Haunted Magazine Issue 30 - Ghost Brothers - Lights Out by Dead Good Publishing Ltd

CONTENTS EDITORIAL

SAFETY IN NUMBERS, STRENGTH IN NUMBERS, SPOOKINESS IN NUMBERS… There is something very weird & spooky about the number 30. In numerology it symbolises tolerance, creative self-expression, socialising, imagination & inspiration which are / should be many traits of the paranormal. We should all be tolerant of people’s differing opinions, allow our creative selfexpressions & imaginations to shine in the paranormal, socialising is a big thing to us paranormalists, especially having not been able to do it because of the pandemic and it goes without saying that should all be inspired by the great and good people of the paranormal, doing their thing, no matter what it is, their own way. Even in spirituality circles, the number 30 is associated with change and apparently, our guardian Angels are at this very moment trying to spread the message that change maybe ahead & for us to embrace it with enthusiasm & joy. One thing for sure is that the paranormal is an ever-changing sector, no two nights are never the same. Those guardian Angels are bloody busy little cherubic creatures, that’s for sure. And let us not forget one of the top haunted locations in the UK has the number 30 emblazoned on its door, and thousands of ghost hunters have walked past that door in search of evidence of paranormal activity. It goes without saying that we are so proud to bring you issue 30 of Haunted Magazin; change is afoot, we’re printing and distributing more copies than ever before AND we are available in more places than ever before too. Please embrace it with the enthusiasm & joy that it (hopefully) warrants.

Enjoy the magazine.

Paul

#dontbenormal BE PARANORMAL!!

DISASTER, DEATH AND THE DYATLOV PASS: Will anyone ever know what really happened? Morgan Knudsen tries her best to find out HUNTING HAUNTINGS WITH HOROSCOPES: Can planetary alignments & astrology help us seek ghosts, or is it a load of Taurus?

THE ORDER OF THE ODD FELLOWS: An asylum, a winery and even a skeleton called George, how very odd.

ROSSLYN, THE CHAPEL OF UNREST: Often misspelt, occasionally misunderstood, always mysterious.

THE MARBURY LADY: Why is a Supernatural Statue, a freaky figurine, a creepy carving paying homage to a haunting?

WHEN THE PARANORMAL GOES PEAR-SHAPED: The death of Hugo De Gifford, the last Necromancer of Scotland remains a mystery, even his remains remain a mystery. *COVER FEATURE* THE MAIN ATTRACTION: Hotel Cecil re-opens its doors in 2021. What lies in wait for the gutsy guests? Richard Estep traces its history.

THE ANTIQUES GHOST SHOW: Hubert Hobux is back on a (between lockdown) hunt at Hinckley’s Haunted Antiques Paranormal Research Centre *COVER FEATURE* GOOSEBUMPS AT GHOSTLY GETTYSBURG: A Dad and daughter, a road trip, a battlefield tour, and a ghost caught on camera?

*EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW* LIGHTS OUT, CAMERA, ACTION: Dalen, Juwan and Marcus are back, popping that trunk, but this time with a new show and a new twist. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: Burke & Hare, demons, freaky feline fellows and the murder houses of Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital.

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 the second issue of the 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 another UFO TODAY, it’s something a little bit different, it’s a something a little bit EXTRA … (ahem) …. Terrestrial.

*COVER FEATURE* BEAM ME UP GUPPY: Victorian Mediums, they’re exciting, eccentric, eventful, ectoplasmic and some can fly?! Kate Cherrell explains how. *COVER FEATURE* GHOUL BRITANNIA: A top 30 of the current paranormal movers & shakers, some you know & love, some you won’t.

GAMERS GO GHOSTHUNTING: Drake’s Island, off limits for decades, underground tunnels, derelict buildings, what could possibly happen during a ghost hunt?

NOT SO ‘ORRIBLE ‘ISTORIES: Does Hex really mark the spot when it comes to conspiracies and curses, or is only plain bad luck?

THE RHODE ISLAND DEAD: Deborah Hyde investigates ‘The Vampires of New England’, TB or not TB, that is the question. HAUNTED MAGAZINE

EVERYONE HAS A GHOST STORY: In an exclusive interview Amelia Cotter writes about ghost stories, including her very own experiences. BRIGHTON SHOCK: Our Wizardess of Oz, Sarah Chumacero tells us the terrible tale of Tilly and the Tavern

PEOPLE’S PERSONAL PARANORMAL (PART 2): The continuing adventures of Ann and her journey into the spooky and the supernatural.

THE HAUNTING OF THE BELL INN: Is this Britain’s oldest pub? Is this also home to spirits, other than the ones behind the bar? Lorien Jones investigates

IF YOU GO BACK TO THE WOODS TODAY: A rolling stone gathers no moss, Katie Waller gathers some moss & is in for a big surprise.

HORROR IN THE WILD:

THE DYATLOV PASS

By Morgan Knudsen, Entityseeker Paranorma l Research & Teachings

ow many of us have told stories around the campfire? We've sat around on cold nights, gathered by the heat of the flame in the dark of the forests with flashlights and s'mores, and spoke names like 'Candyman', 'the Boogeyman', and the demons of the dark. Many adults and kids have strong memories of laying in their tent, hearing raccoons and deer snooping through their leftover food while their tentmates wondered if it might indeed be one of the monsters they had envisioned around the fire. For First Nations people around the world, the creatures of the woods, wild, and mountains, have a significance that Western settlers and descendants rarely understand or respect. The roar of the wings of the Eagles and Thunderbirds, the power of the Bear, and the intricate roles Nature plays with all living things and the Creator, all have legends and

stories that often become brushed aside by our modern science-driven world. Here, the world of Spirit gets trampled in our speaking and in our actions as urban sprawl begins to spread into what was once contested territory by both humans and cryptids alike. However, across the globe, in the frozen wild of Russia, the stories of monsters and myths are not so easy set aside. In Tibet, the Sherpa people speak openly about their life with a creature they believe is the protector and god of the mountains. One who preys on their zapko (a beast of burden, across between a yak and cow), and occasionally, on the people themselves. The respect it, but their fear of it runs deep. In the west, we know it as the Yeti, but it was not until an expedition to Mount Everest by famed climber Eric Shipton that the giant, hairy, bi-pedal ape HAUNTED MAGAZINE

was brought to attention. These giant ape-like monsters with brown or golden hair, conical heads, and huge stature, were said to have left behind tracks (which Shipton's team promptly photographed and grew famous for) and it is said, by the locals, that they are positioned to enact justice towards whoever disrespects the mountains. Whether this is true or not, or whether they are just an animal which protects its own space is up for debate. However, in the Ural Mountains of the Soviet Union in 1959, the concept of the Yeti was brought to a new and terrifying public awareness when a group of hiking students from the Ural Polytechnical Institute was found slaughtered and mutilated, in what is now known as the Dyatlov Pass. And since then, Yeti sightings there have increased, as well as the disappearance of up to nine more hikers, as late as 2019.

he pass was named after expedition leader Igor Dyatlov, a young twentythree-year-old radio engineering student who was leading the ski trip. Eight men and two women went with him, all grade II hikers with ski tour experience, and receiving grade III upon their return, the highest you could acquire and would require traversing at least 300 kilometers. On January 23, 1959, the Dyatlov group had their route approved by officials and were off on the very same day. I live in the prairies of Alberta, within a short distance of our Western Rockies. The temperatures here can easily drop as low as Siberia. As I write this, we sit on the edge of a weather system that is to bring our temperatures to -46C this very weekend. Possibly the most deafening aspects of these winters is the silence. The snow absorbs all sound like Nature's studio, and very little record is left of any living thing outside. When the Dyatlov group fell silent in the frozen landscape on February 12, by February 20th, the families demanded a searcher party be dispatched to the Ural mountain region to find them. On February 26th, the first sign of the party was found. Mikhail Sharavin, the student who found the tent, said "the tent was half torn down and covered with snow. It was empty, and all the group's belongings and shoes had been left behind." The investigators onsite noticed that the tent was torn from the inside. The group had not only left the safety and heat of the camp, but they had left in one hell of a hurry, leaving behind jackets, shoes, socks, and all aid. They followed some of the tracks down to the edge of the woods, on the opposite side of the pass. At the forest's edge, under a large Siberian pine the searchers found the visible remains of

This unknown figure was caught on the film developed from Thibeaux-Brignolle's camera

a small fire. There were the first two bodies, shoeless and dressed only in underwear. The branches on the tree were broken up to five meters high, suggesting that one of the skiers had climbed up in attempts to find a better view, or perhaps to escape the same thing that had driven them from the tent. The true horrors, however, were still to come. Between the pine and the camp, they found three more corpses. Upon examination, it looked as if they were trying to make their way back the camp in the dark, but the other four travellers, including Dyatlov himself, remained missing until their horrific discovery on May 4th. Upon inquiry, the nightmare began to unfold for investigators. It was determined that the first hikers were found dead of

hypothermia and were found in the bloody clothes of the other students, suggesting they had taken clothing from the other bodies rather than risk going back to the tent for their things. Three of the hikers had fatal injuries: Thibeaux-Brignolles had his skull cracked open, and Dubinina and Zolotaryov had their chests crushed in. According to Boris Vozrozhdenny, the force required to cause such damage would have been extreme, impact injuries like one would incur in a car crash. All four bodies found at the bottom of the creek in a running stream of water had soft tissue damage to their head and face.

“

One student, a girl named Dubinina, was missing her tongue, eyes, part of the lips, as well as facial tissue and a fragment of skull bone, while another named Zolotaryov had his eyes torn out, and Aleksander Kolevatov his eyebrows ripped from his face.

The entire attack, according to primatologists and cryptozoologists, had all the terrifying hallmarks of an attack by a great ape. Chimpanzees, for example, tend to target the face of their victims: tearing at the eyes, tongue, nose and lips, as well as smashing their fists into chests and skulls. The local people in the area knew the answer to the mystery no one wanted to hear, but they were ignored. Immediately, suspicions turned to the local tribe, the Mansi people. To dispel the theory of an attack by the indigenous group, HAUNTED MAGAZINE

another hike in their life, and this proves to be true to this day, as hikers continue to vanish in areas across the world where Yetis are frequently sighted.

Vozrozhdenny stated that the severe injuries the students endured could not have been caused by human beings, "because the force of the blows had been too strong, and no soft tissue had been damaged". The horror, however, lingered. With no suspects and no one to blame, the investigators turned to the one piece of physical evidence they could collect: a camera that had been found lying in the snow next to one of the bodies. Upon examination of the film, one photo stood out from the rest.

“

One of the last photos on the roll was of an upright bi-pedal creature with dark fur, leaning out from behind a tree, and seemingly watching the hikers. Immediately, the files were then hidden away in Russia's archives, never to be seen again until, in 2009, they were released to the public eye.

In the meantime, the Dyatlov Pass became notorious for more disappearances. Hikers that would set out through the pass would disappear, never to be heard from again, all while sightings of the Yeti grew more and more common. In 2019, the Indian Army who was doing an exercise in the area, photographed a plethora of large great ape tracks in the same area. This made the local papers immediately. Finally, during the same year, Russia felt compelled to re-open the investigation, but with a clause: The investigators were only allowed

to investigate three possible explanations. These consisted of a slab avalanche, an avalanche, or a hurricane. All were eliminated. In July of 2020, the Russians finally gave in to the notion that an avalanche must have indeed been the cause of death and it was ruled official. However, there are grave issues with this theory, and it does not explain the strange photograph of the oddly formed stranger lurking in the trees. The location of the incident did not have any obvious signs of an avalanche having taken place, the bodies had a very fine layer of snow covering them, and the bodies did not appear to have been swept away. Other issues included the fact the area had no history of avalanche before or since the incident, and an analysis of the terrain and the suggested that even if there could have been a very specific avalanche that found its way into the area, its path would have gone past the tent. In 2019, a Swedish-Russian expedition was made to the site, and after investigations, they proposed that a violent katabatic wind was a plausible explanation for the incident. A rare and sudden hurricane like wind that comes with a severe drop in temperature. However, this does little to explain the severe injuries, the photograph, or the other missing hikers who have disappeared since. The local people are clear on their thoughts: They believe firmly that it was, to them, the most obvious explanation. Said to be commonly known among them as Yeti territory, that pass is out of bounds for anyone who values their lives. Visitors are encouraged to avoid it if they want to see HAUNTED MAGAZINE

We like to think, as investigators, that we can study such creatures of the wild from a steady distance. They live in remote areas of imagination, worlds away in the hilltops of places we read about in textbooks. But Yeti sightings include Canada and the United States, specifically Mount Shasta in California, where investigator Brian David Wallenstein, out for a walk with his family after a Thanksgiving dinner, encountered a family of three Yetis at a rundown ski lodge on the mountainside. Rare as it is, the most elusive of cryptids has been sighted in locations where one thinks they would be more apt to run into a sasquatch before ever running across the Yeti. Russian Hominologist Dr. Igor Burtsev believes that these growing reports of encounters has directly to do with one thing: climate change. Just as other animals are being forced to change territories and to adapt to new hunting habits and changing habitat, the Yeti is no different. Urban sprawl, even in the mountains of Tibet, has begun to encroach on what was once forest and wilderness. Burtsev goes on to speak on the notion that the Yetis change in behaviour really is a warning. Local people who live amongst these remote creatures believe they are the protectors of the forests, spirit guardians of Nature, and their frequent appearances are a message to those who are not respecting the environment. Regardless of the conclusions you reach about the Dyatlov Pass or the thousands of reports, photographs, and documented physical evidence of the infamous Abominable Snowman, we still tell our stories around the campfire about the monsters in the woods. We speak of dark tales on cold winter nights and typically go to bed, safe and warm, to get up the next day believing they are just stories. However, as we get closer to nature every day, as we push the boundaries of human outreach and habitat, we may want to rethink the idea that the Yeti is simply a legend. Soon, we may no longer have the luxury to tell ourselves it will all be fine in the morning...

Morgan x

www.entityseeker.ca

BEYOND HOROSCOPES Using Astrology to plan the best times for research, investigation and evidence analysis By Courtney Mroch

an the stars influence our days and emotions? Can they predict events we might encounter and how we might react to them? Can we determine who we are romantically compatible with based on our sign? And what does any of this have to do with ghost hunting?

But how do we incorporate astrology into our investigational arsenal? It does take some planning and extra attention to detail, but once you know what to look for and how to find it, it is just a matter of waiting for the aspects to present themselves so that you can put them to the test.

Well, besides being lumped into the general occult category together, astrology shares a lot in common with ghosts. Namely, neither have been definitively proven to exist. (Yet!) Also, much like ghost hunting, astrology is an imperfect pseudo-science at best and plagued by hoaxers at worst.

Let us look at a few planets, namely Mercury, Neptune, Pluto, Jupiter and Mars, and their planetary aspects to find the best times to conduct paranormal research, investigations and evidence analysis.

But could astrology help during a paranormal investigation? After all, some people plan activities like brewing beer, cutting their hair, planting, harvesting or even fishing based on lunar cycles. Why not use the power of the stars to fuel more productive ghost hunts? Think of it like an EMF detector. It may or may not signal the presence of spirit energy. Astrology may or may not be helpful during all stages of a paranormal investigation. However, it’s really no different than utilizing other tools, from dowsing rods to tape recorders, to try and capture proof of ghosts. We won’t know if astrology can assist in our quest to find them either unless we give it a try. HAUNTED MAGAZINE

Astrology and Paranormal Research: MERCURY Anytime you are in the mood to research a location in preparation for an upcoming investigation is a good time to do it. However, have you ever considered that maybe you’re in the mood because the stars and planets are aligned just right? Thanks to their influences, it just may be why your mental energy is primed to explore a haunted location’s history or dive into the background of its past residents. And the planet that’s likely fuelling your learning quest is Mercury.

Mercury is often referred to as the Messenger Planet, which it is because it governs communication and thinking. Perhaps one of the best times Mercury ramps up our cerebral energy and motivates us to study something, be it a location or a new experiment, is when it’s in conjunction with Jupiter. A conjunction is the strongest of all aspects and happens when two planets find themselves in the same sign or house. Their aspects blend with one another to not only complement each other but also strengthen one another, making their union even more “super charged” so to say. Another good time for serious thinking and when you’ll find paying attention to details easiest is when Mercury is in conjunction with Saturn. Saturn is often referred to as the “taskmaster” planet, and for good reason. It’s considered a malefic planet and doesn’t mess around. It takes its task of teaching us lessons very seriously. But when it’s paired with Mercury, a benefic planet, during a conjunction, they form a powerful brainboosting duo. Another time when Mercury and Saturn work well together is when they’re sextile. Sextile aspects are happy, cooperative and harmonious. Therefore, when Mercury is sextile with Saturn it is a good time to plan ahead because you’ll be graced with good judgment. So, if part of your research includes examining what season might be most beneficial to investigate a location or you want to map out a strategy for getting somewhere or how you should approach a particular facet of an investigation, this is a good time to do that. One last aspect worth mentioning is a sextile between Jupiter and Pluto, which brings with it an interest in spiritual and occult ideas.

Astrology and Investigation: NEPTUNE Neptune is the planet of altered states of reality and rules areas like the subconscious, spirituality, intuition and clairvoyance. You can see how those qualities would be helpful to tap into during an investigation, right? However, it might also coax beings from the Beyond to present themselves too. That’s why looking for aspects involving Neptune on days you want to investigate is ideal. You’ll experience enhanced intuitive awareness and cleverness when Mercury is sextile with Neptune, and you’ll be graced with enhanced intuition when the moon is sextile with Neptune. Creative and spiritual optimism flows when Jupiter is in conjunction with Neptune, as does mystical inspiration when Jupiter is sextile with Neptune. You’ll be more receptive to new mystical and spiritual impressions and feelings when Uranus is in conjunction with Neptune. And a Uranus/ Neptune trine will spark sudden precognitions and an expansion of the imagination. Another powerful trine involves Neptune and Pluto, which is when you’ll receive spiritual goodwill and help from the Other Side.

Astrology and Evidence Analysis: MARS & MERCURY It doesn’t seem like analysing evidence would take much energy. After all, you’re just sitting there watching videos or listening to audio, right? True, but it requires mental energy and stamina and there is no better planet bursting with that than Mars. A Mars/Saturn conjunction is the best time to tackle projects that require a lot of energy, including mental ones. The Sun in conjunction with Mars is also another excellent time to find energy when you need to focus on work. Some of the Mercury aspects that could be applied to paranormal research would also be good for analysing evidence, such as when Mercury is in conjunction with either Saturn or Jupiter. And it may seem counterintuitive, but the Moon in opposition with Mercury presents a great time for handling routine work and the details that come with it.

Finding Planetary Aspects Are you thinking, “This all sounds well and good but extremely technical and how will I know when the planets are lined up like this?” It is more complex and involved than your standard daily horoscope, and reading the aspects is how astrologers put those summaries together. But how do they find them? Luckily, we live in the time of the Internet. Sites like Astro-Seek.com and PlanetWatcher.com provide monthly online calendars that detail daily aspects and transits. You can also buy a yearly astrological calendar like Llewellyn’s. It lists all aspects for each day, so you can look at the days you’re planning to research, investigate, or analyse evidence and see if the stars are best aligned on those days for you to accomplish your tasks. If not, you can always pick alternative dates when they might be. So, give it a try and see if it affects your investigations at all. Let me know how it goes and what works and what doesn’t. Happy ghost hunting!

BIO:

Courtney Mroch is the ambassador of dark and paranormal tourism for Haunt Jaunts, a site for restless spirits. When she’s not writing, she’s traveling. Or she used to, before the pandemic put a crimp in her style. However, no worries. That’s afforded her more time to wrangle her menagerie of skeletons, binge horror movies and TV shows, and learn how to sail on Percy Priest Lake in Nashville, Tennessee, where she searches for submerged cemeteries and mermaids.

Courtney Lynn Mroch x

Ambassador of Dark & Paranormal Tourism

https://www. hauntjaunts.net/

HAUNTED MAGAZINE

“SPOOK-EATS: PUTTING THE GHOUL INTO GOULASH & THE SOUP INTO THE SUPERNATURAL”

Germanic order that helped to protect pagan rites against the Romans in 9CE. No matter how they got here, by 1835, the Odd Fellows had opened their first lodge in Missouri and quickly became one of the largest fraternal organizations in America (one that is still active today). Throughout its history, the Independent Order of the Odd Fellows’ goal has remained the same: “Visit the sick, relieve the distressed, bury the dead, and educate the orphaned.” They specifically focused on helping loyal members to the brotherhood and acted as both a health insurance and life insurance policy. As long as a member was in good standing with the Odd Fellows, they knew that their families would be taken care of in the wake of their death or other disasters.

By: Amanda R. Woomer (Spook-Eats)

he thought of a winery calling a former asylum home might make you think twice about adding this place to your girls’ weekend wine tour. Add in the fact that a secret society built it, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a bizarre tasting in one of Missouri’s most (in)famous wineries.

It was initially known as the Odd Fellows Home District. Hauntings aside, the winery’s connection to the Independent Order of the Odd Fellows is enough to make this location a fascinating stop for anyone intrigued by the strange and unusual.

While the Odd Fellows didn't take themselves nearly as seriously as other fraternal organizations such as the Freemasons, they still have their own set of laws and rules as well as secret rites, passwords, and handshakes.

Historically, guilds were made up of “masters” and “fellows,” and only members of a particular profession could join each society. But any “odd fellow” was permitted to join this crew, and the Independent Order of the Odd Fellows was born. The mundane history of the Odd Fellows dates to the Oakley Arms tavern in London in 1745. The laid-back approach with meetings held in pubs and hotels was attractive to Americans, and in 1819, the first American chapter was opened in Baltimore. Of course, the more colourful history (which probably stemmed from a bit too much alcohol enjoyed at these meetings), sets the Odd Fellows’ history a bit further back in time. Just as the Masons claim to have ties to Ancient Sumer, the Odd Fellows are said to be descended from Roman soldiers (specifically those that served under Nero in 55CE). If Ancient Roman soldiers aren’t quite your cup of tea (or glass of wine in this case), there are also myths seeing the Odd Fellows as an ancient HAUNTED MAGAZINE

From 1900 to 1935, work began on the Odd Fellows Home District. It was here that the Administration Building (1900), the Old Folks’ Home (1907), and the Old Hospital (1923) acted as a safe place for the sick, destitute, and orphaned in the Odd Fellows community. It was seen as a humane alternative to the alms-houses of the 19th Century (more colourfully known as workhouses). The residents enjoyed modern amenities such as heating and plumbing, children were able to go to school, and those who could still worked on the land to earn their keep. And when the time came, a cemetery plot, a headstone, and burial were all part of the Odd Fellows’ membership. Today, the Odd Fellows cemetery can still be seen on the north end of the property. It’s there that nearly 600 members are buried.

The Odd Fellows Home District was named a Historic Landmark in 1987, and Belvoir Winery purchased the property in the 1990s. While it's managed to transform the Administration Building into a gorgeous winery and inn, they are still paying homage to the secret society that called this place home throughout the 20th Century. Aside from Odd Fellows symbols still visible in the architecture around the complex, Belvoir Winery has a section dedicated to artifacts from the days of the Odd Fellows, including masks, books, swords, and George.

much that guests check out in the middle of the night. If you don’t want to spend $180 on a room at The Inn just to be driven out at 3:00am, you can experience the winery and tasting room, where just as many paranormal claims have been made over the years.

While there are plenty of spirits roaming the halls of the Odd Fellows Asylum, George is not one of them. Instead, George is resting peacefully in a glass case for curious wine drinkers to stare at in a strange mixture of horror and awe. You see, George is a human skeleton.

FUN FACT: George is not the skeleton's actual name, all Odd Fellow skeletons are dubbed George. According to rumours (since you can’t know for sure unless you’ve been invited to an Odd Fellows’ ceremony), human skeletons are used in the society’s initiation rites. Why would an organization that has lasted into the 21st Century keep using human remains, you ask? It’s just one of the many symbols used throughout the brotherhood, this time reminding members of their own mortality. The skeleton on display was a member of the Odd Fellows who died in the 1880s and donated his body to the brotherhood to be used in their initiation rites. Luckily for George, his days as a ceremonial prop have ended, and he can now rest peacefully in the lobby of the winery. But human remains and secret societies are just the beginning of all things weird at Belvoir Winery. Activity seems to run amuck in the Administration Building, where guests can enjoy a wine tasting or even brave a night in one of their hotel rooms. While spending the night at The Inn, visitors record their experiences in a guest book located in each room. People hear footsteps and voices. TVs like to turn on and off all on their own. Bathroom doors will slam shut. Sometimes the activity gets to be so

A child apparition has been spotted in the ladies’ bathroom while a woman likes to walk through the library before vanishing. They say the spirit of a man enjoys playing tricks on unsuspecting visitors. People have heard an older woman singing and have even seen her with their own eyes (many believe she is a former teacher or caretaker that looked after the children on the building’s upper floors). There is also a little boy that has appeared so many times, people can describe him almost perfectly: he wears a red shirt, blue knickers, and brown boots. He has been seen multiple times over the years and is usually transparent. If you’re curious about the winery’s haunting, Belvoir occasionally hosts public ghost hunting events throughout the year. For $60 per person, you can explore the brotherhood’s historic home from 8:00pm-12:00am. These events sell out quickly, so it’s best to book your place well in advance. Need a bit of liquid courage before exploring the haunted winery? Be sure to sample all the wines that Belvoir Winery has to offer. Enjoy a glass of Norton, a full-bodied (no, not apparition), dry red with violet and spicy earth tones. It also happens to be made with the state grape of Missouri. If you’re more into the ghost stories and want to enjoy a libation that honours that piece of the winery’s history, why not try Boo’s? This is a sweet dessert wine with hints of chocolate and berries. It may seem odd to be sipping on fine wines while standing in a 100-yearold asylum run by a secret society. But remember that the Odd Fellows weren’t just about helping the poor and destitute—their origins are based on having a good time and not taking oneself too seriously. It was (and still is) an organization where all are welcome. So, sit back and enjoy your wine. Dry or sweet. Red, white, or rosé. It doesn’t matter what you prefer. The Odd Fellows would want you to come as you are. So, raise a glass and toast the brotherhood who managed to do good in life, and helps keep this winery going even in death.

Amanda x

Spook-Eats

HAUNTED MAGAZINE

he history of Rosslyn Chapel in itself is very interesting and was founded in 1446 by Sir William Sty Clair the third and the last St Clair of Orkney. Originally it was intended to be a cruciform building with a tower at its centre.

After Sir William died in 1484, he was buried in the unfinished chapel and the larger building he had planned but was never completed. The foundations of the nave are said to have been excavated in the 19th century and found to have extended over 91 feet beyond the Chapel’s original west door, under the existing baptistery and churchyard. Construction of the chapel began in 1440, and the chapel was officially founded in 1446, with construction lasting for forty years. As of 2006, the structure brings in about 115,000 visitors per year, many of whom are curious about the building’s association with the 2003 bestselling novel, The Da Vinci Code by author Dan Brown, and the mythical Priory of Sion. Another notable feature of Rosslyn’s architecture is the presence of ‘Green men ‘. These are carvings of human faces with greenery all around them, often growing out of their mouths. They are commonly thought to be a symbol of rebirth or fertility, pre-Christian in origin. In Rosslyn they are found in all areas of the chapel, with one excellent example in the Lady Chapel, between the two middle altars of the east wall. Rosslyn Chapel is touted as being one of the most mysterious places in Scotland, especially with the current gloat of books purporting to show how hidden secrets lurk within every crack of stone at this venerated place.

THE CHAPEL OF

UNREST by Juliette Gregson

Anybody who has ever visited the chapel may feel that it deserves its current status, and I must confess the atmosphere even on a busy day is something to be experienced. The exquisite carvings are some of the best in the whole of Europe, and portray scenes not found in any other 15th century chapel. It has become a kind of Mecca to those interested in the mysteries of life, and contains many carvings relevant to biblical, masonic, pagan and Knights Templar themes.

to the practice in the 1700’s. The chapel is also said to be a representation of Solomon’s Temple, and is said to hold encoded secrets to those who are willing to work them out. Another legend suggests that if you stand on a particular step within the castle and blow a horn a treasure will be revealed, Rosslyn, it has been suggested, is the treasure.

The Prince of Orkney was undoubtedly involved in the Order of the Knights Templar, who were forcibly disbanded in 1307, although they continued in one form or another. The Templars have become embroiled in many legends of mystical significance. They were supposed to have in their possession the Holy Grail, and it has been surmised that the chapel is the hiding place for this and other religious treasures, including a fragment of the holy rood, the cross of the crucifixion. The vault, unopened for centuries is the suggested repository for these items. The vault actually contains the remains of the Sinclair ancestors, interred in full armour as was customary until one of their wives objected HAUNTED MAGAZINE

There have been numerous sightings of phantom monks in and around the chapel. One curator is said to have witnessed a ghostly monk praying at an alter in the crypt, surrounded by four guardian knights. In other sightings a monk dressed in grey, and one dressed in black have been seen inside and outside the chapel on several occasions.

Curators have also heard mysterious noises when there was nobody about to account for them. Some people have had strange experiences in the dark atmospheric crypt of the chapel, one person I have spoken to have felt a mysterious wind come from nowhere while alone in the crypt. A curious legend suggests that when one of the descendants of the Prince of Orkney dies the whole of the chapel appears as if it is on fire, Sir Walter Scott wrote about the phenomena in his ‘Lay of the Last Minstrel.’ Strange lights have been seen witnessed around the chapel more recently. When you enter Rosslyn Chapel you understand why it has exerted such a powerful influence for 500 years over generations of visitors including Mary Queen of Scots, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II. The beauty and detail and sheer extravagance of its carved stonework must be seen to be believed.

St Clair legend suggests that there are three big medieval chests (probably the size of steamer trunks) buried somewhere on the property, and this has inevitably led to various theories as to the chests’ contents. Past scanning and excavations in or near the Chapel have not yielded any such chests. These chambers are filled with pure white Arabic sand -- rumoured to have been brought to the chapel by the Knights Templar from the Dome of the Rock -- and ultrasonic scans have revealed six leaden vaults within the sand. It should be noted that it is only the Ruined Wall that is based on the Temple of Jerusalem - the chapel itself most closely resembles the East Quire of Glasgow Cathedral.

Sealed chambers under the basement of the chapel, however, have yet to be excavated for fear of collapse of the entire structure. No description about the alleged haunting of the chapel would be complete without including Rosslyn Castle’s hauntings and legends; the two are linked, both in history and mystical connections. The Castle is still owned by the Sinclair family, is haunted by a Black Knight on horseback, who has been seen by motorists on three separate occasions. There is no story to suggest who the figure might be, but speculation suggests he is a knight killed in the battle of 1303. There is a story that if you stand on a certain step within the castle and blow a trumpet treasure will be found, although a similar story has been told to me about blowing horn within the chapel to reveal the secrets of Rosslyn. The ghost of a white lady is also said to frequent the area. The White Lady of Rosslyn Castle is said to hide a secret worth ‘millions of pounds’ - and some have suggested that this could be The Grail or instructions on how to find it. The story with the longest precedent suggests a phantom hound, who haunts the woods around the castle on dark and stormy nights, heralded by its eerie baying. The legend as to how it came to haunt the area is as follows and can be found in full in More Highland Folktales 1964 by R. Robertson MacDonald. On February the 24th 1302, the site was the scene of a major battle between Scots and English forces. One of the English knights was master of a large war hound, and when the Englishman was killed by

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a Scottish knight, the hound attacked him so viscously that Scotsman was forced to kill it. That very night as the Scots rested in the confines of Rosslyn Castle, the spirit of the hound appeared in the guardroom causing panic amongst the troops. After this the dog appeared nightly, and the soldiers nicknamed it the ‘Mauthe Doog’. Eventually the turn to guard came to the man who had slain the hound’s master. Walking down the passage with the castle keys he let out a scream above the noise of a snarling hound, and fled back upstairs in blind panic, he never spoke another word and died three days later. The hound was said to have disappeared from the castle after this event, although the sound of baying can still be heard. Certainly, Rosslyn has a whiff of the other worldly about it. Some say it rests on leylines — imaginary straight lines connecting ancient sites — that lead to Stonehenge and other sacred sites. Many think it is haunted. Staff hear children’s voices echoing through the sacristy when the chapel is empty. Visitors have seen a phantom monk shuffling across the floor or kneeling to pray at one of the altars. Psychics, clairvoyants, and ghost hunters are always nosing about. With its dim lighting and smell of ancient masonry, Rosslyn can send a shiver through the most hardened sceptic. Everywhere you look there is a riddle rendered in stone. The number of people visiting the church has rocketed from 9,500 a year to 117,000. (preCOVID-19 of course)

Juliette x

Juliette lives in Blackpool and is a Consulting Heritage & Photo Conference Archivist. She is a published author, blogger, podcaster, North West Historian… *Rosslyn is sometimes spelt Roslin, our proof-reader isn’t that bad…

Rosslyn Chapel Virtual Tour https://www.rodedwards. com/interactive-files/Rosslyn_ Chapel/index.html Websites of interest http://www.rosslynchapel.org. uk/ http://www. thelosthaven. co.uk/Rosslyn. html http://sinclair. quarterman.org/roslincastle. html

HUBERT HOBUX'S

A HAUNTED HAPPENING

ON HINCKLEY HIGH STREET* *Technically, it’s Regent Street but that didn’t scan as well!

A BRIEF RELAXATION RESPITE BETWEEN LOCKDOWNS

hird time for me at the Haunted Antiques Paranormal Research Centre and most intense visit of the triadic yet... My last event prior lockdown was a Christmas gathering here with HauntedLIVE and what a night we had there then, crowned with the shadowy appearance of a small girl emerging through a mirror in the seance room... she would surface again... (if truth be told, I hoped she would) ... The Hinckley based centre has expanded since the neighbours moved out and the growing collection of possibly possessed objects has found new space... the energy is certainly just as intense though, as you step into rooms it greets you as a fug ... this place seems to be the Newport Pagnell services of inter dimensional crossings... your energy is drained pretty quick, things draw around you, headaches ensue and spirit-ee things scuttle and scurry... What a collection we were, Jacqueline from Paranormal Path brought us together, Sarah and Andy from Wandering Spirits, Michelle from Haunted Heritage, Phil from Famous Shardlow Ghost Walks, Mark had traversed multiple boundaries from Fenland Hauntings, and Dudley medium Garry Fields was there to keep a third eye open for us! Our conglomerate energies were a smorgasbord for spirit selection, and they were slavering.... HAUNTED MAGAZINE

After a quick walk about to accustom ourselves to the new layout, me and Sarah discovered an easy chair in the dolls room seemed to hold a detectable energy... as we briefly tried to introduce communication, Sarah “saw a streak of light cross the room from the corner” and shoot straight into my back... I felt it. immediately a sensation in my back spasmed into my kidneys... joined by the others we started the vigils in circle here and I succumbed to buffering and mauling by something unseen... much to the delight of the rest who sensed a human pendulum session developing without trying to coerce someone into playing dip stick in the middle... for dip stick t’was me... I do not remember much after that as I slipped under rather, I recall a desire to go find a wheelchair in a mass of pulling, pushing, emotional cataclysm overwhelming me.... it was suggested I leave the circle! As I stood on the landing from the kitchen stairs trying to recompose, helped by Sarah and Andy, we had this ‘jump scare’ encounter with something that stormed up from the bottom of the stairs... an encounter that is described here in Sarah’s words... SARAH: We had just done a group vigil in the main room and Hubert Hobux had been rather strongly affected physically and emotionally. We left the room and stood at the top of the stairs and was joined by my husband {Andy} who was pottering around with the FLIR and the SLS.

shape and face from mine... as soon as she had caught the snap something she was “punched” in the stomach and suffered the sensation of an extended pain that caused her to retreat downstairs...

Hubert and myself returned to the main room and Andy stayed on the staircase. Later he collected the SLS. He got a fix on a figure on the stairs, he followed the entity, and it climbed the stairs, turned right and Andy pressed it back into the Witches room, it then ascended the 3 steep steps into the Seance Room. At this point he pressed it back further and it popped itself into the large mirror at the back of the room.

Anybody that knows Andy knows spirit has the tendency not to want to go near him and in the main will not pass him if he is blocking a doorway. We also learnt that if he’s part of a circle he will block activity to the entire group. After many investigations with him we discovered this and since then he can be in the same room when working but not obviously engaging. And anybody that knows Andy will corroborate he does capture great evidence.

Andy at this point was musing that this must be a portal, he had absolutely no clue this was a mirror deemed to be a portal mirror.

I am sure the entity will be able to return from the portal... and to be honest spirit in many forms were keeping the rest of us more than busy.

As we stood there an energy was coming up the stairs and was causing crackling and popping noises in my ears. Andy was stood in a doorway and was obviously blocking the energies passage.

