Howdy Folks,
Just a brief note to say that the W.M.G.C. will be conducting a charity event - on behalf of MacMillan Cancer Support - at St. Mary's Medieval Guildhall in Coventry in February 2011. If anyone would be at all interested in donating towards this investigation - perhaps sponsoring an investigator - we will be spending some 6 hours patrolling what easily stands as the cities most haunted property!
If anyone might be interested in attending the event, we only have a very few places left - but please let us know and we can put you on a waiting list in case anyone drops out, etc. We basically require attendees to raise a minimum of £35 sponsorship to secure a place at the event.
All the best to you,
Nick
INVESTIGATION REPORT: St. Mary’s Guildhall - Coventry..
On the 25th of November 2005, a group of 21 people conducted an overnight investigation of St. Mary’s Guildhall in Coventry city centre. The event – a fund raising ‘ghost hunt’ held on behalf of Birmingham Children’s Hospital - was organised and co-ordinated by members of the West Midlands Ghost Club.
As the visit was primarily intended as a ‘Charity Event’ – incorporating a number of people who had never experienced a potentially ‘haunted’ situation previously – investigation protocol for the duration of the night was purposefully kept at a reasonably ‘casual’ level. However, thanks to the excellent co-ordination skills of W.M.G.C. member Kevin Wallace, who was mainly responsible for this visit, investigation process and protocol was still maintained at a high level throughout our stay.
Overall, a general investigation was made of the property incorporating four groups of 5 / 6 people. (Each team headed by members of the W.M.G.C.) Our investigation mainly focussed on sections of building noted as being of particular relevance or importance regarding the alleged paranormal history of the site. During the night, investigation procedure incorporated periods of first person audio / visual observation, with vigils being conducted for approx. 40 minutes each. (A 20 minute break was held between every session).
As well as manned observation periods, static (area based) audio / visual recording sessions, incorporating both standard and night shot camera’s, were also carried out. General temperature recording throughout the building were also monitored for the duration of the stay and a number of ‘trigger objects’ placed in particular sections of the building.
With regards to the investigation itself, a number of potentially interesting events were noted during the night.
While nothing of interest was detected by any of the groups concerned during the first vigil of the stay, group member Steve Chew appears to have caught - what sounds like - a section of rather rough, ‘choral singing’ on a video recording made in the Great Hall of the Guildhall. While there was a considerable amount of external noise coming from the streets circling the building for most of our stay, this ‘singing’ strikes the listener as rather ‘alien’ to such surroundings. While the voices are seemingly rough and uncultured, the footage gives a definite impression of a distant choir, delivering Christmas carols or some such songs….. Mr. David McGrory – W.M.G.C. patron, who has strong connections with the Guildhall - says that he has also heard this effect when in the building during the daytime. He has always put this down to the effect that the P.A. system in the property is apparently on the same wavelength as the nearby Cathedral security….. leading to a tentative, airwaves connection. However, while this theory might cover such happenings during the daytime, surely there was no choir practising in the Cathedral at almost 11.30 at night? And from the sound of the voices concerned – such a choir would need all the practice it could get…!?
During vigil two, a group of people situated in the Drapers room report hearing a sound akin to something being rolled across the floor. Someone else in the group said they thought the noise was like ‘someone sweeping a chimney’. During a ‘baiting session’ a little later on, the same group hear a loud knock seemingly coming from one of the walls of the building, apparently in response to one of their questions. When confirmation was requested, however, no other noises were heard.
A group situated in the Undercroft area for the duration of vigil three heard a loud noise, like the sound of movement, coming from the nearby Kitchen. They could find nothing to account for the noise upon investigation. A little later on in the sitting and W.M.G.C. member Kevin Wallace was standing near the kitchen sink, with Ellen Wallace walking towards him along a small, side corridor. At this juncture, they both describe hearing a noise originating behind Ellen, like someone moving a series of fine, hanging chains, which make up a blind across a section of the passage. No one else was present in the area at the time. Kevin says that the noise was very distinct.
During this same period, two investigators responsible for covering the first floor section of the building reported having seen a ‘ball of light' moving around erratically inside (what is referred to as) the Sloping Room. At 1.20 a.m., the group gather within the Mary Queen of Scots Room for an experimental ‘séance’ session. Three light 'knocks' were subsequently heard in what would appear to have been response to direct questioning. However, it has to be stated that, with the amount of people in the building at the time, these sounds may well be of a perfectly natural origin.
At one point during the same session, Steve Chew heard what he took to be the sound of faint, little footsteps, seemingly coming towards the door of the Mary Queen of Scots Room. Two other members of the party thought the noise had sounded like the swishing of a long dress.
During vigil four, the group of investigators responsible for covering the Great Hall area experienced a ‘fast-moving light’ appear in the topmost section of the hall. The light proceeded to move over the balcony, down the hall wall, underneath the balcony…. then move over the side wall and half way up the hall in a sort of a curved motion. This effect only lasted a second and was very fast.
