It must be the ghost of Captain Flack.

And Pugh, Pugh, Barney macgrew, Cuthburt, Dibble and Grub. Sounds like a load of old "Trumpton" to me.

This is a unique opportunity to get to the bottom of this fascinating case.

How many hundreds of years have people being researching psychic phenomena and came up with absolutely nothing?

How will they get to the bottom of something which doesn't exist?

The Magnetic and Anomaly Detection System has been developed specifically for ghost hunting unlike most other tools, which are borrowed from other fields.

What a load of rubbish! What physical phenomena does it measure that no other can?

As an ex-serving member at Drove Road Fire Stataion, & having an open mind about the paranormal I have on several occasions seen something out of the corner of my eye walking past the door on the top floor.
At first I thought it may have been the trick of the light from the passing cars on the Magic Roundabout; but the more it occurred the quicker I was to firstly look out of the window before looking down the corridor.
No car & no-one in the corridor.

A story related to me of a firefighter that passed away between night shifts; in the middle of the night - the distress signal unit on the Breathing Apparatus he was due to wear went off for no reason.

Sirens on trucks have also gone off when all personnel were accounted for.

I can't answer why, but I know it happened 'cause I was there!

Jim, perhaps we're looking for the psychic phenomena in the wrong way. I understand that the average human uses a very small part of the brain. What's the other bit of the brain for? Perhaps instead of all these hi-tech sensory machines, perhaps we should just open our minds.
The world is a funny place, with lots of goings on that can't explained, who knows eh?

Time for a psycic cuddle xx

It's no real surprise that people see things which they can't explain. People don't "see" things with their eyes - their brain has to interpret what their eyes show them. That's why there are so many demonstrable optical illusions. It's very easy for the brain to interpret an unfamiliar shape or movement in the wrong way.

A story related to me of a firefighter that passed away between night shifts; in the middle of the night - the distress signal unit on the Breathing Apparatus he was due to wear went off for no reason

Sound's like a typical ghost story - interpreting any coincidence as being caused by a ghost.

Sirens on trucks have also gone off when all personnel were accounted for.

Well wouldn't that just indicate a design fault win the electronics of the siren being used?

I do remember reading lots of so called paranormal investigations into the now largely disproved phenomenon of spontaneous human combustion. There have been many other cases of things going bump in the night which have been given reasonable (and non paranormal) explanations – faulty wiring, old floorboards making footstep sounds etc etc. but most of these investigators claim to be neutral and are just trying to find out why things are going bump in the night – I say good luck to them.
Anybody want to borrow a white sheet?

most of these investigators claim to be neutral

Had they called themselves "Unexplained Phenomena Investigators" then they might have some claim to objectivity, but not when they themselves Paranormal Site Investigators.

James, these people are harming no-one and I say fair play to them.
You just wait until contact is made with "de udder side", we'll see how cynical you are then.
Trot on

xx

You just wait until contact is made with "de udder side", we'll see how cynical you are then.

Well if they could prove it then it would be fact and therefore there would be no room for cynicism.

Like-wise, someone who believed in the giant spaghetti monster could say to me - wait until it's proven and then see how cynical you are!

Hey, the giant spaghetti monster is real James!

There has to be something else, who's to say that this stuff is going on all the time and we're just not tuned into it?
I for one hope that contact is made

xx

Santa is real too!

Oh come on next you will be saying there is no Santa clause – seriously though, let these people get on with it, if you believe in these things fair play, if you don’t know harm done, no real need to attack either side just let each get on with it!

Amused, you managed to post that santa comment seconds before I posted mine - well done!

The force is strong with me.........

Hi All

Many thanks for all your comments. I'd just like to take the time to respond to a few of them.

How will they get to the bottom of something which doesn't exist?

Whether or not you believe ghosts are real, people certainly have experiences which they attribute to ghosts. That is something real and tangible to get to the bottom of - understanding the psychology of the anomalous experience and exploring the possible physical causes.

