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According to the ghost-hunting group Paraletic Activities, ghosts typically only reveal themselves between 8pm and 11pm. As the group members, including commercial signwriter Johnny Smith, are getting older, they prefer not to stay up all night chasing ghosts. Instead, they gather on weekends with their friends Neil, Luke, and Nigel, who are also fans of the Walsall Ghostbusters and share their interest in the paranormal. They enjoy drinking real ale and investigating allegedly haunted places around the Midlands, such as Grace Dieu Priory in Leicestershire and The Four Crosses pub in Cannock.
The crew’s technology, honed over a decade in the ghost-hunting game, includes “Old Faithful”, a meter that measures fluctuations in the electromagnetic field, and “Carol Anne”, a 1970s portable television set that the team believes registers localised static interference. Carol Anne takes her name from the suburban child who became a conduit and target for supernatural entities in the 1980s Poltergeist trilogy.
Johnny explains that what he most enjoys about his team is the camaraderie they share. They document their experiences through YouTube videos and also discuss them on the Paraletic Activities podcast. He also adds that they don’t take everything too seriously and that their group activities allow them to escape from their everyday lives at home.
The current trend is ghost hunting. On platforms like YouTube and TikTok, more and more people are trying their hand at ghost hunting, while various groups, from high-end hotel chains to English Heritage, are embracing the profitable prospects of the paranormal market. English Heritage offers frequent nighttime ghost hunts at two of their locations: Dover Castle in Kent and Bolsover Castle near Sheffield. London’s Langham Hotel, rumored to be haunted by a German prince who died after falling from a window, allows interested individuals to reserve its “most haunted room”, which is numbered 333.
At this moment in pop culture, there is a surge of scientific investigations into unexplained occurrences of paranormal activity and the field of parapsychology, which seeks to understand the psychological reasons behind claims of supernatural encounters.
Dr. Kate Cherrell, an academic, gives lectures on the topic of Victorian Britain and its beliefs in the supernatural. She suggests that the recent rise in interest in ghost hunting is similar to the 19th century, where there was a fascination with the paranormal due to a growing fear of death and a rejection of the church. With the onset of the Covid pandemic, she points out that our generation is now faced with the reality of mortality and this has led to a contemplation of the afterlife, especially while spending more time at home and being more attuned to the noises and movements within our own houses.
Cherrell has a great deal of appreciation for emerging community ghostbusting groups like Paraletic Activities, even those who don 1980s-style Ghostbusters uniforms and equipment. “It’s easy to mock the aesthetic, with their kitschy team logo jackets and beeping, flashing devices,” she says, “but these groups are thriving communities and provide an important source of social connection for many individuals, especially those who have recently experienced loss.” However, the Church of England is less enthusiastic, expressing concerns about amateur ghost hunters trespassing in supposedly haunted church graveyards at night.
Dr. Malcolm Schofield researches the underlying psychological factors behind beliefs in the paranormal while employed at the University of Derby. He also serves on the Spontaneous Cases committee for the Society for Psychical Research (SPR), which was established in 1882 to investigate occurrences and abilities that are often considered psychic or paranormal. Both the SPR and another paranormal organization, The Ghost Club, which boasts prominent past members such as Charles Dickens, WB Yeats, and Siegfried Sassoon, have recently seen an increase in membership and reports of mysterious and inexplicable phenomena. According to Schofield, they have received numerous reports of precognitive dreams and communications from the deceased, but there has been a decrease in reports of poltergeists.
According to Schofield, individuals who subscribe to the concept of general “spirituality” are often difficult to classify. However, those who believe in the paranormal do share specific characteristics. These individuals tend to possess more open and intuitive ways of thinking compared to those who believe in organized religions, who typically lean towards a more rigid and unquestioning mindset.
On a dark evening in Stoke on Trent at 9pm, the Paraletic Activities team and I are taking shelter in the Stoke Haunted Museum – known as the “sixth most haunted location in the UK.” We have a pentagram, Carol Anne, and a loud smartphone with an app called Necrophonic, which claims to communicate with spirits. For these believers, the main appeal is not finding solace in the afterlife, but the physical excitement of ghosthunting with others – the thrill of being scared and scaring others in return.
Upon arriving at the black Victorian building, Nigel hears what he believes to be breathing near the restroom, while Johnny claims to have felt a touch on the back of his neck. However, they soon realize that there are a lot of uneventful moments in ghostbusting. After spending 40 minutes at a still ouija board, which Johnny openly dislikes, they follow a distant noise to a room. In the room, Luke feels a chill by his legs, one of which is covered in tattoos from the Ghostbusters movie. Johnny expresses his excitement, despite his pale face and goosebumps. Luke confirms the presence of a draft, as he looks towards a velvet curtain covering a door.
Jaden Darnell, a 21-year-old, represents the newer generation of ghost hunters. He credits the game Phasmophobia, released in 2020 by a British independent gaming company, for sparking his interest in the paranormal. The game involves a team of four players working together to identify different types of ghosts, such as poltergeists (translated from German as “loud spirits”) and yūrei (translated from Japanese as “faint spirits”). However, Jaden’s fascination with ghosts began with his own sightings of a ghostly figure on the grounds of his childhood home. He vividly remembers seeing a woman dressed in black walking towards the living room door, only to disappear when he blinked. His mother also witnessed the apparition.
