Ever fancied a spooky weekend looking for ghosts in a real haunted hotel?  These hotels in Devon have all had supernatural sightings reported.

1) Chambercombe Manor, Ilfracombe

One of Britain’s most famous haunted houses, Chambercombe Manor was featured in the Living TV series ‘Most Haunted’.  It has long been reported to be haunted by the ghost of Lady Jane Grey. 

Spookier still, in 1865, a tenant noticed a window outline that did not correspond to a room inside the building.  When they investigated they found a small sealed room containing a bedstead with a skeleton in it.  The skeleton is believed to have been a titled lady visiting relatives at Chambercombe who was shipwrecked in a storm on the rocks at Hele. When she later died in the room, the occupants of the Manor took her jewellery and sealed her in.   A section of the partition has now been removed so that visitors can see into the chamber.

Chambercombe Manor hosts guided tours, paranormal events, overnight paranormal nights and murder mysteries.  Holiday accommodation is available in luxury cottages.

2) The Devil’s Stone Inn, Shebbear

The Devil’s Stone Inn has a certificate in the bar to prove it has been officially inspected and recognised as one of the eight most haunted pubs in the UK.

The bedrooms and bathrooms are said to be haunted by the ghost of a little girl aged around seven years old.  Sometimes seen with a gray bearded man thought to be her father, she is said to be a friendly ghost, and has ‘appeared’ on request in the bar, by moving coats and closing doors.  She is also blamed for pictures falling off the walls.

The pub itself is a former farmhouse which was converted into a coaching inn in the 17th century.  It is named after the Devil’s Stone, a large glacial rock on the village green, which is said to imprison the Devil underneath it.  Following local tradition, the village bellringers turn the stone over every year at 8pm on Guy Fawkes Night (5th November) to protect the village from disaster.  Once the stone has been turned, the celebrations begin in the Devil’s Stone Inn.

Local legend claims there is also a hidden tunnel connecting the Devil’s Stone Inn to the church. 

3) The Royal Castle Hotel, Dartmouth Quay

The Royal Castle Hotel has played host to Queen Victoria, Edward VII, Sir Francis Drake and Cary Grant, as well as providing a home for several of King Charles II’s mistresses.

At 2 am on autumn mornings, a ghostly coach and horses can be heard arriving, taking on a passenger and driving away.  This phantom coach is said to date from the time of King William and Queen Mary’s arrival from the Netherlands in 1688.  The Queen arrived first and stayed at the Royal Castle Hotel, which was then two pairs of houses with a narrow courtyard in between.  The King was forced by a storm to land in Torbay instead of Dartmouth, and a coach was sent to fetch Queen Mary, arriving at the Royal Castle Hotel shortly before 2 am. 

Ever since then, staff and guests at the hotel in the autumn have reported hearing horses’ hooves crossing cobblestones, a carriage door opening and closing, followed by the crack of a whip, the chimes of a long-gone clock, and the horses whinnying as they speed the coach away.

4)  The Lord Haldon Hotel, Dunchideock, near Exeter

A large country hotel which has hosted many aristocratic guests, the Lord Haldon Hotel has had many reports of ghosts. 

The most tragic story is that of an eighteenth century servant girl who appears to be distressed and dripping with water.  Locals believe she became pregnant by a man of higher social standing, and was murdered in the lake to avoid a scandal.

A more mysterious ghost, seen several times, is a large man with rolled up sleeves.  He  appears by the frosted windows in the back of the old lounge, next to what used to be the stables, and when his outline is seen through the windows, his height matches the previous floor level.

Another unexplained ghost is a young girl who knocks on guests’ doors and calls out their first names in the early hours, between 1 and 3 in the morning.  Guests and staff have also heard sounds of footsteps when nobody is there.

