You're listening to the Paranormal UK Radio Network, the best in paranormal talk radio
in the UK and around the world. Paranormal Dimensions is fortnightly on Mondays on
the Paranormal UK Radio Network. Welcome to the world of your own terrifying imagination.
Since the beginning of time, people have argued about the existence of ghosts.
They've been called variously raps, spectors, phantoms, apparitions, shadows or
shades. But everyone agrees that if there are such things as ghosts, they
are the souls of dead persons haunting living persons. You are listening to Paranoral
Dimensions for the Paranormal UK Radio Networks. Hello, this is Ronald Kinsulla and
you're listening to the Paranormal UK Radio Network, the UK's biggest paranormal network,
and this is Paranormal Dimensions with David Young. Hello and welcome to the show.
As you can told by the intro, we're going into the world of
ghosts again now as you're here in the show. A couple of months ago,
my wife and I we were on a local tour in Colchester, which
is about twenty or so miles away from where we live here, and it
was a ghost tour. I've seen it advertised on Facebook actually, and I'm
so glad I did because the men I met on this tour who was doing
the tour. It was mister Raymond McCarthy, our guest on this occasion,
and he amazed me with his knowledge of Colchester, so I thought I did
invite him onto the show and I'm really glad I have. So here we
go with Raymond McCarthy. Ray, welcome to the show. Yes, highlight,
David and lovely to be on the show and they're nice to see me
again after these few weeks since. Yes, it was there, it must
have been about two months ago now. I think we were on the old
Cultures to tour. It's called the Cultures to History tours. Yes, So
what actually started you in that business? Was it in the paranormal side or
cultures to itself? To be honest, I was lucky enough to be able
to retire at fifty about six seven years ago now, and we moved here
at the same time, so it's a big wrench. I've been in living
in Epsom in Surrey for the previous early five years. However, outside had
moved down here and effectively on me retiring, it made sentence for us to
move closer. Unfortunately, I'd had a mild heart attack a few years before,
and of course trying to get across the bridge it can be difficult on
that. Yeah, but that's fine. So we moved down here. But
I realized, in reality, you are going to have to do something when
you retire. You can't sit there forever. And as I noticed that my
good wife, after thirty five years, was merrily digging the flower beds ever
deeper and ever wider, I realized at some point if I didn't do something,
be Actually so I've always I used to be a salesman for a living
thirty five years, so talking to people has never been a problem. And
I find myself in Coulture staff, which I actually knew very little doubt.
But I've always been fascinated by history. History defines who we are, and
so I decided it would make sense to combine my two interests of selling,
being able to talk to people and sell, and also with a great history
we have here, and combine it by becoming one of the official tur guys
for the city. So I've done that. I had to then go on
a course for which took about six or seven months to actually complete, much
more intense than I thought it was going to be. And I'm sure like
myself, you remember years ago in school, come the summer holidays, you
go off, have six weeks of not picking up a pen. Ever again
while ago to remember for me, but yeah, yeah, yeah for me
as well, and you've completely forgotten how to write in your hands will actually
do it well, especially now those are computers. I mean, I don't
I very really write stuff. Yeah, I have not done. My handwriting
is awful. Well, my handwriting starts off and deteriorates rapidly. And basically
there was a from I'm genuinely apprehensive about because I haven't done a written exam
for so many years now. As it turns out, luckily, as I
turned the first page, I knew the first question and literally from then on
it was. It was absolutely fine, And at the end I was honored,
to absolutely honor to actually pass and become one of the new intake of
proxibly thirty new City guides for the New City of Culture stuff, as we've
been given a new city status by Queen if in one of her last acts
before she tragically died. Yeah, I do remember that was about ninety Sorry
about twenty fourteen or something, was it? Well no, so literally the
literally not on the year she died. A couple a couple of years back.
Now made a first Stitchy game because we because culture for those that don't
Answerware is actually Britain's very first city and it's the oldest city in Britain,
founded by the Romans in eighty forty three, and in fact he is twenty
five years older than London. So yeah, we have a rich history here,
as it turns out, and as it turns out, a very ghost
orientated paranormal history as well. Yeah, and so we come onto that.
So once I qualified, it seemed I wasn't aware of anybody really doing other
tours and it's something to do that, but I ken't being asked, are
you planning to do a ghost And now I'm going to be totally honest with
you, I'm not necessarily someone who's really deeply interested in the paranormal and all
the rest of it. However, I have, like nearly everybody, have
had experiences happened when I was younger, especially that I really cannot explain and
defy normal explanations given to them. So it's not that I'm not open to
these things or even cynical about these It's more that I really haven't considered it.
Consider that I was learning about the rich two thousand year history of culture
stuff, and this was being suggested by people as something to really look at.
And eventually, after really for the first six months, I didn't do
any touring. I had some medical problems. However, once I started and
decided to set up culture history tours, it seemed logical to actually do and
include a ghost because you quite rightly said, there, we have two thousand
years of history, and whether you're a cynical or not, I genuinely believe
that the past and the tragic events have happened leave a mark, and that
for some people, some people are definitely more sensitive than others. Remember where
the city that the very first city that was destroyed by Budica or budh Sia.
She's also known back in eighty sixty point, So if I just jumped
in, I remember being told at school it was Bodicia, but actually it
seems to have changed over more recent years. I'm not quite sure why,
so I tend on I tend to say both different versions really for younger the
older crowd. But the reality is, if you've got thousands of people being
slaughtered, and it literally was slaughtered in an area, especially at the site
of the very first Roman temple, where that was the last holdout, I
genuinely believe that will leave a mark of some store that some people are more
sensitive able to actually latch onto and find. Not everybody is going to feel
that, but some people aren't. I do genuinely believe they leave echoes that
some people are more receptive to. Well, there is the stone takee theory
that a lot of history gets transported into the stone of that area and it
can sort of get projected at some point as well. Well, I think
I'm probably someone who believes that as well. I think, well, I
do. I think it's a distinct possibility, you know, Yeah, yeah,
I think as well. So we've got those events that happened here,
We've got with the Anglo Saxons that settled here, with the events all the
way through the Middle Ages. But then we have in more modern times where
we have all the way throughout the city were basically tragic deaths, murders.
