Been away for a while - Halloween night 2015

Hello again spook people.  I have not posted for quite some time I know.  We have not really been going out to hunt for Slimer and co with the PP management getting all married up and we did a hunt I forgot to blog about a bit back so I am not going to attempt to remember the details of it now.  It would come out all wrong and I like to report finding as accurately as I can.

So we came back with a bang on Halloween night at Knottingley town hall.  The hall is one of the most active places we have found in this local area.  There was plenty of fancy dress going on too.

The night started out with entertainment in the form of a Friday the 13th screening followed by food and a raffle.  The proceeds went to the Make a Wish childrens charity.  I have never watched the film before and found it more funny than scary.  It did keep me entertained though and the food after was wonderful.  The atmosphere was very friendly, relaxed and chatty, but when the hot pot and cake was gone and most of the fancy dress had been shed it was time to get down to the real stuff.

There were a lot of people there so we all gathered on the ground floor to kick off with a sit in the dark calling out.  We all spread out over the hall way and some in the side rooms.  I was in the dance hall.  While we were just calling out and listening a few people had various feelings and could hear little sounds.  The lights on the K2 were flashing a lot so I was told but I couldn't see it myself.  I felt an odd sensation in one spot on my back that I can't quite explain and then I went from being a comfortable temperature to quite quickly really very cold.  Susan the medium was picking up on a man and a dog but I can't recall the exact words about them.

We split in to three teams, one on each floor.  I was in team one on the top floor.  We did a human pendulum which did bring a few answers from a female spirit who worked in the building.  It worked with two members of the public but not with another.  We then tried a seance and I moved away from the table as I feel things better when away from other people.  I felt as though someone was stood near the doors and then that they moved closer to me but did not want to go over to the table.  Then they left.  As I may have said before, I do get these feeling from time to time but I am still unsure as to what they are.  Could be real, could be in my head.  I do believe there is something but I take quite a bit of convincing.  We also then tried some table tipping which did give a small result but nothing dramatic.  However the people around the table, all public, seemed to feel it was very real and it left them scratching their heads for an answer.  We ended the session out in the hall near the toilets where nothing much happened but there was a girl who kept feeling like something was messing with her hair.

Everyone came back together to have a cuppa and swap stories before heading out as two groups.  The energy seemed to be better in larger teams.  We headed down to the cellar where I spent the rest of the night.  We tried calling out but again had little response and then some table tipping with a stronger result but still nothing OTT.  We had public trying their hand at scrying with wax and crystal balls as well as using pendulums and a Ouija board.  We had another go with table tipping but got nothing.

After all the public had some more tea and cake they cleared out saying they had had a great night and some had seen or felt things that they couldn't explain.  For me the night was very flat and had little energy but that is the nature of ghost hunting.  You don't know what you will find and the spooks do not come to order.  We had some very strange things happen in that building before, but this time I didn't really find anything.

Later on, when it was just a few crew left, Mark saw something in the doorway.  It made him jump.  It was a very tall figure in a long black cloak or coat but it was a momentary, fleeting glimpse.  We gathered in the cellar for one last go at calling out.  Lindsay got very creeped out but nothing really came of it.  We had the Franks box on with what sounded like the odd reply but nothing really made too much sense.  

The night was fun as always but the spooks didn't come out to play.  It is a bit disappointing but as I said, you can't make it happen.  If you do make it happen then you are a theater company, not a ghost hunting company.  Forced results are pointless results.  I do still have some audio and video footage to look through but I am not expecting anything special.  If I do find anything I will get it posted up.

There is a crew only hunt coming up later this month.  I shall be sure to give you guys a write up on the results of that one.

The new venue - The RAFA club

Bit late getting this written up but better late than never as they say.

The RAFA club (RAF association) was a members only club during the war for service men and their partners.  The club still stands and is still trading, but it's many members have become aged and left this world, leaving low numbers of the original members and only a few newer members.  The building was home to a doctors surgery before it was the RAFA.  I have not done any digging as yet to find information on the building and the land as I thought knowing may affect the initial investigation, so I shall be doing the research soon and may post a report on the place.

We got settled in and went around baseline testing.  For those who don't know, this is a record of each room's temperature, both ambient and surface, humidity and EMF.  EMF (electromagnetic field) should normally be zero but you can find hot spots sometimes and if you walk around you may find places close enough to something electrical to set it off.  This is all noted as well as anything you can see that may affect the results, things like a draft, cracked window, hole in the ceiling (as there was there) creaky floor boards, that kind of thing.  I noticed that as we were doing this, there was one room I didn't like the feel of before I even opened the door.  I didn't really want to open the door, but I did anyway.  I really didn't like the room.

