Most Haunted

For all fans of Living TV's Most Haunted and other paranormal investigations, you will love this article from Nicholas Freville in England.

Over to you Nicholas..........

We live in a tangible, tactile world where in order to live our lives in a normal way, we are daily engaged in the physical and here and now. However, just over the horizon and when one has time to reflect and think, there is an element of mystery on life’s fringes with phenomena from Aliens and Angels to Yeties and Zombies.


Most of us go through life on a practical down to earth basis and then something intrudes on us and makes us think. Maybe we have a premonition which comes true or an out of the body experience. We hear of a haunted house or the activities of a poltergeist; maybe it is mediumship and automatic writing and many other phenomena besides. Now, there is no doubt that these things happen and they may make us feel somewhat uneasy; there may be a hint of malice or, as in near death experiences, a tremendous sense of delight. And all this confirms that beyond the everyday experience of the senses there is that extra unknown ‘something’ lurking on the horizon which maybe either neutral, or good or evil.


Let’s take coincidence. Coincidences in fact are really quite common and it is probably rare to come across anyone who has not experienced a coincidence of some sort. Life is full of connections and intersections but it is only when we are aware of these intersections that they are meaningful. Coincidences usually come out of the blue with the consequences of making one think and ponder whether they have an ulterior meaning or purpose or are they just a coincidence and nothing more?


Here are two coincidences from my own life. For over six months I had been helping a lad preparing for his GCSE Maths. We formed a good relationship and he duly acquired the grade he needed. About a year later I was walking through a distant country park in connection with a social outing and I had raced on ahead until in the distance I saw a young man and his girl in which I called out to enquire whether they had passed a group of ladies – yes, they had they replied, and we immediately discovered our previous relationship and exclaimed: ‘what a coincidence!’ This is minor and instances like this happen to people all the time.


Here now is a more amazing coincidence. My wife and I are regular ramblers and recently we got to know a certain family quite well from the walks. Well one month we had to break off our regular rambling routine and flew out to Australia for a five week tour of the country. Now our last leg before flying back was a visit to Perth and as we were exploring the city centre a voice called out showing recognition; it was the family we knew from our home rambles.

All this brings us to ‘meaning’. Take dowsing. Dowsing is best known as the means to find underground water, but it can also be used to find metals, lost objects and even lost people using maps. Dowsing is a real ability possessed by some people who can detect certain items or energies without using the normal five senses.


So there is something beyond our five senses and the gift of premonition is a further one of these abilities which some people have but are often too embarrassed to admit.


Nobody can know how frequent premonitions are or how many are reported to other people, other organisations, or the media at large. After a major event, many people claim that they foresaw it although some may be hoaxing and others may be deceiving themselves, but the overwhelming evidence for premonitions is that they do happen. A well known and impressive case is that of the primary school at Aberfan in Wales. Nine year old Eryl Jones attended the Pantglas school in the mining village of Aberfan. On 20th October 1967 Eryl told her mother that she had dreamed about her school but that: “there was no school there - something black had come down all over it.” The next day the school was buried by the coal tip which towered above the village. Over a 100 children and adults died including Eryl Jones. This disaster was foretold by many and London psychiatrist John Barker concluded that 60 of the claimed premonitions were genuine.


Coincidences give us that ability to think and wonder; dowsing and premonitions show that there is a further sense and ability.


But what about ghosts, poltergeists and apparitions? These are things which are seen and observed and the evidence for their existence is overwhelming. Of all paranormal experiences, ghosts or apparitions are probably the most reported phenomena: from the ghostly goings on at Borley Rectory in Suffolk – reputedly the most haunted house in Britain at one time – to crisis apparitions and presumed visions of the Virgin Mary which regularly pop up all over the world.


Then there are cases of people who hear: ‘voices inside their heads.’ A good percentage of these of course are people with a mental illness such as schizophrenia. However, perfectly normal, well balanced people from all walks of life can hear voices in their heads. The problem is what is the origin of these voices; to many they are simply delusions with no consequence or meaning at all. However, it is a fact that many people do hear voices and they do have a meaning or sometimes a message. Many years ago David, a young man of 42, had a ‘near death experience’ following a heart attack and a stroke which led to brain damage and to being partially sighted. On regaining much of his health he insisted to his wife, that because of his experiences in another dimension, his whole way of life had to change and that their house had to be sold; this of course did not go down well with the rest of his family. However, David’s wife Jill kept getting a voice in her head which repeatedly said: “give up” with regard to the house. “It was so clear and insistent that I decided I’d be a fool to ignore it.’said Jill.


But of course one can go on and tell about UFOs, crop circles, phantom hitchhikers, psychic surgery, firewalking etc. so where does this all lead us?


What it does show is that life need never be mundane and boring but there is that spark of mystery which can crop up in anybody’s life. Depending on our attitude we can either forget and bury our experiences, or enquire into them thus discovering how interesting the world really is; whether we have been abducted by aliens or experience an unusual coincidence, strangeness is all around us.