As Halloween creeps nearer, the veil between the spirit realm and reality begins to thin, and people start to prepare for the old Pagan festival, most deciding to dress up and go out to trick or treat, while very few decide to explore the more paranormal side.
Deep diving into the world of spiritual importance on Saturday the 26th of October is a group called Ghostly Gatherings.
They hosted a spooktacular evening filled with spiritual encounters at the Old Mallard Harvester in Hemel Hempstead to spread awareness of the other realm that co-exists within our own.
Ghostly Gatherings is an organisation that explores locations known for their paranormal activities.
The Mallard Harvester was originally known as a posting house, with census records dating back to 1851.
The posting house was an inn where up to 7 horses could be stabled for renting purposes.
The place was converted to The Railway Hotel which was run by the Dunning family between 1855 and 1912.
It is now a Harvester.
In past investigations, the building where this Hotel once was has been proven to be active with EMF metres going off.
Staff have also reported strange occurrences from hand dryers going off randomly to CCTV footage of someone in the carpark disappearing without a trace.
I decided to attend this event to document the findings and bring to light the potential realm that co-exists with our own.
The night started at 7:30 pm, with guests arriving at the Harvester, the atmosphere was buzzing with excitement as a warm welcome was brewing in the air.
I was greeted by Emma, a psychic medium with years of experience in all things paranormal and the leader of this investigation.
She gave me a brief explanation of what would happen during the night before showing me to the reserved section at the bar where the buffet would be served to guests.
The area was decorated with various Halloween decorations to set the mood.
8 pm arrived and guests were offered a buffet filled with various foods ranging from chicken breast goujons to spicy crackerjack prawns.
The food was delicious and received many compliments; various fruits and desserts were also laid out.
During this time, I interviewed Jackie, one of the members of the Ghostly Gatherings team, about some key information which may be needed during the night.
I was introduced to various equipment such as EMF readers, Cat balls, dowsing rods etc. She informed me about how the last time an investigation took place in the Harvester, old piano music could be heard being played despite the fact a piano was not present.
Ouija boards also played a vital role during their investigation, with a woman's grandfather coming through and being able to recall specific details only known to them.
I asked her about how we can confirm that the spirit realm exists she described how the spirit world worked on high frequencies and vibrations while our reality was on a low vibration, and by using high-pitched sounds and various equipment, we can attempt to contact spirits on the other side.
She stated, "We can never know until we go to the spirit world as well".
With this information in mind, we set off.
The first room was a small meeting room with a round table positioned in the middle.
Various EMF readers were placed in the middle, and an Ouija board was ready for use.
Cat balls were placed around the room ready to pick up any activities.
After some meditation, the EMF readers started to go off and torches were turned off, this was when questions were being asked.
A woman stated that her hands felt like they were tingling, Emma then asked if the spirit was affecting her, and all of the EMF readers flashed red.
Some Ouija boardwork took place in which we then discovered that two spirits were present in the room.
One was a young girl who we discovered was named June after a device detected the word at a high frequency, and the other was an older man named Roman.
We then ventured into the second room but were interrupted by a light turning in in the small storage room.
Upon entering, the atmosphere became colder and heavier. Everyone received chills going down their bodies as Emma felt a hand on her shoulder.
After taking a photo and inspecting it, a man's face could be seen faintly in the photo, we then tried to communicate and after receiving no feedback, everyone decided to walk back to the original room that we were in.
I was allowed to try out the Dowsing rods as a woman reported that when she used them, they kept pointing to a spot beside her.
After asking a few questions and interacting with the rods, it was confirmed that a spirit was standing on my right and was ok with using the Ouija board.
A few individuals volunteered to use the Ouija board in which we found out that the spirit communicating with me had once lived in the building with their family.
The session was then interrupted by a crash coming from the other room with a woman walking out claiming that she felt something was off and when asked out loud if anyone was there, a spray can fell on the floor.
Everyone then met back up at the Harvesters, at this point, all dining customers had left the restaurant and we had the place to ourselves.
I decided to ask around to see if anyone had experienced anything unusual.
A woman then revealed to me that during an Ouija session, her mother had come through.
She described to me how her mother had tragically passed away from breast cancer, and when interacting with her through the board, she was able to recall the exact date of her death, and birthday along with her initials and her brother's initials.
Upon hearing this information, I was shocked at how such simple equipment could be used to communicate with loved ones beyond the realm.
The hunt then continued, this time in the actual bar area of the Harvester, the group used a spirit box to try and pick up any spiritual presence.
We managed to get through to someone but decided to abandon as they kept repeating the word stop.
I was then brought out for a sage cleansing by Lucy as I started to hear my heart beating louder and was informed that my face had paled drastically.
This was when everyone decided to use the Vortex outside.
A vortex was essentially a spinning mirror with a laser pointed into the middle, smoke would be set off around and you would be able to see spirits within the light emitted.
Little did we know that the smoke flare turned out to be a firework and nearly set the wooden arch on fire.
Emma had to be extremely cautious when handling the fireworks to prevent any possible injuries.
I took a picture when the vortex went off; there is a faint face of a man that can be seen.
The group then ventured back to the building, this time choosing to investigate the pantry room which was reported by another group as being 'very active'.
Upon entering, the temperature in the room drastically dropped and had to be lit up with torches as it was pitch black.
Scrying was the first thing on the list, guests would stand in from of a mirror with a light shining up towards their faces.
It was believed that if a spirit was to stand in front of you, their appearance would reflect onto you and appear in the mirror.
Many guests tried this and the same result appeared; a man's face who had small white eyes with a large bottom lip, he appeared to have a beard and glasses.
Suddenly, the device detected the word Norman.
This was when the group decided to make use of the Ouija board positioned in the middle of the room.
The room was extremely active; we asked Norman if you could spell out his name for us on the board, the planchette seemed to move aimlessly around the board, and this was when a man decided to ask out loud if Norman could spell.
Immediately the device called out the word 'Yeah' confirming his presence.
He told us how he passed at the age of 22 and worked and lived in the building with 1 of his family members. He stated that there were 6 spirits present in the building who were his friends.
After this, he kept spelling out the word 'Woypz', this seemed strange until someone searched it up and German tanks appeared.
He confirmed that he was a military man who worked on tanks during 1920 for the war.
As the night was coming to an end at 1 am, everyone gathered inside the Harvester to receive a final closing prayer said by Emma.
The evening ended with lots of emotions of happiness and faith.
This would forever be a night to remember.
Ghostly Gatherings are continuing their investigations in different locations and look forward to what the future has in store for them.
They are continuing their research on what had happened on that ghostly night.
