Haunted Magazine Issue 21 by Dead Good Publishing Ltd

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EDITORIAL Nine years ago, we were embarking on a journey not knowing where it would end or where it would take us, over 35 issues of Haunted Magazine have been published, in print & in digital and just like the paranormal WE ARE STILL HERE entertaining, confusing, mesmerising and dividing the paranormal community more than ever before (we wouldn’t have it any other way) Next year will see our 10th year, who’d have thunk it eh? We are planning some massive surprises, some awesome paranormal stuff and plan on having as much supernatural fun as we possibly can, which we will reveal when we can. Please enjoy this issue, it’s a pleasure to put it together for you. We have fun doing it, in fact the more we have, the better the magazine is. Don’t Be Normal BE PARANORMAL

17 PARANORMAL

LOCKDOWN UK You visit an old disused underground station and look who you bump into!

Paul

04 THE BAKEWELL OLD HOUSE MUSEUM Ghosts that might make your tart race

06 BEAST YORKSHIRE

To Kingston-upon-Hell with Mike Covell, actually!

11 ALL THAT JAZZ

37 THE ARCHIVE OF THE AFTERLIFE

16 THE SÉANCE

38 NICKY ALAN’S HORROR ON HALLOWS EVE 51 THE BENBECULA WITCHES

Stats and facts about a demon with an Axe Are you ready to take your place at the table, YES, NO, GOODBYE!!

23 WHO LET THE DOGS OUT?

Awww Shucks, you’d be barking mad not to read this

26 THE ROYCROFT SAGE

Parsley, SAGE, Rosemary and QUICHE. Spook eats putting the Ghoul into GHOULash again.

30 MIKI YORK

Miki York does his best Inspect-A-Gadget impression & talks about communicating with the dead.

41 HAUNTEDLIVE

Five big, muscly, guys talk about their new show HauntedLIVE, no not us, the Tennessee Wraith Chasers

Stephen Hummel shares his Haunted Antiques from the USA

Leonard Low gives us the lowdown on this little known case

54 YOUNG VICK AT THE OLD NICK

It was HMP (Haunted Magazine’s Pleasure) for Vicky to write this!

57 KATIE WALLER

Zookeeper by day, Booseeker by night.

60 A COUNTY IN RUIN

Broken, demolished, collapsed but you can’t ruin a great James Pykett feature

33 DR QUEER MEETS THE WICKED WITCHES OF WEST WICKHAM Says it all WEALLY!

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TOYAH WILLCOX’s HOUSE OF SHADOWS

Jayne Harris catches up with the 80s pop icon MA GA Z INE

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STEP BY ESTEP GUIDE TO THE PARANORMAL A tragic story, you might not like what you find if you dig deep enough

Picture Credit: Linda Bussey

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omething sought our attention the other night as we nervously grouped together in the vestibule of Bakewell Old House Museum.... We had just had an informed talk from Fright Nites historian who requested that if any names or scenarios popped into anyone’s head to let him know when all of a sudden one of the spotlights arrayed above us exploded with great force, plunging us into semi darkness with much shrieking and incredulity from us who had been to the Tudor built edifice before... and never seen the like! At the same time, I could hear voices on the upper floors, (where for a fact, no living souls were) and Vicky and Shell, founders of Fright Nites Peak Paranormal Investigations witnessed a shadow wandering furtively around the oldest part of the museum! So, began a very strange night at the museum... the spirit boards were active from the off and spirits were tentatively interacting with us by a diffusion of aromas from floral to battery acid, glimpses of further shadow figure movement and a few jump scares as a seated seance drew a couple of very loud unexplainable raps and the definite sensation of footsteps walking around our circle! The peculiar little cellar, main seat of much weird activity before, went completely insane, with a table tipping session (that had spirits moving furniture quicker than Pickford’s), ending scarily with the cellar door being slammed shut and reopened twice in quick succession by an invisible force, though the investigators were fast to fling the door open, no living soul was in sight! I can normally stand in that cellar for ages and have watched pleasant ghostly faces transpose over the face of a lovely mannequin in there, that night though, two minutes were enough... even the dummy had taken on a dark, dark aura, seemingly being enshrouded by a very negative shadow.... I bade it farewell! Refreshments partaken of, a fabulous spread prepared by the team, including a slice of the traditional Bakewell pudding... we proceeded to walk the short distance to the ancient church grounds, with the opportunity of being able to stand in stone coffins, hollowed out in the silhouette of the body it originally contained, maybe a thousand year hence... this church yard is normally sedate and calm, our visit this night though produced some incredible photographic images of misty faces appearing to manifest out of thin air... one of the guests took a photo toward the ground which captured the chilling sight of a spectral human skull, gazing back up at her... there was nothing resembling a skull in that location. This was such an intense investigation the night started to attract attention from various guests who had relatives in spirit... luckily the only person to be adversely affected by a strong curious spirit was me... though I was in safe hands with Vicky and her crew who brought me back from the brink of becoming part of the plentiful spirit energy that swirled about in Old House Museum that night.... a marvellously eerie place that I can’t wait to return to!

Hubert H

To find more about Fright Nites Peak Paranormal Investigations, just type Fright Nites Peak Paranormal Investigations into Facebook and Hey Presto!! To find more about Bakewell Old House Museum please visit

https://www.oldhousemuseum.org.uk/ 5

Mike Covell’s

BEAST YORKSHIRE GHOSTS AND HAUNTINGS IN EAST YORKSHIRE Pick up a book from the library or bookstore about ghosts and hauntings in Yorkshire, and they will probably tell you about numerous ghost stories in North Yorkshire, including the town of York, the North Yorkshire Moors, and the fishing port of Whitby, but look beyond at places like East Yorkshire and you will rarely find the odd mention, with the exception of Burton Agnes Hall and Skipsea Castle. In 2012 I began a sort of census, visiting towns and villages around East Yorkshire, speaking with hundreds of eyewitnesses, poring over historical texts, reading hundreds of reports in historical newspapers, and gathering together numerous ghost stories that included phantom cows, ghostly sheep, spectral pigs, several White Ladies, a number of ghostly motorcycles, a phantom coach, a ghostly bomber from a now abandoned RAF base, boggles, fairies, and even a couple of screaming skulls! East Yorkshire, or to give it its proper name, The East Riding of Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county of England located north of the Humber Estuary, south of North Yorkshire, west of the North Sea, and east of West Yorkshire. To me, it means more than that, it is home. For many years I have walked around the towns and villages of East Yorkshire, working in places such as Welton, Beverley, Driffield, Brough, and walking across the hills, and in the valleys. I have spent many hours visiting Hedon, Preston, Lelley, Brough, Welton, Melton, Raywell, Brantingham, and more, walking, hiking, and camping in most of these locations, visiting friends and family, and partaking in the odd Sunday dinner and a pint in their local respective public houses. The surrounding area is a delightful landscape that includes the crescent of low chalk hills, the Yorkshire Wolds, the Vale of York, and the low lying flat fertile plains of Holderness. From several points around the area you are rewarded with clear views of the Humber and North Sea, and on calm sunny days you can see for miles across the low-lying fields. These are just a few of the weird and wonderful stories from the region. MAP OF ATWICK SHOWING THE CHURCH OF ST LAWRENCE, WHICH IS SAID TO HAVE A POND THAT IS HOME TO A GHOSTLY BOGGLE!

THE ATWICK BOGGLE Atwick, pronounced “Attick” is along the East Yorkshire coast a few miles away from Hornsea. At the foot of a hill on which the church rests is a spring said to be haunted by a hobgoblin known as the “Haliwell Boggle.” Other variations state that there is a pool with overhanging willows which is haunted by the creature. On Monday February 4th 1924, The Leeds Mercury featured a report by Andrew Glen that stated that the Boggle at Atwick is that of a woman, who has one eye, wears a hood, and is dressed in a long cloak. It is claimed that the poor lady was murdered by her husband but goes on to state that the story has its origins in Scandinavian mythology. Paranormal Investigators reported hearing a growl while stood in the churchyard of Atwick Church near the tree. This was heard by multiple members of the group, and at separate areas around the church. They finally saw “something translucent” walking towards them, low down, almost stalking them,” before they said a prayer causing the unknown entity to vanish. The well was known as the Hali-Well, but some later changed the name to the Holy Well, stating that St. Lawrence had blessed it. It is a spring fed pool that is located 200m to the south of Atwick Church, and it was claimed, by a Rev Smith, that the pool was haunted by a boggle of a one-eyed woman, who wore a hooded cloak, appearing at the well on dark nights. It is claimed that this woman was murdered by her husband and buried near the well. Another theory presented by Rev Smith was that she was perhaps a nun from the priory at Nunkeeling. Another theory, which is one of the strangest, is that the hooded apparition is that of Odin, who would appear wearing a hood, was cloaked and had one eye. 6

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PHANTOM CYCLIST Brandesburton is a parish in the northern division of the wapentake of Holderness, in the East Riding of the county of York. It stands 9 miles / 14 km north east of Beverley, 7 miles / 11km west of Hornsea and is a post town. The latest census, carried out in 2011, showed that the parish had a population of 1,522 people. The village has a lovely church, named St Mary’s, with much of it dating back to the 13th and 15th centuries, although it was restored in 1892. The church has some lovely brasses, including those belonging to John St. Quintin, member of the Harpham St Quintin family, who was a former Lord of the Manor here. The church is a Grade I listed building. On the village green is a Grade II listed cross. Today the village is popular among water-sport enthusiasts attending the Billabong jet ski centre, and golf enthusiasts at the Hainsworth Park Golf Club. A car load of people driving through Brandesburton during the 1950’s witnessed a phantom cyclist riding in front of them. The cyclist was described as a male, wearing a flat cap, a long overcoat, and riding an old push bike. The bike vanished in front of them, along with its rider, and the car screeched to a halt, all the occupants exiting the vehicle to look for the rider, but no one could be seen and there was no damage to the car.

THE HAUNTED TRAWLER As you can imagine Bridlington is an historical port, steeped in the English Civil War, and with stories of smuggling, and a bombardment in WWI, it has all the ripe ingredients for a plethora of ghosts and ghost stories. Bridlington was once home to an allegedly haunted trawler named Pickering, which started out life in Ireland as the Family Crest, and was built in 1977, launched on December 1st 1977, but was involved in a tragedy when a crew member

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died onboard in strange circumstances. After the tragedy the trawler changed its name and headed for Bridlington. No sooner had the new crew boarded but weird things began to happen, with electrical components malfunctioning and The following was circulated by Reuters News Agency on December controls turning on and off seemingly of their own accord. Worse 15th 1987; was to come, however, when a large male figure, dressed head to toe in black, and wearing a black hat, was seen walking around the deck. BRIDLINGTON, England — British officials, investigating why the The skipper of the trawler, Mick Laws, went on record saying that the crew members of a fishing trawler were regularly out of work, called trawler was jinxed, and this claim was later backed up by Chris Clark. in a priest to exorcise what the sailors said was a ghost on board. Chris was a sonar radar engineer, who was called out to the trawler Skipper Derek Gates said he and his four-man crew stopped sailing time and time again. He went on record saying that he had been on and started claiming state unemployment benefits because they were board to change some wiring, after the trawler would turn to port convinced that the trawler Pickering was haunted. The radar would instead of starboard. Later that day he was called back, and when he go wrong at the same time each night when the boat was at sea, the returned he noticed that the wiring, which he himself had changed steering regularly went haywire, sending the vessel into circles, lights earlier in the day, had been switched back! would go on and off and cabins stayed freezing even with the heating Cold spots were reported around the ship, and one-night Mick Laws full on, the crew said. After hearing the crew's complaints, officials was laid in bed when the mattress went down as if someone was called in Tom Willis, a local Anglican priest who is also a recognized stepping on it to climb onto the top bunk. No one else was in the room exorcist. Willis traced the history of the boat to Ireland, where he was with him, and everyone was accounted for. told a man had been lost overboard and his body never recovered. Since the exorcism, in which Willis scattered holy water through the Barry Mason, a crew member, witnessed a figure, which he described trawler and called on the restless spirit to depart, Skipper Gates has as looking like a fisherman, stood in front of him on the deck. Barry reported a totally different atmosphere. "It is a warm and friendly asked the crew where they were at the time of the incident, but boat, and we are having very successful catches," he said. everyone was accounted for. The other crew stated that Barry was white as a sheet after his encounter.

The trawler was plagued by poor catches, and eventually the Diocese of York were called. They sent their top man, the Rev. Tom Willis, erroneously named Tom Wallis in some accounts, and he arrived to perform a ceremony. He had researched the trawler and knew of its history, and he carried out his service on board. It is claimed that after that all was peaceful.

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THE BAY HORSE PUB Cherry Burton is a small village in East Riding approximately 3 miles / 5 km north-west of Beverley and stands to the west of the B1248 road. It is a civil parish formed by the inclusion of Cherry Burton, Gardham, and High Gardham, and has a population of 1,392 according to the latest census undertaken in 2011. The village has a public house, the Bay Horse Pub, St Michael and All Angels Church, and a local shop which acts as the post office. There is also a village hall. The Bay Horse public house in Cherry Burton is said to be haunted by an elderly lady dressed in black. It is claimed that the lady is looking for her husband, who, when living, spent all his time and money at the public house. She now walks the afterlife in search of him.

THE GHOST OF JENNY GALLOWS Flamborough is situated approximately 4 miles / 6 km north-east of Bridlington and is a well-known coastal feature on the East Coast, attracting sightseers, holiday makers, and nature lovers. The headland extends 6 miles / 10 km into the North Sea and is made up of white chalk cliffs which attract thousands of sea birds, who nest on the cliff faces. The cliffs stand 400 feet / 120 m high. Flamborough is dominated by two lighthouses, one of them, Flamborough Head Lighthouse stands close to the cliffs and is the more recent of the two, being built in 1806. The other older lighthouse stands further inland, and dates back to 1669 and today it is a Grade II listed building. The area is known for the Franco-American squadron who fought off the coast in the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Battle of Flamborough Head,â&#x20AC;? in 1779. They battled against the Royal Navy, and today divers from across the world regularly visit to try and find the wreckage of the ships. Flamborough has a long history of smuggling and various tragedies through the ages associated with the sea, it therefore makes sense that it should be haunted, and next we have a collection of stories associated with the district. I love a good mystery, and this mystery presents an interesting conundrum. For years it has been suggested that Flamborough is haunted by none other than the sinister sounding Jenny Gallows. It is claimed that Jenny committed suicide by throwing herself into a local chalk pit. It is claimed that if you run, or walk for the less enthusiastic, eight times, it increases the energy which makes Jenny Gallows appear. Interestingly, other local folklore suggests that faeries can be heard in the pit. It is also claimed that in 1912 a local, obviously unnamed farmer, went to the chalk pit on horseback and on his horse, also unnamed, rode around the pit eight times, thus invoking her spirit. She then proceeded to run after him all the way back to the village of Flamborough, almost catching up with him. She succeeded in touching the horse, which, it is claimed, had a white patch on its haunch until the day it died.

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PENNEL’S GHOST The town of Hornsea dates back to the early medieval period, and the town expanded greatly during the Victorian period, mainly on account of the Hull to Hornsea Railway attracting visitors when it opened in 1864. Sadly, the Hull to Hornsea railway closed in 1964, but by then regular bus services between the two helped visitors to get there. Hornsea is approximately 16 miles / 25 km northeast of Hull, and is home to Hornsea Mere, which was once known as “The largest lake in Humberside,” and is home to a number of wild birds and vast fish stocks. The next story has all the makings of being an incredible ghost story, however, all is not as it seems, and it appears as though time, along with the story being told and retold, has made the story somewhat muddled. Depending upon which book you read there was a notorious criminal, fisherman, and smuggler named Edward, or Abraham Pennel, who lived in Filey. It is claimed that he was captain of a well armed cutter, and had a fierce reputation as a smuggler, robber and pirate, as well as a fisherman. In some stories he murdered his own captain, robbed everything worth taking on board his ship, then sank it off the coast of Hornsea. In other stories he

was known for robbing other smugglers, and in others it is claimed that he had a network of spies along the east coast. It is claimed that in Hornsea, the fisherman, and townsfolk, had developed a reputation for being gossips, and they had become afraid of Pennel and his activities, so a group of Hornsea fisherman conspired to murder Pennel. They sailed from Hornsea, up to Bridlington, then on to Filey, but by the time they arrived in Filey someone had been gossiping, and Pennel was waiting for them, he had his gun drawn, but while they were armed, the guns they carried were holstered, so Pennel escaped. By the time they chased after him he had vanished. Returning to Hornsea the men plotted Pennel’s downfall and let it be known that they had smuggled goods in Hornsea, and the news soon reached Pennel, who was waiting for them, he took their goods and fled into the night, but ran into the Customs officers, who were waiting for them. The Hornsea men had pre-warned them! Pennel was arrested and it is claimed that he was either removed to York, or London, depending upon which book you read. His location of execution was also changed from account to account, with

some stories claiming he was executed in York, some stories claimed that he was executed in London, and some stories claiming that he was executed by the coast near Hornsea. It is claimed that he was executed in 1770 and hanged in chains on the North Cliff of Hornsea, in a field known as “The Common,” as a warning to other pirates, but the story does not end there. In 1780 the gibbet was 56 feet from the sea, in 1783 the gibbet on which Pennel 46 feet away from the cliff, but by 1786 the gibbet fell into the sea. The gibbet stood near the old road to Beck. In later years the site became a signal station, known as Pennel’s Close. Supernaturally speaking Pennel is said to haunt the East Coast, and it is here, off the coast of Hornsea, where his gibbet and body was said to have fallen into the sea, that he has apparently cursed! There is, however, some truth to the story, and Victoria County History confirms that the site was named after Edward Pennel, whose body was left on the gibbet as a warning to other pirates, however, a search of the contemporary press reports shows no account of Pennel and his crimes, capture, trial and subsequent execution.

