DISCLAIMER: This story was first published back in early 2008 when I was a reporter for a local newspaper – edited a little now for relevancy and just because I’m a better writer. A lot of things happened that night that I just can’t explain, and because it’s almost Halloween… enjoy.

Ghost hunting. It’s not something we (or, at least, most of us) really deal with on a day-to-day basis.

After an evening with a local ghost hunting team, I saw what it was like first-hand to communicate with the dead and experience things that I would find difficult to explain any other way.

That… seems like quite a statement, doesn’t it? I swear right now that everything in this blog is 100% true, as I experienced it at the time.

At the weekend I spent the night in an abandoned hospital in Fife (Thornton Fever Hospital – click through to see images), minus electricity and warmth to see if anything really would happen, and to be honest I didn’t think it would be that eventful. I was skeptical, but went in with an open mind.

What actually happened…

Joined by a small group of six including my (at the time) partner, I was proven wrong when things were thrown at us unexplainably from across the room, doors slammed without the help of the wind and even the feeling of being touched without being near anyone.

The most interesting part of all, for me was the group séance, where everyone sat around the table with hands and feet touching so that we’d know if one of us made a sound and loud thumps began from underneath the table in response to our questions – two for yes, one for no.

At a few times during the séance we could all feel the table vibrating almost as if it wanted to lift up from the ground, which I found a little chilling and even more so when my partner reported a pressing on his leg which slowly started to grow warm.

One particular spirit seemed to shine through and answered most of the questions with a strong force, each thump from the table pronounced and deliberate.

I was shocked to learn things about his past and the way he interacted with us, but a little disappointed that when asked whether he wanted to speak to me, one loud thump gestured a firm ‘no’. (EDITOR’S NOTE: I wouldn’t have spoken to me, either. I was in my early 20s, not a fully developed person yet, and only there to say I’d done it).

However we learned about the person who was communicating with us, and that they were trying to help us in our investigation. But things took a turn when they eluded to the fact that another spirit, a more menacing one who was already known to the group, was also on the grounds.

Later on we also attempted to use a glass around the table, each of us in turn taking our fingers from the glass to prove that no-one was moving it. The glass moved twice with a force that felt too smooth to be natural, gliding quickly towards one member of the group until it was off the table.

A ‘milder experience’…

I was amazed by the response we got, and said so only to be corrected that the night had been ‘mild’ compared to what the team normally experience.

The hospital itself was run-down and very eerie, with instruments, equipment and children’s toys lying abandoned in dirty, crumbling rooms – along with abandoned shoes.

A lot of windows were broken and some of the noises could easily be put down to the wind, which was acknowledged by the group who focused on the more unexplained phenomena that we experienced throughout the night.

Each time someone made a noise or dropped something, they quickly owned up to it and did not try to create spiritual reasons, instead trying to think of the rational way things could be explained such as the wind or creaks in the buildings.

How I felt throughout the experience

Even though I wrapped up warm, I couldn’t stop shivering for most of the night and although I would have liked to stay for longer, the team eventually decided to head home around 12.30am, because of the cold weather.

Curiously, I did not find myself scared but more interested in what was going on around me and the power the mediums seemed to have and the things they could see.

At points I was frightened like when a door was slammed in another room, or when we were all standing against a wall and a piece of coal landed directly at my feet from across the room, but I have to say I enjoyed the experience very much and it really opened my eyes – just like being in a real episode of Most Haunted, only this time I knew everything was really happening.

My (ex)partner, Tim, who was with me on the night, even caught an orb – believed to be the first stage in spirit manifestation – moving quickly past the medium after she reported that a spirit was circling around her, which we later emailed to the team the next day.

One final thing…

The only thing that bothered me was when one of the mediums told me that the spirits frequently follow her home and I was haunted by the thought of looking in my bedroom mirror and seeing something spooky!

All in all, it was a very educational night and although I was out with the team to write an article for the paper, it was also very good for the novel I was working at the time, Nightswallow.

So, were myself and my (ex) partner somehow tricked and taken advantage of, or was this a genuine ghost hunting experience? I’ve thought in through in my head countless times, and have never been able to come up with a decent explanation for most of what I witnessed that night. I’ve even been a little apprehensive of sharing this on here after all of this time.

Make of it what you will.