Southern Paranormal - Investigations
The Kings Theatre Investigation
Friday 28th August 2009
Attending Investigators – Julie Harwood, Maria Street, Mark Wright, Amanda Horley, Robert Butler, Marie Holder, Gill O’Farrell, Mark Boulton, Kieran Gillingham, Jane Gillingham and Karen Reynolds Day.
Introduction
After our February 2009 visit, the team were eager to return to this wonderful theatre to see if we could capture some more unusual footage or if indeed the elusive man in the stalls would return for another appearance. Our sincere thanks to the theatre for allowing us another visit.
History
Courtesy of The Kings Theatre
This dignified and beautiful theatre - with its Italian Renaissance style of decor - is one of the best examples of the elegant Edwardian playhouses to be found in the British Isles and one of the few remaining traditional hemp houses. It is the result of the vision and business acumen of John Walter Boughton and the architectural prowess of Frank Matcham, one of the greatest of theatre architects. Although Frank Matcham is much respected and his work is becoming well documented, J W Boughton remains largely unknown outside Portsmouth.
In the mid-1850s, the theatre manager Henry Rutley arrived in Portsmouth and took over the Landport Hall. His previous experience in both theatre and circus persuaded him that a theatre could not only be made profitable but would also be a social asset to the town. With only a licence for a limited period he had the faith to re-open the Landport Hall as the New Theatre Royal in 1856. J W Boughton became his assistant and, after the death of both Henry Rutley and his successor J C Hughes, Boughton took over the reins of the Portsmouth Theatre Company in 1882. One of Boughton's first decisions was to undertake a major rebuild of his theatre. To do so he engaged the most famous theatre architect of the day, C A Phipps, who had earlier built the Gaiety, the Theatre Royal and the Haymarket in London, as well as undertaking commissions for the Theatre Royal in Bath, Brighton and Nottingham. This was the Boughton style - to go for the best and to be commercially bold.
In 1882 the Prince's Theatre in Lake Road was destroyed by fire and two years later Boughton purchased the land adjoining the site, so that it had a greater potential when he could afford to rebuild. This he did in 1891, employing the eminent theatre architect Frank Matcham to undertake the work. He employed the same architect yet again to rebuild the New Theatre Royal in 1900, and he took him into his confidence early in the century when he began to discuss the building of a theatre in Southsea. So confident was he that Boughton paid for the initial design out of his own pocket, only disclosing his action to his company in June 1906. He was reimbursed for every penny and his foresight was approved, so that this theatre - the Kings - became the third theatre owned by the Portsmouth Theatre Company.
Opening night, 30th September 1907, was a most glittering occasion. H B Irving, son of the great Sir Henry, played three of his father's successes in the first week, The Lyons Mail, The Bells and Charles 1 (which was the first show to be shown). On the opening night, as the curtain rose, the Portsmouth Orpheus Society played the National Anthem - in which the audience joined most heartily. J W Boughton died in 1914 but his Company continued to operate the Kings Theatre until 1964 when Commander Reggie & Mrs Joan Cooper purchased it. In 1990 Hampshire County Council bought the Theatre, but Mrs Cooper stayed and was joined by Mr 1 S Barnes as Co-lessees.
J W Boughton's daughter married Julian Bainbridge, who became for many years the manager of the Kings. They had a daughter, the actress Hazel Bainbridge, who was a shareholder in the Portsmouth Theatre Company. Hazel Bainbridge is the mother of two actresses (Kate O'Mara and Belinda Carroll), both of whom have played at the Kings along with practically all the great names of the English stage, and in recent years the Theatre has had many 'prior to London' productions. Actress Dillie Keane, leading lady of "Fascinating Aida" is a local Southsea doctor's Daughter and an usher in her youth at the theatre. Dillie Keane and Kate O'Mara are proud to be patrons of the theatre.
