How it all began

Over the years I have been asked repeatedly about what prompted me to get involved with a subject like the paranormal and also why did I start writing books about it; fortunately the answer is reasonably straightforward. It ties into a lifetime’s fascination with all things paranormal and supernatural, and from my perspective the words are entirely synonymous. I regard myself as fortunate in that from my earliest years I have had, for want of a better word, ‘encounters’ with the strange, the unusual and you might even say the mystical, but perhaps I should set this in some kind of historical context. The first of these many ‘encounters’ that I can recall occurred early one morning more than sixty years ago when I was around two or three years old, (I was still in a cot, so I must have been very young). I awoke quite suddenly and opened my eyes to see an ‘entity’ standing between my cot and my fathers baby-grand piano, which was in my bedroom.

The entity, which, with the benefit of hindsight, looked rather like a cross between an Grey ET and an elf, must have been around four feet tall and was dressed from top to toe in a close fitting, green belted garment, a sort of ‘jump suit’ complete with built in footwear, (I clearly could see its feet) and its arms were crossed. It was quite solid, there was no hint of transparency and it blocked my view of the piano so there was definitely something there. I did not see its face though, because my view was restricted by the blankets that covered me and I was peeking out through a gap with the blankets pulled right over my head. I was not in any sense afraid or alarmed, the entity did not radiate any sense or hint of threat or menace, it just stood there quietly with folded arms and I knew it was watching me, or perhaps even guarding me, who knows?

The room seemed very still, noiseless and well lit; as I said it was early morning and strong sunlight was coming through the blind, I could even see motes of dust swirling and shimmering in the air. It may seem strange, but that vision is still with me almost 67 years later, still pin sharp and still clear. My parents were next door just through the wall, but I did not feel the need to cry out because I was not afraid, although, conversely, I had no desire to actually move in order to see its face, of course I now wish that I had, but hey! I was only a kid. At any rate I lay and watched the entity for few minutes, but it did not move and I fell asleep again. When I awoke it had gone. I recall telling my mother who smiled and dismissed my encounter as a dream, but that was no dream.

I also remember, decades later, discussing this sighting with a medical professional, a psychologist who was a friend of mine. I had worked with him previously when seeking objective and rational medical explanations for some of the phenomena that I had encountered during my ghost-hunting days. He thought about it and suggested that what I had seen might have been due to a hypnopompic hallucination brought about by being drowsy. I had previously considered this possibility since it is a factor that must be examined when assessing cases where individuals have encountered apparitions and/or ghosts, especially when lying in bed.

The flip side of hypnopompic is hypnagogic and both are recognised states of consciousness that can occur when either falling asleep (hypnagogic) or waking (hypnopompic). They are used by the medical profession as convenient labels to describe the sometimes alarming visions that can occur during either of these two natural events experienced when in the process of either falling asleep or awakening. I have thought long and hard about what occurred all those decades ago, but that was 100% real, it was no hallucination, of that I am utterly certain. But what did I actually see? That I’m afraid is another question entirely.

It is interesting to note that although the process of falling asleep has been monitored and measured we still do not fully understand why it happens other than to recognise that a variety of electrochemical processes are involved. It has been seriously mooted in some quarters that more study should be directed at this borderline state of awareness since it might possibly provide answers to how we can to communicate with the other realties that surround us. Some branches of Buddhism hold that the sleep/wake cycle is an analogy for the birth-death-rebirth cycle that is recognised by that faith and there is good reason to suppose that it is as valid as anything else.

We only have to look at the similarities in the accounts of those who have had Near Death Experiences (NDE’s) to see the possibilities here, although conventional science vigorously rejects these reports as the frantic attempts of the dying brain to make sense of what is happening to it. A flood of neurotransmitters washing around the brain, which creates a kind of ‘dream theatre’, a ‘cinema of the mind’ played out for our benefit, however why are they always the same or similar? Neural ‘hard wiring’ or something else? Science of course tries to explain this too, as if unwilling to accept that the human organism, especially the brain, is a truly wonderful, almost magickal organ. Science does this because it has no other choice and is tied to its own rigid and inflexible mantras and dogmas as much as the ravings of religious fundamentalists and bible literalists. The question here is, does consciousness ever really shut down even after death? My own experiences suggest that it does not.

Since then odd events have occurred to me on a semi regular basis, chance encounters with the unseen and largely ignored forces that surround us. For example, I once conducted a conversation complete with answers with an invisible being, a conversation conducted (while sober I should add) at approx 2am in a public toilet in a holiday park. I stood there letting nature take its course when a voice, a woman’s voice, spoke to me directly into my right ear. The conversation was utterly banal and consisted mainly of the voice trying to attract my attention by calling my name, I replied, but the voice was ever more insistent and demanding. Suddenly I realised what was happening and pure instinct took over, I panicked and literal ran from the toilet right back to the caravan where my wife and children were sound asleep.

These occurrences increased in number when I became actively involved with investigating claims of manifestations of the supernatural. I should make something very clear here, because I include UFO encounters under this general heading, simply because there are so many similarities. In other words there is little if any difference between angels, demons and aliens; the sole difference is in the context of the encounter and the expectations and arousal of those having it. During these investigations I have been privileged to meet some truly remarkable people and witnessed, at first hand, some genuinely astonishing phenomena and once you start looking closely enough it soon becomes clear that they are all irrevocably interconnected.

These include ghosts, poltergeist manifestations, conversations (via mediums) with the departed and people who claim to have been abducted by extraterrestrial entities. In most cases I have been impressed by the obvious sincerity of those who had the encounters whether with ghosts or ET’s and this is reflected in my books. On the other hand I have also met individuals who are, to be charitable, mistaken, or if not being charitable outright charlatans, but despite bringing aspects of this subject into a measure of disrepute, they too have their place in the scheme of things.

As this blog develops I intend to introduce my views on a range of associated subjects. Sometimes these might be conventional and sometimes not, but they will always be honest and forthright. An example of this might be the fact that I absolutely reject much of the lexicon associated with traditional spiritualism; it is outdated, inaccurate and gives entirely the wrong impression. I also think that the ETH (extraterrestrial hypothesis) is seriously flawed, and although I have no doubt that we have been (and sill are) visited by non-earthly entities they did not originate in some far off star system. I believe that they exist in parallel realities; the trick is that they know how to make the crossing from their reality to ours. This was convincingly demonstrated during the iconic Scole Experiment, which was conducted in the late 1990’s and I have no intention of going into this chapter and verse because already I have done so in one my books. There is also a book called the Scole Experiment where all of this is discussed in great detail. In many ways that book was a watershed in my life and completely changed how I viewed the paranormal.

I also tend to dismiss reports of ‘angels’ and how they interact with us as misinterpretation of other related phenomena. I also do not accept for one second that these ‘angels’ have anything to do with a Creator God, they are all part and parcel of the entities that have always been here. The medieval polymath and mage, Dr John Dee also supposedly interacted with ‘angels’ and in doing so created the Enochian language. Assuming that he (or at least his associate Edward Kelley) did actually communicate with these ‘angels’ they are also unlikely to have any connection with anything holy or sacred. I could go on, but perhaps that will be sufficient for the time being.

Another really strange thing is the way in with committed spiritualists just will not change their paradigm and this is also true of committed believer in the ETH. Thyt are as intransigent as the debunkers (don’t get me started about the debunkers) and I cannot see why, after all we are all on the same side. As to the rest of it, well, we will cover that in further posts, but the one ting that will become glaringly obvious is that, as I said earlier, all linked.

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