True Ghost Stories Part 5 - A lost Visitor

Some years ago whilst renovating the house we had a wall taken down. The wall formed a small hallway from the front door into the main living room. As it made the room seem so small we decided to have it knocked through. 
 Once it was done and the room was redecorated we noticed one evening the curtains were moving ever so slightly. Initially I thought it was a draught from the window. When it continued to happen every night I began to wonder. One particular night the curtain caught my eye, I asked if anyone was there and it moved much faster then stopped, I asked a series of questions and found out it was the spirit of a young child. A little girl. She was very unhappy and upset as she was looking for her daddy, she couldn't find her daddy and she was waiting for him to come home from the river. I was given a date of over a hundred years previous. I explained to her that her daddy didn't live here and no one else would be arriving.  She then disappeared and I didn't see anything else for quite some time around the curtains. Some weeks later the same thing happened again with the curtains. It always made me feel so sad for her she was obviously lost and trapped. Someone eventually managed to cross her over and reunite her with her parents.
 In the back garden the washing line was hanging off of an old ships mast, as the house was originally built for dockers working on the river at some point one of the dockers must have brought the mast home from a ship which had either been lost or being disposed of. We found out that the little girls Daddy did in fact work on the river, perhaps he was on one of the boats, perhaps the mast was from his boat or in some way connected to him. 
It was a sad story but I was happy once she got crossed over. Once she had crossed over the curtains stopped twitching altogether. 

On that note I wish you all a spooktastic Halloween. If you're at home tonight I'd recommend tuning into the pilot episode of UK Haunted which starts tonight at 10pm on showcase TV (UK ONLY) it sounds like it's going to be a good show with no acting, nothing put on and nothing fake. 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! 
If you look up in the sky during the witching hour you might just see me fly by on my broomstick with my cat on the back.

True Ghost Stories Part 4 - Agatha

If you follow me on twitter you'll probably have noticed that every once in a while I mention the ghosts of my house. People who have never experienced ghosts are under the misapprehension that if you live in a haunted house you hear things all through the night, things get thrown around and it never really stops. This is not the case at all. 
 The house I currently live in was built in 1860 as a dockers cottage, it's old and small but perfectly cosy. The most active ghost is of a lady called Agatha. 

When I first became aware of Agatha's presence it was very subtle, I'd often notice a smell of freshly cooked bread filling the house. It was odd but comforting and I began to wonder if I wasn't quite alone. As I began to take more notice the smell of cooking food was happening more frequently. It was always traditional english foods I'd smell like steak and kidney pies, bread, cakes for tea. All very comforting and the sort of things you'd expect a Victorian lady to cook. I'd then start to hear the sound of pans from the kitchen, not loud as if being thrown just the sounds you'd expect to hear if someone was cooking.  One day I called out "Is anyone there, I know you are I can hear you" and I'd hear a slight sound in response. 
 One night I was lying in bed trying to drift off to sleep and felt someone lightly tucking me in, just like my mum would when I was a child. Again it was comforting. A few months later I again tried to make contact. When I asked out loud what her name was the name Agatha came to me out of nowhere. Since then that's what I've call her. 
Agatha isn't an evil spirit and doesn't cause mischief, unlike Poltergeists. However if I have ever ignored her little sounds she'd do something to make me take notice like nudging the bed so it jolted a little or dropping something in the kitchen. When I have caught brief glimpses of her she is dressed in Victorian dress which matches the age of the house. I've noticed her being very curious about modern technology. One night I remember turning off my old windows pc upstairs and it all shut down as usual. I switched it off from the plug and went downstairs. My Mum who was there at the time then walked past the stairs and said "You've left the computer on" to my amzement as I looked up the stairs you could see a blue glow coming from the dark room. As we went to investigate the computer had indeed switched back on. Turning it all off again I again left it. For the same thing to then happen. after the third time it happened I said "Agatha what are you doing?" and it stopped. 
 On another occasion I was cooking dinner for me & my Mum, I had left the pasta sauce cooking in the pan. I left the kitchen for a few minutes and it had started to burn. My Mum walked into the kitchen and saw the saucepan be moved across off the heat onto the cold hob. Again it was Agatha helping out by making sure it didn't burn. 
  I've come to accept that this house was Agatha's first so whenever I've had building work done I've sought her permission. One time we had the decorators in. We kept the bedroom door closed and told them to not go in there if they didn't mind. They agreed, they were decent blokes who had been working on the house a few weeks. We left them to go shopping. I had told them Agatha would be keeping an eye on them. On returning home one of the decorators was as white as a ghost. He said "I'm really sorry I know you said not to but I heard someone in the bedroom and thought someone had got in through the open window" as he opened the door to look it was indeed empty. he couldn't believe it. 
I've become used to having Agatha around and although she's not active everyday you always know when she is about.

