Published: Saturday, 13th June, 2009 11:50am

Ghost Club members search for spooks

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As part of the newspaper"s three week campaign to determine whether staff share workspace with spirits from another world, members from the Ghost Club were invited to carry out an extensive investigation of the 13th century building in Upton Court on Saturday believe they made contact with the victim and perpetrators of a callous crime.

The Ghost Club is the oldest organisation in the world associated with psychical research and the 11-strong group split up into three smaller groups to carry out their investigations using night video cameras, infrared light, digital sound recording equipment and electro magnetic field meters.

The high-tech gadgets did not pick up anything out of the ordinary, but one group member claimed to have learned about a shocking ordeal one woman went through when he says spirits made contact with him on a gallery in the great hall.

Last week we told how researchers from Southern Paranormal, also invited to investigate the Observer buildings, made contact in the same room with the imposing figure of a "big hairy man.

Marcus Kennard, who drove from Kent, to join the Ghost Club investigation describes himself as a "sensitive" (someone who is able to communicate with spirits but is not a psychic).

He said: 'A young woman in her late teens to early 20s made herself known to me immediately. She had been raped and violated and was desperate for us not to go any further up the stairs. She said she felt worthless after being attacked and was trying her best to protect us from going any further.'

The 34-year-old could not pinpoint a date for the attack but felt overwhelmed by activity as he ventured further to an empty room on the floor above where the woman was sensed.

He added: 'I felt sick and dizzy as I entered the room. There was a strong presence of two men in their late 20s to early 30s, possibly brothers.

'They were very arrogant and intimidating and I felt as though they were laughing at me when I tried to make communication with them. They treated women very badly I got the feeling that they attacked the woman somewhere very close to where I had made contact with her.

'When I challenged them about the attack there was a dramatic drop in the room temperature and I felt chills going down my spine. They were clearly not happy and we did not want to provoke them any further. I think it would be impossible to work in that room because they are very dominant and act like bullies.'

Another creepy finding, which was reminiscent of a scene from a horror movie, was in the solar room (on the top floor), where different groups all heard the same sound of tinkling piano keys coming from the room below.

The findings prompted everyone to gather in that office at the end of the night for a large group vigil and everybody, including myself, agreed that it was very strange with temperatures considerably lower than the rest of the building and a candle chandelier which seemed to sway from side to side in an uneven rhythm. It was quite unusual, but was it hard evidence?

Overall there were some scary "findings" but the club has said that it cannot reach an official conclusion. Ghost Club newsletter editor Monica Tandy said: 'We are a scientifically based club but we do have members who would be considered to be "sensitives".

'We record all these impressions as part of our reports, but these would only really become relevant if they were found to have some historical truth about them, or backed up by other things like a photograph or other recording equipment, or even perhaps if the same thing had been recorded by a number of people independently. This was considered to be a quiet night overall.'

As an open-minded sceptic who stayed up past 4am on two Sundays in a row to join the ghost hunters, I personally never experienced anything that convinced me that the building is haunted, however, that does not rule out the possibility that there is a ghost (or ghosts) in the house and I must admit I did not enjoy locking up on my own in the dark and could not wait to get to my car as quickly as possible.

The Ghost Club was founded in 1862 and past members have included Charles Dickens and WB Yeats.

For more information visit www.theghostclub.org.uk

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