mcdowellnews - More than 30 years ago, a family in New England started to experience a series of terrifying events that would seek to drive them from their home. Most families who went through what they went through would flee their house. But this one did not.
The series of weird events took place in the late 1970s through the early 1980s. Websites devoted to this legend don’t seem to specify the location but simply state that this family lived in a New England town. Paranormal researchers have also not disclosed the actual name of this family in order to protect their privacy. Instead, investigators with the Psychical Research Foundation have given them the last name of Berini. Their first names have also been changed.
It all started when the father, who is called Joe Berini, decided to move his family into his ancestral home in the unnamed New England town. Joe had grown up in this house and some of his family members had died there too. Joe moved in with his wife, who is called Rose, and her two children from a previous marriage, who are called John and Daisy.
One night in May 1979, Rose reported hearing a strange disembodied voice in the house. It sounded like that of a little girl, she later reported. The first time she heard it, it said, “Mama, mama, this is Serena.”
None of the Berinis knew who Serena was or what this message might mean. But later, Joe learned that his father had a sister named Serena who died in the house at the age of 5 more than 50 years before. The very next day after Rose first heard Serena’s voice, her daughter Daisy was taken for a scheduled appointment to have her tonsils taken out. Something went wrong during the surgery. Daisy’s heart failed and she nearly died on the operating table, according to a website.
The girl’s voice was heard on several more occasions and it appeared to become an omen that something bad would soon happen. The family heard the voice the night before Joe’s grandmother suffered a stroke, and again right before the grandmother passed away. On another occasion, Joe was awakened by Serena’s voice to find his wife Rose choking in her sleep. When he awoke her, Rose said she had been having a nightmare about her ex-husband trying to strangle her.
Then, the ghostly voice stopped. From late 1979 to March 1981, the family encountered nothing more out of the ordinary. But in that spring of 1981, a new series of weird phenomena would haunt the Berinis. One night, Rose was startled by seeing the ghost of a small boy, dressed completely in white, walking along the upstairs hallway. The boy’s spirit appeared again a week and a half later. This time he spoke to Rose. “Where do all the lonely people go? Where do I belong?” the apparition asked her, according to a website.
Joe would also see the mysterious boy in white. He went to the place where the ghost appeared and began to check it out. Curious, Joe pulled up the floorboards and found a medallion of the Virgin Mary underneath. He remembered that his father’s younger brother called Giorgio had died in the house at the age of 8. The boy was buried in his all-white suit from his first Communion.
The spirit of Giorgio began to appear frequently to Joe and Rose over the next few months. The ghost would respond to their questions and seemed distressed. It would mention family members that Joe had not thought of for a long time. As the ghost vanished for the last time, the telephone next to Joe and Rose’s bed was thrown off the night table by an invisible force. This was the beginning of the weird poltergeist activity that would terrorize the Berinis in the weeks and months to come.
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Do Hollywood ghosts still hang at their old haunt?
760kfmb - After months of secrecy; Del Mar Fairgrounds management is talking about several paranormal investigations held on site to try and find out what employees have known for years.
Thanks in part to the South Coast Paranormal investigating team; the investigation reveals that doors have opened and closed, voices have been heard and shadows discovered. The paranormal activity is believed to be at the hand of past Hollywood legends who helped establish the track back in 1936.
In the video report above two Del Mar track employees talk about their own personal experiences with what goes bump in the night as ghostly images are discovered in a track pub.
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Poltergeist of Alex Higgins Haunts Belfast Apartment
thesun - A mum who moved into the flat where Alex Higgins died says she is being HAUNTED by the snooker legend.
Amanda Miller, 40, is terrified as the poltergeist of the potting ace nicknamed Hurricane breezes through every night.
The apartment was cleared after cancer-stricken Higgins, 61, was found dead there in July.
Amanda said: "Most of his stuff may be gone but his presence lives on."
There are mysterious bangs - and a painting falls from the wall at precisely 6.30pm each day.
One morning she even found the old fridge that Higgins left behind had been shifted and plugged in.
Amanda, who moved into the small Belfast flat seven weeks ago, said: "I thought it was a great move because it is so handy for the shops.
But since I moved in it hasn't felt right and all these unexplained things are getting to me.
I sleep on the sofa in the living room because I can't bear to sleep in his bedroom."
But she is staying put. Amanda plans to ditch the fridge and redecorate the flat in a bid to banish the spook.
I wanted to present some of Chris Halton's newer videos from Haunted Earth. Chris has an unique ability of combining the paranormal and history into very entertaining and professional videos. Also, take a look at his website at Haunted Earth Paranormal Documentary Films.
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SRI Investigation - Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Wales
UPDATE - 10/30/10 - 8:30 PM EST: Irene was at the client's residence tonight attempting to gather more information and to possibly clear some of the spirits that have taken residence. She told me that the house felt somewhat better and 'lighter' and that the clients were feeling better as well. But, there is more work to be done...especially with the dominant entity. SRI always provides counsel and followup with clients after the spiritual services have been performed.
At this time, I'm going to describe some of the details of the remote view conducted last Tuesday. As you may remember, I administered the session while Irene monitored by way of Skype. I was given random location coordinates that were set to the target that were unknown to me. I proceeded to go through the phases used to gather information on the targets. I was able to identify several destinations and subjects that included a young girl, a tin or steelworker who may have been the girl's father and a church vicar. The locations included a mill, a tavern, an older towered church and the client's house. The scenarios where played out...but I am unsure of the time line and actual events, though I sensed three separate deaths that involved two of the individuals I perceived. I am planning to conduct another remote view session very soon because of new facts that have been learned.
The client was approached by a neighbor who has knowledge of six known deaths in the vicinity of the house. These deaths include that of a young girl....and that 'something bad' had happened in the house but the specifics were not given. We are continuing to research the history and facts pertaining to the location and the past residents....Lon
Message from Irene Block: After the clearing last night the two families slept well, the dogs were quiet all night and also slept. The daughter that had been the victim of some of the most terrifying happenings in the house came home in the early hours of the morning and noticed the difference in the atmosphere of the house as soon as she came through the front door, her words to me were that it felt normal.
This morning after talking with the family on the phone they are ecstatic at how the house feels and everyone involved said they were feeling physically better and much happier.
This clearing was done with the help of divine prayer and the archangel Michael, I performed a Christian clearing this time as I felt this was the type that in this particular case was needed, the ceremony I used is one of the strongest and I have always had good results with it. The clearing was filmed and I am still deciding if to post it or not, I haven't seen it and I am hoping I didn't look to fat in it or to dishevelled. LOL
Now I have explained to the clients that we are still not out of the woods, there is always the chance that I have missed something and at this point it is like a probationary period where we wait for a couple of weeks if there is anything left behind it will show itself during this period. I like to do what I call an aftercare program where I will monitor the family and the house for the next few weeks helping them to keep themselves and the house positive. Encourage them to lead a normal life, take walks with the dogs, etc. Most importantly keep all talk of this haunting away from the house and if they must talk about it to keep the conversation to a minimum.
