Haunted Magazine 29 - The Battersea Poltergeist by Dead Good Publishing Ltd

EDITORIAL Poltergeists are the noisy spirits of the paranormal, the mischief makers, the players, the troublemakers but they always seem to be few and far between? A bit like issues of Haunted Magazine some might say!!! During a recent zoom chat with a Shirley Griffiths, lady who was plagued by a poltergeist when she was younger (yes, the one on the cover of this issue), we got chatting about WHY HER? WHY NOT THE TEENAGE GIRL LIVING A FEW DOORS DOWN? You can find out what Shirley said (in more detail (it is an interesting theory)) in this issue BUT it is a fair question, why are there so few poltergeists out there, it’s not like we live in a world where news takes ages to reach us, we live in a 24/7 world, if there’s word of a teenager being plagued by spooks, it’d be out there, somewhere, in the news ether. Please do enjoy this issue, it will be yet another issue in Lockdown and yet again we are bringing something different, a 16-page supplement in the middle of the mag, all about UFOs, pull it out and treat yourself to a close encounter.

CONTENTS 04 06 12 13 15 16 19 25 28

FAIRY STORIES Katie writes of the Rise of the Fairy in the Paranormal. Fairy nuff!

A TALE OF TWO PALACES Miles apart, with no connection, or is there?

NAPPY EVER AFTER Pampering the paranormal with Nicky Alan

ARE WE CONNECTED? Jane Rowley and her reflections on spooky connections THE CAT AND THE GHOST Naughty or nice, pet or paranormal? 8 out of 10 ghosts preferred it

UFOS OF YORKSHIRE Close encounters of t'aliens with Hull's finest, our very own Mike Covell MISS FORTUNE Morgan Knudsen investigates the addiction to believing in the tellers of the future

**MAIN FEATURE** THE BATTERSEA POLTERGEIST An extensive examination into this most intriguing case UNBELIEVABLE FREE OBJECT: A few years ago, we worked on a digital magazine called UFO TODAY, there has been so many developments and stories in the UFO world, apparently, they’re not even called UFOs anymore. We have put together a mini mag for you to enjoy, worked with our good mate UFO expert Phil Mantle who has pulled together some other cracking UFO experts for you to enjoy UFO TODAY, it’s something a little bit different, it’s a something a little bit EXTRA… (ahem)... Terrestrial!

Enjoy the magazine. #dontbenormal BE PARANORMAL!!

A TOMB WITH A CLUE Haunted Historian Penny pens about a not so ‘orrible curse (or worse?)

Paul

37 42 47 49 50 53 56 59 63 68

HEY TEACHERS, LEAVE THEM KIDS ALONE Lorien Jones investigates The George Jarvis Boarding School

LAY YOUR HANDS ON ME Kate Cherrell thumbs through the story of 'Spirit Hands'

NOT THAT HOUSE, THIS HOUSE Amelia Cotter's debut Haunted feature in THIS MAG, NOT THAT ONE!

THE SPEAN BRIDGE PHANTOM Leonard Low's discovery of an abandoned church

MINE ALL MINE Katie Waller goes para-urbexing. Is Betsy mine the Real Wheal Deal?

THE STEP BY ESTEP GUIDE The spooky fort that saved America from those nasty British folk

NICK GROFF, DEATH WALKER **EXCLUSIVE** Nick is back, walking the line between death, the paranormal and reality

BORDER BUDDIES OR WORLDS APART Canada and USA, geographically close BUT are they paranormally close?

ARE YOU HAUNTED? Well these lot are! **EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW** with the ‘Are You Haunted?’ team

AMERICA’S FIRST GHOST HUNTER Hans Holzer coined the phrase ‘Ghost Hunter’, his ghost hunting daughter remembers him

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I am going to start this particular piece with a question, If you saw a tomb with the inscriptions:

“When I rise from the dead, the world shall tremble” “Whosoever disturbs my tomb will unleash an invader more terrible than I”

ould you think, well, that looks pretty clear, I shall leave that alone, or would your immediate reaction be, what a load of rubbish, I will open it immediately? Personally, I would go for the former, but then again, I was not Josef Stalin in 1941 with this unwavering self-belief that nothing was worse than him.

Timur, or Tamerlane as he is also known was a Mongolian Warlord from the 14th and early 15th century who founded the Timurid Empire and controlled vast swathes of the world including modern day Afghanistan, Iran, and most of Central Asia. Whilst he was your average stereotypical conqueror in that he had something in the region of forty three wives and a multitude of concubines, he was also a brilliant military tactician and distantly related to probably the most famous Mongolian warlord ever, Genghis Khan. One could argue that the accolade of being a descendant of Genghis was not particularly difficult, even now it is believed that one in two hundred men carry his gene! This figure in history was definitely an interesting one, whilst he was undoubtably a brilliant – if somewhat terrifying – fighter, one who was believed to have been the indirect architect of over seventeen million deaths in his march across Asia, he was also a follower of the arts. One of the most famous creations of his though was rather grim, a pyramid made up of over seventy thousand skulls of his enemies. It is believed that he got bored of carrying around the decapitated heads of his foe and so created a design using them. Historians are divided as to his reason; waste not want not or purely to remind anyone foolish enough to consider an uprising just what would happen to them. Anyway, so back to 1941, here we have Stalin’s team of anthropologists and archaeologists who are there to open the tomb in Samarkand, Uzbekistan and retrieve the skull of Timur to enable Mikhail Gerasimov to create a face from the bones so that they could see what the Great Khan would have looked like. As they opened his resting place, they were greeted with strong smells of Camphor, Resin, Rose and Frankincense (believed to have been the embalming oils) but this aroma was so strong

Not so ‘orrible ‘istories?

The Chief’s Curse By Penny Griffiths-Morgan

it was like he had only been sealed into his coffin that week instead of over five hundred years ago. Despite the words on the tomb, and the warning from three village elders that within three days the curse would be enacted, they carried on with their research. This was on the 19th June 1941 (although some reports do say the 20th, but the date will become clear enough soon). They took the remains back to their research facilities and began to build a physical picture of this blood thirsty Mongol. Ascertaining that he had red hair, was broad chested and around 5ft8 in height – tall for someone of this nationality – he was also severely disabled along his right side. He is more commonly known as Tamerlane in the West which is a somewhat rude corruption of the name given to him of “Timur leng” which translated means Timur the lame. HAUNTED MAGAZINE

it coming, but whether Stalin was trusting or if he had such illusions of superiority he thought that the moustached German leader was inferior and would not dare take on the might of the Soviet military no one is really sure. But take it on he did, ironically many Ukrainians saw his invasion as a good thing having lived under the oppressive control of the communist government for so long, but that did not last when the Nazi’s started rounding up the Jewish population and murdering them. If we start to look at numbers, an estimated one and half million Jews were killed in the Ukraine alone, and that does not include those that were displaced.

But back to the scientists from the Soviet Union, whether they were aware or not of what had happened before when someone had interfered with Timur’s mausoleum is unclear. In 1740, Nader Shah, the ruler of Afsharid (Iran to you and me) had removed some precious jade from there. Within days his son had become seriously ill and doctors were unable to help the child. Nader idolised the Mongolian leader and had maybe wanted a good luck souvenir as he tried to emulate Timur’s achievements. However, his son’s mother was incredibly superstitious and begged him to return the jade to its rightful owner, within days of this happening his son made a miraculous recovery. Those of you with a knowledge of World War Two history may already have cottoned on to what was going to happen next to Stalin and his regime, for on the 22nd June 1941, Hitler and his German forces began their invasion of the Soviet Union under the Operation Barbarossa plan. Less than two years previously the two countries had signed the Molotov – Ribbentrop Pact, which was meant to be a non-aggression treaty after they had partitioned Poland between them. Given what we know about Hitler with hindsight, one could perhaps have seen HAUNTED MAGAZINE

Then we had the Battle of Moscow which began in the October of 1941, an incredibly ambitious plan of the Axis forces to capture the main city of the Soviet Union and to control it, and then therefore, the rest of the nation. This is where the ability to obtain un-doctored and non- propaganda filled records becomes difficult, the Soviets being infamous for their variations of events to make them look good and the Germans having destroyed so may of their fastidiously kept files. By this time, the German forces looked unstoppable, they had already taken the Ukraine, Belarus and most of the Baltic countries and had planned on having successfully invaded Moscow within four months of the commencement of Barbarossa. What they had not factored in was ironically the same thing which stopped Timur back in the early 15th century from conquering China…Winter. The freezing temperatures were not the only thing that halted Hitlers plans (although minus forty five is pretty damned cold) but he was so angry by the perceived failure that on the 19th December 1941 he fired his controller of his armies, Field Marshal Walther Von Brauchitsch and took control himself (ostensibly surrounding himself with inexperienced yes men). But this is where it gets even more interesting, do you know what else happened in early December? Stalin ordered for the return of Timur’s remains to his tomb. Whether he suddenly became superstitious or the fear of losing his city (and casualty and death toll of Moscow alone having been in the region of eight hundred thousand troops by conservative estimates) meant he was willing to try anything, he capitulated and back to Samarkand went our Mongolian warlord. On the 7th January 1942, the Germans withdrew, and Moscow was saved from invasion. Was this due to Timur being reinterred? Or was it purely to do with bad military tactics from the Axis forces? I have my own opinions on this but will leave you to make up your own mind. You can actually visit the Gur Emir (Timur’s mausoleum) if you wish to do so, but just to be on the safe side, leave everything you see there…please

Penny x

*when we say not so ‘orrible, it might actually be ‘orrible, it’s just a tag line… 5

An examination of the rise in the interest of the Fae in the paranormal world, and their haunting nature. n recent months, interest in the world of the fairy (Fae) has risen in the paranormal particularly in the ghost hunting community. There seems to be a desire to in make the connection across supernatural and paranormal areas of study, with links being made to cryptozoology and ufology to hauntings and odd experiences. It was then only a matter of time when the Faery realm would become a point of curiosity.

The history of the Fae is an interesting one and the examination of Faery folk law would shed light onto why the connection between haunting and this world have been slow to manifest as a concept.

The Rise of

The Victorian notions of the little people gave the creatures of the realm of the Fae, a somewhat onedimensional image. Artists, poets, and writers of that period portraying small winged delicate beings could not be further from their true origins. Faeries have been in the conscious mind of humans for thousands of years. Primitive cave paintings depicting strange creatures, which are sometimes attributed to aliens and sometimes Fae. It seems with the cognitive development of humans came the belief of spirits Faery belief, or Faery faith, is a global set of thinking, with all cultures having variations on this theme. In the middle east, for example, there is still strong beliefs in the djinn, an ancient being that is both benign and malevolent on a whim. In a recent survey conducted which asked medical students and staff at a university in Jeddah about their beliefs in djinn in conjunction with epilepsy. It is a common idea that epilepsy is an induce condition that comes from a djinn curse. A high percentage of students at the university, although they knew the medical rational for this condition, admitted that they held the belief in this curse. More surprisingly the lectures scored as highly in the survey. Showing that even in modern academic setting the idea of the Fae is tangible. These are highly educated people and yet the need for folk tales is a strong factor in their lives. To find the full survey you can search the below on the internet:

“Possession by ‘Jinn’ as a cause of epilepsy (Saraa): A study from Saudi Arabia”

In recent months, interest in the world of the fairy (Fae) has risen in the paranormal particularly in the ghost hunting community. There seems to be a desire to in make the connection across supernatural and paranormal areas of study, with links being made to cryptozoology and ufology to hauntings and odd experiences. It was then only a matter of time when the Faery realm would become a point of curiosity.

The

Prior to the Victorian notion of the Fae, which possibly arrived through fairy-tale literature and its popularity with children, the Fae where (and I say this quietly) not so nice. To speak ill of the Fae is to bring ill omens on yourself and those around you is a theme that runs through folklore and fairy tales. Such concepts can be seen in both literature, often taken from oral tradition, poems, songs, and paintings.

The Fae had a reputation of whisking people away to Faery land, and if the person did return to this realm they had found that time had slowed in the fairy realm and that they aged on return, a day dancing with the Fae could mean years had elapse in the real world. This is the mere beginnings of the darker capabilities of these folk. They would and could render people blind. There is a folk tale about a nurse maid who was asked by the Faery folk to wet maid a Fae baby. The baby was to be given ointment for its eyes and under no circumstances should the maid apply it to her own. Of course, curiosity got the better of the nurse and she was rendered blind. Not listening to the heed of the Fae and being physically damaged in someway is a strong theme that runs throughout traditional fairy tales.

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Changeling are another example of the malevolent side of these creatures. A human baby would be replaced by a Faery baby to be raised by human parents. This was often used to describe mental of psychical defects in a baby in a time when medical science did not have the answers. But the interesting aspect of this is that the Fae were blamed. If people believed that all Fae where kind and good hearted, it begs the question of Why would they blame them for such atrocities?

Human men and women would be kidnapped to become the husband or wife of Faery folk. Taken against their will to lead miserable lives. Encounters with the Fae would lead to memory loss, madness, illness (elf shot was a term to explain inexplicable illness), both with long- and short-term effects on the human experience.

Fae By Kate Ray

These are just some of the many examples found in literature and the arts that display imagery of the darker side to the Fae nature. You only have to flick through the pages of the Grimm’s version of popular European fairy tales to gain a flavour of the sinister elements. More modern accounts of encounters with the Fae folk can start to explain the idea that Faeries can “haunt”. I have recently been interviewed for an American Paranormal show and as part of the discussion the host regaled the tale of being haunted by a goblin/imp type entity. The being would show classic haunting behaviour. It would run up and down her apartment and when being ignored resorted to pinching and bruising the lady. On the surface this could be interpreted as a poltergeist (noisy ghost), however the lady in question had seen the form of this being, which was not a human apparition. This could have been considered a lesser demonic, and there is cross over in behaviour and appearance. However, how to deal with the energy of a demon differs from the interaction that should take place with the Fae. It is a growing theory of mine, that where there is negative energy in a building or place, maybe one that is caused by darker human entities or non-human entities (demons), that this energy creates a beacon to other beings, these then are attracted to that “vibrational environment”. If we put this in terms of a human context, it is like attracts like. For example, there are areas in cities where gangs are prevalent, the energy of these activities attract other gangs and cause a further escalation of criminal activity. This is a crude concept, but one in which I would like to explore further. I read, many years ago that there was a correlation between illness and the attraction of dirt to the body. When the immune system is fighting off a cold, for instance, look to your fingernails, they seem to become grubby no matter how often you scrub them. This is something that I have witnessed time and again when illness strikes. The sick body will turn its attention to mending itself and in turn will lower the energy levels. It is the reason why laughter is seen as the “best medicine”, as it raises the vibrational tone of the person, or simply put a higher vibrational energy aids the healing process. I could delve into spiritual spheres of energy, however there is not enough scope here to do so and there are many websites dedicate to this area for further reading. HAUNTED MAGAZINE

Why am I talking about human energy and dirty nails in terms of Fae hauntings? There is a theory called the sick house syndrome, this is a theory in both mainstream sciences and in the world of the paranormal. In mainstream science this relates to a property with exceptional high EMF readings. It is often why you find houses under electricity pillions have less monetary value than similar properties that are not. The high energy output of a pillion leads to a sick building, causing headaches, nausea, hallucinations, depression etc... In just the way that pillions and other energy waves create high EMF, it is believed that ghosts also produce high EMF waves with the same effect. Hence the reason why paranormal investigators do baseline emf readings at the start, during and after an investigation. They assess whether a building has unnatural levels of EMF (electromagnetic field) to begin with, and whether this fluctuates as part of data gathering.

Sick house syndrome creates low mood and illness in the occupants of the house. The longer they are exposed these symptoms worsen over time. It is a school of thought that either sick houses attract darker energies, or darker energies create sick houses, like attracting like? Imagine, if you will, that you are a dark Fae, flitting around

and you come across a place that has a vibration you like, a darker vibration, it would be incredible tempting to set up home in that place, and thus becoming an additional problem. This added energy of a malicious Fae will add a dimensional to an existing haunting or even in a place where the EMF levels are high. Whether or not the Fae are aware of the spirits of the dead, or other inter dimensional beings, is a debatable point, though they definitely show up where others dwell. In the case of a recent private haunting case I was investigating, there was mounting evidence of poltergeist activity, human apparitions as well as smaller darker beings. The family had experienced and capture on video a small dark smoky mass on the landing then entering the bedroom. This being did not manifest into a human shape and was too small in physicality to be a child. During the investigation I had the ‘feeling’ that there were Fae about, and confirmation of this sense came through on various pieces of paranormal equipment. I do not want to talk in this article about how to get rid of the Fae, this is something I am working on on a much larger scale. Nevertheless, I do have a YouTube channel which covers some of this (a shameless plug, I know!)

So, how does a Fae haunting differ from a common haunting and from a demonic haunting? The key is truth, Faeries, it is said cannot tell lies! Human disincarnate have the capacity to lie to achieve their goals, and demonic are considered the masker tricksters. A Faery will when asked a straightforward question must (am assuming by Faery law) tell the truth. A ghost can lie, demons are the masters of deception, but it is believed that the Fae are bound to tell the truth. There are other more suitable traits of a Faery haunting, which could be confused with interactions with less demonic and poltergeist type activity.

“There is a theory called the sick house syndrome, this is a theory in both mainstream sciences and in the world of the paranormal.” Why then, has there been the raise in the Fae in the world of the paranormal investigators? I believe there are several reasons, the lockdown situation, popular tv shows, a wider understanding in the community of energies, failed banishments of ghosts, a collective melting pot of differing religious view points and a growing interest in the cross pollination of disciplines (crypto, ufology, spiritualism). We will assess each of these concepts to gain a deeper insight into the question. The C-19 lockdown in the UK, created some odd outputting of creativity. Children have been kept away from school environments and left to be home-schooled by parents who are not qualified teachers, but doing their best, these parents got creative within the educational curriculum. We have seen a raise in baking, outdoor activities, and craft; all these have been taking a Faery turn. It is also historically interesting to note that in times of high societal stress, that people turn to the spiritual for comfort and guidance. We saw a spike in the beliefs in spiritualism in the first and second world war. Mediums, clairvoyants, seers, and mystics had a spike in trade, with seances raising in popularity, along with private readings. The desire to contact deceased loved one had an impact on this, but there was something more, people wanted and needed to believe in something more, something good perhaps? But back to kids baking and crafting. All around the UK, reports of Faery doors in forests have been popping up. Small homemade glittery wooden or cardboard doors have been placed at the foot of trees to entice the fare folk. This craze seems to have come of the back of the hiding of painted

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pebbles (another fairy activity of hiding messages in a treasure hunt type of way). I ask myself, did the upsurge in the fairy door come from the desire of children, bored and out of school, or did it come from the adults needing some magic in their lives in these gloomy times? This suggest that the idea that there has been a surge in interest in all things Fae in the wider public domain. Before the lockdown, in the UK and the appearance of enchanting doors in woodlands, I had observed the Faeries being mentioned in the ghost hunting community, the word “Imp” seems to have grown in popularity (replacing the antics of the lesser demon perhaps?). I was recently asked whether an Imp was a Faery, my answer was ‘absolutely’. As I have already alluded to the Faery realm can be quite a dark place, for me it is a spectrum from the beings of light to those of the shadows. In this realm there are friends and foes, there are those who will help and those who are set on seeking out chaos. When it comes to Faeries ‘haunting’ , a person or place, I would suggest that this is either an energy that is of the lower darker vibration or one that is plainly put ‘pissed off.’ I experienced this notion of the Fae holding a grudge firsthand in a case that was aired as part of the second series of Help My House is Haunted. I was invited to try and make sense of a confusing case taking place in a home in Devon, where the activity was unusual with a tiny decorative iron stove seemed to be a focal point. The culprit of the haunting was a

pixie type being that had been angered by the cutting down of a tree that this Fae seemed to have a relationship with. The said “pissed off” pixie set to work, making his anger at his tree being cut down known to the occupants. In this case the pixie displayed behaviours usually attributed to “normal” haunting behaviours, such as moving objects, been visible as a shadow, banging, knocking, and creating a negative atmosphere.

I have yet to come across of a light Fae presenting themselves to a human and becoming a problem, it is usually the darker end of the spectrum that wreaks havoc. But there is time for this notion to change? The relationship with a lighter Fae does have its share of difficulties and boundaries, respect and understanding are always needed. Let us talk about the names of the different Fae, the genres or family groups. To know the differences of these will help in our pursuit to work with them and understand their nature. We as humans have an almost hardwired need to put things into categories, to label and box things to seek clarity. In the natural world we look for scientific connectives to explain the biology, behaviour, and wider environment. Faeries do not do this in the way humans do, they identify the differences between the family types and the jobs and energy level, but altogether don’t really call themselves fairies, elves, pixies, imps etc. I suppose this is akin to the animal kingdom where a lion just knows it is a lion, it does not concern itself with anything other than its nature. A lion would not identify with a genre, a family of felines, it would be a waste of energy if it could.

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Our observation, research, and the classification of the Fae has the same purpose as our classification of the natural world, it helps us understand them better. What makes a pixie a pixie? an imp an imp? or a sylph a sylph? Such questioning will identify different traits, physicality, and environments where these beings can be found. It then leads on to a deepening of a relationship with this world and the world of Fae. To know and understand gives us a head start in creating the appropriate relationship with them. Research on this topic is vast, larger than this article would allow, but I would recommend a good starting point of reading traditional fairy tales and folklore to give yourself a grounding. Imp, for instance, is an interesting descriptive, and one that when used in a haunting scenario, does lend itself well. An imp has impish behaviour, seeking attention, sometimes to the damage of property and people, but is all impish behaviour an imp? This would need exploring further and would well touch on the arena of the Christian ideas of the lesser demonics; a huge topic and one to save for another day.

Alongside television shows such as Help My House is Haunted that experienced “Fae” (imps) as part of their investigations, these ideas have filtered into the ghost hunting community which is creating a muchneeded dialogue. If we as investigators and those with an interest in the paranormal, are to come across these beings more and more then I suggest we need to at least understand their nature. The increase in the terminology around Fae has led to discussion in the paranormal community, which seems tentatively accepting, but to my delight highly curious, that has meant that questions are being ask. I receive regular questions about the Fae, their ways, and how to work with them. Fore warned is fore armed, and knowledge is key to moving forward.

others working on answering questions on the strange, that we will start seeing the truths? Another clue into why there is an increased interest into the Fae realms is that of the practises ghost hunters use in the cleansing and clearing of a haunted property. The failed banishing of a ghost or demonic has also played its part in rise of the recognition Fae in haunting terms. When sage, pray, and banishing rituals fail, there is another idea that what you are dealing with will not be “ousted” by these means. This can be an indication of Fae chaos. The Fae, although recognise the pure intent of a person (through their energy output) don’t per say have a religious stance, so seldom recognise pray (although this is not always the case). They understand the words of a Christian (or other religious prayers) as the energy of the persons intention, but not the words. They will be affected by this intention to some extent, as the energy cast out of a person travels into the ether; but Fae don’t really recognise a religious context. The Fae where dwelling in this world well before humans and the creation of worship, they existed before the development and formalised religion and as such sit outside religious doctrine. Equally smudging or verbal banishment, will as a whole, anger them, not necessarily rid them from a place (and believe me “pissed off” Fae can be seriously mean, having had first-hand experience, I don’t recommend making them mad)

These practises, of evicting entities, may well work on the spirits of the dead and those energies within the boundaries of religions, but when they fail to stop a haunting, I would ask the question: Am I dealing with something else? Am I dealing with the Fae?” We are, as a paranormal community, blessed with a wide variety of viewpoints, theories, philosophies, and religious standings. This includes some of the more ancient belief systems such as pagan philosophies, wiccan, and druid religions. These ancient belief systems are not only in tune with the Fae, but actively seek to work with these energies. The Fae (overall) serve the natural world, they have a symbiotic relationship with the flora, fauna, and animal kingdom (including humans) as does the practising of the old religious and philosophical ways. The upsurge of interest in these areas, (pagan, wicca, Druidry) has with it bought about the notions of the good folk, and as the saying goes ‘every time a bell rings a fairy gets its wings’ , or in other words the more we recognise the little people the more energy it gives them, so the more we are drawn to nature and natural ways of living, there will be an increase in the little people.

With more and more of the paranormal community having an active interest, understanding, and working practice with “energies” comes a deeper acceptance of the Fae. Many paranormal investigators are now practicing reiki, witchcraft, have interests in chakras, auras, astral projects and so on. The understanding of energy outside the material world has helped to broaden our understanding of how to interact with ghosts and raised questions of other possible energies in the universe. Curious seeking paranormal minded people have played directly into the deepening of understanding of the subject from a cross pollination of the different disciplines. Once, not so long ago, the joined-up thinking of these spheres (crypto, Ufo, Fae) was unthinkable. A book written in the 1960s ‘Passport to Magonia’ was heavily criticised by all communities as it tried to seek out the truth through connecting these areas. We are becoming much more open minded to the possibilities in the world and have started to reconnect ideas. I believe the joining of disciplines is the key to gaining the answers to many questions. Could it be, as recently suggested to me, that bigfoot could be Fae? An interdimensional being, that can be both material and etherical, just as the Fae can? It will only be when we think outside the box and converse with

Whether you believe in fairies or not is of no matter, I do believe they are weaving their way through the world of the paranormal and will continue to make their presents known; to those who have curious souls, have eyes to see and hearts that are open the Fae will be visible. This in turn may help to explain the inexplicable, maybe? Let’s hope that together, ghost hunters, ufologists, mythologist, cryptozoologist, and fairyologist can join forces and start to open the world to a potential of answers about all things hidden.

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Kate x

SYNCHRONICITY

with the Spirits!

By Amanda R. Woomer (Spook- Eats)

any places like to dub themselves “The Oldest Bar.” Throw in the word “haunted” and you know Spook-Eats will come knocking on your door at some point. Two of the oldest haunted bars in America have more in common than their spirits (both lurking in the halls and in the bottles). Welcome to The Palace Saloon(s). The older of the duelling Palace Saloons is located in the extremely haunted town of Prescott, Arizona. Situated on the historic Whiskey Row (yes please!), the Palace opened its doors in 1877 and is considered to be not only the oldest bar in the state, but also the oldest business. It has hosted (in)famous figures such as Doc Holliday and his common-law wife, Big Nose Kate, as well as the Earp Brothers and was destroyed in a devastating fire in 1900 (don’t worry though: the bar, itself, was

carried out by patrons of The Palace who quickly set it down safely outside and continued to drink while the street burned).

With a colourful history filled with wild west characters and tragedy, it should be no surprise that The Palace Saloon in Prescott is haunted. According to stories there is the spirit of a Lady of the Night (that no doubt worked in the brothel on the upper floor alongside the likes of Big Nose Kate) as well as a phantom cowboy. One of the most famous ghosts haunting this modern-day bar and steakhouse is the ghost of a man named Nevins. According to legend, Nevins was playing a high stakes poker game with Prescott’s sheriff. Being in

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debt, he put his mortuary up as collateral and ended up losing it. They say Nevins returns to the Palace whenever people begin to play poker, hoping to win back his mortuary. The Palace Saloon in Prescott is an integral part of the Old West and its history. It is a time capsule where visitors can look back to the seedier days of Prescott’s Whiskey Row: home to outlaws and prostitutes. It’s rough and tough… and shares more than you’d think with the aptly named Palace Saloon in Fernandina Beach, Florida. The oldest bar in Florida wasn’t always a local watering hole. Originally, it was opened in 1878 as a haberdashery (that’s just fun to say). The Palace Saloon was opened in 1903 to serve the local shipyard as a high-end bar and saloon for the likes of the Rockefellers and Carnegies.

From 1880-1910, there were over 20 saloons in the harbour district, all of them seedier than the last. When Louis G. Hirth purchased the building from Josiah Prescott (hmm… where have we seen that name before?), he transformed it into the finest bar around complete with mosaic floors, embossed tin ceilings, a bar with gas lamps, six hand painted murals, and hand carved mahogany caryatids. It certainly lived up to its name as The Palace.

Local lore claims that The Palace was the last bar in Florida to close on the eve before Prohibition. It managed to survive not only the dreaded days of Prohibition but also a devastating fire in 1999. Today, The Palace is the eternal home of Charlie Beresford, a former bartender. Uncle Charlie worked at The Palace for over 50 years and makes himself known when bartenders start playing his favourite past time at the bar—tossing coins onto the carved ladies of the bar area. These two historic bars are impressive in and of themselves, but when you begin looking at the similarities between them, something seems a bit… peculiar.

Carl Jung was the first to introduce the concept of synchronicity (or meaningful coincidences) especially when it comes to the paranormal. Today, we hear the term in regard to paranormal investigating, most recently in the Amazon Prime series Hellier. When researching the strange and unusual, sometimes we stumble across these meaningful coincidences as we see with the two Palaces. They are both considered the oldest bar in their state. They both suffered from devastating fires. One is found in Prescott, Arizona while the other was once known as the Prescott Building. And both happen to be extremely haunted. There may be nothing behind these synchronicities, but they certainly are interesting and only add to the mystery behind the hauntings. Legend and lore surround the two Palaces—one the home of cowboys and gamblers, the other a place for the wealthy and gentlemen. Perhaps they are two sides of the same coin, haunted by their past while somehow managing to survive in the present… and perhaps those meaningful coincidences will come to light sometime in the future.

A manda X

DIAPER DILEMMAS AND A NAPPY ENDING! By Nicky Alan

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have experienced some pretty impressive stuff during paranormal investigations and house clearances but this one had to be way up there with the WTF stakes!

I had a young woman called *Mel phone me, she was at her wits end, she honestly thought that she was going mad. She kept finding nappies (not filled gladly) on the landing in her house. She had no idea where they were coming from and kept insisting it was something paranormal. She was terrified that there was some sort of presence in the house and that her newborn baby was vulnerable.

I have to say the sceptical side of me reared its head as I had never heard of anything like this before. The old copper in me also started to awaken as she had stated that her ex was a bit of a nightmare and this baby was with her new partner. I didn't suspect anything paranormal at all. It was obviously someone trying to get in her head. I agreed to attend the house which was a nice modern build on a private estate. The energy felt lovely as I approached the door. Even when I walked in, I could feel nothing untoward. The place was as clean as a whistle and felt bright and airy. Mel showed me the photographs of the nappies that had been appearing since her new baby had been born. Interestingly the brand was not the same as the ones she was buying for her baby and all were aged for two years old. What was even more mystifying was that no one had any keys to the place and there was never any forced entry so that ruled the ex out. I also asked if there were any significant people that had passed over lately and she stated no, she didn’t really know anyone close that had passed over. As I couldn’t feel any spirit energy in the house I was at a total loss.

The nappies would arrive on the landing at random times and random dates, so there was no pattern there. Mel seemed a very balanced and lovely girl but started to get really anxious as soon as the nappy subject was brought up. Later on, her partner arrived home from work. Again, a lovely guy who was just as confused as Mel as to how and why this was taking place.

I still had my doubts though I had never heard of this sort of size object being

apported by spirit people. I decided to cleanse the house by giving it a good sageing and told the couple to contact me if there were any further problems. I should have given it a bit more of a try but to be honest I really didn’t think I was getting anywhere with it and that perhaps (to my detriment) Mel was doing this for attention. Oh, how the spirit world must have laughed! It was about a week later in the early afternoon that I got another call form Mel stating that she had just walked up the stairs and there was a nappy sitting on the landing. Luckily, she wasn’t too far away from me, so I raced to her house determined to put an end to this.

She then started to cry and sat down on the top step. She went on to explain that she had been pregnant before her current baby and had to give birth to him at 7 months old as his heart had stopped. They had decided to call him Matthew. She thought that as he hadn’t even existed on the earth plain that he wasn’t a relevant person that had passed over. This could have saved me a lot of time, but people don’t know about this stuff and Mel was certainly one of them. As soon as she started to talk about the baby, I could feel his presence and knew that he had started to manifest in the house to look over his baby brother. He stated that he was also leaving presents for his mum to let her know that he was there.

