HAUNTED MAGAZINE 28: CONTENTS EDITORIAL WE ARE ALL TRUTH SEEKERS…. YES? ARE GHOSTS REAL? Surely, the truth is out there. Probably closer than ever before, don’t you think? With the array of gadgets out there, with science intent on proving it one way or another tripled with the fact that more and more people than ever before are loving the paranormal, breathing it in and fascinated by it all. Ghost hunting has for the large part been disrupted over the last 7-8 months, locations closed, events cancelled, people doing their bit & thinking of others by not meeting en masse, congregating in groups to ghost hunt. Me personally, I have not been on a ghost hunt since the first week of March, it doesn’t mean my passion and love for the paranormal has diminished, far from it, it has increased at a pace like no other, reading, watching, listening and researching all things spooky I feel like my mind has been blown in and out of a portal several times. There are so many great parts of the paranormal. For me, laughter (and humour) go hand in hand with Ghost Hunting like two lovers holding hands, walking up to the haunted house on the hill, only to discover that their K2 meter is dead. Oh, how they laughed! Humour plays a vital role in the supernatural, it’s spontaneous, it’s a defence mechanism, it’s natural, it calms, it soothes, it’s addictive & it just may make the ghosts want to come and interact at your paranormal party. If one thing is true in the paranormal world, it is that the truth is out there, way, way out there. Enjoy the issue.
Paul
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THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME:
The events that unfolded during a physical mediumship circle
YES, NO, GOODBYE:
Karen A. Dahlman explains why the Ouija board isn’t for everyone
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT:
Years before Jack the Ripper, another Monster terrorised London
A ROOM WITH A BOO:
Check in and Check out these Haunted hotels, or maybe just sleep!
THE REAL HAUNTING OF THE REAL HILL HOUSE: Written for real, by the real Lorien Jones
COVER FEATURE “HELLO GHOSTS!”:
Interviews with the Stars of the new Amazon Prime Video show
*NOT SO ‘ORRIBLE ‘ISTORIES: The Vanishing Battalion:
Were ‘The Sandringhams’ missing in action for over 100 years?
SAY CHEESE, CLOTH!
Recreating ectoplasm photography with Kate Cherrell
BODMIN JAIL: Prison is more than a sentence
History and mystery unleashed at the revamped visitor attraction
**EXCLUSIVE** THE WHITE SHEET ISSUE 28
Thought lost for years, recently found, lovingly restored by #teamHaunted, you won’t read this ANYWHERE else (and you can pull it out too) THE STEP BY ESTEP GUIDE TO THE PARANORMAL: A paranormal investigation into the most brutal murders in the USA
10 plus 1, THE NUMBER OF THE BEASTIE:
Planning a ‘MONSTER’ road trip, feast your eyes on these UK beasts YOU KEEP ME HANGING ON: Horrid, harrowing, horrific & haunting tales of hopeless hangmen
ARE YOU HEARING STRANGE VOICES?
We chatted to Jon Culshaw about all things ghost & UFO THE TASMA TERRACE TRAGEDY with Sarah Chumacero: Does the tormented ghost of Edith traipse Tasma Terrace?
THE ISOLATED INVESTIGATOR:
The paranormal musings of a shielding ghost hunter
HOME IS WHERE THE “DARK” HEART IS:
From Bucket list to Boleskine, man’s road trip to Crowley’s Crib
HUNTING HIGH & LOW:
The Haunted Hunts go on the trail of the Pendle Witches and more... BETTER THE DEMON YOU KNOW: Has Bael manifested in Essex? Check out a recent team’s investigation and see for yourself
THE WENDIGO Part 2: THE BOY & THE MONSTER
Morgan Knudsen continues her search for stories of the Canadian Cryptid, and now it gets personal (and much more vicious) A PERSONAL PARANORMAL PILGRIMAGE: Sometimes we forget where our spooky journeys start, so Anne Morris decided to write hers down for us
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the Back in the day I had a building at bottom of my garden, The Enigma Sanctuary. It was purpose built for readings, healing, workshops, and ure circles. I had always wanted to vent into the physical side of circles, so and when I identified several promising advanced mediums, I set up the first one.
Nicky Alan’s
FINDING EMILY: the enigma code Now anyone knows that if they are on an investigation or meeting together for a physical circle nothing can be guaranteed but I need not have worried. We first started with a meditation so that we could establish a mutual energy in the circle.
“I then linked up to what I call my guide frequency and asked them if they could allow a vortex in the circle purely for physical energy to take place. As I did this, I saw my granddad Fred in spirit who always rocks up when I am at an investigation, doing trance or, in this instance, when I started my first physical circle.” There were seven of us sitting in the circle all eagerly awaiting what was to be. On seeing my granddad there was a large thud on the wall indicating his presence. I am not going to lie I did jump a bit as it was a very loud sound! To begin with nothing much happened when I asked if anyone could 4
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create a sound, move something, or interact with us in a noticeable way. However, after about ten minutes, the temperature dropped remarkably to a degree that we could see on occasion mist coming from our mouth. We all then spontaneously smelt smoke in the room. It was the sort of smoke that you would expect a building to smell like if it were on fire. It was pungent, almost to the extent that I broke the circle to make sure there was not a fire in the building. We then resettled and started to hear a humming sound around us. I knew that we were about to get some sort of spirit visitation. In my mind’s eye I could see a young girl of about seven. She was wearing a pale blue pinafore dress with a frilly white blouse underneath. She had blonde hair and was smiling at me. I then saw in my mind the name Emily. ‘Hello Emily,’ I said out loud. With this verbal acknowledgement, Emily made the smell of smoke in the room more noticeable. She then started to chatter away commenting on how she loved her shoes.
As I looked down, I could see that she was wearing black patent shiny shoes. I would estimate that she came from the Victorian area judging by her clothes. She seemed to get more excited by the minute. I asked her if she could move anything in the room or do anything physically in the ether. Everything went silent for a while.
“A friend of mine then sat with her mouth open as she looked beyond me. Her eyes widened as she stared into the corner of the room. I turned my head as did everyone and could not believe what I was seeing. I had a Celtic cross candle holder set on a music player. The candle flame had risen to a long narrow streak which is always a sign that spirit is present.” The Celtic cross was slowly moving on its own towards the end of the music player. I had to blink to make sure I was not seeing things but judging by the gasps I knew everyone was seeing it. All I could comment was ‘f**k me’ as the cross continued to slide very slowly along the top of the music player. It continued to move until it was right at the end of the music player. I was about to leap up and grab it, but then it stopped and remained motionless. Emily then came to me and said, ‘I don’t like that as it has fire in it.’ I then saw a large building on fire and knew that she had passed in a fire. As quick as anything she then said she had to go, and the connection ended. The room warmed up and the candle went back to a normal burning flame. To say we were all astonished is an understatement for our first physical circle. Emily continued to turn up on future circles now and then but created nothing as magical as moving the Celtic cross. She would dance around and be identified by new members who knew nothing of her previously. She would always bring the smell of smoke when she was present. Six years later I was amazed to discover something that blew my mind. I was at a location in Devon that I felt I had been to before perhaps in a previous life. I was there for an investigation with a group of people HAUNTED MAGAZINE
who I did not know. Prior to the investigation during the briefing some of the people made mention of one of the resident ghosts that usually loved to interact with any respectful ghost hunters. I nearly spat my coffee out as they mentioned her name, Emily. They described her as about seven to eight years old and always manifested wearing a blue pinafore dress and black shiny shoes. She had died in the house when a fire broke out on the third floor back in the late 1800s. I felt unusually emotional as I explained that she had been present at a lot of my circles back in Essex. Why she had visited all those years ago I have no idea but to find her at the place she passed was beyond conception. Emily will always have a special place in my heart. From this day I have no idea why she was drawn to me and then arranged through the universe for me to find her in her original settings. I have not heard from her since, perhaps we shared a previous life together, all I know is spirit people are one of the cleverest entities when they want to be noticed. All I can say is she did it in the most awesome way.
www.nickyalan.co.uk
Nicky x
Psychic Medium, Magazine Columnist Author of ‘M.E Myself and I’ ‘Diary of a Psychic’ 5
By Karen A. Dahlman
I
f you walk up to a group of people and mention the word, “Ouija,” you will be met with a variety of reactions. These responses will run the gamut from negative comments to utter dismissal, including any number of expressions found in between. Hands down, the Ouija Board is probably the most controversial device or game on the market ever sold! In 1890 when attorney Elijah J. Bond had this contraption patented and trademarked, consisting of a board with letters and numbers and a paddle-type indicator, it was patented under the category of a toy or game. Fast forward 130 years and the toy company Hasbro, which now owns the moniker “Ouija,” continues to market it under the category of toys and games just like all of its predecessors that once owned the production rights to this name. People continually argue whether or not this device should even be sold as a toy to ages eight years and up. They go as far as to suggest that if it is sold to the public it should only be sold in the alternative, occult stores. No matter how it was patented, marketed, and sold over the years, one of the main reasons this device causes such extreme reactions and responses is because of its mysterious nature. It is this mystifying quality that invites the onlooker to assign meaning based on personal biases and quite possibly, limited perceptions. An individual’s worldview is inevitably projected upon this simple device. It is from this very personal perspective that the experiences and superstitions ensue. We can’t help it as humans; our philosophies or views on life precedes us in every aspect of our living experiences. We experience life through these personal filters we have developed and to which we have become accustomed.
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Is the glass empty or half full? If a person’s beliefs are shrouded in fears and expectant negative experiences as the rule rather than the exception, then that person discovers encounters that match such expectations. On the other end of the spectrum, a person whose beliefs are nestled in curiosity, exploration and the probability of positive outcomes, this person tends to find life more full of delight and wonder rather than a representation of any negative engagements. How the individual views and proceeds in the world directly shape that individual’s outcomes along the way. This same manner of approaching life, directly influences how we view and approach this enigmatic tool, the Ouija Board. We then beg to ask the question, “how can two people obtain such opposite experiences while using the Board?” Quite simply put, the answer is that since there are no two people alike, they are bound to obtain different experiences, especially if their perspectives and beliefs about life or the Board are directly opposed. I am from the camp that the Ouija Board is an entirely neutral tool and what we get when we employ such a device is ultimately a reflection of our expectations—conscious and subconscious—based upon our beliefs. We ultimately project our beliefs upon this tool and immediately we are positioned for a specific type of experience even before it happens! Whether we have fears or adoration for this device, we’ll end up with like experiences that match. It is never the Board that creates any sort of experience; rather, it is always the person who uses the tool that creates every bit of one’s experience with it. Wood, cardboard, particleboard, or Masonite from which many Boards these days are made, are never attractors of negativity or positivity. Rather, the person is the sole reason for and the initiator of all allures. So, instead of seeing yourself as a pawn to a piece of wood or cardboard, begin to understand that an inanimate object, such as a talking board, has no power over you. You, as the operator of this tool, have all the responsibility for how you choose to view it and thus, use it. Your belief about it and about yourself in relationship to exploring the mystifying nature of the Ouija Board HAUNTED MAGAZINE
is the most important factor in the type of experiences you foster while using it. No matter how focused your intentions are when it comes to using a Board, always check your beliefs first to see if they are aligned with what you truly and honestly desire to obtain while using one. Know that you are the reason why these talking boards work, as they merely serve as tools, unlocking your intrinsic faculties and responding to your projections. They become your authorizing talisman, reminding you of the possibilities for exploration that are only limited by your mind.
Happy Boarding!
Karen A. Dahlman x
Karen A. Dahlman is a published author, licensed professional counsellor, and Ouija practitioner. She serves as an officer and director of the Talking Board Historical Society. Karen has been using the Ouija Board for 47 years and communicates with sentient beings in the unseen dimensions. She appears at international events, shows and on radio sharing her work and research using this tool. Her work’s mission is to push the boundaries of consciousness and her message is to assist humanity in awakening to its greatest potential.
Learn more at: https://www.creativevisionspublications. com & https://www.tbhs.org
The
London
Monster By Jan Bondeson and Dennis Mohr
I
n 1790, nearly a century before Jack the Ripper haunted the streets of London, another predator held sway. The Monster, as this mysterious miscreant was soon dubbed, used to walk up to a beautiful, well-dressed lady, insult her with coarse and earthy language, and then stab her in the thigh or buttocks. He struck at regular intervals, wounding several young and attractive women in the London streets: in a ‘sextuple event’ on January 19, his tally was not less than six victims. Since this kind of sadistic behaviour was unheard-of at the time, there was general outrage among the Londoners and the capital’s female world was in a turmoil.
Throughout the first half of 1790, the newspapers were full of the Monster’s latest outrages. Long-defunct papers like the World, the Argus and the Diary did much to emphasise the sense of an elusive outside threat, and the need for vigilante action. The police were roundly criticised for their failure to capture the Monster, and it was even hinted that they were deliberately sheltering the culprit, a gentleman of wealth. In early April, a £100 reward was posted for the capture of the Monster, by the Lloyd’s insurance broker John Julius Angerstein. Large posters were pasted up all over London to announce that a bloodthirsty, inhuman Monster was on the prowl, attacking young and beautiful women in the streets. These posters accomplished what the newspapers had started, namely, to create a veritable mass hysteria. Both the police and various amateur Monster-hunters were out in force. Innocent men were beaten up by the mob after being pointed out as the Monster by mischievous people, and the fashionable ladies did not dare venture out into the streets without wearing copper petticoats or other forms of protective clothing. The Monster attacks continued throughout April and May, although it was notable that the descriptions of the culprit varied greatly, regarding height, dress, complexion, and hair colour. The Monster-hunters suspected that the fiend was wearing several coats, one on top of the other, and that he
A cartoon published at the height of the Monst er-mania, showing a lad protective gear being y wearing saved from the myster y assailant’s rapier.
made use of a collection of wigs and false noses to disguise his appearance. Mr Angerstein disagreed, pointing out that there was good reason to suspect that more than one of these wretches were infesting the streets. Some ladies faked Monster attacks to gain sympathy and compassion: his propensity to attack only young and beautiful ladies made it highly fashionable to pose as one of his swooning, tearful victims, basking in the newspaper publicity and receiving visits from manly, muscular Monsterhunters eager to obtain a description of the mystery assailant. At this stage, some newspaper journalists, aghast at the Monster they had helped to create, suggested that the attacks might well be the handiwork of some inept pickpockets, who were aiming to cut open the ladies’ skirt pockets, but stabbed the flesh instead. Such calls for moderation were lost in the general hubbub: it was instead speculated that the Monster was a master of disguise, an insane nobleman bent on maiming every beautiful woman in London, or even a supernatural being who could move round the streets at great pace, and make himself invisible to evade
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detection. The tally of victims soon reached fifty: some were cut with a sharp object, others kicked from behind with spikes fastened to the Monster’s knees, and some stabbed in the nose with a stiletto hidden in a nosegay they were invited to smell at by the elusive fiend.
The Monster cutting a lady in front of Mr Angerstein’s front door, and another potential victim being fitted with protective gear.
Finally, on June 13, a suspect was arrested by the vigilante John Coleman after he had been pointed out in Green Park by Anne Porter, a young lady who had been attacked by the Monster in January the same year, in front of Pero’s Bagnio, the family home at 63 St James’s Street. He was the 23-year-old Welshman Rhynwick Williams. When Williams was questioned at Bow Street, the police only with difficulty prevented the mob from lynching him. Anne Porter, the Monster victim who had pointed out Williams in Green Park, was certain he was the man who had cut her. She was seconded by her three sisters, all of whom testified that the Welshman had been in the habit of stalking them in the streets, making use of the most horrid and insulting language. Several other Monster victims could not pick Williams out, however; others declared themselves certain he was not the man who had cut them. In the meantime, the judges were contemplating for what crime Williams should be prosecuted. At this time, crimes were either felonies or misdemeanours. The former were ‘serious’ offences, punishable by death or transportation to the Australian penal colonies. Misdemeanours were relatively milder offences, punishable by prison, pillory, or a public flogging. To cut or stab some person with an intent to maim or kill them was a misdemeanour, and the judges were uneasily aware that the general mood in London demanded that the Monster should be severely punished. They found an ancient statute from the time of George I, intended to prevent weavers from destroying imported foreign clothes, saying that it was a felony to maliciously spoil and destroy any person’s garments. Rhynwick Williams was tried at the Old Bailey and convicted for destroying the clothes of Anne Porter. The Judge, Sir Francis Buller, nevertheless found the stretching of the law to make the Monster’s crimes a felony somewhat questionable: had he not cut the clothes to make way to the flesh underneath?
The Monster Detected, a satirical print depicting him as the Devil.
Two old maids are dreaming that the Monster will show them attention to prove that they are still attractive, when the fiend suddenly appears!
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The matter was referred to the Twelve Judges of England, who decided that Rhynwick Williams should be tried again, this time for a misdemeanour. Although energetically defended by the eccentric Irish poet Theophilus Swift, who bullied Anne Porter and the other female witnesses mercilessly, the young Welshman was again convicted and sentenced to six years in Newgate. The trials served as a ceremony of exorcism; there were no more attacks, and London had been cleansed of its Monster. At the time, many people saw it as an anomaly that Williams was not hanged, flogged within inches of his life, or at least transported to Australia. After all, it was punishable by death to steal a sheep or to pickpocket more than a shilling. Today, one is instead concerned that there may well have been a miscarriage of justice, and that Williams was just a scapegoat who had to play the role of the Monster in these two farcical trials. Many of the victims had given descriptions of the mystery assailant that did not fit Williams at all. The veracity of Anne Porter and her boyfriend John Coleman who had caught Williams was cast into doubt by Theophilus Swift, and it is certain that Coleman got his hands on the Monster reward and that they
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A cartoon suggesting that Rhynwick Williams, shown in disguise and when attacking the Porter sisters, ought to be hanged for his crimes.
Rhynwick Williams drawn by James Gillray.
married not long after. There is also evidence that the police deliberately coached at least one Monster victim to pick out Williams as the man who had attacked them. It is thus quite possible that the Welshman was just a scapegoat, unlucky enough to fall in the hands of the authorities when they needed someone to pay for the Monster’s crimes. The London Monster mania of 1790 is just one example of what can be called the phantom attacker syndrome. In 1819, Paris was terrorised by piqueurs who stabbed women in the behinds with sharp instruments attached to their umbrellas. The French police tried everything, even detectives dressed up in drag to act as potential victims, to find the culprits, but to no avail. In 1938, the Halifax Slasher cut several people with razor blades. The newspapers were full of the Slasher’s latest outrages, vigilantes roamed the streets, and the local women carried lengths of hosepipe filled with lead shot as protection against the Slasher. After the local police had declared themselves baffled, Scotland Yard was called in. The experienced detectives found that many Slasher victims had faked their own injuries to gain sympathy and recognition, just as at least one Monster victim had done in 1790. They declared themselves convinced that there had never been a Slasher: the whole thing was a typical example of how an urban community could react in an erratic and inexplicable way to an elusive outside threat. Was there a Monster at all back in 1790, or was the entire scare just a case of mass hysteria? No woman was killed or seriously injured by the fiend and some alleged victims were proved to have faked their injuries. Other purported
victims may well have been injured by clumsy pickpockets, as was suggested at the time. Rhynwick Williams might have been one of the roughs habitually insulting women in the London streets, but he was hardly the Monster, as judged from disparity of the descriptions of the prowling miscreant. It is obvious that there were several copycat Monsters at large, imitating the original attacker; this constitutes the earliest known example of copycat crime. The Monster-mania of 1790 has striking parallels to our own time: an inept police force unable to find its man, a ‘moral entrepreneur’ creating an urban panic by posting a huge reward, and a press frenzy that generated a climate of fear and a need to convict some person at all costs, even if the evidence was questionable.
Jan Bondeson is a retired senior lecturer and consultant physician at Cardiff University. His book The London Monster: Terror on the Streets in 1790, is available from the History Press. Dennis Mohr is a Canadian documentary film producer and director of The London Monster documentary. The film was written by Calvin Campbell and voiced by Diarmid Mogg.
https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=tN4DHMKAWPo
Jan Bondeson in front of the present-day 63 St James’s Street, a still from the film The London Monster. There is a modern legend, probably inspired by the Monster-business back in 1790, that the house is haunted and that a murder was committed in there.
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THE HOTEL IN-SPECTRE Check in & Check Out!
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By Amanda R. Woomer (Spook-Eats)
et’s be honest: paranormal investigators need to be a bit crazy (some might say brave, mad, or stupid). It takes a lot of nerve to willingly enter an old jail, asylum, or hospital late at night, searching for shadows and ghostly voices. There is a heightened sense of awareness—you know exactly how a room is set up, how the energy feels, and what noises belong to the building and what might be… unexplained. You are wide awake and (ironically) never felt more alive when you are investigating the paranormal. But there is another way investigators can prove their chutzpah outside of the usual doom and gloom haunts. Check-in to a haunted hotel.
