haunting

The Voice in the Baby Monitor, West Cork, Ireland

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A few months ago I was contacted by a family living down in West Cork who were being plagued by the activities of a poltergeist resident in their home. The family lived in an old farm-house on Mizen Head. The family had tried to research the history of the house but found out very little other than it being the old family home of their landlord. Next to the residence is an even older crumbling house, so the land appears to have been in use for a few hundred years.

The word “poltergeist” comes from the German word “poltern”(to “rumble”) and “geist,” which means “spirit.”  Poltergeist literally means “noisy spirit”, although a poltergeist is neither a spirit nor a ghost according to parapsychology experts. The nature of poltergeists has long been a subject of debate within paranormal circles and poltergeists are usually described as an invisible force and entity, rather than spirits.

Poltergeists differ from what is normally thought of as ghosts. Ghosts are generally considered to be the spirits of dead people. They can be intelligent and interactive, or merely an imprint playing over events of the past.  Poltergeists on the other hand are a different kind of spirit or entity. These particular spirits seem to be able to interact with the material world sometimes with malevolent force, often moving objects, making rapping noises and other activities.

Many in the paranormal investigation field believe that the majority of poltergeist activity is not due to ghosts, but is due to uncontrolled psychokinesis; it is therefore caused by living people. Despite this theory, there is still a small amount of cases that can not be explained naturally and so poltergeist activity may be caused by a ghost manifestation or by a person unknowingly causing psychokinesis effects.

According to the family the house was very active and they felt there may be two spirits occupying it. One of these spirits they feel is harmless and they were happy to live with it, but the other they felt was more sinister and would have  liked to have had it cleared from the house.

In the baby’s room they once heard a disembodied voice on the baby monitor saying “Don’t worry, I’ll look after you”.

In the main bedroom they have heard whistling and footsteps, particularly walking around the bed. They have all been in the kitchen and heard these footsteps coming from the bedroom above. The lady of the house had a wrought iron mannequin in this bedroom and saw it move despite it being extremely heavy.

The couple both saw the shadowy outline of a man on the landing. The figure appeared to be tall; around 6ft. They reported being downstairs and seeing legs walk across the top of the landing. They heard walking up and down the stairs.

In May 2010 they experienced the living room door repeatedly opening despite being left closed. They also found the stair gate open several times on this date despite being left closed. A week before this the kitchen door was also opened by itself.

The couple have also felt as if they have been ‘prodded’ by unseen hands and have experienced something blowing near their ear while watching television. Items have also gone missing for several days at a time only to reappear in a place which had already been searched.

The couple have several children and their children have not  reported any paranormal activity or become scared. It is unclear as to whether the children were present in the house or not during any incidents mentioned. The lady of the house  in particular seemed concerned about the unpleasant entity she felt is present in the house and would like to have a ‘clearing’ if possible. She reported having sleepless nights due to feeling scared.

This residence is very worthy of investigation to see if the poltergeist activity is due to a spirit manifestation or psychokinesis unknowingly caused by a living resident of the house. However, the family have recently and suddenly moved away from the house. Whether this was due to the strain of living in a haunted residence, or other reasons, is not known at present.

Ghost Hunters Guide

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– Remember to always be respectful of ghosts & spirits We want to be taken seriously.

– We always want to present ourselves as being the one in control. Conduct yourself as a professional at all times.

– Self confidence and control will radiate like a beacon of light and thus serve as a shield of protection Never seek out entities on your own; a team of two or three works well, while larger groups would be better to split up.

– Listen to your instincts and your intuition, draw from the power within. You will find this to be your greatest resource.

– Commit yourself to the task at hand until it is done. A combined effort makes the team a whole intricate working structure.

– Go into an investigation with a kind heart and a gracious attitude. But most of all with the knowledge that most so called hauntings can be explained (i.e. a house settling.) And as strange as it may seem, you must also consider the mental and emotional state of the occupants. Paranoia, delusional aspects and mental illness in general may be a consideration.

