TheWorld of the Unknown

Famous
fakes Ghost hunting Strange happenings

SSB(M(NEf HAYES
r An American Indian
legend tells of the flying
head of a phantom
warrior which had the
wings of a bat and the
claws of an eagle.

Phantom coaches often

feature in ghost stories.
Drivers and horses are
almost always headless.
The one shown here,
spotted in the 1800’s is an
exception to the rule.

The most famous phantom ship is

the Flying Dutchman, doomed to
sail the seas forever. Sailors often
claimed to have seen this ship
when making the perilous journey
around the Cape of Good Hope off
South Africa. Sighting the
Dutchman was supposed to be an
omen of disaster.

J
1
Written by Acknowledgements All rights reserved. No part of
Christopher Maynard We wish to thank the following this publication may be
Art and editorial direction individuals and organizations for reproduced, stored in a retrieval
David Jefferis their assistance and for making system or transmitted in any
Text editing by available information and form or by any means,
Ingrid Selberg photographs from their mechanical, photocopying,
Designed by collections. recording or otherwise without
John Jamieson Harry Price library the prior permission of the
Design assistant RF Lord publisher.
Iain Ashman Mary Evans Picture Library
First published in 1977 by
Picture research National Laboratory of
Usborne Publishing Ltd
Caroline Lucas Psychical Research
20 Garrick Street
Special consultant Psychic News
London WC2E 9BJ
Eric Maple Radio Times Hulton
Picture Library Published in Canada by
Illustrators Hayes Publishing Ltd
SPR ("Society for Psychical
Roland Berry Burlington, Ontario
Research)
Gordon Davies
Syndication International © 1977 Usborne
John Francis
Brian Lewis Publishing Ltd
Malcolm McGregor
Michael Roffe
Printed in Belgium by
Special photography Henri Proost, Turnhout,
 N
About this book Contents

This book is for anyone who has shivered at shadowy figures in the The story of ghosts
dark, heard strange sounds in the night or felt the presence of a 4 What is a ghost?
mysterious ‘something’ from the unknown. 6 Ghosts of long ago
8 Strange customs
Ghost stories are as old as recorded history and exist all over the Haunted places
world. Many of the different kinds of ghosts that are thought to haunt 10 Where ghosts gather
the Earth and their behaviour are described here. You will meet 12 Phantoms of the sea
haunting spirits, screaming skulls, phantom ships, demon dogs, white 14 Unlikely ghosts
ladies, gallows ghosts and many more. 16 The haunted house
18 The village with a
This book also explains the techniques and equipment of ghost dozen ghosts
hunting and tells how lots of‘ghosts’ have been exposed as fakes or 20 Ghosts around the world
explained away as natural events. Also included are some of the recent Searching for the truth
theories which attempt to explain the possible existence of ghosts. 22 Ghost hunting
24 Ghost stories explained
26 Clever fakes
28 Sense or nonsense?
30 A dictionary of ghostlore
31 Index/Going further
THE STORY OF GHOSTS

What is a ghost?
Ghosts are supposed to be the
appearances of the spirits of
the dead in a form visible to
the living.
According to those who
have claimed to see ghosts,
they usually look pale and
cloudy. They can pass through
solid objects such as doors
and walls. They appear and
vanish leaving no trace.
Whether they really do exist
is still a complete mystery, but
perhaps this book will help
you to make up your mind.
The story told below has
many features associated with
the creation of a ghost.
Tom Colley's ghost
In 1751, near the town of Tring in
England, an old couple were
beaten and drowned by a frenzied
mob who thought they were
witches. The leader of the mob,
Tom Colley, was later arrested and
sentenced to death by hanging.
When he was dead, his body was
suspended from the gallows (like
that shown on the right) inside a
gibbet - a cage of iron hoops and
chains. It was left to dangle there
as a gruesome warning to other
lawbreakers.
People believed that a person’s
spirit could not leave the Earth to
go to the afterlife - heaven or hell -
without a burial ceremony.
So Colley’s ghost would haunt the
spot where he was left to rot.
Other ghosts were thought to be
the spirits of people who had been
murdered or who had died very
suddenly.

Warding off ghosts

. ■ ..VM.
Colley’s body, in its gibbet, was
suspended at a crossroads. It was
thought that his ghost would be
confused by all the roads.
Therefore, it would not be able to
find its way back to take revenge
on the people who had hanged
him there.
His ghost is still said to haunt
the place of the hanging. Recent
stories say that his ghost now
appears as a large black dog.

4
Types of ghost /Ghosts of the

Haunting Ghosts

h UL j PIlK-v'
t

A Haunting ghosts are seen at different A Strangely enough, many ghosts that A Sometimes ghosts appear for a
times and by different people yet it is are reported are of living people. The special reason. These ghosts are the
always the same ghost that appears in witness will suddenly see the ghost of a phantoms of dead people appearing to
the same place. They seem to be totally friend or relative, who is near death or give warnings or messages to the living,
unaware of living people. They are only in great trouble. Yet the person whose usually to family or close friends.
attracted by the place which they haunt. ghost it is may be many miles away. The ghost rarely speaks, but it points
Animals as well as people can be ghosts Such ghosts usually appear only once. or makes signs to deliver its message.

Poltergeists
Poltergeist activity is responsible for
some rather alarming aspects of the
supernatural, such as these cups and
saucers flying through the air.
Many people think that poltergeists
are ghosts, but they do not behave
like ‘normal’ ghosts.

Many legends tell of ghosts that

appear because they have special
tasks to carry out.
Some ghosts return to avenge
a murder and to expose the
guilty villain.
Other ghosts have to set right
an injustice from which
someone is still suffering.
They make sure that money
or property is returned to its Objects being moved during although it is not known why. One
rightful owner. poltergeist activity behave very oddly. theory supposes that their minds
They can be too hot to handle. may generate the mysterious power
Ghosts also come back to put They can move through doors or needed. Researchers call this
right any wrongs they may windows too small to let them unknown power psychokinesis-PK-
have committed when alive.r- through. And, most mysterious, they the ability to move objects without
can suddenly appear in mid-air. touching them. If they are correct
Sometimes ghosts appear to .
Poltergeist activity usually and PK exists, then there are no
reveal the hiding place in I ghosts involved, just the side-effects
which they hoarded money or happens when people between the
ages of 12 and 16 are present. of PK energy.
treasure.

5
THE STORY OF GHOSTS

Ghosts of long ago

The belief in ghosts is at least as
old as recorded history. Stone Age
people buried their dead in a way
that suggests that they believed in
ghosts: skeletons have been found
that were weighed down with stones
or bound hand and foot with cords.
Perhaps this was to prevent the
dead person’s ghost from rising up
and wandering.
The legends of the ancient
Greeks and Romans are filled with
phantoms of the dead. Greek
ghosts seemed to interfere with
the living more than ghosts in
modem stories do. Most Greek
ghosts were believed to be cmel,
terrorizing people, causing trouble.

A The first record of a ghost comes

from the Epic of Gilgamesh, an old
Babylonian tale, written in 2,000 BC.
The story is etched in clay tablets. It tells
of the hero Gilgamesh and the ghost of
his dead friend which appeared as a
transparent shape.

