over and was very much in the light.
Our detour proved to be an enlightening diversion. Firstly,
it cemented our belief in Tony’s abilities as a medium. Sec-
ondly (and perhaps even more importantly) it provided Stuart
with closure to what had been a life-changing and profoundly
disturbing event.
Next on the agenda was the Roleystone Theatre, a half
hour drive away through undulating hills. The old theatre
was set well away from the road; a secluded haven for restless ghosts.
We were greeted by the current president Zyg; a high-
energy, torch-yielding gentleman who made us feel extremely
welcome. So much so that he was to leave us with a free run
of the building for as long as we needed, under the proviso we locked up securely before we left.
Zyg filled us in on some of his own his ghostly encoun-
ters, including seeing a ghost so densely life-like that it almost looked as though a living person had walked across the room.
The give-away was that the figure had no feet and seemed to
glide above the ground.
Zyg told us that a group of paranormal investigators had
recently spent the night there, capturing a photograph so dis-
turbing it still gives him chills. The photo clearly showed one of the past theatre presidents descending the lighting room
staircase, a menacing look on his face.
“I don’t think he was happy about strangers intruding on
his territory,” said Zyg.
106 Haunted Theaters
Zyg described another encounter, whereby a female actress
dashed into the male dressing room for a quick costume
change.
“Get out,” said an angry voice. “You’re not supposed to be
in here!”
The entity she described looked very much like Jock, the
theatre president who had appeared on the stairs.
Needless to say, the poor lady in question bolted out of the
dressing room in two seconds flat.
Thus regaled by Zyg’s ghost stories, he left us to our own
devices.
Tony felt that the ghostly energy was concentrated around
the stage area, so we trundled into the theatre whilst Tony
began to tune-in. He stepped behind the curtain, his reaction
setting us instantly on edge.
“OK, this is really creepy,” he said. “I’m not liking this at
all …”
He asked us to step behind the curtain with him, as there
was a remarkable temperature gradient once you got back-
stage. Despite it being an uncomfortably warm summer’s eve-
ning, the chill backstage was unmistakeable. There was no
rational explanation as to why it would be so cold, whilst the rest of the theatre remained warm. There were no open windows or drafts. The suddenness made it all the more unset-
tling.
The girls in the group didn’t remain backstage for long, it
was way too scary. We went and sat in the front row of the
theatre, waiting for what would happen next. Stuart and Tony
remained behind the curtain, trying to establish contact with
the backstage ghost.
Haunted Theaters 107
“Come on mate,” said Tony. “We know you’re here. Just
make a sound for us.”
Stuart reassured the ghost that we hadn’t come to make
trouble, and that we would just like some proof of his pres-
ence.
Suddenly there was a sharp clattering sound, like metal hit-
ting the floorboards. The ghost had responded by throwing a
screw ; it looked very much as though it had been thrown in
Stuart’s direction.
The two men emerged from behind the curtains, con-
vinced there was more activity to follow.
We began taking photographs of both the stage area and
the audience seats, both of which were replete with orbs. The
darkened theatre was dotted with bursts of light and shadowy
figures; it felt as though we were surrounded. We were well
and truly outnumbered by ghosts.
Tony walked up to the stage, eager to take things further.
“OK!” he called out into the darkness. “I’d like all spirits
here to come and join me on the stage. Move in nice and close
so that we can take your photograph …”
I took the photo immediately and gasped at what I saw. I’d
never seen anything like it. There was Tony, a solitary figure on the stage, surrounded by more orbs than I could even begin
to count. They made for a spectacular display! They were
varying sizes and intensities, and all manner of colours.
One in particular stood out more than the others, an
intense orange orb just to the right of the stage. Whereas
most of the others were a radiant variation of white, this one stood out as a more intense, vivid energy.
It has been hypothesized that the reddish/orange energies
correspond to earthbound entities and may relate to the sim-
108 Haunted Theaters
ilarly coloured base or root chakra. This is the chakra which
connects us to the earth. Because these souls are earthbound,
there is usually an emotional attachment or sense of unfin-
ished business which is keeping them tethered to their earthly roots. As such, there may be negative emotional energy present, as they are invariably angry or dissatisfied.
I suspected that the orange orb was that of the angry entity
backstage; it felt as though he just skulked out from behind
the curtain to show himself in the photo. What happened next
made me think so all the more.
As soon as Tony asked the theatre’s ghosts to gather around him, he was surrounded!
Tony went on to ask if any ghosts or spirits would like to
make some noise. He pointed out that this was their chance to
further prove themselves. It took a few minutes of encourage-
ment but the results were worth the wait.