Not many people think of hotels when asked to come up with some of the most haunted locations out there. But many of these hotels are historic landmarks where hundreds and thousands of people have passed through over the years, no doubt leaving imprints and impressions on the energy of the location. But don’t just visit a haunted hotel. Check-in. Spend the night. Go to sleep. Yes, that’s right, GO TO SLEEP!! There is a vulnerability when you sleep. Unlike your usual paranormal investigation, your guard is down when you sleep, and you are no longer on edge. The number of tales that come from sleeping hotel guests is enough to give any investigator and ghost hunter the shivers… and those very tales should also be enough to get them to book a hotel room for just one night. Here are five of America’s most haunted rooms for you, remember: Check in, relax, open the mini-bar without breaking the seal, check out (the room) and don’t forget to get some BOOty sleep…. before you check out (of the room, in the morning))
THE CRESCENT HOTEL If you are into former hospitals turned spa and resort, then the Crescent Hotel is a perfect fit for you. Opened in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, in 1886, the wealthy and elite were drawn to the area by the supposed healing springs that bubbled up in the area. Over time, the hotel could not support itself, and it was transformed into the horrific Baker Cancer Clinic. Run by a charlatan named Norman Baker (who had absolutely no medical training), the hospital only lasted several years. However, remnants of those days (both physical and spiritual) can still be seen and felt today. The most haunted room in the grand hotel is Room 218, most famously known as Michael’s Room. It was here that a carpenter named (you guessed it!) Michael fell to his death. Today, both patrons and staff report strange sensations in the room as well as strange sights and sounds. Electronics like to turn on and off for no apparent reason. The water in the bathroom likes to come on by unseen hands, and doors will mysteriously slam shut on their own. People have also reported being violently shaken awake while they try to sleep in their beds. Michael’s Room is the most popular haunted room in the Crescent Hotel, so it is wise to book as far in advance as you can.
THE STANLEY HOTEL If hospitals aren’t quite your thing and you prefer historic locations with a literary connection, might I suggest the (in)famous Stanley Hotel, Colorado? It is possibly one of America’s most famous haunted hotels thanks to Stephen King, who was inspired to write The Shining after spending a night in room 217. According to stories, Room 217 is haunted by Mrs. Elizabeth Wilson, the former head maid from when the Stanley first opened in 1909. The story claims that Mrs. Wilson was lighting a gas lamp in Room 217 when a freak explosion happened, injuring the maid. Shockingly, Mrs. Wilson survived the accident and lived until 1950… the same year paranormal activity began to occur in Room 217. HAUNTED MAGAZINE
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If you’d like to follow in Stephen King’s footsteps and try to spend the night in Room 217, you’ll have to call the Stanley Hotel directly as that particular room is not available to book on their website. And it would not be a bad idea to book far in advance since this is the most popular room in the hotel. And if you cannot get into the King Room—have no fear! Rooms 301, 401, and 418 are just as haunted.
FARNSWORTH HOUSE Fancy a bit of Civil War history? Be sure to check into the Farnsworth House, nestled right in the middle of the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The iconic brick structure you see today was built in 1833 and was used by Confederate soldiers during the three-day Battle of Gettysburg (most famously, the sharpshooters in the attic that supposedly killed Jennie Wade, the lone civilian casualty of the battle).
THE CONNEAUT HOTEL Our final hotel may not be the site of a former hospital, battle, or tragedy, but Hotel Conneaut in Pennsylvania has just as many scary ghost stories as some of the most famous hotels we know and love.
Its role in the town’s violent history has led to an impressive haunting. According to claims, the restaurant and inn is now haunted by at least 16 spirits, including a former midwife, Civil War soldiers, and an 8-yearold boy named Jeremy. And while every inch of the building seems to be overrun with paranormal activity, the #1 hotspot is the Sara Black Room. For just $175, you can stay in the most haunted room in one of the most haunted hotels in the country. Paranormal claims include heavy breathing, the smell of cigar smoke, and even the sensation of being tucked into bed at night. There are also reports of ghostly figures appearing in the Sara Black Room window that people have spotted from the street below.
THE HAWTHORNE HOTEL Can’t get enough of America’s dark history? Let us jump from one American tragedy to another—the Civil War to the Salem Witch Trials. The Hawthorne Hotel opened in 1925 as a luxury hotel for the town of Salem, Massachusetts. Over the years, it has built up a reputation as being haunted—a séance was even once held there to try to communicate with Harry Houdini (which was unsuccessful… unsurprising since Houdini spent years trying to disprove psychics and séances… but I digress…). Today, The Hawthorne Hotel’s most haunted room is Room 325. Over the years, overnight guests have reported hearing the sound of a child crying as well as invisible hands touching people inside the room, and the lights and water in the bathroom turning on and off all on their own. No one knows for sure who is haunting Room 325 (or the rest of the hotel for that matter), but with a history of devastating fires, many believe the land is cursed. 12
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While Hotel Conneaut was not built until 1902, its roots lie in a previous hotel built in 1893 along the shores of Conneaut Lake. The original 1893 hotel was demolished to make way for the new hotel. A single wing of the hotel was left as part of Hotel Conneaut, and it is still there to this day. At the time, the 150room hotel rented rooms for $1 a day. In 1943, the hotel was struck by lightning, damaging nearly half the hotel. And it is that fire that has directly affected the haunting we see today. According to legend, a young woman named Elizabeth and her husband checked into the hotel to celebrate their honeymoon. The night of the storm, Elizabeth’s husband made it out of the building safely, but Elizabeth was tragically trapped inside. Today, people report hearing the voice of a female both audibly and in the form of EVPs. If you are feeling particularly brave, room 321/323 is said to be the most haunted in the entire building, home to restless spirits and some non-human entities. Photos have been captured as well as EVPs and the staff have seen a little boy so often, they recognize him… and he even recognizes them. So, if you think you have what it takes, why not pack up your equipment along with your sleeping bag and check-in to one of America’s most haunted hotels? It is a paranormal experience unlike any other, and (let’s be honest) if you make it through the night, you will have some major bragging rights. After all, not everyone can handle a good ghost story once the lights go out, and it is time to shut their eyes… Sweet dreams!
Amanda xx
BY
I
f you’re sitting comfortably with this magazine in hand, then I am assuming you’ve seen the Netflix series ‘The Haunting of Hill House.’
After all, if you love ghosts, it was the series not to be missed. The show on everyone’s lips in 2018, it depicted a
haunted mansion with a crowd of spirits terrifying enough to chill the blood of the bravest among us. Now imagine a house just as haunted, but a lot more real. An ancient house, shrouded by woodland, nestled high on the side of Howle Hill. I know, could it get HAUNTED MAGAZINE
LORIEN
JONES
any better? There are stories of hidden treasure, buried wells and murders to add to the intrigue, as well as historic associations to the nearby ruined Goodrich Castle. So, sit back, put your feet up and let me take you to the real Hill House. 13
“As you drive closer to the looming hill and leave civilisation behind, nerves begin to writhe in the pit of your stomach.”
The pink October sky is turning a colder shade as the sun sinks behind the Wye Valley. As you drive closer to the looming hill and leave civilisation behind, nerves begin to writhe in the pit of your stomach. The drive up Howle Hill is a steep one and you are plunged into darkness as the trees close over above. You double back on yourself up an even steeper hill, and your car crunches to a stop on the gravel car park. Stepping out of the car, you stretch and take a deep inhale of the cold autumn evening. The aroma of woodsmoke hangs thick in the air and the evening dampness starts to cling to you. Don’t linger here too long, for wild boar are said to roam these woods. Those and the tall, dark elemental that watches stoically from the trees. Collecting your things, you hasten down the path towards the comfort of the house. That feeling of being watched you’re experiencing. Oh, that’s something you will need to get used to. On your right, you pass the old coach house and the remains of a much older wall, buried with time. Visions of an old boy in a flat cap flash into your mind. He leans against the door frame watching you pass by a vision of leathery, weathered skin and dark, sunken eyes. You turn, expecting to have your imaginings confirmed, but all you see is a dark, gaping doorway. Standing with your back to the house, you take in the twinkling Wye Valley down below. Fog is now blanketing the lower lands which escalates the feeling that you have left your world behind and entered another. Your sense of release is met with anxiety. In summer months, you can enjoy these same views from the hot tub with your skin absorbing the warm setting sun. 14
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candlelight is a banquet of home cooked courses that never cease to flow from the kitchen. When you are finally full of good food, fine wine, and ghostly tales among friends, you decide to head up to your chamber. Passing back through the kitchen, that same sensation envelops you again. You are being watched, but by who? Reaching the top of the stairs, you take in the long landing before you. The doors you see spread about each give way to their very own personal ghost story. Every room has its own spectral inhabitants from ‘The Watcher’ to the ‘White Lady’ to ‘Blue Face’. You, however, are spending the night in the Dryad Suite. A room of which ‘The Master’ and ‘Elizabeth’ often battle for the hauntship upper hand. The room which has gained the reputation as the most notorious bedroom by all who have rested in
But these are different times. Bats swoop around you in the twilight and you finally turn to face the house. It stretches far in both directions; many dark windows look down on you. It’s an unsettling feeling, standing here. The 1920s foyer casts a warm glow, and you succumb to its allure. Passing through the glass panelled front doors, you are oblivious to the black wispy shadow that snatches at your heels. Closing the door behind, you find yourself standing in the entrance hall, and the oldest part of the house. Your eyes glance down and admire the beautiful parquet flooring. The tiles have become loose over time and tinkle a tune as you walk over them. A sound Duncan, the owner, professes to have heard many a time when alone in the house. On your left is the old ballroom. Sounds of a large gathering and merrymaking have been heard when appearances would lead you to believe the room was empty. To your right is the Victorian extension, and the part of the house I must admit being most fearful of. The large bay windows leave you feeling exposed to the perils of the woods, when it is the dark shadow lurking behind you that you should be most cautious of. The dinner gong chimes so you drop your bags by the door and head through to the dining room. As you enter the kitchen, the mouth-watering aromas distract you from the tragic site of the maid long passed. She mournfully watches you from the scullery, babe in her belly, a bump on her brow and blood pouring down over her eye. Dinner by
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her. As you walk into the room, you are immediately drawn to the sumptuous 4-poster bed, that looks even more inviting with a tummy aching from its fill. The wood burner pops and crackles softly, and yet something feels amiss. It’s as though you have just stepped in on a private conversation, the air feels tense. Shaking the feeling, you dump your bags down on the red velvet armchair and head into the bathroom to freshen up. Whilst in there, you distinctly hear footsteps crossing the floor of your room, followed by the sound of someone calling your name. You hurry to dry your face and leave the bathroom to discover you are still alone. Confused, you check your phone to see if you have been missed. As you sit thumbing through your messages, you hear a dull clunk. Glancing up, you watch in horror-stricken awe as the wardrobe door slowly swings open. The guest book would tell you that this is a common phenomenon. Past guests also reports the lights being switched on in the middle of the night by unseen hands, the feelings of being touched about the face and head whilst trying to sleep as well as the sensation of something walking about on the end of the bed. Property has been damaged, growls have been heard from within the room, furniture moves of its own accord and disembodied footsteps are heard crossing the floor frequently.
Find out more:
http://howlinghillhouse.com/
This is merely touching the surface on the supernatural delights that this room has to offer, never mind the rest of the house! My personal experiences far outweigh this brief introduction. My advice to you now? Head down to the bar and order yourself a stiff drink in front of the open fire. You are going to need it!
Lorien Jones xx “I have a life-long passion for all things spooky. I turned this love into my business when I created The Ghost Book in 2013. I explore, investigate, and document haunted places around the UK. The older and duster the better. I feel it’s essential to know the history of a building before investigating and believe in the importance of having knowledge of those who lived and worked there throughout history. How can we ask for communication without knowledge and respect?”
Visit The Ghost Book
https://www.theghostbook.co.uk/
If you are interested in reading more about Hill House, want to plan a visit or dare to book a ghost hunt, visit The Ghost Book for more information’ 16
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THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE THE TRUTH… When we knew that Truth Seekers was a “thing” we knew that we just had to get involved in more than just an interview and a few tweets about it, we knew what we wanted to do, to achieve, if we ever got the chance. Whether we would get that chance, or the opportunity, we had no idea. Then the promo trailer dropped, like an angelic K2 meter out of the sky, all lights lit up like it a haunted Christmas Tree and we were like, along with the most of the the paranormal world, “they’ve hit the nail on the head with this”, as the trailer, 30-40 seconds of it had covered that people in the paranormal world see, hear and experience every day, the experts, the sayings, the phrases, the egos, the humours – YES IN A TRAILER. I know, they’ve done their research for sure. There’s a bit in the trailer where it goes like this, “leave this to me, I’ve been a paranormal investigator for over 20 years” (we’ve all heard this before yes?), then there’s a dramatic pause followed by the experienced ghost hunter’s words “hello ghosties” (again, we’ve always heard this before, yes?). There’s no rulebook to ghost hunting / paranormal investigating, we all know that, but if there was a rule book based on what we all see and hear “hello ghosties”, would be one of many preferred preferential greetings when dealing with the occupants of the spirit world. For sure. We must admit that we contacted everyone we knew who might be associated with it, Stolen Pictures, (we knew LinkedIn would come in useful, eventually) and James, Miles and Nat kindly put us in touch with Amazon Studios, who put us in touch with Academy PR, and we explained who we are, what we do, what we can do, what we could do with an issue of Haunted Magazine related to Truth Seekers and they said “they’ll let us know, be in touch” and true to their word they did get in touch and did let us know that Amazon and themselves were prepared to give us licence to be creative (a spooky red flag to a ghost bull) we knew we could do something special, after all, ghosts, paranormal, seeking the truth are right up our street, drive, road, avenue, cul-de-sac. We were also privileged to have watch the episodes of Truth Seekers prior to it launching on Amazon Prime Video at the end of October. We won’t spoil it for you but if you love what Nick Frost & Simon Pegg have done in the past and you love the paranormal and you love ghosts then you will not be disappointed. We weren’t. Do not expect a full-on Carry on Haunted romp, or an episode of Ghost Adventures, Truth Seekers is subtle, oh so very subtle, so subtle it is genius. So, aside from interviews with some of the cast, we have incorporated something in Truth Seekers to form part of the magazine, YES this very magazine that you are reading, if you’re reading this before watching Truth Seekers you might very well think “what the flippin’ eck are you about” but seekers of the truth no that (eventually) “the truth will out”.
#DontBeNormal BE PARANORMAL!! 18
THE ORIGINS Truth Seekers’ origins trace back to the days Nick Frost and Simon Pegg would go ghost hunting as young men. Despite never witnessing anything paranormal, the pair would thrive on dredging up the creepiest tales from their twisted imaginations to scare the living crap out of one another. When they formed their own production company, Stolen Picture, it was clear Truth Seekers should be their first TV series out the gate – the pair’s first as a creative team since the cult classic, Spaced. With the company’s creative directors, Nat Saunders, and James Serafinowicz, they began forming a paranormal investigation show which focused as much on the horror as on the comedy. HAUNTED MAGAZINE
Favouring creeping dread and practical visual effects over jump scares and CGI, the richly layered story brings together a cluster of disparate characters who start to uncover ghostly goings-on in rural areas of the UK. The team took inspiration from old issues of Fortean Times, collections of dusty ghost encyclopaedias and Arthur C Clarke’s Mysterious World to help them weave a compelling story. As the scripts came to life, director Jim FieldSmith joined the team bringing a clear cinematic look and a story that starts small but builds to apocalyptic sized proportions.
YOU SEEK THE EPISODE GUIDE? Episode 1 THE HAUNTING OF CONNOLLY’S NOOK Gus Roberts is the number one installer at SMYLE, Britain’s biggest mobile network operator and internet service provider. In his spare time, he is also a keen investigator of the paranormal. Gus is less than pleased when his boss Dave partners him up with new recruit Elton. But then their first job together leads them right to a real life haunting… Episode 2 THE WATCHER ON THE WATER Gus and Elton are sent to fix the broadband connection at The Portland Beacon, “the only horror themed hotel on Dorset’s Jurassic Coast”. Just as Gus is beginning to tire of the eccentric owners and their daft horror gimmicks, Elton stumbles into the mysterious Room 2, and then a passageway to a secret bunker beyond. It is there that they find the very surprising cause of the problem with the signal… Episode 3 THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GHOSTS
Casting the likes of Samson Kayo, Emma D’Arcy, Susan Wokoma, Malcolm McDowell, Julian Barrett, and many other great actors was key to bringing the characters to life. Nick was always penned to play the lead, Gus Roberts, with Simon as his jobsworth boss, Dave – putting a spin on their past on-screen relationships. Under the watchful eyes of producer Richard Webb, Stolen Picture CEO Miles Ketley and development producer Jamie Wolpert, the team ensured every episode was brimming with detail, sly humour and spine-chilling setpieces. Filming in numerous locations in the south of England and on sound stages at Ealing Studios (where Shaun of the Dead
was filmed), the production lasted nine weeks of Summer/Autumn 2019. With most of the effects being in-camera, the cast really got to face their fears as the show’s demons, creatures and apparitions came to life before their eyes.
“Comedy and horror make perfect bedfellows – both elicit a gut reaction, be it a laugh or a scream, and the aim of Truth Seekers was always to bring both to the party.” The entire Truth Seekers team are immensely proud to have worked on a show that blends and subverts its genres, while allowing them to create a story that will haunt and reward the viewer. HAUNTED MAGAZINE
Gus and Elton finally come face to face with Astrid, who comes to ask for their help – she is being chased by ghosts. Gus decides on a visit to psychic medium Janey Feathers but the team soon discover that they are dealing with something far more powerful that they had ever thought, and Gus is forced to perform his first ever exorcism. Episode 4 THE INCIDENT AT COVCOLCOSCON It is the day Helen’s been waiting for – Coventry Collectibles and Cosplay Convention – and Elton is preparing to take her and her Dalek costume along. When Gus discovers that his hero, the visionary Dr. Peter Toynbee, is speaking at the convention he decides to join the trip – and Richard comes along for the ride too. But deep in the bowels of the convention centre there’s something distinctly sinister going on. 19
TRUTHSEEKERS INTERVIEWS WITH NICK FROST AND SAMSON KAYO (aka I love my job …)
13 MINUTES WITH NICK FROST AND SAMSON KAYO HM: Samson, can I ask, did you ever think you’d be playing Elton John in a TV show? Haunted Magazine (HM): Hi guys, thank YOU so much for allowing us to be part of this weird audio press junket type thingy. We are Haunted Magazine, we are not The White Sheet, but we do okay (Nick and Sansom laugh, out of pity? I’d like to think not) First of all I’d like to ask Nick about the writing of Truth Seekers, there was a few of you, did you each write an episode or was each episode a writer’s room scenario with each and every one chipping in? Nick (N): Well there was 4 of us and we all wrote episode 1 and episode 8 together and then we split the body of the rest of the episodes between us, and we used a bit of software, boring, which is called Writer Duet so that we could all see each other’s work and we can edit it as we go, so we did it like that and then got all the pieces together and went through it line by line. HM: Like a virtual writer’s room?
N: No, we were all together, this was pre-lockdown, so we’d have our headphones on and get on with it, and also write at home and come in, it was very collaborative. N: Writing it was lots of fun, but very hard as we overwrote every episode by about 20 pages. So, when Amazon said to us can you get them down from 50 to 26, we were kind of a bit fucked, but we did it. HM: I’ve had the pleasure of watching the first 4 episodes and it’s amazing I have to say N: Ah cool, thank you
Samson (S): Samson, you’ve also written, we love Sliced* (*Sliced is a sitcom about two friends who are pizza delivery drivers) S: Ah thanks man
HM: and it has been renewed for a season two, I believe yes?
S: yes, yes, yes, I mean Covid has kind of slowed things down but we’re getting back on our feet and raring to go 20
S: Never, there’s two things I’d never thought I’d do, play a Russian and play Elton John and have done both. It’s so weird.
HM: As we’ve said we’ve watched the first four episodes and the character has grown so much over the first four episodes, did you bring something to it or did you have an idea as to how you wanted to play Elton S: For me I always work better when I have a core relationship with my partner and with Nick it was really easy to bounce off him as Elton and in terms of the comedy and also making sure I take Elton’s emotional ride really serious and not really take the mickey out of the horror because it all sort of comes from a true place so and I feel like that balance really helped me to be able to portray Elton and it was the same for Emma & Astrid, every morning we’d give each other a big hug and say like “here we go”, you know what I mean? N: Yeah
HM: Have you two worked together before? You can sense the chemistry straight away.
N: No, not at all. Well, it could’ve gone two ways, Elton and Gus could’ve hated each other but in the end it could’ve gone one or two ways, first off, the don’t get on and eventually they get to a place where they do get on and something happens which undercuts that. At the start they don’t understand each other, they don’t necessarily get one another but Elton keens to learn and Gus becomes keener, but he hides it, because he is a grumpy sod. I like the fact that they just get on and like each other. I think it enables an audience to get in that van with us and be one of our crew.
HM: Did you research paranormal investigators, ghost hunters at all for the show because you’ve hit the nail on the head for sure, the humour, the subtle humour, the gadgets et al. I am a ghost hunter myself as are most of our writers and is it luck or did you spend time perfecting the behaviour? N: Well Simon and I have been ghost hunting since we were about 28 so we’d often find an abandoned gothic house and creep around in it, or an old graveyard, a cemetery or an abandoned factory and that’s how we’d spend our weekends, trying to will something to come and talk to us. That was our background. We didn’t necessarily look at individual ghost
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‘action’ and you’re kind of on your own and there were a couple of times when I felt the hair on the back of my neck prickle a bit, but that’s just me and my own mind doing that to me, but it makes it real.
S: Also, the deaf hospital, that was spooky.
N: Yeah, it was an old hospital for deaf children and we were down in the cellars and there were like catacombs and little cellars and little rooms and passages that led nowhere apart from these bleached white walls, they were really scary but there’s part of me that would love to turn round and something to happen.
hunters but I’ve seen the show Ghost Hunters, seen plenty of them and stuff but we wanted to get it across that he liked his gadgets and the gadgets get more and more obscurer as we go on and also to unearth a world that not a lot of people know about but is there and not take the piss out of it. Gus is passionate about what he does, for him, it’s real.