When Sarah and I went back into the Dolls room to re-join the circle the buffering soon resumed, and I was once again overshadowed! Once again the compulsion to seek the wheel chair set in... allowed free access by the others I was spirit steered towards the chair now next door in the old rest room... and embarrassed to say, I totally broke down in tears for the first time ever on an investigation... even when I’ve missed out on the last penguin chocolate biscuit bar at refreshment break have I never cried before... this was completely out of character and I took a bit of shifting from that emotional state. Somehow, I ended up sat in the old vintage wheelchair and Sarah took my photograph, which developed as a man with a totally different

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Winding the vigil down, Michelle, who had perched in the wheelchair herself and had obviously undergone a mild transfiguration of the same spirit... was just asking what I had sensed when her legs instantly turned into a massive quivering of jelly... and she fell forward landing flat on her face... me and Garry were just able to catch her from a fullface plant! So, bang went the social distancing... it had deliberately targeted her legs... an area Michelle had had a bit of medical weakness in.... bit naughty! She was OK, came out of the blue though! Reportedly she later got a sharp disembodied push on the kitchen staircase when luckily Mark was with her and able to keep her from having a fall on them!! Mark himself had been “ shoved by unseen hands “ .... They were almost targeting us one at a time.... Time for tea... and donuts thank goodness.... (no chocolate penguins note.... the lower lip was trembling again) ...

THE BELL PHENOMENA Whilst we were enjoying the convivial break downstairs a loud thump was heard from above! No one at all on that floor, we were all together! We later found Garry’s camera mounted on a tripod upstairs seemingly pushed over, “it was securely fastened and there was no way it could have fallen on its own.” Bumps and raps

were started to be heard from other empty rooms, and we didn’t know about bit at the time, but a bell had been heard dinging several times ... it had been traced to the bell in the seance room... Sarah and I heard it whilst in the Doll room! Something, it was decided, desired our company in that portal of interaction....

THE CRACKED MIRROR MAN I sat in the ‘chamber of fear’ psychomanteum with its, once shattered, now repaired mirror glass... attempting a Dowse with my own pendulum. Making a connection with spirit, Phil joined me to ask questions whilst I acted as the fulcrum! This mirror had been flung from the wall one night apparently, we asked what had broken the mirror... the spirit admits it was he, that he was now stuck outside the mirror... “Why did you break the glass then...??” To stop something bad abusing it! Was the bad thing still here? Yes! Are you frightened of this bad thing? No... “Should we be...?”.... “Yes” ...

THE LITTLE GIRL RETURNED All night I had been keeping a weather eye open just in case that elfin little shadow appeared again amidst the gloom of the seance room... Sarah and I tried a Ouija board session in there, there was a very weak response on the planchette, but Sarah is a dab hand at divining with the dowsing rods ...helped by Michelle we were able to ascertain that the little girl was with us, we had her name, age, Garry popped by and sensed she might have been swathed in bandages.. we had earlier smelt smoke and oil fumes in the Centre and were curious to discover if ...or when a fire had ever perhaps blighted the place...?? Were casualties incurred? I had the Necrophonic spirit voice box app running, quite a string of words were cropping up in

conjunction and the spoken word *bomb* cropped up!! Oh, my goodness the rods went mad after that revelation...{?}!! Had Hinckley been ravaged with bombs in the war? We didn’t know! Was this particular building or area ravaged? Next morning before going home I found the Towns War Memorial on Argent Mead castle ground, there were two plaques commemorating many names of civilians killed! Michelle, being a professional historian is undertaking further research! UPDATE: Hinckley was actually bombed on the 16th of May 1941 http://www. hinckleypastpresent.org/ ww2hinckleybombing.html

THE DRUNKEN LADY SYNDROME And so, the night had flown around to the early hours... New Brian Holloway apps in development had been tested by Phil... with some pleasing results and name checks from spirit... Jacqueline had toyed with her favourite dybbuk box again... flagging slightly with our physical energies drained to the Max... we decided on one last energy circle, all grasping hands and inviting spirits to do their worst... “Manipulate our arms...” Jacqueline to my right had “gazundered “ all of a sudden... she was under the influence of something and was squirming about like a slippery newt... around the opposite side of the circle arms were being wrenched, stretched, raised, Jacqueline had collapsed into a hysterical wreck... yes... some drunken lady spirit was amongst

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us and having the high old time of her after life... Another spirit seemingly drawn in by the mirth affected Sarah, whose hands kept sticking to her head like they were superglued, until she was compelled to reach out and over for Michelle’s necklace... and embarrassingly... Garry’s nipples... stoical Sarah, trying to make sense of the situation, hilariously started shouting... “WHAT YOU ALL MESSING ABOUT AT...” Apologies to Sarah for collapsing in mirth at her dilemma... I had seen her act something like that during a seance before... I have never told her this, but I think she channels her sensible old grandmother in such circumstances... and that is why I admire her so much!! Thank you to the marvellous spirits of Haunted Antiques Paranormal Research Centre for the good, humoured ribbing they sent us home with... What a place. With such a friendly welcome! Everyone in the Paranormal community should make a pilgrimage to that place... if only once... you will not be disappointed!

Hubert Hobux

Hubert was in a paranormal bubble with Sarah and Andy Scott, Jacqueline Dixon, Michelle Smith, Mark Dudley & the inimitable Mr Phil Newton. Also in a safe social distancing attendance was Garry Fields Medium (with special thanks for keeping them all safe) and Mr Neil Packer for staying up waiting for them into the early hours of 19th July 2020

“I wanted to see and to believe. And after 40 years, now I think I have.”

SPIRIT THE THE BATTLEFIELD BATTLEFIELD

Written by Ryan Clark

o the people reading this, there is an exceedingly high chance that you do not know me from Adam, but please believe me when I say that I am a believe-it-when-I-see-it kind of guy. The problem? I had never seen it. Any of it. Never in my life had I ever seen any kind of cryptid, ghost, UFO or inter-dimensional creature. I had never seen any of the things people question on those cable television paranormal shows. BUT I WANTED TO, oh boy I SO WANTED TO… It took a family vacation to the country’s most famous battlefield to do it, but while I was there, I witnessed something so odd and indescribable — and I was able to get a picture of it. But I am getting ahead of myself, aren’t I? Let’s back up.

‘Kind of our thing’

https://youtu.be/E7QDvcC14EY

It was October 2020, and while the world was still in the grip of a pandemic, my family was itching to leave our suburban house, which is located just outside of Cincinnati. The weather at the time was beautiful — the leaves had begun to receive their first fall colour — and HAUNTED MAGAZINE

I started thinking about a road trip. It needed to be somewhere we could spend most of our time outdoors, not cooped up with people. It also needed to be a place where my 11-yearold daughter and I could do something creepy. (“It’s kind of our thing,” she says). We had already explored some of the most famous prisons, asylums and true crime locations in the country. What else could we do? Immediately I thought of Gettysburg. A recent video had been making the rounds on the Internet, something a tourist took that allegedly showed ghosts marching through the woods near the battlefield. Even though I had been twice to Gettysburg, I had never gotten to do what I wanted — namely, to search for ghosts. That settled it. We were on our way. My 4-year-old, along with my wife, would stay behind in the evenings while we, the daring duo, went on the ghost tours. During the day, we would all go outside and tour the battlefield and the town. Perfect. I discovered there are literally dozens of ghost tours to choose from around town. What is the best? Hard to say. I have only got experience with two of them, but both were outstanding.

On the first night of touring, my daughter and I had 10 o’clock reservations at the Ghostly Images of Gettysburg walking tour. I chose it because it was inexpensive (just $10) and offered about a two-hour walk to several locations, including an allegedly haunted orphanage, the Jennie Wade House (site of the battle’s only civilian death) and parts of the battlefield. It did not disappoint. The tour guide was knowledgeable and fun, and along the way, there were plenty of opportunities to get pictures of everything. My daughter and I love taking pictures with our iPhones. We just point them into blackness and shoot, hoping something will pop out at us when we look back at them later.

“

Rarely do we ever see anything interesting. And never — EVER — do we see anything while we are taking the pictures. Except for this night.

‘Strength and daring’ The weather that night was superb — a mild chill filled the air, making it perfect for jeans and light jackets. A crescent moon provided just enough light for when we entered really dark spaces. It was quiet and the entire scene seemed to be set for a good ghost story. First, we heard the awful tales of the orphanage, where children were abused by a sadistic housemother named Rosa Carmichael. Unsettled by that, we moved across the street to East Cemetery Hill. This was when my daughter and I really got down to the business of taking pictures. We would point our camera phones out into the black nothingness — shadows of large monuments or trees could be seen here or there, but nothing more. As the tour guide recited tales of soldiers and spirits, I wandered a bit out into the battlefield. Again, I could not see much, but I still pointed my camera and took frames. Just a few feet away, my daughter did the same. More than 150 years ago at that very spot — July 2, 1863 — Maj. Gen Jubal Early ordered two of his brigades to attack East Cemetery Hill, which served as the headquarters for the Union’s Eleventh Corps, wrote Garry Adelman and Daniel Landsman of Battlefields.org. “Jubal Early’s attack was succeeding,” they said. “Despite resistance from scattered

infantry as well as an obstinate defence by Union artillerymen, the crest of East Cemetery Hill fell to Confederate strength and daring.”

I instinctively pointed the camera in that direction and clicked three times. Pictures taken.

But the success would not last.

I ducked my head down to examine them and was startled by what I saw. It looked almost like a white shadow, but brighter than anything in the pictures. I looked up again and whatever was there had vanished.

“A stream of Union reinforcements from Włodzimierz Krzyżanowski’s Eleventh Corps brigade and Samuel S. Carroll’s brigade from the Second Corps stemmed the tide,” they reported. Regardless, there was a lot of bloodshed and violence on the site. But in 2020, there was no evidence left of any of that, just the black night and a faint glow of moon.

All at once, there was nothing on the hill in front of me. Just blackness, monuments and trees. Immediately, I showed my daughter. “What is that?” she asked. I shook my head, unknowing.

‘That’s a keeper.’

Another young couple had hung behind the group, taking pictures in a different direction. I showed the picture to a young man. “Dude, you just took that?” he asked. I nodded.

The rest of the tour was leaving us behind, and I had a slight notion of that, but I did not care. I had my iPhone, camera on, pointed out into the field. A bright, shimmering something had caught my eye, out and to the left.

We decided we needed to show the tour guide right away. But before I did, I posted the pic to Instagram and texted it to a few friends — I wanted to make sure I did not accidentally delete it.

And then, suddenly, there was something brighter out in the distance.

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“Oh my,” the tour guide said when we showed her the photo. “You took this just now?” I said yes. “Creepy,” she said. “That’s a keeper.” ‘Simply Gettysburg’ We completed the rest of a splendid tour but could not really focus on anything else. We were giddy — as were the rest of the 15 or so in our tour group — over what had happened. In just a few moments, my daughter and I had become minor celebrities due to the photograph. As we said out goodbyes and walked out into the night, many asked us to text them the picture, too. It became an experience we all shared that night. To this day, I am still amazed by the picture. To me, it looks like an apparition, a white figure, kneeling or possibly praying, near the large monument in the field. There is real definition in the photo in the hands, and there may even be a veil that the figure is wearing.

Original picture and [right] enhanced ‘lightened’ version of the same image.

It is something that will always puzzle me, confuse me and thrill me. I had always wanted to see something unexplainable — and while some will say I had just conditioned myself to see something strange, I will ask this: How come I had to wait until I was 40 years old to show myself a ghost? No, I am convinced this was real. Sometimes Occam’s Razor (the idea that the simplest explanation is the right one) is actually the paranormal answer. There was something out on that battlefield, and I saw it, and then I was lucky enough to have my phone pointed in the right direction. Simple as that.

Still, I wanted some more confirmation, to add some context to the story. I wanted to find someone who could look at the picture and give me more of an explanation. I was lucky enough to track down researcher Jack Roth, author of Ghost Soldiers of Gettysburg, a veritable expert on the subject. I sent him the picture and told him the story. “It definitely looks like someone kneeling and praying,” he said. “It looks like you caught an apparition right next to the monument.” Roth went on to say that he had captured a similar kind of image in the forest behind the Devil’s Den area of the battlefield. He went on to explain what he thought we were seeing in both of our pictures.

“When we did some research, we found out that nurses would walk the battlefield at night with their medical bags to try to treat the wounded,” he said. He went on to imply that the figure in my picture could possibly be a nurse tending to, or praying over, a wounded soldier. It still gives me goosebumps to think of the possibility. Roth said that ultimately, this kind of evidence is not surprising. “I tell people that this is simply Gettysburg,” he said. “If you’re there long enough you will capture some incredible evidence. It’s one of the most paranormally active places I’ve ever been to.” Finally, I can say that I agree — because now I have seen it. And I believe it. Ryan Clark is a professor and freelance writer from Burlington, Kentucky in the United States of America. Find more of his work at ForRyanOutLoud.com. Want more information about the Ghostly Images of Gettysburg tour? Visit their website to find out more information and how to contact them Gettysburg Battlefield Tours https://www. gettysburgbattlefieldtours.com/ ghost-tours/

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T H E

C H E S H I R E

C H A I N S A W

M E S S E N G E R

THE MARBURY LADY “

She stands in silence, her forlorn expression betraying the beauty of her face beneath the veil. Before her, the lands of the old estate roll away towards the tree line, with little to be found but summer parch-marks in the grass to remind her of the great hall she once called home.

By Eli Lycett

A MEMORIAL TO A HAUNTING

ll year round the people come and the people go. Picnics, snowball fights, couples in deep conversation, children in the throes of tantrum. And whilst every visitor is bound to notice her, standing as she does over 20ft tall, so few of them know her story. She is the Marbury Lady…crafted from wood, a chainsaw sculpture that acts to preserve the memory of a ghost.

Robin Hood adds value, bow drawn, just outside the entrance to Nottingham Castle. Meanwhile, Peter Pan, cheerful and yet somehow aloof, plays his flute for the passersby in Kensington Gardens, his spot well within audible distance of his creators’ former home on Bayswater Road. But a tribute to a ghost story? Commissioned by a local authority? That is an altogether more exotic proposition.

We are all used to seeing images crafted in the likeliness of their subject. Be them great kings cast in bronze, sat atop alabaster plinths or totems of human ingenuity remembered for their cultural contributions; the memorialisation of our most noted historical personalities is a part of almost every town across the UK.

But then, history tells us that the Marbury Lady was an altogether more exotic kind of subject.

On occasion, more mythological figures too may be found, especially in locations where the tourist trial is particularly valuable.

Today, Marbury Country Park near Northwich is a popular destination for Cheshire residents who enjoy its lime tree avenues, arboretum and wealth of open space. For the most part, the current grounds are a legacy of the Marbury estate of the 1850’s, but the history of the site stretches back much further. The first hall on the site originated in the 13th century for the Marbury family, with a succession of buildings replacing it before the final great house of the park, built in the style of a French chateau, was demolished in 1968 following usage as a POW camp and an ICI workers hub. It is only natural that such a site, playing witness to so much change, will have attracted its share of curious events across the centuries, and the history of the estate reads like a guide for our HAUNTED MAGAZINE

national timeline, but for us, it is latter half of the eighteenth century that gives course for enquiry. When James Hugh Smith-Barry inherited the estate in 1787, he was already a man of considerable cultural pursuits. He had spent most of his thirties away on the Grand Tour, a rite of passage across Europe and the Near East that had seen him amassing a huge collection of ancient artefacts and Italian art that he housed in his own estate at the nearby Belmont Park. He was far from done with the touring life however, and shortly after inheriting Marbury he was away again, this time to Egypt. Forty years old, well-travelled and with the world at his feet, James undoubtedly cut an attractive figure and whilst in Egypt he is said to have become infatuated with a beautiful local woman. A love affair was struck up, James knew that no matter the depth of the romance, ultimately it couldn’t last; he was well aware of the kind of love match a man of his position would be expected to make. Undeterred, a plan was hatched and with meticulous preparation, and arrangements were made for his new love to travel back to Marbury in the guise of maid. Employed at the hall, the love affair briefly continued to grow but was soon cut down. Just months after her arrival, the Egyptian maid found dead at the foot of the hall’s grand staircase. Speculation ran rife locally as to the nature of her death. There had long been rumours as to the true nature of the maid’s presence at Marbury, and many suspected James’s family had cottoned on and taken matters into their own hands. James, however, seems to have been genuinely heartbroken and insisted that the maid’s body be kept at the hall. In accordance with his wishes, the body was duly embalmed and for a short while, is said to have been laid at rest in a chest beneath the staircase. Rather unsurprisingly, the idea of a corpse being present in the building wasn’t so popular with the rest of the family, especially given how keen they were to have him settle into a family life secure the future of the line. Somewhat inevitably, it was decided that life would go on much more cordially if the macabre reminder of the affair was removed.

All photos courtesy of Simon O’Rourke & Alison Hamlin-Hughes The body was taken to nearby Great Budworth church, and at first, life at the hall continued as normal. But then the activity started. In the dead of night, there would be tapping on the doors of the house. Each night it would grow louder and louder until it was resonating through the hall. Stones would be thrown at windows and the figure of a woman in white was reported by the estate staff, seen drifting in the moonlight of the gardens, flitting amongst the trees.

Created by the renowned chainsaw artist Simon O’Rourke, the Marbury Lady sculpture is a truly remarkable work, crafted from an Elm that sadly died from saline poisoning. I’m sure you’d agree, such sculptures are a beautiful way offer a second life to such instances of loss in the natural world, and once the lockdown is over, I’d highly recommend visit should you be in and around the Cheshire area.

There was only one thing for it. The maid’s body would be returned to the hall and laid to rest in the Rose garden - her favourite spot in the grounds. It was a compromise of sorts, but sure enough, once returned, the disquiet of the family came to an end.

After all, where else in Britain will you find a memorial to a haunting?

It is a story known well locally, particularly as sporadic sightings were reported through the years that followed, with a spike of appearances making the local press as recently as 2012. The Marbury Lady is not alone when it comes to haunting of the Marbury estate, with a plethora of peculiar sightings reported around the issue of a horse and carriage riding along the avenue that leads to the former site of the hall, but by commemoration in art, she is certainly the best remembered. HAUNTED MAGAZINE

The Marbury Lady sculpture can be found at The Old Walled Gardens, Northwich, Cheshire, CW9 6AT

Eli Lycett

Eli Lycett is a specialist in the curious local histories of Cheshire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire and founder of the The Local Mythstorian project, a definitive online resource for the exploration of regional folklore and legend. thelocalmythstorian.com https://www.treecarving. co.uk/the-marbury-ladysculpture/

Gifford Hugo De

The Last Necromancer of Scotland By Evelyn Hollow

nown throughout history as a wizard, a necromancer, a confidant of King Alexander III, and consort of many important figures in Scotland’s history. Although now most commonly known as Hugo De Gifford, this bizarre legendary man was actually Sir Hugh Giffard II, the change in name originates from him being immortalised as such in Sir Walter Scott’s ‘Marmion’ published in 1808. As Scott wrote --“Lord Gifford deep beneath the ground heard Alexander’s bugle sound, and tarried not his garb to change, but, in his wizard habit strange, came forth, a quaint and fearful sight: His mantle lined with fox-skins white; His high and wrinkled forehead bore a pointed cap, such as of yore clerk’s say Pharoh’s Magi wore; His shoes were marked with cross and spell, upon his breast a pentacle. His zone, of virgin parchment thin, or, as some tell, of dead man’s skin, bore many a planetary sign. Combust, and retrograde, and trine; and in his hand he held prepared, a naked sword without a guard.”

“ 22

Because of course you’re not really a historic legend in the world of the paranormal unless Sir Walter Scott had your number.

De Gifford constructed what is now possibly one of Scotland’s last hidden castles, Yester Castle, which includes the blindingly uncomfortable and bizarre underground to nowhere known as Goblin Ha’. Yester Castle was built between 1250-1267, it was later destroyed in the 14th century and when being rebuilt the only original feature retained was the infamous goblin hall. In order to gain entrance into this hall you must pass through a tiny doorway just a few feet high, the approximate height of a Goblin. It is the only entrance, and exit, to the hall. Inside is a grand hall with a vaulted ceiling, two unusual windows and a single passageway. The passageway is a set of winding stone steps that go downwards into the earth – and then stop. As if they began constructing a passageway to something else below and then ceased abruptly. I can tell you first hand that entering that hall at a forced stoop through the tiny, pitch black, narrow, passage is unsettling – to say the least. Even more so at night. Goblin Ha’ is now the site of spell craft and it’s not unusual to find candles or pentagrams or odd writings carved into its walls. Most people believe it to be deeply haunted and it’s not hard to see why. In Sir Walter Scott’s Marmion, the Goblin Ha’ is described as being built by an army of the undead that were under De Gifford’s command – “Of lofty roof, and ample size, Beneath the castle deep it lies: To hew the living rock profound,

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The floor to pave, the arch to round, There never toil’d a mortal arm, It all was wrought by word and charm; And I have heard my grandsire say, That the wild clamour and affray Of those dread artisans of hell, Who labour’d under Hugo’s spell, Sounded as loud as ocean’s war, Among the caverns of Dunbar.” As well as constructing strange and paranormal architecture, De Gifford was also intertwined into Scotland’s political history, and yet, for a man of such importance in our history he’s never spoken of. I’ve lived here my whole life and only discovered him in the last year after a colleague of mine became obsessed with him and was continuously drawn back to Goblin Ha’ as if he’d accidentally tuned into a very particular siren song. De Gifford became so prominent in Scotland’s political affairs that he was assigned to protect and guide the young King Alexander III as a regent that also saw him assist in managing the country’s government at that time. Documents show that the English King Henry III issued letters of protection for seven years for De Gifford commencing in 1255. Later King Alexander III would visit Yester Castle to seek De Gifford’s help in securing Scotland’s future; he requested that De Gifford summon forth a high elf that was one of the Fae Kings known for possessing the ability to see the future, Alexander challenged him

to a sword fight on the premise that if Alexander could defeat him the Fae King was to answer his questions regarding the upcoming battle against King Haakon of Norway for claim of the Western Isles. Legend states that Alexander did in fact defeat the elf and was given important information that helped in the Battle of Largs, resulting in Scotland’s triumph over Norway. However, Alexander was also warned against the fall of Scotland that would be heralded in a storm. In the following years Alexander’s wife, Queen Margaret, died as did their three children. This prompted King Alexander III to take a second wife in order to produce heirs, but just a few months after this second marriage Alexander was killed tragically when he was thrown from his horse during a storm whilst travelling to see his wife. His death was mourned greatly as he had heralded one of the most prosperous times in Scotland’s history and his death resulted in Scotland being without a monarch and well, we all know what happened next. There is in fact undisputable proof that King Alexander III was definitely at Yester Castle on May 24th, 1278, because whilst there he wrote a letter to King Edward I of England. De Gifford played a central role in another strange tale that shaped the country’s history – at his daughter’s wedding he was seen to pluck a pear from a nearby tree and perform a spell on it. He gifted this enchanted pear to her promising that as long as the pear survived her family and lineage would prosper. Sure

enough they went on to be one of the most influential and powerful families in East Lothian, that is until someone decided to take a bite of the enchanted pear. After which the lineage fell into disrepute and financial ruin. If you were to visit Colstoun House, the seat of the family’s 2000-acre estate, you’ll still see pears everywhere in its architecture and many grand rooms. Colstoun House is arguably the oldest house in Scotland to have been continuously owned by a single family – it has over 900 years of family history and they claim to still have the enchanted Colstoun Pear hidden away there, still perfectly preserved, bite marks and all. There remains confusion over how Hugo De Gifford died, when he died, and frankly if he ever died at all. Some documents found have stated that Sir Hugh Giffard II died in 1267, but we know from King Alexander III’s letter to King Edward I in 1278 that De Gifford was still alive then when he came to Yester Castle (possibly or possibly not to fight an elfin King) and then official state papers from King Edward I dated up until 1279 show strong evidence that the wizard was very much still alive. It becomes a question of is this the result of terrible record keeping or did De Gifford die twice? It would usually be obvious to assume the former but the obituaries and papers pertaining to his death contradict one another erroneously, much more than any other figure I have come across in history. Especially strange that for such an immensely powerful and important figure nobody seems to

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be able to tell when he actually died, or how he died. He also lacks any grave site or memorial, another distinctly bizarre feature for a man of this calibre. The question remains – what became of Scotland’s last great wizard and necromancer?

Evelyn x

Evelyn Hollow is a Scottish writer and paranormal psychologist. A former psychology lecturer at QMU, now writing on paranormal history and giving lectures on the quantum physics of anomalous phenomena. She most recently featured on The Battersea Poltergeist on BBC Radio 4.

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S T E P B Y E S T E P PA R A N O R M A L

THE CHECKERED HISTORY OF THE CECIL HOTEL By Richard Estep

t seems as if the infamous Hotel Cecil is everywhere these days. This is thanks in no small part to three things from the world of pop culture: the Netflix documentary Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel; the recent Ghost Adventures two hour special, shot at the hotel and purporting to document paranormal activity there; and season five of the wildly popular TV drama American Horror Story, which focuses on a fictional “Hotel Cortez” that is a very thinly-veiled version of L.A.’s infamous landmark. Arguably none of these projects would have come to fruition if it were not for the tragic death of Canadian tourist Elisa Lam in 2013. Let’s go back to the beginning. Built in 1924, the Cecil was located close to Los Angeles’ financial and theatre districts, making it a convenient place for theatregoers and businessmen alike to spend the night. Built with 700 rooms spread across 14 floors, and an opulent lobby that has to be seen to be believed, the hotel had a good start in life. Things soon deteriorated, however, with the coming of the Great Depression. Suddenly, fewer people were traveling, and the theatres were no longer as popular as they once were – a situation that was exacerbated by the advent of HAUNTED MAGAZINE

the “talkie” motion pictures being filmed in Hollywood. With record numbers of people finding themselves out of a job and out of their homes, Americans began to migrate west, searching for fresh employment opportunities. Los Angeles was the end of the line for the railroad, and the hopefuls getting off the train were disappointed to find that there were few jobs up for grabs. As the decades wore on, the neighbourhood surrounding the Cecil fell on increasingly hard times. Homelessness was common, and drunkenness and drug abuse would grow rife. Forced to drop its room rates in order to stay in business, the Cecil became the kind of place where you could rent a room on a monthly basis, the hotel industry equivalent of long term, low-income housing. It would ultimately gain the nickname of “the Suicide,” because of the number of men and women who tragically ended their lives inside its walls, or on the sidewalk outside. It is not unusual for a suicidal person to check into a hotel in order to take their own life. Yet the Cecil really did seem to have more than its fair share of such tragedies. On November 14, 1931, a guest checked in under the name of James Willys.

Willys, aged 46, claimed to hail from Chicago, yet in reality he lived in nearby Manhattan Beach, and his real name was W.K. Norton. He ingested a fatal dose of poison, and his body was found in his hotel room after he was reported missing. W.K. Norton would not be the last guest to fatally poison himself.

“

Some of the deaths at the Cecil were more violent in nature. In 1932, 25-yearold hotel guest Benjamin Dodich shot himself in the head. He lived just two miles away. Two years later, in 1934, former U.S. Army Sergeant Louis D. Borden slashed his own throat with a straight razor while staying there. His reasons are unclear, although newspapers at the time referred to a nebulous “health issue” as the suspected cause. He was 55 years old.

A disturbing number of people have died as a result of either jumping or accidentally falling from the upper floors of the hotel. In one particularly awful case, an emotionally disturbed mother threw the body of her new-born son out of a window after giving birth to him while alone in a hotel bathroom. She later told police that she believed he had been stillborn, but a subsequent autopsy ruled that the baby had in fact been alive at the time his body struck the roof of a neighbouring building. A jury would find the distraught woman guilty of manslaughter, but also accepted the defence of “diminished responsibility” – in other words, the insanity plea. Another death by falling occurred on October 12, 1962, when 27-year-old Pauline Otton plunged from her hotel room window. Mrs. Otton had been experiencing marital difficulties with her husband, and he would later testify that they had checked into the Cecil in order to “talk things out.” She waited until he left their ninth-floor room before presumably jumping. What makes this incident even more tragic is that against the odds, she landed on top of a 65-year-old man who was out taking a stroll. The unfortunate George Gianinni likely never knew what hit him. At first, police officers thought that he, too, had jumped, but realized that the state of his body made that unlikely. For one thing, his hands were still in his trouser pockets – something that would not have happened after hitting the ground – and his shoes were still on his feet. He had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Cecil was the scene of at least one murder. 65-year-old “Pigeon” Goldie Osgood got her nickname because she liked to feed the pigeons in nearby Pershing Square. By all accounts, she was a

simple soul, congenial and well-liked. Pigeon Goldie rented a longterm room at the Cecil. She was a retired phone switchboard operator with no home of her own. On Thursday, June 4, 1964, a staff member found Pigeon Goldie dead in her hotel room. She had been sexually assaulted, strangled with a hand towel, and stabbed in the chest. In one final indignity, the bags of bird seed she kept had been ripped open and the feed scattered all around the room. Her murderer was never caught. Much has been made of the Cecil’s connection with serial killers. The Night Stalker, Richard Ramirez, had a room on the 14th floor during his reign of terror. Ramirez had a penchant for breaking and entering, then raping and killing the occupants of private residences in the Los Angeles area. He was finally caught thanks to a sharp-eyed youngster, who noticed the sallow, saturnine Night Stalker driving through his neighbourhood. An avowed Satanist, Ramirez believed that the Devil would protect him from harm no matter what. As it turned out, only the intervention of the L.A.P.D. saved him from a crowd of angry L.A. residents, who came close to beating him senseless in the street outside. There is no evidence to suggest that Ramirez ever brought a victim back to his room at the Cecil – that simply does not fit with his M.O. – but some have claimed that he conducted occult rituals on the rooftop, intended to conjure up dark powers that would do his bidding. I have been unable to find any concrete evidence to support this claim, but it continues to make the rounds.

“

Another serial killer resident at the Cecil was Austrian Johann “Jack” Unterweger, who stayed there in the summer of 1991. Unterweger murdered women in several European countries and killed three victims in Los Angeles while ostensibly writing an article about the criminal underworld there. He liked to strangle his victims using their own bra straps. Unterweger would ultimately take his own life, hanging himself in his cell while on trial for murder in his native Austria. Again, there is no evidence to suggest that he killed any victims inside the walls of the Cecil itself. Some have claimed that he picked the hotel as a homage to Richard Ramirez, although it is far more likely that it was simply a cheap place to stay, situated in a part of the city where his chosen type of victim – sex workers – were easily found.

The most infamous Hotel Cecil guest is, of course, Elisa Lam. There are countless conspiracy theories surrounding this poor young woman’s death, ranging from the somewhat believable to the frankly ridiculous. Checking into the Cecil on January 28 of 2013, Elisa was sightseeing on the west coast. During her short stay in California, she had a documented history of odd behaviour, ranging from emotional outbursts in the lobby of the Cecil to Elisa’s roommates asking for her to be given her own room because she was acting strangely. She was indeed given her own room by hotel management. She was declared missing on February 1, when she abruptly stopped communicating with her parents. It was determined that she had never checked out of the hotel, and none of the security cameras showed her leaving. A police search of the hotel turned up no trace of Elisa. Her room was messy but not trashed.

Almost three weeks later, on February 19, hotel guests complained about the colour and the taste of the water. An employee sent to the roof found Elisa Lam’s dead body floating in one of the four water storage tanks. The initial police search had not extended as far as the tanks, so how long her body had been there was anybody’s guess. The idea of guests drinking water tainted by a decomposing body lent the case a gruesome fascination to so-called “Internet sleuths,” a fire that was only fuelled by the last camera footage ever taken of Elisa Lam on the night of her disappearance. In it, she appears to be acting strangely, stepping in and out of an elevator, gesturing and talking to somebody that is out of frame. Some wasted no time in concluding that she was on the run from somebody who would ultimately murder her. Others believed that she was haunted by the ghosts of the Hotel Cecil. For my part, I believe that she was suffering an episode of psychosis, brought on by under-medication and severe emotional and psychological stress. There was no evidence of intoxicating agents in Elisa’s blood stream during the autopsy. Some insist that she could not possibly have accessed the roof and climbed into the water tank in such an impaired state, but I disagree with that viewpoint. Even individuals with a significantly altered mental status can be capable of performing that degree of motor function under the right circumstances. Yet the truth is, be it murder, or simply a tragic accident, we will never know the truth for sure. The conspiracy theorists will continue to theorize, and those who believe there is an occult component to the case will not be convinced otherwise. Is the Cecil haunted? I believe it is. During the research for my book, American Hotel Story, I interviewed the daughter of a hotel guest who woke up in a cold sweat one night, feeling pressure on his chest and the terrifying sensation of being unable to breathe. Most hotels have their ghosts, in my experience, simply due to the sheer number of people who pass through their doors, and the amount of strong emotion – both positive and negative – which is played out there. Did Jack Unterweger and Richard Ramirez bring in negative energies themselves? Perhaps. But that is a far cry from the Cecil being some kind of dark and

malevolent hotel of horrors, as some have claimed. Do the spirits of former dead guests actually inflict harm on the living, though? Show me the evidence because I’ve yet to find any.

“Rumour and myth surround the Cecil, and despite its rebranding to the Stay on Main back in 2011, the hotel has thus far been unable to shake off its dark and brooding image. One persistent legend is that Elizabeth Short, the infamous Black Dahlia murder victim, was seen drinking at the Cecil’s bar in the days leading up to her killing. Again, there is no proof of it whatsoever, but everybody likes a good story, especially when it comes to a haunted hotel. At the time of writing, the Cecil’s doors are currently closed to everybody but Zak Bagans, and they are likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. The Cecil is being modernized and refurbished into a boutique hotel and a series of apartments. Once the building reopens, is it possible that it will get a new lease on life, and be able to shake off its evil reputation? I truly hope so, but only time will tell. The hotel will be open again for business in October 2021.

Richard Estep

If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts, please

know that help is available. In the United States, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is free, and staffed 24 hours a day. Call #1-800-273-8255. In the United Kingdom, please call The Samaritans on 116 123, or text SHOUT to 85258.

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THE GHOST BROTHERS

WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT! hat do you get when you combine a celebrity barber with two fashion designers, all with a strong curiosity in the unknown?

The first and only black paranormal crusaders seeking the truth in the spiritual realm! All based in Atlanta, The Ghost Brothers – Dalen Spratt, Juwan Mass and Marcus Harvey – are flipping the switch in their new discovery+ series GHOST BROTHERS: LIGHTS OUT As the dopest brothers on television hunting ghosts, these candid and unorthodox paranormal investigators explore disturbed hotspots across the country, checking out and sizing up local legends and supernatural stories. They are ready to expose the haunted holdouts still hanging around these locations … and why they don’t leave. Marcus and Juwan kick off each investigation by entering haunted sites without any prior knowledge of the paranormal territory they are walking into. Dalen, on the other hand, knows all the creepy history. Observing from his own mission control

centre, he guides his friends through the most active areas of the property. Going in blind, Marcus and Juwan must discover for themselves what matches up with the legend and what does not. Each member of the team has their distinct role: Dalen a.k.a. “The Bad Boy of Paranormal” is the risk taker; Juwan a.k.a. “Paranormal Poppy” is the suave, pretty boy of the group; and Marcus a.k.a. “The Soul Brother” brings a combination of heart-warming soul and comedy. The trio strikes a healthy balance with Dalen bringing a sense of adventure, Marcus creating a bit more of a relaxed vibe, and Juwan adds the compassion. The balance breathes a fresh point-ofview into the paranormal genre, a new perspective that fans think they know … but they do not. We caught up with them, via a socially distance ZOOM chat a few weeks ago to ask the questions that matter…

Welcome back to HM, can you believe the last time we spoke to you was as your first shows had aired back in 2017? How has life (and afterlife) changed for you all since that time? Juwan (J): Yo, Haunted Magazine! I know, it has been a while. You’ve been supporting us since the beginning - we appreciate you guys for that! And since that time, the conversations about the afterlife have become more common. And honestly, it’s cool. I didn’t know so many people in my life had experienced something paranormal. Dalen (D): Life has been GRAND! I mean never in a million years did we think our research and opinions would be recognized by the WORLD in such a short period of time. It has definitely been a blessing providing a sense of humour and understanding for supporters of all ages. Marcus (M): Have to agree with the guys, life has been amazing in the aftermath since we’ve been here to 2017 a lot of great things, I have had kids, Dalen got married, Juwan got tight with his spiritual life, man we have just been doing great things, we have been building businesses. It has been great since the first Ghost Brothers. Back in 2017, we asked you where you’d love to investigate; Dalen have you been back to Alcatraz? D: Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to make it back yet. I’ve tried a few times but for some reason every time I try something happens for me not to be able to make it. It’s almost like someone or SOMETHING is trying to keep me from there. It might be for my best interest though lol. Juwan, did you get to the White House? J: No, I didn’t. And you know, the energy in the White House has probably changed so much since then, could you imagine what those ghosts would have to say?

