0:00:02 > 0:00:04This programme contains strong language.
0:00:04 > 0:00:09People tell me I've got the toughest job in town, but I'm sure I'd find other things far more difficult,
0:00:09 > 0:00:12so I'm ditching my regular job and trying something completely different.
0:00:12 > 0:00:13This is my work experience,
0:00:13 > 0:00:16and this week, I'm a paranormal investigator.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23'The closest I've come to seeing a ghost is watching my wife
0:00:23 > 0:00:25'trying to put on a clean duvet cover,
0:00:25 > 0:00:27'so I floated off to meet Beyond The Grave,'
0:00:27 > 0:00:30'a team of paranormal investigators who do everything
0:00:30 > 0:00:33'from ghost-hunting events to private investigations.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35'They knew more about things that go bump in the night
0:00:35 > 0:00:37'than Mick Hucknall's headboard.
0:00:37 > 0:00:39'A trail of ectoplasm led me to Abergavenny,
0:00:39 > 0:00:41'where I had to switch to night-vision cameras
0:00:41 > 0:00:45'because the team was in the pitch dark, mid-investigation.'
0:00:45 > 0:00:47- THEY WHISPER - Hello.- Hello. Leanne?- Yes.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49Hiya.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52- Hi, Leanne.- How are you?- I'm all right. How are you?- I'm fine.
0:00:52 > 0:00:54What are we doing here?
0:00:54 > 0:00:56- We're at the Abergavenny Chronicle in the back attic.- Yeah.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59And we're conducting a paranormal investigation.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01What's a paranormal investigation?
0:01:01 > 0:01:04It's where we go round to a haunted location
0:01:04 > 0:01:06and we communicate with spirits, the dead,
0:01:06 > 0:01:10using various bits of equipment which is on the table there.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13- Shall we stop holding hands now? - If you want to, yes.
0:01:13 > 0:01:15THEY LAUGH
0:01:15 > 0:01:19'I felt as out of place as Justin Bieber at Huw Edwards' 50th.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22'As far as I could tell, Leanne was under the table talking to no-one
0:01:22 > 0:01:25'and her team were measuring nothing with things.'
0:01:25 > 0:01:27James, is that you touching Ted?
0:01:27 > 0:01:31Could you do that again and make his tummy light up again, if that was you?
0:01:31 > 0:01:33They've got a teddy under the table.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36It's got various lights and sensors on it,
0:01:36 > 0:01:39and they're encouraging this child, ghost,
0:01:39 > 0:01:40to play with the teddy.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46Right, Rhod, getting quite a bit of stuff under this table.
0:01:46 > 0:01:48And he's playing with the ted under the table.
0:01:48 > 0:01:50Do you want to come under the table with me?
0:01:50 > 0:01:52Of course I don't want to come under the table...
0:01:52 > 0:01:55- GENTLE LAUGHTER - Come on, come on.
0:01:55 > 0:01:56It's nothing against you, Leanne.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00'You could fit everything I know about ghosts on Derek Acorah's aura,
0:02:00 > 0:02:03'but Leanne knew more about dead people than a maggot.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06'She showed me the torches she used to chat to people
0:02:06 > 0:02:08'who are too dead to use Skype.'
0:02:08 > 0:02:11We've got two knock-off torches here, which have just been set
0:02:11 > 0:02:15so that they're just off and the slightest bit of movement,
0:02:15 > 0:02:19if somebody was to touch it or tap it, should turn those torches on.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22Couldn't that just be one of us moving and the floorboard?
0:02:23 > 0:02:24Go.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30- No.- Nothing. God, I hope there wasn't a ghost under there.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34They're dead now, after you thumped them.
0:02:34 > 0:02:36'I've never tried to speak to the undead before,
0:02:36 > 0:02:39'unless you count a brief chat with Jeremy Kyle in the corridor,
0:02:39 > 0:02:41'so this was my chance.'
0:02:41 > 0:02:43HE SINGS WEAKLY How do you do it if there's anyone there?
0:02:43 > 0:02:45Please...knock.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47You sound like you're working in a Post Office.
0:02:47 > 0:02:49I know, but I don't know how,
0:02:49 > 0:02:51I don't know what voice to use to talk to a ghost!
0:02:51 > 0:02:52Right, Rhod,
0:02:52 > 0:02:55the best way to do it is think of somebody in your family
0:02:55 > 0:02:57who's passed over and how you would speak to them
0:02:57 > 0:02:58if you met them now.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02Grandad, what the fuck are you doing here?!
0:03:02 > 0:03:03RHOD LAUGHS
0:03:03 > 0:03:05'Leanne may have looked a bit like Thelma,
0:03:05 > 0:03:07'but I was definitely Scooby Don't.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10'My first attempt to FaceTime the dead had failed.'
0:03:10 > 0:03:13I arrived very sceptical,
0:03:13 > 0:03:14healthy scepticism.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16I'm leaving the same.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19You're going to have to start getting over your scepticism
0:03:19 > 0:03:22a little bit cos, at the end of this, you're going to be running
0:03:22 > 0:03:24your own event in front of guests.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28'If I was to have a ghost of a chance of running a ghost hunt,
0:03:28 > 0:03:30'I needed help.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33'Colin and Darren had spent more time looking for things in the dark
0:03:33 > 0:03:34'than a mole's PA,
0:03:34 > 0:03:37'so I met them at their head office, slash garage.'