HM: That’s true and you mention the humour, you’ve not ripped the persona of ghost hunting to shreds, you’ve captured the humour, because there are a lot of times where you are sat around for hours so that element of humour becomes your reality, your go to “normal”. HM: Samson, have you ever been ghost hunting before? S: Nah, we didn’t do that in Peckham. S: You know, I’ve never really been ghost hunting but I kind of have a sense of belief of the paranormal. I can remember my mum saying she saw a mermaid when she was in Nigeria, on the docks AND the more she tells the story and keeps going about it the more I’ve been in situations and felt like “somethings about, somethings about. RUN!!” N: (enthusiastically) YEAH, YEAH!!
S: So, I’ve never really been a ghost hunter. HM: Sometimes when you’re filming ghost stuff, things inexplicably happen, did anything like that, on set?
N: there was a couple of times when we were on location, we were in an old Tudor house, which was big and winding with lots of little passages and rooms and a lot of the time you’re left on your own whilst the crew set up a shot or just before they shout
N: I think the scariest thing for me was when I was shooting down in Chislehurst Caves and I went off on my own, just with my camera phone and just kind of walked around and there’s a pond down there where a woman is alleged to have drowned. I just kind of stood there and shit myself up a lot and had to run back to the rest of the crew. HM: Do you believe there is something out there?
N: Listen, the fact of the matter is, is that I just don’t know. When I was a young man I lived in a house and I was convinced there was a ghost of a girl in the house but I had a really good relationship with here and I talked a lot, and I could sense that she was good and one day I was watching the TV and I felt someone hold my ears and kiss my forehead and as I turned around there was no one in the room so I thought that was her but that was terrifying and exciting at the same time. That’s like Samsons mum’s story, you know, if you were to tell it to people, they’d be like ‘yeah, right, bye’ but it happened, I felt it you know. So, I believe that happened. HM: Two more quick questions if I may: HM: Who chose Simon’s wig? N: Wig? S: Is it a wig N: It’s not a wig HM: And last question. Nick did you drive that Dalek? It was some speed, that Dalek was travelling
N: I was not insured to drive the Dalek and they had to make a bigger one that I could sit in it to reveal that it was Gus in it, which is great cos I love little confined spaces. I was quite happy in there.
HM: Thanks so much for taking time to talk to me N: Cheers Paul S: Thanks man. Then that was it, Amazon flatlined me _____ HAUNTED MAGAZINE
Episode 5 THE GHOST OF THE BEAST OF BODMIN The Truth Seekers receive a message from a new subscriber, Jojo74, containing a picture of what could well be the legendary Beast of Bodmin. Keen to check it out, they head for Cornwall in HMS Darkside – but what they find there is far from what they expected. Meanwhile, Helen and Richard bond over theirloneliness, and Toynbee steps up his fiendish preparations. Episode 6 THE REVENGE OF THE CHICHESTER WIDOW Gus, Elton, and Astrid decide to use a SMYLE site survey of the former Chichester Institute for the Criminally Insane, now being converted into luxury apartments, as an opportunity to do the first live stream event on the Truth Seekers YouTube channel Armed with helmet cameras, the team split up to explore the oldbuilding while Helen and Richard watch back at base. But Gusgoes missing when he stumbles on a part of the Institute that’s not on the plans. What he finds there – and what he learns – is truly terrifying. Toynbee, meanwhile, is onto the Truth Seekers – they don’t know it yet, but they stand between him and his goal. Episode 7 THE HINCKLEY BOY Having realised the truth about his partner, Gus tricks Elton into a trip to his childhood home to confront his past. As Toynbee’s evil plan draws closer to its conclusion, the Truth Seekers come to understand what he is up to and that it’s up to them to stop him. Time’s not on their side – the eclipse is almost here. And Richard has gone missing… Episode 8 THE SHADOW OF THE MOON The Truth Seekers arrive at the Portland Power Station to search for Richard, only to find Dr. Toynbee’s ritual in full swing. With the eclipse nearing totality, it’s a race against time to save Richard’s life, and countless others. They’re going to need help –but who can they trust? 21
20 MINUTESWITH MALCOLM MCDOWELL yes really!
Nick was just so funny, but in a straight way if that makes sense, awfully hard not for me to turn away and laugh. We add little bits here and there, if it works, great, if it doesn’t, we forget it. It is organic and over time you kind of figure it out. As I said a few seconds, he is a very funny guy and so very earnest. All the cast got on really well, Samson is a legend. What they have is a very well-written and its sort of sparse, which I really like because it allows characters to grow and interact. We had fun shooting it. Who is Richard, is he influenced by anyone close to you or is he your creation? How did “you” being in Truth Seekers come to be? Who approached you for Truth Seekers and what attracted you to the role? I was in London doing a talk about Stanley Kubrick and James, one of the producers approached me and and as id not worked in UK for over nearly 25 years I jumped at the chance AND obviously when you know Nick Frost & Simon Pegg are involved, you’d be a madman to turn it down, and even though I may portray a madman on screen, I am not as much as madman in real life. I remember saying to my manager, “look, you can make this work”. And that was it, really. I was excited to do it and it is a very quirky, very English sort of comedy, and that is something I had missed being in America for so many years. Would you say you have an interest in the paranormal? Have you had any paranormal experiences along the way? I’ve never seen a ghost walking towards me, or have I, I guess we wouldn’t know, unless they vanished into the ether in front of you, but there’s something there I believe, what it is that is out there, I haven’t got a scooby doo. I do, sometimes get this feeling of something you’ve thought about, which turns out to be true, what is it, sixth sense? De ja vu? It is noticeably clear from the first 4 episodes that Nick Frost in particular gives you a lot of room to steal the scenes. Was this a conscious decision or did the scenes just evolve?
I guess all the above, yes there is a script, but they wouldn’t employ me to do it if they didn’t want me to adapt it. In truth, he is a miserable bugger, who is set in his ways, like most older people. But he is an interesting character, he is multifaced, like them all. At first glance, he seems to be just a grumpy old man, but he is more than that. It’s interesting to see their unlikely relationship develop, And, of course, the old man’s lonely and he’s always saying, “You’re going out again? What if you leave me and I just die here”, he’s a bit like that. So, poor pitiful me. But there is a lot of comedy to be had in that kind of relationship. You are known as the man (Soran) that killed Captain James T. Kirk, how has that gone down? Ha, I refused the offer twice, the “trekkies” weren’t convinced that I’d be great for the part, not being a Trek regular character, but they came back a third time and said I get to kill Kirk. Sign me up, I said. What was it like stepping into the shoes of Donald Pleasance in the Halloween reboots? I knew Donald, we used to have a drink together now and then, I could never copy Donald’s Dr. Loomis, so the viewers will have to tell me if I was a good Dr. Loomis. As for the Dr. himself, he was a good doctor, he was a shit doctor, how many times did Michael escape on his watch to murder innocent victims? Halloween is one of those iconic films, that has stood the test of time. I asked Rob Zombie if I should watch the previous films, he said watch them after. If there was one film or one thing you could do again in your career, what would it be? Never go back that is my motto, I am older, wiser, etc so I couldn’t play any of the characters I did back them with the same intent. Me, at 77, as Alex in A clockwork orange saying Eggyweggs, Eggyweggs & Welly, welly, welly, welly, welly, welly, well. wouldn’t be the same. Interview by Paul Stevenson
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INTERVIEW WITH SIMON PEGG (yet again I love my job …)
Can you take us back to the beginning of the project, how did it first come about? Answer: Truth Seekers was something Nick and James Serafinowicz were working on a long time ago. It was based on mine and Nick’s adventures loosely ghost hunting, which we did a couple of times when we were young. We would sort of drive out to an abbey and walk around pretending to believe in ghosts. Nick sort of liked this idea of a paranormal sitcom, and when Nick and I created Stolen Picture, we had a look at everything we had in terms of creative output to establish a slate and Truth Seekers was still there, although not as a fully developed project. So, we put it front and centre for Stolen Picture and got to work on it with Nat Saunders, James Serafinowicz, myself, and Nick in the writing seat. What inspired you to pen these stories? And what influences did you draw on other than personal experiences? Nick and I had always been huge fans of the X-Files. We bonded on that in the early nineties when we first started hanging out. We used to have boxsets of the first and second season and we lived in a house where there was nothing but a television and a heater. I don’t think it even received proper television, but X-Files was a big influence on us. We’d always enjoy shows that were very character led, like Northern Exposure, and so we really drew on those influences for Truth Seekers to create a show that was genre based, led by its characters, funny, heart-warming yet scary as well. Both Nick and I am fans of horror and I’ve always had this theory that horror and comedy are actually quite unlikely bedfellows, in that they both structurally exist in a similar criteria. It is like a ghost story and a joke if you look at them structurally, they’re both the same. They’re a build up to an emotional payoff. Whereas horror and comedy can sometimes feel slightly at odds with each other. If you get it right, it really works. You guys have obviously got such a great following for just that reason; for blending the horror and the comedy. How do you go about balancing that in the story? How did you do that for Truth Seekers as well, getting the right mix? It’s all about taking the right parts of it seriously and allowing the humour to exist in its own space. Take, for example, An American Werewolf in London, the film never makes fun of the horror. Even in the funny moments with Jack, gradually rotting away and coming back as this sort of conscious for Mike. Even though that’s funny it’s still horrific.
“It’s all about taking the right parts of it seriously and allowingthe humour to exist in its own space” You’re playing the character of Dave in this; can you tell us a bit about him and where we first meet him? Dave is Gus’ boss at Smyle. He is a very fastidious, very bythe-book kind of guy. He is immensely proud of Gus, who is
his favourite worker as he works the hardest. Dave also has significance beyond that of his position of Gus’ boss, he’s slightly more involved in what’s happening than it may first appear. I’ll leave it there for now. What creepy locations have you used for Truth Seekers? Yes, the guys worked on not many of the scenes I’m involved with but it’s an old Shredded Wheat factory in Welwyn Garden City. It’s actually my second time having a production in Welwyn Garden City, which is essentially a huge, abandoned warehouse, brilliantly evocative and rundown. I think it’s served as several locations for us. It’s great when you come across these buildings that have been untouched for years because they serve really well for spooky locations and this one was just full of them. So yes, it’s been great, we’ve been in various basements and abandoned buildings. Locations have done a great job in terms of finding these places. Any there any particular scenes that you’ve worked on that you’re particularly looking forward to? I’m extremely excited about the final episode of the season one. When you write something, you get a feeling of anticipation for certain scenes. You’re like, ‘oh this is going to look good’. So, there are lots and lots of moments, the Hinckley house, the psychiatric institute which Jim is going to bring to life so brilliantly – I can’t wait to see those. It’s funny when you have something on the page you can only envisage it, it’s lovely being given the actual visual material as well. For those who don’t know anything about it, what can audiences expect from Truth Seekers? For us, it was creating a show that was at once funny but also frightening and effecting in terms of its horror aspect. I was going to say Buffy the Vampire Slayer because that had moments of real comedy in it, but I think this is more of overtly a comedy than that was. I hope audiences can expect something new. In the great tradition of Ghostbusters, the X-Files, and those beloved properties, this is something fresh coming from myself and Nick.
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he group of brave young men in question were known quite commonly as the “Sandringhams”, as with many battalions especially in the early days of the Great War, groups of friends and work colleagues were selected to fight shoulder to shoulder. History tells us that back in 1908, the then King, Edward VII had requested that the land agent at Sandringham Palace, Frank Beck, put together a group of part time soldiers. This was quite successful and within a short time, the Sandringhams had over one hundred men. These were people who were friends with each other, who worked side by side, who drank together, who possibly flirted with the local women together, they had a sense of comradery that is hard to explain to someone who has never been part of a close knit team. Although the story that I am telling you talks about the vanished Sandringhams, these men only made up a portion of the tale. The Sandringham volunteers had been attached to the 3rd Volunteer Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment, after the King had taken great interest in following the formation of them some years previously. Following the Territorial Scheme, the 3rd Volunteers were amalgamated into the 5th Battalion Norfolk which included men from all over the region. Nevertheless, whichever part of Norfolk these brave boys came from, what happened would become infamous to those looking at the unexplained occurrences that came about from the First World War. We have very little true information regarding the events in August 1915, and many historians have focused
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on the eyewitness accounts of an Antipodean soldier who gave a description some time later. This former New Zealand Sapper, Frederick Reichardt, described the events with quite surprising supernatural bias. He claimed that on the 21st August 1915, as the 5th Norfolk ran off to engage the enemy at Hill 60, there were six to eight low lying clouds hovering above them, engrossed in what he was seeing, Reichardt claimed that one section of this mist descended to obscure the vision of those watching the Battalion go into the woods and then rose again, a few minutes later, in a most inconspicuous way and the men were never seen again. What other reason could there be for the disappearance of nearly three hundred grown men? This story was shared far and wide, and despite there being no substantiation, these killer clouds were lauded as an explanation for the men’s disappearance as were monsters and also blood thirsty Turks who had rounded them up – apparently – and summarily executed them.
BUT HOW CLOSE IS ANY OF THAT TO THE TRUTH? I have already mentioned that whilst they were known as the Sandringhams, the Norfolks would possibly have been more correct. The second glaring mistake in Sapper Reichardt’s account was the date and place, the battle which the 5th were involved in (he also called them the 4th in his entry) took place on 12th August and not the 21st, and was on the Anafarta Plain and not the infamous Hill 60.
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This may have been an oversight as Reichardt’s admits he was giving these details from memory, but they still point to perhaps inaccuracies in his entire recollection. But why would someone observing something get it so wrong? Perhaps the conditions being faced at the Gallipoli offensive can take some of the responsibility for that. A very famous name from twenty-five years or so later was responsible for this campaign, Winston Churchill. The Government needed to clear the Dardanelles Strait to enable the various Navies to get through and capture Constantinople (modern day Istanbul), and Churchill – who was the First Lord of the Admiralty at this point – reasoned that as the Central Powers were fighting on two fronts already, those being the Eastern and Western, by opening up another field of battle would weaken them and there was no way the small Turkish fighting force would match up to the might of the Allies who were being bolstered by the Anzacs, part of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. He was misled, one of the Ottoman military leaders was a man by the name of Colonel Mustafa Kemal, who was later to become Kemal Ataturk and he was a pivotal figure in the history and progression of Turkey (not to mention the reason Turkey is called just that!). So here we have men who are not used to battle, being thrown into something with harsh conditions – steep terrain, over powering heat, lack of food and clean water – dealing with the incessant sounds of war on a daily basis, and not only that, poor planning on the part of the Government had caused a lack of sanitation and with no- where to bathe or proper toilet facilities, disease was rife. A man was as likely to die from tetanus, septic wounds or even dysentery as they were being shot by the enemy, and this was highly likely and perhaps unsurprisingly, to influence the soldiers’ mental state.
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Regardless of this, the boys from Norfolk walked on bravely under their Officer in charge, Lieutenant Colonel Sir Horace Proctor Beauchamp, but a slight deviation from their plan led to them being separated from their flanking battalions and they are reported to have disappeared from sight. The current school of thought is that they charged towards a Turkish held ridge and were mown down by snipers, machine guns and other types of artillery fire, it could be said a total decimation of the battalion from Norfolk. We know that Frank Beck – a Captain due to his social standing and fifty-three years old, so a man who did not have to be there – was wounded early on before the rest of his men strode on. We also have records of one of their number, a fourteen-year-old Private by the name of George Carr who had been rescued by stretcher beforehand. As was many of the so called strategies of World War I, especially the early years and this was in 1915, the defence was well dug in and prepared, but the attack was poorly led, without clear objective and the groundwork had not been done to reconnoitre the target prior to the charge. So why did such a legend arise about these poor men from East Anglia? Could it have been the mystique with which the British Commander in Chief, Sir Ian Hamilton painted the incident in his dispatch to the then Secretary of State for War, Lord Kitchener
In the course of the fight there happened a very mysterious thing….The Colonel, with 16 officers and 250 men, still kept pushing on, driving the enemy before him….Nothing more was ever seen or heard of any of them. They charged into the forest and were lost to sight or sound. Not one of them every came back.
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In 1919, the battalion’s Chaplain, the Reverend Pierrepoint Edwards was reported to have found the bodies of one hundred and eighty soldiers of which over one hundred wore the Norfolk badge, although as policy after the Great War was not for repatriation of soldiers – regardless of rank – many do not have a specific gravestone for grieving families to visit and their name is on a memorial stone near where they perished.
* t h e n ot s o ‘o r r i b l e ‘i s to r i e s m i g ht ac t u a ll y b e ‘o r r i b l e, i t ’s j u s t a t i t l e….
Not all of them died and disappeared however, a newspaper article in the Diss Express on Friday 10th September 1915 simply stated that Mrs Coxon of Kings Lynn had received a postcard from her son; Captain Coxon dated 19th August 1915 advising that he had been wounded but was being treated in Constantinople. Her son was one of the missing battalion and his correspondence perhaps proved that all was not as it seemed.
So, why with all this information, did Sapper Reichardt describe clouds engulfing the troops and carrying them off into some unknown abyss, a story which gathered speed and notoriety as the 1960’s progressed amongst fans of the unexplained and ufologists – did I forget to mention that? Yes, some believed they were abducted by aliens, that a spacecraft was using the cloud as camouflage before taking the unsuspecting Tommies. Could the clouds have been extra terrestrials attracted to the melee and wanting a piece of the action, it has definitely been reported before with many of those who study the sightings of UFOs stating that more are seen in times of global conflict. Simply put, I feel Reichardt did recount a story he believed to be true, he was not trying to mislead anyone and that the conditions and mental torture of Gallipoli caused his wires to become crossed, nothing more nothing less. But what actually caused the deaths – and disappearance - of these brave men, that’s up to you to decide.
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ONCE UPON A
Slime Kate Cherrell embraces ‘Ectoplasm’ in the Age of Cheesecloth
hen Peter Venkman whimpered in a hotel hallway in 1984 that ‘he slimed me’, what constituted ‘actual physical contact’ for the Ghostbusters, was not so different to the spiritualists that preceded them, one hundred years before.
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Spiritualism laid its roots with the Fox Sisters in Hydesville, New York in 1848. As the young girls claimed to communicate with spirits through ‘rappings’, their fame and short-lived fortune was inevitable. Yet, as Spiritualism developed into an enormous religious movement, separate from the Fox Sisters’ trickery, increasing claims of fantastical spiritual ability were inevitable. The movement snaked across the western world, developing in theory, in scientific interest and brought hope and reassurance to thousands. The work of 19th and early 20th century spiritualists helped the movement find a home in churches, homes, and public arenas. It also developed and sculpted methods of séance as we know them today. As fascinating, academic, and culturally important as Spiritualism may be, at its peak, it was full of sex, drugs, and more orifices than you can shake a Ouija board at. It was beautiful, intriguing, and brought purpose to many.
It was also, at times, utterly ridiculous. It brought together level-headed people with Martian kings, ancient pirate spirit guides and undead artists.
As spiritualism developed its own methodologies and experimented with different ways of contacting spirits, many mediums entered a level of one-upmanship never seen before. When one medium could contact the dead and pass on messages verbally or through automatic writing, another could bring the dead person into the room, ready to reintroduce themselves to their family. Some spirit guides became famous, sending their respective mediums into superstardom…at least until a sitter thought to grab hold of the not-so ghostly apparition. Many mediums in a search for fame and success understandably needed to validate their status as a channeler or spiritual catalyst. However, as the 19th century rolled on, fraudulent mediums were exposed with increased frequency and much of the trust that had been built within the movement was at breaking point. - 28 HAUNTED MAGAZINE
In response, the focus of mediumship - particularly performance mediums who sought fame, infamy, or financial gain through their seances – switched to the legitimacy of the individual, not the relative enormity of their claims. As such, after exhausting itself with the grandiosity of its manifestations, mediumship, and spiritualism, still very much in its infancy, refined and shrank its claims. As the Victorian age ended, one of the most popular ways to demonstrate one’s supposed mediumistic abilities was through the production of ectoplasm. Much like yo-yos and Pokémon cards, ectoplasm was a powerful trend that tore through the schoolyards of spiritualism. The ectoplasm that readily appeared in seances of the 20th century was a little different to Slimer’s own gloop but was equally as shocking and exciting to the investigators who observed it. It must be said that much like any trend, not everyone was a participant or believer in the legitimacy of ectoplasm. As many mediums dismissed ectoplasm as celebrated it.
nto the 1940s, the notions of ‘ectoplasm’ and ‘ghosts’ were indivisible in their definition; ectoplasm was simply a spirit energy made humanly visible through the innate powers of the medium.
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The medium could be called upon to contact a specific individual and be directed by sitters or lead by their own means. Ultimately the resulting display was the same. The medium would produce ectoplasm, either from their body, or from a concealed area by their clothing.
Rather than emerging directly from a spirit, ectoplasm was the realm of the gifted medium. As a rule, a sitting would be conducted whereby a handful of individuals would gather in the séance room, the lights would be dimmed (as it was believed that darkness or low light would facilitate the emergence of spirit) and the medium would enter a trance. After hymns were sung, prayers said, or following a simple period of silence, the medium would be ready to contact spirit.
Arthur Conan Doyle described ectoplasm as “a viscous, gelatinous substance which appeared to differ from every known form of matter in that it could solidify and be used for material purposes”. Others describe it as light and flimsy. And of course, if seen in daylight, the substance would dissolve, so a level of darkness was necessary. The ectoplasm could fall from the medium’s mouth, snake across their body, or take on a life of its own, emerging and taking on the appearance of a fully manifested spirit.
