Help! My House Is Haunted: 'Rising Souls Of The Rising Sun' - Series 5, Episode 14 Review

In the final episode of the current series of 'Help! My House Is Haunted', titled 'Rising Souls Of The Rising Sun', the team investigates the Rising Sun pub in Tipton, West Midlands.

In the episode, which is available on Discovery+ now, landlords Julie and Malcolm share their unnerving experiences. Malcolm, initially a skeptic, admits, "I'm a great believer now," after ten years at the pub. He shares a particularly frightening incident, explaining, "The one thing what really did scare me was when I was changing a beer down in the cellar one night, and the brush was nine foot away from me just standing up the wall. Then I'm on the floor during the barrel, and the brush hit me on the head."

Julie also shares her own eerie encounters. She talks about how terrifying it is to be alone in the pub at night, mentioning inexplicable occurrences like darts shooting backward from the dartboard and glasses randomly flying off shelves. Her daughter's encounter with the apparition of a little boy with blond hair, who appeared in the courtyard, particularly shook her, leading to a deep-seated fear within the family.

The episode begins with the team's journey to the pub. Psychic medium Ian Lawman, who knows nothing of the case beforehand, expresses unease, saying, "I just get this feeling of death." As they near the property, Ian's premonitions grow stronger, especially upon sighting a nearby cemetery.

Upon entering the pub alone for his solo walk-around, Ian feels an overwhelming atmosphere. He senses the presence of a man in the bar, possibly a former landlord, and a Victorian lady in the beer garden. Ian becomes unsettled as he approaches the cellar, where he senses a "smell of death" and hears a child's voice, later seeing a vision of a wet young boy.

While Ian was exploring the pub, Jayne Harris consulted historian Dr. Michala Hulme to understand Tipton's history and its link to the pub's hauntings. Michala reveals Tipton's transformation following the arrival of canals in 1770. She recounts how the pub played a role in inquests and identified bodies, aligning with Ian's disturbing findings in the cellar. Michala suggests the spirits haunting the pub could be Eliza Whitehouse, who drowned in 1891; George Webb, a 19th-century landlord; and young George Wood, a drowning victim in 1914. This seems to back up much of what Ian was sensing on his walk-around.

Meanwhile, Barri Ghai gathers insights from regular Cara and barmaid Amy, who describe sightings of a man in a black coat and top hat and a ghostly lady in a white shroud. Cara's recognition of the man from a photograph adds a tangible connection to the past.

Once their initial investigations are complete, the team re-groups and starts their investigation with a 'spirit triggers' experiment at the pub. This section of the investigation sees the team attempt to initiate direct interaction with the resident spirits. Jayne outlines the strategy, "As the spirits here are most familiar with Malcolm and Julie, we're going to see if their presence can help trigger any activity." This approach aims to use the familiarity of the landlords to encourage spectral interactions.

With the help of Malcolm's assistance, Barri and Ian set out to contact the spirit of a young boy, suspected to be George, who drowned. Barri uses a technique known as EVP, or Electronic Voice Phenomenon, where investigators use audio recording devices to capture sounds believed to be spirit voices that are not audible to the human ear at the time of recording. Alongside this, Barri uses an ITC (Instrumental Trans-Communication) application named Alice. This app generates words or phrases that are interpreted as potential messages from the beyond.

During the EVP session, Malcolm calls out, "George? Speak to us, please." Ian then feels a tug on his trousers, and the Alice app disturbingly responds with the word "infant." Ian psychically connects with little George, picturing him with a stick in water, possibly trying to retrieve a ball. This theory gains credibility when the Alice app unnervingly responds with the word "river" to Barri's question about George dropping his ball.

Meanwhile, Jayne conducts a 'dual scryer' experiment with Julie in the cellar. This unique experiment blends traditional scrying with transfiguration. In this setup, Jayne and Julie sit opposite each other, gazing through a fully transparent mirror – a piece of glass – as one would do in traditional mirror scrying. This method allows them to observe each other's reflections for any subtle changes or manipulations believed to be caused by spirits. The use of red light in this setting is intended to relax the eye muscles, theoretically making it easier to detect any paranormal alterations in their facial features. In this eerie setting, Julie reports observing changes in Jayne's appearance, including a beard, which they speculate could be the manifestation of a male spirit. Despite attempts, the spirit remains unnamed, leading Jayne to ponder, "I wonder if the man that's just come through is the spirit wearing the top hat."

The team then regroups upstairs for a table divination session using a simple setup of 'yes' and 'no' cards and a planchette. During this session, the planchette indicates affirmative responses to questions about the identity of the male spirit, suggesting he might be George, a former landlord. Julie inquires, "George, is it you that appears in our till at night?" to which the planchette moves to 'yes.'

Once Julie and Malcolm leave for the night, the team prepares for their main nightlong investigation. Having previously identified the presence of two spirits named George, one a little boy and the other a former landlord, alongside a mysterious lady, they aim to deepen their understanding of these spectral entities.

Barri sets the stage, "We've already got evidence of former landlord George and little George. But we still need to identify the lady who's been sighted in the courtyard and find out why they're here."

Descending into the cellar, Jayne reveals that she has brought along a ventriloquist dummy named Vincent, hoping to engage the young George with it. During an EVP session, the team hears what they believe to be the sound of squelchy footsteps, possibly linked to the drowned boy.

Barri then combines EVP with EchoVox, a ghost-hunting tool that produces audible words and phrases that spirits are believed to be able to manipulate. When questioning who threw a broom at Malcolm, the team hears a response interpreted as "me," and soon after, the broom itself moves. The EchoVox device also produces the word "strange" during interaction with the dummy, believed to be a response from little George.

Later, the team hears a child's voice, which they believe is little George saying, "There's a man." Jayne speculates, "George is trying to tell us about a man," possibly referring to the former landlord George. They then move to the bar area for an Estes session. This method is a modern twist on spirit communication using a spirit box, a device typically used in paranormal investigations to scan radio frequencies rapidly, with the belief that spirits can manipulate these frequencies to create words and sentences. The Estes method involves an investigator wearing headphones connected directly to the spirit box, isolating them from external sounds and other team members' questions. In this case, Jayne takes on this role.

Jayne hears a voice saying, "Let me through," which they speculate might be the spirit that historian Michala had told Jayne about, Eliza Whitehouse. As the team discusses this possibility, Barri experiences a startling physical sensation, feeling as though someone touched his head. This seems to tie in with the phrase "Let me through" just heard by Jayne, suggesting that Eliza's was trying to get past Barri and through at that moment.

As Ian felt he had been drawn out to the beer garden during his initial walk-around, the team moved out in an attempt to communicate with Eliza. When Jayne asks any spirits present if they need help crossing over, the AliceBox she is using flashes the word "won't," which they take to indicate Eliza's reluctance to cross over. The team theorises that Eliza, having drowned, feels a connection to little George, another drowning victim, and chooses to remain in spirit to care for him.

In a final effort, Jayne and Ian seek to connect with the landlord, George, while Barri, using an SLS camera in the cellar, captures an image of a small figure, believed to be little George. The figure gestures, leading Barri back to the others.

The investigation concludes with Jayne capturing an indistinct child's voice on her audio recorder. The team reflects on their findings, with Ian Lawman noting, "I don't think the spirits really need to be moved on. They're not asking to be moved on, are they? They're not trapped in any way." This unusual ending, devoid of the usual spiritual rituals to help spirits move on, leaves the impression that both Georges and Eliza are content in their ethereal residence at the Rising Sun.