The Worst Ghosts of 2017
An examination of the worst ghost evidence to hit the headlines in the last 12 months
It’s that time of the year when I sift through the worst ghosts that made the news this year and bring you what I judge to be the most awful of them all. By awful I don’t mean evil or terrible ghosts we should all be afraid of, but ghost stories that had me rolling my eyes.
So, grab a cup of coffee, put your cosy winter socks on and settle in...
#5 The Gresley Old Hall Ghost
Stu Williamson has a... unique approach to photographing ghosts which involves filling a room with smoke and then taking photos of the smoke.
‘I believe that ghosts are invisible but if you throw something at that ghost, like smoke, it sticks to the ghost.’ - Stu Williamson, 2017
His theory was that the ghosts could use the smoke to somehow form themselves. Indeed, Williamson claimed that while on a ghost hunt at Gresley Old Hall he used this technique and successfully photographed the ghost of a beautiful French woman.
I’m sure I don’t have to point out that this is likely just an illusion caused by the movement of the smoke and how it is illuminated by the light source beneath.
#4 The Black Monk of Pontefract
This is a ghost that- ironically -won’t die. The Black Monk of Pontefract is in the. press. all. the. time? NO. REALLY... ALL. THE. TIME!
The fact is that when the alleged haunting of 30 East Drive by the Black Monk was made famous by Colin Wilson in 1981, the activity at the centre of the story had already stopped and had been largely forgotten. Then the book dragged it back up, inspired a horror film, and then became the haunt of ghost hunters who pay upwards of £40 to spend a few hours there getting scared by shadows.
This is just one of many haunting across the UK that make a pretty penny for companies like Haunted Happenings and all the press coverage is simply free publicity for ghost tour companies.
#3 Paul Toole’s Ghostly Burn at HMP Shepton Mallet
Speaking of Haunted Happenings...
Return visitors to my blog may recall that earlier this year, I joined Danny Robins at HMP Shepton Mallet for his podcast, Haunted. During our time there we met Paul Toole - a tour guide for the prison. Toole claims that during a tour earlier this year, he was burned by the ghost of an American serviceman who was executed at the prison.
In all likelihood, Toole was actually just burned by a cigarette being smoked by an alive human. The burn was featured in the press as proof that ghosts haunt the prison and that if you partake on a tour or a ghost hunting event (run by Haunted Happenings) you might bump into one. Hmm…
#2 The Stanley Hotel Ghosts
Oh look. Someone caught a ghost in a (yawn) photograph taken at (yawn again) The Stanley (yawn) hotel. The Stanley Hotel plays host to ghost hunting events and Halloween events every year. There’s a pretty penny to be made for those who own allegedly haunted buildings, you know.
Which is why it’s in their best interests to keep up the illusion that spooky stuff is occurring. The photographer claims that the latest photograph shows two ghostly figures on the staircase among guests about to take part in a ghost tour.
Would it shock you to discover that the ghosts are just people moving up the stairs who are blurred because of the shutter speed of the camera?
Especially relevant is that fact that you can see that other people are blurry in the photo. For example. the lady stood up in a white top, the person sitting down to her right, and the person in the bottom right of the photo. Not only this, but some journalists have added red circles to the photo in a way that gives a false impression of the size of one of the “ghosts”. I’ve outlined their head in green below for comparison:
#1 Dear David
I am loathe to even write those two words because this blog is all about my work as a real-life paranormal researcher who deals with people who have real-life strange experiences. For those not in the know, I use scientific skepticism to solve mysteries (which sounds much cooler than it actually is). Dear David doesn’t fit into this at all because it’s a fictional story.
For anyone out there who is a bit shocked by this proclamation, allow me to explain. Illustrator, Adam Ellis, has been tweeting out a merry little saga about a deformed baby that’s meant to be haunting his house. Photos were shared, along with videos, tales cats being cats, mysterious items found and much more. The story is freaking some people out! It has been rightly pointed out by some that there ethical questions to be asked about this relatively-new form of storytelling where the reader isn’t sure of the authenticity of the tale.
This can be an effective way of telling a good, scary story, but that’s exactly why Dear David is at the top of my list. The story is mediocre and has dragged on for too long. In the words of my Spooktator co-host, Paul, “spooky baby with a malformed head? Whatever!”
Suffice to say, the stories featured have one thing in common: they each generate free publicity for someone claiming to have paranormal evidence when they don’t.
So there we have it - the worst ghosts of 2016. Happy New Year! ✨