Man Survives Being Pulled Through Tiny Gap

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 14:59:00 +0000

A factory worker says he is lucky to be alive after being dragged through a 5in gap in machinery that left him with serious injuries.

Matthew Lowe, 25, had his back broken in two places, his pelvis shattered, both hips and several ribs fractured and his stomach and bowel ruptured.

While he was going through the gap, measuring the size of a CD case, the only sound he heard was his right arm snapping.

Now, two years after the event, the father-of-one's only visible sign of injury is a weakened right arm.

"I still don't know how I didn't die," Mr Lowe, from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, said.

"As the machine dragged me through I just relaxed because I knew I couldn't do anything and I thought that was the end for me."

I never felt pain, the only thing I felt was my arm snap - and then it was over in seconds

Matthew Lowe

He added: "I felt the machine grab me and at that point I knew something serious was going to happen.

"I never felt pain, the only thing I felt was my arm snap - and then it was over in seconds."

Astonishingly, the machine eventually deposited him on the floor with his clothes in tatters.

He said he remembered lying on the floor, trying to breathe, and being determined not to leave his young daughter Evie growing up without a father.

"I just thought, I’ve got to get through this for my little girl, she can't grow up without a dad, so I just lay there and did my best."

It was then that the pain hit him and other workers raced to help him after hearing his screams.

He was rushed to hospital where surgeons initially stabilised him and later operated.

In all, he spent a month in hospital and had to have six operations to pin his broken limbs back together again.

Mr Lowe, who was working at Compass Engineering's factory at Barugh near Barnsley - the firm he had joined as a school leaver - is now back at work at the company and training to be a site supervisor.

The company is due before magistrates in Barnsley to answer allegations over health and safety.

City haunt seeks peace from ghosts

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:27:00 +0000

A SPOOKY restaurant in the Capital has called in a medium so diners can be left in peace.

Staff at the Grain Store restaurant on Victoria Street have been plagued by strange noises late at night and have had complaints from customers about ghostly experiences in the dining room.

Kitchen pans were moved about and visitors claimed a spirit was living in the toilet.

Restaurateur Paul McPhail decided to take the unusual step of consulting a psychic.Kimba Syng was called in to check out the spooky goings-on and claimed there were three ghosts living in the 200-year-old building. "We had one waitress who couldn?t be there on her own because she could feel there was someone else in the building," said Mr McPhail. "We also had a customer who was sitting having dinner with her husband. When he left the table to go to the toilet, she felt something pulling her towards the wall." Ms Syng, 42, spoke to two men and a woman - who she says all died more than 100 years ago. "There was one man who I don?t think was a very nice person, another who was very friendly and a woman who lives in the bathrooms and just wants to keep the toilets clean," she said.

"I don?t think any of them mean any harm. I asked them to stay away when the restaurant is open so as not to scare the customers."

North Berwick and the brew of tortured witches

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:21:00 +0000

WHAT happened on Halloween 1590 in North Berwick is up for debate. What is certain is that the fragments of evidence handed down through centuries is a witches' brew of intrigue.

Some 200 witches met in Saint Andrew's Auld Kirk to raise the devil to help them kill the King. Or, it was on that day that King James VI said a witches coven assembled to conjure up a storm to drown him and his new wife Anne of Denmark as they sailed up the Firth of Forth to Leith. Whether it was true that witches gathered to plot his doom is debatable, but it was enough evidence for King James, who saw his top two fears made clear: treason and witchcraft.

Saint Andrew's Auld Kirk, North Berwick, as it appears today.

When the alleged witches confessed under extreme torture a gruesome tale emerged. One accused claimed their horned master had commanded them to open up four graves and remove toe, finger and knee joints from the corpses. They told of throwing a dead cat with the organs of a corpse into the sea in order to raise the storm. Accounts of the confession of Agnes Sampson describe a black mass in the church with dancing, prayers, incantations and black candles.

Another so-called witch, Dr John Fian (also known as Cunningham), was a local schoolmaster. The good doctor revealed in his confession that he carried mole's feet as a talisman and that he kissed the devil's behind as he worshipped him. He further alleged that the devil was in fact Francis Stuart, 5th Earl of Bothwell, and that they had been commanded by Bothwell to make a wax image of the King and chant over it: "This is Jamie the Saxth, orderit tae be consumed be a noble man."

To James VI, a devout Calvinist, it all seemed frighteningly plausible, as his ship had almost capsized on his way back from Denmark. Bothwell was James's cousin and his family had been contenders to the throne for three generations. Convinced of his narrow escape he personally presided over the trials of the North Berwick witches. In doing so he helped to legitimise the anti-witch sentiment, which sparked off a wave of similar trials throughout Scotland during the 16th and 17th century.

