Investigations
THE CASE OF THE COMBER FARMHOUSE
The first case we had was in a small town called Comber, about ten miles outside Belfast. The owners of a one hundred and fifty year old farmhouse called us in. They had been hearing footfalls on the stairs and one of the children had seen a smartest dressed old man looking out of the window at the top of the stairs.
We took a tape recorder, a factory clean (unused) tape, a 35mm camera, night vision goggles and two way radios.
After setting up the equipment, we went downstairs along with the owners and their children for a cup of coffee, and to sound out the people who had called us in.
After an hour we went back up stairs to check on the tape and when we played it back we heard a voice saying "Help me I am lost". This was very clear. We were all sitting around the top of the stairs when one by one we felt the spirit walking among us. It did not make us feel ill at ease. After a while we left, only to return the next day with a medium that has worked with us many times
After a while the medium started feeling the spirit of a man coming through. He used to live in the house in the 1920's and had died from a fall from a horse. He told our medium his name and that he meant no harm to the family but that he was depressed because he could not find his own wife and son. He said that it made him happy watching the children from the house playing.
He said he always looked out of the window for his own children, but they never came. Our medium spoke to him and eventually she opened her eyes signifying the end of their conversation. The man had told her that he did not want to leave and he would not scare the new owners again. After this we spoke to the owners and they agreed that they would show him more respect and some compassion and speak to him to make him feel at home.
Several months passed before we called back with them. To see how they were getting on. When we went back we were told that one of the children had come downstairs one night and had said to her father, "Daddy, Joe has gone away for good". When questioned, she said that she had seen the man standing at the top of the stairs and he had smiled and waved goodbye to her. Then he slowly melted into the wall behind where he was standing. Since that experience there have been no more strange noises and sightings of Joe, the ghost who missed his family.
THE CASE OF THE NEWTOWNABBEY POLTERGEIST
this was a very touching and interesting case. We were called to a house dating back to the late sixties. The owner, who we will call Susan, was a down to earth level-headed woman-not the kind of person you would expect to be seeing ghosts. This woman had been living with Poltergeist-like activity for the past nine years.
The first night we went to meet her and her daughter Amy to get the feel of the house and the occupants.
Susan began to tell us what she had been experiencing for the last nine years. She told us that for the first two or more years they all heard footsteps on the stairs and a male voice calling her name. They did not take any notice, putting it down to noises next door. Five to six years ago, things started getting worse. First her husband saw a shadowy figure in the small bedroom then several months later, Susan saw the same thing. When she told her husband, he said that he too had seen it but did not want to frighten her. After that it became harder to ignore the haunting. Susan then told us that at times she would open the cupboard door only to find all the tins stacked tight on top of each other-so much so that she had to call David her husband to separate the tins.
Now every one in the house was seeing the ghost.
Susan told us that her friends stopped calling because one of them saw the ghost and told the rest of her friends that the house was haunted.
After a cup of coffee and a chat we went for a walk around the house.
We could all feel a heavy and sombre atmosphere in the small bedroom and at the top of the stairs.
We all tried to work with the spirit and to communicate with it but to no avail, then just as fast as the heavy atmosphere came it lifted we all sat around for another hour but with no other activity, we all went home telling Susan that we would be back up the following night with our Medium.
The next night when we arrived the Medium started to communicate with the spirit at once, she was told that the spirit wanted to leave but could not release himself from the earth plane. The group along with Susan’s husband sat around a table Susan was to stressed and sat downstairs with Linda from our group and we held a séance, after a while the Medium went into a trance and spoke to the earthbound spirit she talked to him for almost an hour before he decided it was time for him to go, but first it had something to do with that there was silence and about fifteen seconds later we heard Susan scream downstairs several seconds later Ben (this turned out to be the spirits name) spoke through the Medium and said that he had said good buy to Susan and that he was walking towards the light ten seconds later he was gone the mood it the room and in the house changed, we all smiled knowing that another spirit could at last have the rest he so long craved.
When we went back down to see Susan she was smiling with tears in her eyes she looked at us and said I saw him standing in front of the TV and he smiled at her and slowly faded into thin air, Linda sew nothing but said that she felt tingling sensation up her back, we left a younger more peaceful Susan after a coffee and a chat we keep in contact by phone and up to now there has not been any more disturbance in her house.
HAUNTED STATELY HOUSE
The next case I would like to tell you about has been an on going investigation for over two years. The account that I am about to relate happen at a late 18th century stately home situated on the outskirts of Bangor, Co. Down, now for the past 20 to 30 years it has been used as a hospital for tuberculosis, the upper floor was used as a mental asylum.
We were called in by the night watchman who told us that strange lights been seen flying around the old church house and also of doors slamming and voices heard, also the sense of being watched.
