Southern Paranormal - Investigations
Belgrave Hall Leicester
Saturday 13th May 2006 - 8.30pm – 3am
Attending Investigators – Julie,Steve,Ed,Abbie,Wayne,Alison,Brian,Suzanne,Ken,Val,Kerry,Steve C,Laura,Louise,Mandy.
Staff Investigators – Lee and Pam
Click here to see videos of this investigation
Introduction
Belgrave Hall was built 3 miles from the City centre in the early 18th Century by hosiery merchant Edmund Cradock who died soon after its completion.The Vann's were the next owners who lived there from 1767 to 1844 operating a hosiery business from the hall.
John Ellis purchased Belgrave Hall in 1845. John Ellis M.P was the head of a large and industrious family. With their Quaker beliefs they were concerned with social welfare and committed to help hospitals, schools, charities and the temperance movement.
With his knowledge of commercial enterprise and his commitment to social causes they proved to be a popular asset in the city of Leicester. John will be remembered for his involvement in the Leicester & Swannington and Midland Railways but the other family members had worthy achievements too.
Commencing as successful farmers,the whole family were soon in business, for example in the extraction industries of slate, coal ,granite etc . There other involvements were in banking, and insurance, and from basic beginnings much of their businesses continue today enveloped in larger organisations.
Five of the seven Ellis daughters lived at the hall until their deaths.
Such was their input into the community and the length of time they held occupation of the Hall that it is said the Ellis family spirits are the most likely ones of all the residents still present here today.
The hall was sold to the City Council in 1936 and has been a museum ever since.
The hall does not have any of the original furniture but it has an excellent collection of Georgian and Victorian furniture to give the visitor a glimpse of life in those days.
1999 saw the worlds media descend upon the hall following a local news story reporting to show an image of a grey lady caught on the halls CCTV.
Dr Larry Muntz, president of the International Society for Psychic Research visited the Hall with his team to investigate the hall and video tape.He concluded that the image (lasting for just 1 second) was not evidence of paranormal activity but more likely an insect or leaf due to its shape and dimension. however no explanation of the ghostly mist across the background wall appearing at the same time has been satisfactory given.
Team List
Team 1
Steve G , Ken, Val, Alison, Mandy
Team 2
Julie, Ed, Steve C, Kerry, Suzanne
Team 3
Abbie, Wayne, Brian, Louise, Laura
Vigil Areas
First and second floors
Ground Floor/Hall
Outside (gardens)
Vigil Plan
| 7.30 | Team meet |
| 8.30 | Enter hall/ Set up equipment/ Tour with Lee and Pam |
| 9.30 - 10.30 | team 1 top/middle floor, team 2 ground floor/seance room, team 3 outside |
| 10.30 - 10.45 | break |
| 10.45 -11.45 | team 1 ground floor/seance room, team 2 outside, team 3 top/middle floor |
| 11.45 -12.00 | break |
| 12.00 -12.15 | set up experiment for table seance and camera |
| 12.15 - 1.30 | teams of 2 do 10 minute vigil on first or top floor in view of a fixed video camera / simultaneous table seance downstairs involving other members (see note*) |
| 1.30 | break |
| 1.45 - 2.45 | team 1 outside, team 2 top/middle floor, team 3 ground floor/seance room |
| 2.45 | pack up/ debrief |
(* Note Whilst we were doing the teams of 2 members at a time upstairs the remainder (12) were either watching the monitor (to view fixed camera video upstairs) or doing a table seance downstairs and rotated round as they return and go upstairs. We had the walkies to hear whats going on)
Equipment Set Up
Each team have use of :
Night Vision Camcorder
At least 1 digital camera
Infra red thermometer
EMF meter
Dictaphone
Ouija
Notes sheets, clip board & Pen
Locked off equipment :
Night Vision Camcorder locked off at bottom of stairs
Night Vision infra red camera locked off in Childrens room/Top of stairs linked to t.v monitor and video recorder in the team room/Hub downstairs.(Only one strange orb was caught on the infra red camera video tapes which recorded for 4 1/2 hours but this could have been a torch light reflection)
Motion sensor in the housekeepers room
MP3 Dictaphone (WITH TEAM 1)
Baseline Tests – TO FOLLOW
Vigil/Team Notes
Team 1
Vigil 1 - 1st/2nd floor
9.30 Housekeepers room - Alison, Val & Steve all feel a shortness of breath on entering room.
Val senses something touching hair.Alison feels team "shouldnt be here".Mandy feels she is being pushed.
Alison senses a cot should belong in here.
10.00 Master Bedroom - Steve senses male presence walking about room,
10.15 Small Corridor/Study - Ken thinks Corridor may be used for medical reasons, Team split in 2 groups and ask out
10.30 Ken picks up cold spot in gentlemans study on right arm.
Vigil 2 Ground floor/ Hallway
11.00 Team enter the kitchens and strange smell of burning coals detected from stove.
11.15 Teams split in 2 areas of kitchens and ask out,Sound of key turning is heard and footsteps from above.
11.20 Val asks out and a whistle is heard twice on dictaphone.
11.30 Team move to main hall entrance. dictaphone picks up low frequency hum for rest of the vigil here.
vigil 3 outside
2.00 Team sit on benches and wander to end of gardens and through to the courtyard - some strange orbs caught on camera by Mandy.
Team 2 Vigil Notes
Vigil 1: Ground Floor 10.15pm-11.15pm
Community Room
No EMF
Temp 12.5c
10:15pm- Kerry has headache
10:17pm- Talkie turned off twice then battery dead
10:18pm- Kerry’s digital camera turns itself off
10:20pm- Julie calls out and a bang is heard behind Kerry
10:22pm- TEMP 12.5c rest of room and 14c between Kerry and Steve
10:23pm- TEMP drops to 12.5c between Kerry & Steve
- Team notice door has come open
10:25pm- Group notice strong smell of stale urine
- Kerry has pain in left hand side and numbing sensation of face on left Side of face.
10:28pm- Julie & Steve swap positions
- Julie feels a change in the atmosphere, a different energy.
