A full house full of ghosts?

Jim and I spent an hour scoping out the local Mecca bingo for the Ghost Club. We were both impressed by the place and I think it could be a very interesting investigation. The manager and staff were very welcoming, especially given the fact that Friday night bingo was in full swing. The hall was packed with eager players hoping for a chance of a 25k jackpot, but we had our eyes on a bigger prize - a ghost!

Without wishing to give away too many details of the haunting, the Hall promised lots of variety with at least three ghosts reported. Neighbours of the bingo hall had also complained of the sound of organ music during the night, but no such organ was kept in the building. Were these ghostly sounds an echo from the days when the Bingo Hall was a cinema? Décor from the original Gaumont cinema can still be seen today with the main hall boasting a stylized art deco ceiling 200 of the original cinema seats.

The manager gave us a full tour of the building from the roof to the basement and pointed out the key areas of interest. We also interviewed a couple of staff about their experiences and it seemed several other employees had had strange experiences. The place was like a maze, so we requested access to building plans which would make sorting out and finding key places a lot easier on the night. There were lots of different areas to investigate but I wasn't looking forwarded to exploring the crawl space under the stage that stretched the length of the building.

The only downside was the timing of the investigation - on a Saturday, bingo players would be in the in the building until about 11pm, so any investigation would need to start around midnight. The upside was I lived just down the road from the Hall, so would be able to crawl home and straight into bed. And there was a good incentive to stay for the duration as one of the ghosts was said to appear at 6am.

As usual we looked at the possible hazards that 20 or so investigators of differing ages and mobility would come across. There was a particularly steep looking stairwell that could be treacherous in the dark but apart from that it looked perfect. There with a staff room we could use a base; good access to toilets; near to public transport and free parking. All we needed now was a date and some willing participants.

Ghosts! And I've got the photo to prove it!

Saw a great story recently about a woman who claimed to have taken a photograph which showed the face of a dead relative in the creases of her daughters pink coat.http://bit.ly/hboNwb

Why the deceased should choose to appear in this way is open to speculation. Why not just appear in photograph anyway or at least choose a more manly coloured garment upon which to superimpose himself? The question remains is this really a paranormal occurrence. I suspect not.

As with many such photographs I would not expect to find obvious trickery involved or deliberate urge to deceive on the part of the photographer? Rather a strong sense of wishful thinking. After all it is very comforting to believe that relatives are watching from beyond the grave and wish to make their presence known it whatever way they can.

For example, there is the famous photo taken by Mabel Chinnery (see the photo above). After a trip to the cemetary to visit her mother's grave Mabel took a picture of her husband sitting in his car. When the photo was developed she saw the image of her dead mother sitting in the back seat – no doubt also prompting a wave of mother-in-law jokes.

If not wishful thinking on the part of the photographer then often it is merely a trick of the light. The human brain is programmed to see faces in patterns automatically – another of those ancient inbuilt survival mechanisms to spot enemies hiding in the bushes. Along with Orbs – dust, flies, snow, mists, fog and even human breath can transform into all manner of ghostly apparitions in the eyes of an eager ghost hunter – particularly on those nights when nothing else is happening. I myself am guilty of seeing monsters in the shadows but for a split second of believing it always feel like I’m hit the paranormal jackpot.

That said, there are still photos that defy explanation and when you’ve ruled out all of the above normal explanations its worth forwarding them to a paranormal group for closer inspection.

Ghosts on TV

As winter is upon us and staying on the sofa is preferable to braving the dark and the rain I am catching up on my TV viewing with ghostly DVD and YouTube. I am amazed how much ghost footage is available on YouTube with clips from shows I remember watching as a child such as Arthur C Clarke's World of Strange Powers and Michael Aspel's strange but true. Good YouTube channels include Ghostwatching http://bit.ly/ieg3sY and Superstarstudio1 http://bit.ly/hx016I. Both have so many clips it would take me months to view them all, although I've already started on the Discovery Channel's 'A Haunting'.

