A few weeks ago, I, with family and friends, went on the Ballarat Ghost Tour with the company Eerie Tours. The tour was a 90 minute walking tour through the streets of Ballarat.
The reason we chose this tour was that it was advertised as suitable for children. This gave me an opportunity to take along my sons who are fascinated with ghosts and allowed for my friend to bring his daughter along.
The evening began with a lovely meal at the local Irish pub. The meals were great value and huge in portion size .... a definite revisit is in order.
We then made our way up to the train station to meet with the guide and other tour guests. In total, there were about thirty people on the tour with eight children. One child looked about 7 or 8 years of age.
Our guide, Lachlan, was amazing. Theatrical, knowledgeable, personable and humorous. His quirkiness and attention to detail made the evening a fun night for adults and children alike.
For most of the tour we walked through the streets and laneways of Ballarat, stopping at various locations to hear the stories of Old Ballarat, the murders, fires, deaths and alleged hauntings. They were age appropriate in language and context and very interesting indeed. There were a number of stories that my children really enjoyed and reflected on during the drive home. The first one was that of the old legal office and the lady whose dress caught fire from the flames of the fireplace and then rolled herself on the carpet to extinguish the flames, only to be showered in wine by her friends, which led to a very slow and painful death.
The second one was that of the buildings which had four or so stories built underground to protect settlers from the bitter winters. What was interesting was the glass bricks which formed the roof of the basement, but the pavement of the footpaths. You could only imagine seeing the faint glow coming up from the ground and how eerie that must have appeared.
Craig's Hotel with its architecture, history and hauntings of Room 203, intrigued many, including my eldest son. The story of the poltergeist who lived in the basement of the dumpling house, was also very interesting indeed.
The last stop of the evening was the Old Ballarat Gaol, which is now the University. Here we sat in darkness in the courtyard, where the guide spoke of the gaol's history and the vertical burial of nine prisoners. He shared stories of alleged sightings and ghostly hauntings. It was in this space that our KII meters were active. There was some activity on the steps where we sat and also near the huge oak tree which stood in the corner of the yard.
This last stop brought the tour to a close and all said their farewells.
Was it interesting - very!
Informative - yes!
But if you are expecting to see a ghost, remember they do not appear on demand. I, nor any of my friends or family saw a ghost, apparition or spirit that night, but we did hear tales of hauntings and stories of alleged paranormal activity. There was a perfect mix of stories, humour and 'ghosts', especially when you have young children on the tour.
It was definitely a fun and worthwhile family friendly tour, which got the kids off their devices, exercising and learning some Australian History, whilst keeping them intrigued with just a touch of the dark and ghostly history of Ballarat. .
Saturday, 20 April 2019
Sunday, 14 April 2019
Mayday Hills Asylum, Beechworth, Victoria, Australia
Last weekend I thought I would try something different. WSPR, a 'professional' paranormal team from Sydney were doing a weekend at the Beechworth Mayday Hills Lunatic Asylum. The weekend was advertised and included two events organised by Asylum Ghost Tours, a ghost tour and a paranormal investigation, with the WSPR team running a paranormal workshop, each night. Having been to the Asylum a number of times over the past ten years, I was rather looking forward to experiencing the Asylum through a different lens, with possibly new equipment or even learning how others do an extended in-depth investigation.
Learning how to use equipment properly, from paranormal seasoned investigators, was what attracted me to book for the weekend. I have learnt most of my equipment skills through self exploration or from tips I've acquired from guides on tours; so to actually have the opportunity to workshop and develop my skills and knowledge with those who have been doing this for a while, was very appealing. A workshop by definition is "a period of discussion or practical work on a particular subject in which a group of people share their knowledge or experience or a usually a brief intensive educational program for a relatively small group of people that focuses especially on techniques and skills in a particular field". To me, the main key words here are practical work, intensive, techniques and skills. It does not mean, lecture, seminar, sit around or be talked at......but I will discuss that more later.
