Surrey Mirror – 25th Jan 2007

Sixth sense: Val Hood says she can feel the presence of ghosts.

CLAIRVOYANT medium from Redhill says she discovered ghosts in an old manor house when she took part in a television programme.

Mother-of-three Val Hood, 51, says her first sightings of people from the paranormal world was when she was eight.

Now she could get a higher profile after recording an episode of the television series Most Haunted last Tuesday (January 16), for Living TV:

Presented by ex-Blue Peter presenter Yvette Fielding, the programme invites psychics and mediums into historic buildings in an attempt to feel the presence of ghosts, with spooky consequences.

Val said: “I had to wander around the house and see if I picked up on ghosts, which I did.

“I didn’t know the date of the house, but I was picking up information from the 1500s, when it was in the country. I picked up on upstairs/downstairs situation, and that there had been lots of beds and a teacher. The house had been used as a boarding school

“A para-psychologist confirmed a lot of information that I gave, and checked it over to see if was right.”

The episode, which also included an appearance from Lee Ryan, an ex-member of pop music band Blue, was filmed at Sutton House on Homerton High Street in Hackney.

National Trust-owned, the Grade ll-listed Tudor manor is the oldest house in East London.

Val said: “It was very exciting, I haven’t come down yet. They have invited me back for projects later in the year.”

She added that aged 12 she saw her sister being tucked into bed by her grandmother, and at 16, her grandmother walked into the bathroom behind her and gave her a fright.

At 35, she visited a spiritualist church, and has been putting people in touch with the deceased – during public demonstrations and private meetings in her South Mead home – ever since.

The programme will be screened on Living TV in a month, although the date is yet to be confirmed. Dates for Val’s shows are February 1, at Bletchingley Village Hall; and April 17 and 18 at the Harlequin Theatre in RedhiIl.