Things That Go Bump In The Night?

I wrote Ghost Encounters with my dyslexic daughter because we wanted to show that not all ghosts are hostile, because there are animal ghosts as well as people, because we wanted to share this beautiful part of England’s West Country – and some of its history – in a slightly different (maybe quirky!) way!

Ghosts, apart from whether you believe in them or not, are often misunderstood. They haunt old places at night, don’t they? They’re scary spooks who clank around in chains and moan a lot. Or they chuck things across the room? (One ghost mentioned in the book, regularly throws a clock across the kitchen of a Devon pub!) But actually, most ghosts are quite friendly and care about us, which is why they are still here, keeping an eye on our well-being. Ever heard of ‘Guardian Angel’? Think ‘Guardian Ghost’ instead. A ghost is the spirit or soul of something – usually a person – who is factually dead, but seen as a living apparition, either in full form or as a misty, ‘shade’ or shadow. Christ appeared three days after his death as the Holy Spirit. In other words, a ghost. Ghosts are probably just as unaware of us we are of them. Most, are probably not even actually there, but are merely a hologram-like energy presence, a left-over remnant from something intense which happened in the past. There is no scientific proof that ghosts exist. But then, there is no proof that they don’t. There has never been a satisfactory explanation of why, or how, different people have seen the same anomaly at the same place, at different times. Several drivers and their passengers have seen a man running alongside a main road near where I live here in Devon, he suddenly vanishes. These witnesses all described the same occurrence.

The pseudoscience of Ghost Hunting has become a popular ‘sport’ in recent years, encouraged by TV and radio with programmes like Help My House Is Haunted, and Uncanny etc. Why do these programmes always imply a hostile presence? Filmed at night, in hushed whispers? Screams of scared surprise when there’s an unusual noise, 

and the sort of taglines that imply: ‘If you dare!’

All these shows focus on the frightening – presumably building on an audience liking to be scared out of their wits. Horror, I guess, is popular. I can’t think why. I emailed one UK presenter asking these questions,. And suggesting that maybe it would be good to show ghosts as benign, friendly entities? I didn’t get a reply. Wouldn’t it be just as interesting for viewers or radio listeners (or book readers) to discover non-hostile, friendly ghosts? My daughter Kathy and I think it would, which is why we’ve produced Ghost Encounters: The Lingering Spirits of North Devon. It’s about nice ghosts, not nasty ones.

Ghost hunters, whether amateurs exploring old buildings or TV presenters with a remit to entertain (gullible?) viewers, seem to rely on technology to locate ghosts.  These Electronic gadgets do pick up strange noises but mobile phone and radio signals travel a long way and can penetrate most structures, with the receiving gadget blurring or distorting the sound, resulting in apparently eerie or weird communication. Equipment might also be triggered by other apparatus – the filming camera for instance. Please, please, don’t use these things as they cause great harm to wildlife, distorting the ability for bats to fly, for instance. And the only certain thing about anything picked up on this sort of apparatus is that they are NOT locating ghosts!

Old houses, pubs and castles are always assumed to have ghosts present because of their age and history. To be fair, this is where my daughter Kathy has seen most of her ghosts – our house dates back to 1769, the village pub was built during late Tudor. There are the remains of a Norman Motte and Bailey mound adjoining a car park here in North Devon. Three Norman ghost soldiers along with it. Go into any old pub and you can bet your next pint or glass of wine, that it has at least one ghost for the landlord to boast about, and the majority of individual landlords are quite happy to promote their friendly ‘residents’. I suppose because a hostelry also has other types of spirits?

Another two common misconceptions: Ghosts are not nocturnal, and they do not only linger where they died or are buried. In fact one place where you are most unlikely to see a ghost is in a cemetery. Most ghost presences remain because the departed soul is connected to that location in some way through an emotional tie. Maybe something traumatic, but usually because something memorable happened, or because those spirits were happy there. Our housemaid, Milly-Molly stays with us, we think, because she loved this house and sees it as her duty to keep an eye on it. (And us.) I like having her around. 

The ghosts within our village pub are nearly all friendly – or have no idea of our modern-day presence. They remain, I think, because a burst of energy has been imprinted in some way, caused by an important event. One group is an English Civil War troop, wounded and anxious to find replacement horses in order to get away to safety. We think these are Cavaliers escaping the disaster of nearby Torrington, where gunpowder blew part of the church up, and Cromwell was subsequently victorious. 

So, treat the technology and the TV programmes (and the findings) with a large dose of salt. A genuine Medium or Spiritualist who can connect with ghosts does not require electronics, or need to ask: ‘Is there anyone there?’ 

A genuine person will simply say, ‘Hello’.

©  Helen Hollick

originally published on Anna Belfrage's blog