Ghostly goings on or bunkum? I still don't know

By khelyer

Do I believe in ghosts? It's a question I'd been asking myself all week, in the knowledge that I would be spending the night in a place reputed to contain a whole host of them.

I knew that by the end of the night I ought to have a conclusive answer...

This was the launch event for Ghost Watch Live, which had people tuning in from all over the country via the live web broadcast to watch the night's spooky events unfold at Chambercombe Manor in Ilfracombe.

With them came Ti Thermal Imaging Ltd, complete with £50,000 worth of camera equipment. The business is run by Richard and Clare Wallace who said: "We've never done anything like this before, but we're open minded and it will be interesting to see what happens."

Their equipment can pick up differences in temperature and is usually used to detect gas or oil leaks in buildings.

So what did happen?

With cameras set up everywhere, we didn't expect any self-respecting ghost to go undetected.

Before we even started, Louisa Ferrari the reporter who was preparing to present the pieces to camera for the website, decided to take some pictures of the room.

She captured a large purple circle floating in front of an elaborately carved chair — an orb we were told...it wasn't the last one to be captured on camera that night.

Throughout the night the spirit mediums conducted seances to tempt the spirits to come forward.

Standing around the table we put our fingers on a silver tray, which responded to our questions by sliding around the table — sometimes quite violently.

But this type of experiment has been the subject of so many ruses and the material for so many sceptics to scoff at, that I had my doubts. Was someone pushing the tray?

That was until one lady received a message through medium Chris Holloway, who runs the guided tours at the house. The lady was Anne Symonds, who is one of the tour guides at Chambercombe, who complained that her hands, placed on the table, felt very hot.

On the thermal imaging camera, her hands glowed bright white — while everyone else's were yellow and orange. Hmmm. Odd.

Then, the strangest event of the evening — a "transfiguration" on Lesley Symons, another member of staff at the house.

This is a process where a spirit will manifest itself by physical changes to the face of the subject.

It took place by candlelight, so the changes I thought I saw, could have been a trick of the light. I blinked several times because I could hardly believe I was seeing this lady's quite angular face becoming droopy and jowly.

What we didn't see, but which became clear on the screens set up in the next room was that her face drooped noticeably down one side, her nose and mouth dropping down — and a large triangular lump appeared on her forehead.

Chris, watching the screen, became so worried that the "spirit" had experienced a stroke, that she interrupted to bring Lesley out of her trance.

So, there were things that could be explained away as a "trick of the light" — or as tired minds at 2am, playing tricks on us — but there was also the evidence on camera that was undeniable.

Barry Pringle, founder of Ghost Watch Live, said: "It certainly was an eventful night and a fantastic launch event. It couldn't have been better. We were going to come back in a year, but now we may return in six months."

Later, during a seance in the Chippendale room, I felt the fingers of one hand suddenly go icy cold.

Could this have been the little girl, Ayllie, who had earlier told Chris she would return to hold someone's hand — or did I imagine it because the idea had been planted in my mind? The odd thing was, shortly afterwards, it left that hand, which just as suddenly warmed, and transferred to the other.

As I sat in a particularly notorious chair in the Tudor room I too, was subjected to a kind of transfiguration, apparently, although not in a trance, everyone staring at me swore they saw my nose flatten, my hair become longer and thicker and a beard and moustache suddenly appear.

None of this was picked up on camera, but even the cameraman said it's what he saw.

All I can remember was feeling suddenly so cold that I was trembling uncontrollably.

All this is nonsense, cry the sceptics. Maybe. Some of the things I saw made me think just that. But how can anyone be objective about these things? I went along, wanting to believe I'd see something — and came away even more undecided than ever.

But Chambercombe Manor quite often hosts Paranormal Nights, so if your curiosity is aroused or you want to prove to yourself that it's all a load of bunkum, I suggest you go along and find out for yourself.

Visit the website to find out more at: www.chambercombemanor.org.uk

The next GWL event will be broadcast from Bodmin Jail and in the meantime a DVD is being produced and footage from Saturday will be viewable to website members at: www.ghostwatchlive.com