WEST Yorkshire is said to be home to a lot of haunted places- and Jason Austerfield has explored a lot of them.
The 39-year-old is founder and lead investigator of the group West Yorkshire Paranormal Limited which he started around 10 years ago
He said: “We used to be a small group based in Leeds- but now our team members are from all over the county and we investigate places all over Yorkshire.
While the group often conduct investigations in notoriously haunted places, they are most often called out to people’s houses to help rid homes of any unwanted spirits.
“I always wanted to be a Ghostbuster,” he joked. “I loved the movies.”
The paranormal group is a TAPS family member, which is a network of paranormal investigators who are deemed as experienced enough to deal with paranormal disturbances.
Jason said: “TAPS set up some paranormal teams across the world to investigate cases for them.
“For these cases, we don’t get paid or charge anyone- we simply help people.”
The team have visited over 100 houses in the last ten years- but Jason maintains that not all of them have been haunted.
He said: “In 99% of cases we are called out to, we can explain the so called ‘paranormal experience’.
“It will be an environmental factor or mice in the walls.
“In some cases, it is haunted and we do what we can do to help them.
“Nine times out of ten, the building is being haunted by a relative and the owners don’t actually want to move the ghost on.”
Jason added that the group has received a spike in calls since lockdown, which he maintains might be because people are spending more time at home and realising there is something not quite right with the house.
The most haunted places in West Yorkshire
According to Jason, the majority of their callouts are to homes in Bradford.
The city is also home to a lot of spooky places, one of which is Bolling Hall.
(Photo: Geograph/ Linden Milner)
People claim that this building is haunted by the ghost of the mysterious white lady- some people even believe they captured photographic evidence of her.
Jason also had an unusual experience during his trip to the hall.
He said: “When we visited we were the only ones in the building- and there was definitely something in there.
“There is a wooden cot in there and you could hear it rocking back and forth on its own.
“We got our EMF meter (device that detects an electromagnetic field) and it suggested that something was standing by the cot.
“We also heard footsteps above us like people running around- of course, I went to check it out and there was nobody to be seen.”
Jason maintains that another haunted place in the region is 30 East Drive in Pontefract.
Some say this is the most haunted house in Britain and is said to be haunted by the ominous black monk.
While Jason believes it’s haunted he doesn’t believe the spirits in there are sinister.
He explained: “I personally don’t think it’s as bad as people say is
“It felt like there was something hugging my leg- but the presence didn’t feel sinister just more like children are haunting the building.”
Another one of Jason’s most memorable investigations was at Keighley’s underground streets.
(Facebook/West Yorkshire Paranormal)
He said: “We went down there a few years ago and there is definitely something down there.
“It felt like someone was touching your neck the whole time and you could also hear someone breathing down your ear.
“It is pitch black too which only intensified the experience.”
While Jason maintains that there are a lot of haunted places in the world Jason maintains that the cliché of a haunted graveyard needs to be put to bed.
He said: “Who would want to haunt a graveyard?
“It’s very rare you get a haunted graveyard- spirits would rather go to their happy place.
The same goes for ‘orbs’ which Jason says are mostly dust particles.
He explained: “People get annoyed when I can explain away these ‘orbs’- but they’re really just dust particles or bugs caught on camera.”
You can keep up-to-date with West Yorkshire Paranormal limited on their Facebook page.
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