‘I’ve had the council in,’ she told me, ‘and even the local priest came along. He was very kind, but no matter what he did, it didn’t make any difference.’
I had a very strong feeling that Eva’s problems were all linked to the flat above her. I asked her who lived upstairs. She told me that the flat was empty and had been so for more or less the same amount of time that she had been experiencing her problems.
‘The young couple who lived in that flat were a bit odd-looking,’ she said. ‘I was glad to see them go really, because I didn’t feel comfortable around them and they used to have some very strange-looking visitors.’
I sat back in my chair and closed my eyes. As I sat quietly I could feel Sam drawing closer to me. I heard his voice. ‘Fools!’ he said. ‘They were fools—dabbling with ouija boards and the like!’
Ouija (which is a combination of the word ‘yes’ in French and German) boards have been popular since Victorian times, when invoking the spirits was considered something of a parlour game. The letters of the alphabet, the words ‘yes’ and ‘no’ and the numbers one to ten are arranged in a circle and a glass tumbler is used to point to them. Today it is possible to purchase a pre-printed board game which uses a plastic planchette as a pointer.
People sit around the table, each with a finger resting lightly on the base of the upturned tumbler. The spokesperson for the group will then request that any spirit who wishes to make contact with the group do so. This is where the immortal words ‘Is there anbody there?’ stem from. The theory is that should a spirit presence be summoned, that spirit person will use the energy of the people in attendance to move the tumbler around the tabletop, indicating letters of the alphabet which will spell out a name or a response to any question asked of it. It will answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ by gliding over to those words and will give dates by visiting the relevant numbers.
I have come across incidences of people using a ouija board on numerous occasions. It may be a serious attempt to invoke a spirit, it may be idle curiosity or it may merely be a party game. Whatever the reason, it is a grave error of judgement to use one of these boards unless you are fully aware of the possible consequences. I do not like them and would not encourage anybody to use one myself.
The trouble generated by ouija begins with the fact that the people using the board are rarely conversant with the workings of spirit. They know nothing of the lower realms of the world beyond, the realms inhabited by spirits who can cause a variety of problems: all sorts of attacks, disruption in the home, items being moved, obnoxious smells, inexplicable noises—in fact just the type of annoyances that poor Eva was experiencing.
The only way to bring Eva some relief from the problem was to close the vortex or portal that had been opened by the irresponsible people who had up to recently lived in the flat above her. A vortex or portal is a ‘doorway’ in our ether used by spirits to enter or leave our earthly atmosphere.
I explained to Eva that the events she had been experiencing were nothing whatsoever to do with her—she had simply been the victim of other people’s foolhardiness. I asked whether she would agree to me conducting a candle rite in her home. This would close the portal left in the atmosphere and would protect her and her home from further intrusion. ‘Anything, Derek! I’ll do anything to put an end to all this!’ she replied.
I had suspected before I had left home that there might be the need for protection of this dear old soul, so I had come prepared with my candles and a plain white sheet. Eva supplied me with bowls of salt and water. I said my prayer of invocation and proceeded with the candle rite.
After this I am happy to say that Eva kept in touch with me from time to time and was able to report that she was living happily and peacefully in her home once more.
CHAPTER 5 Poltergeists (#ulink_1f9be81a-6976-5caf-9abc-db312c0fb6d6)
Poltergeist is German for ‘noisy ghost’ and poltergeistal activity is commonly linked to children, especially girls, approaching puberty who have displayed signs of psychic ability. It is generally agreed, and is also my opinion, that a poltergeist is not the manifestation of a spirit person, rather an abundance of energy generated by and drawn to adolescents or people suffering severe emotional stress.
Usually poltergeistal activity is limited to noises—rustlings, tappings, knocks and dragging sounds—but occasionally disarray can be caused within a home with items being thrown, furniture moved and obnoxious smells created. There have also been some reports of poltergeistal energy causing the person affected to levitate from their bed.
