Wales: Ghost-hunting is all in a good cause

From This is Wales:  Ghost-hunting is all in a good cause

IF you go down to the woods this month, you may be in for a spooky surprise!

A paranormal investigation night has been arranged at Pembrey woods on Saturday, October 27 to raise money for the British Heart Foundation.

The Haunted Woods event begins at 8pm and costs £10 per person.

The organisation SPR Cymru will be carrying out the investigation — using special gadgets designed to pick up paranormal activity.

The group is a team of paranormal investigators made up of "sensitives, sceptics and resident mediums" based in Llanelli.

British Heart Foundation fundraiser Jayne Lewis said she was looking forward to the event.

"In our last event, the atmosphere was electric," she said.

"SPR Cymru have been fantastic.

"They do all the investigating.

"This event will go on until about 2am but we don't have problems if people want to leave earlier.

"We ask people to bring coats and flat shoes but it would be excellent if they dress up for Halloween."

The slow-paced walk will cover approximately two miles in the woods.

Jayne said they hope to raise around £500 which will go towards the foundation's Mending Broken Hearts appeal.

The charity is hoping the event is as successful as a similar paranormal investigation at Llanelli's Halfway Hotel in September.

Director of SPR Cymru, Mark Hinder, who organised the night, said: "It was excellent.

"People were taken around different areas of the hotel.

"One lady had a lot of information on the Ouija board about a relative.

"The electronic magnetic field reader was going off which signifies spirits were close.

"We have had fabulous feedback.

"Everyone enjoyed and we are looking forward to the event in Pembrey."

To find out more or to buy tickets contact Jayne on 01554 891500.

Oxford, England: Spooky festival

From Daily Mail: Spooky festival

SOME ghostly and ghastly goings-on are taking over Oxford Castle .
Ghost Fest, which sees paranormal experiments and spooky tours at Oxford Castle – Unlocked, is now in its seventh year.
For adults there will be the chance to visit the 1,000-year-old site in the middle of the night and hunt for ghouls. And for children, there are family-friendly daytime ghost hunts and the chance to trick or treat in the old prison.
Tour guide Lois Sadler, pictured with Tom Wilson, playing a “scary horrible wench”, said: “October is always lots of fun here.
“Children love trick or treating, coming up to the cell doors in the old prison and meeting all the different characters.
“And we have the more sinister tour of the castle for the adults. There are a lot of ghost stories here, so fans of the paranormal can enjoy spending the night in a crypt.”
The castle was used as the city’s prison for more than 800 years, before opening as a tourist attraction in 2006.
For details, contact Oxford Castle – Unlocked on 01865 260666, email info@oxfordcastleunlocked.co.uk or visit www.oxfordcastleunlocked.co.uk

 

NJ: Weekend Guide: Ghost Hunting at Princeton Battlefield and More

From Princeton Patch

This news is from this weekend - but they'll doubtless repeat it next year so put it on your calendar.

Hunt for Ghosts on Princeton Battlefield. This isn't a "jump out and scare you" experience. It's an opportunity on the site of the Battle of Princeton after dark using authentic EMF meters, dowsing rods and therma-meters to investigate. 8 p.m.

Princeton Battlefield State Park, 500 Mercer Rd, Princeton, NJ |
$20.00

People have always told us Princeton Battlefield was haunted... Now, it's time to know the truth.
Be warned this is an unsettling tour.  It's the site of one of the most important battles in the United States and, per usual, our guides are not holding back any of the facts.
This isn't a "jump out and scare you" experience.  This is a once in a lifetime experience to be on the most significant American battlefields after dark using authentic EMF Meters, Dowsing Rods and Therma-Meters to investigate the site.
We walk through Princeton Battlefield where tour guides use state of the art audio systems and iPads to tell the chronological story and descriptions of the horrors of war, including  the shootings, bayonettings, beatings, cannon fire and screams of both men and horses shot during the battle.
At the end of the ghost hunt, we'll go inside a closed cemetery to see the gravestone of Richard Stockton, Signer of the Declaration of Independence and undeniable hero to our nation and the Princeton community.

Oct 19, Madison Iowa: Ghost Hunt will return to FM

From Fort Madison Daily Democrat : Ghost Hunt will return to FM

Historic river towns have their share of haunts and the paranormal, and Fort Madison is no different.

The Ghost Hunt allows for visitors to document the paranormal activity that surrounds us.

On Friday, Oct 19, or Saturday, Oct 20, visit six private and haunted locations with "Mysteries of the Night: paranormal specialists...bring your digital camera, if you dare!"

Tickets are $25, available at Fort Madison Area Artists Association's gallery on Avenue G, the Fort Madison Main Street office, The Bookmark and at Weird Harold's in Burlington, starting on Oct 1.

