haunting indeed. I also realized why Sam had drawn so close to me at this time.
‘Right, let’s go upstairs!’ I announced. I told Andy and Margaret not to worry, because Sam was close by me.
I got up from my chair and began climbing the stairs. As I approached the door that Andy indicated as their bedroom it suddenly swung open violently, banging back against the wall behind it. I heard a male voice growl to me, ‘Come in, bastard! I want to see you.’ This time the voice was very clear and precise.
I entered the room and walked over to the window. Immediately I detected a large energy force hovering above the dressing table. At this stage I could not see any features, but I knew that an entity was present.
I spoke out: ‘Show yourself! Show yourself properly!’
A low ‘Ha, ha, ha!’ emanated from the energy force. Whoever it was was attempting to unnerve me.
I spoke out again: ‘Why are you troubling this family?’
There was no reply.
‘You shouldn’t be here!’ I shouted out.
Bang, bang, bang on the door was the only response. This was followed by the horrible stench I had smelled in the lounge.
As I stood by the window, the mass of energy suddenly rose up and moved across the room, heading straight for me. It hit me in my midriff with such force that it knocked me off balance. I staggered a few paces and then fell onto the bed.
Andy appeared in the doorway. ‘Derek! What’s happening? Are you OK?’ he shouted. He reached over and helped me to get up off the bed.
We both went downstairs to Margaret and told her what had happened. I told the couple that I would like to collect my good friend Ray who accompanied me on many of the investigations that I conducted.
‘When I return I’ll be better equipped to deal with the matter,’ I told them.
Within an hour or so Ray and I had arrived back at Andy and Margaret’s house. I had quickly told him what had taken place and that there was definitely a malevolent spirit on the premises.
We knocked on the door and Andy ushered us in. I advised him and Margaret that in my opinion it would be better if they did not come upstairs with Ray and me but waited downstairs until we came back.
As Ray and I climbed the stairs, Ray mentioned that he felt a little uneasy, but I said to him, ‘Come on, mate! Remember all the times we’ve been in situations like this. And remember that Sam’s here.’
Suddenly Ray told me that he felt as though somebody had touched him on the shoulder.
‘It’s OK,’ I told him. ‘It’s just Sam giving you a bit of reassurance.’
We entered the bedroom. Ray commented that he did not like the feel of the place at all. I advised him to remain quite quiet and not to say too much.
As we stood just inside the room, the door behind us slammed shut. I called out to the entity within the room: ‘Show yourself! Speak out if you wish!’
Nothing happened.
I decided that I would open up and expand my aura to enable the spirit entity to use my energies to speak. I knew that this could be a dangerous thing to do because I was not sure of the strength of the spirit we were dealing with. But I also knew that without affording it this facility it was highly unlikely that we would get anything more than the gruff comments that I had received earlier. To fully understand this entity and to discover exactly why he had decided to locate himself in this house, I would need to channel his energy through my own.
As I stood in the centre of the room opening up my aura, I felt the spirit come closer to me. I moved my conscious mind and personality backwards. Closer and closer he came, until his energy was overshadowing me and being absorbed into my body. I had the impression that my body was diminishing somewhat, becoming slimmer and shorter. I spoke, but it was not my voice that issued from my mouth.
Afterwards Ray related to me what happened from this point on. The spirit entity had spoken through me. Surprisingly, he had been quite calm and reasonable at the beginning. He had spoken of his passing in a home that had been on the site of Margaret’s and Andy’s present house. He had given his name as James Styles and said that he had lived until he was 51 years of age. He had resided with his wife Elsa. One day he had come home early from his workplace as he had begun to feel very ill indeed. He had let himself into the house and been shocked to discover that his wife was in bed with a man with whom they had been friendly for some years.
At that point James had gone absolutely crazy with anger and grief. He had shouted and cursed and screamed. He had run at his so-called friend, grabbed him and pushed him down the stairs and out of the front door. Then he had gone back inside the house. He had called his wife filthy names and attacked her right there in the bedroom, punching her and attempting to pull her clothes away from her. He had been absolutely uncontrollable, in spite of the fact that he was only a slightly built man.
Elsa had managed to free herself from him and run down the stairs, only stopping to grab a coat before escaping through the door. James had never allowed her back into the house again.
After the events of that day James’s personality had changed. He had become morose and angry. He had felt very bitter about what had happened and had decided that all women were untrustworthy and not to be respected.
A short while afterwards he had fallen ill. He recalled being in his bed and feeling burning hot. He remembered throwing off his bedclothes and not being able to breathe properly. He had contracted pneumonia. Finally, he passed away.
Upon his passing he recalled his anger and what he had done to his wife Elsa. He was now very afraid. He could not allow himself to be taken to the higher side of life completely for fear that he would be taken to a place where only bad people resided. No amount of encouragement from his guides, helpers and family members who had passed over before him could make him see that his actions had been the result of something bad being done to him, that he would be forgiven for what he had done to Elsa and that everything that had happened had been meant, as he had chosen it as part of his pathway towards soul growth. Thus James had remained in the atmosphere of his old home.
So why had the spirit of James Styles attacked Margaret? That night in the bedroom he had been reliving the moment when he had discovered Elsa being unfaithful to him. When he had pulled off the bedclothes, he had been seeing not Margaret, but Elsa. That’s why he had wanted to hurt her and demean her. His anger had been enormous. It was this anger that remained in the residual energy of the house and manifested in a manner that was typical – the cold atmosphere and evil smell.
When I speak of ‘residual energy’, I mean energy that is comprised of memories. These memories will be of incidents that have taken place in a building, and the stronger the emotion connected with them, the stronger the residual energy left within the fabric of the building. With any building, it is also possible that there was once a structure on that site beforehand. The memory of the older building and what went on within it will still be contained in the ground upon which the newer building was erected. It is by tuning in to these residual energies that mediums are able to glean information from the past. A spirit presence, on the other hand, is when a person who has lived, worked or occupied a building in some way is drawn back to visit it once they have passed away from this physical life and on to the world of spirit beyond.
I allowed the spirit of James to recede from my energies. Ray and I went downstairs and returned to the lounge, where Andy and Margaret were waiting in trepidation for us. I imagined that they were expecting a horror story, which indeed it was, but on this occasion it was something that I could put right.
After half an hour’s respite to gather my energies once more, I returned with Ray to the bedroom. This time I encouraged Margaret and Andy to accompany us.
When we reached the bedroom I asked the other three to form a circle with me and joined hands to harness our collective spiritual