By now we were all standing in front of the stage, look-
ing out towards the stalls. There was a sudden banging from
the right of the stage, so loud and frightening that I jumped and grabbed onto Glenda. Someone (possibly me …) let out a
Haunted Theaters 109
shriek. Matilda and Eleanor were also clinging to each other,
hearts racing.
Tony concluded the evening by facilitating contact with
some of the friendlier spirits, most of whom were part of
the theatre community in days gone by. It seemed they had
retained their connection to the theatre for positive reasons, as it had held happy memories they didn’t want to let go. Perhaps they were crossed over energies who just called in from time
to time, happy to re-live their days in the theatre.
Jock stepped in towards the end of the evening, confirming
our suspicions about the ghost who roamed backstage. He iden-
tified him as Walter, and told us that he was not at all impressed with us being there. Walter thought we were intruding and was
adamant that we should leave.
Whether it was because it was after midnight, or on account
of Walter’s menacing presence, we decided to call it a night.
And as we locked up behind ourselves, we couldn’t help feel-
ing pleased. Despite the heart-stopping moments and Walter’s
negativity, we would no doubt do it all again. We were buoyed
/> by the success of our evening, and the conviction that that the spirit world had proven itself once again.
chapter fourteen
S t e v e
Amid the bustle which makes up my average workday, an ele-
ment of the amazing managed to worm its way in amongst
the chaos. I was running behind schedule and my waiting
room was beginning to fill up. I felt under increasing pressure as the afternoon wore on, especially since each time I walked
into reception I was greeted by a sea of expectant faces.
One gentleman seated directly opposite me caught my
attention each time I entered the reception area. He exuded an air of calm and smiled as though he hadn’t a care in the world.
He didn’t seem at all perturbed to be kept waiting. There was
something almost familiar about him, although I knew we had
never met.
By the time I ushered him into my treatment room, I felt as
though we had already made some kind of unspoken connec-
tion. The feeling was reinforced as we shook hands and intro-
duced ourselves. Steve took my hand in both of his and shook
it firmly, smiling into my eyes with unmistakeable kindness.
111
112 Steve
I took to examining Steve’s feet as he gave me the history
of his condition. As debilitating as his foot pain had been, he didn’t stop smiling as he relayed the details of his complaint. I found myself grinning back, when perhaps it would’ve been
more appropriate to assume a look of sympathetic concern. I
just couldn’t help mirroring the happy face before me.
I asked Steve to stand up so that I could check his foot and
leg alignment, which is when the appointment took a dramatic
turn. His foot condition was soon to be swiftly forgotten.
“So …” I asked as I measured Steve’s arch. “What do you do for a living?”
There was a long pause.
“I’m a telephone counsellor …” he said. “I work in suicide
prevention.”
Given my recent interactions with the spirits of those who
had suicided, Steve’s profession immediately struck a chord
with me. I felt even more of a connection with him.
Steve went on to tell me that his son took his own life five
years ago; a tragedy which had prompted him towards his
life’s vocation.
I tried to maintain my composure and continue with the
examination as we spoke, but pretty soon my professionalism
would go flying spectacularly out the window. I could see that Steve was preparing to tell me more about his son, but could
never have anticipated the bombshell he was about to deliver.
He cleared his throat and squared his shoulders as he began to speak. He told me he thought it was time to come clean.
I looked up at him expectantly, unable to imagine what
coming clean could possibly entail. My routine day at the clinic was about to come to an end; replaced by a magical day I
would never forget.
Steve 113
“I’m Gary’s dad,” smiled Steve.
I was immediately flooded by an overwhelming onslaught
of emotions.
Gary … M y cheeky little bed-shaker! The spirit to whom I’d promised that I would speak to his parents! And now without even trying, I was fulfilling my part of our bargain . I was gob-smacked.
I stood up and dropped my pen onto the desk. The busi-
ness part of our appointment was undeniably over. Steve and I
smiled at each other as we moved in for a heartfelt hug.
“I am so delighted to finally meet you!” I said. “And I’ve so
loved my interactions with your son … well at least everything bar the bed-shaking!”
We sat beaming as we shared anecdotes about Gary’s
recent visits. I was excited to discover that Steve himself had experienced a number of visitations from his son, many of
them resonating with my own.
Steve described how Gary had shown himself one evening
as a smattering of bright flashing lights, whilst simultaneously allowing his energy to pulsate through his parents’ bed. Steve felt waves of vibration systematically coursing through the
mattress, until the bed itself began to quiver. The way Steve described it, it sounded very much like my own late night visit from Gary; whereby the bed shaking was preceded by the feeling of energy rhythmically coursing beneath me.
