Ghosts at Christmas

by Darren W. Ritson

  It was 10.30 p.m. and we got on with the pre-investigation responsibilities with our baseline tests being carried out, followed by the setting up of the lock-off video cameras, the trigger experiments and the placing of the motion sensors and beam barriers. The baselines proved rather straightforward due to the winds outside. The squeaky floorboards were traced throughout the house, and the EMF surveys provided the investigators with no readings whatsoever. We placed beam barriers on each flight of the grand stairwell, set a video camera recording on the lower section of the stairwell – in the hope of recording the infamous spectre of General Beckwith, and a number of trigger objects were placed around the premises. A cross was placed on the floor in the master bedroom (we used this as a base room on our first investigation and, for whatever reason, it was not investigated, even though there are accounts of the General’s ghost being seen in this room), and a beautiful ornamental Ouija board was placed on the table in what we have now coined the ‘Ouija board room’. Finally, a child’s cuddly toy was placed on the fire extinguisher stand mounted to the wall in the passageway on the upper level of the house.

  Prior to recording what happened on our night’s vigil, I will relate to you some odd activity that was reported by Ralph Keeton while the tour of the house was being carried out for those individuals who had not been there before. He told me that during the walk around he picked up on the name ‘Monica’. After saying the name out loud, the voice of a young girl was said to have been heard. A few knocks and taps were heard too that were thought to have had paranormal origin. Other odd activity was recorded by others, and not in the main house area.

  During a break before the main event, we were downstairs at the back door near the car park in what was a newer section of the building. At 11 p.m. Drew noticed that the door to the disabled toilet and shower room was wide open and he was pretty sure that it had just been closed. He asked everyone if they had used the toilet in there and perhaps left the door open, to which they all replied ‘no’. Besides, there is another toilet just a few yards away that everyone preferred to use. In fact, I had just used it, and, upon coming out, I walked past the disabled toilet and shower room and remember distinctly that the door was indeed closed.

  Drew and I stood in the corridor to discuss this most recent occurrence and during our talk we were disturbed by what sounded like a harrowing wail coming from along the long dark corridor. Whatever it was, it seemed to eminate from the original part of Doxford House, but we knew the house was empty. Although I am positive that it sounded nothing like wind there is still a possibility that it could have been. However, for the rest of the night no other sounds were heard similar to the ‘wail’, even though the wind continued to blow until the early hours.

  Now it was time to head off into the cold, dark night and begin our second attempt at contacting the ghosts of Doxford House. We split up into our teams and headed off to our respective vigil locations. My group, which consisted of Ralph, Nikki, Trevor, Paul and myself, investigated the ‘Ouija board room’ on the bottom floor, while Fiona’s group, which consisted of Yvonne, Mark Winter and of course Fiona, staked out the middle floor. Drew’s group, consisting of Ryan, Paul Dixon and Jim, investigated the top level of the building. It was 11.20 p.m.

  Upon entering the ‘Ouija board room’ I asked Ralph and Trevor if they were picking anything up on a spiritual level, to which they replied ‘not at the minute’. No sooner had we walked into the room and closed the door it sprang open. This, of course, happened in our first investigation and, oddly enough, it was when my group was investigating the room, and it was also in the presence of Ralph Keeton. It was I who closed the door tightly on the first investigation but this time it was Ralph, who also claimed to have shut it properly. Although it was windy outside we don’t think that enough wind or resulting draughts could have been responsible for the opening of this door simply because a) the door was closed tight, and b) this door was nowhere near any broken windows, besides, all other doors in the vicinity were also tightly closed, isolating this door. If the draught had came in from inside the Ouija board room it could hardly have pulled the door open, as it would have been blowing against the way the door opens, anyway, no windows were broken and no draughts were reported in this particular room. If, however, it was by some chance the wind, then this still doesn’t explain how the door opened of its own volition on our first investigation on 1 December 2008, when no wind at all was blowing outside. Both Ralph and I feel that this door could be one to watch in future investigations, as there seems to be a pattern emerging with it. Lots of famous haunted buildings have certain areas and certain reported phenomena associated within those areas, such as a door at Washington Old Hall in Tyne and Wear. It is said that the door to the Panelled Room is always found open after it has been closed, and visa-versa. One wonders if the former residents of Doxford House, or even perhaps those that have worked there, experienced this particular door opening on its own.

  The only other odd occurrences (apart from knocks and taps that could have been explained away naturally due to the wind, and other experiences which were largely subjective) was hearing a sigh or a breath coming from the door area. Ralph, Nikki and Trevor all heard this. But the most interesting phenomena documented in this vigil were the sound of heavy thumps coming from the master bedroom upstairs – where the General had often been seen – and which sounded incredibly like heavy footfalls. In fact, the thumps were so heavy that the light fittings on the ceiling in our room rattled and clinked violently. After hearing these thumps, I located and then spoke to the team that was investigating this level in order to determine where exactly they were at the time the thumps were heard. As I was talking to Fiona, Yvonne and Mark (while they were actually standing on the stairs and in my view), Paul Collins and Ralph continued to hear the heavy thumping and rattling around the ceiling area which came from the room above. This verified to all in my group that there was no one in that room at the time of the thumps being heard on the second occasion. Therefore we can safely presume the first set of thumps were anomalous too.

