ghost hunt at wharram percy deserted medieval village yorkshire paranormal

Wharram Percy, a deserted medieval village in Yorkshire, has been occupied by humans since the Iron Age. Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Normans have all lived there. The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book. The Village thrived until 1517 when Baron Hilton, the then landowner evicted the families and knocked down their homes to make room for extra sheep pasturage. (This was when the wool industry was taking off in England).
Although the village remained deserted the church of St. Martin's continued to draw a congregation from nearby villages for a further 400 years. Until 1870 when a new church in neighbouring Thixendale was built. The church became dilapidated and the lead from the roof was stolen, sadly then part of the tower fell down in early 1960 after a storm. Leaving what we see now, the remains of the abandoned church.
The name WHARRAM is derived from an Old Scandanavian word meaning "at the bends"; PERCY is the family name of the Duke of Northumberland who were lords of the manor from the 12 - 14c. During the 17 and 18c. The land was given over to sheep, but was plowed again in the 18c. The present worker's cottages are all that remain of the 18c farm, and were occupied until the 1970's.

The medieval remains of a mother and daughter found in North Yorkshire shows signs of an attempted Caesarean operation, scientists have revealed.
The 900-year-old grave at Wharram Percy held the remains of a woman aged between 25 and 30 with a baby. A study of the remains by English Heritage showed the woman died during her pregnancy and the foetus was cut free from the womb in a bid to save it. Nearly 700 skeletons have been found at the 12th century site near Malton.

PRESENT FROM AGH. WHERE, MARK, ANGIE, TRACEY, STEPH, JAZZ, ALAN, MIKE AND ANDY.

21:00hrs. We arrived at the location and parked in the car park, before undertaking the half mile walk to the village. Once we arrived we had a quick look around taking some photos of the house and church. Jazz thought he had captured a photo of a woman in the windows of the house, after Alan, Jazz, Tracey and Angie all thought they saw someone there. We then started the investigation at half past nine. Angie also had a quiet word with me without the others explaining a lady in white was present near the church.

21:30hrs. We entered the old church (St.Martins) and had a look around, as we did both Angie and Alan became aware of someone stood in the far left corner near to the bell tower. We went over to check but no one was there. As we stood there Angie made her way back to the area we had entered through, an open doorway. She then went outside as she says she thought she saw a little girl. So we all followed her except Andy and Mike who stayed inside for a bit longer to continue taking photo's. Angie enters the graveyard as she says this is where she saw the little girl go. Six of the team where all taking photographs in different areas and all where experiencing difficulties with their cameras not taking properly. We did notice there was a lot of moisture in the air, and although the night was very hot a stream was very close by, which also caused some water to be in the air. Inside the church Andy saw someone through one of the windows, so he and Mike called out for a response, each time they asked for something to happen, they could hear a noise, similar to stones falling. We noticed on inspection, later on some rubble was fallen from the bell tower, but it seemed strange it only happened when they asked. Just a coincidence but these things happen. Meanwhile back outside there was no sign of the young girl, Angie had seen, but we all thought at one point we had seen a man stood at the far end of the cemetery, but as we approached it, it went away. Only since our return and with a little research. We now know the area was at one time a footpath leading to where the Parsonage was.

22:15hrs. We headed over to the farmhouse that still stands, this is not an original farmhouse, but one that was built sometime in the 20th century. The land it is on and around it was once an area where peasants homes, tofts and crofts where, (a toft is a small yard or garden that immediately surrounded the house, and the croft was a bigger area used by the tenant of each house to grow crops and/or to keep a few animals in). As we approached the houses some of the team thought they could see the woman again, in the same window as earlier, so everyone took photo's again in the hope of catching a clearer shot. We then went around the other side to have a look about, and as we did Angie caught a glimpse of a woman in one those windows, holding a candle, sadly it was only a quick glimpse. As we stood observing Alan and Andy both heard a group of voices coming from the side of the house, Mark heard something but was not sure what, as it sounded very muffled, but we went to check straight away and there was no one there.