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Marcus, you were busy changing nappies at the time of our last interview, surely that has changed, yes? M: Hopefully (for now), yes. Launching a brand-new show must present in a real challenge during the pandemic. How has this impacted on filming and investigations? M: It was hard during the pandemic for the sheer fact that I had to kind of leave my family while the pandemic was going on, but glory be the God we were all surviving and we all stayed safe it was just a really good opportunity to present more stuff for our fans to get into so, it was dope man I am glad it worked out. D: Honestly, the pandemic has been a blessing and curse for the paranormal industry. A curse because a lot of places are closed and filming around a pandemic is almost impossible. But the blessing comes in the form of a lot of these places being untainted for the past year. So, it’s almost like a brand-new energy once you go there. I think the spirits have been more riled up and anxious to talk with the lack of people frequenting the locations. J: When I think about it, I think the pandemic made the spirits more active. It may have been challenges with production from travel to securing locations, but activity during the investigations has been next level. Are you still popping the trunk? What new gadgets and kit have you been using? Do you find now that your profile has risen that inventors are throwing them at you to try? D: We’re gonna ALWAYS pop the trunk on these ghosts lol! This season were focusing on a lot of DIY experiments. But we did bring in a couple of people that are really pushing the envelope with the creation of some really solid equipment. Our goal is to shed a positive light on these people and their amazing work. J: We will always “Pop the Trunk” on the ghosts! This season we’re using some visual provoking along with some new equipment. We love working with some paranormal techies to showcase new gear.

“Religion and spirituality are still a major part of who we are, and I hope that we inspire more diversity in the paranormal genre.” Juwan Mass 30

M: We are still popping the trunk on these ghosts you know how we do man, got to keep it for the culture. We’re actually doing some great new things with a new guy we brought on with us for “Lights Out” his name is KJ. He brings a lot of unique technology for us that we can use to get some really good readings. So, Ghost Brothers, Ghost Brothers: Haunted Houseguests, Haunted Salem: Live and Now Ghost Brothers Lights Out… What can viewers expect from the brand-new series? J: They will get to see two different investigations in one episode. One baseline investigation with Marcus and I, and a main investigation with all three of us. And if they’ve been following us since the beginning, they’ll be able to see our growth as investigators. D: We had to add a little twist this season. Albeit we’re getting back to our original Ghost Brothers roots, this season Juwan and Marcus start each episode with a blind investigation. You see I (Dalen) know the backstory and history of each location going in, Juwan and Marcus don’t. So, if they find ANYTHING remotely close to the story in their initial blind investigation then that just adds another level of confluence into our research.

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comfort to know that the show just doesn’t end after this life... kinda gives you something to look forward to when it’s all said and done. M: Yeah! I mean we have gotten to meet a lot of people in paranormal, see that they are just like us trying to see what is going on with the next situation after this life. I am glad that we’ve have grown in our investigation skills and style and keep doing our thing. J: This journey has been one of enlightenment and has changed my perspective for sure. I’ve become more open to the presence of spirits and potentially interacting with them.

Oh, we have forgotten about Fright Club, how did that come about? What was it like working with Jack Osbourne, the son of the Prince of Darkness? M: “Fright Club” was really dope! The Ghost Brothers, me, Dalen and Juwan really vibe great with Jack Osborne. Jack is a great person, and I am glad we all came together for “Fright Club”.

D: Oh yes! That is NEVER gonna change in the black community. You don’t play with spirits lol. BUT I can say, more people of colour are stepping out and doing research for their own now. Multiple minority

One of the most memorable answers from our last conversation Dalen, was that “traditionally black folks have been taught not to ‘play’ with spirits, being deeply rooted in Southern Christianity.” Would you say that this is still the same and have you inspired more black investigators to investigate/accept the paranormal now? J: Religion and spirituality are still a major part of who we are, and I hope that we inspire more diversity in the paranormal genre.

J: I think that this journey has allowed us to get to know each other on a different and deeper level. Investigating with each other exposes different vulnerabilities that the brotherhood made more comfortable to go through. D: Not at all. We’ve been through too many Reallife instances together that couldn’t shake our brotherhood. Everything else is elementary to us.

D: Fright Club might have been the funniest show I have ever worked on. The network gave us the full green light to just be US lol, jokes and all. It’s like a light-hearted way to introduce people to the idea of paranormal. I mean people must start somewhere. And regarding Jack, he has officially been dubbed the 4th Ghost Brother lol. J: Fright club is something special! It was a collaborative effort from the network, Jack, and ourselves and I’m praying we hit a home run. The chemistry with Jack and us was instantaneous. Feels like we’ve known each other forever.

One of the things we absolutely adore about you guys is the real mutual bromance and humour that you have on camera. Has there ever been a location – or activity – that has caused disagreements or tempers to become frayed?

groups have reached out to show me their findings and I LOVE it! The community is finally starting to really reflect the multicultural elements that mainstream society showcases on a daily. Has your perception of the paranormal changed over the last 4-5 years? Are you more of a believer then before? Or more sceptical? D: My perception has really just been cemented over the last few years. I now KNOW that there is definitely something after this. Although I don’t officially know what “that” is, it gives a certain level of HAUNTED MAGAZINE

M: No location has actually brought us at odds with each other, more so other factors but we’ve always been united in our approach to how we feel about certain things. So, I am glad to see how we continue our bromance. We are just a good group that cooperates with each other. Do you think humour is as important as ever in the paranormal world? M: I think that humour is definitely vital in the paranormal because ghosts are people too, and people respond to humour very well. D: Humour is probably the most important thing. Even in real life, it’s hard to get mad at the funny guy, as long as he isn’t making you the butt of the joke. I think humour translates into the afterlife just as well.

About The Ghost Brothers: The Ghost Brothers have spent the last seven years as a trio chasing

ghosts down together. The brothers have a unique story starting with Dalen and Juwan meeting

when one was a sophomore and

the other a junior at the illustrious HBCU, Clark Atlanta University

(CAU), where they were both Kap-

pa Alpha Psi Incorporated. The two would often have random spiritual conversations after Juwan

found out that Dalen’s mom was a

pastor. In 2010, Dalen met Marcus, who was a barber in the CAU, be-

cause he started cutting his hair. Soon after, Dalen introduced him to Juwan and the three became fast buddies. Soon after, Dalen had a dream that they should

begin exploring the unknown. He

jumped out of bed, kicked Juwan’s door down and said, “WE SHOULD

HUNT GHOSTS!” By 2011, they were filming their own investigations in Atlanta and Savannah, Geor-

gia, and putting them on YouTube to attract attention. What was

fascinating to the guys at the time was that they couldn’t find any

people of colour in the field. That intrigued them even more and

“Without people like Amy and Adam, The Tennessee Wraith Chasers, Chip Coffey, Jason, Steve and Tango, Dave Schrader... there would be no us” Dalen Spratt

with vigour and tenacity they kept at it. In 2014 they were contacted

by a network and the rest, as they say, is history. The two brought

Marcus in right before they filmed

the pilot. Since they were all interested in the paranormal and good friends, it was a no brainer for

them. Staying true to their church roots, the brothers say a prayer

before entering each situation to

keep them safe. Also, being raised

in the church, they aren’t afraid to

tackle the supernatural. They have been taught it is a natural pro-

gression of the afterlife and that it’s nothing to play with.

Everyone loves to smile, why would that be any different in the afterlife.

those teams showed us so much move when we started back in 2016.

J: Humour is such a key element in life. Why wouldn’t it be in the afterlife. We use humour as an investigation tactic but also as comfort in some of the darker moments throughout these locations.

M: Our biggest influencers are pretty much our family, more than any other ghost hunting teams. Our family makes sure that we keep it real, keep it funky. We do look up to all the other teams, everybody has their own style, but we just keep in our own lane.

Who do you look up to in the paranormal world?

D: Pretty much everyone that has come before us. Because without people like Amy and Adam, The Tennessee Wraith Chasers, Chip Coffey, Jason, Steve, and Tango, Dave Schrader.... there would be no us. J: We really look up to the OG’s in the game. Shout out to Kindred Spirits, Ghost Nation, TWC, and Holzer Files, HAUNTED MAGAZINE

Who are your biggest influences?

D: My biggest influence is my mother, who is also my spiritual advisor. She’s my spiritual backbone. I know I couldn’t do any of this without her or her prayers. M: Our biggest influences are hip-hop as well as comedy and all the pop culture from the 90s, that is where we get all our references from.

J: My mother. She’s been my biggest supporter. She says, “if you’re a Ghost Brother, I’m a Ghost Mother” (note: at this point Marcus’s Zoom cut out) *SPOOKY* What one thing scares you most in the paranormal world?

D: The fact that you never know who or what may be on the other side of that door. J: So, I’m scared of something attaching itself to me and I bring it home. What would you say has been the scariest location/best activity recorded during the filming of ‘Lights Out’? D: I’d probably say the Eloise Asylum... we caught a real-life shadow figure.

J: Agreed, it would have to be the shadow figures we’ve caught on camera in multiple locations. The way they were showing up, you’d think the ghosts were following us from location to location.

Will you be using a psychic or medium for the series? Where do you stand on mediumship in general?

J: Absolutely! We we’re supposed to investigate international but Covid had other plans shake my head.

D: We definitely are utilizing the skills of Chip Coffey, Cindy Kaza, and our hometown hero Reginald Lewis. Honestly, I’ve seen too much with them to not believe in their powers. Yes, I said powers. I look at them like superheroes.

Eight episodes to look forward to, what’s next for the Ghost Brothers? Thanks for taking the time to chat with us again – let’s not wait 4 years for the next one!

J: They have a particular skill set that offers value to any investigation. We tap in with some of the best in the game, like Chip Coffey, Cindy Kaza, and Reginald Lewis. Still hoping to get to the UK to ghost hunt? M: Am back, am back, we are definitely looking forward to ghost hunting in the UK, that is like the motherland of hunting, that’s what Jack says. D: Lights Out was supposed to be international... but that damn Covid!

D: MANY more investigation to come. If people are passing away, we’re gonna be trying to get in touch with them. Everyone has a story to tell, living or dead. J: God willing serval more seasons and shows, and an Emmy!

Dalen: describe Juwan in three words, describe Marcus in three words Juwan: loyal, cultured, adventurous Marcus: grounded, hilarious, genuine Juwan: describe Marcus in three words, describe Dalen in three words Dalen: Fearless, creative, outgoing Marcus: Hilarious, authentic, decisive Marcus: describe Dalen in three words, describe Juwan in three words Dalen in 3 words, no chance, entrepreneur not three words but three syllables at least! He’s a serial entrepreneur, his mind is always working to make sure that we’re always all taken care of. Juwan I would have to say loyalty. He is always one of the most loyal people that I have ever seen so you see why his life is what it is.

"GHOST BROTHERS: LIGHTS OUT" and "FRIGHT CLUB"

are streaming on discovery+ Visit www.discoveryplus.com HAUNTED MAGAZINE

As always it has been an absolute pleasure talking to you guys, we hope to see you in the UK at some point in the future, where we can all pop our paranormal trunks* and go ghost hunting together (*we call them “boots” over here, “pop our boots” doesn’t have the same ring does it?)

The readers of Haunted Magazine may well remember the two features I published in 2020 about London’s murder houses and their mysterious spectral residents. Now I am retired and live outside Edinburgh, the time has come to visit the houses of horror of the Caledonian capital…

BRITAIN’S OLDEST MURDER PALACE

ary Queen of Scots was born in 1542, the only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scotland and his wife Mary of Guise. When King James died from a fever after the defeat against the English at the Battle of Solway Moss, Mary ascended the throne when aged just six days. At the age of five, she was taken to the French court to escape attention from the old English enemy; she grew up there with her mother’s family and was educated as a French princess. At an early age, she was betrothed to François, the Dauphin of France and the son of King Henri II, and they married in 1558. Whereas Mary was tall, vivacious and good-looking, her husband was far from a prepossessing specimen of humanity: abnormally short, feeble and sickly, and afflicted with a nasty stutter. When Henri II died in July 1559, François ascended the throne, although the country was largely run by Mary’s two powerful uncles, the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine. Poor François II was not destined for a long and happy reign, however: he died already in 1560, from complications to an ear infection. Mary was tempted to return to Scotland, where a party of Protestants, led by her illegitimate half-brother James Earl of Moray, had taken control of state affairs; they formally invited her to come back home. When Mary landed at Leith on August 19, 1561, many were pleased to see her: The Royalists and the remaining Catholics

in particular. But Mary also had an indomitable enemy: the rabblerousing preacher John Knox, who had risen to an influential position due to his near-maniacal energy, uncompromising language, and fanatical Protestantism. Urging that Scotland was to be swept free of Catholics, for good, he was outraged to hear that Mary desired to celebrate Mass in private.

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David Rizzio was born about 1533 in the village of Pancatieri, in the Duchy of Savoy. When, in 1561, the Marquis di Moretto was selected to lead a diplomatic mission to the court of Mary Queen of Scots, Rizzio was selected to join the entourage in a menial capacity. The personable young Rizzio, who spoke fluent Italian, French and Latin, had been able to learn English with alacrity during his stay in Scotland:

e decided to remain in Edinburgh, where he was employed as a chamber valet at Mary’s large court. Mary liked to have foreigners in her service, and she could appreciate Rizzio’s good bass voice, which enabled him to join a quartet of singers employed at the musical entertainments arranged by the carefree young queen. By all accounts, David Rizzio was far from a handsome man: short, hunched and swarthy. Yet there must have been something about him, since Mary liked his company, admired his musical prowess, and appreciated his loyalty. When her secretary for French correspondence, Augustine Raullet, fell from favour in December 1564, she appointed Rizzio his successor. This was an important post, since Mary had many dealings with her French relatives: Rizzio was constantly in the Queen’s company, and soon became her acknowledged court favourite. A scheming, unpopular man, he was known as ‘Seignior Davie’ as he swaggered about the court in his elegant attire. Mary had many offers of marriage over the years, from the Earl of Leicester, from various foreign princelings, and even from King Erik of Sweden, but she turned them all down. She realized that to get rid of irksome Regent Moray, she needed to marry one of the great Scottish nobles. Her choice fell on Henry Lord Darnley, a son of the Earl of Lennox. He was a handsome and personable swain, and Mary thought she would be able to dominate him since he was not particularly bright. Realizing that as Mary’s husband, Darnley would be a person of considerable influence at court, Rizzio tried to ingratiate himself with the vain and foolish youth, initially with some success. Since Moray was unwilling to give up his position of power, Mary and Darnley raised troops and drove him south of the border after a short civil war. In this enterprise, they were helped by two influential Scottish nobles, the Earls of Bothwell and Huntly. As Mary took over the reign of Scotland, Rizzio was more powerful than ever. He was virtually her prime minister, meddling in all matters of state.

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cotland was home to a considerable population of angry, dissatisfied noblemen, who were normally occupied with infighting and local quarrels. When they joined forces against a mutual enemy, they were a force to be reckoned with, however. There were

rumours that Rizzio was a foreign agent in the employ of the Pope, or that he was a necromancer who had put a spell on Mary to take over the government of Scotland; a troop of 200 Italian mercenaries had been recruited by Mary, it was falsely bruited, 50 of whom were to serve as Rizzio’s personal guard. When it was said that Mary intended to give Rizzio a Scottish Earldom and officially make him chief secretary of state, the Protestant lords had had enough. They joined forces to conspire against Rizzio, since they found it an abomination that this foreign upstart gained prominence at court. They decided that Rizzio must die, and cunningly swore the weak and foolish Darnley into the conspiracy, persuading him that the Italian was Mary’s favourite in more ways than one, and that he had perhaps fathered her unborn child.

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n March 9, 1566, the conspirators forced their way into Holyrood, with a force of 500 men. They subdued the palace guards, snatched the keys from the porters and secured the gate. Patrick Lord Ruthven then led a force of 80 henchmen up to the royal apartments. The feeble, elderly Holyrood servants ran for their lives as the heavily armed desperadoes rummaged around the state rooms looking for Rizzio. But since Lord Ruthven rightly presumed that the hated Italian was in the second-floor suite of rooms occupied by the Queen, he led his men up the spiral staircase to Mary’s apartments. The Queen was having a meal in her supper-room, attended by Lord Robert Stewart and Lady Argyll, her equerry Arthur Erskine and the ubiquitous David Rizzio, when the conspirators burst in upon them. Lord Ruthven was the first to speak out: “Let it please your Majesty that yonder man David come forth of your privychamber where he hath been overlong!” Indignant when she saw the familiar figure of Darnley among the intruders, Mary angrily asked him what knowledge he had of this treacherous enterprise, something that he cravenly denied. Mary was able to hold the conspirators at bay for a while, the terrified Rizzio cowering behind her, but the murderous throng had little respect for her, holding her at gunpoint and waving their daggers in her face. All of a sudden, a number of noblemen rushed forward and grabbed Rizzio with a hearty goodwill, wrenching his fingers away from the Queen’s skirts. The wretched Italian could only scream

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“Giustizia! Giustizia! Sauvez-moi, Madame!” as the conspirators dragged him through the bedroom into the outer chamber, where they finished him off with 56 stab wounds. With his final breath, he yelled out “Madama, io son morto!” [Madame, I am dead!] in a terrible voice. The Queen wept bitterly when she heard his desperate outcry, and exclaimed “Ah, poor David, my good and faithful servant, may the Lord have mercy on your soul.”

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he conspirators also wanted to settle the score with the loyalists Bothwell and Huntly, but these two leapt out through a window and escaped. In the meantime, Lord Ruthven did his best to browbeat Mary, but she would not be having any of that, angrily swearing revenge against the murderers of Rizzio, her faithful servant for many years. Ruthven retorted that Rizzio had been a mean and base character, an enemy to the Scottish nobility, a shame to herself, and destruction to her country, but Mary still threatened revenge, saying that she would see the dear blood of the conspirators for what they had just accomplished. The conspirators had not thought through what to do with Mary and Darnley, who were virtually their captives at Holyrood. Even the bold Ruthven had second thoughts

about keeping the reigning Queen as his prisoner, under armed guard, so in the end Mary and her craven consort were just left in the murder room. Mary managed to put some steel into the cow-hearted Darnley, urging him that they must escape Holyrood at all costs. She suspected that the conspirators had invited the exiled Moray to return, and that this ambitious individual would have less than agreeable plans for his half-sister, who had once defeated and outlawed him. Mary and Darnley were fortunate that Bothwell and Huntly managed to sneak back into Holyrood after the conspirators had left. They

all managed to escape and take refuge at Bothwell’s castle in Dunbar. Here they regrouped and gathered soldiers and support, before returning to Edinburgh in triumph, driving Moray south for a second time, and taking charge of the government. But the coward Darnley would not have long to exult after settling his score with Rizzio in such a definitive manner. Although Mary made use of her feminine wiles to keep her vacillating husband under control, her love for him was long gone, and she conspired with the Bothwell and the other loyalist nobles to get rid of him. Although her active participation in the events that were to follow remain a mystery today, she must have implied to Bothwell that he could win her favour if something was done to end Darnley’s career, for good. ***

ary invited Darnley to stay with her at Craigmillar Castle, but fearful that the loyalist nobles were planning some lethal ‘accident’ for him there, he preferred to stay at his house at Kirk o’Field near the Cowgate, where he believed himself to be secure. But on February 9, 1567, some evildoers had loaded the vaults underneath the house with gunpowder; after a tremendous explosion, Darnley’s dead body was found in the garden. It appears likely that a servant saw or heard the dynamitards at work and warned Darnley in time: the conspirators had made sure that some loyal men were standing by to supervise the plot, however, and these desperadoes discovered Darnley making his escape, and strangled both him and his servant to death. Bothwell, who was widely suspected of being responsible for the murder, walked off scot-free, and later became Mary’s third husband. But by this time, many people, the adherents of John Knox in particular, had had enough of Mary and her violent and immoral court: she would face imprisonment, and subsequent execution, among her enemies south of the border. As for the adventurer Bothwell, he would

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end his days as a state prisoner in the hands of the King of Denmark, under miserable circumstances. David Rizzio was the typical court favourite: cunning, self-seeking and promoted above his capacity. He learnt it the hard way that the old Scots were no friends of foreign upstarts, and that they had a strong penchant for mob violence. He had overestimated the strength of his position at court, and misinterpreted the respect shown for his influential position to imagine that he was tolerated, or even liked, in his adopted country. Mary was the only person who mourned Rizzio, and many people were happy that he was gone, since he had symbolized corruption, foreign influence and Catholicism.

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he apartments of Mary Queen of Scots at Holyrood were left unchanged for many years. The rooms were regularly visited by the curious, and in 1760, the future Duchess of Northumberland came to call: “I went also to see Mary Queen of Scots’ Bedchamber (a very small one it is) from whence David Rizzio was drag’d out and stab’d in the ante room where there is some of his Blood which they can’t get wash’d out.” Throughout Victorian times, a regular stream of tourists came to see these rooms, some of them exclaiming ‘Cor blimey!’ when they saw the bloodstain that could not be washed out. During Queen Victoria’s visit to Edinburgh in 1876, a group of courtiers are depicted admiring the room where Rizzio had been murdered, with its tell-tale stain on the floor. No bloodstain remains to be seen today, however, and it must be suspected that the Holyrood tourist guides had used to ‘improve on’ it with some fresh cow’s blood. A curious footnote is provided by the book Haunted Royal Homes by Joan Forman: an “eminent member” of the Royal Family had told her that the ‘Rizzio Room’ at Holyrood had “a terrible atmosphere” and she experienced this for herself. Curiously, this ‘Rizzio Room’ is identified as the Queen’s supper room, whereas the wretched Italian was really murdered in the ante-room: did his disoriented ghost haunt the wrong room by mistake, or was the whole thing just a bugaboo tale?

NEW LIGHT ON BURKE AND HARE

uch has been written about those fiends of the Old Town, Burke and Hare, Edinburgh’s most prolific serial killers, who murdered a number of people for the purpose of selling their bodies for dissection at the anatomy school of Dr Robert Knox. William Burke was born in 1792 in Urney, County Tyrone, as one of two sons to middle-class parents. In 1818, he deserted his wife and family, moving to Scotland, where he became a navvy helping to construct the Union Canal, settling down near Falkirk with his common-law wife Helen M’Dougal. Moving to Edinburgh, he became a hawker selling old clothes to impoverished people, before trying his luck as a cobbler. About the mystery man William Hare, little is known except he was an illiterate Irish lad who turned up in Edinburgh in the mid-1820s, living in a small lodging-house off Tanner’s Close, West Port, run by a man named Logue. When this individual died, Hare moved in with Logue’s Irish-born wife Margaret. In 1827 Burke and Hare both worked as agricultural labourers in Penicuik; they became friends and it has been suggested that Burke and Helen M’Dougal moved into the Tanner’s Close lodging-house as well, drinking and carousing, and leading a riotous life.

n late November 1827, an old army veteran named Donald died at Hare’s lodging-house, owing £4’s worth of back rent. Thinking that the old man would be worth more dead than he had been alive, Burke and Hare sold his body to the celebrated Edinburgh anatomist Robert Knox, at his anatomy school in Surgeon’s Square, for £7 10s. This princely sum paid up, without any awkward questions asked, for the cadaver of the old soldier, set the two ruffians thinking. What if they murdered various down-and-out characters in the slums of Edinburgh, in a way that made it difficult to tell that they had been deliberately done to death, and then sold the corpses to Knox? There is reason to believe that their first victim was a miller named Joseph who lodged in Hare’s house: after he had been sedated with some liberal tots of whisky, Burke pinned him with by laying across his upper torso, as Hare suffocated him to death with a pillow. In total they claimed at least sixteen victims, all killed in the same manner, among them the young prostitute Mary Paterson and the invalid lad James Wilson, a street character known as Daft Jamie. Their final victim was an Irishwoman named Margaret Docherty; whose body was discovered by some other lodgers who called in the police. Burke and Hare made haste to sell the cadaver to Dr Knox, but the public-spirited lodger identified it in his dissection-room and the two ruffians were arrested.

n the trial of William Burke, which opened on Christmas Eve 1828 before the High Court of Justiciary in the Parliament House, the slimy Hare turned King’s evidence, blaming Burke for everything. Burke was found guilty of murder and was sentenced to be hanged and publicly dissected. Awaiting execution, Burke made a partial confession, putting much of the blame on Hare. He was hanged on January 28 1829 in front of an enormous crowd and publicly dissected by Professor Munro a few days later: his mounted skeleton stands at the Anatomical Museum of the University of Edinburgh, whereas Surgeon’s Hall has his death mask and a book bound in

his skin. Helen M’Dougal made a swift escape from Edinburgh, pursued by an angry mob. Although Daft Jamie’s family urged that Hare should also be prosecuted, but this was not possible according to the legislation of the time. Hare also left Edinburgh in a hurry, probably for his native Ireland, although no historian has been able to track him down. An 1829 press cutting tells that Hare turned up at a public house in Scarva, County of Armagh, with his wife and child, but he was recognized by the mob and run out of town. According to a 1916 cutting, Hare got employment at a lime kiln, but the other workers found out about his true identity and threw him into the lime so that he was blinded; he ended his days as a blind beggar in London’s Oxford Street.

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here has been a good deal of gibbering, from various ill-informed ‘internet monkeys’, that Burke and Hare lived on the southern side of what is today the West Port in Edinburgh’s Old Town, but a map in the 1884 book The History of Burke and Hare by George MacGregor, and perusal of the 1852 Ordnance Survey map of Edinburgh, clearly demonstrates that the two villains lived on the north side of this thoroughfare, roughly where the large modern tenement called Webster’s Land is today. The MacGregor map may well be somewhat over-simplified: on the Ordnance Survey map it looks like if there is another tenement between Burke’s house and Grindlay’s Close, whereas Hare’s humble dwelling is situated behind another, taller house in the West Port, and accessed through Tanner’s Close. The 1893 Ordnance Survey map shows Tanner’s Close and Hare’s house still intact, although the building situated at the site of Burke’s house now has a different shape. In July 1902, the Edinburgh newspapers could announce that Hare’s house was to be demolished as part of a slum clearance; Burke’s house had been pulled down some time ago, it was stated. Thus, nothing remains today of two of Edinburgh’s most celebrated murder houses; both Tanner’s Close and Grindlay’s Close have disappeared from the Edinburgh map, for good.

THE FREDERICK STREET MURDER

lexander M’Millan was a native of the county of Monaghan in Ireland, born there in the early 1830s. He ran away from home as a young lad and lived with his grandfather in Lancashire for a while, before becoming cabin-boy on a vessel plying between London and Hull; he ended up tramping all the way up to Glasgow, where he changed his name to Alexander Milne. He took lodgings in Rose Street, where he fell in with some travelling Swedish hair-platers who found him useful as an interpreter. In return, they taught him their trade, and since there was a demand for hair-platers in the New Town at this time, things started looking up for young Milne. He married Ellen Lawson and went on to become the father of three children. By early 1863, Milne had relocated into the small shop at 31A Frederick Street, consisting of two small rooms, with a front room and a kitchen in the basement below to house the entire family. By this time Milne was a chronic alcoholic who had celebrated Hogmanay with such enthusiasm that he seemed to verge on delirium tremens.

any Edinburgh people were outraged that Robert Knox, who was widely thought to share the moral responsibility for the murders, had escaped entirely without punishment. On February 12 1829, a large mob congregated on Calton Hill, before setting out for Knox’s house at 4 Newington Place, carrying with them a lifesized effigy of the anatomist, clad in a gaudy waistcoat and bearing the label ‘Knox, the associate of the infamous Hare’. Knox’s house was stoned, and many windows broken, the railings destroyed and the front garden trampled. The fearful anatomist sneaked out through the back door and took refuge in the house of a friend. Knox remained in Edinburgh until 1842, but his career never recovered. He then moved to London and died there in obscurity in 1862. It is not generally known that Robert Knox’s house, from which he had such a narrow escape from the Edinburgh mob back in 1829, is still standing today. In 1885, the terrace of Newington Place was incorporated into Newington Road, and the houses renumbered; in Victorian times, a shop was constructed in its front garden. This shop is today Euroclean Dry Cleaners, and behind it, Dr Knox’s house at what is today 17 Newington Road, is daily passed by throngs of people oblivious of this curious relic from the days of Burke and Hare.

n January 7, the 28-year-old working jeweller James Paterson sent his shop assistant George Graham to Milne’s shop to inquire about some hair mounts. Milne, who was sober and alert for a change, said that they were nearly done, but he asked that Mr Paterson should be sent along to his shop, since he wanted to see him. Milne and Paterson had been good friends for some time, but

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when the jeweller came along to his shop close to mid-day, Milne had purchased a sharp dagger from a shop. He admitted Paterson, who said ‘How are you today?’, and got the taciturn reply ‘Just come in.’ All of a sudden, Milne assaulted Paterson in front of his two young sons who were in the back shop: he gave him a push down the stairs to the kitchen of the flat below, before bounding after him with the dagger. The 8-year-old Helen Louisa Milne, who was sitting in front of the fire in the front basement room, was astounded when Paterson came running into the room and out into the area, with his umbrella underneath his arm, and shouting ‘I am stabbed!’ He made it all the way up the stairs, but collapsed in the street holding the railings, exclaiming ‘Oh! I am stabbed!’ and pointing at the left side of his chest. He never spoke again.

he chemist Bruce Allen, who happened to be passing by in Frederick Street, saw Paterson collapse and helped him into Alexander Forrester’s baker’s shop at No. 31. He saw Milne emerge from his own shop, saying ‘The fellow has been poisoning my wife and my children! I have got him in bed with my wife!’ When Constable John Stewart came to the scene, he found that Paterson was already dead; when he seized the dagger and took Milne into custody, the Frederick Street desperado exclaimed ‘He was a blackguard for running after married men’s wives in that way!’ There was widespread curiosity throughout the New Town that a murder had been committed in one of its most fashionable streets. Throughout the day of the murder, and for weeks afterwards, crowds of people came to see the murder shop. Although Mrs Milne pulled down the shutters of the shop, “The morbid curiosity of the inhabitants was not however in any way diminished by this proceeding, for during the whole day an immense throng congregated around the shop, and narrowly inspected its exterior”, as a newspaper rather disapprovingly expressed it.

he trial of Alexander Milne for murdering John Paterson opened at the High Court of Edinburgh on February 7. There was no doubt at all that Milne had stabbed John Paterson to death, but had he been sane at the time?

he defence called a number of witnesses who described Milne’s strange behaviour in the weeks prior to the murder: he had been fearful of being robbed, thought his entire family were being systematically poisoned, and imagined that Paterson was having an affair with his wife. The doctors who had examined Milne in prison agreed that he was not labouring under delirium tremens and that he was not feigning insanity; instead, they suggested that he had been under the influence of paranoid delusions against Paterson when he committed the murder. After a lengthy summing-up from the Lord Justice Clerk, the jury was out for an hour before returning a majority verdict of guilty of murder, albeit with a recommendation to mercy since three of the jurors had been of the opinion that Milne had been insane. Sentence of death was pronounced, and the execution date set to March 4. There was widespread opposition to this harsh sentence, and a good deal of writing in the medical press debating whether Milne had been insane at the time of the murder. His solicitor sent a memorial to the Home Secretary, who replied on February 26 saying that he had come to the conclusion that the recommendation of the prisoner to mercy by the jury was entitled to more than ordinary weight, and that the sentence should be commuted to penal servitude for life. Milne is said to have been very grateful for this last-minute respite, on account of his wife and family.

THE DEMON FRENCHMAN OF GEORGE STREET

ccording to his marriage certificate, Eugène Marie Chantrelle was born at Nantes in 1838, the son of the ship owner Jean Etienne Chantrelle. He is likely to have received some degree of a university education, since he knew excellent Latin and Greek, and good English and German, and since his medical knowledge was better than what could be expected from an uneducated layperson. In 1862, Eugène Chantrelle turned up in England, visiting Newcastle, Leicester and other places as a teacher. In 1864 or 1865, he went on to Edinburgh, where he took a comfortable house at 81A George Street, living on the second and third floors above a shop. Since Eugène was a rather handsome, elegantly dressed man, and obviously a person of learning and culture, he was employed at several schools, including the private Newington Academy, where he began work in December 1865. Here, he met the pretty, 15-year-old schoolgirl Elizabeth Cullen Dyer, who came from a distinguished Edinburgh family. After a short acquaintance, Eugène seduced and impregnated her; when she showed obvious signs of pregnancy, a shotgun marriage ensued on August 11, 1868. Elizabeth moved into 81A George Street, where she gave birth to her eldest son Eugène John later the same year.

hen I first saw it in 2009, the murder shop at 31A Frederick Street was part of the ‘Chiquito’ Mexican restaurant. It was still possible to see that there had once been two shops on the premises, although the door to Milne’s former shop had been replaced with a large window. I spoke to the headwaiter of this restaurant, who expressed amazement at the former notoriety of his establishment as the New Town’s premier murder shop. He assured me that the place was not haunted. In very recent times, the shopfront has been changed around after the restaurant has been converted to a large steakhouse; the opinion of the restless spirits of Milne and Paterson on this wanton rearrangement of two traditional New Town shops was never consulted by the developers.

nitially, Eugène and Elizabeth Chantrelle got on well together: he kept teaching at various schools, and she minded her son. But soon the marriage of the two Chantrelles was breaking up. Eugène drank French wine and champagne with enthusiasm, but he also developed a taste for the Scottish

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national drink, emptying a bottle of whisky per day. He beat and mistreated Elizabeth, and sometimes kicked her out into the common stair at night, forcing her to take refuge in the flat below. In October 1877, he took out £1000 policies on both his own life and that of his wife. Elizabeth was fearful that Eugène would murder her now when her life was insured, but her mother poohpoohed her concerns. On the morning of New Year’s Day 1878, Elizabeth felt a little unwell, complaining of a slight headache. Eugène sent his eldest son out to purchase a duck for dinner, but Elizabeth vomited and did not eat anything. The following morning, the servant Mary Byrne rose before seven to make a cup of tea for her mistress. When she was lighting the kitchen fire, she heard a groaning sound from Elizabeth’s room. Elizabeth was lying on the bed moaning piteously, and the pillow and bedclothes were stained with vomit. Summoned by Eugène, Dr Carmichael, of 42 Northumberland Street, arrived at 8.30 am. He could smell gas in the room and suspected coal-gas poisoning. He brought some brandy to inject as a stimulant, but the thirsty Eugène drank much of the contents of the bottle when the doctor was not looking.

r Carmichael called in the police surgeon Dr Littlejohn, and Mrs Dyer brought her own family doctor along to see Elizabeth, who was now deeply unconscious. The doctors tried artificial respiration but to little avail, and the patient died at the Royal Infirmary soon after. The histrionic Eugène exhibited grief and rage, accusing the doctors of murdering his wife. The post-mortem examination demonstrated the presence of opium in the vomit on the patient’s nightdress. When Elizabeth was buried, there were distressing scenes when the frantic Eugène tried to fling himself into the open grave. But after it had been established that on November 25, 1877, he had purchased sixty grains of opium, he was arrested for murdering his wife. The trial of Eugène Chantrelle began on May 7, 1878. The maid Mary Byrne gave her damning evidence clearly and without contradiction: it suggested that after poisoning his wife, Eugène had lured her out of the sickroom to be able to sever the gas pipe and simulate an accident. She further described his heavy drinking and angry outbursts, screaming ‘Go to hell!’ and ‘I will kick you out!’ at his wife in the presence of the servant. A former

maid in the household described how, in 1876, she had rescued Madame Chantrelle from her abusive husband; when they had reported the matter to a police constable, the furious Frenchman had screamed, prophetically as it turned out, ‘I will do for the bitch yet!’ The medical evidence pointed in favour of opium poisoning, the very same poison the prisoner had purchased a quantity of just weeks before the murder. The jury returned a verdict of guilty and Lord Moncrieff sentenced the prisoner to death. For a scoundrel of his calibre, there was no hope of a reprieve: after hearing that he was a doomed man, the demonic prisoner had exclaimed ‘Would that I could but place a fuse in the centre of this earth, that I could blow it to pieces, and with it the whole of humanity! I hate them!’ When asked, on the night before the execution, whether there was anything he wanted, the prisoner said, ‘Send in three bottles of champagne and a whore!’, a request that was denied him. Eugène Chantrelle was hanged by the executioner Marwood on May 31, the first execution in Scotland to be conducted in private, inside the prison grounds. The Edinburgh murder enthusiasts swarmed like bees on Calton Hill, but they were unable to see more than the Black Flag being hoisted from the turret flagstaff in the bright spring sunshine.

