UK Paranormal Events.

Sunday 26 January 2014

Mob descend on ‘haunted hospital’.

Ghost hunters at ‘haunted hospital’

A mob of 200 youths turned out to go ghost hunting at an abandoned hospital after rumours it was haunted went viral on social media.

Overwhelmed security guards at Clayton Hospital called the police when the ghost hunters turned up on Saturday night and managed to get into the grounds of the 19th century building.



Insp Richard Clare, of the Central and Rural neighbourhood police teams, said: “Whether it is haunted or not, it is a dangerous site and members of the public should not enter it for any reason.”

Four people were arrested but later released without charge.

The hospital, on Northgate, was opened in 1854 after former mayor Thomas Clayton donated buildings to the Wakefield General Dispensary, an organisation set up to provide healthcare for the poor. It has been boarded up since it was closed in 2012 by The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust.

Iain Brodie, general manager of facilities at The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust said: “We are working closely with West Yorkshire Police and the fire service to make sure a similar event does not occur again.”

The trust is currently looking to sell the site.

Wakefield Grammar School Foundation, which runs Qegs and the Girls’ High School have not ruled out buying the site.

Laurence Perry, bursar and clerk to the governors at Wakefield Grammar School Foundation, said: “We would naturally give consideration to any land which becomes available in close proximity to our schools if we envisage that it will enhance our educational provision.”


Article > Wakefield Express


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www.ukparanormalevents.com

Saturday 25 January 2014

Some interesting documentaries, worth watching.





Documentary on the Amityville Murders and Hauntings.









The Enfield Poltergeist.

                                     

Rare BBC Footage - Enfield Poltergeist.





The spirit remains once the building has gone. Cameron Hospital.

When ghostly Maud walked hospital ward.

ALL good things come to an end. Sadly it happened to Cameron Hospital on February 7, 1992 when the bulldozers moved in and removed the once-proud hospital from the Hartlepool skyline forever. But for one entity, her links to Cameron went on in ghostly form. Chris Cordner reports.

WE have looked at the highs and lows of a Hartlepool hospital in the last few weeks.

In the last of our mini series, it seems only right to pay homage to one character who was there for all of its 80-plus years.

Known only as Maud, she was a ghostly presence who roamed the wards, even after the last of the hospital patients had long gone.


John Davison was one guard who certainly had reason to remember Maud.

In March 1991, he heard someone moving around in an upper corridor and the sound of eerie laughter.

Later, he was told he had been the only person in the hospital at the time.

Further investigation indicated that it was Maud – a young nurse who had died when complications set in after she was struck on the nose by a hysterical patient in 1907.

And when John asked around, senior midwives told him they used to be accustomed to Maud roaming around areas of the hospital.

In fact, Maud’s presence become more common in the last weeks of the hospital.

For decades, Maud’s presence remained a secret among Cameron staff for fear they would be ridiculed if they spoke out.

But when they did pluck up the courage, many admitted they had feelings of trouble brewing when they were doing their work – and it was usually followed by something going wrong.

One nursing sister told the Mail in 1991: “Once when I was on night duty, I was feeding a baby in the nursery when I became aware my nurse was in the doorway, but when I looked up no-one was there.





“A short while later, she came and asked me what I wanted. She said she thought I had been standing behind her and just walked off without speaking.”

One nurse said: “I saw her wringing her hands.”

And if that wasn’t haunting enough, the final moments of Cameron’s demise held another twist for Maud.

Maud had a plaque erected in her memory but in the last week of the hospital being opened, the plaque was removed.

At the same time, a large chunk of plaster fell in the anaesthetic department.

Whether it was Maud’s final protestations, perhaps we shall never know.

But Cameron’s own death throes came in February 1992 when demolition work began. By then, experts estimated that the hospital had helped to bring 20,000 babies into the world.

Its eventual demolition paved the way for a housing estate but the memories live on.


Article > When ghostly Maud walked hospital ward.