We have of course here where during the Civil War of the sixteen hundreds,
basically we were a center of where Matthew Hopkins, the witch Finder General,
basically made his bass here and basically over two hundred people were accused of being
witches and killed it. But you have such cases such as the Fox and
Fiddler pub, which is still there today, dating from late fourteen hundreds,
where during the sixteen hundreds a young lady there was accused of being a witch.
He was Matthew Hopkins was called and instead of taking her down to the
castle, were locked up and basically taunt hi until she confessed. And I
think it's probably because he was actually given lots of free beer instead. He
instead ordered her to be chained in these sellers where the drinks were, and
then breaked up and hergo still haunts it even to die, and it's seen
on a regular basis. So once again those tragic events and lead their mark
in the very foundation and building of everything that's around us. And I finally
quite amazing that every day people are walking past buildings in culturest and to be
fair, also all over the country with no recognition of the sheer age of
the buildings and the events that have happened. They're not just bad events,
but happy events actually happened there. And yeah, because you've got quite a
mish mesh. I suppose in any city, really you've got a mishmash of
very old building, he's a very new build he's all sort alongside each other.
Yeah. Unfortunately, I mean through the decades and through the centuries,
the consideration of history really didn't exist until about the Victorian era. Were really
the first people that really had the money, the time, the wealth to
actually worry about older structures and started to preserve them all. To be fair,
they did jazz them up a bit. So when you see a Jacobean
and Elizabethan building the Tudor style with the black wood and everything, that's really
the Victorian jazzed up version of it. One of the reasons why those buildings
warp is because they were never painted black on the woodwork. That was the
Victorians done that, And of course the wood can't breathe, so then it's
to dry out on warps. So we have the the Victorians to thank for
preserving everything, but also they've damage things as well and giving us a little
bit of a false kind of impression. Yeah, it's kind of disney s
version of it. Yeah, but you're quite right. I mean the to
a certain extent. Certainly during the fifties sixties there was very much forget the
past, looked at the new, and tragically not just in Culturester but all
over a lot of buildings which now would never have been knocked down. And
we're tragically lost forever however, but that doesn't mean that the tragic events are
happened in those places have necessarily been lost. Yeah, so I tell you
that on that note, we've just recently lost that very nice crooked part ofn't
we just just a day or so as we talk. Yeah, that's some
terrible accident, I believe. Yeah, it looks rather suspicious when you got
a bloke with a crane knocking the rest of it day as well. Yes,
I'm sure it was. I'm sure it's all above board. Yeah,
asolutely looked at it. I mean yeah, well, with that investigation stood
on go. So we can't say to best we move on. But I'll
tell you before we actually get into Colchester. You mentioned about some paranormal experiences
of your own when you were younger. Maybe you can tell us one or
two. A little bit about that. Yes, really the one that we
I mean, listen, we've all had that. I think it's fair to
say that most people, at some point in the wee small hours, we've
opened one eye, We've looked at the where our clothes were, and part
of our brain has god, my god, it's a monster and ghost or
with oh yeah yeah. However, when I was thirteen, I was a
boys camp basically in Essex. I'm not actually from Essex, I'm from Surrey.
And basically we were taken to a place called Baldly Rectory, which very
famous in that. Yeah, the rectory was still there but completely sealed off,
so all of the windows were bricked up. There was no windows there.
We were taken there, and I still remember this vividly. We were
taking there in a transit van. We without twelve of us, around about
eleven o'clock at night, pitch black. Half of the people didn't want to
after the kids did not want to leave the transit, so we left them
there. Some of us who were slightly more brave, but I think a
lot of it was really bravado of youth. And we start to go and
shown round the outside of the rectory. There was still some light, and
it's quite clear in my mind that the windows were completely bricked up at that
point and there was nothing there. We were also shown where the cow sheds
were, where we actually come across some pentangles that had been drawn, which
was also started to get a little bit scary, even more scary later as
we kind of left there. I'll tell you in sequence. Actually, so
basically we've shown round and then later we were we were back around the rectory
and literally I can see it now where the bricks out window was on the
top floor at the very top was sunny. Perhaps there was anything there,
because it was. It wasn't just you know, we've bricked up on the
inside and there's a ledge there. Yeah, it was a fully bricked up
window, smooth level with the rest of the outside wall. But suddenly there
is a light shining where really no light had any right to be. And
at that point me and a few of the couple of the others decided,
you know what, we've probably had enough of this at this point, being
around about thirteen years old, and I remember going back to the van,
not say anything as we went there, and just knocking on the van,
being hit by the sound of screaming and inside, which was quite music,
to say the least. But that's always stuck with me because I've got no
Yeah, by education, I come from the sciences. When I left college,
I went to build raping missile defense systems in the nineteen eighties, so
on a practical science based person. But I had no rational explanation. I've
got no explanations all that I can come up with that would explain that light.
I know exactly what you mean. Funny, I thought you and I've
got a similar background actually, because I was in the Mercury defense as well,
all right, Okay, yeah, worked with Mark Ohs and GDC and
I was with Racil Decker Defense, and having thought that that was going to
be my career, believe me, after what a year, I think it
was both decided it would be better if I moved on because it really wasn't
the career for me. At the other I spent like forty five years I
think in that business. Yeah, so I take it as a as a
badge of honor. But the fact that after I left the company is no
longer there. It was my last thing. Well, they're again, they're
lost, I think it. But actually it was the wrong career for me
at that time. I was only about seventeen and eighteen and there. But
I've always had that rationality, So I was one of those kids that at
ten I was dismantling TVs radios building my own. I wanted to know how
things work. So I'm much more on the focus on the more practical side,
and that's whys and stuff here. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's
it's some ways I find myself doing this. The more come by accident,
the design, They're actually becoming more interested in the whole, the whole spectrum.
Because I think it's fair to say, you come on one of my
trips and I hope i've certainly hopefully you've enjoyed it. Yea. Yeah,
You've got different people who have an interest in this. You've got yourselves much
more at this serious end, really looking at what possibly these things are.
For most people, it's entertainment. Yeah, and the ones that come on
the tour that is the vast maturity of people. But when you're all walking
around and you're actually explaining things that have happened in some way, in many
ways, it's actually opened my mind to things that if I think back out
my practical background that I would I would have been very much less open too.
So even even I'm feeling it, I actually started to open up.