10:32pm- Noise heard in front of Julie
- Ed & Kerry hear singing
- Julie feels dizzy
- Steve given name of Libby
- Steve calls out and a noise is heard near Suzanne
- Julie feels movement in floor
- Refelection of light keeps changing on one of the clear Perspex chairs
Kitchens
No EMF
Temp 10c
10:40pm- Suzanne catches orb in entrance to kitchen
- Julie & K feel scared
10:44pm- Team move to pantry
- Strong smell of wood smoke experienced by all the team.
- Julie & Steve also smell fruit
- Ed & Suzanne hear whining
10:45pm- EMF meter constantly slowly ticking.
- Steve given the date 1789 associated with the fire the team believe to have happened in this area.
- Kerry feels drops of rain & Steve believes that the rain helped put the fire out
- Steve feels sadness
- Ladies high heeled footsteps heard by all in the hall leading back to the kitchen
- Kerry thinks that she can see a figure in the hall.
- Shadow falls across Steve’s camcorder
10:52pm- Steve and Ed go out into hall
- Others can still smell smoke
- Kerry feels that a woman is angry at her for leaning on the table
- Julie calls out to this affect and orbs are captured across the table
10:59pm- When Kerry leans on the table again, orbs are picked up
11:00pm- Kerry & Suzanne aware of a mist at bottom of staircase
Vigil 2: Gardens & Courtyard 11:30pm-12.15am
No EMF
Temp 6.5c
11:34pm- Kerry relays to team what she had seen earlier of an image of a woman crying behind the left hand statue of an eagle. Julie takes a photo of Kerry imitating the position that the woman was in. A mist is present in the photo.
11:36pm- Steve hears a hiss from the open gateway near the statue
- Split into groups. Julie, Kerry & Suzanne in 1 and Steve and Ed in the other
- Women’s team notice a drop in temperature by 2 degrees to 4.5c and noticed that the temperature rises again when walking through the arch back towards the house.
11:47pm- Julie & Kerry smell germaline near walkway to conservatory
- Kerry senses nurses
- both teams re-group
- Steve catches a glimpse of the woman Kerry picked up on earlier looking towards the nearby gated area that leads to the pond.
- Kerry sense’s the woman again and soldiers
11:56pm- Both Julie and Suzanne feel that the lawned area in the garden is wrong and so was the layout of the archway(in wrong place?).
12midnight- Team splits again into earlier groups( woman v men), Steve and Ed go to the end of the garden and the others go to the courtyard.
12:08am- Teams re-group and Steve said that he sensed water and was given the name Moray or Murray
- Julie also confirms that she got the sense of water with the statue at the end of the garden
12:10am- Team move to the walled and conservatory areas of the garden.
- Kerry and Steve both get the sense of someone running.
- Steve senses a head gardener or groundsman
- Kerry hears rustling sound coming from the flower bed near the wall. She follows the sound around the 2nd-3rd pillar of the wall near the house.
- A couple of orbs spotted and Julie senses that someone was buried in this area
Vigil 3: 1st and 2nd Floor Stairs and Rooms 2:05am-2:50am approx
Nursery
No EMF
2:05am- Steve lays on nursery floor and sees children looking down on him
- Suzanne gets sense of singing ring-o-ring-o-roses, so group all sing it. No reponse
House Keeper’s Room
2:20am- Group feel colder in this room than nursery
- Steve senses someone with an allergy and pains in chest
2:22am- All hear a growling noise, Julie thinks from hall and Steve from fire place.
- Steve said that he sensed that the woman who’s spirit was in the room didn’t want men in there. Another growl heard
- Steve asks for the temperature to change and Suzanne feels colder
2:25am- Teams split again into earlier groups, Steve and Ed take the 1st floor rooms Julie and the others take the 1st floor stairs and landing.
- Julie feels uncomfortable about sitting on the stairs and doesn’t feel happy with the empty space behind her
- All sit still and notice that the smell from the old bathroom has got stronger and notice that the sensor for the motion alarm is blinking even though no-one is moving.
- Kerry senses a boy( between 6-9) looking through the bottom of the top staircase rail where the metal has been inserted. Blonde with basin cut and he is very close to the floor. Kerry looks away from image to the mirror. The security lights go on outside and she can see an image of a woman’ s face in the mirror which is the size of the mirror. She has black curly hair pinned to the top of her head and very long eye lashes. She has a matching necklace and earrings and has very red or rouged lips.
Personal Reports
Julie
Belgrave Hall is one of those locations I have wanted to visit for years. I was really excited when Steve said he had secured us the location for an overnight investigation.
On the night, after we had met our hosts from Leicester Council Lee & Pam and set up our equipment, Lee (Leicester councils resident Medium) opened up the evening for us with a quick protection. We then split into our groups for our vigils. In our team, team 2 there was Kerry, Ed, Steve C, Suzanne & myself. Our first vigil area was the ground floor and what a way to start the night! We decided first of all to spend some time in the museum display room. Steve, Ed & Kerry sat round the table and Suzanne & myself stood in the far corners of the room with our backs to the windows. We sat still and quiet for a little while and Steve and Kerry could sense a presence between them. Several taps were also heard mainly coming from behind Kerry. Kerry did mention that she really felt like someone was stood right behind her. The temperature, strangely was 2 degrees colder between Steve and Kerry. Steve was given the name of Libby. The 3 at the table then reported a unpleasant smell of urine and likened it to the smell of a nursing home. I was feeling very uncomfortable in the corner but I did not mention this to the group, I just wandered forward to see if I could smell what they were smelling. I must admit the smell over that side of the room was over powering and by now even Suzanne in the other corner was starting to smell it. It is one of the strongest smells I have detected while on an investigation. I stood for a while behind Ed and we called out some more. I began to feel very whoosey and at one point stumbled back a bit. I then detected the overwhelming smell of sick and it was that strong it almost made me retch. Steve decided to go and wander to the corner I was stood in and he said he could feel a presence there that made him feel quite uncomfortable. It was then I mentioned it to the group how I had felt in that corner. At one point Ed, Suzanne and Kerry all heard a noise of distant voices/singing. Unfortunately I did not hear this but in honesty I was trying to concentrate on standing still and not swaying at the time as I still felt whoosey. We decided to leave this room and go into the old kitchens across the hall. In the first kitchen we did not really pick up much but in the 2nd kitchen we all noticed the very strong smell of burning. It was an unmistakable smell and kept getting stronger and then drifting away before coming back strong again. We tried to find a source of the smell but were unable to. We then called out and heard a few taps and bangs but could not be sure of where it was coming from, we thought it might have been from back in the other kitchen. Just as we were standing still we all heard the sound of heeled shoes on tiles floor. It sounded like it was coming towards us but after 3 or 4 steps just stopped. We know we were the only team downstairs and so after our initial shock Steve and Ed went to investigate. Kerry, Suzanne and myself stayed in the lower kitchen and I was filming while Kerry wrote notes leaning on the kitchen table. As she wrote I kept catching light anomalies on camera and Kerry kept saying she was doing something they did not like. We mentioned that it could be because she was leaning on the table and at that moment a large orb flew across in front of Kerry.
