PJCNET

Unfortunately during the vigils, it was impossible to eliminate any noises that might have been paranormal due to continuous background noise of talking and laughing, hope of catching any EVP was impossible as my friend and myself proved when we both tried to no avail with dictaphones. Joking and laughing throughout while attempting to communicate with spirits will in my opinion upset most spirits and it will stop reasonable spirits from communicating at all or will just anger them as they aren’t being shown any respect. I can understand laughing and joking at the end or in certain parts of the investigation, but in my opinion it was excessive and throughout most of investigation from start to finish.

The first vigil was held in the court room, but neither my friend or I could concentrate as hardly 10 seconds went by without a torch being flashed towards us and no-one stayed quiet at all. People initially heard a number of whistles which we believe was one of the guests joking behind us, but was probably officially put down to paranormal by the team. After about 45 minutes, everyone started talking as if it was break time and this lasted roughly another 30 minutes in pitch darkness, so anything paranormal would have been totally missed and in my opinion was a complete waste of time.

After a break, we split into 2 groups, in my group only CEPI staff were able to get taken by spirit even though my friend Peter felt like he could be taken on various occasions. He wasn’t allowed to be taken by spirit and was told to leave the energy and block it on more than one occasion. He was told once by a CEPI staff member that he should think of the damage he could cause when it was implied that he was a big person, well my friend is overweight and I’m sorry but this was offensive – I’d expect better from CEPI. Getting taken at the last CEPI event we attended at the Oak House wasn’t a problem when a number of people including my friend were taken by spirit and more than one person was taken at once. One of the two CEPI groups at the Oak House simply radio-ed for help from the other group and it was all controlled without incident, everyone was happy. We were previously invited to a CEPI event where taking by spirit wasn’t allowed at all due to the owners and we declined the offer because of the rule, so for us it was disappointing and frustrating to be told to block spirit takings. I felt heavy in varying degrees during the investigation and in my opinion this was because of paranormal activity. I wanted to try and let it go as I’ve never been taken over completely by spirit, but I had to keep an eye on my friend to ensure he wasn’t taken because of the new rule, most of my talking was asking my friend if he was okay, especially when I noticed heavy breathing. At the end of the event, one CEPI team member who went off with the other group spoke to my friend. My friend said that he could have been taken by spirit on more than one occasion during the event and he said that he should have let himself get taken. He then explained that he was told he wasn’t allowed and he then said that he still should have got taken as CEPI would have handled it. He seemed quite surprised by this – this CEPI member will remain unnamed.

The caves were very cramped and I had to crouch down to avoid hitting my head being 6ft 2inches tall. In one cave we pointed out that there was glass on the floor, an uneven floor and sharp metal girders against the walls, I felt it was far too dangerous to operate there in pitch darkness and very dodgy even for CEPI staff to be taken violently by spirit, but a lot of time was still spent there. The paying guests weren’t at any time asked where they wanted to go after the tour, which is also unusual for CEPI. I heard some people did say they hated the caves.

Before the event, I sent a personal message asking for 20 minutes to video one of the condemned man’s cells without the rest of the group at some point during the night. I asked again during the 1st break and again during the latter part of the investigation, then asking for just 10 minutes, but this request wasn’t granted which was also disappointing. Towards the end my friend and I had a short time without the team in a close nearby cell, but this happened unplanned and unfortunately without the camcorder. I asked a team member if we could get the camcorder, but got told it was up to another staff member who was busy holding a vigil at the time. Unfortunately vigils were back to back for the last 2 hours without breaks, so I couldn’t ask a 4th time.

Unfortunately this was by far the most disappointing CEPI investigation I’ve ever been on. I was recommending CEPI both on-line from 2 personal websites and off-line, but now I just don’t know what to say. I’m now reluctant to attend any future CEPI investigations and so is my friend.