I have never heard or witnessed anything so amazing than a spirit boy being able to apport a nappy into the ether. Even now thinking back on it I still can’t quite get my head around how it was done. But we must never limit our beliefs or thought processes when it comes to the paranormal as anything is possible.

I walked straight in a launched myself up those stairs determined to sense some sort of spirit energy. As I stood on the landing, I saw a flicker of movement to my left which was the bathroom door. I used my peripheral vision and there as plain as day was a little boy’s face peeking around the door at me. Within a second he was gone. I ran to the bathroom and could feel the residual energy of his manifestation as the chills and delicious electrical bubbles ran though my scalp and down my back.

I closed my eyes and straight away I could see this little boy in my mind’s eye. I knew that he was two years old and saw the name Matthew written in my head. I felt though that he did not die at two years old, his energy was so light that I was going to bet that his physical body didn’t even get to breathe on the earth plane. Mel came up the stairs furtively and stood staring at me as I slowly opened my eyes. I said to her, “If I was to say the name Matthew to you, would you understand?” “Oh my God you got to be joking me!” She said going a little pale. “No hun, he is about two years old, who is he?” HAUNTED MAGAZINE

This was back in the day so now I would have put every bit of tech I could on that landing to catch the phenomenon but hey ho. Mel reported after a few months that the nappies had totally stopped appearing. She did report however that toys would start up on their own and now and then she would feel a whooshing breeze around her legs. She now lives in comfort knowing that her brave baby boy is happy and with her. She also loves the fact that her new baby is being looked after by his big brother. How amazing is that?

Nicky

Psychic Medium, Tutor & Magazine Columnist Author of M.E Myself & I: Diary of a Psychic

SCAN ME: www.nickyalan.co.uk Twitter @NickyAlan07

Instagram @nickyalan333

ARE WE CONNECTED? SPIRITS IN THE SPACES, SPOOKS IN THE SHADOWS

By Jane Rowley Picture Credit: Gerd Altman from Pixabay

am very interested in the notion that whilst lockdown has been in place, it appears that reports of paranormal activity has increased in our own homes. Reports seem to have risen where people have experienced some sort of paranormal activity, whether its objects that have moved, items flying through the air, cold draughts, moving shadows and even strange behaviour from our pets. So why has this been happening? Is it because more time has been spent at home and we have been able to still do all the busy stuff we normally do but also, we have been able to spend more quiet moments where we have noticed things?

“Most days we are so busy keeping on top of our hectic life styles that we rarely notice any change within our living space, but the lockdown has forced us into a rare situation where many of us have spent long periods of time confined to our homes.” It is common knowledge that many people have not coped well under lockdown, suffering with conditions like depression, anxiety and missing the social interaction of family and friends. Others, have seen it in a positive light, spending the time to enhance knowledge, decorate the house, landscape the garden and spend much precious time with family, and let’s not forget that this just didn’t happen to us as individuals or just our friends and neighbours. The pandemic has

affected the whole world on a Global scale. Being in lockdown has made many people feel lonely, isolated and separate from each other. Right from being a small child, I have always seen Spirit and ‘other’ energies and I always believed from what I saw (spiritually) that we are all connected and the world we live in is connected too. I have said many times during paranormal Investigations at HAPRC that everything in our world and beyond is connected. This has triggered many questions for me…

Are we separate from each other or are we somehow connected on a deeper scale by a field of energy? Have we been collectively sending thoughts and subconscious messages to the Spirit World asking for help? Have they responded by sending loved ones in Spirit and Spirit Guides to help and heal us? Have more malevolent spirits seized the opportunity to link in to vulnerable people to feed of their fear and anxiety? In 1881, an experiment was conducted by Albert Michelson and Edward Morley to determined if the ‘ether’ really existed. The ‘ether’ being what Albert Einstein referred to as being the ‘empty’ spaces around us where nothing exists. A similar experiment was conducted in 1887 and the findings were printed in HAUNTED MAGAZINE

the American Journal of Science that the ‘ether’ did not exist. Accepting this as proof, science has since told us that everything is separate and we all act individually and independently. In 1944, Max Planck, a German theoretical physicist who originated Quantum Theory, suggested that this field of energy did exist and that it connected everything in creation. He referred to it as the matrix. A hundred years later, in 1986 a scientist called E.W. Silvertooth (sponsored by the US Airforce) carried out the same experiment that Michelson and Morley had done using much more sensitive, sophisticated equipment and in short, movement in the ether field was detected. This time, the results did suggest that the ether did exist and that there is a universal field of energy. It was reported under the heading of ‘Special Relativity’ and it proved that Max Planck’s theory was right all along.

So how does this connect us when we are all separately sitting in our own homes? In September 2001, two satellites (GOES 8 and GOES 10) orbiting the earth (22,300 miles above the equator), each recorded a powerful spike of Earth’s magnetic field strength in the readings that they broadcast every 30 minutes. It was the magnitude of the spikes and the time they occurred that drew scientists to investigate.

GOES 8 detected the first rise in readings that were higher than any that had been typical for the same time previously. The time was 9:00 A.M. Eastern standard time; 15 minutes after the first plane hit the World Trade Centre and about 15 minutes before the second impact. With images being projected all around the globe, people were seeing the images and reacting with their feelings. Emotions coming from their hearts. The collective feelings from every one watching all around the world actually affected the magnetic field of the Earth. The connection between the event and the readings was undeniable. Subsequent studies by Princeton University and The Institute of HeartMath, have found that it appears to be the heart-based emotion of the world’s population during such events that seems to be influencing the magnetic fields of the Earth With this information gathered by Scientists, we can suggest that there is an energy that connects us all and we do have a collective consciousness that has an effect on the reality in the world that we live in. Is it no wonder that as the Pandemic gathered momentum across the world that we would be collectively using our intuition to ask for help, whether it be in a prayer, subconsciously or just sending love and healing to those we love? As a Spiritualist and Medium, I believe the Spirit World resides in this Picture Credit: Miguel Á. Padriñán from Pixabay

universal field of energy and I am grateful that science is proving what many of us, who work spiritually, already know. Science has only been around about 300 years. Spirituality, has been around for thousands of years. Indra’s Net (or web) is the Buddhist philosophy that the universe as a web of connections and interdependences. The earliest reference to a net belonging to Indra is in the Atharva Veda (c. 1000 BCE). This concept of this universal energy has been around a long time, but only recognised on a spiritual level. I believe the Spirits are all around us in the Matrix, the ‘empty spaces’ that surround us and in our time of need, they have come forward to help us get through this unprecedented time, coming into our homes and letting us know they are there. Many of them have heard the prayers and witnessed people’s stress, worry and anxieties and they have come closer to us, to help, heal and support. We also need to recognise that we are not alone and we are not separate and isolated from each other like we have always been taught. We are connected through the collectiveness of our intuition. This in my view is why there has been an escalation in paranormal activity in people’s homes during lockdown. The Spirit World is working very hard to help, guide and steer us through this. It may be extraordinary in our life time but there are many in the Spirit World who would have dealt with this type of scenario before as we have endured the Spanish Flu, the ‘plague’ and many other infectious diseases throughout the ages. There are many resources covering this subject, but Gregg Braden has written an excellent book called The Divine Matrix and is a must read for anyone who wishes to find out more on this universal field of energy.

Jane

he meme in question had some rather good drawings of the the cat getting up to no good, the last one was of the ‘ghost’ just waving at the person holding some flowers! To play devil’s advocate in this matter, what if the ‘spirit’ was indeed a friendly old soul who just wanted to communicate with us or an individual, have that conversation they never got to have, pass on a message to a loved one. I think as this marvellous interest of mine as well as most of us that read the magazine, have had many thoughts on this intriguing matter. As the years has passed and we read articles and books, watch television documentaries and films, the general public are led to believe if your house or building is ‘Haunted’ it must be 90% of the time a restless or evil dare I say spirit that has been unable to pass into the light and move on. So, then what about the ones that have no intent to harm or frighten.

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Here is my example to back up the above, I grew up and was raised in Blackpool, lived with my parents till my early twenties and then bought my first house. My parents David & Kath Gregson were the second people to live there as the house had previously been rented out to a married couple, Mr & Mrs Tattersall. The house was built in 1925 and before that it was just an old field – no hallowed ground or graves, or anything to cause concern or alarm. As a baby, odd things would happen to my mum, naturally when my dad was at work in the evening, doors would just open by themselves, knocking at the front door when no-one was actually there. My Mum had the following to say when I asked for what she remembered “The first incident happened whilst I was in the bath, and you were asleep in your cot. Dad was out playing the organ at the Gables Hotel, near Blackpool Pleasure Beach, that was when Mrs T rattled the bathroom door handle and said ‘Hello.’

While looking for something else on the wonderful world that is social media I came across the most delightful meme which got me thinking...

WHISKERS WHISPERS?

Is there an evil presense in the house which keeps knocking things all over for no reason? CAT Woke up with unexplained scratches all over your body and face? CAT Have you been suspecting that something in your house wants to kill you? CAT A gentle spirit who follows you around and just wants affection?

GHOST

By Juliette W. Gregson “Another time when you were about eight, I was running your bath, and it was winter, and as we didn’t have central heating, I had put the electric heater on above the bathroom cabinet. I moved any aerosols, and a bottle of ‘Old Spice’ aftershave from off the top of the cabinet whilst the heater was on. The ‘Old Spice had a plastic peg type stopper, which had never been removed.” “As I was bending over the bath adding bubble bath something flew over my shoulder and landed in the water. It was the plastic peg from the aftershave, which had been placed on the windowsill.” As I grew older my mother began to try and explain spirit and that she believed it was Mrs Tattersall was the one who was still with us in the house. I would hear the knocking, see the door handles (remember the old round ones you could jiggle to open?) move when it was just me in the house. I never saw her or hear her speak in all the years I lived there. Not at any point did I feel afraid, scared, or think that this

departed old lady was a threat or ‘out to get me’. When friends would stop over however, she would feel her presence known, I was a bit naughty in that respect and would accidently forget to tell the friend that was stopping over the history of the house. My bedroom was their old bedroom it seems, which we had confirmed by one of the neighbours who used to visit her before she died and was a district nurse by the name of Eve Cooper. Friends would report back after staying that they had covers removed ever so slightly while in the bed and being prodded in the back or side! I would then let on and explain the situation of the lady that haunted our house. She asked me while we were chatting about this article, “Do you remember when Dad was out at Lodge and you and I were chatting in the lounge. Dad had left his three instruments (Swanee whistle, duck quack and whistle) on a piece of string and this was laid on the stereo unit in the dining room. We both heard the Swanee whistle sounding, and when we

investigated, it was still on the stereo unit, and had not been moved.”

thought he heard the letter box,

“Another time Dad, you and I were once in the lounge when there was a tremendous crash, and when we ran into the kitchen the stainless-steel tray with the teapots etc was in the middle of the kitchen floor. It is always carefully balanced on the breadbin, and has never fallen off either before or since, as its set too far back to slide or fall.”

down he saw a white mist on the

“One weekend you and I had once come back from shopping in town and we were both stood outside your bedroom door, when we both heard footsteps in the loft. The ladder was up and there was only the two of us at home at the time.” Now as a rule my Dad does not really believe in that side of things even, thou myself and my, mother do, after pressing him for more information he told me the following. When the post used to come early in the morning, about 7am, Dad was waiting for some insurance documents. He

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got out of bed, and went to look

over the banister. About halfway stairs. He then shot back into

bed and hid under the covers,

he also said sometimes hearing footsteps on the landing in the early hours of the morning,

when none of us were up and

about. This is in the days when

neither of my parents needed a hearing aid!

So, to bring this all back

together again, not all spirits are malevolent or nasty, naughty and ninky, they’re probably

trying to get a message across in their own unique way!

If you have a ghost it might be a friendly, it might be the cat

that’s the devilish pain in the arse.

Juliette

Juliette lives in Blackpool and is a Consulting Heritage & Photo Conference Archivist. She is a published author, blogger, podcaster, North West Historian…

THE 1997 EAST YORKSHIRE UFO FLAP East Yorkshire is no stranger to UFO reports, with the flat plains of Holderness, out to the Yorkshire Wolds, the area has seen many weird and wonderful sightings over the years. The coastline itself, that runs along the North Sea, has been witness to many unusual craft. In 1997, however, a series of sightings took place that resulted in what was known as “The East Yorkshire UFO Flap of 1997.” A flap is a collection of UFO sightings, coupled together by either time or geographical location. In this instance the sightings all took place during 1997 and left a paper trail to research them.

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Eyewitnesses from Hull, and across the region, were reporting strange sightings in the skies, which eventually made it into the local press, but interestingly, behind the scenes, the sightings ended up being reported in the files of the Humberside Police and in the Ministry of Defence’s UFO files, now held at the National Archives. The flap appeared in numerous documents over several files, so for the first time, after years of pulling all these files together and transcribing them, we can present the full picture of what happened over that period between July and August, and through to October 1997. The earliest document appeared in the file reference DEFE-31-192-1, which was a covering letter, or loose minute, on sightings in the region over that time period. The document stated:

The sighting log featured the following entry for the sighting that took place in late July early August 1997, it reads:

In 2015 I was offered a role as a freelance writer with the Hull Daily Mail, technically working initially for Northcliffe Media, then Trinity Mirror, and then Reach Shared Services. Being in this position I had access to a lot of the Hull Daily Mail staff, often working with them on stories, and being on call for advice on reports and background on breaking stories, and as such I could ask sensitive questions about UFO reports. When I first laid hands on this report, I asked the question of whether any of the staff remembered this particular case, and whether any information was held in the archives of the Hull Daily Mail. Sadly, none of the current reports remember the story, nor did some of the older reporters who had been working at the newspaper at the time. I was also disappointed to discover that the archives didn’t hold any such information on the cases mentioned. It was frustrating, but this is what one comes to expect when dealing with such topics as UFO’s. The information is there, but tantalisingly, it is always out of touch, with files allegedly destroyed, eyewitnesses no longer willing to talk, and authorities not willing to discuss such cases. I decided to cross reference the reports and ascertain whether the Hull Daily Mail had published any stories regarding sightings of Unidentified Flying Objects over Hull and East Yorkshire, I came across the following, but none of the reports fit in with the reports from July and August, the reports stated;

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The Hull Daily Mail, dated February 8th 1997 featured a report on sightings over Bridlington

UFO SIGHTINGS SET RESORT BUZZING Mysterious blue lights in the dark east coast skies have alerted UFO spotters. Investigators from a national UFO magazine say sightings over Bridlington and North Yorkshire can’t be meteorites. Instead they may signify a seaside visit by lifeforms from another planet. Dozens of worried resort residents bombarded the town’s police station with calls when they spotted the bright blue glows moving across the heavens this week. Despite strenuous local enquiries, officers failed to unravel the mystery and attributed the lights to top secret military exercise. Bridlington coastguards later said the lights were meteorites visible because of the particularly clear skies. But Chris Evers, a city-based investigator for UFO Magazine, said there was no trace of meteorites that evening. Mr. Evers said “If these things had been meteorites, they would also have been seen in the Hull area, so we are staying they were unexplained flying objects. As meteorites move through the atmosphere they burn up. Nine times out of ten they crash land on the earth, but these objects were moving from side to side, upwards and downwards. Since Christmas we have had lots of reports of coloured lights in the sky. We are not saying they are all extra-terrestrial, but these latest sightings definitely sound like something along those lines.” Dr Dean Johnson, lecturer in astro-physics at Leeds University, agreed the lights did not sound like meteorites. He said most meteorites could only be seen for a few seconds and were usually white or orange. “They do not sound like meteorites to me,” he said. The sightings are the latest in a series of unexplained incidents of lights being seen across the East Riding. Last year a shocked Easington local told how their car was circled by a ball of blue light as they neared the village of Welwick in Holderness.

The Hull Daily Mail, dated Monday March 31st 1997, featured the following report. It was a report that stuck in my mind for years as I would often look at the skies over the River Hull whenever I crossed:

UFO SIGHTING OVER CITY. RESEARCHERS INVESTIGATE REPORTS OF RED AND ORANGE LIGHTS AFTER SISTERS SPOT THREE MYSTERY “CRAFT.” Two sisters were left stunned by a UFO sighting over the city. Mrs Gail Linley (38) and Mrs Janice Knight (34) say they spotted three UFO’s in the sky on Friday night. Mrs Linley, from Brazil Street, Kingston upon Hull, said the objects looked like upside-down plates. The sisters were walking home by the River Hull after a night out when the “craft”, arranged in a row, appeared out of nowhere. Mrs. Linley said she and her sister, from Preston Road, watched the UFOs for 15 seconds before they disappeared “like someone walking through a door.” She described them as pale yet low in colour and unlit. Mrs. Linley said, “Strangely neither of us were scared even though it was dark, and we were alone.” “I know people will say were crazy – I’ve said it to others before, but we really did see the saucers.” She added “I hardly slept last night; I was so excited about what we saw.” Mr. Gerry Dunne, from the Bradford based International UFO Research Network, said he received several other reports from people claiming they saw red and orange lights off the coast of Bridlington on Friday night. He said, “We are investigating the sightings and checking with coastguards that no distress flares were set off at the time. The people I spoke to are very convinced about what they have seen. It is difficult to say with any certainty whether they are extra-terrestrial craft or just something else we cannot yet explain.”

The next article was a newspaper cutting in the Ministry Defence UFO files, held at the National Archives, and showing a UFO sighting over Kingswood, which stands to the north of Bransholme. Bransholme and Kingswood have been notorious UFO hotspots for many years, and numerous sightings have come in from this area dating back many years. The Hull Daily Mail, Friday June 6th 1997 (Defe-24-2023-1)

SHOPPERS’ UFO REPORT UFO experts have been alerted after shoppers spotted a strange object flashing across the city sky. Janet Pearson (44) noticed the silver oblong object shooting across the sky at high speed as she sat in a car at the Asda car park, in Kingswood. The object was also seen by her brother Alan Symington (52) and his wife Brenda (49) as they popped into the superstore car park. According to Janet from Borthwick Close, North Bransholme, the object was travelling at exceedingly high speed. She told the Mail: “I’ve never seen anything like it before. It was just an amazing sight. It was tumbling over and over itself and we just sat there and watched it until it disappeared out of sight.” The spellbound trio only noticed the strange looking object because a police helicopter was hovering in the same area and made them look upwards. A police spokesman said the crew had not reported anything unusual in the area. But according to Mrs. Pearson a similar object was spotted by her daughter Leigh Symington (24) a week earlier, in the same area. Mrs. Gloria Dixon, a director of investigations for the British UFO Research Association, said it was impossible to say what it was at this stage. She said: “There is probably a simple explanation. The majority of unusual sightings can normally be put down to military or civilian aircraft and we would need to investigate more.” HAUNTED MAGAZINE

While these were compelling, none of the reports fit in with the flap that was appearing in paper form in the National Archives Ministry of Defence Files.

The following document was sent from Humberside Police, at Brough, to RAF Waddington, about the sighting in October 1997, it reads,

Back to the National Archives and I came across another reference to a UFO flap over East Yorkshire in 1997, when I came across a single handwritten note in the file DEFE-31192-1, which had a list of UFO reports around the country, the handwritten note reads;

As I searched through the files, however, I was to uncover

another report, file reference DEFE-31-192-1, which featured the following report from October, it reads:

I tracked down an old contact of mine, who was a former member of staff at British Aerospace, which is situated at Brough, and he told me that it was very rare for night flights to operate from the site, with most of the performance tests taking place during the day. He went on to state that most of the residents are familiar with what takes off and lands from the site, as many of those who lived locally, at the time, had family working on the site. Another two-page report was also sent from Humberside Police’s Brough station, it was written on an official looking report with prewritten questions asking about UFO reports. Now, if we are to believe that UFO’s are nothing more than misidentification such as planets, satellites, or natural phenomena, then why do the police have these official looking prewritten forms? The first part of the three-page form is a covering letter, bearing the official Humberside Police logo, it states:

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The next part of the document covered two pages and featured a table of information regarding the sightings.

Another sighting made it into the journal of the Hull UFO Society, named Faster than Light, in which it stated that on the night of October 7th 1997, at 7.45 mysterious lights in a triangular shape were seen over the Bricknell Avenue area of Hull. Could these sightings be linked? The sighting was later

carried in the publication Ovni in their September – October edition. Another sighting from the period was in file referenced DEFE-31-192-1 and covered a sighting in July 1997 that had been observed for 10 days, over the Humberside area. The

report originated at R.A.F. Fylingdales, and it states that the sighting was reported to the Ministry of Defence Police to see if they could see the object being reported, but they replied that they could not see anything to the north of their position, the entry states;

To this day we are still in the dark as to what was going on in the skies over the region, no explanation has ever been given, and no answers have ever been uncovered. Letters to various agencies have turned up a blank, and only a handful of official documents and press cuttings have been uncovered. Whatever it was in the skies over the region...remains unexplained, and as such... unidentified.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/otg5xh6aa0hfh7i/ufo_report_1997.pdf?dl=0

The Humber Estuary looking towards Humber Bridge, through the years numerous sightings have taken place near the bridge, but 1997 was a peak year.

Mike C. HAUNTED MAGAZINE

T H E

D A N G E R

B E H I N D

T H E

A D D I C T I O N

By Morgan Knudsen

(We knew she was going to write this!)

he beginning of 2020 began as normal, didn’t it? No one, and I mean no one, expected the train wreck that seemed to follow, and no one was prepared. The emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual chaos began to take its toll on everyone as our oftenpredictable world became tilted, spun, and smashed at our feet. Some of this was for good, some for worse. No matter how one looks at what has happened, there is one thing which is hard to deny: It has caused us to awaken. Awaken to our dreams, our fears, our realities, and, most of all, our deepest questions. In our efforts to find our feet and search for answers in situations like this, the human nature is to fish for someone, something, anything, to give us reasons. We search for anything to tell us that we, as individuals, are special and aren’t actually going to hell in a handbasket. Throughout history, we have done the same thing repeatedly. The scope of fortune telling is, in principle, identical with the practice of divination, with the central difference being that fortune telling takes a far less religious stance. Historically, the concept grows from the Romani

people and the mysticism and magic it conjured in the minds of those who failed to understand it. In the 19th & 20th centuries, concepts such as the I Ching began to infiltrate the western culture as a means of reading fortunes and the future, though it was strictly forbidden in religious practices such as Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. All three offer strict warnings against divination and such spiritual practices. The idea of fortune-telling has taken many forms over the centuries, including tarot, cartomancy, palmistry, tasseography, pendulum readings, and even phone psychics. All, of course, have been labelled as cons at one time or another, and in certain places, it is illegal to call yourself a psychic and ask for money at all. So, what are we looking for when we seek out a psychic or fortune-teller? Why is it that some individuals, and maybe it’s you, spend tens of thousands of dollars on, what often turns out to be, scams? I’ll tell you, as a paranormal researcher of 20 years, what I have observed: The chief reason for the addiction to psychics and fortune-telling, which I have observed in people,

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has been a distinct lack of clarity. Now this seems obvious at first, but let’s dive into this a little further: How people finish the prompt of “I am____” plays a crucial role here. “I am” is the creative force in the universe, and however you finish that sentence, really does speak a truth over your life. We are full of “I ams”, but most of them aren’t very affirming, and when we’re talking to fortunetellers of any kind, letting them know how horrible things are is usually a high priority. Because, let’s face it, most of us don’t visit an oracle when things are going really well. “I am confused” can be turned into “I am awaiting clarity”, but usually our language tends to mirror negative situations. We are looking for someone to give us a reason to change our language, without the understanding that our language shapes our situations. Without the change in language, our situations repeat themselves like a needle on a phonograph that keeps skipping. We think we’re stuck, when in fact we are simply creating the same circumstances again and again. As life coach and spiritual teacher Iyanla Vanzant once said: “If you complain more than you bless, run for your life.”

aiting for situations to change to get happier is a nasty trap that many fall into. They are waiting on the ‘how’ without understanding that sometimes the ‘how’ is on a ‘need-to-know basis’. The universe has a way of unfolding next steps... if you are bringing yourself into full belief that the next steps WILL indeed be there. But instead, people often decide to get on the phone with a paid fortune-teller of various kinds, hoping that an outside party will just pass them the next steps without their own inner work. Here’s the problem: The purpose is often in the process. If you’re constantly saying, “I’m sick of where I am”, you’re telling the universe you won’t be able to handle the promotion. People want the promotion without the process. They are looking for the cards, the person, or the pendulum to somehow tell them that they are destined to all these amazing dreams and all they have to do is wait it out! But that’s not how this universe operates. You find greatness when you start maximizing smallness. If you can master where you are, you get promoted to the next arena. If you’re not motivated now, you’re not going to get motivated when you get the dream you want. I’m a performer. Straight up, I come from a strong theatrical background and so does my family. All of us know, through our own, often brutal, experiences, that you cannot be picked for the performance if you don’t show up for rehearsal. It just won’t happen. You must experience the process and be there for the practices. The practices aren’t the fun part. We all attend these incredible shows or watch our favourite people on TV and are inspired by their performances, but we miss the hours behind the scenes when no one is clapping. The hours and hours of load-in, rehearsal, sweat, repetition, and more where there is no positive outside affirmation. Can you play without clapping? This is a huge part of the picture that fortune-tellers often won’t include in their readings: The purpose is in the process. You can’t sit with someone who has been in it for 30 years and expect to be treated as an equal, and if you have an attention deficit for your life, if you lack focus, you won’t get picked for the recital. It’s just that simple. And often, it is the reason why people will tell you “I had this dream, the psychic told me it could come true, but nothing happened.” See, the masters, all those people we look up to, are playing with the same energy, they are just playing it at different levels.

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Beethoven’s piano is the same piano you could buy today. In fact, the one you can buy today is probably many steps up from anything he could ever find when the piano was first in development. It’s the same instrument, roughly, but he played at a different level. He had the capacity to see beyond the instrument itself and see the potential. What you will be comes with focus, and universal energies will turn it into where you are going. When you maximize it, you can sit with the masters. The problem is fortune-tellers give us a quick fix. They tell us ‘it’s all in the cards’ and somehow, that gives us permission to quit making strides. We sit back and wait, hoping that those words will just come true without process. That failure to understand the energy is coupled with another deeprooted issue: A failure to define ourselves correctly. The need to have others define us is often a root cause of how individuals become addicted to psychics and fortune-telling. So, when we lose a job, a role, or a person, we lose ourselves. If we have the wrong people around us as a social group, we can lose ourselves there as well. Many times, the callers have a secret longing as they seek a new identity:

“Will I be married?” “Will l have a new job?” “What is meant for my life?” “Will I ever be happy?” Well? Will you? Can you take what you have developed and mastered and make it fit with a greater picture? Have you made that decision or are you dependent on the fickle crowd to tell you what you’ll be doing with the rest of your life? A fun reading here and there can be great entertainment. The danger comes when people begin to turn to this medium over and over, seeking guidance and negating the wisdom of their inner self, their own personal work, and for those who hold spiritual or religious beliefs, what nonphysical energy actually has in store. The ‘fix’ of momentarily feeling a little bit better, becomes a relief from anxiety that, without examination, will just begin to build again. This, in turn, sends the individual right back to square one and lands them back at the psychic’s door, handing over more money they don’t often have to give. I often say that a true healer, if they are worth their salt, will empower their client to do this work for themselves. They have a long-standing formula of “I’ll do this for you... now let me show you how

I did it.” Therein lies the true nature of the master, and when you know you’ve got someone worth their salt. The depth of the ‘purpose without process’ problem is something we can observe less in the field of parapsychology, and more obviously in the realm of ‘ghost hunters’ or hobbyists. A lack of patience and focus for the process of science, learning, and factcollecting becomes terribly blatant in the hunt for ‘the best evidence’ or the most shocking find. But this rings true for our current culture as well: Instant everything. When we don’t get the immediate gratification, we lose focus, we give up. It is an extremely immature way of viewing ourselves, the world, and others, but it has become far more prevalent as the means of getting what we want instantly become more available. And, we want people around us to affirm that those things that require process, must be instant as well: They must be a sure thing, on a sure and steady path, and it must all be guaranteed to us. This faulty thinking runs us into big trouble when we don’t put in the work to do what we need to do in rehearsal and then, when it comes time to show up for the recital, the person who understands the deeper purpose because they showed up, gets the job in the end. Leaving us to blame the reader, blame the employer, blame God, or blame others for simply not getting it right. After all, it was in the cards, right? There is also a bit of a false premise to the idea that ‘future’ is something that hasn’t actually happened yet. Time, and the idea of linear time with a set pace, can be viewed as simply a human construct. Through quantum and particle science, we have since come to understand that there is no actual “future”, but rather a series of moments all happening in the ‘Now’ moment. So, the past is now, the future is now, and when we get to said future, it is only happening NOW. Jesse Elder, a popular philosopher, gave a very memorable example using the idea that our reality is actually a series of probabilities, like a house with millions of rooms. As we focus, those rooms begin to collapse, all those probabilities begin to narrow, until we are left standing in ONE room: The probability we have focused into experience. Fortune tellers and psychics do indeed have a say on these probabilities if we truly believe that what someone tells us will happen, truly will happen. Just in the same way we can focus a ‘curse’ into existence, we can also focus a suggested

probability into existence as well. Once it is suggested, it is now in the realm of possible manifestations. In an essay published in 1824, “A Philosophical Essay on Probabilities”, Pierre-Simon Laplace introduced a notorious hypothetical notion: a “vast intelligence” that knew the complete physical state of the present universe. Dubbed “Laplace’s demon” by readers and colleagues, there would be no mystery about what had happened in the past or what would happen at any time in the future. This brand new and imagined intelligence would be the Universe itself, reflecting ideas of, not a thought experiment. Ordinary physical theories tell you what a system is and how it evolves and quantum mechanics does this as well, but it also comes with an entirely new set of rules: It governs what happens when systems are observed or measured. However, measurement outcomes cannot be predicted with perfect accuracy, we can only calculate the probability of getting a certain outcome, leading to something called the Born Rule: The wave function assigns an “amplitude” to each measurement outcome, and the probability of getting that result is equal to the amplitude squared. So, then, what IS probability?

The good news? You get to choose. The bad news? You get to choose. It’s not the prospect many people want, even though they think they do. This concept comes with something profound and rare: Responsibility. Without the crutch of having someone to tell us that ‘we have no choice’, our future is pre-written, it means the only one who can take ownership is us. We are forced to iron out what we really want, what we don’t want, and how we can co-create our reality moving forward. Unfortunately, the last piece of advice one often gets from a corner store psychic or fortune-teller is: YOU create your reality. YOU get to choose. And the Universe will support you, dream with you, encourage you rally behind you, and blow your mind in the process. So, let’s tell our own fortune. I’ll give you a hint: It’s even better than your cards will tell you.

Morgan Knudsen x

www.entityseeker.ca www.facebook.com/entityseeker www.youtube.com/entityseeker

There are two categories on the surface: Objective or physical (think of a coin toss), but there are also subjective and evidential views, that take into account people’s perspective, filters, and belief systems. Quantum mechanics, as it is currently understood doesn’t really help us choose between competing conceptions of probability, because ultimately you can find a formula in quantum physics for all of them. In the end, we can look at this as a way of “self-locating uncertainty”: All we must do is consider the set of all possible worlds — all the different versions of reality one could possibly conceive. In other words: all the rooms in the house. In some ways, the role of probability as expressing our personal preferences and desires about which of these possible worlds is the actual one. Now we are in the realm of exploring new universes, new realities, and choice making, rather than simply flipping a coin. So, what does this all mean? It means good news and bad news. HAUNTED MAGAZINE

THE BATTERSEA POLTERGEIST

65 years in the making… (and 2 weeks it took Dr. Ciaran O’Keeffe to write this)

How should this story be told?

s the story of a poltergeist case that happened in 1956 in a family home in Battersea, London?

Or the story of the constant presence of a ghostly guest, possibly a former resident, who outstayed his welcome for 12 years? Or hearing the story of séances and failed exorcisms, and the significant fallout that spilled out into Parliament? Or focusing on the story of the illustrious investigators, known and unknown, who thoroughly researched the case and came up with their conclusions, their theories?

