ANNE Diamond has revealed she was once scared off buying her dream home after coming face-to-face with the ghost of its previous owner.
The TV presenter said she could not bear to live in the house with her children knowing it was haunted and so gave it up even though it was perfect in every other way.
The ghostly encounter came shortly after the traumatic end to her 10-year marriage to TV producer Mike Hollingsworth in 1999.
Miss Diamond, a regular guest on Channel 5’s current affairs show The Wright Stuff, re-lived the scary encounter for a television show.
The former Celebrity Big Brother contestant was house hunting and fell in love with the “wonderful old Victorian house” in Warwick and planned to move in with her four boys.
She visited and was greeted by an elderly lady who had been born in the house and lived in it all her life, raising her own family there.
“She showed me around and said she was sad to leave but that her grown-up children were pressing her to sell and move to a modern flat,” she said.
“I thought she rather liked the look of me, and liked the idea that we were a big family who would fill it with joy and laughter.
“I rang the agent and offered the asking price – only to be told that the lady had decided not to sell after all.”
Six months later Miss Diamond, 57, received a call from the estate agent saying the house was empty and back on the market.
She collected the keys and went back to the house with her mother.
“At the front door, I was fiddling around trying to find the right key when the door opened and there was the same little white-haired old lady who’d first shown me around,” she said.
She left us to explore the place. But this time the house was bare and empty.
“Everything had been moved out – except what seemed to be a large wooden box lying in the centre of the living room. My mother sat on it then jumped up, saying, ‘I don’t like this… it’s the shape of a coffin’.
“We both had tingles running up and down our spines so, not being able to find the old lady again, we quickly left.
“When I returned the keys to the agent, I told him the old lady had shown us round and he said, ‘That can’t have been her because she died a couple of months ago. The children are selling it now, and you had the only keys’.” Miss Diamond, who also starred in 2006 Celebrity Fit Club after openly battling her weight for years, went back to find the wooden box in the middle of the room had disappeared.
She said: “I can only believe that it was the old lady’s ghost that showed us round and that there was indeed a coffin on the living room floor.
“I can’t get my mind off that. In fact, I believe she is still there in the fabric of the house. Talk about spooked. I decided not to buy the place after all.” But according to local paranormal investigator Duncan Curtlin, of Paranormal Nights , the story is entirely plausible.
He said: “Warwick is a particularly haunted area.
“It is probably something to do with the presence of Warwick Castle and Guy’s Cliffe House (a dilapidated country house) which both have a lot going on with them.
“It is certainly not unusual to come across a ghost, and I do remember this story when it happened.”
A "wine snob" ghost is lurking in the cellar of a pub making its feelings known about the house wine, it has been claimed.
The ghost, named Corky by regulars at the Court Oak pub in Harborne, Birmingham, apparently has very strong opinions about the wine list.
The pub, part of the Sizzling chain, is built on land were gallows were situated in the 17thC, sparking speculation that Corky may be the ghost of someone who died there years ago.
Pub manager Anne Tyler said the ghost had given its opinion about the wine on offer every Halloween for the last few years.
She said smashed bottles of red and white house wine were discovered in the cellar until the selection was upgraded.
Nuala Gallagher, of Sizzling Pubs, said: "It isn't so much things that go bump in the night as things going smash in the night at the Court Oak.
"People have spotted the figure of a man, aged about 60, behind the bar and the staff have felt his presence numerous times over the years.
"But it is Corky's insistence on certain wines that set him apart as a spirit.
"It only ever happens at this time of year when Halloween is in sight. If the pub has a house wine that is not to his liking, he makes his feelings known by smashing bottle after bottle of it in the cellar until it is changed for a wine he approves of.
"He's a bit of a wine snob, which is why he's been named Corky by customers."
A HAUNTED gothic house in the Conwy Valley is in a list of the top 10 spookiest hotels in the world.
Gwydir Castle, in Llanrwst, which dates back to the 14th Century, is down as the eighth most haunted place to stay in a list compiled by global travel website Trip Advisor.
The restored mansion has long enjoyed a reputation as a ghost chaser’s paradise, with former owner Sir John Wynn and a murdered maid rumoured to haunt the rooms and corridors.
Judy Welford, who owns the property with husband Peter, said: “I don’t know if it is a good thing or a bad thing to be in that list but I suppose it is nice to have worldwide recognition
"We have some people who come here for our reputation as a haunted house and others who come because of the beautiful property and location.
“There are a few ghosts that are thought to roam the house and it becomes eerie when visitors see or hear the same thing in the same places.
“We personally keep an open mind about it all.
“We are very happy living here and everyone rubs along very well.”
Ghostly sightings have been recorded at the property as far back as the 19th century.
The most widely reported of the ghosts is that of a young woman in the panelled corridor between the Hall of Meredith and the Great Chamber.
Legend has it that it is the ghost of a serving maid who was seduced by Sir John Wynn (5th Baronet) and then murdered when their relationship turned sour. Her body was reputedly walled up in a large void in a chimney breast.
Sir John (1st baronet) is one of the many other reported ghosts. Sightings have been reported on the spiral staircase leading from the Solar Hall to the Great Chamber.
A ghost dog has also apparently been sighted.
Emma O’Boyle, from Trip Advisor, said: “With Halloween just around the corner TripAdvisor has compiled a fun list of spooky hotels, based on feedback from over 40 million users.”
The title for the world’s most haunted hotel went to Hotel del Coronado, in California. This has a famous haunted room, in which a pregnant woman is reported to have stayed before committing suicide while waiting for her wayward husband to join her.
It didn't take long after Michael Jackson's death in 2009 for the sightings of his ghost to start up. But of course, Jacko is far from the first superstar to carry on making public appearances after they died. Below, we present five of the most over-active celebrities, who haven't let a little thing like death get in the way of their lifestyles.
Kurt Cobain's untimely death in 1994, when he shot himself in the head, traumatised a generation - but he hasn't gone away for good. In August 2000, a 24-year-old bar manager from Essex reported that Cobain was haunting her Compaq Presario laptop, and that he'd pleaded for help before demanding that she give him a kiss. The computer stopped working after she kissed it, The Register reported, and Kurt has not been heard from since.
Orson Welles, the legendary actor and director who started his career by making one of the greatest film ever in Citizen Kane, and ended it by doing a voice-over for Transformers: The Movie, is reported to still sit at his favourite table in his favourite Los Angeles restaurant, enjoying the fine food, drinking brandy and smoking cigars. Sadly for the shade of Welles, the restaurant - the famed Ma Maison - shut down in 1985, and is now a completely different restaurant.
John Lennon has been good about keeping in touch with people since he was fatally shot in 1980 - with his son Julian claiming he visited him in the form of a white feather, Paul McCartney saying that his spirit was present the recording sessions for 'Free As A Bird' in the form of a white peacock, and Liam Gallagher claiming that he met Lennon's ghost while lying on a bed at a mate's house in Manchester. Oddly, at no point during any of these visitations did Lennon tell those involved to stop recording rubbish music.
Marilyn Monroe has been busy following her not-especially mysterious death from a barbiturate overdose in the 1960s. She currently haunts a full-length mirror at the lobby of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, occasionally nipping off to be seen dancing around the ballroom in spectral form (it's not known if she ever meets up with the ghost of Montgomery Clift, who haunts room 928). She also hangs around the house where she died, as well as finding time to lurk around her grave.
Elvis Presley is probably the most overworked celebrity ghost around, given that he basically haunts everywhere, from the site of the old RCA studios in Nashville to your local chip shop. Naturally, though, his favoured haunting ground is his old home, Graceland - where, naturally, people have reported seeing his ghost marrying Marilyn Monroe's ghost.
He's also said to have haunted the site of a home in Bel Air that he rented - although the building was demolished two decades ago. We're sure that once you watch the following incredibly clear video evidence, you'll be in no doubt that the spirit of Elvis still shakes his hips and eats ectoplasm cheeseburgers from beyond the veil.
Ghosts, spirits or demons are usually thought to represent repressed parts of our unconscious that we would prefer to keep buried. If like many people you have this dream on several occasions it would indicate that these ghosts really need to be listened to - otherwise they may keep haunting you.
Some psychologists suggest that unconscious feelings behind this type of dream are likely to be something that you deem to be a less positive experience or less appealing emotion, like anger, shame or envy. Other interpreters have a more positive spin on ghost dreams - and suggest that spirits can represent positive and creative powers that lie within the dreamer, but need to be harnessed.
In your dream it might be worth taking these dream ghosts on instead of running or hiding from them and facing up to what they represent. Then you will know what you are dealing with and should be able to make progress in working with them, so that they will become less frightening and may be able to give you more strength.
There's a common misconception held about some ghostly encounters. Some people feel they are being haunted after having experienced a dark presence in their bedroom, followed by a scary feeling of being held down, touched or shaken. Sometimes they can even feel totally paralysed.
Of course, this is disturbing but the truth is in the majority of cases this has nothing at all to do with the presence of a malevolent spirit.
They are, in fact, experiencing, a well-recognised sleep disorder called 'sleep paralysis' or 'night terrors. This usually occurs when you're somewhere in between being asleep and awake, and it's during these times that our brains begins to play tricks on us. Most people never experience this unpleasant phenomenon, while other might occasionally suffer from it. A few people will, unfortunately, experience it on a very regular basis
But before you go running off to a local exorcist to clear your home of an evil spirit that you sense when you're dropping off to sleep at night, it might be more sensible to first speak with your GP about it.
There's more than likely to be a very non-supernatural reason for what you are experiencing unpleasant as it!
The Lost Gardens of Heligan are beautiful 19th-century gardens in Cornwall, that were cleared, primped up and reopened in 1992, having been overgrown for almost a century.
But it seems that the ghosts of Heligan, perhaps the family who once lived on the estate, don't appreciate their sanctum being woken from its sleep.
A few areas of the garden are reported to have an uneasy air about them. Gardeners are said to be too frightened to work alone in the kitchen garden and the rockery. Several exorcisms have taken place, but a few grumpy ghosts refuse to budge and continue to make their ghostly presence felt!
A phantom nurse dressed in a World War II uniform has been spotted wandering the corridors of an ex-hospital building in Bristol.
The spectre - dressed in a white head scarf and with a cardigan draped across her shoulders - has been seen by many people at The Vassall Centre, in Bristol.
Staff from Aspects and Milestones, a learning disability and mental health services charity, say they have seen and felt the ghostly presence on a number of occasions.
No one from the charity would comment in person on what they had seen, but staff claim the spirit moves about the office wearing a white apron with a grey gown and pushing a trolley.
They also say they have felt her touching their shoulders and moving diaries around, and have heard her rattling blinds and felt her pushing against doors they are trying to open.
But although the apparition brings a chilling atmosphere into the area whenever she is present, she is apparently a friendly ghost.
A cleaner at the Vassall Centre says she has felt the spectre's presence every week ever since she started working there.
Jacqui Painter, who is 55 and lives nearby, said: "I work in the corridors near Aspects and Milestones early in the morning, at about 4-5am.
"In this one corridor it is very warm, but as soon as I get to a certain part of it it is absolutely freezing. I haven't seen anything, but it feels like there is a presence there.
"I don't know what it is, but it is really cold and horrible, and is quite spooky.
"I am not scared, but it is not a very nice experience going up there and I always do my cleaning very quickly, especially if I am in the building on my own."
The Vassall Centre was built as part of Frenchay Hospital at some point during World War II, but was never actually used as a hospital.
No one has yet been able to identify who the nurse may have been, but medical staff would have been on the site during the 1940s and 1950s to check its suitability.
The building is now run by a local charity as barrier-free offices and conference facilities, providing accommodation for 15 disability organisations that provide services from the centre.
Mary Welbourn, the Vassall Centre Trust's conference centre manager, said: "As far as I know, the ghost has never made an appearance to any of our 20,000 conference centre users, and even if she has, no one has been nervous of coming back."
The Trust has recently tried to find out exactly when the building was built, but after checking records in the central library and in the Bristol records office, they are still no clearer.
