Second
Star To The Right And Straight On Till Morning
Paranormal
Investigating can often lead to investigators doing
things that they would never have considered doing otherwise.
It can give you some wonderful experiences and take
you to all kinds of beautiful places and sometimes even
if you don’t experience anything that could be
classed as truly paranormal and ghostly you can still
have a great night enjoying the beauty of your surroundings.
My
latest investigation took me to Slapton Sands on the
South Devon Coast as a guest of the Hidden Realms Paranormal
Investigation team. The date of our investigation was
significant as it was the anniversary of Operation Tiger.
Operation
Tiger
Shortly
after midnight on 28 April 1944, nine German torpedo
boats moved into Lyme Bay, along the southern coast
of England at Slapton Sands. Drawn in by heavier than
normal radio traffic, they suddenly found themselves
caught up in the midst of Operation Tiger- one of several
amphibious exercises secretly being conducted by the
Allies in preparation for the Normandy Landing.
In
minutes the German torpedoes hit their mark. One LST
(landing ship, tank) was seriously crippled. Another
burst into flames trapping many of the victims below
deck and a third sank immediately, sending hundreds
of U.S. soldiers and sailors to a watery grave.
It was the costliest training exercise in all of World
War II. As the bodies washed ashore in days ahead, the
official count rose to 749.
Quartermaster
soldiers onboard LST 531 were among the hardest hit.
The 3206th Quartermaster Service Company was virtually
destroyed. Of its 251 officers and men, 201 were killed
or wounded. The 557th Quartermaster Railhead Company
also lost 69 men.
The
brave men who died that day contributed to the success
in France six weeks later.
The
Investigation
Although
not famous for it’s hauntings, There are reports
of strange sounds and lights being heard and seen along
Slapton Sands. These are more frequently reported on
the anniversary of Operation Tiger. Having met up with
Christine, Dennis and Betty from hidden realms at the
Start Bay Inn at Torcross we started to plan just where
along over the 2 miles of beach we should set up for
the night. Dennis is convinced that the best chance
of any activity is at the far end of the sands near
Strete so we set off from the Inn at last orders and
eventually find the car park and having wrapped up well
against the often chilly wind make our way to the beach.
We
are all struck by the beauty of the night. Living in
major towns and cities we do not often get to see the
night sky in all of its glory due to light pollution
but stood here on this crystal clear night we are left
in awe as the full glory of the heavens are revealed.
The sky is alive with bright stars and our hopes of
seeing a shooting star are soon fulfilled as a bright
meteor streaks across the sky with several more being
spotted throughout the night.
The
water is very still and all is quiet save the occasional
sound of small waves lapping at the shore. The powerful
beam of the Start Point Lighthouse could be seen sweeping
Lyme Bay and playing across Slapton Sands. We settled
down, Betty and Dennis on portable canvas chairs and
Chris and I on rugs and for a good while we just watched
the skies, picking out passing jets, seeing meteors,
guessing what the unknown moving lights we occasionally
saw overhead were and just generally chilling out in
such marvellous surroundings. I hadn’t layed underneath
a starry sky like this since I was a young teenager
and like a westcountry Peter Pan I felt the years roll
away and felt my youth returning.
We
weren’t expecting anything to happen much before
0100 Hrs. The time of the German E Boat attack is variously
reported as between 0100 Hrs and 0230 Hrs on the 28/4/1944.
As 0100 Hrs approached we decided to take some photographs
and immediately captured some light anomalies or Orbs.
Great debate surrounds the nature of Orbs and I don’t
ever say they are paranormal. I just note them and add
them to reports for others to speculate on. There had
been heavy rain throughout the day and the sand and
vegetation were still damp so I suppose they could be
attributed to water droplets in the air but there was
no precipitation forming on equipment or personal gear
and the air seemed quite free of moisture.
Christine,
who is a sensitive, now tries to tune into any spirits
that may be with us hoping to contact at least one of
the souls who perished that fateful day in 1944. She
begins to sense the presence of someone called Steve
Stevenson who she says died trapped behind what sounds
to me as a bulkhead door on a ship.
