BBC: Unfinished hospital is ‘haunted’

30 January 2009 · 2 Comments

If any further evidence were needed that, in general, people aren’t at all sceptical when they really should be, then this case of a “haunted” hospital in Derby should provide it.

The BBC reports:

Staff at Derby City General hospital, where a Â£334m building project is ongoing, have reportedly seen a mysterious apparition in the building.

Managers said they took information from staff seriously and were working with the chaplaincy to ease fears.

But they denied any suggestion that an exorcism or similar ceremony was being planned for the hospital.

The Reverend Canon Elaine Jones, an advisor to the bishop of Derby on the paranormal, said she had been asked to visit and investigate the claims.

I don’t think I’ll be stretching credibility by asserting that the hospital’s chaplain will be a sectarian christian rÃ´le being paid for from the public coffers.

This comes after a report by Supernatural Britain that Derby is supposedly the ‘most haunted’ town in the UK, with a claimed 14 sightings of spooks per 10,000 population.

The hospital ‘apparition’ is described as a dark cloaked figure [BBC News tv], and for some reason the fact that the site of the not-yet-completed hospital (which was previously the site of a former hospital) is supposedly also the site of an old Roman road. How these ideas are reconciled to come to the conclusion of ghosts is not explained.

The report’s author, a Lionel Fanthorpe, also claims:

The Supernatural Britain Report clearly shows that we are a nation rich in spooky sightings and strange phenomena. When people pass to the other side, their emotions would seem to create strange energies and the more harrowing the death, the stronger and more enduring the subsequent sightings. The psychic sensitivity of the population might be more concentrated in Derby, Chester and York, as the citiesâ€™ populations may carry the psychic sensitivity gene more than Leeds.

[My emphasis]

I did a quick search on Google for “psychic sensitivity gene” and couldn’t find any credible biological reference to it. Pubmed was a little more forthcoming, but each of the references refers to the “psychic” as being concerned purely with the mental process of severely affected schizophrenics and those with other psychoses, and absolutely nothing to do with supernatural apparitions.

I don’t think that I need to point out that a responsible author would have taken the pains to establish the existence of such a “psychic sensitivity gene” before making any claims as to what it’s responsible for.

Fanthorpe, unsurprisingly and like any credulous true believer, doesn’t and seems to have taken such and many other things for granted.

There are claims, which the hospital deny, that they are expected to call in the services of ~~the Ghostbusters~~ an exorcist to dispense with the spectre.

Senior manager Debbie Butler is reported to have sent this via an email to staff [The Telegraph]:

I’m not sure how many of you are aware that some members of staff have reported seeing a ghost.

I’m taking it seriously as it is affecting some members of staff and the last thing I want is staff feeling uneasy at work.

I don’t want to scare anyone any more than necessary, but felt it was best I made you all aware of the situation and what we are doing about it.

I’ve spoken to the trust’s chaplain and she is going to arrange for someone from the cathedral to exorcise the department.

I hope Jesus has charged up his proton pack.

BBC: Ghost tales spook hospital staff
The Telegraph:

Tags: <bad arguments/logical fallacies, BBC News, England, medicine and healthcare, news, special treatment/religious privilege, superstition, The Stupid It Burns, UK>