Friday 7 December 2007

Horror at Temple House by A Kasady

We had heard about Temple House through a local ghost hunting team that I have regular correspondence with. They told us of an investigation that they had carried out a few weeks previous that had yielded some interesting results. They had decided to go back there in a few months time but asked if I was interested in taking a look as they wanted another team to verify what they had found. With my interest peaked I got the team together and we headed off to see what the location had in store for us.

The place itself is an old building that had been built in the early nineteenth century as a home for a local dignitary. Although the outside had the look of a building that had been standing around for many years its interior was one newly furnished offices and top of the range equipment.

Dr Katherine Copeland carried out her routine tests as always and came back with very little in the way of any abnormal on either the thermometer or on the Gauss meter. She did warn us of the electromagnetic fields that would be a around due to the amount of equipment that was plugged in. We decided that the gauss meter would be pretty useless in these surroundings and decided against taking it with us.

The team had Annabel Keogh our medium try and contact some of the spirits that still may be lurking around in the building and this was where things got a little interesting.

She came back with the name “Alice Carruthers” - which was a name the previous team had come up with – who was a young girl that had been working as a maid to the original owner of the building. She had become pregnant by the owners son but, once she had informed her lover of this, had found herself being pushed down the stairs by the young man who had been worried about the affect this could have on his standing.

The team agree that we would carry out our investigation around the stairs after Ann had informed us that she felt no other presences in this building and that Alice was causing all the paranormal activity in a bid to let the living know she was there. Ann also said that she would help the young female spirit find her way to the other side when the investigation was over. With that in mind we set up the equipment and waited to see what the night had in store.

In started out quietly with nothing much really going on, a few minor sounds that had some of the other team members jumping but other than that very little was happening. It was only when Annabel commented that she could feel the spirit of Alice moving down the stairs that the hairs began to rise on the back of our necks.

We positioned the cameras towards the stairs and sent Katherine up with the temperature gauge. She reported a degrees drop in temperature that she couldn’t find the reason for. We called out and received what sounded like small whistle for our troubles. Although nothing was picked up on the video cameras some orbs were picked up around the stairs on the stills.

We decided at this point that we would hold a séance with a Ouija board. We asked out for information and received on the board the message “Sad” and “Baby”. Ann informed us that the girl was unhappy at not being able to give birth to the baby before she had died. We also received the message “James” which we knew to be the man that had killed her and “Stairs” which we already knew was the place that she had died.

Nothing else of not happened during the session so we packed away the board and waited. On calling out we received some bumps and bangs in answer to our questions and we also had a big drop in temperature that once again Katherine couldn’t find an explanation for. We also heard the strange whistle sound again and several more times after that.

When morning came we had gathered enough information and recorded several strange occurrences that had made it a worthy night. Probably not as much as we had hoped but not so little that it had been a waste of time. We left Ann to cleanse the location of the spirit, something she always likes to do alone, and once that had been carried out made our way to our office to go over all the date and conclude our findings.

More on Arron Kasady’s ghost investigations and the upcoming movie ‘The Ghosts of Crowley Hall’ can be found on our official site - www.crowleyhallghosts.com

Thursday 6 December 2007

Ghost Hunting Should Be Professional by Robert Benjamin

Ghost Hunting can be very fun and yet at times it can be one of the most terrifying things you will probably ever do in your life.

The following are just a few of the things folks have encountered during ghost hunting or paranormal investigations:

1. Smells: These smells can seem to come from no where, and develop instantly and disappear just as fast. The smells are often putrid like rotted meat, or like fresh bowel movements, and are very overpowering at times.

2. Apparitions: Some spirits appear as barely visible forms, while some become as solid and normal looking as a living person.

3. Clouds - Mists - Masses: Often fleeting shadows, things seen out of the corners of the eyes are encountered. Or a rolling black mass may appear, sometimes a whispy form like smoke is seen.

4. Disembodied voices: These are often heard and at times they can be very scary. Imagine being in a darkened room, and having something invisible whisper or even shout in your ear. These are not EVP's, but normal sounding speech.

5. Physical Sensations - Some ghost hunters have been touched, pinched, slapped, had their hair pulled, been scratched or even bitten by invisible entities.

6. Rappings - Scratching - and Knockings: In walls, ceilings and floors. Strange sounds and noises are often heard in haunted locations, as well as hearing what sounds like objects being dropped, or moved in nearby rooms.

7. Cold spots: Sometimes just before a spirit manifests they draw energy from the surroundings. Often a spot in one area of a room will suddenly become very cold. For example the temperature thoughout a room may average 75 degrees but in one corner or area, the temperature will suddenly plummet to 50 degrees or even colder. This is a sure sign of a spirits presence or a soon manifestation.

