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Post by flea79 on Jan 30, 2018 11:26:47 GMT
i used to work in Middlewich Civic Hall for many years
the old part of the building was built in the 1700's and was the old court house where people were sentenced to death etc etc, the council chamber was in the shape of a coffin
I have worked in many old buildings but this was the only building that I felt a presence in, I was once chased out of the building by what I can only describe as a malevolent presence, one night me and another member of staff were locking up late at night after a wedding and had cleaned the hall, we had stacked all the tables up and as we locked the door the alarm went off so we went back in and the tables were scattered across the floor, there was no way they could have fallen where they had landed, we tooled up and searched the building but found nobody
also the same person I was with that night works at Congleton Town Hall where the caretakers staged a night watch for things and caught on video what appears to be a small girl watching them, of course it could be a refelction or trick of the light but it seemed very convincing
there is so much we don't understand about nature and life and we are just realising how much!
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Post by StokieNath on Jan 30, 2018 12:39:50 GMT
i used to work in Middlewich Civic Hall for many years the old part of the building was built in the 1700's and was the old court house where people were sentenced to death etc etc, the council chamber was in the shape of a coffin I have worked in many old buildings but this was the only building that I felt a presence in, I was once chased out of the building by what I can only describe as a malevolent presence, one night me and another member of staff were locking up late at night after a wedding and had cleaned the hall, we had stacked all the tables up and as we locked the door the alarm went off so we went back in and the tables were scattered across the floor, there was no way they could have fallen where they had landed, we tooled up and searched the building but found nobody also the same person I was with that night works at Congleton Town Hall where the caretakers staged a night watch for things and caught on video what appears to be a small girl watching them, of course it could be a refelction or trick of the light but it seemed very convincing there is so much we don't understand about nature and life and we are just realising how much! Spooky stuff. I wish though that governments or institutes invested research into ghosts. Maybe they'd answer some questions regarding life and the universe itself!
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Post by pretzel on Jan 30, 2018 16:49:45 GMT
I used to work on Dunn Bennetts pottery back in the late 70's and often had to work during the annual factory shut down. I was walking through the unoccupied packing warehouse with an older guy who worked there and about 30 to 40 foot ahead of us, a woman walked across the walkway from one aisle of racking into another. She didn't appear to be 'ghostly' and just looked like an old woman dressed in old woman's clothes. We were surprised to see anyone in that area during the shut down and when we got to the aisle where she'd walked down, there was no sign of her and there was certainly no way out or chance that we'd mistaken which way she'd gone. The person I was with was a senior lab technician and I'd say we were both fairly rational people but couldn't understand what we'd seen. We never made much of an issue of it, expecting to get ridiculed if we did, but a couple of years later, I mentioned it to one of the lodge men and unbeknown to us, a number of people had seen similar things in that area over the years. I've always been a man of science and disbelieving of anything paranormal but I do believe there's still a magnitude of stuff we don't understand in life and that there must be some reason for many of these things. I can't believe that what we saw was of a physical nature but with the two of us seeing (or believing we saw) exactly the same thing, at the same time; I can only rationalise it by thinking it was something that we both imagined simultaneously due to some kind of intervention of our thoughts; an echo of something from the past maybe? To be honest it didn't freak me out at all and I never usually give it much thought (until I see discussions like this). Dunn Bennetts, which is in Middleport, became part of the Steelite group so maybe there are people who post on here who work there now who have heard about this themselves?