The mystery stems from the fact that during the war many buildings were constructed quickly and sometimes secretly, so records were often left incomplete.
EDINBURGH has a reputation for being the most haunted city on the planet. With its wealth of moody Gothic architecture and grisly past, it is easy to see why.
Arguably the most famous resident ghost is Major Thomas Weir, a 17th-century Presbyterian minister who fell from grace and was burned at the stake after admitting committing acts of bestiality and incest.
But while some people believe Weir was also Edinburgh’s most infamous witch and best-known Satanist, he was neither.
A book published in 2004, Edinburgh City of the Dead, attempts to explain the Capital’s dark side, debunking popular myths while providing a light-hearted guide to the most ghostly locations in the Capital.
City ghost tour guide and historian Jan-Andrew Henderson, who wrote the book, said: "I am very sceptical, which is why I was interested in writing the book. Too many people writing books about the supernatural are already convinced that ghosts exist.
"I have seen weird things, though, especially in Greyfriars Kirkyard, where Bloody Mackenzie’s [the King’s Advocate who put thousands of Covenanters to their deaths before dying in 1691] poltergeist is said to be. If that is not a genuine supernatural case then I don’t think there is any such thing."
Here are, reputedly, Edinburgh’s most haunted sites from Henderson’s guide - based on a range of material from sources including Edinburgh University, city ghost tour companies and stories printed in the Edinburgh Evening News:
Edinburgh Castle: Said to be haunted by several apparitions including the ghost of John Graham of Claverhouse, nicknamed Bloody Clavers for his ruthless persecution of Covenanters in the 17th century. Phantom drummers, bagpipers and invisible marching troops also inhabit the castle.
The Scotsman Hotel, North Bridge: The former offices of the Edinburgh Evening News is said to be haunted by a host of ghosts, including a phantom printer and a phantom forger.
South Bridge: Vaults inside the bridge are said to house a faceless man and a poltergeist.
Radisson SAS Hotel, Niddry Street: The hotel is on the site of Strichen’s Close, where Bloody George Mackenzie once lived. The area has been plagued by fires, thought to be caused by Mackenzie’s notorious troublemaking poltergeist.
Whistle Binkie’s Bar, Niddry Street: A long-haired gentleman in 17th-century costume known as The Watcher haunts the bar. No-one has ever seen his face. Since the 1990s another entity, The Imp, has also inhabited the bar and storerooms in South Bridge, making mischief by stopping clocks and slamming doors.
St Mary’s Street: Said to be haunted by a young woman stabbed to death in 1916 by an assailant who leaped out of a doorway, killed her and ran off. She appears in blood-spattered clothes with a shocked look on her face.
The Museum of Childhood, Royal Mile: Reported to ring with the crying of children late at night. It is near the site of a nursery sealed up during the plague years - with mothers and children inside.
The Canongate, Royal Mile: Watch for the burning spectre of the daughter of a respectable 18th-century family, apparently killed after bringing disgrace to her parents by falling pregnant by a servant.
Queensberry House, Canongate: This historic house in the centre of the new Scottish Parliament is famously haunted by a kitchen boy roasted and eaten by James Douglas, the mad Earl of Drumlanrig, in 1707.
Palace of Holyroodhouse, Royal Mile: The naked ghost of one Bald Agnes, stripped and tortured in 1592 after being accused of witchcraft, is said to roam there.
• West Bow (Victoria Street): The site of the former Anderson’s Close, torn down in 1827, which was home to the notorious Major Thomas Weir, aka The Wizard of the West Bow. It is also said to be haunted by sailor Angus Roy, who was crippled on a voyage in 1820 and taunted by children in the close who mimicked his limp. He is seen dragging his injured leg behind him.
George IV Bridge: The vaults under the bridge - used to imprison debtors in the 19th century - are allegedly inhabited by an unknown, handcuffed Highland chief.
Greyfriars Kirkyard: The burial place of the aforementioned Bloody George MacKenzie. Also the site of the Covenanters Prison, to which MacKenzie sent numerous victims.
George Street: Try to spot Jane Vernelt, who died in the early 20th century after losing her shop in the street due to bad financial advice and has been seen several times after death in broad daylight, heading for the now non-existent property.
Charlotte Square: Numerous ghosts are believed to inhabit the area, including a phantom beggar, a monk and even a piano player.
No. 15 Learmonth Gardens: Reportedly the only place in Edinburgh with a mummy’s curse. In the 1930s, its then owners stole a bone from a mummy’s tomb in Egypt and brought it home, after which their house was plagued by unexplained noises, flying objects and a spectre resembling an Egyptian priest.
Jamaica Street: Haunted in the late 18th or early 19th century by a man in a bright red hat. His appearance even caused a court case when the landlord accused his tenant of inventing the spectre to keep his rent down.
No. 12 Ann St: Said to be haunted by Mr Swan, a small, smiling man dressed in black who lived there in the 19th century before dying overseas.
Regent Terrace: In 1979 it was plagued by poltergeists - there was crying and breathing noises in empty rooms, and a small invisible being leapt on residents when they were in bed.
No. 5 Hazeldean Terrace: The Hazeldean Poltergeist became a national phenomenon in 1957 when it appeared at virtually the same time and same house number as the Rothesay Place poltergeist. The Hazeldean ghost threw a chopping board around and broke crockery.
Edinburgh Playhouse, Greenside Place: Haunted by Albert, a grey-coated man who appears on level six bringing a sudden chill to the air. He is said to have been either a stagehand who died in an accident or a night-watchman who killed himself.
Royal Lyceum Theatre, Grindlay Street: Occasional sightings of a blue lady believed to be Ellen Terry, the actress who performed at the Lyceum’s first show. A shadowy figure is also sometimes seen in the lighting rig high above the stage.
Balcarres Street, Morningside: Said to be haunted by a green lady reputed to be one Elizabeth Pittendale, who was stabbed to death by her husband after he caught her in a passionate embrace with his son from a former marriage.
Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Nicolson Street: The theatre stands on the site of the former Empire Palace. It is haunted by a tall, dark stranger rumoured to be the famous illusionist Sigmund Neuberger, aka The Great Lafayette, who burned to death in a fire at the Empire in 1911.
Dalry Road: Once haunted by Johnny "One-arm" Chiesly, who had his arm cut off and was hanged after shooting a judge who gave Chiesly’s wife a hefty divorce settlement.
The Corn Exchange, Baltic Street, Leith: Apparently haunted by a 19th-century Leith publican who hanged himself there after being shunned by neighbours who accused him of torturing children. His spectre was supposedly captured on camera on the US TV series Understanding the Paranormal.
The Dovecot, Dovecot Road, Corstorphine: The ghost of Christian Nimmo, aka the White Lady of Corstorphine, haunts the garden around the dovecot. The feisty wife of a successful businessman, she took a lover whom she stabbed to death after he insulted her - a crime for which she was beheaded.
If you're at all scared of ghosts, make sure you steer clear of Kent.
The county is home to more paranormal beings than anywhere else in Britain, a recent study revealed. It also suggests you're most likely to glimpse a UFO in Yorkshire, while the country's most famous werewolf lives in Staffordshire.
A phantom hitchhiker getting into motorists' cars, a Lancashire time-warp slip road that takes you back to the 1940s and the ghost of a one-legged priest were among the reported incidents.
The findings come from the work of paranormal researcher Lionel Fanthorpe, 74, from Cardiff.
Lionel, has analysed ghostly sighting from the past 25years to come up with a list of the UK's spookiest places
UFOs were the most common paranormal sightings, with 109 reports across Britain.
One of the most well known sightings took place in Scotland in January 1986, when two policemen saw an orangey-red UFO travelling at slow speed and falling to the ground.
They described the object as resembling a flying clothes pole.
The second most common are general phantoms (also defined as ghosts or apparitions), with 50 reports including seven ghosts of policemen, a phantom monk, as well as a number of ghostly human shapes and medieval figures.
There have been 21 reported cases of werewolf sightings, with the Cannock Chase werewolf in Staffordshire the most renowned.
Road phantoms are the fourth most common paranormal sightings. There have been 17 cases of them scaring motorists over the years.
One of the most famous is a young girl who has been spotted wandering down the Caterham Bypass, in Surrey.
There have been five official reports of crop circles, with Wiltshire the most likely place to find one.
And there have been four reports of poltergeists terrorising people's homes, as well as four accounts of big cats roaming the woods of Leicester, Norfolk and Suffolk.
Dorset has the most railway ghosts and London hosts the only haunted airport, Heathrow, where a passenger claimed to have encountered the ghost of Dick Turpin
Mr Fanthorpe said: 'The highest form of investigation was never to regard something as so firmly proved that we don't need to look at it again.
'Neither should we laugh out of court anything that seems so ridiculous that it isn't worth investigating.'
Obviously the best thing to do is to visit somewhere that's know to be haunted. These places have a lot spiritual activity, so it's much more likely that you will see something.
When you arrive, ask your spirit guide to encourage spirit people to come forward and show themselves to you. If nothing happens, don't worry - you can try as many locations as you like!
If you are keen to try and take a photo of a ghost you don't need any special equipment - a standard digital camera will do. Good luck, the spirits are out there!
A portrait of Lady Ossington, said to be haunted by its subject, is one of 200,000 publicly-owned oil paintings being made available to view online, as part of a BBC campaign.
For nearly 100 years, it hung in the Ossington Coffee Palace in Newark, Nottinghamshire.
But when the establishment began to sell alcohol, some claim the ghost of Lady Ossington became offended and there were reports of the oil painting "flying off the wall".
The Victorian artwork is now kept in stores, like 80% of the oil paintings in the UK's national art collection, but can be seen and its story read, on the Your Paintings website.
Haunting history
Viscountess Ossington built the coffee palace on Beastmarket Hill in 1882 as a charitable concern.
Its aim was to provide a hostel where travellers could find accommodation for the night without the temptation of drink on the premises.
The Viscountess was to be its manager until her death and was to be succeeded by a group of trustees to maintain the building "in a crusade against the demon drink", according to its title deed.
But in the 1960s a court decided the trust was not a charitable institution as the hotel had always been run on commercial lines.
The heirs of Viscountess Ossington were traced as the true beneficiaries and the coffee palace was sold in 1978.
Shortly afterwards it became a public house.
It is then the portrait is said to have started to repeatedly "fly off the wall".
Newark and Sherwood District museum service purchased the artwork - believed to have been painted by a Miss Hawkins - at auction in 1981.
"It is a hefty piece which may be a more rational explanation for why it fell off walls," said the museum service's Kevin Winter.
The oil painting is kept in the district council's resource centre stores on Brunel Drive, one of 700 artworks in its collection, along with sculptures by Robert Kiddey, woodcuts from Sir William Nicholson and two prints by the internationally-acclaimed artist Bridgett Riley.
The Resource Centre is open to the public by appointment. To book a visit call 01636 655777 or e-mail museums@nsdc.info
US X Factor judges Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul recently spent a night in a haunted hotel in Dallas, whilst on an audition tour. But whilst Simon actually enjoyed the ghostly goings on - Paula is reported as being 'unnerved' by the experience.
Fellow Judge L.A. Reid checked out the same day he checked in because he reportedly got "spooked out."
A source told US Weekly Magazine, "L.A. didn't even know the story of the ghosts; he just couldn't be inside the hotel. He was first to check in and left before the others arrived, saying it had a 'weird feeling about it.' Everyone joked he was being a diva, but when they heard about the hotel really being haunted they just thought he was smart!"
According to reports Paula's bathroom water taps kept getting turned on and off by themselves. She was reportedly left scared by the experience.
The source added: "Yes, the other judges were freaked out and insisted on changing hotels or rooms, but Simon was quite happy with the ghosts. He was fascinated by them. It wouldn't surprise anyone if he insists on staying in only haunted hotels in future!"
They supposedly have pots of gold at the end of them but this rainbow seems to have something far more sinister - a ghost
Amateur photographer Mikhail Baevsky was stunned to see this human-like, ghostly image on his photographs of the Chatyr-Dag mountains in Ukraine.