Another RV session will take place next week as we had some very good results from the last one and hopefully this one will help to slot the last piece of the jigsaw together.
I forgot to mention before this clearing took place last night another investigation was done with locked off cameras and voice recorders the footage has yet to be gone over by Lon but if anything is found it will go up on the Astral Perceptions board.
Apparition Caught on Video During Paranormal Investigation
Photo Copyright 2009 by Doreen Hill
prlog - Investigator Doreen captures an apparition. She was up on the second floor of a home, she was in a room by herself when this was caught.
Barb King is the founder of the PA. Dept of Paranormal Investigations or PDPI, a non-profit investigative team based in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania vicinity. She describes Doreen Hill as "a strong investigator with good skills," then adds, "I trust her totally."
One evening in March, 2009, Doreen Hill and a handful of researchers from the Pittsburgh Paranormal Society accepted an invitation to investigate a rental property in East McKeesport, Pennsylvania.
The mother and her two sons living there felt threatened. The family witnessed shadow phenomenon in the stairway leading to the second floor. Vile odors wafted through the residence. They began sleeping on the living room floor before finally retreating to a relative's house since they did not have anywhere else to go.
When investigators arrived, there was a "TERRIBLE" smell in the home. They asked the tenant to check her refrigerator to see if maybe something had gone bad... nothing.
Two investigators immediately decided to check things outside.
Doreen escorted the mother upstairs to escape the stench, shoot video, and maybe run an EVP. Being somewhat "sensitive," she was drawn to a bedroom currently being used for storage. The mother returned downstairs to be with her children and to check on what everyone else was doing.
Doreen shot some video without incident.
Routinely checking what her Sony Handycam Hybrid DCR-SR45 had captured, her eyes more than likely popped out of her head reminiscent of some 1940's animated cartoon.
"I never saw that apparition in my view finder," Doreen explained. "After an hour or so, I wanted to check my video and that is when I saw her! I could not believe it and ran downstairs to show the tenant and the founder of the paranormal group what I caught. When I got downstairs, I found everyone in the basement because one of the investigators got pushed against a wall and they were making sure that she was okay."
The apparition can be clearly seen at 0:06 seconds as the camera pans slowly left and is really blurred at 0:16 seconds as the camera pans very quickly to the right.
We have three choices here:
1.) Deliberate hoax? Doreen Hill's integrity and her lack of technical savvy negate any hint of hoax.
2.) Mistake? To counter skeptical arguments that she merely recorded her own reflection or someone else in the house, Doreen says, "As far as the colors I was wearing....I know for a fact that I was wearing a black shirt with white lettering and jeans. The shirt I was wearing was the shirt I wore when I was with Pittsburgh Paranormal Society." This is no reflection or accidental capture of any living person present in that dwelling. The family is African American. No one in attendance dressed in the manner of this apparition. This is no orb or pareidolia.
3.) Real deal? Shawn Kelly, the Founder of the Pittsburgh Paranormal Society, states for the record, "The video is for real and it is a true apparition. It is the best piece of evidence out there to this day."
"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." -- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
insidenova - The sound of footsteps on the stairs when no one else is around and swirling candle flames are among the unusual occurrences Gloria Rouse has experienced at Rockledge Mansion in Occoquan.
For the first time — and for one day only — Rockledge will be included Sunday in the town’s ghost tours so others have the opportunity to experience the unexplainable.
While Rouse has not seen the Confederate soldier believed to haunt the 250-year-old building that looms over Mill Street, she believes he — or something — is there and means no harm.
“I never feel scared when I’m alone in here,” Rouse said. “I get a warm feeling.”
Rouse, along with her husband, Tyler, own Georgetown Caterers. They have catered events in the portion of Rockledge that includes a ballroom for years. That, and the rest of the mansion, had been the residence of Ron and Joy Houghton. But when Joy Houghton died last summer, her husband moved. Now the Rouses lease the historic building.
During a recent visit to Rockledge, Rouse lit some candles in a candelabra in the winter kitchen. “There is no forced air heat in here,” she said. “Sometimes the flames will swirl.”
While they didn’t do more than flicker during that visit, they have at other times.
Paranormal investigators recently spent quite a bit of time at Rockledge. While the results of their investigation, which involved scientific equipment designed to pick up sounds and thermal images and changes in magnetic fields, have not been finalized, they weren’t disappointed.
“We sat and watched the candle flames rotate for about two minutes,” Rouse said.
“We are still reviewing our data [about 20 hours of video and 20 hours of audio],” said Tara Ryan, who along with his husband, Max, founded the paranormal group PEPPR in Alexandria in 2005.
“So far, we have heard several disembodied voices answering questions and a lot of disembodied footsteps coming from the upper level of the house,” she said.
The footsteps are something Rouse knows well.
While the Houghtons were still living at Rockledge, they invited Rouse to spend the night if she had an event there that ran late.
She remembers one night when she was asleep in a second-floor bedroom. “I heard footsteps on the stairs, and it woke me up,” she said.
The next morning she ran into the Houghtons outside and told them she heard them come home the night before.
But they were just then returning to Rockledge. The footsteps were not theirs.
Rouse said she also has heard the steps during the day, but they do not frighten her.
“How can you be afraid of a noise?” she asked.
“If I had to guess who was going up and down the stairs, I would guess it was a man,” Rouse said.
And that “man” may well be the ghost of the Confederate soldier.
Rouse also recalled a story of a woman who was walking along the driveway in front of Rockledge and saw what she believed to be a Confederate soldier. Later, an examination of the front steps revealed what looked like wet hobnail boot prints, from the type of footwear a soldier would have worn at that time.
“When I’m here by myself sometimes I will hear someone knocking at the door, but when I go to answer it, there is no one there,” Rouse said. “Now I just look out the window.”
On Sunday, those attending the Occoquan Merchants Association’s ghost walks will have a chance to do more than look into the windows of Rockledge. It will be included on the tours given at 2, 4, 6 and 8 p.m.
“I believe it’s time for a new beginning for Rockledge,” Rouse said. “Let it be what it really is — an institution — and people should be able to see it.”
“Rockledge is one of Occoquan’s oldest buildings, and one that is inextricably linked to the town’s founding,” said Occoquan Mayor Earnie Porta. “It’s not often open to the public, so we’re all especially grateful for this rare opportunity.”
Kristyn Gleason, president of the Occoquan Merchants Association, said the group has had “constant bookings” for the Halloween tours.
