The spirits however, draw close to prove that there really is a continuation of the human consciousness and therefore, life after death.  The spirit will not only bring comfort but will bring advice and give a brief history of their earthly existence.  Some more than others of course. Mostly through a medium.

When we went to a ghost hunt at the Castle Market building, we experienced  no ghostly  happenings at all. But I was aware of spirit. Lots of them but only the mediums were aware of them. There were no visual sightings.

I am not dismayed or unhappy, as it is what I personally expected.  Others of our group were hoping to see ghosts and therefore they are probably a little miffed.  For me, being a spiritualist, I enjoyed the contact of spirit and would have enjoyed holding a spiritualist seance there, as I am sure we would have received greater proof of their existence, if we had.

Overall, it was a very interesting experience, during which we used table tilting and dowsing rods along with tape recorders, cameras and camcorders.  We often all picked up similar things along the way around the modern part of the building.  But for me, the best part was when we toured the very historical part of the building.

Apart from my spiritual and mediumistic interests, the history of the place really got to me, and I urge you to take a tour of the place yourselves.  Especially as the whole historic place may soon disappear, thanks to those concrete monsters which local builders put in their stead.

Please, don’t let this happen.  If enough people take an interest, the city council may decide to have a visitor centre and make the most of our heritage.  Meanwhile, a more in depth write up will be posted here tomorrow along with links to websites that have more information about this and other local sites.

In traditional belief, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely: The mode of manifestation can range from an invisible presence to translucent or wispy shapes, to realistic, life-like visions. The deliberate attempt to contact the spirit of a dead person is known as spiritism as a seance.

The belief in manifestations of the spirits of the dead is widespread, dating back to ancestor worship. Certain religious practices, funeral rites, exorcisms, and some practices of spiritualism and ritual magic, are specifically designed to appease the spirits of the dead. Ghosts are generally described as solitary essences that haunt particular locations, objects, or people they were associated with in life, though stories of the phantom armies, ghost trains, phantom ships, and even ghost animals and numbers have also been recounted.

He has found quite a few places to go around the Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire countryside.  He has also made a few friends with like minds. These are people who are fed up with being duped.  So, together, they spend at least one day or night a week in pursuit of haunted places.

They go armed with cameras and recorders, but have found the best equipment to be their own senses. They have become in tune with their own sixth senses and find it very useful. When approaching areas of interest they feel tingling sensations, get cold shivers, or the hairs on the back of their necks stand on end. They notice cold spots and areas where the birds are quiet. They compare thoughts and feelings to see if they are all getting the same sensations and they trust each other, and no one is stage managing the events.

They are very interested in orbs, which from time to time appear on photos they have taken whilst walking in dark woods. They may appear up in the trees or out in the open or on high. There seems, as yet, no rhyme or reason why they see them or what they are.  Some are white and some have a blue hue to them. Some appear to have what looks almost like a face in their centre.

If orbs are a naturally occurring event they will find out, and if not they will keep on searching. A search for the truth can be a lifetime’s work…

Sometimes a spirit loved one may be trying to catch the attention of someone.  They may try to move objects or make noises to do this.  Sometimes they can makes lights flicker or turn them off. Maybe you have one who turns on taps or moves specific objects that they know you will notice.

It is always the loud noises that scare people the most. Especially when it is dark. You try to convince yourself that its just the old house settling!  Or maybe a huge draught of air has knocked something over. But when you have checked everything out, you may not be so sure.

If you think it is a loved spirit then you can ask questions and tell them to give you a sign that it is really them.  You may be happy to have them around. After all they can do you no harm and you may find it sort of comforting.  You may like to enlist the help of a medium to try to communicate with the spirit, to find out just who they really are.

But what if its none of these? What if you keep hearing noises in the night? What if taps are turning on? What if you hear whispering?  What if someone is playing around with your electrical items?  Maybe your home has a spirit that you dont know anything about? Is your radio turning on and off as if by its own accord?

Strangely, as I am writing this, I am hearing taps on my wall. Definite tapping. In fact two definite knocks!!!  I offered up ‘Bless you’, but I have had no other response yet. Someone knows what I am writing about!!!  It is not night time and the sun is streaming in,  so no need to feel its scary. But there is someone here with me now, I am certain of this.

Your spirit may just be someone who belongs to the house or even to the ground on which your house is built. If your house is not old, or if you are the only family who ever lived in it, it may be that a more ancient building was on the site where you now live.  Maybe the spirit who is going bump in the night or rapping on your wall is actually from another time. Some place in history.