A The ancient Egyptians believed that A Some Greek ghosts, like the one
bird-headed ghosts, called khu, were above, appeared in the form of evil,
spirits of the dead. These evil spectres menacing phantoms. These smoky
were thought to spread disease among shapes were said to snort violently,
human beings and to be able to invade breathing out black smoke and giving
the bodies of animals, driving them into off a foul stench.
howling madness. V
6
 The haunted villa of
Athens

Haunted houses are a common theme

of many ghost stories. The earliest
record of a haunted house is about
2,000 years old. The tale, described
below, comes from ancient Greece.
At that time, a villa in Athens was
said to be haunted. Every night a
mournful spectre wandered through
the villa, clanking and shaking the
heavy prison manacles and iron A Roman history is full of ghost tales. claimed to be the ghost of his evil
chains that bound its hands and feet. In 44 BC Brutus, an army general, genius. When the spectre reappeared in
The people who rented the villa were headed a plot to murder Julius Caesar. Brutus’ tent (shown above) the night
driven from it in terror, and one even On March 15, he and his fellow before battle, its purpose became
died of fright. conspirators stabbed Caesar to death. clear - the phantom was an omen of
Not long afterwards Brutus was visited doom. Brutus lost the battle and killed
House to rent - the ghost
by a huge frightening phantom which himself afterwards.*
comes free
In desperation, the landlord of the
villa was forced to lower the rent to
next to nothing. The bargain price
for which the house was being let
came to the attention of a
philosopher called Athenodorus.
He looked at the house and was
delighted to rent it for so little money,
ghost or no ghost. Athenodorus was
fascinated by the story of the
haunting and wanted to discover
what lay at the bottom of the mystery.

The ghost appears

The first evening after moving in, as
Athenodorus sat quietly working, he A Although the ancient Chinese had to be dressed in the clothes it had worn
^ was interrupted by the ominous great respect for their dead ancestors when alive. Its arrival was impressive.
B sound of clattering chains. Acting as and even held feasts in their honour, First, it appeared as a shapeless cloud,
H if nothing were wrong, he calmly they were terrified of the spirits of out of which the head and feet emerged.
H carried on with his work. The noise murdered people which were Finally the body formed, surrounded by
m grew louder. Then the grey-haired considered to be evil. WTien a Chinese a glowing green cloud.
@0 ghost of an old man came into the ghost like this appeared, it was thought
Paroom, gesturing and signalling for
p lAthenodorus to get up and follow.
fclThe philosopher continued to ignore
Spotting a ghost
K"^he phantom. The ghost drew nearer
There is no easy answer to the question ‘WTiat does
»|s until it was hovering right over him.
a ghost look like?’ Ghosts vary greatly in
■ Athenodorus still took no notice.
appearance; some are transparent shapes, some
H Finally, the defeated spectre turned
are dark shadowy figures, others look completely
S and went back the way it had come,
lifelike. But over the years, some general
£5 vanishing at last in the courtyard.
characteristics of ghosts have been noted which
^ Athenodorus watched and saw
may help you to spot a ghost.
exactly where it disappeared.
A ghost often wears strange or old-fashioned
The ghost laid to rest
clothes.
The next day he returned to the spot
with a magistrate and some workmen A ghost almost never speaks, even if it is
spoken to.
who dug up the site. They unearthed
a skeleton shackled to a mound of
rusting chains. After the bones were
© A ghost may vanish into thin air, walk
through a wall or through the air.
buried in a cemetery, the haunting
stopped. Neither the ghost nor its A ghost may suddenly materialize in a locked
shackles were ever seen again. room, so making an ‘impossible’ appearance. I
_/ v_ _^___y In Shakespeare’s play, the phantom is described as being that of Julius Caesar. r
frm
• • * ♦
THE STORY OF GHOSTS

Strange customs
Ghosts usually inspire fear when
they appear. Many people believe
r -^-
that ghosts are evil creatures which Outwitting a rhea's ghost
will harm living people.
In the past people invented all Rheas are big flightless birds, feathers from the dead body’s
kinds of strange customs to protect similar to ostriches, that live in chest, leaving them in piles along
themselves from ghosts. Many of South America. The Lengua the way home. Whenever the
these practices depended on the indians of South America used to pursuing ghost came across the
hunt rheas. But having killed a feathers, it stopped to see whether
belief that ghosts still behaved in
bird, the indians thought that the the pile was its whole body or only
the same way that they had done rhea’s ghost would try to reclaim a part. Thus, the hunters had time
during their life on Earth. its body. To prevent this, the to hurry home safely. The ghost
So people tried to frighten them indians used a trick to outwit the was too timid to enter their village.
with loud noises and fire, to outwit rhea’s ghost. They plucked the
them with clever tricks or to chase
them away with strange rituals.

Keeping
lemures
at bay

The Romans were careful to avoid

lemures, supposedly the ghosts of
people who had led evil lives.
Special festivals were held every
year in May to keep away the
lemures. Even today it is
considered bad luck to be married
during that month.
Frightened of noise
During these celebrations, drums
were pounded. The ghosts were
supposed to be afraid of the noise
and the din was thought to make
them fly away in fright. Just to be
sure, black beans, shown in the
picture above, were also burnt by
the side of graves. The Romans
believed that the foul-smelling
smoke of the beans would be
certain to keep lemures away.

V___ J
8
 Nailing down
the afrit

▲ The Arabs of the Middle East lived in person’s blood had splashed to the
great fear of evil spirits. They were ground. There was only one way to stop
especially frightened of being haunted this happening. A new nail had to be
by the spirits of people who had been hammered into the earth exactly on the
murdered. They believed that a spot where the killing had taken place.
phantom, called an afrit, would rise The picture above shows the bloodstain
from the spot where the murdered being nailed firmly to the ground.

A A bear hunt was an important event back to the village and treated as an
for the Indian tribes of North America. honoured guest. A chiefs bonnet was
Before setting out, they held long fasts placed on its head and bowls of food
and made sacrifices to the ghosts of were set before it. Then it was politely
bears that had been killed in former invited to eat. Only after this elaborate
hunts. This was to make the hunt a success, ceremony to appease the dead animal’s
When a bear was killed it was brought ghost was the bear skinned and cooked.

A In the 17th century, witch hunts were shouting and flogging unseen spirits.
common, and the supernatural was He also lurked in churchyards, waiting
firmly believed in by people of every to trap unwary ghosts. Whether he
country. In south west England, actually saw any is unproved, but
a Reverend Dodge made a great name according to one story, a ghost that he
for himself as a fierce ghost-hunter. came across was so frightened that it
He would run along roads with a whip. gave out a loud cry and vanished forever.

9
HAUNTED PLACES

Where ghosts gather

Ghosts are supposed to haunt the
scene of death. It is therefore not
surprising that many ghosts are Ghosts on battlefields
reported at sites where death or
violence on a large scale once took An obvious place for a haunting
place. ought to be a battlefield and a
number of them are thought to
You might expect the scene of a
harbour ghosts. Those that do so
crash to be haunted by the same include Marathon in Greece,
number of ghosts as those who died Waterloo in Belgium and Dunkirk
in it. But this is not always the case. in France.
It seems that for some unknown Civil War phantoms
reason, only certain victims become
Shiloh in Tennessee, USA,
ghosts. is claimed to be haunted to this day.
Not everyone can see a ghost. The Battle of Shiloh was a major
Those who are able to do so are conflict of the American Civil War.
described as having psychic Two days of savage fighting in
April, 1862 resulted in the deaths of
powers.
over 24,000 men.
In the months that followed,
stories of a phantom battle began
to be told. The reports claimed
that gunfire, the clashing of

5 sabres and bayonets and the

screams and shouts of dying
men could be heard at the site of
the battle. The picture on the right
shows an impression of the

i: phantom battle in action.