So both evenings started off with a ghost tour led by one of the Asylum Ghost Tour's guides. Nurse Cait on Friday and Laura on Saturday. Both guides brought their own quirky sense of humour and unique nuances to their presentations and both had different stories to share in each of the buildings, so in no way did it feel repetitive, even though we frequented the same buildings both nights. They both were very personable and knowledgable and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to their stories. Both guides dressed in nurse or matron attire to add an atmosphere of theatrics, but there definitely was no theatrical embellishment.
Once we returned to the foyer, we had a lovely supper as we waited for the highly anticipated workshop, but to my utter disappointment, there was no workshop. The team from Sydney, in simple terms, talked at the group and when they weren't talking, we sat around waiting for all the other Asylum tours to finish up and leave the Asylum, so we could go out and investigate. Once everyone else had vacated the Asylum, we moved into the entrance foyer, where the presenter talked about a personal experience he had had in this location about six months prior and that he had returned to the Asylum to hopefully capture what he had experienced that night.
The group (well WSPR) set up some trigger items in the projection room upstairs, including motion sensors, video camera and a few toys, like balls, marbles and a chess set. WSPR asked the group to take as many photos as they could to determine base line data and when we returned after the paranormal investigation, we would revisit the space, collect footage and analyse the evidence. This never happened. Once we returned, a few hours later, we were rather hastily escorted out the door.
So once all the items were placed in the projection room, Adrian, the Asylum Tour Guide, gave a brief history of the spirits, tricksters and poltergeists, they claimed to haunt the foyer, namely Tommy and Ralph. The lights were turned off and we sat and we listened and we waited.....and waited.....and waited. Nothing happened.
We then divided into two groups. One group moved off with WSPR's Craig and the Asylum Tour Guide, Adrian. The other group was with WSPR's Richie and Mel and the Tour Guide, Will. I was in Craig's group. He stated that he was very keen to try and capture 'slender man', the alleged frequently sighted ghost of Grevilia, the male infirmary. The group, eager to start exploring, headed off to Grevilia. I walked around the space trying to get a 'feel' for the building, but nothing. We set up a laser grid, some KIIs and a parascope. Adrian shared some very intriguing stories of the building, but it was not long before focus was shifted to an alleged sighting of a full body apparition. Naturally the whole group moved to this space to hopefully see something. We all stood there in complete darkness until Craig says in a very agitated voice, 'get a light on me, get a light on me'. Once the torch was on him, Craig alleged that the zipper of his vest had been pulled down by a spirit. No-one else saw or felt anything and there was no other 'activity'. As a good paranormal investigator you are always trying to debunk and question any activity. Often when you flex and place your arms and chest out, you can force zippers down on your jackets, especially if they are tight fitting. Maybe this is what happened?
From here the groups swapped guides and my group, now with Richie, Mel and Will, moved into the Bull Pit. The Bull Pit is a ward for 10 to 25 year old male inpatients. We moved as a group up into the top hallway, an area reported to be very high in activity, with evidence suggesting that many guests have been scratched or have felt threatened. Will placed a few parascopes down the hall and an ovilus on the window sill. The only two words on the ovilus were rust and water. Any significance? Not that we could work out. Now if you have read any of my previous blogs, this is the space where I saw the orb of what I thought was a young boy move down the hallway and play with the parascopes, so, as you can imagine, I was rather excited to see if I could reconnect with the boy, or maybe place some balls for him to play with or move. Maybe set up a video camera or a full spectrum camera, maybe the parascopes and a motion sensor. But to be honest, I did not feel comfortable to do my own thing, so I just stood and waited, like all the others.
Nothing was really happening until one person on the tour appeared to be a trance in the doorway at the end of the hallway before the toilets. Other guests claimed they tried to move him, but he was rigid and stuck to the floor. Once he was pulled from the doorway, he tried to run, but was held back by a guide. He collapsed to the floor and was struggling to breath. Am I sceptical - very. This guest and a few others then went outside. About four of us were left and we moved through that doorway into the bathrooms. I was trying to sense any denseness or tingling. Nothing. One man, claimed to have a headache, another claimed their zip was undone, but for me, nothing.
