Not of this world

THE picture above is of two orbs. Not a trick of the light. Not insects. Not faked. I know because I was there when this was taken, in the background, at the Ebor Inn, Bishopthorpe. And in certain circles it is believed that these orbs are the spirits of the dead.

Some of us can get very worked up about orbs. Especially ones like these, that are not only caught on video, but captured at the same time in the same place on a still photograph - which is quite possibly a world first and may go a long way to proving that there is such a thing as ghosts.

The picture is a still taken from a video shot at the Ebor Inn, during an investigation by the Ghost Research Foundation International (GRFI). The video footage, of the slow erratic progress of orbs around the room, is amazing. We watched them on a live video monitor while looking at the room which was being filmed, unable to see the orbs with the naked eye. That's when you have start accepting there is something there that can't be rationally explained.

I had seen several on video before I believed, and the one that did it is on a video taken at a GRFI seance at York Dungeon, where it flies into my knee. I would definitely know if that had been an insect, which is what a lot of non-believers claim they are.

The overnight investigations are not the type of evening where you sit round in a circle straight-faced saying "is anybody there?" We did conduct a couple of seances; during one I giggled hysterically throughout, much to my embarrassment. Whether I was too tired to concentrate or picking up on a ghost that was amused by our going-ons I can't say for certain - all I knew was once I started I couldn't stop.

Laughter can be a way to communicate with "the other side", as can any strong emotion, and it can remove tension anyone may be feeling if they are nervous about what they may encounter.

On the night of the visit to the Ebor Inn, the GRFI members met early, so that we had time for a couple of sociable drinks and a meal before we started.

Before the pub closed, we had a chance to go round with equipment and chat to locals, so everyone could see what we were doing, ask questions and, in some cases, supply us with ghostly stories of what they had seen in the pub.

These varied from people who had worked and drank in the Ebor for years and never seen anything, to perfectly ordinary people who matter-of-factly told you that they had met the ghost of the old woman that stands in the lounge bar.

After closing time, I took a remote thermal scanner gun, and accompanied a psychic medium with dowsing rods, another one with a pendulum, and another two psychics with an EMF meter (a monitoring device that measures magnetic fields) as they went round the pub.

Yes we felt slightly silly walking round the busy pub with our gadgets - traditional and modern - but when we found a spot where we all picked something up it was worth while.

In the bar, the EMF meter's needle started moving at a point near the back of the bar, close to the floor. The dowsing rods crossed at that point and there was a slight temperature fluctuation.

When two of the mediums concentrated on the spot, they picked up on a small boy crying. At that point they had no idea that there had been earlier, numerous sightings of a ghost in that area. Pub-goers had seen a small boy, and he was crying...

Several small seances, of two or three people, were held in that room later but nothing more was picked up - one brave soul spent the night alone in there, but without any major manifestations occurring. The lounge bar seemed to be the focus for the evening, which is where the picture was taken.

There was a period of about an hour when I regularly felt the hairs stand up on the back of my neck, and turned round to see part of the room looking slightly foggy - I would put in down to tiredness except each time psychic medium Angela Borrows was looking at exactly the same area and she too saw the fogging. At the time we were talking to the landlord, Gordon Watkins, who seemed to attract a presence himself. More than once he was seen on the video walking across the room, with an orb following for some of the distance, and yet we could see nothing as we watched him.

Next morning, I eventually became so tired I had to lie down for an hour - the only space available was the corner where we had seen the fogging and where several mediums had felt something. Further up the bench was psychic investigator Jason Karl, and almost as soon as we both fell asleep there were orbs all over the video image near to where we were. When we left they stopped appearing, and when we returned and fell back asleep they appeared again, and from the footage I have seen they are quite spectacular.

Just before dawn we got up. Although we had seen nothing from where we were, I had a feeling of complete and utter terror. I have no idea why, as nothing had been threatening about the whole experience, and things seemed to have gone quiet at that moment, but for about 30 seconds I couldn't even move. Hopefully, we will be able to carry out further investigations at the Ebor.

We believe something not of this world was with us that night...

Ring GRFI on 01932 227062, Ghostline 07976 300709 or email ghostresearchfoundation@hotmail.com

New members are always welcome.

Updated: 10:37 Wednesday, January 02, 2002