Mr Baevsky, a science lecturer, says the strange sight had probably been caused by the weather but has not ruled out a more supernatural explanation.
‘I was scanning the horizon for a good shot and while turning my head noticed the dark, ghostly figure behind me,’ said the 59-year-old.
‘It was scary at first but I stayed calm and took as many shots as I could before it disappeared as quickly as it appeared.’
The pictures were taken at 1,525m (5,010ft) – the highest point of the range of mountains.
‘My background suggests there must be some logic behind it. But it does looks amazing and I can’t decide on an plausible explanation,’ added Mr Baevsky.
A record 25 per cent of adults in the UK say that they have had a ghostly encounter - up from seven per cent in the 1950s
A new study — by leading psychologist and paranormal investigator Professor Richard Wiseman — found that more than 11 MILLION people claim to have had an experience with a ghost.
In the 1950s, the figure was just seven per cent, rising to 14 per cent in the 1990s and 19 per cent in 2003.
Prof Wiseman, who doesn't believe in ghosts, thinks the large number of reports of apparitions, bumps in the night, and eerie sounds may be more to do with their popularity on TV than increased psychic activity.
Prof Wiseman, from the University of Hertfordshire, said: "It's a surprisingly high figure, and it's interesting that the proportion of people who say they believe in ghosts has remained the same as it has been for many years, which is about a third.
"My only thought is that, because there have been a lot of ghost shows on TV, people may just be more likely to attribute certain experiences, like hearing creaky floorboards, to ghosts.
"All these shows are feeding off the perception that these things exist and not looking at the psychological perspective."
Another factor may be the decline of traditional religious beliefs, Prof Wiseman added.
However, the popularity of TV paranormal shows may not explain regional differences revealed in his "ghost map" of the UK.
It shows the largest number of ghostly goings-on — experienced by up to 30 per cent of the population — being reported in Yorkshire and Humberside, the East Midlands and Wales.
London and the South East was the least spooked region, with just a fifth of the population claiming to have had a ghostly experience.
Other regions, such as East Anglia, matched the average figure of 25 per cent, while in Scotland 22 per cent to 24 per cent of people reported haunting incidents.
Prof Wiseman, who writes about ghosts in his latest book, Paranormality, said: "It may be linked to population density or cultural history, but I can't explain why there are such marked differences."
Far more women than men — 31 per cent compared with 18 per cent — claim to have experienced a ghost, the survey showed.
A total of 2,400 adults across the country took part in the poll conducted by YouGov.
Prof Wiseman has investigated some of the most haunted places in the UK, including Hampton Court Palace and Edinburgh's underground vaults. In 2009 he led an international project to examine the world's best ghost photos.
In Paranormality, he argues that ghostly experiences are caused by a variety of factors, including suggestion, light effects, low-frequency sound, waking dreams, and anxiety.
A key effect is the state of "hypervigilance" felt by people who visit known haunted locations, he said.
He added: "You're listening out for sounds that might be a threat, and you don't realise you're doing it, but when you do hear something like a creak or a bump you get even more vigilant.
"The whole thing feeds on itself and you can actually end up with people suffering panic attacks, which I've encountered in my research on ghosts. People can literally scare themselves silly.
"I am extremely sceptical about the existence of ghosts. However, this survey demonstrates that, despite huge advances in science and technology, many people still have a deep-seated need to believe the impossible.
"That's why these odd experiences yield a fascinating insight into our brains and behaviour."
Back in 2003 this unexplained spooky figure in full period dress was captured on CCTV at Hampton Court Palace prompting speculation that it could be the ghost of a former Royal
The 16th Century palace in south-west London - once the home of King Henry VIII - is well known for supernatural activity, but nothing suspicious has ever been caught on film there before.
But in October of 2003 the palace's CCTV footage revealed this spooky image of an "inhuman" figure.
And in an eerie twist none of the palace's costumed guides owned an outfit like the one worn by the "ghost."
Earlier, security guards had been repeatedly alerted to an open fire door in an exhibition area of the palace.
After securing the door each time, they returned to their office to view the CCTV footage to see who had opened them.
On the first occasion the footage showed the doors flying wide open, but no evidence of why they had.
On the second , the guards were stunned when a ghostly figure in period dress suddenly appeared on the screen and closed the doors.
The same thing happened on a third day, but again no figure appeared.
Stranger still was that a visitor had noted in the palace’s visitor book that she thought she had seen a ghost in that area.
One of the palace’s security guards at the time said: “I was shocked when the CCTV footage showed an eerie figure in period dress in the doorway.
"It was incredibly spooky because the face just didn’t look human.
“My first reaction was that someone was having a laugh, so I asked my colleagues to take a look.
"We spoke to our costumed guides but they don’t own a costume
like that worn by the figure. It is actually quite unnerving.”
The palace has seen many dramatic royal events from the death of Henry’s third wife, Jane Seymour, to the condemnation and house arrest of his fifth, Catherine Howard, for adultery.
Over the centuries staff, visitors, workmen and residents have often experienced unexplained phenomena.
One area of the palace has been named the Haunted Gallery and it is here that people claim to have seen the ghost of Catherine Howard, and heard her uttering terrible cries.
AN ex-printer has claimed that John Lennon's ghost has visited him more than 50 times over the last 18 years - to transmit songs into his head that he wants the world to hear.
Mike Powell, 56, believes the dead Beatle's spirit has given him the ability to play instruments and compose complex tunes by looking into his eyes and downloading the track into his mind.
He has also created dozens of paintings depicting what he sees during visitations from the spirit - which have spookily echoed facts from John's life that Mike says he had no way of knowing.
"The weirdest experience I've ever had was my third sighting," said Mike. "These five still photos came at me in rapid succession. The first was a gun smoking and as soon as I saw it, I relived what John had gone through in the last seconds of his life. That I know because I felt myself this blast in my chest and I felt myself falling back and bashing my head.
"On the way down I saw this picture of the Queen in a frame but at an angle. Then it was black but there was millions of stars. The fourth I saw the Mersey tunnel and I was flying above the cars. All the time going through John's head is an excitement to get back home, he's saying 'Mama I'm home'.
"We get to the Liverpool end and there's a man and a woman and three children standing by these railings, behind them is this doorman in a dickie bow. I heard a lyric Voorman standing in the door man.
"Years later I was chatting to John's pal who told me that a fella called Claus Voorman used to be the bouncer on the Star club in Hamburg where John used to gig."
15 of Mike Powell's pals have written sworn affidavits proclaiming that Mike had never once picked up a guitar or paintbrush before his first-ever visit from John Lennon's ghost.
Since then Mike has written an astounding 350 complete songs - one roughly every three weeks - with some described by industry experts as "absolutely stunning". He has also created dozens of artworks of his visions which contain intriguing co-incidences from Mike's life.
In one 1993 painting he depicted a man drilling into the earth. Years later Lennon's first wife Cynthia revealed in a book that a workman using a pneumatic drill outside drowned out their wedding vows. There were no photographs taken of the ceremony - but a cartoon Cynthia drew bears a striking resemblance to the man Mike painted.
Other clues in 'visits' from John have led Mike to predict the title of Mick Jagger's 2001 album Goddess In The Doorway eight years early - and even the launch of the new Volkswagen Beetle car.
He said: "In a 1997 newspaper article Paul McCartney said that The Beatles made a pact that if any of them died young, they would try contact the others fromt he afterlife. This is what I think is happening."
Tough guy actor Nicolas Cage is a firm believer in ghosts and the spirit world.
The Oscar winner, star of films such as Face/Off and Gone In 60Seconds,said in a recent interview that he refuses to sleep over at his Uncle's house due to a spooky encounter he once had there. (His uncle is film director Francis Ford Coppola.)
Cage said that one night whilst in his late teens he was sleeping in the attic, and his bedroom door creaked opened and the shadowy figure of a female with big hair stepped inside. Thinking it was his aunt, coming to bid him good night, he spoke to her. But the figure didn't respond. Cage said he then realised it wasn't his aunt and freaked out and screamed!
He isn't too sure that what he saw was a ghost. But the experience so unnerved him he would never go back to the house again.
A report last autumn suggested that Britain is chock-a-block with friendly ghosts and helpful ghosts i.e. pointing motorists in the right direction and soothing the recently bereaved.
The Supernatural Angel Report also uncovers a series of 'hotspots' - where guardian angels and fairies seem to congregate in the UK after scouring police and council records.
The report into 'angelic paranormal activity in the UK' found that in the past 25 years there have been a staggering 755 official reports to police and councils in the UK.
Hotspots of 'good' paranormal activity include the historic village of Croston in Lancashire, where there have been 44 official reports of fairies living in the nearby woods.
A spokesman for the report said the fairy is known to locals as 'Shrewfoot' and that on one occasion it appeared by the side of the road to warn a hitchhiker to get off the road before a convoy of trucks sped through the village.
The report, commissioned by TV show Supernatural, states: 'There have been 44 official reports of fairies and the woods in Croston, Lancashire.
'It is home to a fairy known to the locals as Shrewfoot and it is a very protective entity and is reported to have saved at least one pedestrian who was in danger on the adjacent road from a speeding lorry.'
The extensive research, conducted by the UK's leading authority on the unexplained, Lionel Fanthorpe, included studying multiple archives, police reports, published reports and interviews with a number of ex police officers.
The report notes that there have been 755 documented incidents in the past 25 years, ranging from healing and helpful entities, to visions of angels and animal spirits.
Another hotspot is St Martin's Church in Westmeston in Sussex where there are dozens of reports of a friendly phantom drifting across the churchyard.
Another 'friendly entity' has been reported at St Botolph's Priory in Colchester in Essex - where the ghost smiles at people who have been recently bereaved A total of 104 cases of 'angelic visions' have been reported with Sutton Wood in Derbyshire getting the most hits as walkers see a monk wearing a large gold cross as they walk though the woodland.
According to the report witnesses say that the entity is 'very holy' and has 'an aura of goodness that makes them glad that they have seen it'.
The report reveals that there have been 99 reported cases of 'helpful entities' in the UK, which phantoms helping save the lives of people who come across them.
One of the most documented is at the Manor House in Cold Ashton in Gloucestershire, where lost motorists regularly arrive at and knock for help with directions.
According to the report a 'friendly butler' answers the door and points them in the right direction - even though the Manor House has been derelict for decades.
The report states that in the past 25 years there have been a total of 755 official reports of angelic activity, including; 192 sighting of benign entities - ghosts which just appear and vanish without scaring viewers - 127 friendly entities, which smile or wave at people, 104 angelic visions, 99 helpful entities which actively help people who see them, 69 animal spirits, 44 sightings of fairies, 41 visions of saints, 32 of white witches, 24 guardian angels and 23 healing entities.
The same organisation also revealed in a seperate study that there had been 227 'evil' paranormal reports in the past 12 months in the UK
Adapted from an original article in: The Metro October 2010
Horror films aren't the only way to produce spine-tingling chills - actually visiting an eerie location or spooky destination rates high on some travellers’ lists. So, if you are keen to be a supernatural traveller and find out about locations that are shrouded in myths of the undead, read on for seven of the world’s spookiest locations:
Catacombs of the Capuchins – Palermo, Sicily Whilst Paris is famed for its Catacombs or the Empire of the Dead - where, due to overcrowding and disease in cemeteries in the late 1770s, bodies were transferred to the subterranean tunnels of the city. Skeletons were stacked along the walls and labelled with the year they died. But the Catacombs of the Capuchins really beats Paris on the creepy scale - imagine 8,000 mummified bodies, fully dressed and arranged in poses. And this is no medieval practice - the last addition to the macabre display was in 1920.
Salem – Massachusetts, USA This American East Coast city has a bewitching history, being the site of the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692. During the trials 19 men and women were convicted of witchcraft and taken to Gallows Hill for hanging. Gallows Hill might be the spookiest of Salem's locations but the original witches’ hanging tree does not exist anymore, and the deep crevasse where the dead bodies were thrown has closed in upon itself. But you can still satisfy your spine-tingling search in the Salem Witch Museum, the Witch Dungeon Museum and a Wax Museum of Witches and Seafarers.