By this time, it was 3.00 am and we moved back to the foyer and said our goodbyes. We were reconvening at 7.30 pm that night and I was looking forward to hopefully a more active evening.
So, we came together again on the Saturday evening. Ten guests had been at the Asylum the previous night and were excited to investigate some new areas of the buildings. A team member from WSPR grabbed us as soon as he saw us and stated 'as soon as you get back from the ghost tour, I will grab you guys and we will head off and get right into it'. Fantastic, seven hours of full on investigations.
After the wonderful ghost tour, led by Laura, we returned at around 9.00 pm for supper. At 10.00 pm, WSPR called us into the Bijou Theatre, for what I thought would be the Saturday night workshop, but I was mistaken. It was another hour of being talked at. After about 30 minutes I looked around the room and at least half of the guests were asleep, including staff from WSPR. Personally, I was bored and had to desperately fight from going to sleep myself. The talk finished up about 11.15 pm and we were told 'as soon as the last tour is back, we will get started'.
So to fill in time, I took some dousing rods, a KII meter, went up to the stage with another investigator and just talked to a spirit that is alleged to play on the stage, named Annie. We asked her to come dance on centre stage, nothing. We mentioned that we had lost an orange ball, one of the triggers from the projection room, and maybe if she had taken it to play with, that she might return the ball to us. We sat there talking to Annie, or maybe just to ourselves, for 10 or so minutes.
It was not until about midnight, we moved into the foyer where Will shared a quick story that had just happened in the back administration area, of a possible doppelgänger sighting of Laura. Very interesting indeed!
We then moved on to a repeat of the night before. This was disappointing as there were so many 'last nighters', and I for one, wanted to experience something different. For another hour we sat and tried to capture evidence of Tommy, Ralph and the projection room. But again, nothing.
Then, just before 1.00 am, an orange ball came down the stairs from the projection room and was thrown across the room and landed on the floor of the foyer. This was rather exciting, did anyone have an explanation, no. Were there CCTV cameras on that stair case, yes. So I guess, the owners of the tour company will get to investigate that activity and try and debunk and see what happened. Was this the same orange ball that had gone missing from the projection room, or the orange ball I had asked Annie to return, possibly.
By this time it was after 1.00 am, five and a half hours after we arrived and we were yet to do anything new. We divided into two groups. The 'newbies' and the 'last nighters'. The newbies headed back to Grevilia, the third time that weekend, to try and capture 'slender man'. The 'last nighters', along with Richie, Mel and Will, headed to the maniacal ward for women. We were upstairs and not a lot was happening, but I was sensing heaviness, a feeling that the spirits felt threatened and that they did not like the men being there. As no one else in the group was talking, I expressed this. As I did, I felt a real sense of empathy and was hearing distressing 'ahhhh, ahhhh' sounds in my head. I felt like females were being restrained and mistreated. I said this to the group and tried to show what I was seeing and hearing. WSPR suggested a role play and as no-one in the group was uncomfortable with that, WSPR proceeded to role play in a very aggressive manner, more like a prison warden, as opposed to a nurse. At that point, I developed an unbearable pain in my stomach. I am usually not one to feel pain, but I was almost doubled over with cramps in my stomach. When I told the group, another investigator said she had felt it too. WSPR did state that sometimes these are the types of investigations they do, where they have to push to get a reaction. It made me really sad to think they may have been treated that way. I did not like the aggression and it was interesting when walking back, that Will, the Asylum Tour Guide, said to me 'we don't normally do investigations like that, we are more passive'. Will might use the word passive, I would say respectful.
From there we moved to the laundry where nothing was really noted. A few hits on a Ghost Meter Pro, but no real active conversation. From there we moved to the downstairs area of the women's maniacal ward. I had not been in there before and was rather intrigued. Although nothing of significance was noted by myself, a guest claimed that a spirit took her earring. Do I believe it, no I don't.
I did get a feeling of some young girl spirits in this area and would not be surprised if we found out that families or young children had lived there with their mothers in the later years.
