paranormal

The Haunted Palace

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I came across this poem today and would like to share it with you. It is by Edgar Allan Poe who is fast becoming one of my favourite horror authors. It brought to mind the haunted castles I visit on investigations.

The Haunted Palace – By Edgar Allan Poe

In the greenest of our valleys
By good angels tenanted,
Once a fair and stately palace –
Radiant palace – reared its head.
In the monarch Thought’s dominion –
It stood there!
Never seraph spread a pinion
Over fabric half so fair!

Banners yellow, glorious, golden,
On its roof did float and flow,
(This – all this – was in the olden
Time long ago,)
And every gentle air that dallied,
In that sweet day,
Along the ramparts plumed and pallid,
A winged odor went away.

Wanderers in that happy valley,
Through two luminous windows, saw
Spirits moving musically,
To a lute’s well-tuned law,
Round about a throne where, sitting
(Porphyrogene!)
In state his glory well-befitting,
The ruler of the realm was seen.

And all with pearl and ruby glowing
Was the fair palace door,
Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing,
And sparkling evermore,
A troop of Echoes, whose sweet duty
Was but to sing,
In voices of surpassing beauty,
The wit and wisdom of their king.

But evil things, in robes of sorrow,
Assailed the monarch’s high estate.
(Ah, let us mourn! – for never morrow
Shall dawn upon him desolate!)
And round about his home the glory
That blushed and bloomed,
Is but a dim-remembered story
Of the old time entombed.

And travellers, now, within that valley,
Through the red-litten windows see
Vast forms, that move fantastically
To a discordant melody,
While, like a ghastly rapid river,
Through the pale door
A hideous throng rush out forever
And laugh – but smile no more.

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.

Ghost Catcher Ireland Becomes Bumpz In The Nite Member

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I am pleased to say that after following BumpzInTheNite on several investigations and applying to be their newest trainee paranormal investigator I have now been invited to join their team. I am very much looking forward to working with them from now on.

Bumpzinthenite was established in 2008. There are now five members in the group, with myself and another member joining recently.

We are dedicated to investigating the paranormal with the utmost respect for both the locations and the people involved. We try to carry out our research based upon both spiritual and scientific experiments.

Humans have been experiencing things they cannot explain for thousands of years, so the concept of a spiritual world should not be so shocking.  We feel that a scientific standpoint is necessary in paranormal investigation, as new technology helps to separate documented facts from rumour and myth.

We must always take in to consideration other factors that might lead people to believing that a place is haunted.  These can be anything from squeaky floor boards to draughts from ill fitted windows.  We also have to look at the history of the places we investigate, a building that has seen many deaths or violent crimes can be deemed haunted because of its history.  Unfortunately not all ghostly activity’s accompanied with the human shaped white mist that floats down the hall way, wanting to be photographed.  So we must document all our findings scientifically so the data will at least be taken seriously.  Just because we are studying extraordinary activity, that doesn’t mean we should abandon all logic and reason.  So using equipment to validate findings is sometimes essential.

And above all it’s fun…..

Check out the Bumpz In the Nite Website for more information on upcoming investigations and investigations open to the public:

http://www.bumpzinthenite.com/

Find us on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/#/group.php?gid=62507486437&ref=ts

Celebrating joining the team

Haunted History Tour with Hidden Dublin Walks

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I recently had the pleasure to attend Hidden Dublin Walks ‘Haunted History Tour. Although this tour was aimed more towards history and legend, rather than paranormal investigation, it was a throughly enjoyable tour which gave me an overview of some of the well-known sightings of ghosts in the city.

Our guide took us on a tour through the older parts of the city covering places such as Dublin Castle, the site of the Eagle Tavern where the skeleton of a dwarf sacrificed by the Hellfire Club was reputed to have been found, Christchurch Cathedral where a military man was supposedly eaten by rats in the crypt and ending up at the eerie St. Audoens church where the ghost of Darky Kelly wanders and the gates to the catacombs known as ‘Hell’ due to its whorehouses and drug dens.

From a paranormal investigator’s perspective I found the location of St Audoens church very interesting. It is a highly atmospheric and eerie location. I had visited this place previously on another tour, but had not experienced anything particularly notable. However, on entering the grassy area to the side of the church, the guide locking the gates behind us, I felt an eerie presence. It felt very much as if we were being watched.

The guide here told us of some of his personal experiences, where he had heard strange noises and had noticed piles of stones appearing randomly on the path, moving from day-to-day.