– Be familiar with all aspects of the supernatural; know the entities that you pursue. The more you know, the more confident you become. And always try to have a scientific standpoint.

– Consider all aspects of an investigation before you go; a walk through ahead of time is always advisable. A history check is helpful as well; anything you find out before hand will be to your advantage.

– Make sure others outside your team know where you are when on an investigation. And of course a mobile phone is a must.

– Know your limits; it’s ok to be scared. Even the most hardened and expert investigator will have at some point been at least a little frightened. So do not listen to the gobshites who tell you otherwise.

What are Ghosts?

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“To himself everyone is an immortal. He may know that he is going to die, but he can never know that he is dead.” Samuel Butler, Immortality.

The label ‘ghost’ is a broad term which means different things to different people and in popular usage it is used to describe the disembodied soul or spirit of the dead in connection with a haunting. Another similar term is an ‘apparition’.  A ghost can be the non-conscious apparition of a past living person, an imprint or ‘recording’, unable to interact. A ghost may also be a disembodied personality, able to interact with the living. Ghosts may be visible or they may make their presence known to the living by making noises, causing cold breezes and cold spots, by creating smells and through moving objects. Ghost may not always be human; some may be phantom animals, spectral inanimate objects such as ships or even non-human energies such as angels or demons.

According to a Harris Poll conducted into religion and other beliefs in 2003 51% of the public of America, including, 58% of women, and 65% of those aged 25 to 29 believe in ghosts. Belief in ghosts may be a culturally influenced superstition reflecting our own fears of mortality as a belief in ghosts gives hope that the human personality survives death and is therefore immortal. A belief in ghosts may also reinforce our belief in the mysteries of the universe.

Many cultures and religions believe that in an afterlife or underworld where souls go after death. Some believe that souls travel to a place in the sky; some believe they rest at the bottom of a lake or even on the moon. Almost all cultures in history have believed at some point in the ability of spirits of the dead to return to the land of the living. These spirits may be malevolent or benevolent. Cultures that believe or believed in ancestor worship take spirits as fact. The spirits of their ancestors survive after death and interact with the living. Reverence is shown to the ancestors to keep in good favour and wise men and women communicate with them. The belief in ghosts has a long tradition and the first ghost stories can be found in ancient Greek literature. Pliny the Younger (c.61-c113) believed in ghosts due to his interest in two authentic cases concerning haunted houses in Athens.

According to Christian theology the soul joins God in heaven or Satan in hell. The soul can also end up in between in purgatory. Catholicism accepts that souls in purgatory may return to the realm of the living as apparitions to ask for prayers from the living. Protestants however do not believe that the dead can return. They see ghosts as being demons and evil entities pretending to be the spirits of the dead.

Spiritualists believe that ghosts are the souls of the dead trapped on the earth plane. These souls are confused or do not realise that they are in fact dead. It is the role of Mediums to communicate with these lost souls and help them move on. This can be done during seances, through channelling or via use of a spirit board (ouija board.)

According to tradition ghosts remain in the land of the living for a variety of reasons. They may return to give a warning or perhaps to advise and comfort humans. They may be vengeful and seek to right a wrong or obtain justice. They may need to return to request a proper burial or to confess some guilt so that they may rest in peace. Some ghosts may remain to guard or protect property which belonged to them in life or they may even return to inform heirs of the location property or treasure due to them. They may also guard over or protect a person who was dear to them in life. Other ghosts return or remain in a place that they loved or hated in life or they may even remain due to being unaware that they are dead.

It is a common misconception that ghosts only appear at night. Many appear in daylight; however visual apparitions are more often seen at night. It is believed that the greatest number of people die between the hours of 2-6am, which is one theory as to why more ghosts manifest during these hours. Ghosts are also more visible in the dark as they are thought to consist of energy, often manifesting in the form of light anomalies. In daylight these anomalies are more difficult to see with the naked eye.  Individuals may be more sensitive and receptive to clairvoyance when in a relaxed state or while asleep at night and so may have an increased likelihood of seeing an apparition. However, some experts believe these states may also create hallucinations of ghosts.

