Modern Encounters

Accounts of recent or contemporary ghost sightings.

The Care Home Ghost, Wroxham, Norfolk, UK

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I have been interested in the paranormal since I was a young teenager, but have not had any experiences myself until recently. However, I began to become more open to the possibility of ghosts after seeing my mother the morning after she had an experience. She came back from work the day after a sleepover and looked a wreck. She also wouldn’t talk about her experience for several weeks. Here is her story:

It was just an ordinary day at work, I worked as an assistant manager in a small care home for the elderly. I used to start work at 2 pm, sleep in the building in a small flat at night and resume work the next day at 7.30 am.There were 22 elderly residents in the care home and at night two night staff who stayed awake.

One night several years ago I went to bed as usual, in the small flat which had been converted from the old stable block. The building was over 100 years old. It had been a private  house, and then a hotel, but had been a care home for at least 50 years.

The bedroom had two single beds, a dressing table and a wardrobe. The window on the right looked over the driveway to the building which was surrounded by trees.

I lay in bed reading a magazine. It was about 1 am. All was quiet. There was no wind and the door to the bedroom was locked, I became aware of a movement in the room and looking over the top of my magazine I saw a grey misty sort of thing in the middle of the room. Well my heart stopped, I am sure! I lowered my mag and watched as the misty grey stuff took on a shape. I was actually paralysed with fear. I am sure my mouth was hanging open, and I felt as if i could not move.

My brain was trying to rationalise the shape. I never smoked in tht room so it was not smoke. ‘Maybe it was car headlights in the drive way, or a reflection from the wardrobe mirror’, I told myself, continually watching as the grey mist took on the shape of a person. I was still staring at it trying to make out what it was when it seemed to take a step forward, or move forward anyway.

Well suddenly nature took over and it as flight or fright and I was out of that bed and fumbling for the key in the lock. As soon as the door opened I was down the stairs two at a time, without looking back and I ran through the downstairs door,  ran along the corridor and into ther kitchen where I found a very surprised nightstaff !

The rest of the night Islept in another room and only went back with the nightstaff to get my clothes in the morning.  There was no sign of anything unusual in the room.

Wroxham

Later discussing the incident with my collegues, the other assistant said that she had often heard banging and felt odd in that room, and one of the staff said there was presumed to be the ghost of a young Italian stablehand in the flat, as he had hung himself in the stable sometime doing the war. Apparently he was a prisoner of war and did not want to go home, but whether this was true or not I do not know.

Many strange things had been seen and felt in the old building. I had other experiences there: the sound of children crying and things being rearranged while I slept. One of the staff had often felt someone brush past her in the hall and one of the staff would never go up to the flat for any money; she said it was creepy. I took the advice of the local vicar and left a bible by the bed and a glass of water and I was never bothered again, just the occasional odd noise thereafter.

The Fort, Duncannon, Wexford, 6th June 2009

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Duncannon Fort

Duncannon Fort


I joined this public investigation with a friend who is also interested in the paranormal.

The location was beautiful, but marred only by the poor weather. It poured with rain the whole time which scuppered our camping plan.

Duncannon Fort is located on the coast of Wexford. Duncannon Fort, which was built in 1588 and incorporates a maritime museum, Arts centre, café and craft shop and is open daily to visitors from June to September.

The place has a long history of battles, sieges, mutiny, plague, hangings and fires, so plenty of deaths went on in this location.

We had an inital walk around in daylight hours and the equipment of both paranormal groups was set up, including video recording equipment.

During the investigation my friend heard a young male voice say ‘hello?’ near the entrance to the moat. The next morning another person heard a young male voice say ‘hello?’ in the dungeon.So, maybe the same spirit?

passage

passage

Not far from the moat and dungeon there was a tunnel/ passage and I felt a strong tap on my arm from my right side. I thought it was the girl next to me, but she denied it. I then called for it to make itself known by tapping me again or making a noise and a loud tap immediately came from beside me. I nearly jumped out of my skin! We searched the walls, ceiling and floor of the tunnel to see if anything could have dropped or caused the tap on my arm or the tapping noise, but nothing we could see was there to cause it. Pretty creepy….

