Scary Stories Real Life Paranormal Stories Garyallen98

A Doughboy In Edinburgh

Just discovered this site and find the experiences some of you have had to be fascinating - I've always had an interest in the unexplained, and something happened recently that I'm at a bit of a loss about! For background, I'm 30, office drone by day and aspiring artist by night, live alone in a 300-year old country cottage (which seems totally un-haunted, to my disappointment) in the middle of an ancient forest (likewise), and work in an office in a converted WW2 military hospital (again, thoroughly unpopulated by anything spooky!)

Anyway, the office is in an industrial estate in Edinburgh, and occasionally I'll walk out into the surrounding housing areas at lunchtime for a haircut, to go to the post office, etc. At the end of November, just before the first of the big snowfalls (which gave me a week off work, yay!), I'd just left the barber's and was walking back to the office. I glanced to the right to cross the road and saw a little boy of about pre-school age standing on the opposite pavement, about 5 or 6 parked cars down, without a face. There were no eyes, nose or mouth, just hollow skin, and it was as if the front of his head had been sucked in from the back, looking like a hole poked in dough, or (to be crude about it) a cat's behind. He stood there for a moment, and then he turned and walked away round the corner. I stood there for a few minutes, unsure if I'd actually just seen what I thought I'd seen, and then walked rather quickly back to the office. I've been down that road a couple of times since, but not seen anything further, and I'm not sure that I particularly want to - everything about the experience felt intensely 'wrong', even though it only lasted a moment.

In response to the questions I'd ask if someone else told me this story, I'd had no drink or drugs (only tea and sandwiches!), I wasn't tired or sleep-deprived, nothing traumatic in my life at the moment, no history of seeing things and the boy (I assumed a boy, but I suppose it could equally have been a girl) looked solid enough and moved normally. It could possibly have been very effective film-quality make-up, but why do that to a child then turn them loose on the streets?

The houses in the area are 1960s-era ex-council stock - I'm sure there'll have been a few deaths there over the decades, but I've never heard of anything particularly dramatic, or of any hauntings. All in all, it's got me a bit puzzled...I'd be keen to hear your views, and if anyone's seen something similar? (It certainly doesn't seem to match anything from Scottish folklore, which is another area of interest for me.)