Investigators armed with early home cameras brought the claims of home circles and small-town mediums into the wider public eye. It is through these investigations by scientists, self-styled ghost hunters or pseudointellectuals, that we can grasp the fantastical nature of ectoplasm itself. Similarly, should we want to rebrand ourselves as contemporary ectoplasmic mediums, spiritualist archives offer up a veritable ‘HowTo’ guide and shopping list, for those bold (or stupid) enough to try it. If there is one thing I love, it is a challenge. If there is another thing I love, it is embracing the opportunity to repeat the word ‘orifice’ under the guise of informing others.
What is Ectoplasm? ‘In the darkness, a queer-looking vapoury, luminous form floated around in the air and paused in front of the spectators. My friend slipped down quietly on his knees, and gradually worked closer and closer to the luminous form, until he could detect that the vapor was a kind of luminous “cheese cloth.” David P. Abbott Ectoplasm, once caught on film, was clear in its construction. What had once thrived, concealed in darkness, was instantly exposed, in all its woven wonder. Most ectoplasm expelled by mediums was made from cheesecloth or butter muslin. Being loosely woven fabrics from fine thread, large amounts could be compressed into impossibly small spaces. To make the fabric more pliant or smooth when
regurgitated or removed by the medium, it could be mixed with soap, egg white or animal gelatine. This could completely change the consistency of the fabric, allowing it to ‘flop’ from the medium, or adhere to surfaces. Spirit hands are a small subdivision of ectoplasm or spirit manifestations, appearing in darkened seances and moving or tapping to signal the appearance of spirit. Much like their
ectoplasmic cousin, they were frequently debunked and exposed as mannequin hands, rubber gloves or animal innards. However, their usage and popularity is a story for another day. Despite endless debunking and the introduction of flash photography, mediums, believers, and investigators alike still sung the praises of plasm. However, understandably its believers have dwindled considerably today.
Where Did it Come From? Most commonly, ectoplasm emerged from the medium via the mouth. In many other studies, mediums produced the substance from their ears, nose, stomach and from between their shoes. A famous manifestation medium, Mina Crandon, would produce ectoplasm in her sittings,
including a small spirit hand that emerged from her stomach and waved at the assembled sitters. Crandon’s reputation was later left in tatters when it was proved that her spirit hand was in fact little more than a piece of carved animal liver. - 29 HAUNTED MAGAZINE
The Danish medium, Einer Nielsen was similarly investigated for his ectoplasmic claims and, in 1922, was exposed as a fraud. Nielsen’s ectoplasm did not originate in the spirit world, but a little closer to home, in his rectum.
As much as I can advocate for body positivity, under no circumstances will I suggest that storing vast amounts of cheesecloth up your bum with heighten your mediumistic abilities.
assembled sitters. Still, the ectoplasm was regarded as a part of the medium and, following séance, re-joined the medium’s body through absorption. One of the most celebrated ectoplasmic photographs depicts Kathleen, sitting at a séance table, Sadly, for those of us with a sensitive where ectoplasm has emerged from her shoe and is tipping the table in disposition, Einer was not alone in his unconventional storage methods. front of her. The French medium, Eva Carrière was As written in the Evening World of renowned for conducting seances naked, storing ectoplasm around her 1922, ‘In the pictures, you see it exuding from the legs and body of breasts, in her vagina and shocking the medium and lifting a table by a sitters with the request for a full gynaecological examination before, cantilever of the substance, fixed at one end to the medium’s body and during or after seances. Thankfully, some of Eva’s manifestations were a with the free, or working, end gripping little more family-friendly, which we the under-surface of the table.’ will entertain a little later. Following the descriptions of the investigators, I grabbed my chiffon, When observing so many of these a broom handle and set about joining strange photographs, one cannot Kathleen’s ranks. help but wonder, how would one go about recreating them? If the mediums in question were proven to be fraudulent, then my similar lack of spiritual ability would be of little hindrance in recreating their finest moments. I grabbed my cheesecloth and set about recreating the greatest ectoplasmic frauds this side of the afterlife.
Kathleen Goligher Famously ridiculed for his unconventional beliefs, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (creator of Sherlock Holmes and self-styled Spiritualist Investigator) was a great believer in the Goligher Circle of Belfast. Kathleen Goligher in particular was the subject of Conan Doyle’s investigation; whose ectoplasmic mediumship caught his attention and his unwavering belief. Dr Crawford, an investigator of Kathleen, explained that ‘the plasma is part of the medium’s body, exteriorised in space.’ (Source - The Evening World, 26/04/1922) From the photographs and reports that remain from these investigations, we can see that much of Kathleen’s ectoplasm emerged from her shoe or boot, where the sound of fabric moving across her silk stockings was audible to the
My first problem with the Goligher recreation hit early on - sadly, both Kathleen and I have quite different styles, meaning that finding sensible footwear was a rather earthly hurdle to overcome. From other photographs of her ectoplasmic work, it is clear that a large pole is propped between her legs, with the gauze draped in front, flowing into her shoe. As shown, from a front-facing perspective, no pole is visible in the photographs. It is a simple, effective methodology, but at a time when so many mediums re-absorbed, swallowed or discarded their ectoplasm, it begs the question… what on earth happened to Kathleen’s pole? Cutting down the broom handle and adding fabric was relatively easy but supporting the table with the pole clamped between my legs was quite the workout. Nonetheless, for photographs, I think my recreation was relatively successful. However, assembling the rods and cloths in a darkened room, with my hands tied? That would be another story, and I commend Kathleen for her dedication and development of her fraud. And, while she may have been not entirely truthful in her seances, one thing is for sure; the woman had thighs of steel. - 30 HAUNTED MAGAZINE
Helen Duncan Helen Duncan, otherwise known as ‘Hellish Nell’, was one of the UK’s most famous, or infamous, mediums. Carved into the history books as the last woman imprisoned under the Witchcraft Act of 1735, her reputation grew in the post-war years of the 20s and 30s, as more people sought to contact their deceased loved ones. Duncan’s ectoplasmic seances differed from the Golighers’ in that she produced not just a substance, but one that physically transformed into spirits. Duncan’s ability to bring her spirit guides and deceased individuals into the séance room was celebrated for a time. However, what passed in dimly lit seances was soon dismissed when flash photography and eager investigators entered onto the scene. Indeed, in 1928, photographer Harvey Metcalfe attended a séance and was able to prove that Duncan’s spirits were simply papier-mache masks, draped in a white sheet. Duncan was also the subject of several tests by notorious famous ‘ghost hunter’ Harry Price, who studied her production of ectoplasm closely. Duncan would produce the ectoplasm from her mouth (which may contain two dimensional images of faces), perform her piece, then re-absorb the matter. Foolishly on Duncan’s part, she allowed Price to retain a piece of her ectoplasm, suspended in a bottle of water. When Price took the sample to a chemist, it was revealed to be little but egg white and various chemicals. Price’s investigations were wild to say the least, involving X-Rays, punch ups and desperate attempts to secure more samples. Price himself wrote that, when investigators had gathered to sample her ectoplasm, ‘The medium screamed and the rest of the “teleplasm” went down her throat. This time it wasn’t cheesecloth. It proved to be paper,
soaked in white of egg, and folded into a flattened tube... Could anything be more infantile than a group of grown-up men wasting time, money, and energy on the antics of a fat female crook.’ - Paul Tabori. (1961). The Art of Folly.
One of the most curious of Price’s investigations was Helen Duncan’s ‘séance suit’. During Price’s investigations at the National Laboratory of Psychical Research, he commissioned an all-in-one black satin suit, for her to wear during seances and ectoplasmic production. This was with the intention of securing all limbs of the medium and allowing no opportunity for outside interference. She was also blindfolded and bound to the chair with surgical tape. Although Helen Duncan’s satin onesie is rarely analysed in academic work, she is, undeniably, an untapped fetish icon. Restraints and a restrictive satin suit? So many missed marketing opportunities in the name of mediumship! Obviously, in my personal recreations, I could not let Duncan’s suit go un-recreated. To my shame, I lack a satin onesie, but I am in proud possession of a roll of 100 sturdy bin bags. With a little wiggling and a lot more electrical tape, my transformation to peak Duncan was nearing. In an attempt to mimic Duncan’s grandest ectoplasm work, I endured a few short attempts at cheesecloth regurgitation. However, after half an hour of retching, a sore throat, and some seriously disapproving looks from the dog, I admitted defeat. Nonetheless, I was able to hold three yards of cheesecloth in my mouth with little issue, proving just how easy it was to conceal ectoplasm, even by the uninitiated. With a little more practise, I believe I could hone my regurgitation skills, yet much like my untapped gymnastic and juggling talents, I can’t say I am in any rush to develop them. - 31 HAUNTED MAGAZINE
Eva Carrière Eva Carrière was the wild child of materialisation mediumship. She was the Marilyn Manson of spiritualism who lived a life of sex, more sex, more public sex and occasionally, ghosts. Eva claimed to have developed mystical powers after the death of her fiancé in 1904. In her 1905 seances, Eva went straight in at the Spiritual deepend, manifesting her spirit guide – Bien Boa, a 300-yearold Brahmin Hindu. When photography was introduced into the arena of the séance, there were two clear differences within Bien’s manifestations. Firstly, one was a cardboard cut-out, the other was a hired hand in a dodgy costume. Not to be outdone by an unmasked stooge, Eva continued with her seances which were notoriously explosive. She would conduct seances naked, strip and run around the room, have sex with her female lover in the séance space, or engage in sexual activities with attending audience members. As previously mentioned, she frequently closed her spiritual efforts with the insistence of a full gynaecological examination. However, Eva was also a renowned ectoplasmic medium, producing enormous reems of matter and manifested faces. These faces were often current celebrities, whose portraits she had cut out from French newspapers. As with so many others, with the advent of flash photography, the true identity of Eva’s spirits was made painfully clear. Arthur Conan Doyle investigated Eva and found her to be legitimate. Houdini investigated Eva and found her to be a fraud. The investigations by Albert
von Schrenck-Notzing are regarded as nothing short of pornographic. Regardless of Eva’s sexual proclivities, her ectoplasm was frequently examined and found to be predominantly heavily chewed paper, interspersed with folded portraits of celebrities and statesmen. When recreating Eva’s image, as tempting as it was to run about the house naked, covered in filth and spitty paper, I am a far more sedentary soul. Instead, I chose to get naked, jump in a wardrobe and manifest the spiritual likeness of King Ferdinand I of Bulgaria. After all, if there is one thing we can take from her wild and unfettered life, it is the untapped motto of ‘what would Eva do?’ (Spoiler: the answer is probably ‘get naked.’) Although ectoplasm is now confined to the realms of funny anecdotes and horror films, its importance in western spiritualism was so wild and varied that no article can ever do it justice. From Helen Duncan’s dodgy masks to Eva Carrière’s exhibitionism, ectoplasm touched séance rooms across the world, bringing comfort to the grieving, bafflement to the intrigued and annoyance to the investigators. Should you want to spice up your seances with a little bit of ectoplasmic action, I can fully attest to the effectiveness of the form. Just try to make sure that the room is dimly lit, and no-one has a functioning camera
Kate x! - 32 -
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Photo Credit: Marcus Weber 93, Pixabay
NEW FOR 2020 THE PAST COMES BACK TO LIFE AT BODMIN JAIL One of Cornwall’s most historic sites, Bodmin Jail, is now back open AND featuring a brand-new Dark Walk experience (tickets can be booked in advance online). The unveiling marks the biggest attraction opening for 2020 in the South West and follows an £8.5 million re-development to offer an aweinspiring experience that will wow visitors and keep them talking for a long time afterwards. Using state-of-the-art technology and the latest theatrical effects, the Dark Walk - a major addition to the attraction and the first of its kind in the region – will treat visitors to a truly immersive and interactive discovery of Cornwall’s most haunting histories. Stories of Cornwall’s murky past will be retold, and visitors will be transported to life within the walls of the 18th century prison where they will learn the gritty reality of smuggling, mining and the everyday hardships of the jail’s most infamous prisoners. The experience also offers the chance to be immersed in the courtroom scene of three real-life prisoners and visitors can walk in the footsteps of wardens and inmates along the original jail corridors and go behind bars for a taste of life in the grimy cells. If that was not chilling enough, Bodmin Jail is also home to the only working execution pit in the country and delves into the myth of the terrifying Bodmin Beast.
For maximum enjoyment and experience, self-guided tours of the attraction are available in timed entry slots at regular intervals throughout the day, seven days a week. To really get under the skin of the historic attraction, in-depth guided tours are also on offer with heritage and paranormal options, as well an all-night After Dark experience. To enable social distancing and visitor comfort the attraction will reopen with reduced capacity. Tickets prices start at £15 per person. To find out more and book tickets, visit
www.bodminjail.org “Built in 1779 for King George III, Bodmin Jail has played an important role in Cornwall’s history and this bold redevelopment brings it to life with an irresistible balance of intrigue, surprise, and hands-on learning.”
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A BRIEF HISTORY OF BODMIN JAIL: Bodmin Jail on the edge of Bodmin Moor in Cornwall was originally built during the reign of King George III in 1779 as part of the Prison Reform, built by military engineer Sir John Call. Building works started in the early 1770s with construction carried out by Napoleonic prisoners of war using 20,000 tonnes of granite quarried from Bodmin Moor. The resulting building was a milestone in prison design, based on the plans and ideals of the prison reformer John Howard. It was one of the first modern prisons in the UK with individual cells, segregated male and female areas, hot water and light and airy areas for prisoners to live and work. In addition, prisoners were paid for their work from products sold by the governor. Prisoner numbers at Bodmin Jail were relatively low for the first two decades, but this all changed at the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. By 1820, all the cells were filled with multiple occupants,
and this overcrowding caused the jail to be extended several times, with new buildings added up to 1850. Changes were needed due to several Acts of Parliament stating total segregation of remand prisoners, convicted prisoners, felons, misdemeanants, debtors, vagrants and, of course, men from women. This resulted in over 20 different classes of prisoners, each needing to be housed in separate sleeping areas and workshops. As the needs and interests of society changed, the prison’s inmate population shifted over the years. It was used largely as a debtor’s prison for many years, but this all changed in 1869, when imprisonment for debt was abolished. From 1887 parts of the jail were used by the Royal Navy, whose occupation lasted until 1922. The female prison was closed in 1911 with remaining inmates being transferred to Plymouth. The numbers of prisoners declined dramatically with the outbreak HAUNTED MAGAZINE
of the war, and the last male prisoner left Bodmin Jail in July 1916. The Jail was finally closed and officially decommissioned in 1927, and 1929 saw its sale to the demolition men. As with most old prisons, Bodmin Jail has a dark history. 55 executions took place within its formidable walls, for crimes such as rape, murder and stealing. Eight of these were women. Most of these executions were viewed by the public, and thousands would travel specially to witness the hangings. The first two inmates taken to the gallows were William Lee and John Vanstone, both convicted of burglary. The last person to be hanged at the Jail was William Hampton, who in July 1909 paid the ultimate price for taking the life of his 17-year-old girlfriend after an argument; indeed, he was also the last man to be hanged in Cornwall. 35
The Ghosts of Bodmin Jail Between 1785 and 1909 fifty-five people were executed at Bodmin Jail, with all but four of the hangings availed to be viewed by the public. This was “public entertainment” back in the day as thousands of spectators would congregate in adjoining fields to witness some poor wretches take their plunge into eternity. There really is no surprise that Bodmin Jail has a reputation for being very haunted. Amongst those executed at Bodmin Jail was Matthew Weeks, a cripple who was arrested for the murder of his lover Charlotte Dymond, her body was found on Bodmin Moor on Sunday April 14th, 1844. Found guilty of the crime he was hanged at the goal in August 1844 and 20,000 people turned out to witness his final moments. Imagine that 20,000 people!! Charlotte’s ghost, a woman in a gown and silk bonnet is still said to appear at the site of her murder on the anniversary of her death. With so many apparitions being seen at Bodmin Jail, there is a story for almost all of them which is not surprising when you understand the brutality and death toll of this sombre and hopeless building. The ghost of Selina Wadge, arrested for the murder of her son, is said to haunt the upper levels of the jail. She is described as wearing a long dress and crying, often reaching out to people. James and William Lightfoot were arrested, convicted, and publicly hanged at Bodmin jail for the robbery and murder of Neville Norway. Their troubled sprits are said to be prominent and dark-natured. Anne Jefferies was accused of being a witch. She denied this, and as punishment was left to starve to death and is another ghost said to haunt the jail. Matthew Weeks was executed at the jail in 1844 for the alleged murder of Charlotte Dymond and is said to ramble aimlessly throughout the corridors, having been hanged outside the walls. Many believe he was innocent and so having been falsely executed for a crime, his soul is unable to find peace.
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George, the warden ghost of Bodmin jail, is said to regularly make himself known, manifesting himself in cells and on the stairs. He suddenly died from a heart attack whilst on duty at the prison and he now oversees what he considers to be his jail. The spirit of a homosexual Naval Officer who used to abuse the inmates is said to be present in one cell. This angry spirit apparently pushes women away and tries to drag men back into a cell with him. Strange sounds have often been heard including tapping, keys rattling, a foghorn, voices, whistling, footsteps, banging, breathing, laughter, humming, shuffling and much of this has been captured on EVP recordings. People also regularly experience feelings of nausea, headaches, dizziness, feeling faint, shortness of breath, their energy drained, mentally exhausted, feeling pain, dread and misery, wanting to cry, being claustrophobic, being watched, strange atmospheres, sudden temperature changes, feelings of being touched or manhandled, clothes being tugged, feelings of being followed and there are lots of visitors who have to leave. Other peculiar phenomena include poltergeist activity such as stones being thrown or coins apporting out of nowhere. Photographs of light anomalies, misty figures and black shadows are common and there is an abundance of electrical faults and battery drainage with equipment. And let us not forget that this is where Derek Acorah, God rest his soul was embroiled in the “Kreed Kafer” incident during filming for Most Haunted. However, there is said to be an amazing amount of other reported genuine paranormal activity, which should come as no surprise at a location with such a history. Reported incidents and activity range from fullon apparitions, EVPs, noises, smells, poltergeist activity and a whole range of occurrences.
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The British Isles are full of ghosts and mysterious sightings but what are
THE TOP 10 HAUNTED LOCATIONS THAT ARE GUARANTEED TO SCARE THE PARANORMAL PANTS OFF YOU? by ‘Spooky’ Steve Higgins
Image: Credit Zenichiro
1. Newsham Park Hospital, Liverpool Haunted locations do not get much more chilling than this vast former orphanage. During its operational days as a hospital many patients and staff reported seeing an unexplained apparition of a woman, the ghost of children, as well as seeing dark shadowy figures.
2. Ordsall Hall, Manchester Once, a moated Tudor Mansion, although records indicate a house being on this site for over 800 years. Staff refuse to enter parts of the building alone, there are reports of ghostly sightings and unexplained phenomena. The ghostly cries of a drowned child can still be heard from a well in the kitchen. Add to that poltergeist activity, knocks on doors, extreme drops in temperature and strange light anomalies. It is also reported that the cries of a woman who threw herself from the balcony in the Great Hall are heard and that many who venture up there are overcome with feelings of sadness and grief.
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4. 30 East Drive, Pontefract The haunted house the divides the paranormal community. For some ghost hunters this unassuming semi-detached house in West Yorkshire is the mecca for paranormal investigation. Others will tell you that the house is over-hyped or not haunted at all. When it comes to things that go bump in the night, the best way to find out is to investigate it for yourself... if you dare.
Image: Credit Glen Bowman
5. Chillingham Castle, Alnwick
3. HMP Shepton Mallet, Somerset
How about a haunted medieval castle that you can actually spend the night in? You might be awoken by the castle’s most famous ghost is the Blue Boy or the ghost of Lady Mary Berkeley who haunts the Grey Apartment. If you are planning on spending the night, you might want to think twice about stealing a loo roll or bar of soap from your room. A Spanish witch is said to have put a curse on the building that will bring ill fortune upon anyone who steals from the castle.
With almost 400 years of detaining murderers, violent criminals, and notorious gangsters, it is no wonder HMP Shepton Mallet is said to be the most haunted prison in the country. During its operational years this nowabandoned prison saw its fair share of misery and suffering including brutal executions, cruel punishments, suicides, and countless dead in unmarked graves within the prison walls.
7. Drakelow Tunnels, Kidderminster If you are looking for a haunted location that will give you nightmares, then Drakelow Tunnels is the place for you. Not only is the former wartime underground factory haunted by several spooks including the demon guardian of the burial ground above, but it is also a disorienting labyrinthine network of pitch-black tunnels that seem to go on forever.
6. The Ancient Ram Inn, Wotton under Edge You will struggle to find a haunted location as atmospheric as the Grade II listed Ancient Ram Inn in Gloucestershire. Those brave enough to investigate this quirky former pub will be following in the footsteps of television shows like ‘Ghost Adventures’ and ‘Most Haunted’. Be on the lookout for icy blasts of air, strange light anomalies and doors slamming in empty rooms.
Image: Andy Dolman
8. The Skirrid Mountain Inn, Abergavenny Think you can handle the spirits in Wales’ oldest pub? The Skirrid was once used as the courtroom of the infamous Judge Jeffreys and many executions were carried out here. His ghost is still rumoured to walk the upper floors and the rope marks left by the many hangings can still be seen indented in a wooden beam where a replica hangman’s noose swings to this day.