The newly reformed church also played a central role in whipping up this fever. Accusations of witchcraft could be made anonymously by leaving a note in a box, and the church handed over their information to the authorities. Records show that at least 3,837 people were accused of witchcraft in Scotland. It is not known how many were put to death; it could be between 60 to 70 per cent of this number. The vast majority was women. Many suffered excruciating torture. A terrible number were strangled and their bodies burnt.

Yet Dr Julian Goodare, who helped set up the Survey of Scottish Witchcraft Database at Edinburgh University, remains unconvinced that the North Berwick coven actually happened.

"Whether the meeting really took place I doubt," says Goodare. "There are so many incredible elements to it that it looks like the invention of people under torture."

Today's sleepy North Berwick holds little reminder of these tragic times, apart from a small "witches' stane" - a rough stone left in nearby Spott that commemorates those who died. People undoubtedly remain fascinated by the stories of the witches. Roy Pugh, a local historian based in Dunbar, wrote The Deil's Ain, a history of witchcraft in Scotland.

Roy stresses that witches could be anyone that found disfavour in the community, and were just ordinary individuals who became scapegoats in difficult times. "Fishing villages are very superstitious places and in rural areas with uneducated people, if there was no obvious reason for your chickens not laying or your calf dying, then you made one up.

"The most common indictment for witchcraft was whose turn is it to clean the stair or rake the dung heap. They would argue and one would say 'the devil curse you'. Later a child (of the person cursed) might fall sick and the church would be told what had happened."

The incredible confessions that came out of people still challenge historians today. Defendants would speak of flying through the air or changing into an animal using their spells, and they confessed to making a pact with the devil. Most agree that these admissions were the product of horrific torture instruments, such as the witch's bridle, a padlocked frame, which fitted over the head with a sharpened crucifix inside the mouth. Defendants were also deprived of sleep - often for weeks - before trial. However, there is also a general consensus that not all of the confessions were made up, but rather the people involved may have had herb-lore or practiced superstitious rites.

Despite these rational explanations, even today there are signs that people continue to believe in the power of witches. As a child, Roy says he was told to leave a coin on the witch stane, and often when he passes someone has left a small offering.

A small, present-day reminder of the Halloween that shook Scotland more than 400 years ago.

Priest bids to count ghost out

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:18:00 +0000

THEY may be more used to dealing with superannuation than the supernatural, but a Scottish financial advice firm has been forced to call in a priest after being targeted by a suspected ghost.

Several of the 40 staff at Alan Steel Asset Management in Linlithgow say they have witnessed an elderly man wandering around or heard a male voice when no-one is there, and books have fallen off shelves.

They say such incidents have become more frequent in recent months, which is why Alan Steel, the company chairman, brought in a local historian and a priest, believing an exorcism could be the answer.

The firm is built on the site of a former explosives factory which produced dynamite.

During the First World War there was an explosion at the Nobel factory, and two women workers and the foreman are thought to have been killed. Staff think the poltergeist may be the ghost of the foreman.

Leslie Dick, Mr Steel's personal assistant, said: "I was typing the code into the keypad to open the main office door and heard a man saying, 'Excuse me' - but no-one was there. Another time books had fallen off a shelf and been scattered around the office."

Receptionist Elaine Henderson said: "I can definitely feel a presence when I'm sitting in reception - not a nasty one, but something is there."

Local historian, Bruce Jamieson, and the priest visited the office and spoke to staff yesterday afternoon.

They were unable to confirm if there is a presence but will review the situation in a month before deciding whether or not to refer the mystery to someone who can perform an exorcism.

Mr Steel said: "I think it could be the ghost of the bull market. I haven't checked with the Financial Services Authority to check if my ghost is compliant."

In recent years, Scotland has become a centre for psychologists attempting to explain what causes people to report paranormal experiences.

Last year a team launched a massive experiment to investigate Mary King's Close in Edinburgh, the notorious scene of reported hauntings.

Ghost-hunters left in the dark by TV show that never happened

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:13:00 +0000

VOLUNTEERS who took part in a TV ghost-hunt in one of the Capital's most haunted places claim they've been duped.

Around 40 fans of the paranormal paid £100 each to take part in the filming of Chamber of Fear, set in the city's Blair Street vaults.

The group, who took up the challenge after reading a newspaper advert, were locked in the vault overnight on April 29th.

The event organiser, Global Challenge TV, claimed the programme had been sold to a cable TV channel and participants were promised their money back if it was not screened.

Volunteers say they were told the £100 was to cover administration costs and were promised a commemorative T-shirt and DVD in addition to their five minutes of fame.

Craig McLaren, a joiner from Haymarket, said the programme has not been aired and promises of a refund from Global Challenge TV had not materialised.

He said: "I've always been interested in the paranormal and the advert sounded really interesting so I called the number.

"It was a case of killing two birds with one stone for me as it was a chance to be on TV and find out more about ghosts."