Another popular misconception is that ghosts are frequently to be found haunting graveyards. The majority of ghosts are not seen in graveyards, but are more often to be found in houses and buildings.

The majority of ghost reports have natural explanations such as tricks of the light created by foggy conditions or excessive electrical charges in the atmosphere during thunderstorms among many other explanations. However a small percentage of cases baffle experts and remain unexplained at present. There is also still no consensus amongst paranormal researchers as to whether ghosts are real or fantasies created by the human mind or if they are psychic remnants of past events playing over like a psychic recording or if they have personality and intelligence. However, it is hoped that further research over time will yield evidence and explanations to one day prove or disprove the existence of ghosts.

References:

  • Keene, P, Bradley-Stevenson, G and Saunders, B, 2006, The Ghost Hunter Chronicles. New Holland, London.
  • Underwood, P, 1999, Peter Underwood’s Guide to Ghosts & Haunted Places. Piatkus, London.
  • O’Keefe, C, and Fielding, Y, 2007, Ghost Hunters: A Guide to Investigating the Paranormal. Hodder, London
  • Danelek, J, 2006, The Case For Ghost: An Objective Look at the Paranormal. Llewellyn Publications, Minnesota
  • Guiley, R, 1997, The Guinness Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits. Guinness Publishing, London
  • Harris Interactive, 2009, The Harris Poll® #11, February 26, 2003: The Religious and Other Beliefs of Americans 2003, http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=359, [Accessed 15th February 2010]

Ghosts of the Airfields

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Airfields are often believed to be haunted perhaps because of the volume of tragedy and activity that passed through them during the wars. In East Anglia, where there was a saturation of airbases, these haunted sites include RAF West Raynham, RAF Bircham Newton in Norfolk and RAF Tibenham in Norfolk among others.

RAF Bircham Newton has reports of an apparition of a man in RAF uniform haunting the squash court and ghostly footsteps have been heard. EVPs have recorded the sounds of an active airfield, such as voices, engines and the clank of machinery. The sounds of a phantom aircraft flying overhead has also been heard.

RAF Bircham Newton today

RAF West Raynham, which was recently used as a location for a Most Haunted Live week-long special, is believed to be haunted by several ghosts. There are reported sightings of a Polish pilot, who was shot down during WW2,  haunting the officer’s mess, the apparition of a suicidal mechanic hanging from the rafters of the armoury, and a particularly angry and bitter ghost of a high-ranking airman has been experienced in the chapel. The control tower here has also had reports of poltergeist activity and the Station Medical Centre has reports of the eerie sounds of otherworldly sobbing and screams.

The control tower at RAF Tibenham was used until 1975 as a club house by the Gliding Club and it was reported that a person in flying uniform, similar to those worn by the USAAF combat crews, had been seen on several occasions wandering through the rooms of the tower.

Local to me while growing up was Ludham old airfield which was known to locals to be haunted. It is said that on a certain moonlit nights a large airplane can be heard and seen landing on what was once the runway before bursting into flames.

Reports of haunted airfields are not restricted to East Anglia with reports abounding in the rest of Britain.It seems that the brave martys of WW1 and WW2 still linger,  in the airbases and airfields where they once lived and worked to protect their country.

Richill Castle Investigation, Co. Armagh, January 2010

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The first paranormal investigation of the year, my first as an official team member of BumpzInTheNite, took place at Richill Castle  in County Armagh.

The land on which Richill Castle is built was part of the lands under the control of the chiefs of the clan O’Neill who were kings of Ulster and claimants to the high kingship of Ireland. In 1607 Earls Hugh O’Neill and Rory O’Donnell fled Ireland with a hundred or so lesser chiefs. The lands then became property of the English Crown.

