I have the pleasure of introducing you to the fascinating world of paranormal investigations through the eyes of the Suffolk Spirit Hunters. I recently reached out to Suffolk Spirit Hunters and had the opportunity to interview Steve, one of the founders of this intriguing group, and dive into their experiences, challenges, and the thrilling journey Steve, Emma and Team embark on in the realm of the supernatural. Here is the exciting Q&As….
Q1: Can you tell us a bit about the founding of Suffolk Spirit Hunters? What inspired you to start this group?
Steve: We’re both very much into history and like to visit historic locations wherever we tend to travel to within the UK. Whenever we’ve been into these locations, we’ve always joked and said, “I bet this place is haunted!” Then, on the off chance, we visited a part-ruined church in Covehithe, Suffolk, where I used the voice recorder on my phone and appeared to pick up an EVP. It was after that we thought we’d try and investigate other locations, and it has kind of ballooned from there. I have always been fascinated by the paranormal, though, as growing up, we lived in a haunted house, and Emma has had experiences when living in Nottinghamshire, so that has also played a part.
Q2: What has been your most memorable investigation to date, and why?
Steve: We think our most memorable investigation was when we visited East Harling Old School in Norfolk. During investigations, we rarely see or hear anything at the time, and it is only when reviewing the evidence that we realise we may have found something. When reviewing the evidence for this location, we found that we had picked up a child laughing. This was picked up on both the voice recorder and our camera audio. This wasn’t prompted, as we, at that point, hadn’t asked if anyone wanted to speak with us. The odd thing is, when looking back over the video footage, our friends seemed to react to it and looked at each other as if wondering what they had just heard, and Emma looked and said, “I’m sure I just saw something.” For those reasons, that is probably our most memorable investigation to date, although we have picked up some very clear EVPs at other locations.
Q3: How do you prepare for an investigation, and what equipment do you typically use?
Steve: The equipment we currently use includes night vision cameras, a phone with a gimbal if it’s daytime, voice recorders, a K2 metre, a REM pod, and cat balls. We prep by making sure these items are fully charged or have enough battery power, and that’s about it when it comes to equipment. We’ll research the locations as much as we can to see who we may come into contact with, if at all. We usually take a voice recorder with us wherever we go, to be honest, on the off chance that we may stumble across somewhere we can investigate.
Q4: Can you describe any particularly compelling evidence of paranormal activity that you’ve encountered?
Steve: Virtually all of our evidence is EVPs, although we have had an unexplained mist move from one side of the room to another when we investigated Litcham Jubilee Hall in Norfolk. Following a review of the voice recordings and footage, we (mainly me, it seems) have been sworn at. We’ve picked up a number of EVPs—some really clear, some not so. We do seem to pick up quite a few EVPs of varying degrees, but I seem to have the hearing of a dog when listening back. These potential EVPs are then amplified and cleaned up where possible, although we only tend to share the clearest. We’ve had an EVP in response to Emma asking how a cat ball lit up without seemingly any interaction. This EVP said, “ask Mummy.” We’ve also had EVPs that don’t seem to be in response to us at all and appear to be random answers. Some EVPs we’ve picked up appear to be two people talking to each other.
Q5: How do you handle sceptics and criticism of your work?
Steve: We have no issue with people being sceptical because there is no scientific proof that ghosts, spirits, or life after death exist. You have to respect the right of people to have an opinion as long as they’re not mean and nasty with how they respond. It’s good to have a debate about it as well, especially as there seems to be more and more evidence coming to light. To be honest, you have to expect there to be scepticism as there are so many groups and people that fake it for YouTube views, subscribers, etc. It doesn’t help when it appears that some TV programs do the same or claim to have evidence from equipment that could technically be manipulated. I’m a believer, and Emma is a sceptic, and when watching these programs, we’re often sceptical of the ‘evidence’ that has been produced.
Q6: What locations in Suffolk do you find to be the most haunted or have the most intriguing stories?
Steve: Dunwich is probably the most intriguing location in Suffolk due to its long history and the fact that it has a ruined priory, a single grave left over from the church that fell into the sea, and a leper hospital. We did pick up an EVP in the leper hospital. However, we investigate all over East Anglia and find locations in Norfolk are fascinating. Norfolk has the most churches of any county in the country, with a significant number being ruins. As for the places we’ve investigated that were the most haunted, we would probably have to say Finchingfield Guildhall in Essex, Layham Village Hall in Suffolk, and while we didn’t investigate here, Chippenham Church in Cambridgeshire.
Q7: Have you ever experienced any personal challenges or fears during your investigations? How did you overcome them?
Steve: I always thought that I’d be quite frightened being left alone in locations but find that the more we do, the less I worry about it. Emma has never really had any fears. However, we have visited Chippenham Church two or three times in the past. We initially visited researching family history, but as we often do, had a voice recorder and did some asking out and received some faint responses. The second time we went back, it really did feel as though we weren’t wanted there, and it felt oppressive to the extent I wanted to go. Emma also felt she had been punched in the back when sitting in an area that in the past had been kept aside for the local dignitaries. We have been back since, and it was fine. I think to overcome any fears, you just have to keep investigating.
Q8: What advice would you give to someone who is interested in starting their own paranormal investigation team?
Steve: Don’t really know what advice to give, really, as there are far more experienced teams than us who have been around for a lot longer. What we would say, though, is don’t jump to the conclusion that any noise or movement is paranormal because it likely isn’t. If you make a noise, say so, so then it’s logged on your voice recorder or footage. Be transparent and always try to come up with a reasonable answer as to what caused a noise or movement and then review your footage or recordings and decide from there. If posting evidence online, always mention things like, “it appears that we caught an EVP,” so that debunkers have little reason to have a go at you. If you’re using your phone or just have it nearby, put it into aeroplane mode as it does significantly affect the K2 metre. Finally, we highly recommend that you don’t use apps because there isn’t visual or audible evidence.
Q9: How can people get involved with Suffolk Spirit Hunters or follow your work?
Steve: We have a YouTube channel: @SuffolkSpiritHunters, or people can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok.
Alternatively, message us on any of these platforms if you’d like us to conduct an investigation, if we’re available to collaborate, or even just to see if you can come and investigate with us. We have started collaborating with a great team called Watching Shadows and are open to discussing doing so with other groups.
Q10: What are your future plans and goals for Suffolk Spirit Hunters?
Steve: We’re always looking to investigate new locations, but we are looking at revisiting some of the locations we have investigated since we started out to follow up on the evidence we obtained. We’re hoping to return to Finchingfield this year and will continue to collaborate with Watching Shadows. We’ll also be looking at our list of potential locations to visit and investigate. As for goals, we would like to get more clear evidence out there and try and convince more people that there is something that we’re unable to explain, whether we’re communicating with people who have passed over, whether it’s dimensions crossing, or whether it’s something else.
I hope you enjoyed this Q&A with the Suffolk Spirit Hunters. Their dedication to uncovering the paranormal, combined with a balanced approach to evidence and scepticism, makes their journey truly fascinating. Stay tuned for more updates and thrilling discoveries from their investigations and a HUGE BIG Thank you to Steve for giving the Mystic Realm Blog the opportunity to interview him.
