Haunted Locations

Reports from visits to reputedly haunted sites.

The Care Home Ghost, Wroxham, Norfolk, UK

/ ghostcatcherireland / Leave a comment


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.

Ross Castle, Co. Meath, June 2009.

/ ghostcatcherireland / 4 Comments

Ross Castle


I was invited to a birthday party and paranormal investigation by the medium who was present at the Duncannon Fort investigation. I jumped at the chance as I had heard that the castle was very active. Plus, it sounded pretty cool to spend a night in a ‘haunted castle’.

Ross Castle is situated on the shores of Lough Sheelin, County Meath, and currently serves as a B&B. Ross Castle was built in 1536 by Richard Nugent, the 12th Lord of Delvin, known as the ‘Black Baron’ due to his nasty streak.  Its location at the top of a hill on the shores of Lough Sheelin, overlooking the enemy territory of the O’Reilly’s to the north, was of strategic importance.

Baron

The ghost of the Black Baron, his daughter, children and an ancient entity, among other spirits, are said to haunt the castle.

The paranormal events of the day kicked off well before nightfall, with one of our party being scratched on the arm by an unpleasant entity whom he had been mocking and cajoling into action. The person who was scratched could not recollect catching himself on anything and the scratch appeared too deep, even drawing some blood, to have been unconsciously self-inflicted. The medium who was with us believed she saw the unpleasant female entity near this guy often, seeming to take a particular interest in him.

I also had an experience in daylight hours, as I went for a nap in my room, the Yellow Room, and heard what sounded like to be a child or young woman exclaim ‘cou cou!’ I thought it to be someone in the hall, but another of our party remarked on it later in the investigation and believed that nobody had been in the hall at the time.

Following this we sat down to a birthday meal for one of our party. We ate, drank and were merry. A beautiful birthday cake was brought out and photos taken. After the meal we all withdrew to the garden for a breath of fresh air. Upon our return the birthday girl decided to browse the photos she had taken to find three mysterious photos she had not taken. One photo in particular was quite odd. It appeared to have been taken from very low down on the table between myself and the birthday girl when the party was still in full swing. Pictured in the photo was one of the ladies sitting at the table side opposite me, holding her wine glass with a candle in the foreground. What struck everyone as odd was the positioning of the ladies hand and arm. It almost seemed to be coming from under the table, in such an angle that might be almost painful. We tried to recreate the photo but were unable to match it. We were unsure who or what took these photos, but nobody in our party admitted to doing it. Could an unseen hand have taken these snaps? I for one did not see anything and from the angle the photos were taken the photographer would have had to have been sitting next to me!

Oh! A spooky picture

By now night had fallen and so the investigation proper began. We started off in the Green Room, said to have the most ghostly activity. Here the medium tried to evoke the spirits who may be present. Here she and another member of the party heard music, like that of a harpsichord or shrill like a penny whistle. Orbs and strange blue lights were seen in the room by several members. The medium contacted the spirit of a man who enjoyed playing music. An EVP was done in this room and later playback revealed the sound of heavy breathing and something saying ‘Hello’, despite the recorder being put a good distance away from anyone in the party. The use of the word ‘Hello’ would certainly date the spirit that could have been present in this room, as the word was not in common use until the 1800s.

Next was the ensuite room, but no real activity was reported here. However, earlier in the day the people staying in this room reported that the drawers of the desk were found open when they had been left closed. Poltergeist activity?

Drawers

After this we proceeded to the tower, the oldest part of the building. We began in the living-room there. Forms moving in the stairs were reported.

Next was the small bedroom. Here the medium sensed an anxious man pacing up and down by the bed. Footsteps were also heard outside the door.

Finally we ventured into the top tower room. In this room the medium sensed the unpleasant female entity and ‘saw’ her above the bed, taking a particular dislike to the birthday girl, even going so far as to growl and hiss at her. The entity was also still taking a keen interest in the man she earlier scratched, sometimes coming over to where he sat. It was here that the medium sensed an aggressive male spirit entering the room. A male that wanted us out of ‘his’ castle. The medium sensed that the female entity, although unpleasant, was actually protecting our party from this male spirit, so that he could do no harm. While these two spirits were said to be in the room I felt a heavy temperature drop, could sense a feeling of ‘unpleasantness’ and I saw shadows passing in front of the window.

To finish off the investigation we withdrew to the living-room in the main area of the castle. It had been noticed that several times when people were relaxed and socialising, knocks and bangs had been heard, so it was thought a good idea to test this. We sat in the living-room in darkness and the medium sensed several spirits in the room. One such spirit touched the mediums hair, and some strands could be seen to be standing on end. I myself felt that we were being watched from outside the window and the medium confirmed that the unpleasant female entity was outside the window watching with interest.

Finally at around 4:30am I retired to bed. However I had a fitful sleep. I constantly felt like there was something watching me. I heard footsteps out in the corridor at 6:15am and at around 8:10am I heard what sound like footsteps on the roof. I put this down to mice in the ceiling cavity or birds. I finally fell asleep at 9am and slept for one hour, during which time I had an awful nightmare of knives and an evil looking octopus bodied man. Surely due suggestion? The mind playing tricks after hearing so many stories about the place and listening to what the medium was seeing.

Corridor

This was a very interesting investigation, but I have to say I came away from it absolutely terrified and vowing never to return. However, I realized that a lot of what I felt was due to suggestion. My own mind had basically scared myself silly! Following this investigation I began to look into protection methods, such as prayers and amulets, as I felt that if suggestion could work to scare me, it could also be used to make me feel calm.

 

2009-2014 Ghost Catcher UK & Ireland© All rights reserved. All my posts are copyright and if you do wish to refer to them or use anything from them on your site, please ask permission first

The Fort, Duncannon, Wexford, 6th June 2009

/ ghostcatcherireland / Leave a comment
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

/ ghostcatcherireland / 4 Comments
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.