Embracing the Spirits: True Stories of My Encounters With the Other Side (2 page)

lently they can manifest. I’ve been on the receiving end of

their attentions often enough to know that the phenomenon

is terrifyingly real.

Fortunately for me, I didn’t have to consciously decide to

go head-to-head with a poltergeist. The opportunity to do so

sprung up at me unannounced. And as it did so, I realised that if I wanted to continue on my path of spiritual growth, it was time to face my demons.

As with all of life’s pivotal moments, this one began inno-

cently enough. The chain of events which placed me in

Carinup the following day began with a quick scan of my

5

6 The Night of the Poltergeist

Facebook page. A post by Tony G immediately caught my

attention. Tony is reputed to be
Australia’s Ghost Whisperer
and

is a highly regarded medium. His recent appearance in a high-

rating TV show further cemented his reputation as one of the

nation’s best.

Tony was looking for two volunteers to join him on a

ghost hunt, scheduled to coincide with Halloween which was

the next day. Despite a flicker of trepidation, I decided to put my hand up. And somehow from the throng of eager would-be ghost-hunters, Tony chose a lady named Karen and myself.

In less than twenty four hours we’d be joining him on an investigation which would prove impossible to forget.

Our destination was the 105 year-old Carinup tavern,

which was reported to be attracting the attentions of an irate poltergeist. Although almost two hundred and fifty kilometres from home, its reputation suggested that it would be well worth the drive.

I met Tony and his wife at our arranged meeting point in

Bunbury, so that we could travel the last fifty kilometres to

Carinup together. The half hour we spent in the car set the

scene for the rest of the evening, as Tony told me about some

of his previous experiences with poltergeists.

He spoke of an investigation he’d conducted a couple of

years earlier, set in a lonely old farmhouse which was home to three teenage girls. Amongst a steady litany of ghostly manifestations, the image of a pair of crucifixes would repeat-

edly appear on the benches and tabletops. It looked as though

they had been burnt deep within their surface. The teenagers’

mother had tried scouring the effigies off, but no matter what she used and how hard she scrubbed, the crucifixes remained

fast. Yet when Tony gently ran his thumb over them, the

The Night of the Poltergeist 7

images instantly faded from sight. It was as though they were

reacting to Tony’s powerful psychic energy. When he looked

at his thumb there was no sign of the blackish colour which

had defined them, his thumb remained clean. It was as almost

as if the crucifixes had never been there at all.

Tony also told me about an alarming case whereby a pol-

tergeist was hurling crockery and knives, so frequently and

recklessly that the homeowner’s life seemed at risk. Once the

cause of the disturbance was uncovered however, it didn’t take long for the home to resume normality. This is true of most

hauntings, there is usually an underlying issue. The paranor-

mal activity is most often a cry for attention, and if the spirit’s concerns can be addressed, the disturbance usually recedes.

In this particular case, the focus of the haunting was an ex-

soldier who had served in Northern Ireland several years earlier.

One of his comrades had suffered an horrific injury as the result of a bomb blast, which would have resulted in a slow and agonising death. Wishing to spare him further suffering, the man

proceeded to shoot his friend in the head. As a result of what was in effect a mercy killing, he had been unable to forgive himself and had punished himself ever since. The ex-soldier’s life was dominated by his all-consuming guilt and he was spiralling deeper and deeper into a remorseless depression. His marriage

had crumbled, he was unable to work and was habitually drink-

ing himself into oblivion.

Tony soon established that the poltergeist was in fact the

man’s deceased comrade, who was becoming increasingly

frustrated by his friend’s progressively bleak existence. The

spirit’s frenetic behaviour was a desperate attempt to get his friend’s attention, and to assure him that he had done the right thing by ending his life.

8 The Night of the Poltergeist

Once Tony relayed the message from the deceased soldier,

it didn’t take long for the haunting to settle down. The com-

munication certainly afforded some peace to the attention-

seeking spirit and hopefully provided some peace and closure

for the man as well.

It was with these stories fresh in my mind, that we

approached the Carinup tavern. My mind was focussed on pol-

tergeists and hauntings, I was primed and ready for the ghost

hunt. The fact that a Ouija Board sat just behind me, clattering in the back of the station wagon, further set the mood. It was time for the investigation to begin.

As we entered the tavern, we were met by Rob and Heidi,

the hosts of a popular morning radio show. One of the local

television stations had also sent a reporter, who was covering the investigation for the following evening’s news. The media

were poised for what they hoped would be an eventful eve-

ning. They wouldn’t be disappointed.

It wasn’t long before Tony had scanned the building, and

identified a closed-off corridor as the focus of the haunting.

To reach it, you had to go through a long dark hallway with

self-closing doors at either end. Once you entered the hallway, the heavy door closed quickly behind you, pitching the space

into complete darkness. It was musty and foreboding.

The doorway at the end of the hall led to the corri-

dor, which in turn gave access to a bathroom and two pokey

rooms. These had once been the publican’s quarters, but were

now too decrepit to be used for anything other than storage.

Ted, one of the previous publicans didn’t think so though, and he continued to occupy his quarters in spite of being dead.

The Night of the Poltergeist 9

Tony thought it would be best to take us into the corri-

dor in pairs, so that the groups were small enough for him to

maintain control.

First to accompany Tony into Ted’s quarters was Heidi,

who had confessed a profound fear of ghosts beforehand. The

reporter from TV station also went in, her camera rolling. She admitted she was a skeptic, and didn’t expect to capture anything untoward.