▲ Traditionally, the elm was a good A A graveyard seems the natural place first person to have been buried there.
tree from which to hang criminals. to find lots of ghosts. But this is not the The guardian’s task is to keep away evil
Its strong lower branches were ideal for case, as people rarely die in the spirits and unwanted intruders.
suspending a noose. Elms are sometimes graveyard itself. Ghosts normally haunt An ancient ritual in Western Europe was
reputed to be haunted by the ghosts of the place of death. Just one ghost is to sacrifice a living person when a new
the people who met an untimely end thought to exist in a graveyard. It is the burial ground was established, to make
under their branches. ‘graveyard guardian’, the spirit of the sure that it would have its guardian.

10
 A special burial place

Until the late 19th century, the

north side of a church graveyard
(shown in black on the plan view
below), was rarely used to bury
people in. It was the part of the
churchyard often cast in gloom
and shadow.

The custom came from old

Germanic beliefs. The area was
suitable only for the restless souls
(and possibly restless ghosts) of
those who had committed suicide,
which was considered an
unpardonable sin. Suicides were
also buried at crossroads. A stake
was driven through their hearts,
A There are many cases of people airship had crashed in France two days to stop a ghost from appearing at
seeing and hearing the spirits of earlier. The captain’s voice, speaking the spot. Even if it did, like
disaster victims, both before and after through the medium, described the Tom Colley’s ghost, it would be
the event. The flaming crash of the last moments of the flight. Its descrip¬ confused by the four roads and
RIOI airship (shown above), was relived tion proved to be accurate, as an official stay in the same place until it
by a woman medium who was enquiry later showed. Perhaps this is a faded away.
‘contacted’ by the airship’s captain. The true contact from beyond the grave. V _ J
11
HAUNTED PLACES

Phantoms of the sea

In the days of sailing ships, crews
were often out of sight of land for Captain Kidd's ghost
weeks on end. Alone at sea, sailors
had to face the perils of uncharted In 1701, the famous pirate leader
islands and reefs, sudden storms Captain Kidd was captured and
sentenced to death. He was hanged,
and freak giant waves. Sometimes
then his dead body, shown on the
ships disappeared and were never right, was put in a gibbet as a
seen again. It is no wonder that warning to other pirates.
sailors became famous for their Like most pirate leaders. Captain
superstitions and ghost stories. Kidd buried his gold treasure. Then
he killed the men who helped him
Over the years, scores of phantom
bury it and left their ghosts to guard
ships have been reported, gliding it. Years later, treasure hunters,
mysteriously across the waves. digging for the loot, struck an iron
Ships that had ghosts as chest. The chest instantly sank out of
‘passengers’ were thought to be sight. A pirate ghost was supposed to
have jumped out of the hole and
jinxed - to have bad luck. A jinxed attacked the men, driving them away
ship was doomed to encounter in shrieking terror.
terrible disaster.

The unluckiest ship afloat

In 1858, the Great Eastern was the giant paddle wheels were ripped
largest passenger ship in the world. away from the sides of the ship. The
Yet from the start, it was thought that crew panicked and refused to obey
the ship was jinxed. Several people the captain’s orders. The Great
were killed while building it and one Eastern survived, but it never worked
workman, a riveter, vanished as a liner again, being used for laying
mysteriously as he hammered away telegraph cables. In 1885, the ship
in the hull. The ship’s launching was was towed to a breaker’s yard. As the
a bad omen too. The ship stuck fast workers tore into the hull, they found
on the slip, and it was months before the remains of the riveter who had
it floated free. been sealed in alive nearly 30 years
before. Could it have been the sound
Launched at last
of his ghostly hammering that had
Only a few hours after steaming out echoed throughout the ship’s career?
to sea, one of the funnels blew up,
killing six of the crew. During the ► The Great Eastern had a double
first crossing the passengers were hull with one metre gap between the
disturbed by the dull thuds of two sections. This was where the
hammering from below. Then came a
a terrible storm, during which the
skeleton of the missing riveter and
his bag of rusty tools were found.
\
Riveter’s skeleton
J
12
r The haunted submarine

Many ghost stories have their origins UB-65 would not rise. Sea water A chaplain was summoned to drive
in the strange events that occur began seeping into the ship, soon away, or exorcise, the ghost. For the
during wartime. One of the most reaching the batteries and causing next few months, the UB-65
bizarre is about the haunted German them to give off deadly fumes. At last, functioned normally. Then suddenly
submarine, the UB-65. the desperate eaptain managed to the chief gunner went mad and killed
The UB-65 was built in 1916 during surface with his crew almost dead himself,' and the day after that, the
World War 1. During its construction, from suffocation. petty officer jumped over the side.
a series of accidents killed five men In the next battle the ship was hit.
The phantom lieutenant
and injured several others. Although The lights inside the submarine
the submarine crew was highly Back in port, the UB-65 was loading flashed wildly, and an eerie green
superstitious and reluctant to sail, supplies when a torpedo exploded, glow filled the hull. Once more the
the ship was needed badly, and so it killing six men including a lieutenant. damaged UB-65 limped back to port.
was launched despite the ominous Shortly after, a terrified petty officer
The final sighting
signs of impending doom. and another sailor claimed the ghost
of the dead lieutenant had come Late in the war, an American
A near disaster
aboard. A few weeks later, while ship came across a strange sight.
During the preparations for the patrolling off the English coast, the The crew saw the UB-65 abandoned
submarine’s first dive, a sailor threw ghost was spotted standing in the and drifting at sea. Suddenly
himself over the side without bows. The phantom appeared once an explosion tore through the
warning. The captain continued the more as the ship put into port. A few submarine. Before it slid under, the
mission as if nothing had happened. moments later the captain was killed figure of the ghostly officer appeared
But when he tried to surface, the as enemy planes attacked the harbour. for the last time.
HAUNTED PLACES

Unlikely
ghosts
Ghosts are normally phantoms of
either living or dead people.
But ghosts of animals and even of
objects have been seen.There
are countless tales of phantom fire¬
breathing horses galloping through
the night.
Ghosts do not have to be of
living things. Tales of phantom
ships have been told for centuries,
and today there are stories of
ghostly cars, buses and aeroplanes.
In the future, there will probably
be stories of phantom spaceships,
astronauts, and perhaps of strange
creatures on other worlds.

▲ The phantom machine shown above

is the ghost of a Spitfire fighter plane.
The howling sound of its engine is said
to be heard as it flies a low victory roll
over its former airfield, the World War 2
airbase of Biggin Hill, England.

I The talking
mongoose
One of the most bizarre hauntings
on record is that of a talking
mongoose named Gef. Haunting
ghosts almost never speak to
people. Certainly animal ghosts
are not supposed to - yet Gef the
mongoose not only spoke but also
told jokes and stories, swore and
sang songs.
Nobody could make out just
A The Isle of Man lies between Ireland A The talking mongoose, who said his
what Gef actually was. He was not
and England. It is supposedly a centre name was Gef, haunted an old seaside
a poltergeist at work; nor did he
of witchcraft, and it is also said to be farmhouse. The first signs of him
seem to be an hallucination or a
heavily haunted. In the 1930s, a appeared when the owners began to
hoax. He simply claimed that he
mysterious talking mongoose appeared see a shadow prowling about the house
was a ghost in the form of a
on the island near its west coast nibbling food, rattling saucers and,
small mongoose.
town of Dalby. for some reason, blowing out candles.

