Southern Paranormal - Investigations

Groundlings Theatre Company, Portsmouth

Saturday 26th June 2010

Attending Investigators:Maria Street, Sarah Pettet, Amanda Horley, Marie Holder, Mark Pettet, Steve Boston, Robin Turton, Belinda Robinson, Gilly Utting, Wendy Callaway, Brian Witt

Guests:From the Groundlings Theatre Company – Tom, Peter, Shane

Groundlings Theatre history

In 1754 John Shakespear and five other gentlemen formed the Beneficial Society, whose initial purpose was to support each other in times of affliction. A shilling a month was collected and the money was kept safely in a chest which had 5 locks. The society decided that on the occasion of there being more money than was needed for the initial intention, it would be used to help to school poor children from the local area of Portsea. In 1784, a plot of land was purchased in Old Rope Walk on which was built a school that became known as the Old Benny. The ground floor of the building was used as the schoolroom, whilst the upper floor was the headquarters and meeting room of the Beneficial Society.

The building was extended in 1837 to enable the Society to expand the education facilities to include girls. The Beneficial Society was dissolved in 1933 and the school became the responsibility of the Local Education Authority remaining in place until 1962 when a new school was erected next door. The building now became a centre for youth training and remained as a training centre until 2004 when a fire nearly destroyed the building.

On 20th May 2010 the building was re-opened as the new home for the Groundlings Theatre Company with the upper floor housing the auditorium, drama school and changing rooms, and the ground floor being used to house the wardrobe and cafeteria.

Renovation work continues as the building is gradually restored to its former glory.

attending a dance in the hall when she went into labour. She was rushed to her home in Old Commercial Road where she gave birth to her son, Charles Dickens. A former student of the school emigrated to Australia in 1840 and was 7 times Premier of South Australia. This was Sir Henry Ayres after whom Ayres Rock was famously named. The school was closed for the duration of World War 2 and during this time a Nazi sympathiser was caught on the roof of the school directing bombers with a flashlight to the dockyard.

Punishment at the Beneficial School was severe and at times there was a more Naval Punishment administered with the use of the birch. The young lad would have to drop his trousers and then be tied to a spike in one of the wooden pillars in the downstairs hall to receive his punishment. The spike is still in place today.

There are various stories of hauntings of the building, with reports of several friendly spirits including a boy called George on the staircase and a girl called Emily in the schoolroom. A former headmaster, Archibald Mills, is also said to haunt the building. Members of the Theatre Company have also reported feeling very uneasy in the Wardrobe and the feeling of a presence in the dressing room behind the auditorium.

Teams

Team 1
Maria
Mark
Robin
Belinda
Gilly
Guests: Peter and Shane

Team 2
Sarah
Amanda
Marie
Steve
Wendy
Brian
Guest: Tom

Vigil Area's

Area 1
Ground floor, including –
Cafeteria
Wardrobe
Future Kitchen
Offices

Area 2
Upper floor, including –
Auditorium
Green Room
Headmaster’s room
Dressing room

Itinerary

10.45pm – meet outside location
11.00 pm – meet host and have walk round building
11.30 pm – set up equipment
12.00am – Vigil 1
1.00am – break
1.15am – Vigil 2
2.15am – break
2.30am – Vigil 3
3.30am – pack up and depart

Trigger objects

Trigger objects were placed in the cafeteria, the wardrobe, at the top of the stairs, the auditorium, and the attic space. The only movement over the course of the night was in the items at the top of the stairs, where a pair of keys had moved, but the four coins on the paper had not moved.

Personal Reports

Amanda Horley

Arriving quite early on one of the hottest days of the year so far, we were made very welcome by our hosts who had done a lot of historical research on the building themselves and had put together a folder containing a lot of information and many of the names related to this old school which also served as a meeting house for The Beneficial Society. This meant that at the end of the evening we would have the chance to verify any names or other information we came up with. A rare opportunity for us.

On the walkround I was particularly drawn to the top of the stairs by the toilets. This area felt strange to me and not very welcoming. We then split into our teams and I was in a team with Sarah, Marie and Steve, new members Wendy and Brian, and our guest Tom from Groundlings.