You can always investigate and find out what was there before you and your home. It may be that a very old spirit is trying to contact you.  Do some detective work and see what you can find out.  You may be very surprised and may find it very rewarding.

Spirits don’t torment us for fun you know. If they are trying to communicate, then it is always for a good reason and a purpose.  I am hearing another tap on my wall. There is nobody else here but me. I think someone is reading over my shoulder!!!  I know I have a vistor but then I am used to spirits.

Is there anybody there???

He has found quite a few places to go around the Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire countryside.  He has also made a few friends with like minds. These are people who are fed up with being duped.  So, together, they spend at least one day or night a week in pursuit of haunted places.

They go armed with cameras and recorders, but have found the best equipment to be their own senses. They have become in tune with their own sixth senses and find it very useful. When approaching areas of interest they feel tingling sensations, get cold shivers, or the hairs on the back of their necks stand on end. They notice cold spots and areas where the birds are quiet. They compare thoughts and feelings to see if they are all getting the same sensations and they trust each other, and no one is stage managing the events.

They are very interested in orbs, which from time to time appear on photos they have taken whilst walking in dark woods. They may appear up in the trees or out in the open or on high. There seems, as yet, no rhyme or reason why they see them or what they are.  Some are white and some have a blue hue to them. Some appear to have what looks almost like a face in their centre.

If orbs are a naturally occurring event they will find out, and if not they will keep on searching. A search for the truth can be a lifetime’s work…

(Our event was certainly not done for money at all.)

The very best you could expect, is to go to a certain place at the exact time that the image has been seen by others, and on the right day.  Only then are you likely to see the replay of these ghostly happenings.  Spirits though, do not hang around to haunt places and are best contacted via a  mediums seance or circle.

I sometimes get asked to go to the homes of people who feel that either themselves or their house is haunted.  I go in good faith and with an open mind, but not to ghost hunt.  I just try my best to communicate with spirit and and solve the problem.

I will say a prayer and hold a seance in the person’s home and see what I ‘pick up’ mediumistically.  Sometimes I will need to go round the home asking for the troubled spirit to leave and I have developed my own methods of doing this.

Often, it appears to be one of the residents of the house who is troubled by spirits or even just troubled.  Again, I have my own way of dealing with this too.  By the time I leave the home, it is usually all calm and normal.

Often the home is normal anyway, and it turns out that it is just a lack of knowledge and understanding of spirit activity.  Imparting knowledge from my 25years plus experience of being a working medium, helps in these circumstances.  Sending out love to spirit helps too.

I love working with spirit and helping those who do not know the subject, to understand it all.  In some cases the troubled person turns out to be a psychic who has not learned to close down after working.  They pick up energies and go around living their life with their psychic centres open.  This is a BIG mistake.  Those who remain open pick up everything, from bad moods to bad tempers, and other people’s aches and pains.  It is not a nice way to live I can assure you.

You must learn to open up and close down properly if you want to work psychically or mediumistically.  Say prayers, keep grounded and stay safe.  Not all spirits are good, just as not all humans are good, but if you learn to protect yourself properly you will be fine.  Communicating with spirits is neither a game nor for amusement.

For more on development and safety, see earlier posts on this blog site, or email me and I will answer your questions and help all I can.  Do not take chances with your mind.  I have known those who remained open, preferring not to close down and it affected their life big style.  Use your intelligence to guide you.

The ghost’s image seems to take on a recurrent theme.  It usually repeats the same movements, at the same time of day or night, each time the haunting occurs.  This often means it appears to walk through walls and may be missing it’s head or other body part.

You have to take into account how long ago their death took place.  There may well have been a lot or alterations to buildings in the area since then.  Sometimes walls are bricked up or blocked off in some way.  There may have been major building alterations.  In some case whole communities have been demolished and new homes built in their place.

If someone died a tragic death at the time of there being a castle on site, the ghost may still appear to be in the same castle and may disregard the fact that it is now perhaps a cottage or whole new estate.  The image will still seem to walk the same distance, repeating the same actions as ever before but, because the building is now changed, it appears to walk through the new wall.

You often hear people say things like ‘The girl walks through the wall as if crossing a landing, and then disappears.  It is always at about 11pm.’  The girl obviously died a traumatic death about 11pm and there was obviously a landing for her to walk across at the time of her death.  The landing was where the walls now are, therefore, she appears to walk through the walls.  She is not there anymore.  Only the image is retained.

When loved ones come from the spirit world to give you assurances that they are still watching over you and there is life after death, it is quite different.  They come to communicate for a very short time and as soon as they have imparted their message they say goodbye and are gone.  They do not come to haunt at all.

