This biography is archived from the original site, circa 2002.

About Nick. Gosh, it’s so hard to condense everything there is to say about this brilliant man into a concise biography!

Nick was born in England in a port town called Southampton, on January 8, 1963. From an early age Nick had a tumultuous relationship with his parents, Mary and Patrick Hardaway. They saw his psychic talents–which were developing rapidly from the time he could speak & articulate his thoughts onward–as nothing more than childish insubordination, and were constantly frustrated that they couldn’t condition him out of his abilities. They even, with the cooperation of a child psychiatrist who felt he was manifesting a rare early onset of psychosis, tried sedating him with Thorazine (Largactil in the UK). He told me it made him feel like he was dying, and at every opportunity he faked swallowing the pills and buried them in a plaster (Band-Aid) tin in the garden.

He moved away from his parents, with their complete blessing, to live with his paternal grandparents, when he was ten. He always calls them his “Mum and Pop”, and rarely–and with great reluctance–speaks of his birth parents. His grandmother (Maureen Hardaway) and grandfather (James Hardaway) raised him with great love and care. They nurtured, rather than punished, his psychic abilities. Maureen’s mother had a touch of the “psychic sense” herself, so Maureen was proud to have passed the talent on to her grandson.

They brought Nick to Spiritualist churches, which have a firm belief in spiritual mediumship, among other paranormal phenomena. He had several mentors in and through the church, who helped him develop his abilities. It became clear that Nick had strong mindreading talents, as well as the ability to manipulate the thoughts and mental state of others (in other words he can “plant” thoughts or knock someone unconscious with a focused bout of psychic energy). It’s the latter that has intrigued scientists most about Nick.

Besides those two abilities, Nick also possesses pre and post-cognition, psychic touch, spiritual sixth sense, and telekinesis. They are developed to varying degrees.

Nick’s grandfather died when he was fifteen, and he remained with his grandmother at their home in Farncombe until she died when he was 20. He then left the UK and spent time in France and Spain, before relocating to the US, where he applied for, and was granted, US citizenship.

He lived in New York City, Chicago, and Seattle, finally moving to Tacoma for a “quieter” life when he was 28.

As stated in my autobiography page, we met when he was 32. After three months of dating we moved in together, into our little “home sweet home”. As I write this now I am still here, in our precious paradise, where we spent so many years together. Though most of our things are in boxes now, half of the townhouse unused. Soon I will be relocating and leaving this part of my life behind. I already have a signed lease for one of the new condominiums by TechStar, built on the exact site where Rose Red once stood. I feel like I will be coming home…home to Nick!

Nick went missing in Rose Red on Saturday, May 26, 2001, during the Memorial Day expedition led by Dr. Joyce Reardon.

More facts about Nick:

…Nick loves to cook. His favourite dish to prepare is lamb or beef roast, roasted with potatoes, and served with steamed vegetables. He makes a mean yorkshire pudding! He is also quite big on inventing adventurous new pasta sauces, frequently adding a bit of Thai flavour to the mix.

…Nick is convinced that I have latent psychic abilities…I guess if anyone would know, he would! Over our six years together I would work with him, slowly but steadily, on developing my psychic touch. Those who saw the movie will remember Pam Asbury, the “touch-know”, as the psychic best versed in using the tactile sense to receive psychic information. I am at the point now where I can easily receive information, though my ability to quickly process and interpret that information fluctuates between keen and dull.

…Misc. info: Nick’s favourite colour is blue. His favourite season is summer. His favourite day of the week is Saturday. He loves music–he says it is a window to the musician’s soul. His favourite type of music is blues/jazz, though he is also quite partial to classical (he’s pretty open minded to most music). Nick can sing very well, though he thinks his voice is bad and so he never pursued it. Nick doesn’t believe in UFOs being little green men (he thinks they are more likely to be experimental aircraft), but he does believe in intelligent life somewhere out there. Nick’s favourite food is Thai. Nick speaks French almost fluently, as well as his native English. Nick’s favourite city is Madrid. Nick hates to fly, but did it quite often.

Have a question about Nick? Ask it in the guestbook (you can do so anonymously) or post it in a comment below. I’ll do my best to answer it!

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8 Comments

1. Why Madrid was his favorite city??

   Comment by Thalia — February 22, 2009 @ 5:54 am

2. Thanks for the question. He fell in love with Madrid after going to investigate local claims that Hemingway’s ghost haunts the Hotel Reina Victoria. The hotel is steeped in literary history, which had its own allure since Nick’s a lit buff like me.

   Comment by Ally — February 22, 2009 @ 5:58 am

3. That’s so sweet that he sang! Did ever sing to you, and if so, what songs? Did the two of you have an “our song” like so many couples do?

   Comment by Megan — March 7, 2009 @ 10:00 am

4. Thanks for your comment/question Megan. I don’t know that there was any one song he sang a lot to me. He’d sing around the house but I it wasn’t so much a case of serenading me.

   He knew some Haitian folk songs that I found quite catchy. There’s one in particular, a song to their equivalent of a goddess of love, that he taught me and I still catch myself singing it at odd moments. I guess he “taught” it to me, either that or I just learned by repetition. (It goes like “Ezili fre le fre li Freda, Ezili O, li pa manje moun anko, inosan bondye va gade ou” - Haitian is similar to French so a natural for him.)

   There were little British ditties here and there, old songs mostly. Stuff his grandmother used to sing.

   He was also quite fond of old spirituals, like gospel music. There are only so many mornings you can wake up to hear someone belting out “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” in the shower…but I kinda miss it now.

   We both have very eclectic musical taste and basically like anything that tickles our fancy. We have a “song” in the sense of we have one that we know we’ll dance to at our wedding, whenever it’ll be. I’ll do a post about it actually…good thinking.

   Comment by Ally — March 7, 2009 @ 9:06 pm

5. [...] reader named Megan kindly commented last week asking if Nick and I have, as many other couples have, a particular song we call our own. Since I [...]

   Pingback by Unraveling Rose Red » By Request, Our Song — March 11, 2009 @ 4:46 pm

6. [...] About Nick [...]

   Pingback by Unraveling Rose Red » Life with a Mind Reader — March 19, 2009 @ 5:06 am

7. What was Nick doing at Rose Red to begin with?

   Comment by Rosa Ramos — April 2, 2009 @ 8:40 am

8. Hi Rosa, thanks for the question. I’ve written about why Nick went to Rose Red here. In a nutshell he was contacted by Joyce and offered a place in the party. He attended the briefing and decided there was way more to it than meets the eye; he wanted to try to help the people trapped in the house. He’s always enjoyed helping people “cross over” in haunted locations.

   Comment by Ally — April 2, 2009 @ 8:54 am

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