Darnell became a member of The Ghost Club when he turned 18 and has been going on late-night searches with his friends ever since. He regularly attends the club’s monthly lectures in London, which draw in hundreds of curious individuals. These talks cover a range of topics such as the evolution of ghost-hunting technology and the famous female mediums from the working class in the 1800s. According to Darnell, many people are now turning to spirituality as a replacement for organized religion, but the question of whether there is an afterlife still captivates us. He believes that ghosts may hold the key to unlocking this age-old mystery.
Dr. Chris French, who is in charge of the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit at Goldsmiths, University of London, and has written a new book titled “The Science of Weird Shit: Why Our Minds Conjure the Paranormal,” explains that even those who claim to be skeptical, believers in ghosts do not actually want their experiences to be explained scientifically or by non-paranormal means. The reason for this is that none of us like the idea of no longer existing after our physical body dies, and even more unsettling is the thought that we may never be able to communicate with our deceased loved ones again. Therefore, any evidence that appears to support the idea of life beyond the physical realm is welcomed, regardless of how thin the evidence may be.
French stated that there are drawbacks for individuals who have faith in an afterlife. They can be manipulated by deceitful people who claim to communicate with deceased loved ones. On the other hand, humanists may have a valid perspective. They do not believe in life after death and instead, prioritize living in a fulfilling manner during our one life. However, a 2017 Ipsos Mori survey showed that 38% of people consider themselves believers in ghosts, with a similar number claiming to have seen one. The survey also found that women are more inclined to believe in guardian angels and premonitions compared to men.
Neil Dagnall, Ph.D., conducts research at Manchester Metropolitan University on our enduring interest in life and death. According to him, those who are drawn to the idea of ghosts are seeking understanding and comfort: they want reassurance that there is something beyond our finite existence. From a psychological perspective, this serves a dual purpose – it provides a sense of purpose while also soothing fears and worries about mortality.
At the age of 49, Russ Bevin, a sales manager for a utility company in the Midlands, founded Wednesbury Paranormal, a group dedicated to ghost-hunting. He acquired the moniker “the cellar dweller” during his childhood, due to his tendency to explore spooky places for hours on end, undeterred by strange sounds and knocks. Despite being a paranormal investigator, Bevin identifies as an “open-minded skeptic” and remains dubious about supernatural occurrences. His group offers both paid and free nightfall investigations at reputedly haunted sites, such as The Rising Sun pub in Tipton (rumored to be haunted by the ghost of drowned publican Eliza Whitehouse) and the ruins of Dudley Castle. Instead of relying on modern, flashy technology to track down spirits like other groups, Bevin prefers to use old-fashioned Georgian tools and techniques. One such method is scrying, which involves using mirrors, pentagrams, and sometimes incantations to communicate with spirits, although not all members of the group partake in this more occult approach.
Programs like Most Haunted, The UnXplained with William Shatner, and comedian Danny Robins’ Uncanny series on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Two have all captured audiences’ imaginations with their combination of paranormal elements and debunking. Most Haunted aired from 2002 to 2010 on Living TV and received numerous complaints to Ofcom for suspected faking of supernatural encounters. However, these shows have been overshadowed by newer, more niche ghost content such as the US’s Paranormal TV, which often delves into malevolent demon possessions, and YouTube’s Alehouse Haunts, which investigates haunted pubs in Britain.
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One fan of ghosts who came through the television fandom was Jayne Mortimore, a paranormal investigator from Liskeard, Cornwall. She became fascinated with the exciting world of the paranormal during the popular years of Most Haunted in the early 2000s. Based on her belief that the radiation from the bedrock granite and quartz in Cornwall make it a hot spot for paranormal activity, Mortimore spends most of her time investigating. Her most remarkable encounter occurred last year when she and a group of witnesses saw a lingering matte black figure in the hallway of a haunted Victorian home. Although she has had few ghostly experiences, Mortimore says that a lot of waiting is involved in this field. She hosts ghost-hunting events and dinners at Bodmin Jail and Jamaica Inn, the infamous hideout of smugglers featured in Daphne du Maurier’s novel. Legend has it that the area is haunted by a “demon dog”.
Businesses in Cornwall are not the only ones profiting from the supernatural. Fans can take part in ghost-hunting walks at famous rural locations and spend the night in abandoned hospitals or workhouses with guided tours. Travel companies like hauntedrooms.co.uk offer the ability to reserve supposedly haunted hotel rooms for a full experience, incorporating both lodging and the possibility of spooky encounters. In 2023, I had the opportunity to stay at Eastwell Manor in Kent, a neo-Elizabethan estate that often ranks as one of the most haunted hotels in the UK due to reports of sightings of a lady in white and galloping horsemen in its halls and grounds. Unfortunately, I did not experience any ghostly encounters, but the hotel’s eerie reputation added excitement to my middle-aged insomnia. Additionally, community venues housed in historical buildings, such as Warmley Clock Tower in South Bristol, have discovered that they can generate income by hosting paranormal events. According to Mortimore, there is money to be made in these events, but some castles and hotels choose to keep it under wraps to avoid affecting their wedding booking rates.
Upon returning to Stoke, members of the Paraletic Activities team are working to calm their anxiousness following ghosthunting investigations. As per their tradition, they are enjoying a paranormal “brew review” at a local pub (affectionately referred to as “Boos and Booze” during group investigations).
According to them, it was a typical night of ghost hunting. Johnny notes that they experienced a few bumps and noises, which is something they usually encounter. After listening to their audio recordings of Stoke, the team claims to have captured a faint voice whispering in the room where the draft was coming from. However, when I listened to the recording, I had difficulty hearing any whispering amidst the hissing sound. Johnny replies, “But it’s all just for fun, right?”
Source: theguardian.com
