I had only been standing in this room for a few moments when I became aware of a gentleman. ‘I have a man with me,’ I told Dr Montz, ‘and he wants to talk to me. He tells me his name is Richard and he’s very proud of his staircase! He’s asking us to follow him!’
We all hurried out, following Richard as he took us out of the lounge and past a staircase to a part of the house which was undergoing renovation. ‘There,’ Richard said, pointing towards a set of stairs which the team had been unaware of, ‘these are the stairs that I designed and I’m extremely proud of them!’
Mr Smith, our expert, confirmed that Richard Tonge had indeed built a second staircase and noted that this set of stairs was unusual for the time in that they were built out of wood.
‘There are two men here now,’ I said, ‘both Richards! They’re different generations. One is very much younger than the other. And there’s a William too—he has a very bad limp. William seems very fond of the younger Richard.’
Mr Wolstencroft was able to confirm that William was the father of the younger Richard. He had received a bullet wound to his leg in the First World War but wouldn’t allow amputation, so he spent the rest of his life with a limp. He also told us that his grandmother had five sons. Four of them were wounded but Uncle Dick had been particularly badly hurt and also limped. This must have been the Richard who had shown himself to me earlier.
We were all drawn to the upper levels of the old house and all felt compelled to enter one particular bedroom. As soon as the door was opened I immediately became aware of a young girl, eight or nine years of age, with red hair in plaits. Almost simultaneously Linda and I said the same name: ‘Ann!’
The child seemed afraid and upset. I felt that she had passed to spirit as the result of an illness, certainly not as the result of an accident or anything more sinister. Nevertheless, she seemed to be frightened.
Suddenly there was a huge drop in the temperature in the room. The reading on the gauge which Dr Montz was holding decreased dramatically and Linda and I became aware of a male presence who seemed to be more malevolent than the kindly souls we had experienced earlier. He was not at all pleased at our being at Tonge Hall. Linda, a gifted and experienced healer, attempted to calm the spirit, but he was not going to be so easily placated. Dr Montz’s electromagnetic field metre needle swooped backwards and forwards. I stood next to Linda. I knew that it would take the strength of both of us to send this unpleasant spirit man on his way.
Suddenly, Linda stumbled. ‘He pushed me!’ she shouted. Dr Montz and I grabbed at her arms to steady her. We were at the top of a steep set of stairs and the last thing we wanted was for Linda to go tumbling down them. I braced myself and moved forward towards the entity. Too late I realized that I had allowed him to get too close to me. I felt as though the wind had been knocked out of my lungs and I doubled over coughing and choking, fighting desperately for breath.
Slowly I managed to stand upright once more. As I did so, I saw the outline of the angry spirit man fade and disappear. He had warned us! He was not going to allow us to interfere with his home!
We were all completely shocked at what had happened. Meanwhile, little Ann was still standing in the bedroom. She had not moved and seemed to be waiting for us to help her in some way. ‘She’s lost,’ Linda murmured. ‘She needs to be sent to join her mother in the light.’
We turned and looked through the doorway to the bedroom across the hall and straight over to a window through which could be seen the dying rays of the April sun. Through that window I could see a lady, very peaceful and calm, with her arms outstretched towards Ann. Linda and I mentally took Ann by the hand and led her towards the lady who would take her into the light of the spirit world and eternal peace.
Norman was later to explain that his father had a sister named Ann who had succumbed to a childhood disease at the age of eight. She had red hair and long red pigtails!
Live at the Liverpool Empire
The day which I had long awaited had finally arrived. Tonight I was to be appearing for the first time at the famous Liverpool Empire theatre.
As I would be conducting a demonstration of clairvoyance and mediumship for two hours, it was decided that the rest of the ISPR team would carry out an investigation of the theatre without me. I am happy to be able to report that they were able to confirm the presence of the spirit of a girl aged approximately 12 who had fallen from the front of the circle onto the seats of the stalls below. Linda and Peter confirmed that she was an active presence and the names ‘Joanna’ or ‘Jessica’ were suggested. The spirit of this young girl is frequently seen in the corridors, front of house and stalls of the theatre. She is reported to be very pretty with long blonde hair and is dressed in Victorian-style clothing. She is often seen in the company of a man with either black eyes or no eyes. Unfortunately, on the day of the investigation, the spirit man chose not to make the team aware of him.
Meanwhile I was honoured that Julie Goodyear had graciously agreed to introduce me to my audience at the beginning of the show. I had worked with Julie briefly whilst she hosted the Granada Breeze programme Livetime and was delighted to see her once again.
I had a tremendous evening and judging by the audience’s response, so did they. Many people think that a demonstration of mediumship is all ‘doom and gloom’ with an atmosphere of misery and sadness. This is not the case at all. If a person had a cheerful and outgoing personality whilst here on Earth, they will carry that personality through to their life in the spirit world.
I can recall one hilarious moment at the Liverpool Empire when a young man from the spirit world tapped me on the shoulder and told me that he’d like to speak to his sister Karen and her friend, who were sitting in the audience. ‘Tell them Carl wants to speak to them,’ he announced in his cheeky Scouse accent.
I duly did as requested and a gasp went up from a young lady who was sitting half a dozen rows back in the stalls.
‘I’m alright now, our kid!’ shouted Carl. ‘Look!’ And he proceeded to skip across the stage.
‘I can’t do that,’ I said to Carl.
“Course you can, Degsy,’ came the cheeky reply.
‘Carl’s telling me that he’s fine now in the world of spirit,’ I told Karen, ‘and he’s kicking up his heels just to prove it.’
