From Hitchin to Hitching; the Weekend, Good and Bad

I would like to have been on the march.

But a promise is a promise,especially to my awesome Best Lady, who has asked me to return the favour later this year, and it is always very cool to spend time with her,so off we went on a ghost hunt with a paranormal society. The place: Hitchin Priory.

This is a grand old house, and it's got the works; Carmelite monks, suicides, children playing, ghosts waving at the window, people vanishing through walls (It's a hotel now though very well preserved) we had ourselves a mixed blessing, in so much as an enthusiastic and very genuine key keeper who had lived and worked there took us around, and he had lots of information as well as his own sightings to share. The drawback was that we never went far from him, so it wasn't a proper stake-out as such.

The other thing I found a bit frustrating was the strange blend of desire for objectivity and non-critical thinking. Black tourmaline, we were assured, is a way of stopping and grounding psychic/haunting activity, a great crystal to keep in your car to prevent something from 'attaching' and following you home. But tourmaline was discovered in the 16th century and properly identified in the 18th century, so where does this reputation come from? My suspicion is that the source lies in Magical Marketing Land. I'm no great student of crystals, though... perhaps there is genuine anthropological information out there claiming the use of black tourmaline in early times as a protector, and I've just never heard of it.If one is going to accept the paradigm, or even if one doesn't but accepts the power of placebo, it's a possibility, and perhaps belief in tourmaline can counter the belief in being pursued. After all, if it's about enhancing the power of faith, why shouldn't it work as well as anything else? And in fairness, its pyroelectric properties might influence ...something...maybe. From what I recall of old school experts, you want protection, you want salt and fire and holy water, plus a bit of sage here and there and maybe your prayers. The Winchester Boys are closer to Ye Auld Ways than your local New Age shop. But, who knows? Anyhooo...

There was also a psychic there, and everybody liked him. It would be impolite for me not to like him too.

We wandered round in a clustering crowd, and found ourselves in a room where our EMF readers sparked into lights and blips. 'Yes, there's one here,' he said knowingly to the crowd, 'It's Ralph the Hunter...What?' He yelled at the empty corner, 'Behave! Mind your language, there are ladies present! Don't worry about him he's just cursing and swearing at the moment...No! Your time is past!' He continued to shout at the space for a while. I excused myself quietly. We were not going to find much in the way of real phenomena with such pantomime going on. But the history was interesting, and the frost and stars were very bright on the way home. We left early in the morning, no tourmaline needed.

Sunday, Best Lady asked shyly if I would join her in some wedding dress shopping, provided she could find a stockist open. I agreed... the result was some London hunting and out of nowhere, the discovery of The Dress. Her face flushed all pink and pretty and sparkling-eyed the moment we put the veil on her. My friend is going to look very beautiful on her day.