Mystery of Wem ghost solved by an 88-year-old postcard and an eagled-eyed pensioner

By Andy Dolan
Last updated at 12:50 PM on 19th May 2010

It was an image hailed as compelling evidence for the existence of ghosts.

As a town hall was being destroyed by fire, an apparition of a little girl - standing behind a rail and surrounded by flames - was apparently captured on camera.

The picture was taken by Tony O'Rahilly, a sewage farm worker and keen photographer, as he stood across the road among a crowd watching the 90-year-old building in Wem, Shropshire, burn down in November 1995.

Mystery: The infamous photo of the 'Wem Ghost', showing a girl in the fire at Wem Town Hall in November 1995

The legend of the Wem Ghost was born.

But 15 years on, a pensioner has come forward to cast doubt on the spectre.

Brian Lear, 77, said the 'ghost' bears a distinct likeness to a girl standing in a doorway in a photo of Wem's high street.

This was used on a postcard dating from 1922.

Mr Lear, a retired engineer from Shrewsbury, spotted the image when it was reproduced last week as part of a nostalgia item in a local paper.

'I was intrigued to find that she bore a striking likeness to the little girl featured as the Wem Ghost,' he said.

'Her dress, bonnet and ribbon appear to be identical.'

In 1995 the 'ghost' image created international headlines. There was local speculation that the girl was 14-year-old Jane Churm, who accidentally started a disastrous fire in Wem in 1677. The cause of the 1995 fire remains a mystery. Mr O'Rahilly died of a heart attack in 2005.

Solved: A street scene postcard from the 1920s taken in Wem shows a similar looking girl to the one who appears in Mr O'Rahilly's photo

Local councillor Peggy Carson, who knew him, said she believed the stress caused by interest in his picture contributed to his death.

A close-up of the girl in the postcard

Local historian Tom Edwards, 69, said: 'He always maintained that the picture was genuine and I believe him.'

Photographic experts have suggested that the 'ghost' image was a trick of the light caused by the fire.

However, Greg Hobson, the curator of photographs at the National Media Museum in Bradford, said: 'The postcard offers pretty conclusive proof that this is a hoax.

'I think we can say the mystery has been solved.'

Mr Hobson said the technique used to produce the doctored photograph was probably similar to one used by Edwardian era mediums who purported to capture images of spirits with their relatives during the relatives' consultations as a way of boosting their credibility.

The mediums would first ask for a photograph of the deceased person, then take a picture of it in the back room. When the client returned later for a consultation, the image would already be partly exposed on to a glass plate.

Another picture would be taken of the client during the session and exposed on to the same plate, giving an image apparently showing the spirit of their relative visiting them during the seance.



Ghost hunters say: Bring out your dead

Got ghosts?

That might be a good bumper sticker for the Green Mountain Paranormal Society, because it's looking for your ghost. Not you, of course — you're still alive — but any ghost that lives with you, or haunts your place of business or just shadows you.

"We want to help people and find answers, and for ourselves, too," says Jennifer Perellie, of Warren, the case manager for the society, a relatively new Vermont-based group that's hoping to make a name for itself in the crowded field of otherworldly investigation.

Fellow member Sherry LeMay, 38, of Moretown, doesn't need a bumper sticker; she already has a personalized Vermont license plate that reads "SPOOKY." If you have a ghost story, she wants to hear it. "OK, so at my house it's Halloween all year long," LeMay says with a chuckle.

But that doesn't mean she and the other group members are determined to find what might not be there. LeMay is a sleep technician at a hospital, and she's awake to the fact that sleep disorders can cause people to see and even feel things in the dark.

Perellie, 35, an artist and business owner, grew up in a strongly religious family that taught that the afterlife exists for all (even children) as heaven or hell. As an adult, Perellie is seeking alternative explanations for what happens after you die.

Monica Robayo, 33, of St. Albans, is a receptionist by day and is the most ardent skeptic in the eight-person group that formed last year when some of its original members broke away from the South Burlington-based Paranormal Investigators of New England. "We first try to find natural explanations for things," says Robayo, who is the team's expert in audio recording.

