A new novel written by a west London man tells the horrific experiences of a family who believed they were being haunted.
The parents of author John Ulricht once lived on a site in Denham where the entire Marshall family, ranging in age from 4 to 88, were brutally murdered in 1870.
The Ulrichts fled after more than two years of ghostly goings-on - but John said they were followed by the spirits to a new home in Orchard Way, Uxbridge .
John said: "The first time I experienced the ghosts I was five and we were living in Uxbridge. I woke up to a man crawling on his hands and knees across my bedroom floor."
Speaking about the inspiration for his book, John continued: "When they lived in the old house, my mother would hear children crying or banging on the wall and for months she didn't get much sleep. One night it got so explosive they had to sit all night in Denham police station.
"The family was killed on the stairs and they would hear voices whispering in their ears telling them to look there, my father heard it behind him once when he was cleaning dishes and his whole body went completely cold.
"When spirits are around you, you go really cold. It's the most eerie feeling you could ever feel as a human being on earth."
The Evil That Came To Denham recounts both his late father's experience and the story of the Marshalls.
He added the haunting of the house was something of an unspoken secret in the local area during the 1960s.
John said: "When my sister was born, people would offer to visit my parents but when they found out where they lived, they would suddenly change their mind.
"My parents finally moved out on the anniversary of the deaths when the grandmother appeared to my father and put her hand on his.
"A previous tenant had told him that once she appeared there would be trouble coming and after that the house practically came alive so they grabbed my sister and ran."
Days out for the daring and adventurous
However, John believes a spirit or spirits attached themselves to his sister and pursued the family, which is why he and his brother, who were both born after the family left Denham, also experienced apparent supernatural phenomena.
He said: "My brother and I used to entertain our friends in Uxbridge with it. We would turn all the lights down in our bedrooms and tell them our story and then, when there was a thump, they would all run out screaming. It kind of made us more popular on our street in a way.
He added: "Because I have been telling the story for so long, writing the book was almost second nature."
John plans to write a second book about his sister's experience, entitled The Evil That Came From Denham.
