The ghost that won’t give up!
Ghostbusters go to London.
Grimsby’s ghostbusters have been called in to drive a poltergeist from what is claimed to be the most haunted house in Britain. The team, led by Grimsby parapsychologist Robin Furman, has uncovered a host of strange happenings and baffling bumps in the night in th ehouse in London’s Heston area. Now they are monitoring the home and Mr Furman claims to have captured hard evidence of paranormal activity.
When the team stayed a night in the house, the members and home-owners reported hearing a loud scream from within the walls, which was recorded on tape. No one else was in the house. Mr Furman said: “I have racked my brains to try and provide a logical explanation, but none exist. We set up heat, light and sound sensors in the house, and when we examined them in the morning they had gone haywire. The level of paranormal activity in that house is incredible.”
The property is owned by registered child minder Bessie Smith, who lives with her son and daughter Philip and Sharon. Their problems started 10 years ago, when a series of unexplained events left them baffled and afraid. The catalogue of mysteries included: Toys moving on their own; Tiny footprints appearing on pillows ; A bizarre grey mist which collects in the house; A milk bottle which travelled across the kitchen on its own; Ghostly apparitions and unexplained noises in the house.
The strange happenings ceased for nine years after the family called in Roman Catholic exorcist Dom Robert Peterpierre to cleanse the house. But they started again last year.
When the local priest visited the house – and the front door inexplicably slammed in his face – the family turned to Grimsby’s ghostbusters. Mr Furman believes Sharon is a poltergeist agent, and the ghostly apparition is formed by psychological energy. He explained: “I don’t konw for sure at this stage, but I believe we are dealing with a poltergeist who is attracted by the children that use the house. The poltergeist energy could come from psychological repression on behalf of the girl. It may be that something is troubling Sharon that has triggered this off, and it would be our aim to find out what that is and ease her worries.”
Robin Furman reveals how he cast out a Sumarian demon from a woman on a new national late night television show. Mr Furman talks about his experiences, his ghostbusting team, and his beliefs, with Canon Dominic Walker, the Church of England’s leading exorcist, in Stories In The Night. The show is due to be screened on Yorkshire Television on February 21.
Grimsby Daily Telegraph, 3rd February 1990.
Stories in the Night.
Anglia, 1.30am: This week’s programme in the series which examines the extraordinary and sometimes frightening phenomena which science cannot explain, discusses the practice of exorcism. Registered child-minder Bessie Smith tells how she first called in an exorcist to rid her house of a “ghost” after she had heard footsteps and doors slamming, felt a coldness in rooms and had her bed violently shaken one night.
Although that “ghost” has left her home, she believes she is now haunted by another, that of a young girl who interferes with the television and is responsible for strange noises, “like a loud roar.” Despite two exorcism ceremonies, she believes that the presence is still there…
But does exorcism effectively drive out evil, or would a psychotherapist be more useful than a priest? Few other subjects have inspired such controversy and confusion. Some authorities believe that certain people are prey to visitations, others maintain that they are the victims of delusions. Canon Dominic Walker, who is both a psychotherapist and a priest, believes that so-called visitations by spirits are usually psychological in origin. Parapsychologist Robin Furman, head of “Grimsby Ghostbusters,” a group which conducts secular exorcisms, believes that spirits can haunt and possess people. Both experts discuss their experiences in a programme that, ultimately, leaves viewers to decide on the truth.
Cambridge Daily News, 31st January 1990.