Paranormal Magazine

Author: Rob Kirkup
Publisher: The History Press
Price: Paperback £12.99

(3 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

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Another of the growing roster of regional ghost guides from The History Press, this time from one of England’s wildest and most romantic counties.

Twenty of Northumberland’s most haunted locations feature here, in alphabetical order. As you might expect, these include plenty of castles and manor houses steeped in bloody history. Many of the ghosts, too, are pleasingly gothic. Nine-foot tall skeletons, medieval torturers, blue-skinned dwarves, radiant boys, Viking princes uttering bloodcurdling screams, and locked rooms containing mysterious, murderous somethings - all are grist to local author Kirkup’s entertaining mill.

There are thoroughly up-to-date spooks, too, including the ghost of a tragic woman who still peers in through people’s windows and a detailed report of a busy poltergeist in a hotel.

Attractively illustrated and with handy fact-panels about the various haunted locations, Ghostly Northumberland will encourage all ghost fans to take a trip to this fascinating region.

Author: Tina Lakin
Publisher: The History Press
Price: Paperback £9.99

(1 votes, average: 3 out of 5)

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It would be hard to imagine a narrower field of study than Haunted Theatres of East Sussex but Lakin has found plenty of little known spooks to keep the reader happy.

Theatres, like inns, are attractive haunts for ghosts, as well as attractive structures in their own right. Lakin devotes a fair amount of space to setting the scene with the history of this long-established holiday coast’s performance palaces and showcases interesting archive photos of those long gone. Some of the ghosts haunt unlikely spots once occupied by a theatre.

The ghosts themselves include actors and singers, unlucky holiday-makers and a tragic member of a freak show, murdered by hooligans. Eerie but beautiful lights are seen to dance out at sea; big band sounds of the fun-filled past are still to be heard; even the smell of spectral beer can be detected. A slim volume but enough gems to make it worthwhile.

Author: Merrily Harpur
Publisher: Roving Press
Price: Paperback £4.99

(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

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If you needed any fresh evidence that the British Isles are simply stuffed with strangeness, the next few books will certainly convince you.

First up, a book devoted to big cat sightings in just one modest-sized English county - and it’s packed with them. Harpur runs the Dorset Big Cats organisation, and has collected hundreds of reports over the past few years. Here they all are, presented in a gazetteer of locations.

Panthers, pumas, lynxes and maybe even lions and tigers have all been glimpsed by credible witnesses in delightful Dorset. The density of accounts is almost overwhelming and begs the question - if Dorset has this many big cats on the loose, how many exist in wilder parts of the UK?

Harpur tackles questions of this sort in a useful end chapter on ‘Current Theories’. An essential purchase for big cat lovers.

Author: Jason Karl
Publisher: New Holland
Price: Hardback £14.99

(3 votes, average: 2.67 out of 5)

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Although you won’t learn any secrets from Jason Karl’s latest offering - that’s a word publishers love to shove in titles - what you will gain is an informed, balanced and thoroughly readable overview of witchcraft in the world today.

Unlike many other writers, Karl - apparently, a devotee of ‘the Craft’ himself - makes a clear distinction between witchcraft per se and the modern religion of Wicca. His summary of witchcraft through the ages is well handled and will bear revisiting.

The Secret World serves as an excellent introduction to the practice and beliefs of modern witchcraft. It is packed with information on spells, rituals, the Wiccan calendar, gods and goddesses and the influences of ancient religions from all over the world.

Handsomely presented, this good value hardback will make a great gift for anyone showing an early interest in the fastest growing religion in the Western world.

Author: Dr Karl P N Shuker
Publisher: CFZ Press
Price: Paperback £14.99

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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Dr Shuker has become Britain’s best-known cryptozoologist, his many books and articles - including those in Paranormal - on mystery beasts has earned him a loyal following.

The Casebook continues a series of collections of previously printed articles from disparate sources but what sets it apart is that in this volume Dr Shuker casts his keen eye over paranormal subjects beyond the realm of cryptozoology.

Here we find Dr Shuker writing about ghosts - of the most bizarre kind. The Green Children of Woolpit come under his notice, as do spooklights, fish falls, mermaids, UFOs and miracles. The good doctor even strays into pure historical research - in a discussion on three early kings of Britain - and we are treated to a chapter of Fortean-inspired travelogue.

Cryptozoology is still prominent, of course. For example, chapters are devoted to cats with wings and that staple of ancient romance, the unicorn. An investigation into the mysterious animals of West Africa is a particular highlight.

Weird humanoids feature strongly throughout the book and include ‘Men in Scales’ and the creepy ‘Mummies from Space’.

The Casebook closes with one of the best chapters, a piece that provides a fascinating crossover of cryptozoology with ufology by discussing the possibility that UFOs are actually huge, luminous creatures floating about in the upper atmosphere:

‘She claimed that the stratosphere is inhabited by enormous glowing organisms resembling gigantic bladders of colloidal silicones. Composed principally of pure energy but containing a central core of tenuous matter, they feed upon energy to sustain their luminous shape-shifting bodies.’ Ulp!

Dr Shuker’s Casebook offers over 300 pages packed with paranormal goodness, all presented with the author’s trademark blend of enthusiasm, imagination and scientific common sense.

