Our ghost hunt at the fantastic Lincoln Gaol truly lived up to all the excitement and anticipation for most of us even though our thrilling first event at the foreboding former penitentiary was considered a hard act to follow. Unfortunately we were again not permitted to use the original Castle mortuary for health and safety reasons but we were not disheartened given the many fabulous areas available to us for investigation at the creepy old Georgian building. It was one of our largest ghost hunts as at Ghost Night Events we usually strictly restrict our numbers and take mostly small groups to our haunted locations in order to ensure a quality experience for our ghost hunters. We decided to make a special exception on this occasion however as so many of our regular customers had pleaded with us to allow them onto the event after we closed bookings and given the size and numerous cells in both the male and female wings we were only too happy to oblige.

The staff of Lincoln Castle (the grounds on which the prison is built) provided us with a brilliant guide for night, Chris Collins who was an absolute mine of information on everything about the prison including its history, events and also some of the people who had been incarcerated, worked at or even died at the place. After Chris’s fascinating tour which had everyone quietly riveted and a welcome break for some refreshments we started our small group vigils and séances. Most groups had incredible results and an abundance of unexplained paranormal activity. Just like last time the male wing showed itself to be the most vigorous. For two separate vigil groups where small numbers of women had congregated in one cell the doors suddenly swung open and for one excited band their loud and nervous laughter had also been preceded by a loud thudding as though some angry warden had been showing his fury at their disobedience. Cold breezes, loud tapping sounds, unexplained flashing lights and pronounced table movement also astounded our ghost hunters. The most awesome of all the happenings in this area however took place as the majority of one group conducting a séance in the former wardens room suddenly squealed out, “Who is that?”!!! in bewildered and excited shock as they saw what was later described as a definite figure walking from right to left down the corridor. The immediate reaction of the whole group who all pointed to the same area at exactly the same time seriously impressed our team and of course all efforts to explore that part of the prison failed to find a natural explanation for the sighting.

Strange groans, unexplained sounds and impressive table and glass divination results were reported in the eerie Chapel and the sound of footsteps or children running up and down the corridor near the staff room were also noted - which interestingly is something reported on a regular basis by staff working in the building during daylight hours. Strange lights and dramatic drops in temperature were recorded in the female wing and like our first investigation we again witnessed a number of our ghost hunters becoming uncharacteristically and suddenly emotional.

On the last vigil of the night one group settled down to conduct a vigil in one of the numerous rooms in the Wesley suite which were once cells and in fact the actual site where one condemned prisoner took her own life before she could be summoned to the hangman’s noose. At the time this caused a total outcry from the public who had been denied their gruesome place at her public execution. As the group settled around the table one of the glass panelled doors opened and shut itself unaided as the amazed group looked on incredulously and listened to the sounds of the door handle being turned by unseen hands. Our guide Chris quite rightly decided this merited closer scrutiny and bravely positioned himself in a chair a few feet from the door in question as the rest of the group continued in their efforts to make contact with the restless spirit. All of a sudden Chris bolted from his chair in fright and clearly shocked and visibly shaken explained shortly afterwards that he had seen a face staring back at him through one of the glass panels!!! Poor Chris had plainly had the fright of his life and had to go outside to calm his nerves with a cigarette. It is fascinating to recall that Chris regularly and happily has walked around the empty prison building alone at all hours day and night but he remarked that after all the ghostly activity he had witnessed for himself on the night of our ghost hunt he is not sure that he will be repeating the experience again.

It was a fabulous event and as always one we shall not forget in a hurry especially poor Chris who will probably take the memory of that chilling and unearthly sighting to the grave!!!