8. Power drains and equipment malfunctions: Like cold spots, when a spirit is drawing energy needed to become solid or more visible, they will often draw-in nearby energy, this energy can also come from batteries in video camers, and other devices. Often cameras, tape recorders, even lights will suddenly go haywire or stop working all together when a spirit is present.

Almost everyone that does ghost hunting believes that there are two types of spirits, human and in-human, the latter are also called demons. I am a born again christian and believe the bible 100%. From my beliefs in the bible as factual. I believe there is only one type of spirit involved in any haunting, and these are in-human or demons.

According to the bible, when we are dead our spirits or souls are present with God, from there we are either granted a life of love and peace in heaven with the creator and the other believers, or we are cast into hell forever, with no chance of escape. The bible also says there is a huge chasm or void that separates the living from the dead, they cannot cross over or communicate with each other. There are other statements in the bible that clearly says that ghosts can not be the spirits or souls of people who have died.

Whether the creatures involved in a haunting are spirits of dead humans or whether they are demons, if one is trying to prove that they truly exist or if you are trying to disprove a haunting, then you must do paranormal investigations as a professional.

A professional Ghost Hunter or paranormal investigator needs to have the right tools. Here I will explain devices that every ghost hunter or paranormal investigator MUST have, if he or she is truly taking the phenomenon as real or as a business, and not as a joke.

1. Voice Recorder: It doesn't matter if you use a standard tape recorder or one of the new digital recorders, what does matter is the quality and the ability to use an external microphone. Try to get one that is of good quality, but make sure you get one that has a plug in microphone with a cable or cord so the end of the microphone is away from the recorder. The small all-in-one recorders that have the built in microphones, pick up a lot of the hiss and gear noise from the recorder when they are in record mode. A recorder is a necessity for recording EVP's. EVP's also called (electronic voice phenomenom) are a very unique and sometimes frightening thing that is often encountered in a haunted area. What an EVP is, is a voice or other communication that is heard on a tape or digital recorder during playback, that was not heard when the recorder was recording.

2. Film Camera: Do NOT use a digital camera because the photo will always be questioned as being fake, no matter how good it is, where if you use a film camera, you at least have the negatives as some proof. And unless you buy a high mega-pixel digital camera, the photo quality will be less than a nice cheap 35mm film camera.

3. Camcorder: A camera is good, but a camcorder is even better. Get one that uses a tape, either the small cassettes or one of the older models that use the full sized VHS tapes. I bought two of these older camcorders for under $75 each recently.

4. Thermal Imaging scopes or goggles: These capture the upper portion of the infrared light spectrum, which is emitted as heat by objects instead of simply reflected as light. Hotter objects, such as warm bodies, emit more of this light than cooler objects like trees or buildings. Often spirits that manifest have a temperature in their form that stands out in this spectrum, especially if a spirit is present in a cold location.

5. Night Vision scopes or goggles: These little devices have become very cheap, a nice night vision scope can now be purchased easily for under $200. They work by collecting the tiny amounts of light, including the lower portion of the infrared light spectrum, that are present but may be imperceptible to our eyes, and amplifying it to the point that we can easily observe the image.

6. Flashlight: Take along two small pocket ones for each team member. What can be worse then exploring a dark cellar or underground area, and having the lights or another flashlight fail.

7. Walkie Talkies: If you have a group of team members, and you are investigating a large location, walkie talkies are not just a good thing to have, but they can be a life saver at times.

8. Notebook and pencils: Often any electronic, electrical or other devices may fail in a haunted location, so it's very wise to carry along a small notebook and some pencils in case you need to keep some valuable notes.

9. Thermal Scanner: A hand held thermal scanner (thermometer) uses infrared technology to measure the surface temperature of material without touching it. You simply point at your target, pull the trigger and read the temperature on the lit LCD display.

One of the best tools I recommend, is also the cheapest, under $10 U.S. It is a computer software program that is made just for Ghost Hunting and Paranormal Investigations. It's called 'Ghost Hunter'. The software is for anyone who explores haunted houses or locations where any type of paranormal activity is occurring. Whether you are trying to gather evidence of the haunting or other proof, this software can help make the job more organized and easier.

Ghost Hunter software was made as a scientific tool, for paranormal researchers that believe in spirits, demons, or ghosts. Researchers can easily keep track of vital data gathered at the haunted locations. With this software you can know at a glance such vital information as; the date and times of the activity, location info, GPS data, telephone numbers, notes, sounds heard, odors detected, temperature anomalies, and more.

More on Arron Kasady’s ghost investigations and the upcoming movie ‘The Ghosts of Crowley Hall’ can be found on our official site - www.crowleyhallghosts.com

Wednesday 5 December 2007

Ghost Sightings at the Old Sheep’s Inn by A Kasady

If the research about this old building, situated on the outskirts of London, was to be believed then not all was well with this public house.

