T.I.P. was formed in 1995 by David Phillips, Adrian Lodge and David Brown, see left. Three friends who share an interest in all things paranormal.

When they first started holding weekly meetings on Monday nights at the Churston Court Hotel near Brixham in Devon, "X-Files" was in its prime, Michael Aspel was hosting "Strange but True" and there were loads of magazines in the shops covering all aspects of the subject, that gave them lots to discuss.

Nearly ten years on, the programmes are no more, being replaced by the likes of "Most Haunted", the mags are on the whole no longer in publication, but T.I.P. are still out there searching for the truth!

During their investigations the guys have visited many allegedly haunted sites, many never before investigated, where they use various bits of kit to carry out vigils in an attempt to gather evidence that paranormal activity is actually taking place, with varying degrees of success!

Their main concern is not only to prove to themselves that the paranormal exists, but to show the general public that people do have experiences, some of which can't be so easily explained away, and that it is nothing to be either afraid of or ashamed of; instead it is something to be shared in order to help others understand that they are not alone in having these things happen to them.

To this end the Monday night meetings were opened up to all comers as a forum for the discussion of the subject in an attempt to widen every ones views and to possibly find other areas to investigate.

Over the years the group has visited many sites in their home area of Torbay as well as other parts of Devon + Cornwall, even going as far afield as Somerset and Wiltshire! They have investigated hauntings and U.F.O. sightings, even crop circles; and have amassed an impressive catalogue of evidence on both video and audio tape as well as photographs, some of which is difficult to explain away using today’s scientific understanding.

The places visited include, Berry Pomeroy castle, Devon; Pengersic castle, Cornwall; Lydford castle, Dartmoor; the Wellington Hotel, Boscastle; the Choughs Hotel, Chard; Braunton museum; Bowden House, Totnes; Salem Chapel, East Budleigh; the Bishop Lacey pub + the Old Coach House, Chudleigh; the Bell Inn, KIngsteignton; the Three Tuns pub, Barnstaple; Bute Court Hotel, Torquay; Palace Avenue Theatre, Paignton; Buckfastleigh parish church (ruins); Kitty Jay's grave, Dartmoor; The battle site at Sedgemoor, Somerset; as well as many private homes and residences that the group has been invited to once word of their existence and what they do has spread.

The group is no stranger to publicity, and in certain cases welcome it as it helps attract people to them both to perhaps offer a vital piece of information or to attend one of their meetings to relate their own experiences to the group. As well as being the subject of many radio features and newspaper articles, T.I.P. was also featured in Chris Denham's TV programme "The Local", when he visited their meeting place Churston Court. More recently the group appeared on TV in South Korea of all places, when a production company wanted to make a documentary about " an English eccentric who does ghost hunting"! And spokesman David Phillips was thought to fit the bill! The finished piece was given a full "Eurotrash" style makeover and dubbed into Korean, a copy of which now has great novelty value in the T.I.P. archives!

Also available for viewing is a short documentary that David was asked to make for the BBC's Video Nation project about his interest in the Dartmoor mystery surrounding Kitty Jay’s grave. This was initially  shown on the Radio Devon website where some other features about the group, including a photo they were given that could possibly be the best example of photographic "extras", are to be found.

One other thing that T.I.P. does and enjoys doing is giving talks about their work and the paranormal in general to interested groups, and in October 2004 they gave a talk at the Truro U.F.O. conference, where they exhibited some of their findings, "warts and all"!

Other talks have been given to the Brixham Heritage Museum Society and more are planned for the future.

In 2004 members of T.I.P. were invited to set up a special day at Sorley Tunnel, a local tourist attraction near Kingsbridge that boasts a half mile long disused railway tunnel complete with alleged paranormal activity, where members of the public were invited to “come and meet the Ghostbusters!” It gave people the chance to see how an investigation works with cameras set up in the tunnel to capture anything odd that might occur. A live feed was sent from a camera to a TV monitor at the mouth of the tunnel where those less intrepid to venture in could watch in safety! A display of pictures and video footage from past cases were also on display inside the more comfortable surrounds of the complex.

This proved so successful that the team repeated the exercise for Halloween 2005. This time they were even more convinced that something was going on there of a paranormal nature, so much so that it will now form the focus point for another on going investigation.

Besides the website, the most important thing for members of T.I.P. are the regular Monday night meetings that have been held religiously for the past ten years at the atmospherically haunted Churston Court Hotel just outside Brixham. The meetings start at 9.00pm and all are welcome to come and share experiences and to join in the various activities that are organized on a regular basis.

  If you live outside the immediate area but would like to meet us, why not come and spend a holiday down in beautiful Devon. Stay at the Churston Court and whenever possible David and other members of the group would be glad to act as your guide to the surrounding areas of paranormal interest.

Why not come and meet us in the flesh!

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