All Episodes
Previous Next
Dec. 19, 2021 - The Unexplained - Howard Hughes
01:04:24
Episode 599 - Elaine Kelly From Spectredetectors
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
Across the UK, across continental North America and around the world on the internet, by webcast and by podcast, my name is Still Howard Hughes and this is Still the Unexplained.
Hey, I hope you're doing okay if you're preparing for Christmas wherever you are in this world.
And I know it's a weird experience in the southern hemisphere where it can often be hot at Christmas time, but whether you're north or south or east or west, I hope that it's going well for you and I hope that you're going to have a great time across Christmas.
Maybe it's a time to stop and think and reflect.
Here in the United Kingdom, well, they're talking about the latest version of coronavirus and possible restrictions and we've got political problems.
My personal take on that, and I'm talking to you as a man who did news for most of his career and still watches the news and keeps an eye on it as far as I can, I just think you have to leave it to one side over this holiday period because whoever we are, all of us need a break from thinking of it.
If you think of what this two years has been like, nearly two years for people, it's put an awful lot of people, not just self-employed people, but people who are working in businesses and are employed and people who are not employed, people who are just trying to live a life.
It's put everybody under a lot of pressure, even just reading the news and thinking about it.
So I think you just have to put it to one side and forget about it.
And that's been part of the point of this show over the period where we haven't really talked very much at all about these things.
And personally, the more I do the show, the more I think it's the right thing to do.
I've had some lovely messages this last few days.
Christmas greetings, long emails from you telling me your stories of how you discovered this show and how you use it.
I love to get those emails.
You know, they keep me going.
They are my lifeblood and they help to point me in the right direction, I guess.
So, you know, those are always gratefully received.
If you haven't emailed, if you've always wanted to, you certainly can.
Please go to my website, designed and created by Adam.
Happy Christmas, Adam.
Theunexplained.tv.
Follow the link and you can send me an email from there.
Plus, of course, the website and the podcast are totally independent.
They have been for 16 years in 2022.
16 years of doing them and more than 600 hours of material now.
You know, we depend on donations.
So if you are able to, at this time of year, that would be fantastic to keep it all going and to allow me to crank it forward into 2022.
I think, but then every year is a big year, that there are a lot of decisions that I'm going to have to make about the unexplained in the new year, how it's done, and more importantly, how it's set up.
You know, the biggest thing, and it was Art Bell who told me this.
He said, buddy, he gave me a certain amount of advice, and he was the master.
You know, he said, you can't do all of this stuff yourself.
You've got to have somebody working with you.
So the way that Art worked, and of course, his was a big show.
He was on, I think, five nights a week, so it was a little different.
But he depended on a team to find and provide him with suggestions for guests.
You know, a lot of people would contact him, too.
But he depended on his team.
You know, I don't have that.
And I think it means that I have to be particularly focused about what I do.
So I need to look at that in the new year.
One of the things, though, is I've tried to keep up the quality of what we do.
So I'm not going to take, by and large, I'm not going to take, there are no rules, of course, but I'm not going to take the show down the road of self-improvement and some of the weirder stuff and herbal remedies and those sorts of things, because I don't think it's core to what we do.
I don't think it's what the show's about.
And I think if you get down to doing those things just to fill the time, then you have a problem.
And that's why, mostly, unless a guest is absolutely stunningly great, we're not going to do those things.
And we're going to stick to the things that we've done over the years.
And we're going to try, as far as I can, to do them well.
So I think that's where I'm at.
Your thoughts, like I say, always gratefully received.
Thank you for the lovely messages and the Christmas greetings.
I send those right back to you.
I hope that you have a peaceful and as happy a Christmas as you can in these circumstances.
And I wish you well for 2022.
Okay.
Guest on this edition, the last, probably the last show before Christmas, Elaine Kelly from Spectre Detectors in the Northeast.
We're going to talk about ghosts and her investigations and just kind of have a talk together, which I think is always a good thing to do.
We all need conversation.
It's a very powerful thing.
So Elaine Kelly in the Northeast coming very soon.
And to tell you the truth, I've got a couple of little bullet points here, but beyond that, when I talk to Elaine, I don't bother trying to map out precise details of a conversation.
We just do it.
When I talk to an author, and sometimes books are 500 pages long, I have to read the book and make notes on the book.
Otherwise, it goes all over the place.
But talking to Elaine, I don't do that.
I don't need to.
So I hope you enjoy this.
I think I've said everything that has to be said now.
Just to wish you all the very best from here again.
And yeah, is there anything else I need to do?
I'm looking at my list.
I'm checking it twice.
No, I think we're fine.
All right, let's get to the northeast of England and cross to my old friend and your friend, Elaine Kelly.
Elaine, how are you?
I'm not too bad.
How are you?
I'm all right.
How are you getting by, you know, in the run-up to Christmas?
Are you frantic busy or have you given up now?
Well, to be honest, I've had my last investigation because you can't expect people to give up their time and come on investigations, you know, because there's four of us and it's manic at this time of year.
So we did our last one on Friday night and that's going to be it until the middle of January.
Well, we'll talk about that one in a bit.
But when you're getting these things together, I guess, you know, I'm not a big one for planning, I have to say.
I find planning boring.
I find anything administrative boring.
How many people do you have in these teams then?
So our team, there's four of us.
So there's Hannah, Bev, Shana, and myself.
And then if we have a public event, we like intimate events.
So there's no more than 10 public go.
Kind of depends on where the venue is, obviously how much I've got to pay for the venue.
But I never, ever like a large public event because it's just, it takes away that whole intimacy.
And I like everybody to have, you know, a good experience that comes on an investigation.
But if you've got 30 people, you know, it's just doesn't work.
I hate it, it's too much like hard work.
And we all have to split up and deal with people.
I'd rather be among it all.
I'd rather see what's going on.
Yeah, because you've got to, these things, especially when you've got the public involved, you've got to keep it under control, really.
You do.
Before we launch into it all, when you do an investigation with the public, do you feel under pressure to deliver something for them?
Well, you can never obviously guarantee that anything's going to happen, but you can still make it entertaining.
I get out my best jokes.
What it is, is trying to communicate with spirit should be entertaining in itself.
So, you know, it is quite difficult to keep people from being bored.
You know, we've got various things we try.
We do table tipping and I teach them how to use the equipment.
And even things like, as daft as it seems, and you'll have seen it on the telly, those flashing cat balls.
You know, the flashing cat balls flash really bright.
Well, spirit work with them brilliantly.
So to see people's face when you put a flashing cat ball somewhere away from us and ask spirit to move it and then it flashes.
I mean, that in itself is, they just don't believe it's happening, especially when it does it on command.
Oh, that was great.
Can you do it again?
Then it does it again.
Or if something moves, you know, we do table tipping.
And I know people, not everybody believes in table tipping.