In most cases the problems subside if the affected individual is removed from the premises and reappear when that person returns. Obviously the person who is attracting the poltergeistal activity is unaware that the entity is drawing on their emotional energy.
It is unusual for poltergeistal activity to be of any duration. In some cases it lasts only for a few days; in others, a number of months.
There are always exceptions to the rule, however. This was amply demonstrated by an early 1950s case when the poltergeistal activity focused on not one person, but two, and in both cases males. The events took place at 1 Byron Street in Runcorn, Cheshire. Sam Jones and his grandson, John Glynn, then 16 years of age, shared a bedroom in the family home. One night, having just retired to bed, they heard a scratching noise coming from the dressing-table drawer. An investigation showed nothing and, thinking it might have been a mouse scared away by them opening the drawer, they both returned to their beds and thought nothing more about it. The following night, however, not only were there scratching noises but the drawers began to rattle and the dressing table moved, despite being extremely heavy.
After that numerous acts of poltergeistal vandalism took place—a clock was smashed, chairs were thrown against the wall and books flew through the air as though thrown by some invisible hand. There were many independent witnesses, including reporters from the Runcorn Guardian newspaper, two policemen, two Methodist ministers and various psychic researchers. No logical explanation could be given and it was declared to be a definite case of poltergeistal activity.
Over the years I have come into contact with poltergeistal activity on numerous occasions. Sometimes it has been of extremely short duration—a sudden burst of disruption that is over as soon as it has started. There have been other occasions, however, when people have become so frightened that they have moved out of their home, only to find that the disruption follows them to their new house.
One incident that I remember well involved a lady named Jean. She called me at my office sounding very agitated. She had been living together with her son Stephen, aged 12, and her daughter Lindsay, aged 15, since the breakdown of her marriage a year or so earlier. It had been an acrimonious divorce which Jean and her children had found extremely upsetting. As time had passed, however, they had come to terms with their new life and everything had seemed to be more settled. That was, until a few weeks before Jean’s call to me.
Jean told me that strange things had started to happen—not very much at first, just little things like odd noises and belongings being moved. In fact initially it was more irritating than frightening. As the days turned into weeks, however, the noises had become more sinister. They seemed to be concentrated around Stephen’s bedroom, which was situated above the family lounge. When Jean and her children were watching television in the lounge, it sounded as though something heavy was being dragged along the floor of the room above. On investigating, they would find that bedclothes had been disturbed and books had been thrown around the floor. Stephen became afraid to go to his bedroom to sleep. He reported that when he did so, he felt as though his bed was vibrating. On one occasion Jean told me that he had been literally thrown out of the bed. After that he had insisted on sleeping on the sofa downstairs.
Upon arrival at Jean’s home, I stood outside looking at the house. It was unremarkable, but I knew psychically that all was not well within the four walls. I knocked on the door, which was opened a few moments later by Jean, looking pale and nervous. She told me that the previous night had been very bad, with a constant array of noises, squeaks and bangs that had prevented her and her children from getting any sleep at all.
‘I’m at the end of my tether, Derek,’ she said. ‘I thought that we would be able to pick up our lives after my divorce and live happily here.’
She led me through to the lounge. I asked her to tell me exactly what had been going on and how her son and her daughter had coped after the divorce.
Jean told me that although Lindsay had been very upset, she had been able to continue with her life in a more or less regular way, maintaining her interests with her friends, and with the help and support of her teachers, her schooling had not been affected too badly. Stephen, however, had been a different matter. He had been extremely upset and had told his mother that he felt to blame for his father leaving the family to set up home with another woman. The fact that she had a son and daughter approximately the same ages as Stephen and his sister had exacerbated the problem. Stephen felt that his father had looked for another boy to be his son because he was not worthy of the position. Unfortunately, Jean was preventing her husband from visiting Stephen and Lindsay because of the deep hurt she had suffered. All in all, Stephen was a very miserable and confused boy. Jean had tried time and time again to explain to him that he had nothing to do with the family break-up, but he remained unconvinced.
Then the strange events began to take place. The first occasion was when Jean was sitting in the lounge. From the bedroom above came loud knocking noises. Thinking that Stephen was in his room, Jean went into the hallway and shouted up the stairs for him to be quiet. As she did so, Stephen answered from the kitchen, wondering what his mother was talking about. They both knew that Lindsay was out of the house visiting a friend. They rather nervously climbed the stairs and went into Stephen’s bedroom. There was nothing there, though a pile of schoolbooks which had been lying on the desk was strewn over the floor. Jean assumed that the books had fallen to the floor, picked them up and put them away in the desk cupboard. They both went downstairs and thought no more about the matter.
A couple of nights later a similar incident took place—the knocking noise, the investigation of the bedroom and the books all over the floor. This time, though, Jean knew that there was something amiss. She herself had put Stephen’s schoolbooks away not half an hour earlier. She also knew that both Stephen and Lindsay had been downstairs with her watching a favourite television programme when the noises had begun.
Every day something would happen. There would be banging and knocking noises and items would fall to the floor inexplicably, no matter how securely they were placed. Jean also started to notice an awful smell on the landing outside Stephen’s room. Because his bedroom was next to the bathroom she thought there might be a problem with the drains, though the odour was not actually present in the bathroom itself. A visit from a plumber brought no relief, however, as he told her the plumbing system was in perfect working order.
Jean and her children became more and more frightened. It got to the point where they all shared one bedroom, as they were too afraid to sleep in separate bedrooms. A priest was called in to perform an exorcism, but if anything things appeared to intensify. When the family went to their bedroom at night they now felt that there was a sinister presence in there with them. At her wits’ end, Jean contacted me.
It was clear to me that this was not the work of any spirit presence. It was poltergeistal activity—energy attracted by Stephen’s deeply emotional state. It had built up over a period of time, feeding on the emotions Stephen was releasing into the atmosphere, recharging and growing each day until it had built up enough to create noises and move objects around the home.
I called upon Sam. ‘The atmosphere must be cleansed,’ he told me. ‘The negativity must be broken down in order to diffuse the build-up of power.’
I talked to Jean and explained the situation to her. I told her that Stephen’s unhappiness and insecurity were attracting the negativity into the home in much the same way that a moth was attracted to the light. I asked her whether she could find it within herself to contact her husband and allow him to see the two children. Stephen would then be able to rebuild his relationship with his father and maybe the deep rejection he was experiencing would be dispelled. This in turn would stop him from sending out his unhappy thoughts into the ether, thus starving the energy build-up. Reluctantly, Jean agreed. In the meantime, I conducted a candle rite in order to cleanse the house of negativity. That, together with Stephen’s happier thoughts in the weeks to come, would diminish the negativity to a point where it would disappear completely.
I visited the home on three consecutive days. Each time I performed a candle rite and prayed for the family to be relieved of the burden they were enduring. Meanwhile Jean contacted her former husband and agreed that he could once again play a part in their children’s lives. Stephen became much happier once he found that his father still loved him just as much as he ever did.
Starved of the unhappy emotions Stephen was releasing into the atmosphere, the energy lost its power, and as suddenly as the unpleasantness had begun, it stopped. The family were at peace once more. The situation may not have been exactly as Stephen would have wished, but at least he knew that he could see his father and that he still loved him.
CHAPTER 6 Ghostly Communication (#ulink_a3cc071b-4ff4-5840-a738-519bcfe15944)
I am fortunate. I am both clairvoyant and clairaudient, which means that I can both see and hear spirit people. If a person who has passed into the world beyond wishes to speak to me, they can do so. However, I cannot command or demand that they do so. I cannot order a spirit person to suddenly appear and speak to me. I can only ask, and if they wish to do so, then they will. I communicate with them either directly or through Sam. If it happens that a spirit person has not been over on the other side long enough to learn how to communicate with me directly, they will tell Sam what they want to say and he will pass on their messages to me. As I have said, I am fortunate.