We returned to the foyer to swap guides. My group was now with Craig and Laura. The group were keen to explore a new area and Laura suggested the upstairs pharmacy. Eager to see another new part of the Asylum, we headed upstairs. Laura placed a KII on the servery and my parascope on the window sill in the kitchen. By this time, many guests were falling asleep and even snoring. No one was really actively engaging, so Laura and I tried to make contact with 'Bobby', a young boy spirit in the kitchen. We had a few minor hits on the KII, but with no real activity, we moved on to, you guessed it, Grevilia.
We were in Grevilia for about 30 minutes and nothing was really noted. There were four of us on the far 'slender man' corridor and we did get a few KII hits and the feeling of cold in one room, but again, nothing major. We would have liked to stay longer and see if there was any depth to these feelings, but the group was keen to go down to the cellar.
By this time it was close on 4.00 am and the entire group moved down into the cellar. We divided into two groups of 10 and moved into the cells. I was in the cell with the tour guide Will. The WSPR team was predominantly out in the open area. This by far was my first real experience of the weekend.
I was standing there in a circle with Will leading conversation. I started to experience real heaviness in my feet and they were absolutely aching in pain. I said this out loud to the group and then the people to my left, right and Will, all stated they were having the same sensation. We welcomed the spirits into our space and at this point, I began to tingle from my feet. The sensations moved through my body and right up to my shoulders. It was intense. Just at that point, the man to my left said that he could see a very tall figure standing over me, right in my face. At that exact moment, I felt a very strong presence and pressure again my chest, it felt exactly like someone had come up and was standing chest to chest with me. It lasted about 30 seconds and then subsided.
We finished up the circle and both groups were moved out into the main area. We were sitting around the perimeter and Craig was pacing the room. He paced for about a minute before he walked off into the cell area, followed by Richie and a tour guest. Richie then came out and told us all to leave the cellar immediately as something had affected Craig and he was not himself. Will packed up and led the group out of the cellar, rather hastily.
When we returned to the foyer, Craig and Richie alleged that Craig had been scratched and punched and that the tour had to be cut short because Craig 'was not himself', implying something had attached themselves to him. The WSPR team then stated that they had tried to leave the cellar, after Craig, and the door slammed shut and they could not open the door and Richie was yelling to let him out and telling the spirit to stay 'down in the cellar with the granite'.
Well, by this time it was 5.00 am and nearly time to leave.
So to sum up the weekend, I loved Cait, Laura, Adrian and Will, the Asylum Tour Guides. They are personal, knowledgeable, engaging and respectful. Would I do future tours with them, absolutely!
As for the WSPR team and the paranormal workshops - let's say I am a little disappointed. I did not learn anything new or get to play with any equipment. We didn't get to analyse the projection room footage, not even time to go back and see if any of the trigger items had moved. To be honest I felt like the WSPR team was ill prepared. Craig did state that he had let his guard down during the weekend and was not in the right head space, which resulted in him being attacked in the cellar. He claimed that by not being 100%, the spirits took advantage of his vulnerability and 'stuff got crazy'. Do I believe that.....I honestly do not know.
To possibly have three 'attachments', two zipper un-dressings, a full body apparition, a doppelgänger sighting, a missing earring, a scratch, a punch, as well as a missing and then reappearing ball, all in just two nights, is difficult for anyone, sceptic or not, to believe. I can only comment on what I saw, felt and heard.
It was obvious that the WSPR team investigate very differently to me, and that is ok and everyone is entitled to do what works for them. Did I enjoy the weekend - without a doubt. Did I enjoy seeing how other investigators explore the paranormal - absolutely!
As for the multitude of experiences that people claimed to have had happen to them last weekend, maybe you will just have to go and book a tour and find out for yourself.
Learning how to use equipment properly, from paranormal seasoned investigators, was what attracted me to book for the weekend. I have learnt most of my equipment skills through self exploration or from tips I've acquired from guides on tours; so to actually have the opportunity to workshop and develop my skills and knowledge with those who have been doing this for a while, was very appealing. A workshop by definition is "a period of discussion or practical work on a particular subject in which a group of people share their knowledge or experience or a usually a brief intensive educational program for a relatively small group of people that focuses especially on techniques and skills in a particular field". To me, the main key words here are practical work, intensive, techniques and skills. It does not mean, lecture, seminar, sit around or be talked at......but I will discuss that more later.