Well, I mean, let's just tell my listener, just in case my listener, I think my listener probably does, doesn't know what this is, but table tipping is where you have almost like what they used to call them, a milking stool, isn't it?
Something like that.
It looks like a little table.
Well, it depends on how you do it, but you put a bell on the top of it.
I actually use a bear.
I use a wooden in the mix.
We have an EMF detector bear, which is like a K2 meter.
Yeah.
So if spirit go near it, it can change the colours of the paws.
I find it works better with children.
Children are attracted to a teddy bear if you've got spirit children.
So what we do is we put that on the top of a table and you sit around it and you don't put your hands on heavily.
You put your fingers on very, very lightly.
The table should be able to move and your fingers stay still.
You should be able to see the table moving underneath your fingers.
Do you get what I mean?
Does that explain it properly?
Instead of actually being accused of moving it with your fingers, the table should move and your fingers are sliding across the top.
That's how it should work.
And what we do is, I don't do it because it doesn't really work for me and it kills my back because I've got sciatica and I can't.
Tell me about it.
I know about that.
Oh, I know.
So they sit around that and then we encourage the spirit to move it.
And it usually starts with a gentle breeze over the top of your fingers.
People experience that.
Then you might get a slight vibration of the table and you can feel that.
Then if you're very lucky, the table will tip onto two legs or slide across the floor or lift.
But when I've put the bear on the top and I say, come on, knock that bear off, that kind of encourages them to lift it and to make the bear go.
So I find that works.
But it's just what works for you.
Table tipping didn't work for us for a very, very long time.
It took about five years.
But it's a grey area, isn't it?
Because it is, you know, if you're talking about pushing the table over, I know you're not.
You know, you never know really.
I did it once on the radio.
And you can never be 110% certain that there isn't some other influence there.
You know, I was given a very convincing demonstration and somewhere I might have it on a sound file.
But, you know, back in, this is 2005 when I was doing some radio shows like this.
And we turned down the lights and we got the medium in.
We had the table, the bell on the top, and the lights go down and we're playing.
I didn't want to do the woo-woo music because I think it's cheesy.
But the producer thought, oh, no, that's going to get people listening.
So, all right.
We play the woo-woo underneath.
And then because of radio regulations, we couldn't actually do the bit where the medium says something.
You know, the worst form of words you can't brought.
Radio regulations in this country, I can say that because we're on a podcast now, make it very, very hard to do any kind of program like this because of all the, you know, you have to protect people, but all the caveats and safeguards you have to do.
So we went to some commercials while she did that.
Then we came back just at the crucial moment.
And of course, the table tips, the bell rings.
And I don't know.
I promised listeners that I would out the medium if I saw her push it.
I didn't.
It went.
But it's a bit of a great, it's a fascinating one to do.
We're getting into the techniques of it now, which I was going to ask you about later.
But that's interesting that you do the table tipping and you find that works for you.
Well, it doesn't really for me because it just vibrates and it's very boring.
So what I think is best, honestly, is it don't work for me.
But when people come, like I'll use, I know we're going, again, we're jumping ahead, but on Friday night, we did it.
And everybody that came was new.
Nobody had been before and I love that.
And then I put them on their own table.
So they were in their own bubbles as well.
So, you know, sticking to COVID regulations and all of that.
And none of the team were on it at all.
And all three were moving.
But it seemed to be loved ones.
Again, but I'll tell you what else.
The table loves music.
If I play music and say, come on, make this table dance.
Are you going to make it waltz?
There was one investigation that sticks out in my mind.
And I think we've spoke about it briefly before.
And it was the Railway Institute.
And this table was moving that fast around the dance floor that we had to run to keep up with it.
But not only was it moving, it was gliding in between people.
You couldn't do that if you pushed a table.
And had you allowed for anything that might have made that happen, like vibration from traffic or passing trains or something?
Yeah, there was just nothing.
Because it was a railway institute, it's tucked up on the room, the function rooms at the back away from everything.
One lady actually left.
I think it freaked her out quite a bit.
I don't blame her for that.
But it turned out again that it was somebody's grandfather who was around the table.
One of the mediums picked up on him.
I asked questions.
I asked him to step forward.
And if it was him to move the table, and not only did he move it, he made it run.
And it is on film.
And it's amazing.
that's never happened again.
It just happened the once, but we've never had to run after a table before.
It was bizarre.
So, how would you describe the force that makes those things happen?
What do you think it is?
Well, I reckon that spirit, and again, when you've done a table tip, I think the next day you're absolutely exhausted.
You like have a hangover.
So, I think that the spirit must pull the energy from whoever's around the table or in the room and move it because I do tell them to use our energy.
So, it's my fault if you come along and you have a hangover.
It's my fault.
And I just say, build up your energy, use what you need.
Let's see if we can get this table moving.
And I don't know.
I don't know whether they just seize the moment and think, my granddaughter's here.
This is my chance or what.
But yeah, it does take some force to do that.
To move a table around a dance floor at great speed is bizarre.
Well, it's more than that.
Do you not wish, though, that at times like that, we're going to get into the investigations, I promise, my listener, but do you not wish when things like that happen that you don't have with you some kind of skeptical scientific researcher and you can say, there you go.
It happened once.
We investigated a place at Durham and the guy that ran it and who invited us along was a magician, which is, that's never happened on an investigation before either.
And he did the table with his staff.
Again, we kept away.
They did it.
And he took my table practically to bits to look for wires.
And I was stood there really grinning like a Cheshire Cat thinking, that is brilliant.
If he needs to look to see that that's not rigged in any way, he's quick.
And he even said, I can't explain that.
I just can't explain what's happened.
But that's what it is.
It is unexplainable, isn't it?
What is it that moves it?
What does it?
What kind of force does it?
Don't know.
But it's unexplained.
And the other question is, you know, those forces make those things happen.
And in that one case, in front of somebody professional, it makes you wonder what the influence of those forces around us unseen.
You know, you where you are now, 200 and what is it, 50 miles away from where I am, and me sitting here in my living room on my dad's old leather chair, which is falling to pieces at the moment, doing this.
That stuff may be around us.
You know, I'll tell you a story that I don't think I shared with my listener, but I'll tell it now.
This was before the radio show last week.
And, you know, I always think about my parents at this time of year because we had lovely Christmases.
And, you know, me here, this Christmas is not going to be like the Christmases like I had when I was a kid.
But the memories keep me going.
And I'm thinking about that during the day.
Now, I've got one of these in its day.
It was quite expensive, a pure evoke radio that records.
So it'll record radio stations.
If there's a show I want to record, I used to record my own shows.
I know it sounds very sad, but I used to record my own shows off the radio with it.
You can set a timer.
It never goes wrong.
I've had it next to my bedside for 10 years.
It's always on, always use it, first thing I turn to in the morning.
Just before I did the show, I'm thinking about all kinds of things.
