Ciarán takes some time out to answer our questions:
You've visited a lot of locations during Most Haunted, which one do you feel was the most haunted? I think for me it was SS Great Britain, mainly because it came down to a personal experience for me. There were quite a few other members of the team who had an experience too.What was your experience? I had a sense of dread being in the lower part of the accommodation area on the ship. I just wish there was a scientific word for it but I was spooked! There could be an alternative explanation to it, as we’re dealing with an accommodation area in an old 18th/19th century ship, I was aware that people lived under very poor conditions, but I don’t think there was enough there that I would’ve thought would spook me. Even some of the experiences people have had there before are terrifying experiences - a sense of presence, certainly not enough for a die-hard parapsychologist like myself to pick up on, but that particular night, when we did the investigation it spooked me.
Is there anywhere that has scared you so much that you’d never visit again? I would visit all of the locations again. I’d love to spend longer at most of the locations and do more experiments and some more environmental measurements. I’d love to visit nearly all of the locations again, I’d don’t think there’s any I’d not go back to. Remember, it takes a lot for me to get scared.
Although your background is scientific, do you believe in ghosts? It’s not a question of belief for me, I get asked a lot. For me, as a scientist it’s about being open-minded on a case-by-case basis. I’m open-minded to the possibility that there could be ghosts. I have to look at each case from the evidence that is presented.
What do you think of Séances? I think they are a hot-bed of psychological phenomenon. I don’t think there’s anything paranormal going on at a séance, I think that when something physical happens like the table moves, it’s merely down to trickery or unconscious movement. When information comes up or people report subjective experiences like temperature drops or feel dizzy, or tired this comes down to psychology. People are sitting around the table and they have the desire to communicate with the spirits, it’s a huge psychological phenomena.
What is the strangest thing that has happened to you during a Most Haunted show? Apart from Carl’s Elvis impression?! I would say when we did the Golden Fleet in York. We called it the big laugh. The laughter was only heard by Yvette, it was just very strange because we managed to have several different audio recordings and Yvette’s radio lapel mike was the only place you’ll hear the laughter. So that’s quite weird.
Would you ever live in a house that was supposedly haunted? I’d absolutely love it! Yeah it would be like living in a laboratory for the rest of my life, fantastic.