The group's five other members are a diverse bunch: a firefighter/EMT, a hairdresser, a photographer, a retail buyer and a counseling psychologist.

This state has its fair share of legendary ghosts and hauntings, but they may be outnumbered by the investigators eager to meet them.

A group called Vermont Abnormal Metaphysical and Paranormal Research reports that it has completed investigations in Stowe and Barre; Vermont Spirits Detective Agency has focused on sites in northwestern Vermont and as far south as Vergennes and Crown Point, N.Y.; and Sights Unseen Paranormal lists investigators in Vermont and New Hampshire.

Cryptic Paranormal's Web site claims the Vermont-based group has evidence of the famous ghost said to haunt "Emily's Bridge" in Stowe.

Newcomers keep joining the scene. Vermont Paranormal Investigators says it formed just this year (its Facebook page locates it in Springfield). A couple identifying themselves as Ghost Hunters of Vermont offer a 15-minute introductory program on blogtalkradio.com.

Many of the groups have put out appeals through Facebook, newspaper ads, online forums and radio as they seek out properties with ghosts to investigate. And with the new movie "Paranormal Activity" well on its way to blockbuster status, ghosts in Vermont and elsewhere can probably expect even more investigators to come calling.



No ghostbusters

For the Green Mountain Paranormal Society, the first step is just the opposite of proving ghostly visitation.

"We go in to debunk, first," says Perellie. "The other aspects of our approach are that we offer complete confidentiality, if desired by the client, and we don't charge for our investigations." The group has performed only a few so far as it gets going.

The first thing Perellie does as case manager is decide whether to pursue an investigation at a particular site.

"We ask a lot of questions before we go in," she says. "We need to get a feel of the people, first, the layout of the place, how many people we might need on site to investigate …" Sometimes, the group decides not to investigate.

And sometimes the folks with the ghost back out. This happened in Springfield to Robayo last year, when she was beginning to investigate a report of an apparition of a young girl who would approach, then disappear into the floor. It was determined there used to be a staircase in the area where the ghost vanished, but further investigation was halted when the clients canceled, she says.

"Some people want us to get rid of their ghost," says Perellie. "We don't do that. That's not what we're about." In other words, the group's members are not ghostbusters. And they're not ghost promoters, either. They're just as happy to prove that wasn't a ghost you heard at midnight in dear deceased Grandma's attic, but just a loose roof shingle.

And if they think there actually is a ghost?

"When we do find a home to be haunted, and the family feels uncomfortable, we first off just try to be a support system for the family in any way we can," says Perellie. Just the fact that outsiders believe them can help the situation, she adds.

"Really, the one thing we always advise in this situation is for the entire family living in the home to stand together in one room," says Perellie, "and talk out loud, being stern with the entity. We tell them to say, 'We do not want you here, this is our home, we want you to leave, you are not allowed here anymore.'"



Get the goods

Perellie and the rest of the group would love to talk all night about your possible ghost, and even have you talk to it, but don't think they're going to leave it at that. They're serious about the science of paranormal investigation and using technology to capture tangible evidence of hauntings, which they believe are essentially energy anomalies caused by, for example, some kind of trauma that took place.

"We always have a minimum of four cameras …" Perellie says of their investigations. Members take baseline measurements of normal audio levels, electromagnetic fields and ambient temperatures. They deploy motion sensors and, sometimes, motion trap cameras.

The group members say they strive not to let their expectations or preconceptions affect their perceptions.

"We go in with an open but skeptical mind," says LeMay. "It's not a blind faith."

A case in point was a recent investigation they did for a family in Vermont that was complaining of a feeling of heaviness in the home. "They felt that maybe the spirit of someone who had lived and died in the home, which was fact, was still there …," says Perellie. She notes that guests expressed their discomfort without knowing the family also felt uneasy.

"When we did the investigation, we noticed extremely high (electromagnetic field levels) in the home, which can produce all kinds of symptoms, anything from the feeling of being watched, to seeing dark shadows, to feeling like there is a heaviness in the space."

Perellie says the family requested confidentiality, so all she'll say is that further investigation revealed two obvious reasons why EMF readings were so high, and the family is looking into fixing the problems in the home.

