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Galway’s own paranormal investigators ain’t afraid of no ghosts
If there’s something strange in the neighbourhood, Galway has its very own ghost hunters to investigate the situation – and they certainly ain’t afraid of no ghosts!
They may not drive a pimped-out hearse like the ladies in the most recent Ghostbusters movie remake, and they certainly don’t return home covered in green goo – with a vacuum box of ghosts in hand – but Galway-based Paranormal Supernatural Investigations (PSI) certainly aren’t short of equipment when they go out on their ghost-hunting adventures.
“When we come across paranormal activity, we use digital voice recorders to record Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVPs), and EMF meters, cameras, an infrared video camera and full spectrum videos,” explained PSI founder James Moore.
Electronic Voice Phenomena or EVP is a term that is regularly used among ghost hunters and describes the sounds found on electronic recordings that are interpreted as spirit voices. EMF meters are also used by ghost hunters to measure fluctuations in electromagnetic fields.
There are many paranormal theories that suggest spirits have the ability to manipulate electromagnetic fields, and the team at Paranormal Supernatural Investigations certainly do their part to prove these theories.
“If there is activity, the lights on the K-2 meters start flashing,” said an investigator on the team, Colm Lydon, and many of the videos these ghost hunters have uploaded to the internet would support this.
And while there are plenty of sceptics when it comes to ghosts and ghouls, Mr Lydon maintains that supernatural activity is quite common and “if they’re sceptics, they’re shocked with the evidence we get”.
In fact, each member of the team has had an experience with supernatural activity. The whole reason PSI was set up goes back to an experience James Moore had while living in Birmingham.
“I saw a spirit in my house, walking around on the upstairs landing. I thought I was seeing things, but then I saw it again two more times. It was about six feet tall and static grey in colour and male.
“I was in bed and then I suddenly woke up at three in the morning. The bedroom door was open and that’s when I saw a figure crawling along the landing. Then it stood up and walked away. Three weeks later, the same thing happened again at three in the morning.
“The third and last time it appeared again at three o’clock in the morning, but this time I spoke to it. I sat up in the bed and said ‘Can I help you?’ It stood up and it seemed to look down at me for about a minute. I asked it the same question again. It turned and walked towards my brother’s bedroom and walked through my brother’s bedroom door.
“After that, it never came back. At first I was a little freaked out. I didn’t know what to think at the time. But it didn’t bother me the last two times. Since then, I’ve been interested in the Paranormal, so I decided to set up PSI.”
Many spirits are on a cycle, he said, which is why this spirit chose the same time in the morning to walk the same path: “They are called residual spirits. They replay the same thing over and over again – like a recording, some believe.”
So far the team at Paranormal Supernatural Investigations consists of eleven investigators: Founder and Lead Investigator James Moore; Lead Investigator Ronan O’Grady; and Investigators Colm Lydon, Noelle Maher, Katie Welby, Ann Crowe, Philip Costello, John Francis Gibbon, Martin Ward, Gabriel Creaven and Lorna Howard.
Each member of the team has his or her own reasons for joining PSI and their own inspirations for hunting down paranormal activity in Galway and further afield.
“When I was younger, I had an entity come to my room and it was choking me. I wouldn’t sleep in my room for months after,” Colm Lydon explains, and various studies and documentaries would prove that he’s not the first to experience something like this.
In fact, many people across the world have had visits from the ‘night hag’, an evil entity who sits on the chest of a man or woman lying on their back at night. This causes paralysis, and sometimes the night hag will even choke or smother the victim, while they lie powerless beneath her.
The ‘Sleep Paralysis’ phenomenon is one that has been around for a long time and continues to be a paranormal experience that plagues numerous people. Many have put what has become known as ‘Old Hag Syndrome’ down to hallucinations or nightmares, but the vision of the night hag has been a common enough report to suggest it might be more than that.
According to the team, much of the paranormal activity they come across is from the ghosts of those who have passed away, and in many cases, they come across these spirits while on one of their late night graveyard investigations.
When there is a spirit nearby, it often appears in photographs as an orb of light, a shadow blocking the camera, or a wispy, smoky vision over a headstone. These images coupled with the loud beeping and flashing lights of the meters are, quite possibly, enough to change any sceptic’s mind.
Many people are reluctant to believe in the existence of ghosts and spirits, but none can say for sure what really happens when we die. James Moore is convinced that the spirits of the dead are here for a reason: “to watch over us, maybe…”
And with Halloween approaching – a night historically known as the ‘night of the dead’, where the souls of the deceased would walk the earth – the people of Galway should be on the look-out for any unusual or paranormal activity in their neighbourhood.
And if there is something strange, Paranormal Supernatural Investigations are on call to check it out – free of charge: “We do get asked [to investigate paranormal activity], not hired. We don’t get paid to do these investigations. And we are going to continue doing these investigations to help people.”
■ For more information on PSI, you can find them on Facebook under Paranormal Supernatural Investigations – Galway. Their Facebook page consists of a series of videos taken while out on their adventures, as well as photographs of activity they have come across.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
On the eve of completing his 150th marathon, an odyssey that has taken him across 53 countries, Loughrea’s Marathon Man has announced that he is planning to hang up his running shoes.
But not before Jarlath Fitzgerald completes another ten races, making it 160 marathons on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
“I want to draw the line in 2026. I turn 57 in October and when I reach 60 it’s the finishing line. The longer races are taking it out of me. I did 20 miles there two weeks ago and didn’t feel good. It’s getting harder,” he reveals.
“I’ve arthritis in both hips and there’s wear and tear in the knees.”
We speak as he is about to head out for a run before his shift in Supervalu Loughrea. Despite his physical complaints, he still clocks up 30 miles every second week and generally runs four days a week.
Jarlath receives injections to his left hip to keep the pain at bay while running on the road.
To give his joints a break, during the winter he runs cross country and often does a five-mile trek around Kylebrack Wood.
He is planning on running his 150th marathon in Cork on June 4, where a group of 20 made up of work colleagues, friends and running mates from Loughrea Athletics Club will join him.
Some are doing the 10k, others are doing the half marathon, but all will be there on the finishing line to cheer him on in the phenomenal achievement.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