“For people to have an opportunity to go inside the house for the first time is huge,” she said. “People want to learn more about the history of Occoquan.”
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Why Real-Life Ghost Hunters Hate "Ghost Hunters"
salon - In butchered Italian, Nick Groff tells the ghosts of Poveglia, a creepy island off the coast of Venice, Italy, to "use his energy." A faint rap is heard. Zak Bagans, his fellow ghost hunter, hunches over and grabs his stomach. It looks as though he may vomit.
"Wha, wha, wha ... what's the matter?!" Groff asks.
"I just feel ... weird," Bagans mutters.
A hiss-like sound -- the noise heard just moments before -- is played back. It was all the proof the two ghost hunters needed.
"I said, 'use my energy,'" Groff says, his tone now professorial, "and then all of a sudden your energy was drawn from your body at the exact moment. And then -- at the same time -- I heard that weeeird voice."
Bagans struggles to lift his head. "It's using my energy," he whimpers.
"Exactly!"
Bagans and Groff are hosts of "Ghost Adventures," one of the most popular programs on the Travel Channel -- and one of about a dozen similar reality TV ghost-hunting shows on television today. Over the past decade the ghost-hunting genre as a whole, led by series like "Paranormal State," "Ghost Hunters" and "Psychic Kids: Paranormal Children," has become a virtual fixture on cable television. The shows follow a basic formula: Everyday Joes -- sometimes aided by a psychic, sometimes not -- travel to supposedly haunted locations, wait for the sun to go down, and spend the night freaking each other out. It may seem hilariously contrived, but it's some of the most popular stuff on TV today.
Since they hit the air, these shows have raised the profile of paranormal investigation, turning series investigators into minor celebrities, and spurring a growing interest in hauntings around the country. But they've also made some unexpected enemies: real-life paranormal researchers.
Granted, it's never been easy for those who choose to seriously study ghostly or psychic phenomena. Mainstream science views them with deep suspicion -- a contempt fueled by what many see as a gaping lack of evidence. No definitive proof of otherworldly phenomena has ever been found. Yet parapsychologists -- a handful with Ph.D.s and fortunate enough to have found a home at an academic institution, the vast majority self-taught but equally dedicated -- continue to search for evidence that paranormal phenomena really do exist.
They've been at it for some time now, in fact. In the late 1800s men like Harvard psychologist and philosopher William James risked their reputations by studying oddities such as "crisis apparitions," prescient events where final farewells or messages from a friend or loved one are claimed to be received in dream form before it is known they are dead. In the early-to-mid-1900s, Joseph Banks Rhine helped to pioneer the study of ESP by founding a (now-defunct) parapsychology lab at Duke University. Today, laboratory-controlled random number generator tests -- experiments where a subject sits in front of a number generator and tries to "will" one number over another -- seem to suggest that the mind has an unknown ability to affect reality.
Parapsychology, its adherents say, is a little like alchemy before chemistry came along. Don't squash it. Interviews with multiple parapsychologists, however, suggest that reality TV ghost-hunting shows are doing just that by exacerbating the woes that have historically plagued their field.
Many parapsychologists derive a healthy part of their income, and research funds, from speaking engagements, but now those are beginning to dry up. Loyd Auerbach, a field investigator with a quarter-century of experience who has appeared on "Larry King Live," "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and "Late Night With David Letterman," is one of a number of parapsychologists who have felt the squeeze from the reality TV ghost-hunting shows. In 2006 he took part in and was paid for 14 events in the Halloween season alone. The next full year, that number dropped to five. The year after that, to two. And then, in 2009, to one. This is the new reality for Auerbach, a man once dominant in his field. So far in 2010 only one paying gig has come his way. "I was making a good part of my living lecturing and doing events. Now the TV stars are getting all the lectures," he said. "It's been difficult to pay my mortgage."
Dr. Barry Taff, an investigator who has consulted for the CIA and took part in a now defunct parapsychology lab at UCLA, has likewise seen a drop in the number of cases referred to him. "Since these shows littered the landscape, calls coming in for investigations have almost disappeared," he said. "We used to get 20 to 30 a year. And then it just dropped dead. Last year, literally, we did not go on one single case. Not one. It's depressing!"
But the effect of the shows may reach farther than the preexisting parapsychological industry. Dr. Andrew Nichols, a leading expert in poltergeists who researched the phenomenon for the U.S. Army and who co-received the only grant ever awarded to study alleged hauntings, believes that they also push questionable science on the TV-watching public. Nichols pointed out a laundry list of what he calls bad science in the series: Investigations always take place at night (Why would ghosts come out only then? How can you be a good observer in the dark?); investigators use unproven, "scientific seeming" instruments like magnetometers, which have ultimately failed to produce replicable results; they suggest that every odd sound, every "cold spot" and every "orb" (which have been explained away as side effects of digital cameras) are signs of ghosts. More generally, as Nichols put it, "they just run around like little girls."
Not surprisingly, the shows have also been accused of fakery. Perhaps the biggest pratfall in paranormal TV history belongs to the perpetually possessed psychic medium Derek Acorah, of the British show "Most Haunted," who was disgraced after a cast member tricked him into communing with fictionalized ghosts. Critics took aim at the genre's most popular series, "Ghost Hunters," after a 2008 Halloween special in which a ghost purportedly tugged an investigator's collar; many believed a trick string was employed. The incident prompted Buffalo resident Ron Tebo to found Scifake.com, a website that polices paranormal TV. "You had 5 or 6 million people glued to the TV and SyFy decides that they're going to pull a number on all of us," he said.
Furthermore, says Benjamin Radford, managing editor of the Skeptical Inquirer and a researcher who performs his own science-based investigations into supposed hauntings, the shows give people a template for inventing hauntings in their own house. Radford, who thinks most parapsychologists do shoddy research, has been able to find rational explanations for each haunting he's investigated. "I deal with people who are convinced their houses are haunted," he said. "They're ordinary people who for whatever reason believe that their home is haunted. And when I talk to them and when I do investigations, one of the things I ask is, 'Why are you interpreting what you're experiencing as a ghost?' Invariably the answer is, 'I watch "Ghost Hunters."'"
Parapsychology has always been hampered by a lack of funding and a shortage of academic departments dealing with parapsychological phenomenon. In the past there have been stabs at such programs in the United States, but they've had much more success in Europe, where there are at least a few, like the Koestler Parapsychology Unit at the University of Edinburgh. In the '80s, for example, a short-lived parapsychology master's program existed at John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, Calif.
