In November of 1996 Hammerwood took part in a "Spookathon" on the night of All Hallows which raised over £300 for Marie Curie cancer care. This started off as a joke fundraising event in which people were sponsored to stay in the most haunted places of Sussex. Four psychics who came met a number of the Hammerwood ghosts and took notes.
In particular they met one of the 19th Century owners of the house and his son who told them information of which we were vaguely aware, which has never been published and which was corroborated by a descendant of the family. The ghosts were having an argument introducing themselves as marchant or merchant. Upon telling this to a descendant of the family he replied "Yes, there was always talk in the family of father . . . . being rather aware of his merchant background and wanting his son to be more of a gentleman . . ."! The psychics think that they might do a "Guidebook from the other side" in due course. They tell the story of how a former housekeeper objects to the introduction of electricity to the house - "It is so much more difficult to dim the electric bulbs than to flicker a candle", she complains. Clearly former generations of occupiers must have been closer to having been aware of the ghosts around them than are we . . .
In the meantime they write:
"David, you will find that I have enclosed a New Year message from our dear old friend 'Latrobe'. He is such a lovely chap and he gets quite excited when he is able to make contact so clearly. It is not always easy as there can be a lot of etheric interference which can prevent a clear contact. Latrobe is keen for you to have this message now rather than wait for it to be put on disc, which could take some months before you receive it. I get the feeling that he may not have a lot of time for discs and computerised messages! I wrote it when and as he was saying it, but as my writing is not too good, my son Danny typed it out for you exactly as it was written. I have a great feeling that Latrobe will make contact quite often in the future."
NEW YEAR MESSAGE FROM LATROBE
"Happy new year to all and to the Pinnegars, who work never endlessley to achieve the great originality of the park house. I assist where and when I can to help David meet his aims. If I could I would turn the house round, the entrance to north again, but it can not be done without destroying good work already completed. I wish not to talk of any one in particular only work of building, but Dorien Megan, it was sacrilege to see a bright atmosphere, in side a beutiful home turn black and sour. I bitterly resented such a person living within the walls of my beautiful creation. It was not my most famous work, but it was my favourite of all time, the scenery is captivating. The peace of the land surrounds a beutiful monument of work, it is alive with nature and spiritiul zest. The house itself will need little or none alterations to the exterior. It has survived it's conquest well. Inside takes shape in a slow but passionate way. It will not be an axact replica of my original work, but I try to help David recapture it's finery, within his own mind. He can do it, and will do it. He experiences the exquisitivness of the building, structure and decoration through eyes that see in the same light, as I did and still do. It will take many years to complete, but him and his fine family will not be dissapointed. It will be a wonderful achievment and it will always have been worth it to him and many others, but especially to me. He is a good man, he pays me a great tribute. But I Latrobe pay tribute to David Pinnegar.
God Bless To All"
Forgive the spelling - the medium is a delightful and simple lady whose strong point is not a mundane matter of spelling.
Here's a page which goes to explain the physical evidence for the medium behind psychic communication and sight of invisible matter
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