Steve and Ed came back into the room, confirming no one was in the other kitchen and just as we were about to leave Suzanne got the name Jane and both Steve and myself got the strong smell of peaches at the same time. It was a very distinctive, sweet pleasant smell, not like the burning we could smell the rest of the time.
After a short break our second vigil area was the garden. I tried to stay as open minded as possible as I know the gardens are supposed to be very paranormally active and I know in the dark imaginations can run riot especially outdoors. I was however intruiged by the area where the CCTV footage was recorded and took several shots trying to aim my camera in the same direction as the CCTV camera. On one of the 3 I did catch a very large bright orb in about the same place. The rest of the vigil passed without many occurrences for me however I did pick up on a couple of odd things. Both myself and Steve felt the Eagles at the end of the lawn were in the wrong place. I felt they were from someone else in the gardens and had been repositioned there. Steve agreed and also felt they were pointing the wrong way. Kerry sensed a woman crying behind one of them and so I took 2 pictures of her there. One has a light mist right above Kerry and the other has an orb next to her. The only other things I felt in the garden were that it did not feel right. It did not feel bad, but I felt it had been redesigned at some point in history and the layout was very different from how it was when it was built. I know all gardens change over time but this just felt all in the wrong place to me. For example the cut out in the wall where the eagles were, I did not feel this used to be like this, I felt the lawn garden used to be totally enclosed and much more private. When we walked round the back I also mentioned quietly to Kerry that I felt someone was buried by the wall. I was interested when I heard that there were in fact people buried in the immediate grounds. I would have liked to have known where.
Our next vigil was myself and Ken on the third floor. We went into the nursery and the housekeeper’s room but unfortunately despite our calling out the place was very quiet. You could have heard a pin drop.
Abbie, Ken, Steve & myself then attempted a Ouija board session in the museum display room (which no longer smelt of urine or sick!). It moved slowly and steadily for a little while spelling out the initials TWL and when we asked what age they died it went to 76. They did not live in the house and they did not work in the house. It also went to the letter V as a significant letter but then the energy seemed to drop and we obtained no more movement from the planchette.
Back in our main teams, our last vigil area was the top 2 floors. First we went in the nursery and all sat down. Steve and Suzanne laid down on the floor and Steve could sense little children looking down on him as if to see what he was doing. Suzanne said she felt like singing ring a ring a roses, so Steve, Suzanne and myself sang this to see if we could evoke a reaction. Unfortunately this room was making the team very drowsy and so we decided to move on to another area. We went into the housekeeper’s room and settled down. Steve could sense a woman in there who was unhappy that 2 men were in her room. We also all heard a noise outside the door like someone was about to come in but there was no one there. I believe Steve and Suzanne who were sat by the fireplace also heard on a couple of occasions a quiet swooshing or scratching sound. After spending 10 minutes in here, we moved down a level and Steve and Ed went to explore the rooms while Kerry, Suzanne and myself stayed on the landing area. I mentioned at the time that I wanted to sit on the third stair but felt very anxious about doing it, but did not know why. At our debrief I was interested to hear that the medium Lee has to avoid that step other wise he topples over as that is where someone fell.
All in all a fascinating night at the most wonderful building! For me hearing the footsteps and knowing everyone else in my team heard them clearly too was amazing but also the amount of smells we detected some nice, some awful, was really interesting. A huge thank you to Leicester Town Council for allowing us time in your beautiful building. Thank you to Lee and Pam who were the perfect hosts and also thank you to Steve Gilbert who arranged the investigation for the team. I hope this will not be our only trip to Leicester. I know it has some wonderful buildings for Southern Paranormal to explore in the future.
Wayne
A fantastic venue, and great investigation. Although not much occurred for me, I still feel it was one of our best.
After meeting up and setting our equipment, Lee took a few of us on a quick tour. I decided not to follow, as I prefer to experience things for myself without any prior knowledge.
Our first vigil was outside, where we took a tour of the grounds. Although this is quite an eerie place in the dead of night, I found nothing of a paranormal nature. I know that a couple of things were picked up on, such as myself thinking the big tree was a "hanging tree", also I pictured the grounds with an old woman tending the garden. Both of which Lee said were correct. I would tend to think that these were just general minds eye pictures and not paranormal sensings.
Next it was upstairs. We all proceeded up the impressive stairs to the middle landing. Again, nothing was happening for me. I even decided to try going into different rooms by myself, but still nothing would occur. At one point, Brian and myself tried settling in the little corridor where things were supposed to happen, but apart from a couple of orbs, nothing. We went further up, and we settled in the children’s room. Again, nothing was to happen here for me. Save for the odd creaking of floorboards.
Our next was to try an experiment. A wireless camera was set up on the top floor. In groups of 2 we were dispatched up to hold quick vigils. Abbie and myself were first. Whilst sitting there in the dark I got the distinct impression that someone was standing in the doorway, obviously, on turning round, nothing or no-one was there.