Full Moon October 2015

It is almost that time of the month (no not that) the night of the full moon is almost upon us. The full moon will rise at sunset on 27th October. As with the new moon the full moon can affect us just as much if not more. Some months the full moon is much stronger when it is closer to earth and you will feel the effects amplified. Luckily it doesn't look like this is one of those months. However the chances are if you're moon sensitive you may still feel the moon.
 Lunacy is no myth so its not surprising that A&E departments and Police stations are often much busier on the full moon. It can make people a little crazy to say the least. The tides in the rivers and lakes are higher then usual and if your currently pregnant and reaching full term there is a very high chance that your baby will be born on the full moon.
 So how do you know if you're affected by the full moon? These are all the signs, symptoms and feelings moon sensitive people will feel on the full moon. Not only are you likely to feel one, a few or all of these things on the night of the full moon you will feel it during the day and following day.

• Feeling hyperactive 
• Feeling emotional and sensitive 
• Crying for no apparent reason 
• Being easily irritated and feeling moody 
• Feeling Tired
• Feeling friskier then usual 
• Trouble concentrating
• Trouble sleeping (It's not uncommon for me to be wide awake all night for example) 

These are just a few typical examples. If your unsure if your mood is being caused by the full moon then keep a moon diary. A small journal where each day you write down the date, time, current moon phase and how you felt that day. Do that for around three months then look back and see if you notice any patterns. To help you find what the current moon phase is I've added a moon phase icon to this blog, it's just to the left on any page underneath the small bio. It'll always be on here and will update itself each day to give you an accurate moon phase.  

Cats are particularly moon sensitive. Vixen

If you have pets observe their behaviour around the full moon. Cats in particular seem to be very sensitive. My two for example can be a nightmare. They will whizz about all night crashing into things and jumping over things, meowing for no apparent reason. Dogs are known to bark on the night of the full moon. Luckilly it is very rare for my dog to bark at all. 

One of the best things about the full moon is that it is the best time to charge your crystals. Any crystal will enjoy being charged by the full moon. Moonstone, Quartz, Obsidian, Calcite and Rose quartz particularly enjoy being charged by the moon but all crystals can be charged by the full moon. To charge your crystals first cleanse them by running them under cold or warm water. (NOTE: Not all crystals can get wet, if you have Aragonite, Malachite, or Selenite especially in natural form it is best to not get these wet as they will melt. Just follow the next step) as a general rule all tumbled polished crystals can be washed. After washing dry them gently with a piece of kitchen towel then either place outside somewhere safe or inside on your windowsill. I often wish I had a balcony so I could put all of my crystals out overnight and know they'd be safe, if I put them out in my garden chances are the foxes would have them away. Instead mine spend three nights on the windowsill as I put them up the night before the full moon in case I forget. As long as where you place them they'll be touched by the moonlight it's a good place. Of course you don't have to charge every crystal every month, usually just the ones you use often. If you want to though there is no harm in charging every crustal every month (I just do not have enough windowsill space to do this) 

These are just my tumbled crystals

I should also add that it is a very very bad idea to either wear or carry moonstone around the full moon as it will make the effects even stronger.

True Ghost Stories Part 3 - The Ghosts Of Greenwich Park.

If you've ever been for a walk around the beautiful Greenwich Park you'll know what a truly stunning place it is. Over one hundred hectares of open parkland filled with a vast selection of trees, the rose gardens, flower gardens and deer enclosure. During a hot summers day or a drizzly October afternoon you'd think it was the last place to expect to see ghosts. How wrong you'd be.

One of the most locally well known stories is that of the great blob of Greenwich Park. Named so as whenever it has been spotted it appears as a large black mist among the trees. It was a story I once brushed off as local legend. Until one day I spotted it. Whilst happilly walking along the lower part of the park by the Queens House I spotted something dark among the trees. It wasn't a particularly dull day but you could clearly see something moving. 