THE BISHOP’S MANOR Howden lies north of the M62 on the A614 road, approximately 16 miles / 26 km south-east of York, and approximately 3 miles / 4.8 km north of Goole. The town was a gift to the Bishops of Durham from William the Conqueror, but the earliest mention of Howden came in 959 AD, when King Edgar gave Howden Manor to his first wife, Ethelfleda. Construction on the Minster began in 1228, and it was finished in the 15th century. During this period, in the 14th and 15th centuries, Howden became really popular with pilgrims due to the alleged miracles of John of Howden. One such miracle involved John raising his hands to lift the coffin lid on his own coffin at his own funeral! Howden was also the home of Dr Frederick Richard Chapman, a former “Jack the Ripper” suspect, and in later years to Annie Stephenson, the wife of Robert D’Onston Stephenson, another sus-

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pect in the “Jack the Ripper” case. Annie was said to have been murdered in 1887, it was claimed by some authors that she had her head chopped off and dumped in Regents Canal, in actual fact she outlived her estranged husband and died in Knedlington Workhouse, being buried in Knedlington Cemetery. The Bishop’s Manor is situated a short distance away from the Minster and said to be haunted. The Grade II listed building was erected as a private residence and housed the powerful Prince Bishops of Durham, who used to stay on the site when travelling between London and Durham. The building dates back to 1388 and 1405, and was created by Bishop Walter de Skirlaugh, and was altered during the Tudor, Georgian and Victorian periods. Original features, however, can still be found on the site, including the original vaulted entrance porch created by Walter de Skirlaugh. The interior boasts Georgian and Victorian fireplaces, and a beautiful grand staircase. It is said that at least three kings have stayed at the property including King John, who visited over Christmas 1211. King Edward II and Henry V also stayed on the site. The site also boasts a number of fascinating ghost stories and hosts regular paranormal investigations and other spooky events. Among the activity reported is that of series of phantom footsteps, the feeling of being watched, sudden temperature drops, and the sighting of a tall male seen walking through the property.

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e strolls down the street, his shadow slender and contorted in front of him. The click clack of his shiny, black Oxfords smack the cobblestone like the mule hooves and carriages of the French Quarter. Smiling and content, he glances around at the neighbourhood filled with the sound of live jazz music from every direction. Singing a song that’s both lively and tragic, t heir notes carry through that Mississippi River breeze out onto the bayou and through the veins of this dark Crescent City. The windows of the Creole cottages and stately homes, adorned with their painted columns, colourful wood shutters, and petite gardens are peeled open… exposing themselves lustfully to the mysterious demon parading by. He closes his eyes and takes a long, deep breath of fresh air… sigh…” I love me some jazz”, he says to himself in his deep, rich voice. Tipping his slouch hat at the passers-by and giving them a confident nod, he says to himself “they listened, there will be no dark and damnable deeds tonight.” With images of his borrowed bloody axe flashing through his consciousness, he sets down his trumpet case, pulls out a fresh cigarette and matchstick from his breast pocket, cusps his hands, and lights it. He leans with one shoulder into a brick wall, puffing smoke rings into the damp air, and watches New Orleans pass by in all her ghastly glory. Looking back on the week before, he recalls chipping away at the back door of the corner shotgun house in that silent Gretna neighbourhood and kicking in the corner panel to reach in and unlock the doorknob, letting himself in. He walks slowly through the connecting dark rooms, pausing

for a moment in front of the living room doorway listening for the faint sounds of sleep, careful not to drag the heavy, wooden axe along the floor and overthrow his momentum. The grasshoppers and frogs are chirping loudly outside, their soft but powerful hums like jazz notes he can sway his axe to. He approaches the bedroom door cracked open just enough to peer in and puts his ear to the painted wood panel, holding his breath. “Sleep” he whispers. He opens the door so silently and slowly as to not wake his innocent victims, that he smirks in complete satisfaction with himself. He taps his shiny, black Oxfords against the corner of the bedframe and raises his arms to strike. He flashes to a vision of the axe, dripping with fresh blood quickly coagulating as the drips become slower and thicker. He pauses for a moment and wonders if he should put the axe back where he found it, in the garden shed, or leave it next to the not-yet-cold family of corpses. Deciding to take it with him, he saunters to the icebox in the kitchen and pours a fresh glass of chilled milk. After leisurely gulping, he washes and puts away the glass, uses his sleeve to erase the white liquid from his lips, then cleans himself of the blood splatter strewn across his face and forearms with a dish towel from the kitchen sink. He puts the dirty towel inside of his trumpet case and walks out, closing the door behind him, and leans the rusty, dripping axe against the doorframe as a gesture of politeness that surely the police will find amusing. Tipping his hat as he leaves, he says to himself “Goodnight sweet angel of death.” HAUNT ED

THE AXEMAN OF NEW ORLEANS Thirty years after Jack the Ripper ravaged the East End of London with his sharp and bloody blade, the Axeman of New Orleans terrified an unsuspecting city to its core and caused widespread panic. He was perhaps the only serial killer since the Ripper who wrote mockingly to the media about his grisly ventures. Labelled as “America’s own Bayou Jack the Ripper”, the Axeman is known to have assaulted 12 innocent people (of which 5 were slain) in the Crescent City and its suburbs between May 1918 and October 1919. His modus operandi, a borrowed axe from his own victims, he bludgeoned them while helpless and sleeping soundly in their beds. Throats slashed, heads bashed in, and nearly decapitated were just some of the descriptions used in the police reports. Many homes were ransacked, but nothing of value was ever taken from the victims’ households, other than the non-permissive use of their own axes and the lives it violently took. Most of the victims were of Italian descent and owned Italian grocery stores, this led to the belief that the killer was a part of the Mafia. The dreaded and mysterious axeman of New Orleans and his violent agenda disappeared in the autumn of 1919 as suddenly and hastily as they arrived. The fearful midnight murderer was never apprehended and his identity remains a mystery to this day.

In the dark of night, the Axeman slays. He walks slowly through the crisp, early spring air of the city like a swampy sludge of the blackest fear. He knows what he has done and who called him to do it. A demon in the dead of night, his bloody work finished.

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Found Dead in Bed”: The Victims of the Axeman

Hell, March 13th, 1919 In March of 1919, the New Orleans-based Times-Picayune newspaper received a taunting letter from the supposed Axeman. He revealed his love of jazz music and propositioned the citizens of New Orleans to “jazz it” in their homes the eve of St. Joseph’s day (a major holiday for Italians) or “get the axe.” The letter reads:

Many of the Axeman’s victims were Italian grocers. Did he have prejudice against these immigrant families? Did they offend, ridicule, or hurt him in some way? Or was it all just random acts of violence? The world may never know. We do know that those who survived his attacks were left with a ghostly vision for the rest of their lives of a dark man wielding a heavy axe over their beds and reining his strength down upon their sleeping bodies.

Esteemed Mortal of New Orleans:

Hell, March 13th, 1919

They have never caught me, and they never will. They have never seen me, for I am invisible, even as the ether that surrounds your earth. I am not a human being, but a spirit and a demon from the hottest hell. I am what you Orleanians and your foolish police call the Axeman. When I see fit, I shall come and claim other victims. I alone know whom they shall be. I shall leave no clue except my bloody axe, besmeared with blood and brains of he whom I have sent below to keep me company. If you wish you may tell the police to be careful not to rile me. Of course, I am a reasonable spirit. I take no offense at the way they have conducted their investigations in the past. In fact, they have been so utterly stupid as to not only amuse me, but His Satanic Majesty, Francis Josef, etc. But tell them to beware. Let them not try to discover what I am, for it were better that they were never born than to incur the wrath of the Axeman. I don't think there is any need of such a warning, for I feel sure the police will always dodge me, as they have in the past. They are wise and know how to keep away from all harm.

Name/Occupation/Status/Date Attacked/Survived/Died Joseph Maggio Italian grocer 5/22/1918 died at the scene Catherine Maggio Wife of Joseph 5/22/1918 DOA Louis Besumer Italian grocer 6/27/1918 survived Harriet Lowe Mistress of Louis 6/27/1918 died 2 months later

Undoubtedly, you Orleanians think of me as a most horrible murderer, which I am, but I could be much worse if I wanted to. If I wished, I could pay a visit to your city every night. At will I could slay thousands of your best citizens (and the worst), for I am in close relationship with the Angel of Death.

Anna Schneider 8 months pregnant 8/5/1918 survived (& gave birth) Joseph Romano Elderly 8/10/1918 died 2 days later

Now, to be exact, at 12:15 (earthly time) on next Tuesday night, I am going to pass over New Orleans. In my infinite mercy, I am going to make a little proposition to you people. Here it is:

Charles Cortimiglia Italian grocer 3/10/1919 survived/divorced

I am very fond of jazz music, and I swear by all the devils in the nether regions that every person shall be spared in whose home a jazz band is in full swing at the time I have just mentioned. If everyone has a jazz band going, well, then, so much the better for you people. One thing is certain and that is that some of your people who do not jazz it out on that specific Tuesday night (if there be any) will get the axe.

Rosie Cortimiglia Wife of Charles 3/10/1919 survived/divorced Mary Cortimiglia 2-year-old daughter 3/10/1919 DOA Steve Boca Italian grocer 8/10/1919 survived

Well, as I am cold and crave the warmth of my native Tartarus, and it is about time I leave your earthly home, I will cease my discourse. Hoping that thou wilt publish this, that it may go well with thee, I have been, am and will be the worst spirit that ever existed either in fact or realm of fancy.

Sarah Laumann 19 Homemaker 9/3/1919 survived Mike Pepitone Italian grocer 10/27/1919 died later at hospital

--The Axeman

“Don’t Scare me Papa” 12:15 o’clock Tuesday evening March 18th, the residents and revellers of New Orleans jazzed it like they’ve never jazzed it before. Restaurants, clubs, and bars were overflowing with patrons who felt their lives depended on it. Every musician, whether they had been booked before or not, was contracted. Every neighbour, friend, family member, and stranger were gathered together surrounding the jazz trios and

full bands playing their hearts out that night. Every saxophone, trumpet, trombone, drum, clarinet, violin, and piano in the city was humming a tune just for the Axeman’s infatuated ear. Inspired by the letter to the Times, one auspicious composer named Joseph John Davilla claimed to have composed “The Mysterious Axeman’s Jazz (Don’t Scare Me Papa)” while waiting for the

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Axeman. A “bit” of a selfpromoter, by that Thursday morning he was offering the sheet music for sale to the public at a price. His business manoeuvre was so shrewd that many thought he could have written the letter himself as part of a marketing ploy to further sell his composition. On Wednesday March 19, St. Joseph’s Day, the TimesPicayune printed an illustration

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depicting a family frantically playing jazz music from their piano with looks of sheer terror on their faces as they waited for the Axeman to pass over the city. The article described all of the jazzy festivities across the metropolitan area and the fact that the Axeman did not strike that evening. Mr. Davilla would later use this very illustration as the cover of his now wellknown, published sheet music.

Saint Joseph’s Day Saint Joseph was married to Mary, Jesus’ mother, and regarded as Jesus’ legal father. He is recognized by the Catholic Church as the Patron Saint of the sick and happy death, of fathers, workers, and carpenters. In Sicily, where many immigrants to New Orleans hailed from in the late 19th century, Saint Joseph is an important part of their Italian Catholic culture. According to legend, he prevented a famine during the Middle Ages, which is how the typical Saint Joseph’s altar came to be. Fruit, fava beans, zeppole, cakes, breads, and cookies, wine and spirits, other meatless dishes, flowers and candles are all arranged on a three-tiered (to represent the Trinity) altar and then traditionally served to the needy once it has been dismantled. The breadcrumbs of these specially prepared dishes are said to signify the saw dust that would have surrounded Joseph as a carpenter. The Feast of Saint Joseph, celebrated on March 19th, is a major, city-wide, public event for New Orleans and her Sicilian-rooted immigrants. Altars are built and usually open to the public for viewing and paying homage. Parades through the cobblestone streets of the city, similar to the likes of Mardi Gras and Saint Patrick’s Day, are a tradition not to be taken lightly by the Italians. In Italy, March 19th is also celebrated as Father’s Day. Another New Orleans tradition says that if you bury a small statue of Saint Joseph upside down in the front yard, your house will sell more promptly. The Mardi Gras Indians also celebrate “Super Sunday”, the last procession of the season and where costumes are dismantled. on the Sunday nearest Saint Joseph’s Day.

1918-1919

New Orleans: The Great War, The Spanish Flu, and The Death of Storyville In 1917, much to the chagrin of the mayor and a good portion of the city’s debauchery-gripped citizens, Storyville (the segregated red-light district of New Orleans) was shut down and prostitution deemed illegal. “Men must live straight to shoot straight”, as the rigid Navy secretary put it. The United States was “all in” on the Great War, and there were strict vice laws constructed to keep military men away from lustful extravagances. There was a renewed sense of patriotism and the government wasn’t going to let the city of New Orleans - the city of vice - bankrupt that. With the termination of Storyville and the enforcement of the vice laws, many jazzmen were left without work. Jazz music (and its advocates) was seen as a corruption of good morality by the Federal Government, and many performers became worried about the widespread draft into the war. In June of 1918 (a year after the first jazz recordings by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band), the Times-Picayune published an article entitled “Jass and Jassism”, in sheer opposition of jazz – “Its musical value is nil, and its possibilities of harm are great." “Why is the jass music, and, therefore, the jass band? As well ask why is the dime novel or the grease-dripping doughnut? All are manifestations of a low streak in man's tastes that has not yet come out in civilization's wash" Home of one of the nation’s busiest seaports, the first movie theatre, and all manner of indulgences including but not limited to Mardi Gras, New Orleans had a booming economy during this time. HAUNT ED

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1918-1919 New Orleans: The Great War, the Spanish Flu, and the death of Storyville (continued...) Wages reached inconceivable levels of up to $2 a day, occasionally more in urban areas. On the darker side, the Big Easy was also home to the largest mass lynching in American history, a considerable amount of organized crime, and one volatile serial killer. But with pockets full, debts paid, and luxury items in tow, New Orleanians were vastly supportive of the war effort. “100 percent Americanism” was the sign of the times, and anyone who didn’t display this new-found sense of pride for their country was quickly exposed and ejected from society. With the end of the war in 1918 “at the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month” came a new kind of adversary to the docks of the Crescent City’s seaport... the Spanish Flu. Influenza massacred 50-100 million people worldwide, and according to the Board of Health for the Parish of Orleans, between October 1918 and April 1919, the city experienced 54,089 cases of influenza, of which 3,489 souls perished. New Orleans experienced so many horrific cases of the epidemic that Charity Hospital became 100% dedicated to the care of influenza victims. The late teen years of the Crescent City saw a lot of peaks and valleys from soaring patriotism, a booming economy, and the death of Storyville, to the Great War, the Spanish Flu epidemic, mass lynching, rising crime, and one very elusive serial killer.

Italian Immigrants and the Mafia of New Orleans

Over 80% of Italian Immigrants that arrived at the Crescent City ports in the late 19th century was Sicilian. By 1900, New Orleans was home to the largest known Italian community in the South, composed of approximately 20,000 including the children of immigrants. Stereotypes surrounding the Italians, such as a common distrust and disdain for authority, led to settling quarrels the “old fashioned way.” The “Vendetta”, as it was referred to, was a common tactic as witnessed by the frequent knife fights, gunfire, and other violent crimes. In fact, Decatur Street had become so well-known for its vicious vendettas, it was nicknamed “Vendetta Alley.”

between two Mafia families, the Provenzanos and the Matrangas. The first known usage in print of the word “mafia” was in association with Hennessey’s death. Many New Orleanians believed that the Italians, whose population was continually growing and causing apprehension about Italian influence on their beloved city were responsible. The largest mass lynching in Louisiana history and one of the largest in the U.S. occurred when over a hundred men were arrested in connection with Hennessey’s murder. Most were released, but eleven unlucky Italian citizens were horrifyingly lynched when a mob stormed the jail after their subsequent acquittals.

There was much discord between the Irish and Italian population of the city, and in 1890, the Irish chief of police, David Hennessy was assassinated after being involved in a violent dispute

Dating back to 1879, New Orleans was the first city in the United States to have its own “Mafia Family.” In New York and New Orleans, Italian grocery stores were known fronts for racketeering and HAUNT ED

extortion by the Mafia. There had been apparent suggestions that the Axeman of New Orleans had a relationship with the Mafia and “black-hand crime.” A practice derived in Southern Italian communities, “black-hand crime” meant the victim was threatened with violence if money that was demanded was not paid. New Orleans detective John Dantonio, a recognized expert on the subject of the Mafia, denied the claims saying that a “black-hand attack would not have left any survivors.” He believed the Axeman was nothing more than a deranged serial killer with inexplicable motives, not unlike Jack the Ripper. Comparable to other poor immigrants in America at the time, the Italians were vastly discriminated against and the subject of much suspicion from local New Orleanians. They were considered “not quite white”, having worked

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alongside African-American laborers in the fields of the sugar and cotton plantations, pasta factories, and swampy docks of the city and its outskirts. But, to the dismay of plantation and factory owners, an immigrant who delicately hoarded his earnings in these low-wage positions could be self-employed within a matter of a few years. Italians became a mainstay in the French Market, selling their fruit from horse-drawn carts and successfully dominating the corner grocery business. By 1900, almost 20% of all groceries were Italian owned, and by 1920 they possessed exactly half of all groceries in the city. With so many Italians settled in the lower French Quarter in the early 20th Century, the area from Jackson Square to Esplanade Avenue, between Decatur and Chartres, became known as “Little Palermo.”