Around 20 of the volunteers were from Edinburgh and the rest were from England.

The two groups were kept in separate parts of the vaults and it is understood the people from south of the Border paid an extra £300 to cover transport and accommodation.

Mr McLaren, 26, continued: "If I'd known that all we'd have been doing is sitting in the vaults then I would have saved a fortune and just gone on the regular tour.

"I think everyone is really frustrated because we were told it was going on television and all I want is my money back."

A film crew and TV presenter were on hand for the "fright night" and some of the volunteers claim to have experienced strange lights and movements during the night-time vigil.

"The whole thing is a joke and I honestly feel we were conned," said Sharon Thompson, 35, of Port Seton.

"We were told one woman didn't want to be in the film so they were waiting to edit her out but I think it was just another line they were feeding us to keep us off their back.

"We feel that we've been ripped off by Global Challenge and £100 is not a small amount of money to lose."

Claire Palmer, head of events at Mercat Tours, the firm who hired the vaults to Global Challenge TV, said Mercat hadn't been paid for the hire of the vaults.

She said: "I've been chasing them for months but I can't seem to pin them down and I've had contestants on the phone to me trying to find them as well."

Global Challenge TV used to be known as Record Breakers and is owned by Somerset businessman Gary Knight.

Mr Knight was investigated by the Charity Commission last year following complaints that Record Breakers had misled people raising money for charity through the firm's adventure challenges. The Commission found that Record Breakers did not have the right to handle charitable funds and the business later closed down.

A Charity Commission spokeswoman said: "We understand that Gary Knight has decided to close down Record Breakers and has established a new company called Global Challenge Television Limited.

"He has informed us that he will not be supporting any charities in the challenges Global Challenge Television organises."

The Evening News attempted to contact Mr Knight but all of the telephone numbers for Global Challenge TV no longer appear to be in use.

Whitley Bay home struck by ghostly goings-on

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:10:00 +0000

IF your house is haunted, who ya gonna call?

A ghostbuster, of course.

And that?s just what Fay Searl did after getting spooked in her new home.

The 33-year-old bought her house in Whitley Bay a year ago but only moved in this February after renovation work had been carried out.

Since then Fay and lodger Emily Keethlo, 20, have witnessed a series of strange goings on in the three-bedroomed town house which dates back to 1897.

These include:

:: Things moving around the kitchen of their own accord

:: Items being flung to the floor

:: Loud unexplained noises

:: The DVD machine turning itself off

:: A feeling of being watched

:: The radio changing channels

:: Lights flickering

:: Strange marks appearing on the walls

:: An apparition of a dog seen in one of the bedrooms.

Fay decided to call in Gateshead ghostbuster Suzanne Hadwin to find out if her home really was haunted.

Psychic Suzanne hit the headlines in February when she was paid by Easington Council to use her psychic talents at the home of a mum-of-two being plagued by an evil presence.

Fay said: ?It doesn?t happen all the time. Most of the activity happens when I have done any major works or decorating to the house.

?It?s a very run-down house and I?m currently doing a lot of works and improvements. The house stood empty for about a year before I moved in. I don?t feel scared. The presence isn?t threatening or violent.

?I do feel like something has happened in the house though.?

who has carried out exorcisms for families across the North East, said the activity is typical of what she sees when called in to people?s homes.

She says: ? Most hauntings are not poltergeists but are spirits who want to make themselves heard.

?When I am doing a haunting, as a medium, I normally get a connection to a trauma, to how someone has passed over to the other side.?

Suzanne, who had no prior knowledge of what was happening in the house, turned on her psychic powers to try and discover who or what was spooking Fay and Emily.

Walking into all rooms in the house it wasn?t long before she started to pick up a presence. Cold spots in the house, where the ghostbuster believes she picked up paranormal activity, were the hallway, dining room, spare bedroom and an old pantry cupboard in the kitchen.

In the hall Suzanne, who has a shop in Felling High Street, said: ?I do feel there is a lot of paranormal activity in the hall. I get a shed of tears, some disaster has happened here. There is a connection to military here, to an Army man. I feel someone has committed suicide in this house and their energy still walks.?

In the dining room: ?I feel something really bad in here. What I am picking up mainly is how they have died. The trauma, the horrible atmosphere, the choking sensation I am getting here. I feel like someone is grabbing hold of my throat and pulling me. It?s a very, very cold room. I feel like I need to close the door and leave this room alone. I do get a suicide here, someone who has been really depressed.?

Upstairs in the house, Suzanne continued to pick up a ghostly presence. She said: ?I get a lot of paranoia. I get a young gentleman. He doesn?t want to go back so he decided to end his own life. I get a connection to a war. I put it down to around about 1911-1913.?

In Fay?s bedroom, Suzanne said: ?There is a young gentleman in the room.?

