Paranormal & Spectral Investigations

Back in 2003, after a lifetime interest in ghost stories, and several years of paranormal investigations both sporadically and with organised groups, Rachel Lacy, the woman dubbed "York's very own Ghost Finder General," decided it was time to set up her own group in York, the city she was born and raised in.

PSI-Chicks was formed as an umbrella title (being all girlies at the start - Rachel, Diana Jarvis and Carol Harris), with Psychic & Spectral Investigations (PSI) paranormal investigation group being the main arm of it. Whilst Rachel may have uttered the first: "why don't we form our own group? There's plenty to go at in York," it would never have happened without Diana who already had experience of running paranormal events and psychic fairs, and had been working as a medium for a number of years.

PSI is a non-profit making paranormal investigation company that also undertakes disturbance assistance (discretely resolving hauntings in someone's own home or business), which later launched what is believed to be the first ghost festival in the UK in 2004, with a three day celebration of the paranormal - the term meaning beyond the range of normal experience or scientific explanation, although the major emphasis is on ghosts. Several other cities have now followed our lead, notably Edinburgh, London, Oxford and Stratford-upon-Avon.



It was during the run up to the first GhostFest that the Dead Wenches first took to the streets, the seed of the idea that became Ghost Hosts was planted, and Rachel and Diana found out just how much stress they could both cope with! The festival also spawned Necropolis: City of the Dead Walks - Historical Not Hysterical. A rather wordy title, its usually refered to as just Necropolis, which offers bespoke walks of York: the name coming from the Roman burial grounds, several of which ring the city. They're not ghost walks as such, they are more un-ghost walks - celebrating the tradtion of ghost stories, but then explaining the history behind them, or rather, usually the lack of history to back them. There are still a few though that stand up to this scrutiny, made all the more interesting by not being easily dismissed by historical fact.

Having survived that experience, the group changed names to Paranormal & Spectral Investigations to reflect their interests: from the very early days James Littlewood was involved as a Chief Science Officer, with various other people joining for an event, a few months, years or permanently with interests in mediumship, history, science and filming. The group does not just focus on ghosts, or even one side of investigating them, but has also gone in search of Big Cats and UFOs.

A year later Isobel Billington Witchcraft Walks were launched as part of the next festival, but York is a bit thin on the ground with alleged witches - we were far too sensible to be taken in by stories and were remarkably lenient on them! Around that time Harriet Ayre English Civil War Walks were first launched.

In 2005 the festival also saw its first theatrical performance, which brought in a number of re-enactors to recreate (in a reasonably slapstick style) some of the traditional ghost stories of York. Although PSI and Necropolis have focused on investigating the truth behind the ghost stories, the stories themselves represent a wonderful oral history tradition (many of them are cautionary tales, how many of them refer to somebody getting their just desserts for evil deeds?) which Rachel feels ought to be celebrated in its own right. Around the same time Rachel also formally announced her desire to resurrect an old pirate name from medieval times, and The Victualling Brothers pirate re-enactment group was formed.

In 2007 it was announced that the festival will now be running four times a year, however after this initial flurry of activity the group has been forced to have a few quiet years whilst members fought health problems, moved house, settled down, broke up... all the normal things of everyday life, including in most cases seeing something of their families, having other interests and holding down day jobs whilst PSI classed as the night shift!

As part of the 2008 ghostfest, Tavern Trails (self-guided walking tours of haunted pubs) was launched, which were available from the starting pubs during the festival, one of them is on the History of York website, and on the York Ghost Festival website alongside the two walking tours from the 2009 GhostFest.

Also in 2009 we launched Rivers of Blood: Death, despair, blood and gore: spend an evening exploring the seedy underbelly of York's past with York's Ghost Finder General & Friends.

Which brings us on to our new editions: Night Shift  has taken over from Ghost Hosts as a more general title,  and next year will hopefully see the publication of new books by both Rachel Lacy. Even more excitingly, Diana Jarvis's first book is being launched at the start of 2011!

For more information on what we do click on the links at the top of the page or below: