NOT SO ‘ORRIBLE HISTORIES

As it’s using your cell phone’s speech, the words are enunciated clearly, and this could be enhanced with a Bluetooth speaker if required. There are still some quirks… On many occasions you will have a burst of 3 words in quick succession; after discussions with Jo we found that words not in its internal dictionary appeared and were recorded. The app is robust and has never failed and unlike the PC’s original software – sound is constant, and the program has not once stopped working. It is slick, well made and of a professional standard. You can save all the night’s words into a notepad document which you can than import into Microsoft Excel if you want to check the frequency of communication. I may be biased here but I do prefer the Alice DNA box, it just feels that little bit more “gadgety” and in keeping with the night’s investigation. But the app is sooo convenient and ready to go in seconds that you can pretty much try it anywhere on your travels if the mood takes you! Plans are afoot for some improvements. An online user portal where users can download and share their word banks and the ability to rate first-hand activity with their Alice Box at any geographic location. Jo explains, “This would form an activity “heat map” which could be visually represented on standard maps. Perhaps we will see commonalities in these pins – maybe they will align with the network of ley lines which run the length and breadth of the land?”

So, if ITC is your thing, Alice is definitely worthy of an investment. It’s a resounding YES from me! Is it perfect? No. But name any area of the

paranormal that is! Andy Alice is available from the App Stores

...........UPDATE...........

Alice has been picked up by Barri Ghai.It’ll be on Help My House Is Haunted and the Celebrity special.

https://youtu.be/IpXooEpkfSc

Is Your Paranormal Career in Ruins?

Are Archaeologists THE REAL ‘Ghost Hunters’?

26 years ago, I had just embarked on a BSc in Archaeology, at The University of Birmingham. The reasons I chose this particular archaeology degree course, as opposed to any other, were twofold. Firstly, the BSc hinted at a scientific methodology. I had wanted to be a Forensic Scientist since I was about 12 but the thought of spending all day, every day, in a closeted laboratory really didn’t appeal when push came to shove. Secondly, we had to spend at least 9 weeks actually excavating archaeological sites in order to qualify. As my wildly fluctuating ‘A’ level grades proved, I am very much a “learn by doing” person as opposed to a “spend hours learning facts by rote” person.

There were 14 of us who started that course. Half were those who had spent years on the ‘digging circuit’ learning the practical side, who now wanted the academic back-up of theoretical learning. A quarter were fresh faced 18-year-olds, straight out of school, with all the enthusiasm of youth. The quarter into which I fell, were those of us who blundered around, trying to find something in academia, that held our attention and happened to stumble into archaeology. We were all misfits, led by some “hiraeth” or spiritual need to find a link to our past, not through kings or the powerful, but through people like ourselves. The process of an archaeological research excavation may sound strangely familiar to paranormal investigators. Firstly, you need to find your site, by carrying out what is known in the trade as a ‘desktop survey’. Winding your way through urban legends, long-forgotten notebooks of antiquarians, half-remembered facts from long-dead generations, you find your way into archives. Back in my days at university, this involved spending many hours trawling through dusty academic journals and site records, and even visiting county museum storerooms to dig around in boxes of uncatalogued finds. Putting all these pieces together might give you an indication of somewhere on a map that might just give you a glimpse into the past.

Having arrived at your chosen field, carpark or building site, you then have to make a decision on the best way to proceed. Nowadays this is inevitably a geophysical survey, but back in the mid 90’s geophys’ was in its infancy; there was an element of gut instinct, finger in the air, calculated guess work. Then you actually put spade to ground. You are digging down from the present day, through layers of time, decade through decade. Some layers are precisely dateable due to the finds present, some are just smears of loosely guessed at activity, but if you’re lucky, something tangible, a wall, part of a building, or a pit or burial.

