It should not have happened on a day such as this

As it was a hot summers evening

But I was working the late shift at Sefton station

Which was by now quiet after a busy day

There were three more trains each running on the hour

I was in my office when I saw a figure not far from the out of hours exit

It appeared to be that of a women in a white coat

I watched her for a while as her behaviour seemed curious

This was part of our training to be able to identify potential suicides

The London bound express was due shortly so I made my way across the footbridge

I was able to see the woman as I walked towards the far platform

Apart from when I descended the stairs of the footbridge

It was as I turned towards the woman in the white coat

That I saw that there was just no one there

The platform was completely empty

I made a complete search of the area before the express was due

There was nothing to be found and the train passed without incident

The whole episode puzzled me and when I was able to I ran the closed circuit tapes

And it was then that I witnessed something so horrible that I jumped from my seat

The woman who had her back to the camera suddenly turned around and looked up

I was expecting to see her face but where her face should have been there was a vacancy

There were no features just an area as flat as the grey concrete platform

I must say that once I got over the shock I nervously returned to the far platform which was empty

Usually an incident such as this would be reported but I did not to be seen to be drunk or the like

And what was even more chilling was that when I watched the tape again she was not there

In a way I put the incident down to fatigue as I had just become a father as was quite tired

Some months passed and one sleepless night I found myself on baby duty as I was off next day

To pass the time I read a history of the local area and found an account if the Sefton Curve train crash in July 1958

The London bound express had derailed at low speed on the curve because of a broken rail

There had been a number of injuries but only one fatality a twenty-five year old woman named Jenny Jones

An eyewitness account noted that she had been thrown on to the track and her features had been obliterated

The poor womans white coat was reported to have been surprisingly pristine considering the trauma

As a footnote there was never any clear explanation as to why Jenny had been on the train in the first place

She had worked in a hat shop in Norwich and there had been no reason for her to travel to London that evening

Nobody came forward not a boyfriend or a lover nobody at all gave an explanation

Jenny Jones was just an ordinary girl with a passion for white coats as she thought that they suited her raven hair

The next time I was on duty I placed a bunch of red roses in front of the disused signal cabin

To date I have not seen Jenny Jones reappear but there are reports of a womans scream being heard on warm summer nights in the vicinity of the Sefton Curve