0:03:37 > 0:03:40The other night, we were in a room and there was,
0:03:40 > 0:03:43I think there was James, there was a child spirit under the table...
0:03:43 > 0:03:45How do you stumble across...?
0:03:45 > 0:03:48- How do I, how do you sense it when you go into the room?- Yeah.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52If I walk into a room and I see there's a child in there,
0:03:52 > 0:03:55I've normally seen that child playing around.
0:03:55 > 0:03:56You must be shitting yourself, though.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58No, no, it's nothing to be frightened...
0:03:58 > 0:04:02Why is there to be frightened of the dead? What's there to be frightened of the dead?
0:04:02 > 0:04:05Why is there to be frightened of the dead? Cos they're dead!
0:04:05 > 0:04:06THEY LAUGH
0:04:06 > 0:04:08Surely I don't need to explain this basic set-up!
0:04:08 > 0:04:11'Colin and Darren were a cross between that little woman
0:04:11 > 0:04:12'in Poltergeist and Ross Kemp.
0:04:12 > 0:04:14'They were a right pair of Polterkemps.'
0:04:14 > 0:04:18They had more devices for bringing people back from the dead than Ann Summers.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21- OK, this is a K2. - So what will affect that?
0:04:21 > 0:04:23Anything that is
0:04:23 > 0:04:27got magnetic field around it, ie, a mobile phone,
0:04:27 > 0:04:32a walkie-talkie, Wi-Fi, if a taxi goes past outside.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35How do you investigate a ghost at a taxi rank? Is that impossible?
0:04:35 > 0:04:38Well, it would be, especially when they're radioing in.
0:04:38 > 0:04:40The Polterkemps showed me their tackle.
0:04:40 > 0:04:42I haven't learned so much so quickly
0:04:42 > 0:04:44since that car-boot sale in Longleat.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47Torches, K2s, EMFs and something called EVP -
0:04:47 > 0:04:49electronic voice phenomena.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52Some of the best ways with interactions you'll get, really,
0:04:52 > 0:04:54is on a digital recorder, audio recorders.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56A lot of the time, you'll be asking questions
0:04:56 > 0:04:58and might not get anything when you're in the room,
0:04:58 > 0:05:00so you're saying, "Can you tell us your name?"
0:05:00 > 0:05:03You'd leave a bit of a gap, you might get a response on there.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06'The closest I've come to unexplained voice phenomena
0:05:06 > 0:05:07'is meeting Joe Pasquale,
0:05:07 > 0:05:11'but the Polterkemps had some spine-chilling EVP evidence
0:05:11 > 0:05:13'from a previous jaunt.'
0:05:13 > 0:05:17This is an EVP recording that I captured,
0:05:17 > 0:05:20er, Woodchester in Gloucestershire.
0:05:20 > 0:05:22We were calling out on the hallway
0:05:22 > 0:05:26and this is what we captured on the recorder.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28OK.
0:05:31 > 0:05:33- FEMALE VOICE:- "Leave..."
0:05:37 > 0:05:39So, tell me what you hear.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41There is a voice saying, "Leave."
0:05:41 > 0:05:43Yes, that's exactly what it is.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45Hit me again.
0:05:46 > 0:05:47"Leave."
0:05:49 > 0:05:51This is a very posh,
0:05:51 > 0:05:53very higher individual...
0:05:53 > 0:05:56- Sounds like a well-spoken voice. - ..that is saying "Leave."- "Leave."
0:05:56 > 0:05:57Yeah.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59You know, I'm still sceptical.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01But I have to do this event in a few days' time
0:06:01 > 0:06:06and I'm going to do my damnedest to have some kind of experience.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09'Leanne and the Polterkemps felt that my psychic passage was shut
0:06:09 > 0:06:11'tighter than a snake charmer's suitcase.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13'Whenever THEY felt bunged up,
0:06:13 > 0:06:16'they sought help to open up their paranormal pathways.'
0:06:16 > 0:06:18So they packed me off to a faraway kingdom,
0:06:18 > 0:06:20amid the clouded valleys of Cwmbran,
0:06:20 > 0:06:23where there lived mystical crystal healer,
0:06:23 > 0:06:26who could harness the cosmic powers of the universe...
0:06:26 > 0:06:28Helen.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32What are you hoping to achieve from today's session?
0:06:32 > 0:06:35I want to see dead people.
0:06:35 > 0:06:36- Right. - RHOD LAUGHS
0:06:36 > 0:06:39- Is that too much to ask?- Tall order.
0:06:39 > 0:06:43I am supernaturally constipated.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45I need a paranormal laxative.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47- Oh, that's a good way of putting it. - RHOD LAUGHS
0:06:47 > 0:06:50Before I could undergo such invasive treatment,
0:06:50 > 0:06:51I had to look inside myself
0:06:51 > 0:06:54and answer some pretty soul-searching questions.
0:06:54 > 0:06:56Um, marital status?
0:06:56 > 0:06:57Unhappy.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59THEY LAUGH
0:06:59 > 0:07:01Any allergies?
0:07:01 > 0:07:06- Eggs.- Eggs.- Very mild allergy to egg, apparently.
