Castle Keep and The Black Gate, Newcastle. 25th May 2012.

Would you believe a folding table could walk around a room or try its hardest to climb some stairs?

I will hold my hands up right now and admit that while I have heard talk of tables moving either by rocking back and to or spinning around on one leg before but never having seen it happen for myself I have always been a little sceptical of this type of thing even when they have been reported by my fellow team mates whom I trust not to fake such things.  Until now.  Last night I saw it happen for myself and I caught it on camera.

This is called table tipping, one of the Victorians’ favourite ways of communicating with the dead.  We used a folding ‘TV dinner’ table in the Garrison Room, the lowest level of the medieval Castle Keep where it is said prisoners were chained to the walls while awaiting trial.  Indeed the metal hoops that the chains passed through are still in the stone walls.   We set the table up so all four feet were on the same, level, floor flagstone then, while resting our finger tips on the edge of the table, requested if there was a spirit there who wished to communicate with us to move the table for us so we would know they were there.  The rocking became, rather gently at first, but rapidly built up from making the table creak to visibly moving then to rocking back and to onto two legs.  The table changed the direction of the rocking when requested to then it balanced on one leg.  As crazy as this may seem, the table even remained balanced so when asked to so I could photograph it!

The table then made the people on the table walk around it by spinning on one leg, then it took them for a walk around the room and back to its starting point.  In the Garrison Room there is a wide flight of wooden then stone steps that lead up to the condemned man’s cell.  Not really believing it could be possible we requested the spirit to ‘walk’ the table up the stairs, but the table ‘walked’ over to the stairs and managed to get onto the bottom step.  Perhaps if the stairs had been wider it would have managed to get higher, it certainly tried to.  No body picked the table up and at this point most of the people on the table only had one or two fingers resting on its top.

Later that night, or earlier the following morning, we tried table tipping in the chapel.  Again the table rocked from side to side, slamming its feet onto the stone floor so hard it could be heard by the people on the floor above.  Likewise, at a different point in the night, we could hear their table, a much heavier one, doing the same thing.  We learnt from the rocking, or the stopping dead for negative answers, that there was a Catholic spirit in the chapel who wasn’t too happy with us doing table tipping there. 

This is the first time I have ever witnessed table tipping to such an extent.   Previously I have felt the table vibrate as something knocked on its underside at Grace Dieu Priory, again with people I trust not to fake results, now I want to witness the phenomenon of the ‘walking’ table again.   Perhaps one day I will see all four table legs lift off the floor, it didn’t happen this time but who knows…

There was one other occurrence I wish to report from last night.  Again it concerns the chapel.  During the first session of the night I went into the chapel alone.  I was very nice, I asked permission to entre, after all it was not my place of worship, but from the moment I entered I was aware that my presence was not welcome, indeed when I walked into the section where there are some grave stones on display the very air seemed to change consistency to a thicker more resistance density.  I took a few photos, then feeling quite sick, left the chapel.  As is my habit I noted this in my notebook, one of my most used tools, and showed it to my fellow team leader without saying a word to anyone else.  On the following break I mentioned not being welcome in the chapel to the organiser, it is apparently a feeling he, and quite a few others, are familiar with.  This night the Team Leaders stayed in the same area while the teams of ’investigators’ moved between different locations, or floors of the Keep, and between different Team Leaders so they could experience how different Leaders conducted investigations.  While working with a different group of ‘investigators’ my fellow Team Leader took some of our new group into the chapel, I stayed in the Garrison Room with the rest of the group as we tried the Talking Board without success.  Upon their return to the garrison Room he showed a lady in that smaller group the notation I had made; in an aside he then informed me she had experienced exactly the same thing.  We do not announce things like this aloud to a group so no one can become affected by suggestion.

Castle Keep; it is an interesting place to hold an investigation and I am sure I will be going back.

Orbs, what are they?

Possible cause one: modern photographic equipment and retroreflection.

Orbs are common with compact cameras, where the short distance between the lens and the built-in flash decreases the angle of light reflection to the lens so directly illuminating the aspect of any particles facing the lens and increasing the camera's ability to capture the light reflected off normally sub-visible particles.

In this manner retroreflection can create orbs when light from the flash returns to the lens with a limited scattering of light off a solid particle (e.g., dust, pollen), liquid particles (water droplets, especially rain) or other foreign material within the camera lens.

