Cologne: Pathology Basement I - Sept 1975
I haven’t had that many creepy things happen to me over the years or self-inflicted for that matter, like sleeping in a graveyard (see:
Shepton Mallet - June 1970).
Writing it up decades later I also find it all a bit weirdish. Thinking about it, this creepiness got me thinking about another creepiness.
This story happened at the time I was in Pathology. The Lab staff consisted of two older women, who kept usually to themselves and in my age group six girls plus yours truly. Come lunch time the girls and I would either go to the cafeteria or if the weather permitted sit outside together with our sandwiches.
That is, all except our new comer. We thought at first she was just shy in socialising. Working together she was quiet, not very talkative and would stare a lot. I thought it was just day dreaming but she would fix her eyes on an object, never a person as they usually moved about, and would just stare. I could swear her eyes would widen slightly when she did this. Unlike Wednesday [Ed: see left.] she would add an almost undetectable turning up of the corners of the mouth, halfway between a smirk and a smile. All in all a little unnerving.
Come lunch time she would excuse herself, just before we collectively was about to leave, and head for the toilets. It couldn't have been to refresh her makeup as she wore none on top of her ghostlike complexion. Not like my colleagues, some of them came to work looking like they had either just come from clubbing [Ed: or the 70s equivalent.] or were going directly after work. We didn't see her again until the break was over. On returning to the Lab she was already there.
This went on for weeks and speculation was rampant on where she spent her lunch breaks. One day the girls couldn't stand it any longer and decided to follow her. That is I was unanimously chosen to do the dirty work. There was a certain amount of pleading, but in the end I gave in as I was also intrigued to what she was getting up to. So the next day just before the break, under the pretence about having to look something up, I went off to the in-house library. From there I had a good view of the stairs and the exit. I watched as the girls left chatting among themselves followed a few moments later by 'she who stared'.
She was still in her white lab coat plus lunchbox and making for the exit. I had to decide when to follow her, leave too early possible detection, leave too late possibility of losing her. I was just about to move, when at the last moment instead of leaving the building she turned and went down the stairs into the basement. I was a little taken back by this turn of events, as the girls had speculated that she was meeting a boyfriend somewhere close by and didn't want us to know about it.
Well of course this could still be the case, but in the basement!
I was a little hesitant to continue with this. Outside, if she saw me I could always find an excuse to be going in the same direction, but in the basement my excuse would have to be a good one. I was in no hurry now, there was no way I would miss her as the stairs she just used was the only way back out of...
and then I realised the other reason I held back.
The place was not only a 'dead end' but most things down there where dead as well!
The basement was divided into two main areas each with a preparation and storage area. On the left side of the building, smelling of formaldehyde and alcohol, was the preparation and storage of, let's say 'bits and pieces' of people who left the clinic a little lighter than when they came in.
On the right of the building an area for storage and the dissection of people who left the clinic feet first and still had, up to that point, their 'bits and pieces' on board. Here not the most present of smells, rather sweet and sickly, causing a continuous underlying feeling of nausea. Although I had in the past assisted with a number of autopsies, I could never get use to the smell. I was plagued by sudden recurrences of it for years afterwards; the smell wasn't really there, only a vivid recall from memory to nose.
I slowly descended the stairs. I must say upfront that the building was old, very old. Ok, not so old that we had gas lighting, but old enough that the air conditioning was in no condition to condition the air, hence a cocktail of working smells started to impose on me about half way down.
It was not as bad as one hot mid-summer Monday morning when I arrived at work to find most of the staff outside and a little way off from the building.
Me thought perhaps a spontaneous fire drill.
As I got closer 'that' smell drifted towards me in the still air, the smell that was usually banned to the basement. It turned out that we had had fresh ‘deliveries’ on Friday evening and some time that night the air conditioning and the refrigerators had made a pact and decided they wanted a quiet weekend and had switched themselves off including any alarms they could find.
Well, the rest of the morning was uneventful, apart from watching gas-masked technicians reluctantly entering the basement and me doing my best not to be volunteered to go in and help open all the windows one could find.