And in fact, since you came on that trip a few months ago,
I've actually now developed a whole another ghost to covering the whole timeester. Yeah,
having done more research to seeing me again, then well this is a
part you're more welcome to come and you know, hope to see you there
and that. Yeah, so that'll be launched in a few weeks time really
because one it's popular, people like it. But I genuinely think there are
that's someone must subscribed described to me. But on the course that I was
on training, you know, ultimately a lot of these are things that might
have happened. But a bit like Chinese whispers. If you've done Chinese whispers,
you literally tell one person and then there's twenty people, and then you
go to the last person and the version that you told the first one is
now completely different. Facebook. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah. But also
I think there's that, you know, fundamentally, there's a person said,
but aren't these really just repetitions of small and that is true? And you've
always got that there is a tendency to jazz things up to a certain extent.
But within that that story, and let's call it that, there is
a grain of truth. And if over the centuries, and we are talking
centuries in cultures, you're having repeat events, repeat reports, you know,
which add credibility. You know who they are being by counsel workers who are
shutting up. Some of the museums and places we work in are literally fifteen
hundred years old, two thousand. You know there is something there. If
people who are working in a place are prepared to actually put an official report
in that something's happened, that has to add credibility to the stories from the
past. Yeah. Yeah, I just becomes a nice story to tell people
of throwing your kids. So there is a lot of the is there seems
to be real truth because purely over the sandries things have happened too many times
for it just to be repeated. A great example is, of course,
the most haughty place in culture, Ster, which is the Red Lion Hotel
right in the middle of Culture, dating back from fourteen sixty five, has
had a long, long history of reported ghosts which have been seen by many
many people, and I believe yourselves took us. You took us in there,
didn't you. Yeah? Yeah, I took you in there and all
the rest of it, you know. And that's a place where even now
there's still reports of things. In fact, I was in there the other
night talking to the night Pause and he shared a story with me that I
was not I had not heard before. And he's the guy who's there all
the way through the evenings man, So if you like, I could share
it with you. Yeah, please do This building you're talking about, it's
actually quite an amazing building, is it. Yeah, there's got a lot
of these beams are things you were talking about? Are these the ones that
have been sort of done by doctor in later but they're not the originals,
and I think the vast majority is the Well, what you've got to recognize
is that fire was an ever present danger back in So there are regular fires
in places like those, and it never to be. There's been tremendous changes.
Just think of the technology in your house that has changed in our lifetime,
you know, from the massive cut TV now to a flat screen TV
and now we're wandering around with a phone in our pocket that does pretty well
anything. Yeah, whereas before a computer. So just like that, the
building has changed. However, the fundamental structure, the original structure, is
still basically there. There is also some rooms and part room part of them
that are actually still the original. Not everything is going to be original.
I think that's pushing credibility a little bit too much that something's going to survive
all those entries. However, once again, it goes back to that that
when things happen, they potentially leave an infrint that if the right person who
is sensitive to these comes across them, they can see it. Others can't
be. It's cynicism, and I think that plays apart, especially with globes.
I'm afraid we seem to be more cynical about things. But came back
to this story that was lit about three days ago in fact, so he
was the ninth porter there. And to give you a bit of a background,
you need to know that one of the most famous ghost stories there is
of a small child. So the three that are three ghost stories that is
actually famous for first one is of a monk or a priest who in the
very early days went into save some children who were staying there. However,
tragically he died in the fire and he haunts the reception area on a fairly
regular basis. He's seen literally just looking down on people. The other story
is, and it may be related to that one, is basically the story
of the small child who has really well, there's two versions of it.
One he's never been seen by adult, but the other children imagine that parties
and stuff where the adults tend to go after the bar, the children are
left running around and playing around that. Lots of children have been I've been
playing with this boy here, but no adult has actually ever seen the boy,
although allegedly there is. According to the man address of the hotel,
there is a photo from nineteen twenties where they took a family photo where they'd
hired the back room, and there's the blood image of a small child in
the back that they swear is not part of that family at the time.
But the story he told the night Palls are related to me, which may
be related to that child, is that one night, round about three in
the morning, there's a knock at the downstairs door. She's locked at that
point. He goes down and there's a man and woman and basically they asked
if they can use if she can use the toilet. He doesn't let the
man in, he locks it, but takes the lady ups to the toilets
and he stays in the front bar era where we were, and she goes
into toilets which are just next to that. While he's there, he can
hear her talking to someone and when she then eventually comes out, she rather
roshop that small child to run around in the toilets at this time of night,
and he basically said, well, there is no child here. There
is no one here apart from you and me, And she was adamant that
she's just been speaking to a child who was playing around in there. And
as they go, as he took her down, she's then still saying stuff
behind him about it, and then she's then telling her boyfriend husband as they
merrily go, and he's absolutely element that is there was definitely no one there
at all, but she could see someone that had a conversation with someone.
Yeah, So it may lead into what had happened in the past, the
long distance pass, the repurse of the child, and that child may have
been one of those that died in the original fire, whether priest or a
monk perish as well. She saw a solid being as such. He said
he was sitting there and he could hear her having a one sided conversation with
someone, as if she was being answered. So, you know, he
said, well, what's your name? There's the answer, but he couldn't
hear the answer, but she clearly could and was having a conversation. Ask
him why he was running around in the toilets. I have no reason to
disbelieve him. I mean, he's you know, that's his job a bit
do that, and I you know, and certainly from her perspective, she
believed it was a child she was talking to, but that would feed into
a things. It would have been interested to find out what that name,
but she came out with I didn't find out what the child died back there?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Once again, it's like it's one of
those things that it's one of those things. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
You think, oh my god, I wish i'd ask that, or I
wish i'd done But you can only work with the information you've got there now.
And and but it's not all. It's not only the the Red Lion
that's of course, just over the road from there. We have the George
Hotel, which has been there nearly as long as the Red Lion. And
I was booked just the other day to take some Americans around the city in
general to and they've they've been here a number of times and stayed at the
George. And the wife was telling me basically when she was there last time,
which is about fifteen years ago, she's walking up to her room.
She husband's behind that. She comes to a narrow set of stairs which kind
of split, and as she gets to the top, there's a man in
front of her with his back to her, and he's really she's really surprised
because she could hear no one up there as she got there, and no
one went ahead of her. There was certainly no one going upstairs. And
what she described to me was she goes he had a peaked hat, and
I'm looking at the back of him. He had long hair which went to
the collar and was straight across, and on the back of the collar was
a white kind of She described it as a piece of cotton that you would,
you know, like a dollie yea. At that point, that sounds
remarkably like someone from the sixteen hundreds, because that would have been the sort
of dress that a well to do man would have been at that period of
time. The cup was over there, yeah, over the shoulder than that.
