Present from AGH were Mark, Angie, Tracey, Alan and Chris S. Two members of staff Victoria and a co-worker and two special guests Nicola and Sarah of BBCs INSIDE OUT.
History:
Gainsborough Old Hall is a unique medieval manor house right in the centre of
Gainsborough. Sir Thomas Burgh built it between 1460 and 1480 and it remains
much as he left it, to the delight of thousands of visitors each year. John
Wesley preached within the Great Hall under the patronage of the last Lord Hickman,
the manor had to be sold in 1596. A London merchant, William Hickman, bought
the manor and hall and carried out much rebuilding and alteration both to the
town and the hall between 1597 and 1600.
During the 1600s Gainsborough was associated with the religious movement known
as the ‘Separatists’. The people in the movement met regularly in
Gainsborough with their preacher, John Smyth. It is said that the congregation
met in Gainsborough’s Old Hall, although this is by no means certain. Whereas
Sir William Hickman was a puritan he was not a separatist and it might be considered
unlikely he would associate himself with the illegal meetings. Some members
of the congregation emigrated to Amsterdam in 1606 and after some years they
decided to emigrate to America reaching Plymouth Rock in North America on 11th
December 1620, sailing on the ‘Mayflower’.
23.00hrs We arrived at the location and met up with Nicola from BBC’s Inside Out and fellow co worker Sarah, and waited for two members of staff from the hall to join us, Victoria and her colleague. Although the team did not know where they where going upon arrival Mark recognised the place as he had previously done some research on it. Mark spoke to Victoria and said he knew a story of the place and was eager to place a Camcorder on a tripod in it, (this area is where the Grey Lady has been spotted many times). Victoria took him to the area to do this before we went for a walk around.
23.20hrs We were
then shown around by Victoria who would take us from room to room starting in
the Main Hall. As we entered the room Angie sensed straight away the presence
of a Cavalier, she feels he has been seen many times, (Victoria confirms for
us a Cavalier has been spotted in the property many times). Alan feels many
celebrations have taken place, as we wandered around the room Angie picks on
the surname Burgh sadly it was not clear as she heard it and is unsure of the
correct pronunciation (this may be Edwin Burgh), she says he goes around the
place keeping his eye on the place. Alan feels he is being judged. (Later on
in the morning Victoria informs us the room was used as a court). Angie feels
anxious and wants to pace up and down as she re-enacts this she gives the name
Mary she feels is in the far corner she is daughter to Charles they lived here.
The date 1539 is around this family. She is stood there by the window waiting
for some news or someone to return, Angie says she is sister to John, that is
who she is waiting for. As Angie is explaining this she says Mary is now stood
right behind her, and asks Alan to come and stand there to see if he can feel
her presence. Alan steps in and gets the impression of feeling depressed although
he does not know why at first, but then feels she had a lonely heart she is
missing someone. Tracey then steps into the place and feels very hot and flushed,
she feels nervous, Anxious. She moved back to where she had been stood prior
to this and had been feeling tight chested, she was keen to see if the same
feelings came over her again, and they did.
We moved into a little room just off the Main Hall. As we entered saw in a quick
flash a man she says is Robert, she says he is very nosey and he wanders about
the place too, she feels a pain in the throat and feels he had his throat cut,
1700’s she feels. Nothing else came in and we moved area. As we left the
room Tracey felt a sharp stabbing pain in her left side as if prodded with something
sharp.
23.45hrs As we entered
the Main Hall again to move on Angie saw the lower torso of a male through the
far doorway heading towards the stairs, we went to the area to see but nothing.
Angie feels it was residual and is unable to gain any information regarding
this.
We continued to move on as planned and made our way to the Kitchen. As we left
the room both Angie and Chris say the feel they are being judged, Alan had sensed
this earlier (Later on in the morning Victoria informs us the room was used
as a court). We entered the Kitchen and as we did Angie senses a small chubby
lady and gets the name Margaret and Alan gets the name Richard but nothing else
with it yet. As we wandered around the room Alan now feels a link with royalty,
he gets no more as yet, Angie tells us she has a strange taste in her mouth,
she feels she was eating a piece of a bread but it had been poisoned and someone
died from this, Angie says she feels judged in here too, but this time she feels
it is work related, she feels someone was bossed very badly, she feels someone
was pushed and shove around a lot and made to feel worthless, she doesn’t
know who it is but does feel this person died at the hands of another, someone
over her, as she stands in one spot she looks up and says her name was Catherine,
she died suddenly, then Angie walks away. Alan feels the Richard and the Royalty
are connected, he now feels the name Richard was King Richard, but does not
know which one. As we left the Kitchen area we again had to pass through the
Main Hall, Angie stays back whilst she talks to Nicola trying to explain more
about Catherine, Chris, Alan and Tracey all see a woman with curly hair move
in the Main Hall, Chris goes directly to the spot but she has disappeared. We
left the Main Hall and as we did both Angie and Tracey hear a woman’s voice
come form the area the team had just seen the woman with the curly hair, sadly
it was not clear what was said by the woman.