So both evenings started off with a ghost tour led by one of the Asylum Ghost Tour's guides. Nurse Cait on Friday and Laura on Saturday. Both guides brought their own quirky sense of humour and unique nuances to their presentations and both had different stories to share in each of the buildings, so in no way did it feel repetitive, even though we frequented the same buildings both nights. They both were very personable and knowledgable and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to their stories. Both guides dressed in nurse or matron attire to add an atmosphere of theatrics, but there definitely was no theatrical embellishment.
Once we returned to the foyer, we had a lovely supper as we waited for the highly anticipated workshop, but to my utter disappointment, there was no workshop. The team from Sydney, in simple terms, talked at the group and when they weren't talking, we sat around waiting for all the other Asylum tours to finish up and leave the Asylum, so we could go out and investigate. Once everyone else had vacated the Asylum, we moved into the entrance foyer, where the presenter talked about a personal experience he had had in this location about six months prior and that he had returned to the Asylum to hopefully capture what he had experienced that night.
The group (well WSPR) set up some trigger items in the projection room upstairs, including motion sensors, video camera and a few toys, like balls, marbles and a chess set. WSPR asked the group to take as many photos as they could to determine base line data and when we returned after the paranormal investigation, we would revisit the space, collect footage and analyse the evidence. This never happened. Once we returned, a few hours later, we were rather hastily escorted out the door.
So once all the items were placed in the projection room, Adrian, the Asylum Tour Guide, gave a brief history of the spirits, tricksters and poltergeists, they claimed to haunt the foyer, namely Tommy and Ralph. The lights were turned off and we sat and we listened and we waited.....and waited.....and waited. Nothing happened.
We then divided into two groups. One group moved off with WSPR's Craig and the Asylum Tour Guide, Adrian. The other group was with WSPR's Richie and Mel and the Tour Guide, Will. I was in Craig's group. He stated that he was very keen to try and capture 'slender man', the alleged frequently sighted ghost of Grevilia, the male infirmary. The group, eager to start exploring, headed off to Grevilia. I walked around the space trying to get a 'feel' for the building, but nothing. We set up a laser grid, some KIIs and a parascope. Adrian shared some very intriguing stories of the building, but it was not long before focus was shifted to an alleged sighting of a full body apparition. Naturally the whole group moved to this space to hopefully see something. We all stood there in complete darkness until Craig says in a very agitated voice, 'get a light on me, get a light on me'. Once the torch was on him, Craig alleged that the zipper of his vest had been pulled down by a spirit. No-one else saw or felt anything and there was no other 'activity'. As a good paranormal investigator you are always trying to debunk and question any activity. Often when you flex and place your arms and chest out, you can force zippers down on your jackets, especially if they are tight fitting. Maybe this is what happened?
From here the groups swapped guides and my group, now with Richie, Mel and Will, moved into the Bull Pit. The Bull Pit is a ward for 10 to 25 year old male inpatients. We moved as a group up into the top hallway, an area reported to be very high in activity, with evidence suggesting that many guests have been scratched or have felt threatened. Will placed a few parascopes down the hall and an ovilus on the window sill. The only two words on the ovilus were rust and water. Any significance? Not that we could work out. Now if you have read any of my previous blogs, this is the space where I saw the orb of what I thought was a young boy move down the hallway and play with the parascopes, so, as you can imagine, I was rather excited to see if I could reconnect with the boy, or maybe place some balls for him to play with or move. Maybe set up a video camera or a full spectrum camera, maybe the parascopes and a motion sensor. But to be honest, I did not feel comfortable to do my own thing, so I just stood and waited, like all the others.
