A geneticist revealed that he and other students were terrorized by an ‘evil spirits’ in the same room at university in a chilling new podcast series. The series claims to be the largest ever investigation into the paranormal.
Ken, now in his 60s, recalled a malicious force that haunted his bedroom at Queen’s University Belfast in the 1980s, sending cutlery flying, stalking empty corridors and trying to ‘bang down the door’.
Three years ago, three groups of students stayed in Alanbrooke Hall room 611 reported supernatural happenings. Several friends believed that their dreams were being hijacked and they had to leave.
On BBC podcast Uncanny, Ken spoke to Danny Robins, explaining that he later learned that at least three of the former residents had died, one of whom was believed to have been pushed out the window.

Ken recalled a malignant force that haunted him in Queen’s University Belfast’s bedroom in the 1980s. He was able to see empty corridors and tried to ‘bang down’ the door. Stock image
Ken, who grew up in rural Northern Ireland, said he doesn’t believe in ghosts, but has never been able to explain what happened to him 40 years ago.
He said, “Things begin suddenly and very dramatically.” It was the dead winter. James had also gone to bed after I had gone to bed.
“My eyes were open and I noticed something. I noticed a large, black sill at the desk of what I thought was a man. It was the first time I had ever seen anything so dark, and I was trying to analyze this data as much as I could. It was the most black I had ever seen.
“At that moment, two things occurred: I could hear a very, very loud, white noise, and also felt a strong sense, pure, distilled evil emanating from this figure.
It felt like a force in nature. It was like all that is good, all that is called hope, was gone. It was total and utter despair. It came through me in waves.
“As I looked at the blankets, I could see ripples that were corresponding with this movement of the force. I wondered “What the hell is going on?” I thought that this evil was against me. This thing wanted to cause me absolute harm. It began to drift towards my face.
He ‘lunged at’ the figure as it approached his shoulder. The entire figure vanished in that moment.

Three years ago, three different groups of students in Alanbrooke Hall’s room 611 reported strange happenings. Some even claimed that their dreams had been hijacked. Pictured, a stock picture of Queen’s University Belfast
Shaken, he turned toward James, his roommate. James said he had also experienced something he could not explain.
“[James] said something completely different,’ Ken continued. “He was lying down in bed trying to fall asleep, his eyes were closed. He saw a point light. The point of light grew in his mind’s eyes. He could see the back side of a man’s head. This man turned and gave him an extremely dirty look before disappearing.
James, like Ken, felt strongly that the man, who looked to be a young college student like them, wanted to do harm to him. He described it to Ken as one of his most disturbing experiences.
The horror continued the next night. It was Friday, and everyone had gone home for the weekend. Ken related how he was reading his book when he heard a lift rumbling close by.
The lift stopped at the floor I was on and I could hear the doors opening… At that instant, I felt the same force of evil, this time coming from my left side, which is where the lift was located. I heard loud footsteps as if they were wearing boots that had nails on the bottom.
He replied, “Okay, so someone is around.” ‘The lift stopped at the level I was on. I could hear doors opening and thought, “That’s odd, maybe someone is coming.”
“At that instant, the same force of evil came from my left side, which was where the lift was located. I heard very loud footsteps. It was almost like they were wearing boots with nails at the bottom.
The ‘feet” stomped down the corridor towards their room and stopped outside his locked door.
“And then there was this deep silence,” Ken said. It lasted probably one millisecond, but it felt like the longest silence ever.
“The door began to bang. It felt like the door was being kicked and punched at both its top and bottom simultaneously. It felt as though multiple fists were being hit against the door. It was extremely violent. I could feel the door shake.
Ken opened the doors with adrenaline pumping through his body.
He said, “There was no such thing.” “The feeling that evil had completely gone.” Complete silence. I noticed that the lift was at the floor and I knew it wasn’t there. But, there was no one.
“There were no lights in any of the rooms. I knew there wasn’t anyone on the floor anyway. There was no one there.

Danny Robins, BBC podcast Uncanny presenter, Ken explained to him that he later learned that at most three former residents of the room had passed away
Ken discovered that the two students who stayed in the same room last year also had experienced strange happenings. They said they had seen books fall from shelves and fly across the room.
The theory that the room is the source of unexplained activity was tested the next year when Ken kept the information from the two new residents.
They approached Ken a few months later, just as he did with the previous occupants, to inquire if he had seen anything unusual.
New students shared their stories of having violent and dark nightmares. The nightmares eventually became so severe that one student would have a nightmare, and the other would continue the nightmare the next night.
Placed beside the bed, pieces of cutlery and other sharp instruments would be in an arrangement that could cause injury to their bodies if they got out of bed.
Next came ‘poltergeist activity’. Ken stated that knives and forks would fly around the room. “Pieces of cutlery or other sharp tools would be placed beside their bed, where they would lay their feet. This arrangement was so that they could injure themselves when they got up from the bed, and they thought this was malicious. After that, the students didn’t stay long in the room.
Ken explained that it could have been an isolated incident and that it could have been attributed to a’some kind of hallucination’.
He continued, “But, what happened in that space, happened to different individuals often at the same times,” he said. “I’m trying to explain it in terms of physics.
“What would explain the sight of that particular thing?” What would explain that feeling? It’s difficult to explain sometimes.
Ken was desperate for an answer and spoke to the cleaner, who had been cleaning the halls for many years. She shared with Ken and James that she felt uncomfortable in the room and that she couldn’t explain it.
She also revealed that three other residents of the room had died while they were at university, including one who was killed on his way to Mass in the 1970s. Although rumours suggested he was pushed, a second fell from the window in an apparent act of suicide.
Ken described it as a “remarkable coincidence”, and wanted to know more. The podcast invited anyone with information to share their theories or have any unanswered questions about the episode.
But Parapsychologist Caroline Watt, of Edinburgh University, said there could be a logical explanation for what Ken had experienced.
“One possibility is to…”The environment is affecting the people in the room by electromagnetic activity or infrasound. Low frequency sounds in the environment can trigger emotions, such as fear and a sense that people are present. So I began to wonder about the source of infrasound.
“I thought about the lift. It has a lot electrical activity that powers it somewhere. This will create electromagnetic activity and infrasound in its movement.
She said: “So that could create haunting experience, ghost experiences. I would love to find the source of the power for the lift.