Abbey Pumping Station, Leicester
The Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham
Brownsover Hall Hotel, Warwickshire
The Castle Hotel, Castleton
Edgehill Battlefield, Warwickshire
Edwards No.8 Rock Club, Birmingham
The Grail Court Hotel, Burton-on-Trent
The Griffin Inn, Nuneaton
Ladybower Reservoir, Derbyshire
The Parade Shopping Centre, Shrewsbury
The Red Lion, Wirksworth
The Shire Hall Gallery, Stafford
Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery
Shrewsbury Railway Station
The Shropshire Union Canal
Stafford Superbowl
Weston Hall, Staffs.
Winnats Pass, Derbyshire
I think that I may have mentioned in my book Ghost Hunting with Derek Acorah that Mr Richard Felix would argue that his home town of Derby is the most haunted place in the country. He refers to it as ‘the dead centre of England’! There are others, however, who would argue that point.
The Midlands covers a huge area of central England where so much of our country’s history is entrenched. From the Civil War right through to the Industrial Revolution and beyond, the Midlands was at the heart of events. Now that heart of England continues to beat with supernatural happenings that defy logical explanation.
Abbey Pumping Station
Abbey Pumping Station, next to the National Space Centre in Leicester, is a museum of science and technology. Opened in 1891, it originally pumped Leicester’s sewage to the treatment works at Beaumont Leys. It closed in 1964, but was preserved because of the magnificent Victorian engineering on display in the four beam steam engines that were used to pump the sewage. Three of these have been restored to working condition. The pumping station now holds special steam events and has exhibitions on light and optics, historic transport and public health.
There have been many unexplained events at the pumping house, mostly around the engine house. Items have been moved around and strange noises have often been heard, particularly late at night when the museum is about to be locked up. The disturbances are supposed to be due to the ghost of an engineer who worked at the pumping station in the nineteenth century. He died there in 1890, when he fell over 50 ft from the top balcony down into the engine room. His friends commemorated him with an inscription on the basement wall.
Abbey Pumping Station, Corporation Road, Abbey Lane, Leicester LE4 5PX; Tel:0116 299 5111
Open February–November Saturday–Wednesday and certain Thursdays and Fridays during the school holidays. Open December–January for special events and private hire.
The Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham
The Alexandra Theatre in the heart of Birmingham is a well-established theatre which offers a variety of pre-post-West End productions, opera, ballet, musical theatre and other live performances. It dates back to Edwardian times and seats over 1,300 people. It is the home of the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company, formed by Richard D’Oyly in 1871, which performs the works of Gilbert and Sullivan. Playbox Theatre, one of the leading theatre organizations for young people, also performs there.
The theatre is reputed to be haunted by the ghost of a former manager, Leon Salberg, who ran the theatre in the 1930s. His footsteps can be heard in one of the offices and though he has not been seen, his presence can be felt around the theatre, especially in the stalls.
One ghostly figure which has been seen in the theatre is that of a woman in grey. It is believed that she is a former wardrobe mistress who died unexpectedly one night at the theatre.
The Alexandra Theatre, Station Street, Birmingham B5 4DS; Tel:0870 607 7544 (tickets/info); 0121 643 3168 (group bookings)
Brownsover Hall Hotel
Brownsover Hall Hotel, near Rugby, is a Victorian Gothic mansion designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott and set in seven acres of garden and woodland. It was formerly the home of the Boughton-Leigh family. In Elizabethan times, one member of the family, known as ‘One-Handed Boughton’ because his hand had been severed, used to drive round the estate in a coach and six. After he died, his ghost continued to do so. By 1755 the family had had enough of it and called in a team of 12 clergymen to carry out an exorcism. The spirit was persuaded to enter a bottle, which was sealed up and thrown into a lake in the grounds. There it remained until the 1880s, when it was found by a fisherman and returned to the family. After that a phantom coach and six began to be heard once more in the grounds.
In 1939 a research establishment was set up in the hall under the direction of Sir Frank Whittle, father of the modern jet engine. The night watchmen and cleaners soon realized the place was haunted, as they often heard voices and footsteps when the building was empty, as well as the sound of horses’ hooves and carriage wheels on the drive. These phenomena have all continued to this day and the hotel staff have grown so used to them that they have become almost blasé about them!
Brownsover Hall Hotel, Brownsover Lane, Old Brownsover, Nr Rugby, Warwickshire CV21 1HU; Tel: (01788) 56100
DEREK’S TIP
Compare notes with other investigative groups to establish whether you have made similar findings to them. The more similarities exist, the more likely it is that you have experienced paranormal activity.