Built in the late 18th century, the inn has remained a public house/B&B since it was first built. Research tells us that it’s cellar, which is split into many rooms, was used as a holding area for prisoners when they were being brought down to the courthouses in London.

Katherine decided that we should carry out an investigation in this building when she found out that a lot of the prisoners who were held in the cellars never seemed to leave alive. The current owners of the inn told Katherine of some of the paranormal activity that kept them awake at night.

Glasses being thrown off tables, people seeing shadows, tables and chairs being moved in the night, but the thing that interested the team the most, ghostly screams being heard from down in the cellar. The workers at the inn refuse to go down there alone AND often don’t go down there at all in the evenings.

The team turned up and began our initial investigations into the workings of the building. We placed a glass in the middle of table in the bar area and around it laid some flour. Hopefully when we returned later on in the evening the glass would have been moved. We also placed some motion detectors in the hallway going from the bar to the cellar area to catch anything that may move through beams.

We brought Annabel in to give us her initial opinions of the building. Walking into the bar area first Annabel told us of the ghost energy of the past 300 years that still resided in the building. She told us of people and noises, the smell of ale and talking and laughing.

Annabel found it very hard to concentrate on any one given thing, as she was beginning to tell us so before she stopped. Annabel asked to leave for a few minutes for some fresh air. This is something we had never come across before on our ghost hunts, and were quite shocked by this.

After a ten minute break Annabel came back in and told us that while she had been talking about the ghost energies still in the building, when a spirit had whispered in her ear proclaiming that “Those that will be judged will be done so here.”

She then saw a visual image of a man being tied up to a pole in the basement and whipped to death. So shocking was the image that Annabel had needed to take five minutes out just to clear her head.

Now that she was back in however the ghostly images had returned. She informed us that the voice she was hearing was from one of the old patrons at the inn. “Robert”. She told us that when criminals were bought here and held overnight some of the soldiers escorting the prisoners paid Robert to do away with the men so they could lay claim to the prisoners dying on the way down to London. The soldier’s get paid and they could return home sooner than expected

Annabel claimed that Robert took great delight in beating the prisoners to death and doing away with the bodies. Annabel asked if we could now go down to the cellar as she wanted to confront this evil man and hopefully cleanse the inn of his ghostly influence.

We made our way down to the cellar, when Katherine told us that the temperature had dropped significantly since moving downstairs. Annabel claimed that Robert was angry we were in his domain and was going to make that quite clear to us as the night went on.

As we moved down deeper into the cellar, I was struck on the back of the head by what felt like a large hand. As I was telling people of my experience one of the other members of the team also shouted out in pain, saying he had been struck on the back of the head.

Annabel told us that Robert is going to make his spirit presence known, and we should all be extra careful. She went on to tell us that she could feel that a lot of men were murdered down in the cellar. More than thirty bodies had been carried out and buried in the surrounding areas. It was shortly after saying this that a loud bang was heard coming from one of the rooms. On investigating the noise, we found one of the beer barrels had been pushed over.

It was at this point I decided to call out to the ghost, and nervously I asked him to show himself to the ghosthunting group. I only just managed to utter these words, when we heard a scream coming from one of the rooms further down in the cellar. What happened soon after we got there, was something I won’t soon forget.

On entering the room, Annabel told us that this was the place that Robert carried out the deeds. I slowly entered the room with another member of my team to see what could have made the scream, and although the room was empty, we heard a shuffle coming from deeper inside. It was as we entered further, that we heard Katherine shout for help. We turned to find Annabel lying on the ground in tears. We tried to lift her up but she was in some sort of trance. I declared that this would have to be the end of the evening, as we needed to get Annabel upstairs and away from the inn.

It was as we were lifting her up and carrying her upstairs, that we heard another scream come from the room that we had just been in. As she heard this, Annabel began to wail that she had to cleanse the building of lingering ghost spirits. I refused and told her the first thing we needed to do was get her upstairs and outside.

When we finally got Annabel outside, I went back into the building and had a look at the glass which we had left on the table. Sadly nothing had been moved, and nothing had set off the motion detectors. I picked the stuff up and got outside with the rest of the team.

I don’t know what happened that night. But I do know that soon after Annabel went back without us knowing, and cleansed the building of ghost spirits. She still won’t tell us what she saw that made her cry that night. It’s something that she never wants to revisit.

One thing, I am glad I’ll never have to visit that place again.

More on Arron Kasady’s ghost investigations and the upcoming movie ‘The Ghosts of Crowley Hall’ can be found on our official site - www.crowleyhallghosts.com