Skirrid Mountain Inn 22nd April 2011

It was a beautiful warm evening as we pulled into the car park at the Skirrid Inn, in Abergavenny, Gwent, but even in the beauty of the Welsh countryside, there was definitely an air of foreboding as we walked through the ancient front door.


Thought to be the oldest pub in Wales, and listed in chronicles from 1100, Owain Glyndwr is said to have rallied his forces in the cobbled courtyard in the early 15th century, before raiding nearby settlements sympathetic to the English king, Henry IV.


It is believed that the first floor of the inn was once used as a Court Room and over the period of many years, as many as 180 prisoners were sentenced to death by hanging, a sentence that was carried out at the inn itself. The original oak beam used for the hanging is in the stairwell of the Inn, and it still bears to rope marks of it's grisly history.  


Some of the Ghosts said to haunt the Inn are John Crowther who was sentenced to death for sheep stealing and hanged from the famous beam.

Fanny Price was once the landlady of the Inn, and died in her early 30's of consumption. She has been seen and felt on a number of occasions in the Inn. Glasses fly across the bar and some people feel as though a rope has been placed around their necks - sometimes red marks appear on the necks of ghost hunters as they stand near the hanging beam!

Our night was eventful to say the least. The first paranormal action occurred in the bright lights at the top of the cellar stairs with the pub open and in full swing. The lovely landlord, Geoff, was talking to me and  two of our guests, Jo and Racheal. He was explaining that he could take people in small groups down into the cellar. He asked if we would like him to do this and before we could answer, a male voice clearly hissed "yesssssssssss". We all looked at each other in shock. There were no men standing nearby - the cellar doorway is in a small enclosed well area between the back door and the stairway where the hanging beam is...

We had a fabulous meal (the food at the Skirrid Inn is delicious) followed by a small workshop with the guests. Then we went up to the graveyard to the see the grave of Fanny Price and her husband Harry. Two of the ladies were touched on the neck nearby the graves, one lady saying it felt like someone was moving her scarf.

The vigils began with me taking Room 1 and Michael the Bar area.  We were told a woman left in just her towel, after taking a bath in the Room 1 bathroom and feeling like she was being held under the water. 

The table tipping in room 1 was phenomenal. Something happened which I have never seen before. The table actually levitated for about 3 seconds. The Bathroom itself was very frightening with people sensing a tall dark figure with piercing blue eyes moving around the circle. At one point, we heard the creak of the wicker chair as someone sat down - even though we were nowhere near the chair at the time, and there was no-one else in the room with us.

Michael's area produced a horrible smell of sulphur and lots of lights and noises. 

The final vigil was in Room 2, where the man with blue eyes appeared again to several people. At one point we heard the Bell in the bar area ringing downstairs - even though we were all in the same room upstairs. 

It was an absolutely fantastic night and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the Skirrid Inn to any ghost hunters out there. The real McCoy!

The Heritage Warehouse, Stanley Docks, Liverpool

Michael and I first visited this place last October, when we worked with Derek Acorah on his True Vision Ghost Hunt. It was such an amazing location we just had to return.

The Warehouse  is thought to be  the world's largest brick warehouse.Standing 125 foot (38 m) high, the building was constructed in 1901. ^]The 14 storey building spans across 36 acres (150,000 m²) and its construction used 27 million bricks, 30,000 panes of glass and 8,000 tons of steel.

The overall design is by A.G. Lyster, the Dock Engineer, but Arthur Berrington almost certainly played a part. 

The dock and warehouse were used up until 1980.  They served as a port on the sea routes between the UK and America. Not surprisingly, it was the location for numerous murders. Immigrants and travelers, especially the Irish, were often blamed for the deaths sometimes without any evidence at all.

There are a number of reported hauntings in the Stanley Dock Tobacco Warehouse. It is said that the ghost of the body snatcher shot by the Americans still inhabits in the building as well as the soldier who’s body he tried to move. 

