I look back now and wonder why or how I got into this whole business and I can’t quite remember. I had this strong interest from an early age, did something happen in my infancy that sparked this interest? Have I repressed something so far back into the deepest darkest recesses of my mind that all but the after effects are known?
Or maybe I just enjoyed watching Scooby Doo a little too much.
Now, my first ever ‘real life’ ghost hunt was, as mentioned previously, with a well known ghost hunting company. I say well known, but if you didn’t have an interest in this kind of thing, you would have never had heard of them!
Dudley Castle was the location for my first foray into the dark and seedy world of Ghost Hunting.
Dudley is an amazing location with lots of history but no ghosts. There were plenty of strange howling, grunting and whistling noises, however I fear these could well be attributed to the attached Zoo.
But! That was the night I discovered the weird and wonderful kinds of mentalists that attend these things.
Our ‘Medium’ for the night was an aging hippy from somewhere in the Midlands, with her violet suede pant suit, jesus sandals and fiery red hair, she would not have looked out of place on the fields of Woodstock, sailing to the sky on an acid high whilst Janis Joplin bemoans parking lots and modern civilization.
The ‘Medium’ stumbled and mumbled her way through standard cold reading techniques, picking up all the names and associations which are plastered all throughout the castles visitors centre, but sadly, nothing extra. The usual sub-conscious, auto-suggestive techniques deployed throughout the night, in what turned out to be a pretty sub-standard affair.
Having said that, I was hooked. Not because I believed we had spirit contact, but because of the fascinating world of the Psychic Medium, the ghost hunt attendees and the amazing history behind the location.
Little did I know that this one night would set me on a course doomed to destroy my weekend free time and instead leave me looking after 30+ screaming mentalists for 8 or so hours.
If I’d have known then, what I know now, I would have taken up male prostitution of a weekend instead.