14
 r
The ghostly lift
The phantom hound
In 1969, a large rambling seaside
hotel in Wales was awaiting
For centuries, huge phantom
demolition. But before the
dogs have cropped up in ghost
demolition crew could arrive,
legends. They are known all over
a number of strange things took
northern Europe and in parts of
place as if the old hotel were pro¬
North America.
testing against its undignified end.
At night demon dogs haunted
lonely country roads, graveyards
and old gallows sites. According
to legend, anyone who saw a
phantom hound would soon be
stricken with disaster or death.
Luckily, these dogs left people
alone unless provoked.
Black Shuck

One of the dogs, shown here,

was known as Black Shuck.
It was supposed to be an
enormous beast, the size of a
calf. Its shaggy coat was as black
as soot. One of the things that
made Black Shuck different from
other ghostly dogs was its eye.
This was a single cyclops-eye, as
large as a saucer, in the centre of
its forehead. The dog had a
fiendish howl. Foam and fire
dripped from its jaws and its
breath blew like a strong gust
of wind.

The main mystery was the lift that

began to move by itself. Without
warning, it would rise from the
ground floor to the second floor
and stop. This should have been
impossible as the electricity had
been switched off weeks before.
A Gef became famous and was Eventually, the lift’s cables were
A One day, the owner of the house saw
featured in many newspaper stories. cut, but even that did not stop it.
a pair of furry paws poke out from a
But he has not made an appearance for Workmen had to climb into the
I crack in the ceiling. She tried to touch
shaft and pound the lift with sledge
many years. The farmhouse was sold
. them but instead was bitten. Then a hammers before it finally crashed
i high shrill voice, speaking in excellent and the new owners reported having
shot a strange little animal in the to the bottom of its shaft.
I English, told her to go and put ointment
on the bite.
grounds. Could this have been Gef? V _ )
15
HAUNTED PLACES

The haunted house

Many ghosts haunt one particular
place such as the house where they Bats flitting outside an old,
once lived. These haunting spirits deserted house are believed
to be omens of death.
are seen time and time again,
wandering through the house.
Haunting ghosts are thought to
occur because of a violent or
dramatic event in the past which
links a spirit to a place. Houses
where a brutal crime was
committed or someone was bitterly Trees are often thought to be
unhappy are often haunted. haunted. A falling branch is
Some of the strange noises which supposed to be a sign that
someone is doomed to die.
make people think a house is
haunted are caused by natural
events, such as the creaking of
shrinking and expanding timbers
or the sound of rats and mice
scurrying about.

Inside the house

Many strange things can occur in a
haunted house. Here are some of them.
The numbers below link with the
numbers on the picture.
1 A ghostly figure glides from room
to room passing straight through
solid walls.
2 The curtains in a closed room
start swaying in a mysterious
breeze.
3 A skeleton is found walled up
inside a hidden secret room.
4 The ghost of a member of the
family materializes in front of its
own, suddenly blank portrait.
5 Muddy footprints appear on the
stairway as the thud of slow heavy
footsteps is heard.
Why ghosts pass
6 In the attic, objects move and fall through walls
to the floor while strange
Route of ghost .^i-^-
r..
thumpings and bangings are heard.
7 An old skull screams whenever it is 1
moved from the house to be buried. y> \
_A
8 A grandfather clock chimes
thirteen, foretelling a death in the lllllllll
family.
9 A bloodstain on the floor cannot be
removed. No matter how many
times it is washed away, it always
returns. Floorplan of Floorplan of
10 Groaning sounds come from a house 1878 offices 1978
secret, cobweb-choked passage
which leads from the fireplace Ghosts continue to follow the
to an upstairs room. routes they used when alive, even
11 A pair of white-gloved hands if the house has been rebuilt since
appears at the piano and begins to that time. This is why they seem to
play a funeral march. climb up stairs that no longer exist
12 Unseen forces set a chandelier or are able to glide through walls.
swaying so violently that pieces of
crystal crash to the floor.

16
 The sudden hoot of an owl
is a warning that death is
about to strike.

_ 1

■
ft
HIIh)'

li
j

Corpse lights are small

flames flickering just above
the ground. Especially
common in graveyards,
they are said to show the
way that a funeral
procession will soon pass.

17
'^HAUNTED PLACES

The village with a

dozen ghosts
Some places have a reputation ghosts can be a sign that they
for being particularly haunted. really do exist. If everyone had
The village of Pluckley in the same opinion, it would
south-east England is one of probably mean that they had Park Wood was fo rmet
riHerly a
these. It is claimed to have no read the same book or of forested ground on the outskirts of
fewer than 12 ghosts. newspaper report. Pluckley. In recent times, it was cleared
to become grazing land as you can see
The villagers do not agree as The photographs on this page
from the picture above. A colonel once
to whether the ghosts exist, but were taken recently. There were hanged himself in the woods and his
it seems unlikely that the village no signs of supernatural activity ghost used to be seen walking in them.
should get its reputation for no when the photographer took the
reason at all. pictures, and as you can see, no
Researchers point out that phantoms appeared on them. The hanging body of
conflicting opinions about the schoolmaster

The spectre of
The
the highwayman Pinnock

Fright
Soon after World War 1, a schoolmaster
Comer
committed suicide in the village.
He hanged himself from a laurel tree that
stood in the road once known as Dicky
The ghost of a highwayman haunts the Buss’s Lane. His phantom body is said
area where a hollow oak tree stood at to be visible to this day, swinging in the
Fright Corner. Here the man was ,breeze.
ambushed by his enemies. He was run
through with a sword and speared to the
tree. The gory event is said to be
The blackghost of
re-enacted every night.
The ghost of the themiller
gypsy woman
A phantom coach
and horses

Near a house called The

The spectre of a pipe¬ Pinnock is an old ruined
smoking gypsy woman, mill where the black
huddled in a tattered shape of a miller’s ghost
The road from Pluckley to nearby shawl, is often claimed to is said to wander.
Maltman’s Hill is haunted by a phantom be visible near the bridge The ghost only appears
coach drawn by four horses. On dark before a thunderstorm Pluckley S
by the crossroads. She was
nights it is supposed to be possible to breaks over the village. railway J
burned to death in
hear the dmmming of horses’ hooves station -
mysterious circumstances
and the sound of the coach rumbling and has haunted the site Clay-pit and
along the lonely road. ever since. brickworks
 The Red Lady
and a mysterious
Scale of map modern ghost

Park Wood

The Church of St Nicholas, left, is said

to be haunted by the ghost of the
beautiful Lady Dering who died in the Surrenden
12th century. She was buried in a Dering
sumptuous gown with a red rose in her
Church of
hands. Her body was placed inside
St Nicholas seven lead coffins, one inside the other,
which were then put into an oak casket
that was buried in a vault under the

PLU CKLEy church. To this day her ghost, known as

the Red Lady, walks in the graveyard
of the church. Recently, there have also
The White Lady
of Dering
been reports of another mysterious
female figure wandering inside the
church, above right. She may be
Pluckley’s newest ghost.

NORTH

Surrenden Dering was the manor of the

Dering family. The main house was
Rose Court burnt by a fire in 1952. The house was
supposed to have been haunted for
centuries by the ghost of another
member of the family, known as the
White Lady, who appeared gliding
through the library.