After the experience, the medium said: ?I do get this man?s ghost here but I don?t feel they will come to any harm. There are things that go bump in the middle of the night but they wouldn?t harm them. I get a connection to two spirits.?

A shocked Fay revealed she had discovered that the year before she bought her new home a man had committed suicide in the house and he had been depressed and suffering from schizophrenia.

Fay, who has captured orbs, believed to be ghosts, on photographs she has taken in the house, said: ? I am surprised how much Suzanne picked up. It now makes sense. The ghost isn?t threatening me, I am quite happy to leave things as they are for now but I will give Suzanne a call if anything changes.?

Ghostly goings-on at Leeds museum

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:07:00 +0000

GHOST hunters are heading for Leeds to team up with the award-winning, multi-ghost haunted, Thackray Medical Museum.

The overnight event on July 26, between 7pm and 2am, features a special 'haunted history' tour of the building detailing real-life experiences from the museum's history.

Spooky sightings at the museum include a ghost of a woman known as the 'grey lady' in 19th century clothing seen waving to staff on the second floor, and the ghost of a man in a white coat seen by visitors around the recreation of the museum's Victorian Street.

Workhouse

The museum, which sits next to St James's Hospital and opposite Beckett Street Cemetery, is on the site of the former Leeds Union Workhouse founded in 1858 and which was once hit by a typhus epidemic that killed many people. It later became a geriatric unit.

The ghost hunt is being organised by paranormal events specialist Fright Nights.

Martin Jeffrey, director of Fright Nights, said: "We are very excited about our first ever paranormal investigation in Leeds and couldn't wish for a better venue than the historic Thackray Museum."

The museum, which was converted from hospital accommodation in 1997, includes a real life Victorian Street complete with sounds and smells, and operating theatre.

Alan Humphries, a librarian, said of the paranormal activity around the museum: "I've been working here for nearly 20 years and it can be rather spooky late at night ? it certainly has an atmosphere."

Ghostly goings on at The Mount

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:01:00 +0000

Ghostly goings on are "mounting" at this Orrell restaurant - The Mount on Orrell Road, the family home of Abraham Guest, who is remembered in the name of a local school, has over the years been host to a variety of businesses, from a nightclub to a Berni Inn.

But last month it was shaken to its foundations when psychic David Williams announced the ghost of its architect was haunting the restaurant's Rivington Room.

For function manager Carole Swift, the revelation comes as no surprise.
After more than 20 years working at the Mount, she has heard more than her fair share of tales of the supernatural, including her own. Carole said: "I remember one night I was in the hall, waiting for a lift home from one of the managers, when I caught a figure out of the corner of my eye on the stairs. I told her to hurry up but she was still in the office.

"Another time I was talking to a manager across the landing when he just ran from where he was standing, shouting someone had just walked behind him, but there was no-one there.

"It's not just staff either. I remember, some years ago, a lady bringing her wedding pictures in to show us a black shadow standing behind her on the stairs. Other members of staff have heard a little girl running around the place laughing."

Ghostly goings on of a spirited girl!

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:58:00 +0000

By night things could not be more different.
The Hartlepool woman has travelled the length of the country taking part in ghost tours and exorcisms and is also developing her skills as a medium.
Nikki admits to being scared by some of the things she has experienced.
But her inquisitive nature and demand for answers leads her to investigate paranormal activity.
"I am a firm believer in the paranornal because I have had too much proof," Nikki told the Mail.
"By nature I am a sceptical person. But when you see things with your own eyes, such as candles flipping over for no reason, it does confirm your beliefs."
Nikki has always been interested in historic places and her relatives were known to tell the odd spooky tale when she was growing up.
But it was when she went on her first ghost tour in Hull that her interest in the afterlife really took off.
She said: "When I was younger I was really interested in the paranormal.
"My mother and grandmother used to tell stories and it is something that has always fascinated me.
"I had a friend who was running ghost tours. So I went along to one to see what it was all about. It was terrifying at first but it just fuelled my interest."
Nikki, who lives on the Headland, has since been on around 20 ghost tours, visiting some of the most haunted places in the country and experiencing ghostly activity first-hand.
But it is in her native Hartlepool that her paranormal experiences are at their most intense.
Nikki is part of a small group that regularly organise seances at the Heugh Gun Battery and lead ghost walks around the Headland, discussing many of the myths and legends of the historic part of town and trying to make contact with the spirit world.
"There are quite a lot of spirits at the battery, adds Nikki, who works as a teaching assistant at Owton Manor Primary School.
"There is one female ghost. But the majority of them are soldiers who lost their lives during the war. They regularly make themselves known to us.
"The Headland is such an historic place. We literally find a ghost on every corner.
"On the ghost tours we tell people what has supposed to have been seen at certain points. There have been quite a few instances when people have seen things for themselves.
"A young girl, a policeman, a prostitute and a dancer are some of the well known ghosts in the area."
The growing reputation of Nikki and her team has led numerous people to contact them to carry out exorcisms.
She has been involved in around a dozen, several of them in Hartlepool.
They are carried out on buildings and places rather than people and are not as spooky as you would imagine.
"With exorcisms people will call us up if they have a problem," said Nikki.
"A lot of people think we will come in and get the job done straight away but it is a lengthy process.
"It is a matter of conversing with the spirits and asking them to leave. Some will move on, others don't want to go.
"We have a rule that we never tell people exactly what goes on in an exorcism. It can be dangerous and we don't want people to go off and try it themselves.
"However, exorcisms are a lot more down to earth than people think. It is not about lighting loads of candles and trying to create a spooky atmosphere."
Nikki's out of work activities are taking up more and more of her time and she is currently enhancing her skills as a medium in order to get closer to the spirit work.
It is an interest that a lot of people can be sceptical about. Yet Nikki is always happy to talk about what she does.
She added: "At first I thought people would think 'oh my God' but most people are really interested and I get a positive reaction when I tell them what I do. It is always a good way to get a conversation going."
To find out more about Nikki's ghost tours and exorcisms then visit www.exorcisms.co.uk