22:35hrs. We went back to the church as we didn't feel much by the houses. As we went into the church Mark went to the far left corner, where a door is still in operation. He opened the door and as he, Mike and Alan all stood by it, they heard the shuffling of feet on the gravel to the outside of the church. Knowing very well every member of the team where inside and all stood perfectly still at that point, they quickly went outside and looked around, but again found no one there. They reentered the church and we all stood still observing. When Mark and Angie both saw the figure of a man standing in the highest window of the bell tower, as we discussed this and tried to get it on camera, we all heard a "Hmm". Within seconds of the figure disappearing Angie said the little girl was back outside again, and Angie went out to check followed by everyone else. As we followed Angie, she was able to tell us the little girl was called Harriet. She also became aware of a young boy who was not connected to the girl and had drowned in the nearby stream, his name is Albert, but Angie could get no more with us, and continued to focus on the girl, Harriet. We followed her as she made her way behind a grave, Angie tells us this is the area she goes to the most, she does not enter the church as she is scared of a man in there called John!, Harriet belonged to a nearby community. (There were some villages nearby to Wharram at one point, and some of these villages all used St.Martins until 1870).Harriet made her way to a part of the graveyard we had not been too and she points to one grave and tells Angie, "There are three children in there" we went over to have a look and luckily the gravestone could be read, at the bottom of the epitaph it stated "and his three children who all died in infancy". Harriet also says she was the one who was running passed the church when we opened the door. Harriet soon disappeared and Angie was able to tell us where each child hangs about. Albert plays near to the river and ventures into part of the graveyard. Just then we heard a voice behind Jazz, it was not understandable and no one was behind him at the time. Angie says there was a big grave around here where lots of people have been found! but doesn't understand why she got that. If you look at the top of the page I have added the statement that Nearly 700 skeletons have been found at the 12th century site near Malton.

22:50hrs. We started to walk back to the church and as we where about to enter it again, Angie says she felt someone touch her hand, just as Mark says he saw someone small move behind her. Jazz was also aware of it. Before we entered the church Mike tells me, that before we left he heard a female voice saying to him, "tell them I am Elizabeth, that is my name". He says he could not see anyone but heard what was said, he was unsure of the surname but it sounded like Hardley or something similar to that.

23:00hrs. We went back into the church. We heard what sounded like a voice again, and once again it was too low to make out what was said, this was becoming frustrating as we would like to have known what exactly it was. All we could distinguish was that it sounded like it come from the area of the bell tower. So we headed over there, as Jazz stood between the two columns he had the urge to point to the other of the church but could not make out why. We had by this time also suffered with the camcorder switching off several times now. The camcorder is set to only switch off and go on standby when not in the record position, but this happened whilst we were recording. Mike becomes aware the Lady is around him again, Tracey can see her and her mouth is moving, but Tracey cannot hear her. Both Tracey and Mike describe her as wearing a white nightgown and having a very long drawn face. This time Mike could not hear what she was saying but that she was with him, and it was Elizabeth from earlier. See above at 21:00hrs, what Angie had said to me. Alan got the name Peter Stevens or Stevenson but was not sure why or what it meant. Angie makes her way out and comes back in through the door we had opened earlier. As she did Mark and Jazz both saw someone walking behind her. Mark looked behind to check where everyone else was, and they were all stood behind him, so it was not anyone else from the group. So Angie done the same again to see if the same happened, and it did. Mark complained the camcorder was messing around again, so Angie tried once more in the hope we would capture it. Again when Angie entered the figure could be seen, and by everyone, the camcorder worked but was totally out of focus.

23:30hrs. Still in the church, Angie went and stood in the gap where the bell tower is. She stood for a little while and said someone died here. Some sort of head problems, not an injury but something, soon she is aware the problem was something like a brain bleed, and the person became scared and went to the church, in a last ditch attempt to pray for his health, sadly he died whilst there. We hung around for a while longer but nothing else happened and at 0:15hrs we made our way back to the car park along the half mile trek. We hung around in the car park discussing everything that happened and left at just gone 1am.

FINAL THOUGHT: I have received numerous emails regarding Wharram Percy and did not really expect anything, so what we did get was a bonus. There is little activity there but it was worth the short visit. The place is also notorious for UFO sightings, and although I do not investigate these kind of sightings, I must admit I looked into the sky several times, just in case..

PRESENT FROM AGH. WHERE, MARK, ANGIE, TRACEY, STEPH, JAZZ, ALAN, MIKE AND ANDY.