 An investigation by the team took place on the 18th April,
2009, on a cool, crisp night, that was to hold a good few surprises and one quite unexplainable event!
While
we were gathering in the hub waiting for the rest of the team to arrive a male spirit was making himself evident. His
name was Jim, appearing quite elderly and wearing a flat cap and working clothes. He was in unusual surroundings, that
did not appear to be the theatre, which quite puzzled me because I was not aware that this place had been anything else other
than a theatre. It seemed to be some kind of factory, with large benches and large pieces of equipment and this was
accompanied by me feeling very hot, a phenomena that was to be shared by quite a few of the team later in the investigation.
I recounted my feelings and experiences to Judy and Jim, the curators, they said it was possible - but would not elaborate
until the investigation had begun, when they would explain everything.
The walk around went without much excitement
to speak of until the very end. The men had done the initial walk around then we joined them for photographs and general
impressions. Towards the end, most of us were on stage when Julie decided to go down into the stalls and have a sit.
She chose a seat with an aisle in front. Suddenly we heard a smash of glass and Julie's voice. What had happened
will remain a mystery, because no one can explain it. During the period in the dark a wine glass had been broken in
front of Julie's feet! Now the first conclusion to jump to is that she had kicked it over in the dark. The
men swear it was not there when they did the lit walk round at the beginning of the evening. Could it have been wedged
somehow in between the seats and Julie sitting on the seat had dislodged it? Firstly, glasses are not allowed in the
auditorium, and secondly, how can a glass roll then smash? Don't forget, it was found in front of her feet!
We have been over every conceivable scenario and we still can't explain it. A photograph Julie in the said seat
with an orb in the photo and also one of the glass, appears below.
The investigation began on the stage, but the
first glimpse of anything was actually in the circle, where a man appeared, fleetingly, quickly followed by a woman walking
up and down the right stalls aisle, (as viewed from the stage). Both of these would be investigated later.
The
stage itself yeiled a small light within the first minute, which heralded a good start. A cold spot appeared in front
of me followed by a quick battery drain on one of the cameras, which, apparently, is a normal phenomena for the area.
Lila sensed a woman in a floral dress, accompanied by a severe pain behind the left knee. As she was describing this,
a light appered on camera. See clip below.
| Julie in the chosen seat |
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| The broken wine glass |
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| A mystery how this happened! |
Clip 1
The strongest energy was still coming from the
woman in the aisle, so it was decided to go there next and return to the stage later.
| The area of the usherette |
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| The seat that was found down |
The lady was presenting as late fifties, wearing
the uniform of an usherette, with gold markings on the turn back of the collar. She was showing herself rushing up and
down the aisle being quite authoratative. I kept asking her name, and although she didn't verbally give an answer,
she kept showing me the picture of a cat. I was puzzled, but Andrew said, just as a joke, 'Perhaps her name is Kitty',
and, as it turns out, that's exactly what it was, as confimed by Jim! Sometimes, this is hard work!! It was
in this area later while we were repositioning that one of the seat was found down. Although we did ask everyone nobody
remembered sitting in the seat. That's not to say they hadn't forgotten!
At this time, Dave was filming
on stage and heard a strange and unexplained noise. This was to be heard again later.
We repositioned
in the circle and just as I began to ask out for a light, one showed at the edge of the screen. A man's energy was
moving around the area very swiftly and culminated with a light on screen. See below.
Clip 2
At the same time the K2's lights began flashing
when switched on, but this was tracked to a power point on the steps. However, this was not the case when it was passed
to Lila across the steps, and still two lights were visible.
Although the spirt seemed to be having a good time, as was
evident from the laughing (probably at us!), there were no lights or noises, seen or heard, although there was a drop in temperature
from 14.5 to 12.5 degrees centigrade. The only other noticable happening was Andrea's heart suddenly begin to pound
while she was seated at the front of the circle. We did ask out from the spot, but there was no lights picked up on
video.
