Ghost Of Netherton Church

My story took place on a cold Sunday November afternoon in the early 90s (1992 I think). My cousin, brother and I were on the way to St. Andrew's Church, Netherton, Dudley, in the west Midlands of England.

Pushing our bikes up the steep hill at the rear of the church from the canal, the hill was (and still is) overgrown with tall grass and short round bushes and was rumoured to be the unmarked burial ground for victims of the black death, so quite a spooky place anyway.

At the time, it was thought (by us) that the hill at the back of the church was a 'No Go Zone' and we thought we would have got a good telling off if we were caught there, but still we pushed our BMX's towards the top of the hill.

Through the long grass and past the short bushes we pushed on. Just then, as we neared the top of the hill, I had looked up and caught sight of 'a vicar' with his black Labrador dog a few feet in front of him. "Oh no," I whispered, "there's the vicar!" (a little worried that we were going to be told off). The Vicar stopped suddenly and turned towards us as we continued to walk behind a thin tall bush (no more than 2 feet wide). It was then, as we emerged from the other side of it (must have taken less than 1 and a half seconds) that the vicar and his dog had completely disappeared, nowhere to be seen, vanished into thin air. Where could he have gone? And why? And there was no way he could have called his black dog back to him in that 1 and a half seconds.

We stood at the top of the hill for a few seconds just calling for him to 'come out' and then it hit us. At that point we must have set a new landspeed record on BMX's and peddled as fast as we could back home.

I would love to hear if anyone else has had a similar experience at this church or seen the same vicar walking his dog. Difficult to tell I suppose, he didn't look like a ghost and wasn't the usual vicar from the church that I had known through my school years. He was wearing old fashioned clergyman 'uniform', with a round black hat with a cloak to the floor.

I have been back to the same spot a few times (once exactly ten years later to the day) but have never seen anything else. Maybe his dog is just keeping extra vigilant.

I still remember everything of this event like it was yesterday and am totally convinced that what I experienced was a real ghost (and his dog). I just can't see how this could be anything else.