Bloody Work: Crime solving techniques in the early 20th century At the time of the Axeman murders, fingerprinting was just coming into the limelight in the U.S. and was not yet a standard in identifying criminals even though it had been used by Scotland Yard for several decades. Policing in urban America was exceedingly controlled by politics and the public agenda. Policeman were elected officials who were given the ultimate responsibility of enforcing morality on the immigrant populations of the city. The standard of the time was that if someone with specialized knowledge could help investigators, then the court would allow their testimony. But there was no regulation with this failed attempt, and with it came countless cases of fraud. Despite the circumstantial evidence against one Joseph Mumfre for the Axeman murders, there was absolutely no actual evidence to convict him of the crimes. Joseph was fatally

shot by Esther Albano, Mike Pepitone’s widow, in 1921 after threatening her in her own home. Esther, the sole witness to Mike’s murder two years prior, said that she recognized Mumfre as the Axeman and shot him repeatedly until he was dead. She claimed that he had been harassing her and her new husband, Angelo, who had coincidentally gone missing on the anniversary of her first husband’s murder, two months before she fatally shot Mumfre. Mumfre spent time in prison from 1911-1918 after his involvement in a gang that preyed on Italian immigrants. The timing is very suspicious considering there were a series of axe murders in 1911 that stopped when he was in prison and started again upon his parole. Promptly following Mike Pepitone’s murder in October of 1919, Mumfre fled New Orleans for the West Coast. His sudden relocation also coincided with the abrupt end of the Axeman murders in New Orleans. HAUNT ED

Was it circumstantial? Did Esther mistakenly identify Joseph as the Axeman? Why weren’t the New Orleans police involved? Was it just an excuse to kill a man in cold blood? Was Joseph Mumfre really the Axeman? No one will ever know.

Learn more about the Axeman of New Orleans

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We recommend the following books: “The Axeman of New Orleans” by Miriam C. Davis and “Empire of Sin” by Gary Krist for further reading and research on the Axeman of New Orleans. Buzzfeed Unsolved also has an episode about the Axeman on their YouTube channel that is worth watching. You can listen to Joseph John Davilla’s composition of “The Mysterious Axeman’s Jazz: Don’t Scare Me Papa” HERE: https://youtu.be/x_iSLK74ZI4

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SAM BENNETTS

ABOUT THE SÉANCE: The Séance is the central ritual of spiritualism and has provided thousands of ordinary people the opportunity to try and gain access with the spirit world, within a supportive and like-minded group setting.

A BRIEF HISTORY: In Ancient Greek times, the Greeks used many different techniques to try and make contact with the dead, one of these was something that resembles the modern-day séance, which originates from the Victorian phenomenon. The excitement and enthusiasm for contacting the dead came from America in 1848, when Maggie and Kate Fox managed to communicate with a spirit that lived within their home. From this amazing success, these two ladies started doing large demonstrations to large crowds. Other mediums then stepped forward, and these demonstrations where then also done in smaller groups, in people’s homes, allowing the public to become the ‘sitters’ for the séance. By 1851, which was only 3 years later, the séance was massive. Many mediums became celebrities for their work. They performed for society figures, wealthy aristocrats and even royalty. Here they also started to show a wide range of paranormal powers, far beyond that of simply passing on messages from the other side. From this the Ouija and Table-turning became huge as a medium was not required. Abraham Lincoln, Queen Victoria and Prince Philip were massive fans of table-turning.

why have a séance? Some may find the whole thought of having a séance a very scary and frightening experience, but there are several reasons why it is a good method to use when trying to contact someone from beyond the grave. COMFORT – those who attend a séance are there to try and speak to their friend or a loved one who is no longer on the earth plain, just for reassurance that they are happy and fine, with their new being. SYNERGY – several people working together combining their energies to bring a greater force. WISDOM – Our past loved ones have so much wisdom which comes from their own knowledge and life experiences.

Getting ready for a séance: Location is very important for a séance. You need to have an area where you won’t be disturbed, where loud noises and bright lights will not intrude or ruin the atmosphere or scare of spirit. You need to have a group of like-minded people for the séance. People you trust, they do not need to be believers but understand that they need to be supportive and serious.

Let the séance begin: 1. Sit around the table, both hand placed flat and touching the people’s hand either side of you, till all hands are touching. 2. Call for Spirit to come and join you, you can say something like – “Are there any spirits or loved ones that which to communicate with us’ then follow this with the more traditional question of “is ther e anybody there`’ 3. Before you move on you nee d some sort of response, for example a bang, temperature drop ping, hairs on your arms standing up or even a sensing presence. If no response repeat the same question “is there any body there” 4. The main part of the séance is when you do get a response and can start asking questions, remember some mediums who do this may go into trance which can show physical and personality changes. Also post ure, attitude and voice can change. The questions should star t with general questions connected to the spirit you hav e connected with. Their identity is very important. If the spirit is not whom you wish to speak to then ask them poli tely if it would be possible to bring them in to talk to you. No matter what you ask always remember to speak politely and never malicious, and never ask questions that will give you an unpleasant answer. 5. When you are finished don e just get up and leave. Thank the spirits for joining you, tell them that you hope they come again but for now to return to their spiritual plane, send them your thanks and say goodbye. 6. Once the séance is over, then it’s time to clean up, but do not forget what you saw and wha t you learned. The answers provided by spirit may become clearer later on or may be a springboard of your own reflectio ns. Give yourself some quiet time after the séance to mediate and take it all in. Finally, some important prin ciples:

· Don’t be afraid. · Be real · Be courteous · Be polite · Pace yourselves

Enjoy doing the séance, rememb er to be relaxed and enjoy the experience. Once the séance is over, maybe take a note of what you witnessed and wha t answers you were given, so that in later years you have som ething to look back on.

REMEMBER: THIS IS NOT A GAME. 16

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So, you can imagine when I got invited to the Paranormal Lockdown UK press day at an old disused underground station down in our capital how I felt? Like a man running headlong, at some speed, straight into an old steam train, I WAS CHUFFED TO BITS (did you see what I did there?) I was rubbing shoulders with real proper journalists, I tell you, from The London Standard, The Guardian, The Mirror, Best Magazine and Total TV Guide AND it was great to catch up with the guys and girls from Quest Red, the channel which PLUK (Paranormal Lockdown UK) is on. Suitably suited and booted in our orange hi-vis jackets and steel toe capped shoes we were taken into the depths of Old London that we know as “the underground”, deeper and deeper we went. The venue was a now defunct and disused underground station, Aldwych Old Station, situated in the Westminster part of London. I say disused, it is now used for tours, the odd ghost hunt and TV & movie location sets (Battle of Britain, Death HAUNT ED

Line, Superman IV, The Krays, Creep, 28 Weeks Later & Sherlock to name but seven). NOTE: The spiral staircase is a joy to walk down, but an absolute bastard to walk back up, it has to be said. And you can see why, it’s eerie, it’s spooky, it’s old fashioned, you can hear non-underground London above you and every now and then you get a blast of air coming from somewhere, where, I have no idea. A ghost train maybe? The historian. Alan Brooke, for the venue told us some fascinating stories about the location. It was opened in 1907 and it was used to take passengers to an everincreasing popular theatre The Royal Strand. During the

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Second World War it was used as an air raid shelter for 2,500 people, trust me, it would take a special kind of bomb to reach down there. It was also the home from treasures from Buckingham Palace, the Victoria & Albert museum and most notably, The Elgin Marbles. I love historians, YES you can research stuff off the internet now, but they always have that little nugget of more information than you can find. 17

One of its two tunnels ran directly under a sight that something rather gruesome was uncovered. In the 1830s a man was charging people money to bury their loved ones at a local church, well that’s what the people paying money thought he was doing, he was actually dumping the corpses in a 6ft deep, 60ft wide pit which lay undiscovered until 20 years later when 12,000 bodies were found after people complained of a foul smell and lots of strange insects buzzing and flying around. Now, I’ve smelt some things in my time, ghost hunting with the rest of the HauntedLIVE boys, it’s part and parcel for the course but I cannot imagine what that must’ve smelt like. As well as the smelly ghosts from the “graveyard” many people say that they’ve seen a woman dressed in theatrical costume, thought to be the ghost of Francis Maria Kelly, the star of a one woman show at The Royal Strand theatre and is rumoured to haunt the station in sorrow, devastated that they closed the theatre and put an end to her career.

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Other people have seen a man (in uniform) thought to have died on the tracks and have smelt strong perfume / cigarette / cigar smoke whilst others have reported loud operatic singing echoing along the tracks. An amazing location, with an amazing history, which is where Nick Groff and Katrina Weidman came into it, we’d all listened to the historian and then we were introduced to Nick and Katrina. Now, I’d spoken to them on the phone, on Skype, and messaged them on social media over the past so it was kind of nice to get a “hey Paul man, finally nice to meet you” greeting from Nick along with a high five handshake and a manly hug and “hey Paul, at last we meet” greeting from Katrina, with a much less manly hug. Then it was time for the other journalists, writers, editors to fire their questions in, to be fair, I thought it “fair” to let the others ask away more than myself as we have access to Nick and Katrina on a fairly regular basis, but we got some corker questions in though.

WHAT’S THE MAIN DIFFERENCE BETWEEN UK & USA LOCATIONS?

to their good friend and fellow investigator, Elizabeth Saint, the gadget guru, the goddess of gadgets,

Katrina: Without a shadow of a doubt, the history, you guys have layers upon layers of history, documented, researched history. Ours is only 300 years old or so, our spirits are just babies. We picked up so much more than we expected.

ARE GADGETS IMPORTANT IN GHOST HUNTING?

Nick: Katrina is right, we were sleeping in locations that have a 1000-year-old history, we can’t do that back in USA. There are so many factors to investigate when we’ve been at a location over here, it’s not just the Victorian era, the 1800s, it goes beyond that.

WHICH LOCATION OVER HERE WAS THE SCARIEST? Nick: That’s a hard one, Shepton Mallett, the prison was weird, and kinda freaky, Skegness Hell House was dark and spooky, each location had something, something that didn’t feel right. Katrina: I agree with Nick, it’s hard to pick a top location, or even a top three, the first episode of the series is Shepton Mallett and that was definitely a good one, in terms of evidence and scares, but all the locations had that fear factor at some point. The other reporter’s eyes were drawn to the gadgets like ghost flies around a supernatural jam jar, and to be fair, I was too, Nick & Katrina are blessed with gadgets, new gadgets and bespoke gadgets too, a lot of that is down

Nick: Absolutely, there’ll be times when we pick up on things without gadgets, but to us they’re just another great way of trying to communicate with ghosts, spirits, what ever is out there. Katrina: We will try a few out later when you come and do some investigating with us. And so, it was time, ghost hunting / paranormal investigation with Nick Groff & Katrina Weidman in this spooky disused train station. We assemble on mass to one of the carriages, it’s large and empty, some of the other reporters are looking around anxiously and then Nick turns on the Ghost Box and after a few seconds a loud echoing male voice clearly shouts HELLO at us and then just to show that it’s not always booming loud voices coming through there’s a soft whisper sound, as if from a female. You couldn’t have got much differing voices if you had tried. “Can you try and talk to us” Nick calls out, the soft voice replies “what is it”, followed by the word “actress” (no effing way, yes effing way). Katrina explains that the spirits are most probably trying to communicate by using our energies to speak just before the softer voice asks, “how does it work?”.

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Alan, the historian was in attendance and it appears that his name is being said a few times and is encouraged to speak. Both voices are trying to talk over each other, “do you remember me” from the soft female voice, “is anyone a medic” from the louder male voice. Alan explained that the man who died on the tracks suffered a large head injury. A few of the reporters then appear to go cold and start to shiver. To be fair, there is a gush of cold wind coming from somewhere. Katrina explains that this is common if spirit activity is near as they’re trying to use our energies in an attempt to connect more clearly. This would have made a great place for an episode of PLUK but due to health and safety, it wasn’t allowed (shame).

One of the female reporters jumps as she feels “something, someone” walk past her, touching her softly. Yes, it’s dark and spooky and your mind can play tricks, we all know that, but I have no reason to doubt her. Nick asks if one of us wants to go into the other carriage alone, of course, anyone who knows me knows that I would’ve stepped up to the challenge (ahem), but I felt it only fair to let the other reporters do it. One of them started to move into the carriage, then on the Ghost Box, we heard “Danger” and “don’t go in there”. Katrina told the solo adventurer “spirits often try to spook us but remember it’s only the living that can hurt us”. In attempt to get more activity, before we go to the platforms Nick tries to rile up the male voice to which the words “shut up”, followed by a swear

word and a sigh are echoed through the box. Katrina turns to me and says, “do you want a go Paul?” HELL, YES, I DO. “we’re just about to leave these carriages, we’d love you to follow us and try to communicate with us some more, whether you mean us harm or not, come follow us” Katrina and Nick look at the faces of the other reporters, almost laughing, “thanks for that Paul, “laughs Katrina and I get a “what the chuff did you just say” look from the girls at Best Magazine. IT HAD TO BE DONE!! As we venture onto the platforms, you can smell the oldness of the location, hear the rumblings of the city of

London and get that icy blast from time to time, where it comes from baffles me. After a while it was photo time and I got my selfie with Nick and Katrina, but there was also a photographer there who took shed loads of photos from the event, far better than mine, far clearer than mine, some of which are included in this feature. Before I left I briefly chatted to Nick and Katrina, and to be honest, it was like we were old friends with a common interest in the paranormal. They are so excited for PLUK and jokingly loved the fact that “our swear words aren’t

beeped out”. I also found out that Rob Saffi, the camera man, the theme tune guy and all-round nice guy doesn’t sleep in the locations with Nick and Katrina, that I did not know, I will have to catch up with him at some point and see how he rated our Premier Inns / Travelodges over here. By the time you read this issue, Paranormal Lockdown will be well into its debut series on Quest Red. We hope that this is the first of many series of PLUK, obviously it depends on audience, viewing figures, budget etc etc but I think the UK has impressed both Nick and Katrina with our “haunted” locations. Here’s hoping. Oh, and the girls at Best Magazine are talking to me again.

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Paul

LUCY WILLGRESS

or centuries, all over the British Isles, there have been ominous sightings of monstrous, demonic dogs. Described as colossal in size, with black, shaggy fur, it always has glowing red eyes or, like a cyclops, one fiery eye that glares at its victims from the middle of its forehead – worse, anyone who faces it’s blazing glare is doomed to death, or at least disaster shortly after. Nobody knows when the horrifying hound first made an appearance, only

that reports date back at least five centuries. The legend of the black dog – infamous throughout the British Isles could have evolved from several ancient sagas. Accounts bear similarities to not only the Hound of Odin, described in old Norse mythology, but also the Celtic tales of Arawn, god of the underworld, who released his hounds of Hell to search for human souls. Growing up in rural East Anglia on the border of Norfolk and Suffolk, ‘Black Shuck’ or ‘Old Shuck’ as he’s known,

had been part of local folklore since time immemorial. Everyone knew of someone that saw two glowing, red eyes in the black of night and suffered an unfortunate turn of events – sometimes even death. I’d always assumed it to be an East Anglian phenomenon - Black Shuck was our monster. However, it didn’t take much digging to discover that the hell-hound hunts – maybe even haunts - all over the country. Going by various names, all of these derive from the old vernacular, usually middleEnglish regional dialect.

Picture Credit: Spookhound

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Picture Credit: Paul Atlas Saunders

Black Shuck – East Anglia Stories and sightings come from far and wide all over East Anglia, from the sandy shores of North Norfolk all the way down into Essex. The name is thought to originate from East Anglian dialect, ‘shucky’, meaning shaggy, or ‘Scucca’, the Anglo-Saxon word that translates as ‘demon.’ By far the most famous account from this region is the story of the day of the demon dog, appearing in two Suffolk churches in one day, both during a violent storm. Blythburgh and Bungay aren’t far apart geographically – a mere twelve miles, yet during the sixteenth century, even the fastest racehorse would surely have struggled to get from one place to the next with both congregations still present. The strange thing is, it isn’t just a folk tale. Broadsheets printed stories about the supernatural occurrences that day, and Church wardens even wrote about it in the ledgers.

A contemporary broadsheet states that:

‘A strange and terrible wunder wrought very late in the parish church of Bongay…namely on the fourth of this August, in y yeere of Our Lord 1577, in a…tempest of raine, lightning and thunder, thys like whereof hath been seen. With the appearance of an horrible-shaped thing, sensibly perceived of the people then and there assembled.’ (sic).

Written records were not commonplace at the time, making it even more unusual that the church warden recorded that two men were killed in the belfry, while several members of the congregation were maimed. Primary sources as evidence in cases such as these are rare in the extreme. While many people could read by this date (compared to the century before), not many of them needed to learn to write. Instead, shocking events such as this were made into verse and recited or sung in alehouses and town squares all over the country. One such verse that survives tells us of the happenings that day:

‘All down the church in midst of fire, the hellish monster flew And, passing onward to the quire, he many people slew’. Sadly, no evidence of this demonic encounter survives in the existing fabric of Bungay church, mainly due to the reformation and erasing of anything relating to ‘superstitious’ Catholicism. An unfortunate side effect of this was destroying past evidence that we today would find fascinating. However, the same cannot be said for Blythburgh; the church door still bears the scars of scorch marks, supposedly left by monstrous claws. Picture Credit: Raiden Silverfox

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Picture Credit: Britt Martin

Yeth Hound – South West While the description remains the same – a huge, shaggy black dog with glowing eyes – the beast of the West Country is reputed to embody all the lost souls of Dartmoor, it’s most notorious haunt in the County. Here, legend focuses on the souls of stillborn, abandoned or aborted babies, whilst in Cornwall, the belief still survives that a baby born at midnight will have power over the ‘yell’ hounds and the supernatural. In Devon, the beast is called the Yeth Hound, derived from the old dialect pronunciation of ‘heath.’ Mentioned in the nineteenth century collection of folklore ‘The Denham Tracts,’ it may also have been the inspiration for Arthur Conan-Doyle’s ‘Hound of the Baskervilles.’ Sighting were so commonplace in centuries past that Black Dog Hill in Wiltshire was named after it.

