Adrian J. Andrews is the proprietor and guide at Kreepy Kemptown Ghost Walks. He is also a television paranormal investigator and a psychic in his own right. Here he lifts the lid on paranormal goings-on right here in Brighton and our sometimes hazardous daily interactions with the spirit world.
What? Did you think that it was all just for show? Then think again. We present The Brighton Journal’s most mind-bending interview ever …
People have little understanding what I do. Some people in the Christian Church say I’m dabbling with things I know nothing about. I deal with facts. I do not make up stories …
It was quite by accident that I became involved in the world of the paranormal. As an out of work actor I put together a ghost walk, combining my training and one of my interests. Somebody asked me a few years ago to create a ghost story for their bar. There are quite enough stories in this city without making them up. Everything I present on the ghost tour has been witnessed by several witnesses.
There is one venue that I actually discovered was haunted of which I was previously unaware. I do point out to my customers that at the moment that has not been verified by a number of witnesses. I intend to go in and do an investigation, and on talking to the landlord I discovered him to be the ultimate sceptic. He doesn’t believe those things but he was actually starting to be terrified. I actually prefer interviewing sceptics because if there is anything going on they are the ones that are going to let the cat out of the bag. Despite what I do I am hard to convince. I have a rule of thumb. I dismiss 90% of the ghost stories that I’m told as total nonsense, 8% as the result of alcohol or drug abuse and 2% are perhaps worth investigating. If I take on an investigation, I go in to disprove any supposed ghostly presences. Only when I’ve exhausted all the tests and I still cannot prove that there is something natural going on, then I start to begin to accept that the causes are paranormal. That’s what any good paranormal researcher should do.
I started to do ghost walks in February 2012. Within about a year I was contacted on my ghost phone (which is my business phone), by a young lad living in London who sounded terribly stressed. One of his friends who was a white witch had decided to give him a Blair Witch experience, so he had taken him into some woodland. As it started to get dark his friend cast some kind of spell. The first indication that something wasn’t right was when he felt a stinging feeling at the back of his neck. At first he thought it was some kind of insect bite – but then his neck chain, which was 9 carat gold, slipped through his shirt and dropped into the leaves by his feet. When he got home he found out that the necklace had not broken but melted and he had a burn on the back of his neck.
” … when he looked into the mirror somebody’s else’s face was looking at him and it scared him … Finally he had had enough so he contacted me”
Then as young men do, he had a shower and prepared to spend an hour in front of the mirror tweaking his hair, but when he looked into the mirror somebody’s else’s face was looking at him and it scared him. He thought he was seeing things so he went to the mirror in the hallway but the same face stared back at him there. This went on for four years. He became very mirror phobic, he couldn’t stand walking down the street and catching sight of his reflection in the windows. Finally he had had enough so he contacted me because a friend of his had picked up a flyer with my phone number on it. I said to him “I’m a tour guide, what do you expect me to do?” He replied “Well you’re my only hope”. Well I knew of a local medium called Sascha Cooper and I asked her for advice and she gave me a couple of instructions, which I emailed to him and then heard no more. Six months later he phoned me up and said “Thank you. I’m no longer seeing somebody else’s reflection in the mirror. I’m seeing my own reflection after four years. However, I’m still very nervous….”.
I then got involved with a TV show called ‘The Unrested’. It was through a tribute I did to ‘Most Haunted’ in Worthing and it’s true what they say, you never know who’s in the audience. A guy from an independent television company spotted us and approached me and the cast that I had put together. The subsequent event had been filmed with a film crew from Hastings, so the whole thing was like a Most Haunted Live episode. Live pictures were transmitted to a big screen in the building where an audience watched our activities.
I had a medium with with me called David Gibson who had attended my Ghost Walk at Halloween with his nephew. David was very impressed with my tour. It was pouring down that night but I carried on regardless and, as he later told me, my professionalism was what won him over. Daniel Harrison, his nephew, turned out to be very skilled historian, so when I put the ‘Most Haunted’ live team together I used both of them. David was my medium and and Daniel was verifying everything we came up with and did a wonderful job. Then this guy approached us all and said “You’ve got your own TV show!”
Then we made a mistake. We were doing a shoot in Chanctonbury Woods which is on the edge of the Chanctonbury Ring, a notoriously haunted location. Paranormal activity there is well documented. There two ghosts that I knew of there. An old man with a beard dressed in white – I don’t know who he is – and a young girl also dressed in white. According to David, who in my opinion is one of the best mediums in the country, we were surrounded with entities who were really curious about us. Some of them were very dark but one made it’s presence very clear – this young girl who you can read so much about on the internet and in local ghost books. Then he says “I don’t understand this but she’s kneeling down in front of me saying “Thank you sir. Thank you. Thank you”.