0:07:06 > 0:07:07Is that relevant?
0:07:07 > 0:07:10No, I don't think I'm going to be rubbing any eggs in, don't worry.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14- So, do you take regular exercise? - No.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17- I avoid eggs, but I wouldn't call it exercise.- All right.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24'As Helen's healing hands hovered over my chakras,
0:07:24 > 0:07:26'I felt my whatsits thingummyjig
0:07:26 > 0:07:29'and my what-do-you-call-it fill up with some sort of stuff.'
0:07:30 > 0:07:34Sometimes a reiki treatment can bring things to the surface.
0:07:34 > 0:07:36It's a bit like dredging a pond.
0:07:36 > 0:07:40I hate to think what I'm like on the inside under the surface.
0:07:40 > 0:07:42Silt, you'll probably find an old shopping trolley...
0:07:42 > 0:07:44Yeah, yeah. That's it.
0:07:44 > 0:07:46'To unblock my psychic U-bend,
0:07:46 > 0:07:48'Helen powered up her cosmic plungers.'
0:07:50 > 0:07:52'Open sesame!'
0:07:52 > 0:07:53ECHO
0:07:53 > 0:07:56'Helen had dredged my chakras and I was open for business.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59'I immediately understood the nature of all consciousness.
0:07:59 > 0:08:01'I was chakrad up to the max.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03'If I was a singer, I'd have been Chakra Khan.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07'If I was a politician, I'd have been Chakra Umunna.'
0:08:07 > 0:08:08Night-night.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11Night-night. HELEN LAUGHS
0:08:11 > 0:08:14'Before I left, Helen gave me a rare and valuable stone,
0:08:14 > 0:08:16'an all-seeing, omniscient crystal to guide me
0:08:16 > 0:08:19'on my perilous journey through the valleys of the undead -
0:08:19 > 0:08:21'and it was only eight quid.'
0:08:21 > 0:08:24I'll just ask it to show you your direction for yes.
0:08:24 > 0:08:29Please, pendulum, could you show me my direction for yes, please?
0:08:29 > 0:08:31Your yes looks like it's left-to-right.
0:08:31 > 0:08:33It does look like it's left-to-right.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35- OK.- How's that happening?
0:08:35 > 0:08:38- It's your body telling it. - It's very odd.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41I think you might have opened up my channels. Who's that behind you?
0:08:41 > 0:08:43THEY LAUGH
0:08:43 > 0:08:46'I had no idea how it was doing it, but for yes, my crystal
0:08:46 > 0:08:48was throwing itself around like a sprinter's dick.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51'But when I asked it for a no, it wouldn't budge.'
0:08:51 > 0:08:54There's nothing happening there whatsoever, is there?
0:08:54 > 0:08:56The pendulum is saying no, it won't to do a no.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59- Or is my no just nothing? - It could be a no is just...
0:08:59 > 0:09:01How will I tell the difference between my no,
0:09:01 > 0:09:03which is nothing, and nothing, which is nothing?
0:09:03 > 0:09:05Mm, good question.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07'Hm. Like the man from Del Monte,
0:09:07 > 0:09:10'my crystal seemed to have a problem saying no.'
0:09:10 > 0:09:11But I didn't care cos,
0:09:11 > 0:09:13like Peter Stringfellow in a crotchless Mancini,
0:09:13 > 0:09:15I was ready for action.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18Leanne and Darren were keen to road test
0:09:18 > 0:09:20my new psychic superhighway
0:09:20 > 0:09:22and took me on their next call-out,
0:09:22 > 0:09:24an old stationmaster's cottage near Cardiff,
0:09:24 > 0:09:26where some crazy weird shit
0:09:26 > 0:09:30was going down for its latest residents, Alex and Abbey.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34There are a couple of, sort of, noises, like bangs and stuff,
0:09:34 > 0:09:36that I couldn't, sort of, really explain what they were.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39That area at the top of the stairs, as well, I just don't feel...
0:09:39 > 0:09:41- like I'm alone.- OK.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44How sure are you that this isn't just your imagination,
0:09:44 > 0:09:47- just something...? - I'm more of a sceptic than Alex is.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51But, I mean, I wasn't here when all these incidents have happened.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54I get panicked phone calls in work, saying, "Oh, my God..."
0:09:54 > 0:09:58Do you secretly believe Alex is just off on one and you're just
0:09:58 > 0:10:00doing this, going along with it, just to keep him happy?
0:10:00 > 0:10:02There is a funny sensation at the top of those stairs, though.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05There is, I have felt something there.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08Can I go and check out the top of the stairs?
0:10:08 > 0:10:10If you want to, you're more than free. More than welcome.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13'One glance at the stairs told me that something
0:10:13 > 0:10:15'was very, very wrong.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17'But like a footballer stuck in a balaclava,
0:10:17 > 0:10:18'I had to try to stay calm.'
0:10:22 > 0:10:25I can't feel anything. I don't know what I was expecting to feel.
0:10:25 > 0:10:27'Witch flaps.
0:10:27 > 0:10:28'I was getting nothing.
0:10:28 > 0:10:33'Maybe my psychic pathway had got bunged up again. But I had an idea.'