Mary King's Close – Edinburgh, Scotland Mary King's Close is located underneath the City Chambers on the Royal Mile and is one of the least visited and eeriest areas of Scotland's capital. The close is actually a narrow cobbled street which was sealed off in a bid to stop the spread of the plague in 1645. And we really are talking sealed off - some families are thought to have been bricked up in their homes and left to starve to death. The area was re-opened but you can imagine it wasn't a location that was top of people’s places-to-live list. There have been numerous spooky occurrences thought to be related to the souls of the trapped victims.
Centralia Town – Pennsylvania, USA Centralia is a real 'modern' ghost town with its population dwindling from over 1,000 residents in 1981 to a mere seven in 2010. It's all due to the fact that the town was abandoned after a fire started burning right under it. The local authorities ignited a landfill just atop an unsealed coal-mine and thus the fire spread underground. Now Centralia is one of America's most popular ghost towns, complete with smoking cracks in the roads, the occasional explosions and disturbing silence. Just what you'd expect a town to look like after a nuclear attack.
Church of Bones - Kutna Hora, Czech Republic From outside, the Sedlec Ossuary or Church of Bones is not a spectacularly spooky site; to the passerby it perhaps would be seen as just another medieval gothic church. But it's what lies within that ups its scary stakes; on entering you'll see the Sedlec Ossuary is artistically decorated by more than 40,000 human skeletons. One of the most fascinating artistic works is the big chandelier of bones in the centre.
Bhangarh Fort – Rajasthan, India Famed as the most haunted place in India, Bhangarh Fort sports an after-sunset curfew with the Indian Government strictly prohibiting people from staying in the area after dark. The story goes that a black magic tantrik cursed the fort by proclaiming that anyone who died there would be trapped in the palace without the possibility of rebirth. It is said that nobody returns from this place after dark. Many locals and visitors claim that they have witnessed paranormal activities - like sounds of music and dancing and weird colour spots in photographs of chambers.
Manila Film Centre – Manilla, Philippines Another modern-day spooky site, the eerie history of the Manila Film Centre goes back just to the 1980s. The story goes that construction teams were under pressure to complete the building in time for a film festival. Tragically, an untimely accident claimed the lives of several construction workers. However, rather than halting the work to give the workers a proper burial, the contractors allegedly poured concrete over the remains in order to keep on schedule. Since then, visitors have reported hearing strange voices throughout the Film Centre.
TERRIFIED Brits are being spooked more than ever before. More than 11million of us have seen a ghost, more than three times the number reported in the 1950s.
Professor Richard Wiseman, author of new book Paranormality, reckons a rise in TV ghost-hunting shows and a decline in religious faith makes us much more likely to believe in ghouls.
Here we take a look at some of the numbers involved in paranormal activity...
1 in 10 of us think our house is haunted according to a recent study by a bank. Even glamour model Katie Price, alias Jordan, 32, once called in psychic Sally Morgan to investigate because she was convinced she had spooks in her home.
3 The number of times singer Robbie Williams, 37, has seen UFOs. He’s also seen ghosts since he was a child, spotting the spirit of an old woman at ex-Beatle Ringo Starr’s house in Los Angeles.
18 Percentage of men who say they have seen a ghost, compared with 31% of women.
30 Percentage of people in Yorkshire and Humber and the East Midlands who have seen a ghost. It’s the area of the country you are most likely to have had an encounter. London was the least spooked-out area of the country with just 20% spotting a spook.
46 Percentage of 18 to 24-year-olds who have seen a phantom. This is the most common age to have spotted a ghost according to a study by Sainsbury’s.
48 Percentage of us who have stumbled across spooky goings-on while driving. The M6 is Britain’s most haunted road, according to a study by Tarmac, and sightings on it include Roman soldiers, a distraught woman hitch-hiker and a phantom lorry.
57 Percentage of us who would be put off buying a house if it was known to be haunted, according to a survey for Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks.
68 Percentage of us who believe in ghosts, com- pared to 55% who believe in God.
755 The number of ghostly goings- on reported to police in the last 25 years.
1536 The year Henry VIII’s wife Anne Boleyn was beheaded. She is said to turn up regularly at Blickling Hall in Norfolk, which is the National Trust’s most haunted property.
"Residents report scratching at the front doors and windows, and hearing voices when there is no one there!"
Could the ghosts of former inmates of a Victorian lunatic asylum be haunting the residents of an exclusive housing estate, which was built on the site over a decade ago?
According to a local estate agent, ghosts have regularly been seen in several of the luxury homes at the Repton Park estate in Woodford Bridge, in Essex, even causing one young couple to move out of their flat on the very day they moved in.
Formerly the Claybury Hospital mental institution, it is believed the unwelcome visitors may be former patients who are visiting the buildings formerly used by the hospital.
The estate agent, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: "I know about a year ago a guy bought a whole block to turn it into flats to sell off.
"One day two cleaners were in the block working. As they were cleaning, one of the ladies thought she heard a man's voice calling her. She said she thought she must be going mad but then her daughter, the other cleaner, heard a similar voice.
"They had the door open at the time and they thought it was someone outside, but there was no-one else on the whole floor. From that day the daughter refused to clean at Repton Park on her own."
The estate agent said: "Last year a young couple heard voices calling them from inside their Repton Park flat and moved into a hotel on their first night as they were too frightened to stay there.
"They then went to a local priest and asked him to exorcise the flat before they moved back in."
And, it seems, the sightings are not rare.
Local minicab driver Jeff Todd said: "I have had two or three people in my cab telling me exactly the same story about the ground floor of the old building frequently being visited by ghosts.
"People have told me that they hear scratching at their front doors and windows. One person even went outside to see what it was and saw someone standing there and within seconds they had disappeared.
"Maybe it's the old patients of Claybury Hospital revisiting or maybe it's their visitors but there are lots of stories about this," he added.
The site includes around 50 acres of ancient woodland and 95 acres of open parkland, ponds, pasture and historic gardens. These were designed in 1789 by the landscape architect Sir Humphrey Repton for James Hatch, who was the owner of what was then called the Claybury Estate.
Building work started on the hospital in 1889 and it opened under the name of Claybury Asylum in 1893. It was the fifth London County Council asylum and the hospital stood on the site for almost a century, closing in 1996. An encyclopaedia entry for Ilford in 1911 says: "Claybury Hall is a lunatic asylum (1893) of the London County Council."
It was turned into a housing development in the late 1990s and now has an estimated value of £170m.
It's the oldest timber frame house in America, lived in for generations by the same family and lovingly kept just as it was in its early Colonial days.
But what the Fairbanks House lacks in modern facilities it seems to make for with ... strange spirits.
The house in Dedham, Massachusetts, was built between 1637 and 1641 by English settlers Jonathan and Grace Fairbanks.
Today the house is a museum, but it could very well one of the most haunted houses in America.
Justin Schlesinger, one of the museum directors whose ancestors built the property, said: 'There’s always been weird things happening in the house, from the doorbell going off a million times to flashlights never working.'
He added that there are sometimes footsteps heard on the stairs when no one is there. Also, a newly-installed alarm system went off every night for several weeks with the alarm company unable to offer an explanation.
He said: 'If there are such things as ghosts, this would be the logical place for them to be.'
For decades now, thousands of visitors from all over the world, from school children to distinguished architects, have toured the house, enchanted by its authenticity
Over the centuries, there must have been some deaths in the house, museum business manager Lee Ann Hodson said.
There's even been a shocking murder. In 1801, one of the Fairbanks sons, Jason, was convicted in the killing of his girlfriend, Elizabeth Fales, in a nearby pasture. She had apparently spurned his marriage proposal.
He was hanged from the gallows on Dedham Common in one of the most sensational murder cases of the time.
On a whim last year, Mr Schlesinger, 25, asked a ghost-hunting group, The Atlantic Paranormal Society, or TAPS, to come in and see what they might find.
He spent a a night in the house with the TAPS investigators.
He said: 'We heard footsteps in the beginning. Up where the children used to sleep.'
The TAPS group made audio recordings all night in an effort to detect anything out of the ordinary.
They told him after reviewing the tapes that they did record some sounds.
'They thought it was kids, because they got some laughter on the recordings.'
Schlesinger admitted that he didn’t get much sleep that night while the group camped out on sleeping bags in the house’s tiny parlour, especially when his cell phone went off in the middle of the night and began playing organ music.
He said: 'I don’t know if scared is the right word.'Maybe startled or confused.'
The ghost hunters told him not to worry, that if there were spirits in the house, they were likely to be his own family and wouldn’t harm him,
He said the TAPS team also told him spirits like to 'mess with electronics,' which might explain why tourists’ cameras often stop working as well.
He added: 'There is so much history living in this house,"
The TAPS group returned last month for a second round of testing armed with their electro-magnetic field detectors and audio recorders.
Team leader Traci Boiselle, 38, described the outing as 'awesome.'
She said: 'This time, the house had a very different feeling,' she said. 'We had lots of knocking and moving sounds.'
'My take is that definitely there is some paranormal activity in the house."
But Lesley Haine, one of the house’s tour guides who was raised in Dedham, said that while it’s hard to keep flashlights working there, she’s never personally noticed anything too odd.
She said: 'If there are spirits out there, they are good spirits,'
'There’s nothing bad. They’re happy spirits'
Adapted from an original article in the Daily Mail.
Excerpt of original article by Kathy Gearing which appeared in the Autumn 2005 Newsletter of the British Ghost Club . Photograph: Sophia Ward
This photo was taken in late summer 1997 at St Mary Magdalene Church in Bildeston, Suffolk. It was early morning, just getting light and Sophia took a snap of her friend under a tree. The church was in darkness and there was nobody else around. When the 35mm photograph was developed Sophia noticed a light in one of the windows surrounding what appears to be the image of a young boy leaning on the sill with his chin resting on his hand.
While many of us would argue that perhaps this is a result of the flash rebounding off the church window pane, the explanation doesn't quite seem to fit as it is on the far left of the picture, and not more central as you would expect, and Sophia did not use the flash. The "boys" face is very large and out of scale compared to the figure of Sophias friend who is standing closer to the camera, and he is definitely illuminated from the front, and not from behind, (as you'd expect had someone been looking out of the window with a light on in the building).
Reports of phantom hitchhikers can be found throughout the world. These are apparitions that seem to haunt dark and lonely roads. Typically, they are usually seen by a lone motorist late at night, and are sometimes the cause of accidents as the unsuspecting motorist skids or swerves to avoid a figure in the road.
But when the frightened driver stops in a panic thinking that he has ploughed into someone - there is no one to be seen!
At times a motorist will actually see what he considers to be a real person hitching a lift at the roadside. The driver stops to give the person a lift, only to discover later that he is alone in the car!
The most famous of phantom road side ghosts in the UK - is the ghost of Blue Bell Hill in Kent. This ghost was reported to police three times within as many months by frightened motorists who thought that they had hit and killed someone out on the forlorn hillside. Details of this haunting has appeared in over 200 newspaper stories throught the UK over the years.
The most famous encounter occured in the early hours of the 13th July 1974. Maurice Goodenough was driving to his home in Chatham when a figure suddenly appeared in front of his car. She appeared to be a young girl, about ten years old wearing a white blouse, skirt and white ankle socks. Mr. Goodenough stamped on his brakes but he could not avoid hitting her, and the car struck her with a sickening force. He brought the car to a skidding halt and rushed back to the small girl. He found her battered and bleeding at the road side. But she appeared to be in better shape than he had first feared but aware that it might be dangerous to move her, he grabbed a blanket from his car to wrap her in whilst he went to fetch help.
He rushed to a nearby police station at Rochester, and police officers came back to the spot, marked by a now empty blanket, but although they searched for hours with a tracker dog - they found nothing!
It was at first thought that perhaps another motorist may have picked her up, and local hospitals were questioned. They all reported they had had no accident admissions that night!