Upon leaving this area the guide was alarmed to find the gate unlocked. He seemed sincere in that he believed he had locked it and he stated that this had happened before, hinting at a ghostly lock pick. This of course may have all been an act, part of the tour.After this we proceeded down the 40 steps to the gate of ‘Hell’. I took plenty of photos here as I was aware that Darky Kelly is reputed to haunt the steps. At the bottom of the steps we all complained of feeling watched from the area above, where we had just left, and became startled when we all heard a loud noise or movement coming from that area.

Upon analysing my photos from the tour I found a very unusual shape in one of the photos taken on the 40 steps. I brightened this to see more detail and the shape seems see through. I initially thought it to be a shadow, as it is transparent, but the colour and positioning seems odd. It was also taken with no flash in very little light. Although I cannot say this is a ghost, it is still a very interesting photo indeed and I welcome any ideas of what may have caused it naturally.

The unusual photo

All in all I had a very enjoyable and worthwhile experience on the Haunted History Tour and I would recommend it to anyone interested in history, ghosts and the paranormal. I hope to attend a few more Hidden Dublin Walks in future.

If you are interested in attending a Hidden Dublin Walk please visit: https://www.hiddendublintours.com/

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.

Dublin ParaCon, 7th November 2009

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The 2nd Dublin Paranormal Convention took place on the 7th November 2009 in the Radisson Hotel, Dublin near St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

This year we Ciaran O’Keeffe (of LivingTv’s Most Haunted), Barry FitzGerald (of Sci-Fi Channel’s GHI), Steven Parsons, Richard Jones and Damien and Dave of Blather.net were present as guest speakers.

A number of Investigation Groups from around Ireland and the UK were present including the PIGs, PRAI, Leinster Paranormal, Bumpz in the Nite, IPIC, Paranormal Ulster and SpiritFinders Scotland.

I attended the Paranormal Convention in order to meet others working in the paranormal field and to learn more about the paranormal and investigation methods from the free talks by guest speakers.

The PIGs had a very impressive stall including a psychic (Zenner) card test. The BumpzInTheNite crew were also close at hand with their stall highlighting their activities and past investigations.

I was able to attend two of the free talks. The first I attended was by Richard Jones,  author of the best-selling books Walking Haunted London; Haunted Britain and Ireland; Myths and Legends of Britain and Ireland; Haunted Castles of Britain and Ireland; Walking Dickensian London; Haunted Inns of Britain and Ireland; Haunted London; Haunted Houses of Britain and Ireland; Mystical Britain and Ireland; Uncovering Jack the Ripper’s London; and Jack the Ripper:- The Casebook. I had met Richard Jones before when I attended one of his excellent London Ghost Walks. Although I missed the first half of his talk I was able to catch the second half where he spoke about theories regarding ‘Jack the Ripper’.

The second talk I attended was given by Ciaran O’Keeffe, parapsychologist of Most Haunted, and Steve Parsons, one of the UK’s foremost Psychical Researchers and Investigators. The talk was titled ‘How Not to Investigate the Paranormal’ and highlighted many mistakes inexperienced, and sometimes experienced, paranormal investigators make and how to limit these.

All in all the Dublin Paranormal Convention was an excellent event which had clearly been meticulously planned to provide satisfaction and interest to its visitors. Roll on Dublin ParaCon 2010!

Dublin ParaCon Wicklow Gaol Investigation, 7th November 2009

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Following the Dublin Paranormal Convention there was a special paranormal investigation arranged at Wicklow Gaol, where the PIGS, BumpzInTheNite, Barry FitzGerald of Ghost Hunters International, Ciaran O’Keeffe of Most Haunted, Richard Jones and Steve Parsons were in attendance.

The investigation started off with a short talk about the equipment used and a historical talk regarding the gaol. The group then broke off into smaller teams. I was in the team with most of BumpzInTheNite, two PIGs and with Barry FitzGerald leading it. We began in the main body of the gaol, near the ground floor cells. We were split into two groups and one group continued to the basement area where the solitary confinement cell was situated and my group remained at the ground floor cells. Here we were given one cell each to sit in alone. I had never been alone in a ‘haunted’ room before and I have to say I was rather frightened. I seem to be able to cope if there is at least one other person with me, but alone I feel unsafe. This may be because I have experienced being touched by possible entities on investigations and therefore feel a bit afraid of this happening while totally alone as it is quite disconcerting. I could not go deep inside the cell or close the door and had to instead stand in the entrance looking out. While here I felt a coldness to the side and back of me and felt like I was being watched from inside the cell. However, as I was so afraid this may have been my mind playing tricks.