Or using the worldwide media coverage to build a narrative starting with fascination and personal first-hand experiences of phenomena to salacious headline-grabbing character assassinations, unethical treatment and horrible set-up?

written words, my foray into the various accounts, leads and suspects, happened

Or painting an engaging picture of the loving family who endured so much over so many years, and who despairingly trudged exhausted through it all without knowing what truly happened?

only recently in the midst of the long

Or recounting the many witnesses who experienced loud bangs, communicative knocks, stolen and levitating objects?

collaborator, got in touch to discuss a

Or hearing the story from the focus of the activity, Shirley Hitchings, 15 years old at the time? Or, perhaps, the best version of the story comes from Shirley today, a reflective recollection of a particularly traumatic period which ultimately resulted in her losing her teenage years? All of them are equally fascinating and yet, it would be wrong to consider a case of this magnitude and not have aspects of all of the stories, all of the characters, and all of the incidents. They interweave and influence each other in a wonderful web that becomes as intricate as a lost detective story. And therein lies the engaging, enthralling draw of this case. It is a detective story that deserves retelling, a cold case that begs to be solved and I invite you now to hear my brief summary and come to your own conclusions.

I say, “hear” because although these are

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lockdown of 2020 when I started reinvestigating the case for a BBC Radio 4 podcast.

Danny Robins (writer,

broadcaster and journalist), a long-term case he had been introduced to whilst doing a previous podcast. The case was The Battersea Poltergeist.

“A couple of years ago I started doing a podcast called Haunted, interviewing people who believed they had seen ghosts. And I was introduced to one case that very clearly wouldn’t fit a single episode. It was too big. Too weird…“ Danny Robins I’ll be honest, my first reaction was to recall a 1927-28 case Harry Price investigated and wrote about in his book, Poltergeist over England (1945). He even referred to it at the end of his account in 1945 as the “Battersea Poltergeist”. But, in our first conversation,

when Danny highlighted the duration

by their physical phenomena, mischievous and

of his case (approx. 12 years) I knew it

often damaging or harmful (for example, loud

couldn’t be the same one.

noises, spontaneous fires, objects moving, lev-

Poltergeist cases are typically brief. The publicly available primer on poltergeists by Bryan Williams and Annalisa

itation etc.). The Parapsychological Association defines poltergeist, in terms of its phenomena, as follows: A disturbance characterized by bizarre physical effects of paranormal origin, suggesting mischievous or destructive intent: these phenomena include the unexplained movement or breakage of objects, loud raps, the lighting of fires, and occasionally personal injury to people; in contrast to a haunting, the phenomena often seem to depend upon the presence of a particular living individual, called the “focus,” frequently an adolescent or child; and apparitions are rarely seen.

Ventola, even defines a poltergeist as “anomalous physical phenomena… repeatedly occur[ing] in the presence of a certain person over a brief period of time,” (emphasis added). The aforementioned Harry Price case (which happened in Eland Road, Lavender Hill, Battersea) lasted a few months. The Enfield Poltergeist is often quoted for its longer duration compared to the majority of poltergeist cases, just over a

(Parapsychological Association, Glossary of Psi)

year (from 1977-78). Some survey work on poltergeist cases (116 in total) by the Psychical Research Foundation in

The German roots of the term also indicate the

the 1970s found the average length to

sorts of phenomena that should be experienced. The first half, polter-, comes from the German verb poltern¸ meaning “to make noise” or “rumble” whilst the second half, -geist, means spirit or ghost. So, the combination effectively makes a “noisy ghost”. Did, then, the Battersea Poltergeist have less physical phenomena, or perhaps less frequent phenomena? Maybe it was relatively unknown because it was just a few simple knocks and little more? In researching the case, and also hearing the words of Shirley interviewed for the podcast, I quickly came to realise the amount, frequency and variety of phenomena competed with any case I had heard before. “…after about a couple of weeks in, things started to fly around the room, things were thrown. Pots and pans that were on the kitchen stove, in the next room, would come flying out the door…floating and go across the room and speed up. Sometimes they would hover and then go down to the floor, other times they’d hit, bang into the wall….the clock [on the mantelpiece] would raise very slowly and then it would glide across from the fireplace to the table…and land on the table, very gently.”

be five months. Similarly, the notable psychical researchers, Tony Cornell and Alan

Shirley Hitchings

Gauld, in their survey of 247 cases found that 59% lasted less than a year. Here was

There

a case lasting approximately 12 years!

levitation and movement of objects (even

Maybe, I thought, the phenomena were not as impressive as other more established cases. Poltergeist cases are characterised HAUNTED MAGAZINE

was

tapping,

thunderous

banging,

heavy objects such as chairs, heavy pots, lamps etc.), objects hitting people, sudden darkness (in daytime), scraping on the floor and under the bed, temperature drops, disembodied

voices, scratches, bed sheets being pulled, spontaneous fire, writings on the walls and elsewhere, objects disappearing in one room and materialising elsewhere. There was also the relentless nature of the poltergeist, the fact that it always seemed to be there at 63 Wycliffe Road to the extent the family suffered extreme sleep deprivation as the phenomena wore on. It was also constantly around Shirley (with the phenomena appearing to follow her early on in the case to her place of work, then later when she visited places outside). The Daily Mirror reported at the time that her employers had told her to “stay away from work until the tappings stop. We don’t want other employees upset by them,” (Daily Mirror, 20th February 1956). Understandably Shirley even reported something akin to a sense of presence.

“It was as though there was a presence watching you all the time, that it, he was there…” Shirley Hitchings It still infuriated me, in a way, that I had never heard of the case. I presumed therefore, it was due to the fact there had been little reporting or media interest at the time or, indeed, some clear documentation of the case since. The phenomena in the Enfield Poltergeist case after all, is among the best documented, most closely recorded hence it being more well known. Again, my theory was rejected when I started to read newspaper articles about the case. In the early stages of the case, there was a séance conducted by a medium, a work colleague of Shirley’s father named Harry Hanks. It was to incorporate what he described as “an exorcism” and it happened on Wednesday 22nd February. In my mind, it marked a significant shift in the dynamics of the case, involving individuals external to the family, but also raising media interest and, on the night in question, it also piqued the interest of the local police who interrupted the séance concerned that Black Magic was being practiced. Within 24 hours of the séance there were over twenty newspaper articles in North America alone. This is aside from the various news programmes who televised the séance (largely recreations) and the extensive reporting from the leading newspapers at the time (interestingly the Daily Mirror was the first in the UK to report the case, as it was with Enfield). Shirley even appeared on the BBC the night before the séance recounting her experiences to a prime-time audience. There was such a huge press interest it was akin to being a prisoner in her own home. I couldn’t poke me head out the door because if I went out, you know, I

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think one time I asked my mum if I could go two doors down to my friend Doreen, and she said “yes, go on” and there were so many, when I went out and had to just walk down the road I got halfway and all the press were around me, all asking questions: “Oh hello Shirley”…”oh, let’s stand there”. They were snapping photographs and I just turned around and run back indoors in tears and mum said, “what’s wrong?” I said “oh, there’s loads of men out there” and dad went out and I couldn’t handle it, you know, I wanted to see my friend and I never got there. Shirley Hitchings If by now, you’re not starting to get the sense that this is a huge case then let me go back to the beginning, to the Hitchings family who, in 1956, were living in 63 Wycliffe Road, Battersea, London. There was 15-year-old Shirley, her Dad (Wally, in his 40s) a driver for London Underground, and her Mum (Kitty, also in her 40s but slightly older than Wally) who suffered from severe arthritis. Also, in the house was Ethel (Kitty’s mother), a devout Catholic known locally as ‘Old Mother Hitchings’, whose deeply held religious beliefs played a key role in her interpretations of who, or what, the poltergeist was. Ethel’s adopted son, John (a surveyor in his 20s) also lived with them. All the family became first-hand witnesses to the phenomena that started off, quite innocently, with a key… Okay, well, when it started, it was an ordinary day and I got up in the morning, I was home from school because I was on the school holidays, waiting to go to start art school in three weeks’ time. And I got up and went out to the kitchen to get my breakfast but when I got up I went out to my father and had my breakfast, went back to make my bed and on the pillow was this elaborate key and it was ornate, you know, it had sort of curly bits on it and it looked at old, so I picked it up and…it was silver and what I can remember it was about four inches long. And it was, it had the key bit you know, you put in the lock, but the top of it where you hook it up to or that, it was quite ornate. Sort of curly, it had swirls on it and curls, and I’d never seen it before. So, I picked it up, took it out to my father who was washing up and doing things in the kitchen. I said, put it on the kitchen table, I said, “look, dad, I found this on the bed, where’s it

“Shed Theories with Danny Robins!”

come from?” “Oh”, and he looked he said, well “I’ve never seen one like that”…he checked all downstairs, all our cupboards, and then he went up and check nan’s flat and all her drawers and cupboards. It never fitted anything we had in the house. He said “no, oh, that’s a mystery”. He put it back on the shelf, he said, “don’t worry your head about it, if it goes on your bed again, he said somehow, you know, and we forgot it. But that night, the banging started…

Shirley Hitchings

n many poltergeist cases there may be a slow build of phenomena, a progression from the smaller, mundane and sometimes unnoticeable to unavoidably loud or obvious phenomena. Frequently, eyewitnesses in such cases report initial tapping sounds and even the occasional, very small object being thrown by unseen hands. There are exceptions and the Battersea Poltergeist case was one of them. The banging the first, and subsequent nights, was so loud neighbours complained at the Hitchings front door. The family called the police and surveyors, desperate to solve the problem. Unfortunately, there was no resolution and actually, the initial police involvement resulted in a tip-off to the media which resulted in the wave of press interest mentioned earlier. For weeks, and then months, the family had to deal with constant phenomena, often cowering huddled together in a room for fear of the next onslaught. There were also early attempts to try to communicate

with “it”. I say “it” because it was very clear in those initial months that the Hitchings family could not fathom what was happening. We didn’t, we didn’t know. We didn’t know. We didn’t know what was happening to us. My nan kept saying whatever it is, it’s evil. Shirley Hitchings At some point, largely due to Ethel’s deeply religious beliefs and her insistence on “it” being evil, a vicar came into the house and blessed the house with holy water. He also threw it over Shirley despite her protests though her grandmother said, “That’s to rid you of this awful thing”. This attempt at an intervention, however, had an adverse effect.

“He was very naughty that night. He really was, the bangings and noise was horrendous.” In a similar approach, the grandmother tried to put a crucifix on the floor. She had an ornate crucifix about 12 to 15 inches tall, and it always stood on a dressing table. And she brought this down and put it on the floor and it was like somebody had kicked it like a football. And she said, “there you are, that’s heathen”, you know, “what we’ve got is heathen, it’s not accepting the cross”. Shirley Hitchings HAUNTED MAGAZINE

The early communications initially involved attempts to talk but then the approach was what ghosthunters are now very familiar with, the tapping or knocking. The adopted brother came up with the suggestion of ‘one knock for no and two for yes’. This developed into the use of a written alphabet and pointing at letters awaiting a response (in much the same way early Spiritualists built up conversations with spirit). Whilst it wasn’t overly successful, the family also attempted to lighten the mood by naming the perpetrator of

the phenomena. Initially, “spooky willie” then settling on “Donald”. The attempts to communicate continued when an investigator turned up at the door, a month or so after the phenomena had started. Harold Chibbett (Chib) was a fascinating character whose contacts at the time makes you wonder why we don’t know more about him: Arthur C. Clark; Harry Price; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Aleister Crowley. He had been investigating the paranormal for many years, motivated to prove the existence of life after death through mediumship research and working with home circles over many years. Reading through some of the investigations he conducted, I am a fan of this unsung ghost hunting hero whose pursuits were somewhat overshadowed by those of Harry Price. It is largely due to Harold Chibbett’s case records of the Battersea Poltergeist that we have this well-documented case to now re-investigate. These records have been wonderfully preserved, together with Shirley’s recollections, in a 2013 book by James Clark (and co-authored by Shirley), entitled The Poltergeist Prince of London. Chib’s interaction with Shirley and the family also provides wonderful insight into an investigator’s approach to the case, an investigator who, ultimately, committed himself to the case for many years. And when Mr. Chibbett turned up, this was about three months later, he had to bargain his way in, because

dad wasn’t gonna…he opened the door to him and he said, “No, you’re not coming in if you’ve come to tell me this, this and this, it’s a load of rubbish I don’t want to know”. And Chib, he was lovely, he was a quiet, sort of nice uncle man type, and he said to my dad, “if you allow me very quietly to come in and explain what’s happening, I do know what’s happening to you, please, I am not…like all the rest of them, I can help you.” With that dad consented to let him in. And he came in the kitchen sat down, we were all there. Dad explained what was going on, we all did, and he listened. And we told him about the key and for some time he listened, and then all of a sudden, he said, “I can tell you what is happening to you”. And we told him we were all at our wits end, we were tired, really tired, and dad couldn’t go to work. And he said, my job’s at risk, and my wife is ill, you know, and then Chib explained that we had a Poltergeist. He said, I think…he didn’t hear any of it, he said, “I think what you’re telling me, you have a Poltergeist”. Dad said, “What the hell’s that!?”and he went on to tell us it’s a German word of a naughty spirit. Oh, because this set nan off “Oh, I told you so, it’s evil” and dad started to ask questions HAUNTED MAGAZINE

“well, where does it come from? Why have we been singled out?”. And Chib did his best to answer some questions. And he said he would stay that night with us and listen, and he went away and I suppose phoned his wife to say he wouldn’t becoming home, and he did, he stayed, and we all camped out in the kitchen again, waited for the noises to happen. And nothing happened. And, you know, Dad said, “I’m very sorry” and he said, “No, this sometimes happens” he said, they know I’m here. And he kept calling out to the air “come on, whoever you are, do your worst, I’m here to listen to you”, and nothing happened. And he came back two or three nights running in and brought his camping gear and stayed with us. And again, in between it was going on, then when Mr Chibbett walked in, nothing happened. And it made us look foolish. And, you know, but he took it all in his stride. He said, “No, I should keep coming and I will get through to you, whoever you are”. And I remember him doing his fists on the table banging and saying, “Come on, copy me, do your worst” and… nothing. And he said, “alright” and he went away, he left. That night again it all started up, and this went on for a few more weeks. Shirley Hitchings

WHO WAS HAROLD CHIBBETT?

Harold Chibbett persisted with attempted https://www.joshuabcommunication, and lubuhs.com/blog/harwith that persistence old-s-w-chibbett-as-aarose a narrative about fortean who the poltergeist possibly was (even though the family had named him ‘Donald’). This identity became another detective story in its own right. The phenomena continued, with the family still plagued by incidents of objects moving (at one point the family even reported slippers walking away from them!), loud banging etc. which escalated to, at times, violence seemingly in response to situations Donald was not happy with. At its height a spontaneous fire resulted in injury needing hospital treatment. Donald even tapped out a message following the fire: “You made me angry. I set fire. You can’t stop me. You all must die. No escape now…”

Certainly, Chibbett felt that, as the case progressed, Donald was getting more powerful, more aggressive but he was equally surprised when the incidents transformed from the typical poltergeist phenomena to more personable, more communicative and, as odd as it is for me to say this, the downright weird. The narrative that was being built from the communicative knockings started to hint at origins as to Donald’s identity. He tapped out ‘La Manche’ (French for the English Channel) and various other clues. The “weird” turn, however, came when Donald apparently started to produce messages (scratched onto walls and written on paper). The key moment was when a message was discovered in a notebook, scrawled in almost illegible writing. It said simply “Shirley, I come, My Shirley”. This creepy declaration signalled the start of a mountain of writings and further phenomena. But you may be amazed to know that this message happened towards the end of March 1956. The key, the first incident, occurred at the end of January 1956. Everything I have relayed to you thus far happened within about 2 months of the case starting. There were

12 more years to go…

The case took fascinating turns over the years and the phenomena progressed into a foray of parapsychological activity that continued the typical poltergeist psychokinetic signs but then also included further communication, often aggressive and abusive, and also instances of apparent precognition even where Donald predicted accidents involving celebrities and also a plane crash. Chibbett also started to receive posted letters apparently directly from Donald and devoted himself in the latter part of the case to establishing proof of Donald’s identity. The famed ghosthunter, Andrew Green, who also briefly investigated the case in 1956, also received a letter (in fact, in his obituary in The Times, it states he was in the Guinness Book of Records for receiving the only known “letter from a poltergeist”!). There is so much to report on a case of this magnitude, and also so many twists and turns, that I encourage you to immerse yourself in the case as I have done. I wonder whether I have done the case justice in this brief summary. Well, an in-depth podcast series could, perhaps, do it more justice.

A few months after the phenomena started, Harry Price said of the Eland Road poltergeist, “The Battersea ‘mystery house’ affair died a natural death and so another ‘Poltergeist case’ ended in a very unsatisfactory and inconclusive manner,” (Price, 1945, p.236). On the one hand, The Battersea Poltergeist also died “a natural death” and, although in the later years, the phenomena were guided in a very different direction from its beginnings, it still “ended in a very unsatisfactory and inconclusive manner”. On the other hand, though, it did not conclude. Its reopening as a cold case investigation has given it new life and exposed the story to a whole new generation of enthralled podcast listeners, readers and investigators. It is really only due to its unsatisfactory end in 1968, that we are now experiencing the wonderful satisfaction of revisiting the case. I hope you are enjoying that revisit as much as me…because there is so much more to come… Credits With thanks to James Clark, co-author of The Poltergeist Prince of London

Despite the latter progression of the case which I’m more sceptical about, looking back all these years later, I see in Shirley’s recollections a 15 year old girl who is still convinced to this day that what she experienced was real but also a young girl who was terrified. In answer to Danny’s question, “Did you feel in danger?”, Shirley said: I think personally myself, I thought that we were all gonna die, that something horrible was gonna happen to us with all this going on, and we were all really scared. Scared out of our wits, I just can’t put it into words, but the memories of it as a child because you know I was a child, I thought this is gonna be the end, we’re all gonna die.

The Battersea Poltergeist is a BBC Radio 4 podcast produced by Bafflegab Productions, available on BBC Sounds

Shirley Hitchings Ciarán O’Keeffe HAUNTED MAGAZINE

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with

DANNY ROBINS

Writer of 'The Battersea Poltergeist Case'

It is clear you have a love for the paranormal. When did this first start, did something happen to start your interest in it? I think there were lots of normal influences – books and TV programmes, like the legendary ‘Ghostwatch’, but I also think a huge factor was being brought up by a mother who was a devout atheist, from a Catholic background. We’d go to my Irish grandparents’ house and all over the walls I’d see these images of ‘belief’. Coming from a home where belief was totally absent, I was intrigued by the idea that some people thought there were invisible forces, a kind of magic that I had not yet come across. I didn’t become religious, but I did become more and more interested in why people believe in the supernatural, be it in gods or ghosts. I am constantly asked the question “do ghosts exist” and I think it’s entirely the wrong question, it should be “why do people see them?” I’m intrigued by the psychological, social, environmental and physical factors that can create a haunting, but I am even more intrigued by the idea that there are a select few ghost stories out there where you examine all those factors and still can’t find an explanation… I suppose that’s the holy grail for me really. At heart, I want to believe. Having never seen a ghost, I find myself living vicariously through the stories I am told – the thrill of the experience that’s so lifechanging it converts the sceptic into the believer… What made you investigate The Battersea Poltergeist case? I’d just made my series Haunted, where I met people who’d had ghost experiences and got them to tell their stories and explore what might have happened to them. Alan Murdie from the Society for Psychical Research was an expert on one of the episodes and he mentioned to me that he’d come across a story he thought I might be interested in – a truly bizarre and baffling case that spanned 12 years and featured a range of phenomena including actual letters allegedly written by a ghost. He introduced me to Shirley and of course, as soon as I heard her tell her story, I was hooked. I also read the book she wrote with James Clark, which is an excellent record of all that went on. That was over two years, it took me about a year to get the series commissioned and then a year to make it.

HAUNTED MAGAZINE

We love a poltergeist case. Why do you think they are they are the type of ghost/spirit that seem to make the headlines in newspapers over the years? Yes, we as a society clearly not only love, but need ghost stories. They seem to fulfil some role for us; a way of processing death and trying to make sense of the enormity and mystery of the universe. Like I said, there’s something incredibly tantalising in the idea that there are invisible forces around us and poltergeists are the most tangible form of that – we have seemingly sane and rational people reporting seeing and hearing the impact that those invisible forces are having on the world. It’s the impossible made possible and that’s an incredible idea, so of course the newspapers want to write about it, but I think also with poltergeists there is that added salacious layer. These so cases often involve teenage girls and the newspaper coverage frequently seems to take a prurient interest in the haunted teen with the poltergeist portrayed as a bullying abusive sinister male presence. You see that very much in the Battersea case. So, poltergeists offer magic and wonderment, but also fear and titillation. All those things sell papers. Do you think there are more poltergeist cases out there, if so, why are there so few poltergeist cases that make the news, that become a story that people are aware of? It’s interesting that most of the poltergeist cases that still grip our imaginations because they seem to offer inexplicable phenomena are now several decades in the past. I’ve heard some people say that you can’t have a poltergeist in the smartphone era – the implication of course being that they are all really hoaxes, and modern technology would prove that. There are still reports coming in though. I wonder if there are more than we think but people are scared or embarrassed to come forwards and talk about them. There is clearly a huge potential social stigma to saying you see objects fly across a room. I am seeing that nervousness reflected in some of the emails I’ve received whilst making the series. Some people are telling me of experiences they’ve not dared to tell anyone else for fear of being laughed at or thought ’mad’. The ‘golden age’ of poltergeists was the first half of the twentieth century, when

there were frequent reports of them, a time when supernatural belief was much more socially acceptable, Mediums filled crowded theatres, newspapers wrote reports and reviews of them. The idea of ghosts interacting with our world was not so shocking as it is now. I think someone going through a poltergeist experience like Shirley’s now would justifiably have worries about how they were judged and treated. Shirley became a national celebrity – people were intrigued. I am not sure the reaction would be the same now. How did the writing of The Battersea Poltergeist begin and how did it go to appearing on BBC Sounds, was TV ever on offer? After meeting Shirley, I became convinced it would make a brilliant series and I had this idea of blending drama with documentary to simultaneously investigate the case and bring the original haunting to life. With Shirley’s blessing, I pitched it to Rhian Roberts, the commissioner at BBC Sounds and she loved the idea. She’d heard Haunted and liked the style of it. I think it’s something that works brilliantly for audio, drawing you into the world of the haunting, immersing you in a soundscape, but of course it would be interesting to consider how it could be made for TV and film too. It’s such a good story and the success of the podcast shows there is a real interest in the subject. As you say, we all love a poltergeist and it’s not often you come across a case so rich, deep and full of twists, and yet also largely unheard of! Did you have any say who played who in the BBC Sounds dramatization of? The casting is brilliant. My co-producer Simon Barnard, who directed the drama within the series lead the casting process. He’s made a lot of audio drama, specialising in supernatural stories and horror, so he had a good sense of who we should cast. We agreed that we wanted to aim high. Toby Jones and Dafne Keen were very much our first choices for Harold Chibbett, the paranormal investigator, and Shirley, and we were over the moon when they agreed to do it. Dafne actually looks eerily like the teenage Shirley and is exactly the age that Shirley was when this happened. That was important to Simon and me, that we had an actual teenager playing Shirley rather than an adult pretending. We were just lucky to land a teenager who is also one of the best actors around right now! She’s so natural, it’s a really great performance, I think. HAUNTED MAGAZINE

But we were blessed with top actors in all the roles. Alice Lowe, Burn Gorman, Calvin Demba and Sorcha Cusack – they all turn in cracking performances as the family. Shirley is absolutely amazing, what a story to tell and what an interesting story to hear it from her, in her own words. Looking back at the 12 years, you can laugh and smile at the incidents but boy I bet, at the time, it must’ve been as scary and as confusing as anything. What do you make of the entire happenings? I think you can hear in Shirley’s interviews the fear she felt. Right from when she first appears in Episode 2, there is a quality to her voice that sends a little shiver down your spine. That for me was what really convinced me to make this series – I believed she was telling the truth. Whatever you think may have happened at Number 63 Wycliffe Road, I believe that Shirley went through something that was truly terrifying for her and her family, something that they found utterly inexplicable. Now, with the help of experts and research, we can try and make sense of it. This series is a journey for her and me. For her, it’s going back to her past, to quite a dark place, so I think she’s brave to undertake it. We hope to try and give her answers as to what really took place 65 years ago, but it’s definitely a journey with many twists and turns, just as you think you can see the light, you are suddenly plunged back into darkness again. I’d be lying if I told you I don’t sometimes lie awake at night thinking “what the hell actually happened?” The challenge is pulling together all our theories by the end of the series. What’s next for Danny Robins? We’re still making the last few episodes of the series. This case has completely taken over my life for the last year, so when it’s done, I’ll need a rest, but then I hope we’ll be able to undertake another investigation like this, with a different case. I know a lot of people would like me to make another series like Haunted too, exploring individual ghost experiences, so I think I should try to do that. And then of course, I still write comedy and drama too. I have a play I have to write this year and another series of my Radio 4 sitcom The Cold Swedish Winter. But at the back of my mind, you can be sure I will be thinking of ghosts… They are never very far from my mind, that hope that one day I might have my moment that makes me truly believe.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ lolrpwmle3na9xx/Haunted_29_Shirley_Hitchins_Interview.mp4?dl=0

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH SHIR LEY HITCHINGS

et us be honest here, if it wasn’t for Shirley Hitchings being at 63 Wycliffe Road at that particular time, at the particular age, there might not have been a Poltergeist in Battersea to ever have been discussed, to ever have happened. If you’re into the paranormal, properly into the paranormal then you’ve probably been following the Battersea Poltergeist Case on BBC Sounds over the last few weeks.

There has been something incredibly special and hugely different about it being an audio broadcast rather than on TV. They say that if you lose the ability of one sense, you make it up with the other remaining senses and not watching anything onscreen it certainly makes you more attentive to it. It makes Danny’s virtual reality experience in haunted house even more meaningful (and memorable) Writer Danny Robins has created something special here, mixing drama with documentary sums up the paranormal for most of us, as they both drip feed the paranormal in differing amounts from time to time.

And even thought this case is 65 years old to bring in modern investigators & modern parapsychologists to have their say and opinion is genius. You engage with the characters, you can see what it means to them, even the bastards at The Daily Mail (nothing changes eh?).

“I am sure that we all have our theories, I certainly do, it may be silly theory, it may be a foolish theory, but I don’t think there’s a proper answer out there. At the point of writing this, I am 5 episodes, plus the 2 bonus episodes in but I can’t get something that her Grandma said out of my mind, yes, the big grandma, 6ft 4, the one who needed a bigger coffin and the one who threw a whole pot of tea on the floor. Something she said when Shirley asked if Grandad was the same when he appeared. “It wasn’t him”, she replied. That is part of my theory as to who Donald is or who he isn’t because to me Donald is a cover.“ Paul Stevenson Back to what I said at the start, Shirley is the key to all

HAUNTED MAGAZINE

this, despite a key being the start of all this and I had the great pleasure of interviewing Shirley via a zoom call. We’ve talked about Poltergeists in the magazine many, many times but never had the chance to speak to a person affected to a poltergeist, what an absolute honour and what an absolute legend Shirley is. We wanted to bring the full interview to you, to see and hear Shirley talking about Donald, her family, Harold Chibbett and all things related to the Battersea Poltergeist Case so rather than a transcript on this page what you have is a link to the full chat, even the bits where her husband Derek spoke. I hope you enjoy it; I even had a trim and a shave and put some trousers on, so I looked half-decent, which is good for me during lockdown. Seriously though, as old as the case is, and what has been written and said about it before, the new investigation into Battersea Poltergeist Case is brilliant, thought provoking, nasty, scary and puzzling at times.

We really hope you’re enjoying it as much as we are.

The Luis Barroso Fernandes Case

Abduction and its aftermath

of this witness? Thiago Luiz Ticchetti looks into the mysterious events

“In the winter of 1989, my whole world had been turned upside down - literally. This was an episode which I can still recount as though it had happened yesterday.“

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Did a beam of light from a UFO cause the death

ALIEN AUTOPSY ‘RESTORATION’ BITES THE DUST

FREE!

WORLDWIDE SCANDAL

25th Anniversary of the Infamous Alien Autopsy Film Philip Mantle

THE FACE OF THE UK GOVERNMENT’S 'UFO PROJECT' OR MERELY A NOSEY CIVIL SERVANT ON A CRUSADE? JUST WHO IS THE REAL NICK POPE? By Philippe Piet van Putten The world famous British ufologist Nicholas (“Nick”) Pope , author and international public speaker who participated in some os the most well known documentaries on UFOlogy in the last twenty years, is A FAKER and liar?! That is the conclusion reached by this author. T h e i nve stigat i ve jou r nali st a n d w rite r D r. Dav id Cla r ke, who acted as curator of the National Archives of Great

Britain between 2008 and 2013, during a live podcast interview conducted by Martin Willis (New

York,), aired on November 18,

2020, stated that the very well known ufologist lied when he told the world that he “conducted UFOlogical investigations for the UK´s Ministry of Defence (MoD)”. Supported by official documents from the MoD, David assures us that Nick was just one among other public servants that just received, catalogued and forwarded requests from members of the public about many different subjects, including sightings of supposed UFOs, without ever having done any investigations on the UFO reports during the short time he worked there, between 1991 and 1994. The department Pope worked in was Secretariat (Air Staff )2a at the MoD in London. This news surprised enthusiasts and amateurs of UFOlogy, but it is not a novelty for experienced researchers who were already aware of the situation. In his personal webpage Nick introduced himself like this:

“Nick Pope ran the British Government’s UFO project. From 1991 to 1994 he researched and investigated UFOs, alien abductions, crop circles and other strange phenomena, leading the media to call him the real Fox Mulder. His government background and his level-headed views have made him the media, film and TV industry’s go-to guy when it comes to UFOs, the unexplained and conspiracy theories.” Clarke´s interview caused a huge stir which reached me here in Brazil. Thousands of curious persons who bought Nick´s books or who paid to hear his conference presentations felt cheated. In my position of collaborator for OVNI Pesquisa magazine, I immediately contacted the accused (Nick Pope), his main accuser (Dr. David Clarke), some of the most distinguished UFOlogists in the UK and also the British MoD, willing to bring the facts to surface.

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For those who are not aware I am the only UFO researcher who has been involved with the infamous alien autopsy film from when it was first mentioned in 1993 right the way through to today. In 1993 I was the Press Officer for the British UFO Research Association (BUFORA) and I had a letter from a company called the ‘Merlin Group’. The letter asked if BUFORA would be able to assist in the making of a UFO documentary and it was signed by Ray Santilli. I replied to this letter and eventually went on to meet Ray Santilli himself. He told me the fantastic story of meeting a former American military cameraman and buying from him 16mm film of the UFO crash at Roswell in 1947 and the autopsy of the dead aliens. Naturally I asked to see this film but that never happened, not in 1993 anyway. I kept in touch with Ray Santilli for a short while but in the end having seen no film I told him I didn’t believe him. In 1995 I was sent a VHS copy of the movie ‘ROSWELL’ for review. This reminded me of Ray Santilli and his fantastic story so out of the blue I called him at his office in London. This time an appointment was made and my wife and I drove to London and over the next couple of months (April time) we were shown several films by Santilli. Trying to think on my feet I asked Ray Santilli if he would show the film at our conference in Sheffield, South Yorkshire in August 1995 to which he agreed. An awful lot happened in the meantime happened but in August 1995 Ray Santilli turned up at Hallam University, the location of our conference, and showed the film to a packed audience.