Ghost hunter, author and editor of Paranormal magazine Richard Holland shares a spooky story while fellow investigator, well known Lionel Fanthorpe offers a theory as to what it could mean…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northeast/guides/weird/ghosts/pages/explained.shtml

IT’S probably the world’s wierdest hen night hotspot - underground, freezing cold and seriously spooky.

Even booze is banned so the rave-up for the bride-to-be and her pals is over a steaming cuppa and a sarnie, pictured above Barrie Paul down the mine which is now a museum that welcomes hen parties for scary nights.

Yet dozens of crazy chicks are shunning a glitzy night on the town to give it a go.

What they want most of all is to be scared stiff by the ghosts of ancient miners who helped turn Teesside into the world’s biggest iron producer.

Hen parties are queuing up to ditch fluffy pink boppers and fairy wings to cuddle up cosy in anoraks and woolly hats for overnight psychic sessions in the dark depths of Skinningrove’s mining museum.

The Most Haunted hen nights are a smash hit idea from 43-year-old medium Angie Riley and sceptic husband Mark who run Abbey Ghost Hunters. They are cashing in on the boom in all things paranormal and reckon the mine is one of the most haunted places in Britain.

“There’s lots of activity down there,” said Mark from the ghostbuster’s base in Scarborough.

He and Angie don’t just get hen night requests from around the country, they are often down the mine investigating spirit activity with paranormal groups.

It may all be a puzzle to Barrie Pell, recruitment and training officer at the Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum, but he’s happy to welcome the bizarre parties; “The more the merrier” is his philosophy as the Skinningrove tourist attraction hits some pretty important anniversary milestones.

It is 160 years since the opening of the mine with its underground Manhatten grid-iron pattern of 200 miles of tunnels. It’s 50 years since the place closed and 25 years since it was founded by the late Tom Leonard, the Evening Gazette’s long-time reporter in East Cleveland.

So it is good news that the heritage museum hit a record high of more than 6,000 visitors in its multi-celebration year.

Reluctantly sceptic Barrie who lives in Liverton, admits he has experienced the paranormal. Once in the six years since he arrived after taking redundancy from ICI.

“I can’t say what it was, but it was very strange. The hairs on my arms froze and a strange vision shot over my head. I looked for a rational explanation, but there wasn’t one.”

But Barrie and volunteer support worker Paul Unthank, 49, agree that Skinningrove is seen nationally as a seriously haunted place. “If you are that way inclined,” says Paul, studying history at Teesside University.

If it’s history he’s after, the mining museum is the place to be. This is where, in the 19th century, the potential of the chunks of ironstone found on the nearby beach was first recognised.

It sparked the Cleveland Klondyke iron rush which saw thousands flocking to find work and the industrial revolution which turned tiny Middlesbrough into an “Infant Hercules.”

The first ironstone was hauled out of the Skinningrove mine in 1847 and taken by huge Shire horses along a railway to a jetty where it was loaded onto a boat for Middlesbrough. The foundations of Teesside’s worldwide fame as an iron producer had been laid.

The area’s heritage lives on in Craig Hornby’s blockbuster film “A Century of Stone.” And at the mining museum’s discovery centre.

“We always need money,” said Barrie, who like the 40 volunteer guides and workers at the museum, loves the project.

“We don’t have a marketing budget so we have to do what we can to tell people we are here.”

In the school holidays the place is heaving with families, kids and groups. “We couldn’t take any more,” says Paul. But they really want off-peak visitors to keep the museum buzzing all the time.

“I think people in the area don’t know so much about us or the history of the place or ironstone mining in general,” said Barrie, of the mine which closed in 1958. Which is a pity because the tour which can take an enlightening 90 minutes is riveting. The human courage, strength and sheer brawn which won the ironstone is laid bare as the story unfolds. And behind it all are the women who slaved to keep the family show on the road and the kids who couldn’t wait to leave school at 12 to work there “as men.”

There were hundreds of deaths in the deep darkness of the 9ft seams lit by faint candle power as tubs filled with rock and gunpowder explosions killed and maimed the miners.

In the complete blackness of the dark room, the memories of a young miner who worked for just “pit pence” are played.

Marooned alone for his first 12 hour shift he is shocked at a rat scuttling over his feet. Gradually though it becomes his pet and trusted companion sharing his sandwich and nestling on his knee.

“It is probably the most powerful moment of the tour,” said Barrie.

Museum Facts

Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum is open Easter to October 31 for Halloween night; Monday to Friday 10.30am to 3.30pm. Saturdays and Sundays in August, 1-3.30pm.

Admission (including a guided tour) is £4 for adults, children £2, Family of two adults and two children £10.

For more information go to www.ironstonemuseum.co.uk or phone 01287 642877.

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While most cats are renowned for having nine lives, these moggies are clearly living on a wing and a prayer.

The cute little devils began sprouting bumps on their backs, which later turned into wing-like growths, during a recent spell of hot weather in China’s Sichuan province.

One cat owner, known only as Feng, claims her cat’s wings are a result of stress after he was ‘harassed’ by females looking to mate.

‘At first, they were just two bumps, but they started to grow quickly, and after a month there were two wings,’ she told Huashang News.

‘Many female cats in heat came to harass him, and then the wings started to grow.’

And while she says her lovable Tom is no devil, his wings, which contain bones, make him look more like a ‘cat angel’.

But genetic experts claim there is nothing angelic or magical about the condition, which doesn’t hinder the cat’s quality of life.

They say the wings can form through poor grooming, a genetic defect or a hereditary skin condition.

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