The phantom monk

The Lady of Rose
The ghost of the
Court
screaming man

At a house called Greystones, a

The house known as Rose Court is phantom monk is said to haunt the
supposed to be haunted by the spirit grounds. He is often seen with the lady
Near the railway station is a clay-pit
of a former owner. She killed herself by of Rose Court. There seems to have
and a brickworks. A worker was
been a mysterious connection between
smothered to death when a wall of clay drinking the juices of crushed
poisonous berries. Her ghost appears the two of them for she died by a
fell on him. His ghost, which is said to
between four and five o’clock in the window, looking towards Greystones.
haunt the site, screams in the same
way as he did when he died. afternoon, the time of day when she died,

19
HAUNTED PLACES
The railway ghost

Ghosts
around the
world
Ghost stories and legends occur
in countries all over the world. There is an American legend that
The spirits come in all shapes claims that the ghostly funeral
and sizes. They behave in many train shown here of President
different ways, mainly based on ^ Abraham Lincoln still rumbles
along the railway track in
the customs of the area which they
New York State, more than
are thought to haunt. 100 years after his death.
Many of the ghosts are created
by people’s imagination. But one
question remains unanswered - if
ghosts do not exist, why should so
many stories have been invented
about them?
These pages show you just a few
of the phantoms which, perhaps,
haunt the Earth.
N_
To
Mexico

This ghostly apparition seemed to

foretell the death of Roderigo
Borgia in 15th century Italy.
Minutes after the glowing ghost
was seen, Borgia fell screaming to
the ground, dying from the
poisoned wine that he had drunk.

The bandit ghost The slave ghost

In Mexico, ghosts of people who In southern Africa, people believed

had died violently were said to be that if a witch doctor dug up a
able to cure illness. The ghost of corpse and stole part of the body,
the famous bandit, Pancho Villa, he could turn its ghost into a slave.
cured an insane boy by whipping Then the witch doctor sent the
and shouting to drive out the evil ghost out to do his evil deeds - to
spirits thought to possess him. .spread sickness and kill his enemies.
^..Ul.I
The legless ghost

Japanese ghosts were believed to The people of the Banks Islands in

be deformed as a punishment for the Pacific Ocean believed that
evil deeds when alive. Many were
certain stones were haunted by
legless, their lower limbs engulfed ‘eating ghosts’. If a person’s
in flames. According to legend, shadow fell across such a stone
they warned people when death the ghost was thought to suck out
was near. the person’s soul. After losing his
soul, the person died. These stones
were placed in empty houses to
keep away thieves.

The waterfall ghost

The gibbering ghost

In 1905, two men on holiday saw a

pair of ghostly hands come out of
a waterfall. The hands beckoned to
Indians believed in ghosts called them. Looking behind the waterfall,
bauta. They were hideous creatures they found a cave with three
with small, red bodies and huge, skeletons in it. The ghostly
lion-like teeth. They gibbered presence had fulfilled its task-to
through their noses when they draw attention to the remains of
spoke. They were supposed to of the dead.
roam at night, attacking people.
^

21
SEARCHING FORTHE TRUTH

Ghost hunting
Many people claim to have seen
ghosts, but very few can offer any
kind of proof
Professional ghost hunters, called
psychic researchers, are brought in
to examine places which are thought
to be haunted.
Although the investigators may
have lots of scientific equipment to
study any supernatural happenings,
investigating ghosts is not easy.
Usually the investigators work
with second-hand evidence and A Electronic equipment can be used to A A thin layer of flour or powder
measure temperature and humidity and brushed on floors, ledges and stairways
reports from witnesses. They must to detect the draughts and vibrations will show up any footprints or
also try to discover whether the associated with ghosts. However, some fingerprints made by fake ‘ghosts’. Flour
‘ghosf is a fake or whether it was investigators claim that their electronic can also be dusted around furniture and
caused by some natural event. gear (shown above) can even detect the other objects to reveal whether they
‘psychic energy’ of ghosts. have been moved.

Ghost hunting equipment

Even though sensitive recording
equipment is useful for detecting
ghosts, it is more important to have
reliable witnesses. Even the most
convincing evidence is suspect
unless two or more people were there Use a steel tape measure
to see it happen. Here are some to check the position of
professional tips and tricks to help objects in a room and to
you in your investigation of the world find out if anything has
of ghosts. been moved.

Graph paper will help you

to draw an accurate plan
The temperature of the of the haunted site. A
air is said to drop pencil and notebook are
noticeably when ghosts essential for recording
are around, so take a big, the evidence.
easy-to-read thermometer.
Thin black cotton thread
can be tied around a room
close to the floor. A
fake ‘ghost’ crossing the
floor will snap it and
give the game away.

A camera can, with luck,

snap a ghost’s picture.
Flash bulbs should be —
used if the light is
poor.
Professional ghost hunting Animal investigators

A psychic researcher was called in to loaded with infra-red film, which Some animals are known to be
investigate a house where three could take photographs in the dark. more aware of ghosts than people.
people had reported strange events The researcher also put into They can be curiously sensitive to
which made them believe the house position a draught-measuring device the strange stmosphere that
was haunted. and a heat-sensitive switch which lingers in haunted places. For this
The researcher arranged to spend would set off the camera if the reason, investigators sometimes
the night in the room in which the temperature changed. Beside the bed use animals to look for ghosts.
ghost had appeared. He took with him he placed a normal flash-equipped
a trunk of equipment to detect and camera and a tape recorder.
record everything that happened. Lastly, he ran a hearing aid from
the infra-red camera to the bed so
Setting up the equipment
that he could hear it click from where
On arrival, the first thing the he slept. A recording thermometer
researcher did was to question the and a barometer were also set
occupants about what they had seen working.
and heard. Then he prepared the
The end of the investigation
room for the night.
First the door and window were The night passed quietly. Even with
sealed shut with tape. A length of the carefully prepared traps, however,
thread was placed all around the there was not the slightest sign of a
room so that anything brushing ghost. Once again, a phantom had
against it would set off a camera refused to co-operate.

\ Sealed Recording
door thermometer
Cable
release
for researcher
to operate
equipment

Ordinary
camera

Deaf-aid An American ghost hunter,

Barometer
microphone investigating a house in Kentucky
Tape recorder that was supposed to have a
haunted room, took with him a rat,
a cat, a dog and a rattlesnake.
Infra-red The animals were put into the
camera haunted room one at a time.
The rat behaved normally, but
the other animals all reacted in a
surprising way. The rattlesnake at
Heat-sensitive
once reared up to strike an empty
switch chair in the room. When the cat
was carried into the room, it leapt
Infra-red to the floor and hissed and
lamp Junction glowered at the same empty chair.
box The dog ran from the room
snarling. It refused to go back.
Sealed Later, when the animals were
window tested in another room, they all
behaved normally. The ghost
hunter concluded that the animals
could sense a ghostly presence in
the haunted room which could not
be sensed by human beings.
V_____/
23
SEARCHING FORTHE TRUTH