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Fortunately all those questioned were very receptive, including Nick Pope, who told me that Dr David Clarke is a liar, “dishonest” and “a plagiarist who gets credit for the work of others.” He reaffirmed, in writing, that he actually investigated UFOs for the MoD and that my inquiries would end up confirming that. So I had to look for evidence of Dr. David Clarke’s lies and plagiarism, but I found nothing. On the contrary! I found that Dr. Clarke is primarily responsible for the recent public release of official UFO documents from the British government, without any involvement from Nick. Clarke, by the way, seems well regarded by his colleagues for his seriousness in dealing with the phenomenon. Award-winning blogger Hayley Stevens in the UK also decided to investigate David Clarke’s alleged “dishonesty” and “plagiarism”. She concluded that Nick Pope once again lied when attempting to tarnish David’s image without any demonstrable basis. It is true that since the second half of the 1990´s, experienced UFOlogists have been questioning Nick´s knowledge. His opinions and references have always been very superficial for one who claims to have had “conducted investigations” for such a demanding government. In 1994, he even commented to the renowned British researcher Nicholas Redfern that there was no specific government budget for UFOlogy and that only 20% of his activities had anything to do with the subject. In fact, the department called “Secretariat (Air Staff) 2a” or “Sec (AS) 2a”, where Nick worked, was never authorized or financed to conduct UFO investigations and there was never the “UFO Project” described by Nick Pope. An official document issued by that department in December 1997 makes it clear that Nick “was not in

U F O

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charge, nor the manager, of any part of the Secretariat (Air Staff) 2a”. He performed simple bureaucratic activities and never left his office to investigate any incidents for the government. A question that has always bothered the cream of world UFOlogy: “Why would the UK Ministry of Defence give a secretive and highly responsible investigative position to an individual with no relevant technical-scientific experience and no academic background?”

“Nick is just a self-taught journalist and never had the need to produce any technicalscientific UFO research methodology that could be of interest to his country.” For comparison purposes only, the voluminous secret report entitled “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena in the UK Air Defense Region“, codenamed ‘Condign’, produced under the auspices of the Defense Intelligence Department DI55, was researched and written by Dr. Ron Haddow, who was a pilot at the RAF and had a long career with the intelligence services. Haddow joined the RAF in 1954 at the age of 18. He worked with the first aerial radars, flew secret missions during the Cold War and participated in Operation Grapple, which tested British atomic bombs on Christmas Island.

25th Anniversary of the Infamous Alien Autopsy Film (cont...) This was the first public screening of the alien autopsy film and the following day it went out on a variety of TV documentaries around the world. The rest is of course history.

Two Alien Autopsy Films?

British researcher Philip Mantle, prolific publisher of Ufological works, owner of the Flying Disk Press, has always been friends with Nick, but the revelations ended up shaking the relationship. Nick Pope turned on him when he realized that his MoD background was being reviewed and began to slander other veteran UFOlogists who think it is important to bring his story to light. Mantle and colleagues are divulging several available official documents on their web pages that solidify Nick Pope’s farce.

Mulder” only existed in Nick Pope’s own fantasy of himself.

Nick Pope moved to the United States in January 2012 and there too he was the target of suspicion by veteran researchers who are learned about the obscure military UFOlogy. Gradually new documentary evidence began to emerge that belies Nick’s claims. To try to prove that he is being chased by “liars”, he sent me a “Hansard” (transcript of parliamentary debates) document that mentions his name as an investigator of the UFO phenomenon, but that is just a quote from an informal dialogue that in no way validates his version of events.

04 – Nicholas Redfern talks about Nick Pope´s job: www.mysteriousuniverse. org/2018/08/u-k-governmentufo-research-the-real-picture/

On the other hand, several documents have appeared that indisputably prove that Nick never did any UFO investigations for the British government. Unfortunately, we do not have space here to present them all, but they have already formed a small dossier that demonstrates that the “British Fox

FURTHER ANALYSIS: 01 – Interview of Dr. David Clarke on November 18, 2020 - https:// youtu.be/pAk-r2_rSfE 02 – Nick Pope´s web page: www. nickpope.com 03 – The research by Harley Stevens: https://hayleyisaghost. co.uk/a-needy-dishonestufologist-revisiting-nick-popesclaims/

Philippe Piet van Putten.

Originally Ray Santilli stated that all of the film would be released and that this was everything that he had. Once the TV documentaries went out me and a small number of colleagues were amazed to see that some of the segments of film that Ray Santilli showed us in his office was nowhere to be seen. The main piece of film that was not broadcast anywhere is another complete alien autopsy. Yes, there are two autopsy films. The one that has not been viewed in public is of the same creature, the same room with the same medical people around but with a slightly different medical procedure carried out. The creature also has no damage to its leg unlike the one released on TV and it is a much brighter, clearer film. When questioned about this Ray Santilli sated that his ‘investor’, a German chap by the name of Volker Spielberg, had kept this one for himself and that he would release it if and when he wanted to. To date this other alien autopsy film has never been released. I must point out and make clear that the bodies in both films and the autopsy room and everything in it are exactly the same and in the exact same position. Both alien autopsy films are a fake and not, as some have assumed, one real and one fake.

the analogy that this was just the same as restoring a painting and even mentioned De Vinci’s painting of the ‘Last Supper’ as hardly having any original paint left on it as it had been restored so many times down the years. According to Ray Santilli there was no difference with his alien autopsy film, it was a ‘restoration’. As for the ‘debris film’ that had also been released by him in 1995 this was the product of ‘artistic license’, in other words FAKE. The problem that Santilli has when comparing the alien autopsy film with the painting of the Last Supper is that countless numbers of people have viewed the painting since it was completed in 1498. No one has seen any 16mm film of Ray Santilli’s alien autopsy film, no one. There is also another mortal blow to Santilli’s ‘restoration’ gibberish and that’s the fact that there are two, different alien autopsy films. One was released to the media and is now available online, the other was only shown to a handful of people, myself included, in Ray Santilli’s office in and around April of 1995. If you were making a ‘restoration’ then why would you make two, different films ? The answer is you wouldn’t.

New book and documentary series

Santilli changes his story

Veteran Brazilian UFO researcher, lecturer and editor. Author of “UFO – Encyclopedia of Anomalous Aerospatial Phenomena.”

Do you agree? Let us know at editor@ufotoday.net U F O

In 2006 things were about to change, Ray Santilli was about to make a major change to his story. Now, what you were seeing wasn’t the real thing after all but a ‘restoration’. This change of story coincided with the making of the movie (not documentary) ALIEN AUTOPSY which was distributed by Warner Bros and starred Ant & Dec. Ray Santilli was now saying that most of the original 16mm film (that no one had ever seen) had deteriorated and he was left with only fragments. He used some of these fragments and inserted them into a ‘restoration’ of the alien autopsy. Ray Santilli used

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In 2020, the 25th anniversary of the alien autopsy films release I published a revised edition of my book ‘ROSWELL ALIEN AUTOPSY’ and you can find this on Amazon. Additional to this I helped make a 4-part documentary series called ‘ALIEN AUTOPSY – THE SEARCH FOR ANSWERS’. You can view this on Amazon Prime and Apple I-Tunes. In the documentary series Ray Santilli gives a rare interview.

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Still Photo © Spyros Melaris

When asked about him showing me two different alien autopsy films his memory has a blip and he can’t remember doing that. What a surprise. Of course Santilli has now realised that if he admits to their being two different alien autopsy films then his ‘restoration’ story bites the dust. He has of course in the past discussed the fact that there are two films but this was before he changed his story when making his movie in 2006. The problem is that I’m not the only one that was shown these two different alien autopsy films.

Confirmation of two alien autopsy films The first person that I turn to is my ex-wife Susan Mantle. She attended every meeting I had with Ray Santilli and she viewed exactly the same films that I did. This is what she has to say: “During the early part of l995 I travelled with my husband (now ex-husband), Philip Mantle, to see Ray Santilli in his office on several occasions to view the alien autopsy film. At the time I was serving on the Council of Management of the British UFO Research Association (BUFORA) and was assisting my husband with the organising of that year’s conference in Sheffield. At no time did Philip view any films without me being present. In total I saw four films, the tent footage, two separate autopsies, and the debris footage.” Of course Ray Santilli might say that I could persuade my ex-wife to say what I wanted. However, there were more people. Next up is my colleague Maurizio Baiata from Italy. Here’s what he had to say: “I remained persistent regarding my request to see the film and stayed in London in order to wait and view the film later. Santilli asked me to return the next day (26th April 1995) at 3.00 p.m. The next day I met Santilli for lunch and he was accompanied by his friend Reg Presley. At 2.30 p.m. we were back in Santilli’s office to view the footage of what was the first autopsy. The film was shown to us on video and it depicted an autopsy and lasted approximately 12 minutes. As I have stated before this autopsy is not the one that has been seen on TV. The being is undamaged, devoid of secondary sexual organs and has an enlarged abdomen. The surgical procedure shown depicted a vertical incision, starting

Unreleaed first alien autopsy film - undamaged leg

from the neck down to the lower stomach area. A ‘vaginal’ examination is performed and, by using a sharp instrument, a white substance is removed. Following the opening of the rib cage, a bright object is removed from the chest area and is identical to the one seem to be removed in the autopsy that has been seen on TV. My first comments were that the being appeared to be ‘human’. Santilli replied “Are you joking?” Reg Presley and I were quite taken aback by what we had seen and insisted on seeing the film again. Santilli rather reluctantly agreed to this. At my last appointment I viewed the other autopsy and debris film which has been seen by everyone on TV. As far as I am concerned, I am one among a few who has seen the first autopsy film, as well as the reels of film in their canisters in Ray Santilli’s office.” Another researcher to view both alien autopsy films in Colin Andrews. Colin is probably best known for his work on crop circles and although he in British he lives in the USA. Colin had this to say: ““Since that time, I have viewed the main autopsy films one of which was aired by Fox TV. I flew over to view it at the May 5th (l995) viewing with everyone else.” Like me, my ex-wife Susan and Maurizio from Italy, Colin had been shown two alien autopsy films. Last up is Colin Andrew’s friend and colleague the late Reg Presley. Reg is best known as the lead singer with the 1960’s pop group ‘The Troggs’. Reg had an interest in UFOs and crop circles hence his friendship with Colin. Reg met Ray Santilli through their connection to the music business. This is what Reg states he saw: “It was not until the 26th of April that year that Ray finally invited Colin Andrews U F O

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Unreleased first alien autopsy film - brain removal

and me to his office to see the alien autopsy footage. When we arrived, there was also an Italian researcher there. We were introduced and then sat down to watch the video. The video we watched showed a being lying on an operating table, the alien was undamaged apart from some bruising on its left leg. Two people in white protective clothing and visored headgear, who we took to be pathologists, were standing over the body. The first thing the pathologist or surgeon did in the footage we saw on April 26th was to take the eye coverings off of the alien. The alien had six fingers and six toes. Like many other researchers I went to the screening at the London Museum in May 1995 and saw a different autopsy film.” Again two different alien autopsy films were seen by Reg Presley.

The ‘restoration’ story bites the dust Now in the 4-part documentary series ‘ALIEN AUTOPSY – The Search For Answers’ Ray Santilli mysteriously cannot remember showing me two different alien autopsy films. How convenient. But perhaps Santilli may have thought or hoped that I had forgotten about the others who had also seen them. If he did then he is sadly mistaken. Santilli knows as good as I do that if there are two different alien autopsy films then his whole ‘restoration’ story goes out of the window and simply bites the dust. Just imagine, you are an art restorer and you have been hired to restore the Mona Lisa. While undertaking that restoration do you make another, different Mona Lisa ? Perhaps this time you’d have her with blond hair and a big grin on her face ? No, you wouldn’t. This is why Santilli’s ‘restoration’ story bites the dust and shows that it and the whole alien autopsy film is 100% fake. The book ‘Roswell Alien Autopsy’ by Philip Mantle is out now on Amazon and the 4-part documentary series ‘ALIEN AUTOPSY – The Search For Answers’ is available on Amazon Prime and Apple I-Tunes. Philip Mantle is a long standing UFO researcher and author from the UK. He was formerly the Director of Investigations for the British UFO Research Association and the MUFON Representative for England. He is the founder of FLYING DISK PRESS and can be contacted at: http://flyingdiskpress. blogspot.co.uk/

Did a beam of light from a UFO cause the death of this witness?

The Mysterious LuisBarroso Fernandes Case-

By Thiago Luiz Ticchetti

t dawn on April 3rd, 1976, one of the most impressive cases in the history of Brazilian ufology occurred. On this date, several residents of the city of Quixadá, Ceará, witnessed the arrival of an unidentified flying object over the city. For one of these witnesses this case would mean much more than a simple UFO sighting, which are commonplace in the region. It represented a radical change in the life of one of the witnesses. Before the sighting he was in perfect phyiscal condition, but afterwards he was struck down by an illness that could not be diagnosed.

“The disk was completely silent and emitted an intense bright light.”

The events of that day began around 4.30 in the morning when military shooting practice took place at an outdoor physical education facility. Those taking part all stared in amazement when a large, flying disk shaped object appeared out of nowhere. The disk was completely silent and emitted an intense bright light. The military personnel U F O

present thought the UFO was some sort of device launched from another nearby military installation. At the same time as the military sighting, in another part of the city a farmer by the name of Luis Barroso Fernandes was preparing to travel to a location just a few kilometers from the city. He took a map, mounted his donkey and cart, said goodbye to his wife and continued on his journey. As it was just about dawn it was still dark when he set off. After walking for a few kilometers, Fernandes heard a buzzing sound like a swarm of bees. He looked around but saw nothing, and continued his journey. Suddenly, an unidentified flying object about three meters in diameter appeared above him. Scared, he pulled on the reins of his donkey and stopped to watch the strange device that was now slowly descending in front of him, some thirty meters away. At that moment the animal stepped back, seemingly frightened

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by the presence of the object. Suddenly, the device emitted a beam of light that struck the both the animal and Luis, Luis was immediately paralyzed. Now a door opened on the UFO and out came two small beings. One of them held an object similar to a flashlight, which he aimed and fired a beam of light that struck Luis Fernandes in the face. With that, Fernandes immediately lost consciousness and, upon recovering, he realized that he was some distance away from the place where the horse and cart had stopped. He felt dizzy, he was trembling and he felt a burning sensation on his face. He also had trouble breathing and had an intense headache. He noticed that the skin on his left hand side had a reddish tint to it and he struggled to get up and get his horse and cart moving. Shortly after, a cowboy was passing through the area and realized that Luis Fernandes was not well and asked him what was happening.

Luis asked the cowboy to take him home, where, on his arrival, he told of his extraordinary experience. Still feeling ill, he asked his wife to take him to be examined by Dr. Antônio Moreira Magalhães, one of the most respected doctors in the city. Dr.Magalhães listened intently to his account and although he did not believe in flying saucers at the time, he considered that something very serious must have happened to the farmer, who was well respected by everyone who knew him. The doctor recorded all the information in his medical records and prescribed an antiallergy drug, plus a tranquilizer and absolute rest for Luis.

“When he returned home, Luis continued to feel ill, and had severe pain throughout his body. His eyes burned a lot and the left side of his body was still red.“ His account spread throughout the city and several people went to his house to hear his story first hand. Somehow the news of his sighting reached the state capital, Fortaleza, where local radio stations and newspapers publicized the event. As a result, ufologists from the UFO Research Center in Fortaleza went to the city to investigate the encounter. The researchers found a worried Luis Fernandes, who tried to dodge

interviews and photographs, asking everyone to forget about his case. Even though annoyed by the situation, Fernandes’s family treated the curious researchers with politeness and respect. After some time the story faded away and apparently Luis’s life returned to normal. However, his life would never be the same again. A few days after the encounter his hair turned gray. He felt very unwell and had lapses of memory, all of which left his family very worried about him, so they took him to see Dr. Magalhães again. The doctor answered all of their questions and tried to treat his patient as best he could, but to no avail. In the following days the symptoms intensified, surprising the experienced doctor who referred the patient to the capital, Fortaleza, where he would recieve better attention. On the medical information sheet he included Luis Fernandes’s statement, quoting verbatim that he “had been kidnapped by a flying saucer”. In Fortaleza, Luis was attended by the physicians José Pelegrino Alves and Glaubo Lobo, who were U F O

specialists in neurology and psychiatry. Upon reading the medical records, they criticized Luis’s statement and the doctor’s for having believed his story and attributed what occurred to a psychiatric problem. In the period that followed, the doctors did not obtain a precise diagnosis and returned Luis home without solving his medical problems. They just informed him to stay away from work for a while until he got better. With his condition getting worse, his relatives decided to hospitalize him in a psychiatric hospital in Fortaleza, located in the Bezerra de Menezes Avenue, in the São Geraldo neighborhood, where he was attended by sixteen specialists, all of whom failed to make an accurate diagnosis. The UFO Research Center (CPU) followed the family drama and the worsening of Luis’s medical

hypnotise a person who had contact with flying saucers, and a dentist who asked for a high price that the group could not afford. Thus, there was no regressive hypnosis with Luis Fernandes. Dr. Magalhães also began to follow Luis’s health and helped him with his medical condition in any way he could. The doctor was thus able to verify his worsening medical and psychological condition. Further attempts to clarify and diagnose his strange illness were carried out without a conclusion being reached. Among other clinical tests, electroencephalograms, urine, glucose and cholesterol tests were performed that proved that his health was perfect except for his abnormal brain scan. The best possible dianosis was that Fernandes showed a seemingly irreversible mental regression. Eventually he started to act like a child and at the end of his life, in 1993, he could only speak three words: “mom”, “give” and “fear”. he always said the last word when someone took a photograph with a flash, perhaps showing some type of trauma related to an intense light. Luis Barroso Fernandes died on April 1st, 1993. At the time of his death in 1993, his skin was soft like a baby’s. In addition to the physiological effects observed in him, there were other direct and indirect confirmations of his statements. The donkey pulling the cart that morning also appeared debilitated after the event. For a few days he did not eat, but recovered after a short while.

condition. The ufologists in the group interviewed people connected to the case and tried to provide regressive hypnosis. At the time, there were two people who could carry out the procedure: a Jesuit priest who refused to T O D A Y

According to research done by the CPU, other people witnessed the presence of a UFO in the skies of Quixadá. The most significant sighting involved two people: a student Francisca Rosete da Silva, 23, and her brother Antônio Leudo da Silva, age 12. Both atttended the State College of Quixadá. Shortly after they had left the house they observed a very intense floating light in the middle of the forest. A ‘lightning bolt’came from the

light and struck Francisca in the face. Feeling dizzy they both decided to go back home. Antonio held his sisters arm but she fainted at the front door, leaving her father and her brother astonished. Her father, Antônio Fernandes da Silva, took her to the hospital where she was attended by the on-call nurse. He found that Francisca had swollen eyes and had several bruises on her body, as well as scratches produced by plants. According to Dr. Laércio de Castro, then director of the hospital, Francisca “was very nervous and her eyes were numb, as if they were affected by strong heat.”

UFO CONTACTS IN BRAZIL is out now and available on Amazon

Francisca’s brother, Antônio, had no wounds or bruises. However, he exhibited a psychological traumatic problem that resulted from the experience. “What I saw I do not want to see ever again, it was not a plane, it was not a helicopter or something else, it was strange and threatening.”

Another case involved radio broadcaster José Sinval, a radio announcer at Monolitos, who watched a round object with multicolored lights around it, floating alongside the runway at the Quixadá airfield. Gonçalo Costa and João Rosa de Almeida observed a similar object between the cities of Quixadá and Jaburu. Contact with a UFO is not uncommon, but when the UFO in question shoots a beam of light at you, a light that hits you full in the face, this is extremely rare. This is what happened to Luis Barroso Fernandes. The illnesses that followed immediately after this encounter are bizarre to say the least and went undiagnosed by a number of different doctors. Did the beam of light that hit him cause these illnesses and evetually his death ? We will probably never know, but this is one of the most bizarre and rare close encounter on record, of that there is no doubt.

About the author: Thiago Luiz Ticchetti

Co-editor Revista UFO

Presidente da Comissão

Brasileira de Ufólogos (CBU)

MUFON’s Assistant National

Director of Brazil

MUFON Field Investigato

REVIEWS

Compact Disc – ONE DREAM BY CEIV. 25th Anniversary Edition

CODENAME: RENDLESHAM A documentary film review By Philip Mantle The Rendlesham Forest Incident (RFI) has become known as the best documented UFO case in the UK and it seems fitting that in 2020, the 40th anniversary of the RFI, that we have a documentary that looks back at the series events that took place in Rendlesham Forest in December 1980. If you are looking for a documentary that’s going to make you go ‘wow’ and show you that aliens landed in Suffolk in 1980, then you are going to be disappointed. Having said that this documentary, made by Adrian Frearson at CHILLFACTORFILMS is a delight to watch. There’s no ego’s, no fantastical recreations, but what you have instead is a refreshing look at what has become a UK legend, the RFI. This hour long documentary takes a serious look back at the RFI. It of course goes all the way back to late December 1980 and retells the genesis of the RFI story. It wasn’t long after the events in question took place that local UFO investigator Brenda Butler heard first hand from of the US military witnesses of the events in Rendlesham Forest. Brenda went on to work with another local lady Dot Street and eventually Jenny Randles of BUFORA. It is good to see Brenda Butler feature throughout the documentary as she has probably done more work on this case than anyone else in the UK.

Codename : Rendlesham also talks to first hand eyewitness John Burroughs, Dr David Clarke and Ian Ridpath. All sides of the story are pretty much covered in an equal and balanced manner by the producer Adrian Frearson. From the early days of strange lights in the forest, the News of the World publication in 1983 right the way through to today and Jim Penniston’s alleged binary code download. Dr David Clarke rightly points out that as we stand today there is no way anyone can satisfactorily prove any of the arguments surrounding the RFI. It has, in fact, now become a modern myth, or should I say a legend and it will be treated as such in the years to come. This documentary is not one that sees a fight between the ‘believers’ and the ‘sceptics’ but instead it shows that how the RFI has grown and changed down the decades with its branches stretching out in many different directions. If you are looking for a sensible documentary that looks at the RFI from the viewpoint of it being a modern day legend then CODENAME : RENDLESHAM will be for you. Personally I enjoyed it a great deal and would highly recommend it.

Scottish rock band CEIV are made up of father and son duo Brian McMullan (senior and junior). Formed in the early 1980’s they blended their interest in UFOs and rock music and the band CEIV was born. They have been regular visitors to UFO conventions throughout the UK down the years and have even performed live on stage at a number of such events. I’m happy to say that I have seen CEIV twice live on stage and they were excellent. Twenty five years ago they recorded one of their best selling albums ‘ONE DREAM’. I have to point out here a degree of personal bias on one of the tracks on this album, it is a song called ‘WITHOUT CONSENT’ and it was inspired by our book of the same title. Having said that I am happy to report that twenty five years on ONE DREAM has been re-released and re-mastered and it sounds better than ever. I have my favourites from the album and I especially like the track ‘SMALL TOWN’. All I will say is that if you like rock music and UFOS then CEIV and ONE DREAM should be right up your alley.

You can view the trailer and obtain of how to obtain a copy of CODENAME : RENDLESHAM via the website at:

ONE DREAM is available on a CD and download. All the information you need can be located at the bands website at: http://www.ceiv.band/

https://chillfactorfilms.com/codename/

Philip Mantle FLYING DISK PRESS www.flyingdiskpress.com

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Hyper-Civilizations An answer to ET Contacts on Earth

By Dan D. Farca PhD

“The truth is that we live in a unique and indivisible reality that embraces both the material and the immaterial.”

For thousands of years the minds of human beings have struggled with the idea that a power and a consciousness stands above us and intervene in earthly activities. Traditions, religions, myths, fairy tales, ufology, or even science-fiction productions, have been renewed, generation by generation, this issue. There are also countless testimonies about strange manifestations that can be attributed to such a presence; they have become more and more visible, as the information transparency increased, especially in the latter years, via the internet. And the reported cases have too many common features to be considered simple products of human imagination. It is not just wishful thinking; s o m e t h i n g s t r a n g e i s t r u l y happening all around us. Science will say that these testimonies – even if they are in their millions – do not prove anything, as they talk about miracles or magic that is not possible according to the laws we know today about reality. To challenge these laws, testimonies should be backed up by much more hard evidence. They should be observed, if desired, by any sceptic, possibly even experimented, in a reproducible way, in laboratories. Unfortunately, this is not possible. U F O

Religions recognise the existence of a superior power, as well as the testimonies of miracles and divine revelations, but here we encounter another problem. Each of the different religions are convinced that it, and only it, is the one which holds, in all details, the ultimate truth on the nature of that superior power above us. But there are over ten thousand religions in the world, 150 of them having at least one million followers each. And the “ultimate truths” of some of them contradict, sometimes fundamentally, those of others. The dispute to prove who is right lasts for thousands of years and although it has been bathed in the blood of millions of martyrs, yet no agreement has been reached as to who is right. And there is no sign that, in a predictable future, there will be obtained a solution that everyone will accept. On the contrary. To the above, it is added the issue that science denies, more or less vocally, what religions support. The European philosophy of the last centuries has found a palliative solution to overcome T O D A Y

this contradiction by claiming that there are, in fact, two distinct realities, that is two worlds: a material one, in which science is the right method and another spiritual, which is the domain of religions, or of philosophy. It is obviously a temporary solution, because the miracles, which all religions speak, are happening in the material world, so the two worlds cannot be broken apart. The truth is that we live in a unique and indivisible reality that embraces both the material and the immaterial. A possible answer to the problems outlined above is the hypothesis of hyper-civilizations. Although not the only one possible, this explanation seems to be the most rational, through what we know today, and it is hard to be dismissed. In order to understand its basic ideas, we should remember that the Universe is unbelievably large. In our galaxy (the Milky Way) there are about 200 billion stars, more or less like the Sun, with planets orbiting around them, and in the part of Universe that we can observe with our instruments

there are hundreds of billions of other galaxies (some even say two trillions). Therefore, there are an unimaginably great number of places, where not only life, but also a civilization, similar to ours, could emerge and develop. Many specialists have appreciated that most civilizations are destroying themselves, through ecological, military, or other kind of self-inflicted catastrophes, shortly after the stage of “technological civilization”, in which we are now on Earth. Only a small number of non-aggressive and wise civilizations survive; afterwards they continue to exist and to develop for millions, if not billions, of years. On Earth, life needed about 4 billion years, from its beginnings to the technological civilization. But, astronomers have pointed out that, due to the great age of the Universe (around 13.8 billion years), in some places, a similar evolution could have started much earlier, reaching the stage of technological civilization billions of years before us. If they were surviving ones, then, in the meantime, these civilizations have surely turned into something else, something that goes far beyond what we could imagine, but to which we could, still, give it a name, that of hyper-civilization. After millions of years of evolution, probably its representatives could travel through the Cosmos without the limitations imposed by the speed of light and could control laws of time, space, dimensions, types of matter and so on, laws which are now unimaginable to us. Maybe they could become immortal, either biologically, or moving into a virtual reality, or taking some other forms. The conditions that have secured the evolution of life and intelligence on Earth are very rare. It can be estimated that in our galaxy, most probably, a technological civilization emerge once in many million years. It is extremely unlikely that in our galaxy there are civilizations being at a level of evolution similar to ours, that is using radio

for communication, nuts and bolts spacecrafts to reach other heavenly bodies etc. Therefore, we must be of interest for the most evolved civilizations. The representatives of old hypercivilizations would have had enough means and time to reach Earth. So, it is highly possible that some hyper-civilizations have installed hidden outposts, somewhere around us, hundreds of millions of years ago, remaining to monitor, discreetly, the earthly environment. If the hyper-civilizations survived so much time, they should be peaceful and cherishing any new civilization that is born in the Universe, and most likely applying to them an ecological policy of non-intervention. A hyper-civilization would not offer us its technologies, firstly because, by our aggressivity, they would immediately become weapons. And if we’ll do not selfdestruct with them, we’ll become a threat to the whole universe. Other reasons for non-disclosure of their science and technology are that an official, open, contact would destroy all specificity and originality of our culture. However, they could exert on us some discreet interventions, for research or for lessening the likelihood of self-destruction. It was said that, if hypercivilizations existed, their activities should be visible through miracles of cosmic proportions, and also by manifestations on Earth. Where are they? The answer is that their evolution may have been rather spiritual than material. And on Earth, due to the huge differences between them and us, we will take all their actions as “magic”. We will not believe our eyes. The explanation is a “mental blindness” that we all suffer, following a “cultural hypnosis”. This is manifested, among other things, also in preconceptions, such as: the small differences in evolution level between us and the presumed aliens, the invasive aggressiveness we attribute to them, or the belief that, if they come to us, they should offer us their technologies, and so on. U F O

With the above, we understand that there are, in fact, two “extraterrestrial hypotheses”: (1) the primitive one, supporting these preconceptions, but considered honourable by some scientists, and promoted by SF productions, and (2) the hypothesis of hypercivilizations. This last hypothesis is a theoretical construction. It is natural to ask, as for any kind of theory: are there also facts to confirm the presence of hyper-civilizations near us? Do we notice any “magic” which can be attributed to them? The answer is “yes”, and we can prove this, examining at least five categories of such “magic”.

the general public, what is going on, UFO observations have been subjected to an official policy of debunking and ridiculing, with the help of media. Today, representatives of official science, public opinion and “serious” media continue to assert that what we call UFOs are man-made objects, badly understood natural phenomena, hoaxes, illusions, or anything else, as “there can be no extra-terrestrials around us”. It is a natural reaction of defending our established vision about reality, and the safety and tranquillity of our minds. But it is also a typical example of cultural blindness. A second evidence of the presence of hyper-civilizations around us could be the alien abductions. They happen all over the world and are based on the same scenario, composed of the same stages, with the same details. Thousands of cases have been thoroughly examined, including by academics, without finding an acceptable explanation.

A first kind of “magic” could be the UFO phenomenon. In over 70 years, hundreds of thousands of reports and thousands of photographs and films have been officially gathered, all over the world. Military from all countries have examined the inexplicable occurring, often through dedicated projects. Pilots from all over the world have been confronted with them, sometimes with tragic consequences. Thousands of, previously secret, official UFO documents, including photographs and military radar or thermovision records, were recently made public. The military has always been extremely interested in UFOs. On the one hand, hoping to discover new principles, for flying or for weapons, they kept secret the “sensitive” cases. On the other hand, because they could not do anything against UFOs and could not explain to

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The abductions are carried out with discretion and those who control them try to erase the incident’s memory from the victim’s mind. The collected testimonies outline two possible objectives of this process: a hybridisation program, perhaps for the improvement of the human species, and one of indoctrination, to make us take more care of our natural environment and of the future of mankind. Both objectives are performed without trying to alter our cultural specificity. Aliens that come into direct contact with the abducted might be bio-robots, or members of new human races, or even of some new species, derived from our ancestors. Could it be possible that their creators, who seem to stay behind the scenes, be the representatives of hypercivilizations? As a third argument, traditions of peoples from all around the

world, myths, and folkloric characters (which in many places are still considered to be present) seem to testify the perennial manifestation, over mankind, of a high, nonearthly power. Phenomena like UFO encounters, abductions, or genetic experiments on humans, seem to have taken place since ancient times, taking the forms suited to the local culture and moment of manifestation. They continue nowadays, in a technical form, appropriate to our mentality. The great age of some reports and the variety of appearances made the most prominent ufologists to affirm that the UFO phenomenon, and its associated phenomena, cannot be simply visits of an extra-terrestrial civilization (and much less the preparation of an invasion), but something much more complex, something similar to a control system, using the archetypes of the collective unconscious of the respective cultural area. All these arguments come, once more, in support of the hypothesis that we are, and have been, for a very long time, monitored by representatives of hyper-civilizations. A fourth type of “magic” could be the apparitions of holy characters among humans. The effects accompanying them have many common features with UFO encounters: impressive lights, levitation and much more. In addition to these, in the earliest religious writings, particularly in the Bible, there are accounts about other common peculiarities: abductions in heavenly realms, allusions to genetic experiments, or appeals to preserve the health of the Earth. A fifth kind of evidence could come from some other “paranormal” phenomena. Military projects of remote viewing seem to have been realised using the collective unconscious, which turned out to be a super-memory, of virtual reality type, connected

to the minds of all people and in which their thoughts and lives, as well as many other information, are continuously recorded. By processes as: channelling, automatic writing, xenoglossy, dowsing, etc., a medium can sometimes get information from this supermemory. Out of the Body Experience (OBE) and Near-Death Experience (NDE) suggest that a person has also a spiritual body, besides the physical one. The spiritual body could be related to the person’s life record in that supermemory, a record that stays there even after the physical body disappears. Some clues suggest that this “spiritual double” could preserve rudiments of conscience and initiative. A resonance of a human being with such a record could explain the alleged cases of reincarnation, possession, and perhaps even the appearance of ghosts. In the same way, it could also come true a certain form of time-travel. That super-memory, or collective unconscious, overlaps very well with the “Akashic Records”, and even with the “Book of Life”, mentioned in religious books. A question arises: Is this collective unconscious, or Akasha, a natural emergence of mankind’s evolution and/or an entity controlled (and perhaps even created) by a hyper-civilization? Some arguments, among which the apocalyptic messages received by many people, tilt the balance toward the second option. The facts outlined above suggest, once again, that mankind seems to be supervised, from the beginnings, by a presence that uses countless disguises, appropriate to the place and age in which it appears. But the chances we have to find out more about its true nature and its intentions seem limited. Reality turns out to be much stranger than we like to believe and even stranger than we can imagine. In order to understand this very complex reality, humans can rely only on their

senses, minds and instruments, all biologically and culturally limited. As an example, the scientific approach requires that all evidence be observable and/ or experimentable, whenever we want, and sometimes to be measurable and explainable by what we know now. Therefore, our materialist science cannot approach facts as: UFOs, abductions, remote viewing, channelling, OBE, NDE and many others. As a reaction, more and more scientists are beginning to ask for a paradigm shift toward a “post-materialist science”. That means, among others, that: we should accept that there is only one reality, both material and spiritual, we should change our “either/or” way of reasoning and we should accept the witnessing as evidence, under certain conditions, and using appropriate statistical tools. If we admit the presence of hyper-civilizations around us, we can only speculate about its intents toward humanity. Are they waiting, for thousands of years, for something from us? The fact that they apparently forbid any help and disclosure of their knowledge may be a sign that they could awaiting (and maybe even harvesting) some fruits of our original vision over reality, developed without any external aid. Also, alleged messages received by some “contactees” suggest that these “higher powers” wait for us to mature before they will come officially into contact with us. This maturing may mean two requirements: (1) to make the respect for the beauty of human spirit prevail over animal instincts of aggression, possession, selfishness, etc., for all people, generating universal peace, love and good ; and (2) everyone should give up the claim of possessing ultimate truths (if these are not proved by unanimously accepted facts) and to adopt a pluralistic thinking, which uses, systematically, in reasoning and in decision making, all available truths on a particular subject, even if some of these truths contradict each other.