  Fiona’s group experienced a little odd phenomenon too. They first ventured into the newer section of the building, where they proceeded to call out to the atmosphere in the hope of making contact with someone, but to no avail. Mark claims to have seen something through a glass window (but what it was he could not say), so they ventured into the area where it was seen, and continued to call out. The door next to where they were standing was then said to have rattled and banged upon their command, although the investigators did suspect it could have been the wind, since there was a broken window in this particular room. At the end of their vigil they all heard a sigh or breath which, oddly, seemed to have occurred at the same time as Ralph, Nikki and Trevor heard a sigh while in the Ouija room. Drew’s group experienced nothing that could be classed as remotely paranormal, as all knocks, bumps and draughts were sensibly ruled out.

  On our way to our break, I decided to leave my EVP machine recording in the main foyer area and subsequently left it on the mantelpiece situated under the grand stairwell. The recording lasted for thirty minutes and there was nothing on it. On our way to our second location I picked up the EVP recorder and continued to my next location, which was the top floor. Drew’s team investigated the middle floor while Fiona’s stayed on the bottom level of the house.

  I mentioned earlier that I had had a nerve-racking experience that chilled me to the bone, and it was in this vigil location that it occurred. We got settled in to the investigation and began to call out. I took some digital stills and made some EVP recordings, but to no avail, so I joined the rest of the group that were standing along the passageway. Suddenly, after Ralph had called out, we all heard two thumps or bangs. They seemed to come from the top of the stairwell area, but upon examining the area we found nothing out of place. It was duly noted that the wind seemed to have calmed down considerably at this time as we could not hear it from inside the premises, nor could we
see the large tree that stands at the front of the house swaying all was calm. After asking for the banging to recommence, we all heard it again and it was most fascinating to say the least.

  The shock came thirty minutes into the vigil when I decided to venture forth down the passageway with EVP machine in hand after a male grunt was heard coming from that area. As I was preparing my EVP machine for this experiment, everyone present except me then heard a male voice cry ‘Ouch’ as if someone was being hurt. I duly noted down these incidences and headed off to make my recordings.

  I had taken only three or four steps and was parallel with the door to room 1, which stood across from room 29. Suddenly, from nowhere, came a feeling that someone was running a hand across my face. At the same time I heard a noise that I can only describe as a ‘sizzling static’ followed by two distinct footfalls right in front of me. I thought to myself ‘something is coming toward me’ and before I even had a chance to register this thought, I was overcome with an ice-cold sensation inside my body, accompanied by a feeling of absolute terror. This feeling lasted for only a brief second or so before it dissipated, leaving me shocked, shaken and surprised. As crazy as it sounds, I think that something, I don’t know what, went through me!

  On my tape I said just after the incident, ‘I have never felt anything like that, ever, on an investigation – I honestly think that something has just walked through me, and that is bloody frightening.’

  After five minutes or so after the incident, and while discussing it with the group, I felt something touch the top of my head. At this point in the investigation however, I was jumping at shadows and everything else come to think about it. At one point I even got a fright when I leaned against the wall, simply because the wall was cold. I was absolutely useless to myself and the group, due to the terrifying experience, so, for the obvious reasons, I took it upon myself to end this vigil. Upon leaving the area I again left my EVP machine recording and this time it recorded for nearly one hour. On it was various knocks, taps and noises that I concluded were not of a paranormal nature.

  Fiona’s group yielded no results; although one or two things did occur, rational explanations were found for them. Drew and his group yet again experienced nothing at all. However, in between these vigils it was noted by an investigator that the Ouija board that had been left as a trigger object had been moved. At first it looked as though the actual planchette had been moved because it was not central (the way it had been left) but, after looking closer at it, we realised that the round glass plate that is used to cover and protect the actual Ouija board was what had been moved, with the planchette still being central to that. Regardless, we had had a result in regards to trigger objects. It may be no coincidence too that the trigger object of the Ouija board actually moved in the very room where Lady Doxford conducted her Ouija board sessions.

  At 2 a.m. we all gathered in the Ouija board room in an attempt to contact Lady Doxford via her own favourite form of spirit contact – the board! To cut a long story short, the whole session lasted about ninety minutes with eighty of those minutes being a complete waste of time. In the last ten minutes the planchette did actually move around the table with the letter ‘W’ being established, but, as per normal with Ouija sessions, the messages came jumbled up and were pure gibberish.

  The last vigil of the night was spent investigating the foyer area of the house, as this had been one of the most interesting areas that had not yet been fully investigated. As it happened, we recorded nothing anomalous whatsoever, although Ralph did pick up on a young girl. He is adamant that a young girl haunts this house, but who she is and whether we can find her historical records remains to be seen. I attempted a number of five-minute EVP experiments, asking certain questions and leaving enough space between the questions for any alleged spirits or ghosts to answer. After three or four attempts and recording nothing we gave up. It was now about 4.30 a.m. and everyone was becoming really tired. The other groups all met up in the base room, but they had nothing further to report; any apparent phenomena witnessed was put down to sheer tiredness. It is known on investigations for the investigators to become so tired they begin to encounter auditory, and quite often visual, hallucinations; not good for an objective investigation. Due to this factor, we all decided that now was the time to wrap it up.

