Making some sense of the inexplicable
by Nick Wood
Hallowe’en has been ritualised into a time of pumpkins, lanterns and young scamps tricking and treating on our doorsteps. But the evening of October 31 also marks the end of the year in the ancient Celtic calendar, which in past centuries, was seen as a fertile time for ghosts with the onset of chill winter. Modern science has spread extensive scepticism when it comes to tales of spirits and ghouls. But one man who expects to hear his telephone ringing more often around now is psychic researcher Peter Wilson. The 53-year-old former paratrooper, of Longbanks, Harlow, has spent 16 years investigating the paranormal and experience has show that the myths and rigmarole surrounding Hallowe’en increases the flow of calls from people anxious about unexplained bumps, sounds and feelings in their homes. Many turn out to be caused by the banging of a concealed water pipe or some other mundane cause, but for the families involved, unfathomable goings on in their homes can be very distressing.
“I deal with some very frightened people,” Mr Wilson explained. “In one home the children kept waking up crying at 2am because of this banging sound, as if something was running across their room. The families can’t tell their neighbours in case they think they’re going off the deep end.” The upshot was two distressed young children who had to change bedrooms and their anxious parents unable to reassure them. Step forward Peter Wilson. “If someone says there’s something moving in the home, I go along to see if it’s genuine. I’m looking for the causes of creaks and bumps. If there’s no obvious cause, it’s paranormal.”
His first step is a detailed discussion of when the bizarre events occur, where and what exactly is involved. This may be followed by weeks of monitoring the house, with tape recorders and other equipment, as well as research on the building’s plans and history. The abovementioned case proved to be the sounds of a new central heating system.
But when Alison Dawson was having problems in her former home in Longbanks 10 years ago, the cause was less straightforward. “We started to experience things going missing,” she told the Star. “Clothes that my mother had just ironed for me would disappear for a while and then turn up in obvious places, while my brother’s records kept getting mixed up. We would start accusing each other and it was creating a bad atmosphere.” Then her brother needed hospital treatment after suffering a cut to his wrist in the attic, a place Alison and her mother always avoided. “He could feel something warm on his wrist, then looked down and saw the cut, although there was nothing he could have cut it on.”
A decorative fish carved out of cow horn also proved distracting by spinning on its axis from time to time, while water taps sometimes turned on of their own accord. Alison also reported something calling out her name and felt aware of a female presence. “It was terrible at the time. There was a horrible atmosphere and nobody wanted to be in th ehouse. I ended up on tranquilisers.
Mr Wilson’s equipment picked up a high level of static, which he believes often indicates poltergeist activity. Inquiries showed the house turned out to have been a frequent meeting place for mediums and a family living there previously had experienced a suicide and marriage breakdown.
Peter maintains strict confidentiality for those he helps as he says people are afraid of publicity or being laughed at. His area now covers mucho f the south east, including Norfolk, Suffolk and London. A notable case featured a middle aged couple who bought an antique chair with unusual consequeneces. The wife came downstairs to see a man in Edwardian dress get up and walk through the wall. Her husband mocked her, but when he saw the same thing they sought help and eventually got in touch with Mr Wilson. In this case the solution was to get rid of the chair and the disturbances quickly ceased.
On another occasion, a family in London was caused great distress when the toys of their drowned son kept being moved about, even though they had left his room just as it was on the day he died. They would also hear his voice occasionally. When Mr Wilson visited, a figure of the boy turned up, he says, and appeared to be smiling. Peter’s theory was that the entity was trying to convince his mother he had died, as his body had never been recovered and she had some doubts. He said he told the entity his visits were upsetting to his parents. The mother finally accepted her son had died and the visits ceased.
Mr Wilson claimed to have seen hundreds of “entities” – a term he prefers to the word “ghsot” with its connotations of howling, spooky figures in white sheets. They vary from a shadoy form in the dusk to a figure in broad daylight as solid looking as the real thing.
Mr Wilson’s interest in the paranormal began 20 years ago after he had been invalided out of the army. With time on his hands while he convalesced, he got to know neighbour Geoffrey Croon Holinsworth, who was investigating paranormal activities in Borley and Polstead. Initially sceptical, he was taken to a rectory in Suffolk where he witnessed an entity in the form of a young boy walking across a court. “I was an immediate convert, although it took me several months to come to terms with what I had seen,” he said. He then became a member of the paranormal psychology group in Harlow with close colleague Geoff Cooper and other members. Since then he has done extensive research on the subject, as well as helping worried residents.
He is now also a member of the Society for Psychical Research and lectures on the paranormal to social groups and community organisations. And while he may be none the wiser as to the reasons for paranormal behaviour, he said his extensive experience of individual cases had given him great practical knowledge. He sees his role, which he provides as a free service, primarily as one of a counsellor and investigator. If something paranormal does manifest itself, he then reassures people not to be over frightened by something that is frequently a major challenge tot their beliefs.
A paranormal debating society now meets at the Latton Bush Centre on Thursdays to gather together exponents of its different categories. Mr Wilson is constantly having to battle against the mockery of others who dismiss all talk of ghosts. But he countered: “I take what I do very seriously, and the clients do too. I don’t have to hide anything. i am only stating what I have seen and what I have heard.”
Harlow Star, 27th October 1994.