(Ghosts in) 19 Barry Road East Dulwich

[ecarg]

Hello

Has anyone heard of or experienced ghosts in number 19 Barry Road, East Dulwich?

I understand it has now been converted into flats so these occurrences would have centred around the ground floor.

I lived there before it was converted into flats, it was one big house then with a huge back garden. Both my brother and myself experienced a number of events in the house that cannot be explained. The house had a very strange atmosphere.

I would be very interested if anybody knows anything of the history of this house, particularly to do with children. Did something happen in this house? possibly around the 1900's.

Thank you.

[Louisa]

Not necessarily specific to your former house, but I live not far from Barry Road. I?ve been interested in the paranormal for some decades now and regularly attend a spiritualist church. I?ve come to the conclusion that science and logic just cannot explain everything in this world, however much we would want it to. Numerous properties locally have reported spiritual or other worldly phenomenon in the guise of smells, unusual sounds and creeks, even manifestation in rare cases. Audible sounds without anyone being present are often the most usual reported activity.

If you are unable to get specific information on this property, please feel free to PM and I can direct you to spiritualist churches in se London which will be able to guide you towards trying to explain the unexplainable, in as best way they can.

Louisa.

[JohnL]

My mother was a spiritualist(one even conducted her funeral service at the normally COE church). She claimed a load of spirits were around all the time (even bad ones - who conveniently hung out at the pub - she didn't approve of me being there - maybe she was being a bit over protective then )

I however never see or hear anything - and if I do I assume it's the house settling or a mouse. Maybe different people have different sensitivity.

[Mick Mac]

Get a grip.

[micromacromonkey]

If we see Yvette Fielding in the "famous people in Sainsbury's" thread then we'll know what's going on.

[Blah Blah]

Have you thought of researching the genealogy of the house ecarg? Research all the people who have lived there since it was built and see if any of them have interesting stories that might connect to any strange experiences. There is a brilliant four part documentary on bbc2 iplayer called 'A House Through Time' which does just this. It seems fairly easy to find the tenants/ owners through the census records and electoral rolls.

[Champ]

Louisa Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Not necessarily specific to your former house, but

> I live not far from Barry Road. I?ve been

> interested in the paranormal for some decades now

> and regularly attend a spiritualist church. I?ve

> come to the conclusion that science and logic just

> cannot explain everything in this world, however

> much we would want it to. Numerous properties

> locally have reported spiritual or other worldly

> phenomenon in the guise of smells, unusual sounds

> and creeks, even manifestation in rare cases.

> Audible sounds without anyone being present are

> often the most usual reported activity.

>

> If you are unable to get specific information on

> this property, please feel free to PM and I can

> direct you to spiritualist churches in se London

> which will be able to guide you towards trying to

> explain the unexplainable, in as best way they

> can.

>

> Louisa.

I'm yet to see any examples of ghostly activity that can't be explained by science or logic. The idea that sounds and smells only occur around people is clearly false, the world is not static and many factors can create illusions that something is present e.g. small animals, natural changes in temperature or pressure. I'd love to be proven wrong and see some amazing images of specters or paranormal activity that isn't faked but if this was possible surely it would have happened by now.

[El Presidente]

Ghosts do not exist.

*Thread closed*

[Earl Aelfheah]

ecarg Wrote:

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> The house had a very strange atmosphere.

It's a busy road. Could be vehicle emissions?

[uncleglen]

I've heard it all now

[Penguin68]

Sadly, for those who find comfort in the thought of continued existence after death through something like 'a soul' - which is the happy companion of ghost stories, there is neither any confirmed evidence, or scientific mechanism whereby this might be achieved. There is some evidence that people, through suggestion or auto-suggestion can hear or see, or smell or sense, things that aren't there, or interpret things that are there to have a different (and supernatural) causation. I will not challenge the perceptions of people who report such things as being 'real to them' - I would challenge their interpretations of what they believe they have sensed.

[kibris]

You got RATS

[ecarg]

Hello

No rats

I don?t believe in an after life but what about chasing a young boy through the rooms on the ground floor he then stops and turns around looks at you then disappears?

I don?t know how to explain it? This is just one example.very strange how can you explain it? I don?t think you can!

N

[JohnL]

Penguin68 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Sadly, for those who find comfort in the thought

> of continued existence after death through

> something like 'a soul' - which is the happy

> companion of ghost stories, there is neither any

> confirmed evidence, or scientific mechanism

> whereby this might be achieved. There is some

> evidence that people, through suggestion or

> auto-suggestion can hear or see, or smell or

> sense, things that aren't there, or interpret

> things that are there to have a different (and

> supernatural) causation. I will not challenge the

> perceptions of people who report such things as

> being 'real to them' - I would challenge their

> interpretations of what they believe they have

> sensed.

Depends how you define time - My view of the universe is as a whole with the perception of the movement of time being something we humans see but not something the universe itself sees. So all you need is a mechanism whereby the brain sees the whole of the universe passed our limited perception of it.

Shoot me down :)

[JohnL]

LOL and I implied eternalism I think

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternalism_(philosophy_of_time)

"It is sometimes referred to as the "block time" or "block universe" theory due to its description of space-time as an unchanging four-dimensional "block""

In other words everything is already written - so don't try to hard :)

[ecarg]

A woman with long black hair walks past your door walks downstairs and disappears???