I
have worked all of my career onboard British naval ships
as an electrician in Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth
so although Christine struggles to understand the things
she is describing, her descriptions make perfect sense
to me. She describes Steve Stevenson as being in charge
of something and sees him stood in front of racks of
items which he is looking after and distributing. Although
she can’t make too much sense of it what she is
describing matches a naval ships store room. Onboard
large ships are storerooms where things like bedding,
mattresses, overalls, clothing and tools are kept and
distributed to ships staff on demand by stores officers
and personnel and I suspect that this is what Christine
is in touch with. Now I was not too familiar with Operation
Tiger although I knew the E boats had destroyed several
craft in 1944.
On
returning after the investigation I looked up the details
and found the following -
‘Quartermaster
soldiers onboard LST 531 were among the hardest hit.
The 3206th Quartermaster Service Company was virtually
destroyed. Of its 251 officers and men, 201 were killed
or wounded. The 557th Quartermaster Railhead Company
also lost 69 men.’
The
quartermasters are the army and navy’s supply
chain. Here is a description of their role straight
from an Army web site. –
‘The
Quartermaster Corps is the logistical centre point for
all Army operations. Quartermaster Officers are responsible
for making sure equipment, materials and systems are
available and functioning for missions. More specifically,
the Quartermaster Officer provides supply support for
Soldiers and units in field services, aerial delivery
and material and distribution management.’
It
may be that Mr Stevenson was a Quartermaster soldier.
Although I am a sceptic by and large I ask myself why
Christine would have sensed a spirit and describe his
job that could well fit the description of a Quartermaster
Soldier. If she had come across the information on Google
I very much doubt she would have connected the term
‘Quatermaster Soldier’ with someone who
worked in a ships store or been involved in the logistical
supply and support chain. I don’t believe she
is some kind of military historian and would have no
experience of working onboard Naval vessels. Anybody
making it up or lying would surely come up with a spirit
of a Marine who was blown up or something like that.
She also described the bulkhead door in good detail.
She
also was coming up with the letters ‘TR’
in relation to a ship which seemed to make no sense
to her or the rest of us but after research I wonder
if she was actually picking up the term ‘T4’
which was the designation of the convoy that was attacked.
Quite
often sounds were heard as if someone was walking on
the sand but there was nobody in sight. Dennis, Betty
and Christine were picking up a spirit that seemed to
be walking around us but attempts by us to gather further
information on him proved unsuccessful apart from the
name ‘Archie Andrews’ being picked up. As
the night wore on the chill factor was setting in and
Dennis and Betty decided to return to their car to warm
up at around 0230 Hrs while Christine and I decided
to walk along the beach towards Blackpool Sands. We
were both startled at times by what appeared to be voices
coming from the inland side of the beach and heard the
occasional footstep behind us but upon turning round
nobody was to be found. After 15 minutes we headed back
the way we came and called it a night.
Conclusion
The
best part of the investigation for me was Christine’s
description of Steve Stevenson, his apparent role and
the way he died trapped behind a bulkhead door. Her
description made immediate sense to me with over 30
years of Warship experience even if she struggled to
understand it. The research I did would seem to back
up her thoughts to some extent and I find that very
interesting. Although nothing spectacular was seen or
heard, orbs were captured and strange sounds such as
footsteps and what sounded like voices were audible
on occasion.. To sit on that beach in such wonderful
conditions was a truly magical experience and I hope
we repeat the investigation at the next anniversary.
My thanks to all at Hidden realms for inviting me.
The
Campaign For Dark Skies
Driving
home from Slapton Sands I was struck by just how long
it has been since I have seen that many stars and how
beautiful the night sky really is. As I came back towards
the city Of Plymouth I could see the ever increasing
yellow/orange glow blotting out every star from 25 miles
out. I am old enough to remember different times, times
when I could sit on the back doorstep picking out all
the constellations with ease, times now long gone, wiped
out by the curse of man made light pollution. We are
losing something very beautiful and awe inspiring. Is
it lost forever? Only if we let it be. Please support
the Campaign For Dark Skies by visiting
http://www.britastro.org/dark-skies/
Help
to fight light pollution so that future generations
of children and adults can experience the sense of awe
and wonder that I did as a child and that I rediscovered
at Slapton Sands |