Without a strong body of degreed parapsychologists to speak for the field, parapsychologists worry that the shows further promote an image of the researchers as bumbling amateurs rather than rigorous professionals. "We get painted with the same brush," said John Palmer, a Ph.D. who runs the Rhine Institute, formerly affiliated with Duke University and one of the only parapsychological institutes in the country. It is the bumbling amateur image of the field that skeptics and mainstream scientists dig into. For some, the stigma is so strong as to dissuade any study in the field whatsoever.
Indeed, parapsychologists name the professional stigma associated with their field as one of the reasons it hasn't taken off (there are likely other reasons, of course). Without the support of academia, they say, young, serious-minded researchers interested in parapsychology struggle to receive grants, attain academic positions and achieve tenure. Harris Friedman, a professor at the University of Florida's psychology department, experienced the opprobrium associated with psychic study firsthand. He fell victim to what he calls the "reverse file drawer problem." "Many skeptics of parapsychology use the excuse that there's a 'file drawer problem' where all the negative findings get buried and only the findings that support parapsychology actually make it toward publication," he said.
As a doctorate student teaching in Fort Myers, Fla., Friedman conducted a study on psychic capacity in grade-school children -- a study that he says yielded compelling results: Children who claimed they liked each other had a better-than-odds chance of guessing cards than children who said they did not like each other. But he was grounded when he showed his findings to his dissertation professor. "He said 'Look, if you publish this forget having any sort of an academic career.' So I buried the data." Even so, Friedman, who has since gone on to have a fruitful academic career in alternative psychology, can see some benefits to the otherwise noisome ghost-hunting shows.
"They're tapping into a feeling of awe, a feeling people have that the world is not just mechanical," he said. "They open people up to deeper possibilities, and in this regard they have a good and bad relationship to parapsychology."
Awe is indeed what makes these shows tick, what keeps eyes glued to the screen: Ghosts are humankind's most popular and storied supernatural belief. We want to be scared, we want to suspend our skepticism; some among us even use the shows to make the leap into belief, and in this sense the shows possess an almost religious quality. The same ideas drive the field of parapsychology. For a number of reasons, the scientific hunt for the world beyond has remained a backwater discipline, and for a field of study strange enough as it is, parapsychology today finds itself in a strange position, stuck in between a set of uniquely American extremes: belief cheapened to the point of farce and a rigid, almost inhuman refusal to see anything beyond the material world. It's an odd thing. Or is it?
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Ghost Hunting, Pseudoscience and Skepticism
northern-iowan - I have a confession: I am a recovering believer in the supernatural. In the past, I've been prone to believing in and actively looking for ghosts and spirits. I used to peruse books on Bigfoot and the Bermuda triangle without really questioning whether their existence was even slightly plausible. I would stay up late watching shows about UFOs and wishing I was on a boat searching for the Loch Ness monster. And as someone who has now shed those beliefs, one of my greatest annoyances is that I cannot seem to convince everyone else to do the same.
I understand the appeal though. As a former paranormal addict, I was all set to embark on an exciting career as a paranormal investigator – a scientist really, just trying to convince a jaded world that ghost hunting is a legitimate science and a respectable profession. Thankfully my love of real science, and my hard turn towards a systematic rejection of any beliefs that were not supported by evidence, shook me of these nonsensical ideas. For those of you who still might cling to supernatural, paranormal or extra-worldly beliefs – consider this an intervention.
Specifically, I want to look at belief in ghosts. Cable television is heavily saturated these days with reality shows tracking the exploits of various bands of paranormal investigators. You've probably heard of the Syfy show "Ghost Hunters" by now. It focuses on a team of "paranormal researchers" who go to a location where people have reported paranormal activity, and covers in detail that team's use of expensive technology in attempting to catch that paranormal activity on camera or in audio. They provide the thrill of reality, but retain that fantastical promise of witnessing something otherworldly, assuming you squint hard enough at grainy video footage.
Here is the problem with what they are doing: it's not science. There's not a single shred of evidence to suggest that ghosts exist, or that they can be identified by cold spots. Why are ghosts cold? Why do they never seem to show up in visible light, but infrared cameras always find them? Why can you never hear them speaking, but finding them in garbled audio (what they call electronic voice phenomenon or EVP) is absurdly common? The answer is that it's easier to find whatever you're looking for in distorted or unclear video and sound. This is a profession that thrives on false positives.
The important thing is that there is literally no reason to believe that ghosts can be identified by cold spots, or magnetism, or any of those things. It's a total fabrication that is not based on any scientific evidence. Of course, many "ghost hunters" would tell you that when they find cold spots they are gathering "evidence" to prove that ghosts exist, but that's one of the most pernicious and corrupting things about the paranormal: it sets the threshold for "evidence" so low that it becomes nearly meaningless. If I call a ham sandwich evidence of fairies, am I using evidence in the scientific sense? Absolutely not. That "evidence" is not backed up by observable facts, and has no explanatory power when it comes to the phenomenon in question.
Paranormal investigators also tout their skepticism when beginning an investigation, but that too is a sham. They will try to disprove some claims, maybe finding a draft to explain a banging window, and that's a good thing, but their skepticism is quickly revealed to be superficial. One vase falling from a shelf, and suddenly you have "hard evidence" of a ghost. That's quite the logical leap, and a clear abandonment of the intense skepticism and scrutiny that characterize real science.
There is a lot more that could be said, but hopefully you can see some of the reasons that these beliefs are so ridiculous once you take a step back and examine them with a critical eye. The important thing to take from this is that beliefs should be based in evidence. They should mesh with our understanding of the world, as opposed to contradicting everything that science has already taught us. Beliefs should also be exposed to significant criticism before we accept them. Taking things at face value leads to the acceptance of absurd claims, which is clearly demonstrated by the popularity of "paranormal investigators." Put simply, there is more beauty and elegance in truth than in any superstition, and taking a stand against irrational beliefs is the first step in showing others that beauty.
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During the vigil at Wales, UK House last evening Irene and Lorna went into the downstairs bathroom to take a few digital photos. Well...when we went through the images today, some unknown 'person' showed up on one of the photos. It is not a double image and know one present knows who it was...no one on the team, the clients, the landlord, nada. Frankly, we are stumped.
This 'person' looks fairly young and has some type of helmet or whatever on their head. As well, there seems to either be something in the hand and/or it looks like it may have grabbed a handle to a door that is not there.
You can see the top of Lorna's head behind Irene who is using the camera. The photos taken before and after these photos did not have anything that could have transferred.
Is it a spirit? A time traveler? Your thoughts would be appreciated...but please, only enlightened and civil responses. You can also join the discussion at the Astral Perceptions Facebook group page and/or post your comments on the Astral Perceptions board (you must register to post). Thanks...Lon
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UPDATE: my clairvoyant friend, Sunny, took a look at the photos and came to this conclusion:
I isolated the image. Young man, sweat shirt perhaps, that is not a helmet on his head but there are 2 other "spirits" overlaid, so I cropped them out to show you. One does wear a helmet (with nose guard) and one is feline.
