REDHOUSE

A couple of years ago we did housesitting for friends in Redhouse.  

I kept on hearing strange sounds in the house – knocks, shuffling noises and footsteps.  I dismissed it as just being the noises of an old house settling and creaking wooden floors.  There were also occasions of sudden temperature drops followed by an eerie uneasy feeling. Once again, I dismissed it with a logical explanation – drafty old house. 

But, one afternoon something happened which did not have an alternative explanation. I was home alone and in bed with a nasty headache.  The sound of steady footsteps came from the kitchen area, down the passage and into my room.  I closed my eyes, terrified.  The footsteps stopped at my bedside.  The room was suddenly ice cold. I kept my eyes shut, too frightened to see what was standing next to me.  Then, I heard what sounded like a man clearing his throat and, a voice.  I couldn’t make out what he was saying, but there was no doubt he said two or three words in a deep masculine voice, right next to me. Suddenly, the temperature went back to normal – he was gone.  

About two days later, while I was cleaning the room, it happened again.  Somehow I managed to summons up an ounce of bravery.  As the footsteps entered to room and headed towards me, I closed my eyes and firmly said “Go away! Leave me alone”.  Immediately the footsteps stopped and the room’s temperature increased. 

The ghost did not make his appearance again in the few remaining days.

TANTALLON CASTLE GHOST!

WHEN psychologist Richard Wiseman launched an online investigation into the photographic evidence for ghosts earlier this month, he never expected such an overwhelming response. The project – undertaken as part of the Edinburgh International Science Festival and profiled exclusively in The Scotsman on 10 March – invited people to send in ghostly photographs for analysis and, once they were put up online, asked web users to vote as to whether or not they believed they were the real deal. To date, the site has received 250 photographs and more than 250,000 votes. While many of the images can be easily discredited, even Wiseman is finding it particularly tricky to disprove one – the spooky face of a woman at a window at Tantallon Castle in East Lothian. The image came out top in the experiment, with nearly 40 per cent of online voters believing that the photograph shows a bona-fide ghost. "The study has been a huge success," says Wiseman. "The sheer number of people who've got involved shows just how much interest there is in ghosts. We've been amazed to find that, even when an image obviously just shows the camera flash reflecting against a surface, around 10 per cent of people still believe it's a ghost." A high number of the supposedly ghostly images can be given a simple explanation. What look like mysterious lights, mists and orbs can, in reality, be anything from a camera flash reflecting off dust particles to condensed human breath in front of the lens. However, the Tantallon Castle image has even the logical Wiseman stumped. "It's a tough one," he says. "This experiment has been a big success, not only because we've had so many responses, but because we've come across this one very curious image that we simply can't explain."

Brought to us by the Scotsman Website

Submitted by:  Bill Zinger - GS on www.ghoststudy.com

ROCKING THE CRADLE

Recently, my mom told me about a paranormal experience which involved me when I was still a newborn baby.

My dad kept my cradle next to the footend of the bed at night. Everytime I cried during the night, he would stick out a leg from underneath the covers and rock the cradle with his foot until I fell asleep.  One night, I started crying again.  He was about to rock me back to sleep again when, I suddenly went quiet.  He thought it to be unusual for me to stop crying without being rocked.  Confused, he opened his eyes.  There were two misty white figures standing alongside the cradle, rocking it. 

Throughout my life I have been strangely ‘comfortable’ with paranormal things.  Hauntings and paranormal experiences have been rife since childhood.  And, it doesn’t frighten me as much as it would others around me.  I can’t help wondering if the presence of paranormal events as a newborn has somehow desensitised my fear response.  Or, was I born sensitive to spirits and, hence attracted paranormal manifestations / activity?  Do ghosts sense that someone is sensitive to them? Do they then try and communicate with such sensitive individuals – which explains the increased paranormal experiences in that person’s life?

HUSBAND COMES BACK AS A SHADOW!

My previous husband died 8 years ago to cancer. I am remarried now to my new husband of 6 years he is a retired Chief in the Navy. Here is my story. One night in November at 11:30 pm I was cleaning our fish tank. I felt like someone had just walked into the kitchen. The light in the kitchen was off but the living room light was on so it still lit up the kitchen. I saw a shadow standing in the kitchen up against the counter. I thought it was my husband Michael. So I said, what is the matter honey could you not sleep? There was no response. I focused and realized the shape of the body was not my husband. At first I thought someone had broke into the house. Then when focused I realized I recognized the silhouette it was James. I was filled with pure terror. I jumped up to the couch behind me and covered my eyes and repeated out aloud don't be scared. I stood up and peaked into the kitchen and he was gone. I ran into the bedroom and woke up Michael. I was hysterical. Michael so tired but he said, don't worry honey if it was James he will not hurt you he loved you. I had to call my parents in the middle of the night and wake them up. It was very traumatic to me it effected me till this day. I would get up extra early and take a shower while my husband was still here before work for months. I am still afraid of walking into a dark room. Two months later in January Michael's parents came to visit our home for the first time from Missouri. We were cooking in the kitchen. I decided to take some pictures of their visit. When the pictures were developed there was a shadow in the kitchen behind Michael's mother. When my husband saw the photo he said, that was freaky. It made me feel good that someone else could see what I had seen. Except when I seen James he was more defined I could see his legs and arms as if he was a person standing in the kitchen. Just wanted to share this with you and get your thoughts. God Bless.



