Ghost hunter says she’s scared of using Ouija boards

By Sam Montgomery via SWNS

A leading British ghost hunter has told how she is scared of using Ouija boards for fear of conjuring 'malevolent spirits."

Rachel Parsons, 52, has recruited a team of 27 phantom finders made up of investigators and historians called the Retford Ghost Hunters.

The paranormal investigation team has amassed some 67k followers on Facebook, who flock for live streamed and pay-per-view ghost hunting.

But despite the temptation to thrill audiences by contacting spirits, Rachel has always believed in the need for ghost hunters to put safety first.

She said: “We don't invite anything in, we don’t do Ouija boards.

“I think it is a very dangerous area, I have seen people affected by them.”

A Ouija board displays letters from the Latin alphabet, numbers and signs to which a ‘planchette’ pointer moves, spelling out answers from spirits to those present at a seance.

“We don’t understand that area so we think it is best to leave it alone”, Rachel said.

The group claims to have encountered plenty of apparitions without the help of a board - both friendly and frightening.

Rachel said: “We have been pushed, we have been attacked - where we don’t feel right, we feel poorly - but we look out for each other."

Rachel’s fascination with spirituality stemmed from being raised into The Pentecostal Church, where she assimilated the beliefs of a born again Christian.

“I always saw things as a child, they knew I was different and they put me down a path of religion”, she said.

Rachel threw herself into the role of Sunday school teacher and helped out with religious gatherings, but began to have doubts in her early twenties.

She retained the belief that she had “a gift” but moved away from the church to work at a manor where, at the age of 28, she saw her first ghost.

The manor’s owner did not believe her at first, but when he later saw the same apparition of a woman he called in the Most Haunted TV production team.

From then on, while working as a nursing assistant at NHS Rampton Hospital, Rachel dipped her toe into the paranormal scene but found it fake and gimmicky.

“I used to go out for a laugh with friends, but I thought it was horrendous - every bit of dust was a ghost.”

In 2019, her partner asked why she didn’t just set up a paranormal team rather than complain about others.

Within hours, Rachel had assembled a team, spent £1,000 on equipment including an Electronic Voice Phenomenon machine and made plans to visit an old pub in Retford.

The group believes in authenticity through the medium of live streaming.

By using live feeds on social media, the group claims to eliminate the possibility of editing and encourage viewers to take part in ghost hunting by sending in screenshots.

Rachel said: “I wanted ours to be completely different, I wanted it to be real.

“There is no editing. It is live, you get what you get.”

On the fans’ screenshots, she said: “We will try and debunk them as much as we can. It makes the watchers also the ghost hunters.”

The Retford Ghost Hunters have formed a subgroup of 853 superfans - a community which shares screenshots from live streams and discusses ghost hunting.

It is these superfans who regularly snap up PPV opportunities, such as the £7.99 tickets for a virtual ghost hunt around Strelley Hall at 9pm on 29 June.

“We have built up a fantastic community”, Rachel said of her “intense” following, before explaining that ticketed events help to pay for venue hire and petrol.

Rachel is the only full-time investigator, while the other team members continue to fulfil daytime jobs.

The group’s manager, Ron Simpson, 43, works as a manager of a housing association by day but when night falls he visits haunted locations such as hospitals.

The team and the community is proud to have members with a range of supernatural credence, from stalwart believers to the brazenly skeptic.

While moderators remove offensive comments, Rachel said well-behaved skeptics are welcomed.

She said: “We don't take them off straight away, we are open.

“Even one of my own team members is a skeptic; that is how inclusive we are.”

Rachel brushed off any pressure to provide an explanation for the existence of ghosts from within the broad church of the Retford Ghost Hunters.

She falls back on her motto: “We may never find the answer but we have fun looking for it.”