ASSAP Investigator Training Day by Jo Smith - Article added 8 March 2007

On 25 November 2006, Kev, Julian, Claire and Jo attended an ASSAP Training Day at the Lincoln College Science Centre in Oxford, the latter of the three in order to gain their Accredited Investigator status.  The day got off to very early start and it was also pouring with rain.  However, things started to look up when the bleary-eyed, bedraggled little group were presented with an extremely hearty breakfast at the Little Chef!  Things continued to improve upon arrival at the conference centre, which was smart, modern, and most importantly, complete with posh biscuits and a tasty buffet lunch!  The Training Day itself was both informative and entertaining. ASSAP had clearly put a lot of work and effort into making the presentations visually interesting and interactive. Throughout the day the group picked up on some new ideas by taking part in various role-plays and by watching presentations and listening to lectures. There was also the opportunity to discuss investigations with members of other groups and with ASSAP members who gave suggestions from a fresh perspective.  Topics covered included Ethics, Analysing Phenomena, Natural Explanations, Human Recorders, Interviewing, Photography, Equipment, How to Handle Requests to “Do Something” by Clients, Reporting and The Media.  Everyone agreed that it was a great day, and that we all learned something new (even Kev and Julian!)

Spiritualised by Julian Perkins - Article added 13 November 2006

Due to a recent incident, I have become more interested in the subject of communication with spirits.  This has led myself, Pete Southern and formerly Julie Davies to visit a local spiritual church.  I cannot express the opinion of my colleagues but here are my findings.  The so called mediums immediately assume you have lost a loved one and are looking for a sign or message.  Failing that, they try to engage you by making ambiguous statements about spirits who are supposedly communicating with them, all the while looking for a nod or some encouragement so that they might follow that particular thread.  And finally, when you give nothing away and have not agreed with any of their speculation about you, they decide you are there to develop your spiritual or psychic gift.  This was not true of all of the mediums, but none of them so far have volunteered any information that I would consider of unique interest (something personal to me that they could not have known).  On the plus side I can wholeheartedly recommend the relaxation and meditation that we undertook.  I am not convinced in any way that any communication with the spirit world took place, but I may continue to go occasionally.  You never know, I might find a real one some day!

Sydney Anomaly by Kevin Griffiths-Boden - Article added 5 June 2006

As a paranormal group, we receive many photographs from the public asking for our opinion.  So far we have been fortunate in explaining all photographs submitted.  That was until we received this photograph from Mary-Anne Nicholson which we have decided to publish for peer review.  The photograph was taken at 21:42 on 1 December 2005 at an underground archaeological excavation site of an old convict housing, which is situated below a new building known as "The Rocks" in Central Sydney, Australia.  If you look to the right of the picture you can see what looks to be a dark figure between the orb and nightlight.  Shadow simulacrum?  Or something else?  EMAIL US with your views.  Note: We have reduced the quality of the picture so the filesize is smaller and quicker to display/download and have also adjusted the brightness/contrast as the original was very dark so difficult to identify anomaly.  The photograph is used by Ghanon with permission of the owner.