An Eerie Evening

Last night (or should that be this morning?) I, along with some friends, did a ghost hunt.  When it comes to ghosts I’m quite open minded but firmly sat on the fence – I’d like to believe there is something after life, but my scientific mind won’t let me believe anything without proof.  And I think the only proof that would mean anything would be for something to happen to me.

The ghost hunt was run by Eerie Evenings at The Manor House in West Bromwich, from 9pm through to 2am the next morning.  I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, so rather than risk taking my ‘proper’ camera I took my small Samsung Galaxy Camera (and a big jumper, two torches, and some gloves – it was a chilly night).  It’s not the best in dark conditions, but a lot cheaper to fix if I dropped it in the dark!

The evening started with an introduction from the Eerie Evenings team to the twenty seven people there – and they explained they were all open minded, there’d be no tricks, and everyone should take away from the evening whatever they wanted to believe.  We then had a tour of the house, had a session with a medium, and then split up into small groups to start the vigils.  On the vigils we tried Ouija boards and table tipping, used EMF monitors and laser thermometers, and talked in order to make ‘contact’.

The Ouija boards and table tipping had limited success for us, but in all three areas we went we had EMF readings and even banging in response to questions we asked.  There were areas of the building where I felt very apprehensive and uneasy, but for the most part felt very at ease.  

The only point where I had any kind of personal experience was after the group was asking a young girl ghost called Lucy to touch me.  They’d given up and gone for a tea break, and as I was making my way out of the room I felt something touch my on my arm.  I’d say it was about the same force as when a fly or wasp flues into you.  Not quite conclusive proof, but unexplained all the same.

Other people claimed to have seen a ghost – a bearded man staring out of a window – but there were no photos. 

At the end of the evening we did a ‘human pendulum’.  Something I’ll leave you to experience for yourself if you ever do a ghost hunt.  I’m just surprised I didn’t dream about Shaun of the Dead afterwards!

I’ll definitely do another ghost hunt some time, and will take the proper camera to get some better images of the event and maybe some video too.

Wakestock 2013

Sometimes my holidays in north Wales coincide with the Wakestock wakeboarding and music festival. Wakestock is not as mainstream as the big UK festivals, like Glastonbury, Tea in the Park, or Reading and Leeds, but I’m sure no other festival is set in such a lovely location with easy access to the beaches and the sea. The Wakestock festival site is between Abersoch (where I stay when I’m in the area) and Pwllheli, and has music stages, camping, food outlets, etc. and the wakeboarding competitions happen in Pwllheli harbour and Glasfryn Parc.

I’m not into water sports, but as the festival site is a short bus ride from where I stay it’s a good opportunity to see some live music. Especially as I can do it without the need to camp! 2013 was my second Wakestock adventure, and it’s sad to say that it seems to be suffering from the poor economic conditions in the UK as the site was about half the size it was when I went a few years ago. Still, that didn’t seem stop people having fun and the atmosphere there had a real buzz.

On the Sunday when I went the headline acts were Kids in Glass Houses, Zane Lowe and Example, both acts certainly drew in the crowds. I’ve seen Zane Lowe previously and knew that his set would be really high energy and a great performance. I’d not seen Example live before, so he was a bit more of an unknown.

I only took my small Samsung Galaxy camera as I didn’t want to carry around my big camera and lenses. So the pictures aren’t the best quality, given the low light conditions. But a friendly security guard did allow me onto the sound stage for a couple of minutes to get photos from above the crowds – it’s occasional luck like that which sometimes you need as a photographer to get photos a bit different from everyone else’s. Next time I go I’d be tempted to take the big camera to get some much higher quality photos. Wakestock has a safe feeling to it so I wouldn’t be too worried about the risk. Of course, if the Wakestock organisers read this and want to give me a press pass for next year’s Wakestock I’d definitely take the big camera!