Our first vigil was on the ground floor and we started in the café area, which would have been part of the old school. After having sat at a table for a while I felt that someone had moved down the room towards the front of the building. This passage between the tables felt as if it would have a lot of movement in it so I went and sat on the floor there to see if it would help with picking anything up. I very quickly felt that there was a man stood behind me who was annoyed that I was blocking the route down the room. Although I couldn’t get any sense of age for him, I felt that he was from the first half of the 1800’s and was wearing a frock-coat. Sarah was picking up on a man too, and got the name Edward. Although I couldn’t get a first name, I did get the name Johnson very clearly so wrote it down but didn’t tell the others what I had written. I then had a sentence pop into my head, “I know Rowland Standish too”. This un-nerved me as it related to another place we have investigated several times that is only 20 miles from Portsmouth. I didn’t tell the others about this immediately, and when we decided to try a glass divination I opted to sit out, as I didn’t want to influence any outcome. I was stood across the table from where Sarah was sat and felt that this man was stood next to her and was aware that she too knew Rowland. I then told the others what he had said to me about Rowland. The glass did move a little, but with no definite results when questions were asked. Marie however confirmed that she was getting the name Johnson, so I showed the rest of the team what I had written earlier.

We then moved into the Wardrobe area. I was drawn to the far end of the room but as I got closer to it I felt more and more un-nerved and really didn’t want to walk around a corner that I was told led to a small area with a sink in it. Although I felt a little better when one or two of the others joined me, I never did go round that corner. It felt like at any moment someone was going to jump out in front of us and go BOO, and they wouldn’t be doing it as a joke, but deliberately, to scare us.

We finished off the vigil in what will be the new kitchen area, but this was quiet for me.

After a break we did a whole group Franks Box experiment in the café. For me, this was inconclusive, although I was aware of Edward’s presence stood behind the group, watching what was going in.

During the next break I went up to the toilets with Belinda, and when we started to come back downstairs I was convinced that someone was immediately behind me following closely. We came down very quickly, but whoever it was only followed us down as far as the bend in the stairs.

Our final vigil was upstairs, again the top of the stairs didn’t feel right, and settled into the green room for the first part of our vigil. This was quiet for me, although the room felt very light and happy. We then moved into the auditorium and I sat on the stage with Tom. On three occasions I heard a sort of shuffling from behind the scenery that was upstage right, but there wasn’t anyone there. Sarah tried rolling a cricket ball across the floor and asking for it to be rolled back. Whilst I was watching the ball I saw a shadow walk across the doorway to the stairs, moving from right to left (immediately behind the ball from where I was sitting) and almost immediately Sarah turned to the door and then stood up and walked towards it. She confirmed that she had heard someone coming up the stairs, and Tom said that he had been watching the doorway and had seen a shadow go across from right to left – as they would have done if they had come up to the stairs and gone into the green room. We checked, but there was no-one out on the landing, or in the green room. I went and stood out on the landing and it felt like I was having trouble breathing. At one point there was a noise that came from one of the toilets, but there was no-one in there.

We then moved into the dressing room area. I felt that there was a female presence in this area. Quite a forceful woman. I also got the name Tabitha, but nothing further.

Unfortunately, all too soon our night came to an end. Before leaving we went through the records and found, in a group of students at the school in the 1920’s, two boys surnamed Johnston and two called Edward. These would have been of the right age group to have been adults during Rowland Standish’s time in Hampshire, so who knows, maybe there was a connection there. During the discussion Belinda also confirmed that she had had trouble with her breathing at the top of the stairs as well.

All in all this was a fascinating building and I feel that it has a lot more to offer. I would love to get the chance to go back. Big thanks go to Groundlings for letting us do the investigation, and to Tom and the other two guests for joining us for the night and showing being so interested in what we did, and for showing so much enthusiasm on what was a very hot and long night.

Maria Street

Groundlings is situated in a leafy suburb of the North End of Portsmouth. Pulling into the car park, you can actually see foundations of previous buildings in the grounds. I drove down with Amanda and we were met outside by our hosts and the other team members. It was whilst standing outside that I got the name of Parker.

After a tour of the building we set up our equipment and started our vigils. I was in Team 1 with Mark P, Belinda, Robin, Gilly and our guests Peter and Shane. We started in the Green Room which was situated just off the theatre on the upper floor. The ambient temperature of the room was 24°c. We sat around quietly then I started to call out. We had no response. I asked Robin to call out also but still we had no response. I did have the name of Polly in my head but this evoked nothing either. We moved on to the theatre where the temperature was also 24°c. I had the ditty ‘Bobby Shaftoe went to sea’ in my head and Belinda could smell an oily smell. The window was open so Mark and I stuck our noses out to see if we could smell oil outside but we are still not sure where it was coming from. I experienced a sudden headache and had the name of John in my head and I felt he would have been aged 32. We called out and heard a loud noise from the left of the stage. We called out again but could get no response this time. I had more names in my head. They were Frankie, Richard and Clarke.