But the thing that really got me was saying she when she finished,
she said, and then I looked down and realized he had no legs.
I turned to my husband, who was just come up behind, and by
the time you turn back, the apparition had gone. But that place as
well, is well known to have many hauntings within it, even though it's
just had a million pounds refurbishment, because it goes back once again, so
many things have happened there through the Centris and that's just that's a new one.
I literally learned that only this week, as well as well as the
other stories that relate to the George. So you're getting an ongoing part of
stories basically going. So basically, I suppose for your people that come on
the tools, you're any stories every time, which, to be honest,
is if you think about it makes sense because if you're always talking about an
incident that happened x amount of centris again, yeah, yeah, and there's
been no other sighting that gives no credence to it. Surely the credence is
given if over the se interest is there have been reports of hauntings, experiences,
you know, politicis activity whatever, that must get more credence to the
original event. Other things are happening. Yeah, and you know once again,
I mean, I mean, we haven't even spoke about the castle.
The castle. No, we're going to get to that, all right,
Yeah, yeah, I mean I've got to say that the talk that you
gave on on the tour, it was actually brilliant. And we went to
the ruins of the abbey type, Yes, that's that's an amazing place,
which I wasn't sure if I've been there before, but it must have been
a hell of a long time ago. But I didn't actually remember that until
still you took us there, and I thought, well, one of the
flakes of all the old archies and things, you know, Yeah, yeah,
well that's some bottos or the remains of the monastery, which is I
don't know if you remember. My very first question is who's been here before?
Were in all the hands? And then I asked a very simple question,
who was some bosof of which everyone looks at me with blank face.
Yeah, And so the story of some Bossofs is that is interesting in itself
in so far that effectively think of him as the patron saint of travel.
But the English version, after being trained over in Europe, came here all
up and down the country. There are some Bossofs founded by him and people
who followed him and eventually by about the particular monastery that the remains of the
monastery we were in was the first monastery of Bossofs in Britain. However,
during the Reformation of the fifteen hundreds under Henry the Eighth, where basically the
Church of England was developed, basically they refused to go along with that,
so it was pretty well destroyed at that point. And then during the Civil
War of the sixteen hundreds between Charles the First and Parliament it was what was
left was even more damaged in the actual in the actual cannon fire that hit
it. But interesting if you remember as we were walking through that build,
it's left in it and there are large columns there. There's part of the
front where you walk in the actual majority of that is actually made from the
original Roman brick, that's what you're saying. Sitting and you can actually see
the original bill marks now who's to say what terrible history those bricks. Going
back to what we were talking about at the beginning, that the physical can
hold terrible things, Well, that building is made from terrible, terrible things
that have happened two thousand years ago in eighteen sixty hundreds if not thousands died
in the culture that they were slaughtered, and those bricks were just reused and
recyc and who knows what memories they'd hold and go into the very buildings that
we're still walking today. Yeah, I imagine that cultures it is probably got
one of the bloodiest histories we've got in this country at all. Well,
yeah, we say great pride from back in the Queen Mary. We've had
more people burnt at the stake here than any other city in Britain, which
I'm not sure if it's a record. We're really proud of the certainly won
the record, but yeah, yeah, I mean so as well as over
two hundred people allegedly witches who are executed in around culture stuff. Really on
the say so of Matthew Hopkins, known and better known as Fine a general
and self appointed which I was going to say that apparent I only found that
out recently I'm quite sure if it was on your tour or with Simon and
Whistle which I went on up up in the Pendle Hill. Yeah, and
he was talking about that he was actually your self appointed. Yeah yeah.
And in fact, if you if you remember on the two and this is
my own supposition that in reality in modern Parliamce, he was a serial killer.
Yeah, what do you think about it? But he was a serial
killer. We were paying for the privilege. Yeah yeah, and that's really
nowadays, that's big. Yeah. But yeah, so, I mean,
so he had over two hundred people executed on a very sorry say, spurious
information. But remember he was at a time when the ordinary person was being
paid sixpence a day to work on the land. He was being paid twenty
five pounds to clear a village of witches, twenty five pounds of goods to
five thousand. He was making fortunes and that's obviously what that's obviously why he
was finding all these witches which probably won't be which world, which is at
all exactly they were. Usually they were usually just like local ladies or whatever
that would look after people were medicines and things, weren't they usually Yeah,
but not only not only ladies. There's a bit of falsehood that we think
of them purely as women. Actually about there was over two hungred so relevant.
Twenty percent of them here and culture were actually men, including a male
priest of eighty five years old who a bit of a misconception of what we
were able to do there. Couldn't be tortured as such, but what you
could do is be locked up, be stripped, be not fed, not
watered, kept awake all the time. You're being watched all the time,
and it doesn't matter how big and strong you are over a period of time.
And remember that I was deeping there. You're going to weaken, yeah,
and you're going to admit to anything at the end of the day.
But twenty percent of them are actually a male as well, when I think
that's always important to remember that because otherwise though here we are only a few
months away from all Hello's Eve, where we're going to have lots of children,
especially running around dresses which is and all the rest of it. But
it's always I think important to recognize that these people are innocent, They're only
They're only crime in many ways was being the outsider. Yeah, personal difference
the person you've had an argument with two years ago, or maybe you owned
the money too, and there was a lot of that that happened. You
using the which and your problem goes away. Yeah, and they weren't worn
down by a mind elutrition like you see. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
And once again, it doesn't matter how strong you are, if you're not
getting food and you're not getting water within a few days, you will admit
to anything to get those And of course it was the confession that he was
after mainly about who else was in the coven, because the more people got,
the more money he got. That's yeah. So for these little corps
up yeah, yeah, yeah. And of course the castle itself, which
is you know, no, it's the largest Norman castle in Britain, the
largest in Europe. Of course, that's twelve hundred years old history, yeah,
yeah. But also of course it's built partially from the remains of the
Roman city in eighteen sixty recycling. Here we are in twenty twenty three,
and we think you're pointing out of those bricks up. Yeah, you can
see, we've been doing it for millennium. But of course, if you're
building a building harshly made up from a period where there's something absolutely terrible happens
that would tie into leaving its mark there as well. And of course we
have the castle itself is built on the very first brick and water building ever
built in Britain, which are actually the giant Temple of Claudius was there originally,
and the foundations were still there, and that's where the final holdout for
the Roman people of Colchester. That was the final holdout for two days before
it was finally burnt with all of them alive, and then you tried to
escape were then hacked to theft there. So those very foundations are steeped in
the blood of hunps of people. You can still see the standations, can't
you. You can still, yeah, you can actually as a tour within
the castle, because underneath the castle, those foundations are not solid. The
Romans, having invaded Greece twenty eight sorry but once twenty eight BC, had
basically made use of the Greek's knowledge of mathematics, and one of the things
they'd learn is if you build an arch, it will take tremendous loads above
it. So instead of building a solid foundation, you build one with two
arches all the way through. Basically one hundred and fifty foot long. Both
of these arches are about thirty five foot wide about thirty foot high, and
it means you can build the whole foundation much cheaper, much quicker. And
now if you do a tour, you get to go all the way through
those and rounds. So in the very amazement of where all of that absolutely
terrible thing happened above in eighty sixty men, Budica reaps the revenge. Yeah,
I must do that one. We really having had a chance to do
that. Yeah, but we do you like that one. In fact,
I'll tell you what. We went to Colchester yesterday. I know I called
this show, but we tried to go to oh there's there's something up the
top of the hill because we're in the English Heritage at the moment, and
we couldn't actually park up there. So yeah, the town, let's it.
