Celebrity Ghosts & Hauntings

BS3 said:
He's not so much of a celebrity nowadays but people who were alive in, say, the 1970s might remember the huge posthumous reputation of the land and water speed record holder, Donald Campbell (and his equally famous father, Sir Malcolm). Campbell was a representative of a particular sort of upper-class, old-fashioned heroics of a kind we don't see much these days - perhaps for the best. I'm sure many of us will have a memory in the back of our heads of that B&W film of his boat Bluebird somersaulting into Coniston Water on his last, fatal record attempt in 1967.

As well as being in the Ghost Club, being deeply superstitious and having an interest in the paranormal, Campbell was something of a haunted person himself. Peter Underwood moved in the same circles as Campbell and spoke to him several times: he confided that he'd often had visions of his father prior to land and water record attempts and was convinced the latter was somehow guiding him, including physically guiding the craft / car. Campbell also speculated that his mid 1960s car Bluebird CN7, the spectacular bit of engineering shown below, was in some way 'possessed', and performed as well or badly as it wanted to.

View attachment 59318

Underwood also spoke to Campbell's widow after his death. She said yes, she'd since seen him several times, tried to ignore it, but felt he was always "helpful" rather than scary - an encouraging presence. So perhaps rather like Campbell's father had been for him.

You clearly needed incredibly hefty cojones to even consider the water speed record: it was so dangerous about half of those attempting it in the past century were killed in the attempt. Accordingly there is a little story about Campbell playing cards with some of his engineers (or in some versions, 'consulting' the cards) shortly prior to his final attempt in 1967. He drew the same two cards, the Ace and Queen of Spades, as Mary Queen of Scots turned over the night prior to her execution and, always superstitious, commented that he hoped this wasn't a sign he was about to lose his head. When his remains were recovered from Coniston Water in 2001, it was established that he'd probably died when decapitated by his craft's windscreen.

Having said all the above I'm very pleased to add that this incredibly risky record has for many years now been held by Ken Warby of Sydney...who went over 300mph using a boat he built in his own back garden with a $250 surplus jet engine.
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I seem to recall that his head was not recovered from Coniston. It always seemed strange to me that his relative didn't want either his body or the boat to be recovered, despite the fact that the exact location of both was known so no long searches were necessary. I met one of the recovery team who told me that this was correct. There seems to have been a somewhat convoluted story about the boat since.
 
PeteS said:
I seem to recall that his head was not recovered from Coniston. It always seemed strange to me that his relative didn't want either his body or the boat to be recovered, despite the fact that the exact location of both was known so no long searches were necessary. I met one of the recovery team who told me that this was correct. There seems to have been a somewhat convoluted story about the boat since.
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No, they didn't find it, perhaps unsurprisingly.

His sister didn't want him recovered from Coniston apparently based on a comment he made...although there's some doubt as to whether that was exactly what he meant. His wife and daughter did attend the funeral though - whatever his family thought I guess as a national figure he was public property to some degree. That whole era of high-profile, well funded record setting seems quite distant now.
 
Underwood did record another little Fortean tale about an earlier water speed record attempt, that of Sir Henry Segrave, who was killed on Lake Windermere. This came from a colleague of Segrave's who said that on the day of the accident they had the morning paper delivered and left it unopened in his and his wife's bedroom while they went out. On their return to the locked, empty house they found the paper in a different room, open at a piece announcing Segrave's attempt on the record that day. He folded it and put it back in the bedroom again: they then later found it once again open at the story about Segrave.

A few minutes later the phone rang: Segrave's boat had capsized at speed and he was not expected to live.
 