On our way down from the circle a few of us heard the tinkling of a piano, which has apparently been heard before,
but there was no taping taking place at the time, so we have no hard evidence.
| The Circle steps |
|
We recommenced back on the stage with a table
tipping session and although an energy was present we were not getting much movement. Suddenly, strange things began
to happen to Lila's jewellery. She said her necklace was beginning to move on it's own, she could feel it being
pulled round her neck. Armed with torches, Julie, Jim and Andrea all witnessed the movement, while the rest of us concentrated
on Lila, just to make sure she wasn't moving unknowingly. As far as we could tell she was remaining static, and
still the jewellery continued to move, the most impressive being when it turned over, seemingly on it's own. Even
if Lila WAS moving, we cannot think of a way she could make it do that.
The sequence seemed to be broken by the sound
of a man's voice that I could hear shouting 'Derek'. We decided to use the jewellery as a trigger object
and set it out in a particular arrangement on another table, taking stills photographs to record the placings. When
we went to check later unfortunately David walked into the table in the dark, so we were unable to check for movement.
You can't get the staff these days!!
However, the glass session that was taking place was getting some very strong
responses. As we began asking for the male spirit to respond the temperature went icy cold and the glass began moving
very erratically. I asked if this was the man who had had the accident with the rope, accidentally strangling himself,
who I had picked up in the area earlier. As we were conversing, this was picked up on camera.
Clip 3
The man who was shouting we could only think
was the father of Derek, as both of them seemed to be associated with the building, but not in the theatre, in foundry that
stood on the same site previously. It was only then that Jim explained about my feelings as I entered the building at
the beginning of the evening! We did get some information about Derek, but have no way of veryfying them. He died
through illness, (got lumps? which we think maybe smallpox, as it was not eradicated from the area until the 1900's),
in 1836, aged 13 years. During this sequence, we captured a light and two noises, see below.
Clip 4
| The stage as viewed from the circle |
|
Our brief visit to the main foundry area which
is found at the right rear of the property did not herald any lights or noises but plenty of other phenomena. A spirit
named 'Mac' was making himself known, while at the same time both Andrea and Lila were complaining of pain in the
right hand side of the head. Lila thought this 'Heathcliff' looking character had accidentally been hit
in the head with a chain, and felt him to be a worker, rather than a boss. It was here that Dave complained about feeling
freezing cold, because usually he's not affected by cold at all. A move into the adjacent corridor found Julie hearing
music , again unexplained.
A little boy appeared and showed his demise, being trampled under rearing horses, presumably
delivering to the foundry. When I asked him to make himself known there was a strange noise above Andrea's head
which made her jump. Unfortunately, this was not caught on tape as Dave was choking at the time and had had to leave
the area! Although he refused to believe it, he may well have been affected in some way by the influence of the foundry.
Our last port of call for the evening was the bar, and before we even entered the room there was a distinct smell
of lavender at the top of the stairs. This was perculiar because at the time I had the tail end of 'flu and couldn't
smell anything else!
The overwhelming energy in there belonged to a woman who liked to have a good time. We thought
a glass session may be in order and as we were setting up we caught something stange on camera. See box below.
At first it we thought it was someone using a
torch, but the only person stood off to the right is Judy, and as we reversed and forwarded the video, she has her
hands in her pockets. Also, if you look off to the left you will see there is no light from a torch beam evident anywhere.
This remains unexplained.
The woman present gave her name as Ellen Barker, which also happens to be the same surname
as the foundry owner, James Barker. She seemd very heavily under the influence of drink, even in spirit (?!), and her
answers were contradictory to say the least, so we decided it prudent to ignore her answers.
We followed with
a glass session to see if we could contact a child, Robert, that has been seen in the area. Although there was no movement
on the glass we did get a light, as shown below. At this time a number of people present did complain of having a sore
throat, but whether or not this was to do with Robert's passing is unknown.
Clip 5
The night seemed to be over much too quickly,
but while we were packing up the equipment Dave noticed something very perculiar. Sometime during the night the temperature
had recorded a high of 19 degrees centigrade on the thermometer. Trust me, NOWHERE in that theatre was there a temperature
of 19 degrees! That too remains a mystery.
We shall be returning soon to see if we can solve some of them.
A big thank you to Jim and Judy, who were the perfect hosts. The night was even more enjoyable having them present to
share their vast knowledge.
Below, a selection of extra photographs we thought you might enjoy.
Pat Adams-Wright
for WYPG.
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