I’ve been involved in paranormal studies for 15 years, I’ve witnessed or been privy to others witnessing some profound things, luckily I’m a realist, I work in the Unknown Phenomena Investigation Association with friends who, if I’m unable to find an answer to something, they inevitably can.

I’ve spent time in some of the countries alleged most haunted locations, most I’d say poppycock, hype, owners wishing to make a penny from others interest in the subject. But I have been lucky to visit some locations, especially residential, which have offered a peculiar air.

In the early Noughties, I had opportunity to gain access to the former Deva asylum wards at the Countess of Chester Hospital. With permission and accompanied by site security; myself and several colleagues toured the desolate Victorian corridors, viewing each and every ward, office and private operating areas.

A cornucopia of original fixtures adorned the dark, damp and musty sanatorium adding to the air of oddness. Complete silence, other than our low murmurs and footfalls, operating tables with scrubs lying upon them, like a doctor had just left, everything around offered the sense that patients, doctors and nurses were just around the corner.

I’m not one who holds with the spiritual side of the subject, too often folk jump to this answer without any knowledge of spirituality or science, and along with spirituality comes feelings. I have been to two locations in the world which, psychological or not, have left me with a strange sense. Anne Frank’s house in Amsterdam and the Deva wards at the rear of the 1829 building at the Countess.

I was introduced to the cellar, or what I thought was the cellar. In fact it led to a tunnel, a dark otherworldly place and to my astonishment, attached to the walls were manacles. In Victorian times, to protect the population from the low life mad people of society, this tunnel ran to the nearby Chester – Birkenhead railway, where trains stopped to allow patients to depart. The chains and manacles used to restrain the patients upon their arrival to the Deva.

I was asked to take photographs by security, each of the three claimed to have witnessed alleged paranormal phenomena. Apparitions, being touched, shoved, object movement, shadows, noises, talking. The list was endless; each also related to me friends and colleagues who had also related to them, their tales of the wards. At last count the UPIA had individual testimony from 23 people each with their own tales of apparent paranormal phenomena.

All forms of environmental testing were conducted, which, at the time was quite insignificant compared to the quality of and the availability of equipment today. This aside, all information gleaned was within tolerances expected in the wards. Many photographs were taken and two of the images offered unusual information. At this time digital technology was still rare, all UPIA images were taken on 35mm, still the most worthwhile way of photography within this subject, reducing the amount of fraudulent images currently darkening our doors. The first showed one of the security guards with a strange shadow enveloping him, the second, when asked to photograph a particular place where a running apparition was witnessed, did indeed show what looked like a negative of a person’s shoulders and head, running ghost or perfect appearance of pareidolia?

And so we left our first visit to the inner workings of a very well known and ominous building, with nothing of consequence occurring or reported by any of the people present.

I returned to the location, again accompanied by one member of staff on numerous occasions, I never got used to the weird feeling, if buildings store memories then boy, the Deva held some unspeakable thoughts.

A midweek summer afternoon, warm, dry and still, myself and my chaperone opened the twenty foot, twelve inch thick, half tonne weighted door ( at least at this point that’s how I remember it ). The door was huge, it was thick and it was solid oak and extremely heavy. On each occasion the door was wedged open, this to allow light and for health and safety reasons. We had just arrived, two people, no equipment, nothing to monitor anything in the environment, visual, sound or any other means. Within seconds of crossing the boundary both myself and my acquaintance looked at each other in a pretty, mouths to the floor kind of way…

A low, rumbling moan, to the point of experiencing an infrasound wave emanated from god knows where and then the coup de grace, the door, so long admired for its beauty, creaked loudly and crashed too with a bang like a cannon, echoing throughout the empty corridors.

This dear readers is the one and only time I have experienced fear in my whole career within paranormal investigation, from Ghosts, UFO’s, Big cats, every single area in which the UPIA research and investigate, I have never experienced anything as bottom quiveringly shocking as I experienced that day. It may not sound much to folk convinced they’ve witnessed their own fearful moments, but this to me was terrifying. The unexpected event caught me totally by surprise, and further investigation could offer no explanation to the cause. We split up and toured the building for external factors, but we were completely alone.

Too many people are now involved in the subject claiming professionality, most would have automatically blamed paranormal influences for the event we witnessed, I believe the moan and the door slamming were nothing unusual, but psychologically, and with the fear factor already instilled, at the time, I believed this to be very very strange.

In my career, and especially on some locations, I believe fear should not be shown to the subject, but more towards the people involved and some of those claiming the supernatural. Don’t be scared of the dead – beware of the living.