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Post by Rednwhitenblue on Jan 30, 2018 17:15:42 GMT
i used to work in Middlewich Civic Hall for many years the old part of the building was built in the 1700's and was the old court house where people were sentenced to death etc etc, the council chamber was in the shape of a coffin I have worked in many old buildings but this was the only building that I felt a presence in, I was once chased out of the building by what I can only describe as a malevolent presence, one night me and another member of staff were locking up late at night after a wedding and had cleaned the hall, we had stacked all the tables up and as we locked the door the alarm went off so we went back in and the tables were scattered across the floor, there was no way they could have fallen where they had landed, we tooled up and searched the building but found nobody also the same person I was with that night works at Congleton Town Hall where the caretakers staged a night watch for things and caught on video what appears to be a small girl watching them, of course it could be a refelction or trick of the light but it seemed very convincing there is so much we don't understand about nature and life and we are just realising how much! Spooky stuff. I wish though that governments or institutes invested research into ghosts. Maybe they'd answer some questions regarding life and the universe itself! They do. I worked with a bloke who used to have fairly high level security clearance in one of the forces and still has connections to someone of similar access today. We used to talk about stuff and, without going into any details to me for obvious reasons, it was quite obvious that research into a lot of paranormal stuff does go on. He'd worked in places that were carrying out investigations. We just don't get to hear about it.
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Post by agingerstokie on Jan 30, 2018 17:26:16 GMT
They've recently admitted to having a division for UFOs so it stands to reason there's one for paranormal stuff
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Post by lagwafis on Jan 30, 2018 18:23:40 GMT
That's a plausible but partial explanation. A friend of mine stayed a few nights in an old guest house in the Cotswolds a few years back. Pitch black in the middle of the night, he woke up in his bed and saw a silvery figure of a man bending down sideways looking at him. It then stood up straight, turned and walked through the wall. In other words it knew he was there as opposed to a recording played back which wouldn't know. It shit him up at the time and now he's a believer. So am I. I reckon the hooman imagination is far more vivid during the wee small dark witching hours and that can account for a lot of this uncorroborated wooohooo stuff. Yep, seeing things when you're either waking up or falling to sleep is a recognised condition usually tied to a state of consciousness, rather than something supernatural. The two main types are: Hypnopompic hallucinations - Waking up from sleep and seeing something, usually a figure, in the room with you. It's just the brain trying to negotiate shape, form, objects etc between a dream state and reality. It's possible to be fully awake and see something that isn't really there for a couple of seconds before it fades away. Surprisingly many people also report seeing giant spiders, either hanging over their face or climbing up the wall. There's some pretty ****ed up stories if you google 'hypnopompic spiders'. Hypnagogic hallucinations - More of a reverse on the above when you see things while drifting to sleep rather than waking up. Both conditions are most common in people suffering from lack of sleep, extreme stress or a change of surroundings. Nothing supernatural or extraterrestrial about it, just the complexities of how the brain processes information and associates it with shape and form Either that or they're smashed off their face on LSD and PCP
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Post by Rednwhitenblue on Jan 30, 2018 22:31:26 GMT
I once thought I saw Pottermus score a goal at Fratton Park.
It was a hippopompey hallucination.
Anyone? No?
I'll get me coat.
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Post by woodstein on Jan 30, 2018 22:36:17 GMT
One explanation is the sound and visual recording properties of certain natural materials that contain quartz such as granite. The theory is that this records events and sounds from time gone by and, under certain atmospheric conditions, play these recordings back. This explains many sightings such as walking through walls that were not in existence when the event happened and sightings of half a person ostensibly walking without legs. It also explains the repetition of these sightings. An example is the famous sighting of the Roman legions on the M6. Stone me, my tape recorder and DVD players have always been plastic!
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Post by elystokie on Jan 31, 2018 8:08:55 GMT
I reckon the hooman imagination is far more vivid during the wee small dark witching hours and that can account for a lot of this uncorroborated wooohooo stuff. Yep, seeing things when you're either waking up or falling to sleep is a recognised condition usually tied to a state of consciousness, rather than something supernatural. The two main types are: Hypnopompic hallucinations - Waking up from sleep and seeing something, usually a figure, in the room with you. It's just the brain trying to negotiate shape, form, objects etc between a dream state and reality. It's possible to be fully awake and see something that isn't really there for a couple of seconds before it fades away. Surprisingly many people also report seeing giant spiders, either hanging over their face or climbing up the wall. There's some pretty ****ed up stories if you google 'hypnopompic spiders'. Hypnagogic hallucinations - More of a reverse on the above when you see things while drifting to sleep rather than waking up. Both conditions are most common in people suffering from lack of sleep, extreme stress or a change of surroundings. Nothing supernatural or extraterrestrial about it, just the complexities of how the brain processes information and associates it with shape and form Either that or they're smashed off their face on LSD and PCP I used to work shifts with a bloke who reckoned he 'saw' people when he was particularly tired, guess that was the second one.