Another report tells the sad tale of a woman and a child who, separated by death, spend eternity roaming the huge building looking for each other. 

Headless Moll is a ghost more commonly associated with Pier Head – having died in an accident at the Stanley copper works. 

The building was used by a morgue for dead American servicemen during the war during which time it became infamous when a body snatcher was discovered and shot dead.

The South West Wing of the building is known to be one of the most haunted areas of the warehouse. The morgue is supposed to be haunted by the spirit of an evil doctor.

We began the night by taking the guests on a walk around the nightclub and morgue areas - said to be the most haunted - and trying to sense the spirits around. 

In the nightclub, Michael picked up on a woman who had been strangled with a ligature, and her head had almost been removed. As we looked at people in the half-light, some peoples heads looked as though they had almost disappeared. Michael also thought this woman was a prostitute who had been murdered by a    customer.  Brian, who was our escort around the building, said that Michael had picked up on a murder, well known to those in the docks, but not available on the internet or in books.

The Morgue area was very eerie and many of the guests saw lights and heard noises in the area as we were going around. I felt a strong sense that black magic had taken place in this area. Brian said he wasn't aware of this, but later on, after checking, he told us that in the early 1900's black magic had indeed been practised in this area.

Table tipping and ouija boards worked well in all areas, but for me, the strangest part of the night was when we made a circle around a table we had used for table tipping. We asked the spirits to knock on the table and we heard two loud bangs coming from the table-top - just as though someone had indeed rapped the table with their fist.  Also, in the same circle we asked out loud "would you like us to leave?" - Nearly everyone in the group heard an eerie voice said "yessssssssss".

If you haven't visited Stanley Docks Tobacco Warehouse, I would strongly recommend you do, as it produces some amazing paranormal activity.

We return here on 22/10/11 with Dusk till Dawn - you can join us by booking here 

http://www.dusktilldawnevents.co.uk/stanley-docks-tobacco-warehouse-liverpool-overnight-ghost-hunt-p-422.html

Next week we visit the famously haunted Skirrid Inn.

Galleries of Justice Ghost Hunt 9th April 2011

I've been to the Galleries on many occasions, and as usual, it lived up to its reputation.

Joining me were my husband Michael and my good friend, medium Sue Ingleby. The lovely Samantha Hill also joined us as Host and investigator.

The Galleries of Justice is a Courtroom, Gaol and execution Site. There has been a building here for many centuries and it has been used as a place of law enforcement for at least 300 years. The cells are beneath the courtrooms, and were built within Nottingham's cave system. There are two exercise yards, a washroom, a condemned block and further down still, a medieval cave. The Galleries of Justice is known as one of the most haunted buildings in the country.

Before the public arrived, Michael, Sue and I managed to have a look around to try and feel where the energies were strongest. We all agreed there was a heavy atmosphere and we all felt there could be activity virtually anywhere. Michael decided to take the Cave, I took the Condemned and Dark Cells and Sue took the Laundry Room.

All the groups were fantastic, putting lots of energy in and calling out to spirit etc. This makes such a difference, because it gives spirit something to interact with. We managed to get the table tipping and we even got some knocks and bangs in response to questions at one point. The dark cells were eerie and all three groups felt the presence of a dark and foreboding spirit, and we all smelt the familiar foul stench of negative energy in this area too. More than one of the guests had to leave this area because they felt either ill or overwhelmed and one man actually felt like he'd been prodded in the shoulder with a sharp implement.

The caves produced stone throwing, people feeling that they were being breathed on, and Michael got scratched! He noticed blood coming down his arm, pulled his sleeve up and noticed a large scratch mark!

Sue's group heard screams in the Washroom (we also heard screams and mutterings) and there was plenty of activity with the glass moving and ouija boards.

All in all, it was an active (if not a little disturbing) night.

My next blog will be a report on the Tobacco Heritage Warehouse in Liverpool on 16th April. Until then, happy ghosthunting!