The
Ghost Club founded
in 1862, and is the oldest organisation in the world associated with psychical
research. Our prime interest is that of paranormal phenomena associated
with ghosts and hauntings.
Overnight investigations are held at sites throughout the year with the
aim of observing and recording phenomena. Naturally, we expect our members
to abide by any rules on the night, showing due respect to the site and
fellow members. It should be stressed, that we do not perform clearances
or exorcisms, and any use of ouija boards must be cleared with
the investigations organiser BEFORE the investigation, as the majority
of sites will not allow their use. Our aim is to conduct serious research;
our investigations are not for entertainment purposes of for thrill seekers.
Details of investigations are sent via e-mail and are open to all members.
If an investigation becomes over-subscribed, names are drawn on a lottery
basis to give everyone a fair chance. Prospective members should be
aware however, that the Ghost Club cannot guarantee an investigation in
your immediate area, but we do try to furnish members with basic travel
details, i.e. train stations, bus routes or local maps or directions. If
a member has a particular site local to them, that has experienced recent
phenomena, and may be agreeable to an investigation, I am always interested
in hearing about it and will endeavour to follow it up with a view to conducting
an investigation. Naturally, some sites do charge a fee that is payable
by all participants, but The Ghost Club itself is a non-profit making organisation
and does not charge its members to participate in investigations.
(Any fees payable will be detailed in the original e-mail).
I should also point out that The Ghost Club do not have premises or
any paid staff. The Council is made up of voluntary members around the country
who put in a lot of hard work and time, free of charge to arrange these
and other events for the whole membership.
Regular meetings are held at The
Victory Services Club in central London and are free to all members,
(guests welcome). Out-of-town GC Members can stay overnight at the VSC at
preferential rates. Speakers cover an array of subjects and viewpoints on
paranormal phenomena associated with ghosts and hauntings. Members generally
retire to the bar after the meeting and this is an excellent chance for
members to get to know each other and exchange views and stories.
Meetings are held about once a month on a Saturday at 2pm.
In addition to investigations and meetings we generally have a couple of
social events throughout the year, including a Christmas Party, which is
always very popular.
Members are also sent quarterly
newsletters covering many topics. Book reviews, investigation reports,
and letters to the Editor, paranormal news, technology updates to name just
a few. Our Newsletter Editor is always very happy to hear from members
who have an article they would like to be included in these.
The Ghost Club is an informal, democratically run club of genuinely open-minded
members and it should be stressed that unlike many similar organisations,
interested sceptics are always welcome. The club, although based in
the UK, has many members from all over the world.
If you are interested in becoming a member, please download a Membership
Questionnaire from our website, (one each if applying for joint
membership), and send to the PO Box above with your subscription payment.
(Please be aware that the PO Box is emptied every 7-10 days, and then the
applications are processed, all successful and non-successful applicants
will be notified, but please allow plenty of time). Cheques should be made
payable to “The Ghost Club”.
All members must sign and agree to the “Terms and Conditions”
of membership before their applications can be processed. (Printed
on the last page of the Membership application form).
Membership
& Contact Details
Membership
of the Ghost Club normally runs from 31st October to 31st October, although
we do accept members at any time of the year. The current annual membership
fees are: £25 for a single person, £37.50 for a couple, £15
for an overseas single person or an overseas couple at the same address. Now
payable by PayPal in many different currencies. (If you join between November
and end of May, a full year's membership fee is payable up to 31st October
in that year. For people who join after 1st June, their first year's membership
will run to 31st October the following year, i.e. for up to seventeen months.)
As a
member, you will receive four newsletters a year and access to Club events,
such as lectures, meetings and investigations and entry to the Members Area
on this web site.
For new
membership and further details about the Ghost Club, please print out a completed
membership questionnaire and send it, together
with a cheque (in pounds sterling) made payable to "The Ghost Club"
or an International Money Order, to :The Ghost Club Membership Secretary,
PO Box 160 St Leonards-On-Sea, TN38 8WA
I hope this has been of some help to you, but if you have any further queries,
please do not hesitate to get in
touch.
Best wishes
Kathy Gearing
Chairman / Investigation Organiser for The Ghost Club.
A
Very Brief History of the Ghost Club
by
Alan Murdie
Updated
with information from "The Encyclopaedia of Ghosts and Spirits" by Rosemary
Ellen Guiley
Its
prime interest focuses on paranormal phenomena such as ghosts and hauntings.
The club has been mentioned in numerous books, the most notable being "This
Haunted Isle" (1984), "No Common Task" (1983), "Nights in Haunted Houses"
(1994) and "The Ghosthunters Almanac" (1993) by Peter Underwood, "Some Unseen
Power" (1985) by Philip Paul, and "The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits"
(1992) by Rosemary Ellen Guiley.
The
club has its roots in Cambridge when in 1855 fellows at Trinity College began
to discuss ghosts and psychic phenomena. Formally launched in London in 1862
(attracting some light hearted ridicule in "The Times"), it counted amongst
its early members Charles Dickens and Cambridge academics and clergymen.
This
group undertook practical investigations of spiritualist phenomena, which
was then much in vogue and would meet and discuss ghostly subjects. The Ghost
Club seems to have dissolved in the 1870s following the death of Dickens but
it was relaunched in 1882 simultaneously with the Society for Psychical Research
(SPR) with whom there was an initial overlap of members.