I keep getting the word "Saxon", for the helmeted older one. Odd. He has a goatee type beard. The feline really has me perplexed. It's like a cat... but not.
It's like seeing a glimpse of other worlds intersecting with ours. The impression I get is that the young man doesn't "fit".
I'll keep trying to 'connect'. I know I am missing something...
Everyone swears there was NOT a third person in the bathroom. Are we witnessing a dimensional or time shift of some kind? Is there a dimensional portal or vortex present? This entire house has a very strange 'feel' to it...like a malevolent electrical charge. There seems to be something going on all the time.
As I've said before, Irene and her team are a very serious investigative group who have the soul purpose of helping people without compensation. As well, Irene is the most comprehensive and talented clairvoyant/medium I have ever connected with. SRI does not want publicity...but they do want answers. We ask for rational opinions.
standard-journal - As two members of the Central Pennsylvania Paranormal Research Association (CPPRA) stood Tuesday in the entryway of the Packwood House Museum, Lewisburg, discussing paranormal activity in the museum with Packwood Director Rick Sauers, a loud crash sent chills up and down the spines of those standing in entryway.
Kevin Tersavige, founder of the CPPRA and Kristeen Reynolds, a psychic with the organization, visited the home to discuss, along with Sauers, its rich history of paranormal activity.
The loud crashing noise, which could not be explained, sparked the curiosity of those gathered.
Tersavige said his group, which conducts an average of 50 studies a year on potentially haunted locations, has held multiple studies at the Packwood House. He said the museum is the top spot in the Susquehanna Valley for documented cases of paranormal activity.
As the three walked through the home recently, Sauers snapped multiple photos of empty rooms. In some of those photos, small round balls of light, which the three described as orbs, appeared that were not visible to the naked eye.
“I’ve been here almost five years,” Sauers said. “I always suspected the house was haunted. You felt like someone was looking at you.”
He said the museum, located on the corner of Market and Water streets in Lewisburg, has a rich history, dating back to the 1790s when a 35-by-35-foot log cabin was built on the property. In the late 1830s, the building was expanded and became the American House Hotel.
A third story was added to the building in 1868. George Kelly later purchased the building and converted it into apartments. George’s daughter, Edith, and her husband, John Fetherston, were the last to own the home.
John died in 1962, while Edith died in 1972. In accordance with their wills, a trust was established and the museum opened to the public in 1976.
According to Sauers, several people may have died in the home. He said documents left behind by Edith indicated she believed there was a murder on the third floor of the home at some point in its history.
“(Edith) said there are dark stains on the floor that she takes as blood stains,” Sauers said.
Edith also passed away in the home, in a room which is currently used as a library. As Sauers, Tersavige and Reynolds walked through the museum, Reynolds expressed the unique sense she got as she walked into the room where Edith had died.
“I’m relaxed in this room. I don’t feel there are any spirits,” Reynolds said, noting that wasn’t the case in the other rooms of the home.
“I’m afraid in every other part of this building,” she said “I feel (paranormal activity) all over this building.”
When members of the CPPRA first visited the Packwood House, they expected to encounter one entity in particular. However, they quickly found the entity in the home wasn’t what they expected.
“The initial thought was Edith Fetherston was the one in the house, and she may be,” Tersavige said. “Through our investigations, we found it’s John Fetherston here… There are multiple entities here.”
He said the most powerful evidence of John’s presence came in a photo that was taken inside the museum during a preliminary visit. The photo was taken as Sauers and Tersavige were standing next to a mirror in the room that had been John’s bedroom.
“In the photo, you see Rick, you see me and you see a third man,” Tersavige said.
That third man was an image in the mirror which strongly resembled John. In addition, Tersavige said psychic investigators have detected John’s presence. They’ve also detected a French soldier, an African-American woman and a young girl named Maria, who had worked at the American House Hotel.
Throughout their visit to the museum, Tersavige and Reynolds kept reflecting on the mysterious crashing noise which was heard from the entryway.
As the CPPRA conducts investigations at various locations, Tersavige said the investigators look for any plausible explanation for strange activity.
“We try to repeat some of the (mysterious) activity to see if it could be natural,” Tersavige said. “We have a few people (in the group) that are general contractors.”
He said the contractors are excellent at picking up things with a building that are natural structural occurrences.
“We rule out the normal. What’s left is the paranormal,” Tersavige said.
Pick up Standard Journal later this week as Tersavige highlights other haunted locations throughout the area and discusses more about what takes place as his team visits a location that is suspected to be haunted.
********** from 7/29/2009
Psychics Coax Out Spirits in Central Pennsylvania Museum
DailyItem.com - A series of strange events left Packwood House Museum Executive Director Dr. Richard A. Sauers scratching his head. Turns out a specter may have found its way into the museum.
“We’ve been told for years that the place is probably haunted,” Sauers said. “We’ve had psychics identify themselves after tours and tell us they notice things here and there.”
With years of rumors and psychics reporting findings in the museum, Sauers decided to take action. Who did he call? The Central Pennsylvania Paranormal Research Association.
“Every once in a great while I’ll feel something brush me, just to let me know they are there,” Sauers said. “I decided to find out for myself and called the Central Pennsylvania Paranormal Research Association.”
Maria the barmaid
The Packwood Museum originated as a log cabin in 1799. Throughout the 19th century, the cabin continued to grow as owners John and Edith Fetherston continued to add editions.
The continued growth transformed the once-small cabin into a tavern and hotel that acted as a resting place for people traveling and transporting goods along the Susquehanna River.
Upon entering the tavern portion of the museum during a visit, psychics immediately felt someone in the room. Dr. Sauers said one of the psychics, who has the ability to determine the layout of old rooms, identified the presence as an old barmaid who identified herself as Maria. Maria was described as just giving a casual greeting before leaving.
Mirrors aid the spirits
In two separate visits in the spring, the CPPRA stayed from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. and found a number of specters throughout the museum.
“Mirrors, according to what the psychics told me, tend to attract psychic energy,” Dr. Sauers said of the investigation. “Especially if the mirrors are facing one another. The psychics said it acts as a conduit to bring in spirits. There are a couple rooms with a lot of concentrated psychic energy. There are over 90 mirrors on display in the building.”
Sauers said Edith Fetherston was an avid mirror collector. He said John Fetherston showed himself during the first visit of the CPPRA, with the aid of mirrors.
Sauers and a researcher were standing in the room where John’s portait hangs, he said. Mirrors on either side of the room face each other and were reflecting the image of Sauers and the researcher.