Francis Sacheverell, the owner of lands in 1610, first built  a house here. In 1660 the then owner Major Edward Richardson, an English officer who was M.P for Armagh and also High Sheriff of the County who was married to a descendant of Francis Sacheverell, decided to build a larger house on the lands. He designed and built an elegant and comfortable unfortified manor house and the lands surrounding it developed into a thriving village known as Richardson’s Hill. Over time this became shortened to Richill.

Members of the Richardson family were very high-profile and held in great esteem in the area, serving as M.Ps, as magistrates and military commanders, contributing greatly to the commercial and social life of the area. The wife of William Richardson, ‘Dolly’ Monroe, was a famous Irish society beauty.

In 1906 Major Berry owned and lived in Richill Castle with his wife Blossom. When Blossom died she was buried in the grounds, but on Major Berry’s death she was re-interred in Kilmore graveyard. In 1925 the Ministry of Labour in the Northern Ireland government used the castle as an agricultural college. The castle and lands later passed hands several more times until the present owners, the Lyttle family, purchased it. The Lyttles have restored much of the main building and gardens to its present appearance, but there is much more work and maintenance to be done to restore the building to its original grandeur.

Richhill Castle is so well-known for its ghosts that the Ulster Paranormal Society meets there regularly to experience the hauntings. Dolly Monroe, who was married to William Richardson, is its most famous ghost. According to the current owner, Gordon Lyttle, who has not seen any of the ghosts of the castle himself; “My sister-in-laws relatives have though – one of her sisters chatted to the spirit of a lady on the stairs and reckons it was Dolly. “I tend to resent the fact that people can see things, while I live here and I can’t. If they prove there is a ghost here I will accept it.”

We conducted our investigation by first doing a walk around so that we could familiarize ourselves with the building. After setting up our equipment including video surveillance cameras and a monitoring station we began the investigation proper. We started off in a room upstairs with a table in the centre. Both I and others in the group took turns to call out but with no reaction. I did feel footsteps on the floor boards at one point, but this could be attributed to somebody in habitation next door moving around, as the part of the building next door was part of the Lyttle’s private residence.

Next we investigated the ‘death room’, the room people inhabited when they were sick or dying. We conducted a séance here but had no activity to report. We did however find an interesting light anomaly in a photo taken of somebody sitting on the bed that almost looked like a smoky halo above his head.

We later investigated one of the bedrooms on the ground floor. Here a sensitive picked up on a little girl in long white socks standing near the window. However, he felt it was residual haunting, similar to a playback of a past event and as such there would be no response to our calling out.

We continued our investigation, repeating in the upper floor, but our endeavours were fruitless. Those in the monitoring station did record an unusual bang from the ‘death room’ when we were all in the room with the table which could not be accounted for and there were a few interesting light anomalies on the video footage, but other than that there was little of interest.

Death Room

Throughout the investigation all members of the team spoke of feeling quite comfortable and at ease in the castle, nobody reporting any eerie presences.

On this occassion we had no activity of interest, but we will however return to Richill Castle to conduct further investigations. Spirits do not perform upon command, just as living people do not, so we hope to return to Richill Castle in the hope that they will one day be more cooperative with us.

Ghosts of the Roadside

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In many parts of the world people report encounters with the spirits and ghosts who roam motorways and lonely back-roads. These spirits seem to be looking for a way home or appear to be hitchhiking to the destination they were heading for when death cleaved them from this mortal coil. Other people claim to have seen ghostly cars that disappear as they reach a certain bend or area of a road. Some people even report phantom carriages being pulled by ghoulish horses and driven by spirits dressed in period clothing.