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About the author: Dan D. Farcaş, born in 1940, graduate in mathematics and physics at Timisoara, 1960. PhD in mathematics, computer sciences, at the State University of Bucharest in 1979. Computer specialist at Polytechnic University of Timisoara (1962-67), where he made the first computer simulations of neural networks in Romania. He has led and performed at „CEPECA” Management Training Centre Bucharest (1967-1982) large computerization projects and has taught computer courses. From 1991 to 2010 (when retired) he was director, deputy director or senior expert of the Computing and Health Statistics Centre of Ministry of Health Romania, temporary advisor to the World Health Organisation (1997-2001) and expert in eHealth for Romania to the European Commission (2007-2010). He was elected in 1993 full member of the Romanian Academy of Medical Sciences and was vice-president of the Romanian Society of Medical Informatics (1991-2010). Since 2013 he is member of the Committee for History and Philosophy of Science and Technology of the Romanian Academy. Since 1998, he was Vicepresident and from 2011 is President of the Romanian Association for Study of Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena (ASFAN). Founding member in 2006 of the Centre for Studies of Border Sciences, at the Committee of UNESCO Romania.He has published over 25 books, all in Romanian, in the fields of computer science, mathematics, essays, ufology, memoirs. He has published over 1000 articles, mostly popular, and has participated in many radio and TV shows, most of them related to UFOs. (This article is the summary of the book “Hyper-civilizations - An answer to ET contacts on Earth”, out now on Amazon.)

By Philip Kinsella n the winter of 1989, my whole world had been turned upside down - literally. This was an episode which I can still recount as though it had happened yesterday.

I had always been interested in UFOs and spacemen at the age of eleven. This had been in 1980. I used to go to the public library with my identical twin brother, Ronald where I did a project on the Loch-Ness Monster and the Roswell UFO crash which occurred back in 1947. My brother had been reading up about computers which had just come on to the market then. In those days you had no internet or mobile phones where you could gain information quickly, so you literally had to go out and physically look for it or write off to people by post. During this period in my life, I had always believed so-called ‘Space-Men’ were benevolent in nature. How wrong I’d been! One person told me I’d been too young to be interested in such things. Well, I beg to differ. My maternal grandmother had bought me Dr J Allen Hynek’s ‘The Hynek UFO Report’ as paperback when aged ten! It had been a bit tough going for me to understand, but I got the general drift of what this prominent UFO researcher’s work had been about. Aged 13, my

twin and I had been witnessed to an incredible silver sphere which silently glided through the sky in Middlesex in broad daylight above myself, brother and maternal Grandmother in her back garden. This was something which the family talked about for many years and had intrigued me as to its origins. Sure, my brother and I had been privy to a lot of UFO sightings throughout our life; some even at close range, but we knew how people reacted to such revelations. You were either considered mad, unstable, a sensational-seeker or, worse, a liar! I can safely assure the reader that I am none of these. So, what I am about to recount had horrified me, and which has prompted me to spend many long years trying to piece together what we, as a species, may be up against regarding the UFO/Alien subject. The major event had occurred in December of 1989. During this time, I didn’t think to make a record of the date. For that reason, I now catalogue all incidents as they occur. I did not drive during this point in my life and living in the small village of Marston Mortaine U F O

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which lies several miles from Bedford had to commute by train which I walked the mile or so to reach Millbrook Station. This had been a rickety, old platform with no one to manage the derelict area. On my return home, I had got through the front door to our house which lay in a quiet cul-de-sac roughly around 7.15 pm. My brother, sister and pet dog, Benji had been there as they usually did to greet me. I’d taken myself through the hall which comprised of frosted, glass windows and into the kitchen/ diner. I had a coffee and rested my back against the cupboards behind me, looking out into the open space of the hall while my brother was positioned within the dining area and my sister to my far left. Benji had been lying in front of the breakfast bar, facing the hall. There came a strange feeling which permeated the entire room. It felt as though an electrical current was charging up. Instantly, our dog began to growl as this weird sensation intensified. I was shocked to discover that my brother had suddenly stiffened, and now raised his head up to the ceiling, opening his mouth as though possessed. He spoke these, exact words: ‘There’s going to be an earthquake, or Grandma’s going to die!’ There was no

INTRUDER IN THE HOUSE

Abduction and its aftermath earthquake, and our maternal Grandmother had still been alive during this time. What was wrong with him? I was shocked to realise that he remained frozen while the proceeding events transpired. The frequency, or whatever the hell it was around us made the hairs on the nape of my neck stand on end. Then, instantly, there came a bright, white light outside which shone through the hall’s door and window. I thought that, perhaps, it was our mum finishing work early and driving her car up the drive. You can imagine my shock when I realised this had been no car lights, but something quite different. As I stood there staring through to the hall, the light began to bend the glass – literally! It started to warp backwards and forwards, defying the laws of physics entirely and seemingly reducing the entire composition of the glass to nothing more than jelly. It was during this point when something even more bizarre occurred. A small being, roughly three feet in height, thin and wearing a black, tight-fitting one-piece uniform complete with, what I assumed to be some type of helmet, came through the glass! I watched as it quickly darted across to our downstairs study/bedroom before everything returned to normal. This all happened within thirty seconds or less. The electrical charge disappeared, and Ronald came out of his trance. Benji was barking furiously. I had been stunned by what I’d just witnessed and took from the drawer behind me a large knife. ‘There’s an intruder in the house!’ I was overcome with both shock and disbelief and shouted even louder: ‘THERE’S AN INTRUDER IN THE HOUSE!’

directly, they had, nevertheless, been witnessed to the whole experience as it had unfolded. Something even stranger happened to me in the early hours of the morning. I found myself waking and discovered that I was on my back, with arms pinned to my sides and legs out straight in a laying position. It was as though some invisible force had a hold of my entire body. I couldn’t move or talk and realised I was floating roughly three feet from the floor. I was being pulled through the hall and into the kitchen backwards, so I couldn’t see what was going on in front of me. The most curious aspect to all of this was how I was able to pass through the doors to the house! It was as though I’d become a ghost – yet, I was fully conscious and aware of what was going on. I felt an incredible fear but knew there was nothing I could do. It appeared that something or someone had control over my body. As I came out into the large garden near the pond, I felt myself now being cartwheeled around so that I now found myself in an upright stance and, looking up, saw that the night sky was ablaze with UFOs of all shapes and sizes. One such craft which had not been moving caught my attention. This had been a silver disc-shaped object. I

had been overwhelmed and amazed by what I was seeing and knew for certain that we, the public, were being lied to concerning the UFO reality. As this thought filled my head, I was lifted into the air, and my stomach rolled; rather like that feeling you get when you’re on a Roller Coaster that’s just about to take its descent! I was being forcibly propelled closer to this object, when, all at once, I’d blacked out! On waking, I found myself in a dimly lit room which was hotter than hell. I noticed with shock that I was naked and seemingly strapped to a hard bed of some kind. Although I was able to move my head, my arms and legs had been restrained yet again. Disorientated, thirsty and confused, I looked down to find another shocking discovery; there was something inside of me! The total bewilderment in discerning that something organic was, seemingly, pulsating within the lower part of my anatomy brought me to my full senses immediately. I realised, with trepidation, that the foreign implement which had been inserted into my rectum must be some type of probe which was causing this discomfort.

The being, (or whatever it was) had darted from the downstairs study/bedroom and bolted across to where the stairs lay. It didn’t make a sound, which I found very odd. We searched the house from top to bottom but couldn’t find any presence of this creature. Later that night I broke down. Although my sister and brother did not see the being

The three Reptilians: Art courtesy of Ronald Kinsella U F O

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As I turned to my right, I could see three tall, Reptilian type creatures which merely observed me from a few feet away. They appeared to be standing within some type of vapour. They appeared dark-skinned and were shuffling from left to right in unison. I begged them to release the device which was inside of me. I screamed in abject horror, but all I got back from them was a total lack of empathy. To them, I was nothing more than a lab rat! I must also emphasise the truly dreadful feeling I had while being in this dreadful place. I saw the figure of what is known as a Grey coming towards me. This being was more cream in colour than the classic reported Greys within UFO literature which are completely grey and had large, wrap-around eyes, a slit for a nose and very small protrusions where the mouth would be. I discovered that the clamps holding me down were immediately released and felt the implement which had been inside of me retracting. The relief I felt was incredible. I’d noticed that the three Reptilians were no longer present, but that the Grey had communicated through, what I assumed to be, telepathy for me to sit and dress. These came as orders, no different from a computer. The words had no emotion whatsoever, but all I cared about was getting out of here. I was commanded to follow the Grey through to a corridor and there we stopped, coming to what I thought had been a wall. The lighting was dim, and the Grey looked up at me. Immediately, the wall disappeared, revealing an opening which looked out upon the village. I could see our house below and the sun coming up. I was to leave. At this point I became horrified. Heights were not my thing. What did this Grey want me to do? Jump out of this opening! I found myself being guided by two other Greys which I had been instructed telepathically not to look at. For what reason, I had no idea. They each positioned themselves on either side of me as we levitated down towards the garden and away from the craft. Strange that they hadn’t been around when I’d first gone into the craft, I wondered! Here, I was met with another incredible sight which I’d clocked from above, and something which nearly sent me over the edge after the initial experience. When the other two Greys had taken flight and, I assumed the craft had left, (I was not able to look behind me) I was met with another incredible sight. There, standing in front of me was another Grey, but this one looked a little chunkier than the other I’d just seen on the UFO. I felt this Grey had been male, (or though there is no real way to determine their sexuality) and he wore a once-piece, tight fitting uniform. He also had a pair of knee-

length boots and wore a ridiculous pointed hat upon his head, like a wizard’s. Above him hung a smaller craft which, I assumed was his. However, what really unnerved me was the way he’d been looking at me. His arms were folded across his chest in a threatening manner and the expression on his face was of absolute anger. I stood there, feeling as though someone had punched me in the stomach. I used to get this feeling as a kid when I’d been admonished by an adult for being naughty. He was so angry, yet there had been something familiar about him; like I’d seen him before. I refer to him as ‘Noddy’ created by the famous British author, Enid Blyton, because in an adaptation which had been made for television on her creation reminded me of him. If you’ve seen animated plastic moving, that’s a very scary thing indeed. He stood there, legs slightly apart and arms folded, staring into my eyes with such anger, I just couldn’t work out just what the hell I’d done wrong. Then I was the one who became angry. In fact, I was seething. These things come into my house, abduct me and give me the most gruelling, medical examination which destroyed my dignity, and now I had ‘Noddy’ giving me a hard time. I wanted to punch him hard, but I was unable to move! Then I thought of something which lit in my mind like a lightbulb. If ‘Noddy’ could give me the answer to what I’d been thinking, then part of the UFO enigma would be revealed to me and I could tell the world. ‘How the hell am I able to pass through the locked and bolted doors? I mean, how is that possible?’ Although I cannot recall my exact question, it had been along these lines. ‘Noddy’ looked at me, stunned, and for the first time his expression changed to that of shock. I saw his thin orifice for a mouth change into an ‘O’ shape and he began to talk, but everything came out confused. His meaningless words rasped like the electronic voice synthesiser both my brother and I had for our ZX81 way back in the early 80’s. It was during this point when I felt myself rushing back through the doors to the house. My last, fleeting glance of ‘Noddy’ had been of him staring up at the underbelly of his craft, seemingly frozen. This had been the same reaction my brother had back in the kitchen when he’d become temporarily possessed. I went crashing into my body and woke up with a nosebleed. Two episodes; one physical the other seemingly not! What had happened to me? Had I an abduction which is so commonly reported among abductees? What had the little man in black which entered our house been about? I wasn’t sure. I had three, triangular marks behind my right ear and three on my right arm. The marks behind my ear disappeared after a couple of weeks, but the ones on my arm are still there. I had continuous nosebleeds to my right nostril and couldn’t walk without pain U F O

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for a week. I was determined to find out what had happened to me. In later years, I created a revolutionary theory which may help bridge the gap between the psychic and UFO phenomenon, and this has led to further research and investigation on my part; exploring cloning and the Grey’s plans which has everything to do with so form of rebirthing. The experience still affects me today, and I can still remember it as though it’d happened yesterday. Unfortunately, because of my mentioning of the ‘Probe’, I suffered enormously within the media where television was concerned. I soon realised that it’s not always a good idea to mention about your experiences. I had no wish to be involved with television. They had contacted me after they’d heard me doing a talk on this many years ago at a UFO group. My research is continuing, and I have plans for other books on the subject. ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Philip Kinsella is the author of several UFO and spiritual books and has written countless articles surrounding UFOs, consciousness and the afterlife. He began his investigations after an alien abduction he’d experienced back in the winter of 1989 and has spent the rest of his years exploring alternate theories surrounding both UFOs and alien contact, as well as psychic phenomenon. In 1996, Philip had published an article in ‘Alien Encounters’ which had been considered within its theoretical application. This had been entitled ‘Spirits in a Material World’ and something which had created some controversy with regards to his theoretical assumptions surrounding what a certain faction of the Greys may represent. He has lectured on the subject and has appeared on national television. Philip also cohosts a radio program ran by the Paranormal UK Radio Network called ‘Twin Souls.’ He lives in Bedfordshire, England. The new book ‘YOU - The Public Deceived: The Grand UFO Deception’ will be published on January 1st, 2012 by Flying Disk Press and is available on Amazon in paperback and kindle.

FILED BY: The Wiza rdess of Oz - Sa ra h Chu macero

THE OZ FILES: The Disappearance of Frederick Valentich

t remains one of the more puzzling events in Australian aviation. On October 21st, 1978, at 6:19pm in the evening, pilot Fredrick Valentich took off from Moorabbin airport in Victoria in a rented single engine Cessna 182L with a proposed flight path to King Island, flying over the Bass Straight. Just after 7pm however, Valentich radioed Melbourne air traffic control asking if there were any other aircraft in the area. He noticed strange lights, weird speeds and felt the aircraft was playing games with him. After the transmission abruptly ended, Valentich was never heard from again. (See Right)

Source: The Australian

Some of the theories put forward by aviation experts was that he became disorientated and was flying upside down. The lights on his plane would have been reflecting on the water which is why he saw lights above him. Others have speculated that he faked his own death with confusion among the conflicting reports about why he was headed to King Island in the first place. He had originally told his father that he was heading there to get some crayfish, however he told flight officials he was picking up his friends. King Island airport had no knowledge he was incoming; however, it is possible that he was waiting until he was closer to radio in his intention to land. Many people however feel that Valentich had an encounter of the third kind. Valentich himself was known to have a strong interest in UFO phenomena. He watched a lot of movies and collected articles on the subject matter, however his Father said he wasn’t as obsessed as media reports made out. It is also worth noting that in the transmission, Valentich himself never specifically said it was a UFO, although he probably suspected it. Interestingly, it seems that a photo was taken minutes before the radio transmission by a man who reported it was evidence of a UFO sighting linking it to Valentich’s disappearance. In that year, there had been many UFO sightings

The transmission Here is a copy of the transmission released from Melbourne Air Traffic Control 19:06:14 DSJ FS Melbourne, this is Delta Sierra Juliet. Is there any known traffic below five thousand?’ 19:06:23 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet—No known traffic. 19:06:26 DSJ FS Delta Sierra Juliet. I am—seems (to) be a large aircraft below 5,000. 19:06:46 FS DSJ D Delta Sierra Juliet—What type of aircraft is it? 19:06:50 DSJ FS Delta Sierra Juliet—I cannot affirm. It is four bright … it seems to me like landing lights. 19:07:04 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet. [This statement affirms to the pilot that the person on the ground heard his transmission.] 19:07:32 DSJ FS Melbourne, this (is) Delta Sierra Juliet. The aircraft has just passed over me at least a thousand feet above. 19:07:43 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet—Roger—and it, it is a large aircraft—confirm? 19:07:47 DSJ FS Er, unknown due to the speed it’s travelling… is there any air force aircraft in the vicinity? ~ 19:07:57 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet. No known aircraft in the vicinity. 19:08:18 DSJ FS Melbourne … it’s approaching now from due east~ towards me. ~ 19:08:28 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet. 19:08:42 DSJ FS //Open microphone for two seconds// 19:08:49 DSJ FS Delta Sierra Juliet. It seems to me that he’s playing some sort of game.’—He’s flying over me two—three times at a time at speeds I could not identify.’ 19:09:02 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet—Roger. What is your actual level? 19:09:06 DSJ FS My level is four and a half thousand, four five zero zero. ~ 19:09:11 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet… And confirm—you cannot identify the aircraft. 19:09:14 DSJ FS Affirmative.’ 19:09:18 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet—Roger… standby. 19:09:28 DSJ FS Melbourne—Delta Sierra Juliet. It’s not an aircraft’… it is //open microphone for two seconds// [This duration measured as three seconds. No information appears to have been removed from the tape.] 19:09:46 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet—Melbourne. Can you describe the…er—aircraft?

in that area through to South Australia.

Source: News Limited It is not the first time someone has gone missing over the U F O

19:09:52 DSJ FS Delta Sierra Juliet… as its flying past it’s a long shape’ //open microphone for three seconds // (cannot) identify more than that. It has such speed //open microphone for three seconds //. It is before me right now Melbourne.’ 19:10:07 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet—Roger. And how large would the —er—object be? 19:10:20 DSJ FS Delta Sierra Juliet—Melbourne. It seems like it’s (stationary). [The author, Richard F Haines (USA) has determined that this word should be, ‘chasing me’, based on special filtering]. What I’m doing right now is orbiting, and the thing is just orbiting on top of me also’ … It’s got a green light,’ and sort of metallic (like)~. It’s all shiny (on) the outside. ~ 19:10:43 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet. 19:10:48 DSJ FS Delta Sierra Juliet // open microphone for 5 seconds // [measured as 3 seconds] It’s just vanished.’ 19:10:57 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet. 19:11:03 DSJ FS Melbourne would you know what kind of aircraft I’ve got?’ It is (a type) military aircraft?’ 19:11:08 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet. Confirm the… er— aircraft just vanished. 19:11:14 DSJ FS Say again. 19:11:17 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet. Is the aircraft still with you?’ 19:11:23 DSJ FS Delta Sierra Juliet… It’s ah… Nor //open microphone for two seconds// (now) approaching from the southwest. 19:11:37 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet. 19:11:52 DSJ FS Delta Sierra Juliet - The engine is, is rough idling. —I’ve got it set at twenty-three—twenty-four… and the thing is—coughing. 19:12:04 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet—Roger. What are your intentions? 19:12:09 DSJ FS My intentions are—ah… to go to King Island—Ah, Melbourne, that strange aircraft is hovering on top of me again //open microphone for two seconds// it is hovering and it’s not an aircraft. 19:12:22 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet. 19:12:28 DSJ FS Delta Sierra Juliet—Melbourne //open microphone for 17 seconds// [A very strange, pulsed noise is also audible during this transmission.] 19:12:49 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet, Melbourne An extensive search and rescue operation was conducted over several days, however the aircraft nor Valentich were ever found.

Bass Straight. In 1920 the ship Southern Cross was lost as well as veteran flyer Captain W.J. Strutt and his aircraft disappeared. In October 1934, a Holyman Airlines DH86 aircraft with 12 people aboard vanished. One of these passengers was the father of the man who would go onto create the Black Box recorder - now standard issue in aeroplanes. Was Valentich lost in some sort of Aussie Bermuda triangle?

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A memorial plaque was erected at the Cape Ottway lighthouse in memory of Fredrick Valentich. 2018 marked 40th anniversary of his disappearance.

THE OZ FILES: The Curious Case of Kelly Cahill There is one Australian UFO encounter that became so famous, it was even mentioned during an episode of the X Files reboot which was followed by the obvious puns of ‘The Oz Files’ by media outlets. This is a case most UFOlogists around the world are quite familiar with and it is considered to be one of the most intriguing cases of alien abduction. During the early hours of the morning on the 8th of August 1993, Kelly and her husband were driving home from their friend’s house at Eummemering Creek in Belgrave (a suburb at the foothills of the Dandenongs here in Victoria), when she saw what looked like a spaceship with a ring of orange headlights hovering over the road in front of her. As they got closer, they were blinded by a bright white light. Kelly said she then awoke later in her car feeling oddly quite relaxed. After driving home in silence, the couple realised they had lost an hour of time which is a common ‘symptom’ of alien abduction

"What I saw to me was definitely a UFO, there was no doubt about it whatsoever,"

She then recalled seeing tall skinny black figures who had large bulging red eyes suddenly appear at the front of the UFO and began to approach them. She thought she was going to die.

"I felt this blow to my stomach and went flying in the air and I heard my husband say let go of me and this male voice that said, "I mean you no harm","

Kelly Cahill - Interview with Today Tonight Source: Sydney Morning Herald Initially she herself thought she was mentally ill and took it upon herself to have a brain scan. Kelly also contacted different Universities and Aviation Authorities to see if she could get any answers. They gave her two contact numbers of organizations that investigate UFO Phenomena. The case was eventually investigated by Victorian based Phenomena Research Australia. A lot of people wrote Ms Cahill off and said that she had been drinking that night and it was nothing more than a story. She anticipated this and used the name Kelly Cahill which isn’t even her real name. It is a pseudonym she created because she knew that the world thought she was crazy.

Kelly Cahill - Interview with Today Tonight Source: The Oz Files Some reports indicate that she soon noticed she had a triangle mark on her navel and was admitted to hospital twice for a womb infection in the days and weeks following the incident. A few weeks later, she began to recall even more information about the night. She remembered getting out of the car and approaching the light. She also noticed that there were 2 other cars close by also witnessing the lights.

"There was orange lights and this blue stuff underneath. It was like science fiction coming to life."

"I know I look ridiculous I'm not an unintelligent woman, I know that my story sounds ridiculous, but that's what happened. And there is physical evidence out there, there were marks out on the field, there were marks on our body, something went on." Kelly Cahill - Interview with Today Tonight The two other cars she mentioned in her testimony, were tracked down by investigators and served as witnesses to this incident who themselves claim they were abducted as well. Their accounts mimic Cahill’s including the loss of time, the strange marks on their bodies and the descriptions of the ‘alien’ figure. Investigators who returned to the scene with the above witnesses also reported magnetic anomalies in samples of the soil taken from U F O

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the scene and damage to the area with unusual soil chemical compounds found in the samples. While Kelly remembered her experiences organically, two of the female witnesses whose stories matched Kelly’s recalled their information through hypnosis. They also recall being taken aboard a ship. Kelly released a book called ‘Encounter’ and did various interviews with media and appeared at UFO conferences. Kelly eventually removed herself from the spotlight due to ridicule and the public eye and is said by contacts to of moved overseas to start a new life with less attention. Kelly, if you’re reading this, get in touch….

Sarah x

UFO TODAY CREDITS EDITORIAL TEAM Philip Mantle and Paul Stevenson ART DIRECTION & DESIGN A.E. Soar WRITING TALENT Philippe Piet van Putten Philip Mantle Thiago Luiz Ticchetti Dan D. Farca PhD Philip Kinsella Sarah Chumacero SPECIAL THANKS TO: Flying Disk Press Dead Good Publishing Ltd CONTACT

editor@ufotoday.net

facebook.com/UfoToday The views expressed in UFOToday are that of the author and may or may not represent the views of the editorial team.

LORIEN

he clouds were hanging heavy and low in the sky, threatening more rain at any time. As I drove through the gates, the excitement I felt was mixed with a kind of reservation. I’d seen a few photos of the place prior to my invitation. Would the reality live up to the precursor? The driveway was unremarkable. It lacked the grandeur one would expect from a building such as this. On this damp December day, the soggy brown

JONES

countryside surrounding me did little to bolster the enthusiasm. But I wasn’t about to let the reservation win out just yet. I arrived at a small car park and realised I was at the rear of the building. That would explain the lack of decoration on the drive. A gentleman stood in the cover of the cloister to my right, watching me as I parked. I turned off the engine and glanced up to wave to whoever had come out to greet me. No-one there. That was weird. I studied the area, trying

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to figure out how I could have been so easily mistaken. I put it down to maybe being a trick of the light, the shadows making me think someone was there. But that curiosity had already set in. So here I was. The mysterious George Jarvis Boarding School. Built as a boarding school around 1855. It was clear to see that it was no longer in use, although I was surprised to learn that it hadn’t been abandoned for all that long.

“I failed to spot the figure of an irate looking male watching me from one of the windows up above. Had I caught sight of him, I may have entered the building with a little more caution.”

A mere ten years or so. I sat in my car a while, taking in the view in front of me. It was hard to judge the size of the building from here, but I was met with the beauty and elegance of Victorian design. Having grown up in a Victorian house, I have a soft spot for the aesthetics of the period. I was immediately impressed with the improvements that had been made to the property over the past few months. We, as a paranormal community, had been teased with images of this not-sonew location on social media and I was

enraptured with the place. This car park was once covered in a blanket of moss, not so long ago in fact. But now it looked smart and much more presentable. And the school standing tall in front of me seemed to be aware of this. Proud, almost. I realised at this point that the school was going to live up to the hopes I had for it. What I didn’t know, was just how much those hopes were about to be surpassed by the reality. I grabbed my things and HAUNTED MAGAZINE

made my way into the building. I failed to spot the figure of an irate looking male watching me from one of the windows up above. Had I caught sight of him, I may have entered the building with a little more caution. George Jarvis was a wealthy man, and a generous one. Upon his death in 1793, he left a large sum of money to the less fortunate people of the nearby villages. However, this gift came with a stipulation.

In Jarvis’ will, he made it quite clear, “My mind and will is that none of the said monies be appropriated in erecting any public buildings whatsoever.” He intended for the money to be used for food and the likes, to allow a little more comfort into the lives of those struggling to make ends meet. And yet, here stands the George Jarvis School. Forbidden by the man, paid for by the man and dedicated to him in name. Would this be enough to enrage a man to the point that he’d spend eternity haunting a building? It’s not a logic that I can fully understand, and yet it makes the perfect ghost story, don’t you think? And some certainly do believe that George Jarvis still roams the empty halls. Once inside, I find myself in a large room with high ceilings. I wouldn’t say it’s big enough to have been an assembly or dining hall, but it’s an impressive size. The dirty, old carpet is in the process of being pulled up and a system of CCTV monitors quietly displays seemingly empty rooms around the school. I’m told strange things have already been witnessed on these screens in just a few short weeks. I watch the monitors intently, determined to catch some supernatural force at work. I’m left disappointed. Despite this glimpse into other areas of the school, I still have no idea how big the place actually is. And yet I feel an overwhelming sense of imposition. There is a lot to this building, in both size and spiritual presence, I’m already sure of it.

Visit The Ghost Book

I suddenly find myself being led through what feels like a rabbit warren of corridors and small rooms. The darkening clouds outside magnify the gloom. I pass by window after window covered in climbing ivy on the outside and thick cobwebs on the inside, blocking out any last hope of a little light. It’s not long before I have to pull out my torch. I pass by an area that has clearly seen better days. Rain is now pouring in through the roof and it’s clearly an area to be avoided. I come to a room with cobblestone floors and a beautiful old door leading to the outside. It’s a funny room, it already has an outdoors feeling to it, almost like an entrance hall or foyer. As enchanting as the arched door is, it’s not grand enough, or large enough to have been the front entrance to the building. I really have lost all sense of my bearings now. In the corner is a set of wooden stairs, clearly not original to the building. I climb them and discover a little dwelling area. It’s suggested this was perhaps the living quarters of the caretaker. The rooms, a very uninviting bathroom and a less unpleasant living area, feel both cosy and creepy if that makes sense? I can imagine it would have once made a homely little set up, but now it was far from it. HAUNTED MAGAZINE

When I was well and truly disoriented, it was time to visit to the cellars. Given the immense size of the ground floor, it came as no surprise that the cellars were equally as sprawling. There are 2 cellars in the building, both with several rooms in each. On an investigation, it’d be quite easy to spend all your time down here alone. Not entirely alone of course, unless you’re brave or crazy, but you know what I mean. There have been suggestions from the locals that after the school had closed, these cellars were being used as a brothel. Standing here in the dark and the dust, I couldn’t imagine anything worse, but the several dozen empty champagne bottles certainly suggest a good time was had down here. Now, there are stories of some locals coming down into this cellar one night. They attempted to contact a spirit and were supposedly successful in their efforts. The ghost of a man is said to have contacted them. The spirit is believed to have been that of Daniel Jones. Jones was a foreman during the construction of the school back in the 1850s. He met an untimely death one night when returning home from the local pub, The Portway Inn.