Sauers said his reflection disappeared, and the spirit of John Fetherston appeared standing next to them.
Along with the healthy supply of mirrors, there are many instances of mirrors reflecting off of one another. The CPPRA informed Dr. Sauers this is an especially tempting for the spirits because it acts as a gateway for them to enter our world.
“We have one room where there are three sets of opposing mirrors,” Dr. Sauers said. “They found stuff up there and in a storage room where there are two opposing mirrors.”
For anyone worried about a possible encounter, the psychics have reassured Dr. Sauers that the spirits are friendly.
“According to the psychics they are all friendly ghosts,” Dr. Sauers said. “I’ve worked in haunted places before.”
Dr. Sauers experience with the paranormal happened when he worked in Wisconsin at another historical site.
“I’ve literally walked into a ghost one day in a hallway basement in Wisconsin,” Dr. Sauers said. “I was going down to check on some supplies we had stored. I walked into an ice-cold pocket of air that was probably five to six inches thick.”
Along with being startled and having the hair on his neck stand up, Dr. Sauers spoke out to the spirit and said, “ ‘The next time you see me coming, could you stay out of the way?’ When I came back five minutes later, it was gone.”
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The activity in the house has increased....both mother and daughter were forced to sleep in the dining room on Friday night because of footsteps and loud bangs. They couldn't pinpoint where about in the house it was coming from but they were loud enough for her sister who lives upstairs to phone down asking them what in hell were they doing. This happened just after 1 am in the morning (10/23).
The sister upstairs said last night there was an awful smell in her place, so disgusting she couldn't describe it. She also heard footsteps coming up the stairs from downstairs...the stairs that are blocked off.
The client called Irene Saturday evening at 11:20 PM Wales local time because of the increased activity. The client also setup the tape recorder in the upstairs bedroom (directly above the bedroom Irene recorded) and left it for several hours. She played the recording over the telephone for Irene who described it as one of the worst haunting recordings she has ever heard. The loud groaning, moans, audible words, banging, footsteps as well as a disturbing buzzing she described as a 'large swarm of blue bottle flies.' Also, there was a heavy stench of sulfur in the bedroom.
NOTE: Irene and I would like as much feedback as possible on these EVP recordings - Upstairs bedroom 1℗ sound recording copyright - SRI and Upstairs bedroom 2℗ sound recording copyright - SRI - many discernible voices (terrible screams in #2) - recorded by client (background noise DB has been lowered a bit when I processed). We believe there are a bevy of spirits involved including at least one very malevolent entity
UPDATE:Upstairs bedroom 3℗ sound recording copyright - SRI - we've known that one of the entities reacts to the dogs barking...yelling after the 2nd set of barks. The 'tweeting' sound is Irene's pet bird in the background while she was transferring the audio to her recorder (speaker to speaker...no port on client's recorder).
We will start researching the history of the house and area this week. As well, I will be conducting a remote view (from the USA) on Tuesday which will be monitored by Irene. A full overnight investigation will be assembled on Wednesday by Irene and associates. Use the Astral Perceptions forum for future updates...Lon
The following narrative is another excerpt from Irene Block's autobiography 'Among the Spirits'. There have been many questions asked by readers on what 'Remote Viewing' really is and how it is used. Irene explains the process of finding and identifying the target and it's use in distance clearing.
"With the realisation of what I had done I decided to try and combine remote clearing with Remote Viewing and see if it could possibly work. For the next few days I recapped on what I knew about Remote Viewing putting in a lot of practice. Realising the part of Remote Viewing I would have the most problem with would be the coordinate numbers but I liked a challenge, these numbers are normally selected at random and although they have nothing to do with the target, they are the trigger needed to do a successful Viewing, they are the first connection with the target. When working, these numbers would be given to you by another person called the Tasker, I had no Tasker, I was on my own so finding a way to get these numbers was the difficulty. I had no computer and so no random number select program, which I don’t think existed in those days anyway. Sitting there pondering on my problem the idea of taking the first 8 letters from a client’s name and using a numerology book, I was able to get the numbers that the letters represented and it was with this system that I first started off. Today thankfully I no longer need to do this, either the 8 random numbers are given directly to me by the client or from one of my team and although now having a computer, I feel that random number programs do not work as well for me.
I had only to wait a short time before a case that was suitable came in, a woman in her late 40s contacted me distraught because of the things that were happening in her home. Things moving, noises and no matter what she done about trying to keep the house warm it was always cold, even when she had her central heating turned up as far as it would go. The crunch had come for her the evening before, it was becoming dusk and she had been sitting reading a book thinking to herself she must close the curtains. She looked up from her book only to see what she described as a whitish mist drift across the room. I asked this lady for her name and did not want to know anything else; I think she must have thought I had lost the plot or was not interested, thanking her I told her I would contact her soon, we left it at that.
The following afternoon I settled at my table with sheets of white plain A4 paper and pen on the table in front of me, if this didn’t work there was always the old system to fall back on, going to the house physically. I had previously made time to do some meditation and breathing exercises that help to relax and get me into the right mind frame to remote view. Was this going to work I had no idea, but I could only try. Taking the pen in my hand I wrote the 8 coordinate numbers that I had converted her name to onto a sheet of the paper and as I wrote the last number down; like speed of light I had drawn the first ideogram. Ideograms are a spontaneous movement of the pen that draws a small primitive picture of the target or something close by, i.e.:- water could be represented by a wavy line, land a straight line; they are the first step to identifying the target. This ideogram was that of a structure and as I tapped it with my pen out came the next one.
My pen worked busily on the paper and with each stroke I found myself going deeper in to an altered state. I was already at the target, the house of the lady that I had spoken to the day before. I could see myself moving from room to room everything was neat and in it’s place, as I viewed, I felt and recorded on the paper any emotions and smells that I had become aware of; cakes baking seemed to be very dominant.
Then there she was standing in front of me, a young woman of around 20 years in age and I knew that what I was looking at was not of our world, she was spirit. As soon as that thought had entered my head I felt as if I was lifting higher, I knew it was my energy but this time it felt different. I felt from her sadness, despair, a feeling of being lost, frantic as if her whole being was shouting out. I knew I had to help, the next thought that came into my head was directed straight to her; in my mind I told her things were alright and this was not the place for her. Right then the door opened and the woman from yesterday came into the room, by now the picture I was seeing was becoming blurred and I knew I had to work quickly. It was beginning to seem as if I was looking through a dirty window, the girl looked at the woman and it was at that moment I felt an overwhelming love. The girl was the daughter of the woman, it all fell into place now, she was concerned for her mother. Again I asked her to go, to follow the way shown by spirit, her mother was alright and she would see her again one day. I watched as the vision of this young woman seemed to dissolve in front of my eyes.
