The ghostbuster gran
Passing through the graveyard, I felt goosebumps all over
my body. I turned to my teenage daughter, Vicky, and I knew she felt the same.
Someone was there
with us.
Ever since I was a child, I’d been fascinated by all things spooky.
My sisters and I would make Ouija boards out of scraps of paper and try to summon spirits.
But while they lost interest, I never did.
After years telling Vicky my stories, she’d caught the ghost bug too and, back at home, as we looked at the photos we’d taken at the graveyard, she gasped.
Exactly where we’d felt something, there was a lady in a long white dress.
We weren’t scared. It only spurred us on to visit more locations.
In time, Vicky had three kids of her own, and her youngest, Summer, was intrigued by our paranormal investigations.
When she was 13, we took her to some haunted woods and she absolutely loved it.
One night, we went to a church in Bristol and immediately felt a heavy atmosphere.
Doors banged, voices growled, and Summer suddenly shouted: ‘Look!’
Her hair was being lightly pulled, but no one was there.
Soon we realised Summer had developed skills as a medium.
We made
a YouTube channel and Facebook page called CVS Paranormal, and people started reaching out.
One woman told us she had moved into
a rented house and could hear things running about
in the attic.
The owner said it was mice, but when she investigated, she found just a box containing a teddy bear.
She sent it to us, and Summer started experiencing lots of unusual activity, including a shadowy figure in the corner of her room.
She took it all in her stride.
We used the Ouija board
to communicate through the teddy, and the spirit spelt out the name Sally, who we believed was the little girl who owned it.
We’ve caught so much footage of unexplained activity, and this Halloween, we’re hoping to see more.
Vicky and I have been ghosthunting for more than 25 years, and now Summer is keeping it in the family!
From Christine Wright, 64, of Weymouth, Dorset
It's GUINEA be a great Halloween!
My rabbit, Joey, snuggled into my lap and I stroked her soft fur. Aged 15, I dreamt of working with animals and volunteered at a veterinary clinic.
Then, when I left school, I completed an NVQ in animal care and a two-year veterinary nurse course, before returning to work at the clinic full time.
One day, a family brought in a four-week-old baby lop rabbit. They’d adopted the mother without knowing she was pregnant and wanted to rehome the baby.
‘What do you think about taking him home?’ a colleague asked me.
‘As long as my dad says it’s OK,’ I replied.
Dad agreed and, after that, the rabbits just kept coming.
People often abandoned them, or even tried to have them put to sleep.
I helped as many as I could.
Then a few years later, we rescued a pregnant guinea pig from a breeding farm.
A nearby pet shop took on the babies, and the mum came home with me.
Turned out I loved guinea pigs just as much as rabbits and, at one point, I had 17
of them.
And, thanks to them, I discovered a new hobby.
I’d always loved taking photos of my friends and family, and I realised my pets were the perfect subjects, so I started doing themed photo shoots for occasions like Valentine’s Day and Christmas.
My friends loved it when I posted them on Facebook.
Always a fan of Halloween, I couldn’t wait to do a spooky shoot.
I carved a guinea pig shape into a pumpkin and fashioned a tiny devil costume out of pipe-cleaners.
Some mini pumpkins and scattered leaves finished off the set.
‘You’re not very scary,’
I told my guinea pig as I popped on the horns. ‘But you’re completely adorable!’
From Caroline Palin, 40, of St Helens, Merseyside