I love Victorian buildings, so I was very excited to return to Morcambe Winter Gardens.
The building was originally the site of swimming baths, and grew to become the People’s Palace. Then in 1896 it was bought by, Mr Baker and Abbott, two directors of a pier company who transformed the building into the much larger Victoria Pavilion.
Despite initial success and the expansion and theatre, Morecambe Winter Gardens was sold in 1953 and once again faced abandonment. However, Louis Benjamin bought the building, worked hard and converted the ballroom to the Dixieland Palace. It was a losing battle though and in 1977 the theatre was closed again. This time, the ballroom was demolished.
Myself and Jess Gladwin of Dusk Till Dawn Events, investigated under the stage area. The night started with a very nice spirit called Edward, who told us that he was a person of restricted growth, and that he had worked in the theatre. The table tipped very well with Edward's help. To raise energies, we also sang some songs from years gone by and this really seemed to work, with the table standing on one end with the third group we worked with.
A strange phenomena also occurred. We all, very clearly, heard chairs being dragged around on the stage. We sent one of the staff to investigate, and eerily, there was not a soul upstairs!
Growlings were heard, people were pushed, one lady felt sick and the ouija board ang vigils all worked very well.
As usual Morcambe didn't let us down !
