My experience with Apports

What is an apport? Does it come from the French word, apporter, meaning to send? Ironically, some of the best definitions come from the sceptic websites. They are certainly the websites that come up first in google's list. And truthfully, I'd be sceptical too if it hadn't happened to me.

From Skeptic.com: "An apport is an object allegedly materialising during a séance. Believers see apports as signs or gifts from spirits. Sceptics see them as evidence of conjuring.

Good magicians and good mediums can produce objects seemingly out of nowhere and nothing. They can also make objects seem to disappear. When a medium does this it is referred to as a deport."

So can this really be true? Can an object teleport from one place to another? In the days of the Victorian Seance, objects from times gone by would apport into the room, such as Roman coins or other ancient objects. Flowers were also another common apport at this time In fact there was a famous medium called Elizabeth D’Esperance (which was the professional name of Elizabeth Hope) [1855-1919], who was famous for her fruit and flower apports. 

Are they real though? I can only tell you about the 2 experienced I had with them.

The first took place in 2005/6. I was living in Birmingham with my two sons and my nephew was also living with me at the time.  My nephew was engaged to a young girl and although they had once been very happy, they had been arguing and having some problems. He had asked me to give him a tarot reading. Before I tell you what happened, I will give you some background on the house and the story...

The house itself was built around 1930 - pretty unremarkable in terms of it's structure. A standard 4 bed detached in the suburbs of Birmingham.  It was, however, rife with spirit. My eldest son had seen an old wizened woman in the bedroom and both he and I had seen a small boy, aged about 3, in striped pyjamas, run around the gallery landing. Many orbs and lights were seen with the naked eye, even our local vicar had seen a man in the back garden who simply walked through a wall ! I never found any dramatic reason why it was so haunted - all I could come up with, was that maybe there was a strong ley-line below or alongside the house.

In the weeks previous to the Apport incident,  there had been a lot of paranormal activity - not surprising really as we had 3 boy aged 15 - 20 in the house - plenty of psychic/kinetic energy! My niece, who was 11 at the time, was also in my house a lot as she went to school just across the road and would come over for lunch and sometimes tea.  We had been shopping in Birmingham the weekend before the Apport, and I had bought her a 'toy' ring - a sort of snake made of tin, which wrapped around the finger. She had left it on the fire place in my living room, whilst she was washed her hands one day, and had forgotten about it. I remember seeing it and thinking 'I must tell Amy that's here, I bet she thinks she's lost it!'. Then I thought no more about it.

One afternoon my nephew came in and asked me if he could have a tarot reading - he said that he was having problems with his girlfriend.

We sat opposite each other, cross legged on my double bed. I asked him to shuffle the cards. He close his eyes in concentration and began to shuffle the deck. 

Suddenly, something fell from the ceiling and hit the cards he was shuffling with a 'clunk'. I couldn't believe my eyes when I looked and realised it was Amy's ring - but it was snapped in two ! the metal was red hot and I dropped it as quickly as I had picked it up! We looked at each other in astonishment - it had apported from the room directly BELOW the room we were in.

The broken ring was a sign - a week or so later my nephew and his fiance split, never to be re-united. It's as if spirit were saying 'it won't last'.

                                              A ring like the one 'Apported' in my house

The second time was during a ghost hunt at my current house, in Evesham. My guests were table tipping in the cellar and speaking to our ghost, Colin, a modern day spirit. Colin liked a drink and a fag, and as the table tipped, my friend Alan and I witnessed a cigarette end drop from the ceiling - we luckily had the incident on camera which is posted below....

So, my opinion on Apports? They were definitely faked during the Victorian period, and if I hadn't witnessed them myself, I probably wouldn't believe.... but I HAVE witnessed them. It certainly seems they are some kind of message from the spirit world. If you are a paranormal investigator or ghost hunter, I really hope you get to see one for real, one day....

www.spirithouse.webeden.co.uk

TABLE TIPPING/TURNING

Table tipping, is a form of physical mediumship – this simply means that the medium produces the energy for the spirit to use.  It is a physical phenomenon.  Again, with the assistance of a medium (me!), loved ones in spirit will communicate with their friends and family members through the table by tapping out messages or, of course, you can find out about the life of a spirit in a haunted location by asking yes and no questions.  Literally, through the energy of the sitters and Spirit, the table rises on one, two, or (if you are incredibly lucky) all legs to tip, tap and knock.