Scientists have been unable to cause a ghost

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:58:00 +0000

Researchers have been unable to link the impact on the people of electromagnetic fields and infrasound with the advent of "Ghosts effect." The group of psychologists in Goldsmitskom College, of which informs the site BoingBoing, calculated in a way to reproduce the feeling like visiting houses with ghosts, and the task was successfully completed. Visitors to a specially built room felt the presence of foreign, strange smells and concerns. Only one detail troubled experimenters, to publish the results in the journal Cortex - all of these symptoms were not related to the inclusion of emitters.

The processing of results has not been able to identify reliable according to the appearance of unusual sensations from including installation. According to scientists, most likely occurred self. Participating in the study, people were expecting something unusual and beyond any random stimulus led to the emergence of typical houses with ghosts "effects.

The only thing it could find the correlation is the level of predisposition to epilepsy. The test, which he proposed clinical oprosnike mentioned items showing increased activity temporal lobe brain showed "the effect of bringing" more often. According to psychiatrists, anomalous (and actors experiment were healthy people) is the activity the temporal cortex may be related to hallucinations.

'Soldier ghost' caught on camera

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:55:00 +0000

The group now plan to research the area's Roman history

A group of amateur film-makers believe they may have proof that ghosts really do exist after one of them caught something strange on camera.

George Gunn said he captured pictures of a ghostly apparition while out walking along a footpath in Outwood, near Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

Mr Gunn, a member of Outwood Community Video Club, said he thought the figure looked like that of a Roman soldier.

He said he had heard tales of ghosts being seen in the area.

But he added: "I still don't believe in them."

'Something peculiar'

The apparition appears to be still in the footage, but fades momentarily as two people jog through it.

Mr Gunn did not notice the figure until he reviewed his film later in the day.

Mr Gunn said: "I've had the camera for quite a while now and I have never had any problems with lighting or sun glare or anything like that.

"There is something peculiar about it."

Mike Hooley, who is also a member of the video club, said: "George rang me up and said: 'Do you believe in ghosts?'

"I said 'no' and I still don't but when I saw the film I was quite amazed really."

Members of the video club are now planning to do their own research into whether there were any Roman settlements in the area.

Players shrug off ghost sighting

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:33:00 +0000

Australian cricketers are refusing to be spooked despite the sighting of a ghost at their hotel on the eve of their match against England.

Media manager Belinda Dennet said she saw a shadowy figure outside her window at the Lumley Castle Hotel, close to the Chester-le-Street ground.

Hotel management said it could be the resident ghost, Lily of Lumley, who was murdered there in the 14th century.

However the team themselves insist they are not afraid and are happy to stay.

Ms Dennet was staying in a room just off the downstairs courtyard, close to the well where the murdered Lily was thrown.

'Frequent sightings'

She said: "I was scared. I definitely saw something, a shadowy figure. It was either a ghost or someone looking through my window at 4am."

However, the fast bowler Michael Kasprowicz denied he or his team mates were frightened.

He said: "I'm not afraid. I encourage any ghost out there to come and see me. Please come and say g'day, and we will sit down and have a beer or coffee and talk things through."

John Dobbs, the hotel's operations director, said the ghost had been sighted frequently in the past.

"Lily was the first wife of Sir Ralph Lumley. While he was away she was murdered by two priests who threw her body down a well, but she keeps coming back and visiting our guests and staff.

"However, I'm sure there's no ghosts in Australia. They don't have castles there."

Files released on UFO sightings

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:30:00 +0000

Secret files on UFO sightings have been made available for the first time by the Ministry of Defence.

