Plymouth becomes supernatural 'hot spot' as ghost tours in demand
Plymouth is going crazy for spooks and spirits with new ghost-hunting tours about to be launched. Plymouth Paranormal Tours only started two years ago but already it is expanding and taking its otherworldly investigations into historic military buildings and eerie tunnels where monks once transported the dead.
Dean Fryer, who started the tour guide business as a side hustle but has seen it grow, says Plymouth people are fascinated by the bizarre. He said: “It’s thriving. People are going crazy for the paranormal. They want to know if there is life after death.
“Plymouth Paranormal Tours started two years ago and business is great. We get quite a lot of interested people on the tours, new faces and old faces.”
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He has described Plymouth as a “ghost-hunting hotspot” , with up to 35 people attending tours, and cited the Barbican as one of the most haunted localities. The tour business has explored some of the Barbican’s spookiest locations, and expanded to other areas such as Bodmin Jail, now a hotel in Cornwall.
Now it has landed exclusive access to even more terrifying locales and Mr Fryer said: “Two years ago I started Plymouth paranormal tours and since then grown with popularity and expanded with premises of which I’m proud to say are exclusive to the company. I have secured MoD authorisation for Palmerston forts, part of the ring of fire defence for Cornwall and Plymouth.
“I’ve also been given the opportunity to provide the very first public paranormal investigation evening at Port Eliot's monastic tunnels, which date back to the early Iron Age, and also been in talks with Lady Bianca Eliot, who owns the estate, about other projects.
“And I'm in talks with Plymouth gin distillery and will be holding the first paranormal public event there shortly.”
Mr Fryer, aged 45, has been exploring the uncanny for more than 15 years now after having his own brush with the paranormal while working as a security officer at a prison in Reading. Watching CCTV he saw someone walking into a room - but when he went there seconds later it was empty.
Mr Fryer, who runs the tours with Darren Lear, has already carried out some investigations at the Palmerston forts which contain miles of tunnels and corridors, empty rooms and lots of staircases. He said: “We heard sounds of soldiers drumming and marching along corridors. We saw shadows in the corridors and the spirit box was set off. That is equipment that sweeps frequencies and allows the afterlife to manipulate the radio waves.”
Mr Fryer is also staging a Mystery and History Conference at Port Eliot, in South East Cornwall, on May 3 and 4. A list of top experts in the paranormal will discuss Arthurian legend, UFOs, Cornish folklore, psychic ability, stone circles, dowsing, auras and more.
“There will be workshops in the grounds,” said Mr Fryer. “And Lady Bianca will allow us to investigate the monastic tunnels next to the estate house. They date to the middle of the Iron Age and were used by people to carry the dead from the village.
“We are also in talks with management at Plymouth Gin Distillery. They have had previous private paranormal investigations, but we are talking to them about a public event. I will do a private investigation in the next two or three weeks first.”
Among other locations investigated by Mr Fryer include Old Forde House in Newton Abbot, Tavistock ’s former court house and Bickleigh Castle in Tiverton. Plymouth Paranormal Tours has also started its own YouTube channel with the first episode being an exploration of Holy Trinity Church, in Buckfastleigh, site of “devil and satanic worshipping”.
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