| 
"Yvette Fielding's house is without water on the day
of the OK! Photo shoot. It would make sense to blame a burst
water main but seeing as we're in one of the most haunted
houses in Cheshire and Yvette is currently hosting a TV
show about ghosts, maybe there's a spookier reason for the
water shortage mystery. Yvette, who shot to fame when she
became the youngest ever host of Blue Peter in 1987 at just
17, lives in the beautiful Tudor house with husband Karl
Beattie and their two children Mary and William. Yvette,
26 now presents LivingTV's cult hit show Most Haunted, a
programme that visits Britain's most haunted places in search
of paranormal activity. Karl 40, also works on the show
as a cameraman and producer. They spoke to OK! About the
ghosts that haunt their home, their chilling experiences
while making the Most Haunted series and how Karl proposed
to Yvette live on TV…
Is your house haunted?
Yvette: While
we were away in America our friends house-sat for us and
they were terrified. They were asleep in our room one night
and the bed sheets were pulled off them. Their car keys
kept being moved. Every time they went out the front door,
it would slam behind them and the bolt would slide across
– luckily they had the key to the back door. Sometimes
when I'm in the bathroom the latch on the door bangs up
and down.
Karl: I was
in the lounge watching TV and I heard people walking around
in the kitchen. I got up to look but there was no one there.
Does that scare you?
Karl:
David Wells, one of the mediums on the show, came
over to do a reading and told us there was nothing bad here.
Yvette: We
know nothing horrible has happened here. If it did get sinister
then I would move. Our daughter Mary, who's five, is fine
about it but our son William, who's eleven, doesn't like
it and wouldn't leave my side when we first moved here.
It worries us as parents, but we try to explain the logic
behind it.
With all these strange things happening, why do
you stay here?
Karl: The
house is named after two prominent people who lived here
hundreds of years ago called William and Mary; those are
the names of our children. We have a connection to the house.
We feel we belong here, almost as though we're meant to
be here.
Most Haunted is a huge hit. What's been the scariest
moment during filming?
Yvette: The
most exciting paranormal activity was a show we filmed in
America recently. The TV turned on and off, taps turned
on and off, a glass moved around a table on its own and
billiard balls flew across the room.
Were you scared?
I wasn't actually. I know it's a cliché but it was
like being on a rollercoaster ride. At the start you're
excited and a bit nervous. In the middle you're desperate
to get off. But then once it's over you want to do it again
– it's a kick.
Some critics say you're a "scaredy cat"…
Yvette: Yes,
but they're not the ones sat in a dark room doing a ouija
board!
The show has an incredibly loyal fan base, doesn't
it?
Karl: Yes
tickets for a live show we did were sold on ebay for £760.
We even had a girl wearing a Most Haunted T-shirt going
through our bins.
So, from your experience, do ghosts exist?
Karl: I am
the most skeptical person on the show but I do believe ghosts
exist. What we're trying to find out is what they are. Are
they electro-magnetic field fluctuations, a product of our
imagination, a spirit of a dead person or some other force
that we don't understand?
How did you come up with the idea for the show?
Karl: It was
a wet Sunday afternoon and we had a friend over for a drink.
He told us about this haunted house he'd visited. That was
it, we stayed up until 4am sketching out the idea for the
show.
Yvette: The
Blair Witch Project came out at the same time and we both
loved that film. We thought it'd be great to do a raw TV
show about ghosts.
Yvette did you ever report ghost stories on Blue
Peter?
No we weren't allowed. We weren't even allowed to celebrate
Halloween because it was thought to be inappropriate.
What first got you interested in ghosts?
Yvette: It
was when I lived with my mum. There was some weird stuff
going on in her house: I woke up one night and saw a man
with no legs at the end of my bed wearing a World War Two
soldier's uniform. I screamed the house down. I talked to
two local historians and discovered that the house was built
on the site of a graveyard with a train track nearby. I
then found out that in World War Two a soldier threw himself
off a train near the house and was chopped in half.
Which dead celebrity would you like to contact
through a medium?
Karl: I'd
love to contact Elvis. I'm a massive fan.
Yvette: I'd
say Marilyn Monroe. I'd love to know what happened at the
end of her life.
How did you two meet?
Yvette: Six
years ago we worked together on the BBC1 show City Hospital.
I kept telling the show's producers to hire Karl to work
on the days that I was working.
Karl: Eventually,
I got pulled up by a producer who said ‘For God's
sake, ask Yvette out!'
How did you pop the question?
Karl: I proposed
live on City Hospital. Someone had their finger on the mute
button in case Yvette yelled out a swear word when I asked
her to marry me!
Yvette: I
wish I'd known that he was going to ask me because I would
have worn something a bit nicer! |
