The Worst Ghosts of 2016
An examination of the worst ghost evidence to hit the headlines in the last 12 months
I’ve been looking back at the last twelve months and picking the worst ghosts to have made the headlines since 2010. Worst ghosts not because they’ll haunt you but because they’re a bit… naff.
So, without further ado - here are the worst 5 ghosts of 2016:
#5 The Bronllys Hospital Ghost
The photo was taken by someone called Adam Smith at a former psychiatric hospital in Bronllys, Wales. The Mirror reported that ‘the creepy snap seems to show a ghoulish face in shadows on the first-floor window of the former psychiatric hospital - despite it being closed for 15 years.’
Some research discovered that it was a Halloween mask placed there by pranksters. Awkward...
#4 Witch on a Stretcher at The Cage
Some paranormal researchers seem to take the claims coming from The Cage in Essex seriously and I can’t quite get my head around it. I’ve written about The Cage before in a post titled ‘The Problem With Britain’s Most Haunted House‘, but to summarise, the building once briefly housed women accused of witchcraft and the current owner claims that it is actively haunted and charges ghost hunters for the chance to investigate it. The previous owners state that nothing ever happened while they lived there and the activity and evidence produced is disappointing. Also, a lot of ghost hunters who visit the building come away disappointed with their experience.
Earlier this year, the photograph above was taken by Chris Halton who claims it shows the body of a witch being carried away by other ghosts on a stretcher. You can see what he claims are the figures outlined in the photo to the right. The Sun quotes Halton:
‘“I just took a couple of pictures with the flash on just to document it like I had throughout the house. As soon as I looked at one of them I saw there was some light distortion on it but I just thought it was something wrong on the picture.”
It was when Chris got home and examined the picture closely he saw a “clear shape of a hooded figure wearing Elizabethan clothing and carrying a stretcher”.
Chris, mate... it literally is light distortion because you moved the camera while taking the photo, and I think you know that. In fact, you even stated it yourself, and that - coupled with the unconvincing nature of the haunting at The Cage - lands this photo in the #4 spot on this list.
#3 The Haunted House of Abbey Wood
Where to begin?
Earlier this year, alleged ghost activity was caught on camera at a home in Abbey Wood while the investigation was being broadcast live on Facebook. As the livestream commenced plates were sent crashing to the ground as the ghost was egged on by those present.
The homeowner, Ian Hawke, called in Danny Taylor to investigate the weird things happening in the house and what took place was a typical ghost hunt. Danny Taylor, who claims to be a paranormal investigator, actually works for a paranormal events company called Ghost Hosts Events UK (archived here). On their website he is listed as the “tech guy” but I can’t find any suggestion that these guys are legit investigators.
While broadcasting live on Facebook, some crockery was thrown to the floor. The men in the video who I believe are Ian Hawke and Danny Taylor seemed shocked by what has happened, but I’m not entirely convinced that they’re not acting. What is seen in the video (at the top of this listing) appears to me to be the result of fishing wire or “invisible thread” being used to pull the crockery by somebody off of camera.
In conclusion, the haunting of Hawke’s house in Abbey Wood isn’t very compelling and the evidence presented leaves a lot to be desired...
#2 The Soldier’s Ghost at Gettysburg
The Daily Star reported that these two US-based ghost hunters visited a Gettysberg battlefield to see if they could capture anything ghostly on camera and, low and behold, they did indeed film the figure of a soldier walking across a field and stopping next to some old cannons. This was filmed in 2013 and yet started to go viral this year with 53% of people who answered a poll on the Star website claiming they believe in ghosts.
I decided to include this ghost in the #2 spot on this list because it’s pretty terrible. As Kenny Biddle reported though, the whole thing felt very staged and is something that can be created very easily using free video editing software. In fact, Kenny was able to recreate the video which can be watched here:
#1 Tom Buckmaster’s “Black Eyed Kids”
I’m not overly familiar with Buckmaster or his work, but he has apparently been “investigating” the ‘Black Eyed Kids’ said to haunt the Staffordshire area and below is the photo of an alleged “Black Eyed Kid” that he presents as evidence.
Compelling stuff, right? Those red, blue and green pixels just speak for themselves. The Daily Star went with the headline ‘Return of black-eyed ghost child’ when reporting this but the problem with this is that thanks to Zak Bagans wannabes like Buckmaster, the idea of these ghosts never went away in the first place.
Buckmaster made the paper again with a video that apparently shows him witnessing a BEK up close.
“We haven’t, like we usually do, been able to check out the area in the daytime” reports Buckmaster, letting you know just how rigorous his investigative methodology is. Why try to establish the facts when you can just run around in the woods in the dark, right?
“Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah, woah, woah. Did you hear that? Did you just not hear that, John?” Buckmaster exclaims dramatically on the video in which nothing remotely weird can be heard. “Something went “wuuuuuuurgh” to my left-hand side. oh my god.”
Sure it did, Tom. You’re in the middle of some woodland in the dark. It’d be weird if you didn’t hear a strange noise, you Muppet. Buckmaster takes the #1 spot on this list simply because his over-dramatic, attention-seeking ghost hunting nonsense got on my nerves when I first encountered it and is exactly what’s wrong with ghost hunting culture.
Anyway, those are the worst ghosts of 2016. Happy new year! ✨