A lifelong devotee to the study of the supernatural, I must
admit to being quite concerned at the detrimental effect the current “ghost
tour” craze is having on our country’s paranormal heritage (Express
& Star article, September 10).
Speaking as someone who has had first hand experience of both the planning
and execution of such excursions, I cannot stress just how factually erroneous
and often downright amateurish the bulk of these ventures are.
It would seem that practically anyone can establish one of these tours –
regardless of their evident lack of experience in the field concerned. The
information used is frequently manufactured – purely for dramatic effect
and, unfortunately, once presented to the paying public, such unsound data
will inevitably become part of an area’s ghostlore.
Nicholas Duffy,
West Midland Ghost Club.
Replying to Nicholas Duffy (October 12) regarding ghost tours;
lighten up, Mr Duffy.
Ghost tours are harmless fun. My friends and I attended one in Dudley. It
was an ingenious idea and a thoroughly entertaining evening enjoyed by all.
If we were interested in serious ghost hunting, we would have joined an association
to this end.
Don’t be a killjoy. It’s a great way to spend a dull, cold, winter
evening.
Pam S,
Pelsall
I take my responsibilities on the Ghost Tour very seriously. Some stories are not without humour of course, and the whole tour is peppered with jokes. But generally, the Ghost Tour is far more serious and academic by comparison to the History Tour.
I never make fun of the spirits I talk about, and always treat them with respect, and have taken great pains to get the facts right in every story I tell.
Whatever knowledge or "expertise" I have gained on the paranormal, supernatural, or whatever you want to call it, is merely based on 18 years of doing ghost tours and a life-long passion for collecting ghost stories from all over the British Isles, and for that matter, from all around the world.
Will you enjoy the tour less if you don't believe in ghosts, or enjoy it more if you do? I really don't think it matters either way. I am not trying to "make" anyone believe, so why should I care if you do or not?
I have been called a "fake" and a "phoney", but what is it exactly that I am supposed to be "faking"? What do these people think I am pretending to be that I am not? Staggeringly, I have even been accused of "inventing" ghosts! What "truth" on Earth does that come from?
One moderately well known paranormal investigation company put on their leaflets, "We are the real thing! We don't do "tours"! But how am I any less "real" than them? I am not an actor, have never lied to anyone, and have never pretended to be anything I am not.
This cannot be said of the number of self professed "psychics" who lie as habit, and have pretended to be me, in order to further their own ends.
Occasionally strange things do happen to people, myself included, whilst the tour is in progress. But it has never been, nor will it ever be, my intention to go out deliberately looking to invoke ghosts.
I saw my first "apparition" when I was 6 or 7 years old. Believe me on this point, the ghosts come looking for me!
But today, I accept that we are living in very strange times, where ouija boards combined with excessive alcohol drinking are a regular evenings entertainment. Whatever I might think about that, I also accept that I have no power to stop it!
"Do all things for Heaven's sake. Blame not others; only search into the lack of sincerity in us. Heaven loves all men alike, so we must love others with the love with which we love ourselves." - old Japanese proverb
Craig Denston –
December 2011
"As most popular writers of ghost stories use one another as sources rather than go to the trouble of checking back to primary accounts, their stories show little variation apart from a few improvements in what might be called the “mise-en-scene”.
The words of Tony Parker published in 1966 - But is it ever true today!
I myself have been
on someone else’s ghost tour round Dudley Castle and listened to one
of my own stories incorrectly told back to me!
Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord,
but those who act faithfully are his delight.
Proverbs 13 v. 22