How to get rid of a ghost

My First Exorcism

Unfortunately at the start of any paranormal activity, it is often a priest, and not a medium who is called in to perform an exorcism.

I used to attend a Spiritualist Sanctuary that wasn't far from a Catholic church. The Catholic Church, was on the same side of the road as our building. Which made it awkward for one poor priest, who used to walk over the road to avoid being contaminated by us, crossing himself first before walking back over the road at a suitable distance passed us.

Is there anyone less suited to helping lost spirits find their way into the light, than someone with a closed, prejudiced mind? I don't think so.

It's communication, not the scare tactics often used to - 'drive out the devil' that a troubled spirit needs.

Waving smoking incense around, lighting candles, and yelling 'out damn spirit' –. would you like it if you were a ghost looking for someone to help you cross to the other side?

That's a - for certain – no.

It is why the majority of exorcisms performed in this way, are unsuccessful.

All that waste of haunting time. So much fear and trauma easily avoided. It takes people who talk to dead people to get the dead to listen.

I hadn't long finished training when my teacher, and mentor phoned me to tell me about a lady who had been 'dabbling' with the occult, by having seances with a friend in her house.

She had recently been widowed, and was naturally, very lonely without her husband, she and her friend decided they would try and contact him.

They got a lot more than they bargained for.

This is where I came in.

To say I was nervous would be understating it. This was my first exorcism, and I had no idea what to expect. I had all the theory, but none of the practise.

The way the haunting was described to me, I envisaged myself, battling demonic possession at a rundown mansion, in the middle of a dark secluded wood.

It was a huge relief, but a bit of a dent in my vivid imagination that the centre of the paranormal activity was a neat two bedroomed terraced house, in a pleasant tree lined street.

I prayed fervently as I walked up the short path to the front-door that the entity tormenting the occupier, would also not live up to my expectations, as far as being a demonic monster went.

A woman aged about seventy to seventy five, small faced with frightened eyes opened the door, and gestured me quickly to come into the back of the house. It didn't take a lot of guessing for me to realise, she was living or rather hiding, in this one small room.

She was in a terrible state, nervously jumping at the slightest sound.

As I could only come to the house after I finished work, when I got there it was night-time. Apart from the room we were in, the rest of the house was in total darkness, which didn't help my nerves.

Over a cup of coffee, she told me what had been happening in her home.

The majority of the hauntings were centred around loud knocking noises. The poor thing was being terrorised by a series of sharp raps on her bedroom door, throughout the night – every night.

The upstairs had become a 'no go zone'. As she walked up the stairs – so did the ghost. Keeping her company while she was upstairs, and joining her on the way down.

To try and get away from whoever it was shadowing her, she'd moved her bed from her upstairs bedroom, into her front room.

That's when the knocking on the door started, and she de-camped to the back room.

Like most times with a haunting, before I was called, a priest had been asked to help rid her of the ghost. The ghost was unimpressed, and refused to leave.

The first thing I had to do, was connect with whoever or whatever it was that was doing the haunting. To do this, I needed to find out which room had the highest level of paranormal activity.

The old lady was so terrified by what was happening, she refused, point blank, to join me walking around her own house.

The whole house was in darkness, deathly quiet, and very cold. And I was alone.

Not the best way to begin a first exorcism.

The tiny hallway had narrow steps leading to the two first floor bedrooms. There was a dim light in the downstairs hallway, but nothing on the stairs or the upstairs landing. I had to feel my way up the stairs to the first floor, as I did so, I felt an energy walking beside me. A deeply unhappy energy.

The first room I went into was being used for storage. I sensed no activity in it, and the entity didn't follow me. I blessed the bedroom, and then went into the one next to it.

The second room was the biggest, the main bedroom. Immediately as I entered, I was surrounded by a feeling of absolute loneliness that emanated from the room itself. The past was colliding with the present, and it was crying.

I don't use – gimmicks – like candles or incense, and I don't bring a bible or a crucifix with me to an exorcism.

I have heard of mediums waving fans around whilst chanting and dancing – bit daft really.

Me, I use the power of the 'light'. I use love. And I say a prayer of blessing. 

Love is one of the strongest of emotions that connects the spirit world to the physical world.

Love is often the reason a spirit will come back to 'haunt' the place where it once lived.

“Why are you here?” I asked the spirit I felt in the room with me. No answer.

“Who are you?” Again, no answer.

“I know you are here. I can feel you.” Still no reaction.

The good thing about being a trained medium, is you don't have to 'wing it' in paranormal situations. I knew exactly what I was supposed to do.

I repeated the phrase, my spiritual teacher taught me to use, when helping a trapped spirit to cross over.

I said to the spirit, “ Follow the ribbon of light. Go forth and join those who have gone before you.”

The ghost was very polite, he waited until I had finished what I was saying before he left the room – but not the house. I sensed he had gone downstairs, and was waiting for me.

I also got the clear impression he was annoyed, but not with me.

It turned out, he was the woman's husband, and he had come back to his house to comfort her. And was now annoyed, and confused as to why she wanted rid of him. 

He had been drawn back to his old home because he loved his wife.

I guess, as it happens in life, so it can in death. Husbands and wives misinterpreting what the other wants from them.

The lady wanted to know that her husband was happy where he was. She was looking for reassurance that he had successfully made his journey - nothing more.

What she got as his response was nightly visits – saying, 'I'm here if you need me.'

Apparently, during the séance, she had asked her husband, to, 'knock to let me know you are here.'

So he did. Every night, just to say – goodnight, and to let her know he was watching over her.

It didn't take much on my part to tell him, he had scared his wife out of her wits. And he should now stop.

Before I left the house, I offered to give the lady a psychic reading.

It was a lovely reading, and special for me, because it was part of my first exorcism. I shared their memories, and their sorrow at being parted from each other. The evidence of survival was overwhelming, and something I shall never forget.

The reading came to an end as his spirit energy withdrew, and as he did so, I felt him smile good-bye. Then the most wonderful feeling of peace entered the house.

As much as I'd love to, I can't give details of the paranormal evidence from that reading. I have a strict policy of never revealing anything that is meant for a sitter, in a private reading.

So I am sorry, I can't tell you about the evidence I got.

I can tell you when the reading was over, she held my hand, and cried with happiness, at being reunited with her husband - 'Burt'.

Love – had kept them together for a very long time.

Love – was the reason he had come back to be with her.

And – Love – was the reason he never knocked on her door again.

After my visit to her house, there were no more knocks in the middle of the night, and she was no longer afraid to sleep in the upstairs bedroom she had shared for so long with Burt.

As a member of a Spiritualist Church, she should have known better than to conduct a séance she had no idea how to control. She was lucky only her husband came through. And lucky for me too, as this was my first exorcism.

She promised me, she would never 'dabble' again, and would wait for a message from him in church.

And as she never called me again, I can only assume she stuck to her word.

The next exorcism I did, wasn't so easy – but that's another story!!

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