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9. The Jamaica Inn, Bolventor Built in 1750, the Jamaica Inn is historic, atmospheric, welcoming, and supposedly very haunted due to its history of hosting some of Cornwall’s most nefarious. If you’re brave enough you can spend the night in one of the haunted rooms in that inn, where the paranormal activity most famously includes the sound of unseen horses and carts moving in the courtyard in the dead of night.
10. Edinburgh Vaults, Edinburgh This network of eerie chambers beneath Edinburgh is a popular tourist attraction, but the dank caverns have a sinister past housing the city’s criminal underworld, who used the tunnels for activities such as illegal gambling, whisky distillery and even bodysnatching. These heinous practices have left their marks on the vaults, which are now said to be one of the most haunted places in Scotland.
Have we missed one? Let us know!
editor@thewhitesheet.net Truth Seekers launches on Amazon Prime Video on Friday 30th October, 2020.
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The British Isles are full of myths and legends, but what are our top ten favourite sightings?
THE TOP 10 WEIRD AND STRANGE SIGHTINGS IN BRITAIN by Penny ‘Gory’ Griffiths-Morgan
10) The Black Shuck
5) The Bear of the Tower of London
To put it simply, this is a black demon dog that has been seen around Norfolk and Suffolk for hundreds of years, so iconic is this hound that rock band The Darkness immortalised it in music.
Wild animals were kept at the Tower as an attraction, but it seems one remained and is not happy about its imprisonment, E.L. Swift wrote of a sentry being quite literally scared to death after seeing the beastly bear appear.
9) Beast of Bodmin Whether there is a plausible explanation for this one remains to be seen, but reports started flooding into authorities of a black panther type animal mutilating livestock in the late 1970s and still continues to do so.
8) Devils Footprints In 1855, after a heavy snowfall in Devon, a series of cloven hoof type prints appeared, was it Satan himself, paying the county a visit? Nobody knows. SATAN CLAWS?
7) Rendlesham Forest UFO 40 years ago, December 1980 & still, possibly, one of the best UK UFO sightings. Lights were reported descending into the Forest, but what gives it added interest is the corroboration from the USAF commander of nearby RAF Woodbridge.
4) Dark Peak Ghost plane December 2015 and multiple reports of a WW2 type aeroplane being seen flying over Derbyshire, and even though the RAF rubbished the accounts, why was it making no noise yet low enough for people to see clearly?
3) Teggie Think Nessie is alone? Think again, the Welsh have their own unexplained lake dwelling after several sightings in Snowdonia.
2) HMS Eurydice A Naval ship that sunk in 1878 and is seen off the coast of the Isle of Wight, even HRH Prince Edward has been believed to have sighted the doomed frigate
6) Wildman of Watton
1) RAF Werewolf
Heard of Bigfoot? We have our own sightings in the UK and this one has been seen in Thetford Forest, with accounts starting as recently as 1986.
pilots have been SO scared, at RAF Alconbury by a beast they have described as a werewolf “type” that they have locked themselves in their cockpits refusing to come out.
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Truth Seekers launches on Amazon Prime Video on Friday 30th October, 2020.
TOP TEN STRANGEST SUPERNATURAL STORIES by ‘Mysterious’ Mike Covell 1. THE PHANTOM DEMONIC DONKEY: The Phantom Demonic Donkey is said to haunt the sands between Whitby and Sandsend. According to the stories a group of boys were beating a donkey, which let them ride it, and rode off into the icy depths of the North Sea. According to eyewitnesses when the donkey ran for the sea, it was seen to be grinning! 2. SATANIC SHAPESHIFTER: Lelley in East Yorkshire is home to the “Lelley Boggle,” which has been variously described as a pretty lady, an old hag, a little green sprite, a light, and a demonic calf that chases motorists. 3. GABRIEL’S RATCHETS: According to 19th century literature, Gabriel’s Ratchets, were flying, screeching spectral creatures, half dog, half bird, that were said to occasionally have human heads! They were well known across the country, and according to the stories those who witnessed them would often die or face bad fortune. Curiously one gentleman came forward and pointed out that it was probably nothing more than wild geese! 4. A GHOSTLY GOOSE: On the subject of ghostly geese Elliott O’Donnell, in his book Haunted Churches, discusses a phantom goose seen striding along the road in Melsonby, North Yorkshire, and into the churchyard. The apparition was reported by a farmer, who followed the avian apparition into the cemetery, where it walked through a closed gate! 5. SAUCY SPECTRE: The Hull Daily Mail in November 1998 reported on the story of Kim Puckering, who was living in a property in Hull which was said to be home to a saucy spectre that entered her bed on a night. According to the story, the single mum of five, who lived on Shoreditch Close, on the Ings Road
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Estate, had seen an elderly man upstairs, and she was convinced he wished to sleep with her. 6. THE GIGGLESWICK NYMPH: There is a well at Giggleswick in North Yorkshire which is linked to a Nymph, a nature spirit, who was walking through the district when she was chased by a Satyr. A Satyr was a sex mad nature spirit, often found in Greek Mythology, and is usually depicted with a fully erect penis! According to the story the horny Satyr chased the Nymph, who turned into a well to avoid his sexual advances. The well ebbs and flows, and one of the stories connected to it, is that this is her breathing! 7. HAIRY HANDS: The B3212 in Postbridge, Dartmoor, is said to be haunted by a pair of ghostly hairy hands, said to cause drivers of vehicles to swerve suddenly. Reports dating back to 1910 all share common themes, and in some instances vehicles have crashed after seeing the hands. 8. ADVICE GIVING MONKS: Hessle Foreshore on the banks of the Humber are home to phantom monks that approach walkers and fishermen, often giving them advice, before vanishing. 9. PHANTOM FLUSHER: The Bow Bells pub in London is said to be haunted by a phantom toilet flusher, but to date no one has seen an apparition, although several eyewitnesses have reported a strange mist in the toilets! 10. PHANTOM UNDERWEAR THIEF: In 2014 Pauline Hickson made national headlines when she claimed that a spirit was following her despite moving house seven times over 2 years. The ghost, she claims, was stealing her underwear!
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TOP 5 WAYS TO FIND OUT IF YOUR HOME IS HAUNTED by ‘Jumpy’ Jayne Harris
Are you noticing bumps in the night? Ever feel like you’re being watched in your own home? Here are some simple ways to find out whether or not you have some spectral residents! 1. Be Aware. Start taking notice of the little things. Can you remember leaving that light on? Was it you that closed that door? Small, seemingly insignificant things can be happening all around us but because we are so focussed on work, kids and life in general we don’t notice them. If something seems a bit weird don’t ignore it! 2. Do some research. It’s often really simple to look into the history of your home and discover any former uses, who once lived there and more importantly…who died there! Local archives, parish records, and even old tithe maps can all bring up surprising information so turn detective and don’t forget to ask the neighbours too! 1. Get talking! It may seem unnatural at first and you may even feel foolish but try asking aloud for a sign. It may take a few attempts but gradually you might just start seeing (or hearing!) some direct responses. Get yourself a good digital recorder and record these sessions, ask your question, leave a pause then ask your next, listening back later wearing headphones for any potential EVP’s (Electronic Voice Phenomena) 3. Set a trap! OK, so maybe not literally, but setting up a video camera in an area you suspect to play host to paranormal activity can be a really important part of your investigation. Try leaving a trigger object - for example If you think it may be child spirits leave a toy - then allow the camera to keep recording, ideally overnight…just be sure you’re brave enough to watch it back! 4. Seek professional help. Sometimes you need back-up even if it’s just to confirm you’re not going crazy! If you’re in any doubt whatsoever get in touch with an experienced Investigator.
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TOP 5 WAYS TO SPOT A GHOST by Barri Ghoul Use these handy tips and suggestions to help you spot a spook or pap a phantom 1. Use an infrared or a full spectrum camera to try and capture the ghost in the dark. You may hear something BUT not be able to see anything, this type of camera will catch it so you won’t miss out if there’s something there that the naked eye can’t see 2. Try using an SLS camera (Structured Light Sensor camera) to visually detect the spirit using an invisible infrared matrix grid in any environment. Another sneaky tip, the ghost may think you can’t see him but with these gadgets you’ll have the upper edge 3. Use the gadgets that are available to us. Capture the ghost using a standard photographic camera or even your smart phone. Ghosts can be spotted at any time of day or night in all light conditions. Leave a digital recorder running in a location, you never know what you might catch, the ghost might think they’re being clever. 4. Try to investigate places that are famous for their paranormal activity such as notoriously haunted houses, churches, abandoned hospitals or graveyards. There is more chance of spotting a ghost if there are reliable eyewitness accounts and previous experiences. 5. Use your eyes, ears, and other senses to detect ghosts physically. The best paranormal detector is always the human body. Be quiet and open yourself up to the spirit world. Call out and listen to the sounds around you. If you are lucky, a ghost may choose to appear before you, move an object or speak to you.
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5 LOCATIONS THAT EVERY GHOST HUNTER SHOULD INVESTIGATE BEFORE THEY DIE Got the ghost hunting bug? Take a road trip around some of the UK’s spookiest locations that you may or may not have heard of.
ISSUE 28 Curiously found rolled up, sandwiched, between two pieces of antique cheesecloth, thought to have emanated from famous/infamous medium Helen Duncan’s mouth during a séance in 1931. Rumour has it that Harry Price was in attendance. Why this lost issue of The White Sheet was found where it was, is a mystery. After issue 27 came out there was a mysterious break in at TWS HQ, followed by a mysterious fire, it was all very … “mysterious”. Publication ceased for a while and the contents of issue 28 remained a mystery, especially when TWS followed up issue 27 with issue 29 a few months later. Issue 28 has been lovingly restored, re-printed and republished by the people behind Haunted Magazine, in association with Academy PR, Amazon Prime Video and the Truth Seekers. CREDITS ‘Spooky’ Steve Higgins ‘Mysterious’ Mike Covell ‘Jumpy’ Jayne Harris Barri ‘Ghoul’ (Ghai) Penny ‘Gory’ Griffiths Morgan ‘Anxious’ Andy Soar and Paul ‘Sinister’ Stevenson Truth Seekers launches on Amazon Prime Video on Friday 30th October, 2020.
HAUNTED ANTIQUES PARANORMAL RESEARCH CENTRE, LEICESTERSHIRE A building full of weird & wonderful antique items from all over the world, but are they haunted? Militaria, Victoriana, Satanic, Demonic, Spiritual and Religious items, and relics add to that “haunted” dolls, clowns, elementals, captured spirits, a dark occult area and even a death on the stairs. A must visit place where people have witnessed tables moved, dolls move, and EVP captured. PENDLE HILL, LANCASHIRE is shrouded in mystery and speculation, attracting visitors from far and wide and even ghost-hunters particularly on Halloween. During the 17th century in England there was mounting hysteria surrounding the practicing of witchcraft and 12 women in Lancashire were accused of witchcraft and were to become the most famous witches in Britain. They were put on trial at Lancaster Castle in 1612 for the murder of up to 10 people & 10 were subsequently found guilty. The witches are said to haunt the villages that lie in the hill’s shadow. BLICKLING HALL, NORFOLK Once voted as the most haunted house in Britain, the hall stands on the ruins of a medieval manor house, once home to the Boleyn family, It’s no surprise that Anne is said to return each year, on the anniversary of her death, arriving in a headless horse drawn carriage, she is dressed all in white and glides into the hall, roaming the halls until the sun comes up. BOSWORTH HALL, LEICESTERSHIRE The stunning architecture and rich history of Bosworth Hall are not the only selling points for any paranormal investigator, it
just adds to the mystery of this place. The Grey Lady that haunts the Hall is rumoured to be the ghost of Anne Dixie; whose father accidentally murdered her while attempting to catch her lover. Anne had fallen in love with the ground’s gardener, much to his disapproval, and set a mantrap that, tragically, she fell into. The plan backfired and the Baronet injured his daughter disastrously, eventually leading to her death. The bloodstains caused by her wounds are rumoured to still be seen seeping through the wooden floor above a fireplace. Her ghost is said to roam the grounds looking for her long-lost lover, adding another intriguing layer to the history of Bosworth Hall. CODNOR CASTLE & FARMHOUSE, DERBYSHIRE Codnor Castle near Derby is a medieval castle which sits right on the border between Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. The castle is now in ruins after it was nearly completely dismantled in 1643 and is surrounded by countryside that has been parkland for a hundreds of years and an old, abandoned Farmhouse. The paranormal occurrences at range from dark shadows, to poltergeist activity including doors slamming. The most well-known being the image of a gliding figure, known locally as the ‘Grey Lady’, along with people being touched, pushed & hit, hearing audible voices, class A EVP’s, shadow figures, load audible footsteps all around the venue, full apparitions, objects moving and much more.
GUY FROM ‘HAU NTED HOSPITALS’ THE STEP BY ESTEP GUID E TO THE PARANORMAL WITH THAT
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Reader discretion advised.Disturbing account depicted.
From the pen of Richard Estep
H
e came into town on the train, just one more anonymous face among the hundreds that came through Villisca, Iowa, each year. The drifter traveled from state to state, riding the rails, going wherever the mood took him. He left a trail of carnage in his wake. After scouting the town, he soon found the ideal house. A simple two-story affair in a quiet neighbourhood, the property belonged to Josiah (J.B.) Moore and his wife, Sara. The Moores’ had four children of their own, and after returning from a late church function on the evening on June 9, 1912, two of their daughter’s friends accompanied them for an impromptu sleepover. Some believe that the man was watching them from the barn, through a hole in the wood that would be discovered later. Others think that he was already concealed in the house, having broken in earlier that evening, and was hiding in the attic, waiting for the family to go to bed. Josiah and Sara slept in the master
bedroom at the top of the stairs, while their children slept in a single room at the opposite end of the house. Downstairs, in a bedroom that belonged to their daughter, Katherine, 8-year old Ina Stillinger and her 11-year-old sister Lena were sleeping. Shortly after midnight, now that the lamps had been doused and everybody was asleep, the man emerged from hiding. He carried J.B. Moore’s own axe into the master bedroom and, seeking to eliminate the greatest threat first, bludgeoned Josiah and his wife to death in the bed they shared. So, frenzied and savage was the attack that the backswing of the axe head left a series of gouges in the bedroom ceiling. With the adults now dead, the killer turned his attention to the kids. All four of the Moore children met the same fate as their parents, their skulls crushed as they lay in bed. Downstairs, Lena, and Ina Stillinger were the last to die.
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Once they were dead, the murderer subjected Lena to one last, awful indignity. He posed her semi-naked body in a sexually provocative position, exposing her genitalia, and then used some bacon he found in the kitchen as a masturbatory aid. Every glass surface in the house, from windows to mirrors, was deliberately covered up. Not only would this keep prying eyes from looking in, but it also prevented the killer from seeing his own reflection.
With his grisly work now done, he washed the blood off his hands, covered up the bodies of his victims with bed sheets and clothing, and left the axe leaning nonchalantly against one of the walls, almost as an afterthought. Then he quietly slipped out, locking the door behind him, disappearing into the darkness and the pages of history. The Moores’ were typically early risers. When the sun came up and the animals in their yard hadn’t been taken care of, one of the neighbours became suspicious. The first people to enter the house were horrified at what they saw. The bedroom walls and floorboards were covered with blood, which also saturated the beds in which all eight members of the household had been murdered. Bloodhounds were brought in to trace the path of the killer. After leading their handlers through the streets of Villisca, the trail went cold on the outskirts of town. There was no shortage of suspects. A local businessman and politician found himself in the spotlight; his daughter-in-law was said to have had “inappropriate contact” with Josiah Moore. A local hobo was briefly in the frame, as was a convicted criminal and an English priest by the name of Reverend George Kelly. Kelly was a known Peeping Tom, who had also gotten into trouble for trying to lure underage girls into sending him nude pictures by post. He had been in Villisca on 9/10 June, the night of the murders, and had even been present at the same Presbyterian church at which the Moores’ were attending the evening service. After spending some time in jail awaiting trial, Kelly underwent a marathon interrogation session, which may have included something in the way of “physical encouragement.” Finally, Kelly confessed, offering up a variation of “God’s voice told me to do it.” In Kelly’s own words, he had been told to “slay, and slay utterly,” and yet the jury was not convinced, and Kelly ultimately walked away without a conviction. To this day, there are Villisca experts, such as author Roy Marshall, who remain convinced that Kelly was the guilty man. Others (and I am one of them) subscribe to the serial killer theory. Around the same time period, a string of very similar axe murders took place across the American Midwest. All of them took place in 50
close proximity to a railway line; none of the murdered families had dogs that might have barked a warning; an axe belonging to the homeowner was always employed as a murder weapon; any adult male in the house was always killed first; a female of (or close to) reproductive age was molested or positioned in a sexual way; and all of the mirrors in the house were covered up. The list goes on and on. If you look at the 30,000-foot view, it seems obvious that a lone killer was riding the rails, hopping off in small towns in order to murder whole families. Police forces in 1912 did not communicate with one another in the same way that they do today, particularly in rural areas. Nor was the concept of a serial killer as well-known.
The people of Villisca believed that the killer was one of their own, and after the whole town was turned upside down in a search of every possible hiding place, were convinced that he would soon come back to strike again. Neighbouring families moved in with one another each evening, and the men of the house took turns standing watch, sitting with a shotgun or rifle in their laps, waiting for the sound of an axe murderer stealthily trying to break into their homes and murder everybody in their beds. Until June 10, 1912, the front-page headlines had been dominated by the story of the RMS Titanic sinking with tremendous loss of life. Now, the Villisca Axe Murders suddenly became the lead story. The American public
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developed a macabre fascination for the events which took place that night. In many ways, Villisca represents the quintessential unsolved murder mystery. Even 108 years after the murders took place, fierce debate as to the identity of the killer still rages. There is something visceral about the notion of an entire family being killed while they sleep. When we lay in bed at night, we are supposed to be safe and secure. The idea of a homicidal stranger violating our inner sanctum (with an axe, no less) is understandably horrifying, sickening...and fascinating. Considering its grisly history, it should come as no great surprise for us to learn that the Villisca Axe Murder House has a reputation for being extremely haunted. This really started to kick in during the late 1990s, after the house was purchased and renovated by Darwin and Martha Linn. The Linns’ saved this historic building from rotting away and possibly having to be demolished. It is well-known that construction and renovation is a catalyst for paranormal activity.
Much of that activity at Villisca is said to be negative in nature, with multiple visitors being scratched, shoved, and in one particularly horrifying case, a man stabbing himself in the chest with his own knife while sitting in the downstairs bedroom where the two Stillinger girls were killed. Along with several of my trusted colleagues, I spent four days and nights at the house, trying to gather some answers of my own. I was conducting research for my book, A NIGHTMARE IN VILLISCA: INVESTIGATING THE HAUNTED AXE MURDER HOUSE. It was an interesting experience, to say the least. Stepping inside the Villisca Axe Murder House is like going back in time one hundred years. The place has been kitted out with fixtures and fittings that date back to the turn of the last century. Monochrome photographs of the Moore family and the Stillinger sisters can be found in many of the rooms, lending a very human face to the tragic events which took place inside the house. HAUNTED MAGAZINE
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On more than one occasion, I found myself just standing in front of the picture frames, gazing at the unsmiling faces of the poor souls who lost their lives in the very place I was now investigating.
There is no electrical power or running water inside the house, other than a single extension cord coming in from outside. There is also no lighting, so Coleman lanterns provide the only means of seeing once darkness falls. Several people warned me in advance that the house had a very dark and negative side, though if that is indeed the case, it did not make itself apparent to us. Yet several things happened which I still have difficulty explaining. While sitting down in the parlor (which would once have been the Moore family’s living room) I mistakenly started a video running on my tablet. “Whoops, sorry!” I said. When I played the audio recording of that happy little accident back, the sound of a child giggling can clearly be heard. Yet there were no children present in the house, just three middleaged men looking for ghosts. 52
Also in the parlor, flashlights began switching themselves on and off — and we’re not talking about the so-called “flashlight trick/technique” which involves unscrewing the head of a Maglite, until temperature variations cause the metal contacts to randomly expand and contract. This was an electronic LED flashlight, and would turn itself off and back on upon request.
Electronic devices such as the Paramid went haywire inside the house. Wind chimes located in the closets of both children’s’ bedroom sounded by themselves when there was absolutely no airflow. We heard loud knocks on the wall of the Stillinger girls’ bedroom, in response to our request for communication. Footsteps sounded on the floor of the empty attic when just one female investigator was alone in the house. HAUNTED MAGAZINE
When “Mr. Villisca” himself, Johnny Houser, came over to pay us a visit, a loud bang sounded from somewhere upstairs that shook the whole house to its foundations. We searched the place high and low, but nothing had fallen over or hit the ground. Johnny’s the guy that had heard footsteps climbing up the staircase one night, which then came walking along the second-floor hallway toward him. He was armed and had no hesitation of pulling his pistol...but of course, there was nobody there. Nobody he would have been able to shoot, at least... One of the stranger phenomena we encountered was hearing a barking dog while we were standing in the parlor. Although a couple of friendly stray cats hang around the house, begging (and usually receiving) free food from whoever has rented the place for the night, there were no dogs wandering around during our stay. I even went so far as to have Johnny check the security cameras on the outside of the building and confirm that we hadn’t gotten any canine visitors that night. We had not. As for what haunts the house, opinions are strongly divided. Some believe that the ghosts of the victims are still earthbound there, which would add
another level of tragedy to what has already taken place at the house. Others say that the killer himself is responsible for the paranormal activity, which seems rather strange considering the fact that he did not die inside the house, or even return after committing the murders, as far as we know. Still others come down on the side of a dark, inhuman entity being to blame. Perhaps most intriguing of all, however, is Johnny Houser’s theory that the house may well be haunting itself. He believes that the coming and going of so many paranormal enthusiasts through its doors may have kept (or perhaps even created) a
haunting going on, where otherwise there might not have been one. It is an intriguing thought, and one not without its merits. No trip to Villisca would be complete without a visit to the town cemetery. All six members of the Moore family are buried side-by-side in a row. No matter the time of year, the long gravestone is covered with coins, children’s’ toys, and other tokens of affection and respect. A few rows behind them, sisters Lena and Ina Stillinger are also buried alongside one another, and their graves receive a similar amount of attention. The Moore
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gravestone was paid for with the money offered up as a reward for information leading to the arrest of the killer — money that was never successfully claimed. As for the Villisca Axe Murderer, it is almost certain that we will never know his true identity. It takes eeriness to a whole new level when you enter the house in which he committed the Villisca Axe Murders, knowing that you are walking in the footsteps of a monster. That knowledge alone is far more frightening than any ghost could ever be.
