How far would an institution go to explain the unexplained?

In Part One, Ciaran Farrell recounted the childhood experiences that began in a haunted holiday home before, according to his account, following him into his boarding school.

In Part Two, we explored how the alleged paranormal activity escalated, affecting pupils and staff alike as the school struggled to maintain order.

Now, in Part Three, the story takes its darkest turn.

As the disturbances intensified, school authorities sought increasingly extreme ways to understand—and suppress—what they believed was happening. Ciaran reflects on the highly disciplined culture of the residential school, the psychiatric theories used to explain the alleged hauntings, and the controversial medical treatments he says were employed in an attempt to stop the phenomena.

This episode examines the complex intersection of psychiatry, discipline and paranormal belief during a very different era, raising important questions about how children were treated and how unusual experiences were interpreted.

My Special Guest Is Ciaran Farrell:

Ciaran has served as a Council member of the Society for Psychical Research, SPR and the SPR’s Spontaneous Cases committee, SCC for many years.

He has had many psychical experiences and adventures when he was a boy. This led him to formulate his own early theories about ghosts, poltergeists and telepathic veridical dreams of the dead gained through direct encounters with ghosts, spirits and poltergeists.

He went on to build and design some of his own ghost-hunting equipment and to improve upon his previous theories about Cold Spots building on his own experience of them and his own ghost adventures.

He formulated the concept of ‘my body as an instrument’ to monitor and evaluate his perception of the atmospheres of rooms and outdoor places and preternatural Cold Spots within them as well as the perception and detection of poltergeists and ghost encounters.

NEW

Podcast Shop:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.teepublic.com/user/haunted-history-chronicles⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Buy Me A Coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ko-fi.com/hauntedhistorychronicles⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