Personally my favourite ghost programmes are a mixture of interviews and reconstructions like 'A Haunting' which features real people in extraordinary circumstances. Most accounts strike me as genuine although how they would stand up to real scientific analysis remains to be seen. The best programmes bring in independent psychics to verify facts and feature several witnesses to the same phenomena. My least favourite are live investigation programmes like 'Most Haunted' or 'Derek Accorah's Ghost Towns'. While none can deny the entertainment value of these shows I am very sceptical with regard to the investigation results. I am particularly unimpressed by ghosthunting with celebrities. Are members of the pop group 'Girls Aloud' really the most suitable participants to take on a ghosthunt? Do 'Boyzone' really have a serious interest in the paranormal?

Whatever your opinion ghost on TV keep ghosts stories firmly in the public imagination and ensure experiences are published rather than hidden for fear of ridicule. And watching them is healthier than going down the pub.

The Cage a prison fit for a witch

Behind on write ups again but getting there! Another investigation, or rather another scouting out trip to darkest Norfolk and a fascinating place called St Osyth will a dark history of the witch burning kind. It was here the famous witch Ursula Kemp met her death and the place we were investigating was the tiny prison where she was incarcerated before she was hung.

Hundreds of years later the cage had been converted into a family home but one where no family had stayed for very long. The current owner had moved out due to the disturbing paranormal events that were occurring as had her tenants and she relayed a series of terrible fates befallen by previous owners include divorce, madness and suicide. She herself had seen or experienced several ghost including a young man, a young boy in a sailor suit and a man she described as an evil jailor who physically attacked her. Certainly the house had atmosphere and paranormal investigators who had visited it were apparently raving about it and there were several impressive looking photographs said to show evil spirits.

My only reservation - the extent of the hauntings sounded almost too good to be true. However it sounded like a psychics would have a field day there and there were plenty of facts that could be corroborated and tested. My only other gripe it was miles away off the dreaded M25 but there would be the opportunity to camp out overnight which was always a bonus so let us see what 2011 brings in terms of an investigation with the Ghost Club.

For more information visit http://hauntedwitchprison.com/index.php?subj=1

Why two is the number for Ghosthunting

I have now spoken to my fellow ghosthunter Jim about my lead for the haunted bingo hall and we are deciding how best to approach them to organise an investigation. Jim is a great person to go ghosthunting with. He has a very calming manner about him and at 6ft is just the sort of solid presence you need around if a monster appears. Two is the really the minimum you need for setting up an investigation and I would argue for ghosthunting – too many and no one can hear the ghosts – go on your own and if a ghost appears you will need some good hard evidence without any other witnesses.

A second person to scout out locations is invaluable and several occasions it has been useful. I always think if you are going into private homes then it’s good to have a mixture of both sexes for safety and so that no one can accuse you of any inappropriate behaviour. Often people who have a ghost are in an emotional state so calming presences help to allay any fears.

Having a second person around can also help you to remember all the different angles to check out at the location, eg is it interesting enough to sustain 5 hours plus of sitting around? Will it be safe for investigators etc? A second person can also provide a bit of moral support. I remember being absolutely terrified of the property manager of Ham House when I first met her to set up a vigil (luckily she was sussing us out and her real persona is lovely!) Having a fellow ghost hunter with me meant that he was un-phased and managed to negotiate a yearlong investigation which was a great result.

A fellow ghosthunter is also a great motivator if properties reject you(or start asking for a fortune to investigate). Every Scully needs a Mulder and it means my own perspective stay fresh.