Ghost stories explained

Many ghost stories turn out to be
untrue once psychic researchers ^ Knockings at Netherfield
look into them. Often they find that
In 1946, a front page story in a That night faint knocking sounds
the signs which people took to be a came from the kitchen itself. The
newspaper caught the attention of
ghost have a perfectly ordinary two psychic researchers. The story investigators traced the sound to the
explanation. was about a house that was filled with clock. Taking it apart, they found
It is not hard to understand why strange noises. It was thought that that the tightly wound spring was
peoples in the past believed in the house was haunted. unwinding in jerks and making the
When the researchers arrived on faintest of tapping sounds.
ghosts as there was little scientific
the scene, they were told that hollow
knowledge of how natural events knocking sounds had been heard
The ghost revealed
were caused. coming from the kitchen ceiling for The tapping noise itself was barely
Today, investigators often find several years. The researchers noticeable. But when the clock stood
that people are actually decided to spend the night in the upstairs on the bedside chair, the
house but first they checked the noises it made passed down the chair
disappointed rather than pleased bedroom above for possible natural legs, through the floor and were
when they are told that a ‘ghosf causes. Finding an alarm clock on a amplified to a loud knocking by the
was just the wind or flowing water. bedside chair, they took it downstairs very thin plaster of the kitchen ceiling.
It seems that people would prefer with them. So the ‘ghost’ was an alarm clock.
to believe in ghosts. V_

Ghosts from under

1 the ground

This true story shows how unseen

events can convince even the
most sceptical people that ghosts
are present.
The rumblings and noises that
shook the house were investigated
by lots of people, yet they did not
find what was causing the
‘haunting’. Although, as you will A In the 1950s, a house in Yorkshire, A The two doctors who used the house
see, the cause proved to be a England, was invaded by mysterious as a surgery called in a plumber to
natural one, it is not surprising eerie noises. Explosions and the sounds inspect the water pipes. They also had
that it remained hidden until of banging, as if doors were being the gas and electrical systems
psychic researchers conducted a slammed, continued over a period of examined. Even the police came to
thorough investigation. some months. The loudest noises inspect the house. But no-one could
literally shook the walls of the house. find a reason for the noises.

A The research team went outside to A They could not crawl along the sewer, A The diagram above shows a cross-
examine the foundations of the house. but its direction showed that it emptied section through the soil between the
They found an old sewer, no longer used, into a nearby river. The river was tidal - house and the river. The researchers
in the garden, where earlier the ground its level went up and down depending found that high tides were forcing
had sunk but had since been filled in. on the sea. The researchers hunted for water up the sewer, and despite its
The sewer passed very near the house, the sewer’s outlet along the banks of the semi-blocked state, water was seeping
but it was choked with dirt and earth. river but without success. through the soil under the house. The
24
 rSpectres of the Brocken

A This diagram shows how the clock

spring’s tapping turned into a
ghostly knocking. The vibration
passed down the legs of the bedside
chair, then through the floor and the
joists. The thin plaster ceiling
amplified the vibrations into the
room below.

A The doctors, wondering if the house

were haunted, asked a team of psychic
researchers to investigate. The team
noticed cracks in the walls, badly fitting
doors and a dip in the roof. These all
seemed to be signs that the house was
moving on its foundations.

For centuries people have reported

seeing huge ghostly figures haunting Shadow
the Harz mountains in West Germany.
It was believed that these ghosts Climber
gathered together once a year in May
on the summit of the Brocken, the
highest mountain in the region.
However, less than a century ago
this ghost legend was shown to have
a natural explanation. It was people’s
Sun
imaginations that had turned it into Shadow
Sandy soil becomes
a ghost story. on cloud
waterlogged and unstable
It turned out that the phantoms of
__ J the Brocken were nothing more than
the shadows of climbers that had
foundations of the house were settling, A Ghostly figures were seen around
been cast onto clouds swirling
and the movements were causing the the Brocken when the sun was setting
around the peak. The climbers had to
and a bank of light cloud hung
noises that had been heard. The final be on or near the summit, and the
proof was that the noises were loudest around the summit. Climbers’
weather conditions had to be just
shadows projected onto the clouds
when the tide was at its highest. So the right for the ‘ghosts’ to appear.
could be as much as 200 metres high.
psychic researchers recorded it as yet
another ‘haunting’ with a natural cause. ___ J
25
SEARCHING FORTHE TRUTH

Clever fakes
Some ghosts cannot be explained
by natural physical causes, or even
by supernatural one§. When they
are investigated they are found
to be the work of human beings.
In other words, they are fakes.
Convincing people that a fake
ghost is real is not very hard.
Most people are quite willing to
accept that mysterious forces exist
which cannot be explained.
Fake ghosts have been used to
A Smugglers, a few hundred years ago, horse white, except for its head. On the
play upon people’s natural fears
were well known for using ghost carriage which he used to carry his
and suspicions for all kinds of legends to their own advantage when smuggled goods, the smuggler hung a
reasons. They have been invented they made their illegal runs. set of lights. Anyone who met him at
to keep secrets hidden, to cover One smuggler cleverly gave new life night would swear to having seen a
up murders and to cheat people to an old tale about a ghost carriage headless horse pulling a glowing
and a headless horse. He painted his phantom carriage.
out of their money.

r Ghost-faking equipment A rapping hand looked

real enough in a
Just a few of the gadgets used to darkened room. It could
‘contact’ ghosts are shown here. Most be made to move by
attempts to contact the world of the squeezing a hidden tube
dead were made in near-darkness, so of liquid-filled rubber.
it was easy to cheat. A simple gadget In the gloom of a seance,
was the voice trumpet. It was used to the ‘living hand’ would
‘throw’ the medium’s voice across begin to tap out answers
the room, so that the hollow voice to the medium’s
sounded like questions.
that of a
ghost.

Hidden tape recorders are

perfect for making ghostly
sounds. They can also be
hooked to tiny microphones
hidden in a medium’s clothes
and used to fool people into
believing in ‘voices of
the dead.’

Once people are

convinced that a medium
can contact ghosts, the
rest is easy. All that is
needed are proper tools
Trick slates were used to
record the writing of and an eager audience.
spirits. The slates were Most of the fake mediums
prepared beforehand. who claimed they could
A hidden spring would reach the dead used tricks
hide the blank slates then similar to the ones shown
flip up already prepared here. A 19th century
ones with writing on them, drawing room scene like
supposedly messages this was typical of a fake
from the dead. attempt to talk with the
spirits of the dead.
V
26
Photographs of
A The pictures in the left hand
the dead column above are examples of the
Spirit photographs were a sort of fake spirits that could be
tremendous craze in the late conjured up by a good photographer.
19th century. Photography was then a In the right hand column is a
new technology and most people sequence which has not been proved
believed that it was impossible to to be a fake. Taken in the 1930s, the
trick a camera. Photographers were pictures shown an Indian girl.
flooded with requests to have pictures Silver Belle, appearing in front of a
taken with ghosts of the dead. medium. The audience of 81 people
Spirit photography became a great who watched the figure emerge
opportunity for frauds and cheats. found no evidence of cheating.
By using photographic tricks and by
tampering with film in the darkroom, cardboard doll or a dressed-up
spirit pictures were easy to make. assistant. So many photographs
Investigations revealed that in most proved to be fakes that the public
cases the ‘ghost’ was a dummy, a stopped believing in them altogether.

27
SEARCHING FORTHE TRUTH

Sense or nonsense?
Many people are convinced that
they have seen ghosts. But do Who believes in ghosts?
ghosts really exist? Unfortunately People interviewed People who Types of ghost seen
the evidence gathered is not always ^ had seen ghosts ^ I
reliable. Many accounts of ghosts
are so far-fetched that they are
f
obviously nonsense or outright
fakes. Many other ghosts have
639 155
been shown to be the result of odd
light conditions playing tricks on ^ Unknown Other
the eyes.
These ghosts were recognized by
There have been a number of 17,000 the people who saw them
attempts to explain ghosts. But the
theories do not account for all One of the first tasks undertaken by European countries. 17,000 people
aspects of ghostly behaviour. researchers was to find out how many were questioned, and their answers
people claimed to have seen ghosts. are shown in the chart above. Studies
As the pictures opposite show,
In 1890, they completed a survey which have been carried out since
some evidence for ghosts is still which was carried out in several then have all shown similar results.
unexplainable.

