Woodchester Mansion 27/5/11

Woodchester Mansion near Nympsfield, Gloucestershire is unique, in that it is an unfinished gothic masterpiece. Benjamin Bucknall was the Architect, and William Leigh the wealthy owner and builder.  The Mansion is situated at the west end of Woodchester Park, and William Leigh originally looked at Springthorpe House (the site of the now Woodchester Mansion) as a potential home. However, he decided too many repairs were needed and demolished Springthorpe in order to build his Gothic vision, Woodchester Mansion. However, the fortunes of the Leigh family were not consistent and the building was never finished. Leigh was also a perfectionist and this slowed the building works - however it also meant that the work produced was incredibly beautiful.

In one room of the Mansion, visitors can still see the tools left behind by Freemasons working on the site. I have often wondered why craftsmen would simply leave the tools of their trade behind? The story goes that Leigh ran out of money and didn't pay them, but surely you would not leave expensive tools behind? The very things that your livelihood rests on?

The night began with a walk around the mansion, and the energies felt very high. The kitchen area, bathroom and third floor all felt really energetic, so these were the areas we decided to do vigils in.

To start with, however, we did one large vigil with the whole group, in the cellar.  As we called out in the cellar I heard a man whisper in my ear "my name is Eric". I told the group what I had heard, and then suddenly, there were three loud raps on the cellar door! Then a horrible gravelly voice was heard to say  "it's me, Eric"!  We asked Chris, the keyholder, if Eric had been picked up before, and he confirmed that Eric was a stone mason working on the Mansion - what a great start to the night !

We then split into two groups, with me and Susan Ingleby taking the lower floor, Michael and Sam Hill taking the 1st floor.  Sue and I had some brilliant table tipping and Michael's group encountered a woman called Charlotte, who was stuck in the mansion and wanted to be moved on with her babies.  At one point, when we were in the chapel, we thought we saw two figures with torches and assumed it was someone from Michael's group - Michael and Sam saw the same thing and assumed it was our group!

In the chapel, on man became overwhelmed with the spirit of James, a foreman at the Mansion. Sue and I had to bring him back gently - wow this night was really kicking off! Nothing prepared us though for the events on the third floor...

The final vigil was a large group vigil on the top floor.  We decided to try and move Charlotte and he babies into the light. At the point where Charlotte was about to go over, all hell broke loose. People began screaming and we felt an energy rushing towards us. The torches were switched on and we saw one lady had completely fainted - her name? Charlotte.

After making sure she was OK, we continued to move the spirit over, but the third floor felt very threatening with all sorts of scary images being seen. I saw a white snake slithering across the floor, for example.

The end of the evening seemed to come very quickly and one lady came up to me at the end and said "I was a sceptic, but not any more".

What a night ! Join us on a ghost hunt by following the link to Dusk Till Dawn events at the top of the page.

Until next time, happy ghost busting !

Temple Meads Station Bristol 21st May 2011

Not deterred by the fact it was Judgment Day (!) we set off for this amazing building, right in the heart of Bristol, really quite excited.  We were the first paranormal group to ever investigate this location, and had been there once before on a scouting exercise. We couldn't wait to start interacting with the long-forgotten spirits of Temple Meads...

Designed by the great Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the Station took two years to build, being completed in 1841. It was the first Railway in Bristol to be used by the Great Western Railway and is now a Grade 1 Listed Building.

The name Bristol Temple Meads derives from its location in meadows in the parish of Temple church – on the site of a 12^th century Knights Templar church. 

The station also houses a dark and very haunted set of vaults, which date from the original 1870s construction. 

  

The tunnels also contain  an air raid shelter and  we also were able to investigate the cellars of Exeter House, a grand building which sits adjacent to the station.

Throughout the night, activity included stones being thrown, noises and sighs, small sparkly lights, and at one point a man had his baseball cap removed - even though we were all holding hands and he didn't feel it come off! It was only when it landed on the floor that we realised what had happened. 

A tragic victorian family, a harsh money collector and a young child were all spirits who made a connection during the evening.

Hopefully, we will visit this location again soon.  Happy hunting !

Dudley Castle Friday 13th May 2011

Friday 13th and Michael and I headed off to one of our favourite places - Dudley Castle in the West Midlands.