If a person in this world does not have the gifts I and other mediums possess, then the people in spirit have to show their resourcefulness by communicating using other methods. A common method of bringing themselves to the attention of those in this world is through the sense of smell. How many times have you been in a room and thought that you smelled the aroma of pipe smoke or the scent of a flower? How many times have you fancied that you have smelled the perfume of a loved one who has passed on to the spirit world? This is your family members communicating. They use familiar smells to bring themselves to your mind—maybe the smell of a pipe smoked by a grandfather, of the cigarette brand used by a favourite uncle, of a newly baked pie brought by a grandmother whose house always smelled of cooking. They all evoke our memories and bring to mind the loved one who is trying to let us know that they are around us always.
Another method commonly used by people in the spirit world to draw our attention to them is the movement of objects. So an ornament that was once the property of a loved one may have inexplicably moved, a curtain may twitch in a draughtless room or a framed photograph may fall over. These are all ways in which our loved ones in spirit let us know that they are still around, caring for us and guiding us.
There are also times when a spirit person who is unknown to us may wish to let us know that they are around. This is often experienced in hotel rooms, especially when the hotel was once a home. A kettle may suddenly switch itself on or a wardrobe door may swing open for no apparent reason. It is merely a former resident letting you know that they are still visiting their home or a special place which holds a particular memory for them.
Séances
The word séance (French for ‘a sitting’) is used to describe a group of people gathered together for the sole purpose of invoking a spirit or spirits from the world beyond ours. I consider it important that such a group is headed by an experienced medium, though this is not absolutely necessary.
The people involved, usually six to eight in number, arrange themselves in a circle. I find that better results are achieved if the same people take part each time. A table may be used. This is not a necessity, though it is preferable.
The people taking part must place both feet on the floor—there must be no crossed legs or ankles. This is to ensure a clear channel for spirit communication. The physical body is surrounded by an energy field known as the aura, or auric field. In order to help a spirit person to communicate during a séance it is important that there are no restrictions on that energy field. If a person crosses their legs or ankles whilst taking part in a séance this would result in what I would call a ‘crossed energy polarity’. Any person taking part in a séance needs to be in tune and in balance to receive the best spirit communication.
The people involved should either join hands or, if a table is being used, should place their hands palms down upon its surface with the little finger of each hand touching the little finger of their neighbour on either side, thus maintaining a chain of energy. Everyone should be relaxed and comfortable.
The people should then close their eyes and empty their minds of all thoughts, whilst the medium, as head of the circle, recites a prayer of invocation and protection for both themselves and the people taking part in the séance. It is imperative that this is done. When invoking the spirit realms it is impossible to predict the nature of the spirit or spirits who will come.
Once contact with the spirit world has been established through the medium it is no longer absolutely necessary to maintain physical contact with the neighbouring person and people may rest their hands on their lap or on the tabletop, but with the palms upwards. This is also so that there are no restrictions on the auric field. Sitting with the palms of the hands facing upwards keeps the energy field of the physical body open. If a person were to sit with their hands clasped together or arms crossed, then that is again a crossed energy polarity.
The first sign of spirit presence is usually a noticeable drop in the temperature in the room, or even a cold draught which can be felt passing around the circle of people. The medium will then attempt to communicate with the spirit entity.
A séance should end with the head of the group thanking the spirit communicator(s) for their presence and efforts. It is at this time that any spirit entity should go back to the spirit realms that they inhabit. To help them achieve this, a prayer of thanks and protection should be offered. This could be the Lord’s Prayer or any other prayer which is considered appropriate.
A séance should not be confused with the ‘circles’ held in Spiritualist churches or meetings. These are held for the development of mediumship. There are also ‘rescue circles’, which are when established mediums try to bring peace to earthbound entities and enable them to pass into the light of the higher side of life, and ‘healing circles’, when members of the Spiritualist church community gather together to request healing for people who are sick or needing the help of the world of spirit in overcoming the difficulties that are sometimes brought onto our life’s pathway.