Currently, the society is working on a case in central Vermont where an apparition of a woman sitting in a chair in a home has been seen on multiple occasions, Robayo says.



Still wondering

The group's first outing proved that ghosts, if they exist, don't respond to high expectations and publicity. Several members went to Fall River, Mass., to investigate the home where Lizzie Borden was believed by many to have hacked her father and stepmother to death with a hatchet in 1892. To aficionados of ghosts and the macabre, a trip to Fall River is like a UFO buff visiting Roswell, N.M.

"We kind of went just for fun," says LeMay. But that still meant bringing all their recording gear. The group also set up a live webcam and online chat room for its stay. And then nothing happened.

That wasn't the case in East Bridgewater, Mass., where the group next cut its teeth. Some folks who worked in the Town Hall were getting seriously spooked by strange goings-on. The select board gave the paranormal society the green light to investigate.

On two occasions, says LeMay, she saw sparks shoot into the air "like those Fourth of July sparklers." Once, teammate Spryng Benjamin reported seeing them too. Robayo, staring at an open staircase in the building at around 3 a.m., saw the outline of some dark mass rising just above the banister. She says it looked like a human figure had been sitting on the stairs and suddenly got up to peer over the rail.

"I actually believe less now than I used to," says Robayo. "But after your hundredth hour sitting in the dark, sometimes every now and then you experience something that makes you wonder."



To contact the Green Mountain Paranormal Society, send an e-mail to casemanager@greenmountainparanormal.org.

http://www.timesargus.com/article/20091025/FEATURES07/910250307

He saw the apparition while performing Waiting for Godot with Sir Ian McKellen.

Stage hands believe he saw the ghost of John Baldwin Buckstone, who was actor-manager of the Theatre Royal Haymarket in the mid 19th century and a friend of Charles Dickens.

Upon coming offstage for the interval, Stewart told his co-star that he saw a man standing in the wings wearing what looked like a beige coat and twill trousers.

Sir Ian asked him: "What happened, what threw you?"

"I just saw a ghost. On stage, during Act One," Stewart replied.

The episode was related in a documentary about the Theatre Royal Haymarket, produced by television channel Sky Arts.

However, it appears cameramen failed to capture images of the ghost itself.

Buckstone had a long association with the Theatre Royal, first as a comic actor, then as a playwright and finally as its actor-manager from 1853 to 1877, during which time it put on some 200 productions. The house became the leading comic theatre of the day.

He did not die in the building, passing away peacefully at home in Sydenham, Kent, after a long illness in 1879 aged 77. But theatre lore professes that he nevertheless haunts the place to the present day.

Nigel Everett, a director of the theatre, said: "Patrick told us all about it. He was stunned. I would not say frightened, but I would say impressed."

Appearances of Buckstone were not that frequent, Mr Everett said, with the last being by a stage hand about three or four years ago.

He added: "The last time an actor saw him would have been I think Fiona Fullerton, playing in an Oscar Wilde, 10 or 12 years ago.

"The ghost tends to appear when a comedy is playing."

While he said he did not consider Waiting for Godot to be a comedy, he thought their production did have comic aspects.

"I think Buckstone appears when he appreciates things," he added. "We view it as a positive thing."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-news/6087811/Patrick-Stewart-saw-ghost-performing-Waiting-for-Godot.html

In Britain in recent years, many historic sites have been embracing their ghostly history. Stately homes run by Britain'sNational Trust, have seen a complete reversal in the ‘don’t mention ghosts’ policy practiced in the 1980s. The government-backed English Heritage organization and numerous individual historic siteshave followed this example, and now cheerfully promote the folklore and supernatural history for interested visitors.