After our turn, a few of us decided to try a couple of séances, with me, Alison, Suzanne, Lee and Pam doing glass divination in the kitchen. Impressively, the glass moved quite a lot and quite forcefully. For some reason, Alison got the impression of something to do with freemasonry. This was corroborated with Lee.
Our next and last was again the kitchen. As the members from London & Essex had not tried glass divination before, I suggested we try again. The room at times felt extremely cold and Pam stated that she saw a woman in the room by the range. The glass carried on moving, and again quite violently. Lee picked up on the name Mary, who appeared to be drawn to Louise. It was only afterwards that apparently, Mary is Louise’s middle name.
All in all, a very interesting night, if largely uneventful. I think there is something there, such an old building is bound to have at least "stone tape recordings", the possibilities of which, I am open to and look forward to investigating further.
My thanks, firstly to Steve G for securing this great location, and Lee and Pam for looking after us and making our visit all the more pleasurable.
Mandy
We arrived at Belgrave Hall at 8.30 and after all equipment was set up we split in to three teams. I was in Team 1 with Alison (Team Leader) Steve G, Val and Ken
Vigil 1
We started on the Second Floor in the Housekeepers room, on first entering the room we stayed behind the barrier, then Alison and I decided to go over into the room. As soon as you cross the barrier the feelings in the room changed, Alison felt that whoever was in the room did not want us there, and the feelings I was getting were negative ones, Alison also felt that a baby was also present in the room and used to sleep in the room with the housekeeper. Alison and Steve changed places and as I stood next to Steve in the middle of the room I felt someone push me from in front of me on both my shoulders causing me to loose balance and nearly fall backwards, that was enough for me in that room and we left.
Our next room was the Nursery, this room was so much calmer, I felt much more relaxed in this room, there was a cot over the far back of the room and Alison felt that the cot used to be in the housekeepers room. We had no activity in this room.
We then moved down to the 2nd floor, starting in the master bedroom, once inside the room Steve started pacing the floor and he said that he could sense a male presence and that he was troubled, he had something on his mind or a decision to make and he just kept pacing up and down the room... Steve also looked very agitated.
In the Master bedroom is a door leading to a room/corridor to the next room, as advised we split into smaller groups and Alison and I stayed in the small room with the doors closed, I began getting pains in my stomach which I didn’t have at any other point of the night, and both Alison and I had felt that this room was used for something medical, Alison thought perhaps a place where abortions were carried out. I felt maybe where someone had a baby in the room, or people would come there to have a baby, it was not a nice feeling in the room. We left that room and went into what I think was the smoking room for men, I didn’t feel very much in this room and our vigil in there was short due to time.
Following a short break we went on to our next vigil on the ground floor.
Vigil 2
We started this in the Kitchen, we all smelt various smells in this room, but none of us really picked up on anything so we moved on to the smaller kitchen, at the back although this room was not used as a kitchen. There was a fire/stove at the back of the room and despite this never being actually used, it smelt as though it had just been used that day. Again we broke off into smaller groups, Val, Ken and I stayed into this room while Alison and Steve went back into the kitchen.
Despite calling out we felt no activity in this room and nothing out of the ordinary happened.
So we moved back into the kitchen and Alison called out, we heard some banging noise but believed it to be the other team moving around on the second floor. We then moved into what used to be the dining room, but again no activity so we moved into the entrance lobby. After sitting there for about 10 minutes we decided to take a break as there was nothing happening.
Before setting off on to our third and final vigil of the night, everyone was paired off into two’s and we had to go upstairs to the top floor and sit in the dark for 10 minutes.
Kerry and I made the journey up to the 2nd floor and both of us were petrified, After what had happened in the housekeepers room, I didn’t feel safe at all, and we were defiantly being watched.
We both heard a noise on the stairs and knew that it was a good time to end out lone vigil. But I can honestly say that although we heard a noise on the stairs, it felt as though someone was standing right over us on the landing and it was the most scariest moment in my life, we were not welcome there at all.
After the small teams were done we moved on to our third vigil in the gardens
Vigil 3
Although our walk around the gardens brought nothing, Alison could feel two spirits at the end of the garden path and felt anxious to get out and it did have an eerie feel about the place so we all left.
Our night at Belgrave Hall is not one I will ever forget, the house is amazing, but the spirits inside especially those located on the 2nd floor are not welcoming at all.
I would defiantly go back if I had the chance too, and would like to thank the staff who were great. Also thank you Steve for making it possible
Brian
1st Vigil Belgrave Gardens.
Wayne, Abbey, Brian, Louise, laura.Plus Pam and Lee
We walked the length of the gardens till we got to the monument where Belgrave halls main gate once was. I felt a tightening around my neck as thought I was being strangled. Lee said I was picking on something. Moving away back through that was the main gate lee asked me to walk across to a tree which was on the right-hand side of the driveway to the house. This I did I got to about a metre away from the tree I felt as though I could not go ant farther I felt as something was stopping me when I did get past I started feeling dizzy.
Lee said I could be picking up on an alleged hanging of a child this I can’t prove but it was very strange. The rest of the garden I felt very happy in my minds eye I could see a man walking a dog and a women in period dress
This garden was all very nice and tranquil including the lovely smell from the curry house around the corner.
We walked through a gate which took us to what was the workers cottages this garden area I also found very happy and peaceful I could see row of garden root crops and a man was of stocky build and silver coloured hair in my minds eye looking very happy with his garden, I told lee what I could see; Lee said it sounded very much like the gardener who was there in them days.
I could have quite happily stayed there in that part of the garden for the rest of the night.
2nd Vigil Top and Middle Floor.
We all settled on the middle landing I was filming on night vision when again I could see a little girl with blonde shoulder length hair and a blue dress running towards the stairs which goes to the ground floor; Lee said this had been seen before.
Wayne and myself had a walk around this area we decided to go into the hallway in between the main bedroom and the masters study and close the doors as Lee said this is the area that he did not like we decided to see what would happen to us but unfortunately nothing happened at all Wayne did ask out and became very cold he asked that the same thing could happen to me and a very cold breeze came across me But that was all.
