Ghosts galore

This is a copy of an article that appeared in the Herald in October 1980 and refers to my father and my husband and their 'ghost hunting'. I think it was written by Colin Neilson.

Interesting stuff!

" The telephone grew red hot. One little mention in this column (Cabbages and Kings) about the ghosts and the pubic rang us asking the two psychic researchers I mentioned for help.

There was a white woman possessed by an evil spirit. There was a black family who heard heavy boxes Being moved round their house at night. Some young policemen living in a mess found their house definitely haunted.

The two investigators were astounded at the response. Several were desperate. There were people genuinely frightened asking "How much do you charge?" The answer, of course, was nothing.

Some callers' troubles were not psychic but psychological. One Harare man had vivid dreams of being chased by someone carrying an axe. He was told that his problem could probably be dealt with by a nyanga.

Said Leonard, one of the two investigators, "We have enough haunted houses and ghosts to deal with for the next two months. There is a strict code of ethics for psychic investigators."

"Names, addresses and case histories are kept secret. Often very personal details emerge. Sometimes it is the evil thinking a person has generated that brings about strange happenings"

In other instances, such as poltertgiets and similar violent behaviour, it is energy generated by young persons entering puberty that causes articles to break or doors to slam or mischievous happenings.

Often ghosts could be laid but in certain instances an exorcism had en carried out by a priest or minister of religion only to find out that it reappeared. The person who conducted the exorcism needed more than just religious training.

Several African men rang up saying they were not personally troubled but were extremely interested and would like to give help. Leonard said that he would form a committee of people ho could assist the public.

He said he had also had calls from cranks who quoted the Bible and had told him not to dabble with evil spirits. He said he and his fellow investigator were aware of what they are tackling and understood the dangers involved.

He and his friend, a psychic healer (my husband) went to two houses on Saturday and another on Sunday.

There was one case of what appeared to be vampire possession. An African woman said that after the lights were put out at her home there were sounds of a ball bouncing on the ceiling.

Many of the callers said they were so pleased to find someone with whom they could discuss their fears and frightening experiences, witch so many before had casually dismissed as imagination or too much drink.

Leonard said that many so-called psychic happenings had be proved to be someone jumping to conclusions.

One phenomenon that several callers mentioned was a scary sensation of getting into bed and feeling that another invisible person was doing the same. Leonard said that 60% of the calls he received were from Africans.