And I was a bit worried about the show.
Is it going to go all right and stuff like that?
Yeah.
The radio goes off and resets itself.
Now, it's never done that before, but I guess they can do that.
If there's a spike in the mains or something.
But it comes back to my mother's birthday.
The date on the display is my mother's birthday.
Yeah.
So, you know, we can be as skeptical as you like.
Nobody can tell me that that wasn't some kind of sign.
The problem with it is, and you will know this, working out what I'm being told.
You know, I've had a couple of occasions, just a couple in my life, where I've had things that I'm convinced later have been a sign of something.
You know, I think somebody was trying to tell me something there.
Maybe it was my mum, because why would it set it of all the days in all the year to my mother's birthday?
Why would it go to that?
It would come back to today.
I guess I'll find out what she's trying to tell me, but that's, you know, that's a whole other thing.
It's very hard to work out.
Signs and symbols, but that's the reason.
But again, it comes down to your beliefs, doesn't it?
I mean, we could work, we could see all of these signs and some sceptical people in the world will go, yeah, but it was this, it was this, it was this.
Sometimes you've just got to accept it for what you believe it is.
Do you know what I mean?
If you look too deep into things, I just can't be bothered to do that.
When things happen in my house, and occasionally they do, luckily not much happens, but you know, I used to do my housework and my kettle used to switch itself on, and I know it was my gran.
And she would have said, oh, Elaine, take a break.
And then in the end, she would flick my kettle on.
I mean, I take that, that that was a sign from my gran, but somebody else would just say, you've got a faulty kettle.
It's just what you believe it is.
And I used to say, yeah, I know.
And then I would have a break.
But that's what there is.
I mean, it happens all the time with me.
And I just accept it that there is some kind of sign, you know, and I see rainbows all over my house.
What, inside?
Yeah, inside.
And, you know, and I've done the check in the windows and see if anything can cause that through.
And sometimes when I'm getting my kit ready for an investigation, a random rainbow appears on my cases.
And I just think, oh, yeah, it's going to be a good night tonight.
And I just see that as a sign.
You know, it's just, it is what it is.
I think so.
You know, I mean, just very quickly, and some of my listeners might have heard this one on the radio before, but back in my wild days of moving all over the country, you know, I could never settle when I was like in my 20s.
So I was in Birmingham working for six months and on the south coast for a few months and in Guildford in Surrey for a few months.
And I did Worcestershire.
And, you know, the only place I haven't done is the Northeast.
I must do that before I turn my toes up.
But, you know, I was everywhere.
And I was always renting places to live.
So I was moving very quickly from the south coast up to Birmingham, working on BRMB, the big commercial station, you know, rather like your station, Metro there, doing the news at breakfast time.
Rented a house way too big for me.
You know, it was a three-bedroom family house.
You know, if I was, I'd have to, well I'd have to win the lottery a couple of times to buy a house like that right here.
But I rented this house and I met the family on the Saturday before I, or maybe a couple of Saturdays before I actually moved in.
Lovely people and they had a son who was out playing in the garden.
He was about 10.
When I actually took over the house, somebody told me, a neighbor told me, you know, their son died in a rugby accident.
I think he broke his neck or something.
It was an absolute tragedy.
So they had left his, I was going to use the bedroom overlooking the garden that was the boys' room.
They clearly, when they moved out, they hadn't been able to take his posters off the wall.
So they were there, the kind of things that an 11-year-old kid, I had them, you know, space and aircraft.
And the room was always very, very, very cold.
And the rest of the house wasn't.
And I was always very wary to go into that room.
And I used to just use it to store my removal boxes and things.
But I always was convinced there was a presence in that place.
And it really made me uneasy.
It was almost like the boy hadn't left.
You know, his parents had gone, but he hadn't left.
One night, it's like two o'clock in the morning, and I'm getting up at four to go to work in Birmingham.
And the landing light clicks and turns itself on.
Never happened before or since.
And I thought maybe it's a break-in.
So I go and I'm not wearing very much and I'm clutching a big radio, which I would be using as a weapon, I guess, if it was a break-in.
No sign of anybody or anything.
This was the light switch on the landing outside the boy's bedroom.
And, you know, I'm convinced that that was him.
But then, you know, I might be wrong.
But that's the storytelling.
We mustn't tell these anecdotes.
We'll be here all night.
Or maybe, maybe we should be.
You know, maybe we should tell the anecdotes.
All right.
Let's do this.
We talked about, and I've had a certain amount of feedback about this, a photograph that I found convincing and fascinating.
This was taken, wasn't it, at a transport museum that you went to?
You'll talk to me about the air.
There's an aircraft on display there that I thought was like 1950s, 1960s.
Turns out it was 1970s, but it's the kind of aircraft that will be used for short haul.
You can see the windows, the porto windows on this thing.
And in your photograph is standing there somebody who on first look and second look and every look said, that's a member of cabin crew wearing a 1970s uniform with a great big white collar, kind of permed hair, I think.
You know, if you're from Liverpool, it's very hard to say permed without sounding like being the scouser that I'm proud to be.
Permed hair.
We used to work with Cilla Black.
She'd say permed hair, permed hair.
So permed hair and the kind of travel bag that people always used to buy them as souvenirs that people travelled with in the 70s.
Talk to me about that investigation and what happened there in that picture, because a lot of people were into it.
Some people were saying it was fake, but a lot of people were saying that's a photograph.
Yeah, well, I told you that I came across this accidentally.
I'd come back from the theatre and I was going through my photos on the full spectrum camera.
And this camera that I caught it on actually has a broken screen.
So I can't even see on the night what I'm taking.
flashing away and I caught that one in front of the Gill Airways like you say it actually took its first flight on my birthday 22nd of August 1974.
Okay just before we sorry to jump in I'll only do this once I'll only say this once where exactly was the location let's tell my listener.