A ROSE STREET HOUSE OF HORROR

oseph Wilmot was born in Oakham, Rutland, in 1889. He joined the army as a young man and served three years as a batman and waiter in the Royal Field Artillery, with an exemplary record, before being discharged in 1912 and becoming a miner in Cockenzie, East Lothian. Here he met Annie Grant, the daughter of a fellow miner, and married her in September 1912. They soon had a healthy son named William, born in June 1913. At the outbreak of the Great War, Joseph Wilmot was called up as an army reservist, but he was found medically unfit for service. He instead became a fitter’s labourer at the North British Railway and moved into the top flat at 120 Rose Street South Lane, consisting three rooms, a kitchen, and two small lumber rooms. His second son Charles Wilmot was born here in December 1916. But by this time, all was not well with Joseph Wilmot’s health. Although still a young man, he complained of unsteadiness on his legs and a feeling of paralysis. In February 1917, he had to give up his work, and was left with five shillings per month from the insurance company, not even enough to pay the rent. Since his wife nagged him and the children went hungry, he was becoming increasingly desperate.

hen I saw the murder house at 81A George Street for the first time in 2003, there were still two flats over the ground-floor shop. The place was not haunted. The house has since been made into offices, and when I spoke to one of the secretaries that worked there in 2017, she expressed amazement at the former notoriety of the house, which remained untroubled by any ghost.

he butcher Duncan Forbes lived in the second flat at 120 Rose Street South Lane, just below the Wilmots. On May 28, 1917, he heard a strange sound from above stairs, like if some person was walking about and breaking coal in the upper flat. The following day, Joseph Wilmot was nowhere to be seen, nor did his family stir. Two days later, when Constable Alexander Mackenzie was on patrol in Castle Street, Glasgow, Joseph Wilmot came up to him and said that he had murdered his wife and two sons in Edinburgh. He was taken to the police office, where he explained that he had hit Annie on the head with a hammer and cut her throat with a razor, before treating William in a similar manner and smashing the baby’s skull in with the hammer.

he Edinburgh detective officer Alexander Little received notice from Glasgow on May 30 that Joseph Wilmot had been captured. He went to 120 Rose Street South Lane, where he found the three bodies in a bloodbath; since there were no sign of a struggle, they had clearly been murdered in their sleep. On trial for

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murder at the High Court in August 1916, the defence council of Joseph Wilmot did not have a leg to stand on, since the prisoner stood convicted by his own admissions to the police. But Dr Harvey Littlejohn, professor of forensic medicine, who had carried out the autopsies on the three victims, had also examined the murderer himself. He found evidence that Joseph Wilmot was suffered from locomotor ataxia, a disagreeable disease of the spinal cord causing jerky and unsteady walking, that was sometimes a sign of tabes dorsalis caused by tertiary syphilis. He also considered that the Rose Street desperado had not been of sound mind when he murdered his wife and sons, and the court followed his advice: Joseph Wilmot was found guilty of murder but insane at the time, and was ordered to be detained during the King’s pleasure. He died at the Lunatic Department of HM Prison Perth on September 10, 1926, from disseminated [multiple] sclerosis and asthenia according to his death certificate.

MURDER OF THE CAT MAN OF FERRY ROAD

he 47-year-old Gilbert O’Donnell was a well-known Leith character. Known as something of a ‘queer’, he dyed his hair jet black and pencilled his eyebrows. Registered disabled due to blindness in one eye, he spent much of his time reading and listening to music. A great friend of animals, he devoted much time to feeding the birds, and putting out saucers of milk for the local cats on the back green of 35 Ferry Road, Leith, where he lived in a small flat. The neighbours, who did not at all care for the hordes of cats invading their property, called O’Donnell ‘The Cat Man of Ferry Road’.

n March 4, 1996, Gilbert O’Donnell was found murdered inside his flat. He had been brutally beaten

to death: fifteen ribs were broken, a lung punctured, the rib cage collapsed, and the liver badly crushed. The neighbours had heard noises in his flat at about 1 am on March 2, indicating that Gilbert O’Donnell had been murdered that night. His sister Maureen told a journalist that Gilbert had been a harmless character, an eccentric without any enemies. He occasionally enjoyed a pint at the Junction Bridge Bar in Great Junction Street but was not a heavy drinker. Feeding the cats and birds had been his great passion in life.

he police soon had a suspect in

custody. Already on March 5, the 30-yearold former submariner John King appeared at the Edinburgh Sheriff Court, to be charged with murder. Unusually, it took a full year before King stood trial for the murder at the High Court of Edinburgh. He pleaded not guilty on grounds of self-defence, claiming that Gilbert O’Donnell had attacked him with a hammer. Professor Anthony Busuttil

compared the injuries inflicted to the murdered man to those suffered in a severe road traffic accident: it was impossible that Gilbert O’Donnell could have walked up or down stairs after suffering such a brutal beating. The most curious matter that came to light during the trial, however, was that a woman had seen Gilbert O’Donnell come walking upstairs later in the day when he was supposed to have been murdered: he had been very pale and white and had not looked at her or said ‘Hello’. Remarkably, a woman had seen O’Donnell feeding the pigeons at the Leith Library the very same day, and a shop assistant claimed that he had been in her Leith shop the day after he was supposed to have been beaten to death.

efending John King, Robert Henderson QC asked whether there had in fact been two separate beatings,

one inflicted by his client and resulting in relatively minor injuries, and another administered by the real murderer, resulting in his death. But the jury found John King guilty of murder, and the former submariner was sentenced to imprisonment for life. The motive for the murder, presumably homosexual advances gone wrong, was not speculated about in the newspapers. The purported post-mortem sightings of the Cat Man of Ferry Road remain a mystery still, unless you are a believer in the spectral world.

CONCLUDING REMARKS In Victorian London, it was of frequent occurrence that notorious murder houses acquired a reputation for being haunted. In particular, the Bloomsbury ‘Murder Neighbourhood’ in central London was notorious for its wealth of haunted murder houses. At No. 12 Great Coram Street, where the prostitute Harriet Buswell was murdered by an unknown assailant on Christmas Eve 1872, the haunting continued for several decades: the second-floor back room, where the murder had been committed, was always kept locked, due to the eerie, unworldly sounds emanating from it at night. Burton Crescent, situated just at the epicentre of the Murder Neighbourhood, is today known as Cartwright Gardens. The reason the street name was changed in 1908 were the unsolved murders of two women: old Mrs Samuels at No. 4 in 1878 and the prostitute Annie Yates at No. 12 in 1884. Both murder houses were reputed to be haunted, although the ghosts lacked the persistence of the spectre of Harriet Buswell. Another notorious murder house in these parts was not far away: No. 4 Euston Square, where the elderly spinster Matilda Hacker was found murdered in the coal cellar in 1879. Although the servant girl Hannah Dobbs stood trial for the murder, she was acquitted, and Miss Hacker’s murder remains unavenged. The murder house acquired a very sinister reputation: it was reported to be haunted, and strange groans and screams were heard in Miss Hacker’s old room. The bloodstain on the floorboards in the murder room could not be removed by any amount of scrubbing, and no dog would pass this room of horrors without snarling and whining and giving indications of intense terror. The Priory in Balham, where Charles Bravo was murdered in 1876, and 2 Ivor Street, Camden Town, where Mary Eleanor Pearcy murdered her rival Phoebe Hogg in 1892, also became quite notorious for their unquiet spectral inhabitants; both are reputed to have been subjected to exorcism rituals in modern times, to get rid of the persistent ghosts. Although Edinburgh has a multitude of ghostly legends, many of them inventions for the perusal of the more gullible tourists visiting the Capital, there is nothing like these notorious haunted murder houses of London. No spectre frolicked in the Frederick Street shop where Alexander Milne murdered John Paterson; no spirit haunted the Chantrelle house in George Street; no spectral little babies cried in the slum abodes left empty by Jessie King, the Stockbridge Baby-Farmer. The only Edinburgh murder story featuring a possible ghost is the remarkable story of the ‘Cat Man of Ferry Road’; several independent witnesses saw him outside his flat, feeding the birds and visiting a shop, the day after he had been beaten to death. Edinburgh seems to have escaped the unwholesome London fascination with murder houses in Victorian times, with no alleged hauntings taking place, and no instances of changing the names of murder streets: although there were still Edinburgh people keen to admire the latest murder house, the excesses from south of the border were avoided and Caledonian common sense made use of to assess the situation. This is an edited extract from Jan Bondeson’s book Murder Houses of Edinburgh (Troubador Publishing 2020).

HAUNTED MAGAZINE

UFOs in East Yorkshire

The Westall State School Saucer Mystery

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During the 1970’s a small village on the outskirts of Hull was the scene of several strange UFO sightings which came to a head in November 1977 when a craft allegedly flew over the local school.

On the 6th of April 1966, a little suburb in Melbourne Australia had its own UFO story to tell. In fact, it is a story that would become known all over the World...

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WHEN CALVIN MET JESSE My meetings with Lieutenant Colonel Jesse Marcell (USAF retired) By Calvin Parker Most of you will know that my involvement in ufology is the close encounter I experienced with Charles Hickson in 1973. I also had a ‘missing time’ episode in 1993 and a couple of bizarre events when I was just a kid. All of this has been covered in my two books ‘Pascagoula – The Closest Encounter’ and ‘Pascagoula – The Story Continues’. Both books were published by Philip Mantle at FLYING DISK PRESS.

ENCOUNTERS OVER THE ATLANTIC BY PHILIP MANTLE

Just recently a gentleman whom I will call Albert (real name of file) contacted me after listening to me on a podcast and this is how he introduced himself. His message was ‘my Atlantic encounter’. “Hello Mr. Mantle, I am a Brit ex-pat now living in Florida. I fly for an airline and had an extended sighting of a ‘classic’ large black triangle mid Atlantic some years ago which has caused me to be interested in UFOs/UAPs ever since. I was just listening to your appearance on the Paracast podcast from late last year. It is such a breath of fresh air to listen to someone like yourself, who is grounded, realistic and honest with a considerable depth of knowledge. Finding someone who is a genuine researcher rather than a person with extremist views is sadly uncommon in this field of study. I will take up no more of your time; I simply wanted to say Thank You.”

As you can see Albert gave on scant details of a sighting he had ‘some years ago’. Naturally I was intrigued by this and sort further information. Thankfully Albert was happy to oblige but requested that I not use his real name. Here are the details of his Atlantic Encounter. Continued Page 3

When Charlie’s and my encounter in 1973 hit the headlines I did my best to keep out of the way. Charlie was the man in the limelight and that was fine by me. Charlie met with UFO researchers, other witnesses and lectured at UFO conventions etc. I was content to try and get on with my life but occasionally I would pop up for one reason or another or I would see or hear of another story in a newspaper about me. As a result I did not meet that many UFO researchers or other close encounter witnesses nor did I know or want to know much about other UFO events or sightings. However, in the early 1980’s I met an elderly gentleman that is known to many because of his direct connection to the alleged UFO crash at Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. That man was no other than Lieutenant Colonel Jesse Marcel (USAF retired). At the time is was working in the oilfields and I had been transferred to Golden Meadow in Louisiana. I had been living there for about six months when I met a young lady by the name of Cathy Brown (real name on file) who worked at a local grocery store. I had not known here that long when out of the blue she asked me “Are you the Calvin Parker that was abducted by aliens?” I didn’t really want to talk to her about this so I tried to change the story a little bit. I asked her how she knew about what had happened to me. She said that she had read an article about me just a short while ago and wanted to talk to me about what had happened. Continued Page 15

“Hello Mr.Mantle, Today I am a flying cargo specialist (known as a Loadmaster) with a major cargo airline, but in 1993 (Jan/Feb) I was a Senior Purser Flight Attendant with Northwest Airlines. I have been in the airline industry and flying professionally since 1984, roughly 28,000 hours in the air. Not exactly a novice. On that particular trip we were travelling from Boston in the USA to Glasgow Scotland on a DC-10. After a breakfast meal service I was fulfilling my role of basically being an ‘ambassador’ for the company, checking that all our passengers were happy, when I noticed the last half dozen rows on the left side of the plane were all staring intently out of the windows. I made some sort of a light hearted remark about a pretty sunrise, and then asked “What is so exciting, what are you all looking at?” - I absolutely remember that precisely - as I do the reply from a middle aged Scottish gentleman, who said: “You tell us”. I had expected a cloud formation or nearby aircraft on a similar course (track) across the Atlantic, but actually saw a physical object which in my estimation was 3 times our size (450-500 ft) and about 3 or 4 thousand ft below us. It was moving gradually North-toSouth in relation to our plane, and after about 10 minutes it vanished below/behind our tail. It seemed to be moving slower than we were (200kts), and moving left to right diagonally. At the time our aircraft was flying at 32,000 – 34,000 feet. The hull was like charcoal, virtually non-reflective, there were 3 faint white lights at each corner. I saw no features or windows. It exhibited no unusual flight characteristics and seemed to move consistently in the same direction, like it was oblivious or indifferent to us. I went up to the flight deck as fast as I could, and asked the pilots what they thought it was. (The aft windows of the DC-10 are huge and have a very wide viewing angle). - All 3 pilots

saw the object and the Captain said (quote); “That is very unusual, we should talk about that after the flight”. At no time did it appear on our TCAS. Later (in the van to the hotel) the Captain told me he was not willing to say anything that would be recorded on the (CVR) Cockpit Voice Recorder - but he confirmed that he had seen precisely what I did, and he then also volunteered seeing a formation of 3 ‘intensely reflective’ disks the size of a house’ when he was a Captain with the US Air Force flying F-18’s back in the late 80’s over a forest in Indonesia. The First Office also confirmed the sighting. I have no evidence for my story; we all witnessed this a few years before the proliferation of cell phones with cameras, but it is a moment forever stuck in my mind as it changed my universal view. I have attached a picture from Google images that are simply the closest thing I can find on the internet to represent what I was looking at. Best Regards, Albert” As I have done on many previous occasions with witnesses I went on to ask Albert a number of questions such as: Did you or your colleagues make an official report and what did you think was the nature and origin of the object you observed back in 1993 and looking back what do you make of it all now. Thankfully Albert was prepared to answer my questions for which I thank him and his answers are very thought provoking indeed. U F O

“Hello Mr.Mantle, I’m afraid not. The Captain was emphatic that he was not willing to report the incident. We actually had a few beers that evening and discussed the event. He felt that it was a ‘career ender’ for him. I felt that if I contacted BUFORA or MUFON I would be omitting a major part of the story if I didn’t reveal that I had pointed it out to the crew on the Flight Deck, but had to respect his choice not to get involved. I have thought on the subject many, many times and wish that I had made a bigger deal out of it, perhaps asking the passengers if I could get their contact information, to verify what we’d seen. I’d guess probably a dozen people on the plane saw the object. I was just afraid that it’d become a circus and reports would get back to the company that I was being weird and bothering passengers. - Oh for camera phones back then!! So, in answer to your question, perhaps a mix of revelation and happiness at having seen this extraordinary thing, along with a sense of disappointment at myself for not making it as much of a ‘big deal’ of it as I should. Certainly today, a quarter century later I would have been far more interested in getting this on the news or at least adding this story to the catalogue of mass encounters. All the stories I had heard of before that, seemed to feature some version of a cigar shaped object, a silver disc, or similar. I had never even heard of a black triangular craft. When, shortly afterwards I was doing some research and for the first time saw images from the ‘wave’ T O D A Y

over Belgium I was astounded and felt in some ways that my encounter was corroborated for want of a better expression. Back then, I was convinced that these things were physical ‘nuts and bolts’ interplanetary machines under the control of E.T’s. Today I am less sure and feel that there is possibly a far stranger esoteric explanation. I have a hard time even putting my concepts into coherent words. Time or Dimensional travellers perhaps? Something so peculiar that we have a hard time wrapping our minds around it, and this is how our brains express our experience? An as yet unquantified natural phenomenon seems to explain many of the mysterious lights to me. The governments and military of the world are against us having any conclusive knowledge of what this is. I’m sure a very mundane explanation such as military aircraft or disinformation campaigns account for a lot of reports, but certainly not all. Sadly I fear we never will know, but if any light is ever going to be shed on the subject, it’ll be thanks to the hard work of people such as yourself. Regards, Albert” As Albert has outlined he has no evidence to support his story but nonetheless it is an intriguing account. He has obviously pondered on what the object may or may not have been down the years. Ultimately you will have to make up your mind whether he is telling the truth or not. It’s as simple as that.

PASCAGOULA: THE EVIDENCE CONTINUES

MORE NEW WITNESSES COME FORWARD, AND A FEW OLD ONES RETURN... By Philip Mantle

Even since we published the two books ‘Pascagoula – The Closest Encounter’ and ‘Pascagoula – The Story Continues’ by Calvin Parker I have been on a quest to try and uncover new and old evidence regarding this incident and I have been supported by a whole host of people including Dr Irena Scott and Douglas Wilson in the USA. For those who are not aware of the Pascagoula case then please take a look at Calvin Parker’s website at: www.calvin-parker.com Irena and Douglas have been a great help especially in regards to interviewing new first-hand eyewitnesses that we have either tracked down or who have stepped forward. Calvin Parker and Charles Hickson were fishing on the Pascagoula River that night in 1973 when their encounter happened. One criticism then and now is that no one driving over the Pascagoula bridge saw anything that night. The location of the encounter is pretty close to the bridge and it is easily visible. Well, that all changed just recently when a new eyewitness stepped forward. A Mr Charles ‘Rusty’ Anderson was to step forward with his own brief UFO sighting that night. He was interviewed on the telephone by my colleague Dr. Irena Scott:

CHARLES RUSTY ANDERSON I interviewed Charles Rusty Anderson on January 21, 2020. He was on the Pascagoula Bridge on October 11, 1973, the night of the abduction of Calvin Parker and Charles Hickson (October 11th, 1973). As he drove west on the bridge, he had a sighting of an object that appeared strange to him. He thought it was an airplane about to crash. He did not think about UFOs or anything like that; he just thought of a plane crash. He thought of a plane crash because the object appeared to be quite low. He did not see it for long because the traffic was going at about 50-60 mph and he couldn’t see it after he crossed the bridge.

Later that night he listened to the news to see if there had been a plane crash. Then he heard about U F O

the UFO. His future wife was with him, but she didn’t recall seeing the object. And I seen bright lights when I crossed the marsh southwest…it appeared to me pretty bright. It was as if a plane was maybe landing with landing lights but there was no place to land there. I thought it was a plane. I went on across the bridge….I turned on my radio was listening for any kind of news report. And then me and my girlfriend, who is my wife now, headed on to Gautier, I turned around at Gautier, and then we went in and watched the news and didn’t see anything. I watched the 10:00 pm news, I think it was, and that’s when we heard the report that there was a UFO sighting and then maybe landing or something. But I said WOW…it was coming in right there in the shipyard coming toward the shipyard …I was astonished at this point because I believed I had seen what they had…bright lights…I couldn’t tell a thing about being a plane or space ship or whatever. The next day, he went to visit his aunt, Irene Argullis who lived in Gautier, which was west of the Ingalls shipyard. She had seen the object also and thought it was too low. She watched it until its lights faded in the direction of the shipyard. She saw it to the east. She had thought the object was strange and different also. The next day I went down to my aunt’s

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which is on the beach in Gautier in the mouth of the Pascagoula River…I just went down to visit her… she lives …sit on the front porch she faces the Mississippi sound… she started telling me about these strange lights that she seen coming across the water …and she heard the news too…I seen those lights coming across the bridge thought it was a plane fixing to crash…She said I seen them I ain’t never seen anything like that over that close to the water. He added later: I seen the lights. I couldn’t tell what it was except I thought it was a plane fixing to crash… there is no place there for a plane to land… and I seen them at the same time as what they claimed happened happened…I grew up right there next to the bridge on the north side of the bridge. I asked him what color the light was. It was bright white with some bluish tint to it. He thought it was landing lights on an airplane. He didn’t know what color his aunt thought it was. He saw it just before dark and estimated about 6:00 pm but thought that might have been the time that

Parker saw it. He thought it was quite low about 2-300 feet. That is why he was concerned that it might be a plane crashing. He had rolled down his window but didn’t hear anything. He didn’t see it for very long, only about 30 seconds as he crossed the bridge – he had to keep up with the traffic. He thought it was definitely in about the location where Parker & Hickson would have seen it. He grew up in the area and had played there when he was a kid. His aunt died in about 2000 at age 98. She would have been to the west and south of him when he saw it. She had looked in the general direction of the east.

Irena wasn’t finished when it came to obtaining yet more witness information. Here we have more information gathered by Irena over January and February 2020. We have removed the witnesses real names in this instance but we do have them on record:

FOUR COUSINS AND A POLICE OFFICER A man who we will call Mr Jones (real name on file) said that this happened to his cousins, which were four brothers. They were on the far west end of Dauphin Island Mississippi, in a dune buggy. The west end of Dauphin Island is not too far from Pascagoula. “They were down there fishing, it got dark, they were headed back, and they got stuck.” “Their buggy got stuck in an area where the water had drained off.” “They thought they could get across it and they bottomed out.” They were digging with their hands and putting down boards. “As they were doing this, this thing came and parked over them.” It was directly above them. “All they could see was this tremendously bright light shining down on them.” This was extremely bright. It was so bright they could see all the colors in the grains of sand. They thought the object was not very far above them and were scarred. They were so scarred that they managed to get the dune buggy out a lot faster than it would normally take them. “They were so scarred that they basically picked the vehicle up and pushed it aside” They got away fast. They saw it leave the area going to the north-west and toward the Pascagoula area. They came back and told their neighbors about it. The neighbors didn’t necessarily believe them and teased them. But then they later found out about Calvin Parker and his friend, who reported abduction the same night. Three of the cousins are still alive and we are trying to speak to them in order to obtain more details. The witness Mr. Brown (real name on file). was a police officer the night of the incident on October 11th, 1973. He saw what he called a flying saucer and went to the Police Department to report the sighting and when he got there the two men (Calvin Parker and Charles Hickson) were there telling them what happened and the witness confirmed that he too had seen the flying saucer and helped to calm the younger man down (Calvin Parker). He was across town at the time of the sighting. He said it was just flying along real slow and there was no sound coming from the UFO. The witness is not in the best of health so we only took brief details from him regarding the sighting.

MORE WITNESSES – PATRICK GROSS ARTICLE In an article by Patrick Gross (un-dated) We find some more witnesses to this event that were reported after the encounter hit the headlines: “As the men were still in the Sheriff’s office, a former pilot called and stated he saw a UFO at about 08:00pm near the Pascagoula River. A former city counsellor and several other people also telephoned later to report their sighting. Three different people have phoned the Sheriff’s office to report their observation

There has been another possible independent confirmation: at 9:00pm after watching TV, Larry Booth of Pascagoula got up to check the front door prior to going to bed. He noticed a huge object with red revolving lights hovering 8-10 feet over the street lamp. He thought it was an experimental craft run out of the local military base.”

THE BOOTH SIGHTING: Pascagoula, October 11, 1973 The Pascagoula abduction was not the only UFO incident reported to have occurred on the evening of October 11, 1973. One of the most impressive sightings was made by Larry Booth, a Pascagoula service station proprietor. Mr. Booth, 48 and a World War II ‘Air Corps’ veteran, was interviewed in August 1974, at his home in Pascagoula. The following is an edited transcription of that taped interview.

LARRY BOOTH: Well, what happened, I was watching Kung Fu, which comes on TV at 8.00 pm) P.M….. course when the program was over (9.00 P.M.)- just a habit-check the front door before you can go to bed….when I turned all the lights off I just walked over to the door to turn the outside light off….I just happened to glance out the front door through this long glass (window) at the top of the door. That’s when I saw this big object which; I’d say-five to eight feet above the telephone pole out there, above the street light.

A POLICE OFFICERS REPORT TO NICAP

Back in the day NICAP was one of the leading UFO research groups and it was involved in many investigations. One report that I have located that was made direct to NICAP in 1977 was from a Police Officer in Pascagoula. He was Police Officer William Gennaro and the date of his sighting was on (approx.) 16th of October 1973 at around 11.30 pm. He reported seeing “one long blue hazy object being the size and shape of a fat cigar.” The UFO was pointed out to the officer by several members of the public while he was on patrol at the west end of Pascagoula beach. The officer found it difficult to believe what he was seeing. The three members of the public demanded a police report and they accompanied him to the police station to make one. The sighting was covered in the local newspaper and TV and the officer was asked by his chief not to discuss it in order not to create a panic.

of a strange blue light in the area where the two men were abducted. These people remained anonymous; they were driving on the Interstate 90 a few hundred yards from Parker and Hickson’s location that night.

The object was standing still, it wasn’t moving at all when I saw it. But all the lights around the outside of it were turningclockwise motion. And they were all red, no green, no other colours; all red-but no wings or no offset-no outer shape or nothing’, just a huge object. Just to say how big it was, I don’t know, but I would say it was larger than the props on a helicopter, you know how big helicopters are with the large props? I would U F O

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say it was bigger around than that. The main thing you could see were the lights all the way around it, a lot of them, close together and they seemed to be circling-I would say, slower than an ambulance light turns….about half that fast. But as the object got further off, naturally, I could only see the rear end of it and it looked-say, you’d see eight or ten (lights) and it decreased to six. Then, when it got way on out-instead of being right here, when you look up at a large object-lights all way around it-you can see ‘em on both sides. So what caught my eye was just to look up, I couldn’t hear a sound. A helicopter would’ve jarred everybody in here out of the house and if it had been an airplane, its fall, cause I was in the Air Corps-and they have to be travelling at a certain speed even to stay in the air. So, I started to go back and call my wifejust about the time I went to move, well, it started to move off in a slow motion, real slow, right over the pine tree. So I got over to the edge of the door and watched it ‘till it went plum out of sight. And as it got off out away-more in the dark I would say, it seemed to me-a dome shape of some sort, you couldn’t tell. It reminded me sort ofyou see these pickups, campers, with a little dome on top of it so the light can get inside of it. Well that’s what it looked like; it looked like the light was sort of reflected up from the inside. Those lights and the turning of it and that on top was all the shape you could really tell. But you could tell it was round and-I thought nothing of it. It didn’t bother me at all, really. I said, ‘I’ve see a strange object.’ I said, ‘Well, Keesler or Pensacola they always-helicopters and ferrying and doing all that back and forth’-and I said, ‘They’re running some kind of experiment through here, see.’ So, I wake up the next morning and I started to work. Well, I always listened to the news, five minutes to seven news, out of Biloxi. And here comes this about what happened out here on the road (the abduction).

So I began to time the television program, the time-what time I saw it and the directions that he said it went. And the way that it took off and the way the people of Pinecrest television acted up and the way that the people of Pinecrest said they saw it, different onesand everything that happened in this direct path that’s when I like to swallow my tongue! I got worried then, about what it was. Course, I’ve been questioned-friends and everything some have come up and just read about it and said, “Well, I know Larry, I been knowing him for years, I know he’s not telling a tale.” Well, I’m not telling any kind of tale, I don’t know what it was; I don’t have any idea what it was. But there’s two things I figure that it wasn’t an airplane and it wasn’t a helicopter. It was exactly one week after the Pascagoula incident that Captain Larry Coyne, 35 and his crew of three had a UFO experience which ranks as one of the most reliable and best documented cases in the entire history of the UFO phenomenon.

REQUEST FOR MORE WITNESSES We are confident, as is Calvin Parker, that there are still other witnesses out there that have yet to come forward. Maybe there might be someone who even has a photo or piece of movie film. We would there like to ask anyone who was a witness to these events on or around October 11, 1973 to please step forward. I can be contacted in complete confidence if required on email at: philip. mantle@gmail.com

WE SPY WITH OUR LITTLE EYES SOMETHING BEGINNING WITH U...

DID SCHOOL CHILDREN IN EAST YORKSHIRE SEE A UFO? By Mike Covell Wawne is just a small village in East Yorkshire, and stands approximately 4.89 miles / 7.86 miles from Hull City Centre, 2.24 miles / 3.60 km north of Bransholme Centre, and approximately 1 mile / 1.61 km from Kingswood. The River Hull stands to the west, Meaux stands to the north, and Benningholme stands off to the east. Wawne itself can be dated back to 1086, when it was named Wagene, and known as a bog or quagmire. An alehouse was first mentioned in the village as early as the 1590’s, and in 1666 The Plough first appeared. In 2011 the population of Wawne was 975; previously in 2001 it was only 878. In 2007 Wawne was flooded when a blocked drain caused the water to back up and rise two feet. Luckily, most of the properties were safe. Wawne is served by Meaux Road, which runs to the north, and Sutton Road, which runs to the south. The village is served by The Waggoners, which offers hot food and drink. During the 1970’s Wawne, a small village on the outskirts of Hull was the scene of several strange UFO sightings which came to a head in November 1977 when a craft allegedly flew over the local school. The following case study first came to my attention during the 1980’s. I remember my dad meeting up with some of his workmates at the time and they were sat talking about stuff when the topic got onto UFO’s. I remember my dad talking about the Wawne case, telling his mates that “At least twenty kids had seen this thing,” but his friends played down the incident, “Surely it would have been in the paper,” added one of his friends. I remember my dad going upstairs and coming down with a folder of newspaper clippings and after searching he pulled out a bit of old U F O

newspaper, and showed his friends who were sat in silence as they read it. As they passed it around the group I managed to get a read of it, and remember reading it. Afterwards they spent many hours talking about this, and other case studies, before they all went their separate ways. I forgot all about the incident, until 1996, when Nigel Blundell published The World’s Greatest UFO Mysteries, (Hamlyn, 1996) in which he includes the case study as a small inset within a larger chapter. The piece, which is only six lines long, and made up of just 58 words, it reads;

PLEASE SIR... Twenty children aged six and seven dashed to the study of headmaster Michael Yates at Wawne Primary School, Humberside, and told him they had seen a strange object in the sky. The children had never heard of flying saucers, but they described a classic UFO – “like a dish upside down and with a hump on top.” The story was fascinating, and I wanted to know more about this mass eyewitness account, so began researching the case, pulling together reports, newspaper clippings, and information about Wawne itself, even visiting the village on my mountain bike to photograph the area and take measurements. At the time, however, I didn’t get very far in my research, and ended up putting my notes into a folder which I put into a box and ignored for some years until I began researching and writing this book. Wawne itself was the scene of a strange sighting on May 15th 1973, when a strange shaped craft was seen hovering on the road between Routh T O D A Y

and Wawne, by two eyewitnesses at 11:15 p.m. The sighting was followed up by a sighting in Cottingham at 11:30 p.m. The second sighting was described as being circular at first before taking on the appearance of a cigar shape. [1] On May 25th 1977 at 8:00 p.m. a group of boys saw a silver cone flying over Bransholme, it was silent and was travelling at an estimated speed of 600mph. Some theorists have claimed that this could have been a balloon, however, the speed goes against this theory. Then, at some point during August 1977, an eyewitness in Wawne spotted something in the skies over the village. The earliest report I can find on the case came when the Northern UFO News published their newsletter, in which it stated that case number 77/202, during August 1977, at Wawne, North Humberside, a fat silvery cigar shaped object was spotted by a single witness in a patch of clear sky. It had bugles on the rear of the object that looked similar to tail fins on a conventional aircraft. The craft also had strange bugles, or protrusions on the front. It had no wings, or bulges on the side of the craft, and the craft itself seemed aerodynamically unstable. It was described as flying slowly into a cloud and was in view of the observer for a minute but made no sound throughout the sighting. The sighting, it is said, took place at 6:00 p.m. [2] On November 18th 1977, at 2:45 p.m. at Wawne Primary School, sometimes called Wawne Village School, was the scene of a strange encounter when a group of around 20 children witnessed a UFO. The children claimed that the craft was like an upturned plate or dish, with a row of windows on the top. It was silver and reflective, and reflected the sunlight off the top section.

It was silent, but made erratic movements when it flew off. The headmaster, and teachers, asked the children to draw the object, or at least make plasticine models of the craft. The children were put into isolation, and independently made what they saw, but when they put the models together, they all shared similar attributes. [3] Another sighting from November 18th 1977 was from a mother and her 7 year old son who were heading to a youth club in Middleton, when they witnessed a brilliant cone of fluorescent blue light appeared in the sky to the north-east of their position. It was silent and moved very fast in the direction of the base of the cone, but not the apex. When it moved they noticed that it grew in size until it was larger. Her son thought that it looked like a rocket, and it was in full view a couple of seconds, but neither witness saw it disappear. The original note made in the Northern UFO News states that Wawne and Middleton are only a few miles away from each other. In actual fact Middleton on the Wolds stands approximately 12.08 miles / 19.44 km north-west of Wawne. [4] Returning to the Wawne Primary School incident, Nigel Watson would later write an in-depth report on the case for Fortean Times, [5] in which he retold the story and his subsequent investigation. According to Watson, the event happened on Friday November 18th 1977 at 2.45 p.m. at Wawne Primary School, at Wawne, near Hull. The children were playing in the playground, on what must have been their afternoon playtime, when around 20 children saw a spinning object which looked like an upside down dish with a top cupola section which had a row of windows in it. The object moved swiftly on a horizontal trajectory approximately from the east to the south. Michael Yates, who was the then headmaster, was in the staff room talking to his wife, who also worked at the school, when three children ran in from the playground and told Mrs Joyce Yates, who was their teacher what had happened. All the children told the adults that they witnessed something silvery in the sky. Altogether about twenty children aged between 6 and 7 years of age witnessed it, and Mr Yates, took the children inside to be interviewed and for them to

create what they had seen using plastacine. venteen of the children from Mrs Cattle’s class saw the object from the playground, whilst three of the children, Robert Stevenson, Lisa Pattison, and Caroline Swift, who were from Mrs Yates class also saw it. The children struggled to describe what they had seen, but they all used plastacine to recreate their version of the disk. All of their creations looked similar, a disk shape with a large centre. Nigel Watson interviewed the children on December 1st and December 7th 1977, along with Roger Hebb. Some of the later reports on the incident name the girl not as Caroline Swift, but as Claire Swift, with the Swift family residing in Wawne for several years through several generations, with Arthur Swift, who was born in 1905 and died in 1976, and Elizabeth Ann Swift, who was born in 1908 and died in 1978 both buried in St. Peter’s Church, Wawne. At the time of the sighting Lisa Pattison was residing at Church Crescent, Wawne. The creations of Robert Stevenson, Lisa Pattison, and Caroline Swift were photographed by Roger Hebb.

that he became aware of the case after seeing it reported in the Hull Daily Mail, dated Monday November 21st 1977, so I visited the archives and pored over the newspaper reports of the time. Back then Hull was covered by two newspapers, the Hull Daily Mail, which ran daily from Monday through Saturday, and the Hull Times, which ran weekly and was published on a Friday. The Hull Daily Mail usually ran between two and five issues a day, however, during this period it was running three to four issues a day. The article, was published on the front page of the Hull Daily Mail dated Monday November 21st 1977, it stated;

WAWNE PUPILS SPOT STRANGE OBJECT IN SKY Wawne headmaster Mr Michael Yates is used to hearing the words; “Sir! Sir! Guess what we’ve seen, Sir?” But even he was astounded by the pupils reply. For the children described a strange object in the sky that might have been a flying saucer. The unexpected sighting occurred during break on Friday afternoon when about 20 pupils if Wawne Primary School aged six and seven were playing outside. “I was talking to my wife when three children from her class rushed in and said they had seen something silvery in the sky.” Mr Yates suggested that they went away to draw or paint the object from memory. “They decided to make plasticine models, and the odd thing is that these look very similar although the children had no opportunity to copy from each other,” he said. The evidence of the models persuaded Mr. Yates that his pupils had seen something unidentifiable in the sky. Each presents a round shape with a raised dome in the centre. Mr. Yates’s wife, Joyce, placed the three pupils in different corners of the room where they got on quietly with making the models. Meanwhile, 17 pupils in the headmaster’s class told him what they had seen during the break. “They were very young to know about flying saucers and I felt they genuinely had seen something strange,” he said. Lisa Pattison (seven) of 8 Church Crescent, Wawne, who made one of the models, said she was playing when she saw a shape like a plate in the sky. “It was a silver colour and seemed a long way away. It went in a straight line,” she said. Mr. Yates said he had learned over the weekend that a resident in the village had made two sightings of strange objects in the past week.

