Paranormal activity has increased since this tour began

Once more we had a successful ghost hunt on 26th March with several of the previous presences at both the old graveyard at Clifton Street and within the prison complex joining us. Almost twenty people on the March tour testified to unexplained phenomena in the tunnel and others witnessed more sightings on the landing. The majority of this has been captured on camera and video clips. Each month we receive further paranormal activity on this tour and NIPRA have joined us to provide some rational explanation. The photo demonstrates just one of the strange phenomenon - orbs. On this tour you do not get one or two by chance. To book your place online visit the Tours of Belfast website

Is anybody out there..

I was really looking forward to the tour of the jail and the cemetery, as I really quite like local history and find it fascinating. The history talk certainly did not disappoint. It was incredibly interesting – who would have believed all that happened in Northern Ireland!

Now the ‘ghost hunting’ part of the tour was a different thing. I’ll be honest and admit that when it comes to ghosts/spirits I am very sceptical to the point of not believing, however, I went with an open mind and if it meant meeting a ghost/spirit, I hoped it would be more Casper than poltergeist.

Yes it is true that in the jail I felt, saw and heard things, but I believe they could all be explained in very rational terms.

The tour was in January, which is winter, and winter is very cold, particularly in huge empty buildings that do not have central heating, double-glazing or carpets. Feeling the cold and draughts under these circumstances did not make me feel a spirit was close.

Sure, in the tunnel I saw lots of bright lights and glowing floating spots of light, but these were only in the aftermath of the dozen or so camera flashes coming from other people on the tour. I don’t think this was demonstrative of spirits being near but rather bright lights in a darkened room dazzling me.

And as for hearing spirit responses to the guides’ questions, the only responses I heard were the anxious/nervous squeals and giggles from those people who were caught up in the notion of seeing or feeling spirits, which is certainly not the knocks we could have expected.

The jail itself is a sad place; many thousands of people young and old passed through those doors and endured conditions we can only imagine. Going into a building such as this evokes many feelings, some may feel sick but I think it might be empathy, especially when taken to the room where children were beaten with cat’o’ 9 tails or killed themselves to avoid that fate. But jail, convictions and punishments, well, that’s a debate for another time, and another forum.

Go on the tour, it’s definitely worth it.

I attended one of the tours in December last year and experienced some events that I could not immediately rationalise. Some of the phenomena were experienced by the whole group, light and sound anomalies and responses to direct questions... as I said, haven't made my mind up but could not rationalise what caused the events or rule them out.

Request for further witnesses to paranormal activity

I am one of the tour guides and can testify to many strange happenings in and around the prison during the tours. I have heard strange dragging sounds in the tunnel, witnessed dramatic drops in temperature in the hanging cell and have also recorded unexplained noises and light anomalies. I would be interested in hearing about anyone else's experiences during these tours.

Tours of Belfast have been conducting a regular ghost hunt since November 2008 when a group of 26 adults visited two main sites in North Belfast - Clifton Street Cemetery and Crumlin Road Prison. Participants at each tour have witnessed paranormal activity at both sites and have on every occasion been accompanied by local writers, historians and members of a the paranormal research team. A record of each tour has now been gathered and participants have made testimonies to their experience. The next ghost hunt is on 26 March 2009 between 6.30pm and 9pm