Daniel Mason's Ghosthunter

The group of approximately twenty people were then split into two, and our group went upstairs to the long gallery, where the ghosts of a grey lady and a gentleman have been sighted on many occasions. James then set up a small table and glass to enable us to try to make contact with any astral being present. After ensuring that we were all “safe� from any malevolent spirits, James began to ask questions, following which the slight movement of the glass appeared to indicate that there was a male presence in the room with us. James was careful to ensure that he was not touching the glass, to prove to us that he was not moving it himself, however one cannot be certain that one or more of us were not subconsciously moving it ourselves. To remove this possibility, James then removed the glass, and asked us all to lightly place fingertips on the top of the table. He then continued to ask questions, as a result of which the table started to tip from side to side as an apparent “yes� answer, and remained still for “no�. However, James felt that the sprit was a little unwilling to communicate, and asked if it would prefer if only women took part, to which the answer was “yes�. This left only the four girls from my own party present, and James suggested that we turn our hand over so that only our fingernails were touching the table. This meant that we would not subconsciously move the table, and also that any pressure would be visible in our fingers to the others present. James suggested that I asked the questions, following which, what can only be described as frantic rocking of the table commenced. I honestly can’t say how the questions came into my head, but we quickly established that the presence appeared to be that of a man who had been to the building many times in his life to visit the woman he loved. He was not a noble man (presumably his lady worked there) and the sadness in the atmosphere was understandable when we ascertained that the man had been executed for a crime he had not committed. James then suspected that I had picked up the name of the individual, and asked me to say the name out loud, following which the movement of the table became even more pronounced at the mention of the name Robert – at one stage it even tipped onto two legs! I have to say, I have never experienced anything like this before, and found it quite emotional.

We then swapped places with the other group, and went downstairs to the formal drawing room. The same set up was repeated, and movement of the glass appeared to reveal that the spirit communicating with us here was that of a girl or young woman, although the movements were not as strong as upstairs, and the answers much less definite. However, it was still enough of a charged atmosphere to cause one of our party to leave the room hastily, following which she collapsed in the hallway – scary, but she quickly recovered, and wanted to continue. Interestingly, the group who had taken our place upstairs experienced very little activity.

After a break for coffee and sandwiches, our group then went back to the long gallery with John this time, to engage in transfiguration. This involves one person sitting perfectly still in dim light – it is then claimed that spirits can “take over� and become visible in the face of the individual, albeit that the person involved usually feels nothing (unless they are an experienced medium). Several people underwent this experience, during which the rest of the people were able to see the face of a young man, and older man, and even a dog (albeit that my first thought was that our eyes were playing tricks on us in the dim light). However, as the third person sat down, the atmosphere noticeably changed, and we could all immediately see the same face – that of a man with large jowls and the leather half-face mask of an executioner! John immediately sensed that this man was not only a powerful spirit, but also evil – which we had all felt from ourselves from the sneer which was visible below the mask. However the evening was to become more disturbing at this point, as every single person – young or old, male or female, thin or not – in turn took on the same face of the executioner. Unfortunately, it all seemed to build up to my turn (remind me not to go last next time), as apparently despite the fact that I knew that I was sitting perfectly still, everyone else confirmed that I had been looking around the room, virtually snarling at them! I was vaguely aware of John talking to me – asking me if I had enjoyed killing all those people, and commenting that I was obviously proud of my power over them. At this point, I started to feel myself becoming very angry, and felt an urge to start swearing, and also to punch John (sorry John – at least I didn’t!). We decided it was time for more coffee, during which John confirmed that he had already seen the executioner on the stairs earlier in the evening, and that his spirit had been powerful enough to take over the entire proceedings during transfiguration, which apparently is quite unusual.

After coffee, we decided to return to transfiguration, however the atmosphere had lightened enormously, and this time the exercise was relatively unsuccessful.

Thus ended our night at Stanley Palace, returning to the mini bus at 5.00 a.m. exhausted, and trying to make sense of what had happened. I am still trying to work out what actually went on, and so far have no real answer – I guess I’ll just have to go on more evening like this to come to any conclusion.