I have always been brought up to believe in ghosts. My mother is quite open minded and has had many paranormal encounters herself. My mother, brother and I are all convinced that the house that my brother and I grew up in is haunted. Items flying from shelves, electronics turning themselves on and taps turning on by themselves, often when we were in the room, was all part of our childhood. We even had a name for our resident ghost 'Charlie.' He was mischievous but never malicious, we were all happy to be home alone. Mother always told us that 'Charlie' protected us from evil. Both my mother and brother have seen 'Charlie' but I do not believe that I ever have.
Unfortunately for me, at the age of 19 I was diagnosed with psychotic depression. Hallucinating, hearing things, paranoia the works. As a result, I am never quite sure whether what I have seen is real or not which makes recognising paranormal experiences that little bit harder. Having said that, the experience I had when I was 18, I am 100% convinced was genuine, and I would very much like to hear your opinions on the matter.
I live in Suffolk, however, one of my high school best friends had started studying at Edinburgh University so another friend and I went to visit her. I had been to Edinburgh twice before and always felt that it is a beautiful city full of history; therefore, I could not wait to return.
One evening, the three of us decided to do one of the night time city tours. We chose the 'Terror and Torture' tour which took us into the underground vaults. It was great fun and very informative too for a history buff like myself.
I remember walking into one chamber where there was a ring of rocks which supposedly was to prevent the spirits escaping after a séance had gone wrong, or something along those lines. We left that room and entered another. The guide was telling us about the history of the room when what felt like an icy hand touched the small of my back. My knees buckled and my friends had to grab me before I hit the floor. I suddenly felt very nauseous and developed a splitting headache. The guide left the room and my friends helped me out as my legs had gone to jelly. As soon as we left that room I felt fine again! The headache and nausea disappeared and my legs returned to normal. It was bizarre. It was only once we reached the next chamber along that the guide told us that the previous room was meant to be the most haunted room here and it is where the most activity has been recorded.
So did I experience something paranormal or was it a sign of my illness to come, what do you think? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
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I can't describe how disappointed I was by it. I stepped into the stone ring, felt nothing odd at all, the vault where they separate the men and women, where allegedly a spirit attacks 'couples', felt nothing at all. There was the other vault, I believe the one you refer to as being the most haunted and I have to say i've never felt such a calmness. People around me were freaking out, screaming. I felt perfectly at ease and at peace.
I know a bit of the history of the vaults and it must have been some place to have been living and doing business back in the day but I don't feel for one minute the place is in any way haunted. Indeed i'd quite happily spend a night or two down there in order to prove the point.
I feel sometimes people can be psychologically swayed by stories of alleged hauntings and subconsciously believe they, themselves are experiencing things.
Another area of Edinburgh I felt very calm was in Greyfriars Churchyard. Years ago now a couple of friends and myself spent the night in the Covenanters prison (illegally I hasten to add) and never felt anything abnormal what so ever.