The documents, which can be downloaded from the National Archives website, cover the period from 1978 to 1987.

They include accounts of strange lights in the sky and unexplained objects being spotted by the public, armed forces and police officers.

One man explained in great detail his "physical and psychic contact" with green aliens since he was a child.

The writer said that one of them, called Algar, was killed in 1981 by another race of beings as he was about to make contact with the UK government.

The letter's author said he visited their bases in the Wirral and Cheshire, while his wife reported seeing a UFO shot down over Wallasey on Merseyside.

The eight released files are part of almost 200 files set to be made available over the next four years.

These documents will be available to download for free for the first month.

A spokesman for the National Archives said they were now becoming available after several requests made under the Freedom of Information Act, and also because of a "proactive move by the Ministry of Defence for an open and transparent government".

Much of the previously classified paperwork is made up of correspondence from the public sent to government officials, such as the MoD and then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

You can go. You are too old and too infirm for our purpose

Reported alien comment to pensioner

Another document reveals the experiences of a 78-year-old man who alleged that he met an alien beside Basingstoke Canal in Aldershot, Hampshire in 1983.

He said he went on board the craft, giving a detailed explanation of it, before being quizzed by the aliens about his age.

He was then told: "You can go. You are too old and too infirm for our purpose."

'Britain's Roswell'

Another letter, from the director of a group called the Wigan Ariel Phenomena Investigation Team, asks the MoD if it had a code of practice for dealing with an alien invasion.

A further document reveals how, on 21 February 1982, a group of customers and staff at a Tunbridge Wells pub reported an unknown object with green and red flashing lights - seen heading in the direction of Gatwick airport.

There are some reports from more official sources. The United States Air Force filed a report about two USAF policemen who saw "unusual lights outside the back gate at RAF Woodbridge" in Suffolk in December 1980.

Let me assure this House that Her Majesty's government has never been approached by people from outer space

Government briefing to House of Lords

This relates to the well-known incident of an alleged alien encounter at Rendlesham Forest, dubbed "Britain's Roswell" after the supposed contact made with aliens at Roswell in the United States.

Several drawings are visible in the files from those keen to demonstrate what they had seen.

One such sketch was made by Metropolitan Police officers, who were called out to a house in Stanmore in the London Borough of Harrow on 26 April, 1984.

Three officers spent an hour observing the object in the sky, which "moved erratically from side to side, up and down and to and fro, not venturing far from the original position".

One of the Pcs, who saw the object through binoculars, described it as "circular in the middle with what appeared to be a dome on top and underneath" with different coloured lights.

Common explanations

Visitors to the National Archives site will also find a videocast from Nick Pope, a British UFO specialist.

Mr Pope picked out one incident where a UFO was spotted over central London.

A sketch of a UFO, made by a Metropolitan Police officer

"This is a very interesting illustration that, actually, UFOs are seen in built-up areas. People have this idea they're seen in desolate, rural places.

"There's a sighting actually on Waterloo bridge, when a number of witnesses actually stopped to look at this UFO that was seen over the Thames."

Mr Pope said the most common explanation for UFOs were aircraft lights, bright stars and planets, satellites, meteors, or airships.

A detailed briefing is available within the files, which was prepared by the MoD for Lord Strabolgi, then government chief whip, for a debate on UFOs in the House of Lords in January 1979.

The briefing said that "there is nothing to indicate that UFOlogy is anything but claptrap" and that the idea of an "inter-governmental conspiracy of silence" was "the most astonishing and the most flattering claim of all".

Newsnight's report on UFO sightings - and crop circles

The briefing goes on to say: "Let me assure this House that Her Majesty's government has never been approached by people from outer space."

Also available on the website is a podcast from Dr David Clarke, an expert in UFO history, discussing the files.

Dr Clarke, who is a lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, told the BBC's Radio 4 Today programme that conspiracy theories about aliens are "very difficult to disprove".

He said: "I doubt the disclosure of these files will convince those who believe there is an official cover-up.

"Inevitably, some have already dismissed this release as a whitewash. For them the 'truth' still remains out there, hidden no doubt in more above top secret files hidden somewhere else

UK Museum gives up the ghost

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:26:00 +0000

Security cameras pictured a white ghost-like apparition (on right)

A city council believes it may have proof that ghosts really do exist after something strange was caught on film at a Victorian museum.

Security cameras in Belgrave Museum in Leicester appear to have captured pictures of ghostly apparitions in the grounds of the museum.

Seconds later, the white figure had gone

Curator Stuart Warburton said: "The security cameras at the back of the hall triggered off one night at about 4.50am, and then suddenly ... two figures appear on the film.

"The camera freezes for about five seconds and then the figures disappear. And then we have a mist that swirls along the top of the wall, which we cannot explain.

"The hall is haunted, there is no question about that," Mr Warburton added.

