Once my attention was ‘grabbed’, I began to apply myself with enthusiasm. I needed to understand not only what was happening but why. My temperament is such that I can only learn and be convinced directly through my own experiences. Although I try to keep an open mind to other peoples’ experiences, true conviction can only arise out of personal experience.

A few weeks after my ‘lift off’, a friend told me about talking to spirits using a Ouija board. Although more than a little apprehensive, I decided to try it out. Feeling disquieted, I placed the vestments of my Uncle John, a Catholic priest, in the room and included a crucifix. The séance was to be held in my home and I had invited a group of friends and a lady medium who would conduct the proceedings.

As soon as we began, the glass whizzed around the table. It was certainly more a case of trying to hang on to it, rather than pushing it. Eventually, it came to me, bringing an incorrect message that I refused to accept. The glass whirled madly around without anyone touching it.

‘You must not contradict it,’ the medium said.

I replied, ‘I will if it’s wrong!’

Later, this so-called spirit once again tried to give me false information. Again, I dismissed it.

Later that evening, when I was alone, the atmosphere in my sitting room still felt alive, jangling almost. Pondering the evening, I came to the conclusion that calling up spirits was not a good thing to dabble in. This spirit had revealed some very private information about one of the ladies present, and I felt that it was not right: it was an invasion of her privacy.