For hundreds of years,people have told stories of hauntings and strange happenings.They claim to have witnssed ghosts walking through walls,to have sensed mysterious 'presences',or to have been disturbed by a noisy spirit.But have these spooky tales been invented to entertain us or are they real events?
The Evidence
At Borley Rectory England,witnesses reported a ghostly nun wandering around the place,keys falling from locks before vanishing bells ringing,and the discovery of a skull.In the 1930s,investigators claimed contact with unhappy spirits,one of them a nun who had been strangled and buried in the grounds.The spirits warned that a terrible fire would destroy the rectory,revealing buried bodies.Within a year,Afire did destroy the house and human remains were found.
In Britain in 1993,a house-fire trapped Michelle Duggan,aged 8,in an upstairs bedroom.The rest of her family and escaped and were standing outside looking anxiously up at the room.The flames were so fierce that no one believed she could possibly survive.Suddenly the window was smashed and Michelle seemed to be hurled out.She expained later that the ghost of her grandfather had broken the glass and pushed her to safety.
There are reports of 'ghosts'appearing on phtographs after the films are developed.One summer evening in 1954,a Birtish priest unknowingly photographed a three-metre tall hooded figure standing near his own church altar.
A hundred years ago,18-year-old Canadian woman,Esther Cox was thought to be terrified by a ghost.A doctor who called to see her witnessed the words"Esther Cox you are mine ti kill"being written in a wall in front if him.Furthermore,a church minidter was scared to dealth as a bucket of water close to Esther appeared to start boiling for no obvious reason!A little later,the house was almost burnt to the ground,believed to be done by the evil spirit.
In 1968,a priest was called to bless a house where mysterious bangings and the strande appearance of stories inside closed rooms upsetting the homeowner.During the visit,although the doors and windows were closed,a rock fell from the celling,narrowly missing the priest.
When a Britain fortune-teller Rosemary Brown's dog died,her other surviving dog seemed o still see ot.It would wake suddenly,gaze at a particular spot then jump up and wag its tail.
Some people believe that spirits make contact wiht this world famous fortune-teller Matthew Manning,who suddenly found hiomself able to paint exactly as the great artist had done.