I learned it from a book...

I'm always keen to add new (or indeed old) books to my ever growing library of ghostly and paranormal books. In my quest I was recently scanning the shelves of my local bookstore when I came across a copy of the newly published "Ghosts Amazing & Extraordinary Facts" by journalist Malcolm Day. Now I am a bit choosy about which books get added to the collection (shelf space is becoming a problem too) so I decided to browse the contents page before committing myself to spending the £9.99 cover price for this little hardback. Haunted Houses, Castles and Palaces; all the regulars were included but it was the section entitled Ghost Hunting that drew my attention - it is after all something I'm supposed to know a little about!

Equipment was covered (not in depth, but covered); spirit photography had a few pages but what really got my attention was page 134..."The Hex Nightclub; Para.Science investigates". Straight away it became an instant 'must buy'. I have never written a book, Para.Science has never written a book but over the years we have contributed to and featured in our fair share of others literary efforts and it is always nice to get a copy for the archive (Richard Felix, if you're reading this I still have never had a copy of 'What Is A Ghost' !). Settled in the nearby Costa with a Double Espresso I flicked straight to page 134 and began to read......well I began to skim the words...

"In 2005 a psychical research group Para.Science (good he spelled that correctly) were contacted by the owners of the Hex nightclub on Merseyside, England, after strange reports from builders who were renovating the place suggested it may be haunted........apparitions in the bar area.....objects moving.....the opening of a secure fire door, captured on CCTV..... The investigation went ahead. Preliminary tests were carried out to establish a baseline.... Floor plans and question sheets were drafted..... Recording equipment was installed". Then a sentence grabbed my attention and jolted me from my Espresso:-

"At one point before their overnight vigil had begun the lead investigator, Dr. Ciarán O'Keeffe said...." Actually, I didn't care a stuff what he said, believing I must have missed an important bit, I went back and re-read the start of the sentence "At one point before their overnight vigil had begun the lead investigator, Dr. Ciarán O'Keeffe said...."  Confused I read on, paying closer attention as my espresso grew cold. Turning to page 136 the narrative described a séance recreation and once again, words leapt out from the page:-

"Participants in the séance included the investigating team's co-director Yvette Fielding, colleague Ann, and three members of staff".....

Now I'm hoping that at least some of the readers will have heard of Para.Science and my association with that group; for those who haven't, Para.Science have been around quite a while and I, along with Ann Winsper have been instrumental as founders and coordinators (still are). I won't bore you further with the details about
Para.Science (those who are interested can always head over to www.parascience.org.uk when you've finished reading this month's issue of Silent Voices).

Of course, I knew that we had invited both to participate in one of a series of investigation visits to Hex by Para.Science as our guests whilst they researched their book "Ghost Hunters; A Guide to Investigating the Paranormal" (I did eventually have to buy my own copy, Ciarán!). In fact, Ann & I had been invited by Ciarán & Yvette to assist with gaining access to several other Para.Science investigation locations (Cammell Lairds and Cold Comfort farm!!) and to participate in the investigations of these and others contained in the book, but I think you can now understand my surprise to discover that we had gained a celebrity lead investigator and a TV star co-director of which I was unaware, and that got me thinking: When we wish to discover more about haunted places and the experiences of those therein, we are often reliant upon the testimony of others in the form of books and more recently the internet and TV. But how accurate are those accounts and how
much can we rely upon them as evidence of paranormal experiences?

In Malcolm Day's book the Hex nightclub investigation takes almost 3 of the 144 pages, the majority of the remaining pages also contain accounts of hauntings and investigations including some well known examples such as Borley Rectory, The Brown Lady of Raynham Hall and the nationally reported 2003 case from Hampton Court in which a robed figure was captured on video flinging open a fire escape door (shades of the Hex investigation perhaps?) The short piece about this infamous case ends with the sentence; "A spokesman for the Palace claimed it was definitely no hoax and that they genuinely had no idea who or what it was". Now that sounds pretty impressive and I'm sure that many still do believe that a be-robed wraith - possibly even that of Henry VIII himself took exception to the modern fire doors, bursting them open. After all, a spokesman for a Royal Palace wouldn't lie ! Actually, the spokesman didn't lie and his words were accurately stated in the 2011 book but what the author omitted was the later discovery that the ghostly appearance on camera was in fact a hoax carried out by castle staff, who later admitted their antics. The details of the hoax are difficult to find - try it, search Google for '2003 Hampton court ghost on film' and see for yourself how many of the 46,000 results reveal the truth about this famous case. The three pages of the Hex investigation I mentioned earlier contains more than a dozen factual errors or serious inaccuracies despite the fact that the author refers to Ciarán and Yvette's book which is factually accurate (I know, I proof read it before it got published).