5) The Royal Clarence Hotel, Exeter Cathedral Yard

Built on the site of the explorer Sir Walter Raleigh’s fathers’ house, the Royal Clarence Hotel is the beginning and end point of Exeter’s Red Coat guided Ghosts and Legends Tours.  It is claimed to be home to three friendly ghosts, one of which may be Sir Walter Raleigh himself.  Famous visitors to the Royal Clarence Hotel have included Lord Nelson, Nicholas I, Czar of Russia, the author Thomas Hardy, and Hollywood actors Clark Gable and Gary Cooper.

Queen Victoria’s father, the Duke of Kent, travelled to Exeter to receive the freedom of the city, but died while staying in Sidmouth on 23rd January 1820.  His body was transported to the Royal Clarence and embalmed there before transportation to his funeral in Windsor.

Haunting manifestations include coughing sounds on the top floor, which some have claimed to be the ghost of Sir Walter Raleigh.  A gray lady ghost has also been seen looking out of a window.

Another part of the Royal Clarence Hotel is the Well House Tavern, which has a crypt in the basement with a skeleton, believed to have been a victim of the plague.

While visiting Exeter Cathedral Green, you might also keep an eye out for a monk, a nun, a three headed man and a tall glowing figure, who are all reported to haunt that area:  it’s not surprising people say that Exeter is one of the most haunted cities in Britain!

Being filled with the Holy Ghost is undoubtedly one of the most powerful habits of the highly effective Intercessor.

The Bible says, "Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit." Eph. 5:18 (NIV)

I'm told that the original Greek verb which is translated "be filled" is in the present continuous tense, meaning the command "to be filled" really means to keep being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Here are some of the related areas of being continually filled with the Holy Spirit:

1) Receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit – Obviously we've got to start at the beginning; you can't KEEP being filled if you never had the initial experience of becoming filled in the first place!

Since the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost He has never stopped being poured out. He is constantly being poured out so that anyone who has received Jesus Christ as his or her savior can step under that flow and become immediately filled!

Ac 10:45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.

The bible does NOT require any special waiting or preparation to be filled with the Holy Spirit except that you are a Christian. Receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit is an act of faith that can be experienced anytime, anywhere by anyone who is saved!

It is as simple as asking and receiving! A sample prayer might go something like this:

Dear Father, You said that if I ask you for your Holy Spirit you will give me your Holy Spirit and You cannot lie. Thank you for filling me with your Holy Spirit right now Lord! Holy Spirit, I believe in You and I receive your infilling now in Jesus name. Amen!

This prayer is based partly on the scripture below.

Lk 11: 11-14 Which one of you fathers would give your hungry child a snake if the child asked for a fish? Which one of you would give your child a scorpion if the child asked for an egg? As bad as you are, you still know how to give good gifts to your children. But your heavenly Father is even more ready to give the Holy Spirit to anyone who asks. (CEV)

What is most important is what you do next! The scriptures declare in Rom 10: 9-10 that you must confess AND believe in order to receive, whether it's salvation or the baptism of the Holy Spirit the PRINCIPLE remains the same! Confess AND believe!

So during your prayer and after you have finished praying you MUST be and remain in an attitude of faithful expectancy. You must be completely assured that what you have just asked for is being given to you right there and then!

Then you simply open your heart (spirit) and receive it! It is an act of your will! That's why Jesus asked the lame man "WILL YOU BE HEALED ???" Now I'm asking you the same thing, "WILL YOU RECEIVE THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT ???" It's up to YOU ​​- Will you or won't you receive?

Ac 8:17 Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. Ac 19: 2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?

The emphasis is always on YOU receiving NOT on God giving the Holy Spirit!

The Holy Spirit was given once 2,000 years ago and He was never taken back – So it's up to you to receive!

2 ) Praying with Tongues – The ability to pray in tongues is the initial evidence that manifests when you first become filled with the Holy Spirit! There are many other manifestations of being filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues is just the first one that usually shows up!

There are nine gifts of the Spirit in total and each of them is a manifestation of the Spirit.

The ability to pray with tongues is given to everyone who is filled with the Holy Spirit, some people may be filled and not speak in tongues simply because they were never properly instructed as to how they should go about it.