In 2001, after a successful campaign by AKTER (Action for Kings Theatre Restoration) to keep the theatre open, it was bought by Portsmouth City Council and leased to the Kings Theatre Trust Ltd who took responsibility for the building's restoration and repair. This trust leased the building in turn to an operating company, Kings Theatre Southsea Ltd, who operated and maintained the building on a day to day basis and put on the programme of shows. After a seemingly successful 18 months the operating company went bankrupt, and the Kings Theatre Trust had to take over the operation of the theatre to prevent it from total closure. This Trust has been running the theatre for over a year, and many successful shows have been held, with many more to come.
Vigil Teams
Team 1
Julie – Vigil Team Leader
Maria
Mark W
Kieran
Karen
Jane
Team 2
Marie –Vigil Team Leader
Amanda
Mark B
Gill
Rob
Vigil Areas
The “Theatre” which includes - Dress Circle & boxes, The Gods "Upper Gallery" & Stalls - in particular rows R, S & T
The “Surrounding” which includes - Under the Stage, On the stage, foyer, corridors, the hexagonal room, dressing rooms if available and other areas not classed as the main auditorium.
Itinerary
8.45pm Team meet outside rear entrance to theatre
9.00pm Meet guide, enter theatre & have tour
9.45pm Vigil 1
Team 1 – The Theatre
Team 2 – The Surrounding
10.45pm Break
11.00pm Vigil 2
Team 1 – The Surrounding
Team 2 – The Theatre
12.00am Break
12.15am Vigil 3
Team 1 – The Theatre
Team 2 – The Surrounding
1.15am Break
1.30am Vigil 4
Team 1 – The Surrounding
Team 2 – The Theatre
2.30am Pack up
3.00am Depart
TEAM 1
Julie Harwood
A return visit to what appears to be a “possibly” active location is always exciting but as I stressed to the team, to avoid disappointment you have to approach it with a open mind with few if any expectations. This was never more the case than with the Kings Theatre in Southsea.
I was in a team with Mark, Maria, Kieran, Karen & Jane and we started our evening with a vigil in the auditorium. Maria could feel quite severe temperature drops near where she was sitting on the front row. She was near a door however when we took temperature readings the side of her that was the coldest was actually the highest temperature. We measured the temperature around the doors anyway and this confirmed there was a 1-degree temperature difference but this did not fully explain the fact that Maria’s right arm was cold yet the area around her right arm was actually warmer than the rest of the room. We all tried calling out and we did not get much response apart from a loud knock on the front of the stage. We tried to get this to be repeated however unfortunately we did not have any luck. The one thing that seemed to be prevalent in this area was the corner of the eye syndrome that all of us seemed to be getting.
Our next vigil was in the corridors behind the auditorium. This area creeped me out last time we were there however this time I felt quite relaxed and very very warm which was odd as all of my team mates felt cold in this area. I was even happy to give up my cardigan to Maria who was near to shivering, sat next to me. We called out and generally tried to take in the atmosphere of this area. Kieran put his torch on the floor and Maria called out to affect some of the equipment we had. The torch came on, stayed on for a couple of seconds and then dimmed and went out. We wondered if there was a loose connection in the torch or some sort of fault however we had it on for the rest of the vigil and nothing happened. The jury is still out on this however it was very interesting.
Maria Kieran and I sat on one sofa and Jane, Karen and Mark sat on the other further down the corridor. It was clear that the members on the other sofa felt quite nervous and this probably was not helped when I said I could see a dark shape on the wall behind where Mark was sat. At first I thought it was his shadow but then I realised that I could see his shadow in front of the dark mass. I pointed it out to the group and then went and swapped seats with Mark so I could sit in front of it. This area had a certain atmosphere and definitely a different feeling to where I had been sat. I now felt a little chilly and felt like I had to keep my wits about me. We called out again and there was a rattling noise coming from a door to the bar. We tried the door and it was locked but it was like someone was trying to get out. Kieran walked over to look through the door and as he did this his camcorder on the tripod turned itself off. We presumed it was the tape that had run out but when Kieran came back he pointed out to us that the camcorder was in fact turned off by the switch on the actual camcorder itself. That was very odd.