Yeah, we drove all around and around trying to find so we couldn't
find anywhere. Yeah, so we we ended up not doing it in the
end, so I need to go back there and try again. Well,
if if it's the very top of the city, and if you're talking about
Jumbo the giant watertown, but I think I think there's an archway. Is
an archway up there? Is that the one, yeah, which is actually
the Bualken Gate, which is that's the one. Yeah, that's the Britain
very first is largest and it's only Roman gates still in use today. And
I'll tell and if you want to do I'll tell you. We're apart from
that. Literally there is a giant car park directly opposite on the other side
of the road. You just missed the slip road and you'd been able to
walk across there. So yeah, that's the ball, the leading into the
top of the town and that. But but of course we've got the history
of the Civil War so during which is you know, literally you know,
brother against brother, father against son, a terrible time in English history.
Funny enough, on the nineteenth from twenty of this month, we've got the
re enactment of the Siege happening in Coulstone. All throughout the city. We've
basically got the sealed not people, they're going to be re enacting battles and
stuff they're happened here, but you had real tragedies happen. A good example
is of the on the top of some Mary's on the wall which is literally
right against the Roman wall when the civil when the battle started, you had
a guy at the top of the tower and he had a little handheld cannon
firing about a three pound ball and he was merely firing away at the parliamentary
forces are outside of the wall. However, he was having a high all
time right to the point where they brought the giant cannons from London and with
one blast blasting at the top of the church off and him with it.
So he's having much of a good time. But you've got stories there relating
to hauntings at the top of the city, and in fact still there today
was actually the headquarters of the rebel forces inside of the wall, which is
now solicitous today and actually you can go in there on special invite, and
they still had down at the bottom in the basement they have cannonballs and stuff
from that period, but that's haunted from the ghosts of those people that fought
in that battle and them so they after the sea ghosts and things. Yeah,
yeah, still still see the ring basis in fact that I've got a
colleague of mine actually works there as a solicitor, and she herself had actually
seen some things happened there which you can't quite explain, but once again you
would expect that with something where as we said, has happened. Yeah,
if you're going to get it anywhere in England or we're going to get it
there, Yeah, exactly, and literally that's only what a hundred yards from
that pub. I mentioned the Fox in Finland where the basically that the young
lady was bricked up in the center. So all of them there there is
an incredible stories from the past that still resonate today and of course the biggest
part of culture. So unless you mentioned that the castle, now, yeah,
on any specific ghosts that are haunt cultures, a castle, well,
I'm aware of I'm aware of three, and I'll stand to be corrected by
any of my colleagues at that. And there is an interesting little story as
well, so we may say. For so, what you have to consider
is that when the Romans came, we tend to think of the Romans as
from Italy. Actually by that time they were not from Italy, the Italian
that there were still Romans in the army who were Italian, but by that
time the Roman Empire had spread to Egypt. The Balkans to Yeah, so
there y a lot of the soldiers are actually from those areas, fighting under
the name of Rome, and of course they brought their religious beliefs with them,
their food, all the things that you would expect. So drewn excavations
that happened in the nineteen twenties on the walls they actually found mummified remains of
the cats, which is something from that in Egypt where the cat has been
worshiped, and that would end with that. And there has been reports throughout
the centuries of cats being seen running where really there are no cats. Now
I have a cat, and that if you, if you, if your
wife owns cats, you realize very quickly that you're at the bottom of the
pile when it comes through the higher with a cat weigh above. We've got
two peoples. Yeah yeah, well yeah, so although there have been reports,
as I point out as well, all I've got to do is open
a can of something and suddenly my cap appears. So that may be one
of those things. However, we have a mumified cat which has definitely been
found there and we're tired. Also on the underground part where the tunnels are
reports of a fully clad Roman soldier, which runs again would make sense because
the Romans soldiers were actually also the builders of the original temple. Yeah,
they would use their labor so they wouldn't be go off, so they would
be doing laboring jobs as well, and that would tie in with what we
know about the place. We have a separate part where basically we have it
is a jail and you go down these stairs and as you go down there,
there is an automatic infrared system that then switches on voices and animations that
flicker from the jail where the people, whether which is people who allegedby which
were locked up. And I've been repeated a number of times from different sources
that one night, as you can imagine that although during the day the class
is full of life, at night it becomes very a very different place.
I can't imagine, pretty creepy at night. Yeah, you have to go
around when they lock up that to go around and check things. There's always
people who want to play maybe silly buggers. And however, this one is
they went down to that area there's only one stairs down, checked everything.
Everything was fine, but when they came back up, all of a sudden,
they hear the voices and then the actual automatic system has then started playing,
so that means it's detected something human size. They decided not to go
down to double check for some strange reason. I can't really blame them on
that one, you know. So that one so we don't know what it
was, but there's certainly that the other one I am aware of is of
as we So during the Civil War there were two commanders of the what'll be
known as the King's Forces, the Cavaliers, if you remember the cavaliers Roundheads
and at the end of the siege where they basically lost, they were executed
at the back of the castle, and there's actually basically a memorial to them.