Sadly CEPI found this very offensive and one team member admitted to calling my friend big and replied “I’m angry! How dare u say I insulted Peter, yes I said he was a big chap, indeed because he is….”. This is hardly a professional response. After lots of replies, some extremely personal and offensive, I wrote the following, the first part is my friend Peter’s reponse, followed by mine:

[PETER SAYS: "When we was talking, we were discussing the paranormal investigation on what people were seeing and what people were picking up. Otherwise everyone else might has well of been quiet and left it to the CEPI professional team to run the whole night and for us to listen like a play. We didn't pay £55 to go and see a play, we paid to go on a paranormal investigation which means everyone gets a chance to see what they are picking up and if they get a chance to be taken, they should be helped to get taken which is supposed to be the motto from the first event I went on at The Oak House where I was able to get taken as often as I could because the security was laid on for us to do that. Even knowing that I was overweight at the time then, what is the difference of me getting taken at the Galleries of Justice? Okay I agree that the caves weren't suitable for me to get taken because of the health and safety risk, but there was other areas where I said that I felt I could get taken which were safer, but I still wasn't allowed because I was told that I was too big to get taken because I may harm others. I do apologise if you feel that I am out of order by saying this, but I feel let down by CEPI after I had a good time at The Oak House. Okay we have now got our own paranormal club, but I didn't feel that this should come between us as I thought we were friends outside the club. I did not say anything at the time about how I was feeling because I realise that you had a lot going on and I did not want to get thrown out knowing that I had many hours to wait to go home, but I did speak to one of your colleges down in the cave area about how I was feeling and he did say to me to actually let myself go and get taken, but I said to him that I was not allowed to get taken because Lisa has asked me not to because of the risk of harming others. Lisa did ask me on numerous occasions to stand in certain areas out of the energy which made me feel like I was actually at school. I do agree that people who weren't from CEPI were asking us if we was okay, but I didn't want to tell them that I was having a bad night so not to spoil their night.

Peter, Gareth and Paul are planning a paranormal evening in which we will be doing by the investigation by the book. We will be taking temperature readings, EMF readings, EVP experiments, photos and videos of the evening which will also be recorded on official paper which will be given to each person who comes on the evening to show what we did as evidence of a good night. Also if anyone feels like they want to get taken, we will have a large amount of security which will be trained beforehand as to what to do when someone gets taken, so no-one gets hurt. Paul has 12 years experience in paranormal investigating."]

MY RESPONSE TO FORUM REPLIES:

My friends name is Peter and my name is Paul, but throughout the event and also on this forum CEPI have mixed us up.

My response was quite diplomatic and no names were mentioned, but some of the responses haven’t been diplomatic or in my opinion professional and have been naming people so I have been forced to respond appropriately.

CEPI say that this forum is your forum. I could either lie or say what I actually think. CEPI should see a complaint as an opportunity to improve, not as an insult. Most people are too afraid to complain, they simply don’t re-attend and say nothing. Unfortunately it’s clear that CEPI have taken offence and everything that was held back has now been said. In the past I have praised CEPI from attending previous events, including from personal websites but with The Galleries of Justice investigation everything was different. The responses to my view of this event has now finished it as far as Peter or myself attending any future CEPI events as it is now far too awkward because of a negative atmosphere between us.

“reggiew”, I wrote, “…the CEPI team however didn’t seem to show the usual CEPI welcome and seemed quite distant throughout”. you were polite and chatty and thanks for that, but you aren’t the CEPI Team. We said we were fine and put on a brave face so not to ruin the night for everyone else, I’m sorry if my response to CEPI offended you as it wasn’t aimed at you.

I felt it uncomfortable to tell CEPI at the time as an argument would have certainly occurred on the night and our coach didn’t leave until 7.50am. We didn’t want to leave early, stuck out all night with nowhere to go. These forum responses shows only what would have happened if any of this was mentioned on the night. The other reason we said nothing was out of being considerate, not to ruin the enjoyment of others on the event.

I’ve been on previous CEPI events and on every single one it was perfectly okay for ANYONE who wanted to get taken and was able, to get taken by spirit. At the Oak House 3 or 4 people got taken at once and this was perfectly okay and it was fine for Peter to get taken by spirit then. Suddenly you say that only CEPI are trained and can be taken. There was equally nasty spirits at all my previous locations with CEPI, so saying it was a nasty spirit isn’t a valid reason. I also note that Peter could had been taken in safer locations than the caves, but still was told to block and move out of the energy. At the end of the event another CEPI member actually said to Peter that he should have been taken, when Peter he said that he wasn’t allowed, the CEPI member said that he should still have been taken, so there’s certainly an internal disagreement there inside CEPI.

Peter has been taken on numerous occasions and hasn’t been dangerous. In fact, my much smaller friend, Gareth was much harder to hold down during a violent spirit taking at one of our own investigations. I’m afraid CEPI did make reference to Peter’s size twice. I mentioned no names, yet two CEPI team members have responded in their defence, one with a less than pleasant private message and yet CEPI say we can attend future investigations.