Nigel Watson had heard about the case early on, and was able to visit the school shortly afterwards, at which he spent time talking to the headmaster, Michael Yates, and a cross section of the children. They were all described as down to earth, reliable eyewitnesses, who were honest, hardworking kids. [6] The case would later make it into the newsletter of Bufora, the British UFO Research Association, in their 1982/1983 edition, Number 7/8. The 24 page booklet featured an article on Close Encounters with children by Nigel Watson, and stated that 20 six and seven year old children saw a UFO from their playground at Wawne Primary School on November 18th 1977 at 2.45 p.m. The children described it as looking like a spinning top, on an upside down dish, with a cupola with windows. Mr Michael Yates separated the children and in isolation three of the children, Robert Stevenson, Lisa Patterson, and Caroline Swift recreated what they had seen using plastacine. (See recreated images in this book) All three models looked remarkably similar with circular bases, rings, and raised dome. In this article Nigel Watson stated U F O

The headlines on the front cover of the Hull Daily Mail, dated Monday November 21st 1977 said it all Another newspaper report, from an unknown source that was in my research folder, published at the time stated;

LIKE A PIE IN THE SKY

The young school children had never heard of flying saucers – until they saw one. Michael Yates, headmaster of Wawne Primary School, North Humberside, was suddenly besieged by 20 children who told him they’d just seen a strange object in the sky. Lisa Patterson, aged seven said “It looked like a dish upside down, and made a little whistling noise.” Caroline Swift, six, said: “It was quite high and had a hump. I thought it was a helicopter at first. But then it didn’t look like one. And it was whistling.” Robert Stephenson, also six, said: “It went very fast over our school round to the right and very fast up into the sky. No one could have thrown anything as high.” “It had a hump on the top.” Mrs Joyce Yates, the headmaster’s wife, told the children to make plasticine models of what they had seen. They all made pie-crust shaped flying saucers. Mr Yates says: “It was quite amazing. They hadn’t been told about flying saucers before.” T O D A Y

The picture accompanying the Hull Daily Mail article on the front page, dated Monday November 21st 1977, it states “Lisa Pattison (left) and Caroline Swift reconstruct their UFO sighting. (RIGHT) On the first level was a balcony overlooking a large operations room, and at the rear of the balcony level was a maps room, which held various maps and charts. This also doubled as a meeting room and a conference room. At the far end of the balcony was the kitchen, and another room which led off. One of the photographs published at the time of the sighting, showing Emma Priestly, Lisa Patterson, Caroline Swift and Robert Stephenson. This report is important as it presents us with a new witness, previously unnamed in the articles by Nigel Watson, and rarely discussed by those researching the case. Coincidentally, it just so happens that Wawne was a highly strategic point in Britain’s Cold War defence network, with a subterranean nuclear bunker disguised as a house! The bungalow, which went up for sale in 2015, had walls and a roof two feet thick, and the foundations were 16 feet deep, was on the market for £365,000 by Beercock, Wiles and Wick, and was built in the 1950’s. The single ground floor was designated office space; while the bunker itself was to be a focal point should Britain be attacked. It was later used as offices by the local council, and then Humberside Police bought it to be used for training. Kevin Howe, a developer, bought it and owned it with his wife for 12 years, although this wife thought he was crazy taking it on. Could this be the reason why this craft visited the area? The bunker was a semi-sunken AAOR bunker, and on June 13th 2001, the Hull Daily Mail, announced that it was for sale, but at the time a local action group, known as the Wawne Bunker Preservation Trust, wanted it to become listed. At that time it was expected to sell to Lakeland Properties Limited, who wanted to convert the ground floor level into two residential units, and the

lower floor was to be retained and opened up to the public occasionally. In 2002 the Wawne Bunker Preservation Trust became a registered charity, with a view to education, training, conservation and heritage, but the charity ceased in 2004. The bunker came about as a result of the Cold War, and the Wawne AAOR controlled the guns of the Humberside GDA during the years 1952, 1953, 1954, and 1955. The Civil Defence Corp then took over the bunker, but its main role, as a local authority emergency control centre was still maintained, and during the research of this book I had the pleasure of speaking with a former Humberside Police Officer who worked onsite, and a former BBC Radio Humberside technician who worked on the site. In 1968 the Civil Defence Corps disbanded, and the bunker became the first County Control for the East Riding of York, and later the Humberside Control, which it maintained until 1992. Humberside Police also used the site for training. The bunker was fitted with a main blast entrance that had a standard external door, which led to the blast door, beyond this were steps down to the lower level, and on the right hand side was a reception area that was to be used for emergency planning. The next room along was a communications room, which had a communications system and emergency telephone system with numerous bays where radios were once fitted. Beyond this room were the male toilets, and beyond that a staircase which led down to the next level. U F O

Back at the reception area was a staircase which led down to the lower level, which contained the large operations room. On the way to the operations room you pass a generator room, and beyond that a filter room, which contained the air conditioning units that would allow people to work with the blast doors locked. Another room beyond this room housed the boiler room, used to keep the bunker warm, and beyond this a room which housed the controller’s office. Beyond this led the staff into the main operations room, with the balcony overhead. The room was large, bigger than all the other rooms within the bunker, and off it led four rooms. Inside one room was where the fire fighting equipment was housed, along with notices on which fire brigade units were in operation at ground level, with numbers of appliances and contact details of each fire brigade station. Rooms two and three were storage rooms, and room four housed audio/visual equipment, most of which was used for educational purposes. Another room beyond the operations room was the BBC Radio Humberside Studio, which housed an emergency radio broadcast system. The room was soundproofed with a large soundproofed door. Map showing the distance between Wawne Primary School and the rough site of the old Cold War Bunker known locally as Wawne Bunker.

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Along the corridor another room was the maps room, covering the region, with maps, plans and charts on how buildings in the region react to nuclear blasts. Along the corridor was another blast door, leading out into another office. Another room off the corridor led to a room used for storage, with maps on the wall, and beyond that a room marked “Military Advisors,” which was where the key members of the military would be stationed. At ground level there used to be two large garages. Looking at the distance between the two locations, it is only 419.87 metres / 1,377.52 feet between the two, with the bunker standing on Cedar Close, to the north-east of the site of Wawne Primary School. The sighting followed a similar incident in Wales, known as the “Broad Haven Incident,” and took place on February 4th 1977, when fourteen children at the Broad Haven Junior School near Haverfordwest, South Wales, had witnessed a UFO landing in a field close to the school during their lunch break. Of these fourteen eyewitnesses, six of them had seen a humanoid figure. BUFORA (The British UFO Research Association) was called at 4:50 p.m. on the day of the sighting, and local investigator, Randall Jones Pugh, spoke to the parents of the children. The children described a silver cigar shaped object, and all of the children were asked to draw what they had seen by their headmaster,

Ralph Llewellyn, with most of them coming back with very similar images showing a long silver craft, and in some cases a long silver craft with a dome on the top. The similarities between the two cases are striking; multiple eyewitnesses, reporting it to the headmaster, then the headmaster asking them to recreate what they had seen, and all of the eyewitnesses creating similar images of the craft. The similarities between the Broad Haven Junior School images and the plastacine models recreated by the pupils at Wawne Primary School are also very similar. I attempted to track down the eyewitnesses in the case, these included Michael Yates, Joyce Yates, Robert Stephenson/Stevenson, Emma Priestly, Lisa Patterson, and Caroline Swift. One of the issues I faced was that Robert was named in most of the earlier reports as Robert Stevenson, but when I checked the records for Wawne for the period, I could not find a Robert Stevenson, I did, however, find a Robert Stephenson. This was later backed up by some of the earlier press reports that appeared in the media after the incident, all of these press reports named him as Robert Stephenson, not Robert Stevenson. With this in mind I looked at records During the research phase I tracked down Mr. Michael Yates but was sad to discover that he had passed away. His wife, Joyce, however, is still alive and well but was unwilling to comment on the case. Rough drawing based on the model created by Caroline Swift, which had a circular bottom and solid circular cylinder Sketch based on the model made by Robert Stephenson, similar in fashion to the Caroline Swift model, but with the base more of a circular rim than a solid circular base Sketch based on the model made by Lisa Patterson, circular with a raised centre, slightly different to the models made by Robert Stephenson and Caroline Swift, but sharing many similar attributes.

REFERENCES: 1 UFO Register, Volume 5, 1974, Cases 258-260

2 Northern UFO News, Northern UFO Network, NUFON, Jenny Randles and Paul Whetnall, Issue 44, January 1978

UFOS DEPICTED ON THE WALLS OF ROMANIAN CHURCHES? By Dan D. Farcas PhD As the famous castle of Dracula in Transylvania goes up for sale it is a a remarkable coincidence that featured in my new book is a medival painting from a church in Translyvania that some reseatchers believe depicts a UFO. In Romania, everyday people, especially in the countryside, always considered the heavenly apparitions not as something impossible but as “divine signs” that can happen normally, though rarely. There are countless testimonies in this regard. This belief was reinforced by the fact that the holy characters of the Christian religion, from the Old and the New Testament were seen on occasion coming down from heavens and returning whence they came. In past centuries, when, in Romania, most of the population was illiterate, religious teachings were spread and reinforced by the use of frescoes, depicting biblical scenes, covering the walls of churches both indoors and often also outdoors as well. Even if these scenes evoke ancient events and distant lands, the painters painted men and buildings as they knew them in the environment they lived. Similarly, we can assume that they sometimes painted such holy characters in heavenly vehicles that resemble certain celestial objects that they saw themselves flying in the sky (Comets, meteors etc), or that were reported by witnesses of strange airborne apparitions. In areas with Orthodox religion there are many such representations in a variety of different churches.

3 Northern UFO News, Northern UFO Network, NUFON, Jenny Randles and Paul Whetnall, Issue 44, January 1978

4 Northern UFO News, Northern UFO Network, NUFON, Jenny Randles and Paul Whetnall, Issue 44, January 1978 5 Fortean Times, Issue 33, Autumn 1980, Enigma Variations, Nigel Watson, PP. 42-43

The writer and researcher of mythology Victor Kernbach (1923-1995), in his book “Enigmele miturilor astrale” (Riddles of astral myths), detailed that similar frescoes have been in churches from Bucharest as the (old) “Saint Spiridon” and “Bucur”. Unfortunately, the first was demolished under the communist regime, but the second exists today and the pictorial representations are of the same type as those at the Princely Church of Târgovişte. As the Romania author Călin Turcu (1942-2006) noted in his book “Extratereștrii în România” (Aliens in Romania), “On the walls of the chapel Lainici (Gorj County) can be distinguished a picture quite different from the others. The drawing, done in the early seventeenth century and

6 Fortean Times, Issue 33, Autumn 1980, Enigma Variations, Nigel Watson, PP. 42-43 7 Fortean Times, Issue 33, Autumn 1980, Enigma Variations, Nigel Watson, PP. 42-43

8 Northern UFO News, Northern UFO Network, Jenny Randles and Paul Whetnall, Issue 44, January 1978 9 UFOIN, File Number 7726

The city of Târgovişte was the capital of Walachia for several centuries. The construction of the Princely Church in the city was completed in 1583. The frescoes inside have not been repainted but only retouched with all of the original figures and objects remaining exactly the same. As the Romanian journalist Gabriel Tudor noted, on the west wall of the nave, the fresco depicting the moment of receiving the tablets of the Law by Moses on Mount Sinai (the ten commandments), we see a character not mentioned in the Bible: depicted as an angel and placed between two concentric circles, looking as if it had just come out to watch the proceedings. What are those two circles? In any case, surely not clouds which are clearly represented in the nearby paintings in a completely different manner. Also they can not be stars or the moon, because on the same fresco the sun is seen, whose rays are prominently depicted to draw attention that the scene takes place in broad daylight. Could it be that the two circles are a graphic representation, in a primitive manner, of a disc-shaped UFO with a domed top, which the anonymous painter, having not a very good capacity to represent things in a three-dimensional perspective, drew as a circle inside another circle?

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T O D A Y

A 1922 CLOSE ENCOUNTER By Philip Mantle

representing the “Annunciation”, depicts, above the Archangel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary, a heavenly “vehicle” with the shape of a double balloon which again can not be a cloud. The flying object ends with a narrow open tube, where red streaks appear to burst and absorbed behind by a red cloud. On the walls of Tutana monastery (Argeş county), built in 1577, is depicted an “astronaut”, equipped for space flight. It is by no means an earthly character. Images such as those presented above are reported not only in Romania but also in other countries of the Orthodox faith, as in the Decani monastery in Kosovo and on a number of Russian religious icons. But the paintings with UFOs are not restricted only to the Orthodox churches. One such painting exists also in a Protestant church, in the centre of Romania. Gili Schechter and Hannan Sabbath, from the Israeli Extraterrestrials and UFOs Research Association, commented in an article of a photo of a mural fresco in the Monastery Church, not far from the Clock Tower in the city of Sighişoara (Transylvania). The photo reproduced in the article was made by Cătălina Borta. Under the image is written in German, a passage from Psalm 130, 7: “Israel trust the Lord!” In the image is a large building, possibly a church, above which floats, slightly oblique, a large disc-shaped object, divided in to about 10 large sections. From the centre of the disc pointing down is a sort of spike. Above the bright object is a short column on which you see other objects that are hard to identify. The authors could not find who did the painting, nor when. However the text can not date before Luther had translated and published, in 1534, the Bible in German. The authors also noted that the same disc hovering, diagonally divided into sectors and with the stick underneath, appears on a number of medals from the seventeenth century, probably chips used in gambling. It issued its opinion that these objects represent the cartwheel described in Ezekiel’s vision. A similar picture exists in Liber Prodigiorum, a book, written by Julius Obsequens, a fourth-

century Roman historian. But the book, which describes the unusual heavenly appearances over Rome, was printed, with engravings added, only in 1552. The authors noted some differences between Sighişoara painting and the objects on the medals; for example, these have almost all a circle of stars on the circumference, while they are not on the object depicted in Sighişoara. Are these paintings depictions of medieval UFO sightings or do they have a much more mundane and simpler explanation ? As an academic and a UFO researcher I must admit that the images on these paintings are certainly worth a second look and we should not rule out the possibility that they do depict something that today would be described as a UFO. Dan D.Farcas Phd is the author of the brand new book UFOs OVER ROMANIA published by Flying Disk Press and is out now on Amazon. http://flyingdiskpress.blogspot.co.uk/ About the author: Dan D. Farcas Ph.D. Born in 1940 in Reşiţa, Romania, he holds an MSc in mathematics and physics and a Ph.D. in mathematics and computers. Since 1968, he was a project manager for several countrywide information systems, mainly in health and science management. He was elected in 1993 a full member of the Academy of Medical Sciences of Romania. Since 2011 he has been the President of the Association for the Study of Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena (ASFAN) in Romania. He has published in Romania over 25 books (on IT, philosophy of science, Extraterrestrials, UFOs etc.), more than 1,200 articles and he also has participated in numerous radio and TV debates. U F O

T O D A Y

Through March and April of this year (2021) I featured in a new four-part TV documentary series entitled “Alien Autopsy – The Search For Answers” which was broadcast on the A + E Chanel Blaze. After each episode was broadcast I would receive a number of emails or messages on social media. Most of these were commenting on the documentary series but others wanted to report UFO sightings to me. One gentleman who contacted me via email I’ll simply call Stephen. Stephen provided some brief details of his wife’s grandfather who, a few years before he passed away, had self-published his own memoirs. These memoirs came in two parts. The first part was about his working life as a mining engineer and the second about his life in general. The man who wrote these memoirs is Richard Hathaway and he was born just before the First World War. Stephen supplied me with the details about his wife’s grandfather Mr Richard Hathaway and his close encounter in 1922 and I was permitted to read them. Here, with Stephen’s permission is the close encounter of 1922.

RICHARD HATHAWAY Richard Hathaway, born 2nd August, 1913 at Irlams o’th’ Heights (Salford, Greater Manchester), was aged nine in 1922 at the time he and good friend Leo had this encounter. Five years later Richard would be leaving school and not wanting to work in the mine or mills and being highly self motivated began knocking on doors looking for work in engineering of some sort. His search took him to the doors of the impressive Metropolitan Vickers concern at Trafford Park. Here he became skilled as a draughtsman before getting more involved with the massive electrical engineering projects that were involved in power generation, railways, mining and many other fields. As a result he also got a good grounding in mechanical engineering. Through his own perseverance he succeeded in becoming a Fellow in the Institute of Electrical Engineers.

During world war two, he was involved in the development of mine sweepers at sea using systems involving high currents to produce surges of magnetism to detonate mines. At the age of forty he made the move to the NCB (National Coal Board) as Chief Electrical Engineer for the Wakefield and surrounding areas where he was involved with improving the mines electrical systems and designing and overseeing installation of mineshaft winching systems and pit head gear. He also was involved in the sad tasks of investigating mining explosions at Walton and Normanton collieries. At the age of forty nine he moved to Qualter Hall, carrying out similar work but this time on a more global scale. Here he became Technical Director culminating in becoming Executive Director when British Steel Constructions took over the company. Richard always was a proper gentleman, very precise, articulate and not one to make stories up. Reading his memoirs it seems he never spoke much about this event but he must have thought about it a great deal. As time passed and he was getting older, he had the conviction to include this story in those pages so that it would not be lost should the worst happen. Richard passed away in his very late eighties. Looking at Google maps, the area where this encounter took place somewhere between the end of Bank Lane towards the River Irwell was described as fairly rural and near the Agecroft Colliery. Now, it is the site of a large industrial estate as far as the river. Heaton Park and Drinkwater Park are still in existence and very much as they were.

THE ENCOUNTER The following is taken verbatim from Richard Hathaway’s memoirs and it is the first time it has been published anywhere.

tended to set out at about 9.30 am and mother prepared sandwiches for us for the day and bottles of lemon drink prepared from crystals.

“The story you are about to read is true, even though some small discrepancies may have occurred over the time which has elapsed since the encounter took place. At this time I lived with my parents and brothers in a small terraced house at the bottom of Prestwich Street in the village of Irlams o’th’ Height which overlooked the Irwell valley. The A6 road bisected the village. Bank Lane ran down from the A6 to Irlams o’th’ Height railway station down in the valley. The road ended under the railway bridge. On the other side of the bridge were a couple of pastures, probably a quarter mile in length and very narrow, known locally as the “long fields”. One could traverse these fields on the way across the valley to Prestwich, in which district there was located Heaton Park. Heaton Park boasted a magnificent lake in which were five islands. This place was a magnet in summer for many schoolchildren and although about four miles from home, a goodly number of children from our side of the valley visited the park during holiday times.

Came the day, we duly set off down Bank Lane seeing that there was a mist in the valley. It seemed to be thicker over the “long fields”, but we attached no importance to this. When we were well in the fields we were amazed to see in the mist a very large cylindrical shaped object, rather like a long pipe with cone shaped ends very much like the nose of the Concorde plane. Its total length must have been all of 150 feet and was probably 20 feet in diameter. We thought at the time that it was probably something to do with the nearby Agecroft pit (colliery), a regular haunt of hours, so we decided to investigate.

I had a particular school friend by the name of Leo Parkes at this time. We were both nine years old when the encounter took place. Leo and I had planned to visit Heaton park on my birthday, Wednesday the 2nd of August 1922, weather permitting, and spend a day there, intending also to have a couple of hours on the lake and explore the islands. We inU F O

lours. A few wore a head-dress resembling a small turban. It was easy to observe that there were two sexes: one looked more gentle and I thought of these as ladies. The “men” looked sterner but still gentle and kindly in appearance. They were all slim in build and some of both “sexes” had distinctive white rings round their sleeves, which both Leo and I took to be some kind of rank. Their faces and hands looked delicate, their faces being oval in shape, with large eyes and ivory skin, very pleasant and slightly oriental in appearance. Two people, one of each “sex” came to the large opening and beckoned us to come closer. I personally felt no fear and later, Leo said that he also felt no fear. As we approached we felt we were walking up a ramp, although we saw nothing.

As we got closer we saw it appeared to be resting in mid-air, about 3 or 4 feet from the ground. As we came round the end we saw that there were lots of holes, about 12 inches in diameter in the end cone and several tundish shaped objects beneath the main body. We also saw that a suffused light came from this side. We felt no fear and decided to approach closer. When about 20 feet from the structure, we saw a large door slide open and people moving inside. They were about five feet six inches tall and dressed more or less identically in two-piece suits with tunic collars, except that the clothes were in many soft coT O D A Y

As we stepped inside we were astounded to be addressed by the lady in English: “Welcome Richard and Leopold to our ship.” They shook us by the hand and showed us round this large room in the centre of the craft.

There were a number of control panels which would be called consoles today, people reading instruments and others lounging around on the couches and tables. They told us this room was a common room and that each person on the vessel had a small private loungecome-bedroom. Our two guides took us into a small room, sat us down in front of a screen and appeared to be projecting images of our insides onto the screen. They did not assault us in any way. They then took us on a tour of the other rooms, including their own private quarters. Each of the private quarters comprised a lounge with table, a couple of chairs, working desk, bookcase and various other bits and pieces. There was also a large screen on which country scenes were being projected. We recognised some of our own immediate surroundings. A curtained off alcove contained control gear which we were informed were for driving, navigating and steering the ship. Other rooms were for controlling their armaments. Most of the control gear was way over our heads and, as I recognise now, consisted of push buttons, indicator lamps, digital and analogue instruments, mimic diagrams and screens showing the actual operation of the particular plant being controlled. They told us that the prime movers for the electrical generators were “nuclear fusion” devices as opposed to “nuclear fission” devices which the authorities on this earth would probably use for providing their energy sources in about the next 50 or 60 years. All this has come true. They said their system was intrinsically safe, whereas the system which would be used on earth would be flawed.

by a system of thought transference they had perfected between themselves and found out our names by intercepting our thoughts after we entered the ship. They pointed out that not many persons were actually speaking to each other, but were in fact communicating with each other by thought transference. We asked if it was their intention to make war on us. The reply was “Definitely not.” They said their planet was dying; the total number of people on their planet was now only three million and they were looking for a planet similar to ours but as yet unpopulated by humans. They thought our planet was overcrowded already and the people in general were very aggressive to each other as compared with themselves.

As far as the actual armaments were concerned, I got the impression that a length of a beam of destructive light was fired out of the openings in the cone ends towards the object they were attacking, this beam (consider it like a shell fired from a big gun) being controlled from one of the small rooms. The lethal beam could be controlled in speed, direction and manoeuvrability.

Their planet, they told us, was light years away but they had perfected a system of place and distance transference which accounts for millions of light years in hours. They could not enlighten us any further as the human brain was not sufficiently developed.

We asked what the ship was made from. They said it was a special ductile, incorrodable substance mined on their planet, and when finished it was many times the strength of steel. We asked how they knew our names when they asked us in. They said they knew

They said they came from another galaxy, but in the universe the number of Galaxies was without end and many other planets in other galaxies were inhabited by many strange creatures, living in unbelievable environments.

Our day at Heaton Park was now off, so we decided to spend the rest of the day on the riverbank in Drinkwater Park, Prestwich Clough. We decided to keep the encounter to ourselves for fear of being laughed at. I have not heard from Leo for the past 50 years, so I have decided to set the matter down in writing for the first time, as I am now 83 years old. I think the ship we entered that day in August 1922 would on reflection be called a UFO today, but at that time we had never heard of such things and they were beyond our comprehension. I could not really analyse my feelings at the time, and for many years searched my mind for a reason for the encounter. Much later in life I accepted the fact that the great object was indeed not of earthly origin. This account is set down as it happened and is a true story. The reference to nuclear power words, fusion and fission, earlier in this article is my interpretation of what they told us. They did not use these actual words.”

Creatures from planets from other galaxies, of unimaginable appearance had been spying on each other (except for us) from time immemorial. They said that our earth would start spying within 100 years. They said they had visited this planet over a hundred years ago.

Being just a couple of kids, we were overawed by what we had seen; we did not ask anything further. We could have asked many more questions, but remember, we were only a pair of children left in a state of wonder. They gave us some fruit and a shoulder hug and then set us down to the outside. As soon as we left the ship the great door closed and the ship rose rapidly in the sky. U F O

We walked back to where the ship had been but there was not a trace of it ever having been there, only a few cows and ourselves looking in wonder.

Before I say anything I would like to thank Stephen for allowing me access to his wife’s grandfathers close encounter report. Stephen has showed me both parts of Richard Hathaway’s memoirs and the section marked at ‘THE ENCOUNTER’ is far longer than any other of the items he covers. It was obviously of great importance to him. These after all were his own self published memoirs and the one I have seen was personally signed by him to his granddaughter. This goes to show that only a handful of people will have ever seen this account in writing before.

Of course Mr. Hathaway knew the date of the encounter as it was his birthday and like many such witnesses who have followed in his footsteps he didn’t want to tell anyone about it for fear of ridicule. There are some differences in this account which does not surprise me at all. The description of the creatures is very unique and very different from those reported today. The interior of the craft is also very different, especially the furniture. The importance of this event to Mr. Hathaway is obvious for all to see. He was after all including it in his own self published memoirs and it takes up far more space than anything else he covers. Accounts like this have long been of interest to me. Now I know Richard Hathaway was 83 when he wrote it but there are no signs of problems with his memory when writing his memoirs. For example he even uses a word that I personally have never heard of before, that being ‘tundish’. Look it up and see for yourself what it means. We must remember that this story takes us back to a very different era. For example children at his age (nine) did indeed trek a few miles on their own to play in the park. Mr. Hathaway would not of course been exposed to science fiction stories on TV or the movies and therefore could not have been influenced by them. There is of course no way that we can identify what exactly happened to Richard Hathaway and his friend Leo back in August of 1922. All I can say is that this encounter was important enough for him to make sure that it was preserved for posterity in his own memoirs. We should thank him for that and wonder how many more such accounts have been left untold or are stored, long forgotten, in old cupboards and drawers. My guess is far more than we suspect.

All artwork by Jason Gleaves

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

THE WESTALL STATE SCHOOL SAUCER MYSTERY

Westall 1966 Sketch by Les Whitmore, from Shane Ryan’s Westall ‘66 docufilm

On the 6th of April 1966, a little suburb in Melbourne Australia had its own UFO story to tell. In fact, it is a story that would become known all over the World, and one that I personally have heard many times since I was little. I grew up not too far from Clayton South, the area where the sightings were, however in 1966 I was still a star in the sky and not around to witness this historic event. Over the years it has evolved into somewhat of a local myth handed down from generation to generation. Everyone from this area has at least heard of the Westall 1966 UFO sighting. At 11 am on the 6th of April 1966, around 200 students and teachers from Westall High School and Westall State School saw 3 metallic objects moving silently through the sky. Supposedly they also saw 5 light aircraft tracking the silver-grey objects that ‘looked like a cup sitting upside down on a saucer’. The students, teachers and even surrounding residents ran out to follow the strange objects, where they soon watched them land in the paddock across from the school before soon taking off and flying away. The objects left behind clearly defined circles in the flattened grass in the shape of what witnesses described as a flying saucer. In the hours following the sighting, witnesses saw men in uniforms blocking off the area, taking away samples of the soil and finally setting the area on fire to remove any trace of the circular imprints left behind.

Witness testimonies In 2016 for the 50-year anniversary, News Limited ran an article with witness testimonies taken from those who were there on that fateful day: Joy Clarke was 12 and a half at the time and vividly remembers the events that occurred that day. “I was in class when students rushed in and told us the story. We rushed down to the oval and I saw three flying saucers on that day,” she told news.com.au “My personal belief is they weren’t of this world. They were definitely from somewhere else because I have never seen anything like it all.” “The army had arrived, and the police were there. We were told we were hysterical, and it didn’t happen, while men in black interviewed some of the other kids.” Terry Peck was playing cricket on the school oval when she saw the saucer and decided to chase it to Grange Reserve. “I was about six metres away from it. It was bigger than a car and circular. I think I saw some lights underneath it,” she told the Herald Sun. “Two girls were there before me. One was terribly upset, and they were pale, really white, ghostly white. They just said they had passed out, fainted. One was taken to hospital in an ambulance.” The now-56-year-old said no time was wasted in covering up the incident. “We all got called to an assembly ... and they told us all to keep quiet,” she said. “I’d absolutely just like someone to come forward from the services just to say ‘yes, it did happen, and it landed and there was a cover-up’.’’

Westall Newspaper - published in the Dandenong Journal April 1966

Jacqueline Argent said she was one of the first three kids over the fence to look for the UFO landing site. U F O

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“Originally I thought it must have been an experimental-type aircraft, but nothing has emerged like that after all these years,’’ she said. The now-58-year-old told how she was called into the headmaster’s office and interrogated by three men immediately following the incident. “They had good-quality suits and were wellspoken,” she said. “They said, ‘I suppose you saw little green men’. “I spoke to my parents about it at the time and they were pretty outraged.’’ It is significant that people felt comfortable finally talking about what they saw. In the days that followed the original sighting, there were reports of members of the military and men in black suits confronting both the children and adults telling them not to talk about what happened. The School Principal was said to have held a school assembly telling both the students and teachers that not only had they not had not seen a UFO, but they were also not to talk about it to anyone. This didn’t stop the media getting onto the story of course. That night the incident was all over the news and a media circus followed the area over the coming days. Since then, there have been countless articles, blogs, books and documentaries made about the incident. Each year around the anniversary of the sighting, local news outlets often check in with the witnesses who share their accounts of that fateful day.

Westall Memorial Playground Photo taken by Sarah LLIFS

A possible explanation? In 2014, government documents of a balloon program were offered as an explanation to what it was that the witnesses were seeing. The documents alluded to it being a part of a secret radiation testing project named HIBAL. It was a joint US and Australian initiative that was developed to monitor atmospheric radiation levels. They used large silver balloons that were equipped with sensors. Each balloon had a 180kg payload and was followed by a light aircraft that would track the balloon and trigger its 12m parachute using a radio signal. The program ran from 1960 to 1969 and it is believed that the Westall sighting is a test balloon that was blown off course after it was launched in Mildura the day before on the 5th of April. The 3 metallic objects would have been the balloon, its payload, and the parachute. While it is believed to be flight 292 from this program, mysteriously, the records of the different flights from that week have either gone missing or were destroyed. Eyewitnesses do not accept this explanation as they say that they saw a flying saucer that landed and then took off again. If it was one of these balloons, it would have deflated. Critics claim that the incident has been hyped out of proportion over the years, becoming its own urban legend. With the sighting being 50 years ago and the surrounding media coverage, it is also possible that the hype has contributed to some false memories with people possibly mixing fact with fiction they have seen and heard over the years. The supposed explanation several years later has also called into question why there was such a cover up in the first place and why the witnesses (many who were young children), were silenced and treated so poorly by Government agencies. In fact, the case is now available to be used as a part of the teaching curriculum in schools to address cover ups and untruths within the Government in the name of protecting National Security. The area near the landing site (now known as the Grange parkland), has been turned into a memorial park with a silver UFO complete with red slides and light-up features for children to play on. People flock to the area to look for evidence of the event that occurred over 50 years ago. Signs have been erected for visitors to read and some even take away their own soil samples for their collection. The UFO slide was designed by the local council as a homage to the 1966 event. Was it a flying saucer or just a balloon? We may never know the answer. The one thing we do know for sure is that there was definitely something in the sky that day. The question is what …. or who? PHOTO: HIBAL Australis Balloon – source Australis Oscar5 (a group of University students involved with the program)

Lights Upon the Hills BY RICHARD ROKEBY In 2002 I moved from London to the Warwickshire countryside and decided I should learn more about my new adoptive home. I started in a bookshop and whilst looking through the section dedicated to local myths and legends, I was drawn to the front cover of book which featured a strange dark figure in a top hat, standing by a disused cottage. The book was entitled “Ghosts of Warwickshire” by Betty Smith and, despite it not being my usual thing, I purchased it. Once at home I settled down to read it and found it was full of the normal ghost stories one would expect with accounts of phantom coaches, haunting grey ladies and demonic black dogs. But one chapter entitled “The Lights of Burton Dassett” gripped me immediately. The chapter described how in the winter of 1923 a series of “ghosts “, or to be more precise strange multi-coloured lights, had been seen on the mysterious and beautiful hills of Burton Dassett. These lights were seen by many people and had caused quite a stir. So much so that a local paper, the Banbury Guardian, ran two newspaper articles about the mysterious orbs. The accounts described how the lights were seen swooping over the hills, illuminating houses and flying over people. I strongly felt that, in stark contrast to the other terrifying stories in the book, this was an overwhelmingly positive account. Some of the witnesses described being excited and even happy at seeing the lights. What I quickly realised was that what the witnesses were describing were not typically “ghostly” in appearance or behaviour. In fact, what the people were describing had much more in common with Unidentified Ariel Phenomenon. It suddenly occurred to me that what all these people, possibly hundreds of people, had seen was a mass UFO event! It is of course completely understandable why the locals who had saw these objects would classify them as ghosts. England in the 1920’s was still reeling from the effects of the First World War and we must look at these reports in that context. The death toll of the First World War is difficult to image to the modern mind. The losses of young men were felt very severely at a local level and often a whole village’s menfolk could be wiped out in a week. Death was all around and as a result Spiritualism and talk of ghosts flourished in Warwickshire as it did elsewhere around the country. Desperate families wanted to believe that there is a hope of communicating U F O

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with their lost sons again. Therefore, it would be natural at this time to assign any strange phenomena to ghosts and spirits. However, I did not believe that what was being witnessed were ghosts, but what it was, was just as amazing. It is often thought that UFO sightings began in the 1940’s with the Foo Fighters, the report of a UFO crash at Roswell, New Mexico and the increased sightings that accompanied the Atomic Age. But the early Twentieth Century also had its fair share of UAP/ UFO events, although they are often misinterpreted as other types of events. Perhaps the most famous is the Miracle of Fatima in Portugal in1917. Here it was reported that the Virgin Mary spoke to three children in front of a crowd of around 75,000 people and passed three messages about the fate of the world including, it is said, the prospect of extra-terrestrial contact. Closer to my own home in the north east of England there are numerous reports of UFO sightings dating as far back as 1801! As I read the chapter in the “ Ghosts of Warwickshire” book I increasingly came to believe that the sightings at Burton Dassett Hills were as equally important as any of those I have mentioned and I was determined to explore it further. In fact, this belief stayed with me for nearly twenty years until the time was right and when it was, I was amazed at what I discovered. In 2018 I stated my journey into my first book on Ufology, which I entitled the “The Lights Upon the Hills”. The book title is taken from a comment made by one of the

witnesses who described the lights as such to a local paper and the phrase stuck with me. The first thing I did was to read again the newspaper accounts and local stories and try to reinterpret them through modern eyes and knowing what I did about Ufology. The accounts detailed several stories from locals including a vicarage maid, a motorcyclist, a railway signalman and a stable boy. Each one having their own incredible encounter. I also became a frequent visitor to the Hills themselves. Situated around 10

All Saints Church

miles south of Warwick they are strange and beautiful, with a lot packed into a small area. There are the traces of an Iron age village, hundreds of small craters which are the tell-tale signs of Iron ore mining and a small but pretty wood. In 1908 the graves of 35 Saxon warriors were unearthed and the grave sites are still visible. A little-known fact about the hills is that it featured in the 1990 Hollywood blockbuster film “Three men and a little lady” which was the sequel to “Three men and baby“. The latter was directed by the legendary Leonard Nimoy and no one is more disappointed than me that that Mr Spock never went to Burton Dassett! Today the area is a country park and within this area of natural beauty there are five prominent hills, with the western three set out in a distinct line. In the wintertime the constellation of Orion stands proud directly above these three hills and one cannot help but notice the eerily similarity of Orion’s belt and the three prominent hills. Is this why the strange lights were attracted there? In the book I explore this hypothesis in more detail. To

further add to the character of the area less than a mile from the park, and almost directly opposite it, there is an important and secretive military base. MOD Kineton holds a large proportion of the United Kingdom’s battlefield ammunition and is connected by railway to everywhere in the county. When one understands the link between UFO’s and Military bases is it safe to say this is just another coincidence? However, the place which held the most fasciation for me, and which was to become instrumental to the story of the “Lights Upon the Hills”, is All Saints Church. Situated in an unusual place for a church, this magnificent Norman building is known as the “Cathedral in the Cotswolds” and it is inside the building that things get very interesting. Within the church there are some amazing medieval stone carvings and medieval painted wall art. The carvings are on the northern support columns and they depict animals and hybrid creatures as well as the ancient and mysterious Green Man figure. Some of the figures are fighting and some are even upside down as

if being beamed up! What are these strange illustrations trying to say? The north side of a church is often referred to as the “evil side” so are they there to ward off evil spirits? Are they just decorative or do the hold a deeper meaning? Even more intriguing is the painted wall art. Painted wall art is very rare in English churches as most have

succumbed to erosion or the seventeenth century Puritans. The pictures in All Saints church depict the religious icons one would expect to see including the Virgin Mary and St Michael but there are also paintings of a mysterious King and a Magi from the Christmas story. In my book I explain how it is these figures that I believe show a fantastic secret. A secret that speaks of UFO encounters in the area and one that has been overlooked for hundreds of years. I truly believe that the strange lights witnessed in 1923 and the unique area in which they were seen, when looked at holistically, tells us an incredible story. A story which has been hidden for some time but may at last be revealing its secrets and hinting that there is more to come. About the author: Richard Rokeby is a writer and researcher with a keen interest in History, mysteries and forbidden knowledge . He has previously served in the British Army and the UK Police. He holds an Advanced Certificate in Education from Canterbury Christchurch University; he is a qualified Detective and has Diplomas in Criminology and Ufology. He is married and has three children. He lives in Warwickshire. About the book: The Lights Upon The Hills The Burton Dassett UFO events of 1923 It is the winter of 1923 and in the Warwickshire countryside there is great excitement about a series of ghostly sightings which have been seen by hundreds of people. Everyone is talking about it and the local papers are speculating about these “Ghosts”. But are they Ghosts? Described as bright multi coloured lights, with the power to illuminate buildings and to fly at height before disappearing at fantastic speeds. Are they not in fact Unidentified Flying Objects? In The Lights Upon The Hills Richard Rokeby has researched an important mass UFO event that is little known amongst the UFO community. The story is set in the mysterious Burton Dassett Hills, an area which has a rich and fascinating history. Within this gripping story there is a series of significant hills, an important and secretive military base and a beautiful Church that could hold an incredible secret. Presenting the argument with enormous persuasiveness The Lights Upon the Hills explores the individual accounts and the historical and scientific information behind this incredible event. The book will is out now and is published by FLYING DISK PRESS. It is available on Amazon in both paperback and kindle formats.