From there Wayne and I went to find the rest of the team we found them on the top floor in the nursery Lee was laying on his back on the floor on the other side of the barrier I sat on the floor.
Filming I could see Lee laying on the floor the weird thing was I could see Lee’s hair growing how odd is that Pam said she could see it to. Shortly after that the video tape ran out so I just sat there taken in the atmosphere all of a sudden in my head I could hear a girl saying HELLO IM ELIZABETH now I did feel a bit odd that this had happened, When Lee got up and the vigil finished I asked Lee about this he said that the name Elizabeth was relevant to a girl who once lived in the house.
Group Séance in the scullery.
Lee opened a glass divination the glass moved to questions such as are you male and again are you female the glass started moving in a circle with all our fingers on the glass the fingers made a pattern which Alison said that it looked like the sign of the free masons which Lee confirmed as the people that live in the house where free masons now how odd it that.
We all smelt the smells of smoke and fish the glass divination was then closed down as it was the end of the team séance.
Last Vigil Kitchen and Scullery.
We spent some time in the kitchen which was very atmospheric I felt nothing in this area may be next time.
We moved back into the scullery to- re open the glass divination the glass started to move with question like are you female but every now and then the glass circled and made that free mason’s sign again who ever we contacted seemed to recognise one of our London and Essex female group members, With the glass being taking to her a few times with a lot of force this was very spectacular glass movement the likes ive never witnessed on any other paranormal investigation before. When our vigil was up we closed the experiment down.
My Conclusion.
What can I say this investigation blew me away I felt thing s and smelt things that I’ve not felt on any other paranormal invest?
The atmosphere and the history of Belgrave Hall can be felt as soon as you walk in the door FANTASIC.
I would like to thank our host Pan and Lee for being with us all night
Alison
We arrived at the premises at about 8pm so was fortunate to see the building in the daylight. The first thing that struck me was how amazing the place actually is.
On our guided tour I the first thing that struck me was the range of emotions I felt . For some reason I felt fear and apprehension in the main hallway, but calm in the ‘Hub’, then deep sadness in part of the gardens, and happiness. Such a mixture of feelings here which fascinated me. There was also strong smells in certain areas which I will explain later in my report.
The gardens were strange, beautiful but strange. There were two eagle statues which ended the first section of the gardens . I seemed to feel deep sadness and felt my eyes sting as if I had been crying. I mentioned this to Kerry, who advised me that she had seen a woman crying there. Very strange indeed.
The second section of the garden also held another feeling of peace which made me relax from my earlier feelings. The far end of the garden made me jumpy, I don’t know why as I couldn’t put my finger on why I felt this way. I put it down to the area being more enclosed and private leaving me a bit vulnerable.
As we walked round to the religious statue I felt the presence of a woman who walked this path. She seemed to be re-enacting events that happened here. She would walk this path and follow it past the back of the hall and out into the courtyard. I got the feeling that she was an older woman standing not much taller than I am (about 5’4”). I don’t feel she would interact with us as she was only re-running an event . More of a ghost rather than spirit.
We settled and got into our groups .My first vigil was upstairs on the first and second floor.
Once again, I don’t know why but I felt wary of this area and felt the urge to look up to the floor above me. I felt like I was being watched but I cannot explain why .The first room we visited on this floor was the housekeeper’s room. This room scared me . As soon as I entered I felt it was hard to breathe and became quite breathless.. I felt restricted as if I had a bad chest infection causing pressure on my lungs. This struck me as strange as Amanda and I both climbed over barrier and the feeling went .It was replaced by fear caused by a matronly woman . She was quite stout ,and short . She seemed quite agitated that we were there and very protective . She seemed to have a small baby in her care which would explain to me why she was so protective, as it was the child that was poorly. The rocking chair seemed to me to be out of place and I felt that there should have been cradle in it’s place. The feeling I got in this area was that we were intruding and shouldn’t be there.
The next room we visited was the nursery. I felt happiness here , quite a contrast to the other room. I spotted the cradle and believe that this was the sort of cradle which would have been in the housekeepers room. Other than that we experienced nothing out of the ordinary here.
We moved on to the upper floor. The first room we visited was the master room. I was amazed by Steve’s reaction here. He seemed aggressive and was pacing up and down restlessly. He couldn’t explain why he felt this way, only that he was deep in thought and needed to make an important decision . I could feel a male presence here and yes he was agitated and I heard his voice telling me to go away, but not so politely. The energy seemed to radiate from the bed, so I assumed that this was relevant, but Steve felt that his agitation wasn’t about anything that had happened in this room .I have no explanation for this occurrence, the only thing that struck me as strange was the fact the feeling seemed to follow him into the adjoining corridor and he still seemed agitated and fustrated.At this point we took it in turns to stay in this area with the doors shut. When it was my turn, both Amanda and I felt drawing pains associated with pregnancy . I felt a sharp pain in my lower abdomen and pressure but I didn’t know why.
Our next vigil was in the kitchen area. The first thing that struck me as strange was the smell. I firstly smelt fresh herbs which smelt to me like menthol, but as we entered the kitchen I could smell something like pears soap. A coal tar based soap and it hurt my throat as it was so strong. Our group split again. Half the group was in the scullery and the other in the kitchen. It was strange as each time I called out footsteps were heard above us near the far wall, but I cannot rule out that it may have been the group on the upper floors. This happened three times . No other occurrences happened here.
When we swapped over to the scullery I could still smell the coal tar, but nearer to the ranch I smelt a fresh wood burning smell . Nothing else happened to us here.
During our break we conducted a glass divination experiment. I was joined by Lee, Pam, Suzanne and Brain. The door seemed to be rattling behind us as if someone else wanted to join us. The door was shut properly so I cannot explain this. The glass moved quite firmly and twisted forcing our fingers to cross over . We smelt a strong smell of fish for some reason, and I seemed to pick up on a man who advised us that he owned all that belonged to the house. This seemed to be in response to us asking whether he was the man of the house and if so what was his business here in the scullery. I don’t know why but I had the sign of the three masons given to me which made no sense to me whatsoever. Lee later confirmed that there were in fact three masons connected with Belgrave and they were buried in the churchyard.