Our 3rd vigil was back in the auditorium and we were keen to replicate the conditions when we saw the man back in February so we all went to the places we had been sitting. For the first half of the vigil things were very quiet which was a shame but I think we had pre-empted that and so we carried on calling out. Maria and I were sat in the booth and as we looked up to the seating in “the gods” we could see a black shape moving. We thought it was a member of the other team but were a little surprised when we checked with Marie and she said they were not up there. It was like someone was sat there eating popcorn or stroking their face as both Maria and I could both see the movement of someone putting a hand to face or something like that. I tried to take a picture but nothing came out as I was just too far away. While we were observing the shape we were aware that Karen and Jane in the other booth were talking and pointing but we did not know at what. We were amazed to hear that they could see the same thing as us but in a different place in the theatre (on the level below the gods seating).
Mark and Kieran went to check this out for all of us. They confirmed on each level that there was nothing out of the ordinary. I suspect what we were actually seeing was some sort of light reflection from somewhere, we just could not figure out where.
Our last vigil was in the tower of the theatre. We made our way up the back staircase and seemed to get lost at each turn. I think I even saw parts of the theatre I had never seen before! On a couple of occasions, one in particular Kieran and I were at the back of the group and we heard horrible cackling laughing right behind us. It made us both swing round and look but there was nothing there so we hurried to catch up with the rest of the group. These corridors seemed to make the team feel very nervous. When we eventually reached the room we settled down and tried calling out. I heard a few noises from behind me (I had my back to the door) but they did not seem out of the ordinary and could just be the floor settling as we had not long been in there. Unfortunately despite our efforts to coax something forward it remained a very quiet vigil. In fact what seemed to worry us more was having to go back out into the corridor and stairs area.
I really enjoyed this return visit to the theatre. It was a quiet night for our team but that does not dictate that I enjoy it any the less. It was interesting returning to somewhere that had been the topic of many Southern Paranormal UK discussions and I would never be able to resist going back again. Thank you to our host Mark and also to David and Claire at the Kings Theatre for making our visit possible.
Maria Street
Well I certainly didn’t need asking twice to attend this investigation. I couldn’t attend the previous one and I missed all the excitement so I didn’t hesitate.
I drove down with Julie, Mark W and Rob. We arrived in plenty of time and met our host at the door. Soon afterwards, the others started to arrive and we began to set up. After a quick drink our host conducted a tour of the theatre. Julie and I had been there before however so we stayed behind to set up the trigger objects. We placed a skull and a gun on the stage and a hard hat in the wings. Our host had mentioned that the some strange temperature readings had been recorded in the orchestra pit so Julie and I couldn’t resist checking it out. The first thing we noticed was an exit door just to the right of the pit that was producing a draught. I stepped down into the pit and noticed the door which led to under the stage. This was situated in the middle and was also producing a cold draught. We concluded that the two together would create cold spots over to the right and in the middle. This, incidentally, was exactly where the strange temperature readings were recorded. We took a note of the ambient temperature in case it actually did fall dramatically throughout the evening.
As we were making our way back, we had to cross the stage. I had walked a couple of steps when I noticed movement at the far end. Julie and I stood still for a while and could hear a strange tapping/rumbling sound coming from that direction. We called out and the noise sounded again so we went to investigate. It felt quite uncomfortable in this area but we found the noise to be from natural causes. There was a big metal shutter at the end and it was rattling in the wind. Just to be sure, I put my hand on it and I could feel it moving every time the noise was heard.
