Is this 19th century England’s ‘most evil man’?
THIS ghostly figure pictured two weeks ago in the window of one of the most haunted rooms at Warwick Castle could be that of renowned spiritualist, Aleister Crowley.
It was taken, by chance, on an iPhone by paranormal investigator Mariehanna Dickson.
The 30-year-old, who lives in Henley, snapped the figure during a visit to the 1,100-year-old castle as she prepared for a paranormal investigation there in October.
And she believes it could be the figure of Crowley, who, in the late 1800s, was considered the most evil man in England, because of his séances at the castle where he regularly summoned ghosts.
Mariehanna told the Herald she took a few snaps on her phone, including that of an information board, which made mention of Archdeacon Colley, a renowned spiritualist from Mariehanna’s native South Africa.
When she took a closer look at the photos when she got home, she saw the figure in the reflection.
“Knowing the history of the room [it is said to be the most haunted in the castle] I did feel uncomfortable at the time, because I was in there on my own. And when I looked at the photo closely when I got home and noticed the figure, I went ice cold.
“I asked the castle to look at their CCTV and whether there was any waxworks in there at the time, and there wasn’t. We tried to recreate it, but we couldn’t.
“In this industry people work for decades and spend thousands of pounds on hi-tech equipment, cameras and spirit boxes etc, and hours in buildings to get nothing, so the last thing I expected was to walk in and snap something on my iPhone.
“You can see the way the light is around it that it’s not a completely solid figure, and if anyone is going to be in this room it’s the man who spent his life holding séances there, Aleister Crowley.”
During the late 1800s, Daisy Greville, the 5th Countess of Warwick, held a number of séances inside the castle and invited renowned spiritualists, including Crowley, to conduct them.
It is said he opened a Vortex — a curtain between the dead and living — in the Kenilworth Bedroom that has never been closed, according to the castle’s historian, Richard Shepard.
He told the Herald: “With over 1,100 years of history, it is not surprising that we receive stories of paranormal encounters at Warwick Castle. Spiritualists claim that the Kenilworth Bedroom is the most haunted in the castle and the one with the most paranormal activity.”
Mariehanna is the founder and lead investigator of www.sageparanormal.co.uk, which is carrying out the paranormal investigation at the castle in October.