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Post by trentvale68 on Feb 11, 2018 17:00:35 GMT
Enjoyed this thread. Having had at least one entity in my house and my sister having had the full on near death experience, i strongly lean to the premise of an afterlife etc
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Post by murphthesurf on Dec 12, 2019 11:56:39 GMT
I used to work on Dunn Bennetts pottery back in the late 70's and often had to work during the annual factory shut down. I was walking through the unoccupied packing warehouse with an older guy who worked there and about 30 to 40 foot ahead of us, a woman walked across the walkway from one aisle of racking into another. She didn't appear to be 'ghostly' and just looked like an old woman dressed in old woman's clothes. We were surprised to see anyone in that area during the shut down and when we got to the aisle where she'd walked down, there was no sign of her and there was certainly no way out or chance that we'd mistaken which way she'd gone. The person I was with was a senior lab technician and I'd say we were both fairly rational people but couldn't understand what we'd seen.
We never made much of an issue of it, expecting to get ridiculed if we did, but a couple of years later, I mentioned it to one of the lodge men and unbeknown to us, a number of people had seen similar things in that area over the years. I've always been a man of science and disbelieving of anything paranormal but I do believe there's still a magnitude of stuff we don't understand in life and that there must be some reason for many of these things. I can't believe that what we saw was of a physical nature but with the two of us seeing (or believing we saw) exactly the same thing, at the same time; I can only rationalise it by thinking it was something that we both imagined simultaneously due to some kind of intervention of our thoughts; an echo of something from the past maybe? To be honest it didn't freak me out at all and I never usually give it much thought (until I see discussions like this). Dunn Bennetts, which is in Middleport, became part of the Steelite group so maybe there are people who post on here who work there now who have heard about this themselves? Pretz, I'm going back yonks now, but one of my late relatives worked for Wedgwood, firstly at the old Etruria factory and then at Barlaston, and was constantly hearing of many people having a ghostly sighting of a man in 'olden-days clothing' in one particular part of the factory. The theory, of course, was that it was 'Old Jos' himself.
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Post by somersetstokie on Dec 12, 2019 14:36:28 GMT
I am supposedly pretty well up on paranormal phenomena but even if I am known for my interests I don't really have any answers. Also I have no personal agenda around the subject and the legitimacy of reports or sightings, I am just really interested in the backgrounds and history relating to particular sightings. People are welcome to think or believe what they like about the subject, it doesn't influence my own position.
In locations where apparitions or manifestations are reported, sometimes I see things, sometimes I don't. Also there have been occasions when others have seen or heard some presence, when I haven't, so the witness reports tend to be very subjective. Some sightings seem to be tied to dates or conditions, such as the phase of the moon. There is no definitive scientific evidence or interpretation of what goes on, in the same way that no conclusive proof of the existence of UFO'S is accepted.
Most reasoned explanations relate to memories embedded or associated in structures or objects, which some people seem able to tune into. Or else apparitions act in the same way as running an old film clip which can be viewed in certain conditions. No one knows.
What is interesting is the fact that many phenomena lack a relationship to real time or modern physical restrictions. Hence Ghosts might be reported as moving several inches above the ground, as if the floor level was once different. Or walking through walls, where at one time there may have been a door that is no longer there. There is one known apparition at a castle ruin, where a figure has been seen and possibly photographed, standing at an upstairs window, where interestingly there is no longer any floor or standing area in existence, so certainly not an actual live person.
I have maintained an interest in the subject for most of my life and lived in haunted houses, drunk in haunted pubs etc, and I still get surprises and certainly many experiences cannot yet be explained.
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Post by dutchstokie on Dec 12, 2019 14:53:12 GMT
We have a channel over here in NL called "Spike"... dont know if anyone else gets this TV channel but they run a series called Ghost Adventures.
They seem to go to the next level so to speak in terms of using a whole myriad of data logging devices to prove the existence of spirits.
Some fascinating watching BUT to be honest I'm sometimes a little sceptical…..
Still…. some spooky goings on !!!
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Post by riverman on Dec 12, 2019 15:29:55 GMT
If ghosts existed, by now there would be concrete evidence given modern technology. People only think they see something they're familiar with hence " ghosts " always seem to be oldy worldy or shadows. Where are the dinosaur ghosts or prehistoric humans? Surely there should be millions of ghosts observed by countless people every day if they existed at all.
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Post by georgieboy52 on Dec 12, 2019 15:45:53 GMT
If ghosts existed, by now there would be concrete evidence given modern technology. People only think they see something they're familiar with hence " ghosts " always seem to be oldy worldy or shadows. Where are the dinosaur ghosts or prehistoric humans? Surely there should be millions of ghosts observed by countless people every day if they existed at all. Roman soldiers seen in Watling Street. Have a look.
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Post by riverman on Dec 12, 2019 16:18:41 GMT
If ghosts existed, by now there would be concrete evidence given modern technology. People only think they see something they're familiar with hence " ghosts " always seem to be oldy worldy or shadows. Where are the dinosaur ghosts or prehistoric humans? Surely there should be millions of ghosts observed by countless people every day if they existed at all. Roman soldiers seen in Watling Street. Have a look. Again, familiarity. People want to see Romans, headless Tudor ladies, Victorians, headless horsemen etc because it's what they've been bought up on along with other superstitions. The subconscious is a powerful thing that we don't fully understand.
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Post by somersetstokie on Dec 12, 2019 18:03:34 GMT
If ghosts existed, by now there would be concrete evidence given modern technology. People only think they see something they're familiar with hence " ghosts " always seem to be oldy worldy or shadows. Where are the dinosaur ghosts or prehistoric humans? Surely there should be millions of ghosts observed by countless people every day if they existed at all. Oldy worldy is part of the pattern. In your next post you also commented that Romans seem to be mentioned frequently. I myself have experienced certainly 2 manifestations which involved Roman soldiers. But equally we get modern reports from locations like old breweries or modern council houses. Also figures on lonely roads in various scenarios are fairly commonplace. Not all reports can be readily dismissed.
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Post by riverman on Dec 12, 2019 18:26:14 GMT
I've wanted to be proved wrong for as long as I can remember. I'm 54 now and still waiting. I've never had the slightest sniff of seeing or sensing anything. I've experienced sleep paralysis which accounts for a lot of paranormal experiences and is easily explained. I'm sorry but if ghosts were real they'd be everywhere and everyone would have seen more than there fair share.
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Post by somersetstokie on Dec 12, 2019 18:29:13 GMT
I used to work on Dunn Bennetts pottery back in the late 70's and often had to work during the annual factory shut down. I was walking through the unoccupied packing warehouse with an older guy who worked there and about 30 to 40 foot ahead of us, a woman walked across the walkway from one aisle of racking into another. She didn't appear to be 'ghostly' and just looked like an old woman dressed in old woman's clothes. We were surprised to see anyone in that area during the shut down and when we got to the aisle where she'd walked down, there was no sign of her and there was certainly no way out or chance that we'd mistaken which way she'd gone. The person I was with was a senior lab technician and I'd say we were both fairly rational people but couldn't understand what we'd seen.