We made our way back and got ready for our first vigil. I was in team 1 with Julie, Mark W, Kieran, Jane and Karen. We started in the auditorium and I sat in the front row by the orchestra pit. We sat quietly for a while then called out. I asked if we could hear them ‘tread the boards’ and we were treated to the sound of footsteps coming from the stage. We quickly checked with the other team to see where they were and if they were still. They responded that they were not moving at all. I tried again but could not get that response any more. We did hear taps however, coming from the orchestra pit and I started to feel quite cold. It has to be noted though, that I was sat on the right hand side where the exit door was and the drop in temperature was not enough to rule out natural causes. Julie and Mark started to see movement to the left of the orchestra pit and placed some items there for them to be moved. All remained still however. Somebody, and I can’t remember who, also thought they saw somebody through the doors to the back of the auditorium. This was interesting because this is where I had seen somebody on my previous visit. Also, the other team were all under the stage.
It was soon time for a break and our next vigil was in the corridor leading to the circle. We all sat along the seats and called out. Kieran’s torch came on, seemingly in answer to a question, so we set it on the floor and asked for it to come on. A few seconds later, it did. This happened a couple of times more, and then seemed to stop. Was this paranormal or a faulty connection? Julie turned it upside down to check for loose connections but it stayed off, so, at the moment we are none the wiser. We settled back down and called out again. Julie was feeling increasingly uncomfortable where she was and thought she could see a black mass just behind her. Jane could see it too but I couldn’t. Mark W could also see it and took a picture. It did show something strange but once again, without further investigation, we are not sure if it was down to natural causes.
Our last vigil was in the boxes. Julie and I sat opposite Jane, Kieran and Karen, whilst Mark W stood in the auditorium. We called out and waited for a response. All seemed to be quiet although I noticed movement in the ‘Gods’ right at the front. I kept quiet for a while in case it had been a trick of the light. After seeing it a few more times however I felt compelled to mention it. Julie immediately said she was seeing the same thing and pinpointed the exact same location. After that we both mentioned when we were seeing it and it was interesting that we were seeing it at the exact same time. It looked just like somebody was eating popcorn. We could also see movement at the entrance to the ‘Gods’. Jane and Mark could also see movement but in the upper circle. They were also seeing it in the same place. Mark and Kieran decided to investigate and they started in the ‘Gods’ When Mark moved to where Julie and I could see the movement, he looked out of place, like he was too big to be there. He could see nothing that would cause what Julie and I were seeing. They made their way to the upper circle to investigate what Jane could see, but again there was nothing to cause this.
For our last vigil we paid a short visit to the ‘Gods’ ourselves and then moved along to the room with the decorative windows and table and chairs. It was a little like a conference room. It was very quiet in here however and our night was soon at an end. I would like to thank our host (I’m sorry, your name escapes me) for a very enjoyable and interesting evening. It’s always a pleasure to spend a night in opulent surroundings!
Mark Wright
Having witnessed what we did the last time we went to the King’s, a return visit was a must. Of course, I think we all had high hopes that we would see “the man” again, but I went in with the mindset that if we can gather any evidence to solidify what we had seen the last time that would be a result in itself.
Julie had replicated the teams and vigil areas as close to the last visit as possible, and during the set-up I concentrated 2 DVR cameras on the area where we saw the man appear last time. One camera was covering down the hallway towards the door where he must have walked through (despite the fact nobody saw him walk through the corridor last time) and one camera was covering the entire area where we saw him walk through the door and sit down. I also set up a temperature recorder and an airtight divination jar in the camera’s view.
Our first vigil saw us in the auditorium, almost immediately after we started to call out right next to where I was standing there were a series of loud shard knocks on the stage, this wasn’t the normal “settling” noise we all know this was a very definite and obvious sound.
Later on in the vigil Marie asked anybody who is with us to make his or her presence known. As soon as she did this I took a picture with my Nightshot camera. Up to this point I had been taking various shots, the picture I took after Marie called out has an area I had photographed several times before that night, yet I got 2 very different images. We spent awhile testing to see if we could replicate this shot but we could not. From what we could tell the shot didn’t pick up another camera’s flash, we tried each of the different cameras and when the Nightshot camera does pick up another flash it looks nothing like what we got.
