HRPI Interview Darren W. Ritson:
Darren W. Ritson is a Civil Servant and lives in North Tyneside with his partner Jayne and daughter Abbey. Darren founded the North East Ghost Research Team in May, 2003. Darren has had an interest in the paranormal for most of his life, primarily due to some "unexplained happenings" he experienced as a child.
Ever since he was a small boy he has been fascinated with the thought that ghosts may really exist. Further, after experiencing poltergeist activity at the age of thirteen in France, his path was set and he decided to try to learn more about this intriguing subject. Over the next 20 years Darren built up a library of books, magazines and literature on the paranormal including the works of the late Harry Price (1881-1948), Peter Underwood FRSA and Guy Lyon Playfair, these three prolific ghost researchers and writers being his main influences. It was then he formed his research team. Darren also contributes regularly to the nationally-distributed PARANORMAL magazine, and his first book, Ghost Hunter: True Life Encounters from the North East was published in October, 2006.
Darren had corresponded with eminent people in the field of paranormal research, including Peter Underwood FRSA. Darren is also a member of the Society for Psychical Research.
How did you first become interested in the Paranormal?
My Interest stemmed from an early age after experiencing some odd happenings as a child growing up. My earliest recollection of paranormal activity was at about the age of ten. It was when I was sent to bed and I was the only one in the house upstairs. Since my brother was three years older than myself he was allowed to stay up a little longer than me, which really annoyed me because deep down I knew I did not want to be upstairs on my own. As I lay in bed trying to get to sleep with the landing light left on, I often heard the sound of the stairs creaking as if some one was creeping up them. Now most people would say that old houses creak anyway. However, the difference here is that it seemed that every creak or noise the stair made coincided with what noise would have been made if somebody were actually ascending the staircase. Some stairs made some recognisable and distinguishing noises and some stairs did not make any noise at all.
I became convinced that someone was creeping up the stairs. As I lay there frozen in my bed, the noises on the stairs become louder as though whoever or whatever was making its accent was getting closer to my room. The noises on the stairs kept on coming as I became more frozen with fear until they reached the top of the stairs. I thought it may have been my mother or father checking up on me to make sure I was asleep, but on calling out I had no response, which scared me even more. I soon began to realise that whoever or whatever was present was now standing behind my bedroom door and it always seemed to stop there, every time this happened. Then as I was lying there in total silence I could here the distinctive noise of slow breathing emanating from behind the door. At this point I screamed for my parents, as I was petrified. I heard the downstairs door open and can remember hearing the voices of my father, mother and brother at the bottom of the stairs and in the living room, which clearly indicates to me that it could not have been a family member creeping about. This happened on countless occasions and I am convinced I heard what I heard.
Then there was the poltergeist incident in France in 1986. At the age of thirteen I was taken to Dieppe with the school for a week and I stayed in a huge, old mansion, which had been converted into a centre for schools. It lay off a winding, old country road and was hidden deep behind a copse of trees. It had rooms converted into dormitories with a very religious feel to the whole place, as crucifixes were on nearly all the walls and portraits of Christ were in abundance. There were approximately six dormitories. The biggest slept about 25, and the smallest slept about 5-6. I was in one of the small ones with one of my school friends and four pupils from another school.
It all started during the last day when we smuggled some fresh orange juice up the stairs and into the dorm. We were not allowed to take food or drink into the bedrooms, and I spilled nearly half the carton onto the wooden floor. Instead of washing it up correctly I had one of my dorm colleagues help me lift up my bedside cabinet (which took the two of us to carry), and placed it over the stain we had left in the middle of the floor, not thinking that if the teacher had came in to the dormitory the first thing he would have asked would have been, “Why is your bedside cabinet in the middle of the floor?” Anyway it stayed there for the rest of the day. Night time came and we went to our beds. It wasn’t long before we were all out for the count, and throughout the night I was woken by the sound of a slow, continuous knocking. I opened my eyes and thought to myself, “What on earth is that?” as it was coming from within the room itself.
As I turned and looked into the darkness of the room I could see the bedside cabinet that we had moved earlier in the middle of the floor, slowly rocking from side to side, I watched this for about twenty seconds. It was balancing on one side of the bottom, coming to rest, as it should stand normally, creating the knocking sound as it came to rest on the floor, and then tilting up the other way on to the other side of the bottom. No one was next to it yet it kept on rocking and balancing perfectly. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing so I slid my legs off the side of the bed (the bottom bunk) and put my feet on the floor.
The cabinet still rocking, I wiped my eyes in utter disbelief, and then lunged forward to take a closer look, and what happened next I would never forget for the rest of my life. As I leant forward the cabinet in the middle of the room violently threw itself across the dormitory throwing my belongings everywhere from within and creating a crash that nearly burst my eardrums. Needles to say I ran for the light switch, crying in absolute terror, whilst the rest of my dormitory colleagues woke up with a fright saying, “What on earth was that?” I was hysterical and my friends were shocked too, to find the cabinet almost wrecked and my belongings all over the place. We left the light on for the rest of the night and needless to say we did not get any more sleep. It was accounts like these that really had me thinking so over the next 20 years I built up a library of books, magazines and literature on the paranormal including the works of the late Harry Price (1881-1948) Peter Underwood FRSA, and Guy Lyon Playfair and of course many others so I could learn all about the paranormal.