The Castle Hotel
The seventeenth-century Castle Hotel is a former coaching inn in Castleton, an old lead-mining village in the Peak District. The village is the venue for the traditional Garland or Oak Apple Day ceremony which takes place every 29 May to celebrate spring. Although it is based on a pagan festival, in the seventeenth century it became associated with the story of Charles II hiding in an oak tree to avoid Cromwell’s soldiers. During the celebration ‘King Charles’ and his ‘lady’ ride through the village from pub to pub carrying a three-foot high garland of flowers and oak leaves. Finally they place the garland on the church tower.
The village is also known for Blue John, a rare banded form of fluorospar, which is mined nearby and used for a variety of decorative purposes. The Castle Hotel itself is said to be haunted by four ghosts. One of Charles II’s soldiers only appears from the knees upwards, but the other ghosts can be seen in their entirety. An elderly housekeeper still monitors the premises, and Cooper, a man in a pinstriped suit, still sneaks in by a former side entrance so that his wife won’t catch him drinking. There is also a lady in grey called Rose, though her history is unclear. Some say she is a jilted bride, others that she is a former chambermaid who also tended the Castle Hotel’s gardens and was allowed to sell flowers to guests. Chambermaid or bride, Rose is perhaps the most famous of the four ghosts.
The Castle Hotel, Castle Street, Castleton, Derbyshire S33 8WG; Tel: (01433) 620578; Fax: (01433) 622902
The Blue John Cavern, Tel: (01433) 620638/620642. Open daily except Christmas.
Edgehill Battlefield
The Battle of Edgehill, or Kineton Fight as it was sometimes known, was the first major battle of the Civil War. It took place on 23 October 1642. King Charles I had set out from Shrewsbury for London and the government sent Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, the Parliamentarian Lord General, to intercept him. The two armies, both 15,000 strong, met halfway and fought in open fields between the villages of Radway and Kineton in Warwickshire.
This was intended to be the one great battle to decide the war. It started around 2 o’clock in the afternoon and went on until nightfall, but ended in an inconclusive draw. Around 1,000 men were killed and 2–3,000 wounded. The bodies were looted and left. The Earl of Essex withdrew to the garrison at Warwick and the Royalists were left in command of the road to London.
Today the battlefield is largely agricultural land. Most is owned by the Ministry of Defence. A military depot was built there in the late 1940s.
The site is believed to be one of the most haunted in Warwickshire. Just a month after the battle, local shepherds heard the sound of drums and then saw what they thought was another battle being fought, but suddenly the scene vanished into thin air. So many similar tales were reported that the printer Thomas Jackson published them in 1643. The king himself was intrigued and sent six senior statesmen to revisit the site. They too witnessed an eerie re-enactment of the battle and three of them recognized men they knew to be dead.
Sightings of the armies are less frequent now, but the thundering hooves of the cavalry charges and the cries of the wounded are still heard at night, particularly around the anniversary of the battle.
Edgehill, between Radway and Kineton, Warwickshire
A monument stands in memory of those who died in the battle.
Edwards No.8 Rock Club
Edwards No. 8 Rock Club in Birmingham city centre was once a hospital for skin and rare diseases, with a mortuary on the top floor. Now it offers a range of rock music throughout the week and live music on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Food is also available and there is a pub downstairs.
A variety of strange phenomena have occurred at the club, including tools and other utensils being moved, lifted into the air and used to make noises. Shortly after the present manager arrived the till started ringing frantically on its own and then suddenly stopped. After a while the manager decided to take matters in hand. Feeling slightly foolish, he talked to an empty room, explaining his plans for the club. After that, things calmed down. Some staff still won’t go into ‘cold’ areas such as the back room and places where bottles are stored, though, as they feel they are sinking into the floor!
When I visited the club in November last year I realized that spirit people were dropping by in visitation. They may have been hospital staff checking out their former workplace or patients who remembered the kindness and care they had experienced there, but either way they were enjoying the lively atmosphere and the music!
Edwards No. 8 Rock Club, Lower Severn Street, Birmingham B1 1BL; Tel: 0121 643 5835
The Grail Court Hotel
The Grail Court Hotel in the centre of Burton-on-Trent is part of a Grade II listed building and has its own licensed bar and restaurant, Arthur’s, and nightclub, Merlin’s.
The current owners purchased the hotel around five years ago as a derelict building. All the previous owners had gone bankrupt within two years of owning the property. The last had left a year before. Since then the building had been visited by bailiffs and squatters and rendered virtually uninhabitable. Many late nights had to be spent rebuilding the hotel.
