Reading time: 6 minutes
Are you going ghost hunting this Halloween? Veteran paranormal investigator DARREN W. RITSON warns that ghost hunting is not for the faint of heart and far from mere entertainment.
It’s true that when you’re involved in active paranormal investigation, you occasionally find yourself in certain situations that could be considered “dirty your pants” scary. Anyone who tells you, “I don’t get scared or nervous when I investigate the paranormal,” is either an unapologetic liar or has not yet experienced real, full-blown paranormal activity.
At the end of the day, we are all human, and those involved in this type of research are dealing with something we know very little about. It’s only natural that from time to time we lose the plot and run from a spooky situation. I am dead serious when I say that paranormal research is no joke; it certainly shouldn’t be considered ‘entertainment’ and is no laughing matter.
I have been involved in ghost research for most of my life and have experienced phenomena that most people would give their right leg to witness. All I can say is, ‘Be careful what you wish for.’
Investigating the now famous South Shields Poltergeist case in 2006 put me in good stead for other, more terrifying investigations to come. Funnily enough, when I look back on that case, I find that most of the phenomena I witnessed at 42 Lock Street were more baffling than actually frightening, although some aspects of the case were indeed truly terrifying, to say the least.
The point in that investigation where I felt really nervous was when the poltergeist started issuing death threats via cell phones. Contamination (an aspect of poltergeist activity in which researchers and people close to key experts begin to experience strange phenomena in their own homes, etc.) played a major role in the South Shields case, and people wondered whether the sadistic death threats that Marianne received would come my way. It certainly wasn’t fun to see someone almost dismembered before your eyes – by an invisible force that could, if you wanted it, do you serious harm too!
After South Shields I have to say that most of the paranormal investigations I attended were honestly a walk in the park. Nothing really compares to Lock Street, but there are a few moments that come close; one before and one after.
The first incident occurred during a survey along the Northumberland coast in early March 2005, when I was fortunate (or unlucky, depending on how you look at it) to encounter one of the many ghosts of the Schooner Hotel. My experience took place near the kitchens in the back hallway. Although I didn’t actually see anything, I definitely heard strange and distinct footsteps coming out of the darkness straight towards me.
At the same time, I felt an ominous, threatening presence – and it was close. Even though I went there alone, I knew I wasn’t alone. As I began to retreat, I heard these footsteps again, but this time they were coming up the stairs right behind me, and now they were even closer – and louder. At this point I lost it and ran like the wind down the dark hallway.
I had only been at that location for five minutes, and honestly, that was enough. Running from spirits and ghosts is really the wrong thing to do; because that’s why we were there after all. But I feel like in this case my natural survival instinct took over and I just had to get out of there. My hasty escape resulted in my left wrist being nearly broken and cut open. I stubbed my toes, hit my head, and smashed my clipboard in half as I ran straight into a wall. It’s kind of funny in retrospect, but at the time I was absolutely terrified, to say the least.
Then an incident that will stay with me for the rest of my life occurred during a late-night investigation at Doxford House on December 1, 2008. Doxford House is a beautiful, privately owned stately home in the Silksworth area of Sunderland and sits on land that known as the ‘Silksworth manors.’ This amazing old building is a spectacular 18th century mansion built by William Johnson between 1775 and 1780.
The house is believed to be haunted by the ghost of a former owner of the house, a certain General Charles Beckwith, whose ghost has been seen many times since the 1930s on the grand staircase and in the master bedroom upstairs. It was an honor and privilege to survey the building a number of times, for which I have my colleague Drew Bartley to thank.
If we hadn’t been allowed to do our testing, I would never have experienced what I did. My shock came thirty minutes after a wake that took place on the top floor of the house. I decided to head down a dark and gloomy hallway with my EVP machine in hand, after an inexplicable male growl came from that particular area.
I had only taken three or four steps when, suddenly and out of nowhere, I felt the feeling of someone running a hand over my face. At the same time I heard a sound that I can only describe as ‘hissing static’, followed by two distinct footsteps right in front of me. I thought to myself, ‘Something is coming my way’, but before I even had a chance to register this thought, I was overcome by an icy feeling in my body, accompanied by a feeling of absolute dread!
This entire episode only lasted a brief second before disappearing, leaving me very shocked, shocked, and surprised, to say the least. As crazy as it sounds, I believe something, a ghost or spirit, just walked through me!
This left me somewhat unsettled, much like the Schooner incident, and all I can say to the readers is that I am certain – no, positive – that these experiences were real, and that I had truly I have had experiences with something that felt very unpleasant. indeed; what they were, I don’t know. I repeat: paranormal investigation is not a joke and should not be taken lightly.
Remember that many people have to live in haunted houses and deal with these terrifying situations on a daily basis, so the next time you think that ‘you would like to be scared’, or think that ‘ghost hunting would be fun’, think again after. I’ve always said that if you actively seek out the paranormal long enough, you’ll have a defining moment for investigations.
By this I mean an experience so harrowing, so terrifying, so horrifying, that it will literally leave you a disturbed, gibbering wreck, and if you haven’t died of sheer fright first, will make you throw in the towel and say : ‘ Never again!’ These aforementioned experiences and others like them have almost made me think twice about it, yet I still go out and investigate.
It makes you wonder, after all that has been said and done, when and what will be my defining ‘quitting moment’…?
You can buy Darren W. Ritson’s latest book, Poltergeist parallels and contagionat Amazon.