Such images usually appear as either white or semi-transparent circles, though they may also occur with whole or partial colour spectrums, purple fringing or other chromatic aberrations.  With rain droplets, an image may capture light passing through the droplet creating a small rainbow effect.

A hypothetical underwater instance with two conditions in which orbs are (A) likely or (B) unlikely

Possible cause two: ghosts, spirits and life forms

Some ghost hunters believe orbs are ghosts in the form of balls of light or that they are the life forms now taken on by the human soul or life force of those that once inhabited a physical body here on earth.  Such orbs are encountered with relative frequency and some psychics claim to be able to talk to them. 

Some people believe these orbs to be spirits who have willingly decided not to move to the next level of existence because they feel bound to their previous life or location for some reason and can, consequently become similar to a psychotic human being.  Some people also believe that the longer these spirits stay behind, the harder it is for them to find their way to the next level.

                                    

Possible cause three: visible energy transference

Another theory considers orbs to be energy transferring from a source (i.e. power lines, heat energy, batteries, people, etc) to the spirit so they can manifest.  It is possible that this is simply a natural way for them to get their energy. 

Why this shape? 

Orbs are the most photographed anomalies caught by ghost hunters and can be quite photogenic; ranging from completely transparent to a bright solid form. 

The ‘energy transference’ theory would, according to the laws of Physics, explain why these ‘spirits’ appear as round balls; while in the process of transferring, energy would assume its natural shape of a sphere.    This theory can also be tied into the EMF readings obtained during spirit activity.

Another theory is that ghosts prefer the form of an orb because this shape uses the least energy with small orbs requiring far less energy than apparitions and other fuller shapes.  Some believe that in the colder parts of the year ghosts can find it easier to take on shapes other than orbs as this is when static electricity most commonly occurs in the atmosphere particularly in the months from October to February.  It is also believed that they are able to draw on our own energy when needed. 

But how do we explain…?

Orbs appear in photographs taken in grave yards, alleged haunted locations and before important life changing events.  While some people believe these orbs to be spirits and paranormal energies, some skeptics believe them to be caused by insects, moisture, dust particles or malfunctioning camera diodes and while some ‘orbs’ can be accredited to natural phenomena, there are some that simply just cannot.  

For example; photographs taken of the hands of healers showing orbs as the healer is projecting their spiritual powers, or orbs that can appear in photos around the heads of mediums when they are communicating with the dead.  So what are the orbs that appear on photographs taken at spiritually significantly times?  As of yet no one can say for certain so it is down to individual belief.

http://ghoststudy.com/a_what_are_orbs.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orb_(optics)

http://theshadowlands.net/ghost/orbs.htm

http://www.psychics.co.uk/orbs/index.html

            http://www.psychics.co.uk/ghosts/what-are-orbs.html

Psychometry

Is it possible that objects can retain information about their owners and their lives or, in the case of buildings, events that took place there? 

Also known as token-object reading or psychoscopy, the term "psychometry" (meaning measuring the soul) was invented by Joseph Rodes Buchanan in 1842.  Psychometry is a form of psychic reading where the reader is said to be able to acquire information about another through physical contact with that person’s possessions or an event in history by touching a building that witnessed it. 

Psychometrists believe that everyone and every living thing emits electromagnetic energy and it is this energy that they tap into to gather information.  Objects, whether a family photo, a piece of jewellery, or an old castle wall, acquire the psychic energies emitted from people and events and that these psychic imprints remain in the object forever.  Michael Talbot in his book The Holographic Universe, "suggest(s) that the past is not lost, but still exists in some form accessible to human perception."  With the scientific knowledge that all matter on a subatomic level exists essentially as vibrations, Talbot asserts that consciousness and reality exist in a kind of hologram that contains a record of the past, present and future; psychometrics may be able to tap into that record.  Sometimes these imprints can manifest as a residual haunting at other times these psychic impressions can be picked up as information.

As Psychometrists are said to be able to make links between an object, the history of which is unknown to the reader, and its history simply by touching or holding the object, Psychometry may be  regarded is a form of extra-sensory perception and a method of scrying.  Mrs. Hester Drowden, a famous medium, defined psychometry as "a psychic power possessed by certain individuals which enables them to divine the history of, or events connected with, a material object with which they come into close contact."