0:10:33 > 0:10:35I'm going to try my pendulum.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38I'm going to give this a shot.
0:10:39 > 0:10:43Is there a spirit here?
0:10:43 > 0:10:46So is that a no?
0:10:46 > 0:10:48Is that a definite no?
0:10:48 > 0:10:52Are you saying no? Can you give me a yes if that was a no?
0:10:52 > 0:10:53Is there a spirit here?
0:10:56 > 0:10:58Yes. That's a very clear yes.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02But does that mean yes, there's a spirit here, or is that yes,
0:11:02 > 0:11:05that was a no when I first asked you if there was a spirit here?
0:11:07 > 0:11:08No.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11Do you mean no, that wasn't a yes, that there was a spirit here?
0:11:11 > 0:11:13What you mean is no, that was a yes,
0:11:13 > 0:11:16that you were saying no in the first place, yeah?
0:11:16 > 0:11:18Yes.
0:11:18 > 0:11:19Let me just recap,
0:11:19 > 0:11:22yes, that was a no...
0:11:23 > 0:11:25..that your first answer was a no?
0:11:25 > 0:11:28NOT...yes, there's a spirit here, yeah?
0:11:30 > 0:11:31Yes.
0:11:31 > 0:11:33Well, that's cleared that up.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37'How the hell was I going to put on a ghost tour?
0:11:37 > 0:11:39'My third eye was crusted over
0:11:39 > 0:11:42'and my pendulum was as dicky as a Chippendale's tour bus.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44'Determined to experience something,
0:11:44 > 0:11:46'I headed off to another Cardiff callout.
0:11:46 > 0:11:50'Valessa's seemingly normal terraced house was under siege.'
0:11:50 > 0:11:51LAUGHTER
0:11:51 > 0:11:53What's been happening in this house?
0:11:53 > 0:11:55It is not me living here with my family.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58It's something else, or lots of them.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02Have you got a specific example of something that's happened?
0:12:02 > 0:12:04Oh, God. Many, many examples.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07Like a few days ago, when I woke up
0:12:07 > 0:12:11from the feeling that someone is staring at me,
0:12:11 > 0:12:13- you open your eyes... - VALESSA GASPS
0:12:13 > 0:12:17..and something's standing next to me, watching you.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22'Excited by the Valessa's vivid descriptions, we turned the place
0:12:22 > 0:12:27'upside down looking for spirits, like Keith Richards in a monastery.'
0:12:27 > 0:12:30None of the devices are picking up anything at all.
0:12:30 > 0:12:31So, apart from...
0:12:31 > 0:12:33a strong feeling that we're being watched by
0:12:33 > 0:12:36the entire cuddly toy department of Woolworths...
0:12:36 > 0:12:38- THEY LAUGH - Apart from that, we're all right.
0:12:38 > 0:12:40We're all right at the moment, it seems.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42Our devices were as quiet as a cat's yawn.
0:12:42 > 0:12:44'But Valessa was getting me all wound up
0:12:44 > 0:12:47'and my bowels went as loose as a heron's leggings
0:12:47 > 0:12:49'as we attempted a Crimewatch reconstruction.'
0:12:49 > 0:12:52- Mm-hm.- Tell me when to open my eyes. - Wake up.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54RHOD SCREAMS AND LAUGHS
0:12:54 > 0:12:55Yes!
0:12:55 > 0:12:57It was worse than that!
0:12:57 > 0:13:00I can't believe that I knew you were going to be there
0:13:00 > 0:13:01and I still screamed!
0:13:01 > 0:13:04- How do you sleep here now? - I have no idea.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07I'm trying, probably laying down with my eyes closed
0:13:07 > 0:13:10and then...watching, observing.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13Has it ever done anything to you, or...physical?
0:13:13 > 0:13:17At the top of the stairs, there was something physically pushing
0:13:17 > 0:13:19and I nearly...flown down.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22- It was terrible. - Can you show me?- Yeah.
0:13:23 > 0:13:26'I still didn't believe it was anything paranormal,
0:13:26 > 0:13:29'but I'm a total coward, as yellow as Charlie Sheen's mattress,
0:13:29 > 0:13:33'and I wanted to get the hell out of Valessa's freaky spook joint.'
0:13:35 > 0:13:37But you have to stay the night to see it.
0:13:37 > 0:13:38I don't want to be rude, Valessa,
0:13:38 > 0:13:41but there is no way I'm staying in your house.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44- Well, you should. - No way!- You should.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48When you speak to somebody like Valessa,
0:13:48 > 0:13:51who speaks with such passion, seems adamant,
0:13:51 > 0:13:55if I WERE experiencing anything that she is, I'd be spooked to Hell.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00I think the fact that I'm so terrified by it and the fact that
0:14:00 > 0:14:02I refused to spend the night here when offered,
0:14:02 > 0:14:04she keeps saying, "Spend the night here."
0:14:04 > 0:14:07There's no effing way I would spend the night here.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09And that keeps suggesting to me that I,
0:14:09 > 0:14:12on some level at least, do believe in this stuff.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20Maybe I did believe in it on some level, or maybe I was just scared
0:14:20 > 0:14:23of the power of the imagination and the very real fear it can create,
0:14:23 > 0:14:25but fear was definitely making me
0:14:25 > 0:14:29more suggestive to the idea of the paranormal, which was progress.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31'So we decided to ship me up good and proper
0:14:31 > 0:14:34'and headed into the centuries-old Redcliffe caves in Bristol.'