It was at the Northeast Land Sea and Air Museum that's a big long title at Sunderland and it was a RAF base and then it ended up being Sunderland Airport before it was closed and now it is a museum for everything it's even got Blackpool trams in there and we were just it was actually at the end of the investigation so much more happened before that it was an awesome investigation it always is we've been a few times but it was November it was an aircraft
hangar and it was Baltic it's no way any of us were wearing a blouse and a jacket absolutely not I had five layers of clothing on so it was freezing and we caught this photograph in front of the plane and it happens and you won't know this because I only found out a couple of days after we spoke about it Keith who runs the ghost tours because you can actually hire a ghost tour at the at the museum he rang me and said Elaine I've got the same photograph as
you I caught her the night after so he I haven't seen it mind but he said it's exactly the same as yours black hair white blouse black jacket in front of the same aircraft he said and I've been back and I've had a look and there's nothing it can be and they they don't have staff who who have a uniform like that they don't have security patrols who wear uniforms no no there are mannequins but nowhere near where I've taken that and they're all men in you know in the
military uniforms nothing like that um I did listen to the spirit box session and I know people don't like some people don't like spirit boxes which is where it's a radio and it free it just goes through all of the channels and spirit can use it to speak through and it's kept saying Harrison it does say Harrison a lot now I've spoken to Keith about that as well and he said one of the spirits in there is called Harrison and they have got a plane or something that is a Harrison but
I found and again I don't know if this is true or not but there's a lady an air an air steward who perished on a plane at Heathrow Airport and she was called Barbara Harrison and when I've looked she's got black curly hair a white blouse and a black jacket now the
chances of me finding out if it's that lady is you know zero because I can't find a link to Sunderland at all I can't find if it's her I'm never gonna know but it does make you wonder but then you can look into these things and you know how much of it are you making it up how much are you making it fit but she does look awfully like the photo but again I don't know if it's I don't know I can't I just can't find the lady I've I've emailed Gil Airways what were no reply
I've put it on social media to see if anybody recognizes her
her no reply i mean you did have some answers on on your facebook page somebody actually did say barbara but it was a different surname and it was talkie i can't find a link with well i mean you know she might have married before or after or sometime she might have might have married i guess but she died at 22 right she was the age of 22 and she died getting people off the plane and she it was a burning plane and she perished it would be a lovely thought it's a lovely story but i don't know it's a one of those.
I don't think I'm ever going to know.
I would love to.
I would love to find her.
But it's the kind of picture, and we'll talk about some of your pictures in a bit.
It's the kind of picture that when you see it, and it is on my Facebook page.
I know it's on yours, your portals as well, Elaine.
But it's the kind of picture when you see it, and there's no question of, well, is that some kind of blob or mass or something there?
The first thing you think is, there's somebody in a uniform, and they've got a big starchy collar, and they're carrying a bag.
There is very little doubt about it.
You hadn't told me anything about it.
I knew nothing about it.
All right, the fact that there's a plane behind it sets it into context.
So look, now that we know this, or we think we know this, and the guy from the institution itself says I've taken a picture as well, what are you going to do about that?
You could be onto something quite big here.
Well, I know, but where do I start?
It's like a needle in a haystack, isn't it?
You know, I start, I'm doing research because, as you know, how would I write about everything I do?
I put it into books in the hope that somebody knows these people.
And it's worked.
People have contacted me and said, you're talking about my mum, you're talking about my gran, you're talking about my uncle.
And then I can change the book because, you know, it's on Kindle and I can change it.
And that's, I'm hoping, I was hoping that somebody would have recognised and said, you know, that's my auntie Jean or whatever.
And I'm just going to keep going.
I'm still going through the footage now.
Things are turning up.
We've caught video evidence when we're in the trams.
I've caught a man looking at us while we're looking at him.
But I've only discovered that this morning.
So nobody knows about that yet.
Is that one of the Blackpool trams at the museum?
Blackpool tram, yeah.
And we're panning with the handicam and we're in the windows.
Bev's great at that.
I'm too busy doing other things.
And she pans slowly to see what we catch.
And on the video, there was a man with white hair and some kind of waistcoat looking at us while we're filming him.
But again, I haven't studied it properly yet.
It's bizarre.
But I mean, there's so much history there.
And I've got so much to do.
I've got so much research to do.
You can imagine it was an airbase.
It was an air.
You know, the research in that alone is unbelievable.
And the area.
But I'll keep going.
I'll keep chipping away.
I've got sensors to go through.
But who is she?
It's a big mystery.
But whoever she is was desperate to be caught.
If she's been on my photographs and she's been on Keith's, she's got a message for somebody somewhere.
Somebody should be able to recognize her.
But it's an inexact science.
Some of the pictures are not distinct.
And people, you know, if I publish them, people say, well, it's not that, it's this.
Or you're just seeing what you want to see.
But some of them are, you know, very, very clear.
I think what we'll do, before we talk about your latest investigation, let's, since we're talking images and photographs, you sent me some.
And I'm going to do something that's very difficult, but quite rewarding if you do it in just sounds and words.
So you'll know the ones that I'm talking about because I'll describe them as clearly as I'm able.
There is one of a man who looks like Abraham Lincoln with long sideburns.
And that's the picture of the person I think you think this might be.
And then next to it, you've put a picture of somebody who appears to be a fuzzy representation.
Looks very like the same person.
You know, I suppose you would call those eyebrows sort of thick set.
Same kind of nose.
Mouth looks similar.
Hair definitely similar, but very, very fuzzy.
So this, but this guy looks as somebody from that era would look like, like Abraham Lincoln.
Turned up collar, dicky bow tie.
What's that all about?
That one was, we went to investigate Backworth Hall, and it was a stately home of a guy that used to run the mines in the northeast.
And it's now taken over to charity, and you can have weddings and everything.
And again, I was writing a book about Newcastle, and I just wanted a last investigation just to finish it off.
And I booked Backworth Hall, and we went and we had a lovely night.
And that photograph was actually, it was an accidental photograph.
And we were taking the floor because on the main photograph, you can see our feet.
And then that guy's head is there.
Now, the man that used to own the building was called Ralph William Gray.
And that's who the photograph is that I've compared him to.
And that's who the house belonged to.
But again, it's one of those, you know, is it him?
It looks like him.
It's certainly styled like him.
You know, it's got a funny-shaped head.
And well, you've got, William, he's got plenty of forehead going on, hasn't he?
Let's put it that way.
And he's got, you know, pretty, And so was whatever it is you pictured.
Just remind me where the image that you got, where and how you took that.
Right.
So we were in the function room upstairs.
Now, the house obviously isn't set out the same as when he had it.
It's been changed, it's been renovated, and they do weddings.
And it's a function room upstairs.
And we were a game, we were table tipping.
And we were doing a bit of table tipping, and we had the portal out, and we were doing a little bit of medium ship.
And I randomly, I must have accidentally pressed it.
We did catch other photographs, but this one, you can tell it's an accident.
You can tell it's the floor.
I mean, I'm not a great photographer, but I wouldn't take the floor.
And his, I know, and his face is randomly there.
And then I was thinking, is it's wood floor and is it a knot in the wood?
But it's just strange.
I mean, did he see an opportunity?
We did link with the guy as well.
We did, you know, we did use our medium ship and we were talking to him, as well as other spirits linked to the area.
And we picked up on mining and things like that.
But yeah, we were in his stately home.
So I kept saying to him, you know, your house is beautiful.
You know, trying to coax him out, you know, this is a beautiful home.
You must have been so very proud.
You know, blah, blah, blah.
And then we got that photograph.
So, and he was an MP as well.
That's how I'm saying a photograph.
This guy looks like a fine, upstanding member of the community in that era.
Yeah.
So, you know, that's another one maybe for a bit of reinvestigation at some point.
