Ghosthunters on a mission to find paranormal activity
AFTER a busy day at work, some people like to spend their free time on the sofa, curled up in front of the TV or watching their favourite soap opera.
But for Marcus Wood and his friends, there’s nothing they enjoy more than heading out at dusk on a hunt for the Rhondda Valley’s ghosts.
Kitted out with all the essential ghost-hunting gadgets, the Paranormal Investigation Team are on a mission to explore the valley’s most haunted places, where they hope to prove – or disprove – a paranormal presence.
“We started out in September last year”, Marcus said.
“Mostly, we’re trying to collect evidence to prove that there’s something there.
“There are people in the valley who are worried about things they see or hear in their houses. We want to put their minds at ease.”
Marcus, 21, and his friends set up the Paranormal Investigation Team after enjoying popular TV shows such as Ghost Hunters International, in which a team of explorers brave the world’s spookiest sites.
Marcus’ group has set its sights on more local haunts, visiting a cemetery in their hometown, Treorchy, as well as abandoned hospitals in Mountain Ash and Llwynypia.
“The site in Llwynypia was pretty much a wreck”, Marcus explained.
“But in Mountain Ash they’ve still got the morgue. We went at dusk and it was pretty creepy!”
To record any strange happenings, the group has invested in specialised equipment including EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) recorders – audio devices for recording ghostly messages – and EMF (Electromagnetic Field) meters, which detect invisible changes in nearby magnetic fields.
Motion sensors and cameras are set up to record any suspicious movements. After each ghost hunt, the team members return home to check their findings.
“We’ve picked up some small signals in Mountain Ash, and we saw some unusual things in the Treorchy cemetery, but we weren’t sure what they were, so we’ll have to go back and double-check”, Marcus said.
At the Llwynypia hospital, the team also saw what they believe might have been the apparition of a little girl, but Marcus and his friends want to keep open minds and continue searching for more evidence.
They plan to revisit each site to investigate further.
Even without definitive proof of ghosts just yet, the group, based in Treorchy, is exploring some eerie locations.
“One time, we found an old house in the woods. I’ve no idea where it was,” Marcus explained.
“All the furniture was there, and there were clothes in the wardrobes.
“But the floorboards were cracked and nobody had been there for a long time. It was like the people had just disappeared.”
The Paranormal Investigation Team has been posting its discoveries on Facebook, and Marcus is delighted with the support the group is receiving.
“Since we set up the Facebook page a few weeks back, a lot of people have been messaging us. Most of them are local, but some people from London and Manchester have been getting involved.”
Followers are keen to suggest new places for the group to explore, and Marcus said that he hopes to travel further afield in future.
“There’s an old asylum up in Brecon which loads of people tell us about, so we’ll definitely go there”.
So is Marcus confident that the group will find proof of paranormal activity?
“I think there’s got to be something out there”, he said. “That’s why we’re doing it. We want enough evidence that we can prove it.
“We’ve all seen or felt some little things in the past, or maybe heard a small noise.
“It could be anything, but it’s always in the back of your mind.”