Our last vigil was in the gardens, but unfortunately we did not experience anything in this area.
All in all an interesting night and I would like to thank Steve for arranging our visit, and lee and Pam for making us feel so welcome.
Ed
Of all the places that Southern Paranormal have so far investigated, and by now there have been many, there have only been a couple of locations that I think we can honestly say have been a privilige to investigate. The famous (or should that be 'infamous'!) Belgrave Hall is definatley one of them.
It certainly was a beautiful building. The interiors had the feeling that they had been looked after with care and attention and the gardens proudly and lovingly maintained.
Was Belgrave Hall's reputation as one of the most haunted buildings in the UK going to uphold itself?
For me, I think the most interesting of all the vigils was probably the first one that took place on the ground floor. Even though most of the time during the vigil passed without any major incident, there was a moment when in the Pantry we all heard what sounded like footsteps coming from the next room or at least very nearby. I must admit that soon after we heard that sound, I did feel very uneasy in there. But then I guess the pitch blackness didn't help that either!
I'm sorry to say that all the other vigils were very quiet and uneventful. Even the one in the garden, which sparked my interest earlier during the initial tour of the property, when we were told that there had been reports of people having scratches on their hands mysteriously appear!
Because there was only 2 of us in a particular location our senses were more attuned to the surroundings, making it more easier to pick up on any sounds, abnormal or otherwise. It will be interesting to see what everyone else thought of this and hopefully we may be able to do this again on another investigation one day.
At the end of the evening the more sensitive members of the group were asked what they had managed to pick up on. This proved to be very fascinating to listen to as a few things that were mentioned seemed to be quite accurate!
Even though Belgrave Hall has a reputation for being one of the most haunted buildings in England, unfortunatley I myself didn't have anywhere near enough first hand evidence to support this as much as I wanted to. However, I was still very pleased and thankful to have been given the opportunity to investigate this magnificent, well known building.
Val
We met at the Talbot Pub, we found this a spooky place but not as spooky as the investigating site of Belgrave Hall. We met our hosts for the night Pam and Lee who without doubt made us very welcome thank you both. We all started with a tour of Belgrave, with the lights on I was very impressed of the beauty of this victorian house. We divided ourselves into 3 teams Ken, Alison,Mandy,Steve and me Val are team 1. The vigils started at 10pm after a prayer of protection had been said by Lee. 1st floor staircase all ok up staircase, Ken tripped on nothing and felt as though he fell through the staircase rail. New batteries in my camera died suddenly. Next room was the Housekeepers room. Ken and then me calling out, Mandy and Steve feel pain in their chest. Ken calls out again and then something touched my hair. Mandy left leg had temp reading 19 but 26 on the right one I feel my hair touched again. Mandy felt as though someone had pushed her and I again felt someone run their fingers through my hair.Next room was the nursery I was drawn to the beautiful piano in this room I called out but no response. Alison called out but nothing heard.nothing unusual happened in this room. Next room was the Parlour we split up here Ken and I remained in this room. We both called out several times again nothing unusual here but we both felt quite comfortable after 10 minutes we moved on again. On to the Master bedroom again we both felt comfortable here and nothing was seen or heard. Then into the small passage way. All of us expecting doom, with both doors closed we settled down, Steve called out but again nothing happened. Ken felt as though this was connected to medical factors and had the feeling that an abortion or more sinister things where carried out in here.In my mind I had the name of George and James, then Steve called out and asked if there was a spirit named George with us.My camera again with new batteries in flashed batteries empty. Ken felt that one wall was false. Ken and Steve decided to stay in this room while us 3 girls moved on to the Gentlemans Room. I started to call out, all was quiet and nothing occured.Alison and Mandy then when into the passage on their own.We heard whispering in the Gentlemans room but found it was Alison in the passage. Mandy felt pregnant in the passage way. Ken felt very cold draught on his right arm and compared to the left one there was a drop of 6 deg. this occured while talking about abortions. We left this area and made our way to the hub where the coffee smelt welcoming.Next vigil our 1st room was the kitchen on the ground floor.The entrance hall was quite impresive although I didnt like it, why I dont know. Inside the kitchen was fasinating I imagined all hustle and bustle that went on here.Ken and I noticed a smell from here but not a baking one more like a coal tar smell or pears soap smell then on to the scullery I found the strong smell of washing in here Ken thought it smelt as though the floors had just been scrubbed, no unusual happening in here or the kitchen although I had called out. We started our last vigil the garden and what beautifully kept gardens they were flower boarders full with wallflowers and in the night air gave a lovely perfume. Wandering around these gardens although I hate trees at night I felt quite calm. After 30 minutes here with nothing happening only my camera telling me battery empty but still taking photos nothing else was found was we made our way back to this lovely old house. In the courtyard I had the feeling of forges and iron and large machinery, lines of metal a tram rail or train rails and again large metal machinery. With this I again came across the name of George, James and Stephen. All assembled in the hub again and Lee told us of some of the history of Belgrave Hall which I found fasinating. Lee closed the evening again with prayers. With equipment packed away we said our goodbyes to our hosts and our friends of Southern Paranormal. Thanks go to Kerry for all her hard work on planning this event for us you did us proud Kerry and Ken and I look forward to the next investigation with you all.
Louise
We met in the pub called Tabolt Hall, I thought the pub had a really nice feel until I went to the ladies which felt completey different very creepy.
I met Lee and Pam who I felt were really welcoming.
When we arrived in Belgrave hall we were given a tour around the museum with the lights on. We then set off into 3 teams in my team was Laura Abbey Brian and Wayne.
Our first vigil was in the garden In some spaces of the garden it had a very strange feel but northing that I could put my finger on. Abbey said that a girls name called Emily was coming to mind. As we walked around the garden by the wall i felt as if a migraine was coming on and I wasnt the only one.
I had a really nice feeling where the washing would have hung and where the gardner would have spent alot of time. It felt really homley and very relaxed.
After the garden we went and had a coffee break.