You will find that there is a lot of controversy about praying in tongues largely because a lot of people misunderstand this ability. And on a deeper level because the enemy is threatened by anyone who does, so he stirs up Christians to waste time arguing over this issue instead of coming together in order to wage a united campaign against him!

Know this about the devil: He attacks anything he fears!

Has he been relentlessly attacking you? Well, now you know why! My point is, however, that he has been attacking the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the charismatic gifts from day one … literally! The first Christians to be filled with the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues on the day of Pentecost were accused of being drunkards and the attack hasn't stopped since!

Praying in tongues is a means to activating the nine gifts of the Spirit and stimulating your spiritual senses to flow more powerfully and accurately.

Praying in tongues is the act of one intelligent spirit (Yours) speaking directly to another intelligent Spirit (God) without the need for any mental interpretation … THAT'S ALL!

3) Walking in Love – This is the most important manifestation of being filled with the Holy Spirit! People generally don't care if you can speak with tongues or prophecy! But they will take notice if you show them that you care about them as a person.

They will be impressed if you sacrifice something important to you in order to bless a stranger – that's true love! And that's the most striking evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit of God! It's called character and it stands out!

It is said that more souls are won to the Lord by selfless displays of love than by many sermons preached.

So, there we have it, being filled with the Holy Ghost allows the power of God to flow through you in a more concentrated and focused fashion giving you the ability to have a far greater impact and effect in the spirit realm.

And this is what being a highly effective Intercessor is all about – Being able to impact and affect the spirit realm to the extent that we see the manifest results in the physical realm. More power to you!

Imagine being responsible for seating accommodations for company or school gatherings. What if there are more people than the permanent seating will hold? Where might we place additional chairs without looking cluttered and unprofessional? These never need to be questions asked by companies, educational facilities, churches and other institutions that have purchased ghost chairs. These unique acrylic chairs are comfortable, durable, and may be stored with only low visibility eliminating the feeling of too much in too little space.

Ghost chairs may be used for both informal gatherings and those of a more formal nature. They are easier to move into place immediately that having to find a larger, more bulky and less mobile chair for an unexpected guest.

For those who appreciate the versatility of this chair yet find it a bit pricey, furniture stores and other retailers often advertise sales. There, the interested buyer will find the chair in adult and child sizes, multiple colors as well as nearly invisible acrylic, as well as in a rocking chair design.

Apartment and condominium dwellers often struggle to reduce clutter and the appearance of too much furniture for their few rooms. Clear acrylic chairs eliminate the perception of clutter by stacking in a small amount of space and by being available in seconds when needed.

Child size acrylic chairs are perfect in their versatility as well as their durability. They are easily cleaned and, if desired, easily decorated with acrylic paints and similar art products that may be removed as children’s tastes in decoration change.

Special education teachers, often find non-clear acrylic ghost chairs perfect additions to their classrooms. This especially true for those children who may have physical disabilities that create unsteady gaits and the possibility of falling against a desk or large chair, a hazard. Although the ghost chair would need to be secured by an adult, a slip creating contact with the chair would have minimal consequences compared to metal or wooden chairs.

The wonderful imaginations of children make having a ghost chair in their rooms a wonderful stimulus for imagination, story telling, and other childhood activities. One might observe a doll seemingly floating in space (actually placed in a ghost chair) and then weave an imaginary story around that surprise. These chairs are so comfortable that children may sit in them and imagine themselves sitting at professional office desks,

Those of you among my reading audience who are frail of heart or who are disturbed by vivid descriptions of supernatural events involving the ghosts of smelly insane murderers, talk show host phantoms and gay wedding planner apparitions may want to skip this article. Fair warning to all – It is my intention to use the razor sharp writing skills and clever literary techniques that we professional writers have been given by the divine grace of God to scare the poop out of you. What you are about to read may alter your perception of reality or at the very least force you to sleep with a kitten on your head. Here are true ghost stories that are so horrific that I urge all of you not to eat your fingers off (or other body appendages) in pure terror as these tales unfold before your unbelieving eyes. Read on if you dare!