Continued From Page 1... I had no idea about this newspaper article and to this day I’ve never seen it. It shouldn’t have surprised me really as it was not uncommon for some dumb journalist to write a story about me and Charlie when they had nothing better to do. Cathy informed me that she knew a gentleman that wanted to meet me and talk to me. She said he was getting on in years and he wanted to get something off his chest. She told me that this elderly gentleman was called Jesse Marcel. I have to be honest and tell you that I had never heard this name before and I had no idea who this old guy was. I was not interested in UFO stuff and the only other person I had met that you will know of is Betty Hill. I had been to see abductee Betty Hill and spent a few days with her. I believe Charlie Hickson met her at some point as well. I only went to meet Betty in the hope that she might be able to shed some light on what had happened to me and Charlie. She was a lovely lady but she was as much in the dark as we were. So, I agreed to meet Mr. Marcel not knowing what he wanted but if he just wanted to talk or if he needed some help then I would be more than happy to oblige. I know only too well what it’s like to need help and not to have it.

MEETING ONE

At this point I had to get back to work but two days later I was back in the grocery store and saw Cathy again and she asked me if I had considered the request to meet Mr. Marcel. She told me that he still wanted to talk to me and was very excited at the prospect or our meeting. Cathy told me that she got off work that day at 5.00 pm so I told her that I would pick her up after work and we would drive out to Houma, Louisiana to visit this old boy. It was only about a twenty minute drive from where we were. My plan was to be polite, go and have a talk for a few minutes and then make polite excuses and leave. I had no idea who Mr. Marcel was. I suspected he might just be a lonely old guy who wanted someone to talk to. When we U F O

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arrived I parked the car in the front yard and Cathy just got out of the car and just walked in through the front door without knocking. This made me feel that she must either know Mr. Marcel very well or he was in some kind of trouble. I nervously followed Cathy in to the house and Mr. Marcel was in bed. He said he wasn’t feeling very well and introduced himself. We were not there long when Mr. Marcel proceeded to tell me the wildest story I had ever heard at that time (apart from mine and Charlie’s and Betty Hill’s). He told me straight up that a UFO had crashed and the US government had tried to cover it up (at Roswell, New Mexico in 1947) . He claimed that the government gave out fake information of where the UFO crash site was so that no one would know where it actually happened. He then went on to tell me that some kind of special military troops were moved into the area to pick up all of the debris from the crashed UFO. Mr. Marcel, to my amazement, was part of the military at Roswell and was the first military man on site. At first he said he was allowed to talk about what had happened but later was told not to say a word in fear that the Russian’s might find out. He told me that he was ordered to say that it was just a weather balloon that had crashed and being a good soldier he carried out those orders. Mr. Marcel started to get a little tired and said that he’d like to talk to me again but felt uncomfortable talking in the house so I arranged to meet him again in a couple of days at a nearby motel. After leaving Mr. Marcel and heading back home I still didn’t know much about who he was. I decided that it might be a good idea to phone someone who might know a bit more about old Mr. Marcel. The only person I could think of to call was Charlie Hickson. We hadn’t talked for some time but he was the only person that I thought might be able to help. So, I phoned Charlie and sure enough he knew of Jesse Marcel and wanted to know more. Charlie told me that he wanted to meet him the next time we talked but I told him I

would have to get permission first. So, I asked Cathy to call Mr. Marcel and ask if Charlie could join us the next time we met but the answer was no. For some reason Mr. Marcel trusted me but not Charlie. I have no explanation for this it just is the way that things went.

MEETING TWO

The second time I met with Mr. Marcel was at a motel not far from his house. The Ramada Inn I believe it was. We met in a small conference room there. This is where he told me that the US Air Force didn’t lie about the weather balloon story. He said there was indeed a weather balloon involved just as they had said, however, he told me that it looked like the UFO (craft) had somehow become entangled with a weather balloon and crashed. He said there was debris everywhere. Mr. Marcel told me that he didn’t see any bodies and that a special team was brought in to clean up and recover all of the debris and to do some kind of recon on the craft. After a close inspection at the crash site the military loaded everything on to trucks and took it to a military base and hid it in a hangar. They had guards on the hangar with orders not to let anyone in other than those members of the special team. He told me that they sent people out to speak with the local authorities to see how much they knew about what had happened and told everyone that it was just a weather balloon. It was at this point that this second meeting came to an end.

MEETING THREE

I have to be honest and say that I now wanted to know more. So I dropped by Mr. Marcel’s house unannounced and soon found out that this was the wrong thing to do. I could tell right away that this upset Mr. Marcel. However, I made my apologies and we sat and talked for a few minutes and he started to talk again but not about the UFO crash. Although he did tell me that the Air Force flew all of the debris from the incident out to another military base and he never heard any more about it. I did ask him if there were any alien

bodies but he said he hadn’t seen any bodies alien or otherwise. But he was in no doubt that this craft was unlike anything he had ever seen before and he was ordered never to talk about it. One intriguing thing he told me is that he did save three pieces of the debris from the crashed UFO and that it was like nothing that he had ever seen in his life. He said that it wasn’t anything of this world. I asked him if I could see these three items and at first he said yes. They were hidden in the top of his hot water heater in his house. All you had to do was to undo the top two screws on the water heater and remove the lid. Just as he told me this there was a knock on his door and there was someone wanting to talk to him. Minding my manners I told Mr. Marcel I’d leave him to speak to his caller and that I’d see him and the items in the hot water heater at a later date. Unfortunately I never got to see him again and nor the items that were hidden in his water heater. Working in the oil industry

I was given instructions that night that I had to leave on a job that was off-shore and I was gone for 154 days. By the time I got back I heard that Mr. Marcel had passed away. I never got to see Cathy again either but if I’m honest I didn’t really look for her either. We were only friends at the end of the day. All I can say is that in my humble opinion Mr. Marcel, or should I say that Lieutenant Colonel Jesse Marcel (USAF retired), was an honorable man who had served and loved his country. The events that he was recounting to me are of course about the alleged UFO crash at Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. I have tried to recall this as good as my memory will allow. I have only decided to tell this story now as I only recently found out from my friend Philip Mantle that Mr. Marcel’s son, Dr. Jesse Marcel Jnr had passed away a few years ago. I know how journalists can hound people so I kept this story to myself

pretty much until now. I cannot of course confirm any of what Mr. Marcel told me and I wish I’d had the chance to look into his hot water heater to see what was hidden there but I didn’t. I have recalled what we talked about to the best of my recollection and it is up to you whether you believe me or not. One thing did occur to me and that is if Mr. Marcel’s house is still there then might the old hot water heater still be there as well ? Just a thought. ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

UFO TODAY CREDITS

EDITORIAL TEAM

Philip Mantle and Paul Stevenson ART DIRECTION & DESIGN A.E. Soar

WRITING TALENT

Philip Mantle, Mike Covell, Dan D. Farca PhD, Sarah Chumacero Calvin Parker and Richard Rokeby SPECIAL THANKS TO:

Jason Gleave Flying Disk Press Dead Good Publishing Ltd CONTACT

Calvin Parker is a close encounter witness and author of two books. He can be contacted via his website at: www.calvin-parker.com and at Flying Disk Press: www.flyingdiskpress.com

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.

JUST ANOTHER DAY IN THE LIFE OF A VICTORIAN MEDIUM BY K ATE CHER R ELL

n June 3rd, 1871, one of the greatest, most shocking and powerful seances in history took place in Bloomsbury, London. In the space of one short evening, the sitters experienced shock, horror, teleportation and… onions. It was the night where celebrated and controversial Victorian medium Mrs Guppy flew. Mrs Guppy (1838-1917) is a curious and undercelebrated character. A famous materialisation medium, she was the first to produce full-form manifestations in Britain. However, her early life is cloaked in mystery and half-truths, later concocted to make her upbringing appear rather more upper class or sympathetic. The medium who would become Mrs Guppy was born Elizabeth or Eliza White in Horncastle, Lincolnshire – a picturesque town, primarily known today for its vast number of antique shops– with the name ‘Agnes’ creeping into her identity later in life. After moving to London, Mrs Guppy fell in with the new popular wave of Spiritualism and gained renown for her elaborate séances where unseen spirit hands would deposit ‘apports’ on the table. These apports were the making of her name, as snow, flowers, plants still clinging onto clods of earth, and even puppies were brought from the ether. But what also followed Mrs Guppy were conversations and comments about her weight; questions over her supernatural abilities, or lack thereof, were bookended by discussions about her body. Rebutting comments from investigator Walter Thornbury that she was not simply fraudulent, but ‘fat,’ Mrs Guppy’s husband published an extensive and frustrated letter in the Daily News stating – with equal importance to her spiritual abilities- that ‘my wife is not fat: it is all good solid flesh, with very little bone.’ But Mrs Guppy was no pure and persecuted soul. Her temper and cruelty are well documented, not only through records of

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seances where she tarred and feathered former friends, but in planned attacks. Mrs Guppy’s nemesis was a young, beautiful medium called Florence Cook who became world-famous for her séances and profound manifestation abilities. When Florence was bound in a cabinet, her spirit guide, Katie King, would take a turn about the séance room, meeting, touching and talking with sitters. As with mentions about Guppy’s weight, Florence’s beauty and youthful appearance was frequently discussed across newspaper inches, with credence given to the girl’s abilities due to the purity of her looks. Guppy hated Florence. On one occasion, Mrs Guppy offered money in exchange for an attendee of Cook’s seances to throw acid in the medium’s face, thereby destroying Florence’s ‘doll face.’ Thankfully, the plan was never carried out and both mediums continued in their own controversial careers with no physical harm done to one another. For all the fun jokes over Mrs Guppy’s appearance and séance methods, horrible undertones so frequently flow beneath Victorian Spiritualism’s biggest players. On the evening of June 3rd, 1871 at 61 Lamb’s Conduit Street, Holborn, a small crowd had gathered at the rooms of renowned mediums, Mr Herne and Mr Williams. Herne and Williams were incredibly famous mediums and spiritualists, having joined in partnership that same year. The pair had achieved phenomenal spiritual feats throughout their careers, from levitations to ghostly music, voices and apports; being manifested items from the spirit world. Herne and Williams were not small-time mediums. Forming the spirit ‘circle’ were ‘three ladies and seven or eight gentlemen’, all of whom entered the first-floor room. It was sparsely decorated, holding only a table with a music box on top, a small cupboard and a handful of chairs, a far reach from the imagined Victorian splendour of contemporary films and literature.

he séance began like any other; the doors were locked, and the assembled crowd sat around a circular table, opening the evenings proceedings in prayer. When the gathered crowd uttered the final syllables of ‘Amen’, the music box was wound, and the delicate jangles of hymns began. In the darkened room, tiny lights floated around the room like twinkling stars, signalling that spirits were close. Suddenly, the music box rose from the table and floated above the heads of the sitters before tracing the shape of the room, gently moving from one corner to another until its gentle tune was finally broken by two distinct voices. One deep, masculine voice was immediately recognised as belonging to John King, a spiritual mainstay at many seances of the 1850s-70s. John King was believed to be the pseudonym of the ghost of buccaneer Henry Morgan. The spirit of his daughter, Katie King, would rise to greater infamy through the mediumship of Florence Cook, whose manifestation seances with Katie were captured on camera. The other voice, gentle and soft as a whisper was Katie’s. Quickly interrupting the spiritual discourse was a very human voice of one of the sitters, who asked Katie if she would bring something to them, something that only a spirit could bring. Interjecting, one Mr Harrison said, ‘I wish she would bring Mrs Guppy!’ Another sitter quickly and crudely remarked, ‘Good gracious, I hope not; she is one of the biggest women in London.’ For a while, the circle chuckled at the spirit argument between father and daughter that raged above their heads. ‘Katie, you can’t do it.’

‘I will, I tell you I will.’

‘I tell you, you can’t.’ insisted John, their unseen conversation continuing before the circle’s eyes. The delicate voice spoke back, insisting, ‘I will. I will.’ A few minutes passed, during which both the sitters and the spirits were chuckling at the absurdity of the request. John King suddenly shouted out, ‘Keep still, can’t you?’ Immediately, an enormous bang sent shockwaves through the table. Then came a scream. One sitter shouted out ‘Good God, there is something on my head!’, and at last, a match was struck, the gas re-lit and the room was illuminated once more. Standing motionless in the middle of the table was none other than Mrs Guppy. As the portly medium stood in a trance, the ghostly buccaneer cried out, ‘She will soon be all right.’ Mrs Guppy was not technically all right; she was rigid, one arm covering her eyes and the other hanging by her side, clutching her account book. The ink of her notations was still drying, with the final word recorded in every account of the time as…onions.

The medium had been sitting at home in Bloomsbury, several miles across London with no knowledge of what Herne and Williams, nor John and Katie for that matter, had in store. She had been settling her accounts for the day, chatting to her friend Miss Neyland, who remained in Bloomsbury, suddenly friendless. When Mrs Guppy emerged from her trance, she was very shaken and required much comforting from the assembled sitters. Before she had been rudely plucked from her house by the spirits’ hands, she had been sitting by the fire with her shoes off, relaxing after a long day. Mrs Guppy was appalled at appearing so crudely in front of the circles, not being inappropriate ‘visiting dress’ and voiced her concerns to the sitters nearby. No sooner had she spoken than a pair of slippers fell from the ether, catching the head of Mr Henry Morris, a Manchester Merchant, as they fell. Once the medium had become a little warmer, she was far more like herself and not at all inclined to leave.

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removed from its pot and thrown around the room. Guppy identified the pots as her own, as though spirit hands were ransacking her garden for the evening. After a terribly British break for tea, another séance was held whereby host medium Mr Herne was seen falling from above, landing back into his chair with a thump. Indeed, in 1871, you really could not keep a good medium down. As Herne returned to the circle, piles of clothes hit the table; clothes belonging to Mrs Guppy, Mr Guppy, and Miss Neyland. The medium explained that he too had been spirited away to Mrs Guppy’s house, where he briefly met Miss Neyland who pushed the bundle of clothes into his arms with the ominous phrase, “Go to the devil.” Not wanting to be left out of proceedings, Mr Williams was next to take to the spiritual stand, disappearing from the séance table, being found in the adjoining room, in an ‘insensible state’ on the floor. After coming round, he admitted that he too had visited Mrs Guppy’s house and saw Miss Neyland one more, who was now sat at a table praying. As the séance came to a welcome end, the sitters filed out the door and Mrs Guppy was escorted home by a small group, where her previous location was confirmed by her husband Samuel and friend Miss Neyland. The journey was not a simple walk, but was taken in a small convoy of cabs, driven closely together in the most dramatic manner. Mrs Guppy’s flight across London became legendary and was widely reported across periodicals at the time, with respectable citizens and members of the circle signing their name beneath varying accounts of the evening, in a spectral affidavit of sorts.

“

From the request to Mrs Guppy’s arrival took barely all of three minutes. From the eyes of the sitters, there had been no time nor means for the medium to enter the room; the doors were bolted, the window closed, but there she was. The only explanation was spiritual. Mrs Guppy could not have been in collusion with the mediums, and the phenomena was terrifying and genuine.

Not to waste a good séance, and quickly recovered from her flight, the séance resumed with Mrs Guppy joining the circle. As with her trademark seances, the room was soon filled with vast amounts of flowers in bloom, as were ‘leaves from a horse-chestnut tree, with moisture on them as though just sprinkled by a shower of rain.’ The floral apports were plentiful, with the room quickly receiving several flowerpots complete with geraniums, one of which had been

But if it wasn’t spirits, how did she do it? A lot of elaborate planning. Herne and Williams provided the arena for Guppy’s performance. It was commonplace for many dishonest mediums to drill holes, walls, panels, and even ceilings; an action to which many investigators became wise, but Herne and Williams were no amateurs. It is generally believed that there was an extra, concealed door to the cramped room, which was to be integral to the whole affair. But who really asked for the spirit of Katie King to bring Mrs Guppy, a random sitter? More likely one of the mediums, directing his voice in the darkness. The locks may well have been nonfunctioning or trick locks, and as Mrs Guppy crept into the room, the voice of Mr Herne concealed any ancillary noises, and the medium was able to get into place undetected. After the party arrived at Mrs Guppy’s household, Miss Neyland was prepared with her story, withstanding their questioning with a cast-iron resolve; Mrs Guppy disappeared before her eyes, she searched the house, but the spirits had taken her. The press coverage that followed Mrs Guppy’s feat was enormous, blanketing newspapers and spiritualist texts alike. Not all reports were in favour of Mrs Guppy, partly because she had shown herself to be a divisive character, but her status as Medium of the Moment was cemented. Yet so large and dramatic was the feat, she never attempted it again, returning to the old familiar séances of flowers and small apports for the remainder of her career. Although Mrs Guppy’s teleportation across London is rarely considered in contemporary history books, her journey does not go unremembered, and Guppy’s strange legacy lives on in the arts, through portly fortune tellers, bitter old crones, and mediums delighting in fooling their audience.

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Kate x

o, this is the thing, the paranormal has become an industry, yes it may be a niche genre still, but it is no longer a club of eminent chaps quaffing ale & telling ghost stories. It is full of sole traders, limited companies, events companies, equipment makers, paranormal TV shows, haunted locations, “paranormal” shop traders & sellers, doing their best to spread the paranormal and make a bit of dosh whilst they’re at it, hence describing it as an “industry” (economic activity, as well as paranormal activity). They say there’s too much negativity in the paranormal world but is it because we talk about that side of it too much. Don’t get us wrong, some negativity where people are being ripped off or put at risk needs to be called out and we are champions of anyone who calls those things out. For years there has been an undertone of bitterness, rivalry and jealousy seeping into the paranormal, maybe it has always been there and because of the 24/7 news and social media world that we live in it’s just there, in your faces all the time.

"Maybe we should extol and focus our energies into concentrating on the positive side of the paranormal." There’s so many good and great people in the paranormal doing their thing, I suppose you can call them “paranormal ‘influencers’”, people whose opinion is respected, people who are part of the paranormal & are doing it “their way”, people who have embraced the modern paranormal whilst coming from the not so modern paranormal 10-15 years ago, and believe, the paranormal world was in a vastly different place then. As we are at issue 30 of Haunted Magazine, we thought how good it would be to celebrate how diverse paranormal in the UK is and create a top 30 list of people, things, brands, companies that we believe are actively promoting the absolute best of the paranormal that the UK has to offer. Yes, yes of course, we could ask 30 people to create their very own top 30 and everyone would be different. We thought long and hard about the list, so much so that we thought let us bring our good mate HIGGYPOP in on the action and if it all goes tits up and horribly wrong, we can blame him … ONLY JOKING.

Take it away, HIGGY P…

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Thanks guys (I think) … Here at Higgypop.com we always have our eye on the current trends in the paranormal. We follow the movements of as many teams and investigators as we can, we follow the paranormal intensely, and we soak up the buzz around certain members of the paranormal world.

And we don't just mean TV!

This means that when Haunted Magazine asked us to help compile a list of the most influential members of the paranormal community in the United Kingdom, we were able to put together a list of almost 400 people for consideration. We painstakingly whittled this list down considering everything from audience size, Google trends search data, social media following and engagement, and real-world reach - things like running physical locations and the number of visitors they get. (Note: no algorithms though please HP – Haunted Magazine) We weighted the list based on how active this people have been over the last 12 months, but also considered the lasting influence they have had from earlier work, how long they had been in the paranormal and based upon our observations of interactions online we factored in the credibility of teams and investigators and how well respected they are. The resulting complicated “blameless” list (I shall refrain from using the word algorithm) gave us a list of 30 names, brands, people etc. (Note: Don’t forget the disclaimer Higgy – Haunted Magazine) DISCLAIMER: Haunted Magazine and Higgypop are both in agreement that whilst this list may not necessarily include the most famous, the most knowledgeable, or the respected out there, these are the 30 names, brands, people who we think currently have the biggest influence over the paranormal field or are doing some incredible paranormal stuff, and continue to do so, time and time again. From authors to investigators, academics to entertainers, these are the teams and individuals who have shaped the way the wider community investigate, entertained us, and educated us, those who have generated the most debate, discussion and interest in this field.

We know that there'll be readers (and nonreaders, who'll somehow get to hear about it) who disagree with this list. If we did this list in 6 months time it would probably be different. There's so many great people doing their thing and also let's be honest we don't always like the same things as each other. One person's paranormal trash is another person's paranormal treasure.

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30. SIMON ENTWISTLE TOUR GUIDE Simon Entwistle, an enthusiastic and passionate storyteller from Clitheroe is a much-loved member of the paranormal community, known for his engaging ghost stories that are packed full of local historical detail. Simon has featured on numerous television shows talking about a variety of subjects including the infamous Pendle Witches, and has collaborated with paranormal teams from across the UK.

29. STEPHEN VOLK SCREENWRITER AND NOVELIST

In 1992 Stephen Volk created one of the most talked about works of paranormal fiction ever. The Welsh screenwriter wrote the teleplay for the now legendary BBC Halloween special, ‘Ghostwatch’, which has since been credited with inspiring countless ghost hunting and found-footage TV projects and movies. Although it was only a mockumentary, the show featured many real-life ghost hunting techniques that would later be seen in countless paranormal reality shows.

27. BIL BUNGAY, 30 EAST DRIVE

Bil Bungay is the owner of the Pontefract home dubbed the ‘Black Monk House’, one of the most debated and influential British paranormal hotspots. The house, which was the scene of a poltergeist case in the 1960s has inspired paranormal teams around the world, been the subject of television shows and podcasts, and had movies made about it. With public events held there regularly, the house will have also given many their first taste of ghost hunting.

26. JENNY BRYANT, MOST HAUNTED EXPERIENCE

28. ANDY BAILEY INFRAREADY GHOST HUNTING EQUIPMENT Andy Bailey is the founder of Infraready, one of the UK’s most trusted and inventive ghost hunting equipment suppliers. Since 2013 Andy has been converting digital cameras into specialist ghost hunting cameras, as well as creating unique paranormal investigation equipment and continually adding new devices to the range available on his online store. Andy’s gadgets are used by countless teams and have been featured in television shows.

Jenny Bryant has been the locations manager for ‘Most Haunted’ since 2015, making occasional appearances in the television show and working closely with allegedly haunted locations in order to feature them on television and, as a result, put them firmly on ghost hunters’ maps. Jenny also runs the spinoff paranormal events company, Most Haunted Experience, which has become one of the largest and best-loved companies of its kind in the UK.

25. JOHN FRASER SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH & THE GHOST CLUB John Fraser is a well-respected paranormal researcher having been actively engaged in the field since the 1980s. He is a prominent member of The Ghost Club where he holds the position of Vice Chair of Investigations and contributes to SPR’s the Spontaneous Cases Committee. John has written several books on the subject of hauntings, most recently ‘Poltergeist! which covers famous cases such as ‘The Cage’ in Essex, Borley Rectory and Enfield.

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24. PENNY GRIFFITHS-MORGAN, HAUNTED HISTORIES Podcast host and writer, Penny Griffiths-Morgan, is a true history buff with a life-long passion for the paranormal. Penny’s three books draw on her personal experience as a wellknown and respected ghost hunter, they are a must-read for anyone who shares her love of history combined with the paranormal. She is perhaps best-known for her paranormal podcast, ‘Haunted Histories’, which has gained a loyal following since its launch in 2017.

23. CALLUM E. COOPER, PARAPSYCHOLOGIST & AUTHOR

Cal Cooper is an award-winning parapsychologist based at the University of Northampton. He is known to the paranormal community for his numerous appearances on television and radio and recognised for his sceptical approach to the paranormal. Cal is a respected council member of the Society for Psychical Research and holds a place on the society’s Survival Research Committee. He also has several highly rated paranormal books to his name.

22. EAMONN VANN-HARRIS NEW WORLD SCIENCE Eamonn Vann-Harris is an innovative investigator, who passionately undertakes his own incredibly unique line of research into electronic spirit communication. His worked is facilitated by his own custom-built machines, such as the Infinity machine which he demonstrated while he was a regular on ‘Most Haunted’ in 2015 and 2016. Now working with his ever-evolving Pegasus machine, Eamonn captures EVPs in a way no other investigator can.

21. IAN LAWMAN PARANORMAL INVESTIGATOR AND MEDIUM Ian is a veteran of Paranormal TV shows from Most Haunted, I’m Famous and Frightened to the latest series of Help My House is Haunted. He seems to have been around the paranormal for ever, and with a nickname (The Lawman) that sounds like he belongs to WWE rather than HMHIH you don’t mess with Ian. A genuine nice guy too, hat wearer, coffee drinker and if there’s ever a need for a modern day medium with a background as a night club bouncer / bare knuckle fighter, Ian is your man.

REMEMBER READERS, if you disagree with any of the top 30, please blame HIGGYPOP… HAUNTED MAGAZINE

20. THE OUIJA BROTHERS

STE RICHARDS & JASON GRIFFITHS

The Ouija Brothers are one of the fastest growing British paranormal channels on YouTube. Ste Richards and Jason “Griff” Griffiths created the channel in 2017 and have gone on to earn a reputation as one of the most respected teams around. The duo are open-minded, but rational and logical when it comes to validating or debunking the paranormal activity they capture. This honest approach has resulted in them attracting a loyal following.

16. MIKE COVELL PARANORMAL HISTORIAN Hull-based historian Mike Covell has a passion for the unexplained, and several fascinating books on the supernatural to his name, including titles on ghosts and UFOs in Yorkshire. Mike is a wellrespected media contributor, making him a familiar face on paranormal television shows. He is aided the likes of Nick Groff, Katrina Weidman, and the ‘Most Haunted’ team with their investigations by providing a historical backdrop to their cases.

19. CHARLENE LOWE KEMP PARANORMAL HAUNTINGS

18. MJ DICKSON SAGE PARANORMAL

17. BARRY DODDS 'THE PARAPOD'

With one of the biggest followings of any paranormal team on Facebook globally, Paranormal Hauntings is a force to be reckoned with. Charlene Lowe Kemp and her teammates work hard to bring followers of Paranormal Hauntings regular ghost hunting content driven by the mere passion for discovery of the unknown and evidence of the paranormal, rather than chasing fame and fortune like some other live streamers in the paranormal community.

Warwickshire-based MJ Dickson is considered by many to be one of the UK’s top paranormal investigators. She is known for her appearances in Pick’s ‘Paranormal Captured’ and has worked on shows like ‘Most Terrifying Places’ and ‘Paranormal Lockdown’. MJ is a well-known lecturer, media contributor, and convention panellist. She hosts events through her company, Sage Paranormal, and organises the annual Sage Paracon, Britain’s biggest paranormal convention.

From a young age Barry Dodds has been a passionate ghost hunter but found a career in stand-up comedy. In 2016 he began hosting The ParaPod with fellow comedian and sceptic, Ian Boldsworth. The Apple chart topping podcast ran for three series amassing more than 2.5 million downloads. The duo went on to explore Barry’s belief in ghosts in a first-of-its-kind spin-off movie. The film’s sell-out cinema tour was cut short last year due to the pandemic.

15. RICHARD FELIX DERBY GAOL As a paranormal historian, custodian of the haunted Derby Gaol, and fantastic storyteller as the guide of Derby’s ghost walks, Richard Felix has spent the last 30 years dedicated to paranormal research. Richard shot to fame as a result of his appearance in over 120 episodes of ‘Most Haunted’. Richard has produced books, DVDs and podcasts on some of Britain’s most famous ghost stories and delivered lectures, talks and countless media appearances.

14. BACK2BACK PRODUCTIONS back2back is a Brightonbased independent TV production company behind some of the best British paranormal shows around. The team, founded by David Notman-Watt, have to date produced two series of ‘Unexplained: Caught on Camera’ and are currently in pre-production with the third series of ‘Help! My House Is Haunted’, which earned the company a nomination for Best Factual Entertainment Programme at the Royal Television Society’s Southern Awards in 2020.

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13. DANNY ROBINS JOURNALIST & PODCAST PRODUCER Danny Robins is a journalist and award-winning writer and broadcaster for television and radio. Danny appeared as the investigator in BBC Three’s 2007 series, ‘The Bulls**t Detective’ in which he comically exposed fake psychics. His interest in the paranormal lead him to host the ‘Haunted’ podcast which saw him delve into real-life ghost stories in forensic detail, this spawned the viral 2021 podcast, ‘The Battersea Poltergeist’.

9. STEVE HIGGINS, HIGGYPOP

12. PHIL WHYMAN & SARA WHYMAN, 'ARE YOU HAUNTED...?' Phil Whyman has been a familiar face in paranormal entertainment since making a name for himself in early episodes of ‘Most Haunted’. Phil’s knowledge of ghost hunting has ensured that he is remained an active and relevant part of the paranormal community for almost twenty years. Now working alongside his wife, Sara, in their web series ‘Are You Haunted...?’, the duo and their team are considered to be some of the most credible and respected investigators in the field.

11. NEIL PACKER HAUNTED ANTIQUES PARANORMAL RESEARCH CENTRE

Neil Packer is the hard-working owner of the Haunted Antiques Paranormal Research Centre in Hinkley, Leicestershire. His collection of haunted artefacts server as hub to the local paranormal community, while the daily live-streamed discussion shows hosted by the centre provide an invaluable focal point where the wider community can come together to talk about ideas, theories and trends within the paranormal field online.

10. STEVE PARSONS SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH (SPR)

Steve Parsons is a well-respected and deeply knowledgeable, full-time paranormal investigator, regular media contributor and internet radio show host. He is recognised by many as a leading investigator in the UK and has been credited with developing some of the methods now commonly practiced by other paranormal teams. Steve is a member of the Spontaneous Cases Committee of the SPR and is also an advisor to The Ghost Club.

With more than 500,000 visits to Higgypop. com every month, Steve Higgins’ website is the biggest source of paranormal news in the UK. There are over 5,000 pages of content focussing on paranormal entertainment, trends in ghost hunting and the supernatural in popular culture. Steve and his team of writers work hard to ensure the content is inclusive of as much of the paranormal community as possible, from small teams to ghost hunting TV shows.

8. DANNY MOSS, 'THE HAUNTED HUNTS' Danny Moss is the lead investigator on the Amazon Prime series ‘The Haunted Hunts’ and appears in Pick’s ‘Paranormal Captured’. Danny’s passion for sharing his team’s investigations with their ever-growing fanbase is unrivalled. Danny is fast becoming one of the leading names in paranormal entertainment in the UK and his driven, hardworking attitude is likely to ensure that he has a long and exciting career in the paranormal.

7. PAUL STEVENSON & ANDY SOAR HAUNTED MAGAZINE With over eleven years of publications under their belt, Haunted Magazine is the unrivalled champion of paranormal magazines, not just here in the UK, but worldwide. Its team of passionate writers, guided by editor in chief, and (some say) teller of the best and worst jokes & puns of all time, Paul Stevenson, ensure every edition is packed full of a staggeringly varied array of paranormal articles, each written from their own unique perspective and brought to life through the world-class design skills of Andy Soar. They are also ghost hunters, (part of HauntedLIVE) and are active social media types, keen to promote the many different strands of the paranormal cotton-reel and have also been known to bring a sense of fun and mischief to the paranormal, now and then

6. BARRI GHAI, THE GHOSTFINDER PARANORMAL SOCIETY Barri Ghai has had a long career within the paranormal field off-screen, but the enthusiastic ghost hunter has recently made a name for himself as a lead investigator on ‘Help! My House Is Haunted’ and ‘Unexplained: Caught on Camera’. Even at his own paranormal events, which he hosts through his company the Ghostfinder Paranormal Society, Barri is always on a passionate quest for the truth and for hard evidence of the paranormal.

5. REALLY CHANNEL Without the Really channel many of the influential names on this list would not have a platform. Since its launch in 2009 the free-toair digital television channel has established a reputation as the go-to channel for paranormal entertainment and ghost hunting shows in the UK. The Discovery Inc owned channel has championed homegrown talent in original British shows, as well as airing some of the biggest paranormal shows from around the world. HAUNTED MAGAZINE

3. JAYNE HARRIS, HD PARANORMAL

4. KARL BEATTIE AND YVETTE FIELDING, 'MOST HAUNTED'

Jayne Harris is a paranormal investigator from the West Midlands with a particular interest in the history of haunted locations. In recent year’s Jayne has made a name for herself as a lead investigator on the television shows, ‘Help! My House Is Haunted’ and ‘Unexplained: Caught on Camera’. Her open-minded and spiritual approach to the paranormal has helped her build a loyal following through her own paranormal events company, HD Paranormal.

Yvette Fielding is the host and co-creator of ‘Most Haunted’, a genre-defining ghost hunting show which is often credited by many investigators as the thing that sparked their initial interest in the paranormal. Since 2002 the show has put many of the UK’s now-famous haunted locations on the map, firmly establishing them as paranormal hotspots worthy of future investigation by those Yvette and her team inspired to follow in their footsteps and now turning her hand to writing a series of paranormal books. Karl Beattie is the cocreator of the longrunning ghost hunting show, ‘Most Haunted’, in which he appears on-screen alongside his wife, the show’s host, Yvette Fielding. Karl has become a popular name in the paranormal field himself, perhaps due to his willingness to take time out to meet his followers at ghost hunting events hosted across the UK by his paranormal events company, ‘Most Haunted Experience’.

1. CIARÁN O'KEEFFE PARAPSYCHOLOGIST & GHOST HUNTER

Ciarán O’Keeffe is a parapsychologist working out of Buckinghamshire New University. He is perhaps best known for his regular appearances in ‘Most Haunted’ over the course of seven years from 2003, but he has also made countless other appearances on television and in the media talking about his passion for the supernatural. He makes the transition from his day job to a weekend ghostbuster seamless. Ciarán’s knowledge and understanding of the paranormal is endless and his selfless willingness to share this with others in the field is unparalleled and recently took part in what must be without doubt, the paranormal show of the year (so far), The Battersea Poltergeist

2. HAZEL FORD HAUNTED HAPPENINGS Hazel Ford launched her Nottingham-based paranormal events company, Haunted Happenings, in 2007 and it quickly became the most successful business of its type in the UK. Having given more than 200,000 members of the public the chance to experience a ghost hunt for themselves, it is fair to say that Hazel and her team have given many people their first taste of paranormal investigation, taught them the basics and inspired them to get out there and hunt ghosts. A shrewd business lady whose paranormal passion and enthusiasm has never diminished. HAUNTED MAGAZINE

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DRAKE'S ISLAND:

When Ghost Hunting is more than a game...

The Old Battery

The Governor ’s House

rake’s Island is a small scrap of land, in Plymouth Sound, Devon. Named after Sir Francis Drake, the Island had early religious buildings, before becoming a strategic military outpost, with huge gun batteries for defending Plymouth from invasion. The area still has a large Naval presence with nearby Naval bases and the Devonport docks. The Island has been off limits for decades, only allowing visitors in recent months. The Darkling Room Team have been keen to explore the Island, which is dotted with ruined buildings from several wars and riddled with tunnels. Many an afternoon has been spent on Plymouth Hoe, gazing out across the Sound, wondering what spooky places lurk out there, so near, but so far.

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In the Brick Tunn

els

When the recent ghost tours were announced we jumped at the chance. As video game developers, we are always up for a recce of abandoned places, both to soak up the atmosphere but also to capture reference shots and texture materials for adding to game locations. Cameras ready, we set off for Mount Batten, where the ferry to the Island departs.

September 27th 2020 - 16:20 Mount Batten Pier - It was a sunny but blustery Sunday evening, as around 12 brave souls boarded the ‘Drake’s Island’ ferry, to cross the Sound. The sun was low, casting the Island into stark silhouette. We strained our eyes trying to make out buildings, through the glare of the sun, as the ferry bobbed ever closer to the landing platform. Climbing from the ferry and walking onto the Island was a profound experience, as Island’s are special places, often the fascination in a ghost story or horror tale, and this felt no different.

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The Battery Arch

By Jonathan Boakes & Matt Clark First, to get to higher ground, we had to pass through a winding tunnel, through the so called ‘Tudor Gardens’ and ornate gateway. The stonework is granite, likely very local, or dragged from Dartmoor, hundreds of years ago.

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Stone Tape Theory: We are always excited to investigate stone ruins and buildings, as there is a popular theory that stone can ‘record’ the events of the past, replaying the events at key moments. We have recorded our best EVPs and DVPs in granite locations, from ancient Cornish words to demonic voices and screaming. Fingers crossed; Drake’s Island would not disappoint.