Our next vigil was the upper floor we sat on the staircase for some time and lee called out there was no reply. Lee sat on the stairs and Pam sat on a chair leaning against the staircase they both felt the stair case move at the same time I walked into the bedroom and the gentlemans room I didnt feel comfortable in any one of theses rooms and was pleased to move onto the upper floor.
We all went into the nursery and sat down lee fell asleep pam moved into the corner and felt sick so left the room we all went out shortlt afterwards.
We then went out and had a coffee break.
Me and valerie got called out together to do the vigil up on the staircase there was alot of weird noises coming from the childrens nuserys like whispers.
when i came back down we waited for laura to do hers until we stared our next vigil which was on the lower floor. In the kitchen we walked in and smelt a strong smell of fruit apples and lemons. Lee said shall we do a glass seance in the back room.
When we walked in there we could all smell burning in the far left hand corner we started to do the seance with the glass me and abbey felt very dizzy so decided to kneel down lee and pam followed. Brian and Wayne filmed the seance. Pam could see a lady by the cooker and felt very uncomfortable she couldnt take her eyes off that area of the kitchen.
The glass started moving in circles lees arm felt very heavy and he felft very tired. Lee asked questions the glass started to come towards me. Lee asked where the person was standing the glass moved towards me right to the edge of the table, at quite a speed. Lee said that it was Mary coming through.
Pam said that the lady she could see was getting frustrated. Lee asked who the lady wanted to speak to the glass circled and moved towards me again. Lee kept asking questions and every time the glass circled and came back to me fast this did make me a bit nervous. Lee said do you want us to leave and the glass came back to me again. He asked if I reminded mary of her daughter and if I had a connection with her and again the glass moved towards me.
Pam and lee asked if I know of any reason why she was trying to communciate through me I replyed no and as shocked as the others the glass fell over a few times. we then shut down the seance. After which i told the others my middle name was Mary. Lee said that maybe she was trying to let us know who she was.
We ended the night and packed away the equipment.
Thanks to the glass seance I have been sleeping with the light on for three nights lol
Thanks to pam and Lee for a great experience
Ken
Lee and Pam met us at Belgrave Hall and made all of us welcome. After Lee had said a prayer for us all we started to divide into our teams mine being team 1 with Alison, Steve, Mandy Val and me Ken. At 10pm we made our way to the staircase and 1st floor vigils. Into the housekeepers room I kept the cam rolling I was calling out to any spirits present but there was no response although the new batteries in vals camera had exhausted themselves. Something had touched Vals hair when I called out but that was all. We moved into the nursery next I felt very calm in this room Alison was calling out but there was silence. Next room was the Parlour Val and I stayed alone in here while the others investigated another room. Again there was no occurrences in here although I had been calling out. On to the master bedroom a fascinating room but nothing happening. We all made our way to the dreaded small passage way with both doors firmly closed Steve started to call out. I felt as though this had been connected to medicine and felt abortion had taken place here. Steve and I both stayed in this room together I had the feeling that one of these walls had been a false one. No occurrences happened here. Into the gentleman’s room now my left arm became a lot colder than the right one and the temperature was a 6-degree difference. Outside to the courtyard I had the feeling of horses being there and could smell horse manure. On the 2nd staircase as we all walked up for some unknown reason I tripped on nothing and had the feeling of falling through the banisters I looked at the carpet but there was no apparent reason why I should have tripped. We ventured out into the gardens and walked around for some 40 minutes but I felt nothing at all out there. This was an old and interesting victorian mansion a lot of history I wish I could have come up with more experiences through the evening. I would like to say thank you to Lee and Pam for allowing us to investigate and to thank Steve for making it all possible.
Kerry
It seems so ironic that on the way up to the investigation I was telling Mandy that I didn’t get scared doing investigations anymore!
We met at The Talbot pub opposite the hall a place in itself that had a very strange atmosphere. On entering the hall I came over with a headache which wasn’t to leave me all night. We gathered in one of the rooms and after a discussion with Alison found that she too had a headache since entering the building.
Soon after we went on a tour of the building and grounds with Lee who is the Medium for Leicester City Council and Pam who would also be staffing the building for the night.
The building was amazing and very well restored but, what I noticed most on the tour was the activity in the building.
I have never felt so much going on anywhere.
The stairs in themselves seemed very active with a presence felt on almost every turn of the stair. I remember being quiet for most of the tour with the question hanging in my head of ‘is it just me or is something going on here?’.
When we entered the kitchen some of the group could smell wood smoke which seemed very strong. We were assured that this had been noticed on many occasions and there was no natural explanation for it.
While in the small corridor leading to the master’s room. We were told that many people had experiences in it but, only with the door shut. Although there were many of us in the room it had such a horrible atmosphere to it. I did not want to be in there later with the doors shut and the lights out.
The oddest thing that happened on the tour was when we were in the Housekeepers room. I noticed on entering that there was a mark on the window where something sticky had been taken off. As I looked at it a face started to form of a woman with a long straight nose with a bump at the top. Eyebrows that were thick and gave her a puzzled look and hair that had been pinned at the back. The image grew until it filled the pain of glass and then disappeared. I was stunned and quite frankly didn’t want to say anything at the time. I looked around and it was obvious that no one else had seen the same thing. I felt as though my mind was playing tricks.
Our 1st vigil was on the ground floor. We decided to firstly go into the community room. I felt quite on edge in this room, not made better by the fact that I now had a stiff neck and felt as though someone was very close behind me on my right hand side. This side felt very cold for most of the night.
We all on several occasions in this room smelled a very strong smell of stale urine and some orbs were picked up. Also, the door kept coming open which would also happen later when a ouija experiment was taking place in this room.
Next we went to the kitchen area. Yet again we were greeted by the smell of wood smoke, this was only a small room and the smell was cloying. When calling out we heard what can only be described as the footsteps of a woman in heels on the flagstones outside the kitchen, I had thought a little earlier that I could see someone in the doorway. I also felt that someone was angry because I had leaned on the table. When Julie called out and asked if this were true, orbs were caught on camcorder on the table.
