It's not just Casper!

So, trying to get myself all up to date, I thought I should tell you all about our Halloween ghost hunt. It wasn't actually on Halloween, but the Saturday before. Always find it strange when things like Halloween, bonfire night, etc are on a Wednesday or Thursday, as celebrating the weekend before seems to early, but having a party after the event always seems a bit strange! Anyway, back to the night in question

For the hunt we went to a completely new place that we had never visited before, over in Wavertree, nr Liverpool. An old house that had been converted to a holistic and spiritualist centre. As always we never try to investigate the places before we go, to avoid an pre-conceived feelings, hence the reason we nearly missed it.

When we arrived they were still setting up the cameras, having problems with one particular room where the camera kept going funny. Eventually all the others arrived and we got going. Due to the layout of the building, we were taken off in a small group and the ouija board was opened for us. We chatted with a couple of spirits and got some good information. It was revealed to us that there were a large number of spirits, 67, used the building as a meeting place, and the majority were scousers! They didn't mind us 'Mancs' being there.

We moved into an adjoining room, and tried to contact any spirits. We got no response on the board, no movement or even any feeling of any presence, so after a few minutes we thought we would move on. We stopped for a quick snack and then headed to another room. We found an empty room and set up the board. I got up to shut the door to the room and jumped out of my skin, I think the phrase was "what the f"( I realised there were women in the room so stopped!). All of a sudden there was a crash in the corridor we had walked down to the room. The torches went on and there was a toilet brush on the floor. To the side of the corridor there was a few bags and piles of various things including toilet brushes. The one that was on the floor was probably a foot away from where all the others were, and it had been a couple of minutes after we walked past so cannot see what could have disturbed it.

UPDATE - I forgot all about this blog for a while, and haven't been on many hunts between this event ( back in 2013) and my latest one (the reason for resurrecting this blog) so I thought I would share what I have put in this one. Unfortunately I had not finished this write up, so sorry it's incomplete...in school report terms, must try harder!

Do spirits have a sense of humour?

So just in time for my next ghost night, I thought I would try and get the information gleaned on my last night out down on paper so to speak. I have decided on this one to discuss the night, before adding the actual spirits information to the end of the blog post. This way anyone who comes across this post looking for evidence of existence of the other side can validate any details they have.

But first I want to talk about the night we had at Turton towers in Bolton. It was a fun and eventful night, and also very informative. A good old place to visit, with a lot of the old parts of the building still intact. Unfortunately this means you are required to be very careful about the areas you go into, but this didn't spoil the night. 

We started our night as a full group in what seemed to be the main hall, which was not on the ground floor as you would expect. Here we all kept to the side as one of the leaders tried calling out. As he was calling out the k2 meters kept responding, as if someone was moving round the room in relation to him. Somebody gave the name Elizabeth, but calling this out did not get a response on the meters. Whilst in this room I kept feeling a cold sensation around my legs, as if a child was holding them, but put it down to the draughty room.

After a number of people left the room, we got our hands on a ouija board and performed the normal 'spell' to protect ourselves. Once on the board we had a chat with a few spirits in the room (as I said, details below). At one point one of the spirits told my dad he was being too noisy as he kept whistling. This was making one of the spirits in the room avoid coming to the board, as it was scaring all of them in the room.

As we moved to various rooms we tried the ouija board we came to one of the larger downstairs rooms. Now those who know me, or those who have read this blog will hopefully realise I'm not a scaredy cat, and don't tend to frighten easily, but as soon as I opened the door to this room I got an awful feeling of dread...I know it sounds cliched, but I was fearful of going into the room. I couldn't explain it but it was almost as if something wanted to keep me out. We did go into the room after I gained my composure, but it was a weird sensation.

We next went down into the cellar. Down here we had a conversation with another spirit. At first this spirit was acting like one of the spirits we had been speaking to in the main hall from the start. We asked why he had followed us down and a few other questions but he slipped up mentioning cinemas. After a while it turned out to be another spirit pulling our legs for a joke.

As we went round the rooms we heard a lot of screaming from other groups, leaving rooms saying things had moved and they had been told plenty of unsavoury things. This we always see as a challenge so we headed for one room where a number of members had been screaming and almost come running from. Whilst in the room we made contact with one of the spirits who admitted he had been the one to scare the previous visitors. We asked why he had done this and he told us it was fun because they were scaredy cats. He didn't try to scare us off because he knew we weren't  frightened so it was no fun. We asked if other spirits in the building did this as well and he told us they did as it was a laugh. 