After baselines were taken we sat in the room where the Lions come to meet.  We had the modified baby monitor on and were getting sounds but could not quite be sure about feedback levels and had some debate about it.  It was decided to use it as a good old fashioned listening device and the sending unit was placed in a front room with a drum kit in it, so we named it the drum room (inventive I know, and this was the room I didn't like).  While the monitor was in this room we could hear sounds as though fabric was rubbing on the mic.  I wondered if it might actually be a breeze blowing as this was the room with a hole in the ceiling, but while the room was very cold, it didn't have a breeze you could feel.  The noise was constant and was then joined by another sound, a low bumping sound that was almost train like in rhythm.  This sound then continued on and was joined by a further more strange sound.  We could hear breathing.  Not too heavy, but it was as though someone was quite close to the mic, just breathing.  We called out but didn't get any replies, just these same sounds.  The room it had been placed in was locked and we had the key with us.  It was mentioned that it may be the sound of traffic outside but I have never heard traffic sound like that, and as I have a young child now and use a baby monitor at home, I have heard many traffic sounds come through, but that sound was very different.  That sound was more like when my son had stood up in his bed, reached over and grabbed the monitor and was playing about with it.

The monitor was moved to the toilets and it fell almost silent.  We had the slight sound of the mic being touched for a while but then it seemed to stop and we didn't hear it again.

We had a break and then went down to the bar area.  The Ouija board was set up and was very active.  I don't have my notes on all that happened, they were taken by mistake by one of the team, but I wouldn't want to say too much in detail yet anyway.  We had names and numbers coming through.  Service men and their wives, and also some who may have been related to it being the doctors.  The board just kept going and going, some conversation and then a goodbye, followed by large circles as another stepped up.  If you know me then you will know I don't have much faith in Ouija boards at all, but it was interesting to see one going as much as this.  Plus, there was a word used that I'm sure none of us knew.  Migmow.  The board had kept spelling out gibberish and had said they were laughing at us, so when this word came out we said that isn't a word, it said yes, so we asked if we looked it up it would be a real word, again it said yes.  Mark looked it up and there is an urban dictionary listing for migmo (without the w) "a word used to confuse others."  Given that the spirit had already said they were laughing at us and spelling out gibberish to take the micky, it seemed a fitting word to use.

I played some 40's/50's music on my record player, lit a candle, used my new crystal pendulum and took photos and video, but didn't really get too much from it.  The only thing I found with my video was that it looks as though the camera is constantly moving, juddering but was set down on a solid surface.  I thought it may have just been something to do with the camera, but on testing it out at home I didn't get the same result.

We didn't end up doing a lot of experiments that night but we did get to have a good look around and got some activity.  This place needs more investigation for sure.  I am convinced there is something there.  I tend to only really feel spirits properly when other people are not too close to me to distract me.  I have been in some creepy buildings, Newsham Park Hospital for instance.  I walked around in there with no problem, on my own, away from the group in a huge creepy abandoned asylum with no electricity.  But here I was, in a building the size of a large house, still in use with all the lights on but my goodness there was something there making me feel uneasy when the crew weren't close by.  I even heard the upstairs toilet doors moving, I thought it was Mark, but I went back down stairs and there he was, sitting with everyone else.

Come hunt with me

Pontefract Town Hall is a very beautiful old building.  It has stood since 1785 and was the Police station for the town 150 years ago.  We are told that this is home to many, many spooks so I am very excited to get in there and get hunting.

If you want to come and have a go 8pm til 3am, Pontefract Paranormal are selling tickets for Saturday 6th June for £35.  This includes use of all kinds of equipment and full instructions and help in how to get the most from your hunt.  Any other ideas are always welcome too.

Click here for tickets

Psychics

I want to believe in them but I can never make up my mind for sure how much I believe.  Even though I feel things and am sure there is something there, I am not so sure about exactly what it is.  Even when I have moments of thinking it's not quite real, I don't think they are all fakers by any means.  It might be that some people are just very intuitive and mistake this for a supernatural ability. 

I have been leaning more about scrying and have had a go with the pendulum and wax in water.  At the moment I don't think I have faith in it at all, however, I am going to keep at it and see if anything happens to make me think otherwise.  The table tipping has already thrown me a curve ball so maybe scrying will as well.