I’m clairsentient which means I can feel a presence and I’m beginning to know how to distinguish between women, children and men, and I often don’t pick messages up, but something was telling me in my head that this was connected with kidnapping. This girl was kidnapped and murdered in those woods. So I said to David “Maybe she’s thanking you because she sees you as her rescuer” so we decided to send her across [to the other side] because she had suffered enough – and this was all done on camera. We sent her to the light and thought no more about it. Then a couple of weeks later we were going to have a production meeting about continuing filming for the pilot. Then David said at the meeting that everything was on hold. I said “What do you mean? I thought we were doing well”.
” … the entity we sent over at that time could have been waiting many years for the opportunity to con a medium into doing his bidding …”
He said “Well there have been a lot of problems. I’m not going to say who said it but I’ve been told to STOP-NOW!” If you misuse the skills given to you by Spirit, it can be taken away from you. “I’m literally suspended at the moment” he said. He couldn’t understand why but something about that crossing had gone wrong. I spoke to Sascha Cooper about it because by this time we had become very good friends. She tuned into David and said she knew who it was who had told him off but if he himself wasn’t going to tell me she also couldn’t. “But you’ve sent the wrong person over” [she said]. I asked “how can that happen?” She said it was because we discovered a trickster [a mischievous or malevolent spirit] who disguised himself to look like the girl in white. In fact it was the kidnapper and murderer that we sent across. He had not been meant to cross over. That’s why David’s talent was suspended.
Normally if a ghost decides to show himself to someone he chooses to show himself in a familiar form. Let’s say your grandfather, for example, wants to show himself to you. He would show you himself as you would remember him so that you recognise him, but they don’t have to keep their shape so some of them learn to be tricksters.
Someone who is psychic has a much brighter aura and spirits are drawn to them. Time also means nothing to [The Dead], so they are quite happy to sit around for one or two hundred years waiting for the right person to come along. Time isn’t linear in the World of Spirit as it is to us. Past, Present, Future are all ‘in the moment’ and so the entity we sent over at that time could have been waiting many years for the opportunity to con a medium into doing his bidding. We learned a valuable lession that day. If we can’t be absoutely one hundred per cent certan we won’t send them across.
Some people choose not to cross, and now science has come to believe that some form of consciousness continues after physical death thanks to an experiment carried out by the University of Southamption involving 200 Near Death Experiences (NDE)s at hospitals in the UK, US and Austria. Paranormal investigators have known that for years, because we’ve seen enough evidence of it, but science is hard to convince – if it can’t be tested in a laboratory it is not even worth thinking about, it doesn’t exist.
Science in general is saying that NDE’s are the result of a mix of chemicals in the brain that causes illusions, but now hospitals are actually towing the line with this. They are setting out experiments to involve people that have these experiences. For example many [people who have had] NDEs say that they floated above their body and watched the medical stuff work on their body from the corner of the room. Well now many hospitals are putting messages on top of the lampshades in the ceilings so if they do say after that they came out of their body, the consultant can ask them if they saw anything unusual while they where up there. If they say “Yes! I saw ‘I love Lucy’ on a top of a lampshade!” then they can verify that they really did come out of their body, and the hospital (being science-based of course) has been able to verify it.
People ask me if I’m ever in danger doing what I’m doing and yes I sometimes am because it can be pitch dark and sometimes I’m in old buildings where you could fall through old floorboards. There is certainly a risk in the paranormal sense. My mother used to say to me “You have more to fear from the living then you have from the dead.” Actually I now know from experience that that is not always the case. The Dead can, if the intention is there, gather energy from somewhere and do serious harm. They can throw things at you and they can harm you by clawing at you, which can cause serious cuts. If there is nothing electrical to take energy from, they can drain energy from human beings. The symptoms you end up with are dizziness, a pounding headache and in the worst case profuse vomiting.
We did a ghost hunt in The Marine Tavern (13 Broad Street, Kemp Town) a couple of years ago. We had a small group of people with us. Downstairs in the cellar I asked everyone to turn their torches off and called out to whoever was down there. Sascha had already confirmed that there was a lady down there and that her body was behind the bricks in an old underground tunnel. We called out to this corner of the cellar that no person could get to, because there was too much stuff piled in front of it. There was a colossal bang and a knocking from that corner. So we thanked her for making her presence known.
“…they can drain energy from human beings. The symptoms you end up with are dizziness, a pounding headache and in the worst case profuse vomiting …”
Spirits are literal. If you find that they have the ability to harvest energy you can ask them to do something physical. If you say to them “Can you turn the light on?” Then the obvious answer to them is a simple ‘yes’. It may not occur to them that they should actually turn the light on. So you have to say “Will you please turn the lights on now if you have the ability to do so”.