Our second vigil was to be in the grounds outside. I knew that this would be interesting as I had some very strong feelings here earlier and so had others.
I thought that I had seen something by the door to the gardens. I only got a fleeting glance and didn’t get anything but an indistinct shape moving from the door to the side of the house that leads to the courtyard and stopping about halfway between the door and the end of the house. I got this movement a few times and wondered if this could be attributed to outside lighting, shadows etc. However it was too dark to make a judgement at this point. I also picked up on a woman behind the left-hand eagle statue. I felt that she cried here so she couldn’t be seen from the house. Steve felt that she was pregnant. We split into 2 groups to cover the grounds. It was interesting to note the difference in temperatures in different areas of the garden. It was cold near the eagles and the stone at the end of the garden. I, Suzanne and Julie were not comfortable in this space. Not helped by the fact that I saw a man earlier come from the bushes and hide at the back of the stone.
Steve had earlier said that he thought that the building had some kind of medical use in the past, which was odd as both myself and Julie smelled germaline. I also got the impression of a nurse with a wide fronted white hat with a red cross on it walking towards the conservatory.
We made our way to the area of the small woods near the church which I hadn’t noticed on my way in. As we entered Steve asked me what feeling I got and I said to run, which was the same feeling he had. We scoured the area and Steve was given the spirit of a man, most possibly the head gardener or grounds man.
While on the gravel path near the wall, I kept hearing movement in the planting, I followed the noise and saw 2 very small lights on the edge of the path. Julie followed and had a very strong feeling that someone was buried where I had seen the lights. Julie would say herself that she rarely picks up on anything and was amazed later when Lee said that it is believed that someone was buried in the garden.
Next we had an experiment which was 10 minute vigils in groups of 2 at the top of the staircase. I was to be with Mandy. For some reason I was terrified going up the stairs. So was Mandy. We got to the top of the stairs and stood with our backs against the wall. There was a big feeling of expectation and to be honest I had seen, heard and smelled enough for the time being. We called out. We heard what sounded like footsteps coming up the stairs to the landing that we were on, I tried to find a rational explanation for this but couldn’t so we left.
Our 3rd vigil was on the 1st and 2nd floors. I wasn’t looking forward to going back in the Housekeepers room but, I didn’t pick anything up in this room.
Little was picked up on this vigil, maybe because energy was at a low or maybe because activity was happening elsewhere.
However, we split into groups again. Steve and Ed took the rooms off the 1st floor while the rest of us held a vigil on the 1st landing.
Julie felt uncomfortable sitting at the bottom of the top staircase, I would not have sat there. I sat looking towards the old bathroom however my eye kept being drawn to the top staircase where there are metal stretchers fixed to them. I saw 2 small lights which I 1st thought might be orb activity but, I got the impression of a boys face looking through the bottom of the rails. His head was very low to the floor if not on the floor. He had very thick strawberry blonde hair in a basin cut. Although there would not appear to be anything scary in this, there was a bad feeling attached to this image. I looked away from the image towards the large mirror on the turn of the stairs. At this point the security light went on outside and for an instant I got the image of a woman’s face. The image although brief filled the mirror. She had very dark, possibly black hair which was curly and pinned up on the top of her head. She has very long dark eye lashes and red lips. She was also wearing a necklace and earrings which were mounted with stones of some kind. I and the group that I was in had many more experiences that night. Too many to put in this report.
I found this site absolutely fascinating. I never expected that a site could hold so much and give away its secrets to even the most scientific minded of the group. Everyone went away with at least one experience that they won’t forget in a hurry.
Steve G
Having lived in Leicester for 38 years until a few years ago this was an surreal homecoming and one I hadnt expected. For me ive always been aware of Belgrave Halls existance and remember the media circus in 1999 when Leicester was the Paranormal capital of the world for a while.However people move on, (well at least in life they do) but according to recent reports sparked my involvement in this group,the spirits at Belgrave hall do not - it seems.
Call it selfish curiosity or whatever you like but this place has a hold on you and its not hard to see why people feel like it is actively haunted.The rooms are superbly reflective of life in the Georgian and Victorian household.The previous residents appear to be remembered as well respected business people with a care for the Leicester communities of the time, so why all the tales of dominant male spirits pushing people around and such like.
The first of my teams vigils proved to be the most energetic for me. upon entering the Housekeepers room upstairs I felt short of breath which Alison and Mandy experienced too but the Master Bedroom i did not like from the start. On entering into the room and among the furniture i felt unexplainably agitated and began pacing about the room.As Alison asked me if i was ok ,i replied i felt there was a strong male presence doing the same thing as me as if he had an important business decision to make and that it troubled him in some way.I could not escape these feelings for some few minutes later and i have to say it was very,very odd,as i do not claim to be sensisitive in any way shape or form to these things.
The other vigils downstairs and outside proved mainly uneventful but nonetheless fascinating and i was always on a higher state of alert than normal to the possibility of paranormal activity.This would have to rank as a top place for anyone to investigate due to its history and unexplainable ambience in the dark and i do hope the team return again.
Conclusion
Investigating Belgrave Hall at night for this team has proved to be a real treat, not least because it has thrown up some surprises for the more sceptical ones among us.
Footsteps,wrongly placed objects,strange smells, shortness of breath,feelings of anger,sadness and a whole spectrum of odd noises contrived to give all of us a great night of investigation.Our Hosts Lee and Pam set the scene and guided us through some of the various paranormal activity reported here, much of which you wont find documented anywhere else.
The locked off camera experiment whereby 2 people at a time were sent on lone vigils upstairs for 10 minutes was designed to test and record our fears however strangely nobody reported being unduly nervous about it.
There were again some unusual photo and video orbs caught on tape.
The equipment we used on this investigation was not so noticable and i think this gave a more perceptive feel to the night.
For most of us it will long be remembered and ranks among the best of Southern Paranormal U.K s investigations.
Many thanks go to Lee and Pam from Leicester City Council for making us welcome and looking after us and im sure you havent seen the last of us "mducks". The Guildhall in Leicester is definitely on this teams "to do" shopping list.