David Goulden is the founder of the Dorset Paranormal Research Team who have been investigating some of the county’s alleged ghostly encounters
The Dorset Paranormal Research Team are made up of a small number of researchers that spend time in a variety of locations getting to know not only the history of the place, but also the accounts that have been reported from there, in an attempt to better understand why they may be happening.
Our job is to try and assess these experiences from a rational and logical point of view and to work out the make-up of the experiences in order to try and decode them through witness reports and field research. When working on a new case, time is taken to get to know the location as well as those involved and to understand the environmental factors that could be a contributing to the experiences. It is important to look at all of the logical explanations, before making any suggestion of anything paranormal. It is very rare for something potentially paranormal to happen. Most of the time there is either a perfectly rational explanation that will present itself, or the case is resolved as simply unexplained to the best of our current understanding. We’re never there to brand a home or business “Haunted” or to make any outrageous statements.
The reality is very different to how it is perceived through ghost hunting TV shows. The Dorset Paranormal Research Team will work at a location sometimes for many months and at different times of the day in their quest to work out what could be happening. All cases are different and we approach each report with that in mind.
It seems that research through the field of parapsychology may give us more explanation as to what ghosts aren’t, rather than what they are. For example, there is an entrance to the tunnels at the Nothe Fort in Weymouth where volunteers have reported the feeling of being watched or that they have seen an unrecognisable form. There has been some research done into the effects of Electro Magnetic Fields (EMF), which are emitted from electrical items, which can give a physiological experience of presence, fear and touch. Our conclusion is that EMF can’t be ruled out in this case as a plant room that operates the nearby lift may have some bearing on why people have these odd feelings in this specific area. These are the sorts of tests that the team will occasionally conduct if the experience seems to fit the science.
Most of the time all we are equipped with are video cameras and sound recording devices. Another place we investigated was The Old Tea House in Dorchester. The sound of footsteps had been reported there, so we set up such devices to attempt to capture any similar sounds. We can only draw logical conclusions from any data captured. If we pick up any sounds then we can analyse them to work out if they are natural to the environment or something else entirely.
We remain fascinated by claims of the paranormal. And, whilst they continue to be reported, the Dorset Paranormal Research Team will always be somewhere in the county looking into the unknown.
If you would like a rational enquiry into your paranormal activity then drop them a line, or read about some of the places they have staked out at thedorsetparanormalresearchteam.org
