The Ghost Night Events team were thrilled to bits to be back in Bolton for another ghost hunt at the enchanting Smithills Hall. Having known 700 years of family life this beautiful building carries a captivating ambience and expectation which leaves its mark on any paranormal investigator. At the start of our event one of our team members was clearly overjoyed when she witnessed a distinct dark shadow of full body height cross the hallway from right to left. She was visibly shocked and elated at the same time - a common reaction when someone has a ghostly experience which they are positive cannot be logically explained.

At the start of our séances we conducted a full group vigil in the stunning medieval Great Hall just to get our ghost hunters - many of whom were ghost hunting for the first time - relaxed and open to the idea of communicating with those from beyond the veil. After a quiet start people were amazed at the dramatic swirls of cold breeze that seemed to come and go swooping around our circle. Many also reported seeing dark shadows crossing the hall and moving around especially at the section near the door leading into the original kitchen area. One of the most impressive things that happened occurred when in the exact area people had reported seeing shadows a clear and definite metallic type noise was heard as though someone had knocked something against one of the candlesticks. For one group in particular unexplained footsteps seemed to be the order of the night. As the group sat quietly in Mrs Ainsworth’s parlour the footsteps were heard to cross purposely the room above. Everyone looked up at the ceiling in amazement as the first floor is out of bounds due to its failure to satisfy fire regulations and the two museum staff accompanying us for the night could still be heard talking quietly together in the nearby café area. Even so we still checked with them that no-one was up on the first floor and they confirmed that was the case. So who was it? Footsteps were also heard in the Solar room and earlier in the evening others had caused one of our mediums to turn around sharply believing someone to be behind him.

Another incredible happening took place in the original Withdrawing room where many see a tall man dressed in dark clothing as he enters the room from the Great Hall. People were astonished when their whistles and requests for a reply were duly granted and on repeated occasions whistles were heard to come back from the darkness. Very eerie!!

We enjoyed every minute of our fabulous ghost event at Smithills Hall and would like to pass on our thanks to the wonderful staff for making us feel so welcome and also to our fantastic group of ghost hunters who were truly brilliant fun and made the night a very special one for us. See you all soon!!!

Our September ghost hunt at the atmospheric Warmsworth Hall in Doncaster began with a fascinating update from Events Manager, Eddie on the latest paranormal activity which has been reported at the haunted building. Now used as a conference centre by various businesses and organisations the place had recently been booked for staff training by senior members of the DFS furniture company. Two senior managers were retuning to the hall after a break when they spotted two young children both wearing caps looking out of the Cusworth room windows. As the children seemed to be trying to attract attention in an attempt to get out of the building the two managers assumed that they had inadvertently been locked in. Upon raising the alarm they were however astonished to find the room completely empty and to be told that no children had been even near the hall throughout that day. So who were the mysterious children and if they were in fact two of the many apparitions seen at Warmsworth Hall just what had happened to them during their stay at the place?

Eddie also told us that he was enthralled when a gentleman visited the hall and told of his family connections with former occupants when it had been a home. He explained that he had done a large amount of research on the people who once lived there and had discovered that a six-year-old boy who had worked at the property and been killed in an accident was in fact a relative of his. Eddie, who has been present at most of our ghost hunts at the hall, recalled that we had previously appeared to make contact with a child of that age who had died in an accident whilst working at the house. He issued a challenge to the surprised man and asked him to write down the child’s name and stated that he would do the same. Eddie confidently made a bet that they would come up with the same name and quickly wrote down “James” - the name “given” to us during previous séances. The man was taken aback to see that this matched the name he had also written down himself after having it confirmed in his research on Warmsworth. Our team were thrilled to be provided with such incredible verification of facts which appeared to have been independently communicated in what appeared to be contact from the other side.

During our paranormal investigation we again heard the most amazing growling noises in addition to the sounds of rasping breathing which the whole group noted in one of the upper floor rooms and which seemed to get progressively louder. We have experienced this strange phenomena on previous ghost hunts during vigils in other rooms but interestingly this was the first time we had heard it in that particular area. The various groups reported strange lights, tapping on the table and table tipping in addition to strong smells of cooked food and cigar smoke which we could not account for. One of our team leaders froze during a séance in the attic and former servants’ quarters when she clearly felt “someone” playing with the tightly tied belt to her top. Although very experienced and having witnessed many forms of paranormal activity in the past this felt a little close for comfort and she was not surprised when she discovered at the end of the vigil and her belt had been fully untied - something which she claims has never happened before. One of our experienced ghost hunters was completely flabbergasted but totally thrilled by an amazing occurrence which took place when he was participating in a séance - also in the attic. He told us later that he had felt a distinct movement behind him when he suddenly realised that a towel had suddenly appeared and had been placed on the back of it. Neither he nor the whole group could understand how or why this had happened but everyone confirmed that the towel had certainly not been present before and had seemed to appear from nowhere!! Fascinating!

During a number events held by Ghost Night Events Warmsworth Hall has always shown itself to be very paranormally active and rife with ghostly and unexplained goings-on. The hall’s comfortable and cheery surroundings seem to compete with a foreboding and mysterious air which appears desperate to communicate its beguiling past to anyone who is willing to take the time to observe. Perhaps that is why so many of staff members of the nearby Holiday Inn which shares ownership and the grounds steadfastly refuse to enter its doors!!! We are not so easily put off however and will definitely be back in the new year.

We all had a great night at the South Yorkshire Air Museum in Doncaster just as we always do. It is true to say that the paranormal activity was rather quiet when compared to that experienced on our previous ghost hunts at the fabulously creepy venue. We sadly did not see the apparition of the ghostly man walking past the doorway to the main hangar which our team and ghost hunters have seen on two previous occasions. Maybe it was a little too much to expect for this to happen for a third time but we had certainly not expected to be that lucky on the second time the eerie figure put in an appearance and was seen again in the same part of the building as the first.

After a shower of rain caused various drips of water around the roof area to give the impression of loud knocks we quickly decided that it was impossible to decipher whether we were getting responses to our requests for tapping and abandoned this in the main hangar. One group however were particularly fascinated to hear the clear sounds of footsteps and movement down in the bottom part of the large open space. Table tipping experiments were successful and one of our mediums stated that he had made contact with a jovial former mechanic who appeared to have a sense of humour enjoyed the experience of communication. A loud guttural noise was also heard and one lady claimed that her hood had been mysteriously pulled off with no explanation. Dark shadows were spotted moving around in the display areas where artefacts and chillingly realistic scenes depicting life in WWII are exhibited. Numerous light anomalies were also reported in addition to further sounds of moving around that we could not account for. Human pendulum experiments produced some very interesting responses as a number of ghost hunters stated that they had the distinct feelings of being pushed forward.

As usual it was a pleasure to investigate the wonderful Doncaster Air Museum and we would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the fabulous bunch of ghost hunting customers both old and new who joined us on the night and the jovial and affable Alan of museum staff who always proves such a help to us on each ghost hunt.