Supporters of psychometry believe objects have energy fields that can convey the knowledge of that object's history to the reader in the forms of images, sounds, smells, tastes even emotions.   The psychic may be able to sense what the person was like, what they did, how the person felt at a particular time and even how they died. 

Trying psychometry for yourself is easy however some believe the hand you use to get impressions from objects is very important.  They feel that the dominant hand gives or relays information and that the non-dominant or receptive hand receives information.  When trying psychometry practitioners believe you should pick up or touch the object you are using with your receptive hand as your dominant hand may inadvertently transmit an impression of yourself and that to get clear information the object should belong and have been worn only by one person. 

The object should be something that the reader is not familiar with, one way of doing this if working in a group is for everyone to discreetly put an object of theirs in a bowl.  Then everyone should take out an object that it is not their own with their receptive hands and hold the object until they receive an impression.  The idea is to try and tune in to the vibrations emitted by the object, at first the images or feelings received may be vague or appear to have little relevance to the owner of the object.  Members of the group can then either write down everything they see in their minds, thoughts, feelings even what they hear in their heads while holding the object and these can be returned to the object’s owner or take turns to describe their impressions verbally. 

Feedback from the object’s owner is important as this is what helps to develop the reader’s skills and improvement is often just a case of practise. 

http://paranormal.about.com/cs/espinformation/a/aa063003.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychometry_(paranormal)

http://www.powerful-psychic-reading.com/psychometry.html

         http://www.themystica.org/mystica/articles/p/psychometry.html

Heysham Old Hall

SE face date unknown

This typical late 16th-century Elizabethan Manor is situated in Higher Heysham and is the oldest dwelling in the district of Heysham and Morecambe.  The building was constructed of dressed masonry in coursed blocks, and roofed with stone slates.  The front of this two-story house faces south east and originally stood well back from the road, from which it was separated by a well-kept garden and high fence wall.  The building has a central hall and projecting 19 ft. wide gabled wings on either side, with a porch going up the full height and terminating in a smaller gable within the angle formed by the west wing.

      The hall measures 18 ft. by 16 ft. 6 in. and is lighted on the south side by a window of six lights. The ceiling is crossed by two heavy moulded beams, and the fireplace opening, which has a four-centred arch, is 6 ft. 9 in. wide.  The west wing room was originally two rooms, the front being entered from the Hall, and the rear one of larger extent contained an enormous fireplace with an inscription.  One of the west wing’s ground floor rooms was oak-panelled. In the east wing was a small parlour in front, with kitchen and offices behind, the kitchen retaining its ancient fireplace opening 9 ft. wide, into which a modern range had been inserted. 

     All the windows are transomed and mullioned with diamond glazing, the Hall having six lights, the wings five.  The gables also contain low openings of three lights to the attics.  All the windows have external hood moulds.  The doorway has a low four-centred arched head under a square hood mould, and the gables have all stone finials.  In the apex of the east gable is a stone panel on which are carved what were probably the initials of the owner, now almost obliterated, but which look like P.E., R.E., together with a Tudor rose and the date 1598 set within a geometrical pattern possibly containing a lion rampant.  At one point the garden contained several fine terrace vases made of lead or soft pewter and said to be of Italian workmanship.

  The old manor house, Heysham hall, was built by senior and Robert Edmondson his son Robert Edmondson junior and was part of the Hornby Castle Estate.  The hall remained in the Edmondson family until the latter part of the 17^th century.  It was then occupied by Sam Bailey of the 9^th light dragoons.  In 1888 Reverend C. T. Royds, Rector of Heysham, who carried out much needed renovations.  These revealed a ‘priest hole’ and passage between the inner walls and under the floor.  A secret opening was found in the floor of the west wing: it communicated with the left chimney breast of the huge fireplace and also with the interior of a buttress outside the home.  This gave a hidden stairway up into the attics, and it also afforded entrance to an underground passage leading out into the grounds. This is now blocked.Heysham Old Hall, which has served as a farmhouse in the past, was sold to Mitchell Barker, a brewer from Lancaster, who remodelled the interior and converted the Hall into a hotel which opened in September 1958.  It is currently a public house.