THE HORROR RETURNS
"Ghostbusters" have been contacted by the Manchester City Council in order to deal with ghostly events connected with the child victims of the Moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. A spokesman for the council spoke of taking residents' worries seriously, and hoping that the Stockport Ghost Club could assist.
Houses haunted are in Gorton, Manchester, England, and are where Brady and Hindley sought out their victims.
Those living in these six residences have complained of things like: childlike images haunting their bedrooms, unaccountably cold rooms, weird smells, moving plants, televisions activating even when not plugged in, and pillows found put in unexpected shapes while people were away.
According to the July 21, 1996 The People, an inspector from the Ghost Club named David Byrne spoke of bringing a medium, who then entered one house and revealed that she saw an evil man and many children. All the buildings suffered from what he termed a "childlike poltergeist."
SPECTERS AND SPECS
Sunspec, an opticians shop in Wakefield, U.K., has suffered from strangenesses. These include racks falling, and shadows manifesting in mirrors.
The May 18, 1997 Sunday Mirror reported that the store's employees claim that the place was built over a graveyard. A poltergeist has been deemed responsible for the odd things that have occurred.
OUT OF HOUSE AND HOME
During early May 1997 in Galway City, Ireland, the Fahy family was forced to live in the homes of neighbors because of strange phenomena occurring in their own.
According to coverage in many British newspapers, especially around the 11th and 12th of the month, weird things have occurred: An unknown child has been heard crying, pictures have flown off the mantelpiece, a porcelain dog has exploded, baby toys and clothes have moved around, temperatures have dropped, and a jug has gone to pieces upon impact with a door. Various witnesses, including friends and neighbors, have experienced some of the incidents.
The Fahy family members involved in this are Jackie Fahy, his wife, Esther, their grown children Martha and Michael, and an eight-month-old granddaughter Sarah Louise. The phenomena started after the latter's birth. The family wanted to vacate their home for good if nothing could be done about the strangenesses inflicting them.
When even a mass did not work, the family moved out, except for Michael and a friend.
A psychic named Sandra Ramdhanie later sealed off the house to get rid of the spirit, making use of salt and herbs -- and visualizations by the house's residents.
She explained the weird events as having been caused by a ghost baby, born to a nun and priest long before the Corrib Park house was constructed.
All became peaceful after Ramdhanie's two-hour "energy re-balancing" -- except for a filming of the story for the "Strange But True" television program.
SHE WAS A TEENAGE GHOST
An "unhappy-looking" ghost in Britain -- a female -- was said to be haunting the street outside Beckenham's Lazy Toad pub-discotheque.
So, the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena, which has a branch in Beckenham, was contacting the pub.
One observer of the apparent specter, Jackie Martin, was quoted by the Bromley & Hayes New Shopper as saying: "She was 17 or 19 and she just disappeared without getting into a car or anything." Martin saw the "girl" as being dressed in summer clothing from the early 1980s -- in a high wind.
The Reverend Peter Thomas, is both the rector of St. Mary's, Hayes, and the paranormal authority of the diocese. According to the June 21, 1997 Daily Telegraph, he planned to do some fact-finding, and visit the pub, where rumors of a ghost had preceded the present interest.
Whether the young woman was an elusive real girl or an apparition was hopefully to be made clearer by at least one of the investigating parties.
SAVED BY IMAGINARY BAGPIPES
On June 15, 1997 a missing hiker strode into camp, surprising those people who had been searching for him. He claimed he had been brought there by the noises of flutes and bagpipes. However, there were no such instruments present.A report out of Port Angeles, Washington, recounted that twenty-one-year-old Christopher Wearstler, who had been lost for nine days, had been brought to Elkhorn Ranger Station by what must, according to a ranger there, have been hallucinatory sounds. Were the aural hallucinations Wearstler's perhaps-symbolic way of handling known information subconsciously -- or was there an even more uncanny explanation?
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 6/16/97
SHE WORE BLUE VELVET
Cawdor Castle, in the Scottish highlands near Nairn, has evidenced another ghost. This one was observed by two female tourists -- when the apparition put a hand on a railing in the gallery atop the drawing room.
The alleged entity, clad in a long blue dress made of velvet, could not have been a visitor -- since that would have tripped security alarms. Because this sighting occurred near the portrait of the first Lord Cawdor, the specter may have been that of Lady Caroline, who in the nineteenth century wed him.
The present dowager has seen Cawdor's ghost. She considers any ghosts in residence to be friendly.
In the present situation, which took place circa early August 1997, a mother and daughter, both English, had visited the drawing room for some four minutes, becoming aware of a "presence," which they reported to Alex Boyd, a security person, after they saw the blue- clad woman standing/floating in the minstrels' gallery above. After approximately a minute, the thing disappeared. Other people in attendance did not spot anything.
James Paterson, a five-year Cawdor guide with an extensive knowledge of the castle, opines that Lord Cawdor (John Campbell) and Lady Caroline may "still be looking for each other after all these years."
According to the Aberdeen Press and Journal of August 8, 1997, Alison Clark, the dowager's personal assistant, said the castle does not have an official ghost, but many inexplicable things have been seen and heard there.
BANK OF HELL
In Singapore, "money" is actually issued by the Bank of Hell to help ghosts' travels among the living. It is used when the gates of Hell open and, according to the tradition of the Chinese, the spirits of deceased ones come back and pass among the living during the seventh lunar month.In 1997, this month occurred from August 3 to September 1 as figured by the Western calendar.
The August 4, 1997 Fort Worth Star Telegram recounts that the spirits are reputed to visit above-ground relatives in order to enjoy the living comfort of their residences.
If they have no relatives, or were on distant terms with them, the dead are said to sometimes cause trouble -- unless appeased with entertainment or edibles.
Not only is money available, but so are "permits for the souls"; both are useful to ancestor worshippers.
THE FEARFUL FOURTH FLOOR
The brick building, in its 94 years of existence, had been home to a Troutman department store, doctors' offices, and a bank. Its demolition during February and March 1997 in Connellsville, Pennsylvania, was a haunting experience.Ralph Unis, the president of D. J. Demo in Braddock, found the fourth floor of the six-floor place to be scary, and was thinking about employing a psychic. This became an option after workers noted a cold spot at the fourth floor's entrance, slamming doors, vanishing or relocating tools, and out-of-place footsteps and voices. Also, nobody on the work crew remembered being on the fourth floor at the time when several boards flew out of it, almost hitting workers outside.
In yet another situation, employees could not open a door, went off to get tools, but came back only to discover it open. Before the occurrences, the place was to be dismantled by April 30, 1997.
Source: Indiana (Pennsylvania) Gazette, 3/31/97