  All in all, this second investigation proved to be great for some, and not so great for others, but that’s the way ghost hunting goes. The thumps and bumps that were heard in the Ouija room (from upstairs) during our vigil there were quite impressive, especially as they made the lights rattle in the room below. The fact the Ouija room door opened for the second time while Ralph and I were there to see it again is rather interesting too. In regards to what happened to me on the upper level of the building, well … who can say for sure. In retrospect it really does give me the chills thinking about what happened, but was it really a spirit that walked through me? Or was it something else, something psychological? Maybe only time will tell. Further investigations inside this rambling old building in Sunderland have subsequently been carried out. Results of these investigations will hopefully be published soon.

  The fact remains that the first two investigations to be held at Doxford House yielded some really extraordinary results to say the least and one can not help but wonder, was it really due to being so close to the festive season? One just before and one just after Yuletide. Who can say? I will leave that for you to decide.

  CHRISTMAS INVESTIGATION 2009: SHOP 44, AND SHOP 22, THE SHAMBLES IN YORK

  On the night of 4 December 2009 GHOST arrived in the city of York to conduct a double Christmas investigation at numbers 22 and 44 The Shambles. We arrived at the top of the famous Shambles at 9 p.m. and were met by shop owner, Simon Cox, who took us down to his wonderful gift shops. As we entered the first shop, we were shown to the café section of the premises at the rear; this was to be used as our base room.

  The building of number 44 is around 400 years old and has three floors. On each floor there is a passage leading to two rooms, one at the front and one overlooking the market square at the rear. The rooms on the upper level are used as storage, while the downstairs rooms are used for the gift shop and small café. The building also houses an ancient wooden stairwell, which links all these old rooms and landings together.

  Number 22 The Shambles is entirely different. It is a much smaller shop by far, but this property has a hidden gem, well, two to be precise. Under the floor in the shop were two trapdoors. Trapdoor one led down into an old, foreboding cellar and tall stepladders were needed to get down into it. It is a large roomy area and, by all accounts, well worth investigating. Trapdoor two was the pièce de résistance. After negotiating your way down some old stone steps, you are led into another cellar area. This cellar leads you under the cobbled road that is The Shambles and under the neighbouring church which stands at the foot of The Shambles.

  We unpacked our equipment and prepared for the investigation to come. Before we set about conducting the usual baseline tests prior to our investigation, I needed to speak to the individuals who worked in the shop. Of course, team member Fiona Vipond had already gleaned some information regarding the ghosts from Simon on her pre-investigation visit, and it was – it must be said – thanks to Fiona that we were here in the first place; but, for my notes and for my personal files, I needed to interview those people who had had first-hand experiences with the alleged denizens.

  I first spoke to Simon Cox and he informed me that his sister-in-law, Chantelle, had heard something rather strange while alone in the shop. Simon went on to tell me that his wife had seen a ghost of a woman dressed in black on the stairs of the property. I asked him if he knew who any of these ethereal visitors could be and he replied that he did not. This ghost was seen only eight weeks prior to our visit, so it seemed that the activity occurring within these premises were ongoing.

  I then asked Simon if anything had occurred since Fiona’s first visit to the shop. He told
me that a number of things had indeed taken place. He said that he had heard a growling noise on three occasions when no one was around, and mentioned that, for no reason, ‘strange stenches’ come from nowhere and then, as suddenly as they appeared, disappeared. As recently as the night before our investigation (on 3 December 2009) a door had opened for no apparent reason. In total, six different individuals claimed to have experienced paranormal phenomena at the premises and the staff and Simon were convinced it was haunted.

  In regards to the ghostly activity in his other shop, number 22, he told me that objects fly off the stands and shelves (key rings, novelty signs etc.). He also said that the stands have been seen to spin around, which of course sends all the merchandise flying off, and bells have been heard ringing inside the shop. I asked what type of bells they were, as his shop is only yards away from the church. He laughed and explained they were little hand bells, the sort that people use on their reception desks when people need to ‘ring for attention’.

  ‘Not church bells then,’ I said.

  ‘No,’ he replied.

  After speaking to Simon, I spoke to his sister-in-law, Chantelle Morris. Chantelle works in the shop at number 44 as an assistant in the café area. After asking her if she had had any experiences or ‘brushes with the paranormal’ while working in the property, she informed me that she had. I asked her what she had experienced and she replied that she had heard a ‘growling’ noise when she was standing at the bottom of the stairs. She said it was clear and definite, and, on looking around for people, to see if they were playing jokes, she found no one; it appeared that she was in the building on her own. On another occasion, Chantelle’s sister reported that she had seen a ‘weird’ man walk along the passageway and enter the café area of the building. When the two women both ventured in, to see who it was, the room was empty, but the door to the storage room (which leads nowhere) was wide open! No one was found.