There have been supernatural sightings here before. The museum gardener, Michael Snuggs, is convinced he has seen a ghost.

"I was standing in the house and from the top of the stairs, this figure appeared and walked down the stairs.

"At the bottom, she looked through the window at the garden, and then just turned and smiled, and walked through to the kitchen," Mr Snuggs said.

Belgrave Hall, a Victorian townhouse, was originally owned by the local MP, John Ellott.

Many believe that one of his daughters is still present here now - as the ghost of Belgrave Hall.

Haunted or not, the security camera footage is now being tested as experts are determined to get to the bottom of this mystery.

Jackson 'bid to buy ghost'

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:21:00 +0000

Singer Michael Jackson is reported to be bidding on a "genuine Irish ghost trapped in a bottle".

This ghost in a bottle is for sale on eBay

The bottle, owned by retired mill worker John McMenamin from Spamount, County Tyrone, is for sale on eBay.

Since then, it has been reported in a national newspaper that an agent representing Michael Jackson is involved in the bidding.

Mr McMenamin discovered it partially cemented into a bricked-up window 25 years ago.

It is at least 100 years old and was said to be placed there by a priest following a failed exorcism.

He believes it contains the ghost of a rogue landlord who took his own life several years ago.

John McMenamin's sister, Marie Maguire, told BBC Northern Ireland's Nolan Show that her brother wanted to pass on the responsibility of owning a ghost to someone else.

Haunted home

"The bottle has black dust in it and is sealed with a page from the Bible," she said.

The McMenamins moved into the reputedly haunted mill house in Spamount in the 1950s.

"The big house we moved into was divided into three homes and we all knew it was haunted," she explained.

"The previous people wanted out and did a swap with us because of the ghost. My mother believed in getting the house blessed and the power of holy water."

Mrs Maguire said that the ghost was supposed to be that of the house's original owner who got a young girl pregnant in the 19th century. She hanged herself and local people made his life a misery. So he took his own life.

Legend has it that the hauntings started shortly after that.

She said a priest tried to exorcise the ghost, trapped it in a bottle and sealed it up in a window.

Their house was definitely haunted, she said.

"I remember, as a child, waking up, screaming that somebody was looking at me in bed.

"My brother had several experiences, as if something was coming up the bed, like a cat's paws."

When her brother told her recently that he had the bottle, she decided to put it up for sale on eBay.

"I described it as a genuine Irish ghost in a bottle. We wanted to get somebody who would treat it with respect," she said.

Mrs Maguire told BBC News Online on Friday that she could not confirm that Michael Jackson was bidding on the "ghost".

She has not been able to access the eBay on her computer - a clear case of a ghost in the machine.

Beast in the Loch

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:10:00 +0000

Neil Clark, a painter as well as the curator of paleontology at the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow, Scotland, trotted out a somewhat familiar idea in the journal of the Open University Geological Society current to early March 2006. He contends that the Loch Ness monster may have been an elephant.

He pointed out that the serpentine aspects of a noted 1934 silhouette image of Nessie (as well as other 1930s depictions) were similar to the visible portions of the hump and trunk of a swimming Indian elephant.

But why would an elephant be paddling in the cold waters of the Loch? According to CBS News, Clark described how circuses would travel the road to Inverness and allow certain animals to "swim around." Clark noted the number of Nessie sightings that took place right after 1933, when A82, the road on the side of the lake, was finished. And one sighting, by Mr. and Mrs. Spicer, which took place July 22, 1933, detailed a neck that was a bit thicker than an elephant's trunk — which is certainly an interesting comparison in the present context.

Also resonant is that the Pictish beast, which was carved on the standing stones in Scotland in antiquity, is thought by a number of scholars to have been a swimming elephant.

What big secrets are to be nosed out in the Loch?

Spooky goings-on at shop

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:03:00 +0000

Ghostly goings-on at a Lincoln fancy dress shop promise to send shivers down customers' spines.

People who pop into Jesters in the lower High Street could meet a few unexpected characters.

Owners Hazel Smith and her son James say they have heard ghostly footsteps, seen a hand appear through a wall and seen the ghosts of two children.

Mr Smith said: "About a year ago, I saw a hand slide through he wall, push a hanging costume and leave it swinging backwards and forwards."

Employee Will Evans (19), from Plover Grove, Birchwood, Lincoln, has experienced spooky goings-on.

"One day I took my sister Kiah (five) up to the top floor, then nipped down again for something," he said.

"She started really, really screaming. I rushed back up and she was staring into space.

"Back downstairs, she said she had seen two children."

The ghostly figures were wearing Victorian garments.

The Smiths may be shaken, but they are not stirred to take action.

Mrs Smith said the "intruders" are mischievous, rather than anything else.

For more spooky stories, see Saturday's Echo, if you dare.