Barghest/Barguest – Yorkshire Also known as Gytrash and Padfoot, the dog of doom has been sighted everywhere from the snickets of York to the coastal town of Whitby. One of the most famous cases from the area is the Legend of Troller’s Gill in the Dales. It was first recorded in William Hone’s ‘Everyday Book’ of 1830, then later in the nineteenth century in Thomas Parkinson’s ‘Yorkshire Legends and Traditions’. The reader is told that one night, a brave local took it upon himself to go out into the gorge to confront the Barguest, summoning it forth with ritualistic magic. Unsurprisingly, he never returned to tell the tale, and his mutilated body was found weeks later by a shepherd, who said that across his chest were strange marks that ‘had not come from the hand of man.’ That’s one Barguest I’d rather not have a pint with!

In popular culture The black dog has been sparking our imaginations for centuries, and today is no exception. Barguests feature in several well-known books, including Roald Dahl’s ‘The Witches’ and Neil Gaiman’s story ‘Black Dog.’ Glam Rock band The Darkness – from Lowestoft in East Anglia - recorded a song called Black Shuck. The shaggy one is even more popular in video games these days, making appearances in The Witcher and Kingdoms of Amalur, and even TV series, such as Grimm. I guess there’s no reason why Omens of Doom can’t move with the times!

New Evidence Until recently, the only evidence for the existence of such a creature came from accounts and stories recorded in stories, papers and songs down through the centuries. That’s until archaeologists made a shocking discovery in May 2014. During an excavation at Leiston Abbey, Suffolk, the bones of an enormous, male dog were unearthed. Standing seven foot tall with an estimated weight of 200 lbs, the skeletal remains certainly match descriptions. If nothing else, this find proves that an animal of such terrifying size can and did exist in times past. Such physical evidence, combined with the existence of written accounts and reports, leads me to think that the legend of Black Shuck could have its roots in reality. Whether a real beast or not, it’s certainly fed the imaginations of generations for hundreds of years. I can’t imagine that changing any time soon.

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Home of Occult Architecture, Secret Societies, and a 20th Century Utopia (oh and a rather nice Quiche of the day)

hen one thinks of the occult, secret societies, and a Utopian community, not many people think of Niagara Falls. Sure, the locals call it the unofficial 8th wonder of the natural world, and it’s also been deemed the Honeymoon Capital of the World. But home to America’s very own sage? It sounds like something out of a fairy tale, but less than an hour from Niagara Falls is the home of the Sage of East Aurora. It’s a place still shrouded with mystery, sacred architecture, and the ghost of its fearless leader. Welcome to the Roycroft Inn.

The Roycroft Inn and Campus was founded by Elbert Hubbard in 1895 (not to be confused with L. Ron Hubbard of Scientology infamy) and named after the 17th Century printers Samuel and Thomas Roycroft (the name meaning “king’s craft”). The Campus was home to those swept up in the Arts and Crafts Movement of the late 19th-early 20th centuries. Together, Hubbard along with his wife, Alice, and their followers, created a medieval guild-like organization which eventually led to a sort of Utopian society where they worked with their “heads, hearts, and hands” instead of the gears and grease of the Industrial Revolution.

The Roycroft Campus continued to grow over the years and by 1910, the Campus contained over eighteen buildings acting as places of work and group housing for more than 500 craftsmen and women, spiritualists, suffragists, reformers, radicals, prohibitionists, and freethinkers. But with the claim of a secretive, Utopian community hoping to change a country in grass-roots movements, there are always rumours of societies and cults lurking about, and the Roycroft is no different.

Hubbard was known as the Sage of East Aurora and for a good reason. It’s a truth universally acknowledged by historians and paranormal investigators, alike, that Hubbard was a Rosicrucian. Rosicrucianism or the Order of the Rosy Cross was established in (you guessed it!) 17th Century Europe. Like most secret societies of the day, Rosicrucianism was (and still is) a mixture of Kabbalah, Hermeticism, alchemy, and mystical Christianity.

Amanda R. WoomeR (Spook-Eats)

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According to the teachings of the society, members were privy to the knowledge and secrets in nature that provided insight into the physical universe and the spiritual realm. This claim to fame as a Rosicrucian led Hubbard to be the charismatic leader of his beloved Roycroft community, even taking on the nickname of Fra (Latin for brother) which is a common term of address in monastic orders. Despite this direct connection between the Roycroft Campus and the Rosicrucians, it’s still unknown whether Hubbard was running a cult-like commune on the Campus or if the Arts and Crafts Movement could have been considered a religion at a time when spiritualism was on the rise and religious unrest was sweeping the nation. A religion follows a set of beliefs while a cult follows an individual. Strangely enough, the Roycroft is home to both these ideas, leaving researchers dumbfounded of what to make of this community.

Hubbard and his wife, Alice, died tragically when the Lusitania sank off the coast of Ireland in 1915 (an event that Hubbard prophesized as far back as 1896). Despite this heart-breaking hardship, the community continued under the guidance of Hubbard’s son until it fell into a state of disrepair in 1938. The Campus lay quiet on the corner of Main Street and South Grove Street until it was granted National Historic Landmark status in 1986. Today, it acts as a restaurant, boutique hotel, and the 21st century home for those continuing the Arts and Crafts Movement. But even though planes fly overhead now, and cars go zooming by, there is still a sense of mystery and otherworldliness that surrounds the Roycroft Inn and Campus and all who visit it.

While the Roycroft may not boast stories of murder and malevolent spirits stalking its halls, it certainly has an air about it that seems mystical and sacred. Lights turn on and off on their own. Objects such as glasses move by ghostly hands in the bar (which used to be Alice Hubbard’s [known prohibitionist] office). An old hag and young serving girl appear in the gift shop. A full-bodied apparition of a man stares out one of the Inn’s windows. All these claims (and more) haunt the Roycroft. Long-time employee, Rita, shared that when she first began working at the Roycroft Inn over fifteen years ago, she heard a man call out her name in Hubbard Hall.

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Despite the feeling of uneasiness, a disembodied voice might cause in most individuals, Rita claims that she wasn’t afraid, and she believes it was Hubbard calling out to her. And that feeling of protection and positivity resounds throughout the Campus.

The Roycroft Campus may not be nearly as (in)famous as the Stanley Hotel, the Farnsworth House, and other haunted places in America, but it is definitely one of the more fascinating and beguiling locations I’ve had the pleasure to visit. Sacred architecture runs rampant at the Roycroft Campus, and it comes as no surprise that everyone’s favourite Rosicrucian, Hubbard, had complete control over the design of his community. Not only do the shapes, angles, and locations of many of the buildings directly correlate to occult architecture and mystical philosophies found in the works of the Masons, but the terracotta face on the side of the chapel adds a level of mystery to the place possibly representing a god-like figure radiating knowledge… one that strangely looks like “The Rosicrucian King” Frederick of the Rhine. In all honesty, no one has any clue what this pagan-like face is doing on the side of a church (other than adding to the enigma of the Roycroft Campus).

But the Roycroft Inn isn’t just the home of wayward spirits, occult symbolism, and impeccably crafted furniture. Today, it acts primarily as a restaurant offering (officially) Buffalo, New York’s best brunch (seriously, with endless Bloody Mary’s how could it not be #1?), lunch, and dinner both inside the main dining room, the Larkin room, and the outdoor peristyle. The ambiance is both charming and warm, the staff is amiable, and the menu is extraordinarily varied. There’s an impressive selection of beer, wine, whiskey, and cocktails (might I recommend the Larkin About, named after Hubbard’s time working with the Larkin Soap Co.?) as well as a soup of the day, salad of the day, catch of the day, crêpe of the day, and quiche of the day. However, sadly, as I’ve begun to learn with most haunted locations, the prices are a bit on the higher side, so be prepared to spend anywhere from $40-100 per couple depending on what you order and at what time of day you choose to visit. Luckily for those of you who have a hard time spending a pretty penny on a sandwich (like myself), the portions are fairly generous, and the box of leftovers takes some of the pain away as

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you hand over your credit card. I highly recommend their shrimp and lobster bisque (I consider myself a connoisseur when it comes to lobster bisques, and this was the best damn bisque I’ve ever had). I’m not a huge fan of sweets but their candied cashew caramel cheesecake is to die for (seriously: if I were Elbert Hubbard, I’d forget haunting the waitresses and spend eternity eating my weight in cheesecake and never grow tired of it).

Once you’re done gorging on bisque and cheesecake (trust me on this one… you can thank me later), feel free to wander around the Roycroft Inn and chat with the employees. Whether they’re believers or sceptics, everyone has a story to share, and almost all of the stories revolve around a single room where employees refuse to go, and it is said to be the hub of all the hauntings: The Ruskin Room. This room has many claims of paranormal activity ranging from séances, lights turning on and off, mysterious noises, psychic experiences, poltergeist activity, and even the apparition of Fra, himself. The Ruskin Room is said to have been Elbert’s private study and also the location for various Rosicrucian ceremonies (use your imagination). According to local folklore, a Seneca shaman showed Hubbard exactly where he should build the tower housing the Ruskin Room after various dowsers found natural energy beneath the ground. It’s believed that these underground energies stir up paranormal activity and help to lift the veil between the worlds, offering those brave enough (or crazy enough) to enter the room a chance to see the spiritual world around them.

I sadly did not hear Elbert Hubbard call out my name, nor did my cocktail move on its own while I visited the Roycroft Inn. I did, however, leave feeling revitalized and rejuvenated as if the calming and soothing environment of the Roycroft Inn is still alive and well, despite its fearless leader having left this world over 100 years ago. For more information on the Roycroft Inn or if you’d like to reserve a table or a room, check out their website at www.roycroftinn.com or call them at 1 (716) 652-5552. And if you find yourself in Niagara Falls, be sure to experience the “Supernatural Roycroft” ghost tour with Mason Winfield located right at the Roycroft

Campus.

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MIKI YORK’S GHOSTS,GADGETS AND GIZMOS

Twitter: @TheRealMikiYork YouTube: MrMiki272

“ALL I HEAR IS RADIO GA GA... RADIO GHOUL GHOUL..!” YOU KNOW THE DRILL BY NOW, THERE’S PEOPLE THAT LOVE GHOST HUNTING GADGETS AND THERE’S PEOPLE THAT DON’T. I GET THAT, WE ALL KNOW THE PARANORMAL IS AN INDUSTRY, A NICHE, A GENRE, A SECTOR, CALL IT WHAT YOU WILL WHICH HAS MORE DIVIDES AND WEDGES THAN A TRIVIAL PURSUITS COUNTER OR A TERRY’S CHOCOLATE ORANGE. BUT WHAT IF GADGETS AND GHOST HUNTING GIZMOS WERE MORE THAN JUST FLASHY LIGHTS, MORE THAN RANDOM WORDS AND RADIO WAVES AND THE NAY-SAYERS ARE WRONG, WHAT IF THEY COULD ACTUALLY COMMUNICATE WITH THE DEAD? 30

What’s the best tool to talk to the dead? Your own body, using your senses, the gadgets that God has blessed you with? Flashy gadgets, where some look sleek, slick, modern and some look retro or ‘Steampunky’? The good old-fashioned Ouija Board, the one that you can buy from toy shops, but Victorians swore by it back in the day? Old radios, full of electrical interference, white noise, low frequencies, hi-frequencies? Well over the years I have used all the above, they each have their

Facebook: MikiUKHaunted Instagram: TheRealMikiYork

own use and charm about them and yet many of these (if not all), have been criticised and judged by the paranormal community. For me personally, my favourite piece of kit has to be the spirit box or ghost box. I have used many kinds on different investigations like the original franks box, designed by the late Frank Sumption. I do in fact own 4 different kinds of ghost box and with Alex of UK Haunted, we have 7 in total. They each have different ways of communicating with spirit.

Many people would be aware of the usual ones, like the spirit boxes used on shows like Ghost Adventures, P-SB7 and P-SB11 the principle being that they scan and sweep the radio frequencies backwards so if you hear words then its spirits using those frequencies to communicate with us and not Sara Cox from Radio 2. There are however, gadgets like this that some of us may not have heard of. A few years ago, I had the pleasure

P-SB7 & P-SB11 SPIRIT BOX Just to recap the P-SB7 is the original ITC spirit box that is designed and made by Gary Galka. He made this device (and other equipment) so he could speak to his deceased daughter. It works by scanning and sweeping the white noise of the radio frequencies. You only hear each radio frequency for a quarter of a second and in theory if you hear full words or sentences, then it’s more than likely you are speaking to a spirit rather than a DJ or hearing words from songs. The P-SB11 is the updated version of the P-SB7. On this device there is a second spirit box and can sweep both boxes forwards and backwards at the same time and at different sweep speeds. It also incorporates a temperature reader that lets you know when there are spikes in the temperature range. Again, this is an ITC (Instrumental Trans Communication) device. HAUNT ED

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COOPBOX

RADIO SHACK 12-587

A ghost box made by a good friend of mine, Steve Cooper. He is a self-taught engineer who makes these individually numbered, unique spirit boxes. These have never been radios but continuously sweep the stations. You don’t get radio bleed, so in a way it is similar to the P-SB7. Some of them have a built-in echo so you may get a better chance of hearing what is being said. Some have the capability to turn the sweep on and off. As with most things in life (phones, TVs, games consoles), each version of the Coopbox (pictured right) is an improvement of the one previous, like being able to connect an external spirit box or music to and play through the internal speakers. He is adding new things to each one he makes.

This is similar to the Franks box, where you would get radio bleed and stations coming through while it scans. There are many RadioShack radios that have and can be hacked, Alex from UK Haunted has a couple of them. They are great at capturing the voices between the stations and I fully believe that when using these devices, that we are speaking to a spirit. In the past I have used this particular ghost box at Houghton House in Ampthill, Bedfordshire. This old Manor House is derelict, and we captured very graphic swear words at about 8pm and if it was radio bleed then the cu*t word wouldn’t have been on the radio, before or after the 9pm watershed. It was a controlled question.

“WE ASKED THE SPIRITS IF THEY MEANT US HARM AND 3 SECONDS LATER A VOICE REPLIED, “KILL THE CU*T”. THIS LANGUAGE JUST WOULDN’T BE ON ANY RADIO STATION ANYWHERE. THAT HAS NEVER HAPPENED AGAIN, SINCE THAT NIGHT.”

JENSEN GHOST BOX This is my latest ghost box. I’ve been after one of these for many years now and have managed to get hold of one in the last 2 months. I’ve had some amazing responses on this little box and I can say that I have been blown away by what has come through.

of using an original Franks box while on location at Fort Paull in Hull. There weren’t that many of these boxes made, with all of them being individually numbered. Sadly, Frank died on 17th August 2014, so no more of these amazing machines will ever be made again. Without Frank’s idea for a device to communicate with the dead like the hacked radios and ITC boxes like the P-SB7, we wouldn’t be using them today. Frank is the man responsible for creating this whole area of research and that should never be forgotten. At that time, I had only used the P-SB7 and the Franks box was so different, we had more words and radio bleed on this device. Using this type of spirit box, you must expect the music or radio stations coming through but it’s the voices and words between the stations that you need to look out for. This is where you receive messages from the other side and it can get to the point where you are asking questions and getting intelligent responses at times.

Answers to controlled questions, locations that I was at and people’s names that could be verified. So, at the moment this is my favourite spirit / ghost box.

“IT’S SAFE TO SAY THAT THE ADVANCEMENT IN THESE GHOST HUNTING DEVICES IS PRETTY COOL AND AMAZING AND WHETHER YOU LOVE THEM, HATE THEM, OR ARE UNDECIDED THEY ARE HERE TO STAY”

Ghost hunting is unique, I can’t think of any teams or groups or people who investigate the same way as others, that’s the beauty of the paranormal, whether your old school or into your gadgets we are all trying to see if there’s anything there and you know what gadgets may just be the answer, one day. There are some paranormal investigators don’t like the spirit box and just say it’s radio bleed or coincidence when voices come through, which is their opinion and if that’s what they think then so be it. I personally don’t agree with this way of thinking. Random words can and do come through but over the years, I have had too many correct answers to controlled questions that I have asked, to not believe that the spirit box or ghost box is a credible way of speaking to spirits. If you spend enough time with the devices and find out how it works, what happens when if it malfunctions and why it malfunctions, then yes, I think you can use it to actually speak to and find proof of the afterlife and intelligent spirits. Give gadgets, gizmos and ghost boxes a go before you totally dismiss them, you may be surprised as to what you hear and capture.

You can’t reach Miki via a Ghost Box yet and hopefully for the foreseeable future, as he is well and truly alive, but you can contact him via social media. HAUNT ED

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In the last issue, we talked to Neil Packer and his Haunted Antiques Paranormal Research Centre. Whilst producing the magazine, a US based proprietor of Haunted Antiquities got in touch to let tell us a little about his Archive of the Afterlife and the curiosities that reside within. Stephen Hummel is a Paranormal Historian, Researcher, Author, Artist and Haunted Relic Archivist. From an early age, Steve recalls being fascinated by accounts of ghosts and ghost stories and after experiencing several occurrences of unexplained events. his interest in the paranormal piqued. Steve has spent the past 11 years of his life conducting day and night paranormal tours at the former West Virginia State Penitentiary. For the past 8 years he has co-founded and has co-produced the YouTube channel Paranormal Quest show, “This Is Reality”. In addition to the aforementioned experiences, for the past 7 years Steve has collected and rescued hundreds of residually charged and spiritually haunted items for his Historically Paranormal museum known only as the Archive of the Afterlife a “National Museum of the Paranormal”. Moreover, Steve is an ordained minister with his focus based on Spiritual Cleansing and Demonology.

