had brought along. She described how, several years ago, she had moved into a rented cottage on the outskirts of the village of Scothern close to Lincoln. On her first night in the cottage she became aware of a barely audible noise –a fluttering and scratching sound which she eventually realised was coming from below the floor boards in an upstairs room. Concerned that a bird or animal had become trapped she prised up an area of floorboards and discovered a parcel wrapped in tattered brown linen. Finding no animal, and feeling rather afraid of what she had found, she had replaced the floorboards without moving the parcel, however the noises had continued and grown more insistent. So that in the end she had once again removed the floorboards and taken out the parcel.
Once the parcel had been moved the noises stopped, and Denise had again replaced the floorboards. She explained that she had unwrapped the parcel to discover a book. Within the book was a cavity containing two dolls, and a collaged picture of a house. Denise said that she was sure that the book had almost demanded to be discovered and that she now sensed that it would not allow her to abandon it, so she wondered if she could pass it on to me.
For obvious reasons I found the book to be quite unsettling, so I politely declined her offer and got up to leave. At that point Denise asked if I would keep an eye on the book whilst she went to the toilet. I agreed and waited patiently. After some time I realised that ‘Denise’ must have slipped out the back entrance to the pub, and I had been duped into ownership of the mysterious book and its contents.
I did follow up the incident. Glen Morris told me that he had never heard of a woman called Denise Storey, and had certainly not given her my phone number.
I have made enquires in Scothern but, as I expected, no one seemed to have heard of Denise or her mysterious find.
So far, to my knowledge, the book has not made any sounds and I have to assume that it is content with the new arrangement. However, I do continue to find it unnerving, particularly as sometimes I have the feeling that the dolls have swapped places.