After the police inspected Mr Goodenough's car and found no sign of damage they began to suspect that perhaps he had made the whole thing up or the phantom girl had been a product of an over tired mind playing tricks with shapes and shadows caught in the headlights.
However, one fact could not be disputed Mr Goodenough was not the first motorist to have had the chilling experience of encountering a strange young girl on Blue Bell Hill. Nor, would he be the last!
This photo was taken during an investigation of Bachelor's Grove cemetery near Chicago by the Ghost Research Society (GRS). On August 10, 1991, several members of of the GRS were at the cemetery, a small, abandoned graveyard on the edge of the Rubio Woods Forest Preserve, near the suburb of Midlothian, Illinois. Reputed to be one of the most haunted cemeteries in the U.S., Bachelor's Grove has been the site of well over 100 different reports of strange phenomena, including apparitions, unexplained sights and sounds, and even glowing balls of light.
GRS member Mari Huff was taking black and white photos with a high-speed infrared camera in an area where the group had experienced some anomalies with their ghost-hunting equipment. The cemetery was empty, except for the GRS members. When developed, this image emerged: what looks like a lonely-looking young woman dressed in white sitting on a tombstone. Parts of her body are partially transparent and the style of the dress seems to be from another period in time.
Other ghosts reportedly seen in Bachelor's Grove include figures in monks' clothes and the spirit of a glowing yellow man.
Supermarket worker Liam shares spooky encounters at the former Kwik Save, Hightown, Wrexham.
" I worked there for two years and in that period I had some pretty weird experiences. My first came when I was stood at the bottom of the stairs that lead up to the canteen and store rooms. It was almost silent, except for the sound of chairs and cups being moved upstairs. As it was the end of the night, no-one was up there.
Then, one day, my boss and workmate were in the backshop stockroom and they both heard the sound of a child crying. They went to inspect the aisles but there was none to be seen. About 20 minutes later I was walking toward the backshop when I heard a highpitched scream come from there. I went white!
The old butcher's room has seen its fair share of action too - apparently when it was being built when a man fell through the roof and died. A former worker was eating her lunch when she heard singing in her ear. The radio was also known to come on by its own accord.
The cleaner, Pauline, claimed to be 'sensitive' to these things and, in the past, seen the upper half of a man's body in working overalls in the backshop. Creepy as hell! "
Ali describes strange experiences while living in a spooky house in the village of Bangor on Dee, near Wrexham
In August 1998, I rented an old lodge house on a country estate just outside Bangor-on-Dee, Wrexham. From the moment I moved in, I felt welcome, at ease and happy. The house was very old, at least 100 years or so, and had originally been quite small, so a kitchen and spare bedroom above had been added.
Almost immediately, I noticed one or two odd things. The original parts of the house were always very cold, despite central heating, an open fire and even the boost of a fan heater. At first I put this down to the thick stone walls and suspected there was some damp.
Then there was the smell of soot. In one corner of the lounge or in the stairwell, there would sometimes be a strong sooty smell, even though I had not had the fire let recently. It would come and go, usually accompanied by a corresponding 'cold spot'. These things can no doubt be explained away fairly easily. The following however cannot.
A few days after moving in, I began finding dead butterflies in my bedroom. And not just an odd one or two. There would be half a dozen at a time, just scattered on the floor, always the same kind. I hovered them up, checked under the bed and all around the room and went out for a few hours. When I returned, there were several more. This happened regularly during the 12 months I lived in the house, even in the winter when there was snow outside and not a live butterfly to be seen anywhere. The room had a fireplace, but this was blocked up and never used. The windows were original leaded ones but with secondary glazing over the top and were always kept closed. I was the only one with keys to the house and the burglar alarm code, so no-one could have entered while I was out. There was no way that the butterflies could have entered the room that I could find. They were always dead. You would expect one or two to at least be fluttering about a bit, but these were dead, old and dried out.
I moved out as I met someone and we bought a house together out of the area, but when I did leave I felt a tremendous feeling of regret and loss. Shortly after I moved out, a man rented the house, but only stayed for two months. My friend from Worthenbury went out with him at the time, and he told her that he could not live there because he felt threatened and unwelcome, and had the feeling that someone was standing behind him 'giving him daggers'. However, what really frightened him out of the house him was the dead bats he kept finding in the bedroom.
At this point, I had not mentioned the butterflies to my friend, although she subsequently asked me if I had experienced anything odd there, then mentioned her boyfriend's experiences. My dog and cat also refused to stay in the bedroom, even if I was there.
From Melissa in America comes the strange tale of a reassuring kiss she experienced from the spirit world when her young son had been dangerously ill
Melissa writes:
My beautiful son is 18 months old now, and is a great joy to our family. When my grandpa passed on last year, my entire family looked at my son as a blessing, one who kept their spirits up during a sad time. Last October, my son was hospitalized with bronchiolitis, a severe respiratory infection. He was in the hospital for 2½ days, and my husband and I refused to leave his side. His first night in the hospital, his oxygen levels dipped so low that he actually turned blue, and if it weren't for the fast actions of the medical team I know we could've lost him right then.
The morning after my son turned blue, I was holding my son while laying on the small, uncomfortable couch in his room with the TV on low so he could get some rest. Because of the tubes taped to my son's small body, he kept tossing and turning, which didn't allow me to get any sleep at all. I finally got him cozy enough so that I was able to close my eyes to rest a little. The entire time, I could hear the TV in the background, and occasionally laughed at some of the comments on the talk show that was on. Suddenly, I felt someone in the room with us, but I was too scared to open my eyes. I then felt lips kiss my forehead, and I felt at peace. In that split second, I knew my son would be okay. I opened my eyes and there was no one in the room with us. I didn't expect there to be, but my mind was reeling at the feel of the warm kiss on my forehead. My forehead tingled for about 10 minutes afterward.
I don't know if it was one of my dearly departed grandfathers, my great-grandmother, or just a kind spirit offering me comfort, but I am thankful for the soul who stopped by to check up on us that day! And whoever it was didn't lie. At my son's 18-month checkup, the doctor declared him 150% better and couldn't stop exclaiming at how he had recovered so fast.
Special Constable Mark Davies from Wales had an unnerving experience when he saw the ghost of a dead colleague in broad daylight.
Mark writes:
I am a Special Constable at Wrexham. A few years ago, I was fuelling up the 'Rowdy' minibus at the petrol pump outside the police station. It was a clear summer evening.
I saw a reflection of a policeman in the side window of the van. He came and stood behind me with his arms folded. I couldn't see his face because of the angle, which meant he was a fair bit taller than me (I'm 6' tall).
I watched him for 20 or 30 seconds, but he didn't move or speak, so I turned to tell him I was almost finished; there was no-one there. The car park was deserted, and there was nowhere he could have gone to. A couple of months before this, a 6'5" traffic officer based at Wrexham had died in an on-duty motorcycle crash.
GHOSTS are trying to make contact with living friends using mobile phones, a paranormal expert claims in today's Sun newspaper
The number of mystery calls to mobiles attributed to spooks has rocketed by 43 per cent in the last four years, a study found.
Ghost investigator Phil Hayes from Paranormal Research UK believes a third of all hauntings are now through mobile phones.
The calls often feature heavy static and the voice sounds faint and distant, he revealed. Nine in ten show as "withheld number" or "000000000000" on caller ID.
Statistics show two thirds of all paranormal phenomena feature sounds, with just 20 per cent being actual sightings of ghosts and 15 per cent based on smell.
Around half of audible hauntings were captured on voice recorders by specialist ghost hunters, with eight per cent coming through TV or radio.
New research shows one in three in the UK claim to have seen an apparition in a photo or captured paranormal footage on their mobile.
The study by Tesco Mobile revealed Paranormal Research UK have seen a 70 per cent upsurge in paranormal evidence in the last year due to people using their phones.
More than half of Brits claimed they would try to capture a sighting of a ghost — but one in five admitted they would be terrified and run away.
Three in five people say they know someone who has experience paranormal activity, with half having felt an unexplained shiver down the spine when entering a room.
Phil Hayes said: "There is evidence to suggest that ghosts can use phone to communicate, with reports of people receiving phone calls from deceased relatives."
Lance Batchelor, CEO of Tesco Mobile said: "We'd recommend those brave enough to capture any spooky sightings should MMS or email their pics to the paranormal society for investigation
"Keep your camera phone on the highest quality resolution setting and use the recorder to capture the noise of any spectral sounds.
Ghost hunters from Cheshire Paranormal Society (CPS) snapped this photo last year during an all night vigil on the historic Packhorse Bridge in the village of Caergwrle, near Wrexham.
At the time members hadn't realised what was apparently standing on the bridge in front of them, said John Millington from the group, but some group members had reported feeling uneasy.
Also, other paranormal activity was also recorded, such as so-called orbs of light, one of which can also been seen in this photo.
Through further study and assistance from members of Hope and Caergwrle Heritage Society, it's thought three ghosts haunt the bridge; a young girl and two women.
CPS members believe this photo shows the ghost of Squire Yonge who, the history books say, was well known in the area 300 years ago.
The group also believe that the sighting of ghosts on the bridge could be to do with a former burial ground in the area and that the bridge was the access point.
Matt Armstrong was taking photos around the village of Llay, near Wrexham, when he caught this image on camera. Read his story:
" My friend Shaun Bird and myself decided to walk down to the bottom of the hill at Pentwmpath and take some photos of Nant-Y-Gaer wood. I took several photographs and we walked back up the hill.
The hill was very icy and Shaun had training shoes on and was able to walk a little faster than myself. Shaun was nearly at the top of the hill and I was only three quarters of the way up. I decided to stop and take a photo of the bridge at the bottom of the hill.
I took the photo using a digital camera. With the digital camera that I use it displays the photo for a brief second before you can take the next. When the camera displayed the photo it looked as though the picture had not taken correctly. I took another straight away. There was about a five second gap between each photo.
When I downloaded the photos from the camera to my PC, I had a look at the photo that I thought had not taken correctly. There was a white mist covering over half of the photo. I could not explain where or how this mist had appeared from. At this moment I walked away from my desk to get a pen. As I walked back to the PC I was looking at the photo. I could not believe what I was seeing.
Within the mist were two faces, one staring into the camera and one looking down at the floor. The one looking into the camera appears to be wearing a hat or a helmet. The other appears to have something on his head, but it is not too clear. Others have looked at the photo and can also see the two faces.
I can assure all of you that the photo has not been tampered with in any way and that there was no mist around at the time I took the photos.
Are these two faces images of ghosts that are living in limbo on Penny Hill? If so, why did they disappear so quickly? Why did they appear in the first place? Why did they only appear on the camera and not in view of all of us? Or is it just a fault with the camera that has taken thousands of pictures previously with no problem. You can decide for yourself."
When the owner of a grocery shop in Kampung Binjai, Malaysia, returned to his shop with his wife from their hometown in Kota Baru after celebrating a religious festival, they found a dehydrated intruder lying in a room. It turned out the intruder had planned to burgle the shop but had been foiled – by a spirit! The 36-year-old burglar was trapped for 72 hours without food or water by a force that he couldn’t see.
‘Each time I wanted to flee, I felt a supernatural figure shoving me to the ground’ he told police.
The spook seems to have done a better job than a guard dog!
For the first time since ghost-hunting became an organised science, Britain's spooks and apparitions have made a motorway their favourite road to haunt.
"We assumed Britain's spookiest road would turn out to be a dark lane near an ancient battlefield," said Tony Simmons, sightings coordinator for 2006 survey by Tarmac. "But, when you think about it, these findings make sense. The M6 is one of Britain's longest roads and it travels through many counties - and therefore an immense amount of history." The eerie encounters have been recorded by a hospital consultant, lorry drivers and the hauntings expert Paul Devereux, who used a Geiger counter to test radiation levels at sites of repeated reports. Spooks, or conditions which lead 45% of all drivers to think they have seen them, occur throughout the route's 230 miles from Carlisle to Rugby.