The reports go that he fell from his horse and breaking his neck upon impact, he was killed instantly. Whilst I can find no records to substantiate Daniel’s death, it is a known fact that he is buried in the local graveyard. Daniel never got to see the school finished, or did he? It is believed that he is another of the many spirits residing here. Somewhere nearby a door creaks. I pause and listen for the sound of footsteps. I am surprised when I am met with the faint sound of a whistle, a few notes like a tiny bit of a tune. I call “hello?” into the darkness, but my efforts at communicating are in vain. I decide this is an area to spend more time in later. At some point in the more recent history, the YHA inhabited half of the building. This operated at the same time as the day school was running. The room I now stand in is something straight from a horror film. On a shelf in the corner, sits an ancient TV. The walls are flaking their coat of oppressive black paint as if in some kind of protest. This was at one time the social area of the YHA. A dartboard hangs patiently on the wall and ivy now creeps across the ceiling. I decide to take a minute here and see if I can hear anything in the building. The sounds of a piano have been heard whilst the team have been working on the building. There is no piano on the whole site! A telephone ringing was also heard by several people at the same time, when no phones are in the building, let alone connected! I am met with deadly silence, which suddenly seems more unnerving than any noise would. I climb the stairs, which are another haunted hotspot. Tales from locals and past students commonly refer to experiencing strange activity in this area. I was talking to a guy who felt himself being firmly pushed on the back as he walked down the stairs only a few weeks ago! The second floor was the bedrooms for the boarding school and subsequently the YHA. The

floor has a totally different feel to it. The rooms are lighter, wallpapered and much more pleasant feeling. However, a baby has been heard crying, unexplained whistling has been heard and the clothes of people who have been working in here have been tugged frequently. Appearances can be deceiving. Not that hauntings have to be in creepy surroundings, and certainly don’t have to be sinister but it’s wise to remember to not let your guard down when you begin to feel at ease. Up again to the top floor and the atmosphere suddenly takes another turn. The building was commandeered by the American Army during the Second World War. Apparently, the soldiers were terrified out of their wits whilst spending time in the building and refused to return. As well as some much more sinister occurrences, they also experienced bricks being hurled down the chimney, heavy disembodied footsteps, and unexplained loud bangs. Something that is still experienced to this day. There is a long corridor of built-in cupboards, which could be innocent enough but instantly reminds me of the ‘Naughty Boys Cupboards’. This is the sinister nickname given to a similar set of cupboards at the Newsham Park Orphanage in Liverpool. It is believed these were used as punishment cupboards for disobedient children and it has me wondering if these were used for the same purpose. Looking along the length of the top floor sends chills down my spine. The headmaster is believed to have resided on this floor, and possibly had his office located up here too. Imagining being sent up here as a small, scared child awaiting punishment sends a wave of nausea running through me. On a recent live video stream, something small, dark, and semi-transparent darted across this corridor. Animals were instantly ruled out, and a reasonable explanation was HAUNTED MAGAZINE

still lacking. During broad daylight, those working on tidying up the building have told me that on several occasions they have seen the figure of a man walking through the building, a black cloak billowing behind him. The first few times, they chased after the man, assuming intruders were still getting in. However, they soon realised that this was someone they were to get used to seeing around. Standing here at the top of the building, I take in the mottled sights below from a small window as the rain patters against the thin glass. The school really is vast. I’m not one to run when frightened, but even if I was, I don’t think I’d find my way back out in a hurry! Spending the night here suddenly seems like a much more daunting task than it did a few hours ago. Heading back down the car to fetch the rest of my things, I ponder over the best place to set up my bed for the night. As I make my way down the concrete stairs to the second floor, I hear a door slam from somewhere above. It startles me out of my musing and at that point, I decide that I will pick a different area to try and sleep in tonight….

Lorien Jones xx Note: This visit took place in between lockdowns when we were allowed out, and I’d like to thank Natalie Lawrence profusely for letting me have an explore. If you’d like to find out more about The George Jarvis school, you can visit their dedicated Facebook page or visit the website www. thegeorgejarvisschool.co.uk. Paranormal investigations and sleepovers will be taking place at the school once the world returns to some kind of normality. To keep up to date with events, follow Spooktacular Ghost Hunting Events. Events will also be listed on The Ghost Book for purchase at a later date.

Spirit Hands * A Short History of

By Kate Cherrell A cold hand against your neck in the darkness, unseen fingers play with your hair, a firm spectral palm pushes your shoulder as you descend the stairs. Hands have long been shorthand for human interaction, of life, and of death. Like the horror trope of masks, they are clearly human, but appear without clear intent. Hands conceal and reveal. They are an unknown assailant, a lover’s touch, a sudden slap and a sign of life, or life extinguished. For centuries, we have accepted the image of the hand as undoubted proof of human presence, and subsequently, of spirits. Online paranormal groups are filled with almost as many blurred snaps of faces as there are hands. Lists of ‘terrifying ghost photographs’ circulate at breakneck speed, filled with holiday photos with an extra hand on someone’s shoulder, perfectly poised between grinning faces. Most recently, two particular photographs have piqued public interest. A 2011 group photograph of a family on holiday by Dovestones Reservoir in Greenfield continually arises in discussions of ghost photography. A hand, that appears as real and pink as any other, rests beside a couple who are leaning against a wall. The photograph-taker reported not seeing the hand at the time and that it ‘pointed’ towards a member of the group who later died. It could be said that the extra hand belonged to a cheeky child, attempting to ‘photobomb’ the group, but swiftly failing. Another, far older image is of a group of female Belfast mill workers, where an unattributed hand was spotted resting on one woman’s shoulder. This particular group photograph set the internet alight in recent years, presented as ‘eerie’ and ‘spooky’. However, it is a clear example of early photo editing or photo cutting, whereby figures and features could be manually removed with a blade and dexterity. Nonetheless, the power of the image remains. But why do hands affect us so much? Hands have long been a paranormal trope, but how long has this phalangeal fear continued?

WHY? Exactly why we fear the disembodied hand can be best demonstrated through horror. Writing about the 1924 Austrian silent film ‘Hands of Orlac’, Noël Carroll explains that it is the ‘incompleteness’ of the appendage that incites horror and revulsion and that ‘detached body parts are serviceable monsters.’ In ‘Hands of Orlac’, a pianist’s hands are replaced with those of a murderer, following an accident. The hands themselves become sentient and removed from their operator. The hand is both human and not.

“You need hands to hold someone you care for...” Max Bygraves

The hand can hold an individual personality and will, which is somewhat seared into our collective cultural consciousness from the Addams’ family servant hand, Thing. Thing carries intent and individual sentience but frightens and repulses those not privy to the family’s workings. The hand is capable both of being a great help, and a great mischief, able to accept commands and move about the world in ways in which fully complete humans are unable.

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The reattached murderous appendages of the Hands of Orlac are not too dissimilar from the cursed wish-making of ‘The Monkey’s Paw’, whereby a mummified monkey’s paw affords the bearer three wishes but wishes that come with hellish ramifications. In film and theatrical interpretations alike, the twitching hand of Frankenstein’s monster signals an untameable, ungodly will, and a body imbued with fabricated, unnatural life. Each hand, freed from the ‘steerage’ of humanity and the morality of the human consciousness, is free for manipulation by nefarious means, or by spiritual forces. In detaching from their larger form, hands are both living and dead; subsequently becoming ideal catalysts for spectral piloting. Namely, they become ideal shorthand for ghosts and spirits; that which passes amongst us, unseen.

PALM READING Although largely ignored today, chirognomy, or palm reading has long strengthened the link between the living human condition and divination, or the spiritual. Believed to have originated in India, the art of palm reading was thought to have passed across the world until it reached Greece, where the practice was further developed and honed. During the infamous witch trials of the medieval period, many ‘witch hunters’ saw certain marks on hands as proof of the individual’s communion with the Devil. These ‘devils marks’ could be a mole, birthmark, freckle, or other such minor blemish found upon the hands or body and were interpreted as the devil’s proof of ownership and dominion over the accused person. In the 17th century, palmistry took on a more scientific mantle when scholars sought to find empirical reasoning behind its principals. Much like phrenology, or the study of the head, it was hoped that the application of palmistry would be of use in medical fields, and also in the study of the human, and criminal, condition. Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, interest in palm reading enjoyed a considerable resurgence, with notable scientists such as Carl Jung and Casimir d’Arpentigny (founder of ‘chirognomy’) and great numbers of individuals believing that the study of another’s palm could not only explain their whole condition, but may provide a link between this life, its conclusion, and the one that follows.

HAND OF GLORY Other hands believed to be imbued with magical powers were not so attached to their owners. In the 18th century, a Hand of Glory was a curious aid to burglars across Europe. The curious talisman of would-be-criminals was not the easiest of things to come by. Firstly, one would need the hand of a criminal, still hanging from the gallows. In the 18th century, this was a relatively easy task, but one would have to sever the hand at night. Unless, of course, there was a Black Friday Sale-style rush for the appendage following the hanging itself! Ideally the offender would have been a murderer, and so the right hand, or the ‘hand that did the deed’ was preferred. However, choosing severed hands was never a simple affair and conversely, some preferred to eschew the right hand, as left hands were traditionally thought of as the ‘sinister hand’ in Christian tradition. Following acquisition of a hand, a process of draining, positioning, pickling, and mummifying followed, before the hand was truly fit for purpose. A Hand of Glory, when used as a candle, or candleholder, was considered to be of magical importance to burglars of yesteryear. The exact powers of the hand varied from region to region, but universally, the strange, desiccated hand assisted in acts of robbery. The hand’s powers varied in nature and severity, but included:

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The ability to burn forever, providing endless light.

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Providing a light only visible to the perpetrator and not to the householder.

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Holding the ability to unlock any door.

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Rendering any person motionless upon presentation of the hand.

The most consistent and well known of these abilities was that placing the hand outside, or on the doorstep of a house, would plunge all occupants into a deep sleep, from which they could not be easily woken. Considering that there are recorded instances of hands found on doorsteps and burglars arrested, the paranormal powers of the severed hand were far from fool proof. HAUNTED MAGAZINE

SPIRITUALISM In 1848, when the unassuming Fox Sisters helped to light the touch paper of modern Spiritualism, their initial experiences with spirits began with the knocks of invisible hands. In response to questions posed by the young girls, the answers would return in ‘raps’; spectral hands pounding the boards and walls of the house. These noises, although attributed to the elusive ‘Mr Splitfoot’ (an old name for the devil) held their legitimacy through their tenuous link to humanoid physicality. In countless reports the noises, knocks and bangs were attributed to invisible ‘hands’ – the key commonality connecting the living and the dead (or undead, for that matter). Hands would weave a common thread throughout much of 19th Century spiritualism, particularly in the form of materialised, ectoplasmic, or wax hands. During early Victorian seances, the joining of hands around the table was not only proof of the medium’s legitimacy (as things would occur while they were seemingly bound), but the clasping of hands signified the spiritual power and unity of those gathered. As hands were held, further spirit hands – both seen or unseen – would throw objects, play instruments, or touch the gathered sitters. In immobilising the human hands, the spirit hands were able to move freely. In 1860 Robert Dale Owen attended a séance with two of the Fox Sisters and reported in Debatable Land that, as lights grew within the room, ‘they became larger, attaining the size and general outline of hands.’ If we are to understand the appearance of lights as the emergence of spiritual energy, it is curious that of all the potential forms it could take, the shape of the hand was the most common in the séance arena. As interest in Spiritualist belief grew throughout the latter part of the 19th century, the boldness of spirit hands grew considerably; they appeared in their multitudes, wrote, played, and directly, physically interacted with sitters. As dark and cabinet seances grew in popularity, so did the appearance of hands in séance. During cabinet seances, spirit hands were frequently seen, peeking around the medium’s curtain, before later laying a path for manifested spirit guides to emerge. In more traditional, or ectoplasmic seances, additional hands would emerge from the medium’s person. These, when documented in the early years of photography, would provide some of the lasting images of the movement. The medium Helen Duncan, who was studied closely for her production of ectoplasm, was one of many mediums to produce her own spirit hand during séance. While Helen was placed into spurious test conditions, including a custom-made, satin séance suit (rather more like a silky onesie than anything resembling business wear), she produced ectoplasm from both her mouth and nose. In some instances, the resultant plasm was shapeless and simply grew in strange streaks and clouds across her chest. However, her other ectoplasmic efforts manifested with faces – some of which were brutally debunked as little more than a papier-mâché mask, a coat hanger, and a generous amount of cheesecloth. Nonetheless, during a séance in which she was blindfolded and bound; Duncan regurgitated an ectoplasmic hand that grew in length until an entire arm hung from her mouth. The resulting effect was incredibly dramatic and effective. However, upon investigation by famed ghost hunter Harry Price, it was quickly proven that the arm was in fact a questionable craft project, consisting of cheesecloth and a rubber glove. Mina Crandon was a controversial medium of the early 20th century who is widely regarded as a complete fraud, predominantly due to the investigative efforts of people such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

and Harry Houdini. Mina’s ‘teleplasmic’ hand was a popular and controversial aspect of her mediumship, which also underwent additional scrutiny following the use of photography. Mina’s hand would emerge onto the edge of the tabletop during seances, but did not move and, when touched, was described as feeling ‘dead’. Upon closer inspection, her hand was said to resemble pieces of animal offal, crudely sewn together into a hand shape. As with so much of Victorian mediumship, theories as to the emergence of the hand quickly moved beneath the belt. Known as the ‘Witch of Lime Street’, Houdini’s successful attempts at debunking her mediumistic powers were regarded as one of his greatest career achievements. Intensely studying her movements in a darkened séance, he was able to explain every second of her manifestations. However, the hand roused rather more interest than the usual trumpet-throwing machinations of a séance. Mina’s husband, Dr Le Roi Crandon, always sat at her right during seances and is generally regarded as being complicit in her deceptions. Considering the hand would only appear when he was beside her, her husband and the spectral hand are somewhat indivisible. However, due to his profession, bizarre suspicions were afoot that, in order to conceal the ‘spirit’ hand, Mina’s husband had surgically altered her genitals, offering some hideous storage option for the tailored offal. Indeed, we could assume that such an accusation would be repulsive to such a well-to-do gentleman, however it could be seen as a mere escalation, as it is well documented that Dr Crandon would show unwitting visitors photographs of his naked wife in the midst of séance. However, and wherever the hand was secreted, when one of them was finally examined by scientists, it was revealed to be another variation on the offal theme, and little more than a piece of carved animal liver. In order to study more ‘conventional’ spirit hands, casts were needed. If a spirit were to dematerialise following a séance, there would be nothing for spiritualist congregations or séance circles to retain. Wax moulds of spirit hands were made as early as 1870, but most that remain today are from the 1930s, probably made by mediums, not scientists, and are in the collection of Arthur Findlay College (a prominent college for spiritualism and psychic development). Willing spirits would materialise a part of themselves, i.e., a hand, which would be pushed into a bowl of warm paraffin wax. The thickness of the mould could be increased through repeated coats, but the resulting mould would be the same; if the spirit were to dematerialise, the mould would remain unbroken and could be studied, and later used to make plaster of Paris casts. In reiterating the necessity of the dematerialisation process in preserving the mould, the validity of the mediums’ claims was strengthened. Mediums such as the Polish Franek Kluski produced several wax hands during their seances, but his results were quickly replicated by keen debunker, Harry Houdini. Despite their controversies, spirit moulds remain highly regarded in spiritualist study, not least because of their striking and unusual appearance.

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In less fleshy manifestations, William Marriott, a professional magician, spent a large part of his career, travelling across the world to investigate fraudulent mediums. He would find wider recognition through re-publishing, and publicising a once-private catalogue of props, intended for fraudulent mediums eyes only. The book (more of a pamphlet); the snappily titled, ‘Gambols with the Ghosts: Mind Reading, Spiritualistic Effects, Mental and Psychical Phenomena and Horoscopy’ by Ralph E. Sylvestre (1901) advertised everything needed for a ‘complete spiritualistic séance.’ The contents ranged from fake ghosts to talking skulls, planchettes and rather unusual rapping hands. All products within the pamphlet were commonplace in the world of magic

and were repurposed to great profit when spiritualism came knocking. The ‘Spirit Rapping and Writing Hand’ was available at the cost of $2.50 and its usage is rather vague. Probably used on a string mechanism, a wooden hand with elaborate cuff would knock against the fixed board, assisted by the nefarious, fraudulent medium. Also, within the catalogue is the far more upmarket ‘20th-Century Rapping Hand’ which had an enormous price tag of $100 in 1901! This hand, unlike the cheaper model, was said to work with no necessary connection to any sitter and produce astonishing results. As suggested by the Mysterious Planchette, this expensive hand probably operated by clockwork and would be ‘attuned to the magician’s timed script.’ Such rapping hands would prove to be popular curiosities through to the 1940s, where Thayer ‘Spirit Hands’ would be brought out at parties to knock in response to questions. While Marriott would go on to write articles for Pearson’s magazine, debunking several spirit manifestation methods, the descriptions of hands remain the most curious. While he replicated some methodologies with mannequin hands on a

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frame, he explained others as being ‘merely gloves stuffed with sawdust or inflated with air and painted with luminous paint to render them vaguely visible in the darkened room.’ The questionable crafting of such props is one of the few charming elements of a deeply questionable business model. Today, our haunted hands most commonly take the form of horror tropes, across the arts. From the undead zombie hand of ‘Evil Dead II’, Susan Hill’s sinister ‘The Small Hand’, and the comedy-horror of ‘Idle Hands’, the image and spiritual – or sinisterpossibilities of the hand remain vivid in our minds. Hands have always been held as proof, fear, and manipulation of the afterlife. Where a face may not manifest itself, a hand will, and can do so much more than stare.

Kate

“You need hands to thank the Lord for living…” Max Bygraves

by Amelia Cotter

he first and only time I have ever seen a ghost, that I am certain of anyhow, was when I was 11 years old and exploring an abandoned house in Monkton, Maryland, close to where I grew up. I developed an affinity for this house and spent a lot of time imagining who might have lived there, what their lives were like, and of course, if they were haunting it. Local legend had it that the place was haunted by a ghost named “Walter” and the house was affectionately called “Walter’s House.” I would walk through the safe parts of the house and wish that I could see this ghost just once. One day, as I was leaving, I looked up into the attic windows. Leaning out of one of them and looking down at me was a boy or young man with his hands on the windowsill, wearing what looked like an old-fashioned shirt that gathered at the cuffs and pants with suspenders. His body and clothing were completely white, and he had no face, but I could see the folds in his clothing and sensed that his expression, directed at me, was one of curiosity. A sensation of static electricity covered my entire body.

Somehow, I wasn’t afraid. I looked up at him, transfixed, certain that he knew how much I just wanted to make a connection. I was an awkward suburban adolescent, filled with a sense of adventure and longing beyond my understanding. I’ve spent many more years searching for ghosts, and adventure, in places around the world, and I’ve found that the moments of wonder almost never live in the answers, but in the questions. 46

Following is an excerpt from the tenth anniversary edition of my first book, This House: The True Story of a Girl and a Ghost, which was the Higgypop 2020 Paranormal Entertainment Awards Gold Winner in the Best Paranormal Book category. The events of This House were inspired by my reallife childhood experiences and fascination with the beautiful and mysterious “Walter’s House,” and the ghost therein.

watching the moon and the dark silhouettes of trees go by. The drive consisted almost entirely of fields and wooded areas, some abandoned barns, and a graveyard. The tone was set. As we turned onto the road the restaurant was on, Mom told me to look out my window to the right and through the trees to see the house. Sure enough, as we slowed down to get a good look at it, I

This House is a story about our youthful desire for adventure and to be loved, and the fervour for living we experience as we grow up and discover the wonders, joys, and tragedies of life. The book, and this excerpt, remind me of what a brave little explorer I was and should still strive to be. But most importantly, they remind me that the foundation for a life welllived is love. This excerpt tells the tale of my first time entering the house at night—a precarious first step in the journey to a lifelong love of history, mystery, and haunted places: On a still and warm night in September, I threw my backpack in the backseat, Mom put our flashlight in the cup holder, and we drove out late to pick Dad up from work. On the way I felt nervous and elated, daydreaming while

Walters House Photos: A photo of photos from 1997

Top: the attic window (left) from which Amelia saw “Walter” looking down at her. His apparition was standing up straight, but a living person would have to lie on their stomach to lean out the window. Bottom: 12-year-old Amelia (right) and her middle school friend, Graham, on the front porch of the house.

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glimpsed over the guardrail and through a row of evergreens to the black expanse of a large old house. I could feel my heart thudding in my ears. It was like a giant monster sitting behind a cage at some sideshow, watching us watching it. I had a feeling of horror and elation all at once. We passed it slowly and soon pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant. We curved around and drove back to the farthest edge of the parking lot where no one else was parked. Our headlights stared straight into the back and the side of Walter’s House. It stood slightly apart from the restaurant and its companion house. We couldn’t even see the other, more dilapidated, house at the road’s edge. Where there was light and noise and laughter coming from the terrace behind us, there was a sudden and overpowering darkness and seclusion in the house’s direction. The house was completely alone. As I got out of the car and fumbled for the flashlight, I realized how nervous I was and how frightening and ridiculous the thought of actually entering an abandoned house at midnight might be. It was someone’s house after all, and once upon a time it had been occupied by peoples’ lives and feelings and energies. I could not take my eyes off of it. It was as if the house was watching us and knew we wanted to come in, like there were a bunch of people gathered at the windows waiting nervously for us to try and break in. I suddenly didn’t want to go in there. “There’s old Walter’s House,” Mom said casually and slammed the car door. I shuddered. I didn’t want anyone to hear us. “Let’s go,” she said. I walked up alongside her, turned on the flashlight, and we started towards the house. “I have an uneasy feeling,” I admitted quietly. “That’s ’cause this place is creepy as hell,” she responded, holding my wrist for comfort. “That must be it,” I agreed, laughing uncomfortably. We approached cautiously. The unfortunate thing about flashlights is that they light up everything in front of you very nicely but

make what’s to the sides of you and at your feet pitch black. You’d think I would have noticed that sometime in my life before this. As we turned the corner of the porch and came to stand in front of the house, I looked into the old broken windows and was filled with fear. I wasn’t scared of any living people, but something else. And I could feel that something all around us.

I could smell the old sour odour of rotting wood and water damage. It also dawned on me that this could be very dangerous. Would it not have been wiser to first explore the place in the daytime? We didn’t even know if the floors were stable in all places. I looked all around me. The porch spanned the front of the house and was caving slightly in the middle. There was a second floor with a row of broken windows. Up on the side of the house were two tiny black attic windows, typical of historic houses in Maryland. Those windows were like two black eyes peering down at us. I couldn’t decide if it was the house or someone or something in it that was watching us. The front screen door was hanging on its hinges in the moonlight, but the front door itself stood wide open. Even with my own mother there, I felt alone and terrified. All of my friends were probably at home sleeping, on the phone, or watching TV, and I was standing in front of an empty 200-year-old house with a flashlight and a backpack. “I don’t think—” I started. “I’ll go in first,” Mom said, taking the flashlight and hopping up onto the porch. She tripped a little. “Careful. Follow closely behind me.” “Thanks for the tip,” I said and fumbled and tripped and pulled myself up onto the deceptively high porch. “Shine the light on me, on me!” I whined nervously as the light went all over the door frame and into the house. I stood right up close behind Mom and held my breath. As we entered, I felt an immediate sensation of being unwelcome. The musty stench I had smelled before became overwhelming. We did not belong there. “God, I feel like someone doesn’t want us here,” Mom whispered. “Really?” I asked, feeling my eyebrows clench together. “I was just thinking that.” We stepped over the threshold and were HAUNTED MAGAZINE

immediately greeted by a cluttered staircase going up to the second floor. “The floor seems sturdy,” Mom said. “Dad said people come in here all the time, so we should be fine. Just watch your step. Feel first before you walk.” I didn’t answer, just nodded. To the left and right were large rooms filled with clutter and trash, and some tables and chairs that looked like the foldable lawn type. I could see a fireplace in each room, which must have been very cosy at one time. No bookshelves yet. And I couldn’t make out what was in the back of the house. Everything on the periphery of the flashlight’s beam was disturbingly black. We looked from left to right and decided to go to the right, inching through what was presumably the living room. I gripped the back of my mother’s shirt with my fist. The light from the flashlight shined onto an old-fashioned kitchen stove and sink at the very back of the house, in what seemed to be a more recent addition. There was even a 1950s style sun porch at the far left. There was stuff all over the floor in there and it was clearly too cluttered to enter. It amazed me how long this place must have stood abandoned.

I looked down at my feet and saw that I was stepping on all kinds of old newspapers and magazines. I had just started to take an interest in the place when I looked to my left and saw a gaping black hole in the wall—a doorway. “Hey, what’s this for?” I asked and took a step towards it. Mom shone the flashlight on it, but it was too late for me to step back. I found myself reading the words “Stairway to Hell” in green spray paint with an arrow pointing down and to the right. My eyes followed the direction of the arrow and I found myself staring at the dirt floor of the basement below. My feet were inches from the non-existent staircase. Out of surprise and the feeling of being watched from down there, I jumped back and shouted. The shouting must have spooked my mother because all of a sudden, she started shrieking along with me. There was a moment of almost amusing panic where we both stood still, taking turns shouting, and then we suddenly scrambled for the doorway to get out of the house.

Mom leapt ahead with the flashlight and turned back to light my way. We jumped off the porch and ran back around the side of the house where we had come from. I was running for my life, like I could feel something was coming after us and was just going to get me for sure. We headed for the car and as I looked back, I swear I thought I saw feet coming through the grass after us. Well, the time from the Stairway to Hell to the safety of our car must have been all of five to seven seconds. The parking lot was safe territory again and the dim light that emanated from the restaurant felt like “base” in a game of tag. I looked back at the house. It was just sitting there, still, dignified. It was definitely haunted. At a loss, we both just started to laugh. “Did I scare you?” I asked, out of breath. Mom was pale and shaking. “No,” she said. “I thought I heard a noise when you were looking down that

About the Author

staircase. And then you screamed, and I assumed you were screaming about what I heard. And so, with seeing those words on the wall and the noise, I mean, everything happened so fast. I don’t know what to think.” A noise, I wondered. “What kind of noise?” “Just a creaking.” I looked back at the house again. It was so mysterious. I was terrified but already wanted to go back again. “Maybe we can visit again, in the daytime sometime?” I asked. “Yeah, let’s do that. You’re not too scared now, are you?” She laughed. “No, I think we might have scared ourselves.” We got into the car. She turned it on, and we drove around to where we normally picked up Dad. He was waiting there for us. He opened the door and stuck his head in the car. “Hey kids, did you guys go into…Walter’s House?” he asked dramatically.

https://www.ameliacotter.com/

Amelia Cotter is an author, poet, and storyteller with a special interest in the supernatural, history, and folklore. Her books include This House: The True Story of a Girl and a Ghost, Maryland Ghosts: Paranormal Encounters in the Free State, and the children’s book Breakfast with Bigfoot. Amelia has appeared on various radio and television programs, including Travel Channel’s Hometown Horror, and in the documentaries Scary Stories and Tinker’s Shadow: The Hidden History of Tinker Swiss Cottage. She also appeared as a regular cast member on Really Channel’s The R.I.P. Files. Visit her official website at www.ameliacotter.com or write to her any time at ameliamcotter@gmail.com.

THE SPEAN BRIDGE

PHANTOM By

Leonard Low

eptember 2017 and a week in a rented cottage in Fort William. Our usual escape at this time of year when we head up North to a remote cottage to relax with huge log fires. Just the two of us and the dog to go and explore old Castle grounds and enjoy many unpredictable stops along the way that contain spontaneous walks taken at whatever we determine as being interesting places. Usually, I have several locations connected to the Witch hunts of old. Where I have to examine the history and landscapes that will be adapted for my books. It is usually an adventure within an adventure! We passed the area of Spean Bridge in Lochaber, where miles from any habitation a ruined church appeared in among a clump of trees, it had a massive fallen tree resting against its roof. Obviously deserted for a good while, and the first stages of nature reclaiming this building was evidently underway. Definitely worth stopping for a bit of a look. So, we stopped, and I went with my dog across the wire fence and found the Parish door was wide open. Inside was a

mess, very dark not so much vegetation as the roof was still sound but huge turmoil had happened inside, chairs and papers thrown everywhere, no vandalism graffiti or smashed windows. The wooden floors still sound but the damp was in its element. You could clearly see it once was a grand proud place, how long it had sat empty or why? I never did find out. I took in the main room of where the congregation once sat, and a Minister held his audience…when my dog growled and backed out the room! A paper page fell from nowhere. Then two more…I picked one up. Pages of a prayer book, all corrupted by mould and damp, there were pages lying all over the floors becoming mulch. But where had it fallen from? There was no balcony or high area, then more appeared! Out of the air at head height fluttering to the ground. I grabbed my camera took several shots, hoping to catch the papers fall…Then to my amazement there appeared a faint figure of a small man who was walking through the pews, he stopped every so often and I just fired off photos feeling extremely uncomfortable as I backed

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out at this strange scene. It was around 7 at night quickly becoming dusk. I got outside as the rain came on, my dog had scarpered, so I removed myself from this peculiar scene. In the photos I took you can clearly see a pair of legs moving around the pews. Was this a previous Minister still preparing for his usual service. Setting down sheets on the old pews, where his flock once sat! Later speaking to a woman at Spean Bridge about the church, she declared “best to keep away from it as it’s a bad place…. a haunted place! No one goes there anymore” …. Obviously, it is a place with secrets…a place I need to return and study properly. The footnote to this story is that only a few weeks after my visit here to the old church. The fire brigade was called as the whole church roof was in flames. Not much has survived the carnage. No vandals were caught or found.

L eonard

Para Urbex:

COME MINE WITH ME!

The Wheal Betsy Mine THE HISTORY Mining has been a huge part of South West England’s past. Initially focusing on extracting tin which started around 4000 years ago; Devon and Cornwall produced around half of the world’s arsenic as a by-product from mining tin and copper. Near Tavistock in the UK the remnants of Wheal Betsy sit proudly on the valley of Cholwell Brook. Over the years it was also known as the Prince Arthur Consoles and the North Wheal Friendship. The mine is said to have been opened around 1740; long before the engine house was built, though no actual construction date can be found. The mine produced lead, tin, copper, silver, arsenic and zinc and its deepest point was 900 ft below ground. In the beginning, ore was smelted on site by using peat charcoal and refined by cupellation. It was powered by peat that was dug from Walkham Head and around 1800 the Reddaford Leat was built (an artificial watercourse to transport water to mines and mills.) These days the Leat stops at the Wheal Jewell reservoir although you can spot the old water ditches nearby to Betsy. Up until 1868 the

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mine was powered by water but after this date steam was used. The 19th Century engine house that stands today held a Cornish Beam Engine which pumped water from the mines in order for the precious ores to be recovered. It also assisted the winching of material out of the mines and sometimes aided the transportation of workers down into different subterranean levels. The mine closed for a time but reopened again around 1806. It closed for good in 1877 due to being uneconomic when lead prices dropped dramatically low. Around the 1950s the military was given permission to demolish the building but campaigners and historian, Alfred Kenneth Hamilton Jenkin protested and saved it. During the 1960s the building attained some repair work including the installation of a tie bar to ensure the chimney would not collapse. During 1967 the engine house was acquired by National Trust and to this day they care for it as a memorial to the mining industry in Devon.

THE RESEARCH Mining accidents were common in the 19th century although recording these were not so. Flooding, exposure to dangerous gases and tunnel collapse were a daily worry amongst workers. There are no records that I could find relating to deaths at the mine except a Mr Dick Rawley who ran away and hid in one of the old mines. He was due to be hung in a gibbet (A suspended tight metal cage in which sufferers would slowly die of thirst and starvation.) The gibbet was on top of the hill known as Gallows Hill which is opposite Wheal Betsy, and many criminals and highwayman were hanged there. Dick was soon recaptured and met his fate. Another man by the name of William Ball was last seen on bank holiday in August of 1905. He was last sighted near the roadside close to Betsy but never returned home, or to work. The route he was walking was full of old mineshafts and it was feared he had fallen into one of these. Locals looked for him for many days until sadly his body was found by a man riding his horse. During the inquest it was found that Mr Ball had taken his own life by the means of a rusty blade to his neck. A long time prior to that William had fallen from a horse a received what we now would understand to be a brain injury. Back in those days mental health issues were often brushed off as bad behaviour or madness. Many people who knew William had described him as peculiar, behaving strange and odd.