One such report is located in Wroxham in Norfolk, England. Here is the story of the witness:

“It was about 11.30pm and my friend and I were coming home from an evening out. We had not been drinking that night and my friend was driving. We had travelled down that road many times before and the traffic was light. As we drove down the road towards Wroxham we came through an area that had tall trees on each side. We were not driving very fast; about 30 -40 mph. It was then that we both saw two red tail lights up ahead of us on the side of the road. As we neared them we realised it was a van parked half on and half off the road. There was no traffic behind us, only a couple of cars coming towards us. They were at enough distance to pass the van safely.  My friend indicated and we pulled out to pass the van. The car coming towards us flashed its lights , which was silly because there was plenty of room, so we just dismissed it.

As we passed the van, we realised it was on the bank and the passenger side had hit a tree. The van doors were open and there was a man standing at the open drivers side door. The van was lit up inside and as we passed I noticed there was a big gouge in the hedge and a tree branch sticking out; its bark shaved off. One of the headlights of the van was broken too. There was no one else, there was nothing in the road or anything so we drove on.

We had not gone far, about 100- 150 yards, when we thought we had better go back and see if we could help. We pulled in and turned the car round and went back. When we arrived at the area we saw nothing. There was nothing there; no gouges in the bank, no van, no tree branch, nothing ! We drove on until we could turn round. We were both rather scared. We went back the way we had come, but at the spot where we saw the van crashed there was nothing. We drove home rather fast after that.

The next morning my friend went back with her husband and myself and there was nothing to be seen; no marks on the road or hedge, no broken branches, no pieces of broken headlight. Nothing. Later on when we discussed it thoroughly and concluded that the car that flashed its lights at us was doing so because, although my friend and I definitely saw the van, maybe he did not, which caused him to react as he thought we were overtaking nothing ! I have travelled that road over a hundred times since then, probably more, at all times of the night and day and I have never ever seen anything since.

My friend and I share the same birthday and the same year, so maybe that was why we both saw the same thing or maybe this caused us both to hallucinate the same thing at the same time…….but I dont think so.”

There are many other such tales from all across the world and it seems such places have often been the site for traumatic unexpected deaths, such as by car crash.  Perhaps one day these lost spirits will find their way to their destinations, or perhaps they will forever dwell along the lonely roads where they met their death.

Ross Castle with Bumpz, Co.Meath, October 2009

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Ross

So once again I found myself at Ross Castle, this time helping to guide a paranormal investigation with BumpzInTheNite. It was a small investigation of only 6 people in total including myself. However, three of the individuals attending considered themselves ‘sensitives’.

We started off in the top tower room where I had previously experienced a lot of activity in the form of knocks, bangs and growls. However, on this night it was very quiet. We did hear a sound like talking from outside the door, but upon inspection we put this down to the water tank gurgling and filling up. Temperature fluctuations were experienced near the bed and two individuals saw what they thought was a shadow passing across the window nearest the bed, crossing in front of the bed post.

Next was the lower tower bed room. Here one of the attendees began to feel very unwell with a headache. I experienced something tickling me on my back and there was nobody sitting close to me. Another female attendee experiences something tickling her arm. The three sensitives, including myself, sensed a menacing male presence in the room. Upon asking the presence if it wanted us to leave the fellow who was experiencing a headache was slapped on the back of his neck by unseen hands, as if to communicate that he was no longer welcome.

We moved down to the tower sitting room. The two females sat together and began to feel a female presence near them, one of them believing she was being tickled on the arm. The room was generally very cold, but there was a cold spot in front of the two females, which seemed to move when males moved near. The sensitives in the room felt the spirit of a small woman and a child in the room. There was also still the ominous presence of the male energy on the stairs, as if he had followed us from the room above and was watching us with keen interest. In this room a chair was seen to move very slightly and there were a few tapping on the stairs.