This is where you’d expect science would take over and be able to tell you exactly what it is you’re looking at, but no, very rarely is this the case. There are scientific methods which can give you more clues, such as dendrochronology, radioisotope analysis, soil and pollen sample analysis etc but it isn’t often you can directly relate what you are looking at in the ground to a recorded event in time. Archaeology, by its very nature, is looking at the detritus left by everyday life, very often not recorded in any other way. Interpreting what you’re seeing is a mixture of experience, knowledge, and a weird spiritual, or some say almost psychic, link to the past. Anyone who has watched a few episodes of ‘Time Team’ will have heard the vague “it must be ritual” explanation. Archaeology is by its very nature destructive. Once you’ve dug up the layers of time they no longer exist in their context and have no relationship to each other. This means that meticulous recording must take place to ensure future generations can ‘read’ the information provided by the excavation. Photography is always deployed and, these days, 3D laser mapping is quite often used.

So, how is this like being a paranormal investigator then? Some of you will have already noticed the research similarities. In order to gain the most of your chosen investigation site, someone has to research the history of the site, along with any known ghostly experiences over the years; records need checking and witnesses need interviewing to correlate any findings. Then, the investigation itself is a mixture of using gadgets and gut feelings, or personal experiences, to build a picture of what shadows of history may remain.

The next time you investigate a castle, or other equally historic place, cast a thought to those archaeologists who’ve spent hours painstakingly looking for evidence for the same people that you are. Liz x

ABOUT LIZ

Liz Cormell has known since a very young age that she can communicate with something that not everyone can. She comes from a long line of sensitives and psychics; this gift has been passed down the female line for many generations. Prior to developing this gift Liz admits that it used to frighten her but now she acknowledges most spirits are just people without physical bodies. When Liz was 17, she dated a guy whose mother was a Romany gypsy. This lady taught Liz to read tarot, using standard playing cards. This is a skill Liz practices, using multiple packs, and she provides readings for many people on a regular basis. From 2005 Liz has worked with many paranormal investigation groups and undertaken close to 1000 investigations at locations all around the UK, Ireland and even the USA. She would love to investigate overseas with Poveglia Island high on her bucket list. Liz has also been a practicing witch since her 30’s and works mainly with elemental energy and the moon goddess. Recently, she has felt called by Morrigan and is doing more spell work using Morrigan as her guiding goddess. Despite this spiritual angle to her life, Liz is a trained Crime Scene Investigator and Forensic Archaeologist so likes to search for rational and logical explanations before calling something paranormal.

A MONSTER IN THE FAMILY

By Jenny Pugh

The Loch Ness monster is universally famous as a terror from the deep and is one of the best-known cryptids. But could there be other strange aquatic lifeforms lurking beneath the waves in the murky depths of rivers, lakes and seas around our beautiful blue planet? Water covers approximately seventy-one per cent of the Earth’s surface, and more than eighty per cent of the oceans remain unexplored. This vast expanse of water could provide numerous places for Nessie and her cohorts to hide from prying eyes. But on rare occasions, the public does encounter such ‘mythical’ beasts. My maternal grandfather, Robert Millington, was such a man, witnessing a ‘Nessie’ like creature.

As a young man, back from the horrors of WWI, my grandfather enjoyed fishing and spending his spare time near water. He’d been injured during the conflict, fighting ‘for King and Country’ in the fields of France. As the enemy’s shells had rained down upon the battlefield, one exploded nearby, throwing up a mountain of soil which fell on him, burying him alive. As the battle raged on, my grandfather was left for dead, not believing he would live to see another day, never mind a whole lifetime.

Three long days later, during a lull in the shelling, a Canadian soldier noticed his eyes moving and rescued him. After being dug out and dragged to safety, he was evacuated on a hospital ship across the North Sea and back to ‘Blighty’. As he travelled home across that stormy sea, my grandfather couldn’t have known that he would soon be face to face with one of the secrets hidden below the ship’s metal hull.

As part of his recovery, my grandfather used to go fishing, which drew him to Whitby harbour early one morning, rod and reel in hand. Although relatively small, the little port of Whitby was already famous. Bram Stoker, the author of ‘Dracula’, was inspired to write his bestseller in the coastal resort while recuperating from stress. In Stoker’s novel, Whitby is where the greatest literary vampire sets foot onto English soil for the first time, in the guise of a gigantic hound. James Cook also sailed from the port as an eager youngster, long before becoming a captain.

Leaning on Whitby pier’s cold, metal rail, my grandad had been staring out at the greenish-grey swelling water as it flowed from the sea into the port’s small harbour.