No one in the hall had their torches on, though – to witnesses - the light was evidently not that created by a torch. The light could not have originated with investigators inside the armoury as it travelled down the back wall, which is clearly not within their line of sight.
Witness Kevin Wallace says that the light reminded him of what he and a researcher attached to another society had previously witnessed in exactly the same location, but on the other side of the hall, during a separate investigation of the site.
A little later on in the same vigil and the above mentioned group heard a noise from the Stage Area of the Main Hall. They said that this had sounded like the creak of one of the wooden floor panels when someone moves across it. No one was sitting near the stage at this point.
Towards the end of vigil four, a very exciting and dramatic event occurred concerning the party of people situated on the First Floor level. Four of the girls present - non-W.M.G.C. members – had been seated at an oblong table, near the entrance to Mary Queen of Scots Room. Two members were seated one side of the table and two the other. They had been in the process of conducting a ‘baiting session’ (levelling questions to the room itself) when attendee Jennie Elwell had – through the open doorway - allegedly seen a tall, dark figure pass across the landing, just outside the toilet block. The figure had moved quickly from right to left, as if having come up the steps from the walkway to the main Council Building. When later questioned, she could not say whether the figure had gone into the toilets, or into a small kitchen area immediately in front of the steps. Upon seeing the figure, she instantly became hysterical and sparked off a like reaction in the other girls. (When group members Nick Duffy and Darren Simpson had entered the room – alerted by the girls screams – they had found Miss Elwell clutching the edge of a table, crying hysterically and seemingly unable to move for some time).
This event obviously attracts the attention of other teams nearby and the general proceedings were disturbed for a short time. Up until this point, investigators covering the Mercers Room during this period report having experienced a very ‘uneasy feeling’ in that section of the building which they simply couldn’t brush off.
At 3.39 a.m. – vigil five – Kevin Wallace and his group were situated in the Council Chambers and Treasury room, when they saw a series of lights showing under the door into the great hall. This appeared as if someone had walked past the door with a bright torch. These lights lasted a few seconds at a time, until Kevin opened the door to find absolutely nothing - except a very dark and quiet hall. On the first floor level at exactly the same time, Frazer Smith reports over the radio that his group has also seen strange light anomalies apparently coming from the Great Hall area.
At roughly the same time, Steve Chew and his group were situated in the Undercroft and Kitchen area. While standing in the Kitchen, Steve reports having heard very distinct footsteps descending the stairs that lead from the Great Hall. The steps, which sounded as if they were made by someone heavy set, were heard to stop – followed by a few more tentative steps – then by a loud noise, as if someone were 'rummaging' through boxes. Strangely, two other attendees were standing in the same area with Steve and one only heard the loud footsteps descending the stairs, while the other only heard the ‘rummaging’ noises. Two other attendees were situated in the nearby Undercroft at this point and they heard exactly the same sequence of noises as Steve. The area concerned was immediately investigated and nothing to account for the sounds was found.
On trying to recreate the footsteps, even when stamping, Steve could not replicate the same ‘hefty’ sounding footfalls. It was also noticed that the steps sounded as if they were possibly on an old creaky wooden floor, not the more 'modern’, supported floor that is in place today!
Towards the end of vigil six, it was noticed that 4 coins which had been used in one of our ‘trigger’ experiments, had been moved. The coins concerned – ringed on a sheet of white paper – had been situated on the ledge of a bureau which stands outside the toilet block on the first floor landing. Two of the coins were now on the floor immediately below the ledge and the paper on which they rested was now partially hanging off the ledge itself. Unfortunately, because of the constant human traffic moving around the building during the night, it could not clearly be ascertained whether this had accidentally been done by someone in attendance….
Following the official end of the investigation, Kevin Wallace happened to shine his torch down the stairs from the Main Hall to the Kitchen area and saw something moving at the bottom. His first impression was that it was a female figure. Having just seen three of four girls attached to one of the groups in that area, he thought that the figure he’d seen must have been the 4th girl. Going down the stairs into the kitchen, he found no one there. As he entered the Undercroft, he found that the 4th girl was already sitting at one of the tables, with a number of other people situated at the very end of the room. He asked the girl if anyone had entered just before him, or had she possibly only just come down the stairs herself? She answered no to both questions………
All in all, a considerable number of potential paranormal happenings were reported from the different teams during the night, including both audio and visual activity. The above mentioned list of occurrences only constitutes a section of incidents reported during the night in question.
The volume of possible incidents reported was quite high in comparison to other W.M.G.C. investigations, and it cannot help but be questioned whether such an increase has something to do with the sheer volume of people concerned with the event, as well as the fact that many attendee's were experiencing such conditions for the first time? Having said this, while a [wholly expected and understandable] state of trepidation was obvious in a couple of the attendee’s, the bulk of the group concerned acted in an exceptionally serious and level headed manner.
Whatever the validity of our findings as potential paranormal happenings, it has to be said that all who attended the Guildhall investigation thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
End.