00.15hrs We made our way upstairs to a bed chamber which overlooks the Main Hall. The Solar Room. As we entered Angie feels again the Brough guy wanders in and out of this room too. She says this guy had something to with changes in the building, she does not feel he built it but remodeled it at some time, he constantly goes about the place checking it. She says she can hear a bay cry she had heard it in the Main Hall and the Kitchen, and she can now hear it in this room too, but is having difficulty trying to locate where it is coming from. Angie had said before entering the room she could hear footsteps in here and now feels it was Brough. As we left the room Victoria fills us in on some of the things the team have mentioned. She tells us the Civil War did come to Gainsborough and there were Cavaliers here, she tells us she has heard the story of the poisoned before too.
00.25hrs We moved
into the area where the Grey Lady has been spotted many times. As we entered
the area and walked along a corridor there were the remains of studded wall,
Angie looks and says she feels it was all closed off at one point including
the obvious doorway, what Angie means is the whole wall including the doorway
was closed of as if there was never was a doorway there. This is true, (and
the story goes that some time in the 1940’s builders where called in to
make a doorway in the wall, as they started to knock through the wall they discovered
an original doorway that had been blocked off. Whilst this was taking place
the Grey Lady is reported as having come through the doorway in front of the
builders). Angie does not sense the lady but instead feels a male presence called
Henry, he lived here at one point, she describes him as a happy chap and he
himself has seen many changes here in this area. As we walked through the now
exposed doorway we entered another Bed Chamber, Angie senses a large dog similar
to Greyhound size but is unsure what type it is. Angie and Alan can smell Rosewater
in this room (Rosewater was often used in the past as a cosmetic, the smell
also helped hide other smells). As we continued around the room Angie caught
a quick glimpse of a man who had a dark cloak on a hat with a plume feather
in it, he had a very narrow pointy nose, she doesn’t get a name with this
man.
We made our way down the corridor to another room, as we entered Angie turns
to Victoria and says she feels there are eyes watching all around and within
the walls, she gets the name William, Victoria smiles and says well his picture
is on the wall, there is the spirit of a William who haunts this room and his
portrait hangs on the wall in here. Both Angie and Alan say it is very difficult
to get a hold of anything in this room as there are too many layers in here,
too many changes. Victoria then tells us that this is the most changed room
in the building.
We moved to a smaller room down the hall and Alan does not want to enter he
stays in the doorway as he gets an uneasy feeling, he feels death with the place.
Nothing else is picked up here so we made our way downstairs into another small
room.
Angie made her way to a corner and said she feels books, she is near books but
there is one in particular that is important, Victoria says you are stood near
a bible box that belonged to someone important. Chris can now smell roses he
moves to where Angie and Alan are gets the smell much stronger, as he moves
away the smell goes away, but upon his return to the others he smells it again.
He is not sure why he can smell it near the Bible Box, however the Bible Box
did belong to a lady Called Rose! On the Bible Box where the Initials R H !
01.00hrs We stopped for a quick chat and quick break to decide where we would end the night and all agreed to go back to the Main Hall.
01.30hrs The Main
Hall. The team decided to try some Glass Divination, the team tried for some
time to get some of the spirits to come forward but nothing much happened.
During the attempt Angie, Alan and Chris thought they had footsteps in the Hall,
They had tried to communicate with Mary but nothing happened, so they Tried
William again, whilst trying Angie says Akeman Hakeman, not sure which it is,
(it is however William Hickman and his mother was Rose who owned the Bible Box
with the initials R H on it). And finally the name George came up and they felt
it was tied to the Cavalier. Sadly nothing more happened and at 02.20hrs the
investigation was drawn to a close.
Final Thought: Gainsborough was an interesting location but not a lot happened, we did only have a short time in there as it was part of BBC's inside out feature, maybe we will return one night for a longer investigation!!
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