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I put many hours of research into each New Ghost Stories case. Sometimes the research is interesting, like when you get to travel to a new place or walk in the aisles of a beautiful library. But sometimes, it’s pretty dull. I know there are some who would enjoy an afternoon checking 30-year-old train timetables or going through every daily edition of a local newspaper for 6 months to find one story - but it’s not something I personally love.

Sometimes, of course, you turn up something interesting; something that changes your perspective. As an older millennial, I was pretty small during the 80s, so my personal memories of the social and political upheavals of the day are pretty vague.

But as a child of a tabloid-reading father, I was certainly aware of scare stories about activists. And the stories about squatters; those I do remember being frightened by. How could people be allowed to break into your home and make it their home? How could it be that the police couldn’t just throw them out?

Being a little older, I now understand how these scare stories work. How news organisations are capable of cynically misrepresenting facts and excluding important context, to support only one side of a narrative. Not to mention stirring up controversy for commercial gain.

That isn’t to say that I’m a supporter of squatting - breaking and entering private property is fundamentally problematic. Acts of vandalism are also costly to clean up, and those costs may fall to individuals who can ill-afford it, or paid for by local councils who could be spending that money on other vital services.

What I did discover during the research for this is story was the activism that lay behind the 80s squatting movement. That there was an element who were in this for more than living on the dole and living somewhere for free. They were people who looked at empty buildings and growing poverty, and felt the system was cheating people. That we had resources that could and should be used for public good.

Those people were not well represented and respected at the time, and they were often painted to be something they weren’t.

Society isn’t kind to those who challenge it. And I’ve come to think of this month’s case as a metaphor for what can happen to those who try to stand against it.

History is written by the victors. Ghost stories are written about the fallen. They’re written as reminders of acts of great injustice. Acts we would prefer not to think about, but we must not forget.

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