Ghosts, Poltergeists & Apparitions > Ghost hunters

Ghost Walks of Bath

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For years, people in Bath have reported sightings of ghostly goings-on. Some claim to have seen ghosts on the streets of Bath, while others have reported spooky happenings in the city's historic buildings.

But now a team of scientists at the University of Hertfordshire has poured scorn on such reports.

The team was led by Dr Richard Wiseman who studied paranormal activity at two reportedly haunted places, Hampton Court Palace in London and the South Bridge Vaults in Edinburgh.

They concluded cases of supernatural activity were caused by little more than environmental factors - cold draughts, claustrophobia and poor or variable lighting. Even magnetic fields can make people feel uneasy.

As these environmental factors tend to happen again and again, they say places soon get a reputation for being haunted.

The results have been published in the British Journal of Psychology, and according to Dr Wiseman this is the first time someone has made the case for hauntings being environmentally driven and come up with evidence for it.

This evidence would appear to put an end to Bath's Grey Lady, said to haunt the Theatre Royal, as well as the other spooks in the city.

But the Reverend Philip Steff, 69, from Sydenham Buildings in Bath, said the findings stemmed from ignorance.

"I think they are frightened of it, " he said.

Mr Steff, a fully ordained minister in the spiritualist church, has carried out exorcisms all over the country, including Bath and Wiltshire.

He set up the Bath Psychic Circle of Light in 1996 with members of the circle meeting to carry out 'rescues' where unhappy spirits are helped on their journey to the spirit world.

"They don't know they are dead and cannot understand what is happening because they can still hear and see, that is confusing and it frightens them. When new people come into the house the spirit thinks 'What are these people doing in my house?'

"An example of this is the film Beetlejuice, " he said.

Mr Steff became interested in spiritualism following the death of his father.

He took his mother, Dorothy, to see a medium in London and said he was amazed by what he was told.

"Mother and I went to a spiritualist church in London where no one knew us. I had on my father's watch under my overcoat. I had never seen the medium before but she told me my father's name - William - and knew I had something with a special significance on me, " he said.

The watch was one of William Steff 's precious possessions.

Mr Steff has carried out rescues in Bath, including one at the Devonshire Arms on Wellsway.

Staff reported the presence of a young girl who could be quite mischievous.

But although a psychic circle was assembled and a presence felt, he couldn't draw the spirit to him.

"I think it is very sad when some people say it is not real, but people do make up their own mind. I will accept there is a small percentage caused by sounds, and if people don't investigate they may put it down to spirits, " he said.

Sightings of Bath's ghosts are investigated on a special walk around the city.

Margaret Royal set up Ghost Walks in Bath in 1974 and was joined in running the popular attraction by her friend Hillary Bolwell.

Mrs Bolwell, 81, said the scientist's findings were nonsense.

"I have seen them for myself. My grandmother was psychic as well, and she used to see ghosts. The last one I saw was my husband, Peter, who died ten years ago. Of course he wasn't there, he was just letting me know that he was safe, " she said.

She claimed she wasn't the only one who had seen ghosts on the walks. "They are quite clear, they don't hang about. I have seen them on the walks as have other people, " she said.

"I have also seen the Man in Black by the Assembly Rooms. He is Admiral Philip who went out to New South Wales and became governor before coming back to Bath. He lived opposite the Assembly Rooms and he used to walk all around. When he died he kept on walking."

Ghost Walks of Bath can be contacted on Bath 463618 or online at www. ghostwalksofbath. co. uk.

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