Although having two German Shepherds, both the watchman and dogs would not go through the oldest part of the building after dark, we set up our equipment which consisted of night vision goggles a 35 mm camera loaded with infra red film on the Upper Floor.
We sat in the church with no lights switch on, we did this from nine P.M to around eleven P.M on a summer's night, all the windows were boarded up, we then became aware of a short figure which appeared at the bottom end of the room, I saw the apparition slowly walk up to where we were sitting, it looked like a young boy, about ten or eleven all in grey with its eyes closed standing a yard away from us, as I watched it the spirit slowly went backwards and faded away.
I had not spoken while this was happening but after it had faded, we all (including one of our team which left the group because of what happen this night), seen the same thing at the same time. Glenn and Linda two members of the group which had been in the upper floor came down, because they had all the equipment including the night vision and the camera, we were unable to get any photos but what we saw was real.
Due to a heavy workload our investigation in the for pub put off several month's, but on Tuesday the 28th of May we arrived with a film crew and set up our equipment, after closing time we all took up our places Richard and Dawn at the store rooms upstairs (which were the old bedroom’s) John and Eileen the old stairwell and Billy and myself down stairs in the old barroom.
After about an hour both myself and Billy felt a presence move about us so we went upstairs and sat down with the others all of a sudden we all felt the presence go through us, Billy took some photo’s using the digital camera but at the time we were all unaware of what he caught on camera. At around 2.30am we all decided to call it a night as the barmaid had to open up early the next morning, the next day I started to check the equipment first we tried the tape and found that we had got no EVP’s on tape the camcorder proved equally disappointing but it was when I started uploading the images from the digital camera onto my PC I nearly fell off my seat when I say the Orb’s what make’s it more exciting is they appeared in the except place where the group felt the spirit walk among us .
We will be doing another night in the pub next week, please drop by again.
ORB’S ARE A VERY COMMON SPIRIT ACTIVITY TO BE CAUGHT IN FILM (CAMCORDERS, DIGITAL CAMERA'S OR 35MM REGARDLESS) IT’S NOT KNOWN WHAT THEY ARE, IT COULD BE THAT THE SPIRIT’S USE THEM TO HELP BUILD UP ENERGY TO ENABLE THEMSELVES’S TO MANIFEST THEMSEL’S ON THE PHYSICAL PLANE OR THEY COULD BE AN ENERGY THAT ACCURES BEFORE THE PARANORMAL EVENT ACCURES IF YOU MAGNIFY THE ORB’S YOU CAN SEE WHAT LOOKS LIKE AN OUTER SHELL OR A CRUST ON THE OUTER EDGE OF THE SPHERE. .
It was almost four centuries ago in 1611 when "The King's Arms" first opened its doors for business in Donaghadee, Co. Down. Today the bar is firmly established as a popular tourist attraction within the North Down area. Visitors from every continent have sampled Irish hospitality and an obligatory pint of Guinness within these walls.
However, this is only the beginning of the remarkable story of one of the most famous pubs in the country, which was renamed "Grace Neill's"" in the last century. Grace Neill (1818-1916) was a former landlady who is remembered today for various reasons. Obviously her name is kept alive by the name of the premises but the nature of some aspects of her lifestyle are also of interest today. Grace apparently adhered to a custom of the period, which involved greeting visitors to the inn with a welcoming kiss while her passion was an indulgent puff from her clay pipe.
The existence of Grace Neill has taken on a more mysterious guise in recent years. It is asserted that her ghost haunts the building. Many members of staff have witnessed unexplained events including the scattered books and glasses throughout the bar and the switching on of appliances such as the kettle and television. These inexplicable occurrences and the curious creaking of floorboards above the old tavern culminated in an actual sighting of a Victorian lady contained within a "puff of steam". It should however be noted that customers have nothing to fear from Grace, she is a friendly spirit and we are happy to have her.
The two snugs contain many antique glass and stone bottles (including Comber Whiskey and Belfast mineral water bottles) which maintain the character of an era gone by.
Pictures of various guns serve as a reminder of the criminal element - smugglers and horse thieves who plotted and schemed in the old bar during the past century when Donaghadee was the main sea port to both the Isle of Man and to Portpatrick in Scotland.
The staff of "Grace Neill's" endeavour to welcome you as warmly as a visitor to Ireland's oldest pub today as has been the tradition for the past 389 years. We hope that we continue to "serve good food and excellent ale" as observed by the Marquis de Vere in the seventeenth century and that this cherished example of living history is preserved in its unspoilt condition for many centuries to come.
 Irish Ghosts and Legends |
| Angelfire |
Yahoo Quick Search
Send E-Mail to: warren.nipra1@btinternet.comCopyright © 2003 Warren Coates. All Rights Reserved