THE INVESTIGATION: AUGUST 24TH - 5:00AM At this location I was joined by my partner George. On this occasion I required a little help and he doubled up as an extra safety precaution due to all the old shafts in the area. In recent years farmers have lost cattle that have fallen into undiscovered mines and that is somewhere I didn’t want to end up. Walking through the dewy heather and bracken, me and George finally set our eyes upon the magnificent old mine engine house. In appearance it looked damp and uninviting. The eerie mist filled the valley and shrouded the top of the building. The surrounding area was full of collapsed shafts and mining memorabilia were littered around like discarded trash. Upon arrival at the

building, me and George felt drawn to the chimney. Now safely supported the chimney rose high into the air but leaned over to one side: beaten by years of bad weather. Some locals say that Wheal Betsy’s crooked chimney was caused by the devil. The legend tells the story of how the Devil, in a rage, flew across the moor and collided with it after losing a game of cards in the small village of Widdecombe. At the bottom we noticed an entrance, a small and confined dark crawlspace which took you on your knees into the base of the chimney. I can’t help but think if children were used to service this? I barely fitted through. I Scraped and bruised my limbs on the way into the chimney, but it was worth it. Once inside you could see the misty sky as if looking through a telescope. It was deadly silent, a perfect place for an EVP session. Upon review my recorder was just as silent as the chimney so I decided to try the spirit box. In such a confined area the sound of white noise echoed through the space, but I felt the energy immitted by the SB7. I wanted to get stuck into taking some photos, so George took over from me. As I left him lying in the dirt, trying to make contact in the chimney, I proceeded to walk the perimeter of the building taking still photos as well as full spectrum ones. Pretty much instantly my Nikon (Nicky) battery died. I know I charged both of my batteries before leaving for the investigation. I also know it simply doesn’t run out like that within a matter of 10 minutes and taking only a handful of photos. I pulled out my second battery and swapped them over. I entered the old main building and took out the K2, searching for any spikes in electromagnetic field whilst asking questions and offering help to any spirit people in need of it. Knowing the mine mainly extracted tin and silver I brought along some coins and tin. I placed the trigger objects on a ledge and sat the K2 near it in the hope of capturing some evidence. There was not a breath of wind in the valley but suddenly, the tin next to the K2 moved. It rolled forward and then back into position where I had placed it. There was no EMF spike, so I called George to bring the SB7 to attempt to make contact audibly. HAUNTED MAGAZINE

I explained to whoever may have been there that the noisy machine I held in my hand wouldn’t harm them. I said aloud it was an item that could allow me to hear their voice if they wanted to talk to me. I asked “Did somebody just try to move that tin over there? “I left it there for you, you can have it.” A few seconds later a man’s voice in the white noise said “TIN.” It was quite abrupt and to the point. Me and George both said at the same time “TIN.” I then said “yes, tin, it’s yours!” I received a reply straight after in the very same voice and it said, “thank you.” “You worked so hard for many years for very little money,” I said. “Now you can have this, for free.” As I was videoing this, during the review I noticed something that I didn’t whilst I was in the moment. Straight after the communication, I captured two light anomalies. The first came from my right-hand side. It was a round white light which flew across the front of me and straight into my spirit box speaker. Immediately after that one, a second flew again from my right-hand side, across the front of me but didn’t enter the speaker but disappeared on my left side.

Throughout this video clip of around 10 minutes we didn’t pick up on any other voices or light anomalies. We continued the investigation by splitting up again. George went down into the pit where the engine would have sat, and I took myself and camera outside once again to attempt to photograph the site. Using all our equipment and all the ‘tricks in the book’ George received no more evidence within the building. I however had my second fully charged battery drained which was both disappointing and exciting for me. We decided to wrap it up there. During the investigation we attempted to contact Dick and William but was unable to connect to either of the men. We spoke of the mine workings, offered help, and used our trigger objects in various locations around the mine and shafts. We also walked to the nearby Gibbet Hill (Gallows Hill) although received nothing, but dew drops on our faces, or in George’s case, his beard. We thanked those that attempted to talk to us, we told them they are not forgotten and then we went on our way.

SUMMARY: This pretty little location was an incredibly unique place to investigate. There wasn’t much information to go on, so we felt like this one was more of a blank canvas. There is definitely some spiritual activity here and more could be extracted from the location just as the ore was back in the day. With energy being drained from my camera I feel that this location would benefit from an energy boost with the use of an EM pump which would output more into the atmosphere. The old Wheal Betsy mine and engine house provided us with much more then we bargained for. We left with more respect for the industry and those people that worked during the time of operation. Paranormal investigating is not just about carelessly ‘hunting’ ghosts. It’s an education into history. It’s about what people went through and how they lived. You learn how difficult it was to get by and survive. For me it’s also about understanding and respecting how lucky we are today. The things we have and things we get stressed about in comparison is hugely different. We all have good and bad days. On the bad ones, think about your life, the time you live in, which is now. Live in the present, make the most of life because you actually have the opportunity to enjoy it. Unlike many before us, and many right now, in other parts of the world, such awful things have happened or are happening. Always be respectful, be thankful and be helpful where you can.

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Katie X

THE STEP BY ESTEP GUIDE TO THE PARANORMAL By Richard Estep

have long been fascinated with the events of the Revolutionary War, otherwise known as the American War of Independence. When the opportunity arose for me to visit one of the key strategic locations of that war, I just could not pass it up. Sitting in a commanding position on the bank of the Delaware River, just to the south of Philadelphia on what was once known as Mud Island, Fort Mifflin has been nicknamed ‘The Fort That Saved America’ — and with good reason. Toward the end of the year 1777, the war was looking less favorable for the British than it had at the outset. One beleaguered British army, under

the command of General William Howe, found itself beset by the enemy from all sides. Supplies of the vital items which helped keep an army a viable fighting force — the so-called “bullets, bombs, and beans” — were running low. The only way to resupply Howe’s men was by sea, with vessels of the Royal Navy sailing up the Delaware and replenishing stocks of food, ordnance, and medical supplies. I have long been fascinated with the events of the Revolutionary War, otherwise known as the American War of Independence. When the opportunity arose for me to visit one of the key strategic locations of that war, I just could not pass it up.

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There was just one catch: Fort Mifflin stood in their way. From their position on the west bank of the river, the cannon stationed on Mud Island commanded the entire breadth of the Delaware. Fort Mifflin had originally been built by the British, but Colonial soldiers now turned it against its former masters. Thanks to the presence of another defensive installation, Fort Mercer, on the opposite bank and slightly downriver, the Royal Navy’s ships would be forced to endure a withering crossfire if they intended to resupply Howe’s men...either that, or the forts would have to be put out of action somehow. With winter closing in, the Continental Army needed to fall back to Valley Forge in order to reconsolidate. That would be impossible with a well-armed, well-supplied force of Redcoats at their back. In order for the strategic situation to remain tenable, Fort Mifflin must hold out at all costs. And hold out it did. Four hundred soldiers manned the fort, providing stubborn resistance and thwarting the plans of the British. The cold weather meant that conditions inside the fort were harsh and austere. In addition to braving the ire of Mother Nature, they also endured a bombardment the likes of which the Revolutionary War had not yet seen. British warships hurled cannon ball after cannon

ball into the fort, in an attempt to batter it into submission. At the height of the bombardment, it was said that more than one thousand shots hit Fort Mifflin in just one hour! Finally, with the ammunition for his ten cannon all but gone, the fort’s commander had no choice but to withdraw, sending the majority of his men across the Delaware to Fort Mercer under the cover of darkness. A token force remained behind, in order to set fire to the few structures that the British had not already destroyed. Nothing would be left for the Redcoats when they finally set foot in the charred and empty fort. For the British, it was to prove a hollow victory at best. Fort Mifflin had held them up long enough for the Continental Army to arrive safely in its winter quarters. It truly had become the fort that saved America, or at the very least, played a pivotal role in its salvation. Yet that wasn’t the end of the story. 1861 brought Civil War, and Fort Mifflin was pressed into service as a military prison by the Union authorities. The fort didn’t just house Confederate prisoners of war; Union soldiers were incarcerated there too. The fort’s casemates, huge brick structures, HAUNTED MAGAZINE

were used in lieu of individual prison cells. At one point, several hundred POWs were crammed into a relatively small space. Living conditions in the casemates were atrocious, insanitary, and extremely uncomfortable. Infectious disease ran rampant, and a number of prisoners died from various illnesses and maladies. We know of at least one prisoner being executed at Fort Mifflin during its time as a prison. Union soldier turned deserter William Howe shot one of the officials sent to arrest him after fleeing from his regiment. When the man died, Howe became a de facto murderer, and was sentenced to be hanged at the fort upon his capture. With the coming of the 20th century, Fort Mifflin served the nation again as an ammunition storage depot, before finally becoming the museum and bastion of living history that it is today. If you should happen to visit the fort today — and I cannot recommend it highly enough — then the most you would have to worry about are the mosquitoes, which take a perverse delight in swarming the unwary visitor and settling on any inch of exposed skin they can find. Bug repellant is an absolute must (fortunately, they sell it in the gift shop).

After spending far too many years in a state of disrepair and decay, the fort that saved America has now been lovingly restored to some semblance of its former glory. A cannon is fired regularly (devoid of a ball, I hasten to add) to salute ships that sail past on the Delaware. A constant stream of tourists drop by to visit and experience this small stretch of America’s hallowed ground for themselves. The commandant’s house occupies the center of the fort. The two-story barracks and officers’ quarters stand off to one side, along with the stable block and blacksmith’s forge. The casemates, once used to store ammunition and powder, as well as housing POWs, are also still there, although their only occupants these days are some of the weird and wonderful insect life that calls the fort home. Considering its turbulent history, it should come as no surprise to us that Fort Mifflin has developed a reputation for being haunted. I spent a week investigating the fort in 2019, along with a small team of paranormal investigators and Greg O’Brien, resident expert on all things Fort Mifflin. When it comes to the ghost stories, it’s difficult to separate fact from legend. Stories abound of a phantom lamplighter haunting the barrack block, and the ghosts of longdead soldiers still standing guard around the

casemates and the ramparts. The ghost of the aforementioned William Howe, executed for the crimes of murder and desertion, has also been seen by multiple different eyewitnesses. Rather ominously, those who encounter his apparition say that it lacks any sort of facial features at all. Perhaps the most infamous spirit of Fort Mifflin is that of the Screaming Lady. She is said to be the ghost of a woman who took her own life after disowning her daughter in a fit of rage, only to learn that she went on to die of an illness. Many visitors to the fort claim to have heard her heart-rending screams coming from somewhere within its grounds. One of the most common phenomena reported at the fort is the sound of disembodied footsteps. We heard them ourselves, pacing back and forth in the vicinity of the barracks block. While investigating the casemates, we once again heard the noticeably clear and distinct sound of boots shuffling on the stone floor. When my colleague, Jason, went to check it out, nobody was out there. Things got even more interesting when we investigated the second floor of the officers’ quarters, which is said to be one of the locations haunted by the Screaming Lady. While conducting an Estes Method EVP session in one of the rooms, my fellow

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investigator, Linda, heard the sound of a woman screaming and sobbing coming through her earphones. She also felt herself being touched by unseen hands in some very inappropriate places. At the very same time, our psychic medium, Robbin, was overcome by an intense wave of energy that so strong, it caused her to almost faint — in fact, I had to catch her before she dropped to the ground. When she had recovered, she told us that she was picking up on the spirit of an aggressive male, and a female spirit that he was trying to both control and keep quiet. These two entities were never positively identified. A year after I left, Greg O’Brien contacted me to inform me of something intriguing taking place at the fort. Since my stay at Fort Mifflin, numerous visitors had reported encountering the apparition of a woman dressed in white. None of the eyewitnesses were connected to one another, and no information about such a ghost was shared with them by the staff. To make matters even more interesting, whenever the apparition has been seen, people have also reported hearing the sound of a piercing scream. The details of each sighting are almost identical. It would appear that there is life in Fort Mifflin’s Screaming Lady yet, though her identity still remains a mystery...

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO

NICK GROFF? D

id you know that Nick has appeared on the cover of Haunted Magazine three times now, that is a record that he shares with the legend that be Derek Acorah, god rest his soul. We know Nick, we’ve met Nick, we’ve had many soul-searching deep discussions with Nick over the years and yet it’s still great to be able to share the paranormal things that he does with our readers. He had been quiet of late but just before our last issue he dropped info about DEATH WALKER, not much info, but enough to warrant us briefly touching on it in issue 28 and he promised us that when he could share more info he would. And just like our favourite butchers – he does do liver – HE DOES DELIVER – oh I give in…. We caught up with Nick recently to find out the latest…

Hey Nick it’s great to have you back where you belong. Where have you been hiding and what have you been up to? I have been working extremely hard on a new series called DEATH WALKER. New locations and theories evolving the paranormal forward. A ton of research and dedication went into each investigation. A new journey into the unknown exploring new possibilities within the phenomenon at reported haunted locations. My passion is all over the DEATH WALKER project as I believe thinking outside the box is key. This is just the beginning for DEATH WALKER. Stay tuned. What developments in your investigations have taken place since we last saw you in action? What tech are you using nowadays? Different theories in the paranormal that haven’t been thoroughly looked at from a new perspective. New technology to communicate with the other side. In pursuit to validate personal experiences and ideas that have been going through my mind. A real investigation needs balance in order to pull back the layers of mystery haunting locations. Calm, on guard and ready to document happenings during the investigation is what I believe. Have a logical point of view. We can’t talk to you Nick without addressing the elephant in the room question. New Paranormal Lockdown Episodes haven’t been on our screens

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since 2019 where it was unceremoniously pulled from the networks. What can you tell us about what happened? Paranormal Lockdown is airing on Discovery Plus and all Discovery cable TV in the UK, USA and other countries now. This was a network decision. Paranormal Lockdown was one of the greatest investigative projects I had the privilege to create and be a part of. I can’t really say too much about the past, but I am excited now for the next step in life and my journey with DEATH WALKER. I will say that in order to evolve you have to keep focused and never stop being passionate for what you believe in.

"Always remember where your roots started and maintain your credibility at all costs." Of all the locations you have visited, which has affected you the most and why? Several locations I have had the opportunity to explore stuck with me after all these years. Linda Vista Hospital, Bobby Mackey’s Music World, Shepton Mallet Prison, The Washoe Club, The Hinsdale House, etc. All these locations hold a very unique fascination with me to learn more. Each place I have had different experiences and paranormal encounters. When these moments happened, I was at a stepping marker and it helped me grow throughout my journey of life. Every location has affected me in some way but there are the ones that truly move me to want to experience more. What was your path into the paranormal? Who were your influences and what did you learn from them?

"My passion is all over the DEATH WALKER project as I believe thinking outside the box is key."

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At age eight I fell from a tree, ripped open my arm and almost died, I reckon it started from there. I believe I was put on this quest to evolve the paranormal forward and discover new happenings beyond what we perceive as humans. The universe will guide us but ultimately, we need to have the driving force to passionately reach for better. Several people throughout my childhood introduced me to people within the paranormal that were interesting to listen to and share their experiences, but I was always an adventure looking for weird stuff that made me think deeper than the ordinary. I would look up at the stars in the night sky questioning what else was beyond our space we live in on Earth. Questioning time and how it relates to us now. Thinking beyond our linear reality in our everyday life. So many thoughts about what happens when we die. All these topics through growth have influenced me.

"We live in a bizarre world and pulling back the layers to some of these happenings only makes living more interesting."

SCAN QR CODE: https://www. nickgroffgiveaway2021. com/

Do you watch or follow any shows at the moment? Who impresses you the most? I have not had time to watch reality cable shows. I do watch a ton of movies when I have time late at night to escape reality for a moment. I have been that way as long as I remember. I am into HBO’s series “Euphoria”. Whatever I am watching needs to be very compelling to keep my interest. The story must be gripping, and the filmmaking style needs to move me emotionally in a way that I can take away something new. What would you say is the most compelling evidence you’ve ever captured? There have been a lot of moments through my journey. Most recently at Bobby Mackey’s Music World when the energy formed for eight minutes on our static night vision HD camera in the basement was groundbreaking. I have never seen something so clear and appear to transform out of thin air and have intelligence as it moved through the basement. Was one of the most incredible experiences I have ever witnessed. Knowing that I was asleep on camera when the manifestation occurred was even more compelling because of the devices setup when they were triggered by something unexplainable. More validation kept piling up as the ball of energy was documented. I have been back to Bobby Mackey’s location over a dozen times to keep searching for more answers. We share the evidence in DEATH WALKER and Bobby Mackey’s reaction is priceless. Let’s talk about your latest venture Death Walker. What can we expect and how different is it to your previous investigation work?

Nick with John Tenney in ‘Death Walker’

DEATH WALKER is very different from anything I have ever done. Comparing two locations into one theory that could validate new information within the paranormal. Journey with me into the unknown. New locations I have never investigated and some that I have explored for over a decade with ground-breaking evidence. What locations can we expect to see? And when will we be able to see it in the UK?

Prison, Funeral home, Historic house, Wild West Club, Old Bar and so on. Everyone in the UK get ready as DEATH WALKER will be announced soon and when we can GET to the UK, we’re gonna catch up with you guys at Haunted Magazine and have that beer (more than one we hope – Paul) have that curry, and of course, a paranormal investigation How important is returning to a TV audience to you? How do you think delivering a TV show influences the actual investigation? The support has been incredible and is growing fast now. We launched an all new “Nick Groff Explorers” Facebook group which is rapidly booming! The community and people watching with interest also share similar experiences to evolve together into the unknown. Keeping it real and authentic is key in delivering paranormal investigations. I always say be passionate first and allow the universe to work out the rest. If your work lands on TV great, but maintain who you are and why you are doing what you believe in. Are there locations you wouldn’t go back to and if so why? HAUNTED MAGAZINE

I will go anywhere that is reported to be haunted. So many locations that I want to investigate someday. Some insanely hard to trek too but that’s why it can be dangerous. The environments can be more deadly than the spirits. UFOs, Wicca, Cryptids do you have any interest in other areas of the paranormal and is this something you would explore in the future? All these topics interest me. When I was a kid my first interest was UFO, Alien, Space and beyond. Later I got involved in ghosts, crypts and so on. I love all things paranormal and supernatural. Anything that has a weird story that I can explore. We live in a bizarre world and pulling back the layers to some of these happenings only makes living more interesting. Keep searching the unknown. I have been investigating a lot more into all topics as I believe they cross over into each other. And finally... What’s next for Nick Groff? We just launched TheNickGroff.com store and people can now checkout! Big Announcements coming soon. DEATH WALKER and another project I have been working on for five years have been taking up a lot of my time. I can’t wait to release more information on my social media to the public. I appreciate all of the support from everyone around the world. Thank you!! I’d recommend that you check out my social media pages too, there’s some great content and a competition to end all competitions (scan the QR code above).

BORDER BUDDIES BUT ARE THEY PARANORMAL PALS? BRIAN BAKER wonders if the ghosts of Canada and the USA are on the same astral highway, or is it simply down to the history & the mystery of the past...

anadians and Americans share more than just a border, but one socialculturally driven question is where the two nations stand on their beliefs in ghosts. When it comes to pop culture, the United States has a glut of paranormal investigation shows, from an antagonistic investigator and his crew based out of Vegas (“Ghost Adventures”) to two New England plumbers that hit all the famous American haunts like antique pickers touring the countryside (“Ghost Hunters”).

of those believers were men, and 50 percent were women.

But Canada tends to stay behind the scenes, producing television series like “Paranormal 9-1-1” and couching its ghost stories in historical narratives on past shows like “Creepy Canada”.

Jeanmarie Rouhier-Willoughby, a professor of folklore at the University of Kentucky, acknowledged the crosscountry variations on folklore and paranormal legends.

During a 2007 Ipsos-Reid poll, 48 percent of Canadians surveyed said that they believe in spirits or ghosts, with 53 percent of those numbers being women and 42 percent being men. The provinces that believed in ghosts the most were Saskatchewan/ Manitoba (61 percent), Alberta (58) and British Columbia (57).

Loyd Auerbach

So, there isn’t that big of difference between Canada and the United States. However, there are nuances within both countries. Canada varies in its folklore from the Maritimes to Quebec to Ontario through to the Prairies and British Columbia. In the United States, the paranormal varies from New England to the Deep South to the Bible Belt and into the West Coast.

The Americans weren’t far off from those numbers with 46 percent saying they believed in ghosts, according to a 2019 YouGov poll, as well as 54 percent believing in demons. About 40 percent HAUNTED MAGAZINE

"Doctors got drunk on the power of these places and they would attack nurses who were raped, got pregnant out of wedlock and killed themselves in the hospital."

he first would be places of suffering, like Louisville’s Waverly Hills Sanatorium in her RouhierWilloughby’s home state, Kentucky. “The sanatorium is a good example, but it’s certainly not alone,” she said, during a late summer Skype interview. “They could be former war hospitals, particularly Civil War, and there’s one like that in North Carolina, which often got turned into sanatoriums for mental illness, or in the case of Waverly, for TB.” Waverly Hills, which was originally opened in 1910, housed those with tuberculosis from its inception to 1961. The infamous five-storey gothic structure was erected in 1926. It is said to be haunted by those who succumbed to the respiratory illness. One of the apparitions sighted on

the grounds is that of a nurse who allegedly committed suicide. “Waverly has legends about the fact there were death chutes to avoid showing that people were dying and take responsibility and depressing the other patients or the community there was a way to just slide the body out the backdoor,” she said, with a wry grin. “There were other stories, like the abuse of patients, or to the abuse of the staff. Doctors got drunk on the power of these places and they would attack nurses who were raped, got pregnant out of wedlock and killed themselves in the hospital.” The second would be America’s close ties to slavery. It falls under the locations of suffering, but because of its prominent role in American history, locations like the Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville, Louisiana or the Magnolia Plantation in Charleston, South Carolina. HAUNTED MAGAZINE

Many in the academic community try to admonish those sharing the ghost stories associated with slaves haunting locations, but it’s part of the dealing with the guilt of putting other humans in such trauma. One prominent example, RouhierWilloughby said, is the LaLaurie Mansion in the heart of New Orleans’ French Quarter, which was owned by serial killer Delphine LaLaurie. “It’s part of every ghost tour in New Orleans; they will take you to that house,” she said, adding that at midnight, people are able to see the ghost of a child falling to their death. “You can say that’s horrible or these are anomalous examples. This woman in New Orleans is particularly cruel. Not all of us would do that,” Rouhier-Willoughby said. “I mean, slavery is slavery, people. It doesn’t matter how mean you are.”

irst Nations’ burial sites are another example of the above, of which is a way of psychologically coping with that past, but also erasing the culpability of the people who were involved in it. “That’s a fraught legacy because we haven’t actually dealt with the legacy of this genocidal past,” she added. Legends don’t always trivialize the lives of those who experienced great suffering, but they can offer an open door to debating the issues of the past. History is often reframed as part of a local identity and historical creation. It’s often difficult for historians to find the factual depictions of life as a slave at a plantation through anecdotal evidence. Even within Canada there are variations and cultural nuances when it comes to the paranormal. Newfoundland folklorist Dale Gilbert Jarvis is to disclose that detail if you ask him about Maritime ghost lore. He grew up in Ontario but has dived into the heritage of his newfound home in St. John’s. “Ghost stories and belief in the supernatural, historically, was a pretty strong part of local culture in Newfoundland,” he said, in an August phone interview. “We have a very old, very strong tradition around things like ghost ships and what we would call here a token.” In Nova Scotia, the forerunner for a spectral encounter would be a ghostly visitation at the time of a loved one’s death or immediately preceding someone’s death. Other common ghost stories from the East Coast include weather lights and the old hag, which is associated with sleep paralysis. “When we looked at a lot of our supernatural traditions here on the Island portion, a lot of early settlement was either from west county England,” Jarvis said. “A lot of people from Dorset, a lot of people from Pool and Bristol.” Newfoundland was also one of the first landing grounds for the Irish, well before the Irish Potato Famine of 1847. Many settled on the Rock during the late 1700s. “A lot of traditions have had the opportunity to persist here in a way that they maybe haven’t in more urban or agricultural communities in Canada,” he said. “There’s one community that I’ve been doing some work with, the community of New Perlican, and they’ve had continuous settlement by the same family since the early 1600s, so lots and

lots of time for localized supernatural traditions to evolve.” Those traditional tales are retold and shared. Much like in Quebec, but without the religious iconography that exists in Canada’s francophone population. And when you move further into Canada from the east, you’ll see the influence of Victorian pop culture, spiritualism, and history play a role in how the rest of Canada imbibes in the supernatural. Television, as well as YouTube videos, skew the perceptions of a lot of folklore, and for Rouhier-Willoughby that removes the local touch on such stories as the Dogman of Western Kentucky. She may have touched on the impact of pop culture has on folklore on the paranormal, but adjunct parapsychology professor Loyd Auerbach at John F. Kennedy University outside of San Francisco has a bone to pick with every group chasing ghosts through a nightvision filter. One familiar duo from the annals of paranormal investigations though has been subject of many complaints, Auerbach shared, during a Skype interview in August.

"The American perspective for paranormal is so heavily influenced by popular culture today, whether it is a film that doesn't even purport to be real. Poltergeist did not purport to be real, but it had a dramatic influence." he said, adding concerned parents were calling the American Society for Psychical Research with complaints. “People were afraid their kids would disappear into the TV or under their beds. It was just very bizarre. The influence of the media, from film to reality television has affect how people react to and interpret any paranormal encounters they may have. And the responses differ from people who are avid horror viewers and people who are science fiction fans. One specific party of influence is the couple Ed and Lorraine Warren, who have kept their legacy alive by sharing their exploits with Hollywood producers for The Conjuring universe movies. HAUNTED MAGAZINE

Loyd Auerbach

Auerbach recalled that during the 1970s and ‘80s, there were many complaints about the couple, who alleged they had never charged for their services. “When I worked at the ASPR in New York we got complaints about the Warrens, and over the years I got other complaints when I was at JFK University when we had our graduate program,” he recalled. “They would ask for expenses in exorbitant amounts is what it really amounted to.” One instance, an individual called Auerbach from Michigan asking if the ASPR had an investigator in their state as the Warrens were ready to fly out at a moment’s notice, but $5,000 was the minimum for their expenses. “A first-class ticket from the Connecticut area to Detroit did not cost that much money. The hotels wouldn’t have cost that much,” Auerbach said. “You could add all that up.” The Warrens’ legacy, through pop culture and their investigations, continues to impact the responses people have to the paranormal.

"Unless there's a specific cultural or religious context, we tend not to have any sort of fear, except now that now that the TV shows have started there is a pop culture influence on it." When talking pop culture and Canadian TV, Michelle Desrochers, an Ontario-based researcher of the unknown, will admit she is picky with the television shows she’ll appear on as a subject matter expert. For her, the differences between American and Canadian beliefs lie within the two nations’ histories and the level of violence in each.

The Americans have the Spanish War and the Civil War, along with other more localized moments in history, around civil rights, slavery and the Manifest Destiny. However, Canada, has fewer violent points in history. That’s not to say there a none. The battle of the Plains of Abraham, the War of 1812, the Underground Railroad all factor into a lot of haunted locations, as do residential schools. “(Canada’s) history, even though it’s not as old, we still have a lot of issues with the church and the residential school,” Desrochers said, in an August phone interview. “Many of those are haunted. There were so many atrocities that happened there.” Desrochers is not one to minimize Canadian history. There is plenty of it, especially during the development of the Maritimes, Quebec and Ontario. British Columbia’s capital, Victoria, was once a city of debauchery and lascivious behaviour. “When people come to this land, they come with their belief systems, and they come with their own

folklore, religions and so on,” she admitted. “I think now because the population is so diverse, you’re going to get a much different response. I think it’d be a lot different than let’s say 10 years ago.” A lot of the Canadian perspective on the paranormal, for Desrochers, is geared around England and European influence. Both Desrochers and Jarvis agree with the sentiment that Canadian ghost stories revolve around Victorian tragedy, whether it be a chambermaid falling to her death at Victoria’s Empress Hotel, a tragic accident for a bride on her wedding day at the Banff Springs Hotel or a stabbing victim who died in the Elgin Theatre’s elevator. “When we look at Canadian ghost stories, a lot of them seem to focus on that timeframe because that’s when people were really starting to get interested in ghost stories,” Jarvis said. “And that’s very much part of an English tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmas. “There is a bit of a bleed between folk culture and literary culture,” he added. “Those images of ghosts as always being Victorian ladies, drifting down the stairs, we owe to the pop culture of the Victorian era.”

Brian Baker

Veteran journalist Brian Baker is the founder and publisher of The Superstitious Times, an online news site dedicated to sharing Canada’s paranormal stories. After 15 years in media, he wanted to write more about folklore during months that weren’t October, and through a social anthropological lens. He lives in Toronto with his family and moggy.

Are You Haunted is not a question I often ask myself (or others)? Are you weird, freaky or a K2 meter short of a Ghost Hunters equipment box are more suitable questions to raise with the people I know BUT I guess, in a way, we can be all haunted by our past, even our present, by our demons, by our thoughts & actions. The very same question can also be asked at a building, a location, a place, an item and to be honest it is a great question, you ask “Are You Haunted?” as soon as you walk in and if something responds you know you’re in for a cracking night. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a team who simply walked into alleged haunted locations minus a wealth of technology and gadgets that are almost joined at the hip to paranormal investigators now and literally asked the question “Are You Haunted?” Well, OF COURSE there is, Are You Haunted are: Jane Carrigan, Wayne Dean, Dale Dickinson, Phil Whyman, Sara Whyman & Ben Woodward and we caught up with AYH via a socially distanced zoom call.

Sara

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I’m the kind of person who has lightbulb moments! An idea will pop into my head and I have to either blurt it all out to Phil or write it down immediately, so I don’t forget.

So are you Haunted: Are You Haunted?

Dale: Am I haunted?? I hope not!! I sometimes go into a place and can feel changes in atmosphere, I’m not sure if that a spiritual sense, or just my mind playing tricks? Jane: If you get me in the wrong mood I could be slightly possessed!

Phil: No. Sara, Ben, and I used to live in a haunted 16th-century

former hall a few years back. We rented it for a year, mainly because it was haunted. And we had some really strange - and sometimes spooky - incidents. I am currently documenting our time there, and the incidents we and our guests experienced into a short book. Sara: Quick answer, no, not that I know of, there may be a hidden demon in here somewhere?!

Wayne: I once lived in a house where strange things happened, so was haunted but current status, not haunted! (Ben didn’t answer, so HE IS MOST DEFINITELY HAUNTED)

Who came up with the name and how did the concept develop? Ben: My Mum came up with the name as the intention of the show is to go to some unknown locations and investigate so we can all come together after the night and answer the question ‘are you haunted?’ We decided on a back-to-basics approach as throughout history, the majority

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of paranormal events have been experienced in average day to day life, not with any fancy technology or devices.

Sara: The boy isn’t wrong. I came up with the name around 2002. I had my own paranormal team – of which Jane was a member – and I used to contact locations with a view to investigating them: the subject line of the email was always ‘Are You Haunted...?’ The concept developed from here too. As we know, there are lots of paranormal shows out there (be it on TV or online) and we wanted to be able to stand out and be a little bit different from the usual format. I’m the kind of person who has lightbulb moments! An idea will pop into my head and I have to either blurt it all out to Phil or write it down immediately, so I don’t forget. That’s how it happened. I just thought of how we used to locate venues years back with my little team, where we’d each do a bit of research and come together to see what we came up with.

This evolved into bringing venues to the table and I thought it would be a fun twist to each vote on which we would like to go and investigate.

As the title of the show suggests, we are going in to try and discover if the location is indeed haunted or not, based on our personal experiences during the investigation, rather than going in from the beginning with the opinion that it is.

I’d also been set a kind of challenge. Someone once said to me that you could never produce a paranormal show that people would watch if the activity wasn’t faked. I believed that it would be possible, with the right mix of people and personalities; throw in some fascinating historic locations, then any paranormal activity that did occur would be a bonus.

Phil

“

From the off, we wanted a show which would rely more on our senses and do away with the pseudoscience gadgets that virtually every show features. So, a backto-basics approach was taken.

Phil: Sara came up with the name and the concept for the show. My involvement was natural, being Sara’s husband. We had a lot of people who came onto our public ghost hunting events asking us when we were going to put together a show: they were becoming disillusioned at the current crop of shows out there, and they knew that they could trust us when it came to presenting evidence. From the off, we wanted a show which would rely more on our senses and do away with the pseudoscience gadgets that virtually every show features. So, a back-to-basics approach was taken. Over the years we have tweaked it here and there, and it will remain a constantly evolving show.