The
Ghost Club was revived on All Saints Day 1882 by A.A.Watts and a famous contemporary
medium, the Reverend Stainton Moses. Whilst the SPR was a body devoted to
scientific study the Club remained a selective and secretive organisation
of convinced believers for whom psychic phenomena were an established fact.
Stainton Moses resigned from the vice presidency of the SPR in 1886 and thereafter
devoted himself to the Club which met monthly, with attendance being considered
obligatory except for the most pressing reasons. Membership was small - 82
members over 54 years - but during this period the Club attracted some of
the most original - and controversial minds in psychical research, serving
almost as a place of refuge for those who were unable to pursue activities
elsewhere. These included Sir William Crookes who attracted scandal after
investigation into Florence Cook, a medium.
Early
members of the Ghost Club c.1882. In the front row, third from left
is Sir William Crookes; to his left is Sir William Barrett.
At
this stage of its existence the Ghost Club might possibly be viewed as a Victorian
occult or spiritualist society celebrating November 2nd, the feast
of All Souls. The archives of the Club reveal that the names of members -
both living and dead were solemnly recited each November 2nd. Each
individual, living or dead, was recognised as still being a member of the
Club. On more than one occasion deceased members were believed to have made
their presence felt!
On
the eartly plane, meetings discussed topics as diverse as Egyptian magic and
second sight. The Principal of Jesus College, Cambridge, Arthur Grey was later
to fictionalise the Ghost Club in 1919 as "The Everlasting Club" of Jesus
College - a famous Cambridge ghost story that many still believe to be true.
Into
this circle the poet W.B.Yeats (joined 1911) and later Frederick Bligh Bond
(joined 1925) who became infamous with his obsessive investigations into spiritualism
at Glastonbury. Bligh Bond later left the country and later became active
in the American Society for Psychical Research and was ordained into the Old
Catholic Church, rejoining the Ghost Club on his return to Britain in 1935.
However.
at the Ghost Club attendance dwindled and the change in the 20th
century from seance room investigation to laboratory based research meant
that the Ghost Club was becoming out of touch with contemporary psychic research
or parapsychology as it became known in the 1930s. Harry Price, world famous
in the 1930s as a psychic researcher and for his investigation into Borley
Rectory joined as a member in 1927 as did psychologist Dr.Nandor Fodor who
represented the changing approach to psychical research taking place. With
attendance falling, Price, Bligh Bond and a handful of surviving members agreed
to wind up the Club in 1936 after 485 meetings, and this took place on November
2nd 1936. The Ghost Club records narrowly escaped being destroyed
because of their confidential nature but were deposited in the British Museum
under the proviso that they would be closed until 1962.
However
these events proved only a temporary suspension for within 18 months Price
had relaunched the Ghost Club as a society dining event where psychic researchers
and mediums delivered after dinner talks. Among members in this period were
Dr.C.E.M.Joad, Sir Julian Huxley and Kathleen Goldney.
Following
Price's death in 1948 activites lapsed but the Club was again relaunched by
members of the committee, Philip Paul and Peter Underwood. From 1962 author
Peter Underwood served as President and many account of Club activities are
found in his books. Tom Perrott joined the club in 1967 and served as Chairman
from 1971 to 1993. In 1993, however, the club underwent a period of internal
disruption. Peter Underwood left to become Life President of another society,
taking some of the club members with him. During this period, Tom Perrott
resigned due to the political turmoil, but was invited to return to the Ghost
Club as chairman, which he accepted. With this turmoil behind the club, it
was decided to implement a more democratic feel to proceedings, to abolish
the "invite only" clause in its membership policy, to absorb the role of Chairman
and President into one post, and to allow 'ordinary' members to have their
say in council meetings, and encouraging them to become more involved in club
affairs. During this period the Ghost Club also expanded its remit to take
in the study of UFOs, dowsing, cryptozoology, etc. In 1998, Perrott resigned
as Chairman (although he is still active in club affairs), and barrister Alan
Murdie was elected as his successor. Kathy Gearing replaced Alan Murdie as
Chairman in 2005.
Since
its founding in 1862, the Ghost Club has welcomed many luminaries to its membership.
The list includes Charles Dickens, Sir William Crookes, Air Chief Marshall
Lord Dowding, Arthur Koestler, Dr.C.E.M.Joad, Donald Campbell, Sir Julian
Huxley, Sir Osbert Sitwell, W.B.Yeats, Sigfreid Sassoon, Dennis Wheatley,
Dennis Bardens and Peter Cushing. Present members include the explorer and
founder of Operations "Drake" and "Raleigh" Colonel John Blashford-Snell,
OBE, and noted paranormal investigators Maurice Grosse, John and Anne Spencer
and Reverend Lionel Fanthorpe, as well as author Lynn Picknett . A previous
chairman of the Ghost Club was W.T.G. (Tom) Perrott, a life member of the
club and an eminent figure in the field of psychical research. The club has
investigated many famous locations during its lifetime, such as Borley Church,
Chingle Hall, The Queen's House, RAF Cosford Aerospace Museum, Glamis Castle,
Winchester Theatre, Woodchester Mansion, Michelham Priory and the Clerkenwell
House of Detention. |