The Flatulent Ghost of Piggly Manor

In the small village of Eddington, England, there is a stately manor home that sits atop a small hill surrounded by grey, treeless moors. Or perhaps the manor home sits upon a grey tree in a small moor, surrounded by a stately hill – I get confused that way sometimes. Either way I expect you to cooperate in your reading and imagine the scene as quite dreary and unsettling. This imposing estate has the aristocratic name of Piggly Manor. Overnight guests at this manor have reported many frightening encounters with a apparition so vile and so unbearable to witness that many guests doubt their sanity after their encounter. These guests have all become the disgusted victims of The Flatulent Ghost of Piggly Manor.

Guests to the manor home report being on the verge of sleep, when suddenly a foul odor roughly equivalent in power to the combined farts of 25 gaseous bulldogs fills the room. After initially blaming and pushing their innocent spouses out of the bed, the guests are startled to see an eerie light begin to fill the room. The bewildered guests then hear the unmistakable sounds of footsteps and butt toots coming up the deserted hallway to their room door. Suddenly the door is thrown open and “It” enters the room.

Peering out from under their bedcovers, manor guests report seeing a grossly overweight English gentleman in a dressing gown, float through the door to their room holding a candle and a copy of the London Times under his arm. The portly apparition hurries to the bathroom while emitting loud and noxious flatulence, pulls up his dressing gown and sits down on the porcelain throne – without even having the common decency to close the door. He begins to read a news story in the London Times describing a postman who humorously delivered mail to a haberdashery in Darby that was meant to be sent to the Queen. The ghost begins to laugh fiendishly at the delightfully funny story. To the horror of the disbelieving witnesses, the huge ghost next proceeds to engage in a series of bathroom waste elimination processes that assault their senses in every way possible.

Farts louder than an atomic explosion, and smells more horribly disgusting than a room full of skunks with poor hygiene fill the room. The nasty ghost continues to sit on the toilet calmly reading his copy of The London Times as his odor pollution fills the nauseous guest’s bedroom. After five minutes of this rude and obnoxious behavior, the Flatulent Ghost is finally done. In a final act of behavioral completely outside of the social norms, the apparition turns to the terrified room occupants, wishes them a good night and floats from the room, WITHOUT flushing the toilet. Guests or hotel staff members are left with the unnerving job of flushing ghost poop down the toilet. Tidy Bowl – Extra Strength is highly recommended.

The Phantom of the Oprah

Although staff members were reportedly told not to discuss the matter in public, sources close to The Oprah Winfrey Show reveal that this treasured talk show was haunted for years by a mysterious creepy, phantom of the night. No, I am not talking about Dr. Phil. I am talking about a masked ghostly figure who would appear suddenly backstage or in the rafters of the theater to terrorize guests and staff members of the show.

The first encounter with The Phantom of the Oprah occurred when frequent guest, Sean Connery, reported that an intruder in a black cape and mask had suddenly appeared in his dressing room. The intruder pranced around the room making noises like a chicken and then told the former James Bond that he liked him in “Thunderball”, but never cared for “Goldfinger”. The Phantom explained that he found that movie to be poorly written and derivative. He then pulled out a flyswatter and hit Mr. Connery’s pet poodle on the butt. He ran from the room and disappeared into the dark backstage rafters. It was reported that Sean Connery was shaken, but not stirred.

A few weeks later, Oprah had her own “aha moment” with the Phantom. Always a true professional, Oprah was preparing for her upcoming show that day on “dangerous dieting”, by making herself throw up after eating an entire cow for lunch. Just as she was about to stick her fingers down her throat for a second round of vomiting, she felt a gloved hand grab her wrist. She turned around to see a masked apparition, standing behind her. Too afraid to even speak, Oprah listened in disbelief as The Phantom asked if she had any hot taco sauce he could borrow. She stammered “no”, and the ghost politely thanked her, left the room and caught a taxi to Taco Bell.

