Live Psychic & Science @ Darlington Civic

I love scary movies, ghost stories and tales of the supernatural; Japanese films like Ju-On, The Grudge and Ringu with their basis on spirit, vengeance and unfinished business are my staple fayre for a Saturday night.  Likewise local tales of the unexplained grab my imagination completely, but if someone was to ask if I was a 'believer' then I would probably have to say not quite, not yet anyway.

I guess that because for work I deal with facts, figures and exact things, the prospect of things I can't explain really fascinates me. I am not someone who tries to rationalise these type of thing either, just very happy to live in the moment and keep an open mind.

So, when I saw the opportunity to go to Darlington Civic theatre to watch the Live Psychic & Science show I was immediately intrigued; how would a theatre full of watchers respond to a stage show offering live seances, a human pendulum and many more.

Hosted by Paul Gannon and calling on the expertise of TV medium Chris Conway, paranormal investigator Denise Mott and paranormal historian Richard Felix, the calibre of our earthly guests was impressive.  (as anyone who has watched "Most Haunted" would agree).  This was only the 2nd show in the tour and some of the technical solutions were still being fine tuned (although in this type of show, any interruption to the 'norm' could be attributed to interference by other visitors)

Paul proceeded to introduce the show and set the scene for what we were about to enjoy - the theatre was going into lock down (a great phrase which immediately heightened feelings), that Chris would be protecting the audience and should anyone feel unwell they should make it known to Denise who would be amongst the auditorium.

We were to be treated to a Ouija Board, a seance, a human pendulum, a lone vigil and many more exercises in exploring the spirit side of this old theatre, but what really worked for me was the small interjections by Richard who, as a paranormal historian, brought some local focus and a degree of explanation to the evenings activities.  Richard had explored the history of Darlington, the town and of course the theatre and was able to add stories from the past which really gave a grounding to the spirit interaction we witnessed.

I will resist the temptation to take you through each part of the show in depth; for anyone who is thinking of going to see this show it would be unfair to remove the cloak of the unknown but as each venue will be different I can let you in on a couple of specifics.

Throughout the show there were very strange feelings; icy blasts of air (and it's a very old theatre so it wasn't the air conditioning), a sense of being watched from behind, I had the distinct feeling of a hand grabbing the back of my neck (and there was no-one in the row behind) and regular emotions of unease & almost sadness.

Through the Ouija board (which was guided by 9 members of the audience and Chris) we made contact with the spirit of a stage hand who hanged himself in the theatre.  Chris was also able to guide the spirit of a little girl who lost her life in the theatre (the question "were you murdered?" received a very definite Yes response from the board and an audible gasp from the audience). 

The human pendulum, in which a member of the audience volunteers to allow themselves to be moved by spirit in response to Yes & No questions was possibly the most intense as the messages which came through were very personal to another member of the audience, someone who was looking for some closure and hopefully she got it (it was very moving to witness).

The show moves at a great pace, which only serves to intensify the feelings when the focus stops on one specific entity.  At times there were many different happenings all at once - spirits both upstairs & down, unease in the theatre box, the lone vigil on the overhead screen as well as the guided interaction through the group on stage but Paul manages very well to keep everything together without it feeling chaotic (having said that, spirits are a law unto themselves so they won't always stick to the 'running order'). 

Richard explained, there are 3 types of people - believers, cynics and sceptics.  Believers welcome any opportunity to interact with spirit, cynics are out to disprove, debunk or at least refuse to accept there could be a spirit world,  whereas sceptics have yet to be convinced but are open of mind. 

I entered the show as a sceptic; I like to think I have an open mind but I also like my own proof before truly accepting.  I left the show with more questions than answers yet leaning very much towards being a believer.