Another room where people had been scared was also free so we headed over to that room. As we headed over to this rom we went via another room that we heard mumblings coming from. As we walked in one of the small groups jumped. They asked if we had been in there already as someone had just looked around the corner at them. We hadn't been there or seen anyone coming past us, but they were sure they had seen a woman looking at them from the doorway I was stood in. We left them to it and went to the room we had been heading to.

In this room we had heard about a young girl spirit getting upset and things being thrown. We wanted to find out about the upset so eventually we got a response on the board. The young girl had been upset with the questions, and her mum had stepped in to try and scare away the people asking the questions. We asked if her mum had gone into the other room and we were told she had to make sure they weren't going to bother her daughter again.

A number of spirits also told us some information about the objects which had been thrown. I'm going to reserve judgement on this one though as I want to see what happens this weekend in a different location.

So wish me luck..tomorrow is another ghost night

Update you soon :-)

Oh, and as promised....here is the information that we gathered from the spirits.

In the main room we began in we met a spirit called Stephen who worked there between 1660 - 1737. He worked as a servant in the great hall, his master was Richard Resuns. Stephen had 6 children. One of them was Harold (who was usually called Fred). He was 12 years old. He also had a sister called Elizabeth. He told us that the kings during the time he served were Charles II and James II. 

Down in the basement we met Peter Forest. He was a guide at Turton towers and lived from 1947 - 1987. He was protecting a couple of other spirits in the room. We convinced him to let us talk to other spirits. We then got to talk to George, a Nigerian. He had escaped from Nigeria where he was wanted by the police for theft. He had died in 2011 in a car accident but his body had been hidden so that no one found any trace of him.

In another room we spoke to Gordon from Ghana. He was a 'friend' of George, but didn't like him because he had stolen money from him.

This is all the actual information we got from the spirits. Hopefully this will help someone else confirm what details they find.....good luck :-)

A quiet few months

So I'm back after a few months away from here (ok 9 or so) but life is usually fairly chaotic with kids moving off to university and holidays etc. It's not that I haven't been ghost hunting, but nothing of much note has happened on few I have made it onto.

I went to Doncaster air museum, which was extremely uneventful. Quite a long journey, with only my dad and brother. There was some action, with a stone being thrown (allegedly), and the only real thing of note was a shadow walking into the main hangar. 

We were all stood in the main hangar, doing some calling out, a stone was thrown and we resumed calling out. From where I was stood I could see the light from the doorway into the hangar and it looked like someone had walked into the building. It was strange as the only other person at the place was the curator. I check with the guys running it and then headed to the door to see what he wanted, but there was no one around. Outside the door was shale apart from the path I could see all the time, so whoever it was could not have left without me seeing or hearing. Other than this it was a very quiet night.

Another visit over the last few months was to Ordsall hall in Salford. A well know haunted house, visited many a time by various haunting programs. I have to say it was a bit of an anti-climax. This may have been because so much of it has been updated, thought i think the anticipation of going to such a well known place had built it up to the extent it could not live up to it. It was a great place to visit, and we got lots of interesting responses, so definitely worth going, just don't build it up as I did. Unfortunately my notes from the visit were almost non-existent, and it was a while ago so the details are sketchy, but I do remember a gold chain was dropped. In one of the rooms where we did a ouija board we came across a vicar. He didn't come forward very easily, but I walked into a small hiding hole, andhewas then telling me to get out as I was disturbing someone. As I say the details were sketchy, but we did have a long conversation about his time as a vicar from what I remember.

So that pretty much brings me up to the latest hunt, a trip to Turton Towers up towards Bolton...a great night which deserves its own blog post, which is my next job (and don't worry, I've got plenty of notes from this one!)

Until next time :-)

The hunt begins

Finally, a chance to write about ghosts!

I've always had an interest in ghosts, and the paranormal. Not just watching horror films and reading horror stories (tho i do that too, James Herbert and Stephen king are my favourites!) But reading books about hauntings and haunted properties.

My mum, dad and brother had been on a ghost night at an old theatre, and they were invited to go on another one at ryecroft hall back in November 2011.

As this was my first time i didn't know what to expect. I had been told to wrap up warm, especially as there was snow expected, and to bring drink, food and a torch. The hall tho had left the heating on for us, so my four layers and extra thick socks weren't really needed.

I had made one mistake though. Eating a spicy chilli con carne before going hunting ghosts in quiet rooms is never a good idea, think my tum made more noise than some of the ghosts....