I have had spirits play a tune or copy the taps and knocks I have made and I have seen many other people do it too. Please have a look at the video below you will see what I mean...

Coalhouse Fort, Essex, 15th March 2014

Coal House Fort is a Victorian Coastal Defence Fort, which is next to the River Thames in East Tilbury, Essex.

The Fort was built in 1874 to defend the approaches to London from the threat of invasion from France and other Foreign Countries.

This particular Fort is said to be one of the finest examples of an armoured casemated Fort in the United Kingdom.

Since 1983 the Fort has been leased to the Coal House Fort Project, which is a voluntary organisation, who has worked hard to help the Fort keep much of its original Architectural form.

Coal House Fort has over 600 years of Military History so there is no surprise that this location has Paranormal Phenomena that is very, very active.

This location has mile upon mile of pitch black tunnels where no one can hear you scream when the lights go out!

Volunteers whilst at work on the Fort have witnessed Ghostly Apparitions and Strange mists before their very eyes.

Voices and the laughter of a child, along with heavy footsteps and the sound of something being dragged along the floor are just some of the strange phenomena experienced at this unique building.
The Most Haunted Programme visited here very recently and had a lot of activity throughout their stay overnight with extreme poltergeist activity.

We began the evening with a walk around the location - strange things began to happen. My phone went from 60% charge to completely flat  - but when we came out of the tunnels it was back up to 38% !  The brand new batteries on my digital recorder also drained immediately we put them in. Guests were feeling sick, smelling things, hearing things - seemed like it was going to be an active night !

On the guests walk around a group of ladies made contact with some children that Michael had picked up in the quadrangle and the K2 meter was responding with flashing lights to the ladies questions - not surprising as they worked with children in their everyday lives !

For the vigils, I took the Latrine to try out table tipping. All three groups were successful but the energy seemed to build as the night went on. I had the hood of my coat pulled back when I was with group 2, then in group 3, another lady with long hair, had it pulled backwards when standing in exactly the same position that I was in - she was unaware prior to the incident that this had happened to me. We picked up on the spirit of Harry, a man who had hung himself and also a spirit called Jeff (big thanks to the real live Jeff in the group who was such a good sport in group 3 !). 

The PX Machine said some interesting things, all military words and words relating to the Fort. 

All in all it was a very active night - thanks to our hosts at the Fort and of course to our amazing guests, who worked so hard to get such great results.

UK Haunted Episode at The Spirit House !

You may not know it, but Michael and I live in a Tudor house in Evesham - it's probably one of the oldest in the Town as it was build with stone from Evesham Abbey. When Henry VIII ordered the dissolution of the Abbeys in 1544, the townspeople of Evesham took wheel barrows and carts down the the Abbey and literally took the bricks and stone, to build or enhance their own houses. This Abbey stone can be clearly seen in our cellar. The picture below is of Michael on our cellar steps, and you can see the stone clearly.

Michael on the Cellar Steps 

Alex and Michael make up the UK Haunted Team, and they agreed to come and film in early 2014. I asked them because they seemed to be no-nonsense, straight as a die kind of guys who were not interested in faking or dramatics - they just wanted the truth, which is what I wanted too.  It was a very active night - the table tipped, the scrying session was spooky, people were touched (as was Michael from UK Haunted) and most amazingly, the Franks (or Spirit) Box was so, so clear and spoke about children being killed in the cellar - something which has been picked up on before. At the end of the evening Colin signed off by saying 'goodbye, Colin' which was just amazing !  The guys will be filming again soon as part of their USA TV show which is soon to hit the screen across the pond. Whilst we wait for that, please watch the You tube episode by following the link below, and don't forget to check out other venues they have been to, including the capture of what looks to me like a spirit at Clophill Church.

You can also follow the guys on Twitter @UKhaunted and follow us @sue_miketreanor

You can book a ghost hunt at The Spirit House through www.dusktilldawnevents.co.uk or by ringing  01386 442 443.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE FULL EPISODE  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLsEw7-vk0Q&feature=share&list=UUztKAwNEowhhceD03XRhy4g

Poltergeists - an 'Agent' or a Spirit?

In the German tongue, poltergeist literally means "noisy ghost." In fact ,  a poltergeist experience is often noisy, although the usual physical disturbances are, by some,  no longer thought to be the work of  ghosts.  Some recent studies would  indicate that a living person (or poltergeist agent), who is typically involved in another stress-inducing situation, causes the poltergeist phenomena.