Now it was over and more confusion set in, I could not explain it to myself then and it is no clearer today. Did I remote view and astral project at the same time? How come, if I had astral projected was I still able to write on the paper after all astral projecting is something most of us do in our sleep or while meditating but to also be able to use the functions of my material body at the same time; there was the mystery.
With remote viewing it is the result of shifting your awareness from one place to another spanning time and space, the past, present and future. The past cannot be changed it is fixed in time as so with the present, only the future can be changed by our interactions and with what goes round these interactions in the future in turn could effect our past and present. How had I managed to send a spirit under these conditions to the light, the only thing I can think of is that I was using a form of remote influencing. She was from the past and was interacting in our present, by rights, these are fixed but she was not from the physical world, she was energy. I too was at that moment energy, the answer must be there somewhere. Another thing that hit me at this time of deep thought was that I was no different from anyone else and it would have been wrong to believe otherwise, my gifts were not mine, they were the gifts that the spirit world possessed, I was only the vessel that they worked through. They used their gifts through me and I was the link between their world and mine, that’s all, and at anytime they wished it could all cease.
I now use Coordinate Remote Viewing in the investigation side of a case with paper and pen to gather information before a clearing. Now during a distance clearing, I can stand in my kitchen, enter that place with my awareness and project my energy when needed to where ever without any longer having to be under the strict conditions as for a coordinate remote view. I have heard of only one other person that works similar to me and that is a lady in Australia who does distant healing. There are many groups out there claiming to do distant clearing, maybe it works for them but I have yet to discover anyone that does it my way. Although I don’t doubt that if this book is ever out there in the shops many will start to pop out of the woodwork.
The outcome of this case was that the client had in fact lost her daughter of 22 years in age; she had passed suddenly from an aneurysm. Her mother had come home from shopping and found her lying in the hallway of the house. Oh, and she confirmed she had been baking cakes on that particular day.
I had now found a way where all the work and travel would not wear me out as much as before and from here on if ever it was possible to work this way, I did. I gradually became a recluse in my own home which I did not mind except for the fact that I was beginning to become a mystery to people. It was like working undercover, I liked the fact that no one knew who I was. People still knew of me but I could now walk down the street without be recognized and that felt good.
I found that all I needed to make that connection with the client now was a phone call, this creates an energy link because that person has thought about and contacted me and energy follows thought. I could tap into the energetic connection allowing me to tune into that person’s energy field or their house. Now I was becoming known as a voice at the end of a telephone someone you’re hardly likely to meet."
**********
Irene Block is a devoted British housewife, a mother of two and a grandmother who now resides in the lush countryside of southwest Wales. At an early age, she perceived the ability to contact and interact with the spirit world. From that point on, Irene realized that she was being prepared to undertake a mission that was different than she had ever envisioned. Irene was born in Amberley, Sussex and raised in south London. During her early adult years, she was extended an opportunity to master coordinate remote viewing at the time of the Cold War. In later years, Irene took advantage of her attained prowess and amalgamated it with her psychic gifts, enabling her to be stronger in the spiritual service she currently performs. As a result of this resolve, she is just beginning to show herself to the world.
"There are an infinite number of universes existing side by side and through which our consciousnesses constantly pass. In these universes, all possibilities exist. You are alive in some, long dead in others, and never existed in still others. Many of our "ghosts" could indeed be visions of people going about their business in a parallel universe or another time...or both." - Paul F. Eno, in Faces at the Window
Last year Irene hosted friends at her house in Wales, including her nieces' boyfriends who, for the most part, were skeptical of the paranormal. Irene decided to hold a brief seance in order to 'stir up' the spirit activity in the house. Then each of the boyfriends sat in the dark parlour for several minutes. The activity is documented in the videos and screen captures. Herbert didn't disappoint...he was very active throughout the sessions. There were at least two children present as well...most likely Myra, Herbert's daughter and Annie, Herbert's wife, who comes forth as a child.
You will notice in the first few seconds of the first video a clear EVP states 'good luck' and the boy on the couch replies 'thank you very much'...though, he later said that he never heard the EVP and doesn't remember responding to anything. In the same video, there are a few interesting anomalies. The first is a bright burst of light in the upper left corner. This is Herbert, who has been in front of the television, checking out the camera. Later on, a 'signature orb' manifests and vanishes near the floor by the boy's shoes. There is significant orb activity throughout the three videos as well as curious 'flashing orbs' which we have yet to explain.
"The day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity." – Seneca
In the following excerpt from Irene's yet unedited and unpublished manuscript, she details the social and paranormal history of her house in Wales as well as her relationship with the home's 'spirit family':
"The children had now grown up and Brian and I decided we would move to the countryside which had always been in my blood. Some of the happiest times in my life had been those ones living in my village. The hunt was now on to find a house and now with the technology of the computer it could be done in our spare time. Each evening we would log in and trawl through all the sites advertising homes for sale, houses all over the country but nothing seemed to stand out. If they weren’t out of our price range they were either too small or had no garden as such. Month after month and still nothing jumped out at us, there was one house that Brian liked but the first time I saw it well it was way out of our price range. We carried on looking and now every few days this house seemed to crop up on the computer and each time although Brian was drooling over it, we had to turn the idea down. Then one day it was there again and this time the price had been dropped and now the house was within our price range, so there it was. We made the arrangement to see it, couldn’t pass it over the deal was too good. 220 miles and 4 hours driving later we pulled up at the address the seller had given us, she had decided to meet us and cut out the estate agent fees. Well that was alright with us. As we sat there in the car opposite the house we could not believe what we were seeing if I say it had the wow factor I would not have been exaggerating, it was fantastic. The double Wrought Iron ornate gates at the end of the drive led the eye up to the house.
A beautiful Edwardian Villa standing in its own grounds with mature trees. We got out of the car and walked through the gates where we were met by the owners who explained that the house had stood empty for a few years. Walking down the side of the house we came into the rear garden, I was blown away by the size of it. To the rear of the garden was acres and acres of rolling fields with cattle grazing, we proceeded to the rear entrance of the house and went inside coming first into the breakfast room with its slate floor that carried through to the kitchen which to me was big enough to hold a party in. Next into the dining room and then into the parlour, off the parlour was another kitchen this would have been the old original one then out into the hallway, here there was a lovely mosaic floor and a sweeping staircase and ornate spindles and newel post. To the right off the hallway was another room, the sitting room with it's big bay window and very ornate ceiling this was obviously the best room in the house. The upstairs mirrored the rooms downstairs with the master bedroom having the bay window.