We never made much of an issue of it, expecting to get ridiculed if we did, but a couple of years later, I mentioned it to one of the lodge men and unbeknown to us, a number of people had seen similar things in that area over the years. I've always been a man of science and disbelieving of anything paranormal but I do believe there's still a magnitude of stuff we don't understand in life and that there must be some reason for many of these things. I can't believe that what we saw was of a physical nature but with the two of us seeing (or believing we saw) exactly the same thing, at the same time; I can only rationalise it by thinking it was something that we both imagined simultaneously due to some kind of intervention of our thoughts; an echo of something from the past maybe? To be honest it didn't freak me out at all and I never usually give it much thought (until I see discussions like this). Dunn Bennetts, which is in Middleport, became part of the Steelite group so maybe there are people who post on here who work there now who have heard about this themselves? Pretz, I'm going back yonks now, but one of my late relatives worked for Wedgwood, firstly at the old Etruria factory and then at Barlaston, and was constantly hearing of many people having a ghostly sighting of a man in 'olden-days clothing' in one particular part of the factory. The theory, of course, was that it was 'Old Jos' himself. Pretzel and Murph have both referenced situations reported from pot bank locations. The factories in the 19th century were literally hell holes of heat and dust with working conditions that you probably wouldn't even see today in a third world sweatshop. There was certainly a prevalence of hardship and misery, and many workers died in difficult circumstances. Maybe this influence is a factor in the many "hauntings" associated with old pottery factories. One of the most notorious haunted locations in Stoke on Trent is the Gladstone Pottery Museum in Longton, which has been a factory site since 1787. It has a particularly unfortunate history of death and sadness and many visitors seem to pick up on the atmosphere of gloom and despondency there as soon as they set foot on the premises. There is some variety to the manifestations reportedly observed there. There are cloth capped 19th century children playing a form of ring a ring a roses in the courtyard, and more frequently a man, seen near one of the kilns, sometime described as a burly bare knuckle fighter, (so strong and stripped to the waist), who is said to shout at anyone who threatens to encroach on his space, and there is also a victorian type lady seen gliding around the premises, who leaves a scent of lavender.
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Post by zerps on Dec 12, 2019 18:29:55 GMT
This might be bollocks, but haven’t there been reports of people seeing cavaliers and roman soldiers on the a50?
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Post by somersetstokie on Dec 12, 2019 18:39:11 GMT
This might be bollocks, but haven’t there been reports of people seeing cavaliers and roman soldiers on the a50?[/b] Lawrieleslie also said: One explanation is the sound and visual recording properties of certain natural materials that contain quartz such as granite. The theory is that this records events and sounds from time gone by and, under certain atmospheric conditions, play these recordings back. This explains many sightings such as walking through walls that were not in existence when the event happened and sightings of half a person ostensibly walking without legs. It also explains the repetition of these sightings. An example is the famous sighting of the Roman legions on the M6.
I don't know this one, but presumably these two references have a common origin.
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Post by zerps on Dec 12, 2019 18:40:35 GMT
This might be bollocks, but haven’t there been reports of people seeing cavaliers and roman soldiers on the a50?[/b] Laurieleslie also said: One explanation is the sound and visual recording properties of certain natural materials that contain quartz such as granite. The theory is that this records events and sounds from time gone by and, under certain atmospheric conditions, play these recordings back. This explains many sightings such as walking through walls that were not in existence when the event happened and sightings of half a person ostensibly walking without legs. It also explains the repetition of these sightings. An example is the famous sighting of the Roman legions on the M6.
I don't know this one, but presumably these two references have a common origin. [/quote] Ah, I missed this. It’s definitely fascinating. I swear I once saw a ghost in the hollybush in denford.
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Post by somersetstokie on Dec 12, 2019 18:51:16 GMT
On a slightly different tangent, it is interesting that all these posts about Ghosts are currently running on different threads, as Christmas is traditionally a time for Ghost Stories. Probably the fault of Dickens. Back in the early seventies the BBC regularly screened a series of dramas under the umbrella title of "A Ghost story for Christmas". They were extremely well made and featured well known actors of the day and included titles such as "The Signalman" by Dickens and "The Stalls of Barchester" by M R James. They were all (about a dozen) screened in the run up to Christmas last year on BBC4, and if they are on again this year they are well worth catching.