We went for our break in the cafeteria where I had the name of Rose in my head. We then carried on for our second vigil which was a Franks Box experiment to be held in the cafeteria. However it was too random for me and I didn’t feel I heard anything conclusive this time. Our team stayed in the cafeteria for our next vigil where the temperature was a lovely 22°c. We called out several times but could elicit no response. I had yet more names in my head, which were, Sandra, Benson and Fisher.

We carried on into the Wardrobe. This room certainly had a very different feel to the rest of the building and almost immediately Belinda and I decided to sit amongst the sacks of materials in the small room leading off the Wardrobe. After a few minutes I heard ‘Alice’ in my head and as I voiced it something moved next to Belinda. We were startled but decided to stay where we were for a little while longer. Nothing more happened so we swapped places with a couple of others. I sat just outside the room at a desk. I had yet another name in my head. This time it was Sally. We called out but had no response so we decided to make our way down to the far end of the Wardrobe. There was definitely an uncomfortable feel down this end and I had the name of Michael here. After calling out and getting no response we decided to rejoin the others. Belinda was stood in front of me and there was no room to pass her so I waited for her to move. After a short time I heard her down the other end of the room. When I looked to where I had seen her just a second before there was nobody there. Belinda had moved on several seconds before but I would have sworn she was still stood next to me. The rest of the evening was quiet although I got several more names in my head. They were: Helen, Thomas, Jack, Marshall and Betty (short for Elizabeth)? All in all this was a quiet evening for me, but what a charming place! I would love a return visit and would like to thank our hosts for their wonderful hospitality.

Sarah Pettet

Team – Amanda, Wendy, Brian, Marie, Steve, Guest Tommy and myself

Vigil 1
Ground floor, Old School Room (cafeteria)
Average temperature is 22 deg. EMF readings on telephone and team’s equipment.

We got comfortable, took some photos and commenced calling out. We got no definite responses. I felt I needed to get up and started pacing in front of the fire places. Amanda became aware of a presence behind her and I got the name Edward, repeated several times. We couldn’t get much more so we tried a glass divination – Amanda sat this out. We got small movements on the glass nothing significant, but one by one we began to feel coldness going round. It appeared to settle between myself and Steve, both of us began to feel nauseous and headachy. I began to feel a heaviness of a presence on my back; Amanda felt this was the same presence she felt behind her earlier.

Ground floor, Wardrobe.
Average temperature is 21 deg. EMF reading is picked up fleeting on a white dress in a box to one side – we can find no reason for this.

We call out in here – no response. We take some photos. Half the group go down one end of the wardrobe and the others to the other end. Tommy feels very uneasy in here. I get called down to the front end of the wardrobe and immediately begin to feel nauseous again and light headed. I had been in here earlier in the evening and in the back end of the wardrobe I had felt breathless and uncomfortable, I didn’t like it there at all. We did some more calling out but got no responses.

Ground floor, Kitchen.
Average temperature 20 deg. EMF reading picked up on electric meter.

I moved out of the room as I could not stand the smell in there for very long. The others stuck it out and called out, but no responses. We moved back to the School room and despite further attempts were unable to get any contact.

Vigil 2
Franks Box experiment, whole group in the school room.

We got varying responses to our questions. We had introduced ourselves, and on occasion, when we were not paying attention perhaps, we would here some of our names being called out, specifically Steve and Sarah. Both Steve and I tried just asking questions but we got varying responses again. Names given were David (Dave), Richard, Polly, Simon as well as Steve and my name.

Vigil 3
Upper floor, Green room.
Average temperature, 24 deg. No EMF reading

We all sat round the room – Tommy sat in the doorway of the technical room. We called out and took photos. Nobody had any sense of anything in this room. We all felt fairly comfortable. So we decided to move to the next room.

Upper floor, Theatre.
Average temperature 24 deg, despite the open window! No EMF response.

We took photos, settled down and commenced calling out. We tried an experiment of rolling a ball across the floor to see if we could get any interaction. I was sat with my back to the doors leading to the toilets and the hall. Whilst calling out I heard footsteps on the stairs in the hall. I thought this was one of the other team’s members coming up to use the toilet. When no one appeared I went out in the hall but nobody was there. When I came back in the team members facing the door all said they had seen something walk past the door before I had gone out there. We decided to all go out in the hall and although we found a cold spot that couldn’t be explained away we got no actual responses or saw or heard anything further. (The average temp in the hall was 22 deg).

