In 1975, I bought a larger old terrace house in Cheadle Hulme, 8 miles south of Manchester, as far away as you could live and travel for free on the train if you worked for BR.
We decorated and furnished the front room, but the back living room was never furnished, except for an antique settle. M was never comfortable with the room, but we used it When we had a painter and decorator moonlighting for us, he wouldn't even go through to get to tke kitchen, he brought his .own tea.
In 1974, I went to Sidmouth Folk Festival for a week, M was working in a nursing home. She wasn't feelng too well and compared notes with one of her work colleagues who was pregnant at the time. She managed to convince herself she was expecting which put her in an irrational panic while she waited for me to get back. She also polished of most of a bottle of gin. I came in and could hear her talking to someone. The followng day she told me that she had been desperate for someone to talk to and was reciting Shakespeare when a lady came in from the back door, sat down and listened, getting up and leaving when I arrived. I admit I credited this to the gin and forgot about it. As well, the next day I got a testing kit which gave the all clear.
A couple of weeks later, we were coming into the room from the kitchen, when she stopped and said ''she's here''. ''Who?''"'The lady I told you about''. I couldn't see anyone, so I said ''describe her''. This she did and we decided to ask one of the neighbours if she recognised the description. She knew straightaway and told us about a midwife who had lived there many years before. She had moved on and hadn't died there or anything. Odd, one must admit.
If it is relevant, the cat was in the room but not acting abnormally. I couldn't see or feel anything.