Nothing was really happening until one person on the tour appeared to be a trance in the doorway at the end of the hallway before the toilets. Other guests claimed they tried to move him, but he was rigid and stuck to the floor. Once he was pulled from the doorway, he tried to run, but was held back by a guide. He collapsed to the floor and was struggling to breath. Am I sceptical - very. This guest and a few others then went outside. About four of us were left and we moved through that doorway into the bathrooms. I was trying to sense any denseness or tingling. Nothing. One man, claimed to have a headache, another claimed their zip was undone, but for me, nothing.
By this time, it was 3.00 am and we moved back to the foyer and said our goodbyes. We were reconvening at 7.30 pm that night and I was looking forward to hopefully a more active evening.
So, we came together again on the Saturday evening. Ten guests had been at the Asylum the previous night and were excited to investigate some new areas of the buildings. A team member from WSPR grabbed us as soon as he saw us and stated 'as soon as you get back from the ghost tour, I will grab you guys and we will head off and get right into it'. Fantastic, seven hours of full on investigations.
After the wonderful ghost tour, led by Laura, we returned at around 9.00 pm for supper. At 10.00 pm, WSPR called us into the Bijou Theatre, for what I thought would be the Saturday night workshop, but I was mistaken. It was another hour of being talked at. After about 30 minutes I looked around the room and at least half of the guests were asleep, including staff from WSPR. Personally, I was bored and had to desperately fight from going to sleep myself. The talk finished up about 11.15 pm and we were told 'as soon as the last tour is back, we will get started'.
So to fill in time, I took some dousing rods, a KII meter, went up to the stage with another investigator and just talked to a spirit that is alleged to play on the stage, named Annie. We asked her to come dance on centre stage, nothing. We mentioned that we had lost an orange ball, one of the triggers from the projection room, and maybe if she had taken it to play with, that she might return the ball to us. We sat there talking to Annie, or maybe just to ourselves, for 10 or so minutes.
It was not until about midnight, we moved into the foyer where Will shared a quick story that had just happened in the back administration area, of a possible doppelgänger sighting of Laura. Very interesting indeed!
We then moved on to a repeat of the night before. This was disappointing as there were so many 'last nighters', and I for one, wanted to experience something different. For another hour we sat and tried to capture evidence of Tommy, Ralph and the projection room. But again, nothing.
Then, just before 1.00 am, an orange ball came down the stairs from the projection room and was thrown across the room and landed on the floor of the foyer. This was rather exciting, did anyone have an explanation, no. Were there CCTV cameras on that stair case, yes. So I guess, the owners of the tour company will get to investigate that activity and try and debunk and see what happened. Was this the same orange ball that had gone missing from the projection room, or the orange ball I had asked Annie to return, possibly.
By this time it was after 1.00 am, five and a half hours after we arrived and we were yet to do anything new. We divided into two groups. The 'newbies' and the 'last nighters'. The newbies headed back to Grevilia, the third time that weekend, to try and capture 'slender man'. The 'last nighters', along with Richie, Mel and Will, headed to the maniacal ward for women. We were upstairs and not a lot was happening, but I was sensing heaviness, a feeling that the spirits felt threatened and that they did not like the men being there. As no one else in the group was talking, I expressed this. As I did, I felt a real sense of empathy and was hearing distressing 'ahhhh, ahhhh' sounds in my head. I felt like females were being restrained and mistreated. I said this to the group and tried to show what I was seeing and hearing. WSPR suggested a role play and as no-one in the group was uncomfortable with that, WSPR proceeded to role play in a very aggressive manner, more like a prison warden, as opposed to a nurse. At that point, I developed an unbearable pain in my stomach. I am usually not one to feel pain, but I was almost doubled over with cramps in my stomach. When I told the group, another investigator said she had felt it too. WSPR did state that sometimes these are the types of investigations they do, where they have to push to get a reaction. It made me really sad to think they may have been treated that way. I did not like the aggression and it was interesting when walking back, that Will, the Asylum Tour Guide, said to me 'we don't normally do investigations like that, we are more passive'. Will might use the word passive, I would say respectful.
