WHITBY GAZETTE 08/11/05 PAGE 2
(please note, although peoples names appeared in the feature we do not place them in full on our website)
(The same story appeared in PRESTIGE magazine)
Alex F! takes a trip into the paranormal...
SITTING in complete
darkness with an unexplained draft between my legs I was starting to regret
volunteering to spend Hallowe'en ghost hunting.
Until last week my only encounters with the other side was when I dressed up
as a zombie and popped out of a polystyrene graveyard to recreate Michael Jackson's
hit Thriller for a school play.
Little did I expect that spending seven hours in a real paranormal hotspot at
the Tom leonard Mine in Skinningrove, with a group of equally sceptical strangers,
would shake my beliefs to the core.
With my torch, energy drink and digital camera packed into my rucksack I was
well prepared for the night to begin around 9pm.
The event was organised by Abbey Ghost Hunters – psychics Mark and Angie
Riley from Burniston in Scarborough who have previously held four investigations
there.
My fellow 17 ghost hunters included Whitby Gazette photographer Doug J!, doorman
Kevin Smith and his cousin, nurse Tracey C!, from Staithes friends Angela M!
And Tracey C! Who run the Fox and Hounds pub at Dalehouse, Staithes, and three
BBC Radio Cleveland presenters who were broadcasting live during the night.
The panic soon set in when Mark explained it was likely we could meet residual
ghosts, audible ghosts or tactile ghosts.
Residual ghosts can be seen going about their business as if they are still
alive, audible ghosts are those that can be heard but not seen and a tactile
ghost is one that touches you.
Before entering the mine we stood in a circle and said a protection prayer while
holding hands and we asked for the spirits to make themselves known to us.
We split into two teams and ventured into the North Drift – a dark tunnel
where miners would have hauled the ironstone using horses before it was brought
up the surface.
It was around 10.30pm I reached into my bag for my torch and discovered it was
missing.
As we sat quietly on two benches for the next hour and a half with our eyes
slowly becoming accustomed to the light, it was then that a couple of people
heard a cat meowing, the sound of footsteps and saw a bright white light.
Angie said she sensed two spirits, one of whom was a boy called Jack.
In one particular area where we were sitting I started to feel a draught but
was assured by Paul, one of the museum's tour guides who had volunteered his
services for the night we were too far underground.
We then made our way to the experience – a ventilation shaft in another
section of the mine to take part in a table – tipping experiment.
After checking the table, which was quite heavy and on casters, I placed my
fingertips on its polished surface along with three other people.
If any spirits were present we asked whether they could tip the table and with
no explanation and without anyone pushing it the table swerved.
Later I rested a single finger together with the others, on the glass and to
our amazement it started to inch its way across the surface before swirling
faster before it reached the edge.
The most startling experience happened in the museum area at 2am. Four us gathered
around the table and Angie said she sensed the spirits of children with us including
one belonging to a child called Jarvis.
I started to laugh, perhaps out of nervousness and the more I laughed the faster
the table moved until it was dancing around the floor.
It was at that moment my sceptical views were put aside – there was no
logical explanation as we each took our hands off the table to show we weren't
moving it ourselves.
As I stood to the side of the room watching different people place their hands
on the table with the same thing happening to them, a name suddenly popped into
my head – Samuel Tibbins and a year, 1873.
For some unknown reason I muttered it under my breath and the table which had
been still for a while began whirling around the room again.
Angie, who held dowsing rods in her hands urged me to ask the “spirit”
questions so I hesitantly asked if Samuel worked in the mine and the rods crossed
over, signalling a yes.
More questions followed – I asked the spirit if it was happy for me to
ask it questions and again the rods moved.
Ghost hunting isn't for the faint hearted – one man said he felt he was
being crushed when a presence came through who said it was involved in a mining
accident.
At no point did I feel frightened and the whole experience has left me hungry
to go through it all again.
And as I opened my front door to head off to work the next day, there on top
of my roof was my torch which had remained there all the way back to Whitby
without rolling off.
Now how do you explain that?