A marked exception remains Highgate Cemetery in North London. Opened in 1839, it is London’s premier necropolis, where over 100,000 famous and ordinary folk have been interred in tombs great and small. In 1975 when it had fallen into a ruined state, it was taken over by a charity, Friends of Highgate Cemetery, who have exerted total control over the site ever since. Around 30 to 40 burials still take place each year. However, over the years, custodians have displayed a hostility to any expression by visitors in the supernatural who come on visits. The latest group to encounter this attitude weremembers of the American based ‘Tours of Terror’ who visited in May 2009, and were apparently rumbled after having left a “GHOSTour” sign in the window of their coach. Before entering the graveyard, the tour leader was forced to sign an agreementstating that he will never publish anything about Highgate Cemetery's ghost or vampire connectionever again. This attitude of disdain to American ghost-seekers in the past is long standing. I remember my first visit to the cemetery in November 1984, arranged by ghost hunter Malcolm Ramplin of Hadleigh. In responding to a question about the vampire stories, the guide witheringly replied that this was just somethingthat ‘stupid Americans’ fell for – seemingly oblivious to the fact a third of the party present that day were Americans! However, British visitors have faced just the same - one haunted London guidebook by author Richard Jones even issues a warning!This time around the tour received a blast from the recently retired Mrs. Jean Pateman,active in Highgate Cemetery affairs since 1975, who has become renowned forher animosity to any visitors expressing any interest in the supernatural. Mrs Pateman’s line has been adopted by the charity maintaining the cemetery,resulting in aless-than-visitor-friendly experience. The Friends of Highgate Cemetery, the charity running the site and controlling access, are always pleading poverty, given the immense amounts paid out in annually maintaining the crumbling tombs. But they do not seem to have worked out that many young people, such as colorful goths and punks with blue hair aren’t predominantly drawn to the place because of an overwhelming interest in Victorian funereal architecture. Otherwise the mood of the site is determined very much by the season. Heavily overgrown, in the winter, the cemetery can be a distinctly eerie place; in the summer the trees and vegetation make it a delightful and relaxing spot for tranquil repose. Opposition to anything related to the supernatural stems from all the trouble at Highgate in the late 60s and early 70s. All kinds of rumors involving ghosts, black magic cults and vampires flourished, initially stimulated by excited letters to the local press. The story spread that a vampire walked at Highgate and made its lair in the cemetery. In March 1970, following a TV broadcast hundreds of people descended on the cemetery in a mass ghost/vampire hunt worthy of the ending of a horror film – several claimed they saw a fast moving shadowy figure. Police had to be called to disperse the crowd, some of whom had come armed with home-made stakes and crosses to tackle the vampire! At the same time a number of dead foxes were found in the cemetery, allegedly drained of blood.Unfortunately there was also a lot of vandalism in the following years and cases of graves being desecrated and tombs opened. In some cases human remains were stolen or and used in bizarre rituals by pseudo-occultists. Clearly, the events of a generation agohave contributed to guides today being so touchy when such subjects are raised.The problem is that once a legend is created, it can’t easily be stopped, and certainly the approach taken at Highgate has failed. One feels that, in light ofthe costs of running the cemetery being so high, some thought ought to be given to better ways of managing the continuing public interest in the cemetery, which, in the opinion of expert folkloristDr. Jacqueline Simpson and Jennifer Westwood ‘looks set to become a permanent part of London’s folklore’ (2006's "The Lore of the Land").Of course, there is a difficult job of balancing the needs of a working cemetery and preserving the dignity of a burial ground with public interest, albeitthat there are relatively few modern internments in the North side which has the centre of local ghostlore since the 1960s. A few specially-guided and respectful tours which acknowledge the supernatural folklore will do much to dilute and curb the annual adolescent hysteria and prevent any repetition of the unfortunate events of earlier years. The peak of interest naturally occurs around Hallowe’en and still poses a nuisance but could be stopped by a few tours before October comes. Importantly, it could bea lucrative source of much-needed revenue as well as engaging people in a more serious way.As for ghosts, there remain tales of a ghostly mad woman searching for her children, and the story that a baleful face of a tall apparition is seen peering through the cemetery gates at visitors. “That sums up my experience,” said one of the GHOSTour travelers of her visit. Highgate Cemetery will hopefully continue to be a stop on Tours of Terror'sGHOSTour to England (www.GHOSTour.com).Thanks to Alan Murdie, paranormal researcher and former Chairman of "The Ghost Club," for providing this article,based upon a recent piece in Fortean Times magazine.Website: www.forteantimes.com.Photos by Lana Lutz, courtesy Tours of Terror/GHOSTour 2009