He bases this early calling through his Christian Studies from Warner Southern University and Omega Bible Institute & Seminary. Steve's passion and interest for helping those in need stems from demonic attacks that a very close loved one was subject to as he was growing up, and also being personally attacked himself. Some of Steve's experience and involvement includes having been featured in the Wall Street Journal, featured on Destination America's "Ghost Asylum", A & E's "My Ghost Story”, “Paranormal Quest”, “This is Reality", & much more.

The Archive of the Afterlife The Archive of the Afterlife currently resides in Moundsville, West Virginia and was established in mid-November of 2011 for the sole purpose of harbouring haunted and cursed relics and artefacts. Whether from private residential cases or commercial locations The Archive's mission is to not only offer sanctuary for the relics and the entities attached to them, but to help alleviate unwanted or malevolent energies and/or entities from their current locations. The Archive also focuses on not just entertaining it's guests, but also educating them to the complex and mysterious field of the paranormal. HAUNT ED

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Annie's Portrait - This portrait has become widely excepted as a conduit for a lady by the name of Annie. It is one of our most active haunted relics in addition to being one of the highest visited relics!

The Execution Cap the West Virginia's Electric Chair "Old Sparky". 9 inmates died wearing this relic as their death sentences were carried out. Making this one of our most haunted artefacts!

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CHECK OUT https://archive-afterlife.weebly.com 37

Nicky Alan’s

Horror on Hallows’ Eve

was smoking at the time. I was standing in a pub garden at 1am on Hallows’ Eve looking up at the sky wondering what the hell I was going to do as I frantically drew on every puff. Madness had ensued that’s the only way I could describe it, horror and madness. It was like any other ghosthunt. Public entry, small group, paranormal investigation, get evidence, review footage, go home, job done. It didn’t quite work out that way. We had been told of a haunted pub, The Plough in Birdbrook. It was a pleasant enough place, nestled in the Manningtree countryside in Essex. I along with my team thought it would be a great Halloween venue as it had a spooky cemetery at the back of the premises. I have been born into generations of psychics, mediums and healers. My siblings are all psychic as well as my aunts and uncles paternal side. There is nothing much that I haven’t witnessed as a medium on the paranormal front. But let me tell you, as I stood behind that pub smoking my cigarette,

I remember clearly saying to one of my team mates, “I have no f**king clue on how to stop this!” The evening had started off pretty well. We were getting contact in various ‘hotspots’. A young spirit lady did well to effect communication through rapping on a wardrobe door. We had a trigger object, a toy car, moved by a little spirit boy who kept following other groups to corroborate his presence. All in all the evening was going well and everyone was enjoying some form of unexplained phenomena. There was one sceptic in the group. Fair play to him, he approached me at the beginning of the evening to express his views. His name was Darren, ex-army and built like a brick out house. He made it quite clear that he thought it was all a load of rubbish and had been dragged along by his mum. After a chat and confirming that his scepticism wouldn’t affect the rest of the keen group, he reluctantly trailed around in one of the teams. HAUNT ED

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They say that midnight is the witching hour, well the timing was impeccable. Everything literally just stopped instantly. All of the spirit interaction that we had achieved and built up literally left the building. The silence was deafening. We contacted each other on radio as we had all noticed this unprecedented halt in proceedings. We agreed to regroup as we were totally perplexed as to what had stopped our investigation. My brother Richard then said, “A head honcho has walked in and he is not great.” I agreed and decided to keep the public group in the ‘safe zone’ whilst I and Rich went to investigate. My safe zone consists of an allocated area that I have saged before the investigation. Its perimeter is then protected by rock salt and grounding crystals. I also have a rosary in the centre of the zone that my granddad used to take on house clearings and investigations.

I found the hot spot immediately. The closer I walked to a back store room the more my heart palpitated and I started to feel sick. As we entered the room our thermometer dropped thirteen degrees within seconds whilst we felt hot. A clay pot then flew across the room. The sense of foreboding was palpable. I turned and looked at my brother, “Looks like we have found the head honcho.” Whatever had arrived in the ether had shoved every other spirit out of the area. We regrouped and I asked for volunteers to carry out a tumbler seance in this back room.

We also set up a live feed for the rest of the public to watch. I wanted to know who and what we were dealing with.

WATCH OUT BASTARD COMING...

With the tumbler set up in the middle of the table and simple paper letters to form the communication, we were all shocked when as soon as our fingers touched the tumbler it was speeding around the table erratically. We could hardly keep up with the strength that this tumbler was being launched with. I was desperate to make sure everyone kept hold of the tumbler, it was repeatedly trying to fly off the table. It then stopped dead and slowly moved to A M which are my dad in spirits initials. It then spelt.

My dad was warning me.The hairs on the back of my neck went up as I felt searing pain spread up the bottom of my back. On inspection I had an angry red welt start to form on my skin. I was livid. I started to demand who we were talking to. I then got a burn mark like a poker burn in between my knuckles. The tumbler remained strong and started to spell out WITCHES. The spirit still would not identify who he was. Darren, the sceptic who was sitting to my left then let out an

Scratches inflicted on Darren although he insisted on carrying on with the séance

expletive. I asked him what was wrong and he said he felt burning on his back. I looked at his back and was horrified to see a bleeding welt rising up his lower back. I stopped the séance there and then but Darren insisted he wanted to carry on. There was a girl, Kate, who was a beginner in investigations and this spirit started to intimidate her, forcing her to leave the room absolutely terrified. Within seconds Darren jumped up again. On looking at his back, I could see a puncture wound in the middle of his back dripping blood. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Darren insisted on continuing to

do the seance. As I had told the spirit to never touch me again I had no further injury. This entity obviously went for the next best thing, a sceptic. After another few minutes Darren had even more scratches, cuts and deep skin welts on his back. It was then that I halted the séance and regrouped in the safe zone. Everyone was shocked into silence. Darren’s back had been slashed time and time again. I went outside and had to link up with my guides to ask what the hell to do. I had never been faced with such a violent spirit before. After much discussion we then filmed Darren’s bare back and HAUNTED

recorded footage of an unseen energy scratching through his skin. We then thought of another approach. We couldn’t just lave a violent spirit in the pub. I had the strongest and most experienced people on the table. We decided to proceed to try and identify who we were communicating with. Darren’s back continued to get slashed as we continued. We eventually identified the spirit as Matthew Hopkins. Truth be told I had no idea who he was. It turned out he was the Witch Finder General between 1644 and 1647. It also turned out that he had lived just down the road from where we were and

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the cemetery at the back of the pub was where tried witches were buried after being tortured and hung. We were basically right in the hub of his old hunting ground. The hunters had become the hunted. Matthew Hopkins would use an implement that can only be described as a chisel crossed with a scalpel. He would rip the implement through suspected witches usually trying to find scar tissue that wouldn’t bleed. If the skin did not bleed he would declare them a witch. He was responsible for over 300 executions of purported witches during his three year spate of terror. 39

He declared us as witches because we were communing with the dead. I tried everything to get rid of his presence. Nothing worked. I had no idea how or why he was still an active energy after hundreds of years. What I do know is there is no doubt he still prowls his old hunting ground in Manningtree to this day. His presence was obviously optimised by the thinning veil of Hallo’s Eve. On conclusion, I conducted a cleansing ceremony of the room. I did not get rid of his spirit but I did get him out of the pub. As the fragrant smell of the guide and angel realms permeated the room cleansing it, I knew we were to end the investigation.

The footage of the investigation was put together by Rich and earned a place in the Southend film festival.

Nicky Alan is a naturally born psychic medium and is acknowledged as one of the most highly esteemed mediums in the industry. She officially started her spiritual work 27 years ago whilst also being a Major Investigations Detective in Essex Police. She is mostly known for her appearances on international radio (winner of best Show and guest for ‘Angels’ Haunted Devon FM) and many TV programmes including Street seer Gifted channel, Live from Studio five Channel 5, A Sister’s Loss Sky One, Come dine with me (guest medium) and Angels (two seasons with Gloria Hunniford).

If you would like to see the investigation, The Birdbrook Ghost Hunt is available to view on my YouTube channel Nicky Alan.

Nicky has had many published articles since 2005 in mainstream spiritual magazines including Chat It’s Fate, Psychic News, Psychic

Darren, funnily enough is no longer a sceptic and did start to conduct his own paranormal investigations! It has to be made clear that this type of violent spirit phenomena is very rare. However I am a complete advocate of having an experienced medium on any investigation as you really don’t ever know what you are going to be faced with. Be warned guys, don’t play about with this stuff.

vision, Prediction magazine, Two worlds, Paranormal News, Kindred Spirit, Take a Break’s Fate and Fortune and Spirit and Destiny. She was also the columnist for Eternal Spirit and now a columnist as ‘The Psychic Detective’ in Take a breaks Fate and Fortune and ‘Diary of a Psychic’ in Spirit and Destiny magazine in the UK and Australia. Nicky has travelled globally carrying out theatre tours, seminars, paranormal investigations and teachings of the afterlife and angel phenomena. She has written and produced to guided meditation CD’s Meeting your guides and Soul Journey and is soon to release her debut book, M.E Myself and I: Diary of a Psychic.

TENNESSE’S FINEST ARE BACK TO GIVE HAUNTED MAGAZINE THE LOWDOWN ON THEIR GROUND-BREAKING NEW TV PROJECT!

The Tennessee Wraith Chasers boys are old friends of Haunted Magazine, we interviewed them last year when they were debuting Haunted Towns. Not wanting to rest on their laurels and continue doing they’re the same, they’ve now embarked on LIVE Ghost Hunting, titled Haunted LIVE (sounds strangely familiar), utilising the power of a TV Network, namely The Travel Channel BUT also (and for us here at Haunted Magazine it’s a big BUT ALSO) utilising one of the biggest forces in the modern paranormal world today, Social Media. Not only will you be able to watch them LIVE on the Travel Channel, but you will also be able to interact with them on social media, watch them LIVE on Facebook in what is being described as the ultimate paranormal experience. We caught up with them again as they were preparing for this very new challenge.

Hey guys it's great to talk to you again with another shiny new project 'Haunted Live' (great title btw - did you know about HauntedLIVE in the UK?).

Brannon: It’s basically a live ghost hunt on TV in which the fans can interact through the web. Porter: The premise is that we find these locations and investigate them live Chris: I did not know about with America watching! HauntedLIVE UK but I’m It’s just like everyone is definitely going to have to going right along with us check it out now! Great and investigating at the minds think alike. same time! Additionally, Doogie: Great to talk with fans get to help us with the you again as well. I have investigation by watching followed you guys for a the live feeds and letting us while. Really like the way you know via the internet that Doogie: This is gonna be an something is happening in all roll and the name is on epic interactive adventure point [“winking face”]. another area, so we can go with the TWC, coming to there and investigate…it’s like Mike: Haunted Live in the the audience live from each the viewer can legitimately UK? I had no idea... coming awesome location. affect the course of the over to the UK is something investigation! Mike: It’s all about the we always wanted to do. fans. If not for the fans, Hopefully someday! we wouldn’t be able to So, tell us what's it all do what we are doing. about? This is an amazing opportunity for them to Chris: “Haunted Live” is a barrier breaker in many investigate with us. HAUNT ED

ways. It gives the viewers the opportunity to essentially investigate with us. The energy is going to be high because the pressure is going to be ridiculous, and in theory ghosts feed off that energy. We hope this variable added to the intense locations we’ve chosen, PLUS the fact that it’s completely interactive, will be the paranormal protein these spirits need to manifest.

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One of the things that captured the imagination from 'Ghost Asylum' were the brilliant array of gadgets and traps that you designed. Will you be using these on the lives and if so which ones? Chris: We definitely like to try new things – the more creative the better. No matter how crazy the method, we will try anything at least once. I think you’ll definitely see some new gadgets, but also perhaps new techniques to implement as well. This is a field based on theories, experience and beliefs. Without trial and experimentation, we’ll never evolve.

Chris: Definitely the digital recorder. It’s probably the simplest of the tools we use, but it has gotten us some of the most phenomenal evidence to date. It was my very first piece of equipment and the fundamental tool for any up and coming paranormal investigator. However, technology aside, I believe the best piece of equipment is our own Godgiven senses. No piece of technology can trump the human ability of sight, sound, smell and touch. Doogie: I think it’s different for each team member, but the voice recorder is one of my favourites.

Mike: Faith is a big part of my life, of our lives. We pray before going into a location, and I pray during an investigation as well as after. Like the Bible says, if God is for me, nothing can be against me.

Doogie: The experiments we used on “Ghost Asylum” were pretty great from an experimental aspect. I think we may use some methods from there, but with a totally different spin for each specific location. Mike: You never know what we will break out! Some may depend on the location. Brannon: We may bring in a new device on occasion. Porter: We were so blessed by our viewers in their support of our investigations and implementation of experimental transportation devices in “Ghost Asylum” …we were able to shoot those episodes over the course of 4 days and take the time to implement the device and try to get interactions. In this endeavour we will only have an hour of live investigation to get that interaction and document it for the audience…that means that we just won’t physically have time to develop and implement those devices. But in return the audience will get to see the good, the bad, the ugly and the triumph that exists during a real investigation. What would you say are your go to gadgets and why? 42

I have gotten some of my best answers with just a recording device that does not cost 300 bucks. Lighting up gadgets are great...but the recordings give you a direct answer for the most part, and that is why it is my go to device. Mike: My very first go to is a flashlight – you have no idea how many times that little gem is forgotten. It’s a must-have for sure. Other than that, I can be good with just a recorder. A great way to capture that “in the moment” evidence and hopefully dial in your investigation a little more... who you’re talking to, what they want, if they want you there at all...etc. Brannon: To be honest I like to try a little bit of everything, but it seems like audio evidence is where most of the evidence is, so I would say an audio recorder. Porter: I love to use the basics, a recorder and video camera however, some of the new technologies provide a new way to measure, document, interact and communicate with the other side. I have been experimenting with the portals and have had amazing interactions…perhaps HAUNT ED

you’ll see some of these in action on the show!

may explain some of what we consider to be supernatural.

How does your faith influence / impact upon your investigations?

With live ghost hunting, we know that anything can happen! Chris and Porter, how do you think you will cope with the scarier moments when you are live on camera? Will you need a bleeper?!

Chris: Faith for me is the most important thing when it comes to this field. I was raised Christian and I still hold very strongly to my Christian beliefs. I may not understand every detail of these beliefs but that’s where the faith portion comes into play. I don’t believe these are human spirits, but I also don’t believe they are all demonic. I have no idea what they are. All I know is they are intelligent and from my experience, misunderstood. Being that we don’t have all the answers, it’s better safe than sorry, so we always give a big “fist bump to the Big Man” before every investigation. Doogie: My faith is everything to me. It gives me the comfort and power of safety to push on in an investigation when you just want to leave sometimes. It may be different for some in the aspect of safety. I know some use specific stones and what not, but I stay with the strong hand of the BIG MAN. Brannon: I am a Christian and raised missionary Baptist, so I believe in angels and demons, although I don’t necessarily believe in people staying around after death. I believe they go to Hell or Heaven based on if they are saved by Jesus or not, which I am saved.

Chris: It’s definitely going to be interesting to see how this plays out live. There’s always that chance of something off colour happening that can’t just be edited out in post. In fact, we all have a steady pool of who’s going to curse first, and his name rhymes with “Stoogie.” What locations will you be visiting and how did you choose them? Chris: Each member of the team has carefully chosen these locations. We pick them based on paranormal activity, history and even some personal experience. We only have an hour to try and generate a response, so we’ve chosen the most active locations and I don’t think they will disappoint. Doogie: The locations will be loaded with history and hauntings. You will not want to miss an episode! Mike: All I can say is that these locations are deep with history... some we’ve been waiting years to get inside. It’s gonna be a fun ride for sure!

Porter: One of the best and worst aspects of live TV is that anything can happen, and the audience gets to live it with us! Although we have experienced many supernatural experiences we still get excited and startled when the unexpected happens, and that can sometimes produce an outburst! Porter: I’m a firm believer in the power of prayer and anytime I enter a location I ask God to keep me safe from the wilds of the devil. I’m a Christian but I also know that throughout time we have used religion and mysticism to explain things that we didn’t understand. My faith is strong but am always open to discovery of science that

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Brannon: Can’t give away too much, I can tell you they are haunted though! Porter: We have some amazing locations lined up for the show…some we have never been to and others we’ve been to but have never investigated… This season is gonna really be a treat for us and the viewers!

Chasey Ray Mcknight was your equipment tech until 2015 where he stepped back for some family time. Are you still in touch and will there be any reunion with him in the future?

Chris: Actually, I just ran into his wife at the supermarket today! We keep in touch as much as possible but with four kids and a 60-hour a week job, he’s a busy guy. We miss the big hairy redneck, but I know he’s right where he wants to be. I can only hope we talk him into another hunt but only time will tell. Stay tuned.

Doogie: Chasey Ray is still a huge part of the TWC family. We talk to him from time to time when he is not covered up with family obligations. You never know when Big Ol’ CRM will show up. Mike: Oh yea. Once a wraith chaser, always a wraith chaser. Chasey is a brother, he'll never go away! God

bless him for deciding to put his family first. Traveling can be tough, especially with little ones. Porter: I talk to CRM on occasion and he is done with investigating at the moment and focused on taking care of his growing family. I’d love to bring CRM back…those were the best times ever.

