The Homes Under The Hammer presenter on religion, ghosts and starring in a series about haunted houses.
Have you always believed in ghosts?
I’m a Christian and I believe in the afterlife, heaven and hell. So, I suppose I believe in ghosts. I’ve never seen one but I’ve always been very aware that houses have spirits. I’m a great believer that when you walk into a house you can sense the fact that it has absorbed people’s lives.
When did you first realise your house was haunted?
It was built in 1650 and because it’s nearly 400 years old there’s bound to have been a lot of things going on there. I felt like I needed to be extra-sensitive to the house and explain a little bit about what I was doing there – saying, “I’m here to protect you”, that kind of thing.
I don’t normally do that with my houses, but I just had a feeling. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up when I was there. However, it has never bothered me and still doesn’t because whatever is there is extremely friendly and there’s no negativity.
So you weren’t scared during filming?
Rather than being freaked out, I feel totally protected by the ghosts the experts contacted.
When I go to the house, I never feel lonely. In fact, Ian (Lawman, an exorcist and medium) and the team opened a pathway for the ghosts if they wanted to leave but I said, “As far as I’m concerned, they’ve been here a lot longer than I have, so who am I to kick them out?”
The whole experience, for me, was warm and fluffy – but then again I did love Rentaghost as a kid! I know not all the experiences on the show were necessarily as positive as mine.
As a property expert, do you think a house being haunted brings down the value?
I think it just add to the character. There are people out there who would probably want to meet the ghosts in my house. Would I shout and scream about the fact there is a ghost if I was planning to sell the property on? Maybe not.
Have you ever come across a haunted property on Homes Under The Hammer?
It doesn’t happen often but maybe two or three times in the 19 years I’ve done the show, I’ve walked in and said, “Get me out of here!”
Each time, all the crew felt exactly the same. We are unwittingly sensitive to that energy. I’ve been to more than 3,000 properties and I would say the vast majority are either neutral, warm, and only on very rare occasions not very friendly.
Some of the decorations would definitely raise the dead, too!
Why do you think Homes Under the Hammer has been so popular?
It’s realistic and achievable. As much as I love shows like Grand Designs, the majority of us are not going to have those kinds of properties.
There is a certain element of car crash TV – if you are a regular viewer, you can see when buyers are heading towards disaster. You are staring at the telly saying to yourself, “They didn’t read the legal pack!”
Celebrity Help! My House Is Haunted is available to stream now on discovery+
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