Oi! I'm talking to you, fish face!

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 17:50:00 +0000

A shark, blue water ? and a disembodied HUMAN HEAD.

Emma Place, 21, took this eerie photo on her phone at Hull?s £53million attraction The Deep.

Boffins at the aquarium admit they are baffled by the appearance of the man?s face, which appears to be gawping up at a shark

Dentistry student Emma, of Doncaster, only spotted the ghoulish face when she arrived home.

She said: ?My boyfriend said, ?what?s that?? I replied, ?it?s a shark?.

Spooky

?He said, ?no, the face.? I was like, oh my God! It actually looks quite spooky.

?I?m easily freaked-out.?

Although Emma?s dad Alan, 48, was stood next to her in the glass tunnel, she insists he looks nothing like the man in the photo.

Bosses have spent hours searching CCTV footage, which confirmed the pair were the only ones inside the tunnel.

And they have even tried to recreate conditions in the tunnel where the reflection could appear, but with no success.

The aquarium ? on the banks of the Humber estuary ? was built on the site of an isolation hospital, where smallpox victims were held.

It?s not the first time ghostly goings-on have been reported.

A night watchman claims to have spotted a shadowy figure in the TimeLine, which charts the history of the world?s oceans.

Colin Brown, chief executive of The Deep, said: ?We are a scientific centre and we?re sure there must be a logical explanation.

"It?s just that we can?t find it.

"There must be some sort of optical illusion or reflection of images between the window, but we cannot figure out how it has been done.?

Ghost in the Big Brother House

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 17:42:00 +0000

After a night of one kind of bump in the night, it seems like things are going bump in the day too. Spookily, the housemates' dinnerware started to move of it's own accord...

"Look at it!" screeched Chanelle to her housemates.

"That plate is moving," agreed Sam, looking like she feared for her life.

"That is moving," added level-headed Tracey, though she was more bemused than afraid.

"Oh my god!" screamed Sam, "there's a ghost in the Big Brother House. Oh my god, I'm dead scared Chanelle."

"It just keeps moving," whispered Chanelle, barely able to draw breath and wondering if she could save her marmite on toast.

"Oh my god, don't touch it Carole," she shrieked.

"It's wet and it's stuck on a vacuum," said Carole flatly, explaining away the ghostly goings-on in a flash.

"That scared the hell out of me," whimpered Sam...

Could there be some tension surfacing? Geddit?

'Spooky' skin book on the block

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 17:37:00 +0000

A book alleged to be bound in the skin of a Jesuit priest executed over the 1605 Gunpowder Plot is due to be sold at auction.

The macabre lot, deemed "a bit spooky" by the auctioneer, has the mysterious image of a face on the cover, said to be that of Father Henry Garnet.

Auctioneer Sid Wilkinson of Doncaster said the face shows the haunting presence of a man falsely accused.

The book, dating from 1606, is expected to fetch several thousand pounds.

'Large eyes'

Mr Wilkinson said the book - wordily entitled 'A True and Perfect Relation of The Whole Proceedings against the Late most barbarous Traitors, Garnet a Jesuit and his Confederats' - has not been subjected to DNA testing.

But, the auctioneer said, there is very good reason to believe the cover is human skin.

"It's conjecture, but it's also quite good conjecture as these books are known to exist," Mr Wilkinson said of the eerie binding.

Other examples of human skin bindings exist at Harvard University and several medical texts are also bound in the same material.

It is said to look like Henry Garnet, who is believed to have had rather large eyes and it is a bit spooky

Sid Wilkinson, auctioneer

"Actually up until the 19th century, books were being bound in human skin," he said.

The strange wrinkling of the cover that forms the face of a man remains the greater mystery, Mr Wilkinson said.

"It is said to look like Henry Garnet, who is believed to have had rather large eyes and it is a bit spooky. It doesn't seem to be manufactured in any way," he said, adding that he could not rule out the chance that it was "a pure coincidence of wrinkling over time".

Execution

Henry Garnet was accused of treason as part of the 5 November 1605 Gunpowder Plot, although evidence suggests that while he knew of the plans, he urged the Catholic conspirators not to resort to violence.

Garnet's knowledge of the failed plot to kill King James I by bombing the opening of Parliament came via another priest who heard it in confession and he was therefore bound to silence.

The cover of the book appears to bear the image of a human face

Mr Wilkinson said there are tales of the priest's image appearing elsewhere, including in the straw collected from the basket where the priest's head was placed after his execution in May 1606.

Mr Wilkinson, who specialises in early oak furniture, said no guide price has been set for the book, as it is such a rare lot.

"We have nothing to compare it to but judging by all the interest that's been created I think we could see it sell in the low thousands," he said, adding a film script on Garnet's life is reportedly in the works.

The auctioneers came across the book while cataloguing furniture for a wider sale due to take place Sunday.