Spirits usually come via a spiritualist clairvoyant medium.  They also sometimes can make their loved ones on the earth plane become aware of their presence.  This may take practice on the spirits part and also on the human relative.  Ultimately it is all worthwhile and does bring a lot of comfort.  Unlike a haunting which is very interesting but not what I would call comforting.

Have you been so sure you are not alone, that you have looked behind doors and under the bed before going to sleep?  Did you assume your house was haunted or that a ghost must be following you around? Again, this is not at all unusual.

What is unusual, is for a person to think that may be, just maybe, a spirit loved one is trying to let them know of their close proximity to them.

Why does it have to be a ghost?  Too much TV and scary films seem to have brain washed the general public.  Our homes are not all haunted by ghosts who are looking for retribution.  Ghosts don’t all go around rattling chains to scare people.

The simplest answer to hearing your name being called out and feeling the presence of someone, is that your loved ones in the spirit world have come to let you know they are watching over you.

They are not ghosts.  They are just the same spirits as they were when they were here on this earth plane.  The only difference now, is that they are total spirit and have no need for the physical body.

Yes, spirit can come back for visits to friends and family.  Spirits come to make them feel their love. Spirits don’t come back to haunt loved ones or anyone else for that matter.

A ghost is different.  A ghost is just an image trapped in time.  An image that seems to go through the same process over and over again.  It often follows a violent or tragic passing.  An image cannot hurt you, or indeed, do anything to you at all.

Enjoy the visits of your spirit loved ones. Cherish them.  If you need help to find out exactly which spirit it is, you can call on a medium.  As always, make sure it is one who is recommended to you.

My friend and I, we are both mediums, were invited to a home where there has been a lot of ghostly activity.  It was not the sort of thing where a headless woman walks through walls or anything gruesome.

We were told only scant information and decided our best course of action was to hold a seance (circle) and see what or who came through.  We are very practical about such things and not over dramatic as some are.  We believe in subtlety when working with earth bound spirits.  Not so much Ghost Whisperer as Ghost lipreader!!

We sat together in meditation and asked our guides to help us find out who was there.  We each had our own experiences.  We each gave our full descriptions of what we saw and heard, to the home owners.

These descriptions matched a lot of what the family had experienced and the names which came through were evidential too.  It did appear that those who were inhabiting the house were not related to the family.  Though they did not mean any harm and no bad vibes were felt at all.

The interesting thing was when I sat with my eyes closed, I felt a child blowing down on my face.  The home owner said that was exactly the place he sits when he gets the same sensation on his face too.  We both felt this was very childlike.

My friend saw a dog on the staircase.  She described it and again it was the same as had been seen by the owners.  Although the ghosts/spirits were not all connected, they were seemingly happy together and not intruding on the family life.

We are going to go back soon to try and find out more and see if there is anything they need our help with.  The family don’t feel threatened in any way.  We are sure that these are spirit communicators, and not naughty ghosts.

This is just one example and I will relate others from time to time.  If you need help or advice on this subject please email me anytime.

There are many so called ‘Ghost Busting’ or ‘Haunting Nights’ being held across the country and even on the TV.  Ask the potential ghost buster just what he or she expects to see at the event and it differs greatly.

Some say that they fully expect to see a ghost as that is what they believe the event is for.  Others think that they will see things moving of their own accord, such as tables floating and smaller items floating in mid air.

Ask what they think ghosts are and this varies too. Lots seem to believe that every spirit who has left their material body, is able to haunt places and appear at will. Others think it is only the ‘troubled’ souls who stay around to haunt and scare people.

The simplest explanation to me is that a ghost is an image trapped in time. When people say they have seen the ‘white lady’ or the ‘small child crying’, the event is usually relayed in the same way, with the same description, by all those who say they witnessed it, every time. There is usually no variation in the event.

It came through the wall and floated over to the other wall before disappearing into it….

The room went cold and there was a bad feeling or bad smell in the air when the ghost appeared and did her usual thing, whilst carrying an object….

It appears at the side of the road sometimes at 2am and floats across as though the road was not there, doing the same thing each time….

My belief is that the reason the image is trapped in time, is because of a violent and unexpected passing, the shock of which somehow causes the effect to make an imprint upon this earthly plane. Spirits who pass over to the Spirit World in the usual manner do not seem to go in for haunting.

My experiences are usually of  the spirits of loved ones, who are wanting to let us know they are watching over us, and to give us reassurance at difficult times in our lives. They can communicate to us via a medium and bring messages of love, not scaring us or haunting our homes as this would achieve little.

I believe we can all learn to tune into the spirits of our loved ones, if we would just take the time and make the effort.