And it's been reported to me that during and I'm not quite sure of
the timeline, and when they were locking up one night, as they were
basically walking along the main exit towards the front gates of the castle, that
they hear the sound of marching coming down the great steps of King John.
Those steps are the largest spiral staircase in any castle in Britain, four point
eight meters wide. They hear footsteps coming down and then much of their shock
instead of seeing a colleague or maybe someone who shouldn't be there. What they
see walking straight then pass them. Basically two people dressed in camealier outfit which
would fit with a timeline, and then disappearing out the wall heading towards their
point of execution is certainly something. And once again with time with what we
said at the beginning of the physical leaving a place for a marks we left
because we have physical spot when they died outside as well as that in the
jail and that period. The rest of the soldiers that with them were held
in the jail until eventually sent off to be to Jamaica where most to dime
in three to six months of disease. And we have reports of soldiers being
seen marching up East Hill towards the castle. So there's been lots of activity
and a lot of it would make sense of the theory of that bad events
leave a mark in the very fabric of certain buildings and at certain times people
can see those. Yeah, I'm sure this happens on so I would say
it's on every occasion, but I'm sure when you've got historic buildings with solid
stone lot that I'm sure a lot of recordings to go go into those stones,
you know, and remember, of course that the building itself is made
partially from the brick, the Roman brick from the devastation of eight sixty.
So once again, whatever happened in those and believe me, there are lots
of people killed in their villas and in their houses. Yeah, those those
deaths would have marked those pieces of Roman brickwork, which are then incorporated into
this massive bill. And I find it fascinating that here we are in twenty
twenty three and you can not only see the burn marks from a D sixty,
you can also reach out and touch the past. That I think it's
fascinating to be able to do that. Yeah, yeah, that's an amazing
city. Must say when you when you do these tours, are they mostly
people from around the area? If you find or do you find those people
that are busy in team Culchester and want to do the majority the majority of
locals. But however, there is an increase in the amount of people coming
into culture really as a tourist destination. I think I think we've I'm using
the Wii here, but I think we've really not presented Culturester in the historic
context that it should be as Britain's first sitting and I think that that is
started that Actually, you know what, it's not just London an hour away.
We have a tremendous history to share with you. The interesting thing,
and you having been on the tour as well, if you know, I
do a mixture of the history of the culture as well as we go,
because I think you need to give context to If you just say, well,
this is a what alleged supposed someone saw without giving the context of the
background as to what happened, and it feeds into it, so you aren't
having a better understanding. So you go, oh, okay, well that
makes sense as to why there's a Roman soldier because of these events that happened
here two thousand years ago. So there's a mixture of history. I'm always
very pleased though at the end of it, when I get the feedback,
and one of my favorite bits is I hear the people who lived here all
their lives and the phrase they always use is I've will pass that for X
amount of years and I never knew that. Yeah, and it makes them
look at their own city in a very different way. Well, it's like
you said earlier, even you get you're hearing new things all the time.
New stories, So new stories, new bits of information, changes on information,
so you know, you know you can yeah, yeah, this is
where we are. That actually we've discovered something different now and that puts a
different context on what we've told before. So the stories and when I say
stories don't even be in the history, Yeah, history changes based on the
information we gain. And also remember it's interpreted and some things are interpretive for
political reasons because it fits the narrative. But it's not static. The history
of this great country is not static. It's never changing, involving thing as
we learn more about the way other people lived in the who basically, I
mean, we have this idea and it's a common idea, and I get
it that the past is another country. They've done different they've done things differently.
It actually it's not because the past is our past. It's our living
past. It's the very thing that makes us do what we do. That's
I'll give you for instance. Yea, so one of the things we do,
well, I don't know if you ever used the phrase I'm on tender
hooks. Well, yeah, I suppose we all do at some point.
Yeah, yeah, well that actually comes from the wall trade. Going back
hundreds of years, and it's where they used to pin the basically the wall
to dry on a wooden frame held by hooks called tender hooks. Now that
it was the Romans that really kind of introduced how to treat wall with urine.
Urine's important because it actually took out the landeling out of the wall because
it contains ammonia. So by the Middle Ages and that Victorian times, we'd
had a pot under under under our beds. They should wonder how they discover
those things, isn't it well interesting? The Romans? And I've heard that
the Romans were so enamored with the power of urine that they would actually use
it as a mouthwash. Remember it's not even their own every act, which
would have made kissing their loved one very interesting thing. But we ended up
with the phrase and if you have i've swearing, and the phrase not a
pots of pissing. Yeah, then you are so poor that you do not
have somewhere to put to supply collect your urine at night, because they would
then buy that off you the next day. Yeah. I mean that whole
say speak for itself, really, didn't it? Yah? Yeah, So
it's kind Yeah, So it's interesting things and things we still do today.
The phrases we use, rituals we still use. The marriage ceremony is very
similar to what the Romans sarily is. Yeah, and yet we do them.
And it's like when we ask that eternal comedy question, what did the
Romans ever did for us? To which my answer as well, how long
have you got the real? Yeah? But yeah, they're not that we
shouldn't look at them as the long distance past. They've got nothing to do
with us. Actually, they in process in many ways, rituals and things
that we still do today. The difference mainly is the technology that we that's
changed. Yeah, well it makes wonder if say, it makesure wonder if
we'd have our road system like we did if it worked for the Romans in
there. I know we could actually complain quite a bit about potholes and stuff
like that, but I'm talking about, you know, the road systems that
we ended up with sort of you know and all that, well, not
even that, and it was the road system literally we built on the Romans
were the first one is to really build what classes the little straight roads was
exactly, which is ironic if you ever go to Rome in the backstreetes.
There's not a straight line there. Interestingly, and I also do a Victorians
and a colleague of mine tolding. So of course the Romans built their roads,
Yeah, and then the carriages they used to carry all their stock left
the grooves in the roads. Yeah. Then when we came up to building
the railways for the first time, what size did we use? When we
use the size of the carriages that came from the Romans. So the railways
gauge that we use is directly from the Roman roads. Well I didn't know
that. So when we think of it at how modern it is, but
actually when you look back, it's traced because of decisions made many many centuries
ago. That which makes perfect sense if you think about it. The rutted
road where that you know, out of the centuries of the carts, so
were the carts. Yeah, and so you're going to use what's available,
which is the normal cart, which has been set by what the Romans done.