Sascha and I used to do monthly psychic suppers in Worthing in a place called The Mad Hatter’s Tea Parlour which is unfortunately closed for business now. Everyone would sit down for a meal, then they would be visited by Sascha at their table who would give them mini readings as a group. Then Sascha and I would get together and open up a ouija board. We put protection around everybody to start with by all linking hands and tell everybody to visulise white light which is the protective colour.
We had a lady whose son came through. The boy was a joker when he was alive. The first thing that happened was that we got messages that didn’t make any sense at all and then there was countdown of ever decreasing numbers. When that happened I started watching really carefully because that seemed like a danger sign. There are also certain words to watch out for that could be an indication of a malevolent entity being present. If that happens I shut the board down immediately to keep people safe. Somebody who knew this boy asked if it was him and then he came up with a few bits and pieces of proof that it was indeed him.
“There are also certain words to watch out for that could be an indication of a malevolent entity being present. If that happens I shut the board down immediately …”
Then she said “I have something to ask you, should I do what I said I was going to do and come to you?” He said “No. I don’t want that!” She said “Alright darling I’ll hang on”. Someone told me she had considered committing suicide to join him. The spirit also indicated that his brother needed her. This is what happens when spirits come through. It is with love. They cross through the light with love, and the first thing they feel when they cross over is overwhelming loves.
Everything we go through and feel in this life is something we have designed for ourselves in the World of Spirit. Our world right now is in a terrible state and you often hear people say that they wouldn’t bring a baby into this life. On the spirit side of things we are looked upon as heroes because we knew before we came back that this world was going to be in a chaotic and dangerous state but we still chose to come anyway. We knew there were lessons we needed to learn that we wouldn’t have learned had we stayed over there. Not a lot of people on that side would take the decision to come back now.
The spirit world occupies the same space as our own world. Their floor level is about three feet above our own, so when our loved ones pass threw the veil they’re basically only three feet away. That’s how they can look in on us so easily. Two years ago I had to visit the hospital. I was in an office alone with a nurse and she said “Have you got somebody with you?” I said “Normally if someone asks me that I would think they would be talking about a spirit.” She said “I am. I can feel something around you.” I said “Well it is possible. I go to haunted places a lot so I could have brought something with me – but I’m pretty sure I would know if I had brought out a takeaway!”
I asked Sascha about what this nurse said to me and she told me that there is in fact a gentleman smoking a pipe with me. Then she described my father perfectly. She said he is worried about me, which is why has decided to attach himself to me all the time. My mum is now 99 years old and lives in Hounslow, West London. She is suffering with Alzheimers Disease unfortunately, and I know through David Gibson that my father visits her on regular basis. It is nice to know that my dad is still around and is still worried about Mum and me. This is actually very common.
Sometimes when Spirit want to give you a message they will give you subtle signs. For example if you’re at home in your kitchen a song would come on the radio that reminds you of them or something will shift in a chest of drawers. Many people miss them, but if they have something very important to say they would get more dramatic, especially if you haven’t noticed the more subtle approach. That’s when people experience strange phenomena in their homes and are often the reason they call in someone like myself.
“A dream visitation is a really dramatic way for our loved ones to communicate with us. The colour and visualisation is much better than you get with normal dreams.”
A dream visitation is a really dramatic way for our loved ones to communicate with us. The colour and visualisation is much better than you get with normal dreams. Imagine the picture quality of a normal dream. Well a dream visitation is in HD! They are so realistic and unlike regular dreams they actually make sense. More often than not this is how loved ones will visit us.
I recently met my own Spirit Guide in this way. Jake was a gay man in the 1970s who was unfortunately suffering with testicular cancer. The subject was taboo in those days and simply not spoken about. He is still reluctant to broach the subject as he feels emasculated. Even Spirit Guides have hang-ups! Sadly he didn’t do anything about it until it was too late and he died at the age of 32. Although his life is very recent in our terms, Jake is an incredibly old soul and is in the perfect position to guide me through my life, especially now that I consider that I am working for Spirit.
Jake knew what my goals and desires are in this corperal existence because he had viewed my life’s blueprint. The blueprint for your life is drawn up by yourself and held in a place called The Hall of Records in the spirit world. The Hall occupies one of two domes beneath glass towers that are themselves used for souls returning to the spirit world as a sort of convalescence home to replenish your energies. Any of our friends on that side can go into the Hall of Records and access our files to see where we are in our life at any given moment. The other dome (in case you were wondering) houses the Hall of Learning, which is where we review the life we have just come back from.
The Kreepy Kemptown Ghost Walk is the longest guided tour in Brighton and lasts two and half hours for the same price as ever other tour in the city. The difference being that when I take you around (we start at The Marine Tavern where I tell you the history of Kemp Town). Then I take you to haunted places and tell their story – whether or not they have been verified by witnesses, what people have been experiencing, whether paranormal investigations have clarified what is going on, what is the possible reason for the ghosts and so on. Brighton and Hove is the second most haunted city in the country, second only to York. Wherever you stand in Brighton and Hove you’re never further away than 100 yards away from the nearest paranormal activity.