His son Charles I likewise disapproved of duelling, though he is said to have been intrigued by the case of one Cashio Burroughs, haunted by the ghost of a mistress he had deserted in Florence, who warned him that he was to perish in a duel, as sure enough he did.66

From:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show...ry?from_search=true&from_srp=ijkL4PMdmT&qid=4

Oh wow!
I couldnt resist googling the name and it's quite a story!

did appear he would cry out with great Shricking and Trembling of his Body, as well as Anguish of Mind, saying, O GOD! h•re she comes, she comes! and at this rate she appear'd 'till he wasPage 194kill'd. She appeared to him the Morning before he was killed. Some of my Acquaintance (says Aubery) have told me, that he was one of the handsomest Men in England, and very Valiant.
THE Appearance of this Devil, for I can call it no other, had nothing in View but to harrass, plague and affright the Gentleman: Perhaps ex∣pecting it should bring him into some fit of Despe∣ration; so to destroy himself, as the Woman who appear'd had done before.

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/ecco/004843878.0001.000/1:15?rgn=div1;view=fulltext

There's much more at the link!
 
Black Sabbath members had a ghostly experience back in 1973 whilst recording at Clearwell Castle:

While recording 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' at the castle, Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi and another member of the band spotted a cloaked figure walk into a room. Iommi followed the figure to see who it was, but the room was empty. It had been claimed that the ghost of Elizabeth Raleigh, wife of Sir Walter, haunted the site, although one version of the ghost story incorrected claimed Elizabeth had killed herself after the arrest of Sir Walter.

https://www.paranormaldatabase.com/recent/index.php

Here is the castle today:

https://www.clearwell-castle.co.uk
 
It seems the UK paranormal database compiler doesn't listen to Radio 4 as he didn't pick up on who the Rev Richard Coles is:

Rushing Figure​

Location: Finedon (Northamptonshire) - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twenty-first century?
Further Comments: The Rev Richard Coles said that he and other members of his parish had felt someone rush past in distress, even though no one could be seen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Coles So definitely 21st Century, anyone know the location?
 
Paul_Exeter said:
Black Sabbath members had a ghostly experience back in 1973 whilst recording at Clearwell Castle:

While recording 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' at the castle, Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi and another member of the band spotted a cloaked figure walk into a room. Iommi followed the figure to see who it was, but the room was empty. It had been claimed that the ghost of Elizabeth Raleigh, wife of Sir Walter, haunted the site, although one version of the ghost story incorrected claimed Elizabeth had killed herself after the arrest of Sir Walter.

https://www.paranormaldatabase.com/recent/index.php

Here is the castle today:

https://www.clearwell-castle.co.uk
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Yes and they ended up going home at weekends because they'd scared each other silly with practical jokes too.
Bass player Geezer Butler also maintains that he saw a figure at the foot of his bed one night (at his home) after Ozzy had given him an old book on black magic. Hence the line "what is this thing that stands before me" on the song Black Sabbath.
 
https://theplaylist.net/nicolas-cag...faces-in-the-dark-while-in-the-womb-20230503/

Look, there’s no denying Nicolas Cage is an odd dude. That’s not meant to be an insult either. It’s just the truth. He thinks in ways that most people, especially in his profession, don’t. So, when you ask him about his first memory, you have to expect it’s going to be a strange, somewhat baffling response.

In an interview on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” the host puts Nicolas Cage through a series of random questions. Is there an afterlife? Cats or Dogs? Apples or Oranges? Things like that. But the conversation goes a bit wacky when Stephen Colbert asks Cage what the actor’s earliest memory is? Cage, without any sort of irony, answers the question in a way that not only makes you scratch your head, but is also the most Cage-iest answer ever that we should have almost expected it.

“Listen, I know this sounds really far out and I don’t know if it’s real or not,” Cage said. “But sometimes I think I can go all the way back to in utero and feeling like I could see faces in the dark or something I know that sounds powerfully abstract, but that somehow seems like maybe it happened.”

He added, “Now that I am no longer in utero, I would have to imagine it was perhaps vocal vibrations resonating through to me at that stage. That’s going way back. I don’t know. That comes to mind.”

As you might expect, Colbert was taken aback and said that he wouldn’t doubt that Nicolas Cage could remember all the way back to when he was in utero.