I disagree that laughing and joking throughout is the way to conduct a professional paranormal investigation and so would any qualified parapsychologist. I was a member of Midland Paranormal Investigations (MPI) and it’s members had masses of experience in the field of paranormal investigating. Laughing and joking during the investigation is the last thing they would do. Incidentally, the only reason I left MPI was because of a conflict of interests as I helped start a new paranormal group which is against MPIs terms and conditions as a member. I do believe that spirits would be insulted by continuous laughing as it is disrespectful to them because they’d see you are laughing at them, not with them. Also many spirits are from a different time period and would certainly see modern jokes as very offensive. I can understand some laughing and joking, and maybe this may increase the energy, but not constantly from start to finish and as I said I thought it was excessive. We tried to get EVP using dictaphones, but have only recorded CEPI laughing and joking throughout. When Peter and myself were talking about the paranormal investigation in the background of jokes and laughter, on a few occasions we got told to quieten down, the jokes and laughter then continued straight after. I also had to monitor Peter throughout the event without the help of the CEPI Team to ensure he wasn’t getting taken as no-one from CEPI was keeping an eye on him like they did at The Oak House. It was very difficult as I wasn’t in control of the event. I would had covered my torch and turned it on, so I could see him enough to know if he was being taken, but this would have annoyed the CEPI Team. On various occasions I had to check he was okay when he was heavy breathing and I didn’t always get an immediate response, but the staff showed little interest apart from to tell him not to get taken every time I brought it to their attention or to tell me to be quiet.

Normally you want people on events to get involved as much as possible, at the Oak House it was okay for me to actually hold someone who was taken by spirit back. Peter & I actually helped with security at the oak House. For some reason this was all different again at the Galleries as I have been accused of “disturbing the team” when I tried to get involved with the first spirit take over. I was genuinely worried about how long Tracey had been taken the first time as it went on for almost 20 minutes. A couple of guests were initially quite shocked and I explained that it’s fine and all under control. Later at least one other guest seemed concerned too. During the take over I tried to talk to Tracey to validate and get evidence that the take over was genuine (which I would do no matter who was taken, even my colleges as they may think they are taken and not) and to attempt to get information about the alleged spirit. I also was the only person who tried to be compassionate to any spirit and that’s what I’ve always been taught to do no matter who the spirit is at first, CEPI have allegedly encountered this spirit previously and it was too late for compassion. Did CEPI initially show any compassion? Why was this spirit so angry specifically with CEPI? This wasn’t explained when I tried to ask. After Tracey’s first take over. it surprised me that Tracy didn’t feel drained after 20 minutes of spirit taking. I was rather surprised that she showed no after effects when I have seen people quite shaken after a much shorter spirit take over. Tracey explained that it was through lots of years of training and I took her word for it. I’m sorry, but CEPI shouldn’t be afraid and should be prepared for some people to scrutinise events. If a parapsychologist had attended the event, it would have been seriously scrutinised throughout to a far greater degree than I would ever do. I’m used to be scrutinised myself by total sceptics and have learnt to accept this, I’ve also taken criticism about our paranormal group and have responded professionally without prejudice. Tracey later got taken over again and still showed no ill after effects, although I noticed that my way was purposely blocked next time I tried to get involved with her 2nd take over, after that I backed off from the team and didn’t get so involved.

Towards the last part of the investigation, myself and Peter had a last attempt to try and get some evidence of the paranormal at such a amazing location, so we tried to capture a few photos nearby and hoped to get EVP, but being so close to the noise, this wasn’t possible. One of the CEPI team finally said it’s okay to go into a cell alone thanks to Tracy sitting in the corridor, but we wasn’t allowed to collect our camcorder. Incidentally when I asked for 20 minutes to film in quiet, I was all for a member of the CEPI Team to join us for health and safety reasons, but it still wasn’t allowed.

I was referring to the first vigil in The Court Room and myself and Peter weren’t in the dock when we heard the whistle, we was in the dock on the final investigation. The response about the whistle & noise in the Court Room has somehow been twisted into saying that “ur effectively attackin me and tracey”. As I said earlier, I mentioned no names in my response, but unfortunately the replies have.

Please click here to see entire forum thread on the CEPI website. (UPDATE: SORRY IT NOW BEEN REMOVED BY CEPI)

Unfortunately we can no longer recommend CEPI due to their behaviour and extreme professionalism.