The final known victim of the Phantom of the Oprah was movie star Robin Williams. Staff members were shaving Mr. Williams back hair to donate to one of Oprah’s cancer-victim-hair-loss charities when an eerie light filled the room. Williams and staff members were amazed to see The Phantom emerge from a closet dressed in a cucumber costume and doing an impersonation of a pickle. Unable to resist the zany fun, comedian Williams joined The Phantom in a ten minute impromptu exchange of bad puns, impersonations and one-liners that had staff members rolling on the floor. After the ghostly encounter, Williams and The Phantom exchanged telephone numbers and promised to get together for lunch at Taco Bell sometime.

The Gay Ghost of Sigfreid’s Bridal Salon

Brides shopping for bridal gowns and making wedding plans at Sigfreid’s Bridal Salon in New York City have repotted many scary experiences at the store – none of which are the result of pre-wedding jitters. This classy wedding shop has the distinction of having the first openly gay ghost in haunting history. Store patrons have reported frequent visits by the well-dressed ghost of a former store employee who was tragically crushed by a bull that was deftly maneuvering through the salon’s china shop.

Always quick with a lovely compliment or scornful rebuke of a bride’s wedding gown choices, the Gay Ghost loves to appear and sit next to bridal salon customers as brides show off potential wedding dresses on the store’s runway platform. His advice and comments are wonderfully witty and charming. “I’m so sorry, but “green” is not the right shade for you! It makes the color of your eyes disappear quicker than Mexicans when they see a flashing blue light;” “You must be joking me, that dress is cut so low, I see more boobs than in a Three Stooges movie;” and finally “That dress is lovely, but if you want to fit into it – no more Taco Bell.”

Paranormal investigative teams that have spent the night in the store to document the haunting, have been able to collect quite a bit of information about the gay afterlife from the talkative and friendly ghost. He has informed investigators and mediums that life as a gay ghost is generally pretty good although it is difficult for gay ghosts to be accepted as true horrific apparitions of the night. He feels that demons, headless poltergeists and other ethereal phantoms do not take him seriously due to the effeminate nature of his haunting efforts. As an example of his frustration he recalled a recent haunting in which he said to his intended human haunting victim “Boo! For god’s sake, please put a coaster under that drink on the table”. Laughter ensued. The Gay Ghost is currently participating in afterlife group therapy with Liberace, J Edgar Hoover and Casper the Friendly Ghost.

*******

For those readers who have survived this terrifying digest of famous ghouls of the night, I salute you. You have shown your ability to read about scary and disturbing subjects in a mature and adult manner. So before you go to sleep tonight, check under your bed and behind the curtains, and then drift off to sleep confident that everything you read in this article was nothing but silly nonsense. But, when you dream, don’t be surprised if a gay, farting, ghost that likes a famous talk show host haunts your dreams. Good night to all.

I used to define “ghost writer” as someone who creates written material (memoir, novel, web content, articles, etc.) for a client basically from scratch. This is popular lingo for the idea that the client proposes and the ghost writer disposes. The client supplies the core idea, rough outline, or even just notes; the ghost writer uses any of these to compose an original text.

This used to be the broadest definition of ghost writing I could come up with that made any sense to me back in the early 1980s, when I first embarked on this ever-expanding career.

Today, I’m not sure it’s broad enough anymore. Is all ghost writing necessarily “from scratch”?

So much has happened since the eighties. I won’t list the great transformations that have taken place in information technology (IT). They’ve been the central motor of change in the way we communicate through the written word, to be sure. The medium indeed is and has transformed the message, to go by Marshall McLuhan’s great insight.

The ancient Greek philosophers considered man’s defining characteristic to be his ability to talk. Perhaps we should add another unique characteristic: We are equally the only earthly creatures to let our fellow human beings communicate on our behalf. (I love this expanded ghostwriting definition, don’t you?) This has come to define the new medium.

In another sense it has always been this way, I know, but never to the extent we witness today. We churn out information–useful, redundant, false, isolated, etc., every type imaginable–with unprecedented efficiency. So much so that we can do away with the very author of an idea. And the readers need not all be human. They could be machines too.