You sent me a picture that looks now.
I don't know whether you sent this by accident, whether it's meant to be among the pictures you sent me, but I'll describe it.
It's a woman who seems to have long blonde hair.
the whole thing is cast in violet.
Is that one of you?
That looks like one of your team looking into a mirror.
It's not.
It's a spirit photographer.
None of us.
It looks e doesn't it look like Yvette Fielding?
When I looked at it, I thought that looks like Yvette Fielding.
I mean, it looks like it's got the same hair, same blonde.
Yeah, it's none of us.
But you know, I don't know how, look, I thought, well, Elaine sent this to me by accident because that's a member of her team in the dark, taking a picture with Flash, looking into a mirror, because there's no doubt that's a person.
You know, she's got blonde hair.
I can see her nose structure.
You can see the chin, the neck.
You can see her arms.
So, and you're telling me, and you'll have to tell me where and, you know, how this was taken, but you're telling me this wasn't one of your people.
No, definitely not.
We noticed I'd caught that on the night and I compared it to everybody, and it's none of us.
Does it look even remotely like some of you?
No.
Nobody has that.
Nobody has long blonde hair.
Nobody was wearing that coat with collars.
Okay, where was this?
So this was earlier in the year at Croxdale Community Centre, which is an old mining school.
It's a Victorian school.
We were all sat, it was nearly the end of the investigation, we were sat in the headmaster's office.
So we were all sat in chairs around the outside of the room.
Nobody was in the middle where her photograph is.
She's actually in the middle of us.
It was black, dark.
It was again with a full spectrum camera, but I've got two and this one, the screen does actually work.
And I did look and zoom in because she's tiny.
On the original photo, she's tiny.
And I thought, oh, what's that purple blob?
And when you zoom in, that's her.
So I've got the originals, I've got everything because I keep everything.
Every photograph I take is kept on an SD card.
If anybody ever wants to look or check or authenticate it, they're there.
And this lady, and I thought, and I thought the same as you, ooh, who's that?
And when I looked, we're like, no, nobody's wearing that coat.
Nobody's got that hair.
Nobody looks like that.
And if you look at it, and this is looking more into it, in front of her face, there looks to be a cross.
Yes.
Or half a cross.
That's right.
I'm zooming in on it now.
To the left hand and covering her, what would be her right eye, the left one as we look at it, there is something that appears.
I thought that was a pixel effect, but it looks a bit like a cross.
It looks like a cross.
Now, the story goes, I put it on the page again.
It's a local, tiny little village in County Durham.
I thought, somebody will know this lady.
It's a tiny village.
So I put it on and somebody did actually recognize her.
So this lady, I can't remember her name, but I wouldn't mention it anyway.
She went to that school and she was a recluse.
In older life, she died of cancer and she had no friends.
She was a recluse.
There is a little church on the roundabout that a guy bought to do up and he moved from South Africa to come here and he did it up.
Now he befriended this lady.
I don't know how.
I don't know how they met.
I don't know any more than that.
And this lady became friends with him.
And even to the point where before she passed, she gave photographs of herself on her wedding day.
She was married in that church he'd bought and she left them to him and she passed her spirit.
Now this man knew a lady that I know.
She showed him this and it was, he believes it's her.
And I compared it to the photographs.
I think I sent you that as well.
You did.
The comparison is, I've just flipped to the comparison that you got side by side.
That's her younger days.
That was when she was married.
She kept, yeah.
I mean, what you see in the picture that you took could be an older version of her because, you know, she's got lovely hair with a fringe.
You know, that's a sort of 60s style, isn't it?
1960s sort of styly.
I mean, she looks like, and she's got a very prominent, but very nice for her face nose.
It's quite a large nose, okay?
But it's almost aristocratic.
And that is as prominent as you like when you look at the picture that you took.
And the mouth is, you know, is in the same proportion, I would say, to the rest of it.
The eyes look about right.
It's hard to tell.
But to all intents and purposes, you got where you were, a picture of the same person, but years later.
And if there's nothing else going on here, I don't understand how you got that.
Well, this guy, he couldn't make it work over here and he was moving back to South Africa.
And it was not long after the investigation.
And he was quite happy because I think he thought that was a sign that she was all right.
And, you know, it was a bit of a parting gift to let him know that she was still around.
And so I'm just going to accept that that's her.
Nobody else came forward.
When I saw the photo, I did think, oh, yeah, you've got the same eyes, I think.
I can see I didn't have an older photo to compare it to, but I had to go off the wedding photo.
And if he believes it's her, then that's good enough for me.
I've caught a lady that was not part of the group that I believe is a spirit in that place.
And I've investigated that building many, many times before.
And I've never taken a photograph of her ever.
So was it a goodbye for him before he went back to South Africa?
It's a lovely thought.
I do like that thought.
But there you go.
That's another.
Well, I mean, it kind of looks like somebody is wanting to make their presence felt.
And that's interesting to juxtapose and compare the two photographs because they look like, you know, younger and older version of the same person.
And if there really is not a way that you could have been taking random pictures on your way there and snapped somebody else on the bus or something, I don't know how you could have got that.
Just one of those things, isn't it?
It's right place, right time.
There's another weird picture.
You'll know which one I'm going to now.
This is, I think, one of your groups sitting there.
It's a color picture.
But on the right-hand side, in fact, taking about, what, 45%, 40% of the whole frame, there is this thing or person or creature or something that looks like, and again,
we're talking purpley here, and that just might be the equipment you're using, but it looks like a bald-headed man with an enlarged head looks like almost like a football's been blown up like that, but almost like kind of a Grinch-type character or something from something that you would see in a cartoon, faintly menacing.
Looks like he's got his hand to his mouth.
It's an odd, odd picture.
Do you know the one I'm talking about?
I'm trying to think.
Okay, it's below the.
There's a guy with a top hat, which is in a sketch.
It's below that one.
And there's somebody sitting, I think it's a guy with fair hair with his arms folded by the looks of it.
And there's this thing, purpley, you know, image to the right of him.
Big, very big.
Fills up most of the frame.
Looks like a ball there.
It's fine if you're not aware of this one.
Is it lit up?
Like a...
Right.
I'm pretty sure that was taken from voodoo at Darlington.
Does he look like he's wearing some kind of jumper with a bald head?
Yeah, with a bald head, and it could be a pair of metal frame glasses.
Oh, I know which one that is.
It's side on.
It's glowing.
Yes.
Yes.
I mean, it looks disturbing and weird.
Where was it from?
The Duncow Pub at Durham.
One of the oldest pubs in Durham.
That actually made it in the newspapers, that photograph.
It looks like he's wearing metal frame glasses.
He's side on.
And if you look, I wasn't actually sure if he's got his hand under his chin or if a lady's cuddling into him.
Why not?
Because if you look, it does look like he's been hugged by...