Can you remember your very first Investigation, and the Investigation that really got you excited?
Indeed I can, it was in May of 2003 and it was at a community centre in Byker in the east end of Newcastle and it was where I taught my Judo class. The building was built in 1928 and unlike a lot of community building – this one boasted a history. I was informed about all the ghostly goings on that had been witnessed there by the staff so I planned my first study of the premises. On the first investigation I recorded the sounds of footfalls in empty rooms and heard doors being shaken and rattled when no one was near them. In regards to the investigation that really got me excited, well that has to be the poltergeist we dealt with in South Tyneside.
Can you tell our readers about the South Shields poltergeist case you and Mike Hallowell worked on?
It all began when I was sitting at work. A woman approached me and uttered the words “my friends daughter has a ghost!” Those words are the best thing anyone has ever said to me (except when the midwife said “It’s a girl” of course). From that day on I corresponded with the family in question up until the point where they asked me to go in which was about five to six weeks after I first found out about the case. I contacted Mike and at the beginning of summer 2006 we visited the house.
That day was the start of something that was life changing for both Mike and I and little did we know at the time, this case would escalate into one of the most frightening, evil, malicious infestations of poltergeist phenomena that was ever to be documented.
During my first conversations with the family, I asked the householders to make notes of everything that had happened, and then everything that then continued to happen. It is through these notes that the case is documented so well up until the point Mike and I went in. We all continued to document the poltergeist activity and did so for over four months until it eventually dropped of the face of the planet – or did it?
Up to this point in my life I had never witness such bizarre antics of a poltergeist such as this. I have now seen things that defy all the natural laws and to be quite honest this polt (at times) literally put a show on for us. It would throw things around, thump about the house, and leave threatening messages for Mike and I on doodle boards, and death threats to the lady of the house on mobile phones. One occasion it left carving knives and normal knifes lying about the house for us to find…which we did, and at its worst, well…it attacked the householders on a number of occasions cutting his torso (front and back) to ribbons – and in front of our cameras!
It is so hard to summarise a 120,000 word book in just a few paragraphs as the story has so many twists, turns and complications as well as analogies, theories and hypothesises all about the poltergeist phenomena. All I can suggest is that if you want to find out the full terrifying tale of what happened at Lock Street in 2006 – buy the book. You wont be disappointed!
In your book GHOST HUNTER - True life encounters from the Northeast is there one place you enjoyed investigating more then any other and why?
Ghost Hunter was my first book and like all my books it was a total joy to write. I can’t really name my favourite case if I have to be honest as each case comes with its own special attributes. At the Schooner Hotel I was chased down a corridor by an unseen presence that I heard, and felt! At the Coroners Court building on Newcastle’s quayside we recorded unearthly breaths, our locked off motion sensors were activated and I had my clipboard pulled from me in the darkness when no one was near me. Some incredible EVPs were recorded from inside a locked of Canberra Bomber cockpit. Newcastle Keep is always a good place to investigate but if I had to choose I would have to say seeing an apparition at an old POW camp in County Durham. Since my investigations began in 2003 I have felt things, saw objects move, found open doors to be closed, found closed doors to be opened and saw flickering shadows that may or may not have been ghosts etc but out of nearly 200 overnight investigations I have only ever saw and been 100 percent certain about it - one ghost.
In your book 'IN SEARCH OF GHOSTS' is there one place you enjoyed investigating
more then any other and why?
My favourite investigation in this book has to be Woodchester Mansion in the Cotswolds. Very little happened in the way of objective paranormal phenomena but I had the chance to work with a team that I consider to be one of the best in the UK. Paranormal Site Investigators (PSI) from Swindon. Not only that, Woodchester Mansion was a locale that I always wanted to investigate and being colleagues with Dave Wood and Nicky Sewell from PSI I was able to visit and spend the night here.
In regards to paranormal activity, well, that has to be the anonymous manor house we investigated in Lancashire. World famous and previously featured on many ghost hunting documentaries worldwide this house is known as the most haunted house in Britain and for my four investigations there it did not disappoint. We were subjected to objects being moved, noises, breaths, disembodied demonic wails, some fantastic EVPs, including “DARE COME THE DEAD” AND “BRING ME THE BIBLE” to name a few. This house lives up to its name as being the “most haunted” and it was an honour and a privilege to be allowed in to investigate.
Can you tell our readers about the North East Ghost Research Team that you founded in 2003?
