In the small town where I go to uni, there are quite a few stories of hauntings hither and thither, but I've never stumbled across any myself. However, the other day when I was walking back through some narrow residential streets, lined with pretty little cottages, I noticed an elderly couple standing on the corner of the pavement where the road split into a little T junction.
At first I didn't think anything of it, but as I got closer, I realized they were dressed rather oddly in clothes that looked as though they dated from World War II. They were stood on the corner of the street, staring up at an old cottage on the corner, a large map held between them. As I approached, they did not acknowledge me, but stood silent... Staring at this cottage. I walked by them, and they said nothing, just carried on staring.
Then, just as I passed by them, I glanced back over my shoulder and they were nowhere to be seen. Not even a second had passed by... Definitely not enough time for them to have gone inside the house, or walked away.
I don't know what happened that day. Whether what I saw were ghosts, or, as my friend suggested, a nick in the fabric of time so, for a moment, I was looking back in time... Who knows... Who knows...?
One thing I know for sure though is that they looked like a friendly, sweet old couple. :)
I would think that what you witnessed was a residual haunting.
While there are times that I think we can "trip" the fabric of time, (accidentally) even snag our shoe on one of the threads causing us to land in a similar, but separate dimension, I do not think it happened this time.
Thank you.