Most poltergeist agents are unaware that they are causing the physical disturbances, and even those with vague awareness usually have no conscious control over how and when the disturbances will occur.

In poltergeist cases, typical reported disturbances include strange noises and knockings, and objects moving about as if under their own power. Objects have been reported to fly about in bizarre trajectories, to crash to the floor and break, to break or shatter in place, and to disappear and reappear, sometimes in different locations. Beds are sometimes reported to shake and furniture to rearrange itself. In more rare cases, small, innocuous fires have started, water droplets or bursts have fallen from nowhere, stones have pelted homes, and vague apparition-like forms have been seen.

However, in my own studies and case histories, although many times there is a poltergeist agent, I think there is a small percentage of cases where a very active spirit is to blame for the disturbances. This spirit is able to somehow access enough energy (maybe from the people in its vicinity) to move things around, make noises and smells and sometimes, even make themselves heard !

What do you believe?

WHAT IS TABLE TIPPING OR TABLE TURNING?

If you have ever wanted to physically connect with spirit, the technique of table tipping maybe a good experiment for you to conduct.  In table tipping or turning, a table is used as a physical tool to communicate with beings in spirit – a physical way for them to show us they are present.

It originated in the late 1800s to early 1900s.  When the movement of Spiritualism first reached Europe from America in the winter of 1852–1853, the most popular method of consulting the spirits was for several persons to sit round a table,  their hands resting lightly upon it and wait for the table to move. If the experiment was successful the table would rotate with considerable force, or perform other strange, sometimes gravity-defying movements.

In England table-turning became a fashionable diversion and was practised all over the country in the year 1853. Dr. John Elliotson and his followers attributed the phenomena to mesmerism whilst the public were content to find the explanation of the movements in spirits, electricity, or even the rotation of the earth.

How does it work?

Each person places the fingertips only of both hands on the table, but just a light touch.  It generally works much better if there is a physical medium present (ie; one the spirits can draw energy from). The table begins to move, slightly at first, sometimes shuddering or tapping, but the main point is, it is not the participants pushing or rocking the table - it is spirit doing the work. 

All types of entities can come through in a session of table tipping – spirits, elementals and even guides.

In a Ghost Hunting situation, it is useful in that yes and no questions can be answered with a specific movement, a rap, knock or tap.

Table Tipping is perfectly safe when the experiment is conducted with a trained medium or paranormal investigator.

Join us at www.dusktilldawnevents.co.uk and take part in table tipping on a REAL ghost hunt ! 

DUDLEY CASTLE GHOST HUNT 8TH FEB 2014

Dudley Castle is special to me, as it's the first place I professionally investigated and it was the venue of the first date my husband took me on - it's also one of the most active locations in the country, in my opinion.

Dudley Castle found in the heart of the in the West Midlands is very well known for its hauntings and ghostly inhabitants which are said to dwell within the very walls of the Castle.

There are a plethora of resident ghosts haunting the castle the scariest being the ominous black monk who has been seen in various parts of the castle by visitors and staff alike on numerous occasions. Another ghost said to haunt the castle is the grey lady who is known to wander aimlessly throughout the castle and its grounds. There is also the ghost of a victorian child, a deceased elephant keeper (the castle is also a zoo) and many, many more.

Our guests arrived on this cold and windy February night, all wrapped up and ready to go. 

We began with a large vigil in the undercroft, where several people were touched, some heard deep sighs and several lights were seen.

We then split into 3 smaller groups and conducted experiments in table tipping, Ouija board and pendulum dowsing.

My group took the Undercroft of the castle. One the coffins here is said to be haunted by a man with long blonde hair who likes to touch and stroke the long blonde hair of people who visit. Our guests were not aware of this...

At the end of our first session, I turned the torch on and one lady let out a scream. A single strand of her long blonde hair had been pulled through a hole in her woolly hat ! She was a little un-nerved, as she hadn't felt a thing during the vigil.

One man lay in the stone coffin and heard a deep growl behind him, another heard taps and bangs. Several strange lights were seen the and table tipped very well for all three groups.

The Ouija Board and Pendulums both worked well, and our guests put out loads of energy, which is what makes a great ghost hunt !

Thanks to Craig, Jane, Mandy,  Caren,  Emily, Tracey and all our other fantastic guests.