Yeah, it makes sense to a lot of things we have to day.
Yeah. So also, I mean I mentioned they're just in passing of
Victorian age now, cause the Victorian Age is a massive informational time, really
defined the modern world as we know it, the coming industrialization with the railways,
the absolute opportunity and wealth, but at the very same time and literally
opposite where the wealthy were. Funny enough, you mentioned it earlier you were
looking to get to the balk And Gates. Well, that is right next
to a pub called the Hole in the Wall there is. It's called the
Hole in the Wall is because during the Victorian times, with the coming of
the railway, it used to be a stop where you'd bring carriages and stuff.
But then the railway comes, so they blew a hole literally in the
Roman wall so their patrons could sit there seeing the trains come from London,
so they could take a carriage down there or get a carriage down there to
bring their patrons up to the home. And then directly opposite it was the
workhouse. So you had the coming of the wealth with the railways, the
rich sitting there looking for the railways to move back and forth to London,
and directly opposite you had the poorhouse where the very families were broken up.
People that were then faced from six in them all into six or eight at
nine to basically pick what's called oakum, which is basically the navy used heavy
ropes made of hemp dipped dipped in tar, and they had to hand unpicked
those which repped their hands. And in fact, if you remember Oscar Wilde,
that's what he got put into prison, that's what he had to do
and literally ruined his health and that so we had real stories of absolute deprivation
right next to the real stories of absolute wealth. And of course there are
stories ghost stories throughout the city relating to that area as well. A lot
of the pubs as you can imagine, you know, those dark alleyways,
and lots of things happened. It's a wonder we haven't got a check the
ripper of culture stuff really well, well, yes in modern days we have,
we don't tend to do. It's all about that one, which fortunately
was the tragedy only a few years ago. But I'm not aware of anything
in the past. But certainly I'm aware of some tragic murders that happened in
the dim distant past where even today, mainly around pubs, because really that
was such a central part of people's lives during the late Talk. There are
a lot of sailors and things from different countries that have come into culture well
we were reports. So basically we've got the hive which is at the bottom
and it was import and we have good access to Europe and that, so
there was a lot of people coming in and all of us. Wherever there
is wealth, there is always going to be people coming in. Amazing.
It's also close to the Estuary that goes up to London as well, don't
Yeah, yeah, so we're very close to so I've got no doubts all.
And of course basically you've got to remember that here in Essex was really
where the founding farm was an America. Most of them came from here.
That's true over so we have tremendous links with not just the Old World but
with the New World as well. You're act so far from like Billy Rickey
where the mowflower came from exactly, So you know, we have there's a
real rich history, not just here but all the way through Essex which links
with our cousins in the New World. And unfortunately one of those things that
links us is our friend Matthew Hopkins, who before he died wrote a handbook
on how to find witches, which I'm afraid he went over and that belief
culminating in many ways in the Salem witch Trials, when you had young girls
believing themselves to be witches. Yes, yeah, yeah, So you know
it's not just a good thing to explore, I'm afraid. Yeah, because
it did spread to America quite barely, didn't it. Yeah yeah, yeah,
but that's fair, you know, that's I mean, of course it
was James the First of England, the so first of he was James the
first of Scotland. Dedcame James first of England and he literally wrote the book
on witchcraft, on a book called Demonology, which became the Handbook, and
as he became a King of England, the belief in whence you spread like
a cancer all the way through Britain especially, And remember when we've only just
lived through a traumatic experienced ourselves with the pandemic. I remember standing there in
wake Tross going looking at people fighting over toilet role. Yeah, and the
world, I say, when the world were made, when I broke completely
and you know, I watched some of who is fighting over because they wanted
ten cue comers. Now what the hell they want? I've got no idea.
But at a time when people are rapped with fear, the people to
exploit it. And that's one of the things that Matthew Hopkins did. Because
it was a civil war, people are fearful and there's always people to exploit
that. What about during the wartime years, did there anything much happen historically
there in the sorry in the wartime years? Yeah, because I know there's
a lot of military base there isn't there quiet Yeah, I mean, I
mean don't how much you know about it, but well a bit not.
But yeah, culture there has always been strongly associated with the military. In
fact, on the top of our town hall when it was rebuilt in and
finished in nineteen oh five, there's actually four statues at the top which show
and represent what the main incomes of the city are and basically one of those
is soldiers. And we were most strongly associated during the Napoleonic period, where
the garrison here became the largest garrison in Britain, of course, supplying troops
going over to battle Napoleon during the tragedy that was the Napoleonic era, finally
culminated in his defeat in the Battle of Waterloo. As to I am aware
of some apparitions goes related to military, however, they seem to be outside
of the main center. I haven't had it, though we did have We
have Barracks Street, which literally was the Barracks Student and Napoleonic era. We
have a number of buildings still now, but I'm not aware of any specific
stories. But I am aware a little bit further out of certain things that
happened that I don't because it's not in the main city. I don't get
a chance really to talk about that as I'm try Yeah, it says,
I guess I'm sort of trying to mention that because this this show goes out
internationally and I'm just trying to bring in some people that might be interested in
culture. So in Essex in general general, if we go, if we
move further fields, of course, we've got the most beautiful village called Lavanon,
which is really on the on the border Sussex Essex Sussex border, of
course within eleven it was just near there where the US Air Force was based
during the Second Mold and in fact there's a very famous hotel They're called the
Swamp and during the Second World War years, basically all of the aircrew American
aircrew would go in and sign a wall and that wall is now preserved out
of the glass. And then since then the Americans, their families and everything
over the years since they said well go there, Mary signed other walls and
that's so it's a really historic place. And once again there are many many
things happened once again enough to leave a mark, but kind of outside of
my area. But if you're going to Lavinam is just probably the quintessential what
you would imagine to be a chocolate box British village to be, but with
more Grade one and Grade two listed buildings in it. Any place in Britain's
very pretty. I think there's a big pink there's a big pink building there.
Think there is there's a pink building. There's also the buildings that they
used on to model the very first Harry Potter film based on the buildings in
there. You've also got, of course, the the actual house from the
nursery Rhynder was a crooked house in a crooked streets in the hind street there
and it is when we say crooked or is it crooked? Yeah, that
one's still standing. It hasn't been well yeah, yeah, we were talking
about the cookie Yeah that that pink building I seem to remember that when you're
coming in I think it's into stands. Did you actually fly over and it's
quite it's actually quite obvious you can see it. Yeah. Yeah, I
mean I urge anybody to go in there because it is so good and mutter
of course round it you've got some other beautiful villages and the countryside. I
mean literally you only have to drive a few miles outside of the coaster.