The blob as it is locally known is more likely to be a large chunk of energy that flits around, or it could be a ghost of a spirit surrounded by negativity, it could also be a spirit who wishes to not be identified so goes about as an energy form rather then an apparition.  This summer whilst walking along the path that runs by the Observatory I stopped and watched what looked like a low black cloud of mist come down the hill and across towards the Queens House. Could it have yet again been the mysterious blob. These pictures were not taken at the time I spotted it but show the group of trees where the blob is most commonly seen lurking amongst.

There is a quiet little spot that I like to visit in the park where I usually have my summer picnics. There is a large tree to the side which has always mesmerised me. The branches are so low that they touch the grass and children are often playing in there. That particular patch has two resident ravens which are often in the tree. Last summer I was having a picnic and saw a young woman dressed in a long white dress with long blonde hair suddenly walk out from beneath the tree. At first I thought she was just someone enjoying a walk about, when she completely vanished as quickly as she had appeared before my eyes.  The person I was picnicing with also saw her and was rather spooked. A few seconds later one of the ravens flew into the tree in the exact spot she had emerged. I go to that part frequently and always look to see if she will show herself again.  Could she be a long lost spirit of the Queens House from when it was a palace?

Another local legend which goes unnoticed by many is the mysterious deer tree just by the observatory. If you stand in front of it you will see a stag looking back at you. Is this a picture of a ghost stag from the nearby deer enclosure or one of the wild deer famously hunted by royalty when there was a palace on the site? Just beside the deer is the face of a monkey, what other secrets does this ancient tree hold?
The deer tree can be found below, what do you see?

 Here is another ghostly picture from Greenwich Park from earlier this year that I took. If you look to the right of this tree you can see what appears the be a small calf.

True Ghost Stories Part 2 - A warning from beyond the grave

Growing up I had two dogs, Shanie & Purdy. Purdy was always more my dog then my Mums and we shared a special bond. When I was eight years old Purdy died after a short illness. We burried her in the back garden, wrapped up in her favourite blanket cuddling her favourite squeaky toy, a yellow Christmas cracker.  

Purdy

Some years later both me and my Mum were awoken in the middle of a night by a squeaking toy in the garden. My Mum dismissed it as someone else's dog playing with a toy or foxes. We went back to bed but the squeaking continued. I recognised the squeak and it sounded strangely like Purdy's toy which had lost it's squeak long before she died. We thought no more of it. 

The following morning my Mum got up then come to fetch me. It had appeared we had been the victims of an attempted break in, the gate which seperated the patio and grass had been completely kicked down and muddy footprints were on the patio. 
The police were called to check it out and agreed someone had indeed been in the garden.  


Our attention was then drawn to where we had burried Purdy a few years previously. The grass by then had regrown over her grave and the vase of flowers remained untouched. More shockingly lying among the grass on her grave was her yellow Christmas cracker, complete with it's squeak which we then recognised as the squeak the previous day. Me & my mum looked at eachother and said "But we burried that with her" 

Was this Purdy warning us of the danger and if so did her squeaky toy scare off the perpetrators?

True Ghost Stories Part 1 - The Ghost Of Christ Church Primary School

As a child I attended the Christ Church Primary school, local people will know it. It looks like most old school buildings typical of the era which it was built. I believe the original building dates back to the 1800's. 
 When I attended in the early 90's the school library was located in the attic and had tiny windows which overlooked the main assembly hall. I remember always having an uneasy feeling when going up the old staircase to the library. What made it worse was the teachers used to send you up there either alone or in groups of two or three children. The library itself was eerilly quiet, which you expected from librarys but something just wasn't right up there. 
During my last year there I would quite often work in the library, we was often sent to work on specific projects. I always remember dreading being one of the children sent up there. I hated the place. Back in those days schools were lucky if they had a computer, we had a relatively new cd-rom computer which was located in the library. One morning when I was 11 I was up there alone, typing up some work and felt really uncomfortable. I felt as if I wasn't quite alone. I could hear little shuffling noises and thought at first I was hearing things or that another child had been sent up there for something. Nothing, I was still completely alone. Getting back to my work I heard a thud, as I looked round a few books had been pushed off of the shelf. I put them back, as I sat down again the same thing happened. After returning from a second trip to put the books back I returned to find the computer had switched off. Not knowing what to do I went back downstairs and got my teacher. 
  From that day on I knew something wasn't right about the library and I knew it was haunted. 
Later on that year we was sitting in the hall during assembly. I remember something catching my eye. As I looked up at the library windows I saw a little boy looking out. I didn't recognise him as a pupil from the school. It was a very small school and you'd know all of the pupils, even if not by name. I whispered to my teacher who looked up and said "There's no-one there" as I looked back he'd vanished. 
On another occasion I remember sitting outside the staff room late one evening. My Mum used to attend the school governors meetings, I used to go along and sit quietly outside with either a book or something to amuse myself with. I didn't mind it but it was always very eery sitting on a chair in the middle of the staircase. This one evening everyone was in the staff room. I knew there was no-one else in the school as everyone had gone home. I was happily reading a book when I heard footsteps on the staircase. Fully expecting another parent or school governor to be walking up the stairs I ignored it. No-one came up the stairs and more interestingly no-one had come down them either. I snuck up the next flight to see if any lights were on, which there wasn't. The whole floor was in complete darkness, even the library was dark. It was petrifying. As I quietly snuck back to my chair hoping I hadn't been caught I heard the same thud. I knew it was the books again. One thing was for sure I was not going up to that library in the dark to find out. 