Well, if that's his hand under his chin, that's weird.
I mean, as you look at him, you can tell he's got a weird, small, pointed nose pointing upwards by the looks of it.
Yeah.
But then there's a...
Because, you know, a portion of his face is covered by a white flash.
Is that your equipment?
It's the equipment, yeah.
It's the full spectrum camera.
That is in the living area in Duncow.
Can you see a lady sat in the background?
Yeah, I'm seeing.
You know, there's a fuzzy human being in colour to the left-hand side with very short hair.
Wasn't sure whether, you know, you can't tell whether that's a guy or a woman there because of the dark tale.
Okay.
We're all sat around.
I was in the passage.
I mean, it's strange the Duncow.
It's a really, it's an amazing building.
It was 16th century and it used to be a brothel.
So there's rooms all over.
And it was the hangman's pub.
So before the hangman went to the prison to do his job, he used to sit in there and, you know, use the ladies and drink.
And, you know, so it's awesome.
And upstairs, I was, there was something going on down the passage, I seem to remember.
And I was thinking, oh, I'm going down there.
I'm going to take some photographs because there's children in there as well.
And I was taking photographs.
And as I was walking back, I sensed something in front of me.
And I took a photograph as I was re-entering the living room.
And that's what that is.
So whatever it is, was quite in front of me.
But it is glowing.
It is going like a whity purple haze.
But I don't know whether that's the energy that the spirit's giving off or whether it's my full spectrum camera because it does show in funny colours.
It's because it's full spectrum.
But it looks like a short, bald-headed man.
Yeah.
And the fact that the head looks so big and so round, I took to be either that's what his head looked like and he's some kind of gargoyle or he turned.
He was moving.
You caught motion.
I maybe did because it is quite blurry and it does look like there is movement there.
But when I noticed, I thought, has he got, has he got his fingers under his chin and he's wearing rings?
Or is he cuddling into a lady?
Because it was a brothel.
And I don't know whether that was just my mind, you know.
No, but it's the kind of thing that you might assume if there was that kind of activity there.
Then maybe that.
And what was he doing there?
Well, we don't know.
Was he a pub, customer?
I was going to say, was he a pimp?
Was he a customer?
Was he a lack of a patron?
Yeah.
Again, worthy of more research, but also indicating to us, chillingly and excitingly, really, that these things are all around us.
All you've got to do is find ways to register them.
Yeah.
I mean, I know spirit photography is a grey area.
You know, oh, no, that's not that.
That's just what you were perceiving it to be.
But some of these photographs that I get are so solid.
Yeah, I mean, they're too clear.
The last one I want to talk about absolutely illustrates that point.
There is what appears to be a woman.
Now, the hair is a kind of style.
I think it's a woman.
And if it's not a flat cap, then it's hair in a style from like the 1900s that sort of that you've had rollers around the fringe sort of thing.
You know what I mean?
That sort of thing.
And she or he has got a bulbous nose.
This is a black and white picture.
And looks as if he or she is wearing the kind of top that maybe a docker might wear that's got a kind of zipped bit at the collar, right?
And he or she is in front of what appear to be some pillows.
Do you know the one that I mean?
We shouldn't be just.
But you and I can do this.
It's like a show, this, isn't it?
Whoever it is that's got a sausagey nose appears to be in black and white.
Yeah.
Is it the did I send you two exactly the same?
One was highlighted and one was darker.
Is it was it the again?
Oh yeah, there's a guy above it.
Yeah, there is a picture of a guy above it.
So this is a, you think this is a man, but I have to say, what you've caught, wherever that is, and you'll tell me where that is, just looks like this is a black and white image of somebody who is there, but almost part of them is missing somehow.
But there's definitely an image there.
So if there was nothing in what you, you know, if in reality there was nothing, you know, no person in the frame, what is that?
Well, if it's the one that I'm thinking of, it was taken at the real Mary King's close at Edinburgh.
We hired this for the night.
We traveled up there.
You can imagine hiring that for the night and only a group of 10 of you going.
It was amazing.
And that photograph was taken on a normal camera by Dean, who was with us.
And what it looks like to me, if it is the photograph that we're talking about, he looks like he's wearing a flat cap and like a doctor's coat, like What he would wear, it doesn't suit where we were.
Now, let me tell you where we were taking the photographs.
It was the plague room.
We were in the plague room.
Now, in one of the photos, I think you can still see the plague doctor bending over.
I think I sent you one where it wasn't zoomed in, just so you could see where it was.
It's not part of the display at all when you're in the plague room, and he wasn't part of the group.
Now, one of the guides that was with us that night, and we showed her because we noticed that photograph, Dean noticed it that night, and she nearly died.
And she said, I've seen this guy before at home.
And she didn't know if it was a relation or some kind of spirit guide, but he was called Simon.
And he was exactly the same.
He wore a flat cap, he wore a docker's coat, and she'd seen him in a mirror.
And she was with us that night.
There was only two young girls with us that were guides, and there was only one man with us, and he took the photograph.
What's the background, though, looks like either sacks, you know, that are full of something, or their pillows.
What's that background?
It's in a plague room, which showed where they would obviously go, and they were poolie, they'd have the sheet outside indicating that they had the plague.
And the plague doctor is in the display bending over one of them.
There's a window in the background, and it's just literally how you would imagine it to be hundreds of years ago in a room with nothing in but bags and straw-filled things.
And that's all it is.
And then you've got this guy that just doesn't sit right in the display at all.
You know, the actual form, the style of the face is indistinct, and part of it isn't there, but only a small part of it isn't there.
But the features of a mouth, a nose, the eyes, a little bit of the upper sort of chest, you know, below the throat and an old-fashioned cap, they're as clear as daylight.
They're there.
Yeah, yeah.
And there was no gimmicky cameras, no full spectrum.
Dean was just snapping away on a normal Canon photograph camera.
So it just goes to show if they want to be caught, they will.
But Howard, we always ask first.
Whether that's why it works, I never ever go in and take photographs.
I think I've told you this before.
I always ask, am I okay if I can take your photograph?
Would you like to appear on my, we'd love to catch you.
Would you like to appear on my photos?
And we just ask all the time and snap away.
And it seems to work.
Well, it does.
You know, I'm a bit mind-blown.
And, you know, if you could after this, if you could separately send me each of the three images that we've talked about, you know, the I'll tell you anyway, separately which they were, and I can maybe put them on my Facebook page.
Or I can probably separate them out from the images that you've given me.
But I think we've described.
It's more than that.
Well, if this happens quite routinely, there is a phenomenon there at work.
It can't all be described as random or misidentification or worse, faking it.
You know, it can't be, I would say, and some of my listeners may say, oh, Howard, you're naive.
I don't think so.
You know, if you see details like that and there really isn't anything else there, what is it?
And again, in the case of the Transport Museum with the aeroplane and Barbara, we think it is, somebody else got that picture.