Two types of ghost Ghostaof Jiving people

Modern theories of ghosts reject the

idea that they are literally the ‘spirits’
of people.
Ghosts of the living are thought to
be linked with telepathy. This is the
♦name given to the mysterious (and Violent Brain
unproven) ability of some people to event receives
send or receive messages without signals
using physical methods. The brain
is thought to interpret a telepathic It is thought that ghosts of living message. This signal can be
signal as a visual image, or ‘ghost.’ people could be formed like this. received by the brain of a sensitive
Ghosts of the dead are thought to Extreme danger or a crisis may person, as the brain ‘tunes in’ to
be ‘psychic images’. They were cause the brain to send out telepathic the SOS message. The brain
formed as the result of an extreme thought signals, rather like a radio interprets the signal as a picture, so
emotional event. sending out an emergency SOS it is thought to be a ghost.

Ghosts of the dead

V Image
Violent Psychic V Image \ remains \ Image
event image ' absorbs for many ' fades
formed energy years away

Haunting ghosts (though not at the spot where the death happened. as a faithful record of the original
purposeful ghosts, which remain The invisible image continues to event. It can be seen by people who
unexplained) are thought to be exist by absorbing energy (such as are sensitive to the psychic forces
formed like this. heat) from the surrounding air. which created it. Gradually however,
When a violent event occurs, such This could explain why the area of a it fades away, becoming fainter and
as a murder, an unknown force is haunting is usually cold. fainter until it vanishes completely.
generated to form a ‘psychic image’ The image survives for many years

28
Mystery photographs
People believe photographs because
cameras ‘do not lie’. Yet the spirit
pictures that were once all the rage
were nearly all shown to be faked.
But photographs of ghosts that have
not been tampered with at all are the
hardest to understand. Although they
are the best proof yet gathered that
ghosts do exist, they raise more
questions than they answer. If ghosts
really are psychic images, then how can
ordinary photographic film record
them? Yet all three of these pictures
are considered by experts to be genuine.

A The ghost of Raynham Hall was A People commonly claim to see the At the time he saw nothing that was
claimed to have the shape of a woman. ghosts of nuns and priests in churches. out of the ordinary. But his developed
In 1936 came startling proof. Often they are said to stand at or near film showed the tall phantom monk
A photographer was setting up his the altar, praying. The photograph seen here. It appears to be about three
equipment at the foot of the stairs. He above of a cowled monk standing by an metres tall. The film was carefully
saw a phantom drifting down them and altar rail was taken in the early 1960s checked by photographic experts but
hastily took the picture shown above. by the vicar of a church in England. showed no signs of tampering.

◄ This picture is one of the most

puzzling ghost photographs ever taken.
The woman in the back seat was
supposed to be in her grave when the
photograph was taken.
The driver’s wife took this picture of
her husband sitting in the car. She
claims that there was nobody in the car
except her husband. Yet the photograph
clearly shows the figure of a woman - her
mother - who had died a week before.
Experts say that the film has not
been altered in any way. Yet if you look
closely you will see that the corner of
her scarf seems to overlap the side
pillar of the car. This would only be
possible if her face was placed in the
picture after it was taken. Yet if the
experts are correct and the photograph
is genuine, there is no explanation for
how it could have happened - unless
the woman in the back was a ghost.

29
 Adictionary of ghostlore
This dictionary of ghosts, rDoppelganger
ghostly events and related topics
includes many of the subjects
that have appeared in this book
as well as some that are new. Also known as a fetch, this ghost is
Together they make up only a supposed to be the double of a living
human being. If people are
very small part of the world of
unfortunate enough to see their own
the unknown. doppelganger, it can be an omen that
AFTERLIFE The place to which the they will die in the near future.
human soul is believed to go after the
body dies. Many people believe that a
soul in the afterlife can contact the ESP These initials stand for Extra
living, although it does not haunt Sensory Perception. Sight, sound, smell,
the Earth. touch, taste are the five known human
senses. Other possible senses such as
APPARITION This is the term used GHOST DANCE Ceremony
telepathy or psychokinesis are classed
by professional ghost researchers to performed by the Plains Indians of
as ESP.
describe all kinds of ghosts no matter North America in the late 19th
whether they are human, animal or EXORCISM A ritual usually performed century. The dance was performed
objects. by a priest to drive out a spirit from the by Indians wearing ‘ghost shirts’.
place it is haunting. The Indians thought that spirits
would help them drive the white
FADING GHOSTS A haunting ghost
Artificial ghosts settlers from their territory.
often fades away with time. But there are
stories of ghosts of Roman legionaries GHOUL An especially nasty and evil¬
which have been haunting for at least looking kind of spirit. Ghouls are
1,600 years. supposed to feed on the dead.

Magicians of the Middle Ages

tried all sorts of ways to contact
the dead. Many French
alchemists thought they could
create ghosts out of human
blood. They carried out
experiments with heating
samples of blood in charcoal One of the cleverest tricks of the 19th stage. The actor’s brightly lit image
burners like the one above. century was to bring a phantom onto was reflected onto the glass. But to
A number of doubtful reports a stage. A large sheet of glass was the audience, the ghost seemed real,
claim that ghostly shapes really angled in front of a ghost-playing and the actors could pretend the
did appear in the clouds of steam. actor who was hidden below the ghost was with them on stage.

CORPSE LIGHTS Flickering flames FOLKLORE The fai^ tales, legends, GRAVEYARD GUARDIAN The ghost
that are seen at times in graveyards. beliefs and superstitions in which of the first corpse to be buried in a
They are caused by gases seeping people over the ages have believed. cemetery. It protected the bodies
through the earth from corpses Many are still believed in today. buried in the graveyard from damage
buried in shallow graves. and evil spirits.
GALLOWS GHOST This name is given
CROSSROADS GHOST Crossroads to the ghost of a person who had been HALLUCINATION An image which
were a favourite place to hang hanged for a crime. The ghost is said to seems real, even though it does not
criminals whose ghosts remain. hover near the place of death. physically exist.
V___
30
HAUNTING A situation in which a POLTERGEIST Thought to be a
particular place is visited over and psychic disturbance, during which
over again by the same ghost. objects are launched through the air
Speaking to a ghost
Hauntings may happen anywhere from and a tremendous amount of noise is
castles and houses, to shops, ships, made. One explanation is that
motorways and airports. The cause of a poltergeist activity is the result of
haunting is usually some kind of tragic psychokinesis. The word is German,
event, often a death, that occurred at meaning a noisy spirit.
the place where the ghost appears. In the 18th century it was said
The ghost is a kind of‘visible memory’ PSYCHIC The word used to describe that a ghost could be
of the event. forces which have no physical commanded to speak if it were
explanation. It includes ESP, ghosts addressed firmly. It could be
MARSHLIGHTS Shimmering, moving and other supernatural events. ordered to identify itself and
flames that are sometimes seen at night declare its business, among
PSYCHIC RESEARCH Investigations
in marshes and other wet areas. living people.
that are made by specially trained
They are also known as Will-o’-the wisps.
people trying to find the reasons
Marshlights are caused when the gases
of rotting vegetation begin to burn of behind reported ghost hauntings. SPIRITUALISM A religious cult
Investigators sift through the evidence which believes among other things
their own accord. It was once said that
sorting the natural causes from the that the living can communicate with
they were the tiny ghosts of young
supernatural ones. The aim of all the spirits of the dead. This is done
children.
psychic research is to discover what the with a properly conducted ritual
forces are which produce ghostly events. called a seance. The seance is led by
PSYCHOKINESIS The ability to a medium through whom the spirits
harness psychic forces and direct them can contact the living. Spiritualism
at objects to make them move without began in America in 1848.
touching them. Psychokinesis, or PK, SUPERNATURAL Those events, and
is a completely unknown kind of force. the forces that create them, which
Few of the people who have seem to defy the laws of nature and
experienced it can control it at will. which are, at present, impossible for
science to explain. Ghosts and spirits
SHADES OF THE DEAD A term to
describe the dark, shadowy forms in certainly fall into the realm of the
which the spirits of the dead supernatural as do telepathy, PK and
sometimes appear. other psychic forces.