Re MADS system

What a load of rubbish! What physical phenomena does it measure that no other can?

It measures weak, complex electromagnetic experiencer influencing fields that are specifically associated with hallucinations in haunting cases. Whilst the general technology exists, this type of system is custom designed, built and calibrated for anomalous research.

Had they called themselves "Unexplained Phenomena Investigators" then they might have some claim to objectivity, but not when they themselves Paranormal Site Investigators.

If I was to assign ourselves a name which more accuratelt described what we did, I would call us "Xenonormal Investigators" rather than paranormal investigators. In the end, objectivity does not stem from labels, but from actions. You might interpret the term "paranormal investigator" as someone trying to prove the paranormal, but in reality it is about assessing paranormal claims.

Best wishes

Nicky Sewell
PSI

It measures weak, complex electromagnetic experiencer influencing fields

Sorry, I have an honours degree in Physics, so please don't feed me this pseudo-science clap-trap.

You're free to believe in what you want, but please don't dress it up as some sort of authentic scientific investigation.

Hi Ho Silver! wrote:

It measures weak, complex electromagnetic experiencer influencing fields

Sorry, I have an honours degree in Physics, so please don't feed me this pseudo-science clap-trap.

You're free to believe in what you want, but please don't dress it up as some sort of authentic scientific investigation.

This is a bit advanced for a first degree - if you're unfamiliar with the technology I'd suggest you go and read up on it.

Best wishes

Nicky

Nicky, you go girl!

I don't have an honours degree in anything, but what I do have is an open mind James!!

Could luck Nicky and the PSI team from all at the castle (which you are welcome to come and investigate at any time!)


Happy days

xx

Hi all the Castle

If you have any accounts of activity which you would like to share with us, please do contact us through the Haunted Swindon project: www.hauntedswindon.c
om

Best wishes

Nicky

This is a bit advanced for a first degree - if you're unfamiliar with the technology I'd suggest you go and read up on it.

Oh, what a put down, I'll just run away now shall I?

As it happens, I do read up on the latest theories and I don't remember seeing anything about "electromagnetic experiencer influencing fields".

Would you like to point me to the independent peer review of your theories?

I'm sure the whole scientific community would benefit from your post-graduate discoveries in "influenecer fields"!

I don't have an honours degree in anything, but what I do have is an open mind James!!

Amused, there's a difference between having an "open mind" and believing every crack-pot theory there is around.

"Paranormal investigators" have had hundreds of years to come up with even a shred of evidence of there being anything behind it.

I do in fact have an open mind and welcome a team of investigators to find out why a certain building might have an unexpectedly high number of reports of unexplained phenomena.

However, if the group call themselves paranormal investigators then they have already decided the result they are looking for - so hardly a very objective investigation.

If they find no indication whatsoever of any paranormal connections will this be reported to the Adver so that they can publish it here? Or won't that make such an interesting a story?

I just looked up "experiencer influencing fields":

http://www.p-s-i.org
.uk/equiparticle.htm

Scientists have tested theories that natural electro-magnetic fields are in fact ‘experiencer influencing’. This means that EM fields in fact influence what an individual is experiencing at any one time. Taken in tandem with paranormal context and expectation, individuals may be attributing perfectly normal phenomena to ghostly goings-on.

You'll note the use of the word "tested theories", but no indication of the conclusion!

Strange that the only place I could find any mention of this phenomena was og a parahormal related web site! Couldn't seem to find a mention in any scientific journals!

All hail the Giant Spaghetti monster:

http://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Flying_Spag
hetti_Monster

Amused,

Just to prove that I am open-minded, I also believe in the Invisible Pink Unicorn:
http://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Invisible_P
ink_Unicorn

"Invisible Pink Unicorns are beings of great spiritual power. We know this because they are capable of being invisible and pink at the same time. Like all religions, the Faith of the Invisible Pink Unicorns is based upon both logic and faith. We have faith that they are pink; we logically know that they are invisible because we can't see them."