From there we moved to the laundry where nothing was really noted. A few hits on a Ghost Meter Pro, but no real active conversation. From there we moved to the downstairs area of the women's maniacal ward. I had not been in there before and was rather intrigued. Although nothing of significance was noted by myself, a guest claimed that a spirit took her earring. Do I believe it, no I don't.
I did get a feeling of some young girl spirits in this area and would not be surprised if we found out that families or young children had lived there with their mothers in the later years.
We returned to the foyer to swap guides. My group was now with Craig and Laura. The group were keen to explore a new area and Laura suggested the upstairs pharmacy. Eager to see another new part of the Asylum, we headed upstairs. Laura placed a KII on the servery and my parascope on the window sill in the kitchen. By this time, many guests were falling asleep and even snoring. No one was really actively engaging, so Laura and I tried to make contact with 'Bobby', a young boy spirit in the kitchen. We had a few minor hits on the KII, but with no real activity, we moved on to, you guessed it, Grevilia.
We were in Grevilia for about 30 minutes and nothing was really noted. There were four of us on the far 'slender man' corridor and we did get a few KII hits and the feeling of cold in one room, but again, nothing major. We would have liked to stay longer and see if there was any depth to these feelings, but the group was keen to go down to the cellar.
By this time it was close on 4.00 am and the entire group moved down into the cellar. We divided into two groups of 10 and moved into the cells. I was in the cell with the tour guide Will. The WSPR team was predominantly out in the open area. This by far was my first real experience of the weekend.
I was standing there in a circle with Will leading conversation. I started to experience real heaviness in my feet and they were absolutely aching in pain. I said this out loud to the group and then the people to my left, right and Will, all stated they were having the same sensation. We welcomed the spirits into our space and at this point, I began to tingle from my feet. The sensations moved through my body and right up to my shoulders. It was intense. Just at that point, the man to my left said that he could see a very tall figure standing over me, right in my face. At that exact moment, I felt a very strong presence and pressure again my chest, it felt exactly like someone had come up and was standing chest to chest with me. It lasted about 30 seconds and then subsided.
We finished up the circle and both groups were moved out into the main area. We were sitting around the perimeter and Craig was pacing the room. He paced for about a minute before he walked off into the cell area, followed by Richie and a tour guest. Richie then came out and told us all to leave the cellar immediately as something had affected Craig and he was not himself. Will packed up and led the group out of the cellar, rather hastily.
When we returned to the foyer, Craig and Richie alleged that Craig had been scratched and punched and that the tour had to be cut short because Craig 'was not himself', implying something had attached themselves to him. The WSPR team then stated that they had tried to leave the cellar, after Craig, and the door slammed shut and they could not open the door and Richie was yelling to let him out and telling the spirit to stay 'down in the cellar with the granite'.
Well, by this time it was 5.00 am and nearly time to leave.
So to sum up the weekend, I loved Cait, Laura, Adrian and Will, the Asylum Tour Guides. They are personal, knowledgeable, engaging and respectful. Would I do future tours with them, absolutely!
As for the WSPR team and the paranormal workshops - let's say I am a little disappointed. I did not learn anything new or get to play with any equipment. We didn't get to analyse the projection room footage, not even time to go back and see if any of the trigger items had moved. To be honest I felt like the WSPR team was ill prepared. Craig did state that he had let his guard down during the weekend and was not in the right head space, which resulted in him being attacked in the cellar. He claimed that by not being 100%, the spirits took advantage of his vulnerability and 'stuff got crazy'. Do I believe that.....I honestly do not know.
To possibly have three 'attachments', two zipper un-dressings, a full body apparition, a doppelgänger sighting, a missing earring, a scratch, a punch, as well as a missing and then reappearing ball, all in just two nights, is difficult for anyone, sceptic or not, to believe. I can only comment on what I saw, felt and heard.
It was obvious that the WSPR team investigate very differently to me, and that is ok and everyone is entitled to do what works for them. Did I enjoy the weekend - without a doubt. Did I enjoy seeing how other investigators explore the paranormal - absolutely!
As for the multitude of experiences that people claimed to have had happen to them last weekend, maybe you will just have to go and book a tour and find out for yourself.
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