One night two members of staff were working in the cellar. It was a Sunday and there was no one else in the building, which was completely locked up. Directly above them, in the restaurant, they suddenly heard small footsteps running to and fro and the sound of children giggling. They dropped everything and ran upstairs, thinking someone had got into the restaurant, but everything was in darkness and still locked up. Both laughed and returned to their work in the cellar, but minutes later they heard a door slam, then more footsteps and laughter. This time they did not investigate, but left in something of a hurry.
Since then many hotel guests have expressed delight at the charming little girl in a white nightdress who has run past them giggling. Some people have even been kept awake at night by the sound of a little girl playing in the corridors, but there have been no children staying in the hotel at the time.
Even more disturbing have been the red crayon marks found in the bath in room 21. This room faces onto the main road junction and many people have seen the face of a young girl peering out of the window when no guests have been staying in the room. The crayon appears at least once a week.
Recently two BBC researchers stayed in that room. They checked the bath before retiring at about 11 p.m. and there was no crayon to be seen. At 12.30 a.m. they were woken by the sound of a girl giggling outside the room. They went out to investigate but found no one there and returned to bed. A little later they were woken by more giggles and found that their bedroom curtains were now open, as though someone had drawn them back to look out of the window. When they checked the bath, red crayon lines had appeared on the bottom of it. They got back into bed and then the phone rang. They picked it up, but no one was there. This happened three times. Yet at the time the phone was not working, due to an internal line fault. The hotel manager had tested it himself that day and the line was completely dead.
The Grail Court Hotel is also haunted by many other ghosts. A coachman dressed in a long flowing cape wanders around outside the building and has even been caught several times on CCTV. ‘John the Barrelman’ hides in the cellar and is often heard banging about. The Avalon Suite, which was once three small cottages and before that Civil War stables, is one of the most haunted parts of the hotel. A businesswoman staying there was once surprised to see a group of ghosts standing around a coffin.
The Grail Court Hotel, Station Street, Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire DE14 1BN; Tel: (01283) 741155; Fax: (01283) 741166
The Grail Court Hotel is now part of Burton Ghost Walks. Website: www.burtonghosts.co.uk.
The Griffin Inn
The Griffin Inn at Griff, Nuneaton, is a historic pub which was first given a victualling licence in 1654 in order to supply ale to the miners in the shallow bell pits and diggings of the surrounding area.
For years there have been mysterious knockings in the pub and compressed air cylinders and beer taps have been inexplicably turned off. Even the installation of a modern alarm system has made no difference. A collection of old locks on a shelf in the lounge has been found scattered over the floor in the morning and once a one-armed bandit that was switched off at the mains suddenly gave out a jackpot of £70.
It is believed that the ghost is that of a Victorian woman. One of the landlords and his partner once witnessed an old lady in black sitting on the end of their bed, and in 1995 the licensee was woken by his dog barking furiously and saw a tall woman wearing a veil over her face standing in his bedroom. As soon as he switched on the light, she disappeared.
The Griffin Inn, Coventry Rd, Griff, Nuneaton, Warwickshire CV10 7PJ; Tel: 024 7631 1870. Serves food.
Ladybower Reservoir
Ladybower Reservoir in Derbyshire is the largest of a chain of three reservoirs known as the Peakland Lake District. It is situated in the Peak District National Park and provides drinking water for the north and east Midlands. Construction began in 1935 and was completed ten years later. It entailed the flooding of two villages, Ashopton and Derwent. At the time Ladybower was the largest reservoir in the country.
The ‘Dambuster’ squadron of the RAF used the Derwent reservoirs during the Second World War to test the ‘bouncing bomb’ and to practise for their famous raid on the Ruhr dams. A ghostly Lancaster Bomber has since been seen in the area by several witnesses. This may be ‘Vicky the Vicious Virgin’ which crashed during a routine training flight on 18 May 1945, killing all six of the crew.
A United States Air Force Dakota has also been seen since the war. This may be the ghost of a Dakota which crashed on 24 July 1945 in almost the same spot, killing all eight on board.
The area has also been the focus for strange lights in the sky, which may be related to the phantom planes. Over the years many people have contacted the police to report an aircrash and yet the mountain rescue service has found nothing. Once a man distinctly saw a plane descending in a fireball, but no wreckage was ever found. Sometimes the sound of a crashing plane has been heard but nothing has been seen.
Ladybower Reservoir is accessible from the A57 from Glossop or Sheffield. The visitor centre is off the A57, west of Sheffield, over Ashopton viaduct adjacent to the reservoir.
Upper Derwent Visitor Centre, Fairholmes, Derwent, Sheffield S30 2AQ; Tel: (01433) 651261.