"It's interesting that we've had more really clear sightings reported from the M6 than any other road," said Mr Simmons, whose monitoring was organised by the roadbuilding company Tarmac. The survey's results also include more traditional scenes of hauntings such as the A9 in the Highlands of Scotland, where a stagecoach with bewigged footmen has appeared to a succession of drivers. Other reports include eyes peeping out of bushes at the site of a colliery disaster in Leigh, Greater Manchester. Most of the phenomena seem benign, but several roads have a reputation for figures which appear to run into the path of traffic.
The motorway hauntings are expected to grow, according to experts like Mr Devereux, who recorded his own encounter with a phantom pick-up truck on the M6 in Fortean Times, the journal of strange phenomena. The new M6 toll section in the Midlands has already attracted a Roman cohort. Sue Cowley, from Coleshill, Warwickshire, told the survey of seeing about 20 soldiers "more like upright shadows than men walking through the tarmac as you would through water."
Top 10 haunts
1 The M6. Multiple hauntings
2 The A9 in the Highlands. Weird coach
3 Platt Lane, Leigh, Manchester. Gleaming eyes
4 High Street and Suffield Road, Great Yarmouth. Phantom dog
5 Gloucester Drive, Finsbury Park, north London. Ghostly kids
6 The B4293 at Devauden, Wales. Angelic voices
7 The B3314 near Tintagel, Cornwall. Victorian woman
8 Loch Dornoch, Highlands. Eerie horseman
9 The B1403 near Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Lone soldier
10 Drews Lane, Ward End, Birmingham. Sound of invisible cars
All around the globe there is no shortage of tales of ghostly occurrences and things that go bump in the night. Here’s a small selection of multi-ethnic spectres
England, UK
Littlecote Manor in Berkshire is famous for its ghosts. Hundreds of years ago it's said that a Lady in the Manor had an illegitimate child, which was murdered in the bedroom fireplace. The room is now said to be haunted by the heartbroken lady and blood stained clothing appears from time-to-time in the fireplace. The tale is disturbing enough to put people off staying there.
Chedworth Roman Villa. Locals who live nearby will tell you of the screams of young boys which have been heard many times. The Romans, of course, pioneered under floor central heating and used young boys to crawl under the floor space to set fires to warm the floors. Unfortunately it’s said that some boys became trapped whilst carrying out the task and were burnt alive – hence the ghostly screams. Officials in charge of running the villa are extremely reluctant to talk about it because they do not want the historically important site to become better known for its ghosts, but no-one will ever go down to the villa after dark!
About a mile away from the villa is a very large house called Compton Cassey - it is famously haunted by a number of (unfriendly) spirits and has been exorcised many times. The house is built over an old Roman villa and over the years there have been many sightings of a Roman legion marching over the nearby hillside - you can only see the Romans from the waist up as apparently the earth is at a different level now. However, the Romans have only ever been sighted by people coming back from the pub - there is yet to be a sighting by someone on the way to the pub!
The town of Durham, England is arguably one of the most haunted places in the country. It has a fair range of Grey Ladies and several others to boot.
Scotland, UK
Whether or not the Kelpie is a ghost is open to debate, but the fact is that it is one of Scotland's most dangerous spirits. It traditionally takes the form of a wild horse or a beautiful woman and offers to carry travellers across the lochs. However, its intentions are by no means noble, for when the Kelpie and its passenger reach the middle of the loch the poor soul will be drowned, but the Kelpie can apparently not cross running streams. The creature now known throughout the world as the Loch Ness Monster was for a long period of history believed to be a Kelpie.
Glaamis is a part of Scotland with a rich supernatural history, particularly where its local castle is concerned:
The family's private chapel [of Glaamis Castle], is said to haunted by a woman who was burned at stake in the castle grounds for being a witch. Her ghost is said to appear sitting in the back corner of the chapel, on public tours of the castle few people feel comfortable sitting in this area.
There are other ghosts at Glammis too. Like the Earl of Strathmore who was drunk and wanted to play cards on a Sunday. Of course in those days nobody would play cards on the Sabbath, so he ran up and down the halls trying to convince someone to play with him. The devil showed up, they played for his soul and he lost, of course. So he's condemned to run up and down the halls screaming.
There's also a room that's bricked off. It was tested in the 1800s. They hung sheets out of all the windows, and there was one window with no sheet. There are two theories for this; one is that the heir apparent to the throne was born crazy, and they walled him up to keep it from the public. The other is that a vampire was bricked in, and of course, that's not the proper way to kill a vampire.
Germany
When mountaineers reach the top of the greatest peaks they are sometimes startled to see what appears to be a large, shadowy apparition floating in the sky. These were called Brocken, a name given by the people of Germany who first spoke of them. No doubt these apparitions scared the woolly socks of the poor fellows in days of yore but recently it has become known that they are in fact the mountaineer's own shadows on the clouds, caused by unusual sunlight effects.
The Netherlands
One Dutch legend speaks of a phantom boat that ferries the souls of the dead from The Netherlands to the island of Britain. This tale was supposed to account for why the UK has so many ghosts compared with the rest of Europe.
Denmark
In Denmark, the preferred hangouts for spooks seem to be old mansions, especially those built between 1600 - 1700. These mansions each have a ghost called the White Lady or the Grey Lady, who wanders the hallways dressed in, predictably, white or grey. It is not known what caused most of them but one is supposedly the ghost of a woman who was bricked into a wall in the house and left to die. This type of ghost is also very common in Estonia.
Banks Islands, Pacific Ocean
The natives of the Banks Islands believe that certain stones contain spirits called 'eating ghosts', and that if a person's shadow falls across such a stone then his soul will be sucked into it and he will die.
North America
Native American Indians have a tradition whereby they hold ceremonies in honour of the ghosts of animals that they have killed for food. These ceremonies supposedly help to ensure successful hunting. Whale hunters in Siberia, Russia also have similar traditions.
Mad Anthony's Ghost is the North American spectre of a famous general from the American Revolution.
Canada
There are lots of stories out of Nova Scotia, Canada about ghostly animals. There are stories of large and small dogs wandering around houses, through rooms and up and down stairs. There's a story of a large horse seeming to strike down a fence, and in daylight it can be seen that there is no damage done.
In an area called Fox Point, there is supposed to be a headless pig that crosses the road just at the top of a hill. To the left of the road is a tiny beach where three survivors of a shipwreck and several bodies came ashore, so there may be a connection.
Excerpt of original article by Kathy Gearing which appeared in the Spring 2006 Newsletter of the Ghost Club of Great Britain. No one has ever been able to explain this strange photograph despite being examined by photographic experts. It also appeared in newspapers at the time and no one can identify the girl.
"This photograph was taken on a wet, drizzly day on Dartmoor on the 14th June 2002. The photographer had been sitting in the car watching the ponies with her partner and decided to take a picture of them before they went home. They were totally baffled when they had the film developed and saw the little girl who appears to be petting the pony, as they are absolutely sure there was nobody else around at the time. Joan says, "the little girl was not wearing appropriate clothing for that cold, wet day and she was "brighter" than she would have been in the flesh - so to speak". It does seem very unlikely that a young girl would be out on Dartmoor, miles from anywhere on her own. Joan adds, "also those ponies do not stand still to let anyone touch them. The only person we saw, apart from the cars which drove by, was a man driving a tractor coming off the moor to get on to the road".
Photograph: provided by Lee Moynes and taken by his friend Joan.
Excerpt of original article by Kathy Gearing which appeared in the Spring 2006 Newsletter. Photograph: provided by Lee Moynes and taken by his friend Joan.
This photograph was taken on a wet, drizzly day on Dartmoor on the 14th June 2002. The photographer had been sitting in the car watching the ponies with her partner and decided to take a picture of them before they went home. They were totally baffled when they saw the little girl who appears to be petting the pony, as they are absolutely sure there was nobody else around at the time. Joan says, "the little girl was not wearing appropriate clothing for that cold, wet day and she was "brighter" than she would have been in the flesh - so to speak". It does seem very unlikely that a young girl would be out on Dartmoor, miles from anywhere on her own. Joan adds, "also those ponies do not stand still to let anyone touch them. The only person we saw, apart from the cars which drove by, was a man driving a tractor coming off the moor to get on to the road".
As Vice-President of the Ghost Club Society for over 25 years I have looked into many cases of ghost sightings so when I read an article in the Daily Mail that an eminent psychologist, Dr Richard Wiseman, has claimed that ghosts definitely do not exist, I knew he was talking nonsense - not least because I have actually talked to a ghost, as I shall describe later.
I never cease to be amazed by the gall of scientists who declare they have now proved the non-existence of spirits or the soul or second sight or telepathy when thousands of ordinary people can contradict them from their own experience.
In the British Journal Of Psychology, Dr Wiseman and his colleagues describe how they investigated two famous haunted sites - Hampton Court Palace and the South Bridge Vaults in Edinburgh - and noted that in the most 'spooky' areas there are strong magnetic fields.
Magnetism, they say, can influence the mind into thinking it is sensing the presence of a ghost. So can such conditions as cold and damp.
Their conclusion is that ghosts are all in the mind, that what you might think is a ghost is nothing more than the brain's reaction to tiny changes in light, temperature, smell or magnetic field.
What I find incredible is that these scientists - from Edinburgh and Hertfordshire Universities - have apparently failed to take a close look at the wealth of scientific research into ghosts that has been going on since 1882.
This was the year that a group of scientists and intellectuals decided to create a society for studying ghosts and hauntings under the strictest conditions. Within a few months, they had so much proof that not one of them had the slightest doubt that ghosts were real.
One of their best documented cases is that of an old chimney sweep, Samuel Bull, who died of 'sooty cancer', leaving a bedridden widow in a tiny cottage with eight other family members.
Nine months after his death, the six children became nervous, declaring that there was someone outside the door. Then one day, Samuel Bull, looking quite solid, walked into his widow's bedroom.
Everyone was terrified, but as these appearances continued over months, even the children got used to it. Samuel would stand by his widow's bed, his hand on her forehead - she said it felt firm but cold. One visit lasted more than an hour.
The Society For Psychical Research, who investigated the case, had no doubt it was genuine.
Samuel Bull was the most common type of ghost. He looked like a real person. But another type is so common that thousands of cases have been recorded - the poltergeist, or noisy ghost.
Poltergeists throw things, cause objects to fly around, and often make such a racket that they drive people to nervous breakdowns.
I have studied many cases, and have concluded that they are basically mischievous, empty-headed spirits with nothing better to do - the football hooligans of the spirit world.
In fact, there are so many poltergeists about that there is probably one within ten miles of where you live. I once tested this by asking around my local area of Cornwall. In no time at all I had located more than a dozen.
My most striking supernatural experience came in 1978 when I was invited to our local television station in Plymouth to meet a pretty nurse named Pauline McKay.
When placed in a hypnotic trance, Pauline would talk in a strong Devon accent and declare that her name was Kitty Jay, a milkmaid who had committed suicide in the late 18th century, and whose grave on Dartmoor is a tourist attraction.
But Pauline had never heard of her, nor did she know of the existence of Jay's Grave.
As Pauline lay in the studio with closed eyes, she told me how she had gone to Canna Farm, near Chagford, the most haunted village in England, looking for the labourer who had made her pregnant, and then hanged herself in the barn. Because she was a suicide, her body was buried at a crossroads on the edge of the moor, an attempt to confuse her spirit should it walk.
Pauline pronounced Chagford in the old way - Chagiford (it was spelt Chageford) - and the detailed manner in which she described Kitty's death left us all horrified and convinced.
Later, we took Pauline along to Canna Farm. She became obviously upset but, without prompting, led us into the farmyard, and turned left into the barn. There she showed us the beam on which Kitty hanged herself, and the farmer verified that she was correct.
Yet Pauline had never visited the West Country in her life.
So what is there about the little town of Chagford that makes it one of the most haunted places in England?
After extensive research, I have come to the conclusion that Chagford does indeed have more ghosts than any small town I have visited.
And I believe Dr Wiseman is at least partly right, in that the answer lies in magnetism - the magnetism of the Earth itself.