Last time we spoke Chris, you mentioned that ‘The Bell Witch’ was on your paranormal bucket list. Have you had the opportunity to investigate it yet or will this be on one of your future live shows? Chris: YES. This is at the very top of my paranormal bucket list. I have yet to investigate or even visit the grounds. I know if I went for a tour it’d just be a tease for me so I’m still waiting for the whole experience. This story has both intrigued and frightened me my entire life. Fingers crossed.

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Back to the new show, will you be able to interact with fans on the investigations? Chris: Basically, you can watch us on your TV screen, and help us investigate through your laptop, tablet, or cell phone. We will have static cams set up all over the location, so the fans can keep an eye on each room, even during commercial breaks. It’ll be like having thousands of investigators helping us on every case.

have a paranormal claim, then dive into the history and try to see if there’s a connection. Once this is established, you know what the best approach is to elicit a response or debunk the claim. Doogie: I always say do your research! If you get answers it may connect back to something you’ve learned about the location’s history. It also helps in having educated questions about the specific location.

Brannon: Since “Ghost Asylum”, we do more experiments on occasion than trying to “trap a ghost” or “transport a ghost,” and we also investigate more types of places than just asylums. Even though I am open minded to possibly containing a ghost, I don’t necessarily believe you can trap them indefinitely. Doogie: We will have a special team set to keep up with all the fans interactions. They will keep us informed of anything they see that we may not. Mike: Yes, we will! It’s the “Ultimate Paranormal Experience” – fans on Travel Channel’s Facebook page will be able to interact with us and let us know what they see on the web cams. Brannon: Yes, we will be able to interact with the fans through the web. Porter: We’ll be getting feedback from the viewers during the investigation to help us find potential paranormal activity. Will there be any other investigators present? Doogie: Just the TWC for now, but you never know who we may have to call in. Porter: No, this will be our investigation and since its live and time is limited we don’t want to complicate matters more by bringing someone in that’s not familiar with the format. When investigating, which comes first? Researching the history of a location or straight to investigation to see what you find? Chris: I like to start with a good ghost story. If you don’t have that then why investigate? Once you 44

Mike: For me it depends. Sometimes I like reading up on the history of the location and see what I’m getting into. Sometimes I like going in cold, see what evidence I get and then do the research LATER. See if it matches up with any of the claims, etc. Brannon: We usually research the history first, then investigate to see if the evidence agrees with recorded history. Porter: I personally love history, so I have a hard time not digging in to the history right away. It’s great to do the investigation and then compare your evidence to the history and finding those connections. I like to find the Easter eggs and keep them in my pocket until we have a reason to reveal them. It's noticeable that you don't have a medium / sensitive working with you. Is this a conscious decision? What are your opinions on mediumship? Chris: I’m not against trying mediums. I’m more of a large kind of guy myself. In all seriousness, I do believe there are some out there with gifts and some that just want attention. I think if we can find one that we all agree is legit, we’d love to have them join us. Doogie: We have discussed this option and we are not against it. It’s just something we have not really dipped into. HAUNT ED

Mike: When it comes to mediums, I’m 50/50. I really don’t have a direct answer. I do believe some people have a gift, and then there are the other ones. We have worked with some before, not so much on TV, but we have worked with them. Brannon: I am open minded and believe in sensitive people, but I know there are a lot of fakes out there, so you have to be sceptical when dealing with psychic mediums and sensitives. Porter: We haven’t worked with mediums much on the show however, in my personal investigations I’ve found someone who has a real knack for knowing information and relaying info that is on point and I love working with her. I’d love to do more investigations with her…she’s on a sister show but would work with her anytime. How would you say your investigations have changed since 'Ghost Asylum'? Chris: As in anything you do, you get seasoned over time. I believe we’re more aware in many ways. I think we’re more aware of environmental factors that can mimic activity, and a little more in tune with our own feelings and senses. Unfortunately, also a little more jaded but just with people. Spirits not included. Doogie: We moved up in the world in the fact that we go into much safer and cleaner places. We interact with more people that are using the location we investigate now. In “Ghost Asylum,” we investigated more dilapidated and abandoned places. Mike: On “Ghost Asylum,” I worked production. After that is where I really got into it. A plus from working on “Ghost Asylum” to “Haunted Towns”, was being able to investigate multiple locations and see if there are links with the hauntings.. Porter: The scope of the investigation has broadened, and we are no longer trying to contain energy. If we can communicate and have a great intelligent interaction, I feel like we have accomplished our goal. Of course, if we can help in any way we are glad to walk down that road.

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Any plans to fly across the pond to the UK? Maybe TWC's 'Haunted Live' could join HauntedLIVE? Chris: That would be amazing. Are you kidding? With so many haunted locations and such rich history and culture. Sign me up. Doogie: That would be amazing!! Let’s see how we do and that may be an option...MAYBE... Mike: We would be there in a heartbeat if we could. Hopefully that’s in the cards...so many great locations over there. Brannon: I would LOVE to go to England! It’s one of my many dream places to investigate and to even visit. Hopefully we will get to work with you guys in the future. Porter: No plans as of yet but you never know where we will end up. We mentioned social media and with our HauntedLIVEs it plays an absolutely massive part of Live Ghost Hunting, the viewers literally become your extra eyes and ears, is this what you are hoping to happen with regards to social media interaction? Chris: Absolutely. Some will view this as just a TV show. We view it as the ultimate paranormal experiment. We hope everyone joins in online and helps us further the field with their opinions. The more eyes and ears, the more possible it becomes to capture something paranormal. Doogie: That is exactly the point. This will give the fans a great interactive experience and also give us a whole new set of eyes that we would normally never have. Mike: That’s exactly what we are hoping. There are no experts in this field. I don’t care if you did this for years, or are a first or second time ghost hunter, we all learn from each other. Having that extra set of eyes and ears can truly help the investigation. Maybe they will catch something that we didn’t. Brannon: Yes definitely, we are hoping that viewers will participate and investigate with us. And because we have the eyes and ears of the viewers, we will be more likely to catch evidence of the paranormal.

Doogie: I have been doing paranormal investigations for 20 plus years. The equipment is the biggest change that I see. People still go about investigations mostly the same as usual. It is nice to see the different angles others put on their investigations. I see a whole lot more experimental pieces of equipment, that no one is really sure how they work. That’s the reason why I am still a lil’ old school about using recorders and just my own senses. Don’t get me wrong...I do like the new stuff because it gives you a visual aspect for immediate validation. At the end of the day, I think the paranormal investigators and equipment are headed in the right direction.

Porter: Absolutely! Most investigation are conducted with a team of folks but it’s hard to catch everything. We are hopeful that with America watching and that many eyes on the screen that someone somewhere will see that monumental interaction that everyone misses and bring it to the world’s attention! You formed in November 2009, around the same time as Haunted Magazine and we've seen so many changes in the paranormal world over the last nine years. As you go into your 10th year in 2019, what do you think has changed the most and more importantly has your belief of the paranormal changed, and if so, in what way?

Chris: I think it’s the way people perceive the paranormal in general. When we first began, most conversations that started with ghosts ended in laughter or criticism. Now everyone is so much more open and intrigued about what’s out there. I still hold the same belief system, but my fear of the unknown subsides a little more with every case. However, to this day if I go to a haunted house and a guy jumps out with a chainsaw…I scream like a little girl. Mike: My beliefs in the paranormal have not changed, but the paranormal is much more mainstream than it has been in the past. I think it’s continuing to grow day by day. People are HAUNT ED

becoming more open, people are having their own experiences and becoming believers. Investigating is addictive...we’re always wanting more, wanting to find out the answers...but will we ever know? Are we even SUPPOSED to know? It’s a field with 100% questions and zero facts. Brannon: I believe that the world has become more accepting and open minded of ghosts and the paranormal in general in the past nine years. Also, I believe the scientific community has become more open minded in ghosts and more technology has been made for ghost hunting. In the past nine years, I have become much more open minded to the paranormal, even though my core religious

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beliefs of the Bible and the final destination of man’s soul remains unchanged. Porter: Wow what a great question! We find ourselves being more open to learning and experiencing other forms of investigation and assembling our own body of knowledge. My belief is unchanged, but my questions continue to grow. It’s like a maze with no end but we continue to follow the path to see where it leads. It’s been an absolute pleasure talking to you all today. Best of luck with the new show and hopefully we will see you here in the UK soon!. 45

When Jayne Harris met Toyah Willcox

oyah Willcox is a woman who requires no real introduction. A timeless singer, actress, presenter and free thinker (who never seems to age!), Toyah is someone who admits to being very fluid in her beliefs, but you may not necessarily associate her with the paranormal…until now!

Toyah has been having paranormal experiences since she was a child and now considers them part of her everyday life. In a new documentary Afterlife Toyah opens up about these experiences and shows viewers around the most haunted parts of her home! The film’s Producer and Presenter Jayne Harris caught up with her for a coffee and a chat in-between filming on behalf of Haunted Magazine.

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J: Toyah thank you for speaking to Haunted Magazine, (*whispers - it’s one of my favourites!) First of all, would you tell us about your interests in the paranormal and when they began? T: Well I wouldn’t actually claim to be interested in the paranormal as such as it isn’t something I actively seek out as an interest…it seeks me out! What I will say is from a very early age it became quite apparent that absolutely nothing in life fits into the category of normal. Even time, which we believe to be an event of movement through space - is a construct of our own design. I don’t believe in time as we see it. Before I was old enough to conceive what “reality” is I was having dreams about concentration camps, dying in the gas chamber, leaving the body, being suspended in eternity and then returning to the physical world in another body. I was about 4 years old. My mother would freak out when I told her these really disturbing dreams and she would tell me never to tell anyone. 47

“Past, present, future are all the same and so is eternity…it’s all here, all at once.”

As I grow older some things become more apparent. Reality is a controlled construct, without it there would be no evolution, just anarchy. Our sense of reality is based around our 5 senses, these senses pick up only the vibrations/frequencies they are tuned to, but there are many thousands even millions of frequencies and vibrations around us which we never experience. Sometimes our senses become highly sensitised and we can read the past, in that we pick up on a past event or a past life, sometimes this is simply an emotional memory left behind such as a haunting but more interestingly sometimes we are in the actual event itself…I have only ever experienced this once. I was looking out across a field in Worcestershire when suddenly I witnessed an army on horseback riding into battle. I didn’t necessarily think of what I was seeing as ghosts, just another layer of time. Past, present, future are all the same and so is eternity…it’s all here, all at once. J: Your home is really quite

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special, not only in terms of its history but also its paranormal activity! What can you tell us about the experiences people have had in your home and the stories connected to it? T: Luckily even non-believers have experiences in my home! This is incredibly important to me, because I have always been addressed as someone with an active imagination, but I know when it comes to my house that it’s absolutely NOT my imagination! The most famous experience was with the actress Rula Lenska who is a non-believer in ghosts. We were filming a ghost hunting documentary with Rula, Ruth Madoc and 5 close friends, all reluctant to be there and all nonbelievers. We were in the cellar when Rula collapsed. She said she was trapped with a group of children who were locked in down there and starving to death. When researching this story, it appears that during the Plague, around the 1600’s, (my cellar is dated from the 1500’s), villager’s would put the children underground thinking they

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wouldn’t get the disease, in the case of my cellar around 15 children died there as a result of the adults dying and no-one coming to get them out. J: That’s such a sad piece of history, and how fascinating that Rula picked up on that so strongly! Have you ever seen a ghost/apparition yourself? T: My home has many shadows which appear at the same time, in the same place daily. I now completely ignore them, but guests see them and ask what is going on. We have a male shadow who walks past our kitchen door to the cellar. Everyone sees him. J: YES! I saw that when we were filming here, just a brief glimpse but definitely a shadow. T: Exactly. We also have a woman in white who walks outside the kitchen windows, many friends and complete strangers have seen her. A slightly spooky new one appeared a couple of weeks ago and he ran from my husband’s office into our lounge, which made me jump!

J: I bet it did! Would you describe yourself as spiritual? T: Spiritual as in I believe the flesh is just a vehicle for us to learn, experience and tune our souls through. As if we are batteries that need charging, therefore development and efforts in life are vital to our eternal existence. I believe we go on. J: Given your experiences and those of your friends in your home, do you ever feel uneasy, especially when alone at home? T: I never feel uneasy alone. I feel uneasy among humans! They are the ones who do the real damage. My home is remarkably beautiful and has a living soul, it is unlike any other place I have ever lived. When I met my husband, he lived in a house that was so evil I could never be alone there, the devil was present I am convinced.

J: Wow. What happened? T: Too much. We will leave that for another issue of Haunted Magazine. J: OK, moving on! There is an ever-increasing interest in Ghost Hunting lately both on TV and amongst small groups, what are your thoughts on ghost hunts generally? Ghost Hunting isn’t a bad thing in my opinion. It helps people explore their senses and feelings. If it helps people see that they are not just their own physical flesh and blood I think that is a great thing. For centuries we have been controlled by the fear of death. Fear robs us of our freedom in life. If Ghost Hunting helps people believe in the continuation of the soul then I think that is brilliant, even though I do believe most ghosts are simply memories rather than conscious entities. Now conscious entities are a totally different kettle of fish!

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Another remarkable thing about humans and animals is our emotions. These are so powerful that we can leave these memories behind…it makes you realise how important being positive is. Also, humans have the ability to meditate /pray/conceive future ideas and bring them into the physical world. We are so much more than just our 5 senses. Therefore, I believe ghosts play a vital role in broadening our beliefs and physical horizons. J: Finally, what do you believe happens when we die? Is there an Afterlife?

“I believe ghosts play a vital role in broadening our beliefs and physical horizons.”

T: About 5 years ago I had an astonishing dream in Seattle. I was there writing an album. It was one of those dreams where the experience was so tangible it’s hard to believe it was just a dream.

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I was staying at the home of my closest friend who I write with and unknown to me he had developed cancer, it wasn’t diagnosed until a week later. In my dream a white shaman came into my bedroom through the window and said he was there to teach me how to die. He said: “When you die, you peel layers off yourself as you leave your body. Like peeling an onion, each layer comes off, until you eventually strip yourself down to your bones. You then detach yourself from your bones, every layer is an important part of your future existence, never resist this process, go with it.” This dream baffled me. Why was I being taught how to die? A week later my friend was diagnosed with a nasty cancer and I realised the dream was to help me guide my friend. It has been 5 years now and in this time the team, a group of us, all friends, all meditate together at the same time where ever we are in the world. we have healing sessions with renowned healers and we have been peeling the layers off to find the origins of anger

(that we believe may have triggered the cancer in my friend), in the hope he can stay with us as long as possible.

Described by VICE’s ‘Broadly’ magazine as “the UK’s Foremost Female Paranormal Investigator” Jayne Harris is a Researcher, Filmmaker and Director of HD Paranormal Research.

Death is a painful experience for the living, I believe death is a natural process like being born and a continuation of existence. I believe we cannot die, and we return to the physical world when we need to recharge the soul. I also believe once in the death process there is no necessity for us to be the people we were in that life anymore. In actual fact I believe if you hold on to your past…that’s when ghosts appear.

Her fascination with the unexplained started at a young age after a series of unusual experiences and has spent the last 20 years researching and investigating anomalous phenomena. Jayne is also a qualified Psychologist and keen Historian and regularly lectures at schools, colleges and conventions. She is also a published author and a regular on paranormal TV and Radio worldwide. Jayne is the former owner of one of the most haunted objects in the world the infamous Peggy the Doll who, in 2017 she entrusted to the care of Zak Bagans and remains a consultant on her case. Peggy the Doll can be visited in Zak Bagans Haunted Museum in Las Vegas.

J: Toyah thank you so much for chatting to me. You can keep up with Toyah on her website

www.toyahwillcox.com and by following #TOYAH60 (yes, she turned 60 this year!) Details of Afterlife: The Documentary at www.facebook.com/AfterlifeDoc

Jayne Harris HAUNT ED

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The Lowdown

The Three

Benbecula Witches With Leonard Low

When I write, I usually find myself knee deep in old manuscripts and first edition books hundreds of years old; it’s usually in my research for an old Witch trial. I may just get a sentence from a book, just a snippet of information that will leave me on a chase to gather more information. Ancient books after books may lead me to nowhere! And it’s all very time consuming with usually very little available to enhance the story. Many Witch trials were never recorded, only existing in letters from gentlemen who witnessed the event writing to each other showing disgust or approval to the burning. From what brief details I get I can usually go through my sources and find something.

ut I question myself why after a week of little sleep and total chaos to my library, I at the end of my tether, and my research archives which is now fully exhausted, I find I have amassed only about six paragraphs of quality material towards the tale, two of them being the location and past history of the area taken from my Statistical accounts of Scotland 1797. Basically, stuck and frustrated that I cannot enhance the story further... It’s a fruitless search that 9 out of 10 times leads nowhere, but again when going

through the same search sometimes I get lucky, details reveal themselves, piecing together a vivid story and when it happens it makes the previous efforts all worthwhile. It’s with this forthcoming story, I met at one of my lectures a lovely German Woman called Anya Mackay, who introduced me to her husband who had been brought up on the West coast of Scotland on the island of Benbecula. He had a story, a very unusual story witnessed by himself and a friend that when I researched his tale it produced a most strange situation! I will retell the tale

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as told to me from both the witnesses who saw the strange phenomena. I must add the witnesses are reliable and professional men who brought up in the wilds of this bleak windswept Island are not acceptable to being frightened very easily, hardy and tough is the lineage of the breed from this Highland outpost. Benbecula in old Gaelic is pronounced “Beinn Na Fadhla” meaning “the mountain between the fords” a flat rugged land with one distinctive high area to the island, the island is 8-mile square with the soil sandy and inappropriate for crop farming.