0:14:34 > 0:14:37- Why have you brought me...? - Why have we brought you here?
0:14:37 > 0:14:40Basically because of where it is, it's pitch-black,
0:14:40 > 0:14:42very enclosed, very dark,
0:14:42 > 0:14:45so there's no outside influences in here.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48We're talking about things that can interfere with the equivalent.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50You will be on your own at times.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54We will leave you on your own, with nothing bar
0:14:54 > 0:14:56- a couple of bits of equipment. - Great.
0:14:56 > 0:14:58I don't think I've ever been more ambivalent in my life.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00THEY LAUGH
0:15:00 > 0:15:03I'm split right down the middle between wanting to experience
0:15:03 > 0:15:06something and definitely not wanting to experience something.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10- Well...- I'm split absolutely down the middle - 99%, 1% - even.
0:15:10 > 0:15:14We headed further down towards a cheery little picnic spot
0:15:14 > 0:15:15called The Skull Cave,
0:15:15 > 0:15:19where Leanne and Darren had experienced coffin-loads of activity in the past.
0:15:19 > 0:15:20'My stomach may have been in knots,
0:15:20 > 0:15:23'but my arse was definitely working in miles an hour.'
0:15:23 > 0:15:27I'm feeling quite weird, I don't know. On the one hand, I'm fine.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30On the other hand, I'm really...tense and a bit nervous.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35'All set up in The Skull Caves, Leanne was keen for me
0:15:35 > 0:15:38'to try to make contact with one spirit in particular.'
0:15:40 > 0:15:44- Have a go at speaking French to Francois for me.- Who's Francois?
0:15:44 > 0:15:47He's a spirit we picked up about three years ago.
0:15:47 > 0:15:49We believe he's a prisoner of war.
0:15:49 > 0:15:51- Prisoner of war?- Yes.- Yes.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54Francois, et vous ici?
0:15:57 > 0:15:59SYNTHESISED THUMPING SOUND
0:16:01 > 0:16:04I did, I said, "Are you here?" And the torch came on.
0:16:04 > 0:16:05I'll try that again. Francois...
0:16:07 > 0:16:08THUMPING SOUND
0:16:08 > 0:16:09Ay, ay, ay.
0:16:09 > 0:16:11THEY LAUGH
0:16:11 > 0:16:13I don't know which is more strange at the moment,
0:16:13 > 0:16:15the fact that the torch is coming on,
0:16:15 > 0:16:18or the fact that I'm talking French to a ghost!
0:16:21 > 0:16:24'All alone in total darkness, it was time for the ultimate test.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26'With just a teddy bear, a night vision camera
0:16:26 > 0:16:30'and a dead Frenchman for company, my whole body was on red alert.
0:16:30 > 0:16:33'My bum cheeks clenched so tight they could've milled wheat.'
0:16:34 > 0:16:36Francois?
0:16:37 > 0:16:40After three, I want you to turn the torch on. One,
0:16:40 > 0:16:42two, three.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46SLAMMING SOUND
0:16:47 > 0:16:49Hello?
0:16:50 > 0:16:53I definitely heard someone over there.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57Maybe it was just some water dripping somewhere.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01Francois, vous etes ici?
0:17:01 > 0:17:03THUMPING SOUND OK.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06Um...
0:17:06 > 0:17:08That's quite a strange feeling.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12I'm totally alone, total darkness, total silence,
0:17:12 > 0:17:14but that torch just came on.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17'The torches weren't responding every time, but the whole time
0:17:17 > 0:17:20'I'd been down there, they hadn't come on once without me asking.'
0:17:20 > 0:17:23It's very odd that even though I don't really believe,
0:17:23 > 0:17:26I'm still totally heightened, totally on edge.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30OK. INDISTINCT SOUND
0:17:30 > 0:17:31Hello?
0:17:31 > 0:17:33Darren?
0:17:33 > 0:17:35Leanne?
0:17:35 > 0:17:38There's definitely somebody down there.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40'Everything you can see is from the night-vision camera,
0:17:40 > 0:17:42'but I was in total darkness.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45'My imagination was having a field day and I was close to losing it.'
0:17:47 > 0:17:48INDISTINCT NOISE
0:17:48 > 0:17:50Hello? Nath?
0:17:50 > 0:17:52Rhys?
0:17:52 > 0:17:54OK, I'm hoping that's one of the camera crew.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58I'm a bit too scared of this now.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02There's something down there. If it is one of the camera crew,
0:18:02 > 0:18:04I'm going to kick the fucking living daylights
0:18:04 > 0:18:06out of them when I've finished.
0:18:06 > 0:18:07If it's not, then...
0:18:13 > 0:18:14NOISE IN BACKGROUND
0:18:14 > 0:18:16Guys?
0:18:19 > 0:18:21SYNTHESISED SOUND Who is it?
0:18:23 > 0:18:25- WHISPERING:- It's Nathan. - Oh. Oh...
0:18:25 > 0:18:27It's Nathan, it's the cameraman.
0:18:27 > 0:18:29Bloody hell.