It is often connected with granite, like that on Dartmoor. Lines of this force can be traced by good dowsers, who call them 'ley lines'. The whole area around Chagford is surrounded by them.
For some reason, these lines seem to provide the ideal environment for ghosts. Again and again, I have found that haunted houses lie on the crossing point of ley lines.
And I am certain that in some odd way, these lines can record powerful, tragic emotions, like magnetic tapes.
Chagford is plainly a place that is full of such 'recordings', echoes of the past and there are many more scattered the length of Britain. Whatever, the psychologists say, I know what I've seen and heard. Ghosts do exist.
From an original article first published in the Daily Mail
The North of England. Brooding landscapes as hard as the men who live there. Crags washed in cold drizzle. Mists curling in from a wild sea. It’s not surprising that the towns of the North of England are associated with all manner of ghosts and ghouls.
Chester
Take Chester. The most haunted city in the country.
In the cathedral the Devil’s Mark appears on a flagstone in the cloister. No matter how hard the curious symbol is cleaned away, come the next morning there it is again.
The moans of the condemned are still heard on the Bridge of Sighs across which condemned criminals were once led from Northgate gaol to their last rites in Bluecoat chapel.
And if you need Dutch courage to face these spectres, don’t visit the Boot Inn in Eastgate Row, once the city’s largest brothel, where the ghostly cries and insane laughter of women long dead still echo around the bar.
York
York is almost as spooky as Chester. Some of the ghosts there are 2000 years old!
A lost Roman Legion has frequently been seen in the cellars of the Treasurer's House, which was built over a Roman Road. Horns sounding feebly and spears dragging on the ground, the weary legionnaires are led to their grisly fate by an ill-kempt centurion.
More recently children in an orphanage, the York Industrial ragged School, were said to have been murdered by their Master and their bodies left to rot locked in a cupboard. Their screams and moans can still be heard in the silence of the night.
Whitby
Not so far away is the seaside town of Whitby. A beautiful, yet strange and disturbing place.
At night the Whitby Hell Hound howls; listen and tremble for only those fated to die can hear its terrible cry.
The ruins of Whitby Abbey are the scene for a phantom coach and horses that thunders up the road, past the church and plunges silently over the cliffs into the sea.
And at Fitzsteps beware the phantom carrying its severed head under its arm that walks the lanes at night.
Scarborough
Another seaside town, and yet more horrid hauntings.
The castle haunted by the ghost of Piers Gaveston, a favourite of Edward the II, who was horribly killed in the 14th century by nobles jealous and appalled by his close relationship with the king. Visit the castle at night and his headless and furious ghost will rush at you.
In the Three Mariners pub a headless woman warns fishermen of impending disaster. But take care lest one night you meet the Pink Lady, Lydia Bell, who haunts the street where she was murdered in 1804. She may take her revenge.
The towns of the north. Wild as the countryside that surrounds them. Mysterious as the some of te folk that live there. Dare you visit?
Now that Terminal 5 is open at Heathrow Airport, passengers may be feeling the ghost of Dick Turpin standing behind them.
Employees often say they are sure someone is behind them.
They feel hot breath on their necks, and sometimes when it is quiet, they hear a man barking and howling like a dog. Turning, they find there is no-one there, but old hands say this is Dick Turpin's ghost.
Heathrow was once in a collection of isolated villages on the notorious Hounslow Heath, a favourite spot of highwaymen, and in particular Turpin.
Reports mention sightings of him riding on his horse, Black Bess, wearing his gentleman's outfit of a black tri-corn hat, black cloak and high boots. But at Heathrow, he obviously realises you can't check in a horse, so he just stands waiting.
There are also more modern spirits living here. Sadly, one seen most often is connected to a Belgian Airlines plane crash in 1948.
No one survived, but a man appeared asking the rescue crew if anyone had found his briefcase.
Fading away, they later found the man's body in the wreckage. Since that night he has been sighted many times appearing out of nowhere, walking along the runway searching for his briefcase.
Another businessman haunts one of the VIP Lounges, sometimes only seen from the waist down. Viewers speak of seeing a pair of grey clad legs walking around the lounge.
Then there are the ghosts of travellers murdered by an evil Hounslow landlord notorious for doing a Sweeney Todd on his clients, and others if you look for them.
Here's a list of what are considered to be Britain's most haunted locations. Definately not for the faint hearted to visit! Happy spook hunting.
1. Highgate Cemetery, London By night, Highgate Cemetery is like something out of a horror movie. Eerie crooked gravestones, headless angles covered in ivy, dark overgrown passages between the tombs, it's no wonder this is Britain's number one ghost spot. Despite its chilling atmosphere, by day Highgate Cemetery showcases some of the Britain's most spectacular Gothic architecture, offers fascinating guided tours and is also the burial place of Karl Marx.
2. Borley Rectory, Essex The stories of Borley Rectory mainly come from the work of famous 18th-century ghost hunter, Harry Price. Price got involved in a case at the rectory after a newspaper ran a story about a phantom nun in 1929. His investigations led to the rectory being named 'The Most Haunted House in England'. The building was destroyed by a fire in 1939, but this has done nothing to dispel stories of spooky happenings, or deter ghost hunters from visiting the site.
3. Pendle Hill, Lancashire The area known as Pendle Witch Country in the Lancashire Pennines is dominated by the dark brooding mass of Pendle Hill. Nearby is the site of Britain's most famous (and most grim) witch trial – the case of the 'Witches of Pendle'. In 1612 ten so-called witches were hanged at Lancaster Castle and they are said to still haunt the local area. The hill itself has even featured on Living TV's Most Haunted.
4. Red Lion, Avebury, Wiltshire Pubs in Britain are often said to be haunted. This might be because they are often in ancient buildings, or it could just be that ghosts like a pint as much as the rest of us. The 400-year-old Red Lion Inn in Wiltshire is one Britain's most haunted pubs and is actually situated inside Avebury Stone Circle – the largest stone circle in Europe and a World Heritage Site. The pub is never short of weird shadows, orbs or light, ghostly figures, sudden cold spots and unexplained noises in the night... should you dare to stay over.
5. Ancient Ram Inn, Wotten-under-Edge, Gloucestershire Whether you believe in ghosts or not, a trip to the Ancient Ram Inn is an unsettling experience. Its creaky floorboards, cold bare walls, musty smells and dimly lit nooks and crannies epitomise everything a haunted house should be. And the stories attached to this creepy building are not for the fainthearted: Murder, satanism and child sacrifice are just a few of the dark deeds said to have occurred here, oh and did we mention apparently it's built on a pagan burial ground?
6. Glamis Castle, Angus, Scotland The spires, turrets, towers and statues seize your attention immediately. Glamis Castle is one of Scotland's most impressive castles, but not just for the amazing architecture and 600 years of royal history. Glamis is also one of Scotland's most haunted castles. Among the many spirits said to inhabit the place is the ghost of the Monster of Glamis – a hideously deformed child who was kept locked up in a hidden room his entire life.
7. Tower of London, London Not only is the Tower of London a World Heritage Site and one of the capital's favourite attractions, it's also home to many inhabitants of the undead variety. Which is no surprise really when you consider the number of beheadings, hangings and tortures that have gone on there. Some of the most-sighted ghouls include the Princes in the Tower, allegedly murdered by their uncle Richard III, Anne Boleyn and the White Lady, who apparently brings a strange perfume smell with her on her hauntings. Click here to watch video about the man ghost of the Tower of London.
8. Culloden Moor, near Inverness On the 16 April 1746 the last-ever battle to take place on British soil was fought on Culloden Moor. Here the Jacobite rebellion, vastly outnumbered, was massacred there on the moor. And as you might think, any battle as bloody as this is bound to leave a few tormented souls. Legend has it that every year on the battle's anniversary, war-cries can still be heard as the warriors battle on in the after world.
9. Llancaiach Fawr Manor, near Caerphilly The peaceful, rural setting of Llancaiach Fawr Manor gives no clue to the turmoil of its history and the bloody civil war that was fought there. And these great battles have left no shortage of spectres wondering around the manor. In fact, strange things have been experienced in almost every room, along corridors and on stairs. Things seen, heard or felt, or sometimes odours in the air of violets or lavender - and on some occasions, roast beef!
10. Berry Pomeroy Castle, near Totness, Devon The 14th-century Berry Pomeroy Castle has two famous female ghosts; the White Lady and the Blue Lady. According to legend the White Lady is the spirit of Margaret Pomeroy, who starved to death while imprisoned in the dungeons by her jealous sister. Apparently she haunts the dark dungeons and rises from St Margaret's Tower to the castle walls. The Blue Lady is not confined to specific areas and is supposed to lure people into hidden parts of the ruin. Apparently it's a very bad idea to follow her!
It would seem that almost everyone you talk to has seen a ghost at sometime in their life.
Whether it’s full on face to face ghostly contact or just something black and shadowy glimpsed from the corner of the eye.
Ghosts are definitely a lot more common than you might think!
So what exactly are the tell tales signs that your own home is haunted?
1. Have you heard unexplained noises? The most commonly reported sounds in haunted homes are knocking, raps, footsteps, disembodied voices, bells ringing or children crying. Some think these are psychic echoes or attempts by the ghost/s in residence to grab your attention or that they are a replay of a scene that has taken place in the past.
2. Do objects move around of their own accord? Could you swear that you left a personal effect in a particular place and now it's gone? It's thought that some ghosts have a sense and humour and enjoy a joke at your expense. If this is something that happens on a regular basis it may not be your bad memory or someone else in the family moving it could very well be a spirit.
3. Do you ever smell unusual or unexplained fragrances? Sometimes the odours can be quite unpleasant other times it’s almost as if an elegant lady wearing a beautiful floral perfume has wafted by. The spectral scent may linger as a supernatural reminder of a resident who lived there long ago.
4. Do animals behave strangely in any area of your home? Cats and dogs are well known for having a heightened perception of the spirit world. They could be seeing what you are not and reacting accordingly.
5. Is there a room in your home that always feels cold even if outside temperatures are soaring? Or is there a room where you never feel quite comfortable - as if you are being watched? Try investigating the history of your home; enquire from elderly neighbours - perhaps something unpleasant has happened there in the past.
6. Do you feel as you are not alone in your home, even though there is no one else home?
7. Have lights been seen in rooms that are unoccupied? If so, they could very well be occupied by a ghostly entity!
Many noises, electrical faults and cold spots can easily be traced to natural causes. But in many cases they cannot. You may arrive at the conclusion that you have a long term ghostly guest who you wish to take steps to remove (if troublesome) or alternatively decide learn to live in harmony together.
Remember, as the saying goes you have more to fear from the living than the dead!
World famous paranormal investigator and life President of Britain’s Ghost Club, Peter Underwood has the following suggestions for ghost hunters as to the most likely places to spot a spook in haunted properties.
Mr Underwood whose ghost hunting career spans over sixty years says physical features near a haunted home are frequently the focal point of supernatural power.
Such features might be a pool, a wood, crossroads, a quarry, even a tree. It’s, therefore, always worth concentrating part of a night at a haunted location to discovering such a focal point and then seeing whether you or any of your companions experience any feelings at that spot, and whether any of the available ghost hunting equipment shows any abnormality – and frequently it does.
There are often certain parts of a house, or things in it, that can attract ghosts. The most haunted part of a house is frequently the staircase, so he advises that a lot of time is spent there.
Other parts of a house that are often found to be more haunted than the rest include the cellars and the cellar steps. Pay attention to reputedly haunted pieces of furniture, too. It’s possible that any second-hand furniture that seems to attract ghosts may have come from haunted houses
The Tower of London has developed a sinister reputation as being one of the most haunted places in Britain - understandable considering that it's been home to countless beheadings, murders, torture and hangings.
Strange sightings have included "Phantom funeral carriages", “A talking head” and “A veiled lady that, upon closer look proves to have a black void where her face should be."
This video relates a little of the Tower’s history and details several of its more famous ghosts.
The A616 Stockbridge bypass, on the edge of lonely moorlands in South Yorkshire, has gained something of a sinister reputation since its opening in 1988.