One playtime I was talking to one of the teachers who had been at the school a long time. I remember asking her if there were any ghosts in the school. She looked at me and said "Apparently there is a ghost in the library of a little boy" when I told her what I'd heard and seen she said "There you go then, it's not just me that saw him" 

True Ghost Stories

October, the month of Halloween. As the spookiest night of the year is almost upon us I thought it'd be fun to share a few of my own personal ghost stories and sightings. The series is called "True Ghost Stories" and will be posted in individual blog posts. All posts will be searchable by pressing the "Ghosts" label (located under the blog entry by the comment button) each and every story posted will be a true story and some are even well known in the local area. So sit tight and enjoy, if you dare, the strange, unusual and spooky stories. 

 

The Effects Of The New Moon

Tomorrow is the night of the new moon. Traditionally called the Dark Moon. This happens once a month when the moon and the sun both occupy the same zodiac sign. The sun lights up the back of the moon so down here on earth for that one night we can't see the moon. The dark moon is often associated with the Dark Goddesses Lilith and Hecate. Despite the name and the word dark these Goddesses are not evil beings. 

Goddess Lilith

  
The new moon as well as the full moon can affect our emotions and thoughts. During the new moon it is very common to feel low, depressed, lacking energy and literally feeling as if your get up and go has got up and gone. These are all common feelings for people who are moon sensitive. Once the new moon has passed your mood will improve as the moon progresses. By day 3 you should be feeling much better. If you feel the effects very severely then it is a good idea to carry a piece of moonstone in your pocket or wear some moonstone jewellery. It will work even better if it has been charged by the last full moon, which will be explained here closer to the next full moon. 

Goddess Hecate

If you're one of these people which the moon doesn't affect in such ways then use the night of the new moon to plan new projects, look for a new job or just gain some inspiration.  You can then take these ideas and new projects and work on them throughout the waxing cycle of the moon and by the time the full moon comes around they should be progressing very well. 

If you're unsure if the moon is responsible for your moods then a good idea is to keep a moon diary. Every night just before bed write down the current moon phase, the date and how you've felt that day. Do that for around three months then look back and see if you notice any patterns.The moon can affect men just as much as it can affect women. 

A Selection Of Spooky, Weird, Or Unexplained Photo's

A few of my own rather odd photo's, mostly taken on my iphone unless otherwise stated. Some are spooky, some are just weird or unexplained. All rather fascinating though.

Feeling Sheepish? Very clear image of a sheep, standing watching from the clouds. 

Mysterious orb in Greenwich Park. 

Angels in the clouds, Taken using Hipstamatic app on iphone 

Unexplained blurriness around a person on the left at Oxford Circus, possible someone in the crowd had an attached spirit. 

Cropped version 

I took these photos from a bus in trafalgar Square, on seeing an old routemaster bus. These pictures were taken less then a second apart. 

Face in the clouds 

Strange figure on my living room wall in the shadows 

Image of a woman in hot chocolate powder spilt on my worktop

These pictures again were taken a split second apart in Greenwich Park. Maybe the faeries were about? 

Spooky face that appeared on my kitchen sink plug, discovered whilst cleaning.  

Ghost of Nelson in my bathroom?