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Visited 31 October 2004

Hallowe’en, that special day of the year when the dead are said to walk the earth, when the veil between this world and the next is at it’s thinnest. In days of old people would put a lit candle in the window if they wanted to welcome in the deceased, people who didn’t want spirit entering their home would carve a horrible face in a pumpkin or turnip and illuminate the face to scare away the dead. I could have chose from literally hundreds of locations, but instead of investigating somewhere well known with a rich tradition of haunting, I decided to spend the night in a local graveyard. Alone.

St John the Baptist Church in Cramlington, not to be confused with the church of the same name in Edlingham that I was at the previous evening, is literally a five minute drive from my home. I had toyed with the idea of going to plenty of other locations but didn’t want to go somewhere I was going to bump into other ghost hunters or worse still, charvas. I have done an awful lot of research and found out that this place is haunted but it’s not widely documented. I’ve walked past this church late at night before and it’s always had an eerie atmosphere about it, the wind chimes in the trees in particular make it seem that little bit more spookier than your average graveyard. Back in 1971 three visitors to the churchyard took some photos, upon getting them developed a dark figure with red eyes appeared on every one of the 28 photos taken in various parts of the churchyard, whatever it was had been following them around.

I didn’t particularly like the idea of doing a ghost hunt on my own but it’s something I felt I had to do. Anyone reading this who’s been on a ghost hunt before will know how terrifying it can be when you go to a place not knowing what you will see or feel, imagine doing it alone. Worst of all is that if I see or experience anything I have no one to there to back it up, it could be imagination so I can’t afford to be scared, I need to have my wits about me.

As in my Woodhorn Church report I would like to stress that I understand the sensitivity surrounding people messing about in graveyards but I have come here with total respect, I am not here for a laugh or to cause any trouble. I am simply looking for more proof that there is something else out there.

I arrived at the church at approximately 10pm, I parked up my car and collected the only items of equipment that I felt I needed tonight, my camera and my mobile in case of emergency. I didn’t need a torch as the church is close to a main road so there are plenty of street lights, I was going to bring my EMF meter, but decided to just utilise my senses tonight and see what I could feel, see, and hear. There are two entrances into the churchyard, one that leads to the church and one that leads into the furthest away area of the graveyard, I headed towards the church entrance. The pathway was incredibly dark with thick trees and bushes at either side of me, I was beginning to regret not bringing a torch. I’ll admit I was feeling a little anxious about what lay in store for me, but I’ve done enough ghost hunts now to hopefully be able to keep my fear under control tonight. I reached the entrance to the church and as I looked around the churchyard I could the silhouettes of hundreds of graves.

I took a slow walk around the church, the churchyard was surprisingly large and although there is a main road running along outside the church you couldn’t see it because there is a thick hedgerow and trees all around the graveyard. I was feeling a little nervous but got one hell of a fright when an owl flew out of a nearby tree literally inches in front of me. I had a feeling all the time that someone or something was watching me from the pathway where I had came into the churchyard.

After walking all the way around the church I stopped to take the photo above when I felt something hit me in the eye, I dropped my camera and staggered backwards, it was jut like I'd been poken in the eye. There was no one there. As I write this 24 hours there is no visible marking but my eye is very sore. I have no idea what it could have been, I was standing in the middle of a pathway with nothing anywhere near me that could have caught me in the face. I wasn’t welcome here. They say spirit can’t hurt you but surely this is testimony to that fact that may not quite be the case. After taking this photo, thankfully my camera hadn’t been damaged, I decided to walk over to a bench outside the church and just sit silently for a while and see if I could see any shadows moving, any orbs, and to see what I could catch on my camera.

I sat perfectly still for probably about 45 minutes and although I had my back to the church wall I felt that someone was watching me from the window above my head, I couldn’t see anyone and took plenty photos but nothing came out on them. Could it have been the same thing that had hit me earlier? I thought I saw a black shadow moving near a grave but wasn’t entirely sure, I took some photos but nothing was there.

As midnight neared the temperature dropped and I was beginning to feel the cold, I wasn’t scared, I was confident something was here. I felt it, or maybe they, were playing games with me. Maybe they felt I was here to cause trouble and didn’t understand what I was in fact trying to achieve. Suddenly I froze, I could hear laughing, it was coming from around the back of the church. It was a mans laugh, deep, evil laughter. My heart was racing, but I had to go and see what was there, as I turned the corner the laughing stopped, there was nothing there. I walked all the way around the church looking to see what it could have been and where it could have come from. I found no one.

I sat back on the bench again for around 30 minutes, this time with my eyes shut, listening, trying to pick up on anything. I experienced nothing. I decided to end my Hallowe’en investigation as it was now nearing 1am. I am positive that something haunts this churchyard here and it ensured that I had one Hell of a Hallowe’en.

I didn’t know what to expect when I decided to carry out my investigation here, there is very little on record about any haunting and the one I did find dates back over thirty years, since then I don’t think anyone has ever done what I did that night. I did see what looked to be dark shadows moving around but it may have been my imagination since I was alone. I definitely felt like I was hit in the face by something which was a terrifying experience and I also heard strange laughter. The laughing may have been someone messing around but I couldn’t see anyone there. All in all it was a very unusual evening and one that I’ll not forget in a hurry.