Several fresh water lochs are in the centre of this isle and it’s here that we find ourselves with the two friends, out for the day with metal detecting equipment. This is their story as they told it to me in May 2015 Kennoway, Fife where they had moved to live.

couldn’t have missed them either, we immediately packed up our bags and moved off towards the ancient stones of the “Ultach Fhinn” Fingels armful, the ancient 3 Millennium BC stone age ruins, 23 feet by 6foot carved stone blocks.

Mr Hugh Mackay and Mr Bernhard Fladung … were good friends; Hugh was born in Balivanich and brought up on the island, he knew the Benbecula coastline better than most, his friend Bernhard was from Germany and today found them on a metal detecting enterprise; with history going back 3000 years from the monolithic remains still to be seen on the island they had some previous success here in metal finds and knew the best spots. A few hours into the expedition brought success and a couple of hits had found and were enough to find their way into the keep bag. The weather was sunny with good visibility and, as the inhabitants are used to here, the weather can be traditionally unpredictable with considerable changes the norm. It’s something the locals get used to, but the tourist may frown at the unpredictability mixed with occasional swarms of midges, the tiny Scottish Mosquito with the 6-inch jaws!

Right next to the monolithic stones was “Airidh na L’Aon” the chambered cairn built as a shelter it was here they retreated to the base of Rueval hill.

It was nearing Dusk, and it had become overcast, dark but still warm enough to stay out, it was then a strange chill took the lads they both noticed it, then to the immediate right of Hugh … he saw a lady in the distance walking over the heather, Something not quite right about her, her skirt was long, lengthwise to the ground in an old fashioned style, wearing a dark blue shawl draped over her shoulder, she was sternly looking at him and his friend. He mentioned it to his companion who saw the strange woman also, but then another same dressed woman appeared…then another. The three weird dressed women were now 10 feet apart from each other they were slowly making their way towards the two lads, but the area they had come from was bleak and nothing but a peninsula into the sea, they saw no boat to have dropped off the three strange sisters onto the island, and the boys couldn’t have missed the girls go past them to come from the direction they were advancing from. Something wasn’t right, “it just didn’t feel right, the women looked so out of place with the costumes they wore, we never saw them arrive, but we 52

They looked over towards the beach and again they saw the weird sisters standing where the boys had been just minutes ago…but all three sisters were silently staring back at the boys! “It was the strangest feeling ever, I had spent my life on the island and had never experienced anything like it, the women had walked in a full semi circle around us like we were being stalked, I’m not ashamed to say I was worried, the women never took their eyes from us as they walked West to East around us, I offered a nervous greeting to them waving a hand and saying hello as the islanders are accustomed to, but I wanted nothing at that moment but to retreat away from the apparition of the three women standing staring at us. They never responded to my gesture, just kept staring, they wore floor length dresses in the style of period costumes. I honestly felt they were not from my world! My friend thoughts were the same, we bloody well got away from there!” Here the boys testament ends and the story becomes really interesting, the chambered cairn (Airidh na l Aon Oidche) was once a roofed enclosure, a “shielding for the night” a place for Sheppard’s and fishermen caught out in the weather to keep themselves safe and warm for the night, a homely abode for the lost and weary traveller caught out by the rain, it once held two rooms and a small living room with a fireplace. No locks on the doors, a free abode, a welcome respite for anybody. It’s this building that has a connection with two murders and three strange sisters! There is no specific date to this tale, but it is ancient, it was first published in 1883 by Rev John Gregorson Campbell and it was recited to him via Donald Cameron of Ruag Tiree a famous collector of Scottish folk tales. From these two sources Alexander Carmichael added it to his glossary on Scottish folklore and gave it some fame. It goes as such…. HAUNT ED

A Man called McPhee and his two friends were cutting Kelp out on the beach near the ancient stones of “Ultach Fhinn” McPhee had his black three-legged dog with him, he was favourite with the locals but renowned for not having much of a bark! The dog although attentive was always quiet, it would always become a conversation piece but McPhee would only say “The black dogs day has not come yet” it was on this day when the lads were working, in the distance three strange ladies appeared, they came close, they appeared attractive and comely, the men invited them back to the warmth of the “Shielding” and after a brief introduction the two rooms of the “shielding” were occupied with two of the men and sisters coupling off. The two left standing were McPhee and one off the sisters, but McPhee and his dog were unsettled, something wasn’t quite right! His female partner he had noticed, had a disfigured foot, (club foot?) not a too unusual disability, but in the darkness the room only lit up by the light of the fire, shadows grew…. there was a thump and a strange noise from the back rooms where his two friends were romancing the girls, he looked with a smile to the doors thinking himself to have picked the ugly one out of the three as his friends had fun! But no…he was taken aback as he saw fresh blood pooling from under both doorways! He turned in shock to his female partner and in the darkness her face was changing…elongating, eyes widening and oval, her face was stretching into a beak! He in an instant grabbed his hand knife from his belt and plunged it through the dress material of the woman changeling, it imbedded itself into the frame of the doorway, it was enough to restrict the thing as it launched at him, McPhee wrenched the “Shielding” door open and ran for his life through the darkness to the village of Nunton. In the morning McPhee who had a restless night with friends as he retold his story in horror, opened his front door to find that the dead carcass of his black dog, with all

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the hair taken from it had been deliberately placed at his door, and was drained of all its blood! A posse of armed men and farmers were gathered and came to the “shielding” and found in the two rooms, both the men dead, throats cut and drained, all the blood missing in vampiric fashion. The three women now regarded as Witches were never found. This is the legend and to validate it, it’s very hard to get any records of this area; we have no date to the event! Parish records only exist from 1848. But according to my Statistical accounts of Scotland 1844, Benbecula at that time was under Clan ownership by the Clanranald Mc Donald’s. It’s here I go first to trace any news of the murders of the two men. I find in 1798 which are the earliest records available, from the list of tenants on the judicial rental records. From these records we can see there were 42 paying Tenants on Benbecula. And number 42 and last on the list is the name Archibauld McPhee! He is mentioned as paying a “Fendicle of Creagory” as his years rent! A Creagory was a unit of measure for kelp (used in the mainland after burning the Kelp producing Sodium Carbonate, which was used in the produce of glass), The Creagory was 6tonnes in weight worth £2.10 shillings. In the legend McPhee and his two friends are working on the beach... Was this them gathering Mr McPhee’s rent for the year as the strange women appear? Police records of the area only start in 1854, so a little too late to record any murders. With no Parish records or Police records I can only state that there was a man called McPhee living on the island in 1798. The Mc Fee name originates on the West Coast on the island of Colonsay once a powerful clan but the Highland clearances of 18th century had seen them forcefully move to the West Indies en mass. On the list of Tenants on Benbecula there is only one man with the name McPhee! The first writing of the story was 1883 by Rev John Gregorson Campbell and his tale falls into the timeline of Archibauld McPhee living on Benbecula. With every legend comes a basis of truth, we can’t find any evidence of the murder of the two men here, but the man McPhee certainly existed, now is there a connection to the story and what my two friends Hugh and Bernhard saw on that metal detecting adventure…the three weird sisters…or did my friends have a lucky escape as history tried to repeat itself! HAUNT ED

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For my latest paranormal adventure, I travelled to Gainsborough in Lincolnshire to investigate one of the oldest Victorian prisons in the area. Now a fully functioning theatre, The Old Nick has stood in spring gardens since the 1860s where it originally served as headquarters for the Lincolnshire Constabulary and was also a Former Magistrates Court.

I have investigated this particular location many times in the past so when I saw that Breaking Paranormal UK were hosting an event there, I knew that I would definitely have to tag along.

Upon arrival I noticed that the Museum had gone through a lot of refurbishment. It has recently been converted into a police museum and I have to say, they have done a really good job at capturing that Victorian atmosphere. Even if you are not visiting the site for a paranormal investigation, I would definitely recommend a look around in the day as it has so much history on offer!

“I love finding these hidden gems and being able to step back into history”

I’ve had a lot of strange experiences at The Old Nick in the past. One of my most memorable moments was being down in the cells. There were only two of us at the time and we were making our way towards the male cells at the very back of the building. As we reached half way down the corridor we distinctly heard what sounded to us like heavy boots on the ground charging towards us with speed. I honestly had never run so fast in my life and if I remember correctly, we were later found cowering under the stairs until someone came to get us. It was utterly terrifying as this had happened a few years back when I was first getting started within the paranormal field, but what a way to start, huh? Another experience I remember well was when myself and Kimberly Reynolds of BPUK had ventured down into the women’s cells. We were armed with a K2 and nothing more. We were receiving some very accurate responses and until this day I have never seen the K2 light up to a certain colour on command. If we’d asked for red, we’d get it. I had arrived at the Theatre at around 9PM and met up with my fellow paranormal investigators. We were split down into small comfortable teams and separated

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up into different areas of the building. The investigation began in the Attic area. We had spent around an hour and a half in this area, covering the attic, stairs and also the small ‘dressing room’ below. I am not going to lie, it was quiet. So quiet you could probably hear a pin drop. We tried several different methods of investigation in this area which included traditional as well as modern but didn’t receive a single thing we could consider to be paranormal.

The only experience I received myself whilst I was in the attic was what felt like something had grabbed my foot, although I am ever sceptical of this, because we all known that muscles spasm at the most awkward of moments. After a quick break we ventured into the theatre area. It’s the largest area at the Police Museum and has a stage in the centre with rows of chairs on either side for the audience to sit. A few others and I had sat on the right side and unbeknown to me at this moment in time I was sitting in row twelve.

Again, this area was quiet for the first half an hour but soon we began to receive some small activity as I had felt an incredible cold spot next to me on my right side. The SLS ‘stickman’ camera was brought out and sure enough it began to map a small figure in the seat beside me. We called out and asked a few questions but didn’t receive anything and soon the figure would vanish.

We started in the male wing which consisted of a long corridor and at the very bottom were two cells which are side by side. We entered the very last cell and sat down as we began to call out. Luke, one of our team leaders was stood just outside of the door with the thermal imaging camera. We’d only been in this area for around ten minutes when we heard this almighty bang which echoed through the corridors causing us all to jump up to attention and also witness Luke as he backed up and about fell into the door of the cell we were in. This of course had startled him. (It was really funny too!) We all instantly went down to see what had made the noise, but we found nothing.

Baffled!!! We kept on this same path of questioning as to who the figure was and soon it began to map in again, this time it was sat in the seat behind me. I had the Ovilus in my hand which had been extremely quiet. We asked for something relevant and it said ‘Twelve’. The others and I had

The atmosphere seemed to change in the last half an hour. It felt much darker and there was definitely a heavy presence in the corridor that was being picked up by myself and a few of the other guests. One of the investigators had taken a police coat and put it on and she were standing opposite me.

automatically checked the seat numbers to see that the row of seats was numbered 12a, 12b, 12c and so on. Ironically, this figure was in that row and was right behind me. We’d snapped a couple of photos but didn’t capture anything unusual. In the same instance right after the device had spoken for the first time, it had also said the word ‘Felon’ and with this being an old Victorian court room at a point in history, that response was pretty much ‘on the money’. For the final part of the investigation we headed down into the cells (The moment we’d all been waiting for of course!) I must admit, this is my favourite area due to a lot of personal experiences in the past.

“What I love about paranormal

It sounded like one of the heavy iron prison gates slamming, but we could see nothing that had been moved. As it now seemed like we were receiving activity we decided to stay in this area for the time being and we began to call out, asking who had slammed the door.

I felt a hand running up my leg towards my inner thigh and I froze. At first accusing Tammy of doing it (I have no idea why! It seemed like the rational thing to do at the time.) Due to my hysteria torches were turned on as it was pitch black and Tammy was found to be stood a good way away from me. So, to this day, I have no idea what or who was touching me in the dark, but I can tell you that it definitely gave me a fright! I could distinctly feel the fingers on my leg as if it were a human and unlike my foot muscle spasm, I was pretty sure this was one hundred percent real and that it had happened! After this incident the Ovlius also started to throw out certain words like ‘Kiss’ and other ‘romantic’ things. In that moment I had to politely decline the spirits advances and move on. (As you do!) Interestingly also in this area a guest had snapped a couple of photos on our way out. Taken consecutively. As you will see from the photo’s provided as I did a side HAUNT ED

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investigating is that you never know what to expect. It can either be a hit or a miss. Sometimes you can receive a lot of activity and other times it can be completely quiet and simply come in small bursts”

by side, in the first photo a white anomaly appears in the middle of the corridor and in the second it has vanished. Is this paranormal? Who knows. But I think it’s a pretty cool picture considering the activity we had. I would like to say thank you to Dave Kerr for giving me permission to use this photo for the article. It’s a great capture! The best part of the evening for me was once again down in the cells and although we didn’t receive a lot of activity I still thoroughly enjoyed the night. It was great to meet up with friends and engage in something we love to do regardless of what did or did not happen. If you’re interested in checking out the police museum it is open Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday between 11am and 3pm with last entries at 2.30pm. They also have a host of different shows taking place in the theatre. The Old Nick is run completely by volunteers out of their own free time and I think it’s an amazing thing to be involved with. For more information you can visit their website http:// gainsboroughtheatrecompany.com/

Vicky x

Until next time, happy hunting!

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The Para-Urbex Girl

KATIE WALLER

Originally from Brighton, Katie always knew she was a little different, seeing spirits as a child was a bit of a giveaway. These days she lives in the midlands and works for Haunted Evenings, a company that run paranormal events across the UK. With a deep interest in history, photography and ghosts. She has learnt to embrace her oddities spending evenings and days off visiting some of the most strangest of places. These kind of places, you wouldn’t find in the guidebooks, including completely abandoned ones too. Her most profound experience was being touched by the spirit of a child at the Village, Mansfield. Immediately afterwards she received an apology over the SB7 spirit box (due to making her jump.)

“Taking only photographs, leaving only footprints is the Urban Explorers motto…” Across the UK there is an abundance of abandoned buildings left to decay and rot. Mother Nature attempting to re-claim each one before demolition and housing companies get there first. Never breaking in, simply slipping into wide ‘open’ places is what I do. Not only that, I try to collect evidence of the paranormal. First of all, these are dangerous desolate places, don’t go looking for these, especially by yourself. Don’t break in, don’t damage anything and be mindful of the kind of people you may bump in to. Basically, just don’t do it. It’s a paranormal investigator’s dream being able to go to locations completely cut off from the world. Apocalyptic and overgrown each place with historic remnants of life. It’s like discovering a trail of clues piecing together the puzzle of someone’s story. With no electric, in the middle of nowhere, by yourself, just you and the earth on which you tread. I’m not going to lie, it’s a rush. Armed with paranormal equipment and my Nikon (Nicky) I attempt to contact the spirits of people that may linger within the shadows of each location. From old manor houses to hospitals, everyone covered in fingerprints you can’t see with your own eyes, each place is unique. There must be a thousand stories to tell by the souls of those waiting, wanting to be heard. HAUNT ED

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The old people’s home, one of my favourites. I have visited several times. It was in its day a complete fully functioning complex. Many residential buildings, common social rooms, workshops, summerhouse and even a standalone chapel. I wonder up and down the vast corridors room by room, visualising the ‘patients’ in each one. In my mind’s eye I can see them sat right there in front of me, like a flashback in time. Panic pull cords still hung from the ceilings. I know I’m morbid but I can’t help think how many of these got pulled during death. How many people passed away here and hoping their family were by their side. In reality I am not convinced.

This place seems to be filled with sadness and confusion although, it is obvious to me whomever ran the place tried to make it a happy one. Personal possessions are littered all over the floor, their records and hymn sheets from the chapel coincidentally alongside them. Oil still in tin cans and the beautifully handmade stain glass windows in part, intact. What a place! I hear whispers in the shadows, the creaking of floorboards and crunching of broken glass strewn all over, glistening in the evening sunlight. The static charge is incredible but I never get any response on the equipment except for a few K2 spikes. Here I feel like I am being watched though,

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hunted almost. Perhaps the many deceased veterans are honing in on me, putting into practise what they were once trained to do. I feel drawn to go back here, it’s addictive like a drug. One day, just one day, I know I’ll get something good here. It’s simply a matter of time. The old farm house, it had at least 6 bedrooms. I lost count. A beautiful cellar underneath an ornate crafted main staircase which lead up to 3 floors. The cellar was dark and uninviting, my kind of place. Each step worn down by the footsteps of previous lodgers it was almost a slope leading down to what felt like the underworld. The kitchen was left as if the occupants

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disappeared at the drop of a hat. Dishes still in the rack, they must be dry by now? Knives and forks were still set out on the table ready to be used by a family long departed. Armed with my SB7, K2 and full spectrum camera I start investigating. From room to room I try to make contact. Introducing myself and politely asking questions I feel appropriate. Nothing, no response until I cross over the threshold of one particular bedroom. The room was dark and musky, curtains still up but half drawn (half-mast is how I took it.) Dust covered every surface and filling in the gaps between the original floorboards. In here I struck gold. A man’s deep voice on the SB7 repeatedly said ‘Hello’

but nothing else. Within the room it’s self-stood an old metal framed bed, with a severely stained mattress, a small wooden chair and a fireplace. Above the fireplace on the mantle were a couple of old glass bottles, one a whiskey bottle and the other was medication. I took many photographs here (as usual) and in only one I caught something, a face of a man at the bottom of the grand staircase. I wonder if this is the face to the voice I heard, for some reason though, I felt like he stayed in his room, whether or not by choice, I’m not entirely sure. The abandoned Church in the woods. Finding this place wasn’t easy but after a time

searching we found it. Gothic and crumbling there is was, standing proud in the middle of the woods, in the middle of nowhere. Held up by what seems to be an attempt at restoration, it’s clear this was not a safe place to go. Needless to say, I walked right on in. Heart pumping with adrenalin, I start my explore. Taking in every brick, every window and every single detail. Documenting findings with my trusty Nicky inch by inch with not a stone unturned. With hardly any roof left the place was eerie although I didn’t get a sense of any other presence there. To the eastern side of the church inside was a fireplace and within it a collection of animal hair. This appeared to

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be ritualistic. Someone had been there trying to conjure up something that’s for sure. Abandoned places seem to attract the kind of people in which enjoy casting spells and summoning demons. Most places I have visited, seem to have been used for this kind of thing. Pentagrams, spells handwritten on walls and signs of sacrifice, I’ve seen it all. Unfortunately these places attract hooligans too. The kind that break windows, trash everything and even set them on fire. I can only think of what the souls residing there must feel when people do this. Perhaps they think I will do the same? It was their home, workplace or even

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somewhere of refuge and most likely still is. Whether or not they choose to stay here or are stuck, bound to the walls, an object or even the very land itself. Many of these locations are demolished, everyone I visit I know might be gone soon but I hope they can be restored rather than destroyed forever. Each one has so much history and what a waste for them to be replaced with generic residential construction. I will continue to photograph these places to document them before they gone, lost forever.

