NOISE
Archive
Keith Hughes
77 BARTON STREET - STORY FROM A USER OF NEWORDERONLINE
So, 77 Barton Street is for sale. I read the article
with an interest that few of you can imagine. I've
been a massive New Order fan since I was fourteen,
many years ago. Of course, the band have always been
dark and mysterious, like their predecessors Joy
Division, providing a history that few other bands can
rival.
I grew up in Cheshire, eventually joining Macclesfield
Police in 1997. Christmas 1997 - I received the book
'Touching from a Distance' the biography written by
the Widow of the Holy Ian Curtis. Of course, I read
the book with much vigour and enthusiasm and finished
it fairly quicky, putting the book to bed (so to
speak) the night before an early shift at
Macclesfield. I was up at 5am ready to start my shift
at 6. It was dark, it was freezing and I drove from my
house in Sandbach through what was almost blizzard
conditions. Arriving at the station, I barely had time
to make a cup of tea before receiving a call on my
personal radio....
'3471 please make your way to 77 Barton
Street....there has been a death'
I'll spare you all the details, but seeing that house
again brings back very vivid memories for me. Ian
isn't the only person to have died suspiciously in
that house. I had literally finished reading the book
less than 24 hours previously and now I was standing
in the former home of the man himself, sealing off
another crime scene.
This is a memory that will live with me forever. I
thought I'd share it with you. If you think this
sounds weird, then just imagine how I feel about it
all. It sounds really crap to say that I felt a
presence, but I wasn't at all comfortable about being
there. Anyway, for the doubters amongs you, this
really happened to me. It is a completely true story
and I'm just an ordinary bloke.
with an interest that few of you can imagine. I've
been a massive New Order fan since I was fourteen,
many years ago. Of course, the band have always been
dark and mysterious, like their predecessors Joy
Division, providing a history that few other bands can
rival.
I grew up in Cheshire, eventually joining Macclesfield
Police in 1997. Christmas 1997 - I received the book
'Touching from a Distance' the biography written by
the Widow of the Holy Ian Curtis. Of course, I read
the book with much vigour and enthusiasm and finished
it fairly quicky, putting the book to bed (so to
speak) the night before an early shift at
Macclesfield. I was up at 5am ready to start my shift
at 6. It was dark, it was freezing and I drove from my
house in Sandbach through what was almost blizzard
conditions. Arriving at the station, I barely had time
to make a cup of tea before receiving a call on my
personal radio....
'3471 please make your way to 77 Barton
Street....there has been a death'
I'll spare you all the details, but seeing that house
again brings back very vivid memories for me. Ian
isn't the only person to have died suspiciously in
that house. I had literally finished reading the book
less than 24 hours previously and now I was standing
in the former home of the man himself, sealing off
another crime scene.
This is a memory that will live with me forever. I
thought I'd share it with you. If you think this
sounds weird, then just imagine how I feel about it
all. It sounds really crap to say that I felt a
presence, but I wasn't at all comfortable about being
there. Anyway, for the doubters amongs you, this
really happened to me. It is a completely true story
and I'm just an ordinary bloke.
From the NewOrderOnline archive.
Thanks to: Keith Hughes