So, where does this fragmentation of modern communication leave the ghost writer?

Does what he or she creates necessarily have to be new and original? Do we really write “from scratch”–re: original material?

The answer is “not necessarily” to both questions.

With respect to the first, by “not necessarily original” I don’t mean to imply that plagiarism is fine. It’s not! At the same time, the gulf between author and writer has so widened that it has allowed ghost writers to evolve a new multi-purpose activity on the Web where written content may not be intended only to elevate or inform the intellect. And even when it is, the active participation of the author is not essential, as I said.

This not necessarily bad news. Modern propaganda, which originated mainly in World War II, can be used for good or evil designs. Its goal is both to inform and to mold opinion. If the premises or data are false, then obviously the messenger’s motive is suspect. If they are sound, then maybe the message holds significance–or maybe not. Advertising and marketing behave like this.

In the age of the Internet, crafting written texts has added “search engine optimization” (SEO) to information dissemination. What does this make of writing if not more securely a means to an end, which end supercedes the very content of the message. The functionality of “knowledge,” if we can call this form of information by that name, has become far more prominent than at any time in history.

Ghost writing has kept up with this trend by developing areas of writing where even the content of the message is secondary. Does this mean that the content is meaningless?

Think of marketing. Its prime purpose is to attract markets. Texts written for the purpose of web ranking have a similar function. Like marketing, they cannot serve the client on behalf of which the ghost writing writes by providing content that is false, redundant or plain inconsistent. It may well draw an audience, but a very skeptical, angered one.

The learning curve of Internet users is very steep. I learned quickly to dismiss three-quarters of information pieces found on the Web because they fail to do what they purport: inform me even at the most basic level.

The best ghost writers are clearly experts who craft their texts with a mind to inform and to reach as well as to mold. Put simply, they are effective communicators.

This reality will not change no matter how many transformations we experience in communications.

By Anthony F. Shaker, PhD

Cruising down the highway at 70mph in your '98 Bimmer you notice a strange sound coming from somewhere underneath your car. You proceed down the road a few more miles before exiting and making the turn into your subdivision. The sound magically disappears and you dismiss it as something that must have wedged itself underneath your car and then worked itself free. However, your car engine buckles, hesitates and then dies as you make the turn into your driveway. Fortunately, you made it home. Unfortunately, your fuel pump has gone to auto parts heaven.

Sure, we can dream that your fuel pump died just as you got home. How convenient. In all likelihood the problem would have surfaced while you were on a long trip, on a Sunday afternoon, miles from no where. Fuel pump failures can happen without warning and without any engine codes signaling the problem. In other words: when it happens you are SOL.

Replacing a fuel pump is a job that many weekend mechanics would feel comfortable with doing provided they are at home and have the right tools on hand. Still, you will be working with gasoline which will require you to prop your car up and then drop the gas tank down to replace the pump. I did say that the fuel pump is located inside of the gas tank, didn't I? Oh, yeah, one small matter … you need to have the replacement fuel pump on hand before proceeding with the work.

You can go to a local auto parts store and have your pick of low priced generic pumps that just may last you a few years. Chances are that once you have gone to all the trouble of installing the low priced model, you would have wished you put in a Bosch fuel pump or given your Bimmer a BMW fuel pump even though it would have cost you plenty to buy one, right ? Well, not exactly. By shopping online you can turn up some very good prices provided you select the name brand fuel pump and that you buy it from a reputable dealer . eBay may work well for buying dolls and trinkets but your automobile parts should come from someone you can trust.

Once you have the right part on hand you can continue with the job. Follow your owner's manual instructions to get the job done and done right. Your Bimmer will be glad, particularly if you remember to install a new fuel filter with your fuel pump.

The humble K2 meter was thrust into the limelight as the ‘must have’ piece of equipment for Paranormal Investigation a few short years ago by the American TV Show ‘Ghost Hunters’ and has grown in popularity ever since. Every self-respecting Parnormal Investigation Team has one in their kit, but what are they really good for and should we trust them when investigating for ghosts and spirits?