You're heading towards Mersey Islands, some perhaps beautiful places, and the country side
is is absolutely superb. Yeah. And also again a few miles further on
from that, you're going into Suffolk. Now I style lived in sex Mondon.
I think it's about nine years, getting off of nine years. That
was apparently, as I understand it, the first Saxon settlement or one of
the biggest earlier Sexon separate settlements, and I guess they all kind of run
away when the Romans invaded. Well, well the Romans came first, so
you had us Brits and then the Romans invaded in ad. Well maybe it
was the other way around that perhaps all moved to. Yeah, the Anglo
Saxons came and after the Romans. Yeah, and then the normal and of
course there was a period of time where a lot of Vessex was actually under
control of the Vikings. In fact, you know the if you pretty well
dig a hole in cultures there, you're going to hit a couple of things.
Firstly, fifty cent meters down in the city center, you're going to
hit a layer of dash from a D sixty and it's only half a meter
down. You go deeper, you are going to it basically Anglo Saxon remains
of buildings and all the way around and underneath them. You're also going to
hit Roman, which of course is great and exciting for people like me.
However, less so if you're a builder trying to build a nice, new,
shiny building, that's probably a little bit of an inconvenience. But we've
uncovered some remarkable things, remember it. Of course, we're also at the
home of the only Roman circus ever found when they've done chariot racing. And
it always astounds me that how do you lose a four hundred and twenty meter
building that helps steam thousand people. It's not as if it just fell down
the back of the sofa, is it. It's you know, I find
that quite remarkable that we can layer upon the layer history and all the great
and all the transies and also all the good things have happened. They're still
there. Yeahs to be discovered. Yeah, it's amazing. Well right,
that's been fantastic talking to you. Now before we lose you. Now you're
real site. You've got www dot Colchester dot col c h E S t
E R History as h I S t o R Wife t Tours t O
U. That's all one word, so it's culture History Tours dot com.
Yeah, so if anyone's listening to this, yeah, please pay you a
visit to that and you can actually book your toll with Ray. I guess
have you got other people on the team or is it just there's just me
and my wife much prefers me to me about at home. So basically there's
six tours on offer at the moment, which covers basically the Romans specifically covers
a general It's your city tour com in two thousand years of history of course,
the obligatory ghost and which is to however, I'm about to add on,
as I mentioned earlier, a second tour covering the top of the city
and going to some of the ones which resonate greatly with the Matthew Hopkins and
the poor torture and subsequent bricking up as a young girl, and also then
the siege of culture Ster tour and so then a general tour of the outside
of the castle which really gives you a good understanding of what was there before,
what's there now, how it's built, and the great stories that go
with that. Yeah, well, I think you'll definitely be seeing me again
on these tours going to sound fascinating. I'll be checking about because that's certainly
that new one that you're coming up with, but the other historical ones that
interests me as well anyway, So I definitely wanted to the culture Ster tour
that you do the inside of the castles or do you That's that's part of
one of my roles that I do some casual work for the council and on
a rotor basis, I do tours within the castle. But however, there's
there's about twenty other reps that do that if you're interested in actually going to
the castle. For the castle, it's basically you have to pay a charge
to go into the museum, which I urge you to do there's some absolutely
wonderful treasures. They're covering the through two thousand year history of culture and really
of our existence in Britain. But also for an extra small charge, you
get to go down into the depths through really time traveling down from the twelve
hundred year old castle above down to the two thousand year old very foundations of
the very first building, with a great tour up there, and then take
you up through the the King John Stairs, the largest stairs in any castle
in Britain, all the way to the parapets, where when you're on the
top looking down you recognize really how powerful a statement the castle is. Yeah.
Yeah, I've definitely got to do that and I will be doing it
pretty soon. Well, Roy, thank you very much for coming on the
show. He's been fantastic talking to you again and seeing you because I could
see you on on my screen. Unfortunately audio listeners cult see you, but
but we wo this will be a separate show as well. We can put
it out on Facebook. So but as I say, well, I will
be seeing you again and it's been great attention to you. Yeah, that's
been great to see you again. I look forward to see you on the
on my other tu, Well, I've got I've got your phone number,
you've got my wind and all that. I'll be sending you an invite anyway
for it to come on the you can become on the normal spur of the
new that will be brilliant. Thank you. I'd appreciate that. So listen,
thanks for your thanks for having me on their Paranormal Donations. It's been
great. I hope you found it interesting. I hope you're absolutely absolutely yeah,
no, come along to Coulta. And that's for everybody out there.
If you're coming to Britain, come to you six and come to Colchester.
Absolutely you won't be disappointed anyway, It definitely will. I could agree with
you there. That's right. Okay, let you go there. Thank you
great, it's been great talking to you. You might go. You go,
Thank you boy, Thank you. Ray really enjoyed that and I will
be seeing you again soon. Okay, right, my next guest. I
did mention it a couple of shows ago that Spirous Malaris is coming back onto
the show, and that show will be on Monday, September fourth. I
think you'll find it's going to be a bit of an epic. There's a
lot of things have happened since the last time Spiritus was on the show,
so I hope you'll make the date for that one. If you don't know
who Spirous is, he's the man who produced the alien autopsy from nineteen ninety
five when it was going around the world and everyone was asking whether it was
a real thing or not, and people still are believe it or not.
So that Spiritus Malaris on Monday September to fourth. Now in between now and
then, if you'd like to get in touch with me my email address,
he's David Young two q N at yahoo dot co dot uk. That's David
Young two q N at Yahoo dot co dot uk. Now, if you're
going to be in Chester this coming weekend for Awakening, I'll see you there.
Please please come and say hello if you see me. That's Awakening in
Manchester from the twenty fifth to the twenty seventh. So I hope you'll join
me for Spirous Beloris on the next show, that's Monday September fourth. I
think you'll find it will be an amazing show, going to be definitely interesting.
It's something you don't want to miss. Who was that? Have we
got a coast in the place I'll need to go on your bestigate and I'll
speak to you next time. Take care of your bum Bye bye, Spooky
Anne. Paranormal Dimensions is fortnightly on Mondays on the Paranormal UK Radio Network