0:18:29 > 0:18:30What are you doing?
0:18:31 > 0:18:35'Outside, my senses restored, I regained my composure
0:18:35 > 0:18:37'and when the colour returned to my bum cheeks,
0:18:37 > 0:18:40'I restored my factory settings of sceptic.'
0:18:40 > 0:18:43So I'm going into the event knowing what to do,
0:18:43 > 0:18:46knowing how to get ourselves all psyched up and knowing how
0:18:46 > 0:18:49to call the spirits and how to monitor them...
0:18:49 > 0:18:51just still not believing in them.
0:18:51 > 0:18:53RHOD LAUGHS
0:18:59 > 0:19:02'Before my big ghost hunting event, there was one last chance
0:19:02 > 0:19:04'to challenge my scepticism.
0:19:04 > 0:19:06'Leanne and Darren had reviewed all the audio recordings
0:19:06 > 0:19:10'from my house visits and my bum-grinding night in the caves,
0:19:10 > 0:19:12'and were keen for me to hear what they'd found.'
0:19:12 > 0:19:14So, you went through all the audio tapes?
0:19:14 > 0:19:16I've gone through the two home visits,
0:19:16 > 0:19:17all the audio from the caves,
0:19:17 > 0:19:19all the video from the caves...
0:19:19 > 0:19:21You've sat here, listening to all of that?
0:19:21 > 0:19:22How long did that take?
0:19:22 > 0:19:26Doing all that, about five days to go through.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30Mainly, presumably, just listening to silence?
0:19:30 > 0:19:32- Basically, just... - RHOD LAUGHS
0:19:32 > 0:19:34..listening, basically, to the investigation again.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37On behalf of all the people watching this at home,
0:19:37 > 0:19:38you are fucking mad.
0:19:38 > 0:19:40RHOD LAUGHS
0:19:40 > 0:19:41It's called dedication.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44- That is so dedicated.- Because you just want to get something.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46Why are you spending so long looking for...
0:19:46 > 0:19:49evidence of something that you believe in?
0:19:49 > 0:19:51Just for the fun of it.
0:19:51 > 0:19:52Cos, it... Yeah, it's a buzz.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55When you actually get something, it's a real buzz
0:19:55 > 0:19:56cos you think, oh, yeah, brilliant.
0:19:56 > 0:19:58The why, for people watching at home,
0:19:58 > 0:20:02- is cos it's a buzz when you find that one second...- Yes.- Yes.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04'To me, five days listening to nothing was the most pointless
0:20:04 > 0:20:07'waste of time since the OJ Simpson trial,
0:20:07 > 0:20:09'but Leanne and Darren clearly enjoyed it
0:20:09 > 0:20:11'and I was about to get a taste of the buzz THEY got
0:20:11 > 0:20:13'when they played me a spine-chilling piece
0:20:13 > 0:20:16'of incontrovertible evidence.'
0:20:18 > 0:20:19INDISTINCT BEEP
0:20:20 > 0:20:25To me it doesn't sound like a noise that you had made previously.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28- I certainly don't remember... - Making funny...- ..going...
0:20:28 > 0:20:30HE MIMICS THE SOUND
0:20:30 > 0:20:32- I can't explain it. - Let's have it again.
0:20:37 > 0:20:38INDISTINCT BEEP
0:20:39 > 0:20:40LEANNE MIMICS THE BEEP
0:20:40 > 0:20:43I know none of my equipment makes that noise.
0:20:43 > 0:20:44It was a more of a controlled environment.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47- Are you telling me, Leanne and Darren...- Mm?
0:20:47 > 0:20:49..that I sat in that cave on my own, shitting my pants,
0:20:49 > 0:20:51that you've sat here since, after work,
0:20:51 > 0:20:53- listening to this for 50 hours?- Yes.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56What we have to show for it is... RHOD AND DARREN MIMIC THE BEEP
0:20:56 > 0:20:58- Could be, yes. - Yeah. You're lucky to get that.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00- There's... - It is a buzz, you're right.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02THEY LAUGH
0:21:03 > 0:21:08- It's just little bits and pieces... - Yes!- I'm joking! I'm joking!
0:21:09 > 0:21:12Judgment day. The 150-year-old Abergavenny Theatre
0:21:12 > 0:21:15would play host to my big ghost-hunting event.
0:21:15 > 0:21:17'In case there were still leaves on my psychic train line,
0:21:17 > 0:21:20'I took a minute ghost hound as a backup.'
0:21:20 > 0:21:22I've brought my dog, Rosie.
0:21:22 > 0:21:24I've renamed her Scooby Doodle.
0:21:24 > 0:21:26She's half Scooby-Doo, ghost-hunting dog,
0:21:26 > 0:21:28and half labradoodle.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31Apparently dogs can sometimes be useful because they have
0:21:31 > 0:21:34different instincts and they can sense things that we can't.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36'The team were busy setting up.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40'Soon, 25 ghost-botherers would be floating this way,
0:21:40 > 0:21:44'expecting me to lay on an all you can poo your pants spook buffet,
0:21:44 > 0:21:47'and I had high hopes cos Colin's ghost star was already twitching.'
0:21:49 > 0:21:53I'm picking up stuff now here, myself. Just getting a sense.