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Have you ever wanted to go looking for the Loch Ness Monster? Or wondered what mischief Gremlins actually get up to or even where to find a three-headed dog? Or even just the monsters under the bed. We’ve put together 10 of the scariest monsters that would give you a real fright if they chose to hide under your bed. In case you want to find your local scary monsters, we have included where to find them. Our advice: Be careful, leave the night light on, and enjoy!
Black Annis (Leicestershire): Blue faced witch or bogeyman with iron claws and extremely sharp teeth who enjoys having children for supper – Lives in a cave – Takes lambs or naughty children away.
Cornish Owl Man (Cornwall): A four or five-foot tall owl-like humanoid – Is rarely sighted but reports tell of large glowing eyes and huge wings – Could be related to the American ‘Mothman’
Black Shuck (East Anglia): Demonic ghost dog – Often considered to represent an omen of death – Tends to be accompanied by thunder – Left a still visible claw mark in Blythburgh back in 1577.
Dullahan (Ireland): Unseelie fairy who carries its head under its arm – when the Dullahan stops riding, it calls out a person’s name and that person immediately dies – frightened of gold.
Kelpie (Scotland): Horse shaped water spirit which preys on those who paddle too far – Can appear in human form, but retains horse’s hooves, leading to comparisons with Satan.
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Cerberus (The Underworld): Giant three-headed dog guarding the gates to hell and preventing the dead from escaping – Famed for being captured by Heracles – Answers to the name ‘Fluffy’.
Gremlins (all over UK): Incredibly mischievous creature who enjoy damaging machinery – Related to imps and goblins – Typically found in aircraft hangers trying to break anything they find.
Hob (North Midlands): Small household or farmyard spirit or goblin – Utterly harmless – Is said to perform helpful chores during the night – Has been known to be a nuisance if not respected
Actually, speaking of monsters, (and in a tenuous link) we also know another MONSTER, commonly known as a WEE BEASTIE…
A MONSTER OF A DRAM It is big! It is untamed! It is here! From beneath the peat bogs it came... IT’S ...... ARDBEG WEE BEASTIE! This tongue-tingling new whisky is just five years old and the youngest Ardbeg ever – fresh from the imaginations of our whisky creators, who set out to create the rawest, smokiest Ardbeg the world has ever seen… Loch Ness Monster (Scotland): Aquatic monster, possibly a dinosaur – Known for evading detection while also providing enough evidence to build a large fanbase – Affectionately known as ‘Nessie’
Ardbeg Wee Beastie is the latest permanent expression to join the Distillery’s core range. At just 5 years old, the incredible smokiness of Ardbeg Wee Beastie is untamed by age. This feisty young creature boasts a formidable bite On the snout, Ardbeg Wee Beastie’s intense aromas of cracked blacked pepper mingle with sappy pine resin and a sharp tang of smoke. Suddenly, an explosive mouthfeel bursts forth with chocolate, creosote, and tar. Savoury meats sink into the palate before a long salty mouth coating finish slinks away… revealing the inner beast of this Islay icon. Young and intensely smoky, this is a monster of a dram. Matured in ex-bourbon and Oloroso sherry casks, Ardbeg Wee Beastie is perfect for enjoying neat or as the mouth-watering main ingredient in a powerfully smoky cocktail. And in another tenuous link we have a MONSTER of a competition, a BEASTIE of a giveaway, Ardbeg are kindly giving us 5 bottles of Wee Beastie to give away, YES TO YOU!!
And for a BEASTIE BONUS … (to show that not ALL beasts are scary)
Monster Under the Bed: Non-descript monster living in the space under your bed – Can be sent away by combining bravery with common sense – Is far more scared of you than you are of it.
We have hidden 4 Ardbeg Whisky images IN this issue of the magazine and your mission if you choose to accept it is to locate these 4 images, make a note of the pages & email them, with your details, to weebeastie@hauntedmagazine.co.uk the competition closes November 30th and winners will be informed a few days later. You can find the other boring T&Cs on our website.
GOOD LUCK!!
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The Lowdown on Witches with Leonard Low
Have We Got
Noose for You... A
hangman / executioner was always the most hated profession, the man who pulled the lever or pushed the victim from the stage to dangle and strangle on the end of a rope. The man who hid his identity wearing masks as he yielded the executioners’ axe. The man who tightened the ligatures around the neck on Witches about to be burned at the stake. All the courts decisions ended up in his hands, and all he had to do was carry out the sentence. Easy eh? Well history dictates otherwise. Maybe the thousands watching are booing the hangman making him a tad nervous? Maybe the victim about to be beheaded is so important it gets the better of him? Maybe the hangman lit the fire before strangling his Witch, and the flames take the Witch alive! Maybe the hangman got the wrong length of rope and the victim ended up on his feet!
All this did indeed happen. In 1541 Lady Margaret de la Pole, otherwise known as Lady Salisbury. Daughter of the Duke of Clarence was sentenced to death in the Courts of King Henry VIII for her Catholic sympathies. The 67-year-old lady had spent two miserable years in the Tower and was led to her execution at Tower Hill London. With thousands of bystanders watching the old woman refused to kneel down to the block. So, the executor and his servant grabbed her and wrestled her down flat…bang went the axe! The crowd screamed…as did Lady Salisbury! The Axeman had only nicked her. Bang went the axe again….(screams from the crowd again) 56
now even louder screams from the Lady as he nicked her again…a further 9 blows of the axe were needed to execute the Lady as she wriggled around the stage with the executioner raining blow after blow down on her, all watched by the crowd as they were sprayed with blood!
The Duke of Monmouth in 1685 suffered the same indignity. The executioner who had a reputation renown for botched executions was paid a shiny gold coin to make swift work on the day by James Scott the Duke!.....8 blows with an axe later someone else had to finish the job with a knife! Jack Ketch the axeman had to run for his life as the crowd chased him off. A Witch burning “session” in Brechin, Scotland in 1608 had the Hangman set the fire alight before strangling a Witch. A big mistake! The fire spread far too fast and engulfed the victim in flames, whilst still alive. Who, then, managed to break free of her restraining ropes, climbed out of the flames on her hands and knees (still alive and on fire!) The horrified clergy and villagers watched as the hangman threw her back in and held her down with sticks as she screamed her end in vicious flames! This happened more than once as reports from those times indicate:
“others half burnt brake out the fire, and were cast quick in it again, until they were burnt to the death” In Kirkliston, Scotland, 1655, William Barton and his Wife were to be burned at the stake for being “witches”. The usual process was to tie the Witch atop a tar barrel fixed to a pole, they would be strangled first then the fire would be lit to burn the Witch as the crowd watched. As the hangman went to collect his victims from the jail cell, he suffered a terrible heart attack! He dropped down dead on the spot! The town’s Minister, with great sympathy, decided to cheer up the executioner’s heartbroken wife by giving her his final unfinished task. An absolute honour to be given,
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Magistrates, seeing this mockery of justice, sentenced the Hangman himself to receive a flagellation of his own for the contempt of court! Another Hangman was brought forward to deal out the punishment, but the audience broke out in further anger, to the point the new hangman scared for his very life leapt from the punishment platform and ran screaming into the shadows.
apparently. She duly carried out the task set to her, single handily strangled both witches and then the Bartons’ were toast! It was the year 1700 in the city of Edinburgh where our title for this story takes shape. A riot had taken place in the streets of the city due to the interference of the English Government on Scotland’s failed attempt at colonisation (nothing changes eh? – Editor). The Darien Scheme had collapsed with Scotland losing a third of its budget in the process. An English trade blockade stopped trade to the colony and disease and disaster followed, it became a huge financial disaster
with many stockholders in Edinburgh ruined. Anger spread to violence and before long the Edinburgh guard were arresting many culprits. The usual procedure was a few nights in the dreaded Tollbooth then a public whipping. The problem is public opinion was with the accused and when sentences of whippings were handed out by the Judges, the hangman given the task of carrying out the whippings gave the culprits a soft dusting of the whip, much to the delight of the packed crowd, cheering at every weak whip because of the hangman’s contempt for the punishment. The
The magistrates now needed a third hangman to punish the hangman who refused to punish the hangman who refused to whip the criminal, you still with me??? At this point the sitting Magistrates, mocked intensively by the crowd in hoots and laughter, decided to drop the whole matter and free the villain.
Leonard Low Sources:
Brechin Witch burning, Pitcairn’s criminal trials, p97, (1833) Edinburgh Hangman flogged, Traditions of Edinburgh, p66, by R. Chalmer (1825) Kirkliston Witch heart attack, Satan’s Invisible world, by George Sinclair (1685)
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I had an interest in UFOs for as long as I can remember. For me the world is always at its best when there is a sense of wonder and a sense of the impossible, the paranormal, the mysterious, it’s so tantalising to the mind and the imagination and I always always, always had an amazing interest them
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE
AUDIO ZOOM KIND! In conversation with Jon Culshaw
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There seemed to be a tone, if you could put a voice to those books, the Unknown series in particular it would say, “Right ok. So, this is what seems to be going on. Now let’s have a look at this. Let’s see what this could be.” They credited you with some intelligence, which was a lovely tone to take. It really strikes you now how much this information still stands up
When Usborne reprinted and released their 1970s classic “All About … Ghosts” last year, we all went a big ghostly giddy, for many people of a certain age this book meant a lot, not just as a kid but in adulthood too. Then after the ectoplasm had settled down the talk was about another very similar book, again a 1970s classic from The World of the Unknown Series, “All about ... UFO’s”, two questions were tweeted to Anna at Usborne “Are you doing this one too? “and “will there be an apostrophe?”, yes, the grammar police just had to get involved, didn’t they? Anyway to cut a long story short, All about … UFOs (yes no apostrophe) came out in October 2020 to much excitement, the same people of a certain age were just as excited as before, these pivotal books shaped our minds, explained perceived adult things in a way us kids could appreciate and understand. To cut another long story short, actor, comedian, impressionist and amateur astronomer Jon Culshaw, is a big UFO fan, has still got the book he had as a kid and got the chance to write the new introduction for it. We got the pleasure of chatting to Jon about all this (and more) over a recent zoom chat. It was so good, it was so interesting, it was like two mates talking about Aliens, ghosts, the weird, the wicked, the unexplainable, oh and Phil Cool. The initial plan was to copy type the chat but when it became apparent that we would lose the magic, the mystery and the mayhem from the 60 minute chat, we decided to incorporate the actual chat that actually happened between Jon and Paul in full, the humour, the ghost stories, the questions, the answers and everything in between. Use your phone to scan the QR code that you can see and listen to the full conversation. “Jon Culshaw is a legend, he certainly made an impression on me” Paul Stevenson (Editor, Haunted Magazine) HAUNTED MAGAZINE
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THE TRAGEDY AND THE HAUNTING AT
TASMA TERRACE By THE WIZARDRESS OF OZ: Sarah Chumacero
N
estled on the immediate outskirts of Melbourne CBD (central business district) sits Tasma Terrace; a collection of terraces built in the 1800’s which have now been restored and are the headquarters of the National Trust of Victoria. There are reports from staff of having uneasy feelings in certain rooms and some have even the seen the ghost of a woman standing by the photocopier. Many were too afraid to work late at night and would not lock up by themselves. Why would they be seeing the ghost of a woman? It just so happens that there is a darker history to Tasma Terrace that involves the murder of a woman. Edith Jane Forrester Jubb lived and ran what was called the lodging house of Tasma Terrace. Controversially at the time, she lived with her ‘lover’ Mr Alfred Turner. With them also lived her 15-year-old daughter Fanny who was not Alfred’s child. As you can imagine back in the 1800’s this was a very scandalous thing to be living with a ‘lover’. Edith was in fact rumoured to be an adulteress. It is unknown if she really was or if this is just an assumption consistent with the times based on the fact that she lived with her ‘lover’. Alfred was rumoured to be an aggressively violent man. His stepdaughter Fanny had witnessed his cruelty firsthand towards her mother. She said he had even threatened to shoot her mother on countless occasions. It seems that one day he followed through on his threat. On the 14th of August 1890, a barrister who also lived at the Parliament Place address, (now known as Tasma Terrace), heard the gunshots and went to investigate the scene. He then went to fetch Dr Charles Ryan to assist. On their way to the back to the terrace, they found Constable William Harley nearby. Constable Harley was the first officer on the scene. He found Alfred standing in the hallway with a gash to his forehead.
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Photos © Living Life in Full Spectrum
As Constable Harley continued past the dining room and into the bedroom at the rear of the building, he found Edith lying lifeless. She had a gun in her left hand and the left side of her body was soaked in her own blood. (This is significant, and I will tell you why shortly). The left side of her face was swollen, and she had a bullet hole beneath her left eye and a second gunshot wound near the left ear. Apparently the first bullet merely only fractured her upper jaw, but the second bullet was fatal.
The coroner opened an inquest on the 16th of August which was held in the dining room of the lodging house. The immediate assumption was that she committed suicide. There are however a few issues with this. Firstly, she was shot twice with a revolver that needed to be re-cocked after each shot. It would be pretty hard to shoot yourself in the head, re-cock the revolver and then give it another go to finish the job. The Dr who did the autopsy Dr G.A Syme however ruled this was indeed possible. The biggest problem with the story was that Edith was found with the gun in her left hand with injuries located on the left side of her body. This would only be possible if you were left-handed. Edith’s daughter Fanny swears that her mother was right-handed and also hated firearms. She even went to the extremes of hiding Alfred’s gun. It is not known if it was because she feared what he would do or if it was due to her hatred of guns. During the whole commotion it was doing that
a bullet had strayed and hit the wall. This dislodged plaster and injured Alfred explaining the gash on his forehead. Murder suicide was the story. According to records, the allmale jury went on a character assassination of Edith as an immoral, alcoholic jealous woman and Alfred was merely a man suffering from financial stress and suffering frustration from their social status based on their current living situation. After 45 minutes, even though the defence put forward witness accounts from daughter fanny of aggression and abuse and the fact that her mother was right-handed and could not have killed herself, the all-male jury deemed it a suicide and Alfred was free to go. He and Edith’s children seemed to disappear off the face of the earth and no record of them can be found after the trial. It is unknown if he fled or just kept a low profile. The section of the terrace where the murder occurred has since been demolished, however her body was held in the dining room at Tasma Terrace where the inquest also took place. Her body was held in this room for days. The dining room is still standing as is the hall where Alfred was also found. I was lucky enough to be one of the first people to investigate the remaining areas of the terrace as well as hosting a special one night only event for the general public as well. We investigated 3 keys areas. The first was the dining room where the inquest was held. At this time, we ourselves did not know the extensive history behind Tasma Terrace. We knew a woman had been murdered and that was all as we wanted our evidence to lead us the way and not be influenced by the story.
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We received several names through the SB7 and the GD box (modified portal). The name Harley came through. At the time we did not know that a Constable Harley was connected to the case. The name Emily also came through which later research found was the name of Alfred’s 6-year-old daughter. We also had REM Pod activity at the same time along with one of the staff members who worked in the office feeling like they had connected with the spirit of Alfred. Overall, it is an amazing example of how information can be validated after an investigation and why it can be useful going in without prior historical knowledge that can unknowingly lead you. It makes the results all the more convincing. Tasma Terrace as it stands today is only open to general public during special Open Weekends, however it does house a gallery, shop and meeting rooms. It was set for demolition in 1970 when the National Trust of Victoria stepped in and heritage listed its status and revamped it into their head office. I am very privileged to be one of the small amounts of people to have investigated this location. Amongst the vast concrete jungle that our cities are becoming, it is important that these architecturally beautiful gems filled with history remain preserved. It is equally important that we as investigators tell the stories of our past and so that people like Edith can have her story told in what a hugely different and much more empathetic and tolerable world we now have.
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QR CODE: TASMA TERRACE https://www.nationaltrust.org. au/places/tasma-terrace/
THE ISOLATION MEMOIRS OF A
UNTER R GHOST HUNTE with Hubert Hobux
Hubert’s “Supernatural” Shielding
Day 103: Paranormally Grateful of the courage of our frontline Key Workers… Typically of me, I spend most of my working life in lowly jobs that if I were working still I would be now classed as a “key worker” one of the many heroic people who have been on the frontline for many, many months, protecting us and continue to do so. Instead I’m sat twiddling thumbs at the haunted bungalow... waiting for the lock down to be fully lifted so that the inn I nearly started working at reopens & wonders “if we actually need that old, decrepit shirker after all?” Alas I live too far from any hospital to volunteer service, (lengthy train rides would be required) ... I contemplated helping at a close enough nursing home, but they have wisely taken isolation to the extreme and will not let strangers through the door at all, at the moment... My sister actually does work in a care home, miles away from me in the old town of where we were brought up … and has done for years so she can officially be declared a ‘front line’ heroine in this war against Coronavirus, I think! .. She, also, “has the gift of seeing” and the Care Home she works at has hosted some of the strongest paranormal activity I have ever heard of ‘to boot! ‘ Obviously I can’t name the establishment as it has had a lengthy history of caring for the infirm... and will maintain that role for a good while to come hopefully... but I may be able to abstrusely relate some of the weirdness that has ensued there during her tenure as carer... The place was built in 1894 and became known locally as the “Civil Service rest home” as the Government had requisitioned the private residence for a convalescent home during world war two, there afterwards reserving the patient occupancy for those retired from that genteel profession; until they sold the establishment for private nursing use in the 1960s that is.. and the bedrooms were finally opened to anyone who could afford round the clock care... the home never seemed to have a haunted reputation... until quite recently, when further management changes to the running of the place had to be implemented (the reasons of which I will not speak), and this drastically recent paranormal dust storm seemed to have been unleashed in the vacuum of that... As with many similar health care facility buildings, the haunting started with the night shifts, many of the long
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Hubert’s “Supernatural” Shielding
term residential clients were well loved but extremely aged, nature ran its due course and all of a sudden, familiar old faces were being missed in the roost, one by one they were quickly dropping off the perch.... resulting in several rooms standing empty for quite a while, and when a well-respected staff manager tragically died unexpectedly, team moral heavily dipped.... but the provision of care was paramount, and the night staff diligently sat in their station watching over their steadily declining ‘wards’... The reports started filtering down that most nights, the carers would frequently hear sobbing on the top corridor... heart wrenching sounds of despair... they would check each and every room to see who needed comforting, and mostly found all the elderly patients soundly sleeping.... yes that did involve entering the unoccupied rooms, in case some stray confused resident had found themselves in one by mistake... but the vacant rooms were devoid of life every time... strangely there was one empty room in particular that was having issues with a seemingly faulty “call button “, the bell had started ringing for attention several times a week.. mostly in the early hours of the morning.... the carers always double checked, though they knew full well no one would be in there... and the Maintenance man could never find any fault on the system.... Noticeably the electrical wiring in the building started playing up on a regular basis, plug sockets faltered, lights flickered, electricians were always in attendance... searching for faults but finding none... “they were frankly baffled... “ and highly disconcerted one day when an unidentifiable “green slime” started appearing around the electrical fittings, all about the same time that that particular empty room had had its errant call button removed.... and had developed a very eerie feel! The whole building was beginning to whiff of earthy decay... surveyors were brought in to check for rising damp, but the staff were whispering that there were more of the grave than the fungus about the odious odour! Disembodied footsteps were heard in the corridors, television sets would turn themselves on and off and all of a sudden... something invisible that brought an air of caution with it had decamped in the dark cellars, no member of staff would go down there alone they had decided, though none of them could put their finger on just why not exactly! The resident bookings started to improve with a change of care home executive and the Home was just about at full capacity again, though several of the old folk were not happy in that ‘particular bedroom’, and there were a
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Hubert’s “Supernatural” Shielding
number of new supervisory changes, as the new echelon of management personnel, didn’t seem all that au fait with the environment.... My sister loves the place still, she just gets on with her own duties and slews off all the weirdness with typical good grace... having said that... even she though, was taken aback by the following incident that was witnessed by at least five, completely perplexed staff one bright, bustling Saturday afternoon. They were sat having a tea break in the kitchen when the back door to the home suddenly threw itself open on a windless day! There was nobody near the door, but as the chef got up to close it, he started retching as he was engulfed by a foul stench they all described as a mixture of bodily sweat and sewage... then *that smell*, actually began to move through the kitchen, just like a filthy old tramp had walked in, all of the witnesses were able to follow the direction of the miasmatic cloud of energy by sense of smell alone.. they all followed it as the entity dissipated “solidly”, into and around the lounge, then floated along the lower corridors, headed up the stairs, flitted in and out of some open rooms, turned about, descended the stairs.... *flung open* the front door, with as much ease as it had the back... and the smell dispersed out into the fresh air having caused much alarm to the gathered care givers ... who were exceedingly relieved the thing had removed itself! They hadn’t a clue who the ghostly visitor was or why it had visited... but the more sensitive amongst the staff felt they had experienced a brush with something potently ancient... Seems it never returned again after that episode was never observed, or smelt anyway? After that curious incident, the haunting relented a little, perhaps the smelly entity had come to collect a lingering energy and took it away? The cellar is still a place to avoid apparently, and the odd television will still flicker on when no one is expecting it too ...but as in all these unknown circumstances, the activity fluctuates... a nice manager that all the staff liked moved in and that probably helped settle the vibes somewhat.. I did enquire the possibilities of doing a paranormal investigation but of course, it’s a no go... the place still protective of old residents whether living or not... at least with my sister and the dedicated carers there... the place is held in goodly safe hands!