Yeah.
So it's not just me.
I mean, I didn't even know until Keith rang and because he never rings me, Keith.
I only just to check that, you know, bookends are okay and we'll see you and there's the time.
And he rang me dead excited and he said, I've got the same lady.
He hasn't shown me it, mine, but he said, exactly the same lady in exactly the same place, wearing exactly the same clothes.
I've got it.
But he's got a file full of photographs that he's caught there.
So she'll be going in the file.
So if you ever visit the Air Museum, Keith has a file.
Have a look.
See what you think.
I like to do the primary radio station.
We're talking on the podcast now.
I don't think the radio station would be paying for that or indeed anything, but it's something I might do for myself.
Okay.
And back in September, you should come and join us.
Well, yeah, I'd like to.
I've got, you know, I'm going to plan to do some things next year because I cannot be a prisoner any longer, I've decided.
Life has been very curtailed, but that's another story.
Okay, talk to me about the latest investigation, which I think was only days ago.
Where did you go?
We went to the Dean Bank Literary Institute.
Everywhere I go has a mouthful, isn't it?
It's literally a miners' hall.
It was built by the miners.
They chipped in and paid for it so that they could go and read and learn to read and put entertainment on.
It was just like a social place.
And again, it's a charity now.
You know, these places, sadly, are dwindling away.
Obviously, the mines have gone.
And they just keep them now.
And they're used as a community centre.
We have investigated there once before.
We just went along, just the four of us, not a public event, and we just went along to see him.
We had a great night.
And then he asked me if I would like to do a public event.
And we did.
We went last Friday.
It was a small event.
There was only eight public there.
And it was a great, really great night.
Just trying different ways of communicating spirit photography.
We did a bit of mirror scrying for people who don't know what that is.
You'd stand in front of a mirror with a light underneath the chin and you kind of, you know, those 3D books that you used to be able to get where you kind of look through them, not at them.
It's like that.
And sometimes your features change or spirit can show back.
And we had great results with that.
Somebody's father came through.
I got a photograph of that.
You can tell it's not her face, it's a male.
And we did table tipping.
The families came through with that.
We did portal sessions.
We did the flashing cat balls.
All of that was just a really fun night.
It was just really good.
But it seemed to be very family orientated.
People who were loved, whether it was because it was Christmas, I don't know.
Somebody's grandma came through.
Somebody's like I say, someone's dad came through.
It was just nice.
It was just a nice investigation.
But they always are when they're linked with minors.
You know, we play music.
We do a bit of city honesty.
It's crazy.
Crazy what we do.
They love and sing song the miners.
And that's what we do.
So, yeah, it was good.
It was a nice end to the year.
I was just about to say that.
Nice end of the year.
Where are you going in 2022 then?
What's top of the list?
What's top of the list?
Well, we are going to the Falstaff experience.
Where's the Stratford-upon-Avon?
We're going there.
We're going on tour.
We're going on tour.
We're just in an over.
The four of us have built because we always travel.
It's so tiring.
I'm too old, Howard.
It's dangerous anyway.
When you're up all night, trying to investigate with places and then traveling home.
I can't do it now.
I'm old.
I mean, that would go for me too.
It's better to stay.
So we're going down to Stratford-upon-Avon.
Something to do with Henry VIII Archer who owned it, and it was a pub at some point.
So we're going there.
We're going back to York to Jacob's Well.
We're traveling down to Hinkley, Hinkley, Hinkley, somewhere down there.
Leicestershire.
The only thing I know about Leicester, aren't they building a power station there?
Haven't they got one already?
I think they have.
They've got chimneys.
Yeah, they've got chimneys.
But we're going to a haunted antiques paranormal research centre.
It's a building that's full of haunted artefacts.
We're going to see what we pick up there.
And we've also go back to Pendle.
We're going to do the Pendle Witches again because we went there this year and we got that photo of Clitheroe Castle that we spoke about.
That's very timely because they're talking now about trying to pardon the Pendle Witches.
Have you heard about that?
Yeah, I know.
So we're going to go back there.
Where else are we going?
We are, this isn't a public event, but I've booked, finally, after 10 years, I've booked a room for an overnight stay at Chillingham Castle.
And I'm going to see what the hype's about.
Everybody talks about Chillingham Castle.
All right.
Where is Chillingham Castle for listeners who don't know?
It's Northumberland.
It's supposed to be one of the...
It keeps getting in the past.
Either it's got great publicity, it keeps getting in the papers as the most haunted place in England.
Yeah, well, I'm going to find out.
Well, I'm not, actually.
I haven't hired the whole castle because that's way out of my price range.
Because I did look at it and no.
So the four of us are going to go.
We've booked the most haunted apartment where the blue boy is seed.
I don't know.
And we're going to take our equipment up there.
I hope they're not listening.
And we're going to do a little mini investigation in the room.
And you've got access to the grounds and everything.
So we're going to see if we can capture something.
You just don't know.
I might get another amazing photograph.
Might do a live feed.
Don't know.
But yeah, that's where we're going.
Do you know where you want to go?
I don't know whether the people who run that place, though, would be amenable to it.
But where they've been doing, I'm a celebrity for TV.
Guruk Castle in North Wales.
Yeah.
The only bit that puts me off is the travelling.
E, I'm terrible, aren't I?
But yeah, I would love to go.
I do like a castle.
We've done a few castles, but they tend to be expensive.
You should get in touch with the people doing the TV show and, you know, tell them that, well, you know, they'll know that you're from the North East because, you know, if you write to them, the letter will say so.
But, you know, Anton Deck might warm to you.
Do you reckon?
Yeah, I think so.
I think they might.
I could see you doing an investigation there because they tell me, although I've been trying to talk to some people around it, that Gurrick Castle, and I used to, listen, let me tell you, that Guruk Castle was like a day out from Liverpool when I was a kid.
So we'd often drive along the North Wales coast.
We'd go to Ryl, maybe, you know, Landodno, and we'd end up at Gurrick Castle.
And of course, as a kid, I was really bored by it.
But now I'm fascinated by the history.
They say it's massively haunted.
So maybe that should be on the list as well.
Okay.
Thank you for talking with me, Elaine, because it's nearly Christmas and I know the time is a pressing.
Last thing to ask you, because a number of listeners have asked me this, and you are the best person to ask this.
In fact, some have specifically asked that I ask you.
I don't know whether you can give this.
And, you know, we don't want to be recommending anything to people.
We put suggestions there.
That's all we do.
Tips for investigators.
I've got people who want to do investigations.
What would you say to them?
What mindset should they go into it?
What kind of equipment do they need to get?
Should they even be thinking of doing it if they're not absolutely serious about doing it in the first place?
Yeah.
I get asked this many, many times.
Always be respectful.
Never, ever expect anything to happen because believe me, I've been going for 10 years and our very first investigation, not a great deal happened.