Some consider it cursed as it’s been the scene of many road traffic accidents resulting in several fatalities and hundreds of injuries.But the bypass also boasts many ghost sightings and is widely believed to be the most haunted highway in England!
The skull legend of Burton Agnes Hall, near Driffield, in Yorkshire, goes back to the time of Elizabeth 1 when Sir Henry Griffith began the construction of the hall.
He lavished so much energy and care on the project that his three daughters soon got caught up with his enthusiasm.
Of the three, Anne was the most dedicated to the project which was finally completed in 1620 but tragically she was destined never to enjoy it.
Setting out one day to visit friends she was brutally attacked and robbed.
She was found still alive and taken back to her home at Burton Agnes Hall, where her sisters kept watch at her bedside.
Sometimes Anne spoke rationally about her regret at having to die and leave the house that they had all worked so hard to make perfect. At other times she wildly begged her sisters to keep her head safely on the premises so that part of her would remain there forever!
In order to calm her ravings the two women promised to fulfil her wish, though when Anne died her body was placed complete in the family vault.
They were soon reminded of their promise when a supernatural force burst into the hall one night.
The building trembled with thunderous noise; the crashing of doors slamming of their accord and the sound of groaning.
The local clergyman was called and when he learned of the promise made to Anne he said that if they wanted a peaceful life it should be honoured.
Anne’s coffin was then opened, her skull taken to the hall and the alarming noises stopped immediately.
Some years later a new maid was so upset when she came across the skull unexpectedly that she threw out of the window.
It landed in a passing cart and immediately the horse pulling it became paralysed with fear and refused to go on.
Only when the skull was returned to the hall did the horse start on its journey again.
Over the years any interference with the skull always produced alarming consequences, and so it remained in the hall, just as Anne Griffith had wished.
If you felt that there were spirits and demons all around you wouldn't you want to find a way to protect yourself?
In medieval Europe and elsewhere people lived in constant fear of dark forces, and therefore precautions had to be taken! One of these was to make a spirit trap, which was made of an elaborate net or tangle of threads. The idea being that this could capture the spirits as they passed by and stop their movements - especially entry into a house.
One type of trap consisted of a copper loop criss-crossed with threads - traditionally red in colour - fixed to the top of a wooden stake. This would be hammered into the ground at a spot considered haunted or on an old rarely used track - especially one leading to or from a burial ground.
Another way of trapping evil spirits was a 'witch bottle'. These were bottles filled with tangles of coloured threads; placed over an entrance door, they were thought to prevent entry of the spirits of witches as they flew about at night.
In Bavaria, spirit traps could take the form of complex patterns of pebbles on the ground in front of an entrance door, or of a circuit of threads or wires on a small wooden frame inserted into the ceiling beams just inside an entrance door.
Whilst in Russia it was traditional to throw a fishing net over a bride dressed for her wedding to prevent her being reached by malevolent influences from sorcery. Nets and 'cat's cradles' of threads were known to be placed on corpses in various areas of Europe to prevent the ghosts of the recently deceased leaving their resting place. At least one use of an ancient stone 'labyrinth' site was to trap or bind spirits.
In Tibet 'devil traps' were placed on houses, described by one writer as looking like 'wireless aerials but much more complicated'. In China, Feng Shui, practitioners would erect mirrors or place fearsome door-guardians sculptures to frighten off troublesome evil spirits .
The Native American 'dream-catcher' also has links to the belief of trapping spirits. A hoop holds a web of threads to snare bad dreams, but there is a hole in the centre to let pleasant dreams drift through.
In the 21st century we may find the idea of 'spirit traps' quaint but to ancient people it was a necessary precaution against the constant threat of spirit attack, or even worse, possession!
The first account of a phantom telephone call was detailed in the spiritualist journal ‘Borderland’ in 1896. A correspondent claimed that the psychic message ‘Go to your father’s house poor Nellie is dead’ was heard over the telephone at the moment of his sister’s death!
Telephone interference has also been reported in a number of poltergeist cases, most notable in the Rosenheim Poltergeist, case in Germany, in 1968.
Some believe that phantom phone calls represent a form of ‘electronic voice phenomena’, and that they are messages from the spirit world. Indeed the US journalist and parapsychologist, D Scott Rogo, published a number of claims of phone calls from deceased persons in his 1979 book, 'Phone Calls from the Dead'.
However, the claims were met with widespread scepticism and were ridiculed by Robert A Baker (psychologist) in his 1990 book 'Hidden Voices.'
But since then, reports of telephone calls from beyond the grave continue to appear in various publications.
Only last year, the Blackpool Gazette reported that Frank Jones who in lives in the town, put a mobile phone in his late wife Sadie's coffin. It was done in a light hearted way, as she spent so much time on it when she was alive.
But he wasn't laughing when he started receiving text messages from a withheld number.
He said: "Just after Sadie died I came home and I felt that I didn't want to go in the house."
Frank said this was because when he went inside there was a smell like the cigarettes which his dead wife had smoked and also of her perfume.
He said: " Then when I went inside I got a missed call on my mobile, but it didn't ring. The call was from my home number, although I was alone in the house."
The widower said that shortly afterwards he and his family received strange text messages, which they believe were from her, as they contained information that only she could know.
Frank said that at least he wouldn't have to worry about Sadie running up a huge phone bill in the afterlife!
Hollywood has always had a reputation as a place of glamour but behind the glitzy facade lie many dark, sinsister secrets. Many stars drawn there by the thought of fame and fortune have died mysterious and untimely deaths, and their unhappy souls are said to haunt the luxurious settings of their past success.
Perhaps the most famous of these celebrity ghosts is one of the 20th century's biggest movie icons, Marilyn Monroe. In life, she was a tormented individual plagued by insecurities and whose desperate pursuit for personal happiness touched a generation. So it is hardly surprising that she has remained a restless figure even in death!
Monroe's career began at the Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard. It was here that she posed on a diving board for her first advertisement for sun-tan lotion, brimming with aspiration. The starlet, blessed with stunning looks and an hour glass figure, appeared to have the world at her feet. But later she became caught up in studio politics and struggled with many doomed love affairs. It was thought that she had even developed a serious drug dependency. On 5th August 1962, she was found dead at her Brentwood home, aged just 36. She is believed to have died from an accidental overdose, although some conspiracy theorists have claimed she was murdered!
Since her death, Monroe's reflection has been seen on several occasions in a full-length mirror that once hung in her favourite poolside suite at the Roosevelt Hotel, where she started out her career years before. Could it be that her sad soul is seeking to recapture her lost youth and happiness? The dark framed mirror that captured her ghostly image unnerved staff and guests so much that it was moved to the basement.
There have also been many reports over the years that she haunts the spot where she is buried at Westwood Memorial cemetery in LA. She has been seen in broad daylight hovering over her own grave.
The room where her short dramatic life ended is also said to have experienced much spirit activity and her image has been seen many times by the owners of the property.
Mediums who claim to have received messages from the screen goddess state that Marilyn will never be at rest until those who are responsible for her death are brought to justice! What do you think?
I enjoy looking at ghost photographs, especially those that have been examined by photography experts and for which no logical explanation can be found for the ghostly image captured.
Take a look at this one and see what you think.
In November 1995, when Wem Town Hall, in Shropshire caught fire, hundreds of people gathered to watch outside of a cordoned off area.
Over sixty firefighters attended the fire, and although they managed to save much of the exterior of the building, the interior was gutted. The town's newspaper, The Shropshire Star, reported that despite the massive fire, “a large plaque on the town hall entrance commemorating a previous fire at the site in 1677 had only suffered minor water damage.” Arson was ruled out, but no one was able to pinpoint the cause of the fire.
Standing across the street with his camera was a local resident, Tony O’Rahilly. He had a 200-mm zoom lens mounted on his camera, and was taking pictures of the scene of the fire from a safe vantage point.
Some time later, O’Rahilly had his black and white film developed and was astonished to find an unexpected image in one of the photographs. Standing in the doorway of the burning town hall is what appears to be a young girl. O’Rahilly said he did not see anyone there when he was taking the photograph.
This is an unusual photograph as the girl appears to be looking directly towards the camera, flames raging behind her inside of the town hall. No other picture with the image of this girl has ever surfaced. Who was this mysterious young woman?
The girl in the doorway was not seen by anyone in the crowd at the time the photo was taken.
When examined by a photographic expert Dr. Vernon Harrison, former President of the Royal Photographic Society, the photo was considered genuine, in that it had not been tampered with!
The previous fire on the site of the building in 1677 was caused when a 14- year- old girl, Jane Churn accidentally dropped a candle.
It was fire so fierce that bells in a nearby church melted.
Some say that the ghost snapped in the second fire is that of young Jane. What do you think?
Send ghost photographs that you believe to be real to Psychic Reach and we'll feature them here. psychicreach@btinternet.com
Ghosts of the Living! Now that's a bit of a contradiction of terms. We are all familiar with the idea that a ghost is an apparition of a dead person but there are also many accounts of "ghosts of the living". How can that be?
Ancient people thought of light in terms of “spirits”. In Wales, this idea was manifested in the belief of the “canwyll corfe” (corpse candle), which was viewed as being a harbinger of death.
A description of a typical corpse candle was given to author, Alasdair MaGregor, in Carmarthen, by the daughters of a John Thomas who died in 1946.
One pleasant summer’s evening Thomas and a friend were walking when they saw a strange light travelling towards them from the village of Francis Well.
I remember seeing a movie many years ago about a Doppelganger.
It sent shivers down my spine. I can’t remember the whole of the movie but one scene really sticks in my mind.
A man was returning home to his apartment when he heard music playing from inside (he owned a piano).
As he went inside he was shocked to discover his exact double sat there in broad daylight playing his piano. The apparition grinned at him in a ghoulish way before disappearing.
His life then became a nightmare as it began to steal his identity and cause problems with everyone he knew.
I suppose a bit like identity fraud these days!
So what’s the history behind this spooky idea?
A Doppelganger is said to be the ghostly double of a living person
“Doppelganger” in German translates as “double”. The literal translation is “double–goer,” or “double walker” – a shadow self that is thought to accompany every person.
The word is also used to describe the sensation of having glimpsed oneself were there is no chance that it could have been a reflection
A Doppelganger is said to cast no shadow and like a vampire has no reflection in a mirror.
It’s considered unlucky to try and communicate with one.
In some cultures when a Doppelganger is seen by a person’s friends or relatives it’s said that that it will always be malicious in its intentions and cause confusion and upset.
To glimpse one’s own Doppelganger is thought to be a sinister omen of illness or death.
The famous 19th century French writer, Guy de Maupassant, claimed to have been haunted by his Doppelganger near the end of his life. On occasion, he said, this double entered his room, took a seat opposite him and began to dictate a story to him. He wrote about his experience in his short story “Lui.”
Percy Shelley, who was considered to be one of the greatest English poets to ever have lived, encountered his Doppelganger while living in Italy. The phantom was said to have silently pointed towards the Mediterranean Sea. Not long afterward he drowned in a sailing accident.
It is also said that Queen Elizabeth I, was shocked to find her Doppelganger laid out on her bed. She died shortly afterwards.
And despite Hollywood hype, midnight is not the most likely time to bump into a spook!
His findings unsurprsingly revealed that the majority were seen during the hours of darkness: 54 per cent against 46 per cent. But, of those seen during the hours of darkness 78 per cent were seen during the early hours - between 4.00 a.m. and 6.00 a.m. - when, perhaps many people are between sleep and full awakeness.
A great number are, still of course, reported around the midnight hour - popularly regarded as the time most likely to spot a ghost than any other hour of the day or night!
If you’re of nervous dispostion perhaps it’s best not to leave your bedroom during these times!!
Reports of solitary spectres treading dark lonely roads and highways throughout the world are a common occurrence.
But, certain road ghosts appear to have distinctive ‘hallucinatory’ properties. And, they possess such a bizarre or out-of-place aspect to their appearance or behaviour it immediately alarms the person unfortunate enough to witness it!