Ah yes, the ghosts. My reason for starting this blog. Unfortunately my memories of that night are a little bit sketchy, as i hadn't thought about making notes.

We started off in the basement, with all the people down there. A few bumps were heard, but difficult to distinguish them from people noises. Next we split up into smaller groups, and here was where the fun started.

We went into the library at first, just because no one else was in there and it seemed a bit atmospheric (in our opinion). We sat at a table with the ouija board, trying to get a response. The Goss was shuffling slightly but not moving, then my brother came over still upset, in tears about something. After he composed himself a bit we tried the board again and got a young girl whose mother had been hurting her because she got in the way if her new boyfriend. We played a game of ring a ring of roses with her and then said goodbye.

Next we went into a big hall. In here we spoke to another young girl who had died in the building. There is a big staircase in the middle that goes up two flights and she had fallen from the top.

Another spirit on the board in a different room was the father of a nasty spirit also at the hall (one we didn't come across but others mentioned). he was very unhappy with his son, and didn't like him.

We went out to one of the out buildings, where we 'spoke' to the head gardener from the past.

Unfortunately this is all i can remember from our time there. Maybe in future we will go back and I'll make some proper notes of names and years in the hope it will help someone confirm what they find

More soon, hopefully I've got more notes next time too  :-)

So much for ghost nights!

Ok, so the plan was to get back to writing up about my ghost night exploits, however, my other love Stockport County threw a curveball into that plan.

After a pretty poor performance tonight, which ended in a loss, the board have sacked the legend that is Jim Gannon. The man that has saved us and given us some of our best recent history is no longer the boss.

In honesty, I'm in turmoil about this one, part of me thinking it was the right decision. If you look at the facts. The team tonight was primarily players he had brought in, or made the decision to include. We have a right back playing really well, so we bring him off at half time and put a centre back there. One that only a select few believe can play in that position. It's not the only bad decision he has made over time, but with the players he has brought in, most thought we would be pushing for promotion, not staring at relegation. Plus, as a good friend said(well a fellow county fan who is a great dj, sacked in his prime whilst being the best way to wake up in the morning) it is a results business.

However, on the flip side, who is Going to come in and manage a team with no money, no direction, and after tonight's decision, very few fans. The board do not seem to understand where they want to take the club, and how to take it there. All seems to be about turning it into a profitable business, but without any success on the pitch, off the pitch will die. For that we need a manager with passion for the club, but he has now been sacked!

So what the future hold I don't know, and i'm worried it won't be good. Lets just hope I'm wrong. Signing off now as its late, but hopefully back to the ghost blogs soon

Night all

Blog Silence builds the suspense

Back again.

OK so I know its been a while since I updated my blog....I have my reasons. Just before Christmas we moved house...the actual week before. This made it quite a chaotic time. This coupled with the fact that B.T. are a waste of space, mobile signals, birthdays to help sort out and various other things meant it wasn't at the forefront of my mind. Will try harder in the future I promise.

After my last blog post (written on the metrolink whilst on my way for a well earned break) Stockport pulled their collective socks up, got a draw, and a win, and then a loss, but in all fairness we performed so much better in the draw. Tonight is the first home game since, so hopefully (if the game is on due to the freezing conditions) we will see the commitment we saw in the last home game and get a good result.

So I will try and be a better blogger this year. I've got so much to blog about. at least 3 ghost hunts (plus probably more by the time I get them done) plus a few rantings about various irks of mine.

But I will make sure the next one is a ghost one....honest

Shattered (football) dreams

Those of you who know me away from this blog will know one of my passions in life is football, and particularly Stockport County f.c. A team with a great history (ok not that great!) and a passionate bunch of fans.

One of those fans is my friend, my right hand man, my son! As passionate as older, more seasoned fans, in his young years, 15 now of which this is his sixth season as a season ticket holder.

But that day has come, for the first time i can remember, he has chosen to spend Saturday afternoon visiting family instead of joining me in the lower tier of the Cheadle end, with the even more heart wrenching words of

"Im not gonna go stockport, {removed for privacy}... plus we'll lose anyway, whats the point?"

He has been through the lows of relegation twice in recent times, plus a relegation battle last year, and after Wednesdays performance, he can't take any more, giving his enthusiasm for a team heading into the abyss.

I won't point fingers at the players, we do have some good ones and it's a young team. Nor will i blame the manager. I just hope that someone in the club will read this post and relay it to the team, to make them realise how much hurt they are causing to those with passion for a club we are regularly ridiculed for following.

Rant over, bring on Saturday and those 3 points i know we will get!