So I finally reached the basement, stopped and listened. Nothing, except the chronic gasping of the air conditioning and the sound of cockroaches scuttling away into the gloom.
[Ed: cockroaches!]
Yep! … No sorry!
That was another basement in another building and another story (but same campus). I’ll just imagine the sound of cockroaches scuttling away into the gloom, Ok?
Now what was I going to do.
Usually the main corridors left and right were well lit. But the lights were not on, only the emergency lighting and that only half heartily.
Here I was only a few meters from my daily workspace in a badly lit basement, staying as far as possible undetected in following a weird staring girl with a creepy lunch location and to boot, believe it or not, outnumbered by dead bodies!
It was no wonder I was slowly getting the willies.
Ok, now which way to go..
[Ed: I was thinking, why hadn’t she put the lights on when she came down?]
A good question, yes why hadn’t she?
Didn’t want to draw attention to herself? But why?
I left the question in the stale air.
First look around, speculate later.
[Ed: sorry to keep butting in, why didn’t you put on the lights?]
For the simple reason the whole corridor would be flooded in light including any rooms where the doors were open or had windows. She would then realise that someone was coming and possibly be doing something different when I looked.
I just wanted to observe what she was doing without detection and report back.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Not that I thought she was doing something she shouldn’t, formalin sniffing or the like. Maybe it was totally harmless, like re-labelling specimens out of boredom and just forgot to put the light on.
I turned left towards the ‘bits and pieces’ area.
The complete back of the building had small longish windows at the top of the basement walls. These looked out onto vertical shafts up to the ground floor. As I hadn’t put the lights on, this allowed a certain amount of day light to supplement the emergency lighting and stop me being totally blind and walking into or falling over things lying around.
[Ed: What could have been lying around down there?]
Possibly an utterly stoned Lab Technician.
[Ed: A what!? Ok out with it.]
Ah, just did a word count, I think it’s time for a break..
[Ed: Now? it was just getting interesting!]
Yes, but as usual I realise that this little anecdote in the catacombs is going to take longer than I thought. And the creepy girl is still not found. Anyway you know what will happen.
[Ed: Of course I do, but they don’t!]
Dead silence..
[Ed: Hey! hello, anybody there?
Now where has he disappeared too..]
To be cont…
This story happened at the time I was in Pathology. The Lab staff consisted of two older women, who kept usually to themselves and in my age group six girls plus yours truly. Come lunch time the girls and I would either go to the cafeteria or if the weather permitted sit outside together with our sandwiches.
That is, all except our new comer. We thought at first she was just shy in socialising. Working together she was quiet, not very talkative and would stare a lot. I thought it was just day dreaming but she would fix her eyes on an object, never a person as they usually moved about, and would just stare. I could swear her eyes would widen slightly when she did this. Unlike Wednesday [Ed: see left.] she would add an almost undetectable turning up of the corners of the mouth, halfway between a smirk and a smile. All in all a little unnerving.Come lunch time she would excuse herself, just before we collectively was about to leave, and head for the toilets. It couldn't have been to refresh her makeup as she wore none on top of her ghostlike complexion. Not like my colleagues, some of them came to work looking like they had either just come from clubbing [Ed: or the 70s equivalent.] or were going directly after work. We didn't see her again until the break was over. On returning to the Lab she was already there.
This went on for weeks and speculation was rampant on where she spent her lunch breaks. One day the girls couldn't stand it any longer and decided to follow her. That is I was unanimously chosen to do the dirty work. There was a certain amount of pleading, but in the end I gave in as I was also intrigued to what she was getting up to. So the next day just before the break, under the pretence about having to look something up, I went off to the in-house library. From there I had a good view of the stairs and the exit. I watched as the girls left chatting among themselves followed a few moments later by 'she who stared'.
She was still in her white lab coat plus lunchbox and making for the exit. I had to decide when to follow her, leave too early possible detection, leave too late possibility of losing her. I was just about to move, when at the last moment instead of leaving the building she turned and went down the stairs into the basement. I was a little taken back by this turn of events, as the girls had speculated that she was meeting a boyfriend somewhere close by and didn't want us to know about it.