One of the things that sets AYH apart is the quality of the whole package, the intro, the visuals, and sound, was this a conscious decision and is TV your preferred destination? Phil: Absolutely. Producing a quality show for our viewers is very much at the forefront of everything we do when it comes to Are You Haunted...? I am a bit of a perfectionist where filming is concerned, and I can be a bit of a nightmare on-set sometimes, as the guys will tell you. But it has to look right, and that is something we all agree on. I’m the same with the editing too. There are two of us editing the show: Sara goes through all of the footage and selects the parts that are to go into the episode. She then passes all of this over to me to - in her own words - make it look pretty.

Ben

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We’ve caught endless audios on camera that just cannot be explained.

Sara: Thank you! Absolutely. We want it to look bang on! And we will continue to change things up to improve as we go. I look back at the early episodes and I cringe a bit if I’m honest. I wasn’t happy with the bringing the venue to the table section that we initially used. I had one of those lightbulb moments and envisaged a dark room with a lone table in the centre with a spotlight shining onto it. I had this image in my head and told Phil that this is what I want, and he created it to a tee with the set, lighting and editing. I have to point out here that we are fortunate in the fact that as a family - myself, Phil & Ben - are all quite creative and computer geeky, which helps tons. There are still things that I see that I want to change and plans are in place for season three to do this. With regards to TV, of course it would be an absolute dream to have the opportunity to bring the show to a bigger audience, however that isn’t the reason we do it. We HAUNTED MAGAZINE

do it because we all share a passion for the unknown, ghosts and hauntings, exploring historic locations and of course the social element of being together with good friends.

Ben: We’re constantly improving on the show and changing things around to see what works best, we look at the analytics and figure out what parts of the show may drag on too much or need altering in some way. We are always trying to improve and take the show as far as possible.

As a team you extol the virtues of ‘Back to Basics’ ghost hunting. What exactly is this and why did you adopt that approach? Jane: It’s stripping away as many gadgets as possible taking it back to how it began, yes, our cameras and listening equipment are more advanced now but it’s our own senses that do most of the work. It means we don’t miss anything because we are listening to static and watching flashy lights. We chose this approach as it’s different to everything else out there! Phil: When you think of all those who are known in the field of paranormal

What’s the most compelling evidence that you have captured and where? Dale: We have all experienced something that cannot be explained, but that wasn’t necessarily caught on camera or audio unfortunately, take Wigan House in the episode ‘A very strange place’ or our Tutbury Castle Halloween special for example where both myself and Jane saw figures at these locations. Phil: This for me would be at Keighley underground street ‘Step out of the darkness’ the episode of which was featured in season two. We captured several, noticeably clear audio clips, featuring discarnate voices and other phantom sounds. And what appears to be the silhouetted head and shoulders of someone standing in one of the rooms: it was not there one second, and in the next it was. Most bizarre. Here we were, thinking that this particular venue was really quiet, as far as activity is concerned. Yet, when the footage and audio were reviewed, it turned out to be highly active indeed. Another one would have to be on the episode ‘Is anybody there?’ which we filmed at Penrhyn Old Hall in Wales, where we captured - on camera audio - what sounded like a female voice. Most of us heard this at the time too. Both particularly good venues.

investigation - Harry Price, Peter Underwood, Maurice Grosse, and Guy Lion-Playfair to name a few - they used very little in the way of gadgets: certainly not the sort of gadgets about today. Yet, they got some fascinating results.

“

Today you see all sorts of whistling, beeping, flashing gizmos marketed as ghost hunting gear. The truth of the matter is that none of them is scientifically proven to detect anything to do with ghosts or spirits: heck, we don’t even know if such things as ghosts or spirits exist (only that people are experiencing something).

So, we decided to do away with those types of gadgets, in favour of a more personal

experience by relying on our own senses. Ok, we use CCTV, audio recorders, or sometimes a thermal imaging camera, but these particular bits of kit do exactly what they are designed to do, and nothing more. Take the EMF meter, for instance, it is designed to detect fluctuations in the EMF field. Fact. But it’s usage on a paranormal investigation solely relies on the idea that ghosts or spirits cause an increase in EMF measurements. How do we know this? Who said this is correct? Nobody, because we simply do not know.

Wayne: We’ve had so much feedback from people who have had paranormal experiences while using no equipment at all, so we wanted to use our time to create a back-to-basics investigation using mainly audio and video recording devices to document what we experience for ourselves. Dale: We have always had the ethos that while ever you’re concentrating on a ghost box, or an EMF meter you might miss something with your own eyes or ears, hence going back to basics, and doing it the oldfashioned way! HAUNTED MAGAZINE

We have had some cracking audio evidence from episode 1 of season 2 ‘Is anybody there?’ filmed at Penrhyn Old Hall and more recently on the Keighley Underground Streets episode as well as various other locations, which have all shocked us with how clear the captures are and difficult to rationalise.

Wayne: For me, the most compelling evidence we have had - so far - is the EVP we caught on the Zoom H5 at Keighley Streets in our latest episode ‘Step out of the darkness’.

Sara: Our most recently released episode ‘Step out of the darkness’ which we filmed at the very eerie subterranean shopping arcade in Keighley, West Yorkshire surprised us with some real gems after reviewing the footage. The place itself is rather fantastic, it really looks the part: an underground rabbit warren of corridors and rooms that is totally pitch black. The scene was well and truly set, however the night for us seemed quiet, and I have to say we all came away feeling a tad disappointed as we’d heard it can kick up some really good results. As you know, trawling back through hours of footage is a very long and arduous task, but it was worth every minute to see – and hear – what we caught.

A good few EVPS, one in particular, a noticeably clear male voice, which still baffles me now.

Then there’s the shadow figure, a clear head and shoulder outline of what appears to be a silhouetted figure. As the shot pans round, it’s there for a couple of seconds, but where it came from, we have no idea? Nothing was seen at the time. Thorne Workhouse, season one ‘It came from near the door’ is a location that literally gave us constant results for the duration of our night there: doors opening and closing, footsteps, banging sounds, I think that has to be one of the most active places I have ever investigated.

Dale

“

I suppose I have got the reputation for being easily scared, take the ‘Dale scream’ moment that occurred early on in Season One!

THE PHIL WHYMAN GUIDE TO APPS, GADGETS & DEMONS...

Let’s tackle apps first. There are no apps that I would use, except perhaps for the following: •

• •

•

Audio/voice recorder. An app for measuring vibrations (placed in a controlled room). Torch.

Personally, that would be about it for me. Kit. Each to their own, but you now know my views on gadgets: not only are they not needed, but they can be a waste of money in my eyes. You only really need the following:

A camcorder (preferably with night shot function). A stills camera. Dale is our photographic expert. Audio recorder. Wayne is our audio guy, using a Zoom H5 and H6. Notepad and pen. Torch. We use Nightsearcher torches. First aid kit. Perhaps a trigger object and some paper. Pens/pencils.

Demons. I do not believe such things

exist, in the form that we perceive them. I believe that if there are such things as spirits, they are capable of being evil or nasty, perhaps how they were when living.

Jane: A lot of experiences we’ve had unfortunately didn’t catch on film/recorder but the most compelling for me that we have caught would be the audibles and “figure” at on our latest episode at Keithley underground streets. Ben: We’ve captured quite a lot of evidence over our 2 seasons, the most notable ones being where Jane has seen 2 different figures and we have also managed to capture a figure on camera during filming for ‘Step out of the darkness’ episode. We’ve caught endless audios on camera that just cannot be explained. WATCH THE STEP OUT OF THE DARKNESS EPISODE SCAN THE QR CODE WITH YOUR CAMERA PHONE / QR READER APP

https://youtu.be/7LiTgqznfyI

What locations are on the AYH bucket list? And where would you never return?

love to go, we just need a sponsor ;) Ireland has a great reputation too and that’s a lot closer to home, so never say never! I don’t think there’s anywhere I wouldn’t return too though. Phil: Loads. East State Penitentiary, Waverley Hills Sanitorium, the Tower of London, Alcatraz...the list goes on. Out of all the venues we have filmed at for Are You Haunted...? I don’t think there is one that I would not return to. In fact, there are a couple I would really like to visit again.

Jane: We all have different ones, but Waverley Sanatorium for me or The Tower of London.

Who is the most easily scared? Most sceptical? Most likely to giggle? Most likely to break wind? Most mischievous? Dale: I suppose I have got the reputation for being easily scared, take the ‘Dale scream’ moment that occurred early on in Season One! We’re all sceptical, we go into locations to not only look for the paranormal, but we also try and rationalise it and debunk it if we can. We all love a giggle, just watch our Ghost Casts on YouTube, most will say I’m the giggly one, the others laugh at me! Phil breaks wind way too often, and at the most inappropriate times, and he’s definitely the most mischievous too! Jane: Dale, all of us, all of us, Dale or Ben closely followed by Phil (all 3 smell to be honest), Wayne. Phil: Lol...this is the definitive list:

Most easily scared? Easy, Dale...all day long.

Sara: I’d absolutely love to do a haunted tour of the States. I am so envious of some of the abandoned asylums, hospitals, and prisons they have over there: the bigger and scarier, the better! There are a few places that I wouldn’t want to return to for different reasons really. I’m actually hesitant to go back to places that have provided us with good results. I’ve done this in the past and gone back and had absolutely nothing at all happen, which then leaves you feeling disappointed and ruins the memory of the good time you had there. That said, I do want to go back to Keighley and revisit the underground arcade, we definitely have some unfinished business with that one! Dale: Stateside, Alcatraz and the Stanley Hotel are two of my personal favourites, but there are so many other places we’d HAUNTED MAGAZINE

Wayne

Most sceptical? That would be me...most of the crew would probably agree with that too.

Most likely to giggle? Dale...again. We have witnessed him having laughing fits so hard that he has fallen off his chair, incapable of getting up off the floor. Check out the Are You Haunted...? Ghost Cast on YouTube, episode two, and you will see him in full giggle-flow. Most likely to break wind? Dale...and does so, frequently. In fact, his propensity to break wind is only equalled by his ability to yawn. Most mischievous? Me, I would say.

Sara: Most easily scared, definitely Dale. Sceptical, I’d have to say we’re all on a same level with this one, which is important as a team we all try to explain things first and foremost. Giggle… Oh Dale, again, he literally cries once he gets going! Break wind... urgghh boys, just boys in general…what is it with you guys!? Mischievous…I’d initially say Ben, but I think we can all have our moments with that one!

What’s next for AYH when we get past the pandemic? Dale: More filming! We are all missing it so much and can’t wait to get out and record some more episodes.

Sara: We are currently bridging the gap with the ‘Are You Haunted...? Ghost Cast’ which we are putting out fortnightly on YouTube. Currently it’s just the six of us. We wanted to test the water to see if people would enjoy watching our crazy half

hour show, and if they did then we’ll see if we can entice the odd guest along to brave the madness with us too. We do also have the odd episode up our sleeves that we managed to film back during ‘normal life’, so much more editing to keep us busy! But of course we are literally chomping at the bit to get back out there investigating again, and I know we have some really good potential places lined up for us when we can. Season 3, as I mentioned will see Are You Haunted..? evolve further as we bang it up another notch or two: the lightbulb keeps flashing and I can’t wait to get back out there and turn the ideas into reality! Wayne: Investigate, investigate, investigate!!! We’ve got some fantastic locations lined up. I Can’t wait for everyone to see them and get back to doing what we love to do!

Phil: Well, we have already started the Are You Haunted...? Ghost Cast, which at the time of writing this airs every fortnight. It’s a light-hearted show, where we discuss what we thought of a previous AYH investigation, we have a news article of the day, a topic of the day, and - rather bizarrely - we play a round of ‘Would You Rather’, with hilarious results! Of course, I get a chance to mess about with the editing, adding some rather special, comedy touches to the entire thing, often at the expense of team members. It’s great fun, and we hope people who watch it think so too: it’s what we all need at the moment. Once we are able, then season three is very much on the horizon: we have already contacted some amazing venues who, like

Jane us, are waiting for the present situation to ease.

Ben: We will be continuing the show and moving onto creating season 3 and growing our brand Jane: Simple answer. Season 3.

You can find out more about Are You Haunted? just by typing their details into most search engines, which gives you info about them via all their social media sites, Facebook, twitter, YouTube etc... They are also available to watch via Amazon Prime Video.

HANS HOLZER:

America’s first Ghost Hunter? A glimpse into the man himself

ANS HOLZER would have been the grand old age of 101 this year, if he had lived (of course). He died aged 89 and one question he got asked was “what he would be doing on his 100th birthday?”, to which he replied, “looking forward to his 101st”. A strange question and a strange but precise answer. I think it sums him up, always looking to the future. We wanted to celebrate his life but when his daughter got in touch asking to write about Hans, we thought we could celebrate it, but personalise it at the same time.

et’s not forget that before his death in 2009, Holzer authored nearly 140 books on the paranormal, extraterrestrial life, witchcraft, and more, beginning with 1963s Ghost Hunter. During a career that famously involved the “Amityville Horror” house case in 1977, Holzer also taught parapsychology at the New York Institute of Technology, and both appeared on, and consulted for, Leonard Nimoy’s late 1970s show In Search Of… And interestingly, actor Dan Aykroyd claimed an obsession with Holzer, which inspired him to write Ghostbusters.

Written by his daughter, Alexandra

e always corrected people on how to address him. He was proper and reserved and expected people to extend the same courtesy. He is Professor Dr. Hans Holzer, not that Ghost Guy or Hans unless you knew him well enough to get away with that. He had a great sense of humour albeit dry at times ... served its purpose in getting across what he was trying to convey. There was a time to be serious and there was a time to hang loose. Hanging loose in the Holzer Homestead consisted of a variety type show held in a living rotating museum. Shrunken heads, artifacts from around the globe, antiques, symbolic pieces delving into the past and steeped in meaning, witches brew ingredients and on it went! This was my childhood into young adulthood. I could go on but will stop here. Born in Vienna, Austria in 1920, my father developed an interest in the supernatural when his uncle Henry told him stories about ghosts and fairies. For him, it was the beginning of what would be his destiny and chosen path for his life span. Just 40 plus years earlier, some researchers were on the way to forming this path father would soon travel upon. He studied such languages as Japanese at Columbia University, earning a master’s degree in comparative religion and a doctorate in Parapsychology at the London College of Applied Science. HAUNTED MAGAZINE

He studied his predecessors before him doing early psychical research as the word parapsychology was born around 1889 by a philosopher named Max Dessoir. J.B. Rhine in the 1930s made it known as psychical research. Parapsychologists utilize many approaches for the study of apparent paranormal phenomena. Father ran the gamut of his physical research who unlike many of his predecessors and those few after him... studied most paranormal phenomena. According to the Parapsychological Association, parapsychologists do not nor are they concerned with astrology,

UFOs, Bigfoot, paganism, vampires, alchemy, or witchcraft. Father did not fully follow this same thought and did become a Warlock studying white magic. He went underground from Manhattan to California meeting up with secret societies learning about their rituals and beliefs.

As an academic parapsychologist, he took his calling extremely seriously. Hence where I think his jokes were a bit dry, but he insisted he was indeed funny. Three “dirty words” in his vocabulary were: belief, disbelief and supernatural. “Belief

This separated him from those before and after him making him a unique, highly intelligent, and aware soul to be born into our world. For that reason and reason alone, he was a bit of everything to the world when it came to the Paranormal and the Occult. We had many tarot card decks in our home as well as Zener cards for telepathic communication which he had on-going with clients and friends. Everything he did, said, wrote about, experienced was all to educate those around him. At home, I was the one listening. I was the one who paid close attention to father. I have never stopped. As a father, he was loving, always doting concerned whether or not I had eaten enough and a “what else did I require” attitude. Before I was a supernatural twinkle in his deep, blue greying eyes, he was teaching and speaking foreign languages. He learned as much as he could as a courtesy to when he travelled abroad for work. He felt it was a must to learn one’s culture that differed from your own as a form of high respect. This was one of his many special qualities when dealing with the public. I recall the phone ringing and he picks it up to answer saying, “Moshi Moshi.” I thought, “Wow that is the weirdest thing to say when picking up the phone!” I questioned him at the ripe old age of eight, and he said to me peering down over me ... that he was expecting a call from Japan and that is how you start a telephone call. I knew then more and more I was fascinated with his every movement in that apartment watching and listening into his conversations and meetings at hand. The phone rang day and night but on a strict schedule as he would often bark at those calling at the “wrong time.” My father was the sweetest man who loved the world and nature. His veganism spoke loudly to all and his passion to convert others into understanding why that lifestyle choice... was insurmountable and unrelenting. It took me a long time to grasp that natural concept and apply it into my daily life.

is the uncritical acceptance of something you can’t prove,” he explained. “I work on evidence.” He therefore dismissed the existence of angels and regarded the world’s religions as corporations that make large profits out of scaring the “hell” out of their followers. Yes, he was firm in his belief in ghosts (people who do not realize that they are dead and are therefore “confused as to their real status”) and was convinced that extra-terrestrials are abducting human beings to learn about life on earth. That yields the theories of the Men in Black (not just a film) and half-breeds to name just a few. Ghosts were, according to him, imprints left in the environment which could be “picked up” by sensitive people, such as myself.

ather was comfortable in all worlds he explored, having appeared on over 250 hundred national, local as well as foreign television and radio programs. He was a regular on television talk shows and even hosted his own show, Ghost Hunter. He has been credited with creating the term “The Other Side” (already in use, however, in nineteenth century spiritualism) or in full “The Other Side of Life.”

e was the least pretentious man I ever knew. As a father, he was the most nurturing man I ever knew. He was the one who held my hand as we crossed Manhattan’s busy, bustling beeping streets to get to the ‘other side.’ Yes, pun intended.

Spirits were intelligent beings who could interact with the living; while “stay behinds” were those who found themselves earth-bound after death. He also believed in reincarnation and the existence of “levels of consciousness”. Father was full of a life many of us simply cannot begin to imagine or comprehend. He was so unique and a bit quirky that often times was misunderstood. Moving on towards his inner creative self, his love for the theatre led him to become the New York Drama Critic for the London Times in the 1950s. He subsequently HAUNTED MAGAZINE

became a member of ASCAP, SAG, AFTRA and the Authors Guild. Who else out there could have such a resume and still be so in-touch with our universal codes and purpose? He would play piano with lyrics and notes he composed for me which in turn got me interested in playing the piano. That brought us much joy over the years. It was when mother began playing her folk guitar, and very well she played, that the singing kicked in and I left! There was only so much ‘musical Holzer talent’ I could endure. It was at this time, his first comedic play “Hotel Excelsior” was appearing off Broadway, the first of many to follow including “The Way You Kissed Last Night” and “Laugh It Up.” Lyrics and musical scores followed for “Lysistrata” and “Mister Broadway.” Steeped in tradition dating from 17th Century England, father was the Producer/ Director of the infamous New York City “Kit Kat Club” which hosted the Artists and Model Ball of the ‘60s. There, he met my mother. He is also sometimes credited with having coined the term “ghost hunter,” which was the title of his first book on the paranormal, published in 1963. I hope many reading this will now comprehend the place in history he has had and to dismiss the chicken and egg controversy. However, it would be made of soy and tofu. In 1966, after airing a television special, “Eye on New York,” which featured father, CBS TV affectionately became known

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as “CBSeance.” The show garnered the highest ARB rating(s) ever, for any series segment of that time. Father was not your ordinary, run-of-the mill persona from what we have been seeing since the next reality show surge hit airwaves in the early 2000’s. No. He did it all and was a man cut from his own cloth that could never be replicated. History gets forgotten and often replenished... by folks such as myself and so many others who are passionate as well, who are here to stay, make noise, and leave lasting impressions. Father works with me from the other side in any environment and it is a wacky, odd ball feeling as in life he was very self-absorbed into his own world of the unknown. I am excited yet at the same time it is a paradoxical moment nervous as to what he has been teaching and showing me. I reintroduce to you Americas first Ghost Hunter among so many other of his functions and purpose. We continue his journey educating not just myself but those assigned to his next calling. Buckle up, The Holzer Method lives on and the ride has taken off. Keep your hands and feet to the side and do not touch anything you do not recognize. It can get ugly out there but remember and ask yourself, “What is real and what is not real? Because a lot of it is not real. A lot of it is questionable. And we’ve got to somehow try to separate those things.”

A lexandra x

IN HAUNTe HAUNTeD MAGAZINE LEFT TO RIGHT: Barri Ghai, Jayne Harris and Deborah Davies

ave you ever been asked to explain the paranormal? The standard dictionary definition of the paranormal is “beyond science” – and that opens up a whole new spooky kettle of ghost fish, alien fish, and/ or monster fish. UNEXPLAINED! Caught on Camera is back for a second series, which tells us a few things a) that it was well received b) the viewing public love a good paranormal TV show and c) there’s still shed loads of more unexplainable things caught on camera than we realise. Initial reviews suggest that the second series is more fast paced than the first, concentrating on a couple of stories interspersed with unexplainable things caught on camera. And what a stellar cast of paranormal types they have on board, Jayne Harris, Barri Ghai, the good doctor, Dr. Ciaran O’Keeffe and medium Deborah Davies all casting their opinions on what they’ve witnessed. These four have a wealth of knowledge from all the sectors of the paranormal, and from the first episode it’s quite clear some are more sceptical than the others but one thing HAUNTED MAGAZINE

they don’t do is dismiss out of hand, stomp around, shouting PHOTOSHOP as loud as they can. You may even recognise some of the other faces who have caught unexplainable footage on camera, deemed worthy enough of a more detailed forensic examination into what has been caught. You can catch UNEXPLAINED! Caught on camera* on Really on Spooky Supernatural Saturdays (check your provider to see what channel Really is on (there’s so many these days)). Unless you’re reading this as a back issue of course. We had the pleasure catching up with our good friends Jayne and Barri and chatted to series producer Daniela Carson.

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“We wanted to expand the series, from the amazing clips and footage we receive, to sending out our camera crew to become a part of some of the investigations themselves.”

Hi Daniela, welcome back! What changes have been made since the first season to the format of the show? We made a few changes this season; we decided to introduce the experts and have a bit of background on who they are at the beginning of the show. We also aimed to feature as many UK based Paranormal Investigators as we could. We wanted to expand the series, from the amazing clips and footage we receive, to sending out our camera crew to become a part of some of the investigations themselves. Have you been inundated with new submissions? What have you been looking for this time? We had such a great response from people sending in their footage and the team really enjoyed going through all the clips and stories that were sent in. The clips that really stood out, were ones where something ‘obvious and visual’ was caught on camera that really can’t be explained. But we can never have too much to choose from, and we were encouraging people all the time to send in their footage. I’m sure there are still some amazing clips out there and we would be keen to hear from anyone who has a story to tell. How does it work? Is there a panel of you who choose what goes in and what doesn’t? We have a team that go through all of the clips that get sent in. If one member of our team spots something ‘unexplained’, then it’s shared with the rest of the team, so that we can

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discuss the clip together. Ultimately people have differing opinions on what’s happening in clips, but if there is any intrigue whatsoever or the clip itself sparks discussion or debate, then it is likely to be one we will look into further and potentially feature. Obviously, the show started (Feb 20th), are you and your team working on it till the last minute or is there always a procedure to follow? We are constantly working on the programme, up until it airs, whether it be communicating with those involved to notify them of the programme air date, or writing episode descriptions for TV listings. Once the programme has been edited and delivered, there are still loose ends to tie up for the production team. One word to describe a) Jayne Harris b) Barri Ghai c) Ciaran O’Keeffe d) Deborah Davies a) Jayne Harris - Insightful b) Barri Ghai - Perceptive c) Ciaran O’Keeffe - Astute d) Deborah Davies - Fun! Are you a sceptic or believer yourself? Has anything genuinely surprised you or unsettled you this time? I do have a spiritual side and I am always open to believing, however evidence has to be really compelling to convince me. The thing that surprised me this series was one of our contributors who is an ‘energy bender’ and performs tele-kinesis. After hearing first-hand about his abilities, my perspective on energy and

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the way it can be manipulated has changed. I can totally see and understand how we may all have the ability to create energy and manipulate the movement of energy in order to move things. When I find the time, I’m going to attempt some entry level tele-kinesis myself! Have you ever pulled the plug or disagreed with any of the experts? If so who! One of my favourite things about this series is the contributions of the experts. It’s great to hear different perspectives and interpretations of what’s going on in the clips. This series, we ensured that we had a good mix of experts so that the perspectives are varied and come from different stand points. Not everyone need agree with the experts, but having a mix of opinions, helps us as viewers choose and form our own. Are there any clips you refuse to show? Or made you laugh out loud? The only clips that can sometimes be close to the wire, are exorcisms. When someone is clearly in distress, then we have to carefully consider when and how we use the clip. The Retford Ghost Hunters made me laugh out loud! The team were having a brilliant laugh together and during their investigations they captured a sinister laugh on their EVP which made the whole thing even funnier. Is season 3 in the pipeline? You will have to wait and see!

We didn’t get the opportunity to properly discuss the clips with the other experts on the show, although Jayne and I did have a few calls prior to filming where we shared our initial thoughts on some of the more bizarre, strange or blatantly ridiculous things presented to us in the showcase of clips. If a clip is too good to be true, does that mean it usually isn’t?

BARRI GHAI

How has the quality of clips changed since the first series? The clips are far more varied and cover a plethora of paranormal phenomena. There is no particular theme and the series includes potential evidence of hauntings, poltergeists, cryptids, UFO’s, Shadow people, mermaids, demons and much more! It’s important to have wide variety and showcase the range of different paranormal evidence captured by people every day and that’s exactly what the new series of Unexplained Caught on Camera does. Has anything really stood out and surprised you this time? I’m always surprised by the clips we see on this show. It’s amazing to think that more and more people across the world are capturing things that are sometimes mind boggling and seriously strange. It keeps us all on our toes with cameras at the ready. Did you get the opportunity to discuss the clips together?

If a clip is too good to be true, it often is. I’m quite sceptical when I see things that are truly amazing and spend time pondering how, what and why something is or isn’t. My problem is I really do want to believe though, so like to keep an open mind about things. However, as you know video evidence can be easily manipulated and sometimes people try a little too hard to convince others, sometimes allowing their ego’s or quest for YouTube fame to blur the lines between what is real and what is clearly not. What are you favourite type of clips? My favourite type of clips are the ghostly ones. I’m not an expert in cryptozoology or UFO’s and spend my spare time looking at ghost photographs, videos and listening to EVP’s. I do love looking at other different areas of paranormal evidence though, but spend far more time delving deeper into ghosts and hauntings. What is the best clip YOU have caught yourself? I’ve captured many incredible things over 20 years, but nothing really stands out yet as a defining piece of amazing video evidence. I guess when you’ve experienced as much as I have over the years it needs to be a full bodied manifestation of Michael Jackson appearing in High Definition to truly blow me away. I’ve captured shadow figures, lights turning on and off by themselves, small objects moving and recorded sounds and disembodied voices which in my opinion are far more terrifying than some of the videos I’ve seen or captured myself. HAUNTED MAGAZINE

This documentary series explores unexplainable UGC footage; from poltergeist activity caught on mobile phones to ghostly apparitions on security cameras. This series uncovers a multitude of weird and wonderful phenomenon; all caught on camera. We hear first- hand accounts from the people who have come face to face with the unexplained, and a team of paranormal experts casts a critical eye over the footage in attempt to explain the unexplainable.

EPISODE 1 UFO sightings deep in Rendlesham Forest have investigators caught up in a chase; unexplained sightings in Great Yarmouth wash up the remains of a mermaid; the opening of a demonic box in Florida causes mayhem; and a sky in Georgia reveals a space oddity. EPISODE 2 A guitar shop in Brighton is rocked by ghostly goings on; there is something sinister beyond the grave in Florida as a man collapses from a suspected possession; a ghost hunter finds voodoo treasure in New Orleans; and a vanishing hound haunts a couple in Texas. EPISODE 3 A Haunted house in Buckinghamshire leaves a couple horrified as their new house has an unwanted polter-guest; a paranormal investigation in a Cornish cottage contacts the dead; and in New Jersey one lady shows us her collection of deathly dolls. EPISODE 4 An investigation at a haunted pub in Grantham goes beyond a joke; a cursed cupboard in Cornwall reveals skeletons in the closet; something tries to share the limelight with a young dancer in Scotland; and one man’s walk in the woods turns into something extraterrestrial EPISODE 5 Looking for a legend in a Cornish cemetery puts two investigators in grave danger; locals in the highlands of Scotland go hunting for the Loch Ness Monster; a mysterious shop in Suffolk has some seriously spooky customers; and one man is making enemies in a haunted church in Tennessee.

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JAYNE HARRIS

How has the quality of clips changed since the first series? I wouldn’t say the quality has changed...we always get great clips! This series however we’ve managed to find potential evidence of not only ghosts and hauntings but a wide range of bizarre, weird and wonderful happenings too, from a potential Bigfoot sighting to UFO’s and a Dybbuk box. I think the variety of footage and cases is really what makes the show stand out. Has anything really stood out and surprised you this time? Some of my favourite clips are those captured by people who weren’t actually intended to capture anything unusual and for me this time my eyes have been on the skies and I’ve really enjoyed analysing the potential UFO sightings as for me, they are some of the most compelling. Did you get the opportunity to discuss the clips together? We don’t discuss the clips, which I think is really important as there’s no chance of being swayed one way or the other by each other’s opinions.

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EPISODE 6 A security guard’s patrol takes a petrifying turn in Georgia; a ventriloquist doll in Liverpool moves without its master; a man shows off his extraordinary ability to communicate with aliens; and in Devon its lights, camera, action for two budding investigators who conjure up a power surge.

The first we get to hear of each other’s thoughts on the clips is when we watch each episode so for us the show is as interesting to watch as it is to be involved in.

EPISODE 7 There’s no escape from a house of horrors in New York; a snakehunter hears sinister voices in an underground bunker in Florida; a breezy spirit in Cambridgeshire likes to open a window when nobody’s looking; and an investigator in an abandoned shop finds herself in the firing line.

If a clip is too good to be true, does that mean it usually isn’t? No not necessarily. There is a fine line when it comes to paranormal research and we have to keep an open mind. I think its human nature to assume something must have been faked if, when we watch it, it shakes our core beliefs around a particular subject, but that doesn›t mean we should dismiss it.

EPISODE 8 A haunted house in Texas has a chilling twist; a spookythemed escape room in Stoke on Trent gives players a fright; investigators in Florida contact spirits through a disturbing child’s doll that moves on its own; and in Massachusetts one man’s super strength goes to his head.

What are you favourite type of clips? Obviously as an Investigator I love to see other people’s paranormal investigations and evidence as I can put myself quite easily into their shoes and appreciate how mind blowing some of these things must have been to capture. I also love seeing really unexpected captures for example things caught in the background of unsuspecting peoples video calls!

EPISODE 9 One man’s extraordinary powers to play with the paranormal; things go bump in the night for two investigators in Surrey; there’s skeletons in the closet in Canada; and urban explorers in Yorkshire make a deadly discovery.

What is the best clip YOU have caught yourself? I was recently investigating a Victorian building built on the foundations of a 13th century city gaol. While in one room with laser grid lighting a ball I’d positioned at the top of the stairs came bouncing down to the bottom. I jumped up and ran towards the sound, camera in hand, when I reviewed that footage I had captured the clearest (and largest) shadow figure I’ve ever seen. It moved towards me as I left the room as when I paused the footage it was unmistakable! https://link.edgepilot.com/s/95deed7b/ UcRWP5bHXEq_7JrRQMdRQQ?u=https:// www.facebook.com/HDParanormal/ videos/1261205740913137/

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You can catch UNEXPLAINED! CAUGHT ON CAMERA* on Really on Spooky Supernatural Saturdays (check your provider to see what channel Really is on (there’s so many these days)). * Unless you’re reading this as a back issue of course

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A Big Foot encounter in Ohio gets hairy; an unexplainable beast gets washed up on a Liverpool beach; in Mexico City one man shows off his ability to meddle with Mother Nature; and an investigation in a Nevada clown motel gets out of hand.

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