0:21:53 > 0:21:54You're picking up stuff here now?
0:21:54 > 0:21:56It's like butterflies all the way over,
0:21:56 > 0:22:01so that's normally an instinct to me that something's present,
0:22:01 > 0:22:04or something's interested in what, what's going on here.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07Are you going to rule it out with a Rennie, first?
0:22:07 > 0:22:09Rhod!
0:22:09 > 0:22:11'I looked the part, but, even in the right gear,
0:22:11 > 0:22:12'I was no more a paranormal investigator
0:22:12 > 0:22:15'than David Dickinson in a headband is Wonder Woman,
0:22:15 > 0:22:17'but I was determined to do my best.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19'Armed with a K2 meter,
0:22:19 > 0:22:21'Scooby Doodle and I headed to the basement
0:22:21 > 0:22:22'to check for paranormal hot spots.'
0:22:22 > 0:22:28What is it, Rosie? What is it? ROSIE BARKS AND WHIMPERS
0:22:28 > 0:22:31Rosie. ROSIE GROWLS
0:22:31 > 0:22:32Hello, Rosie.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36Have you found any ghosts, Rosie? ROSIE BARKS
0:22:36 > 0:22:39'Bumping into Lembit Opik like that had freaked Scooby Doodle out,
0:22:39 > 0:22:41'but I doubted my guests would be so easily spooked
0:22:41 > 0:22:43'so I continued my search.
0:22:43 > 0:22:45'My dog was a right scaredy-cat -
0:22:45 > 0:22:48'she made Scooby-Doo look like Winston Churchill -
0:22:48 > 0:22:51'but there was one room that got us both hot under the collar.'
0:22:51 > 0:22:54Is there something in this one?
0:22:54 > 0:22:56Why won't you go over that threshold?
0:22:56 > 0:22:58I agree with you, this is the scariest one.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00Come on, you've pulled me all around these cellars
0:23:00 > 0:23:02and now you won't go in.
0:23:02 > 0:23:04I'm trying to stay rational and logical,
0:23:04 > 0:23:06but I've never seen Rosie like this.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09With this one, she literally won't even cross this threshold.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13'Scooby Doodle wasn't the only one whose third eye was winking.
0:23:13 > 0:23:17'The K2 meter was lighting up like a Friday night on Hampstead Heath.'
0:23:17 > 0:23:19I'm picking up EMF in here.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22It's the first place I've picked it up in the middle of a room.
0:23:22 > 0:23:24Normally, I've only picked it up
0:23:24 > 0:23:28when I've shoved this right up against some electrical equipment.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31There's no doubt in my mind
0:23:31 > 0:23:34that this is potentially the most fruitful area.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37ROSIE WHIMPERS
0:23:37 > 0:23:39I don't think there's any doubt in Rosie's mind either.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42Scooby Doodle is a bit freaked out.
0:23:42 > 0:23:44Paranormal hot spots identified,
0:23:44 > 0:23:46Scooby Doodle and I were ready to welcome
0:23:46 > 0:23:48our merry band of phantom menaces.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51Cynics, sceptics and believers came one, came all.
0:23:51 > 0:23:53'If we found dead people,
0:23:53 > 0:23:56'tonight, we were going to party like it was 1899.'
0:23:56 > 0:24:01Welcome to my very special paranormal investigation.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03I should point out, before I go any further,
0:24:03 > 0:24:06that I don't necessarily believe in this stuff.
0:24:06 > 0:24:08I think things can be rationally explained.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10That's my starting point, right?
0:24:10 > 0:24:12We have this argument every night. ROSIE BARKS
0:24:12 > 0:24:13You know it's what I think.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16Having said that, I am open-minded
0:24:16 > 0:24:18and I am here to experience it with you.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22Right, we are going to start tonight in the theatre.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25'The first step was to get our psychic juices flowing,
0:24:25 > 0:24:28'so Leanne blew us all away with a rousing performance
0:24:28 > 0:24:31'of the Ghostbusters theme tune on her Tibetan singing bowl.'
0:24:31 > 0:24:34BOWL HUMS SOFTLY
0:24:38 > 0:24:41HUMMING CONTINUES
0:24:45 > 0:24:48HUMMING CONTINUES
0:24:48 > 0:24:50SOFT METAL CHIME
0:24:52 > 0:24:54'With the crowd bouncing,
0:24:54 > 0:24:56'it was time to saddle up our psychic horses
0:24:56 > 0:24:58'and find us some dead people.
0:24:58 > 0:25:00'First stop, a builder,
0:25:00 > 0:25:02'who had apparently fallen while working on the clock tower.
0:25:02 > 0:25:04'He'd been dead 150 years
0:25:04 > 0:25:06'and, more importantly, he was a builder,
0:25:06 > 0:25:08'so I was pretty sure he wouldn't turn up.'
0:25:08 > 0:25:09If Thomas Watkins is out there?
0:25:09 > 0:25:11If... That's if I've got the name right.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14- The builder who passed away. - Rhod?- Yeah?
0:25:14 > 0:25:15You've got two milligauss.
0:25:15 > 0:25:17Two milligauss.
0:25:17 > 0:25:21I just feel that, every time you say the gentleman's name,
0:25:21 > 0:25:24you seem to get an intelligent reaction back.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28Typical builder, he'll only talk to the blokes.