Cage replied, “I don’t even know if I remember being in utero, but that thought has crossed my mind.”
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In the Guardian today:

"When Winterson was five, she’d read to her grandmother, who was bedridden and unable to speak due to throat cancer. One morning, she remembers her rising from bed, walking to the window overlooking the garden and saying, “Look at the Queen of Denmark.” Winterson scrambled to join her – she touched her hair, then walked through the window and along the rose hedge. At that moment the phone rang. Her mother came downstairs and picked it up, but the line was dead, and when she and Winterson returned to her grandmother’s bed, they found she was, too. That was her first supernatural experience."

Full article here:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2...house-jeanette-winterson-talks-to-eva-wiseman
 
Paul_Exeter said:
In the Guardian today:

"When Winterson was five, she’d read to her grandmother, who was bedridden and unable to speak due to throat cancer. One morning, she remembers her rising from bed, walking to the window overlooking the garden and saying, “Look at the Queen of Denmark.” Winterson scrambled to join her – she touched her hair, then walked through the window and along the rose hedge. At that moment the phone rang. Her mother came downstairs and picked it up, but the line was dead, and when she and Winterson returned to her grandmother’s bed, they found she was, too. That was her first supernatural experience."

Full article here:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2...house-jeanette-winterson-talks-to-eva-wiseman
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I've read that about four times and still don't understand it.
Does it go -

Winterson reads to her bedridden grandmother, who cannot speak, in a room overlooking the garden.

Grandmother gets up, walks to the window and says 'Look at the Queen of Denmark'.

Winterson rushes to stand beside Grandmother, who touches Winterson's hair and walks through the window and along the hedge.

The telephone rings, but when Winderson's mother enters the room and answers it the line is dead.

Winterson and her mother then turn to the bed to find Grandmother dead.

So Gran is seen to get up and move and talk, and can touch the child's hair, while walking through the window. Is it an open French window or does Gran glide through a regular window situated in a wall?
 
escargot said:
I've read that about four times and still don't understand it.
Does it go -

Winterson reads to her bedridden grandmother, who cannot speak, in a room overlooking the garden.

Grandmother gets up, walks to the window and says 'Look at the Queen of Denmark'.

Winterson rushes to stand beside Grandmother, who touches Winterson's hair and walks through the window and along the hedge.

The telephone rings, but when Winderson's mother enters the room and answers it the line is dead.

Winterson and her mother then turn to the bed to find Grandmother dead.

So Gran is seen to get up and move and talk, and can touch the child's hair, while walking through the window. Is it an open French window or does Gran glide through a regular window situated in a wall?
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I also wonder whether Winterson (as a child) remarked at the time on the fact that her grandmother could now speak again.
 
CarlosTheDJ said:
FT dropped a cheeky fact into the "Ghostwatch" column a year or two ago - that Cary Grant haunts the Rottingdean Club (in Rottingdean just outside Brighton).

But it was just mentioned in passing and I haven't found any other reference to it, or a reason as to why he would want to haunt the place.

I haven't looked that hard though.
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How interesting, considering the theme of the BBC Uncanny podcast episode The Return of Elizabeth Dacre.

Was the Rottingdean Club associated with the Tudor Close houses? The buildings had previously been a hotel which was frequented by movie stars of the day and is, according to the podcast, apparently still haunted by them.
 
Andy X said:
I'm unsure whether this belongs here or in 'Celebrities & the Paranormal'. Oh well, here goes.

Here's comedian Jack Dee being interviewed by John Hegley. At 18 minutes there's the revelation that Jack once enlisted the services of an exorcist (it's not a joke, it's an anecdote). I found it rather interesting.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00773xf

Adobe Flash is required, unfortunately.
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That link is dead now but it's on the BBC website. :)
Comedian and actor Phill Jupitus interviews poet and comedian John Hegley.

I heard this series at the time and was intrigued by Dee's experience.

(Next episode featured Jeremy Hardy who died in 2019, aged only 57.

Have to mention again that although Hardy didn't publicly disclose his condition, I knew he was seriously ill long before he died because of a passing remark he made about dressing gowns.
Had a clear mental picture of him receiving treatment on a hospital unit like the one where I sometimes worked.
Nothing psychic, I'd just seen it done a lot.)
 