One of the others who was sent to stand on the first floor walkway experienced a tug on his trouser leg. I found this interesting as I had experienced a tug on my trouser leg the first time I had visited Wicklow Gaol while in a cell on the first floor. This same person also often experiences being touched by possible spirits, so perhaps he and I have a sensitivity to this kind of paranormal encounter.

After we had spent some time in the cells we regrouped and came together in a circle near the cell I had been standing in. We held hands and Barry called out for whatever was in the room with us to come closer and communicate. Many of us felt an icy breeze cutting through the circle from the cell I had been in. The atmosphere also became heavy and it appeared to darken. After a few moments this atmosphere then dissipated and the breeze retreated.

Following this experience it was decided for us to go down to see the other group near the solitary confinement cell. Here we were played an EVP which had just been taken. An almost amused voice was heard to say ‘Yes’ in response to the question ‘Do you like us being here?’ We then proceeded to take some more EVPs while holding hands to increase the energy in the room. Nothing further was heard here, but there was a loud bang from above. This was investigated to find that nobody was up in the cell area. But it had sounded like a cell door slamming.

We returned to the ground floor cell area and took a cell each again. One individual would not go into the original cell he had been in as it had an ominous atmosphere inside. I also did not return to my original cell. I took another cell and was able to stay inside it for a time, until I heard a scraping noise and leapt out hurriedly. This was in fact the people in the cell next door moving around, but I was pretty jumpy being alone and could not handle the situation.

Following a break we returned to the ground floor cell area to watch a ‘spirit box’ experiment. A spirit box, also known as a Frank’s box or ghost box,  is an AM/FM radio that has been modified to continually scan up and down the dial nonstop, producing fragments of clearly distinguishable voices as it scans the stations. These voices do not appear to be linked to any broadcast. The belief is that spirits lack a voice of their own and are able to manipulate radio signals in order to communicate.

Using the spirit box a medium present was able to communicate with a spirit calling himself  ‘John Long’ who claimed to have committed a murder. However, Ciaran O’Keeffe stated that the spirit box could mislead as the human mind needs to produce patterns in order for it to make sense of the world. Therefore we would hear words amongst the gibberish being produced by the spirit box as our brains would hear what it wanted to hear. For my part I did not pick up any of the words being ‘spoken’, so I support this theory.

After regrouping again we then headed up to the old chapel which is designed to look like a ship’s deck, cabin and lower deck linked to the transportation of prisoners to Australia and elsewhere abroad. We started off in the cabin on the top deck. There was an oppressive and claustrophobic atmosphere in this room and the medium present sensed an energy with us. I was leaning against the heavy table in the room and several times I felt as if something was pushing me slightly from behind. I thought it was someone leaning on the table making it wobble, but upon inspection it was found that the table was too heavy to be pushed in such a manner. I was very tired at the time so it was also highly likely that I felt a bit shaky and this was the ‘wobble’ I was feeling, so I can not with certainty claim that this was a paranormal experience. However, the medium with us felt cold spots in the room near me, moving to the other side of the room and one other person claimed to have been pushed violently from the side.

Due to the unpleasant atmosphere of the cabin, we left this room and sat in a circle on the upper deck. Here I was requested to call out as apparently the spirit of a male had been picked up by a medium in the past, who had taken a dislike to the confrontational tone and accent of an English woman present. I, however, do not wish to anger or confront anyone (living or dead!) and so I continued to call out politely and calmly with no effect. However, we did all see a white spot of light in the corner of the room which appeared to be moving. Upon inspection it was agreed that it had a natural cause, being perhaps a crystal in the stone catching the light from the moon outside.

Next we investigated the lower deck. Here as soon as I sat down I felt uneasy about the doorway. I felt as if someone was watching us from the doorway. I did not speak up about this as I was not sure if I was imagining it as I had felt jumpy and spooked the whole night after being alone in the cell. However, after a few minutes the medium with us stated that she had seen a shadow moving past the door and it was ‘ as if someone was peering in’ from the stairs.  Also after a few minutes of being below deck we all heard light footsteps from the top deck. One of us went above to investigate and found nobody there.

Not long after we left the ‘ship’ the investigation concluded. I enjoyed this investigation very much, especially hearing the EVP voice down near solitary confinement and the footsteps on the ship’s upper deck. I would very much like to investigate Wicklow Gaol further, but there never seems to be enough time to cover each section desired.

This was an excellent conclusion to the Dublin Paranormal Convention and I very much look forward to similar next year.