Oh, I just found another article about the PSI group:

http://www.bbc.co.uk
/wiltshire/content/a
rticles/2004/10/28/p
si_report_redlion_fe
ature.shtml

Fortunate that the Red Lion at Avebury should be mentioned - which, I think known as one of the most haunted pubs in England.

Someone I know has grandparents who were landlords of that pub for some time. He said that they had absolutely NO ghostly experiences while they lived there.

Strange then that the PSI people stay there for just one night and report:

Mild activity reported included: chills, hearing movements, people being touched, discomfort, sightings of light anomalies, footsteps heard, presences felt and appliances turning on then off, apparantly of their own accord.

More significant activity included an object being thrown between two groups of investigators. The group in the Red Lion bar reported no human presence behind, or near to, to the bar when a container for beer bottle tops was thrown down the cellar stairway at the group in the cellar.

Well it must be easy to prove the existance of ghosts, as it seems that they put on a show for visitors!

Oh, I was told that they experienced "light anomalies", but they found that this was due to the lights from passing cars shining through the curtains!

I still think it's the lads from Trumpton.
I can hear their bell and music. I can!!!

Hi, Hi Ho,

Thanks for your continued contribution.

As it happens, I do read up on the latest theories and I don't remember seeing anything about "electromagnetic experiencer influencing fields".

Would you like to point me to the independent peer review of your theories?

I'm more than happy to point to you the website with all these details. In fairness your search was possibly hampered by a slight misprint in the article and differing terminology. Most of the articles cite experience inducing rather than experiencer influencing. Anyway, the website:
http://www.apaw71.ds
l.pipex.com/MADS/ind
ex.html

I'm sure the whole scientific community would benefit from your post-graduate discoveries in "influenecer fields"!

I wouldn't pretend to be qualified enough to have originated this technique. You will note there are two developers, both consultants to PSI. One is a PhD holder and a neuroscience senior research fellow at a UK university. The other is a physics graduate, like yourself.

I do in fact have an open mind and welcome a team of investigators to find out why a certain building might have an unexpectedly high number of reports of unexplained phenomena.

However, if the group call themselves paranormal investigators then they have already decided the result they are looking for - so hardly a very objective investigation.

Again, it's easy to get caught up in labels. What you describe is what we do. Why should a subjective interpretation of a label outweigh that? Again, I'll try to expand here. We're ASSAP-trained investigators. There's a link here (though mainly the links from this page), do let me know if there is anything that supports the pseudo-science perception:
http://www.assap.org
/newsite/htmlfiles/I
nvestigations.html

For a brief touch on our own groups perception of our role, here is another link from our website:
http://www.p-s-i.org
.uk/4typesarticle.ht
m

If they find no indication whatsoever of any paranormal connections will this be reported to the Adver so that they can publish it here? Or won't that make such an interesting a story?

Very interesting question. We are lucky in having an exclusive relationship with the BBC website, who are happy to report when we don't draw paranormal conclusions (which we don't tend to do).

To the Adver's credit they have reported non-results in the past, too.

Well it must be easy to prove the existance of ghosts, as it seems that they put on a show for visitors!

Stated where what people experienced, I don't think a paranormal conclusion was drawn? I must admit that this report was from when we first established in Swindon, in 2004, and we have learnt much since then. For interest a lot of what investigators experience in a new location is down to the New House Effect. You can read more about this here:
http://www.assap.org
/newsite/htmlfiles/N
ew%20house.html

I do hope this has been of help to you, Hi Ho.

Kind regards,
Nicky

Hi Nicky,

Thanks for the explanations, and good luck in your investigations.

I mean no offence, but I'm afraid we'll have to agree to disagree!

Hi, Hi Ho,

I'm happy to vive la difference, as they say!

However if you require any further clarfication please do feel free to post or get in touch.

Kind regards,
Nicky