Upper floor, dressing room.
Average temperature 24 deg. No EMF reading.

Tommy feels uncomfortable in here and senses sadness. Amanda senses a female presence a kind of strict austere presence, at odds with what Tommy was sensing. We decided to see what names we got in here. I had Rachel, Amanda had Tabitha, Marie had Jess or Jessica, and Tommy had the surname Cartwright. We called out and we had a couple of taps in the vicinity of the small cupboard outside of the dressing room but could not get much else.

Summary – The building Groundlings is sited in is fascinating and very interesting, and it is good to see owners who want to restore the building sympathetically to its original status despite using it for a different purpose. It has an interesting history too. We had access to some of the findings about the building after the investigation and some of the names we had come across during the night could be found in there, though sadly we could not verify what the reason for those names coming forward were there for. Incidentally during one of our breaks a team member sat near the door leading to the stairs heard someone coming down but upon investigation found no one on the stairs. I think there is more to the building than we found and think it worthy of further investigation.

Mark Pettet

I was a little unsure about this location as when looking for directions on Google earth the building looked to be a bit run down, but when I arrived I was very surprised to see the change. We were welcomed by the owner and her sons (Peter and Andrew) and Shane and Tommy (actor). When we had the walk round I had a sense of apprehension.

Team: Maria, Gilly, Belinda, Robin, myself and guests.
Vigil 1, Green room and Theatre.
The Green room was a quiet for all of us though I did have a slight headache when I was sat in the corner furthest from the door. We called out and took photos but we didn’t hear or experience anything. We then moved into the theatre. After we got settled in here, Belinda took the temperature, and others took pictures. After a little while Belinda could smell oil and then Maria and I could smell it too. Through some deduction we gathered it was coming from outside as there was a window open and I could smell something like burning oil. We set up a trigger object on the stage with one of the puppets as apparently it has been seen to have been moved on occasions.

Vigil 2, Group vigil in dining area.
We decided to use this area for the group vigil and to conduct a franks box experiment, which in my eyes was unsuccessful. Just a few words and some names.

Vigil 3, Costume wardrobe.
Here was an interesting area as it did seem do have a slight atmosphere, possibly because of all the costumes and having that feeling you’re just about to see one float past you. Shadows have been seen in here so I asked if there was a road next to the building on that side. There wasn’t and also the windows are boarded up so no light can come in. Apart from that I found it to be quite quiet but all in all it was an interesting place to investigate.

Marie Holder

Team: Sarah, Amanda, Marie, Wendy, Brian and Steve

Introduction
I arrived at the location at 10.30pm and met up with the rest of the team at 10.45 we met our host and was given a tour of the building. I was trying to sense whether this location had always been a theatre but I was drawing a blank but I later found out that it used to be a school.
There were certain areas I did not like the feel of and I looked forward to doing vigils in these areas later.

Vigil 1- Downstairs
Cafe
I was given the camcorder on this vigil and I got several light anomalies. I sensed nothing unusual. We tried a glass divination and it moved slightly. I got the name Damian Johnson which I kept to myself. Amanda said she had a name but wrote it on a piece of paper. When we finished the glass divination she asked if anybody had got a name, I said I got Damian Johnson and she showed me the piece of paper with the name Edward Johnson.

Wardrobe department
There was quite a bit of a draught down the one end of this area which made it quite cold. We went into the end room, which is the area Sarah said she didn’t like but I felt nothing.

Kitchen
Nothing unusual felt in this area, even though on the walk round, I did not like this area in general.

Vigil 2 – Group vigil
We all joined together for this vigil in the lobby and tried the franks box. We took it in turns to ask questions and we got a few answers back, one of them being that their name was Dave.

Vigil 3 – Upstairs
Green Room
Nothing unusual sensed but I thought I saw someone walk past the window.

Auditorium
Nothing unusual sensed but Amanda mentioned that she kept expecting someone to walk through the door that leads to the stairwell which is the same place I thought I saw someone walk past the window. I picked up on the name Jess/Jessica on the stairwell.

Dressing rooms
Nothing unusual sensed. I heard a tap when standing in the doorway to the far end dressing room.

Conclusion
There were some very interesting areas in this location and the building itself had lots of character. My favourite area was the stairwell as I definitely felt a presence there which I thought may be a female called Jess or Jessica, but it felt quite friendly and not in the least bit frightening.