About Me
In The Beginning
Hi, I’m Lee. If you would to know a little bit about the person behind this website, then read on. I amused myself by writing it, so I hope you enjoy it too.
I entered this world in July 1970 and my interest in ghosts and the paranormal began way back in my childhood. Why? My mother banned ‘unsuitable’ films of the scary variety from my viewing schedule. And of course, banning something makes it all the more desirable. Curiosity had gripped me and I had to find out why.
As I grew older the more I was allowed to watch. Scooby Doo and Rent-a-Ghost didn’t really do it for me though they were mildly entertaining. When I got my first black & white portable TV in my bedroom, I secretly watched my first two classic horror films back to back – The Ghoul (1975) followed by Night of the Demon (1957). I recently found out that The Ghoul was a fairly new film when I watched it, I imagined it being from the 40’s, but then everything was in black and white on my TV! Anyway, although I had my moments of terror while watching these, I couldn’t see why my mother’s censorship was so strict, I wasn’t harmed or psychologically damaged (as far as I knew). It was around 1977, I considered myself grown-up - I wanted more.
I read children’s stories; a favourite author of mine at the time was Ruth Manning Sanders whose collections of short stories fascinated me. I used to hang around in the local cemetery looking for bodies and scary stuff – but never found any. I did collect birds’ skulls and visit decomposing carcasses to watch the maggots feast!
The 'something's under my bed' fear manifested it self somehow (probably because I felt as though I could sense things about me) so I began to tuck my feet in my quilt so whatever it was couldn’t grab them and pull me under the bed! This is something I still do today, (and for the same reason!) which is strange, as I had developed a very sceptical attitude towards almost everything like religion, ghosts and politicians.
And Then Came Senior School (1981)
It was at Mortimer Comprehensive that I met a lad who I would end up being good friends with – his name was Gary. He spent a lot of time at his dad’s house. He was also one of these people who seemed to be allowed to do stuff most people were not – like watch 18 certificate films on pirate videos.
Well, I began to see films I would never have been able to see in a million years. It was at Gary’s house that I experienced the Evil Dead film for the first time. At the time it scared me shitless. Recent viewing revealed how gullible I was back then as it is a truly pathetic shock fest of naff effects. I suppose at the time it was banned it was considered ‘cutting edge’. This all changed when I watched, ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’. Now that was convincing – shame about the sequels.
I also experienced other films such as, The Thing, The Puppet Maker, Halloween, Friday 13th and Chucky to name a few. But regardless of these films, none of them fully hit the spot as a true supernatural horror. Alien and Aliens took horror to another level and these were great – and to me, still are. The following two sequels unfortunately are duff. In typical school tradition, we left school, went our separate ways and lost touch.
My scepticism grew ten fold after the death off my Nana in my early teens. I embraced atheism, for what kind of God could be so cruel? I lost my belief in the possibility of ghosts being anything other than fantasy even though I still enjoyed the idea of it being real. Through it all though, a little voice in my head kept asking, ‘but what if?’ It was also a time when I remembered being plagued by deja vu, which is something I willed to stop and eventually it did.
As a teen other interests led me up alternative paths such as BMX’s, music and other boys’ stuff. My interest in the paranormal was there, but the craving had gone!
After School (1986)
As a teenager now old enough to go to the cinema for the ‘grown up films’, I went to satisfy myself with all sorts or horror tripe. But now Sci-Fi and aliens fascinated me. Many times during my evenings out I used to hope to get abducted by a passing alien craft. Whether it happened or not I don’t know as they tend to wipe the experience from your mind and I’ve had no flash backs, so who knows!
I went to catering college, met friends, developed a social life and found work. Got my driving licence and found little time for TV. Over the years I managed to watch numerous videos and films but without the high expectations of my youth, I read loads of Stephen King and James Herbert. I rarely found that gem of a story or film that fully engaged me, though there was a few, especially by James Herbert – The Magic Cottage for example.
Sue Ryder Home (1990)
I left home aged 19. I waved goodbye to South Shields and moved to a village called Nettledbed, which is between Oxford and Reading. I began my ‘proper’ career as an auxiliary nurse as my original trade of ‘chef’ didn’t do it for me. Stuck in a hot kitchen, sweating over hot food, wearing a silly hat and being shouted at by the head chef – no thanks.
I worked in an old mansion called Joyce Grove, which had been converted into a hospice for people with terminal cancer. I loved the job and found it very rewarding, but I also witnessed some terrible illnesses and deaths - this served to reinforce my atheism. It was here that I experienced a number of paranormal events. I have written some of these up as stories to save repeating it here. You’ll find them in the Stories section. These experiences involved the dark winding corridor of terror, the friendly ghost in the staff quarters and my first Old Hag Syndrome encounter. But through it all, as much as I wanted to believe in spirits and I sensed things I couldn’t see, I remained rigidly sceptical and looked for logical explanations.
I left Nettlebed and returned home to study graphic design at Newcastle College in 1996.
Back to South Shields (1996)
I studied graphic design, web design, got great grades but missed working in the care field so I drifted by into care work and have remained in this field ever since.
Wenlock Lodge (2000)
After a number of care jobs, I ended up as a support worker in Wenlock Lodge. It was here that I had two ghost encounters, one of which was my first sighting. Again, these have been written up as stories.
Wenlock Lodge was also a turning point in my life. I met my wife here and I now have a family. Along came other time consuming interests like children and eBay. Then Wenlock Lodge was earmarked for closure. Time to find a new job – it’s 2004.
Bisley Drive (2004)
I became deputy manager of a short break service for adults
with learning disabilities. It’s great job and can be very rewarding – but it’s
also time consuming and mentally draining as work often
follows me home.
Around 2005, Most Haunted caught my attention and then quickly lost it because of Derek Acorah and his amateur dramatics. I still took time to read the occasional paranormal story, watch paranormal news and documentaries but I always remained sceptical. I over analyse and look for the obvious answers before assuming anything – I suppose this is a good trait and a safer route to take if you want to be a paranormal investigator.
To bring this ‘brief’ biography to a close, a colleague by the name of Michele told me about Orbs during one night shift. We were talking about spooky stuff in general and she happened to mention that a photo showing orbs was seen in this building. Curiosity got the better of me so I went for the digital camera and took shots all over the building. I took a few in the lounge area as I felt a chill in the doorway that raised pimples on my arms. I was sceptical of orbs and believed the sceptics view that it is contamination of the camera lens or reflections off dust etc. But when I looked at the photos there were no orbs anywhere other than one place – the lounge, where I had felt the chill! Well, that was it, my interest in the paranormal sprung to life.
The local cemetery became my focus for a few nights I went there taking random shots in the middle of the night. I got some good results (you can see these in the gallery). I began watching Most Haunted again and put up with Derek and his hammed performances. I started to research subjects on the Internet and read books on Ghost Hunting to help reignite my craving to know for sure what lay beyond this life; out or nowt! Reviews of these books are published here.
This collection of information needed pulling together and so came the idea of creating a website to present it all. I looked for various domain names and was amazed to find that Hauntedland was available. And here it is, gradually taking form and hopefully entertaining you.
I have moved the article 'I Want to Believe' Here from the main articles menu as it is more biographical than a general article.
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