School Skull

I didn't know my husband when the details of this story happened, but it is something he talks about quite often!!!

My late father-in-law was caretaker of one of their local schools. When he went to lock up the school, my husband and his mate would sometimes go over with him.

On one occasion, my husband and his mate were playing football in the large hall while he locked up the school.

As my husband looked up, he saw a skull floating half way up on the wall. He told his mate to look at it, and it stayed there for some time.

All I can say is, I am glad I wasn't there!!!

Is there life after death?

Good heavens: More than half of Britons believe in life after death and a third think ghosts exist

More than half of Britons believe in heaven, according to researchers.

While 55 per cent think it exists, 27 per cent believe in reincarnation, the survey of 2,060 respondents found.

Surprisingly for those who believe society has become increasingly secularised, a similar poll in 1955 showed that only 47 per cent believed in an afterlife.

The latest study - published today by the theology think-tank Theos - also shows that 39 per cent believe in ghosts and 70 per cent believe there is such a thing as the human soul.

Spooky: But do supposed ghosts, like this one in Turkey pictured in 2008, really exist?

A further 22 per cent believe in astrology or horoscopes and 15 per cent believe in fortune-telling or Tarot.

London had the highest proportion convinced by the supernatural, with more than half believing in ghosts.

Tarot: Scotland had the highest proportion of people who believe in fortune-telling

But Scotland had the highest proportion of people who believe in fortune-telling or Tarot (18 per cent) and Wales the highest of believers in reincarnation (32 per cent).

Overall, belief in the supernatural appears to have declined slightly from a similar Mori poll in 1998.

But the paranormal still has far more convinced than in 1951, when a Gallup poll found only 10 per cent believed in ghosts, 6 per cent in astrology and 7 per cent in Tarot.

Theos director Paul Woolley said: 'The Enlightenment optimism in the ability of science and reason to explain everything ended decades ago.

'The extent of belief will probably surprise people, but the finding is consistent with other research we have undertaken.

'The results indicate that people have a very diverse and unorthodox set of beliefs.'

Social research, Geoffrey Gorer, in his 1955 study, Exploring English Character, found that 47 per cent of people believed in the afterlife.

The national study explored English attitudes to everything from superstition to sex and generated more then 15,000 questionnaires.

In 1955 a survey revealed that 47 per cent of people believed in the afterlife

Follow up re Tantallon Castle ghost

New Evidence Backs Up Tantallon Castle Ghost Claim

New evidence which appears to back up claims that a ghost is stalking a Lothians castle has been uncovered.

Speculation over the presence of a ghost at Tantallon Castle in East Lothian was sparked by a picture released last week as part of an online experiment into the photographic evidence of the paranormal.

The startling image, taken in May last year, appeared to show a figure in period costume. The photographer claimed that they were unaware of anyone present at the time the image was taken, and that there were no actors at the castle in period costume.

Now another image which could show the same ghost has been presented to psychologist Professor Richard Wiseman, who has been running the study.

The image, which also appears to show a strange figure, was taken more than 30 years ago by Grace Lamb, 65, a retired office worker who stays at Crewe Toll, during a family trip to the castle.

It was a picture of her late husband Hugh, and their two children Paul and Kelly, but in the background, staring out of one of the windows, appears to be some kind of apparition. Mrs Lamb said they had always been curious about the mysterious figure, but they never thought of having it examined, until they read about Prof Wiseman's study. "We saw the other photo in all the papers, and it was my daughter who remembered the one we had taken," said Mrs Lamb.

"We went to Tantallon a few times when the children were younger. As soon as we got it home we all spotted this weird image in the background, and it has been quite a talking point for us."

Professor Wiseman, of the University of Hertfordshire, admitted it was another interesting image.

"It was fascinating to be sent this, as even though it is a higher part of the castle it is very similar to the original," he said.

"Since I launched the study I am getting a picture of a ghost every ten minutes, and I have to say 90 per cent of them are nonsense, but a few are very interesting."

Professor Wiseman has been carefully investigating the original image, with experts admitting it did not appear that the image had been digitally altered in any way.

It is possible that the face is a visitor to the castle and it was also suggested the image could have been caused by light reflection off the stone walls of the castle.

Alex Pryce, chairman of the Edinburgh Skeptics group, had a very straightforward explanation for the figure in Mrs Lamb's photo. "It is a woman in a pink jacket coming down some stairs with a shopping bag," he said.

Historic Scotland, which runs Tantallon Castle, said there was no history of ghosts at the castle but said the image was "intriguing".

Gettysburg ghost

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