After much convincing, a tearful Heidi eventually agreed

to go in, her terror palpable as she made her way through the

heavy first door. We could hear her voice getting softer as the group moved away from us, as she repeatedly asked to go

back, unwilling to face her darkest of fears. Tony managed to

reassure her, telling her she would come to no harm.

Tony called out into the darkness.

“If there’s anyone here, could you please make a noise.”

Almost instantly, a loud banging began on the ceiling and

walls. Heidi screamed.

“Oh my God!” she gasped. “I need to get out. Take me back!”

“It’s OK …” said Tony calmly. “Nothing will happen to you;

you’ll be fine.”

Tony addressed the ghost once again, and asked if it would

make itself known to them.

Another loud bang echoed through the corridor. By now

Heidi had begun to hyperventilate, and worse was yet to

come. The reporter continued filming, stoically trying to pro-

cess what she could scarcely believe was possible. Tony continued trying to establish contact.

And then, completely unfathomably, the trio were pelted

with a smattering of stones. They had materialised out of thin air; it was more than Heidi could take.

10 The Night of the Poltergeist

“Get me out of here!” she screamed.

Seconds later she was bolting down the hallway, back through

the heavy wooden door and into the sanctuary of the pub.

“It’s real!” Heidi cried. “It’s really real … he threw rocks at us!”

I could see her shaking from across the room. We all crowded

around her, shocked but intrigued. We were unable to compre-

hend that the poltergeist had actually manifested stones and used them as projectiles. I’d read about the phenomenon being connected to poltergeists before, and could never quite believe it.

Being confronted with the evidence now was almost more than

I could process.

Tony called Rob in from the hallway, it was his turn to go

in. I quickly grabbed the door before it shut, and asked the TV

reporter if she was OK.

“I’m fine,” she smiled, as the team disappeared into the

darkness and the door slammed shut once again.

The group resumed their positions in the corridor, and

Tony asked the ghost if he wanted them to leave.

BANG!

“OK … but we’re not here to hurt you mate. We’re not try-

ing to upset you …”

BANG!

Tony picked up that Ted didn’t like the reporter at all and

it wasn’t long before he expressed his disdain. The stones fired up once again, and this time they were all aimed at the young

woman. Even her camera was bombarded, and she ran from

the corridor, an hysterical mess.

As she stumbled into the pub with her camera hanging by

her side, we were shocked to see her so distressed. She was

crying, shaking and struggling to breathe. We helped her into

The Night of the Poltergeist 11

a chair and gave her water, waiting for her to catch her breath so we could hear what had happened. She was completely

traumatised, perhaps more so for having been a skeptic just a

few minutes earlier.

It was then that Tony called my name.

“Your turn,” he said.

Having seen how the two ladies before me fared, to say I

was scared would be a ridiculous understatement. All my old

fears came bubbling to the surface. I felt like I was a teenager again; as frightened as I’d been when I was terrorised by poltergeists thirty years ago.

“I can’t do it,” I said, terrified. I could feel my face burning; my body was trembling.

Tony assured me I’d be safe, and the rest of the group

agreed. They reminded me I’d come all this way for a reason, I wouldn’t forgive myself if I backed out now. So with my heart

racing and my breath rasping, I clung to Tony’s elbow as we

made our way down the increasingly cold hallway. Karen (my

fellow competition winner) was armed with her infrared cam-

era and made up the threesome for the third leg of the inves-

tigation.

I forced myself to breathe deeply as we stood in the dark

corridor. The sense of expectation was all-consuming, though

it wasn’t long before the activity kicked in. A loud bang was

followed by the flying stones, it appeared that this was Ted’s favourite trick. One of the stones skimmed my right cheek as

it whizzed past, I was as awestruck as I was terrified.
How on
earth was this possible?
It was beyond my comprehension that the stones were manifesting out of nothingness, they seemed

to be coming at us from thin air.

12 The Night of the Poltergeist

Tony addressed the darkness, his voice measured and con-

fident. He’d obviously done this many times before.

“If you want us to leave, just make a noise …”

The response came as a loud rap on the wall in front of us.

I was ready to run.

“OK,” I faltered. “If you don’t want us here, we’ll go.” I

turned towards the doorway, but Tony and Karen had no

intention of leaving. Especially since Karen was capturing a

spectacular display of orb activity on her infrared camera.

I’d noticed that while I was speaking to Ted I started to feel a little more calm. So I tried speaking to him again.

“We’re sorry if we’re upsetting you. We want to know

whether you need our help. Are you stuck?”

Another shower of stones, or perhaps it was more of a sprin-

kling. We heard the stones clatter into the old bath, and made our way towards the bathroom to investigate. Tony held one

of the stones in the palm of his hand, it looked like one of the small orange local stones, and we joked that it was very much

like a large lentil. The atmosphere was starting to lift.

“Ted …” asked Tony. “Do you think you could show your-

self to us again?”

Almost instantly, an orb flew out from the wall to our right.

It skittered around in front of us for a few seconds, before disappearing into the brickwork of the opposite wall.

“Wow!” I said, starting to feel better. We were all blown

away.

“Could you do that again mate?” asked Tony.

We all stared at Karen’s view-finder as the small, bright orb

reappeared. It darted around in front of us, before seeming to disappear into the wall once again.

“Thank you,” I said. “It’s so good of you to show yourself!”

The Night of the Poltergeist 13

This manifestation of spirit energy felt much more accept-

able than stone-throwing and rapping! It appeared that now that Ted had our full attention, he had calmed down significantly.

Also, by now I’d managed to keep my fear in check, so there was no intense emotion available to fuel the disturbance. Karen and Tony had been calm and composed all along, it was just me who

had been on the verge of a meltdown!

By the time we emerged from the darkness, my fear had