Traditionally, ghosts are not SHROUD The white flowing robe SUPERSTITION A not always
that a ghost is said to wear. In fact, rational belief that certain objects
supposed to speak. But folklore is
shrouds were the sheets in which and actions have supernatural
rarely consistent and some legends
corpses were wrapped for burial. meanings and in some way can bring
claimed that ghosts made feeble
about unlikely events, or good or bad
squeaking sounds like the chirping The ghosts that are most likely to
luck. One example of a superstitious
of birds. The Romans and Greeks wear them, therefore, are graveyard
spirits. Most other ghosts however belief is that if a coin is placed on a
believed that ghosts made strange
gibbering and muttering sounds. appear in normal, everyday clothes.
_zz_z
MEDIUM A person said to have psychic
powers than enable him or her to
contact the spirits of the dead and to
receive their messages. A medium is
often consulted by friends and
relatives of the dead.
OPTICAL ILLUSION An instance in
which people’s eyes play tricks on them.
What they see at that moment is not
really there at all. An example of an SOUL The spirit of a person. It is not
optical illusion is the case of a ghostly part of the physical body and it
car that was reported travelling the cannot be touched or seen. It is tombstone and is danced around
wrong way down a section of motorway. believed to be immortal, surviving seven times, the ghost within can be
People imagined they saw the head¬ after the body dies. It used to be enticed into revealing itself, reaching
lights of another car coming towards thought that a soul that could not out to snatch the money.
them. In fact, a combination of pass into the afterlife remained to
motorway lights, car headlamps and haunt the Earth as a ghost. One TELEPATHY The mysterious ability
mist had created an optical illusion. theory imagined that the shape of a to communicate thoughts from one
soul in the afterlife was that of a person to another over any distance
PHANTOM Another term for a ghost.
butterfly emerging from its chrysalis. without using physical means.
Yet another word for a ghost is spectre.

31
r
Index
aeroplanes, 10 Japanese, 21 Isle of Man, 14 rapping hand, 26
afrit, 9 exorcism, 30 Raynham Hall, 29
khu, 6
afterlife, 30 Red Lady, 19
fading ghosts, 30 Kidd, Captain, 12
animal ghosts, 8, 9,10,14-15 rhea, 8
faking, 22, 26-27, 30 Lady of Rose Court, 19 routes of ghosts, 16
apparitions, 20, 30
equipment, 26 lemures, 8 RlOl, 11
artificial ghosts, 30
Flying Dutchman, 1 lift ghost, 15
Athenodorus, 7 shades of the dead, 31
folklore, 30 Lincoln, Abraham, 20
battlefield, 10 shroud, 31
bauta, 21 gallows ghosts, 4,10, 30 marshlights, 31 Silver Belle, 27
bears, 9 Gef, 14-15 mediums, 11, 26, 27, 31 skeletons, 6, 7,16
Black Shuck, 15 ghosts slave ghost, 20
noises, 7,12,16,18,19, 31
Borgia, Roderigo, 20 characteristics of, 7, 22-23 smugglers, 26
Brocken, 25 dance, 30 omen, 16,17 soul, 11, 31
Brutus, 7 hunting, $eepsychic research optical illusions, 25, 26, 31 spaceships, 10
buses, 10 of the living, 5,28 owl, 17 speaking to ghosts, 31
passing through walls, 16 spiritualism, 31
cars,10 phantom coaches, 1,18, 26 Spitfire, 14
ghoul, 30
Colley, Tom, 4,11 phantom monk, 19 suicides, 11,18
gibbet, 4
colonel of the woods, 18 phantom ships, 1,10,12
Gilgamesh, 6 supernatural, 9, 31
corpse lights, 17, 30 photographs, 27, 29 superstition, 31
graveyard ghosts, 6, 9,10, 30
crossroads, 4,11, 30 pirates, 12
Great Eastern, 12
Pluckley, 18-19 . telepathy, 28, 31
Dodge, Reverend, 9 train ghost, 20
hallucinations, 30 poltergeists, 5, 31
doppelganger, 30
haunting, 4, 5,16-17, 28, 31 psychic research, 22-23, 24,
UB-65,13
‘eating’ ghosts, 21 the Athens villa, 7 25,31
elm, 10 houses, 16-17,18,19, 23, animals, 23 Villa, Pancho, 20
ESP, 30 24-25 equipment, 22, 23
waterfall ghost, 21
evil spirits, 6, 9, 20 submarine, 13 psychokinesis, 5, 31
White Lady of Dering, 19
Chinese, 7 Shiloh, 10 purposes of ghosts, 5, 7,10,
witch hunt, 9,14
Greek, 6 trees, 10,16 20

Going further
Here are some hints to help you Your local library should have
investigate the strange world of lots of books about the world of
ghosts and ghostlore. ghostlore. This list is just a small
selection from the many available.
The chances of encountering a
supernatural presence are rather The 1st Armada Book of True Ghost
slim; even psychic researchers rarely Stories Christine Bernard (Armada)
claim to see ghosts. A good idea is to Ghosts Jane Bord (David and Charles)
interview people who say they have Ghosts and Hauntings
seen a ghost. You can probably find Aidan Chambers (Longman Young)
someone in your family if you are Great Ghosts of the World
lucky, which will make a good start. Aidan Chambers (Piccolo)
Write down and collect their stories. Ghostly Experiences and Ghostly
You could try drawing a variety of Encounters Susan Dickinson (Lion)
ghosts, using eye witness accounts to Ghosts, Ghosts, Ghosts
base them on. Ruth Fenner (Chatto and Windus)
If you want to look around or Ghosts and Spirits of Many Lands
photograph a place which is thought Edited by Littledale Freya (Target)
to be haunted, remember to ask the Ghosts - the Illustrated History
owner’s permission first. Most people Peter Raining (Sidgwick and Jackson)
are glad to help if asked but do not Haunted Houses, Ghosts and
like strangers on their land. Spectres Eric Maple and Lynn
Make a study of hauntings in the Myring (Usborne)
area where you live. Try making a The World of Ghosts
map like the one shown on pages Alan C Jenkins (Chatto and Windus)
18-19. If you can include drawings The Haunting and the Haunters
and photographs on it, so much the Kathleen Lines (Bodley Head)
better. Make the map poster-sized so The Realm of Ghosts Eric Maple (Pan)
you can add more details as you get Ghosts, Spooks and Spectres
more information. Charles Molin (Puffin)
V._ ___y
32
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