The first mention of a castle at Dudley comes with the arrival of "a great and powerful prince of the Kingdom of Mercia" called Dudd, around 700 A.D. "who raised a strong fortress here, which remained until the Conquest." Add the suffix "ley" or "lea" (which means land) to the man's name and you get "Dudley".

There is a long history of Lords and Landowners at Dudley, but the most famous is probably John Dudley, father of Robert Dudley who was, some say, the lover of  Queen Elizabeth I. John Dudley was also the father of Guilford Dudley who was  (briefly) married to Lady Jane Grey. Part of the Castle was rebuilt by John Dudley and this was known as the "Sharrington Range".

The castle is now a ruin, apart from the Visitor's Centre and Undercroft. It sits imposingly on top of a hill and the grounds of Dudley Zoo now sprawl around it. It's not uncommon to be in a vigil in the pitch black and hear the roar of a Lion!

The night began with us letting the guests explore the castle alone. It soon became very dark and spooky and the undercroft seemed to have a menacing air about it.

The first vigil took place in the buttery, as a group of men said they had been pushed in back when they were in there. We called out and sure enough we heard stones thrown and a few people said they felt that had been touched. We also saw the strange figure of man looming in one of the doorways.

Then we moved on to the zodiac room in the visitors centre. Michael and I both felt the presence of the Sherriff, a man called John, who really wanted to interact with us. In the chequered room he managed to shake and tip the table and also had it walking around the room! 

Glass moving was also very energetic - to the point of the glass breaking at one point.  Lots of sighs and noises were heard in this room.

The last vigil took place in the undercroft with two people being very brave and lying in the coffins.  Some people felt their hair being touched and one man became very shaky when standing in the circle. Lights were seen and many taps an bangs heard, and again, a loud, deep sigh.

In my opinion, Dudley Castle is one of the most truly haunted places in the UK.

If you would like to join us on a ghost hunt please follow the links to Dusk Till Dawn events. 

Next week we are at the never-before-investigated Temple Meads Station in Bristol! until then, happy ghosthunting....

The Spirit House 29/4/11

This week, we investigated my own shop/house in Evesham, Worcs. Of course, I have investigated it many times, but each time something different seems to happen. Sometimes the night is very sensory, sometimes its more audible, but last Friday, it was definitely physical!

No 85 High Street in Evesham (AKA The Spirit House) has been standing in one form or another since the 11th century. At the time of the Battle of Evesham, the house would have been a small cottage, probably owned by a trader, as it was close to the town centre. During the history that we can trace the house has been a dressmakers, a Doctor's surgery, a newsagents and the home to a local newspaper.  The shop and flat above was taken over by us on 31st October 2007 and has since been the home of Spiritus, a new age shop and spiritual centre.

Many spirits are seen in the building (unsurprisingly) but the most prominent are the ghost of a knight from The Battle of Evesham, Mary (a tudor woman) and her baby, the ghost of a Doctor and Colin, a modern-day ghost who followed us back from an Exorcism in 2008.

The evening began in our victorian parlour, where the table tipping was phenomenal. All of the participants said the atmosphere felt heavy and strange, and we just knew we were in for good physical activity. Colin made the table spin, "walk", vibrate and at one stage, one leg was moving in isolation to the others!

We then moved into the Kitchen area at the back of the shop. This is one of the most haunted locations. We stood in a circle with the lights out and it was pitch black, other than the light from the window at the back of the room. We all gasped as we saw the shadow of a man walking up the fire escape stairs - I went out to check and no-one was out there, and in any event, we surely would have heard the metal staircase creak and groan if someone was walking up it? The silhouette of the man was very clear - head and shoulders moving slowly upwards.

At several points during the night, one of two of the sensitive people in the group felt ill and even sick. One young girl had to sit out of the energy for a while and compose herself before re-joining the group.

The climax of the evening came in the cellar. We felt we should chant to raise the energies as high as possible. Lots of lights were seen in the cellar, people were touched and green luminous light was seen on the ceiling and on the stairs. The most amazing thing of all though, was when the table in the cellar moved - not once but about three times. We had drawn chalk circles around the legs so we could see how far it moved and it was about 6 inches each time (if not more).

An amazing night ! If you want to come on a ghost hunt at the spirit house, you can book here

http://www.dusktilldawnevents.co.uk/advanced_search_result.html?keyword=spiritus&sesid=2r2lpjsbsjv8u1em2ag6btoml2&search_in_description=1