There are otherworldly activities in the most surprising of places, even in Churchill Square. The spirit there they call Black Belly because he has a very very bruised stomach and he is on the forecourt and several people have actually seen him. Apparently he is a scary soul. I haven’t seen him myself. I rarely see things. I feel things but if he was around when I was there I would be able to tell you straight away. I have even walked past old peoples’ homes and felt a presence, which means that someone has died in there and they are looking to get a message across.
“Only now am I coming to acceptown psychic abilities as a Clairsentient.”
Only now am I coming to accept my own psychic abilities as a Clairsentient. Sascha used to tell me off all the time “Don’t keep questioning things!” she would tell me. “Accept your intuition, accept what you are give!” That’s what psychic ability is all about, intuition. In fact it is the same part of your brain that picks up psychic vibration as is responsible for intuition. It’s the pineal gland, a small gland right in the centre of your brain. Some people call it your third eye. It is that same voice that tells you to stop and get back off the road just as a motorcycle whizzes past. When you are born your pineal gland is very, very open. This is why so many children appear to be talking to themselves. They seem to have a companion that they are playing with. In man cases they are actually seeing someone who has passed over and has chosen to make themsleves known, but as we grow up, roundabout the age of 11, 12, 13 that pineal gland starts shutting down because we are getting so many other things going on in our life. Every day mundane things flood the brain, so we start losing our psychic abilities, but they are never entirely gone. Like you may think of someone and they will suddenly phone you and you haven’t seen them for ages. That is your own psychic intuition kicking in.
I have my own Youtube channel, Kreepy TV and I am doing an educational web series called ‘Dead but not Forgotten’ that takes you step-by-step from the basics of consulting a Medium to what happens to you on your death bed.
For 2018 I am about to embark on two television shows with Sascha, “Paranormal Properties” and “Ghost in the Works.” We will be helping genuine people with genuine paranormal problems, one for domestic situations and the other for work places.
I am also writing a series of books. “The Haunting of Brighton’s Kemp Town” is with a publisher as I speak and is far more comprehensive than my tours. I also have a second nonfiction out there entitled “Death, Ghosts, Hauntings and Me” which was based on public seminars I gave along the South Coast last year. I am currently writing a third non-fiction book called “Text Book Hauntings” and am literally in the middle of a ten part series about a fictitious young Victorian paranormal investigator called “Mortimer Richardson.” Hopefully he is set to become the next Harry Potter!
You will notice on my bag that I have a ‘Ghostbusters’ logo, but that’s kind of an in-joke. I hate being called a ‘ghost buster’. I am a paranormal investigator. Sometimes there is what can be termed ‘ghost busting’ involved but that is not taking them home in a backpack. That is basically what is called a clearance, where I go through a procedure called ‘smudging’. It is done with burning white sage. The sage is repulsive to spirits. I don’t know why. If someone is particularly disturbed by an incident in their home – and it is normally homes where this happens – I will go in. I will see if I can test the environment, and then if I am sure that there is something there which means harm I will do a smudging.
Ghosts are caused by sudden death and there are generally three categories for their hanging about. 1) They don’t realise they are dead, 2) They don’t know what to do next and 3)They may have lived what they consider to be a sinful life and are afraid of what awaits them on the other side. There are sub-categories but let’s keep it simple!
The Society for Psychical Research is a body of scientists which was formed in London in the late 1800s. They have investigators on their books that are called in to the most extreme cases such as The Enfield Haunting a few decades ago. In fact we have a ghost here on my tour who was one of the three founding members of the organisation. He died very suddenly and under suspicious circumstances in the Royal Albion Hotel. We don’t know whether it is suicide or an accidental overdose, because we are talking Victorian times. Doctor Edmund Gurney is the gentleman’s name and he died in one of the bedrooms there.
He suffered with neuralgia, which is violent headaches, and in those days all you could do was sniff chloroform. They weren’t sure whether he overdosed because he was agonising pain or committed suicide. I would say the latter is unlikely because he was in the middle of an investigation. He had only just come down from London to investigate the home of a family who had been driven out by months and months of paranormal activity. He had just conducted an interview with the family, and came back to the hotel in terrible pain, went up to his room without a word to the staff, which was very unusual because he was a very chatty person, and they didn’t see him for three days. They found him dead on the bed with this chloroform pad over his face …
The tours are full of such information and a legion of other colourful characters to boot. They happen every Saturday. The Box Office opens at 7pm inside the Marine Tavern and the tour departs from outside at 7.30.
Elin Arnar and Graham Cushway
[email protected], [email protected]
http://kreepykemptownghostwalks.webs.com/
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