“It seems that’s Gary’s standard party trick, doesn’t it?” I
said. “Oh and he’s also very good at focussing his energy on the table. He and Matt had it tipped over on its side in no time!”
Steve also told me that for the duration of Gary’s visit, his
body had felt entirely immobile. He was neither able to speak
nor move, and just lay on the bed transfixed by the beautiful
114 Steve
lights before him. This sense of temporary paralysis is a fairly common aspect of a paranormal visitation, as the spirit makes
use of the observers life-force in order to manifest. As a result of their energy being utilised by the spirit, the observer is able to do little more than take it all in.
Since Steve knew his visitor was Gary, he didn’t consider
his temporary immobility to be disturbing. He appreciated
it to be part and parcel of an extraordinary experience, and
allowed himself to savour the visit from his much-loved son.
Steve also told me about a vivid interaction he and Gary had
just a week after his death. Steve was sitting quietly one evening when he suddenly felt a palpable energy shift in the room.
A moment later he saw his son standing before him, look-
ing as he had when he was thirteen years old. Despite being
twenty when he passed away, Steve believes Gary manifested
as his thirteen-year-old self as he had been very happy at that age. It’s often said that our spirit selves take on the appearance of when we were in our prime, so perhaps to Gary, the onset
of his teen years had indeed been the prime of his life.
Steve described Gary as looking corporeal and real; he
appeared so solid that it felt as though Steve could simply
reach out and touch him. It was heart-rending and wonder-
ful all at once.
Judging by his appearance, it was obvious that young Gary
had yet to cross-over; as his energy was very dense. Steve suspected that he was still earthbound and as painful as it was,
encouraged his son to move on.
“You can’t stay here mate,” said Steve sadly.”It’s time to go
to Heaven …”
As I sat listening to Steve’s story, Gary’s vibrant energy
was buzzing around us. I had no doubt that he was overjoyed
Steve 115
at the latest development; and felt glad that at last contact
between myself and his family had been made.
I was repeatedly distracted by a bright light flashing on
the empty chair across my desk, right beside where Steve was
sitting. When I looked over and allowed my gaze to relax, it
didn’t take long before a masculine figure began to appear.
His form was defined by a pale, glowing luminescence; the
unmistakable manifestation of a crossed over spirit. It appeared that Gary had definitely made the transition into the higher
realms and was now watching over his family. It was heartening to know he was continuing on his spiritual journey.
Steve went on to tell me that he felt sure that Gary had
been instrumental in facilitating our meeting,
and that he had somehow managed to intensify Steve’s foot pain in order to
ensure that he would to come to my clinic. Matilda had told
Callum about my experiences with Gary, and had simply iden-
tified me as a “podiatrist called Barbara.”
Callum had then of course told his parents, and the wheels
had been set into motion.
Although Steve had attended my clinic some years earlier,
he had been attended to by one of my staff members, rather
than myself.
“When I rang to make an appointment, they told me that
my podiatrist had left,” Steve told me. “So I asked who else
was available. When your receptionist said Barbara, the penny dropped that it just had to be you!”
A quick scan of my Facebook author page confirmed that
I was indeed the Barbara who had been communicating with
his son. It all seemed somehow orchestrated; so much so that
Steve couldn’t help thinking things were being subtly influ-
enced by the other side. I couldn’t have agreed more!
116 Steve
As the appointment came to a close, I was yet to stop smil-
ing. In a matter of minutes, my mundane, stress-filled after-
noon had been transformed into something magical. Steve
and I promised each other we would be in touch again soon,
as I very much wanted to meet Gary’s mother and brother.
And if by chance his family wanted to physically experi-
ence their beloved Gary’s presence, I felt sure that all they had to do was say the word. Gary had not only ascended from the
earth plane to the spiritual realms, he had also transcended
the depression which had plagued him in life. He was now a
vibrant, happy energy; and was eager to spread the word.
Meeting Steve had given me further insight into my new
spirit friend and I was very much looking forward to our next
contact. Gary had a beautiful energy I couldn’t wait to interact with again. And if that meant allowing him to do his famous
party-trick of shaking the bed then so be it; I think I’d be hard-pressed to ever find it scary again!
chapter fifteen
L a u r i e
As much as I shy away from the term séance and its sinister connotations of conjuring up the dead, there is no denying
Embracing the Spirits: True Stories of My Encounters With the Other Side Page 10
