Ashley Darkwood’s life with the paranormal inspired Wycombe Paracon. He tells DAVID SAUNDERSON about ghosts and forgotten stories
When you meet Ashley Darkwood, it doesn’t take long to realise he has been living with the paranormal all his life.
Medium, historian, investigator, and now organiser of Wycombe Paracon, Ashley speaks about ghosts and spiritualism with the calmness of someone who grew up with it as part of everyday life.
“I grew up in a spiritualist family,” he says. “My mother was a medium, and she was on the committee of High Wycombe Spiritualist Church. To me, it was not unusual whatsoever to grow up with stories of spirit guides, the afterlife, life after death – all that kind of thing.”
A Childhood of Ghostly Normality
In Ashley’s family household, strange happenings weren’t treated as frightening – they were just part of life.
Keys went missing, calculators vanished from schoolbags, and odd noises cropped up from nowhere.
“I was always taught it’s probably just somebody saying hello, somebody who wants attention. They can’t physically knock on the door, so maybe they move your belongings,” Ashley recalls.
This open acceptance of the unexplained gave him a perspective very different from those who see ghosts only as something to fear.
By his teens, Ashley was trying out psychometry – holding objects to sense their owners’ energy.
“It was a great way to meet girls, because it was mostly girls who wanted readings,” he jokes.
Soon enough, he was the one people at school turned to whenever something weird happened.
At 16, he was asked to help a boy of about 10 who was being terrified by three dark figures at night.
“It occurred to me that these three figures probably represented the bullies who were tormenting him at school,” Ashley explains. “Without any knowledge of psychology, it just made sense. He was being haunted by the living.”
Giving Comfort, Not Fear
As he grew older, Ashley’s reputation spread. People called him to look into activity in their homes.
Most of the time, there was nothing tangible – but he found another role to play.
“I’d say, let’s suppose it was the old fellow who used to live here before you. He was somebody’s father, somebody’s grandfather. He was probably a nice guy. So why would you be scared of him?”
That reassurance, he believes, is far more helpful than Hollywood’s obsession with devils and demons.
Ashley also had a love of history, which seemed to link naturally to his psychic sensitivity.
“When my teachers spoke about the past, I could just see it in my mind’s eye – Tudor, medieval, whatever. Maybe that was actually a form of psychic ability.”
That blend of history, spiritualism, and investigation shaped his style: always open to the possibility of spirit contact, but equally willing to search for logical explanations.
Towards Wycombe Paracon
Those early experiences laid the groundwork for a career that has spanned ghost tours, television appearances, and countless private investigations.
And now, Ashley is using that journey to bring people together.
On 1 November, he hosts Wycombe Paracon, a day-long conference in Buckinghamshire devoted to the paranormal.
It’s a mix of talks, research, and storytelling, all set against the backdrop of one of England’s most haunted regions.
“People do find the paranormal entertaining – ourselves included,” Ashley says. “But it’s also about stories that are being lost to time. That’s what we try to share at Paracon.”
For more details about this year’s event, visit Wycombe Paracon’s official site.
What do you think of Ashley Darkwood’s approach to the paranormal? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