Tower sitting room as seen from the stairs

The unpleasant presence on the stairs slowly began to grow stronger and it was then that I had a very unusual and frightening experience. I am not sure if it was due to some hidden psychic abilities on my part or just my mind playing tricks due to the atmosphere of tension, but all I know is that I found it very unpleasant. I began to feel an overwhelming sadness and tears began to well up in my eyes. I felt that this was the emotion of one of the female spirits in the room being transferred to me, possibly that of the little girl. Shortly after this I began to shake uncontrollably as if afraid, although I myself didn’t feel afraid. It was as if I was experiencing the emotions of another person. I called out to the little girl in the room and asked her if she had been hurt in someway in life by the man on the stairs and received a tap in confirmation. I asked her if she was trying to tell me she was afraid of him and received another tap in confirmation.

We had spent a fair amount of time in this room so it was decided to take a break. However, I was still shaking and the shaking became worse when I left this room. All three of the sensitives felt that we should return to the room as we felt the spirit was seeking our protection. We felt guilt for abandoning it. We spent another few minutes in the sitting room where we made it known to the presence on the stairs that we would not be intimidated and that was would protect the child.

It was then decided that we should take a break as everyone felt drained. Following the break we began to investigate the ground floor rooms. We started off in the Green Room. Here we heard tapping and shuffling in the corridor and sensed a presence outside the door. I asked the presence outside the door if it wanted us to leave the room so it could enter and heard a tap. We left there and decided to investigate the corridor. But then we sensed that whatever had been in the corridor had in fact left and gone into the Green Room as it requested!

We next investigated the Yellow Room. Here one of our party felt very unwelcome and threatened and believed he sensed a man watching angrily from the corner of the room. Another person felt that the presence was a ‘grumpy old man’. All of us agreed that the atmosphere in the room felt unpleasant, so we left and moved on to the en-suit room. Upon entering the corridor on the way to the en-suit room, one of us felt a tap on the arm. In the en- room people felt very uncomfortable near the window, as they felt as if something was in the corner of the room near the curtain. It was not a negative energy, but just unpleasant as if a trickster was there waiting to pull a trick. Three of us even did not want to hang our feet over the edge of the bed as it felt like someone would pull our feet from underneath it!

Following another break we decided to return to the lower tower bedroom and the sitting room. In the lower tower bedroom the atmosphere felt more threatening than before. Three of us began to experience headaches and I even began to get an earache. At around the same time one of our party, the one who had felt unwell in this room previously, experienced a slap to the side of his head. It was as if the male presence was showing off his power. This was his place and we were not welcome. We all agreed that whatever was in this room did not want us there and it was unsafe to linger, so we moved back to the sitting room.

Back in the sitting room it at first felt very calm. But after a while one of our party sensed a powerful energy at the top of the stairs. He felt that it was watching us, but he did not know its intention. He felt that it may have been building up its energy to do something. We believed this spirit to be ‘scraggy’. We also once again felt the presence of the child, but it was calm.

I believe that ‘scraggy’ was in fact at the top of the stairs protecting us and the child spirit from the threatening presence in the lower tower room. However, the story is that ‘scraggy’ likes to play unpleasant trick for its own enjoyment, so we did all feel on edge. The room itself felt calm and we did feel that ‘scraggy’ was in charge and keeping the malevolent male presence at bay. So much so we even thank ‘scraggy’ before we left the room.

We wrapped up the investigation here at around 3am, all of us feeling drained of energy and somewhat afraid of the place!

For my part I can’t explain what happened to me when I felt sad, threatened and was shaking, but it was very powerful. The thing that interested me most about this investigation is that we had decided to hold back telling the guests any of the stories attached to the location in order to limit suggestion. But they still picked up on things, such as the unpleasant man on the stairs and the woman and child, which I had experienced with other mediums in this location. I had also previously experienced scraggy’s protective influence and clash with the ‘man on the stairs’ with another medium. I also spoke to the family who run the castle and they told us many people had picked up on the presence on the stairs. Even their youngest son had recently told a guest to be careful of ‘the man on the stairs’ because he ‘tries to push you’. It is all anecdotal evidence, but surely too much of a coincidence?

Ross Castle: http://www.ross-castle.com/

BumpzInTheNite: http://www.bumpzinthenite.com/