Carl continued, ‘It wasn’t any good, that stuff. I knew I shouldn’t take it, but it got a hold of me and I just carried on. Didn’t think it’d see an end to me, though. But guess what? I’m not skint over here—you don’t need money!’ With that he turned out his pockets. ‘And I don’t have to keep looking over me shoulder!’ He burst into peals of laughter and ran across the stage, warily looking over his shoulder. ‘I don’t need to keep an eye out for the rozzers over here!’
I looked out to Karen in the audience and wondered how on earth I was going to pass that message over. ‘Oh well! Go for broke,’ I thought and repeated exactly what Carl had told me, giving a demonstration of the turned-out pockets and the hasty scuttling across the stage whilst looking over my shoulder.
Karen and her friend were beside themselves with laughter, together with the rest of the audience. ‘That’s our Carl,’ Karen said. ‘He was always getting into trouble and had to keep on his toes.’
Carl’s message continued. ‘Seriously, though, kid, I’m OK over here, and guess what? I’ve met old Uncle Jimmy! He’s shown me the ropes. Tell you one thing, though, I’m not happy about our Dave nicking me bedroom!’
Karen laughed through her tears. ‘Dave’s our brother and when we lost Carl, Dave took over his bedroom. Their tastes in decoration weren’t quite the same,’ she added tellingly.
Carl passed on messages of love to his mum and dad and the rest of the family. He finished up on a light note by telling his sister that the medium she’d been to see just after his passing had not been able to make contact with him. ‘Because she was no good, that’s why,’ he scoffed. ‘Next time you want to speak to me, go to somebody who can do the bizz!’ Karen nodded her agreement.
The evening was drawing to an end, but there was just one more thing to do. Dr Montz came on stage to ask whether any member of the audience who had experienced spirit activity in their home would agree to the ISPR team visiting their premises to conduct an investigation. The reason behind his request was to prove to sceptics that an investigative paranormal team could go into an undocumented building and still pick up on the spirit activity there without the possibility of research.
A number of people put their names forward, but one young man stood out as being more in need of our assistance than the others. To preserve his and his family’s privacy, I have changed their names.
Paul had come to the theatre in the hope that he would receive a message from his wife Paula who had passed to the world of spirit just five weeks before. She had suffered from that horrible condition called cancer. Paul was absolutely bereft. He had been left to look after his small daughter Jemma on his own as his family lived out of the Liverpool area.
We arrived at Paul’s neat home in a suburb of Liverpool the following morning. Paul was there with his daughter and his mother. Dr Montz felt that I should be the first person to go into Paul’s home to speak to him.
I entered the house by myself, leaving the rest of the team outside. I walked over to Paul and took his hand. I could feel all the hurt, sorrow and desperation that he was experiencing. I picked up the anguish of his loss.
Jemma was there, clinging to her toy rabbit. She had become destructive since the loss of her mother, and her family were worried about her. As I did not want to conduct a reading or any sort of investigation in front of the little girl, I asked Paul’s mother to take her through to the kitchen area of the house, together with Linda Mackenzie, who has an amazing empathy with children and has marvellous healing powers which I felt could benefit Jemma.
As I stood in the lounge I became aware of a slim young woman in spirit. She smiled gently and said, ‘I’m Paula. This is my home and Paul is my husband.’ She pointed over to the window and told me, ‘That was my last resting-place—there under the window.’
‘Did you have Paula’s coffin at home?’ I asked Paul, ‘because I have a young woman with me who’s telling me that she was laid under the window. She’s also telling me to thank you for the necklace you put around her neck whilst she lay in her coffin.’
Tears welled up in Paul’s eyes. He told me that he had placed a cross and chain around Paula’s neck as she lay there.
‘You’ve heard Paula around the house, especially on the stairs,’ I said.
Paul confirmed that he had indeed heard noises, especially on the stairs. The noises were reminiscent of when he used to help Paula up the stairs when the ravages of her illness had made it impossible for her to climb them herself.
‘There’s something serious I need to speak to you about,’ I told Paul. ‘You mustn’t do what you’ve been thinking and planning. Paula’s telling me that you must carry on. You must stay to take care of Jemma.’
Paul gasped and as he stared up at me, I could see the tears welling once more in his eyes. ‘I know what you’re saying, Derek,’ he said as he stared down at his hands. ‘I understand.’
‘Always know that Paula loves you,’ I told him. ‘She wants you to be happy. She knows that it will take time, but you must persevere because you have to be responsible for Jemma.’
We went into the kitchen where Linda was playing with Jemma. I could see the healing colours surrounding the child and I knew that Linda had been sending out healing energies whilst playing with the little girl.
I like to think that we were meant to visit Paul’s home and that as a result of our visit he was able to continue on and come to terms with the passing of his young wife. I feel that he learned that life does indeed continue beyond physical death and that loved ones never really leave us. They remain with us until we ourselves leave the physical plane and rejoin them in the world of spirit.
Belgrave Hall
The grand finale of the ISPR team’s visit to the UK was a visit to Belgrave Hall in Leicestershire. Belgrave had recently been in the news around the world. The cctv system at the old hall had picked up some anomalous footage. Had a ghost been caught on camera? The video footage purported to show two ghostly apparitions on the gravel path to the rear of the hall. The ISPR team had been invited by Leicester City Council to view the tapes and to visit the hall in an effort to determine whether it was true ghostly activity or a mere fault on the videotape.
It was planned that the team would arrive at midnight. Dr Montz asked each member of the team to enter the hall individually so that he could compare findings.
I was the third team member to take part in the investigation. As I entered the rear pantry and walked through to the dimly lit kitchen I was aware that there was indeed spirit activity within the hall. I continued through to the hallway and was surprised to find that my nostrils were assailed by the smell of freshly baked gingerbread and the sweet smell of cooked fruit. ‘How odd!’ I thought. I would have expected such smells to have been apparent in the kitchen, but not in a hallway.