Essentially, the K2 meter is simply a device for recording the presence of EMF (Electro Magnetic Fields) within an area, the strength of which is indicated by a traffic light system of 5 lights (green being the lowest and red being the highest). EMFs are everywhere, originating from appliances, mobile phones, electrical wiring and even the human body. The K2 meter helps to measure and identify appliances that produce high-level emissions, allowing users to make an informed decision about limiting exposure.

It is generally accepted in the Paranormal field that Spirits and Ghosts give off an energy which is similar to that of an electric charge and therefore the K2 meter should in theory pick this up and register a change if there is something other-worldly present.

When using a K2 meter as part of your ghost hunt it is imperative that you are able to eliminate any ‘natural’ interference such as mobile phones and electrical cables etc.

You need to check the area thoroughly before beginning to call out for spirits to ensure you have a baseline reading to work from. The K2 meter will display one green light to show a ‘normal’ level (a magnetic field of 0 – 1.5 milliGauss and will register up to 20+ milliGauss, which is an extremely high reading.

A man-made EMF tends to create a steady reading but the presence of Spirit is reflected by a much more erratic display, with the lights flickering and often bouncing across a wide range of readings. Within the context of a ghost hunting vigil, the user would ask the spirit or ghost to approach the device in an attempt to make the lights flicker and perhaps in response to questions; for example, asking the entity to approach the lights only if the answer to the question is yes. This is something that I have personally witnessed and had amazing results with, but as with all things Paranormal, the individual has to make up their own mind on the results.

There is some criticism surrounding the reliability of K2 meters for Paranormal Investigations because they will sometimes detect radio signals from other items such as Walkie-Talkies etc and the fact that they can only register a range rather than an exact reading means that it is impossible to get an accurate measure of the ‘spike’. However, if used in a controlled manner and with other investigation equipment to support its findings, it remains one of the most popular pieces of equipment for the amateur ghost hunter and will probably continue to do so for many years.

K2 meters are available to purchase from many online retailers for around £39.99, with some offering 2-3 working days for delivery.

King of Nod an epic ghost story

by Scott Fad

What does the past have to do with the future? Just about everything, and there’s really no escaping it. In King of Nod by Scott Fad, readers will be immersed into the past, slammed into the present and hoping for a better future.

Sweetpatch Island, South Carolina, is steeped in history. From its earliest days as a Native American picnic spot, to its dark times of slavery and racial clash, right up to its current occupants’ fascination with digging into that past and printing it book form, or looking what is dead and gone right in the eye, the past has everything to do with the future. For Boo Taylor, his life is a series of moments of digging at the truth. Finding out that his parents aren’t who he thinks they are is the first step to his leaving childhood behind, and that began on the playground at school with a fistfight. Confronting Laylee Colebriar is the next step, and she holds tight to her secrets. As Boo’s life progresses readers discover that he is not your usual rural kid. Laylee isn’t your typical housekeeper either. Her ancient ways go back for generations. To Boo, she is a substitute mother, and so much more.

Boo bears witness to some horrible things. He pokes his nose out looking for trouble, and finds it. From the old Chaliboque mansion, to old lady Mamie Sturvant’s house, wicked things are lurking and Boo tends to stir them up. Every so often a young boy will disappear on the island and rumors fly of a beast who is exacting revenge for old Joker Tribbit and his widow Bathsheba. Tribbit was lynched, stabbed and burned by an angry mob of white men and ever since, the island has been cursed. Folks say that Bathsheba was a Gullah witch and she is out for blood. The people bring blood on themselves too in their red-neck bigoted war of hatred with each other. Churches and schools are burned, people die, and faith in what they believe in is either trampled or exalted. Through it all though, perhaps because of some of it, Boo finds love. Will it be enough to break the curse of Sweetpatch Island? Will anything ever help to put all those ghosts to rest?

