I have been Ghost Hunting now in excess of 15 years, and I am still scared of the dark!., Yvette Fielding also let this slip when
 I was working the Most Haunted Team on Series 10 of Most Haunted, thanks Yvette .

We have to be clear what we are looking for on events, are we looking for Ghosts or Spirits?. Their is a very big difference here, Ghosts are a recording in time of a specific event, their will be no communication nor any form of interaction between the ghostly figure and the medium/guests or person. Often we hear of ghostly visions taking place on a specific time or date, this can be on the anniversary of something happening. If we are trying to communicate with spirit, we can use various tools as well as our intuition to contact them. Most of you will have heard of connections using Ouija boards, table tipping, glass divination and many other forms. We know from our experience that spirit have knowledge and are able to commune with us on many different levels. We have to be open to the many different methods of spiritual contact. Clairvoyant Mediums and Psychics are able to contact to spirit in their own ways, giving every specific details, pictures, feelings and observations.

Recently some of you might have seen me ‘Spook’ Holly Wiloughby on ITV’s This Morning programme. Myself and the Chris French (Parapsychologist and Sceptic) were giving our views on some ‘Ghostly Pictures’, during the show we came across a picture that was taking in a ladies attic room. It was clear from the picture that their was a head and shoulders of a ghostly apparition in the corner of the room. As myself and Philip Schofield were looking at the picture, we noticed that it seemed that the ghostly figure had a rope around the neck area. At this same time Holly was hiding behind her cue cards, and was actually crying tears, as I was giving my opinion, Holly was looking at me and floods of tears were rolling down her cheeks. At that moment she left the set, and ran off outside the room with my management team to console. I did at the end ask Holly if she would like to be on a ghost hunt with me, but she politely replied ‘Not a Chance!’. The most spooking thing of all was that the place where the picture was taken, was actually a place were a lady had previously hung herself in the attic room!. Maybe this was the lady trying to show herself?.

People ask me often “Why do we Ghost Hunts in the dark”, this always makes me smile as it makes no difference really whether its day or night, but we carryout events in the dark as it heightens your own senses i.e smell, taste, hearing, your intuition. Most haunted building and venues report just as much paranormal activity in the daytimes as in the dark nights. I have had some very strange and weird experiences on both public and private events, things that I cannot ever explain and in some cases I wouldnt want to experience again. Most of us in our every day lives have a feeling of being watched or pushed in some cases, feelings that we cannot ever explain. How do we know when someone is watching us, even when our back are turned towards them and as we turn around you can tell that they are looking at you….. but why?…. maybe its out inner self that is sensing something that we just don’t know.

We are all afraid of the unknown, and this is the thrill and the excited of attending a ghost hunt. We are never sure what will be seen on the night, nor what experiences people will have either, but what ever happens is down to an individuals personal experience. I always ask if anyone wants to carry out a ‘Lone Vigil’, this is where a guest can sit in a room on there own for an agreed time and call out or ask for something to happen in the room. Peoples senses get very heightened by this, and they often want to call off the session or in some cases sit in there for longer to get some proof of existence.

So why are people afraid of Ghosts, they cant harm you, they have no psychical presence, they have no way to do anything other than to drift across a room and disappear through the nearest door or wall. People claim to have seen Ghosts drift through ceilings, floors and even walls where their is no current doorway. So why do they do this?, it is believed that ghost images will try to portray the original conditions of their life or even death, they may drift through walls that once used to be a doorway or they walk on a different floor level to the current floor due to it being raised over many years. Why do people report Roman Soldiers walking, but they can only see them from the waste upwards, maybe this is because over years we have replaced roadways and also increased floors levels from the original state.

I have to say that I am last person to want to do a lone vigil, or to walk through a doorway first. I always say that in Ghost Hunting I have two rules, these being..

1 – if a door is closed its closed for a reason.

2 – and if a door is closed you push someone else through first (in my case normal the nearest person).

I wouldn’t go anywhere without my torch, nor would I want to be leading a group through a building without someone else being their with me.

Maybe we are scare of what could or might happen, maybe we are all just very in tune with some other force and we are not sure what it is. Maybe we are just using our intuition, and sensing things from another time and space that doesn’t feel comfortable to us.

In all this, I still crave to see and find something that I just cannot explain (just like the guests on an event). We all search for proof of life after death, and this will be accepted in anyway that is possible.

I cannot see me ever giving up looking for something, but also Ghost Hunting. I want to experience it myself and to also give people the opportunity to push their limits, and go to the other extreme for that ultimate sensation.

My advice is, just keep looking and searching, as you never what’s around the corner, and if you did would you want to keep looking???

This will be my last article, as next month I will answering readers questions. If you do have any question please contact me

© Barrie John 2011
www.barriejohn.com