5 days to the end of our summer competition...

Here's the final reminder for our summer 'ghost story' competition, which ends on the last day of August.

We haven't found any ghosts yet, but you probably have. So jot down your true life experience (doesn't have to be more than a paragraph or two) and include it in a comment at the end of this post, or email it to twomenandaghost@hotmail.com.

Entries received so far include a ghost in First World War uniform, piercing screams from an upstairs floor, and a paranormal encounter in a bathtub. All good stuff, but we want to read more!

Best submission gets turned into a newspaper-style comic strip like the one above, drawn by our very own Mychailo Kaybrid who is currently illustrating the hugely popular Wallace & Gromit strip in The Sun.

The strip will be published on this blog, and the winner will be sent the highly collectable original artwork, signed by our very selves. I am sure you will agree that this is a prize to treasure for ever. So get scribbling and send us your tales!

On a side note, the strip above refers to our expedition to Beauchief Abbey last summer. You can read about it here.

Eager to relive that momentous evening (when, significantly, we spectacularly failed to find anything), we are about to set forth again to the haunted abbey to recreate our non-experiences in video form.

Soon to be uploaded to YouTube and embedded in this blog, it promises to be a visual feast, an aural treat and an anti-climactic extravaganza.

So watch this space ... but not for too long or your eyes will go funny.

Sheffield Ghost Hunters on the Road (Part 2)

Sheffield Ghost Hunters on the Road (Part 1)

2MG on the radio with top comedian!

This morning, our very own Mike Kazybrid - first man of Two Men and a Ghost - was interviewed on BBC Radio Sheffield by none other than Phoenix Nights star, Toby Foster.

The subject was the unexplained, which is appropriate because one of life's great unexplained mysteries is how the two of us manage to keep this ghost hunting blog going when we still haven't found any ghosts!

Mike reveals all - about the origins of 2MG and more - and his words of wisdom can be found here, starting at 2.47.10. But listen quick - it's only online for another seven days.

And don't forget to tune in to The Toby Foster Bigger at Breakfast Show on BBC Radio Sheffield, every weekday from 7am to 10am, with a topical phone-in every final hour.

What the men behind 2MG are really like!

Have you ever wondered what the men behind Two Men and a Ghost are really like? No? Don't blame you.

But if you had, then wonder no more. Along comes a brand new site, called Typealyzer, that analyses the contents of blogs and lets you know the personality type of the authors.

A quick cut and paste job reveals that Mike and I are 'Mechanics' (maybe we should form a pop group).

Are we human? Are we dancers? No, Typealyzer reveals that we are:

'The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment and are highly skilled at seeing and fixing what needs to be fixed. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters.'

Uncannily spot on, in every detail. You may have imagined that we were hopelessly inept with our ghost hunting exploits, following up half-baked leads with the most basic of equipment, shambling along cluelessly, frequently getting lost, then giving up at the slightest hint of tiredness, thirst or hunger ... or anything.

Well, you're wrong. Typealyzer confirms that we are a lean, mean paranormal machine, on call 24 hours a day at 2MG Mansions. We wait for the alarm bell to sound so that we can slide down our pole, strap ourselves into the state-of-the-art spookmobile and speed through the urban cityscape with the Starsky and Hutch theme blazing at full volume out of the battery-operated megaphone that's gaffa-taped to our roof. Impressive, eh?

Test your own blog on Typealyzer. It's totally, utterly, 100% accurate.

Would I lie to you?

Flat caps and ancient rites (by Andrew Wooding)

You may remember that after Mike and I conducted an extensive and detailed search for the ghost of Mary Queen of Scots on the Manor Ruins in Sheffield (we lasted about 9½ minutes – read about it here), we decided to retire to an establishment serving beverages of a fermented variety (otherwise known as a pub).

This we did. Mike’s choice of poison was an Orange and Passion Fruit J2O. Mine was an obscure German beer that cost an arm and a leg, as well as the best part of a fiver.

We retired to a dark corner to debrief about our failure to find old Queen Mary and to plan our next move. But we couldn’t help but be distracted by the conversation at the table opposite.

Sitting at said table were two elderly Yorkshiremen with flat caps and jackets, both of them hugging frothy pints of bitter while sharing a bag of pork scratchings. They looked harmless enough, and from their looks you might expect that they were nattering about whippets, or racing pigeons, or Hovis, or the Tetley tea folk.

Imagine our astonishment, then, when certain words or phrases wafted across from their vocal cords into our earlobes: ‘ancient rituals’; ‘druids at Stonehenge’; ‘the power of the Norse gods’.

Mike and I gave each other a troubled glance, then promptly shut our traps so that we could listen more intently. But how to be nosy at such close proximity without making it seem obvious? We adopted different strategies.

Mike stared up at the ceiling, pretending to study a stain (or something) in great detail. Me, I bent over to tie up my shoelaces. Took me about fifteen minutes.

During the course of our non-suspicious eavesdropping, we learnt of illicit nocturnal encounters of the earth-worshipping variety in the forests of Sheffield; nearby covens of witches, Wiccans and whippets (well, maybe not the whippets); and things you can do in circles of stones that boggle the mind.

These lurid revelations eventually proved too much for our frail sensibilities, so I finished tying my shoelaces (which was a feat in itself because my trainers are fastened with Velcro), Mike painfully cricked his neck back into place, and we staggered out the pub back door into the crisp night air.

If you happen to stumble across this new brand of Yorkshire pagans (we call them the ‘Flatcappians’), don’t say we didn’t warn you. The shock might prove too much, and you’ll need a strong mug of Tetley tea and a pack of Hovis digestives to calm you down.

Competition extended!

From Mike Kazybrid’s recent interview with Rony Robinson on BBC Radio Sheffield:

Rony: Have you seen any good ghosts lately?

Mike: No.

Rony: Have you ever seen a ghost?

Mike: Erm … no.

Rony: Isn’t it a bit odd to be a hunter of ghosts if you’ve never seen one?

Mike: (mumbles a half-hearted embarrassed defence)

As you can see, Rony rumbled us immediately, live on air, and Mike’s insightful, eloquent and well-thought-out responses did little to convince him. So, if we haven’t found any ghosts yet, we need you to tell us about your ghost encounters. Doesn’t have to be long – just a sentence or two. Either comment at the bottom of this blog, or bung us an email at twomenandaghost@hotmail.com.

Out of all the stories received, we’ll turn our favourite into a comic strip, like the one above which relates to our adventure in Bunting Nook (you can read about it here and here). For more examples of Mike’s excellent artwork, see his latest graphic novel about the legendary Humph the Cat, completely free to download here.

Just imagine, your story can be illustrated by a top UK artist (Mike is currently drawing the Wallace & Gromit strip for The Sun), and you will also receive his original artwork through the post, signed personally to you.

Our original deadline for this competition was the end of June, but we so love reading your stories (they turn us green with envy) that we’ve extended the deadline to the end of the summer hols (last day of August). Many thanks for Martin Dawes of The Star for promoting our competition here.

Please get scribbling and scare us with your true-life tales!