Open daily from Easter to the end of October and winter weekends. There is a small shop, toilets, car park and snack bar. Cycles are available for hire.
The Parade Shopping Centre
The Parade Shopping Centre is in the heart of medieval Shrewsbury, at the top of Pride Hill. It is situated on two floors in a Grade II listed building which was completed in 1826 and has a terrace café overlooking the River Severn.
The building used to be the Royal Salop Infirmary and it is said that some of the hospital staff are still there taking care of things.
New tenants in the shops usually experience strange events for the first year or so and then things settle down as they are accepted by ‘Matron’! She is the ghost of a hospital matron of the 1920s. In life she was organized and efficient and it seems that she is still intent on keeping things in order. One man once spent two hours putting up posters on the ceiling of his collectable toy and model shop only to find when he unlocked the shop the next morning that they were in rows on the floor. On another occasion plaques and trophies that had been hung haphazardly on the wall were placed above the fireplace in a straight line. Other tenants have also found that stock items left in a mess will be arranged neatly in rows, while other things are moved round or thrown off shelves or walls. Even furniture is moved about and doors suddenly close on their own. However, Matron is never intimidating – just a stickler for tidiness! She also has a compassionate side. When the building was still a hospital it was said that she used to appear at the foot of dying people’s beds in order to help them over to the next world.
The shopping centre is also said to be haunted by a young nurse who became pregnant and committed suicide by hanging herself there.
The Parade Shopping Centre, St Mary’s Place, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY1 1DL; Tel: (01743) 343178. There is a car park next to the shopping centre.
The Red Lion
The Red Lion in Wirksworth, near the Peak District National Park, is a hospitable former coaching inn providing accommodation, meals and roaring log fires. It was rebuilt in the eighteenth century, but may date to medieval times.
The area was known for lead mining as far back as Roman times. The industry peaked between 1600 and 1780, then declined dramatically in the late nineteenth century, especially after lead ore was discovered at Broken Hill in Australia, and many mines were closed. Limestone quarrying largely took its place as the local industry until the 1920s, when mechanization was introduced. Now the Peak District is a highly popular tourist destination and Wirksworth itself has won the prestigious Europa Nostra Award for architectural conservation.
The Red Lion is haunted by the ghost of a coachman. One day he was trying to manoeuvre his coach through the archway when the horses suddenly bolted and, taken by surprise, he was decapitated. Now his headless figure can be seen wandering the premises.
The Red Lion, Market Place, Wirksworth, Derbyshire DE4 4ET; Tel: (01629) 822214; Website: www.redlionwirksworth.co.uk
The Shire Hall Gallery
The Shire Hall Gallery in Stafford is situated in a Grade II listed building formerly used as the Crown Court. The library and Tourist Information Centre have recently moved into the same building. The gallery features paintings, drawings and prints by Staffordshire artists.
The ghost said to walk the area is known as Claude. His territory extends from the Shire Hall Gallery through the library and down to the Tourist Information Centre. Nothing is known of his origins, however, and he remains a mystery.
The Shire Hall Gallery, Library and Tourist Information Centre, Market Square, Stafford ST16 2LD; Tel: (01785) 278345; Fax: (01785) 278599; Website: www.staffordshire.gov.uk/sams.Open every day. There is a café and shop.
Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery
Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery are housed in a traditional timber-framed Tudor warehouse and town house. The museum specializes in archaeology, natural history, geology, costume and local history. The archaeology section includes pieces from as early as 12,000 bc, while the local history display features excavation material from Roman Wroxeter. As well as the permanent displays, the museum holds many temporary exhibitions.
Two ghosts walk the museum and art gallery. One is a well-dressed lady who has been seen resting upon a four-poster bed which is now on display and also at the bed’s original location in the building. The other ghost is from the same period, judging by his costume, but does not appear to have any connection with the lady. He is said to have appeared long before she did and to have haunted the property when it was still a private home.
Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery, Rowley’s House, Barker Street, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY1 1QH; Tel: (01743) 361196; Fax: (01743) 358411
DEREK’S TIP
If you decide that you will use the home-made variety of ouija board, i.e. an upturned glass with letters and numbers placed around the edge of a table, the wearing of simple cotton gloves will eradicate any doubt that somebody is pushing the glass. With gloves, if an attempt is made, either consciously or unconsciously, to push the glass, then that person’s fingertip will slide over its base.
Shrewsbury Railway Station
In the heyday of the railways Shrewsbury station was the gateway to Wales and the north. Now it remains an important cross-country junction for both passengers and freight.
One former passenger has not moved on since 1887, however. He is a Shrewsbury councillor who had just arrived at the station when he was killed by a falling roof, which also crushed his carriage and injured his horse. Since then he has been seen either standing or sitting near the ramp entrance from Castle Street.
