While I still lived with my mother in Cullingworth, I became curious about the ouija board. I'd watched and read much about them. I didn't have a board but apparently all I needed were cards with the letters on which I could spread in a circle around the dining room table. My mum would go out on some evenings and I laid out the letters as planned. I took a glass and sat with my finger on it but the words wouldn't come out. I wondered if my thinking would be enough. The only rules I 'knew' was that if something came through which I needed an emergency escape from, I was to smash the glass. I'm not sure I believed this but I had nothing else to cling on to.
Eventually, under my breath I said "is anyone there?"
The glass sat.
A little louder now. "Is anybody there?"
I stayed silent for longer this time.
I would say that I didn't try for more than three minutes.
That was just another step for me though.
Maybe a week later I tried again, this time being a bit braver. Asking out louder and waiting for longer.
Still nothing.
I tried about four or five times at the very most.
When I moved to Nashville Street I managed to buy one. Of sorts.
Back then the world was full of intriguing stories such as the Loch Ness Monster and spontaneous human combustion. Make, in 2015, where are all such new tales? I've not heard of updates in decades. I suppose I'd been lucky to grow up near The Cottingley Fairies case but that had turned out to be fake. The thing with that is that, even just by looking at those photos, I thought it was fake. Let's call it a lucky guess, but I feel I had a steady mindset which could look and judge with a level of knowledge about the validity of a case I'd read or seen.
This led to the BBC showing of GHOST WATCH one Halloween. This was billed as a real 'live' investigation in a North London home which caused 'waves of panic' after it aired in 1992.
I was 18 years old at this stage and watched intently as Sarah Greene, Michael Parkinson, Craig Charles and Mike Smith broadcast from the scared families home. The thing is, from very early on, I smelled a rat. The children seemed to be acting. My opinion was going against the professionals hosting the show and the BBC itself! This couldn't be fake could it?
The story was very involved about a spirit called 'pipes'. Once PIPES had been fully fleshed out on details for the viewer to get a real sense of dread, their was a fleeting image of pipes stood against bedroom curtains or something where the camera idly panned around the room past the figure and then shot back 'live' immediately to then have no figure there.
Man, that image was effective but it only made it seem mor staged to me. When the programme started to work towards its climax and things were seemingly out of control and Michael Parkinson was in a blustery studio trying to keep broadcasting, a lone, unmanned camera was seen blowing around the studio like a random Dalek from Doctor Who. I didn't believe this for a second now and went to tell my mum that it must be a ruse and I'd called it.
"Yes dear" was probably her response but I felt vilified when it hit the news the next day.
Years later I stumbled across it on DVD and even though I knew it was fake, I bought it as it had a place in my memories and my journey. The next resurgence of haunted tv was Most Haunted and then this began a slew of paranormal shows which I lapped up and amassed a huge pile of recording filled VHS tapes.
I would enjoy programmes like QED and Horizon too which would investigate Sleep Paralysis, near death experience or other brain based oddities. It was all soaked into my brain to give me a rounded view of the paranormal and the just plain weird normal.
It was all a life long education.
No comments:
Post a Comment