© UK Paranormal Events


www.ukparanormalevents.com

Strange happenings at Manchester shopping emporium Afflecks.

Is Afflecks Palace haunted? Shop owners claim poltergeists, time warps and ghostly guests haunt emporium.

Legendary Manchester shopping emporium Afflecks has welcomed many famous shoppers over the years including the likes of Debbie Harry, the Gallagher brothers and members of rock band Def Leppard.

But its patronage doesn’t just end with purveyors of eclectic curiosities; it seems that it also enjoys visitors…. from the other side.

Poltergeist activity, spooky silhouettes and time-bending shenanigans are just some of the ghostly goings on at 52 Church Street according to some business owners.




Kate Oakley, owner of Vintage Twists on the first floor of Afflecks, revealed she had an eerie encounter just last month.

“I was in my shop and in the corner of my eye was a dark shape, and one of the Christmas tree baubles started swinging, but all the rest were still,” she recalled.

“The door was shut so there were no drafts of wind coming through, it was very eerie.

“I used to live in a caravan, and at night the clocks used to change – that’s a thing that tends to happen, they set back the clocks.”

And it seems that Kate’s not the only one who has encountered all manner of things that go bump in the night.


She explained: “There are loads of people who have seen things. On the top floor, where they have store rooms, lots of people have seen things thrown round – somebody found a deck of cards laid on the floor.”

Raven, a clairvoyant based in Afflecks, claims to have seen ghostly figures perusing the floor near her stall.

She said: “Occasionally I’ll see them I just see people generally walking around, there’s an old lady who I see regularly.

“She wears a dark, 1950s-style coat and hat – I’ve seen her coming in here, walk in and then leave again.”

But not everyone is convinced that Afflecks has spiritual visitors in their midst.

Paul Carter, a security guard at the emporium doesn’t believe the legend, though not through want of trying.

He said: “I walk around here in the dark shouting things to see if anything is here, but nothing replies.

“I’ve not heard or seen anything in here. Other people have, but then if you want to let your guard down and believe it you can do – I believe in science.”

Afflecks manager Tony Martin laughed off the suggestion that Afflecks is haunted and said that the stories are exactly that.

He said: “If anything like that was going on we’d be aware of it. It’s just gossip and rumours.

“If a bag falls off the shelf in this place, it’s a ghost – nothing to do with the fact that they’ve over-stocked the shelves!”
Article > MancunianMatters

© UK Paranormal Events

www.ukparanormalevents.com

Another Haunted Mansion goes on sale. A bargain at £4.75million.

Haunted Tudor mansion has 100ft great hall, a moat, its own arboretum... and room for several Catholic priests to hide 
inside specially built ancient 'priest holes'

  • Sawston Hall in Cambridgeshire, which is for sale for £4.75million, was a Catholic stronghold in the Reformation
  • It has three priest holes in which outlawed priests could hide when the feared priest-hunters came looking for them
  • The Hall, where Mary Tudor hid on her way to claim the throne in 1553, lies seven miles outside Cambridge
  • Despite recent renovations, the hall is said to be a rare example of a mid-Tudor domestic building on a grand scale. 

A 500-year-old Tudor mansion boasting a 100ft great hall, three priest holes and its own ghost is for sale for £4.75million.

Sawston Hall, described as the finest private house in Cambridgeshire, has five ensuite bedrooms, a moat, and an arboretum with rare trees, but its real draw is its history.

Owned by a grand Roman Catholic family for centuries, the Hall has secret places where outlawed Catholic priests could hide when the terrifying priest-hunters came to call during the Reformation.




Feared by Catholics who continued to practise their religion even after it was made illegal, priest-hunters would arrive with skilled carpenters who would spend up to a week ripping out panelling and pulling up floorboards looking for priests.

Sawston Hall, which was one of the famous Catholic safehouses in the reign of Elizabeth 1, has three such holes hidden in the fabric of the stone, Grade I-listed mansion. One of them, hidden within a stone turret housing a spiral staircase, was created by master carpenter Nicholas Owen, and is said by experts to be the finest example of a priest's hole in the country.

Owen, who died under torture in the Tower of London in 1606, was later canonised for his role in ensuring the future of British Catholicism, and his work in creating spaces where priests could escape capture played a key role in English Catholic history.



Sawston, which lies seven miles outside Cambridge, was owned by the Huddleston family from 1517 until they sold up in 1982, but much of its original furnishings and artefacts are still there, including paintings, tapestries and furniture.


Hailed as a rare perfect - not added to or rebuilt - example of mid-Tudor building on a grand scale, it was built using stones from Cambridge Castle between 1557 and 1584, replacing a late medieval manor house on the same spot that burnt down.

Mary Tudor, the future Mary I, hid in the original house as a guest of the Huddlestons in 1553 on her way to claim the throne, and it is said the Duke of Northumberland, hot on her heels, burnt it down when he found she had escaped dressed as a dairy maid.

Mary is said to have told her hosts not to worry, and promised to build them a better house, and the current Sawston Hall, which was occupied by the US Air Force during the Second World War, is the result.

After the Huddlestons sold it, Sawston Hall became a language school and was then bought by an internet tycoon who hoped to turn it into a five-star hotel. But when he lost interest and emigrated to Australia, it was bought by former hedge fund manager Stephen Coates in 2010.

Since then, he and his wife Claire have spent millions of pounds restoring the building, adding a bespoke kitchen by kitchen designer Mark Wilkinson, five bedroom suites, and a sophisticated zoned heating system.

The house is said to be haunted by Queen Mary, but the Coates, who have three young children, say it has never bothered them.

A campaign to raise the money to buy the house and open it for future generations has been launched by historians and is backed by leading Catholics including Ann Widdecombe and Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, the former Archbishop of
Westminster.

Brian Plunkett, of the Sawston Hall Heritage Trust, said the house's rich history made it of interest to everybody, regardless of religion.


He said: 'We want to buy it and open it as a heritage site for everyone to share. It's just the most beautiful place, and has the most astonishing history.'

He added: 'One of the priest holes at Sawston, said to be the best in the country, is ingeniously hidden within the actual thick stone wall of the medieval spiral staircase and can be accessed by lifting the boards of the landing at the top of the stairs.

'It is a couple of metres long once you get inside it and is a genuine hidden chamber built of stone. As you walk up the spiral staircase you could never spot it without knowing it is there.

'The opening is quite small so the priest would have needed to be quite small to get in through the access. My understanding is that it worked in that nobody was ever caught in it during the bad times.'





He also said Sawston was designed to allow someone to circulate in such a way that would confuse an intruder.

Sawston Hall is for sale through Savills estate agents, who say it may be of interest to the new breed of tech millionaires working in Cambridge.



Addition by Graham Hodge.

Being built in the 16th century, Sawston Hall has a varied history and some of it is dark and violent, as such it is not surprising that there are many reported sightings of ghosts and paranormal activity around the hall.


Of the many ghosts that have been reported to haunt Sawston Hall, the most famous has to be Queen Mary Tudor. The ghost of the late queen has been in many parts of the house and has been reported as gliding around serenely, while others report seeing her flitting around with great speed through the gardens. 


Another ghost that is often reported at the hall is described as the Grey Lady, She is reported to appear in the tapestry room, she is said to knock three times on the doors and then float across the room. A Clairvoyant who stayed at the hall in the 70’s said they were kept awake all night by repeated knocking on the door and someone fiddling with the latch on the door. A Priest who was staying in the room next door to the clairvoyant also reported being kept awake by these noises.

Disembodied laughter is often heard around the hall and is said to sound like it comes from a young girl, even though there are no youngsters around at the time. Also distant music can sometimes be heard in the hall but no one can find its source.


 
Article >  Daily Mail

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