Submitted by:  Albert on www.ghoststudy.com

POLTERGEIST – VILLA D’ESTE, PARK DRIVE, PORT ELIZABETH

When I was about 13 years old, we moved into a flat in Park Drive.  

A few months later, weird things started happening.  

Toilets spontaneously flushed, things got displaced, taps opened by themselves, lights would get swithed on /off, and there would be strange foul smells emitting from the laundry room.  There were also strange noises, and sudden uneasy feelings. 

The activity rapidly increased in intensity and frequency.  

One day, while I was home alone, it reached its climax.  All of the taps suddenly opened, the lights were flickering, and the atmosphere was incredibly terrifying.  I ran to my mother who was visiting a neighbour.  

As we came down the corridor, we could see the lights were still flickering while no-one was inside.  

My mom’s friend, who was a devout Catholic, gave her a small vile of holy water.  She sprinkled the holy water throughout the flat – and, shockingly, on me too (see the footnote).  

As we entered the laundry room and sprinkled the holy water in the one corner, there was a freezing wisp of air that rapidly moved past us towards, and out, the front door.  

The following morning we were all awoken by a knocking on the door.  The continuous knocking escalated to an angry banging.  As I reached the door to see who it was, the noise was as though someone was kicking the door, trying to break it down.  Frightened, we peeked through the little front window.  Nobody was there, yet the door was still vibrating violently in tune with the kicking noise.  After a while, it suddenly stopped.  We believe that it was a poltergeist.  The holy water sent him out the front door and, the following morning he was desperately trying to be ‘let in’ again.  Needless to say, we didn’t let him in.

Footnote:-  

When my mom sprinkled holy water in my room, a few drops landed on a Johnny Depp poster next to my bed (still not sure if it was intentional or, acccidental).  

That, in conjunction with her eyes being as big as saucers, sent me into a hesteric of giggles.  

The sight of her at that moment and, poor Johnny Depp getting holy watered would make any sane person laugh!  In turn, my mom, believing that poltergeist activity was coupled with an adolescent reaching puberty, thought that the poltergeist had possessed me.  

Thus, along with ol’ Johnny, I got holy watered.  Come on, wouldn’t that make you laugh even louder?  This moment was tremendously funny to me and, my reaction to the humour fueled my mom’s fear that the poltergeist had finally reached its goal, possessed her little girl. 

STRANGE ENTITY UNDER THE BRIDGE

I hope you have the time to have a look at the attached picture – I’d be more than happy if you could have a look at it and help me to find an explanation for the anomaly in it. A friend of mine and I spent last weekend in Edinburgh, Scotland, and took a photo of an arch of a bridge. The picture shows an abnormality we have no explanation for and we would like to analyze the figure on the opposite side of the road in front of the wall. The picture was taken at Cowgate, Edinburgh, and the arch you see is the only visible arch of the South Bridge. The date & time set on the camera are not correct – the picture was taken on August 2nd at around 10:45 pm. The camera & setting details are the following: 

Camera maker: CASIO COMPUTER CO., LTD.
7.2 Mega Pixels Digital Camera
Model: EX-Z12
Settings used for the photo: Highest resolution, ISO speed: 400, no zoom

What looks like a person walking on the pavement under the bridge cannot be a real person - when my friend took the picture, I was standing right behind her to look at what she was capturing and I am 100% sure that there was no one walking along at the time the picture was taken. I was so startled when I saw the picture on the display that I immediately took the camera and had a closer look at the photo. We took a few other pictures of the same scene immediately afterwards to see whether we’d capture it again, but we didn’t. I am sending you two of the photos we took afterwards for comparison, one without anything in it, the other one with a person walking underneath the bridge. It would be great if you could analyze the picture and let us know what you think. We are wondering whether it is possible to use photo analysis software to get rid of the blurriness and sharpen the figure. I’ve already tried my luck stretching and sharpening it a bit (attached picture “Edited&Zoomed”), and that’s all I can do with my software… We also took quite a few pictures of the surroundings the next day (unfortunately during daylight) and are happy to provide you with more information about the surroundings of the bridge if you feel this would be helpful. Thank you very much in advance and kind regards from Ireland.

Submitted by:  Andrea Hoffmann on www.ghoststudy.com

ABANDONED FARM RESIDENT

My husband and I are just down the road from this abandoned farm, which is across from Shahan Cemetery, one of the older ones around here.  We habituate our bunnies in the area before they are returned to the wild.  We had finished putting out food for them last October and were taking pics of the bunnies and their new spot. I was categorizing our pics the other day and noticed an odd spot to the left.  When I zoomed in, we were both shocked.  This is in OK, taken with a Fuji digital video cam as a still shot.  I've included the pic, with a zoom in on the area.  There were no filters or other changes made. Weather was beautiful.

Submitted by:  Ron Lanpher on www.ghoststudy.com