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Post by potterinleeds on Dec 12, 2019 19:13:00 GMT
On a slightly different tangent, it is interesting that all these posts about Ghosts are currently running on different threads, as Christmas is traditionally a time for Ghost Stories. Probably the fault of Dickens. Back in the early seventies the BBC regularly screened a series of dramas under the umbrella title of "A Ghost story for Christmas". They were extremely well made and featured well known actors of the day and included titles such as "The Signalman" by Dickens and "The Stalls of Barchester" by M R James. They were all (about a dozen) screened in the run up to Christmas last year on BBC4, and if they are on again this year they are well worth catching. I find that a singularly sad story, and to my mind it has always had a very strong flavour of what we would now label OCD about it - I'd say it is as much about mental health as the paranormal. To chip in my two pennorth, I've spent my professional career working at old churches, castles, abbeys, inside abandoned military installations, lunatic asylums and hospitals, sometimes on my own, and I've never once had a whiff of any experience I'd describe as paranormal - although I have had frightening run-ins with druggies, rough sleepers and cable thieves. That's not to say that I dismiss it all out of hand, just that I haven't experienced anything personally. It does interest me though why certain kinds of images - hooded monks, 'Tudor' figures, English Civil War period figures, Roman soldiers, Victorian ladies - seem to be reported more often than others.
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Post by somersetstokie on Dec 12, 2019 19:29:59 GMT
I feel myself that the reports carry a certain level of stereotyping because people have to have a point of reference to base their descriptions on. So for example someone who sees a Norman knight, might feasibly describe that as a Roman Soldier, because they have a clearer image of that as a description of what they saw and relate to it. This is not always going to be true, but a lady from 1800 is just as likely to be descibed as "Victorian" as she might Edwardian, to many eyes.
Also witnesses are always very innacurate and descriptions of what might be seen vary tremendously from one observer to another. The Police often complain that if they have several witnesses to say, a car accident or a mugging, then those witnesses are likely to have several different individual versions of events. For example if there is a robbery with a getaway vehicle 6 different people who saw it might describe a different make or even colour for the vehicle. Consistency is an elusive thing and the nature of sightings may depend on angles, lighting, and so on.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2019 19:42:34 GMT
I feel myself that the reports carry a certain level of stereotyping because people have to have a point of reference to base their descriptions on. So for example someone who sees a Norman knight, might feasibly describe that as a Roman Soldier, because they have a clearer image of that as a description of what they saw and relate to it. This is not always going to be true, but a lady from 1800 is just as likely to be descibed as "Victorian" as she might Edwardian, to many eyes. Also witnesses are always very innacurate and descriptions of what might be seen vary tremendously from one observer to another. The Police often complain that if they have several witnesses to say, a car accident or a mugging, then those witnesses are likely to have several different individual versions of events. For example if there is a robbery with a getaway vehicle 6 different people who saw it might describe a different make or even colour for the vehicle. Consistency is an elusive thing and the nature of sightings may depend on angles, lighting, and so on. Police actually expect witness statements to vary. When witnesses all give the same statements, collusion is suspected.
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Post by desman2 on Dec 12, 2019 20:29:24 GMT
Ive done many guards at the Tower of London whilst in the army and noticed that it wasnt as scary as you might think. Usually because you could hear music from the nearby hotel which i reckon made the place more normal. Having said that the patrol behind the guard quarters did feel rather sinister yet it was one of the more illuminated locations.
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Post by zerps on Dec 12, 2019 20:33:00 GMT
Ive done many guards at the Tower of London whilst in the army and noticed that it wasnt as scary as you might think. Usually because you could hear music from the nearby hotel which i reckon made the place more normal. Having said that the patrol behind the guard quarters did feel rather sinister yet it was one of the more illuminated locations. One place I need to visit.
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Post by henry on Dec 12, 2019 20:54:47 GMT
This might be bollocks, but haven’t there been reports of people seeing cavaliers and roman soldiers on the a50? I've seen loads of Cavaliers on various roads, not so many these days.
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Post by zerps on Dec 12, 2019 20:55:25 GMT
This might be bollocks, but haven’t there been reports of people seeing cavaliers and roman soldiers on the a50? I've seen loads of Cavaliers on various roads, not so many these days. Sri?
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