The Old Operating Theatre, London Bridge

It has been just over a month since my last ghost investigation at the Old Operating Theatre and I haven't written it up. Although I took notes on the day, these were handed in to the organiser and so now I have to rely on memory - not something to be recommended, but better than nothing. (Incidentally my planned live tweets on Twitter appeared to post at the time, but were nowhere to been seen after the event…)

The date – the day before Halloween: perfect season for ghost hunting. I enjoyed the vigils a lot more as they took place in a smaller venue and I knew more of the people attending so I could relax. However In the bar before the event, I did meet one new lady, a medium who told me she had been forbidden to go in trance during the investigation. Of course I was disappointed but then I subsequently found out that during such a trance, the lady had no awareness of what was happening. This lack of awareness had once led to an attempt to strangle her daughter, although she claimed to have no memory of the attack. I then understood the reason for the ban!

Ghost hunters tend to align themselves into three broad groups the ‘psychic as a brick’ but still interested; the scientists (NB it helps if you have a van to carry all that equipment) and the psychics - people who seem to get names and dates, see ghosts and generally liven up the proceedings. I fall into the mildly psychic category although annoyingly this seems to have decreased rather than increased over the years. This investigation had a good mix of all three groups and was more enjoyable for it.

The operating theatre itself was smaller than I expected. The viewing area held about 100 standing on raised platforms tiered in a semi circle, so students could look down upon the operating table on the floor in the centre. The table itself was a rather short, simple design. It was made of wood and had some unappealing stains on it although apparently these had appeared only recently after it had been loaned for a historical drama. For more information on the museum visit www.thegarret.org.uk/

As you can imagine of the three areas available, the operating theatre was the one area we all wanted to investigate. The apothecary room was too crowded with cabinets and models and the staircase to the theatre was - well just a staircase. At the bottom of the stairs it was difficult to concentrate due to noise and light pollution (with Halloween celebrations going on outside it was probably fair to say we heard more noisy spirits outside than in). In contrast, the theatre was satisfyingly silent and as the lights went out we wondered if anyone would make contact. All seemed quiet until we tried a planchette experiment on the operating theatre table using the board, a pencil and a white piece of paper. Very soon after the session began something strange began to happen. The planchette board tipped right up on its end and appeared to move around without any of the five participants (including myself) appearing to consciously move it. It appeared to be guided by the spirit of a Victorian teenage girl who had been a patient and who had died as a result of her operation. Her story emerged both through the testimony of the psychics present and the movement of the planchette. Unfortunately the girl appeared to be illiterate so gave only Yes or No responses to questions by moving the board. However when prompted she ‘drew’ circles, squares and triangles. After 45 minutes our vigil time was up – was it a spirit or the investigators causing these effects? Certainly something interesting was occurring.

Whether or not subsequent research will show a girl died in the hospital who matches our findings remains to be seen. But certainly the evening restored my slightly lapsed faith in investigations and I look forward to reading the write up in the Ghost Club Journal to find what everyone else thought of it.
My plan now is to find some more venues in London and to sort out some new cases for the Ghost Club.

Return of the Ghosthunter

Now the madness that was the MSc in Marketing is finally over I can now return to my real passion - folklore and ghosts. Since my last entry I have been on only one investigation namely Coalhouse Fort in Essex which to be honest was disappointing. Although one group had a spooky encounter with a ghost who made a loud moan in san investigator's ear, the only moaning was done by me (albeit inwardly) at how rubbish the investigation was. Admittedly, I was not in the best of ghosthunting moods. A horrendous journey on the M25 and the problem of being accompanied by a member of the Coalhouse Fort who talked incessantly thoughout, had left me tetchy and miserable. In fact had a member of the undead appeared, I think I would have been tempted to tell it to bugger off.

This made me wonder - do we have to be in a receptive mood to see a ghost? Can our bad moods affect the energy of a place or could my eagerness to see a ghost actually be putting 'them' off? Is this why most ghost appear when we least expect it? The other problem of being a ghost hunter is that of late I feel I had become a bit jaded. In the old days a knock would have sent me into freefall - nowadays nothing less than a grey lady walking through a wall would impress me. It's obviously time to go back to my ghosthunting roots and see where all this will lead me. After all I'd only ever need one 'Enfield Poltergeist' and the I would be satisfied forever.