After the tour of the house we returned to the kitchen to talk and as the conversation was taking place I took my chance to have another peep upstairs. I approached and opened the door to the master bedroom and as I looked over toward the bay window, I saw a young woman with black hair tied up wearing Edwardian clothes standing looking out of the window as if viewing the garden to the front of the house. She was only there for a split second but she was there. Coming down the stair case a rush of cold went through me as if something was running up the staircase and I knew then that the house had at least two ghosts, now I understood why the house had stood empty for a couple of years.
Brian used to travel down from London every weekend to decorate and do work on the house to ready it for us to move in. It was on one such weekend that he had his first experiences of the unusual happenings this house had to offer. As the bedrooms were the first rooms he was working on he had decided that he would use the sitting room downstairs as the room to sleep in. On this particular night he was woken by the bed shaking, as he sat up he realised the whole house was shaking. Getting out of bed, he ran to the window to see if the farm over the way was running some heavy machinery that could be vibrating the house but all was in darkness. Asking the neighbours the next day if they had felt anything strange, he was told no nothing they had all slept well that night. There were no reports on any earth tremors or anything natural that could have caused the house to shake it was just one of those mysteries. The following weekend, early on the Sunday morning as he was lying in his made up bed in the sitting room he was awoken to the sound of a woman singing. He lay there listening for a few minutes before he realised it was coming from the old parlour, the singing was of hymns sung in a chapel.
We moved in a few months later when the house was liveable. I had already told Brian about our two residents but he had not been put off buying the house. Little did I know that the two we had was not the only ones, there was another spirit. That of the daughter who is active in the house also another, the step mother, only she is not with the house all the time but is more a sort of visitor. It's easy to know when she is around as the clanking of pots and pans can be heard as if she is putting stuff away in the cupboard in the old kitchen. There are no pots and pans in this room it is now kept only as a utility room.
Researching we discovered the history of the house; it was built by Herbert Morgan, a Blacksmith and Deacon at the local chapel for his wife Annie. Annie had been to the North to visit family, the year was about 1905. On returning home she begged Herbert to buy a house up there that she had fell in love with. Herbert did not want to leave the village he was born in and so decided to buy some land off of a local farmer and on this land he built for his wife an exact replica of the house she had fallen in love with. The house took some years to build but was finally completed in1910 and Herbert and Annie moved in. As time went by Annie gave birth to a little girl Myra and all was well until when Myra was eight years old Annie fell victim to Tuberculosis and passed away. She was buried at the graveyard of Herbert’s chapel.
Herbert was finding it difficult to raise Myra on his own so he asked Gladys, Annie’s sister to come and live at the house and help raise Myra. Shortly after Gladys moved in the tongues in the village started wagging and Herbert after a period of time asked Gladys to marry him and become Myra’s stepmother. But Herbert’s true love was Annie and when Herbert passed he was buried with his beloved Annie down at the chapel and the grave they are in is the only one that has the house name written on the tombstone.
Now we were living in the house and after we had moved in the previous owner handed us a framed photograph that had been in the downstairs toilet and asked us to keep it, saying it must stay with the house even if we were to move again. The photograph was an old sepia one showing a very handsome young man, Herbert about thirty and a pretty dark haired woman Annie, the lady I had first seen upstairs in the bedroom. Standing in front of them was a child of about six or seven this was Myra and the professional family photograph showed them all in Edwardian dress, more then likely the last photograph taken of them as a family. It was the first time that Brian was able to see what they looked like.
It is nothing to see them wandering through the house and Annie has even been seen walking down the drive. We are used to having them around and they don’t worry the dogs, so I would be loath having to move them on unless they were causing problems or needed help because they themselves were ready to go. This was their house before ours and it is the love for the house that keeps them here. Sometimes it’s not always good to remove something that brings a positive energy to a house as it leaves a door open for something nasty to enter. I believe the energy of my spirits is good for this house and they have helped me on more then one occasion. And I feel safe having them about.
There was a time when I had my mother who is in her eighties come to stay and on one of the nights she was here there was a terrific storm. The wind was blowing a gale and thunder and lightning sounded as if it was direct above the house. Mum was nervous, I found it exciting as the lightning looked fantastic in the sky and the thunder that followed echoed across the valley. It must have hit a power line as all of a sudden all the lights in the house went out. Not knowing how long the power cut would last I made up my mind to find some candles. I knew there were some in the cupboard under the stairs and got up to go and get them, “I am not staying here on my own in the dark” mum said, as she rose to her feet and tried to follow me. I was worried she would fall in the dark so I told her to hold on to my hips as we made our way to the cupboard groping through the dark with only the light of a cigarette lighter. I tried to open the cupboard door but it wouldn’t move, it was always sticking and no matter how much I tried I couldn’t get it open. By now mum was panicking, suddenly I felt a presence next to me and took my hand off of the door handle and stood back away from the door. I was just about to go and take my mum back to the sitting room, the only light being that of the cigarette lighter when the door of the cupboard flew back with such a force as if yanked open by unseen hands.
It is not uncommon to open the kitchen door and see a small cat like shape flash across the floor into the far corner and disappear. It was known that at one time a cat lived in the kitchen of the house this cat sadly lost its life on the road outside. One cold winter's night I decided to go to bed early as the house was quite chilly, I had just got into bed and was squirming around trying to get comfortable. The door was open and the landing light was on, suddenly I heard what sounded like a cross between a scurrying/flapping noise coming from above me as I looked up I saw what I like to call an astral critter. It was a mass about one foot long, black in colour and at quite a speed travelled across from the doorway along the ceiling and disappeared through the wall on the other side of the room. Getting out of bed I went downstairs to where Brian was watching the television, and re-laid my story to him, his words were “you're tired, your eyes are playing tricks on you” so I left it at that and returned to bed. Roughly a month later Brian was in the sitting room which is situated directly under my bedroom where I had seen my little critter. He was laying on the sofa which was on the same wall as my bed was against upstairs when all of a sudden he heard the noise and saw a small black mass go across the ceiling from the door and disappear through the opposite wall. Now he was a believer of my little critter, his description was exactly the same. The house I know is built on several Ley lines and I believe this little fellow was just a traveller along that particular line. It is said that paranormal entities can and do follow Ley lines.
There was a time when after my daughter in law Della had been out to do some shopping for me she came back and just dropped the change on top of the refrigerator. I didn’t bother to move it as it was only coins and left them lying there that night when I went to bed. When I got up in the morning they had been piled neatly on top of one another in size of the coin with all the queens heads facing upwards. I wanted to mention these happenings as during the TV show that was to follow these happenings were re-enacted."
NOTE: Herbert Morgan...B. 1883 D. Sept. 13, 1957 - Annie Morgan...D. Jan 3, 1922 age 38 from tuberculosis - Myra Morgan, daughter 8 year old when mother Annie died B. 1914 - Gladys Morgan, stepmother and aunt to Myra.
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