My team, the North East Ghost Research Team was founded in May 2003 and was set up to investigate ghostly goings on in the north east of England. My team was one of the first team in the northeast to be established and is still going strong to this day. The team at present consists of seven individuals and our goals are simple; to collate data and signed witness testimonies, and to gather evidence from our investigations in order to attempt to piece this elusive paranormal jigsaw together. They try to take a scientific, objective and professional approach to each investigation they undertake, and although they believe in ghosts, each investigation is looked at sceptically.
Evidence collated is viewed and looked at objectively and a process of elimination is carried out before producing findings in a full investigation report. Any good evidence is usually sent for further analysis. I am immensely proud of the team I run and the work we have carried out, and we will continue to investigate, write, and interview witnesses in our endless quest for the truth.
A lot of the work the team carries out is featured in the local newspapers, and the press are always interested in what we are up to and where we are going next. We are fast becoming a well-known and respected research team in the north east of England. Of course the team being involved with the South Shields case has brought them, and Darren and Mike - who incidentally is our team patron - to the forefront of paranormal research and we have made national news both here in the UK, and abroad. The case is now the “talk of the town” and societies such as the Ghost Club of Great Britain and the Society for Psychical Research are very excited about this new documented poltergeist.
What was it like to meet Guy Lyon Playfair who investigated The Enfield Poltergeist with Maurice Grosse in 1977/78 and how did he influence your work in the paranormal?
Being a member of the SPR I was easily able to contact Guy Playfair, which I did. I sent a letter to him asking him if he would consider writing the intro to our book on the case and he showed a great deal of interest indeed. This in turn led to many email correspondences and ultimately our visit to London to meet Guy at his home. We spent the afternoon at Guy Playfair’s house discussing the South Shields and Enfield cases as well as chatting about Uri Geller (one of Guy’s friends and co-authors) and of course the late great Maurice Grosse - and it was a memorable day.
Later in the afternoon we were taken to the SPR HQ where we met a few members of their staff and perused the many book in the SPR library. After that we went for a pint before heading off in our separate ways. During the course of the afternoon the SPR staff asked us if we would be prepared to come back to London and talk to the SPR about the case. We duly agreed and in December of 2007 we made our return journey. Our talk went really well and it was followed by questions by some of the top society members. Those present included Guy Lyon Playfair – Investigator and author of this house is haunted – an investigation into The Enfield Poltergeist, (He chaired the meeting) Rosemary Dinnage (SPR council member and chair of the Library Committee) Mary Rose Barrington (retired solicitor also on the SPR council and a long-time field researcher). Prof Bernard Carr, former SPR President and a Prof of Astrophysics at Queen Mary's College. Prof John Poynton (another former SPR president) and Eleanor O’Keefe. The talk was followed by wine, cakes and chat, and then off to a fine Italian Restaurant in South Kensington. Our hotel was the Park International and was not far from Kensington Palace.
It was a magnificent day, which Mike and I both thoroughly enjoyed. Meeting all these people has influenced me a great deal. Up until this point in my life I had only heard of the SPR and what they do. After meeting them and chatting with them I now know just what exactly the SPR does. There are indeed serious organisational bodies out there really carrying out serious research and to be a part of that and to have played small part in the history of psychical research is more than I could ever have dreamed of. I asked Guy Playfair if Maurice would have came to see our talk had he have still been with us and was told, “You bet he would have”. Although he wasn’t there in the physical, I will bet my bottom dollar that if there is survival after death, Maurice would have been there that night in spirit – listening in to a discussion about one of his favourite passions – Poltergeists.
Are you looking forward to being a guest speaker at the "Weird Weekend" this year and can you tell our readers what "weird weekend is all about"?
I have carried out many speaking engagements now and have a full diary ahead of me. The weird weekend is one that I am most looking forward to now and I have heard the audiences literally turn out in their droves – and I mean hundreds of them. The weird weekend is an annual event ran by the Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) in which guest speakers from all over the world descend upon Devon for the wackiest show on earth! It’s a weekend of paranormal talks, eating, drinking, and socialising and I can’t wait for it.
Is there one case you are working on at the moment you can tell our readers about?
I have resumed my investigations with another northeast based team and at the minute we are quite busy with a number of planned investigations. Mike and I are working on a number of new book projects together and have a mixed bag of paranormal cases to investigate. We are currently investigating another private dwelling in the Jarrow area of South Tyneside, which is proving to be rather interesting to say the least…but you can read up on that, and other investigations Mike and I have carried out in a follow up volume to The South Shields Poltergeist book.
What are your plans for the future?
Spending as much time as I can with my other half (Jayne) and our beautiful daughter who is two years old. Cherishing every second I spend with them and making the most of my family life (just in case we only do live once). That aside I am currently writing a new book on Haunted Newcastle, which I hope to have published next year. Other book projects include Ghost Hunter II, Ghost Taverns (which is complete but needs a publisher), Contagion, a look at the contagion aspect of poltergeist activity and Ghosts of Olde England. Plenty to keep me busy then along with talks, investigations, and plenty of radio and TV appearances that are soon in the pipeline.