Malcolm Day's book contains many other factual errors or omissions but it is not the only one that misleads its readers and my library shelves are filled with books going back to the 19th century and beyond that distort or misrepresent the known facts about a haunting or haunted location. In fact, it's probably the case that most books written on the subject of ghosts and hauntings fail to accurately portray the events they describe. Books that aim to provide proof of the existence of ghosts and spirits written by believers and books that set out to debunk and disprove their existence, written by sceptics are all frequently filled with biased accounts in which the story is represented in a manner that is designed to reflect the views of and beliefs of the author but is often presented as a series of factual and unbiased accounts. Authors also rarely bother to do their own research preferring instead to re-hash the accounts and experiences of previous authors. They perpetuate the myth that a location is haunted or that a particular experience took place a particular way, often they also add their own individual 'artistically licensed' flourish.

Embellishing the story for their readers until the account becomes more like a version of Chinese Whispers than a factual account of what transpired.
TV shows also operate on the basis of "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story". I have several personal experiences from my own encounters with a TV camera in which the edited, broadcast version of events differed (often quite radically) from my own (and others) experiences at the time. Often an explanation for something claimed by the show to be 'unexplained' had been readily and quickly explained - only for that explanation to end up on the editing room floor, dumped in favour of a carefully edited version of events that left the viewer with little real information about the event but a strong impression that what took place was clearly beyond explanation and therefore represented genuine paranormal activity. At other times, the explanation of really transpired went unheeded by show producers, eager instead to fulfil their brief of giving the viewers what the show's producers believed they wanted....screams....evil entities....THE PARANORMAL.... But rarely, in fact almost never, the Truth ! Did the Ovilus really pick up the horrific cries of children cast into a medieval fireplace at Castle Menzies during Paranormal Investigation Live (Halloween, 2010) or was it just malfunctioning because it had been used outside in the rain beforehand. Was the manifestation in Mains Hall for the Most Haunted team in 2005 really as it was portrayed as 'unexplained' or did they really know the actual cause? The edited and broadcast footage leaves the viewer in no doubt what to think. But analysis was carried out and the unedited footage was available that revealed that culprit was a spider busy spinning a cobweb.

Paranormal groups love their YouTube (maybe 'MeToo' might be a better description) channels. This form of social media sharing allows them to present their own evidence of paranormal encounters. Video footage of ghosts, orbs and poltergeists abound. EVP recordings compete for the viewers ratings alongside flickering EMF meters and grainy night vision footage.

Pity then, the poor bloody investigator who is at the mercy of all this propaganda. How can they ever be expected to discover the truth and develop the skills of critical thinking that is so vital for any objective investigation to be carried out. Of course a few are able to beat their way through this thicket of misinformation and manipulated facts, many more get tangled in the thorns or lose their way believing they are on the right path and others are quite happy to wander aimlessly around just having the bejesus scared out of themselves (or hoping to).

There are some excellent books written about ghosts, hauntings and the investigation thereof but there are many more which are just full of rubbish. There have been some pretty good attempts by TV producers at making factually accurate programmes about ghosts and there are even some internet sites that are unbiased and worth hovering your mouse over. I get asked a lot to recommend books or TV shows or web sites and my answer is always the same "Read as many different books, watch as many TV shows and visit as many internet pages as you can, but QUESTION EVERYTHING you read or watch - just because it's on the internet or in a book doesn't necessarily mean that it is true (of course it might be).

© Steve Parsons 2012
www.parascience.org.uk