TV show to channel hotel's 'energies' (From Gazette & Herald)

TV show to channel hotel's 'energies'

SPOOKY goings-on at a historic hotel will be televised on a prime-time reality TV show.

But the paranormal investigators themselves are under the microscope on Channel Five show Britain's Psychic Challenge.

The first instalment of Britain's Psychic Challenge - presented by Trisha Goddard - was shown on Five on Sunday.

Producers chose the Macdonald Black Swan Hotel in Helmsley to host a forthcoming episode.

On Monday, six psychics each held a vigil there, trying to get to the bottom of some of the building's reported ghost sightings.

The contestants demonstrated their psychic abilities by recounting what they sensed during their stay. The results will be replayed to a sceptical studio jury from York, and the least successful psychic will be eliminated.

One of the competitors, 47-year-old medium Anna Galliers, said "strong energies" were attracting her and others to the area.

According to astrologer Jonathan Cainer, York itself lies on top of a crossing point of powerful 'ley-lines', hence the surrounding area's spooky reputation. Mr Cainer said the city "sits right on top of a cosmic energy centre".

Mrs Galliers said: "I've never been to North Yorkshire before, but I'd heard of the area's reputation.

"As I walked round the hotel, I 'linked in', and felt very drawn to the stairs. I was very aware of a pretty little girl running past me in a Victorian dress."

Mrs Galliers, from the West Midlands, said she had joined the programme to show that not all mediums should be "tarred with the same brush". She said: "Like any field of work, there are charlatans, but there are plenty of sincere mediums and psychics out there."

The Helmsley show will be broadcast on Five at 8pm on Sunday, January 29, with the eventual winner being declared later this year.

Mrs Galliers said it would be "better not to look" into the eventual outcome. She added: "I try not to think about it too much. If you really want to look into that, you might get a feeling, but it is better not to. That would take away from what we are here to achieve - growing and strengthening our abilities.

"It's about the journey. There is no point wondering who is going to be at the end of it."

The Black Swan

THE Macdonald Black Swan Hotel in Helmsley has been a coaching inn since the 1750s. However, the history of the building dates back to the Tudor period with records from 1456, and has a number of recorded ghostly sightings.

Staff member Paula Lakin, who will star in the show, claims to have witnessed paranormal activity at the hotel first-hand.

Updated: 15:26 Wednesday, January 18, 2006