All things ghostly - sceptic or believer?

Advertised in this weeks local paper was an article stating that there would be a ghost walk in the run up to Halloween.  This was to be held at Haden Hill House which is a local victorian house that is open to the public.  Upon seeing the article I asked my youngsters if they'd like to go, to which I had a mixed response.  'S' finally decided that he wasn't bothered but 'A' was a little unsure. Her concern was "I'm not worried about hearing the stories, but I'm scared I might actually see something!".

I, for one, have always had an avid interest in the paranormal and although I've always been very careful how much information to feed to my kids on the subject, I've always encouraged them to have an open mind about such things.  I can't quite remember what initially spurred my interest in the supernatural but I know it was around the time when I started at high school.

My interest continued and then a few years ago I became involved with a super local ghost research society for a short time.  Part of my membership to the group involved me carrying out all night investigations in various 'alledgedly' haunted locations across the UK including The Ram Inn (Gloucestershire), Woodchester Mansion (Gloucestershire) and Pebble Mill Studios (Birmingham).  I enjoyed this immensely but I think most of the enjoyment came from the humour shared with the other investigators and the actual adrenaline involved in the prospect of maybe 'experiencing' something unexplainable.

Unfortunately, I think it was my lack of 'experiencing' anything untoward (and also my new love of all things Derren Brown) that has now made me more sceptical than ever!  Although, the experience of the investigations was often quite spine tingly at times, I don't feel I once encountered anything that couldn't be accounted for in human terms.  Obviously, there are many stories around, often from credible, trustworthy sources but the truth is I simply cannot believe it until I've seen it for myself!  Of course I still long to be convinced that there are more things in this world than we can possibly explain but up till now I've not come across any!  Nevertheless, Halloween is looming and I will endeavour to put my scepticism aside, just for the fun of it!