We did catch a recording of a man.
That was enough to get me hooked.
But if you're looking for the scare factor and things like that, it's just not going to happen unless you're going to scare yourself half to death.
Always be respectful.
And this, again, it's nothing to do with religion.
But when we go into an investigation, we do a protection prayer.
It's more about protecting yourself than anything to do with religion, I like to think.
So you're protecting yourself because you're asking for physical mediumship in any way.
If you're asking a spirit to draw forward and speak to you and touch you or take over your feelings, that to me, you need some kind of protection.
At the end of an investigation, we again do a prayer to make sure that nothing follows us home or attaches itself to anything or our belongings because you do not want something following to your home.
We do that.
Always ask, again, like I said about spirit photography, always ask, never assume, always ask that you can take the photograph.
Ask that you can catch a recording of the voice.
Ask them to talk to you.
EVP session.
So a decent voice recorder is a must.
Not a phone.
Always, you know, the old dictaphones.
You can get them now, can't you?
They're all has it got to be analog or can it be digital?
It can be either.
I just find that your phone has too much interference.
Oh, I've got an old-fashioned one.
I attach a mic to it and I do an EVP session.
So an EVP session is for electronic voice phenomena where you go in and you ask questions, you pause for a while and allow spirit time to answer you.
Ask another question, pause and then stop and play it back and see what you've caught.
It takes a lot of work and I do believe that trust needs to be gained.
So don't go along and think that this is all going to happen on the very first night because it doesn't.
Never ever go anywhere alone because I've been locked in rooms so many times, even when they don't have locks on them.
Never ever go in pairs.
If you're going to go anywhere, go in pairs.
Take your phone with you, even if it's on aircraft mode because I put everything on flight mode because again, it interferes with your equipment.
It's always there for a backup or by walkie to hookies.
Because honestly, there's nothing worse than being locked in a room away from the group and they're having a great time and they have no idea you're locked in the cupboard.
You said that you got locked in places that didn't have locks.
How's that?
Yeah.
Again, it was Maansforth.
It was our, it wasn't on the very first investigation.
We've been a few times, but it was where our very first investigation started.
It was an old community center.
And I was checking to see if the public had come and it was a little doorway.
So I'd shut the front door and there was a little door to enter into the building.
And it would not open.
And I was banging.
I had my phone on us.
And I said, you'll have to come down.
This door's locked itself.
They opened it the other side.
He said, Elaine, there's not a lock on the door.
There was no lock on the door.
So whatever it was, obviously it was holding the door.
So I couldn't open it.
I tried for a good 10 minutes.
And again, when I did a railway at Stanhope, which we are going back next year, I got locked in a carriage.
I couldn't open the door.
And they were all in a room, and I was on the platform in an old carriage locked in.
So never, ever go.
So that's my, I was only checking equipment.
I didn't purposely go and investigate on my own.
I was checking the cameras.
Slam, couldn't get out.
I know.
There are risks.
There are risks.
I mean, there's a whole book, you know, if you've got time to do it, there's a whole book for you to write about how you do these things illustrated with some of the stories, maybe, you know, like getting locked in.
Funny thing, sometimes I get like mental images that sometimes fit and sometimes don't.
As we were talking about places you should be going, I saw a picture of a canal side.
Are you going to a canal because something tells me that you're going to find something at some kind of canal, maybe by a lock gate or something like that?
Now, this may be complete rubbish and you can report back to me, but are you looking at the canals?
Well, I've been dealing with a gentleman at Shildon.
He's linked with the railway and the institute that I'm going.
And he was the first person that opened the canals at Manchester.
He designed them.
I can't remember his name.
I know.
And I haven't told you that.
So well done.
But yes, he was in charge of those.
Okay, well, you know.
And I am going back.
I am going back in February to the Railway Institute.
So maybe he's got something to say.
You just don't know what he is.
I think, and I might be wrong, you know, psychic Awi.
I think there's going to be something to do with the canals that's going to get you a lot of attention.
I'm sounding like my old friend, the psychic Christian Diona.
I'm telling you this now.
It's going to happen.
But something to do with the canals.
Elaine, listen, have a lovely Christmas.
Thank you for helping me through this year.
Have a wonderful 2022 and stay safe in everything that you do.
If people want to connect with you, I'm not going to ask you what is your website.
I've learned from that.
I don't have one.
Because you don't have one.
I'd have one just for you.
You should.
Absolutely.
We need to get one going for you.
How do people connect with you then?
It's usually best to do it through social media.
So I've got a Facebook page.
I always answer, but I do work.
So cut me a little bit of slack.
I definitely will answer.
It's just that if I'm at work, I obviously can't do it until I get on my lunch break.
And I'm on Twitter and I'm on Instagram.
Or my phone numbers are out there on Facebook.
It's nothing to hide.
Drop me a message.
If anybody ever wants to come on a public event just to see what it's about, we've got plenty.
I'm going to do some ghost walks around Durham and York.
Maybe that's your thing.
I do get asked a lot if I take younger people and I don't.
But I am trying to think of a way around that for next year because, you know, 15, 16 year olds are getting into that.
And I hate the thought of them going out and doing it themselves.
I really do.
That scares me because they'll pull out a Ouija board and before you know it, the end of the world's happening.
Yeah.
And you need to be in control of that.
You need to go to Chester.
My last word.
Oh, I would love to go to Chester.
I would love to go to Liverpool as well.
I've never investigated Liverpool and I keep meaning to.
I really do.
Well, I did the show, the radio show from the Titanic Hotel.
I took a rucksack full of equipment with me, did it all by myself.
The staff were fantastic.
It was a wonderful experience.
And that's built in one of the sheds there, you know, one of the dock sheds.
Great big, beautiful, huge, big, you know, brick building from, you know, the days when Liverpool was a thriving port for trade from all over the world, you know, back in the day, 1800s kind of stuff, 1700s.
There are a number of these sheds and the one next door to the Titanic Hotel they claim is seriously haunted.
So that's another one for you to do.
You're going to be busy.
I know I'm up to June in the diary already.
Believe it or not.
Well, this is all.
This means we're going to be talking again by round about February, I think.
Elaine, thank you very much and all the best to you and yours.
Yes, and to you, Howard.
Thanks for having me on.
Elaine Kelly, always good to hear, Elaine.
Your thoughts on this show?
Gratefully received?
Go to the website theunexplained.tv.
Send me an email from there.
And if you can make a donation to the online version of this show, that would be gratefully received to take us into 2022.
More great guests in the pipeline here at the home of the unexplained online.
So until next we meet, my name is Howard Hughes.
This has been The Unexplained Online.
And whatever you do, please stay safe.
Please stay calm.
And above all, please stay in touch.
Thank you very much indeed.
Take care.
Happy Christmas.
▲
Export Selection