Participants have their choice of Friday or Saturday night. The event starts at 7 each night.

Call 1-800-210-TOUR for more info and for lodging discounts, or visit www.fortmadison.com.

 

Stanley Hotel's Ghosts Reluctant to Bring Positive Energy to Couples Retreat

From PrWeb:  Stanley Hotel's Ghosts Reluctant to Bring Positive Energy to Couples Retreat

Colorado Springs, CO (PRWEB) September 21, 2012

Like their live counterparts, ghosts are reluctant to change. So much so that they remain largely invisible, often replaying their life-ending tragedies.
People can become glued to the “rear view mirror”, too; looking backward so much that they never see what’s ahead of them. Like ghosts, sometimes couples don’t know there’s a way out of that bind.
Over 16 years of private practice, Kathe Skinner, Certified Relationship Specialist and Marriage & Family therapist, has seen people whose difficulties today result from what happened in the past along with the choice to remain stuck in it. “We can’t do something about what keeps us unhappy unless we recognize and acknowledge that we are indeed unhappy. And you’d be surprised at how many people have no clue there’s a problem and that they’re part of it,” she finishes.
Skinner goes on to say that it isn’t until something attention-getting happens – a spousal affair, an acting-out child, divorce, inability to keep friendships – that a hard look is taken. Skinner thinks that the hard look needs to begin with taking a look in and around yourself.
Noted psychologist and marriage researcher John Gottman’s oft-repeated assertion that it takes 6 years for a couple in trouble to seek help points toward the concept of developing self-awareness before other-awareness can occur. Six years or sixty years can pass before some people are unhappy being unhappy; haunting may develop around people who choose to remain unhappy to the end. What better place than a haunted hotel to talk about that.
“I’m not advocating being trapped in place like a ghost,” Skinner explains, “but I do think that ghosts, in this case ghosts of our past, have a lot to tell us.” There’s no arguing that spirits have had a long time to think about what to say.
Noted psychologists Jeffrey Young and Janet Klosko may have had some ghostly input into their development of “schema theory”, which holds that maladaptive adult behavior results from the confluence of nature and nurture in early life. For example, a child growing up in a family that believes that “children should be seen and not heard” and discourages self-expression, may not grow up to like Speech class, or be a storyteller around the campfire. Most specters would most likely agree that some experiences on the mortal plane are deadly to the spirit.
Kathe Skinner hopes that some ghosts will be listening in on Being Heard’s Couples Retreat as couples hunt for the ghosts of their past. Could be that The Stanley’s ghosts would have more reason to hang around, and that the hotel would drop off the list of haunted hotels. Somehow, life after death, like life during life, won’t be that easy.

 

UK, Oct 13: Cumbria ghost team to stage a hunt in Millom theatre

From Northwest Evening Mail:  Cumbria ghost team to stage a hunt in Millom theatre

The Cumbria Ghost Hunt squad will be trying to uncover the spooky secrets of the Millom Palladium Theatre.
Founder of the team, Mark Hankin, says they are very much looking forward to exploring the mysterious ‘energies’ lingering in the St George’s Road building.
He said: “There has been a few people who say they’ve felt a presence in the palladium. I’ve been down myself to have a look at the location and I picked up on two areas straight away where activity has been reported by people.
“We’re very hopeful that we’re going to have a good investigation there.”
The Cumbria Ghost Hunt team will hold its investigation in Millom overnight on October 13.
Mr Hankin, who oversees Cumbria’s roads network as part of his day job with Capita Symonds, said the team will be looking to deploy several ‘spirit communication devices’ in Millom, including seances and an automatic writing planchette.
He said: “We’ll be looking to do a couple of seances at the Millom location – it’s absolutely rife with activity that we can’t explain.
“It is said there is a presence on the stage area. When I was looking round the building, the stage was one of the places where I picked up an energy and I went right to the exact spot where it has been experienced before.
“It’s my guess that it may have been someone who did amateur dramatics or was involved with the theatre.
“But we won’t know until we do the investigation. We’re very much looking forward to investigating it.”
Since starting in January last year, the team has been busily investigating locations throughout Cumbria, including the Millom Discovery Centre and the Nan Tait Centre, in Barrow.
Mr Hankin has been a medium for the past 23 years, starting with tarot card readings before progressing in to psychic development work.
He said: “I’d be doing readings at people’s houses and they’d say ‘can you just have a look in the back bedroom, we think there’s something there?’ Sometimes there was something, others there wasn’t.”

 

Posts resume Sep 24 2012

My mom, who is 75, wants to go up to teeny tiny town near Rapid City, to see her sister, who is 80. They live in a house in the boonies and have no internet.

I'll be back online on Monday the 24th and promise not to miss another day.

Please bear with me, your patience is appreciated!