Well of course this could still be the case, but in the basement!
I was a little hesitant to continue with this. Outside, if she saw me I could always find an excuse to be going in the same direction, but in the basement my excuse would have to be a good one. I was in no hurry now, there was no way I would miss her as the stairs she just used was the only way back out of... and then I realised the other reason I held back.
The place was not only a 'dead end' but most things down there where dead as well!
The basement was divided into two main areas each with a preparation and storage area. On the left side of the building, smelling of formaldehyde and alcohol, was the preparation and storage of, let's say 'bits and pieces' of people who left the clinic a little lighter than when they came in.
On the right of the building an area for storage and the dissection of people who left the clinic feet first and still had, up to that point, their 'bits and pieces' on board. Here not the most present of smells, rather sweet and sickly, causing a continuous underlying feeling of nausea. Although I had in the past assisted with a number of autopsies, I could never get use to the smell. I was plagued by sudden recurrences of it for years afterwards; the smell wasn't really there, only a vivid recall from memory to nose.
I slowly descended the stairs. I must say upfront that the building was old, very old. Ok, not so old that we had gas lighting, but old enough that the air conditioning was in no condition to condition the air, hence a cocktail of working smells started to impose on me about half way down.
It was not as bad as one hot mid-summer Monday morning when I arrived at work to find most of the staff outside and a little way off from the building.
Me thought perhaps a spontaneous fire drill.
As I got closer 'that' smell drifted towards me in the still air, the smell that was usually banned to the basement. It turned out that we had had fresh ‘deliveries’ on Friday evening and some time that night the air conditioning and the refrigerators had made a pact and decided they wanted a quiet weekend and had switched themselves off including any alarms they could find.
Well, the rest of the morning was uneventful, apart from watching gas-masked technicians reluctantly entering the basement and me doing my best not to be volunteered to go in and help open all the windows one could find.
So I finally reached the basement, stopped and listened. Nothing, except the chronic gasping of the air conditioning and the sound of cockroaches scuttling away into the gloom.
[Ed: cockroaches!]
Yep! … No sorry!
That was another basement in another building and another story (but same campus). I’ll just imagine the sound of cockroaches scuttling away into the gloom, Ok?
Now what was I going to do. Usually the main corridors left and right were well lit. But the lights were not on, only the emergency lighting and that only half heartily.
Here I was only a few meters from my daily workspace in a badly lit basement, staying as far as possible undetected in following a weird staring girl with a creepy lunch location and to boot, believe it or not, outnumbered by dead bodies!
It was no wonder I was slowly getting the willies.
Ok, now which way to go..
[Ed: I was thinking, why hadn’t she put the lights on when she came down?]
A good question, yes why hadn’t she?
Didn’t want to draw attention to herself? But why?
I left the question in the stale air.
First look around, speculate later.
[Ed: sorry to keep butting in, why didn’t you put on the lights?]
For the simple reason the whole corridor would be flooded in light including any rooms where the doors were open or had windows. She would then realise that someone was coming and possibly be doing something different when I looked.
I just wanted to observe what she was doing without detection and report back.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Not that I thought she was doing something she shouldn’t, formalin sniffing or the like. Maybe it was totally harmless, like re-labelling specimens out of boredom and just forgot to put the light on.
I turned left towards the ‘bits and pieces’ area.
The complete back of the building had small longish windows at the top of the basement walls. These looked out onto vertical shafts up to the ground floor. As I hadn’t put the lights on, this allowed a certain amount of day light to supplement the emergency lighting and stop me being totally blind and walking into or falling over things lying around.
[Ed: What could have been lying around down there?]
Possibly an utterly stoned Lab Technician.
[Ed: A what!? Ok out with it.]
Ah, just did a word count, I think it’s time for a break..
[Ed: Now? it was just getting interesting!]
Yes, but as usual I realise that this little anecdote in the catacombs is going to take longer than I thought. And the creepy girl is still not found. Anyway you know what will happen. [Ed: Of course I do, but they don’t!]
Dead silence..
[Ed: Hey! hello, anybody there?
Now where has he disappeared too..]
To be cont…
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