Scott Fad has indeed written an epic ghost story. His plot is a wicked, twisted work of art that will have readers looking at it from every angle and seeing something different every time. His characters are rich with life, full of love, torn apart by hate, and tortured by numerous evils, within and without. His style is smooth and haunting, exuding southern grace and hidden truths. With every bit of the puzzle shared there is yet another hiding in plain site, like so many pictures tacked to a wall making it hard to pick out just one image. King of Nod is one of my all time favorites.

The Atacama Desert is an amazing place – renowned as the driest place on earth it conjures up images of a desolate barren wilderness. Which, of course much of it is, but it is also a land of great natural beauty and fascinating human history. One such period of its colourful history was the nitrates boom, which resulted in the British ghost towns, that still stand, arrogantly Victorian in uninhabited parts of the desert where it never rains.

Nitrates first began to be commercially exploited in the 1860 when the Atacama Desert belonged to Peru and Bolivia. However, in 1878 a dispute between Chile and Bolivia over export licences resulted in Chile sending troops to the region to protect her interests. War broke out with Peru joining in on the side of Bolivia. The result of the ensuing five year war was that Chile remained in possession of the Atacama and its nitrates.

Nitrates were in much demand in Europe and North America as the raw material for fertilisers and the production of explosives. After the war British companies poured capital in to the Chilean nitrates industry and took control of nearly all nitrate production. During this boom period towns sprang up around the nitrate plants.

The best preserved of these towns is Humberstone, built in 1862 and named after a later owner, James Humberstone. It is located inland from the city of Iquique in an area known as the Pampa – a plateau between the costal mountains and the Andes. Humberstone, like the other nitrate towns, is a ghost town.

The invention of a synthetic method for producing ammonium nitrate killed the booming business off as quickly as it had sprung up. Walking through the deserted streets of Humberstone you get the sense that its inhabitants fled a great natural disaster. Everything is as it was then, just aged by the harsh sun and cold nights. There is a church, a theatre, the humble dwellings of the workers, the grand houses of the managers and the processing plant. The only sound is the dry Atacama Desert wind blowing through the long since empty streets relentlessly returning this Victorian relic to desert.

There may be a link between certain Halloween ghost stories and the occult. For this reason, parents should be especially cautious when telling these types of stories, and should also pay close attention to the stories that their children relay to them that they have been exposed to.

Children are heavily influenced by their peers, and when it comes to the occult, those who are involved in such a religious foundation may begin to recruit during the fall when Halloween draws near. One of the methods of recruitment includes the telling of Halloween ghost stories to draw an interest and appeal to the peers who they are attempting to recruit.

When we think of the occult, we may get an image of a demonic cult, or a religious sect that practices in secret. This is basically what an occult is. The actual meaning of the word actually is geared toward that which is "done in secret", or "is kept hidden", and even has been described as "dark and ominous" in certain situations. Individuals who are part of these organizations believe that they are able to contact various types of "spirits", "ghosts" – these may be described as "pure", or those of the "light".

However, many are often described as "demonic" in nature due to the fact that these are the spirits that can awaken a soul to the world and offer power, and other advantages to the individual that is in contact with them. These are some of the popular types of Halloween ghost stories that are spoken in the time of the Wiccan New Year, or "Halloween" as most westerners know it.

There are several different types of occult practices. Then, there are those sects that experiment with a number of these practices in order to explore their spiritual path. These practices may include, but are not limited to:

1. The telling of fortunes
2. Witchcraft practices
3. Described as "Spiritualism"
4. Paganism
5. Satanism
6. Elemental
7. Tarot practices
8. Ouija Board practices
9. Casting of spells
10. Skyclad practices

During the fall, when Halloween ghost stories are being told from one person to another, it is essential that you know and understand the potential for occult recruitment – especially when it involves your children. In turn, you should be comfortable in expressing the dangers associated with involvement in these types of religious sects with your child.

It is essential to remember that not all children join these types of occults in an effort to contact the dead, receive spiritual wisdom from those in the spiritual world, or to bring evil into their lives, most do so based on peer pressure. Knowledge is essential when it comes to avoiding occult recruitment with the use of Halloween ghost stories