The main group of buildings on the Island, are huddled together on the Western edge. It is here that we are introduced to tonight’s ‘clairvoyant’ Anne Towill and the Island Wardens. It is interesting to point out that the Wardens also had plenty of things to say, especially in regard to their experiences with the paranormal since working on the Island. They have heard and seen unexplainable phenomena, from voices out of nowhere to a sense of being pushed or smothered. Other times, figures have been seen in the old

gun emplacements, bold a brass, leading the wardens to believe the Island had intruders. It is their job to remove any uninvited explorers, only to find the figures would disappear before they could apprehend them. Quick on their feet, or supernatural in origin? With the health and safety briefing over, Anne was ready to take us on the tour, starting with the largest buildings, the old Officers Mess and Barrack Block. The buildings were constructed around 1830. Anne has heard and seen spirits, both inside the buildings and in the adjoining alleyway. It is with some amusement that Anne points out that ‘Ladies of the night’ were often shipped over from Plymouth, to ‘entertain’ the Officers, with one alleyway nicknamed ‘shag alley’, by Anne and the wardens. Passing through the alley, Anne reports she often had to lower her eyes or avert her gaze due to some of the bawdy scenes that would greet her. As we stood there, in the warm sunshine, it was hard to imagine the scene, but the place had an atmosphere. The buildings loom over those stood at ground level, and more than one of our party felt like there were people, spirits, watching us from the windows. Moving on, onto higher ground, were able to take in the scale of the Island. It is genuinely small, 6.5 acres, but barely an inch has not involved some sort of construction or artificial landscaping at some point in history. Peering through the brambles and ivy, we could make out doorways and tunnels, to bunkers and outposts, gun emplacements and signalling towers. HAUNTED MAGAZINE

Cannons (with J.Boak

es)

Matt Clark

Old Munitions Stores

Narrow Tunnels

Granite Spiral Staircase

Shag Alley

Coming to a stop by the last building in the complex, Anne told us about the spirits that haunt the old Governors House. A tragic story, involving an abusive husband and several miscarriages. A sad Lady spirit is unable to move on, as she fears her husband will be waiting for her in the afterlife, not wishing to abandon herself and her babies to an everlasting hell. The spirit has also been seen, by visitors, standing next to the building, gazing back towards Plymouth, yearning to escape her trap? Anne reassured us that she is making progress with this sad spirit and hopes to convince her to move on. It is at this point that a very loud gull swoops across, scaring the willies out of some of the party. After a few titters, we move on, into the long tunnel that leads to the old Battery and gun emplacements. This area of Drake’s Island is stunning, an ivy-covered ruin of considerable scale. Solid granite spiral stairs lead up, to the walkways and battlements, too unsafe to pass tonight. Below, the arch topped rooms once contained large cannons, on a swivel mounts, to aim at enemy ships invading Plymouth Sound. There are several tiers of cannons, from different eras. World War II is the most obvious, a time when Nazi bombing runs decimated Plymouth, both the City and the all-important docks. As we stood there, in the dusky light, we were able to imagine the noise, the smoke and intensity of battle. During the Second World War there were 500 soldiers stationed on the Island, a considerable garrison. Nearby, a ‘Climbing Wall’ is evidence of another era in the Island’s history. From HAUNTED MAGAZINE

the 1950’s onwards, the Island was used as an ‘adventure centre’, for young adults. We did spot a few murals and signs, suggesting the place was a great place for fun, but not for all. A gentleman fell from the Climbing Wall, back in the 1970’s, breaking his neck as he did so. Anne, our medium that night, was upset to tell the story, and feels like his spirit is struggling to comprehend what has happened to him. He cannot move on, as he refuses to acknowledge his fate. We all felt his sadness, standing there in the gloom. Another spirit, who calls himself Samuel is a cheeky ghost, one of the popular characters both seen and heard by the wardens. He’s a trickster, he likes to play, and his big trick is messing about with electronic equipment. His favourite is mobile phones, switching them off, switching them on, and even sending text messages from people’s pockets. The wardens don’t have any reason to make stuff up, and their experiences match our own, on various investigations. Many of us checked our phones at this point, to see if Samuel had anything to say, but a there was a distinct lack of ‘ghostly notifications’. Anne was aware that Samuel was present, leaning against a doorway, totally bemused by our presence, chuckling away. You’ve got to love a ghost with a sense of humour. Finally, the main event, the tunnels! Passing through a small doorway, partly hidden under ivy and detritus, we enter the warren of vaulted caverns and narrow brick passageways. These are the tunnels installed in WWII, with older tunnels beneath our feet. The earliest are the 16th

Century tunnels, from the time of the Anglo-Spanish wars, which are now home to a large bat colony, affording the old passages protected status. I for one was glad that we were not delving any deeper than we were already. Darkness. We were able to use our phone lights, to orientate the tunnels, but Anne was keen for us to experience total darkness, so it was ‘lights out’ for long periods of time. Standing in silence, in utter darkness, deep underground is a strange experience, you become hyper aware of the space around you, listening for slightest of sounds. That’s when we heard it, and we ALL heard it... whistling. Pure, plaintive whistling, coming from the vaulted chambers beyond. We were a tight knit group, (with 2 metre distance obviously), so there was no-one wandering, or any unaccounted visitors. So, who was whistling? We switched our lights back on, to see many puzzled faces and just a little unease. Anne said that audio phenomena is quite common in the tunnels, and low and behold, we did actually capture an unexplainable DVP (digital voice recording) during one of our black outs. If anyone wants to hear it, drop Matt Clark an email, at mattclark@shadowtorstudios.

co.uk. Obviously, we were unaware we had captured something, but Anne joined us to look into the darkness. Even she had to admit that she hasn’t explored all of the tunnels and felt that there was someone watching from the gloom. We took plenty of photographs but failed to catch anything out of the ordinary. Proceeding through the tunnels, we eventually emerged back into the open air. I’ll be honest, we were all rather relieved to be out in the light. We were greeted with a beautiful sunset, orange and golden. After a look at the summit, now a graveyard for old military cannons, Anne was ready to wrap up our adventure. We were all happy to share our experience, with some adding more details to what we had learnt. Many reported hearing foot falls and scrapes in the tunnels, as if someone were circling the group, during the ‘black out’ moments. Other phenomena were ‘phantom smells’, with the usual suspects to the fore, like old fashioned perfume (rose water), engine oil and my favourite, pipe tobacco. A few of the party also had photos to share, but most were explained as dust particles or moisture. No manifestations of old Naval Captains, sadly. But one photo was very intriguing, it was what we like to call a ‘shadow entity’. It’s hard to tell if the shape is paranormal, as at the time many

photo flashes and torches were lighting the scene, but we like to think there was a presence, down there with us. With the sun dipping down the horizon, the ferry man calls us back to the jetty with a ‘toot, toot’ of the horn. The tide was changing and if we didn’t go now, we may be stranded on the Island overnight. Oh, wouldn’t that have been awful! Alas, we scrambled back to the boat and left the Island as we found it. As we pulled away, we left Drake’s Island free of people, once again, but not free of souls. We all felt a sensation that many ghosts were standing there, or watching from windows, wondering who we were and why we came. We look forward to returning one day. To visit: www.drakes-island.com

C ONSPI R AC I ES, C U R SES OR J UST PL A I N B A D LUC K

PENN Y GRIFFITHS-MORGAN’S ( N O T S O ) ‘ O R R I B L E ‘ I S T O R I E S*

eople seem to throw around the word “curse” whenever a spate of bad luck befalls them (bit like the word Demon, but that is a whole other can of worms we can open!) but is it really some kind of supernatural hex that the universe has placed on someone or are there more rational explanations?

Take Bruce Lee to start with, an amazing martial artist and destined to be a superstar, he died in the July of 1973 after taking painkillers for a recurrent headache he had been suffering. Very soon accusations of a Chinese Triad hit, or some kind of conspiracy began to circulate. What made this reappear some twenty years later was the tragic death of his son Brandon – who was likely to have a career that would eclipse his father whilst filming the iconic film “The Crow”

in a fire arms mishap. I can see why some may think a curse had been placed on the men of the Lee family, but is that because we cannot accept that this kind of misfortune can happen? Let’s look at the Kennedy clan, one of the most famous groups of potentially jinxed people that we know of, but is it really something mystical and dark, or just a case of entitlement and mishap? To investigate this, I want to take you

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back to the patriarch of the family, Patrick Joseph, who was born in 1858 to Irish immigrants to the United States. He had been left fatherless when at just ten months old, his father had died of cholera, the same disease which had taken the life of his older brother just two years earlier. The start of the curse or just a sign of the times? After all, in 19th century America, around four out of every ten children did not make it to their 5th birthday (statista. com) so was this that unusual? Cholera was highly infectious and could linger for a long time.

‘PJ made it to adulthood, and had a son named Joseph Patrick– he had four children all told – who was the father of probably the most famous Kennedy of all, JFK. We all know what happened to him, assassinated in 1963 at the infamous Grassy Knoll, but Jack had eight siblings, and at least half of them experienced either premature death or something quite horrific. Before any of his sons went into politics, their father Joseph had goals to be in the White House, during the second World War, British MP Josiah Wedgwood IV said of him “We have a rich man, untrained in diplomacy, unlearned in history and politics, who is a great publicity seeker and who apparently is ambitious to be the first Catholic president of the U.S”. Where did this come from? In 1938 he was appointed the U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom and whilst still residing in the country when they were very much at war, he tried (without the consent or knowledge of the U.S. Department of State) to arrange a meeting with Hitler in the September of 1940 to promote a better understanding between the U.S. and Germany. In the biography by David Nasaw “The Patriarch”, the author does admit that Kennedy believed that there was a Jewish conspiracy to draw the States into the war. But the first real tragedy if you will is probably the story of Rosemary who was born with brain damage due to a botched birth. A man like Joseph P Kennedy Snr was not going to be happy with a child who was not perfect It is therefore hardly surprising that not only did he try and hide his daughter from public eye, but when she started to exhibit impulsive and sexually promiscuous behaviour that he was happy to try an experimental medical treatment called a lobotomy on her. In 1941, she was operated on by James W Watts and Walter Freeman (without her mother’s consent) and afterwards left with a mental age of around two years old, incontinent and without the inability to walk or speak intelligibly. Her father, afraid of the bad publicity for his family, had her hidden away in a home for the rest of her life, without even her siblings knowing her whereabouts for nearly twenty years. The same year that the operation was performed on Rosemary, Joseph Jnr had enlisted into the Navy as an aviator and in 1943 was sent to Britain to fly the land

based PB4Y-1 – a naval variant of the Consolidated B24 Liberator – and after twenty five combat missions was eligible to return home, but Joseph Snr’s golden boy and a future American president in his eyes volunteered for further duties. He was the pilot for the first Operation Aphrodite & Anvil mission, making use of radio controlled, explosive laden converted B24 Liberators and B17 Flying fortresses which would be crashed into their targets. You may wonder why they would need a pilot? The aircraft could not take off safely under the guidance of a button so would need to be manually flown up to a height of around two thousand feet by a pilot and co-pilot, who would arm the explosives and then parachute out to safety. Tragically the first mission, with Lieutenant JP Jnr, and his co-pilot, Lieutenant W J Willy detonated before the men were able to jump out, and killed them both, crashing in Blythburgh Suffolk on 12th August 1944.

In 1948, sister Kathleen died in a plane crash in France when travelling from Paris to the French Riviera, her mother had lost two children in four years due to aviation and refused to attend her funeral. Their brother, Robert Kennedy, was shot by Sirhan Sirhan in 1968 whilst attending a political rally, three of the four Kennedy brothers had died, leaving only Edward, known as Ted, who died of cancer at the age of 77 after serving as a Senator for Massachusetts for an amazing forty seven years. But the deaths did not end with that generation, Robert’s son David died in 1984 from a drugs overdose, a habit he had picked up at the age of 12 after watching the accounts of the assassination of his father, which became more serious after a car accident that left his girlfriend paralysed and him with a fractured vertebrae (his brother was charged with dangerous driving). Then another of Robert’s eleven children died in a skiing accident, Michael was 39 and had been playing American football on ski’s despite being told to stop, he collided with a tree and was pronounced dead shortly after. JFK had four children (that we know of…), his baby son Patrick died a few days after his birth in 1963, his daughter Arabella was still born, and then his son JFK Jnr HAUNTED MAGAZINE

(sometimes known as John-John) also died in a plane accident in 1999, killing his wife Carolyn and sister in law Lauren.

In 2011, Ted Kennedy’s daughter Kara Anne had a heart attack at the age of 51, a short while after leaving the gym, in 2012 Robert Jnr’s wife Mary committed suicide, in 2019 Saoirse Kennedy, the granddaughter of Robert Snr took her own life at the tragic age of 22 and then in 2020, another of Robert Snr’s grandchildren, Maeve and her son Gideon drowned in a canoeing incident in Chesapeake Bay. So much tragedy for one family, but was it a curse or not? If I am completely honest, I think it is more a case of a bad luck, mental health issues and a touch of “I’m rich and therefore you cannot touch me”. A quick google search for those who believe in the family hex cite two reasons, the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port Massachusetts having some weird energy associated with it being one and also Joseph Snr having caused it by his ambition for Kennedy dominance that I mentioned earlier. I look at the deaths of the younger generation, John-John flying at night after only having achieved his pilot’s license less than a year previously, Michael playing American football when skiing – both quite reckless. At least three family members taking overdoses or committing suicide due to depression, shows that mental health can affect anyone and everyone. Are these signs of a curse? Or is implying that the destiny of a group of people with the same name are being controlled by some dark higher being an easier way to rationalise irrational behaviour, accidents and assassinations? Maybe Joseph Snr, so desperate to have his perfect family, and for the Kennedy line to run the United states did make a deal with the devil, and when he did not heed his part of the bargain, his descendants had to pay…I guess we will never know.

Penny x

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

n May 17th, 1892, a strange congregation worked in the graveyard behind the church at Shrub Hill, Rhode Island, USA. They weren’t burying the dead … they were exhuming them.

Mrs. Eliza Brown had died of consumption nine years earlier and her remains were suitably mummified. Her daughter, Mary, had followed her mother to the grave with the same disease just three years later. She was now little more than a skeleton with a thick head of hair. But the corpse of the next daughter, Mercy Brown, was in far better condition. The men knew what to do next. Her heart and liver, plus their contents of decomposed blood, were removed and burned to ashes. Those ashes were made into a tonic, and that tonic was fed to her dying brother, Edwin.

his could be a scene from any horror film - but it actually happened, and not too long ago either. Edwin, like the three family members who went before him, was suffering from tuberculosis. The family patriarch, George Brown, hadn’t believed in the folk ritual he’d been persuaded to permit, but there were no medical interventions, no scientific solutions. This was Edwin’s last chance. Regrettably, it didn’t work, and Edwin followed the other members of his family to the grave. Mercy Brown’s exhumation was not as unusual as you might think. There are many similar instances in parts of New England in that era.

In the last years of the eighteenth century, Captain Isaac Burton of Manchester, Vermont had married a beautiful young woman, Rachel Harris. In 1790, at the age of twenty, she had succumbed to consumption. HAUNTED MAGAZINE

After a period of mourning he had remarried, but this second wife, Hulda Powel, became ill in turn. With a considerable number of the townspeople in attendance, Rachel was exhumed and the remains of her liver, heart and lungs were burned on the local blacksmith’s forge. This ceremony, in February 1793, unfortunately didn’t help Hulda who passed in September of the same year. In 1810, a travelling minister named Enoch Hayes had arrived in Barnstead, New Hampshire. He was invited to witness the “taking up of the remains of Janey D. Denitt, who had been dead, over two years”. Her father was now close to death’s door with the same condition. By now, you won’t be surprised to find out that condition was consumption. “They opened the grave and it was a solemn sight indeed” recorded the preacher. The assembly examined what Hayes called “the mouldy spectacle”

rick

ick

err © Karl D

and found that – unlike Mercy – there wasn’t much left of Janey but bones and some shrivelled organs. In 1815, a Swiss settler called Philip Salladay whose family had settled in Scioto County in Ohio was in the final stages of tuberculosis. The head of the family and the oldest son had already died of it and others started to show symptoms by the time the familiar ritual was arranged. It was reported that in the winter of 1816/1817: “… they resolved to disinter one of the victims, take his entrails and burn them in a fire prepared for the purpose, in the presence of the surviving members of the family”. Sadly: “… like other superstitious notions with regard to curing diseases it proved of no avail”. Only one family member survived. All these strange examinations were conducted with the community present. The Salladay exhumation had happened: “in the presence of a large concourse of spectators who lived in the surrounding neighbourhood”. In other words, people understood the point of the ritual and thought the measures were reasonable. This gives us an insight into their lives and minds.

eventually struck. Mr and Mrs Tillinghast lost six of their children before they finally resorted to the disagreeable solution in an attempt to save the seventh. As isolated as they were, they were assisted by several local families: the Wilcox’s’, the Reynolds’, the Whitford’s’, the Mooney’s’ and the Gardner’s among others. Five of the siblings were suitably decomposed, but Sarah: “was found to be in a remarkable condition. The eyes were open and fixed. The hair and nails had grown, and the heart and arteries were filled with fresh, red blood”. Just like with Mercy, Sarah’s “heart was removed and carried to the designated rock, and there solemnly burned”. The seventh Tillinghast was a young farmer who had been too ill to save. But the family must have felt vindicated because the deaths stopped there. Evidence of the strange practice keeps popping up, even now.

“

The eyes were open and fixed. The hair and nails had grown, and the heart and arteries were filled with fresh, red blood.

Of course, in terrain which is sparsely populated, there were more isolated incidents too. The family graveyard of Sarah Tillinghast in Exeter, Rhode Island is still out-of-the-way, even today. The Tillinghast household consisted of parents Stukely and Honor, and their fourteen children. Unusually for the era, the late eighteenth century just after the American Revolution, the whole brood had made it to adulthood. But consumption HAUNTED MAGAZINE

In the early 1990s, children playing near a gravel-mine at Jewitt City, Connecticut, only twenty miles or so from Mercy Brown’s cemetery, found human remains from an old family graveyard. The site turned out to have been used by the Walton and Ray families. This reminds us of the Tillinghast family, who also buried their dead on their own land rather than in a centralised a town churchyard. We know about the Ray family from mystic antiquarian Montague Summers, who had written about them in his ‘The Vampire in Europe’ of 1929. A man named Horace Ray had died of consumption in 1846/7 and in the years following two of his sons had followed him. Summers says: “It was found that, yet a third son was victim to the same fatal disease, whereupon it was resolved to exhume the bodies of the two brothers and cremate them because the dead were supposed to feed on the living; and as long as the dead bodies in the grave remained entire the surviving members of the family must continue to furnish vital substance upon which these could feed. Wholly convinced that this was the case, the family and friends of the deceased on 8th June 1854, proceeded to the burial ground, exhumed the bodies of the deceased brothers and having erected a great pyre, burned them there on the spot”. So perhaps it shouldn’t surprise us that another corpse in the same graveyard was found in a very strange configuration. A coffin which had been labelled ‘JB 55’ contained a male body which had been tampered with after death. The head had been separated from the body, placed on the chest and the thigh bones used to create a ‘skull and crossbones’ configuration. The body showed signs of tuberculosis. In the years which followed, DNA technology improved enough to identify JB 55 using samples from family descendants. He seems to have been John Barber, who died in the 1820s. An obituary of 1826 for Nicholas Barber cites John as his father and a coffin marked NB 13 near John’s seems to confirm that they were related. If you have heard of Mercy Brown and Sarah Tillinghast before, you likely found them labelled ‘vampires’. To be fair, these events would not have been out of place in Eastern Europe in the late seventeenth or early eighteenth centuries. The two most notorious vampire accounts from that era came from Serbia – authentic, folkloric vampire heartland – and they concerned two men named Arnod Paole and Peter Plogojowitz.

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But the communities in North America didn’t use the ‘V-word’. It’s a label used by outsiders starting (as far as I can see) with an article from 1888 by Sidney S. Rider called ‘The Belief in Vampires in Rhode Island’. The nineteenth-century saw many works of vampire fiction, so people who had never even heard of Paole and Plogojowitz were still familiar with the key themes from literature. Folkloric vampires are people who have died suddenly, violently, or of a ‘draining’ disease. A vampire outbreak is associated with an epidemic, and the victims are usually the family of the main ‘vampire’. When the dead are examined, the ‘vampire’ (as opposed to the victims) isn’t found as decomposed as the witnesses expect. There may be blood at the mouth, or in the blood vessels. The corpse may have changed position in the grave or ‘moaned’ when it was moved. It is reasoned that the dead but undecomposed family member is sustaining an unnatural afterlife by siphoning the energy of its living relatives. So how did an Eastern European tradition make its way to the New World? Some think that it was brought by settlers, perhaps Huguenots from France at the end of the seventeenth century.

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We will never be sure, but I think the motifs are basic enough for the folklore to have started spontaneously. When people are stressed, they need scapegoats. And the people in New England were stressed.

The area had been prosperous in the late sixteen and seventeen hundreds with the population peaking in the late eighteenth century. But after that, the young and vigorous left for better prospects elsewhere, either in the towns and cities, or in the expanding territories to the west such Ohio, where we found the Salladay case (above). In 1896, a writer called George Stetson wrote a piece called ‘The Animistic Vampire in New England’ where he described the region at the time: “… agriculture is in a depressed condition and abandoned farms are numerous. Farmhouses deserted and ruinous are frequent, and the once productive lands, neglected and overgrown with scrubby oak, speak forcefully and mournfully of the migration of the youthful farmers from country to town.” HAUNTED MAGAZINE

So, by the 1800s, parts of New England embodied the depressed and darkly haunted environment described by the American Gothic Romantics like Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allen Poe and H. P. Lovecraft. We can be sure that Lovecraft was aware of the New England ‘vampires’ from the references in his work. In his story ‘The Shunned House’ (1924) he alluded to the Mercy Brown case: “As lately as 1892, an Exeter Community exhumed a dead body and ceremoniously burnt its heart in order to prevent certain alleged visitations injurious to the public health and peace”. ‘The Shunned House’ was about a sinister character, ‘Etienne Roulet’ whose name Lovecraft borrowed from a man who had been tried and convicted of werewolf-ism in France in 1598. Lovecraft also worked the Tillinghast name into the same story: “The swarthy Etienne Roulet, less apt at agriculture than reading queer books and drawing queer diagrams, was given a clerical post in the warehouse at Pardon Tillinghast’s wharf. It was freely intimated by old wives that his prayers were neither uttered at the proper time nor directed toward the proper object”. The presence of tuberculosis was closely related to the area’s depressed economic state. For most of the nineteenth century people had no means of knowing it was caused by bacteria and that it was contagious. Because it ripped through families, it was thought to be an inherited trait. George Stetson helps us to understand how the New Englanders thought of TB: “It is there believed that consumption is not a physical but a spiritual disease, obsession, or visitation; that as long as the body of a dead consumptive relative has blood in its heart it is proof that an occult influence steals from it for death and is at work draining the blood of the living into the heart of the dead and causing his rapid decline”. People also thought of it as a moral disease, caused by too much sex or dancing. Tuberculosis was (and still is) a disease that associated with poverty, malnutrition and cramped conditions. Inoculation and antibiotics came later. But by far the most effective measures against the disease were improved social conditions and lessdense housing. Alcohol abuse has been noted to make people more vulnerable to TB. Unfortunately, it is also something that people turn to when they are stressed. In 1873, Dr. Lucy Abell reported to the Massachusetts State Board of Health that people used alcohol as a measure against consumption and she had encountered many families where there was a high deathrate from the disease. She also referred to the old tradition for trying to control it: “In one family they resorted to that horrible relic of superstition the burning of the heart etc. of the dead and the ashes were swallowed by the survivors in the hopes that the fatal demon would be exorcised from the family, but it did not avail”.

That leaves us with the question: why were Sarah Tillinghast and the other ‘vampires’ in such good condition? You and I have a luxury – the internet. Temperature, soil pH, soil bacteria - even the conditions from which people finally die – can all influence decomposition. People in the nineteenth century people buried their dead quickly for the very good reason that they were a source of contagion. They can be forgiven for not knowing that the dead don’t rot in a predictable way. Mercy Brown may well have had another factor in her unnatural preservation. She died in mid-winter and may have been kept in a shed-like structure in the graveyard until the ground became soft enough to dig in the spring. If this were the case, she was - in effect - kept in a kind of freezer and we wouldn’t expect much decomposition at all. As odd as it seems, liquid blood at the mouth and in the gut is not too exceptional in corpses. It is more like a brown sludge but can be mistaken for blood by fearful onlookers.

reasonably common ritual. It is a symbol that people seem to understand. Charlemagne even took the trouble to make it illegal, as it was a distasteful measure taken against witches in his day. People aren’t daft, but they do get desperate. I think it would be unfair to think of the participants of these rituals as gullible yokels. George Brown was apparently unconvinced that the exhumations would work but was persuaded to try it by neighbours. He can’t have been the only New Englander to reluctantly submit to the last resort. As a descendant of the Brown family said to writer Michael Bell* in the 1980s: “You know, years ago, you didn’t have medicines, you didn’t have nothin’. You had to figure out your own. They were selfindependent people, everybody that lived here. There was no such thing as relyin’ on somebody. You did it yourself”. Rest in Peace, Mercy Brown. * Michael E. Bell wrote the best book on this subject ‘Food for the Dead’.

Ingesting the blood or body of powerful enemy to placate it is an ancient and

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To find out more information, look at documents relating to above plus a video of Deborah visiting the graves in New England please check out her website www.DeborahHyde.com Follow me on Twitter @ jourdemayne and Instagram @DeborahHydeFolklore Deborah Hyde writes about the malign supernatural. She was Editor-in-Chief of ‘The Skeptic’ from 2011 to 2020, Co-Convenor of Westminster Skeptics, Co-Convenor of Soho Skeptics. She is a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and often hosts ‘Thinking on Sunday’ & ‘Ethical Matters’ for Conway Hall. You can follow her on Twitter @jourdemayne and Instagram @ DeborahHydeFolklore

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 COTTER:

"WE ALL HAVE A GHOST STORY" A

melia 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. Amelia lives and writes in Chicago but is originally from Maryland, where she earned a degree in German and History from Hood College. She has given tours with Chicago Hauntings ghost tours. Amelia is a cancer survivor (Stage IV Hodgkin lymphoma), who appreciates every minute of her “supernatural” career. Let us get straight into the questions Amelia. When, where and how did the interest in the supernatural, history & folklore begin? Was there a particular event or time that drew you into it? I always wanted to be a writer since I was a little kid, and I was always fascinated by ghost stories. Even before I could really read, I would spend hours at the library, browsing the Occult section and picking up old Gothic romance novels.

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Now, the paranormal has taken on a life of its own as, at times, this bizarre cultural phenomenon. Lucky for me and my books sales, I guess, but I remember when connecting to history and historic places, and with your hometown and community, through ghost stories and urban legends was thrilling and made the world a more wondrous place. I have never been too concerned about proof that ghosts are real or not, but am fascinated by peoples’ experiences, the exploration of why the supernatural fascinates us so much, and the ways we relate to the world and each other through what I consider to be these modern mythologies. I also love a good old-fashioned ghost story, and I do have a few of my own. My first formative, and life-changing, paranormal experience happened when I was 11 years old and exploring an abandoned house close to where I grew up in Maryland. I developed an affinity for the house and was fortunate enough to encounter its spectral occupant, known by local legend as “Walter.” This house and its ghost are the subject of my first book, aptly titled, This House: The True Story of a Girl and a Ghost. The tenth anniversary edition of the book was the Higgypop 2020 Paranormal Entertainment Awards Gold Winner in the Best Paranormal Book category. Apparently, you sing AND play the Banjo, which one are you the best at? Without a doubt, I am a better singer than banjo player, and you definitely do not want to be around when I attempt to

The concept of ghosts coming and going from our lives to torment, warn, or watch over us feels like such a selfish, egocentric thing for us living humans to believe and indulge in.

do both at the same time. I would say I’m a good singer and an okay banjo player. I can play the two-finger and clawhammer styles with some degree of technical skill. Banjos are loud instruments, and I’m sure my neighbours love me. My husband, Jonathan Montgomery Pollock, is a musician and it would be a shame to be married to a multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer without at least finding out if I have some sliver of musical talent. I don’t think I’ll be the next bluegrass sensation, but I certainly enjoy playing. The pandemic has affected lots of people in lots of many ways, what has been the biggest difference to your life, your thoughts, ways and views? I was born for pandemic living. I am an introvert who enjoys my time alone. Last spring, I lost my job of six years at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, as museums and cultural institutions have been particularly hard-hit by the pandemic. But I viewed it, from the perspective of my own privilege, as an opportunity to take a break from the daily grind and to write full time. I’m lucky to have a happy home life with my husband Jonathan and our pets. Our elderly dog is the happiest he has ever been, having someone home with him all of the time. That being said, I have lost good friends literally to COVID-19 and figuratively to the unignorable cultural, political, and social horrors that we have witnessed over the last year. I have become a stronger advocate for activism and more aware and proactive in my own life. As a person who has often casually cited conspiracy theories as one of my paranormal interests, I think we have all watched as some HAUNTED MAGAZINE

worst-case scenarios have played out around us, cautionary tales of how dangerous conspiracy theories and theorists can actually be. My feelings of accountability and responsibility for what I do, and why, as a person who is involved in the paranormal community have rapidly evolved. This House: The True Story of a Girl and a Ghost is a fascinating read. Can you tell us all about it, what made you put pen to paper, did it involve a lot of research or was it easy to tell this particular story? I originally finished the first draft of This House as a short story while I was in treatment for Stage IV Hodgkin Lymphoma at age 22. I self-published the first edition of the book at age 25, in early 2010, with the intention of reaching a young adult audience and becoming a children’s and YA writer. The book became a hit with paranormal enthusiasts around the world, the second edition was picked up by a publisher, and my career was launched. The events of This House were inspired by my real-life childhood experiences and fascination with the beautiful and mysterious “Walter’s House,” and the ghost therein. Walter appeared to be a boy or young man close to my age at the time. It 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 reminds me of what a brave little explorer I was and should still strive to be, and how I set the foundation for a lifelong love of history, mystery, and haunted places. I have never found out who Walter was, and do not presume that was even his real name. There is plenty of information

Paranormal Bucket List: Top 3 locations you’ve been to (why are they top 3?) 1. New Orleans, Louisiana: This historic, magical, vibrant city is full of the best spirits of all kinds. 2. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: The solemn and sacred site of the American Civil War’s Battle of Gettysburg is now practically a theme park for paranormal enthusiasts, but not without good reasons. 3. Galena, Illinois: The “sleeper hit” of haunted places, this charming small town is packed with paranormal activity as well as wonderful and welcoming vibes Baraboo, Wisconsin, another small town steeped in both Indigenous and European American history, along with the newer and notorious city of Chicago, Illinois (my current city), are two more places that absolutely must be mentioned! (we’ll let you sneak a couple more in – editor) Top 3 locations you’ve still to get to (and why)? 1. Savannah, Georgia: I’ll be heading to this quaint, historic city, said to be one of the most haunted in the U.S., this fall for the Haunted Savannah Paracon! 2. Salem, Massachusetts: Home of the infamous Salem Witch Trials, and lots of New Age-y shops, this town is not necessarily know n for its haunts, but I would love to visit and take in more of the colonial European and Indigenous history. 3. The UK: Yeah, I know. I could probably afford to narrow it down a bit, but there are bucket lists within bucket lists… This is why I am glad I have Haunted Magazine!

available out there about Lord Baltimore’s grand estate, “My Lady’s Manor,” on which the house was built. Some general history and research about it are included in the book. I have always maintained, however, that much of the beauty and poignancy of my ghostly experiences and the story itself are in the not-knowing. I’ve found that the moments of wonder almost never live in the answers, but in the questions. Speaking of things that affect people, you are a cancer survivor, we hope you don’t mind us asking if your perception on the paranormal changed during that time too? I get some form of this question a lot and it is one that I unfortunately have a rather bland answer for: not really. I had some profound experiences during my cancer treatment, including vivid dreams of Walter, along with my grandparents and my best friend’s grandparents (who I had never even met), surrounding me and comforting me. I have never particularly felt that being a ghost sounded like much fun, and I don’t think I ever want to be one. The concept of ghosts coming and going from our lives to torment, warn, or watch over us feels like such a selfish, egocentric thing for us living humans to believe and indulge in. As if our loved ones, or enemies, would have nothing better to do with their time in whatever the great beyond may hold. I am being a bit facetious, of course, as I know these experiences happen, and I’ve had and greatly appreciated them myself. This is how I see it. Knowing for sure that ghosts, and events we attribute to ghostly activity, are real wouldn’t necessarily prove much about the nature of life and death, or God and the afterlife. Only that there are, in fact, what we call “ghosts.” But what are they and what, if anything, does their existence mean? These are timeless questions, which are often answered through our individual lenses of cultural, religious, and spiritual beliefs. Knowing that ghosts are real doesn’t necessarily answer, “Why am I here and what will happen to me when I die?” Except that there is a statistically minor chance that some part of my consciousness might bang on pots and pans in the middle of the night from time to time or be called upon by strangers to answer questions through a talking radio device someday.

As I get older, these are concepts and questions I reflect on more and more, often through humour as you can tell, and I expect my views to continue to grow and change. For now, I am just happy to have a second chance on this fragile and unique planet, where we have been blessed with large brains that allow us, as all people that have come before and will come after us, to ponder the boundless and ineffable meanings of life and death, and beyond. Any tips for budding writers, especially paranormal writers?

I am not sure what to tell people anymore when it comes to becoming a writer or making a name on the paranormal scene. I was extremely fortunate to be part of a moment, and to seize that moment, when interest in paranormal writing was growing, but before social media made everyone a star and was saturated by an overwhelming number of people competing for attention, relevance, and sales. When I started out, networking and business acumen were the big things, and I’m sure they still are, although we can now tack social media savvy onto that. I started with self-publishing, veered away from it, but will likely go back to it for some of my writing projects now that I’ve established a name for myself. My advice would be to identify exactly Coming close to death did not what you want to do, who you want provide me with any further comfort to be, and how you want people to or insight into any of this at the time, perceive you. Research the best options for sharing your work nor did I ask myself why this terrible with the world, build a network of thing was happening to me. I only had supportive people, and don’t be a heightened desire to continue living afraid to take chances or risks. This is probably the same old and and a surge of gratitude to be alive. tired advice as ever, but the world

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is an overwhelming place, and it’s essential to find colleagues and mentors whose ethics, style, and work match your goals and interests. At the same time, while you will want to emulate and by inspired by successful people, focus on and “compete” only with yourself, staying true to the “why” of it all, as well as your message and purpose. Have your views and beliefs on all things supernatural changed over the years? Yes. The more personal experiences I have had, and the more stories I’ve heard from the extraordinary lives of others, the vaguer and more humbled my understanding of the paranormal has become. At the same time, I have experienced some spiritual awakenings along the way that have inspired me to dive deeper into my own journey with meaning and possibility. I am more awed by paranormal events, and more jaded by paranormal people. As I mentioned before, I’m beginning to reflect more deeply and seriously on what I’m researching, studying, and writing about, and why, and I expect my views to continue to grow and change. I look forward to answering this question again in five, ten years, and so on down the line.

THE AMELIA COTTER DINNER PARTY: You can invite 6 people, living or dead, fact or fiction, who and why? We also want the menu, starters, main course and pudding. Spill the paranormal beans. This dinner party is going to be lit, and I will provide plenty of wine. My attendees will be my husband Jonathan, of course, and special guests Harry Houdini, Shirley Jackson, King Tut, Martin Luther, and Hildegard von Bingen. We will have an international potluck, served buffet style, crossing the boundaries of time and space. Everyone will be able to speak English for just this one evening. I do speak German but might struggle a bit with the whole Middle High German thing. After dinner, when hopefully no one’s feeling like a big stick in the mud, we will have a séance… ideally with an awesome old Ouija board. What’s next for Amelia Cotter? I just released another book this spring, Where the Party Never Ended: Ghosts of the Old Baraboo Inn, from Haunted Road Media. My poetry collection, apparitions (not related to anything ghostly in the literal sense of the word), is forthcoming this fall. I have more writing and television projects on deck, as well as all the appearances

that were cancelled during the pandemic world that are now back on the books. I love to connect with people, so please stay in touch and keep up with my news and updates at www.ameliacotter.com or write to me any time at ameliamcotter@gmail. com.

www.ameliacotter.com

Milanos Tavern & the legend of Tilly By Sarah Chumacero

here had long been rumours about an aggressive spirit that haunts Milanos Tavern in Brighton Victoria. Local stories have often frequented throughout many Australian Ghost websites and chatrooms throughout the years. Milanos Tavern is a 3-story establishment which has a ground floor restaurant and gaming area with conference rooms on the second level. The third level is in disrepair and is the last reminder of its past as the Royal Terminus Hotel. It is actually one of the oldest establishments in the Brighton area. Established in 1840, it was built south of the Yarra River and was originally built of local red ironstone. It was quite remote and at one point, it was even held up by bushrangers. On the 2nd of February 1918, a tornado swept through the area and the roof was torn off. It was quickly rebuilt as a seven bedroom and five sitting room (described as gracious) establishment where guests could stay for 30 shillings a week. It was considered to be a ‘destination resort’, however people didn’t know the dark stories that lie beneath the beautiful heritage listed façade.

I had only been investigating the paranormal for a few months before my first investigation there, the staff came up to tell me the story of a girl they call ‘Tilly’.