CALGACUS03 said:
(This could have gone in the Theatre hauntings thread instead.)

In todays Guardian online there's an interview with Dame Judi Dench. It includes a brief mention of a ghost that she believes that she saw in the Haymarket theatre:



That's all that was said regarding ghosts.

Full article here.
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This came up again recently:

In a new interview with the Sunday Times, the Oscar-winning actress, 88, revealed that she once saw a ghost at London's historic Haymarket Theatre while attending a memorial service for actor Michael Denison, who died in 1998.

"It was in the afternoon! I saw somebody wearing top hat and tails running down the stairs and I thought, 'What a funny getup!' " she recalled of the apparent sighting.

Actor Brendan O'Hea — with whom she co-wrote her upcoming book Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent about her experiences doing theater — backed up her supernatural tale, saying he knows someone else who also claims to have seen the infamous "Haymarket Ghost."

He explained to the outlet that an actress told him about a man who kept entering through a theater door — only, as someone pointed out, "There is no door."

Upon reflection, Dench acknowledged that perhaps she had not seen an apparition. “It may not have been a ghost,” she told the outlet. “But I like the thought of them. Why on earth shouldn’t it happen?”

Source (internal link to original is paywalled):
https://people.com/judi-dench-saw-ghost-london-haymarket-theatre-8364946
 
Dom Jolly is asked, "Why did you leave London?"...

FB_IMG_1699109506695.jpg
 
It's a bit disappointing that the scariest thing the ghost of a murderer can do is flush the toilet.

Chuckle Brothers legend horrified by toilet-flushing ghost at haunted Nottinghamshire house
He was left spooked out after discovering his three-bed 17th-century house is being haunted by a murderer who was spontaneously flushing his toilet


Chucklevision legend Paul Chuckle has been told his Nottinghamshire home was being haunted by a murderer who was spontaneously flushing his toilet. The team from Celebrity Help! My House Is Haunted visited Paul’s three-bed 17th-century barn conversion, which he shares with his wife Sue.

Paul says: "My wife and I heard sounds like a child giggling through the wall and one night I saw a child at the end of the bed. A few days after that I went to the downstairs loo and saw a little hand mark on the wall – it had been flushing itself."
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https://www.nottinghampost.com/news...h4Xuiwd5MMpv1pzHJCGAUCpk58LYDg-3yFUymKGIOlEB0
 

Ed Sheeran:​

​

Little Girl​

Location: Framlingham (Suffolk) - Cottage on 'Sheeranville' estate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twenty-first century
Further Comments: During an 'MTV Asks Ed Sheeran' interview, Ed Sheeran declared his cottage to be haunted by the ghost of a little girl. Visitors to the cottage had seen the entity and cleaning staff refused to enter the haunted room.

https://www.paranormaldatabase.com/recent/index.php
 
This is a strange one. BBC Correspondent John Simpson on Radio 3 today completely unexpectedly narrates the story about him seeing a ghost; a figure all in black that he saw quite close up, at night, outside a ruined monastery (I think - I was only peripherally listening to this when the ghost story came up!) The apparition followed him a short way then vanished.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0020htv
 
Amergin said:
This is a strange one. BBC Correspondent John Simpson on Radio 3 today completely unexpectedly narrates the story about him seeing a ghost; a figure all in black that he saw quite close up, at night, outside a ruined monastery (I think - I was only peripherally listening to this when the ghost story came up!) The apparition followed him a short way then vanished.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0020htv
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Good one, @Amergin. Dunwich, where this occured, struck me as a bit spooky when I visited there a few years ago. A good first-hand account but, as usual, there seemed to be a fair bit of detail missing from what John Simpson reported. I would have had a plethora of questions! Simpson was only feet away from the monk figure. Did he make any attempt to see its face? Or communicate with it? He says he was terrified - fair enough - but describes walking away from the figure, and realising it was following him a few yards behind him, but he didn't think to try and run away? Is Clive Myrie that incurious?

