Ghostbusting with Yvette Fielding

28 August 2008

Yvette gives us the lowdown on the special edition of Most haunted Live

She's the Ghostbusting queen of TV but something must actually scare her. FemaleFirst caught up with Yvette Fielding to grill her on her ghostly encounters.Hi Yvette. What have you been up to recently?Well we have just arrived back in the country after filming Most Haunted in the United States for American TV and LIVING. Four weeks is a long time to be away from home and I couldn't wait to sleep in my own bed again.

Can you tell us about the special edition of Most Haunted that celebrates LIVING's 15th anniversary?

We're always willing to try new things with Most Haunted to make sure our loyal fans keep enjoying what we do so for the first time we're going to be underground for 72 hours, living, sleeping, eating, breathing in the search for spooks and spirits. We wont see daylight for 72 hours as we move from location to location in blacked out cars.

The show is having 24 hour coverage online so does that mean you don't get a chance to escape at all?

Not a chance. The whole investigation team will be together the whole 72 hours without access to showers or basic necessities that we take for granted on a daily basis. The thought of sleeping on camp beds in tunnels with the team seemed quite exciting before we went to America but as the time approaches, a sense of trepidation is creeping in. It should be scary, smelly and very revealing as tempers are bound to become frayed.

What is significant about the places you're visiting?

They are all iconic sites in London beneath the ground with some fantastic stories attached to them. The fact that we will be at each venue for such a long time means we shouldn't miss a single thing. We often leave places and get calls from people working at them telling us about all the strange things that occurred after we left. Some are very frightening indeed.

How did you get into doing the Most haunted and Ghostbusting with... shows?

By chance really. Myself and Karl [her husband] had both had strange things happen to us over the years but you tend to put these things out of your mind in individual circumstances. It's only when you sit down and start discussing them and batting them backward and forward, you realise there might be something a little more than coincidence involved. That's when we decided to look at how we could possibly get something off the ground.

What is the scariest experience you've had on the show?

The growls and groans can be particularly frightening. Combined with the darkness and genuinely eerie locations the heightened senses can play some horrendous tricks with the mind. My most scary experiences have been when some entity has scratched Karl and Stuart and you see with your own eyes the power of the unexplained. I'm getting goose-bumps just remembering it....

Have you ever been too scared to stay on a location?

In the early days yes, but we have an experienced team around us who have almost every eventuality covered. I say almost just in case because the nature of what we're dealing with can be very unpredictable to say the least.

We've all seen orbs on the show and you hear unexplained noises but have you ever actually seen a ghost?

We were investigating Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London and three of us were walking to the top of a staircase, unfortunately we didn't have any cameras but we all saw a pair of legs walking up the stairs with no body attached. We ran as fast as we could as we were soooooo scared. I would definitely stay now however.

Have you always been interested in ghosts?

Probably just the same sort of curiosity as anyone would have really, but having filmed so many of these now and seen and felt some genuinely odd sensations, it makes you determined to find out just what, if anything happens when we die. I have been terrified of ghosts since I was a child. When we filmed the first Most Haunted I kept asking myself, 'what are you doing you stupid woman?' Some would call it an obsession now as opposed to an interest.

Had you had any paranormal experiences before you started on the show?

We lived in an old cottage in Cheshire. We would wake up in the middle of the night and hear furniture downstairs moving about. We initially thought it was burglars though nobody was there when we checked. When the children were younger, they would chat away to an old lady they said would visit them at night after they went to bed. It didn't faze them in any way and we would often hear Mary, our youngest child giggling and cooing. More sinisterly however was the television turning itself on and off even when it was unplugged which was quite unsettling.

It was written somewhere that after all of your paranormal experiences you don't like been left on your own. Is there any truth in this?

It's true. I can't stand being on my own, especially at night. I get so scared. God knows what I'll be like when I'm very old and grey.

Is there an expert on the show that you enjoy working with the most?

Although I adore the whole team, (chuckle) I would have to say Ciaran O'Keefe our resident cynic is a pussy-cat and absolutely adorable. More recently, Lesley Smith is tremendous fun and great company to have around. That twinkle in her eye means she can be quite outrageous at times. I've said enough I think.

What's the best thing about working on Most Haunted?

Working with a fabulous production team of dedicated individuals I'd say. The interaction between them and the investigation team is so good to see and makes you realise just why you do what you do. There's a great sense of personal satisfaction in that and makes it all worthwhile.

Do you ever miss working on programmes like Blue Peter and City Hospital?

I have been so lucky in the jobs I've done that I've genuinely enjoyed them all, for different reasons. Now that myself and Karl have our own channel (The Paranormal Channel) we are able to explore and expand on ideas we and our production company (Antix) come up with, which is both liberating and exciting at the same time.

We ask everybody we interview to come up with a question for our next interviewee and Shinedown want to know; Do you have any pre-show rituals?

I like to stand on my head and moo at the moon for 11 minutes before the cameras roll. No only joking. There's nothing specific I feel the need to do.