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They believe Tilly was a young woman in her early 20’s that had been raped and murdered by one of the owners. At the time, an underground tunnel existed underneath the kitchen leading out to the nearby beach, which was quite common in bayside establishments in the 1920’s. It allowed them to smuggle in liquor and contraband from pirates when the prohibition was in effect. They said her body was dragged through the tunnels and her body deposed of at sea. Kitchen staff reported glasses being smashed, and knives being thrown. Taps would randomly turn on in the bathrooms and people would be touched. Staff were afraid to go to the 3rd level which was used as storage alone. Males in particular reported an aggressive spirit they believed to be Tilly who would push them, scratch them and angrily tell them to get out. Female staff felt she was friendly toward them and would feel like she was calling out to them. I was in on the stairs in the old hotel area which was in disrepair near an attic door. I don’t know why I chose that area, but I felt like I needed to do something there. At the time, there were 3 people on the second floor at the other end of the building, and there was only me and another investigator on the 3rd level. I started asking Tilly some questions. I asked the question “Tilly are

you upset I brought some males in the building with me?”. Suddenly, an aggressive male voice whispered loudly in my right ear “Get Ouuuuut”. My ear drum vibrated when I heard the sound in the same way it does when someone whispers in your ear. There was no one next to me. The other investigator was at the bottom of the stairs behind me. It felt like it took me about a minute to process what happened, but my reaction was immediate. I gasped loudly and said, “Oh my god!”. I asked the investigator behind me ‘Did you hear that?’. She said, “Yes I did!” As my brain tried to process everything that happened, I couldn’t rationalise what happened. I am an extremely rational person. I can normally explain everything. I knew it wasn’t the girl behind me at the bottom of the stairs. I knew the other people were a level down at the other end of the building. I knew there was no physical person standing there whispering in my ear. So, I started freaking out. My heart was beating out of my chest, I am fairly sure I had bright rosy cheeks because I felt hot and I just kept saying “No, No, No, No, no”’ I started running down the stairs to find everyone else. I am the last person that normally reacts like this, so they knew something was up. I could barely speak. I told them I heard the voice of a male whisper in my ear. I remember saying to them, that it wasn’t Tilly, it was someone else. My brother who was there turned to me and noticed I had a digital recorder and a video camera in my hands. He asked me ‘Did you record it?’. Suddenly the fear turned to excitement. We played back the recorder. The whisper was

there. We played back the video …. The whisper was there. The footage showed there was no one next to me. When I eventually got over the shock, I was changed. I had to find out who it was that whispered in my ear. I already knew though. Even though we were there to find Tilly, the investigator in me had done some groundwork prior to going there. It turned out there was a suicide on the third level of the Royal Terminus Hotel as reported in the Argus Newspaper Friday October 96th, 1893. Mr Charles Edward Broome was a stockbroker who was found dead in his bed with an empty bottle prussic acid next to him. On the dressing table was a note he had addressed to the local police sergeant. In his note, he admitted he had taken his life of his own free will and asked if his body could be put on a yacht and released at seat. If this wasn’t possible, he asked for his body to be wrapped in jute cloth and put in a cheap coffin with holes drilled in it. He wanted the coffin to be put in the ocean, with the holes allowing it to sink. He clearly wanted to be with the sea. It is unknown how he was put to rest. Was the voice I heard Mr Broome asking to be left alone? I believe it was. Perhaps the staff were believing what seemed to be a ‘local ghost story’ and ignoring the real story in front of them. As for Tilly? I didn’t encounter her, but I did find a newspaper report of a female body washing up on the shore HAUNTED MAGAZINE

in the 1920’s a few kms up the road. They were unable to establish how she died. Could this be Tilly? Follow up investigations at the location didn’t find anything of interest. Whenever I start becoming sceptical of the paranormal or I feel I lose my way, I play back the video and watch my encounter with Charles. It reminds me why I am out there investigating. It reminds me that everyone is going to die at some point, and it is something I should not be afraid of. Most importantly it reminds me how important history is. I was able to tell Charles’s story to the world as it was always neglected and give him a voice, when for so long, he didn’t have one. TO HEAR MORE ABOUT THE MILANOS TAVERN FROM SARAH, SCAN HERE: https://youtu.be/ BqQDdRfQqMs To this day several years later, I have not had an experience as profound as my experience with Charles. I may go back one day and see if he speaks to me, but I suspect he won’t. He did more for me than he will ever know and in a weird way I want to thank him. In a way, I had found everything I had been searching for, yet I still had so many questions. That is what I love about investigating the paranormal, you come away with more questions than answers. They may not ever be answers, but for one night, Charles showed me that there was more out there than I really ever knew possible …… and it absolutely terrified me!

Sarah x

TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT SARAH, https://llifs.com.au/

PEOPLE’S PERSONAL ADVENTURES IN THE PARANORMAL…

Here, at Haunted Magazine we are always amazed by the paranormal stories we read, watch and hear about on social media, from people who do not belong to so called professional paranormal societies, to people not from the world of academia or people who didn’t go to university and people who are not blessed with 20-30 years of socalled paranormal experience. We’ve always believed, ALWAYS that a checkout operator in a supermarket, a delivery driver, a shop worker, basically anyone and everyone from any walk of life, society or background can experience paranormal activity, can see and witness paranormal activity and without a need for rigid baseline experiments, tests and strict settings and guidelines. We get sent so many stories, ACTUALLY, stories is the wrong word, that sounds like they are made up, we get sent people’s personal paranormal encounters and we are sometimes blown away with their experiences. We do not judge, we do not pour scorn on their words, why would anyone do that? We will feature more of these in the future but what is sometime refreshing is the back story to their experience(s), the background and their development and their journey that they find themselves on. One such lady is Ann Morris; and last time we read about her (issue 28), she had just started ghost hunting and had plucked up the courage to join a group and was getting addicted to EVPs…

pon my next trip out with the group I recorded a handful more, but none so clear as my first EVP. I was happy with that – but by now I had now caught the bug and going out once a month with large group purely to utilise the free time, was not financially viable, and now wasn’t enough. I went out a few more times with the group to some great locations, and successfully managed to obtain good EVPs. Some indistinct, some much clearer. I was on my way! In February of 2017 we moved to the historic little town of Ilchester in Somerset. One day, sick of DIY, we looked up somewhere to go that was not the usual prim proper polished National Trust sort of place, but somewhere with a bit of punch. Guts. In-your-face realism. Naturally shirking anywhere with tea rooms and play areas and anywhere that sold tea towels and jams in a gift shop at extortionate prices, we gravitated to the now disused 400-year-old prison not far away in Shepton Mallet. It has been left largely in its original state, having closed in March of 2013, and now plays host to a company who run guided or unguided tours.

Normally first thing in the morning midweek it is empty of visitors (when I choose to go), and even if there is anyone else aside from the two staff in the ticket office) it is quite easy to lose people once inside. On that first trip it was just me and Jack, with two staff who remained in the ticket office Paul Toole the then site manager, and Emma Blake, who had worked in the prison when it was an actual working prison, since she left college.

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Once inside those imposing grey stone walls, I recorded non-stop just in case, and I ditched Jack early on. I wanted the best chances with minimal audio interference, but I was grasping at possibilities. What could possibly happen? After all, don’t you have to ghost hunt at night, wear black, and use fancy night vision gear to get results?! The cliches of modern ghost hunting (or as the TV shows would have you believe) were still with me even at this point but did not remain very long after this first visit. All the cliches of ghost hunting were soon to be utterly obliterated! So no, I did not expect to find anything on my recorder besides my own footsteps when I uploaded the audio files later that evening. Imagine then my shock when the voices began rolling in thick and fast! In a two and a half hour visit I obtained no less than thirty-two voices. There are no words that come close to expressing the life-changing smack to the soul that I got that day. Amidst the results were a combination of things that made sense – comments about me, someone even finished my sentence. I received an historically verifiable name up in the governor’s office (not that I realised this until a good six months later whilst trawling through a book on the prison), and lots of gibberish. I have since discovered that during investigating EVP, sometimes you will come home laden with goodies such as “Oh Ann’s HAUNTED MAGAZINE

back!”, “You’re gonna HANG!” and “Are you a prisoner here?”, and other times you’ll get a good old nonsensical, “Bread rolls”. Swings and roundabouts, as they say. Yet all are valuable, all are genuine, and all are treasured. They are like my weird audio babies, and I am fiercely proud of each one. My visits increased to often as regularly several times a week. I had become such a regular that I had made a particularly good deal with the staff who accommodated me so well, they are all now friends.

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In summer 2019 I had my BBQ/ghost hunting hen-do there! The first in the prison’s history I do believe.

After each visit and subsequent analysis, I would email over my best recordings from each visit, and we would discuss what I had found. Gradually though the quantity of EVPs was becoming too great to process (I would frequently spend eight hours plus at the computer which was no good for my health) and share as I had been doing, and so I began a group on Facebook to share with interested parties. I have recently withdrawn it with a view to setting up a website of a similar name, Lost Voices. As I am sure other EVP investigators experience, the quality of each EVP can vary hugely. With some whispery single words, set against full sentences of crystal-clear dialogue responding to what I am saying, there’s never a dull moment.

TO CHECK OUT ANN’S EVP CAPTURES PLEASE SCAN THE QR CODE: https://www.lostvoicesevpresearch.com/

My name is being called out frequently now too, as if the inhabitants of the prison are recognising me. I have no doubt of this. Some people have asked if this bothers me – but it really does not. I feel excited and privileged to have been acknowledged in whatever dimension these entities hail from. Someone once asked my how my Father was. Dad is an ‘on-the-fencer’ when it comes to all-things paranormal, but since my EVP dabbling is now wavering. Just as I began my work at the prison, he was diagnosed with late-stage prostate cancer, but began the full-on treatment and was responding well. I was sat on the metal bed frame in the isolation cell and spilled my worries to whomever might be listening. Next visit, a gentleman asked, “How’s John doing?” I played the clip to Dad, who was as intrigued as he was bewildered! So no, being recognised bothers me not at all. The only thing that has bothered me was the period in which something had come home with me and for two years, began to make itself progressively more known. What began as a once a week at night when alone sort of thing, soon escalated to all hours of the day and night EVERY day and night. After activity became much too personal (not just with myself but with my other half who received a nasty double scratch whilst he was in front of the TV) I knew it was time to do something about it.

I asked my medium friend Carolyn to come and see what she made of the situation. Without hesitation made a date and drove over from Frome. Over trays overflowing with nibbles, we chatted about what she had so far picked up on. Even on the drive over she had an inkling, but oddly my guest that had made itself at home hadn’t come from the prison as I’d have expected, but from another location when I was off guard. She said that even when I’m ‘off duty’ as it were, not necessarily recording at specific locations, because of the very nature of what I get up to I am an open book, a beacon to entities wishing to latch-on to a host. She then went on to tell me that the entity I had was nonhuman, possibly male, of exceptionally low intelligence, but tinged with a nasty streak that meant it liked to and could cause mischief. She said that usually this sort of entity attached to people with addictions and exceptionally low self-esteem. That I was not expecting! Carolyn then went about her work, asking me to step outside into the garden whilst she made a tour of each room. After half an hour she called me back inside and told me that the ‘thing’ had gone. When I asked her what it looked like she made a wincing face, and went to say something, but bit it back. I didn’t press further. After hearing her descriptions of similar hauntings and what she had seen, I knew better. I wanted to sleep easier now, not know what had been co-habiting with me.

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Although I knew that my unwanted guest had gone, it took a while to relax knowing that weird stuff isn’t going to happen every day and night. My eternal thanks to Carolyn for helping me with this strange situation, I don’t think I could have coped much more especially if activity ramped up even further. Jack works away for weeks at a time, and it wasn’t easy. Subsequently, I asked Carolyn if she thought that the time spent not only on location opened me and others like me up to the likelihood of attachments, but also the intense listening, analysing, and study of the EVPs obtained. Am I tuning in all this time? The physical vibrations of these voices reverberate through my conscious all the while. Could it be possible? I think perhaps. This could account for some of the activity experienced at home during times when I would spend often in excess of six hours a day working on EVP. This possibility now reminds me of the experience a friend of mine had when he offered to help me with cleaning up some of my recordings. IN THE NEXT ‘ANN VENTURE’ THE FASCINATION WITH EVPS CONTINUES BUT IS IT GETTING OUT OF CONTROL?

If you have a story to tell and want to document your journey for thousands of people to read, please email editor@ hauntedmagazine.co.uk and we will get back to you.

here are several pubs across the land that fight it out for the title of ‘oldest inn’. Maybe not with fists, but by displaying signs boldly stating so. Whilst doing some research recently for some secret projects, I discovered the same names popping up on site after site. They all have similar stories to one another, originating from around the 11th Century, rebuilt in the 1500s on original foundations, and renovated more recently. I am not going to list them here, for now is the time for The Bell Inn to shine. In Thomas Burke’s book, ‘The English Inn’, published in 1930, he lists The Bell as the HAUNTED MAGAZINE

LORIEN

JONES

third oldest pub in the country, licensed in 1042. So why has it been lost in more modern claims? To quote Burke, ‘To me it is a matter of no importance…they can fight it out amongst themselves. It is enough for me that I can enjoy these places.’ I have to say, whilst I wholeheartedly agree with Burke’s sentiment, I also like to see a place receive the recognition it deserves. So, without further ado, let us visit ‘The Bell Inn’ in Finedon, Northamptonshire. Finedon is an ancient town, recorded as a substantial hamlet in the Domesday Book of 1086. However, driving through the village doesn’t give much sense of its age.

t doesn’t have that overwhelming historical feel like other towns such as Stamford, Lincolnshire. Modern buildings and shops are spread around, with older buildings scattered amongst them. I park outside some 1960s looking houses and as I glance across the road, I am taken aback by the effortless grace and beauty of this ancient inn. It stands unassumingly on a narrow road, no airs and graces, no grand introduction. It seems to know it deserves a place in the history books but doesn’t need to make the fuss. The sun shining makes the warmcoloured ironstone inviting, the history is evident, and I was keen to get inside and discover some of the many secrets within those ancient walls. I stepped out of the sunshine and into the darkness of the front porch and felt, for the first time, that my journey with The Bell had really begun. It sounds a bit silly to say it out loud, but I felt as though I had been accepted and welcomed. There are many ghosts said to haunt the inn and maybe it is for this very reason. The pub does not feel spooky, but it certainly feels haunted, and it was a pleasure to discover somewhere that breaks the stereotypical mould. It was this exact location that Reverend Coles of nearby St Marys Church tweeted in 2012 ‘New ghost sighting in Finedon, a lady dwarf standing in the porch of the Bell Inn.’ Eager to get inside, I rang the bell and was greeted by the warmest of faces as the landlord, Den, welcomed me in. It was a privilege to be granted access to the building outside of opening hours, and to have the freedom to have a really good explore. Standing in the entrance hall, Den tells me straight off the bat that for years he heard footsteps walking from the front door and along the passageway that leads to the kitchen and the private residence attached to the pub. He swore that he would catch the spirit one day, but every time he heard those footsteps and raced to the passage, he would be greeted with an empty space. I asked him how he felt living and working in such a haunted place for so many years and he had a simple answer for me, “You just have to get used to it, don’t you?” The décor of the pub is traditional, red ceilings and dark wood and original stone floors. Exposed beams, heavy wooden fire lintels and wood burning stoves set the scene for a cosy evening of ghost stories with drinks flowing. Walls are adorned with historical artifacts and trinkets, and if you believe in haunted objects, the pub certainly qualifies as a likely candidate. The spirit of an outcast monk is said to haunt here and has been seen around the inn. Den’s wife, Jo, once described seeing him looking in at her from an outside window! She said he must have been short in stature as she could only see his head. The nearby St Mary’s church is a Grade I listed building dating to the 1320s. The southern porch has an upper chamber known as the Monk’s Cell. I think there is certainly more to be learnt about this spirit and his story! We have all heard accounts of pubs with secret tunnels leading to nearby churches. They seem to go hand in hand with the hauntings, and yet there is rarely much evidence of them, they always seem to have been filled in or lost. When researching,

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The spirit of an outcast monk is said to haunt here and has been seen around the inn.

I discovered that such a tale was also linked to this pub. However, in this instance, actual evidence was found. When sewage work was being done outside and the ground was being dug up for access, a tunnel was indeed discovered! It was about six feet deep in size and was leading away from the inn. When the council worker called it in to his boss, he was instructed to cover it back over and leave it at that. So frustrating! Den also believes there to be a second cellar under the first bar you enter, which is yet to be investigated. The spirits of children have been heard and felt all around the pub. Little footsteps have been heard running in the upper floors and barmaids have reported feeling something around their legs, which has also been put down as being the children. There is a large cottage attached to the inn which has provided residence for the publicans and their families for hundreds of years. Checking back through census records to 1851, I learn that several families with young children have lived at the inn. I cannot find any recorded deaths of the children listed, and can’t access records predating these, so I can’t begin to hazard a guess at who they might be, but they seem playful and happy to be there. Walking around the pub, which I expected to feel creepy, actually feels really nice. Even as I walk past the past the ladies’ toilets where a female spirit is said to stand, I don’t get any sense of foreboding. An old stone mullion window frame has been preserved in the place which was once the side of the building. Den shows me a framed image of the Domesday Book detailing how ‘The King holds the land. Queen Edith held it.’ Queen Edith was the daughter of Earl Godwin of Essex and wife of Saxon king Edward The Confessor. At a time when Rockingham

Forest reached this far north, Queen Edith lived and hunted here. It is believed by some that she granted The Bell its license in 1042. Whether this be true or not, there is no doubt that what was once called the village of ‘Tingdene’ was of royal importance. A painting of Queen Edith once adorned the front of the inn, along with the words

‘Queen Edith, Lady, once of Finedon. Where at the Bell good fare is dined on.’ This painting has since been replaced with a stone effigy of Queen Edith which you can see in impeccable condition today. The very top window of the front porch is decorated with the stone heads of Queen Edith and Edward the Confessor. They are both looking down the hill, maybe towards the church? I’m not sure. Below the bay window on the porch, carved in stone is the inscription ‘ER 1042 Tingdene Hostelrie VR 1872.’ I think these dates and initials refer to the date licensed and Queen Edith, and then the date of the last extension, and Queen Victoria. Could the spirit of the lady be that of Queen Edith? I very much doubt it, but wouldn’t that be something! Den points out another framed piece which is an article written about the history of Finedon and the inn. There is an artist’s impression of how the inn would have looked in Saxon times. Sadly, the quality isn’t great, but I had to include it as I think it is an incredible insight into the history of our pubs. It shows sheep stalls in a corner and describes how the walls would have been decorated with hanging hides and antlers. Men would have been dressed in robes fastened at the shoulder with a brooch and as I stand here, I find it hard to imagine that this type of life existed right here, all around me. I have

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the likes of Game of Thrones to thank for helping bring reality to these visions and giving me a better understanding of life over a thousand years ago! Starting life as a monastic hospice for travellers (not the same definition of the word as we use today), the inn would have been much smaller than its present state. The majority of the pub we see today was built in 1598. This date stone can be found above the original entrance which would have been round the side of the building. For some of its history, the building was used as a farmhouse and family home. The back restaurant was originally the dairy and has been the scene of many spooky encounters. Staff have reported seeing shadow figures back here and have experienced cold spots. Doors open and close on their own and a key was even witnessed turning in the lock by unseen hands. A landlord from the 1950s is reported to have up sticks and left because the activity in the inn was just too much for him. William Mackworth- Dolben, son of Sir Digby Mackworth married Frances, the only child of Lieutenant-Colonel William Somerset Dolben in 1835. They continued to extend the Bell and can be thanked for the beautiful façade we see today. The two crests on the front porch are that of the Dolben family and the Mackworth family. Den told me of a night when he went to lock up the car park and check it was clear of vehicles. A dark figure walked past him, to which he initially thought not much of. However, when the figure vanished from sight, he raced into the bar to get some torches and the assistance of the barman. They searched the exterior, but no person could be found. It was only then that

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it dawned on Den, he had heard no sound from this figure, dressed all in dark clothes, not even footsteps! It is suggested by locals that it is the spirit of one of the Dolben family, checking back in on things from time to time. We head back to the bar area to visit the cellar next. As I leave the restaurant and pass under the stone archway, something at the bar catches my eye. Concentrating on not breaking my ankle on the steps, I look back up to see nothing amiss. Strange, I was sure I saw someone there, but Den is behind me. It turns out that the spirit of a man in a tall black hat and black coat has been seen standing right there! He has a large bushy beard and is seen drinking from a phantom glass! Did I catch a glimpse of him? I couldn’t say. I was disappointed with the cellar if I am honest. It was clean, tidy and bright, very well kept. I was hoping for dank and dusty and damp. The more I research pubs and discover their history, the more commonplace I find it that pubs are rebuilt on original foundations. Giving way to the idea that the cellars remain original throughout, I take a minute to try and appreciate this, but it is just too nice and clean. If you ever find yourself in the area of Finedon, Northants, I implore you to take some time to visit The Bell, you won’t be disappointed! Will you be one of the many customers who report feeling touched by unseen hands? If you’re lucky, you just might!

Lorien Jones xx

PARANORMAL ANI-MOSS-ITY?

A RETURN TO

WISTMAN'S WOOD I

n the heart of Dartmoor, England, lies a very ancient and mysterious place and its name is Wistman’s Wood. Remote, it clings to huge granite boulders on the eastern side of a valley just above the West Dart River and below Littaford Tor. Unique it consists of hundreds of stunted dwarf oak trees. Lichen and moss cover every tree and boulder and it feels as if you just walked into a fairy tale. This ancient location is full of legends with strong links to Druid worship as well as stories of Hell Hounds and even the Devil himself. Famous to locals, two large boulders within have symbols depicted on them, one a spiral and the other an eye. These have been there for years and it is unclear to all when and how they were produced.

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You may have already heard of Wistman’s Wood. That is because I wrote about it here in Haunted Magazine at the very beginning of 2020; but the story did not end there. It had only just begun.

I took a lot with me from that investigation. Some of which I found profound and eyeopening and other insights I got were unexpected and distressing. After closing the investigation at the Wood that day I did something I would never do. I can’t say I was compelled, neither can I say I was guided, but I crouched down beside the boulder with the eye symbol and pulled off a small and damp HAUNTED MAGAZINE

Written by Katie Waller & investigated with George Bird

handful of moss from the very rock itself. I thrust it into the pocket of my hoodie, almost without knowing I had done it, and went on my way rambling back across the moor. The journey home was fine. A moderate walk back to my noble steed of a car. I had parked it way off the beaten track and I finally found it after clambering over old granite walls, stepping through cow muck and avoiding rams between the rocks and bracken. The foggy mist was thick, and it appeared as if I had been caught in the rain when I got back to the car. I completely forgot about the cargo I transported with me all the way home. The cottage greeted me with warmth and I desperately wanted to go through all my footage, photos and recordings so I threw off my garments ready for a hot shower only to find that my hoodie had embellished a wet patch as if I’d spilt a drink. My brain engaged as I remember what I had done. My immediate thought was SH*T! Why did you do that Katie? That’s a golden rule that I stick to, not only do I paranormal investigate, but I’m a keen urban explorer and I seriously avoid touching, picking up, and I certainly do not take anything. And yet, there I was standing in my house with a random handful of moss. Not knowing what the hell to do with it I stood there for a short while thinking. My first thought was to seal it in something. I mean it was a little soggy moss for goodness’ sake. It wasn’t a conventional haunted object or anything like that. It couldn’t possibly do any harm, could it?

I absolutely could not throw it out either. I ran down my creaky wooden staircase and rummaged for a small Kilner jar that I knew had no contents. I carefully although quite rapidly pushed the moss into the jar and sealed it shut. I thoroughly washed my hands and placed the jar into a footstool in the living room; a footstool which also doubled up as a handy storage area. And there the little quirky jar sat. In darkness and beneath mine and George’s feet every time we tried to relax on the sofa. But the story still does not end there. For months and months, the jar stayed, untouched and undisturbed where I left it. For so long it stayed there in our house and beneath our feet. Fast forward to the middle of 2020 and it has been an extraordinary time when the pandemic spread across the globe affecting much of the population in some way or another. With people restricted during the lockdown period, stressors obviously ran high for most as they were forced to stay inside their homes. For me and George, however, our working life and daily routine pretty much stayed the same as we were ‘essential workers.’ COVID aside, things started to happen to us. We seemed to become incredibly unlucky, bad things started to happen which affected us both. Little or large, expressions of our bad luck continued. We also started to notice things going on in the cottage. We saw shadowy darting lights out the corner of our eyes and heard noises we couldn’t explain. My demeanour become low, and I found myself clouded by my own shroud of darkness. One day I had an out of the blue epiphany. It was the moss that was causing all these problems and I was compelled to return it. Unsure of how best to do so and aware I could make all of this a lot worse I figured it would be best to contact a practising Druid. My research did make it seem like Wistman’s Wood was indeed a sacred area to Druids therefore it seemed right to ask how to return the moss. Without saying what I had taken and from where, I explained the situation and I was briefed on the best way to return it. I was also advised to make an offering, an olive branch to set things right. I was told the kind of items I could use, all of which I weirdly already had around me. I gathered some of my own lavender leaves from a bush I’d planted outside the cottage only a few weeks prior; a strange coincidence. I also collected a handful of acorn caps from my running route around the village which again seemed odd to me. It was exactly the right time of year that acorns would drop from the old oak trees and separate from their caps when they impacted on the ground.

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THE PRE-RE-INVESTIGATION Before leaving to return the moss, I decided to undertake a small investigation at home before the moss was back in its own environment again. I set up all the usual equipment along with filming and photographing the event. There was nothing to record or report. George helped once more as I was a little paranoid being in its presence at this point. We asked questions like “what’s inside this glass jar?” and “where abouts did it come from?” I also apologized just in case something negative was loose in the cottage and explained we were going to be returning it.

THE RE-INVESTIGATION WITHIN THE WOOD So, the day arrived. Me and George planned to return the moss to the wood. I decided to document this, taking all my equipment with me and my camera (Nicky) as last time the location proved to be highly active. I wanted to capture any responses and reactions to my apology and offerings. Retracing our steps, we made what felt like a pilgrimage to the sacred site and at dawn we approached the edge of the wood. On arrival we noticed that the area had changed slightly. There were items that suggested people had been there practising worship of a kind. Red rose petals intertwined with dried oak leaves, hair pins and bands placed purposefully along with white cotton thread particularly wrapped around frail twigs and shrubbery. I was troubled furthermore at this point as I immediately began to think that people had been using this sacred location for worship; and not the kind of nature-caring practices, Celtic Druids partake in. Along with the other items we discovered that recently a few more symbols were etched into the moss on other smaller boulders near to the ancient ones. The two boulders sat side by side, each with a spiral but going in different directions. The unwinding spiral to represent energy clearing and the opposite energizing winding spiral, which eased my concern as these are Druid symbols. Another rock

presented us with a symbol which didn’t fit in here. An old Nordic slanted Z shaped image (Eihwaz) which symbolizes protection with a life and death connection. Although confusing, I couldn’t see that these new markings were necessarily a bad thing. I certainly still had my guard up that’s for sure. I wasn’t please that people had done this to be honest, but I am relieved that at least it was the best sort of graffiti given the choice. As I staggered between the rocks, I spotted a small patch of earth in which I could stand flat. I made my way over to give my ankles a rest but before I stepped into it, I immediately retracted my foot. I saw yet another symbol. It had been scratched into the earth with most likely a stick. I recognised it immediately. A Druid labyrinth. Labyrinths appear in many ancient depictions, but these ones have only one path. It represents our journey through life, following our own path of spirituality. Once again, my nervous disposition was comforted. We settled close to the ancient spiral and ‘eye’ boulders where the first investigation took place and conducted all the usual stuff with my ever-growing collection of equipment. We videoed our spirit box and digital recording sessions to thoroughly review later. After an initial introduction and a basic sweep of the area I started to explain why I had come back, to apologise for what I had done. I was unsure of how much to say or how I should proceed questioning but I wanted to know if returning the moss was the right thing to do. I was driven to sort this ‘problem’ out for good, but I was unusually nervous and unsettled. The wood has this feeling of wanting to be there. It’s addictive. The place is so active with energy and the voices are off the chart! Whispers are heard between the trees and the presence of nearby dogs are audible. You will absolutely convince yourself that people are around, but they are not. As several times, we stopped to check if someone was there, only to find we were most alone and isolated. Creepy. So, at this stage I am really torn. I love the place, but I don’t trust it.

We didn’t receive any EMF or static spikes although a disembodied female voice was captured on the digital recorder. We continued investigating by asking the usual questions and as last time the SB7 really went wild. Throughout the session, there seemed to be a male and a couple of different female voices with conflicting views on what me and George were doing there. There were many voices and at times it seemed they were all talking between themselves, discussing us perhaps? We would ask a question and receive a response from both the male and a female voice. The main female voice that responded was a more positive one, but the male seemed more dominant and foreboding. This worried me a little and I began to realise that this might not end our continuous string of bad luck. I really hoped that this would help me out here; I mean I was hopeful, and I sort of talked myself into the fact that returning the moss would make things at least a little better. The moment finally arrived, and I was super anxious, but I set the little jar down nearby to the ‘eye’ boulder with some equipment running as I opened it. I really don’t know what I expected but I did not want to be close to it, so I jumped back straight away as if it were a grenade. “Am I doing the right thing by putting the moss back?” I said. “It is” said the woman. “Okay, we are going to put it back.” George then asked, “Is there anyone here that think’s putting the moss back is a bad idea?” The woman replies with the word “hide.” Now I’m getting ready to put it back and I glove up my hands as I did not want to touch the stuff. “We are about to put the moss back now” said George and the woman’s voice said, “do it” followed by “maybe wait.”

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Confused I didn’t know what to do for the best, so George continued seeing I was increasingly concerned. “Does it need to go back on the rock?” he asked. Again, the woman immediately replied with what sounded like “inside” or hide.” Around the back of the boulder, I found a flap of moss that had lifted slightly off the surface, a perfect place for me to tuck it in with a chance that it may regrow. I pointed to it and looked at George. “Shall we tuck it into that there on the side of the rock?” he said. The man’s voice replied this time with a very deep “In” then “No!” To my relief the woman spoke to us once again saying “thank you” followed by another female voice that repeated “thank you.” Before I knew it, I carefully tipped the jar and the moss landed softly in my palm. I placed it within the already mossy fold on the rock and ensured it was secure there. We both moved away from the rock slightly as George asked, “Will it damage the other moss growing on the rock?” “Safe” said the woman. Afterwards it sounded as if many people were talking, having a conversation, discussing us. “Is there anything you want to say to us before we go?” There was no reply, so I wanted to say my piece again. “I put the moss back, and I have left you an offering of lavender leaves and acorn caps. I just want to say sorry for taking the moss, and I have learnt what you were trying to teach me. Thank you for that.” I continued by saying “I hope that will be” But I was cut off. “Enough!” Said the man’s voice. “The last of our bad luck?” I said. “No!” said the man. My heart sank once more, and I looked at George with my eyes wide and watery; he heard the same as I did. “Is there anything else we can do?” I asked. “Repent” he replied. I apologised again. The female spoke and she said

what sounded like “where is he?” and the spirit box went quiet for a while. I waited then said, “Thanks again for the lesson, and thank you for trying to communicate with us.” The man responded with something we can’t make out although whatever it was, it was then repeated by the female. Me and George said our goodbyes and left it there.

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I was naive to think that this would solve our problems. After the voices we received I certainly now realised that this probably wasn’t the end of the story either. Perhaps the man’s voice was that of ‘Old Crockern’ himself. I just hoped that we had done enough, and the male voice was just taunting me, worrying me on purpose as a punishment for what I had done. The female voices seemed to be helpful and gave us a more positive vibe, so I was unsure, but I had to try and switch off from it now. This is where my story gets weird. Shortly after returning the moss I purchased an audiobook to listen on my commute to work called “A Gathering of Ghosts” by Karen Maitland. I bought it without knowing what it was about although being a paranormal enthusiast and investigator, anything with ‘Ghost’ in the title is a winner for me. Oddly as I begun to listen, within the first couple of pages I almost crashed the car, the hazards of reading and driving. Anyway, I was shocked as it became clear as the book was based on Dartmoor and mentioned glimmering moss of which pilgrims attempted to steal as it shimmered like gold. Literally within the very first few minutes; page 4 to be exact. I’d be absolutely underestimating if I said I

was freaked out; I mean I was utterly flabbergasted, and I can really say that this book was an immersive experience. I obsessively continued to listen to the book, and it wasn’t really based on ghosts as I originally thought. It was almost as if it was written for me and what I had gone through. The book enlightened me to astonishing synchronicity. It described Wistman’s Wood, and in detail, the place I had been when I took the moss. I learnt it really was a sacred place, a place protected by the dead. A particular line exclaimed “Pick nothing up in that wood. Take nothing from it, for who knows whom remains you will hold in your hand? Do not disturb the resting place of the dead, for the hounds that guard it guard it well.” The book also mentioned that before entering the wood you must cleanse and the story describes the characters bathing naked in the river that meanders at the very bottom of the valley, just outside the tree line. This is something else that has been on my mind. Firstly, yes, we both showered before we set off that day, but did that really count? Secondly, was there something particularly special about the river? This information however, I unfortunately was not privy too until I read chapter 49, page 404 in the book, a very long time after we had returned the moss. Although the odd circumstances leading me to purchase A Gathering of Ghosts is a strange tale, I have to say it introduced me to the most talented writer and I’m hooked reading Karen Maitland’s other books. Highly recommended these stories are historically and thoroughly researched as well as being grippingly beautifully written with twists of dark and magical sentience.

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Many Moons Later… It has now been a long time since me and George returned the moss. I’m not entirely sure that doing so has ceased our run of bad luck. It may just be that these things take time, or it may be that the damage is done and perhaps this is something I simply cannot shake off. Potentially in the current status of the pandemic, things may just appear and feel worse than they actually are or perhaps my perception of bad luck is what has or hasn’t changed? I have to say I’ve learnt a lesson here and this investigation was a bit of a wakeup call. It’s easy in these days to brush off the power of ‘old magic’ or religions’ just as easy as some people write off the existence of ghosts or aliens these days. Perhaps some ancient knowledge, skills and abilities have been lost over the years as we have evolved? Maybe we have simply switched off the parts of our brains required for such ‘old ways’ as technology has boomed. After all, where else do the stories come from?

UPDATE Recently Wistman’s Wood has been visited by more people than ever and many are causing damage to it as well as polluting it with litter. It has become quite the popular place to hike out to and in some cases, has been the location of secret parties and so forth during the pandemic lockdowns. Due to this I am devastated that conservationists are considering fencing it off from the general public in order to preserve it. Therefore, I have to say to anyone that is reading this; please keep our historic, important sites safe otherwise we may not be able to enjoy them much longer. Also, you just don’t know how it may affect your life as it has done in my case. I am compelled to protect the wood as I feel that I have contributed to such destruction by removing the little clump of moss. But the moss was still alive, and it can regrow and reattach. Hopefully if you are reading this now, consider this a warning, not a challenge. Look after yourselves, our history and always be respectful as we can only sense a small percentage of what is actually going on around us.

EDITOR Paul Stevenson @hauntedmagazine paul@hauntedmagazine.co.uk DESIGNER Andy Soar @thehauntedguy andy@hauntedmagazine.co.uk

HAUNTED MAGAZINE 30: WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT “FLIPPING THE SWITCH ON THE PARANORMAL”

CREDITS

ADVERTISING Karen Fray @Karenhauntedma1 karen@hauntedmagazine.co.uk WRITING TALENT Courtney L. Mroch, Amanda R. Woomer, Juliette Gregson, Hubert Hobux, Eli Lycett, Morgan Knudsen, Richard Estep, Ryan Clark, Evelyn Hollow, Penny Griffiths-Morgan. Deborah Hyde, Dr. Jan Bondeson, Katie Waller, Kate Cherrell, Sarah Chumacero, Higgypop, Jonathan Boakes, Matt Clark, Ann Morris, Lorien Jones. THANKS The number 30, Nick Groff, The Hinsdale House, Dan Klaes, Lorien Jones, Spook-Eats, Haunt Jaunts, Odd Fellows, Rosslyn Chapel, HAPRC, Neil Packer, Chris Willcox, The Marbury Lady, The Hotel Cecil, Stephanie, Caryn & Katie at Discovery+, Hanna & Shannon at Strategic PR, Gettysburg, Hugo De Gifford, George Bird, Wistman’s Woods, Mrs. Guppy, Milanos Tavern, Amelia Cotter, Steve Higgins, Drake’s Island, The Bell Inn. SPECIAL THANKS TO: The Ghost Brothers: Dalen Spratt, Juwan Mass and Marcus Harvey

UFO TODAY EDITORIAL TEAM Philip Mantle and Paul Stevenson ART DIRECTION & DESIGN A.E. Soar WRITING TALENT Philip Mantle, Mike Covell, Dan D. Farca PhD, Sarah Chumacero, Calvin Parker and Richard Rokeby SPECIAL THANKS TO: Jason Gleave, Flying Disk Press Dead Good Publishing Ltd

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