I hope Danny Robins was listening and is emailing John Simpson right now.

"Bloody hell John"
 
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CharmerKamelion said:
Good one, @Amergin. Dunwich, where this occured, struck me as a bit spooky when I visited there a few year ago. A good first-hand account but, as usual, there seemed to be a fair bit of detail missing from what John Simpson reported. I would have had a plethora of questions! Simpson was only feet awat from the monk figure. Did he make any attempt to see its face? Or communicate with it? He says he was terrified - fair enough - but describes walking away from the figure, and realising it was following him a few yards behind him, but he didn't think to try and run away? Is Clive Myrie that incurious?

I hope Danny Robins was listening and is emailing John Simpson right now.

"Bloody hell John"
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Yes it would be interesting to know if this has been recounted anywhere else with more detail. It appeared to come into the conversation as an “invited anecdote” so I’m assuming he has talked or written about it previously elsewhere.
 
escargot said:
There's a paywall.
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Not for me. Text copied:

Paul Chuckle contacts brother Barry's ghost after spirit haunts bathroom toilet​

Paul Chuckle has attempted to make contact with his late brother Barry's ghost, after experiencing a number of instances of supposed paranormal activity in home, including his downstairs toilet

By Julia Banim, 16:08, 8 Feb 2024

Paul Chuckle has attempted to make contact with the ghost of his late brother Barry Chuckle during an eerie paranormal investigation at his home.

As one of the most iconic comedy duos of all time, fans of The Chuckle Brothers were saddened to learn of Barry's death in 2018, at the age of 76. The thought of his brother still being with him in spirit has brought Paul, 76, great comfort, and he believes he could be watching over him at his converted Nottinghamshire barn.

After moving into his new home some 18 months ago, Paul and wife Sue quickly began to experience inexplicable occurrences, including figures at the foot of their bed, and creepy handprints in their downstairs loo.

Keen to get to the bottom of what was going on, Paul invited a team of paranormal investigators from the TV show Celebrity Help! My House Is Haunted over to his house in the hopes of making contact with Barry.

In a chilling twist, however, the experts warned Paul that the ghouls that walked his hallways weren't all benevolent, with one malevolent presence in particular causing them concern.

Detailing the strange happenings he's had to contend with during the episode, Paul said: "Well, we first moved in, we heard a few creaks and noises, and just put it down to an old building. There's times where it sounds like there is a toilet flushing somewhere in the house, and there's only me and Sue here!"

Recalling other strange instances, he continued: "I went into the downstairs toilet, and I suddenly noticed a little handprint on the wall, like a dirty handmark from a child. We hadn't had any kids here, and up to then there had never been anything on that wall. It sort of made me feel a little bit spooky then; where has it come from? [...] Since then, we've heard little footprints here and there, running around, chuckling – excuse the pun!"

Things escalated dramatically during one night of terror when Paul awoke to see the figure of a child standing at the foot of his bed. Paul revealed: "I woke up one night and I could have sworn there was a little kid at the foot of the bed. I opened my eyes again and it had gone. That was the most eerie thing I've had here. That was awful, I hardly slept all night!"

Clarifying that it isn't just himself and Sue who've experienced otherworldly encounters, Paul added: "We had a guest stay one night, and he swore blind that there was somebody there in the room walking backward and forwards across the foot of the bed. Of course, he was alright, didn't get hurt."

An ardent believer in the spirit world, Paul went on to confess that he still feels Barry's presence, even five years after his death. Recalling the first nerve-wracking time he performed solo after Barry's passing, Paul claimed: "Barry passed away in 2018. I'd never been on stage on my own before, and I swear I saw him appear there, and he put the thumbs up. And I went on stage, and I was fine after that."

The Help! My House Is Haunted team, comprised of dark arts specialist Ian Lawman, paranormal researcher and historian Jayne Harris, and investigator Barri Ghai, headed over to Paul's house to get answers, and it wasn't long before things got seriously spooky.

Source:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/paul-chuckle-contacts-brother-barrys-32078924
 
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