Down in the cells I also had a strong feeling of a presence and saw subtle movement as if a guard was patrolling backwards and forwards. I don’t feel that the spirit was aware of us, it seemed as if it was a ‘recording’ of past events in the cell. They say that buildings and rock may ‘record’ the events of the past and project these like a video when atmospheric conditions are correct.

cell

cell

In one of the buildings both my friend and I had images of a nurse going about her duties popping up into our minds. However, as there were hospital style beds present in the room, it may have been due to suggestion.

At the bottom of the museum, in the creche area, we also felt a strong ‘tap’ on the side of the play boat in what seemed to be response to a request for a tap. The tap was strong enough for those close to the source to feel vibrations. All people in the boat denied moving around at the time of the tap, but perhaps this sound could have been due to flimsy nature of the fibre-glass material.

During the investigation I was also put under hypnosis at one point. This was in the museum. The outcome of this is that I indicated that there was a female presence in the room, called Anne, who had a connection with the date 1921 and with an item in the museum. I had an image of a lifebelt pop up and pointed to a room in the museum where there turned out to be a lifebelt. We searched documents in the museum for any signs of an ‘Anne’ linked to the date 1921 and found some information to follow up. I found this experiement interesting, but I am not sure how ‘under’ I actually was and how much of the information I gave was due to suggestion.

For me this was an excellent investigation as it was the first time I had experienced any physical paranormal activity. However, the paranormal teams told me it was actually a ‘quiet night’ there. I would love to investigate this place further.

Check out this great video of the investigation, thanks to Monkeyfudge:

The Hostel, Drogheda, 9th May 2009

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The Hostel

The Hostel


This was my first investigation so I arrived feeling slightly bewildered, nervous and yet excited. The investigation was being held in a hostel in Drogheda. This hostel had a few paranormal activity stories behind it, one such event even recorded in a book written in the1800s. According to this story a ghost was seen by the father of the resident family and then a commotion heard from the children’s bedroom. Upon inspection of the bedroom the children were found battered and bruised and the floorboards torn up. There was no sign of the nanny and she was later found at her mother’s house. She died a few days later from shock. Another more recent story is that of a backpacker who rolled over in bed in the night to see a small boy staring at him silently in the centre of the room.

During this investigation I was able to learn about some of the methods and equipment being used. The equipment being used ranged from video cameras to EMF readers, while the methods of choice were EVP recordings, vigils and trigger objects, among others.

We were split into small groups and had a first walk around for 20 minute sessions in each room and then later 40 minute sessions.

For my part I enjoyed each session, but the most interesting for me was in the attic. Here I sat near the inner wall and I experienced an odd sensation as if someone were sitting beside me. I felt cold all along that side, my right-hand side. I began to feel uneasy about this and so swapped places with a team member sitting near the window to the far left of the attic. She said she felt warm and comfortable there. I can not be certain if there were a breeze, but the lady who swapped places did not notice any. So, could it be I sensed ‘something’ in the room with us?

We also conducted vigils in the room where the children where found in the story. Nothing came up as far as I know, but all agreed that there was an oppressive, ominous feeling to the room.

Other things that happened to others on this investigation were soap being thrown by unseen hands (a prank by a team member perhaps? Or something more ghostly?), scratches appearing on a team member’s skin the next morning, movement in front of a mirror, a loud ‘bang’ in the attic when requested during a vigil, unseen hands moving cutlery in the kitchen and noises from the bathroom.

I also had an unusual experience in the night, but as I was half conscious at the time, I can not say for sure it was paranormal or my own dream state. I just remember feeling as if someone stroked my head in the night. I am a light sleeper, so perhaps unseen ghostly hands did stroke my head and rouse me. Or was it just a dream brought on by suggestion?

All in all it was an enjoyable experience and I think this hostel deserves further study.