Katie

ne of the main reasons I got into the paranormal was due to my love of history. It fascinates me, the excitement of learning about a building’s past, the people that lived there and the stories that played out within it’s walls. There’s nothing like it, we are lucky that many of these sites are looked after and preserved for many generations to come, yet there are a few that aren’t, but that doesn’t make them any less intriguing. On my Haunted Nottinghamshire travels I’ve come across many ruins, from just a quick look on the internet it’s clear that are an abundance in neighbouring counties and beyond. There seems to be an extremely common theme in which many of them share – they are/ were churches! I am lucky to have three of these pretty much on my doorstep, they are great for the budding urbex explorer and paranormal investigator alike, if you treat and approach them with respect, then they can reward you highly. I’m not sure why there are so many church ruins, the one’s that I’ve visited now have a ‘Newer’ building close by, they are normally at least a few hundred years old themselves, so you can imagine the history that these ruins possess.

r Colwick Old Church – St John’s r

his was the first EVER church ruin that I visited. It was unlike anything that I’d experienced before, I was looking for locations to document and write about and I knew that I’d found a gem. What I write can’t even start to scratch the surface on what you feel when walking around the ruin, it’s silence is loud and its beauty so eerie. Historical records show that there was a church and priest present in Colwick as far back as 1086. What now stands is the remains of the 16th century build that has yet again, more connections with other Nottinghamshire locations. The church was built by Sir John Byron – yes, thee Byron! The Byron family that is so famously linked with Newstead Abbey once owned Colwick Hall too. The links between so much of our History and the depths of which they delve are truly mind blowing!

quite odd. Around two thirds of the way up, the stone seems to have been repaired. You can make out the name of Elizabeth, yet the rest appears to be in Latin (Not my strong point) and it is said that Elizabeth still haunts the grounds with unrest after her stone was damaged. Whatever the links with spirits/ghosts may be, this is a real pocket of peacefulness and tranquillity, you can sit on the bench and easily lose an hour of your day imagining the people that once would have inhabited this historical site.

Walking around the remains you’ll notice that the entrance to the building is now blocked by metal bars and gates. It’s a shame, I know that you used to be able to get access not too long ago, yet due to vandalism it was curbed, and the likes of you and myself have to suffer. One of the main ‘pulls’ of the yard is a certain gravestone that sits next to the outer perimeter wall. A slight glance or a passing look may not catch your attention, yet if you inspect it closely you’ll see that there is something

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r Colston Bassett Church Ruin – St Mary’s r

his has to be one of the HARDEST site visits that I’ve ever had the pleasure to conduct, it was ridiculous! I’d heard that this church ruin sat on a nice hill making it stand out and easy to find. Well, after 30 minutes of driving around the area I believed it to be in, I ended up pulling over and asking a farmer in a tractor – yes, a tractor. After being pointed in the right direction and pulling the car into an extremely small lane, I sighted it through the trees, and boy was it worth the wait. The ruin is something that you’d expect to see out of a movie, it really is set in such a way that you couldn’t imagine it’s sheer imposing look. Out of everywhere that I’ve visited… this looks the most haunting. The Grade I listed ruin has structures from numerous eras dating back to the Anglo-Saxon times. The church yard itself is still in use with gravestones that have weathered so much names cannot be made out, to the newer and wellpreserved stones. Keep this in mind when visiting, family of those buried

“It’s a location with a lot going on. Full of history and full of Ghosts. One of the most haunted graveyards I’ve personally investigated and one that doesn’t disappoint.” Tom Buckmaster here still visit so respect always needs to be shown. I can’t really delve too much into the rumours and paranormal sightings as they are hard to come by, maybe it’s protected a little more than most by the locals? One person I do know that has investigated the site is local Paranormal Investigator Tom Buckmaster. After speaking with him I asked him to sum the site up for someone that’s been there after dark and this was his response : Although I’ve not investigated it myself, the history and mystery surrounding the site is rich and infectious. I will most definitely be revisiting one day with the hopes of finding more than just the living.

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r Annesley Old Church – Church of All Saints r

stumbled upon this location one bitterly cold winter morning. The scene was already set, gloves, scalf, a mist that was as thick as the atmosphere itself, ruins, gravestones and a location just over the wall that needs no introduction… Annesley Hall. My attention was purely on the task in hand, to explore what the ruin and the yard had to offer, yet there was an uneasy feeling, you’ll think I’m mad for saying this but, it’s like the Hall is watching you. It’s no secret that Annesley Hall is littered in as many ghosts as it is in controversy, yet on this occasion it was like it was keeping its eye on me, making sure that I towed the line. As you wonder aimlessly around the 14th century remains, you are treated to amazing architecture and grand doorways, worn floors stones and a beautifully kept graveyard. I can’t say that I ‘felt’ anything whilst walking around, other than the imposing hall, yet this site is a favourite amongst historians and paranormal enthusiasts alike. Like I said earlier in the article, the history of these locations seem to be entwined with each other and this is no exception.

Annesley Hall and its grounds were once owned by the Chaworth-Musters family, a prominent family with huge might and wealth. They also owned Colwick Hall after the Byron family, which again shows the emotional attachment that many of these locations had to certain prominent figures in Nottinghamshire’s history. There were many conflicts amongst the families in question, some regarding money, many regarding love. It once came to a head when William Chaworth was killed in a duel with his cousin, Lord Byron of Newstead Abbey. This Lord Byron would later become the great-uncle of the famous poet Lord Byron. Walking through these grounds you could be passing and even standing on where someone once lost their life, it’s a humble feeling but one that excites me, knowing that I could potentially make contact or tell their story as they are now not able to do. Being aware that the County would have been shaped and moulded over hundreds of years, thanks to the families that lived in these amazing locations really is an overwhelming feeling. Many disputes, arguments, affairs and murders, would have played out on the properties and surrounding grounds. The ruins of these historic churches would have played their role in introducing life, blessing love and ultimately saying goodbye in death. If anywhere would hold an energy then surely it would be here, and as for a County in Ruin – I’m happy to keep it that way!

James

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Herb Baumeister

n the surface, Herb Baumeister was living the American dream. Owner of a chain of thrift stores, he was a doting father to three children and a devoted husband...or so it seemed. Beneath the surface, things were very different. The Baumeisters had a troubled marriage, and their marital woes were only compounded by financial difficulties. Herb and his wife had drifted apart. Julie Baumeister liked to take their children on trips to the lake, while Herb preferred to stay home — and murder young men. It was the early 1990s, and the Indianapolis gay community was living in fear. Men were disappearing on a regular basis, and the word was that once they were gone, nobody ever saw them again. Each of the missing men had gone home with a man who called himself Brian Smart, lured with the promise of partying the night away in a big empty manor house with a swimming pool in its basement. Located amongst the woods on a sprawling 18-acre estate, that house was named Fox Hollow Farm. Before heading out to the nightclub to select his target, ‘Brian Smart’ — who

was of course Herb Baumeister — would crank up the heat in the swimming pool as high as it would go, then spread the cover across its surface in order to keep the heat in. When he came back to Fox Hollow with his unwitting victim in tow, Herb would lead them down to the pool and roll back the cover, then open up the double doors leading out onto the patio. The sudden influx of cold air wafting over the hot water filled the room with mist that cut visibility down to practically nothing, obscuring the small army of mannequins that had been posed all around the poolside, almost as if there was a permanent party going on. Drugs and alcohol soon began to flow. Once they were both in the water, Herb would offer to show his intended victim a cool new trick: autoerotic asphyxiation. Looping a length of pool hose around the unsuspecting young man’s neck, Herb would slowly tighten his grip, increasing the pressure until his victim began to struggle and thrash...before finally going limp. Once he was finished with the body, Herb would drag it out into the woods behind the farm and attempt to dispose of the evidence by brutalizing and burning the remains. HAUNT ED

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A minimum of eleven men met their deaths in the basement of Fox Hollow Farm. We know this because eleven left-handed metacarpal bones were subsequently discovered on the grounds. Yet the authorities suspect that there were many more victims, perhaps as many as twenty, which he was believed to have killed while taking business trips and dumping the bodies along the side of the roads between Indiana and nearby Ohio. Sensing that the net was closing in, Herb Baumeister fled the country, crossing the border into Canada without any trouble. A mounted patrol officer found him sleeping in his car under a bridge, and moved him on, giving no thought to the box of VHS tapes that were on the back seat — detectives later came to believe that these contained home movies of the murders he had committed, though they could not be sure because the tapes would never be found. Things came to an end on a picturesque beach. Herb penned a rambling final note, which he signed ‘THE Herb Baumeister,’ before placing a gun to his head and pulling the trigger. The last life he ever took was his own. 63

When the police obtained a warrant to search Fox Hollow Farm, what they found horrified them. Not just hundreds, but ultimately THOUSANDS of bones and bone fragments were just lying around in the woods behind the house, with still more waiting to be discovered in the creek that bordered the property. It took weeks of painstaking scouring by forensic specialists, and at the end of their search, they predicted that still more bones remained to be found. They were right. Bone fragments turn up at Fox Hollow Farm to this day, thanks to the fact that woodland critters took bites out of the bodies and scattered pieces of them far and wide. Many more will never be found at all, a sad testament

and brought in a lodger, a colleague of Rob’s named Joe LeBlanc, in order to help defray the cost.

indeed to those unfortunate souls who fell victim to the wiles of a serial predator. They will never have the benefit of a Christian burial.

The first sign of something strange happening at Fox Hollow Farm was when Vicki’s vacuum cleaner unplugged itself several times when she was cleaning up downstairs, the plug virtually leaping out of its socket. Strange, she thought to herself, but there was probably a rational explanation...right?

Herb’s widow understandably sold Fox Hollow Farm and moved out, determined to leave memory of those horrific events behind her. The vacant house languished, occupied only by raccoons, until would-be homeowners Rob and Vicki Graves purchased it for a fraction of its true market value, thanks to the stigma created by the serial murders.

Far more difficult to explain away was the figure in the woods. Fox Hollow Farm is somewhat unique in that most sites where serial killers have committed their murders are usually demolished, usually to keep them from becoming shrines for the morbidly curious.

Rob and Vicki are both medical professionals, and soon came to terms with the fact that their dream home had a somewhat tarnished past. For the price, it was a once-ina-lifetime opportunity. They settled in

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watching some videotaped news segments relating to the Baumeister murders. While the newscaster spoke, images of the known victims were displayed in the background. Joe suddenly flew out of his seat, grabbing for the remote control.

Trespassers do turn up there from time to time, however, and when Vicki saw a young man in a bright red shirt walking into the trees one day, that’s what she thought was going on. It was only when she realized that the figure had no legs from the waist down that she realized the man was an apparition. She had just seen a ghost.

“What is it?” Rob asked.

Lodger Joe LeBlanc saw the same apparition in the woods one night when he was walking his dog, and his description tallied exactly with that of Vicki’s sighting — right down to the missing legs. Joe would go on to see the ghost of another young man in his bedroom, which was located upstairs in the in-law quarters on the side of the main house. The man seemed terrified, as though he was running for his life, though from what Joe could not see; the apparition disappeared into thin air before his astonished eyes. One evening, Rob, Vicki, and Joe were sitting in the living room

“That’s him — the man I saw in my room!” Joe was adamant that the face of the young man who stared back at them out of the freezeframed TV screen was also that of the frightened apparition he had encountered in his room that night. As time went on, the haunting went into high gear, much of it centered around Joe. Heavy footsteps thudded around the in-law quarters at night. The heavy door-knocker would pound itself against the door in the early hours of the morning; whenever Joe went to check, nobody was ever out there. He began to have terrible nightmares in which an unseen something was chasing him through the woods outside, something that meant him great harm.

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It all came to a head one day in the swimming pool. Joe had invited a friend of his over to swim, and both men were doing laps of the pool in the company of the Graves’s two sons. Joe swam to the deep end and was resting against the side of the pool for a moment, when he felt two hands snake around the side of his neck from behind. Figuring it was his pal playing games, Joe whirled around — and saw the three of them were all the way over at the shallow end. Puzzled and more than a little unnerved now, he began swimming toward them...and suddenly felt something drag him underneath the water, putting Joe’s neck in a chokehold that threatened to suffocate him. Fortunately, he was able to fight his way back to the surface, struggling against the invisible grip. “Everybody out of the pool!” he yelled, genuinely terrified now. It would be a long time before Joe ever went swimming in that pool again.

I had learned about the haunting of Fox Hollow Farm from the TV show ‘Ghost Adventures’ and found it fascinating. The Graves family welcome me and a small team of paranormal investigators into their home and invited us to research it. Over the space of seven days and nights, we hit Fox Hollow Farm with everything in our toolkit. Joe LeBlanc obligingly came back to help us investigate, as did Tony Harris — the one victim who escaped from Herb Baumeister and helped tip off the authorities to the location of Herb Baumeister’s home. This was the first time I had ever investigated a haunted swimming pool — from the inside. The water was absolutely ball-shriveling freezing (this was an unheated pool, in November) and the digital voice recorders mostly picked up the sound of my teeth chattering...but there was also the sound of a loud, guttural growl that was heard audibly by those of us in the pool room, and a menacing EVP that whispered the word ‘Laura’ — which just so happens to be my wife’s name. Although she wasn’t present at the time, I took it as an attempt to intimidate me personally. One of Rob’s friends had brought his young daughter over to Fox Hollow one day. As they were talking in the pool room, the little girl raised a finger to her lips and shushed the two men. “Be quiet, daddy,” she insisted, pointing toward the pump room. “Those men are trying to sleep in there...” Rob had also seen a shadowy figure in the vicinity of the pump room, so we decided to focus a lot of attention there. Joe was like a lightning rod for paranormal activity. When he was locked in the pump room with me and some of my fellow investigators, our sensing equipment went berserk. Two of my investigators were prodded in the back, and I felt the definite touch of four fingertips caressing the underside of my

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arm; it was a distinctly flirtatious sensation, and one that gives me the chills to this day when I think about it. Upstairs in Joe’s old residence — now home to one of the Graves boys — we set up an SLS camera and captured the presence of a small, child-sized stick figure in the middle of the room. Despite our best efforts to debunk and troubleshoot, we were unable to explain it. After a visit from ‘the one that got away,’ Tony Harris, we went out into the woods. He led us to a site just beyond the tree line which was one of the known burn sites. He indicated a specific stretch of the slope and said that it was possible that human remains could still be found in that spot, according to his intuition. That didn’t sit well with me. The thought of those poor boys going without a proper burial was deeply saddening. Once Tony had left, we made a quick trip to Wal-Mart and bought a load of tools from their yard and gardening section. Then we came back to Fox Hollow Farm and began to dig... We didn’t find any bones, I’m relieved to say, but we did leave digital voice recorders running while we dug. When we played the audio recordings back afterward, we were shocked to find a class B EVP — the sound of a gruff, almost strangulated man’s voice uttering what sound like the words “Get away from there!” Two female investigators took turns digging with myself and another male investigator. The voice clearly does not belong to any of us, and there was nobody else within earshot in the woods that day. As with so much concerning the haunting of Fox Hollow Farm, this phenomenon raises more questions than it answers...

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I S S U E 2 1: T H E K E Y T O T H E H A U N T E D D O O R CREDITS

HAUNTED MAGAZINE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Paul Stevenson twitter / instagram:

@hauntedmagazine

paul@hauntedmagazine.co.uk ART DIRECTON AND DESIGN: A.E. Soar twitter / instagram: @thehauntedguy

andy@hauntedmagazine.co.uk WRITING TALENT: Paul Stevenson, A.E. Soar, James Pykett, Sam Bennetts, Richard Estep, Vicky Grant, Mike Covell, Amanda R. Woomer, Miki York, Hubert Hobux, Jayne Harris, Katie Waller, Leonard Low, Lucy Willgress Nicky Alan

Thanks to: The Tennessee Wraith Chasers: Chris Smith, Steven ‘Doogie’ McDougal, Scott Porter, Brannon Smith & Mike Goncalves The Travel Channel, Stephanie DePietro, Nick Groff and Katrina Weidman Anna Mason PR, Quest Red, Kate Kielty, Kirsty Sloan, Discovery Networks International, Old Aldwych Station Our HauntedLIVE mates: Simon Powell, James Pykett, Jason Wall Bambos Georgiou and Mychailo Kazybrid Spook-Eats, UK Haunted, Toyah Willcox, The Bakewell Old House Museum Stephen Hummel, Archive of the Afterlife The Roycroft Inn Dr Queer courtesy of Bambos Georgiou (script) & Mychailo Kazybrid (art) Copyright 2018

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