Shrewsbury Railway Station, Castle Foregate, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY1 2DQ; Tel:0845 6061 660 (customer services)
The Shropshire Union Canal
The Shropshire Union Canal, or ‘Shroppie’, runs for 67 miles from Ellesmere Port near Liverpool to Autherley Junction near Wolverhampton. It was formed in 1846, when there was an amalgamation of several different canals and waterway companies. From the mid-nineteenth century onwards railways began to take over the transport of freight and in the decades following the First World War parts of the Shropshire Union were closed, but in the 1960s there was a revival of interest in the canal network and today the Shropshire Union Canal is a very important part of the pleasure boat network.
It is also one of Britain’s most haunted canals. At the old Northgate in Chester a Roman centurion has been seen guarding the entrance to the city. An American pilot who crashed during the Second World War has been seen at Little Onn, near Church Eaton in Staffordshire. At Betton Cutting, near Market Drayton, ghostly shrieking has been heard, while just beyond Market Drayton, at Tyrley middle lock, it is said that if you arrive in the middle of the night the resident ghost will close the lock gates behind you.
Probably the best-known phantom on the Shropshire Union, however, appears at the lovely hamlet of Norbury Junction. At this point the canal descends into the dark Grub Street cutting. The High Bridge above this, the double-arched Bridge 39, is supposedly haunted by a black shaggy-coated or even simian creature said to be the ghost of a boatman who drowned there in the nineteenth century. He is known locally as ‘the Monkey Man’.
Stafford Superbowl
The Stafford Superbowl is a highly popular venue for tenpin bowling, pool and Quasar, but some claim the building is never really empty, even when there is no one there! Odd mumbling has often been heard there, as if several people are talking quietly amongst themselves. One senior mechanic felt the sound was following him from lane to lane and was so frightened that he could not continue preparing the bowling lanes and had to go to the main entrance and wait until someone else arrived.
There have been a variety of other strange incidents. A hanging man has been seen by a cleaner in Quasar, lights have exploded inexplicably in the pool room and the telephone has malfunctioned on many occasions.
The building stands on the site of the former infirmary’s morgue, which may have something to do with the paranormal phenomena experienced there.
Stafford Superbowl, Greyfriars Place, Stafford ST16 2SD; Tel: (01785) 256050; Website: www.megabowl.co.uk. Open every day,6 p.m.–12 p.m.
Weston Hall
Weston Hall is a hotel and restaurant with an award-winning garden. It was built in the sixteenth century and for several years after 1898 was used as a lunatic asylum for paupers, taking overspill patients from St George’s County Asylum in Stafford. In the Second World War it was used as a barracks by the army and later became private flats before being turned into a hotel.
A Grey Lady is said to walk the hall and many strange events have been reported in the house and grounds. Within a few days of opening in September 1996, hotel staff found that the bar area had been mysteriously cleaned each morning, even though no cleaning staff had been in and the alarm system had been working throughout the night. Staff have also heard women’s voices talking in empty rooms and have been called by name when they were alone in the building. Mysterious piano music has also been heard and in the early hours of the morning carriages, horses and footmen have been heard on the gravel outside – except that there is no longer any gravel there …
Weston Hall, Weston, Nr Stafford ST18 0BA; Tel: (01889) 271700
Winnats Pass
Winnats Pass is a steep narrow limestone gorge which leads into the village of Castleton in Derbyshire. At its foot, 600 feet below ground, is Speedwell Cavern, one of four deep caverns in the area. There is also an underground canal, which was formed when a lead miners’ tunnel flooded. It is 2,625 feet long and ends in a cavern known as the Bottomless Pit, because 40,000 tons of rubble were dumped into it without changing the water level.
The pass itself is said to be haunted by two young lovers, Alan (or alternatively Henry) and Clara. Their parents did not approve of their relationship, but at the time, the mid-eighteenth century, anyone could get married in the Peak Forest, day or night. The young couple decided to elope, but as they were going through Winnats Pass on their way to the forest, they were robbed and murdered by three lead miners. Their bodies were found years later, lying together in a shallow grave.
The miners were never caught, but the story runs that in one way or another they were all punished for their crime: one hanged himself, one was killed in a rockfall and one went mad.
To this day it is said that the voices of the young lovers can be heard crying for mercy as the wind whistles through Winnats Pass.
Winnats Pass, Castleton, Derbyshire
Speedwell Cavern, Castleton, Derbyshire; Tel: (01433) 620512; Fax: (01433) 621888. Open daily apart from Christmas Day.