0:25:30 > 0:25:32'So far, my big event was a mixed bag.
0:25:32 > 0:25:36'To the believers, the place was teeming, the undead wandering
0:25:36 > 0:25:39'aimlessly through the corridors like a fire drill at BBC Wales.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42'For the sceptics, we'd found nothing convincing.
0:25:43 > 0:25:45'I decided to play my trump card
0:25:45 > 0:25:47'and headed for the basement and the room that
0:25:47 > 0:25:50'had made Scooby Doodle piddle a puddle of Scrappy Doo-Doo.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52'I was keen to see if anyone picked up
0:25:52 > 0:25:55'the unexplained electromagnetic hot spot I'd found earlier.'
0:25:59 > 0:26:02So, I came down here and did a little recce earlier.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04The levels were going up quite significantly in one spot,
0:26:04 > 0:26:06time and again.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09One of you is very specifically sat in that spot.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12Anyone care to tell me where that spot might be?
0:26:12 > 0:26:13I feel sick.
0:26:13 > 0:26:14- You feel sick?- Mmm.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17- What, nauseous?- Mm-hmm, and all hot.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20- Cos you are sitting in the spot.- OK.
0:26:20 > 0:26:22'Bingo! A direct hit.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24'But, if my ghoul-getters were going to go home happy,
0:26:24 > 0:26:27'I knew we had to make more meaningful contact with the spirit.
0:26:27 > 0:26:28'Cue the scariest game
0:26:28 > 0:26:32'since the Broadmoor spin-the-bottle tournament - a Ouija board.'
0:26:32 > 0:26:35Move that glass. Use your energy.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39Use our energy to move that glass in any direction that you like.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42Could you give us a name?
0:26:42 > 0:26:45Could you tell us whether you're a man or a woman?
0:26:45 > 0:26:48'Oh, Ouija believe it? There was no answer.
0:26:48 > 0:26:50'Maybe the afterlife closed in the evenings,
0:26:50 > 0:26:52'but it turned out I was just being held in a queue
0:26:52 > 0:26:55'and my call must have been pretty important to them
0:26:55 > 0:26:57'cos it wasn't long before someone picked up.'
0:26:57 > 0:27:00- SOMETHING RUSTLES - What was that, then?
0:27:00 > 0:27:01I don't know, I heard a voice.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04That wasn't a stomach. That sounded like...
0:27:04 > 0:27:06- Yeah, that sounded like a voice. - Yeah, I heard a female voice.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09- It was that side of me. - It was just there?
0:27:09 > 0:27:10But I don't know exactly where it was.
0:27:10 > 0:27:12Where did that noise come from?
0:27:12 > 0:27:15'The phantom "mmm" was certainly no "boop".
0:27:15 > 0:27:18'To some, it was just a mobile phone or the central heating.
0:27:18 > 0:27:20'To others, it was the unmistakable sound of
0:27:20 > 0:27:23'a ghost with a sore throat, sucking on a dead lozenge -
0:27:23 > 0:27:26'but it wasn't long before we were all getting twitchy.'
0:27:26 > 0:27:28Well, whoever that was, could you do that again,
0:27:28 > 0:27:30just so we know it was not something...?
0:27:30 > 0:27:32The torch.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38Well, if you don't like using the board, then use the light.
0:27:38 > 0:27:40Show us with the light.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43Come away from that light. Turn that off.
0:27:46 > 0:27:48Thank you.
0:27:48 > 0:27:50If there is anyone in here with us,
0:27:50 > 0:27:52could you just give us one...?
0:27:52 > 0:27:55Bring the light on now for a yes, please.
0:27:55 > 0:27:56Just bring the light on now.
0:28:00 > 0:28:01Thank you very much.
0:28:05 > 0:28:07'It was what you make of it.
0:28:07 > 0:28:09'Believers don't need any evidence.
0:28:09 > 0:28:11'For cynics, no evidence is enough.
0:28:11 > 0:28:13'Those of us who are members of
0:28:13 > 0:28:15'the Paranormal Investigation Sceptics Society -
0:28:15 > 0:28:16'or PISS, for short -
0:28:16 > 0:28:18'lie somewhere in-between,
0:28:18 > 0:28:20'and the night hadn't really changed anyone's mind,
0:28:20 > 0:28:23'but that hadn't been the point.'
0:28:23 > 0:28:25Thanks very much for coming along tonight.
0:28:25 > 0:28:26I hope you've enjoyed it.
0:28:26 > 0:28:28Whether a sceptic or believer, or anything in between,
0:28:28 > 0:28:30I hope you've had a good time.
0:28:33 > 0:28:35I really tried to open myself up.
0:28:35 > 0:28:37I tried to stay open-minded
0:28:37 > 0:28:39and I tried to expose myself to everything,
0:28:39 > 0:28:41and I tried my damnedest to facilitate
0:28:41 > 0:28:44an evening of paranormal investigation.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47It's nearly 3am in the morning, and the team are packing up,
0:28:47 > 0:28:48and...
0:28:48 > 0:28:54BELL RINGS
0:28:54 > 0:28:55And the really weird thing?
0:28:55 > 0:28:57There's not even a bell in that tower.