HUBERT HOBUX, the mild-mannered ghost hunter has been in isolation since MidMarch, confined to his humble abode, shielded away from public life he has started to write his ramblings, his recollections, his musings, his spooky shenanigans and his memories of his paranormal activities from the past and the present. Now that certain restrictions are being eased and relaxed, we asked Hubert to send some of his memories of ghost hunting to us for use in the magazine. He never emails them to us, he has them delivered by a chap on a horse, written in ink (we’d guess via a quill) and rolled up in ageing parchment.
With Thanks to all Carers and NHS Staff for their total devotion to duty....
Hubert X
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I N V E S T I G A T I N G
CROWLEY’S CRIB John Tolladay checks off Boleskine from his bucket list
F
riday nights were very special for me in my early teens, I loved the Hammer horror movies which were at the time a regular feature at 10:30 pm with my heroes Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee playing roles in Frankenstein and Dracula classics.
I was of course, a bit young to be staying up late on a Friday night, but myself and my dad had a very set routine as to how we would watch them together. I would go to bed at the correct time, about 9pm and then about an hour later, I would hear mom climb the stairs and go to bed herself. Around 15 minutes after that my dad would come up the stairs, pop his head around their bedroom door, say goodnight to mom and then close the door behind him, while at the same time opening mine to shield the noise. Then we would both go back down together, and I would settle on the floor in front of the TV and wait until the movie began. Dad would get me a drink and a bag of crisps and we would have a great time watching them battle good against evil. Fabulous memories which are hard to re live today thanks to the invention of the games console. I remember them as if it were last week with great affection.
One movie in particular made a great impression on me, it was ‘The Devil Rides Out’, in which Christopher Lee played Duc De Richleau, a demonologist who to protect his friend, took on an occultist named Mocata (loosely I am sure based on Aleister Crowley) who summoned demons, It has been in my collection ever since in both video and DVD format and I must have watched it well over 200 times.
This was how I became interested in demonology, the paranormal and the occult, reading books loaned from my local library or purchased with my pocket money and wages from my then two paper rounds. One of the books I purchased was ‘Magick’ by Aleister Crowley. Though it was hard reading I became fascinated by the man, I began reading everything I could find about him, eventually making him the subject for my History GCSE’s to the bewilderment of my teacher. I have remained fascinated to this day. Amazingly, I had never visited his one-time residence Boleskine House on the shores of Loch Ness in a place called Foyers, in fact I had never even been to Scotland.
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So, on taking early retirement this year from the NHS after 35 years service, I decided I would like to visit. In August, friends of mine were in Scotland doing the N500 trip around the West Coast in the Highlands and had contacted the Boleskine Foundation Trust asking if they could have a tour of the house during their holiday and they had agreed. Because they knew I had the interest and was an avid Crowley fan and paranormal investigator, they contacted me and asked if I wanted to join them for their visit, how could I not go? So, at 1am on a Tuesday morning in August, I started the 9-hour drive to a place near Foyers with a tent and kit in the boot. It was a long drive, but I enjoyed every second of it and will be doing this again. Once you hit the highlands, you are hooked. When we went to Foyers it, we drove down a narrow road aside Loch Ness with great views all the way. On the left side of the road we came to the Boleskine Cemetery, which is a wonderful place itself, with old graves looking over the loch. There are rumours of a tunnel being there which leads from Boleskine House used by Crowley during rituals, which will hopefully be proven or disproven soon by the Boleskine House Foundation Trust, when they investigate the building properly. After looking through the cemetery, we had a short walk to the entrance of the property and we were welcomed by the dogs on site who followed us down the road behind the fence till we reached the iron double gated entrance. We were welcomed by three members of team and they walked us up the long drive to the house itself. One guy was talking to us as we did so but to be honest, I wasn’t listening as I was so engulfed in the sight before me. Boleskine House is now of course just a shell of the original building after two really bad fires which engulfed the place over the years but it still
remains an absolutely beautiful place and with the help of the Foundation and its members, will be restored to its beautiful old self. Sadly, I wasn’t able to go inside the building apart from a couple of sneak peeks because of the scaffolding erected around the house as part of the restoration project which will soon be restoring the roof, enabling the Trust to begin work on the inside of this once proud building. The surprising thing for me was the land attached to the house, it was a massive property, with fields and a natural stream leading into a small lake (which I am sure, once searched will no doubt hold some surprises) in Crowley’s own garden area rear of the house. A hillside stream leading into the loch and further buildings used once as stables and a pig farm with a further small cottage nearby. We saw volunteers working on the stream removing years and years of overgrowth and working enthusiastically, doing a really good job and enjoying what they were doing, a rare sight indeed.
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Seeing the house itself was great, the Oratory which Crowley built for his six month ritual to raise the twelve kings and Princes of the lower realm and with a door and steps facing the North (a requirement of the ritual) is still there to see. Looking from the lower front garden of the property makes the place even more spectacular. The tour lasted a good hour and a half but felt like it was over so quick. The team at the property could not have been more friendly or obliging and I have to say, gained my support immediately, they were a pleasure to meet. Walking around the building and grounds made us aware of the massive amount of work the Foundation Trust has taken on but their enthusiasm and their knowledge was inspiring, I have no doubt their dream will be fulfilled and Boleskine House will be restored to its original grandeur, with the Oratory planned to be restored into a Victorian library and the garden to be restored to its Victorian past. The adjoining fields will be cleared and eventually, with planning permission agreed, hold an area with ‘Hobbit’ like dwellings built into the ground where people will be able to stay and admire the magnificent views of the Loch and of course see the house in its then true original glory.
For me, my trip to Boleskine House started as a tick off my bucket list and no more, however after seeing the place finally, I am planning my next trip and look forward to seeing it grow back into an absolutely awe inspiring place, where in future, we will hopefully be able to stay. My deepest thanks go to the Boleskine House Foundation Trust for a most memorable, happy, and inspiring tour, if anyone wishes to join the foundation Charity, they can be found on Facebook. I don’t like using the word very much, but I have to say, once the project is finished, Boleskine House will be truly ‘magickal’
John Tolladay We d n e s b u r y P a r a n o r m a l , Ke a p P a r a n o r m a l , F e s t i va l o f t h e U n ex p l a i n e d .
QR CODE: https://www. boleskinehouse.org/
What is a Death Walker? A person who walks among the dead. This Halloween, the all-new highly anticipated series, Death Walker, drops exclusively on VIDI SPACE hosted by world renowned paranormal researcher, Nick Groff (of Paranormal Lockdown, Ghost Adventures and Ghosts of Shepherdstown). The show focuses on Nick’s solo journey into understanding different reasons why various locations are haunted. In its unique format, two locations are compared each episode highlighting different paranormal theories where he delves into the concept of time, the impact of crime events, realizing not everything is a ghost and expanding the definition of paranormal phenomena. Are you a Death Walker? 5 one-hour episodes #DeathWalker
H
istory and legend have woven a spell over Pendle. Pendle Hill rises above an ancient hunting ground, once the home of wolves and wild boar and to this day is dotted with tiny hamlets and farms. It is still an untamed place, full of mystery and infamous as the home of the Pendle Witches who were tried and executed for witchcraft in 1612. It is a magnet for ghost hunters, for paranormal investigators, for history and heritage lovers. You mention “witches in the UK” and for a variety of reasons, Pendle Hill is one of the first, IF NOT the first that is mentioned. When we found out that our good friends The Haunted Hunts had been to Pendle Hill for season 3 of their popular self-titled show on Amazon Prime, we got in touch with Danny from The Haunted Hunts and asked him a few questions. So, Danny, silly question, but why Pendle Hill?
After how successful season 2 was we decided to stick to that format for season 3 and allow the viewers to follow the journey again which seemed to go down very well in the last series. We had a few options on the table for season 3 but Becki and I have had a bit of an obsession with Pendle Hill for a very long time and after a trip up there in January it made perfect sense to try it. What is it about Pendle Hill that attract so many?
If you have never been to Pendle Hill, then you need to! It’s one of the most unique places in the country, the atmosphere surrounding the area is incredibly strong and the whole place has been largely unaffected by time so you really do get the sense of its history and what it would have been like back in 1612.
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PENDLE HILL, UP THERE WITH THE BEST... So, it was a case of just turning up and filming?
Hell no, I wish, It took a lot of effort to film there and pre-production work was going on for months before we spent our investigation week there and behind the scenes it was full on for weeks and weeks. The hardest thing about trying to organise a proper shoot there was the locations. A lot of people get confused when you say you are investigating Pendle Hill with some people even thinking we spent a week camped on the hill. There is more to Pendle than just the hill, yes?
It is the areas surrounding the hill itself which are active, and it is the little villages such as Newchurch & Barley which lie at the very heart of the Pendle witch story. We have been extremely lucky with the locations we were granted access to including the famous Lower Well Head Farm which last appeared on television in 2004 on Most Haunted LIVE.
“We think that that MH Live from Pendle Hill is probably the one that most people remember, this was 16 years ago when MH was in its pomp and so very watchable.”
Why is Pendle Hill considered to be one of the most haunted locations in the UK? I think obviously the events that occurred back in 1612 have had a huge effect on the area but what is interesting for me is the accounts from some of the accused regarding the ‘pestering from evil spirits’ up to 30 years prior to 1612. So, there is an interesting back story to 1612?
Thomas Potts is the man who documented the entire trial which is probably why it’s the most famous witches trial in English history and having studied the book intensely you really start to get an understanding of what, who and why. The accounts from the two lead women in the Pendle witch story Elizabeth Southern’s ‘Old Demdike’ & Anne Whittle ‘Chattox’ are fascinating. These women claimed they were visited on several occasions from evil spirits in the form of dogs, bears, hares and even a Christian man. These were known as the ‘familiars’ and they were called Fancy, Dandy, Ball & Tibb. A common theme in Thomas Potts account is how often these ‘familiars’ appeared
to the likes of Alizon Device, James Device, Elizabeth Southern’s & Anne Whittle, the familiars would aid these people in taking revenge on all those who did them harm. So, how much of is fact, how much of it is fiction? How much has the story been exaggerated over the years?
I guess we’ll never know but with everything that happened back in 1612 it’s no surprise that it’s left its mark on the area and there are literally thousands of eye witness accounts, more than any location I’ve ever been to.
Agreed, as it happens, we are only the 2nd ever team to have been granted permission to investigate it and it was an incredibly special moment.
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Did you seek expert advice?
We were incredibly lucky to be joined by Simon Entwistle, who runs local tours here and is the go-to man for “Pendle” knowledge. He basically told us “on Halloween, Pendle Hill is more like Wembley stadium” and that pretty much sums up how popular this location is for paranormal enthusiasts. What can you tell us about Malkin Tower?
Going into this series, one of our main goals was to try and locate the exact site of Malkin Tower which was home to Elizabeth Southern’s and the scene of the famous Good Friday meeting. There is no factual evidence of where it once stood as it was destroyed shortly after the executions took place, but archaeologists believe there are 4 possible sites where it may have been. On the third day of our investigation week, we received a call from our research team who were convinced they had found the exact site and had gained us permission to investigate it. Saddlers Farm, a farmhouse dating back to 1714 is believed to be the most possible site of the famous Malkin Tower and all our research indicates that it once stood on this site.
“Our investigation there was on another level and we honestly believe we have captured significant evidence to back up the claims that this was the site of Demdikes home.” That’s amazing, what other things can viewers expect for season three?
I believe this is our best series to date, a huge amount of work and research has gone into this and viewers will really feel that journey format that made season 2 so popular. It is impossible to cover Pendle Hill properly without delving deep into the history of the place and the famous events that occurred in 1612. Episode 1 will give viewers the chance to learn all about the Pendle witch story in extremely accurate detail which really sets the scene for the rest of the series. Just like season 2 in Chester, we are given a day to day regime to follow and each night we investigate a different location. Each location we cover has a unique feel to it and as the week goes on, we suddenly began to realise that this isn’t a case of being able to debunk the paranormal activity that takes place around Pendle Hill but it was a case of trying to capture as much of it on camera as possible because it’s very real and very intense. As a team we believe we have captured our best piece of evidence in this series and I cannot wait for everyone to see it. So, how would you sum up Pendle Hill? I would say Pendle Hill is a MUST for any paranormal investigator, it is a totally 70
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unique location with extremely rare hauntings. I honestly believe the entities that haunt Pendle Hill have the ability to move around the area and follow you, whether they’re attracted to what you’re doing or they can feed off your energy, I don’t know but that’s certainly the feeling we got when we were there, we often felt like we’d been followed into different locations and whatever we were dealing with was extremely intelligent. Sometimes places can be hyped up so much that you come away feeling disappointed, am guessing this wasn’t the case?
The atmosphere around the place is like nothing we have ever experienced and at times it felt like we were walking in the footsteps of those accused. Were the Pendle witches truly guilty of witchcraft? I believe that some of them were, for sure, but not all and especially in the case of Alice Nutter who I believe had been set up after a dispute with local magistrate Roger Nowell. Do the spirits of those accused still haunt the location?
I can’t say that we gained evidence to prove that but what I can say is that there is certainly something going on at Pendle Hill and we’ve gained some extremely strong evidence that I cannot wait for everyone to see. Pendle Hill was a crazy adventure and one that we will never forget. Do you think you have improved and grown as a team since season 1, even before, since you first started ghost hunting?
Our tactical approach in each investigation was planned out perfectly and I think this helped in a huge way. We never stop learning, we’re not perfect, but who is?
“For me it was a dream come true to put this location that I’ve had an obsession with for so long into a full television series and I’m extremely proud to put such a fantastic UK location out there for everyone. The support we have received over the last 18 months for this show has been surreal and I would like to thank everyone who have tuned in and voiced their support for what we do. You guys are amazing!” Danny Aww thanks Danny, (he does mean us YES?) The third season of the extremely popular British paranormal show “The Haunted Hunts” is out now on Amazon Prime Video.
INVESTIGATION
CASH’S WELL, ESSEX There’s nothing better than letting a paranormal team write about their investigations, in their own words… telling it how they experienced it, how they felt about it, how they lived through it…
RICH AUSTIN AND MARK KENNY
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ash’s Well is situated in the eerie surroundings of Langdon Hills Country Park in the depths of Essex and is a notoriously renowned haunted hotspot in the UK, one of which we, WLP, have wanted to visit for some time. The logistics for this included a 180-mile round trip and an ALL outdoor location, so weather conditions had to be considered too. Once we had agreed on a date and time it was in to the ‘batmobile’ and off we set, stopping on the way to pick up two guests that were joining us on this investigation: ‘Mediums’ Jacquie and Nick from the SEPT (South East Paranormal Team) joining us, who bring another element to our investigation, bringing out the more spiritual side of things, allowing us to work more in depth in an attempt to seek and search for concrete evidence in the paranormal world. On arrival at the site of the investigation, it was obvious that we were in an area that had a long history and chequered past to go with that. We were waiting for one more guest to arrive to help us on our investigation, actor Adam Oakley who had been interested in all things paranormal for a long time, and as HAUNTED MAGAZINE
the location was quite close to him we offered him the chance to join us in learning our practices and gaining a more in depth knowledge of the paranormal whilst enhancing his skill set.
Once Adam had arrived and all the formalities were over, we set about getting our equipment ready for the walk down to the actual site of the Well. We had to walk about a mile through woodland, overgrown trees, and bushes either side of the precarious path, this was not for the feint hearted as the decent was quite steep and slippery. On our way down a couple of us felt that we were being watched, but that is often the feeling one gets when in the woods isn’t it? 71
Approaching the Well itself you could not help but be stopped in your tracks and look towards the pillars that were standing derelict and weathered right in front of us. It was an immediate effect of ‘oh wow look at this place it’s scary’. Once over the initial feeling that overcome us we proceeded to the Well itself, and although the actual Well was still there it wasn’t full of water and, sadly, it has been vandalized over the years and various items of rubbish had been thrown down there, bottles, cans etc. This did not though detract from what we’re standing in and around, pillars from the 1800s which held up the sides and roof of the building were in poor shape but still standing, there was odd pieces of graffiti on the walls and it made for a very eerie place indeed. On approach to the pillars Adam mentioned that he had a dream the night before it which a little girl appeared and said to him don’t go further than the pillars that were laying across the floor, as we approached Adam announced that this was the image he had seen in his dream, so that had set a tone for the events that were to follow, we were all a bit shocked and 72
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subdued and I think the calmness that ensued was that of wonder of what Adam had dreamt about, and had told us about, and now we had just seen.
As we had arrived at the location we put our equipment down and walked around the small site for 15 minutes or so when Mark said “Jacquie look what’s happened to your leg” we all turned to her as we were in close proximity and we were all stunned at what we saw..... 3 Scratches!!! They were fresh as the blood was still wet and bright red, there was nothing around that could have made that happen, no bushes, no brambles nothing, it was a wideopen space! Once again, we were all a little stunned and shocked, WHAT WAS IN STORE FOR US TONIGHT? The darkness was falling, and the woods were becoming silent it was rapidly becoming something out of a horror movie. We had lots of different equipment with us and set about getting all the kit up and ready for the night’s investigation. We set 4K videos up, the usual
various located audio recording devices, temperature readers, EMF Readers, all the usual kit and more there was no way we were going to come here and not cover all the bases.
bridge is solid wood, so it’s easy to say it can sway a little yes 100% agree, but this wasn’t that feeling at all this was like small footsteps running across the bridge footsteps of small children perhaps?
Our first delve into the investigation was Jacquie setting out a protection for all of us in which made us all feel comfortable and more at ease for the evening. We moved straight on to doing some ‘calling out’ and recordings, followed by moving around the Well changing things up, changing the people who were talking to see if we could engage in any spirits, one thing that we all wanted now, more than anything, was to see if Adam could perhaps contact the girl who he said was in his dream. So it was off to the Ouija board and after the opening prayer we all had sat around the board in our cold and dark outside location with just a headtorch to illuminate the board so as not to disrupt the night vision cam.
We continued with the bridge for a while but could not get anything else to come through or anymore interaction with the children, so we decided to have a break something to eat and drink and refresh ourselves. It was about 11pm now and pitch black and almost silent in the woods it was definitely now something set in a horror film.
We were stunned at what followed, after a feel around the board warming it up and making sure everything was in order and safe we proceeded to call for any spirits to join us, it didn’t take too long before we had some movement and some mumbled words and letters, you could feel the energy that was present there was no doubt in our mind or anybody else that it was full of energy and we felt a little uneasy to be honest. We felt that the energy around us was negative a dark force energy, and we were not, as a group, feeling good things. We persisted on the board for about 40 minutes and in that time we had a female spirit visit the board, who confirmed that she was the girl in Adam’s dream, this little girl was scared, she was being held back by something or someone and Jacquie, one of the mediums from SEPT could feel she was being controlled and not freely speaking. Eventually, we got the name Emily and she had already attached herself to Adam, after a few more questions it dried up, so we decided to come off the board for a break and regenerate ourselves.
As we were refreshed and ready to go again we decided to bring out another piece of new equipment that Mark had picked up, a Smoke Vortex Machine, if you haven’t seen them, it is a machine that spins a mirror disc, there’s lasers that go on that to reflect, next to this we have smoke like dry ice rising once the lasers go on the disc, through the smoke it produces a smoke vortex and it has been known to pick up faces, spiritual energy manifestations etc. so we were very excited to give this a good go here.
