ALTON TOWERS GHOST HUNT 27TH JULY 2013

Alton Towers is probably the most well known Tourist Attraction in the UK.
Set amidst beautiful Gardens in Staffordshire many people visit this famous Theme Park year after year not knowing that there lurks a dark and chilling Gothic Mansion amongst the thrilling rides. The very haunted Alton Towers Ruin, a place which has a very dark and mysterious history.
The early Alton Towers was a hunting lodge, known as Alveton Lodge (or Alverton), which is the ancient name for Alton.
Charles Talbot, the 15th Earl and his family, began improvements on the house, and initiated the creation of the Gardens, at the turn of the 19th century. Through the early 1800s, 13,000 trees were planted in the grounds. In 1811, major work began on the house. Over the next ten years, several new rooms were built: a drawing room, dining room, chapel, library, long gallery, banqueting hall, conservatory and entrance hall were all added. As a result of the work done, the house doubled in size. The entire building was renovated in a Gothic Style, and the foundations of the Flag Tower were also laid. Some of the architects that worked on the house were Thomas Hopper and A.W Pugin (the architect involved in the equally haunted Woodchester Mansion).
Sadly in the early 1900's however, the house began its demise, when a lack of funds prevented the family from taking care of all the maintenance on the house and it was sold in 1924.
The Tower Ruins have a very strange chilling atmosphere even in broad daylight and with over 1500 years of History at this very haunted location you wouldn’t be surprised of the paranormal activity that has been reported here by visitors and staff alike.
Witnessed often is a Female presence that has been seen several times appearing to people mostly on the upper floors of the Ruin seen wearing all black garments as if she is in mourning.
Heavy thunderous footsteps are heard regularly within the darkness along with dark shadows seen lurking and moving about in doorways.
Strange whispering, chanting discarnate voices are heard close to people’s ears along with loud distinctive Raps and Knocks given in response to any question asked during Investigations.
There have been poltergeist stone throwing phenomena reported on numerous occasions along with foreboding feelings sensed in certain area.

 

We arrived at the house in the middle of an electrical storm. Thunder rolled in and lightning struck and it all made for a very atmospheric (if not a bit soggy) start to the night ! I was thrilled, as it is known that electrical storms can provide energy for spirit to manifest - would we be lucky tonight?
We started our walk around the building and people began to sense a very 'dark' atmosphere to the ruin on this particular night. I caught a glimpse of a small Victorian child - typical of the stereotype. Pretty blonde little girl with ringlets and an Alice in Wonderland style dress - as we reached the kitchen. As I looked at her, her eyes suddenly turned dark and a look of pure malice came across her face. This was no child, but an elemental, left behind by those who had practiced dark magic, in order to frighten people away from their sacred space!

In the Pugin rooms, one of our guests caught sight of a very slim lady in a white gown - she said there was a splash of red on the gown but couldn't tell if it was a sash - or blood.... 

We split into smaller groups for the organised vigils. Table tipping was very active in the lower rooms, with the name William, a man who like to grab hold of ladies, responding to our questions. In our first group, we actually saw parts of his body forming in the doorway ! In two of the groups a ball of blue light was seen on the stairs, which I saw as the bottom part of a ladies blue gown. The dress seemed to move slowly down the stairs as we called out to her.

The Ouija board came out with some interesting information, and people felt they were pushed in the circle.Big temperature changes were also felt throughout the night.

Thanks to all our amazing guests as usual. Follow the link at the top of this page if you'd like to join us one night...

RYECROFT HALL MANCHESTER 20TH JULY 2013

20th July 2013

Ryecroft Hall in Manchester is a majestic Grade II listed building built in 1849 by James Smith Buckley. The Buckley family were wealthy, well to do cotton manufactures who also owned many other properties in the local area. This building which still retains many of its original and ornate features was once used during the First World War as a voluntary hospital with 100 beds for patients.

The last owner of the Hall was James Buckley’s nephew who name was Abel Buckley. Abel lived at the Hall for 22 years before finally passing the house and its grounds to the people of Audenshaw to use for council offices.

Ryecroft Hall is very well known for its hauntings.

The Cellar area in particular seems to be a hive of activity which is not surprising as it was once used as a mortuary. In this area a women’s voice has been reported to have been heard here on more than one occasion shouting a clear “Get Out” and people who enter this area feel very very unwelcome to say the least with its intense and eerie atmosphere even the staff that work at Ryrcroft Hall will not venture into the Cellar alone!

Apparition’s are said to have been witnessed on the upper floors of this location one being an old man who is thought to have once worked at the hall and two young spirit children a boy and a girl have also been seen.

Poltergeist activity has been reported here with items being thrown along with the sounds of heavy furniture being moved around in upstairs rooms where upon investigation the room is always found to be empty with no one there.

Michael, myself and technical paranormal investigator, Alan Darcy, arrived at the Hall and set up our equipment.

After a tour round with the caretaker, we embarked on our ghost walk. The group were great, really getting into it and not afraid to tell us what they were experiencing. Some people felt sick, some experienced a feeling of dread and one lady had her hair touched, when we were in the cellar. 

We then split into groups - I took the cellar, Alan and Michael took the upper floors.

Table tipping worked very well, especially when our returning guest, Paul, called out ! Paul has been on a few investigations and seems to act as a battery for spirit when we are table tipping. Guest Emma was told on the Ouija board that the Colonel thought she looked like his daughter - we asked him on the Franks box to repeat her name and sure enough, after a couple of minutes, came the chirpy response Emmmmmma! Michael said he heard the name 'Beckley' which actually turned out to be 'Buckley' - the one-time owner of the Hall.

The franks box and PX seemed to refer to war-time words such as 'general'  'soldiers'  and also said 'secret' and 'silence' - perhaps they were referring to the signing of the Official Secrets Act?

All in all we had a fantastic night with really great interaction from the guests which always results in good interaction with spirit.

If you would like to come with us to  Ryecroft Hall, the next event is on 9th November 2013.

Click the link to book www.dusktilldawnevents.co.uk

DRAKELOW TUNNELS SATURDAY 13TH JULY 2013 - ALL DAY GHOST HUNTING !

It was a boiling hot day - 30 degrees in some places - so when we arrived at the tunnels for our first, daytime, ghost hunt at 1pm, it was a relief to go into the cool tunnels. At a constant 9 degrees, we actually had to put our jackets on, once we were acclimatised to the temperature !

Our first ghost walk went well. There were lots of noises and whistles, and the Ouija board picked up a few names. We had a couple of sceptics in the group, but after the table tipping session, one of them said to me 'I am now becoming a believer - it wasn't just the table tipping, I actually felt the force of it being dragged beneath my fingers'.

In fact some of ours guests enjoyed it so much, they bought tickets for the night time event, which started at 9pm and continued until 3am.

The evening group started with a walk around on which myself and medium Tracey Titley picked up on a couple of officious men in the BBC area. 

Guests Ben and David had an emotional experience on the guests free time, with the spirit of an old man who seemed lonely. They both had tears in their eyes and felt very sad.

During the table tipping vigils, two of the groups were treated to a fantastic light show from the spirits of Bill and Harry - large orbs of light would move towards the group and then retreat and even seemed to pulsate, as if they had a life of their own!

Finally, we tried out our new way of communicating with the spirits. Paranormal Technician Alan Darcy used his exclusive equipment to bring up the face to face with the Spirits of Drakelow !

If you want to join us here or on any other event then please log on to www.dusktilldawnevents.co.uk to purchase your tickets - see you soon !