MILWAUKEE -- First Carlos Gomez heard voices. Then he watched his iPod go haywire after he got out of the shower, sending him scrambling for the lobby without stopping to put on his pants and shoes. After last year's experience, the Minnesota Twins outfielder didn't want to go back to Milwaukee's Pfister Hotel. But Gomez had to stay there when the Twins were in town to play the Brewers last month, so he brought some protection: teammate-turned-roommate Francisco Liriano and a Bible. "Everything's scary," Gomez said. "Everything in the hotel, the paintings and pictures, it's a lot of old, crazy stuff. No good, man. No good." The Pfister is Milwaukee's most regal address, having hosted every U.S. president since William McKinley and scores of celebrities who can take a self-guided tour of the hotel's Victorian art collection. Today, it's the place to stay for upscale business travelers and out-of-town visitors, including many Major League Baseball teams. Commissioner Bud Selig, a Milwaukee native, is a frequent visitor. But some players don't care for the 116-year-old hotel's posh accommodations and reputation for privacy. They swear it's haunted. Gomez, San Francisco's Pablo Sandoval, St. Louis' Brendan Ryan and several Florida Marlins all say they've had odd experiences, though Ryan later said nothing really happened. Others aren't willing to talk publicly about what they've seen and heard. Brewers visiting clubhouse manager Phil Rozewicz has heard it all from sleepy-eyed players who would rather hang out at Miller Park than spend one minute more than they have to at the Pfister. "There was a rookie ball player and he was back in his room and he woke up in the middle of the night and his blinds were open, the window was opened and he was panicked," Rozewicz said. "So he went into the bathroom, splashed water on his face, came back out and went to bed. Shut the blinds, the window. Woke up in the morning. Same thing. Slept on the couch in the lobby the next night. Refused to go to his room. Finally, went to a Motel 6 or whatever up the street and just stayed there." Of course, some of this could be mischievous teammates pulling pranks. But Pfister ghost stories go well beyond the ballpark. Allison Jornlin, who leads haunted history tours for the folklore research organization Milwaukee Ghosts, said guests have reported seeing a "portly, smiling gentleman" roaming the halls, riding the elevator and even walking his dog. The apparition is said to resemble Charles Pfister, who founded the hotel with his father, Guido. "His ghost is thought, usually, to behave very well," Jornlin said. "But MLB players seem to bring out his mischievous side." Why's that? "Obviously, he's a Brewers fan," Jornlin said. But even some of the Brewers won't stay there in the offseason. "Even if I come into town for FanFest or whatever, I'm staying somewhere else," said Brewers center fielder Mike Cameron, who moved his family to another hotel after one night last offseason. "I mean, it's not a bad place. But there has been a lot of stories, a lot of creepy things that have gone on." Hotel general manager Joe Kurth won't acknowledge any specific ghost stories from ballplayers or other guests, citing privacy concerns. But he doesn't shy away from the rumors, suggesting that guests interested in seeing a spirit might want to stay in the hotel's historic wing. The Pfister does have its fans. Colorado Rockies manager Jim Tracy loves the quiet atmosphere, though the same couldn't be said for Tracy's players when he was managing the Los Angeles Dodgers. "I was hearing suggestions, to the point that they were saying, "I've got to go to a different hotel,'" Tracy said. That sounds familiar to Gomez, who said he hears voices and noises when he stays there and had his worst experience after hopping out of the shower last year. He'd just started putting his clothes on when his iPod started playing with a static noise. He grabbed it and the iPod changed music suddenly before going to static again. "I grabbed my pants and my shoes and I ran to the lobby," Gomez said. Gomez wishes the Twins would stay somewhere else. "I'm scared to go there," he said. "They should change the hotel. Everybody here doesn't like the hotel. Why (do) they always put us in the same hotel when you can't sleep?" AP Sports Writer John Marshall in Kansas City, Mo., Associated Press Writer Dave De Grace and AP freelance writer Joe Totoraitis in Milwaukee contributed to this report.