Almost immediately Adam started to walk off on his own, his mood had changed significantly for us to notice he wasn’t happy, and when we spoke to Adam, he was angry and aggressive, totally out of character. We tried to calm him down, he was saying that Emily the girl was in trouble, she was scared, hated what is happening to her and that we had to help her. After we had calmed Adam down, we decided to move location about 60 yards away was an old bridge that connects the old asylum at the top of the hill to the lower part of the Well. In the 19th century the asylum was home to lots of children, many suffering from TB and other illnesses, IS THIS THE PLACE WHERE EMILY WAS? They used to cross this bridge to visit the well and surrounding areas, to play, to drink etc. Once we were all on the bridge and settled we put down a Rem Pod which was cunningly hidden inside a Winnie the Pooh Bear as we wanted to try attract the children, it wasn’t long before we felt the bridge move, now this HAUNTED MAGAZINE
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https://www.dropbox.com/s/c4alzl2u2nezcpe/Bael. mov?dl=0
We got it running the film was rolling and we all took in turns to call out, Richard was controlling the lasers to keep a steady vortex, after a few minutes with Jacquie, Adam, Nick and Mark all working hard to try get something through we all at one stage felt we saw an image appear but nobody quite new what it was but we thought little of it and carried on with the investigation again seeing things left and right the energy was intense and everybody thought that it felt a bit dark not the usual happy bubbly energy, it felt sinister, so we decided to stop the experiment for a while and do something else, it felt quite intense, like a very dark vibe was around us but couldn’t pin point anything. We returned to the Ouija Board for a final session, it was around 1am and we were all getting tired but wanted to give it our all. We once again opened the board in a safe manner and warmed our energy, we go on the board with the intention of trying to find out what the dark energy was that was with us, we knew it was present, it was just a matter of trying to find out who or what it was. This session didn’t disappoint, the board was very active we thought we had Edwin Cash come through but then the board was doing all sorts of trickery, spelling out die, demon, even now, writing this, I (Richard) have gone cold and shivery, it was not pleasant but we carried on as we felt safe doing so, Adam decided to come off the board, Richard was also off the board now filming Jacquie, Nick and Mark, the board was going crazy and Adam who was 74
next to me said he felt his neck was burning, insisting that it was burning him, bearing that this was 1am, middle of the night, it was very cold. We stopped the Ouija board session, closed it down properly and looked at Adam’s neck. OMG, WTF and all other suitable acronyms. Adam has 3 huge scratches running downwards through his tattoo!! now what!!!! we knew there was something here a dark energy, we’d been feeling it for hours (I’ve gone cold AGAIN this second, just writing this) something had scratched Adam, was it the same thing that scratched Jacqui earlier?
We decided to end the investigation a couple of hours later, do our protection closing prayer and make our way back to the cars in what seemed like the longest walk ever looking over our shoulders most of the way. Once we had regrouped and said our goodbyes it was a mass topic of conversation on the way home we couldn’t believe what had happened and couldn’t wait to get stuck in to the hardest part of the investigation, going through endless hours of footage and audio. We had no idea at the time what we were dealing with BUT WE DO NOW, we (think) we have caught some of the most amazing footage of what we believe to be a demon, we believe we caught the demon BAEL* on camera, on live film during our vortex sessions.
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You can see the pictures in this magazine BUT by the powers of modern technology, some might call it “witchcraft if you scan the QR code on this page, we’ve prepared a video where you can actually watch what we caught and see for yourself. We think it is truly amazing.
*Bael is a demon described as a hoarsely voiced king with the power to make men invisible and ruling over sixty-six legions of demons. Legend states that he is a nasty piece of work. Is he the one who scratched Jacquie? Is he the one who scratched Adam? Is the the one that made the Ouija board go crazy. We cannot wait to get back there again. We always carry protection when we investigate, ranging from Lavender, Sage, and other assorted herbs and custom made by crystal made by (if I am allowed a plug) by the fantastic Beaux Bracelets Company.
Rich and Mark
West London Paranormal
In the second part of Morgan’s feature on The Wendigo, it gets personal….
By Morgan Knudsen, Entityseeker (Research & Teachings)
A
s investigators, my partner and I had no awareness of the goings on in Egg Lake or St Albert. It may as well have been another world in another time and place. In 2004, Stephanie and I held a lecture in Edmonton, Alberta. We were lecturing on an English folklore story known as the Black Shuck, a gigantic black dog with fiery paws said to terrorize the English countryside. It was just by chance; someone was in our audience that night who we would be tied to for the rest of our lives. His name was Matt Spearin, and as he heard our lecture, the description of the black aggressive dog stuck out to him in a way it touched no one else. After the lecture, he told us about his encounter as a child with a giant black beast and an illness that nearly resulted in his death. An illness with facial swelling, a fire like rash on his hands and feet, and a monster coming through his window in the night. Matt described the encounters in detail in his upcoming book, “Wind/Feather/Astronaut”: “Don’t touch that, it might be Cujo”!!!! My hand pauses for a moment over the half-buried GI Joe Skimobile, lost to a late fall sand box mission and then under the previous winter’s ice. “What’s Cujo?” I ask. The name sends a chill down my spine. “Cujo is this big, scary dog that goes bad and kills all these kids,” says my neighbour, Alex, with the authority and demure of a 7-year-old over his now mystified, 4-year-old audience. My blood runs beyond cold over his words, and over the name… it actually has a name and this guy knows it. I am speechless, transfixed. “I only told my parents and my Nana about the dumb dog… how do you know about it? How do you know what it’s called?” “If you’re not careful, he’s gonna come for ya tonight and take you right outta your bed”, he says gleefully. “He comes every night,” I tell him as his smile melts from his chin into a look of puzzlement.
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“Right through my window,” I continue. “He shakes my bed off the floor, growling and snarling. He comes from that lonely J-Train yard on Sesame, as tall as my house and thin, with really long, spindly arms and weird, black spider-fingers. His head looks like a wicked Terrier, a Scotty, you know, the dogs with the beards? But with wild, terrifying eyes and sharp pointy ears… He’s WAY scarier and he is WAY bigger. Nastier. A giant. A monster.” “No, Cujo is just a dumb movie I saw,” he tells me, attempting to enliven the sudden, abnormal hue his face has taken on. “You don’t see him? He comes when you get really hot and when you cannot move in your bed. I cannot even yell for my mom, ~it is THAT scary. Wait until you hear it growl,” I inform him. “It sounds like there are a thousand of him in that growl. I bet he comes for you tonight, right through your window, you’ll see.” My tone is serene, convicted, the voice of a true believer. “That’s my window, right there,” pointing up to the brown frame, 8 feet from the ground, embedded in the white stucco, “Cujo passes through this yard every night. And now he knows who you are. He knows where you play, and he knows that you live RIGHT across the street.” “You’re just sayin’ that, m-makin’ it up,” he says, with the pallid, almost teary look of a kid who just had someone piss all over his grave. “So, Cujo is what it’s called,” I reflect, thinking a name like that made more sense than what I had for breakfast that morning. It was hitting a nail like a bullseye and driving it right through the board. J-Train could j-j-jump right into that name and fit like some unholy marriage. “C-U-J-O”. “Wanna stay over?” I ask.
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In a small house in Braeside, St. Albert, a haunting was happening. Bought in the late 1970s, a man moved his wife and two children into a home with a basement that he purchased for an incredibly low price. The family selling the property had suffered the horrible loss of their child in a vicious accident and desperate to move on from the memories, sold the house at a low rate.
spider-like arms would burst through the window frame over his bed, growling, scratching and violently shaking him… The demonic, Scottish terrier-like head always an inch from his face so that Matt could feel its breath on his cheek. The attacks became so frequent, that when it did not show one Christmas Eve, he was elated.
It was not long before the new owners began experiencing some strange happenings: They would hear their back door open and slam shut and the sound of distinct feet running down the steps on multiple occasions. The toilet would flush on its own. The dog would growl at the basement stairs. On many afternoons, their daughter came home to the sound of someone crying in the house. Fearful to enter, she waited on the porch until someone else arrived only to find no one had been inside.
His parents were worried. Their son repeatedly came to them with stories of terrifying encounters and all they could do was reassure him it must be a frightening nightmare. Nonetheless, the attacks continued. His mother, concerned for her son’s wellbeing, began guarding his room at night, marking her papers beside his door so he could fall asleep in peace. She moved a little further down the hall each night in the hope of weening him off the fear. His father tried vigorously to rationalize the encounters and bring some calm to his family’s obvious distress. But the solutions were not permanent. Night after night, Matt’s childhood disappeared into endless hours of fear and terror, with no end in sight and no understanding of what the horror actually was. Could his parents be right? Was this werewolf-like monster the result of a dream? During one encounter, Matt made physical contact with the entity and kicked it hard in the face. It reacted strongly and disappeared back out the locked bedroom window as if slipping through a veil of air.
The first apparition was sighted during a dinner party. A woman with long black hair was seen crying in the dining room. When the witness asked the family about the sad figure, the family told them that no one matching that description was at the party or invited. While sitting in the basement proofreading homework for her son, the mother assumed he had returned home from the corner store, slamming the back door, and running down the stairs into the room behind her. She felt a presence and began to go over the mistakes with him, but when no one responded, she suddenly realized, to her horror, that she was alone … While they were on vacation, the family’s grandfather decided to stay to keep an eye on the house. After one night, he refused to return to sleep, or to talk about it, stating only that something was “wrong” with the basement there. The once, skeptical old man would only enter the house during the day, returning home at night until the family came back. One afternoon, during a visit from their nephew, Matt, another strange incident occurred. Seated in the dining room, the well-built glass tabletop split in front of them and then shattered to the floor with no explanation. Having had more than enough, the family decided to follow a Scottish tradition that involved moving across a river to escape nasty spirits. They left the house behind. During the move, a year-old Matt was admitted into ICU at Edmonton General after a visit to his aunt’s. A fever had started on the car ride home, throwing him into deadly convulsions. As he resided in a croupette for over 10 days, the doctors could find no explanation for the strange illness. Within a month of coming home, the situation grew far worse. Severe swelling of his tongue and eyes would frequently occur, resulting in many trips to the emergency ward. Like the source of the fever, the edema proved just as evasive, resulting in an array of inconclusive allergy tests.
… and all this time, an unwelcomed presence began to make itself known… A creature was coming into his room at night through the window. The red curtains would part by themselves; the blind would shoot to the roof and then it would attack – an anthropomorphic, dog-like monster: tall, frail, but incredibly strong with dark patchy, wool-like fur. Its upper torso and long,
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Photo Credit: Zack Gizowski
One evening, things took a turn no one was anticipating: Matt awoke to discover a new apparition, small and gaunt with round, terrifying eyes. No bigger than a house cat, it perched on unearthly feet at the end of his bed beneath the curtains. The encounter seemed to surprise them both, and the rage in the face of the creature was something that still sticks with Matt to this day. He describes: “At the foot of my bed, beneath the curtains, stood a tiny woman. I will never forget that image, forever remembering that moment, feeling the shock resonate into my core… like being punched from inside my rib cage. No dream, no sleep, no darkness… just alive, senses ablaze to the light above and temporal lobes, attuned to the horror thing below. She appeared unaware of my gaze as she scanned the room, an ethereal movement about her tiny shoulders, grapefruitsized head, distant, listening. No more than two feet tall, the face and constitution akin to First Nations folklore ~long, black, wild hair
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about the crown and her complexion and gaze, the color of death. I watched the brown body, clothed in unusual rings, foreign, but familiar, like a flight suit fading into banded burial wrappings or something like baroque clown attire… far away, through time, tattered and malignant, the image made me feel sick. I quickly glanced at her feet and something between terror and amazement gripped me. Three taloned toes, like misshapen star fish adorned the bottoms her legs, carefully attuned to the eerie sway of her body atop my mattress. She was taking heavy breaths, drawing air into a set of lungs that could not be larger than halved apricots… long draws, deep, unaccustomed… an atypical mixture, this was not her usual playground. I gasped in terror, and the sound traveled like a knock at the door. She saw me and for that moment, those ancient, pupil filled eyes beheld me, pulling me through some pin sized black hole. For a second, she saw who I was, and then she charged. The movement display was analog, something in the shimmer reminded me of film, like a hologram, a halo… it seemed to bend light as she moved, but only the warm components, hitting beats in the mobility spectrum that no human ever could. In mere seconds she was upon me and I could feel her revolting breath against my lips. From within, a hiss uncoiled itself like a snake, revealing fangs - canines and incisors jutting from the wicked effigy that was her skull. The face, a sickly, jaundiced flesh to the pink, swollen protuberances on her forehead and cheek. She bore pure hatred there, unfiltered, unabated and those eyes, those eyes, black oil pools, flaring red to some invisible spectral candle in front of them. A piece of innocence died forever then and there as she struck the palm of my hand beside my face. I recoiled in terror at the blow, watching the swinging appendage, her hand, a weird Chimera of badger’s claw and pig-like hoof. And then with a cornered, black cat growl she turned and fled towards the night, back towards whatever sanctity the window world provided, back to that unholy altar above my bed. I watched her legs bound out from the sides as she ran, propelling at the hip and terror filled me in one second like seasick confusion. As she leapt up to the frame behind the curtain, the light responded to the spectrum flare as her body had become a living film, projecting the ultimate perversion. I watched the familiar, brown/diamond ring pattern shimmer across the surface, covering something hard… rust brown, chitin, the sense of some lobster-like exoskeleton beneath. And then she was gone. She was gone, and the pain in my hand remained, like the lingering taste of oil. I was wide awake.” Matt’s head was spinning with questions. What was this bizarre new creature? Was it related to the dog monster that came at night? He had no idea, but it was only one of many puzzle pieces that had begun to unfold; a series of bizarre images and events that would not begin to make sense for decades. Symbols started to appear, with the strangest being a series of glowing, Ukrainian Easter eggs that emerged from the darkness of his bedroom closet with no explanation. The colourful, purple/ yellow 2D outlines floated towards him and then vanished. They never appeared again, but he never forgot them either. Eventually, they were filed into a pile of bizarre encounters in his head that Matt simply could not understand. The encounters seemed to stop. The family had made an energetic stand. A victim will get a restraining order as a peaceful measure. An abuser will see it as an act of war.
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A year and half later, Matt returned to St Albert. His family decided to go for a walk which led them up a hill to a historical building – the oldest standing wood building in Alberta – and through a beautiful cemetery. The aged structure, which stood next to a lovely old church, was a mission. It stood just meters from its original location on the land and was well-maintained. Matt’s aunt’s home in Braeside was barely a drive down the road, beside the Sturgeon River. They walked through the cemetery, and not one of them had any clue of the history upon which they now tread. They had no idea that Swift Runner had once walked the river’s edge after murdering his entire family, banging on the door of the mission they were now visiting. They had no idea that it was there that Swift Runner lied to the missionaries who helped him; that he had just murdered his last child and he was now fat with the meat of his entire family. They also had no idea that Swift Runner awoke here, night after night screaming that that ‘Ween-de-go’, the evil spirit that devours, was violently attacking him in his sleep. Matt was older now and had not seen the beast at his window for over a year. Big kids did not have nightmares, he was passed all that. The family had supper at a local fast-food restaurant and went home. Matt’s night was far from over. “The heat had compelled him on our return from the mission grounds, pulling him up from the gravestones on the rising of the storm waves. For a moment, I watched his true form outside, through older eyes, as if the color of the moon had stumbled there… and then he burst through the frame with the lightning of wild horses, and with a swelling storm cloud rise, the attack was upon me, like a pack of wild dogs. We wrestled into daybreak, a violent, rocking fury that set the room ablaze. My closed fist, driving repeatedly into living myth, and into the coarse fur and emaciated rib-like structures pressed against my face. He fought from above, writhing and shivering in some orgy of terror, the demonic sounds bouncing back and forth across the surfaces like music. And in the victory, he made killers or killed, and my victory was my resistance, embracing my outer demon, refusing to let him go… hurling him back on my terms, toward the window… Cujo, Wendigo, his wicked claws scraping against my left femur as he flew. In my mind and through my pain, I part the storm before me, like curtains to the rays of golden sun rise… endless white, forever light, poplar fluff at ease and weightless to the raging hail surrounding it. And as he retreats in some shadowslither movement, the arms fold across his chest in the effigy of an Egyptian death cast. I am able to witness the silhouette of an angular, bearded, canid-like head… a regal, powerful visage, with sharp, pointed ears glancing back at me one last time, disappearing behind the frame, into forever, ensnared by the wooden structure and the web of yellow ropes below it…”
THE MAN AND THE MONSTER
The wendigo did not raise its head again until Matt was in his thirties. By then, we had known each other for over a decade and had been developing Entity Seeker to its fullest potential for quite a few years, being asked for speaking engagements, investigating cases, and gracing stages and television screens across Canada. One night, while listening to a podcast on native mythos, the word ‘wendigo’ fell on his ears. The tail of Swift Runner was being discussed and names and dates became the main topic of conversation. St Albert. The Mission. Attacks by dog-like beasts. Facial swelling. Fever. Red rashes on hands and feet. Swift Runner’s crime scene: Egg Lake. His mind began replaying the visions of his childhood and the Easter egg images flooded back to him. It was not long into investigating the new information before his father gave him a startling revelation. His grandmother was born in Legal, a short distance up the road from Lake Manawan (or ‘place of the eggs’, formally known as Egg Lake), Swift Runner’s home and the site of the gruesome slaughter of his family. It was a connection that neither of us expected. Wendigo or the case of Swift Runner had not been prevalent in our investigations. Although both of us had heard the tale, when and where it took place was not something of which we had ever taken note. To realize it was something that happened within a 20-minute drive from us was a bit of a shock, to say the least. We were on the doorstep of one of the greatest crimes in Alberta’s history, and we had no idea.
Morgan x
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We’ve always believed, ALWAYS that a checkout operator in a supermarket, a delivery driver, a shop worker, anyone and everyone from any walk of life, can experience paranormal activity and witness paranormal activity without a need for rigid baseline experiments, tests and strict settings and guidelines. We will feature more of these in the future but what is sometime refreshing is the back story to their experience(s), the background and their development and their journey that they find themselves on.
Ann Morris:
My Paranormal Journey THE ‘ANN’ VENTURE BEGINS Never would I have expected that an impromptu outing on a dull May day in 2017 would change my life. But tacky as it sounds, it really did. After my first trip to a very special location, so began a series of experiences connected to and interwoven with all things paranormal, generated by this chance introduction to a place so unique that I dread to think who what or where I’d be without it. My adventures that were initiated that day have led me amongst other places, to explore the chilling empty corridors of a German concentration camp. I have meandered through the damp dark bunkers and tunnels of Normandy and have become stuck at the bottom of an almost vertical slope at the entrance to a Nazi tunnel on the Greek island of Kefalonia. In 2019 I turned over in bed to discover that the pillows next to me were now missing despite the fact I had only just turned over and not yet gone to sleep, to find them…. where? Stacked up neatly around the corner of the room by the closed door. Our Henry Hoover lifted a foot off the floor and gently set itself back down again, I have watched a Bluetooth speaker dance deliberately and slowly on the bedside table. Shortly after this, I heard and felt the heavy air-con unit slam into the wall at 2am, and returned to my living room to find my loose change that was lying on the coffee table, standing proudly up on their spines. I have had two painful scratches, one like a dual cat scratch on the arm, and the other, well… let us just say it emanated from a very personal place. It bled so profusely that on removing my undergarments, it ripped the dried blood off like a gory plaster. I saw two three-inchlong gauges coming from an area that I promise you I had not touched let alone scratched! I am not a contortionist. This experience occurred during a visit to my favourite haunted location in 2019. What do all these things have in common? They have all happened because of what I get up to in my spare time.
What began initially as a hobby, a succession of expensive weekend jaunts out on location in the dark with lots of strangers who for the most part all dressed in black, soon changed. The group hunts are a wonderful introduction to methods and theories behind modern ghost hunting, but I felt that I more interested in the antisocial aspect of investigating that to my mind, produced the best results without the need of psychic abilities or fancy equipment. I have neither. Of course, the ‘newbie’ ghost hunter and sceptic alike, all want the full-on experiences on tap, otherwise they are disappointed.
Gather fifty curious folk together for £50 a head, and of course, they will probably want the full-on shadow figure or to be levitated to the ceiling! Chances are they will experience nothing like, although of course it is not out of the question. But with my newfound interest, I could virtually guarantee success EVERY time. So, bit by bit I dropped out of the group work and look on. The board experiments and séance-style activities, and I instead looked forward to the hour or two of free time at the end of the night. To be allowed to wander at leisure around historic locations in the early hours of the morning is a privilege, and not something that many people get to experience.
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But it is not just the solitude and sensations of soaking up the atmospheres within the shadows that attracted me, but what I managed to capture during these special times.
I had been aware of EVP for a few years come the time that my other half Jack and I, moved to Somerset. Electronic Voice Phenomena to put it simply, is the capturing of anomalous sounds on audio equipment (and video) that manifest at frequencies hidden from the human ear that consequently can only be heard on playback. Like many, I suppose my introduction to this phenomena came from watching certain ghost shows on TV. There seem to be so many these days that I have narrowed my viewing down to just two that I deem trustworthy, but that is just a personal preference! I was influenced by a particular
episode of Ghost Adventures, in which the team headed into the Vulture Mine ghost town in Arizona. Whilst in the schoolhouse, Aaron receives some incredible EVP voices, and this really got me thinking. Surely anyone with a voice recorder can have a go at this. If this is not faked, it is incredible. Why is no-one really jumping on this?! Aside from a quick playback and a crew member at base listening as the recordings happen, there seems little or no effort to listen closer, delve further. This frustrated me to the point where I’d be screaming at the TV, “Slow it down!! Use headphones!”, but no – the first assumption as to what was said during the session was to them, gospel; even though I was adamant that with a little time and effort what was really said would become clear. Purchasing a cheap little thing from the internet, I headed out with my local group to Fort Amherst in Kent where I used to live. During the previously mentioned free time, I left everyone else guzzling coffee at 2am in the cafe used as a base and delved into the chalk tunnels of the Napoleonic fort virtually quivering with anticipation at what may happen. To be honest I did not think I would capture anything. But that night not only did I manage to photograph a shadow figure up close in the wooden-floored gun room, but I recorded my very first EVP. It happened in the furthest tunnel of the Napoleonic system, as my soft soled shoes padded down the compact white chalk floor, a Northern man (think Sean Bean and you’d be spot on!) says “They’re joking…” I went over and over that recording, absolutely bubbling over with incredulity and outright joy. This was a natural high unlike anything I had experienced.
A nn x
IN THE NEXT ISSUE: The EVP goes crazy and a ghost hunting hen night… IN PRISON 82
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