Help me explain it because I can?t??

Love to hear your theories

[GSJ57]

I checked the 1901 and 1911 census...

In 1901 a Joseph R. Wood (in his eighties)a Rope Manufacturer, was living there with 2 single children Emily and John (both in their forties) and a servant - Annie Love. Joseph was born in Bethnal Green and his children were both born in Mile End.

In 1911 it looks like it was a Dentist's Surgery:

Harry Edward Heath Smedley 42 Unregistered Dentist Born: Liverpool

Eleanor Smedley 48 wife

James Stuart Gladstone Smedley son 18 Dentist Apprentice

Norman Smedley son 16 Dentist Improver

Clifford Lawson Smedley son 13

George Linnears Dallingers Smedley son 11

Lillian Eleanor Heath Smedley 8

Dorothy Nash Servant 17

ETA: In 1911 it states it was a 10 room house

[Penguin68]

"It is sometimes referred to as the "block time" or "block universe" theory due to its description of space-time as an unchanging four-dimensional "block""

Yes, I know about block-time - and the theory that our perception of time being linear (and one-way) is but a perception. However, just because space-time is a block (if it is) doesn't mean that as individual entities we occupy or could occupy all of it. So although I only believe my life is a continuous process with a start and a finish, doesn't mean that I also occupy times outside my life - the part of the space-time block I'm in is the only part of space-time I was or will be (to use the terms of linearity) in. So events that fall outside my bit of space time are still closed to me. In so far as 'ghosts' are phantoms of lives that took place outside 'my' bit of space-time - they are still not available to me, as events outside our light-cone aren't.

[NB the idea of block space-time works if you believe that there is a space-time continuum - that this is a real 4 dimensional entity - just as 'space' (3D) clearly isn't being created and destroyed as we roll through it, so neither can time be - it must exist with or without us, and without linearity. However if this is so, does it make sense for cosmologists to talk about the Universe being 13bn years old? - Surely it must be as much no time old as eternally so. It is just our local conditions which suggest it is 13bn years old.]

[NickDan]

If you check out the trusted traders section, there's a group of college kids who go around and check this sort of stuff out. They come highly recommended. There's four of them I think. They drive around in a van, and have a pet dog.

Good luck. And whatever you do, don't suspect the kindly old neighbour at number 21. He's definitely not dressing up, making noises, and then posting about it all on EDF to try and drive the price down of number 19.

[JohnL]

Penguin68 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> "It is sometimes referred to as the "block time"

> or "block universe" theory due to its description

> of space-time as an unchanging four-dimensional

> "block""

>

> Yes, I know about block-time - and the theory that

> our perception of time being linear (and one-way)

> is but a perception. However, just because

> space-time is a block (if it is) doesn't mean that

> as individual entities we occupy or could occupy

> all of it. So although I only believe my life is a

> continuous process with a start and a finish,

> doesn't mean that I also occupy times outside my

> life - the part of the space-time block I'm in is

> the only part of space-time I was or will be (to

> use the terms of linearity) in. So events that

> fall outside my bit of space time are still closed

> to me. In so far as 'ghosts' are phantoms of lives

> that took place outside 'my' bit of space-time -

> they are still not available to me, as events

> outside our light-cone aren't.

>

>

Tend to agree - but a lot still to know about time and how it works. I don't believe it's linear sweeping forward across the whole universe at second per second.

As I've said it's so difficult for me to comment on ghosts as I've never seen anything whilst so many people I speak to claim to have. Most spooky thing was a seance at university where the glass flew across the room and the boy doing it claimed the spirits were attracted to me personally (he did it I'm sure - the git)

[micromacromonkey]

ecarg Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> A woman with long black hair walks past your door

> walks downstairs and disappears???

> Help me explain it because I can?t??

> Love to hear your theories

Have you ever been to the doctor wearing underpants made out of cling film?

[Penguin68]

A woman with long black hair walks past your door walks downstairs and disappears???

Help me explain it because I can?t??

Love to hear your theories

Externalising the internal is in fact quite common (I'm not saying this is the answer to your particular experience - I generalise). Schizophrenics do it with their voices, it can often occur during episodes of fever (or dehydration), it can be alcohol or drug induced, I have found myself falling asleep in front of the telly and half waking 'inside' the show I was watching. A large number of people in the nineteenth century and before believed that they woke up to find a hag or phantom on their chest - in the 20th century and now that has segued into beliefs in alien abduction. Because you can't find an explanation of something doesn't then mean that it is magical or supernatural. It just means that you can't find an explanation for it.

[Earl Aelfheah]

ecarg Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> A woman with long black hair walks past your door

> walks downstairs and disappears???

> Help me explain it because I can?t??

> Love to hear your theories

acciiieeeeed

[Guest]

You need to be really careful researching a particular house, as street numbering changes over time. Many of Southwark's streets have been renumbered, especially after the war as so many buildings were lost.

I see from Google earth that 19 Barry Road has a name, so try looking for the name of the house on the census rather than the number, as the house name or terrace was often recorded.

[Earl Aelfheah]

Also, numbers change between astral planes.