Our next Vigil was in the corridor behind the auditorium. Kieran had placed a flashlight on the floor that we used to try to communicate and, sure enough after asking for the flashlight to be turned on, it did. We asked it to be turned off, and sure enough it went off. I was able to replicate the on/off myself but I had to press on the torch to do it, it wouldn’t turn on/off randomly like it had; it literally had to be touched.
I remember last time I was here feeling very uncomfortable down this corridor, that feeling was still there this time. It feels really uneasy, I think this is due to the layout more than anything as you constantly think you can see shadows moving.
During the vigil when we were calling out we heard a very loud bang very close to us. At the time we couldn’t find a cause for it, but later on I found that a big heavy door we though was locked, wasn’t, we opened it and found an open window, so we cant rule out that something had been blown over or moved by the wind.
The next vigil saw us back in the auditorium, the exact time and place we had been last time when we saw our mysterious friend. All was fairly quiet during this vigil, but after reviewing the footage, at the exact same time we saw the figure last time we captured on video a strange object near the door he would have had to walk through. Below are the screen captures from that. Nothing else like this was caught the entire night.
Our final vigil saw us in the back of the auditorium. Whilst walking up the stairs I heard a laugh. I ignored it as I thought it was one of us, until it happened again and we all asked who made the noise. It almost sounded like a childish giggle. This time we were lucky enough to be allowed access to the tower room as last time I believe it was being refurbished. It felt quite nice in here. There was a lot of noise coming in from outside however so EVPs would be hard to pickup in here. We tried calling out but did not really get any kind of response.
All in all it was a very good night, although we didn’t have the same amount of activity as last time we did have some none the less and it’s always a pleasure to visit such an amazing building.
TEAM 2
Marie Holder
Introduction
It was great to be back here at the Kings Theatre, Southsea and I was hoping that we would experience as much as we had done the previous time.
I arrived at the location at 8.45pm and met up with some of the other team members we then made our way into the theatre.
Vigil 1 – The Surrounding
We started off on the stage but it was very quiet and nothing unusual happened apart from my camera going funny and taking shots that looked like camera shudder even though I was perfectly still when I took them. Rob also mentioned that his camera was acting strange.
We then went under the stage and I went to the same area as I did on the previous occasion and the same feeling of foreboding came over me and was quite unnerving. We then sat together as a group. We called out and heard footsteps, taps and what sounded like a whisper. I then went and sat in the dressing room on my own and heard a very loud bang right next to where I was sitting.
Vigil 2 – Auditorium
We then made our way straight from our previous vigil to our next, which was to be in the auditorium. I stood by the orchestra pit, which is an area I previously had not investigated, and although I did not hear or see anything I felt very cold in that area. I tried several places on this vigil in the stalls and dress circle but it was very quiet.
I then sat in one of the boxes on the right as you look at the stage and while I was sat there I felt a draught across my face and I kept wanting to turn round and look behind me as if someone was standing there.
Vigil 3 – The Surrounding
We decided to sit behind the auditorium, as this was the place I experienced the most on the previous investigation. Unfortunately, on this occasion it was very quiet and nothing unusual happened. We then moved to the back stairs for the rest of the vigil but nothing unusual happened in this area.
Vigil 4 – Auditorium
I decided to sit in one of the other boxes and while I was there I heard a shuffle behind me. I also heard a few knocks coming from behind the safety curtain, I radioed the other team to see if they were doing a vigil in this area and they weren’t.
Conclusion
This was a location I was really looking forward to coming back to because of what we experienced last time but unfortunately on this occasion it was very quiet in comparison. My favourite area this time was under the stage when I heard that loud bang right next to me in the dressing room on my own!
Amanda Horley
Parking for this location is always difficult so I was delighted to get a space not too far away, although having to walk past a number of pubs was not something I was looking forward to doing at 2am after the investigation finished.
Although I was unable to attend the investigation earlier in the year, I had attended a previous investigation here, and was looking forward to the evening and wondering what would be waiting for us. As it turned out, it was an incredibly quiet night for me. I didn’t pick up on any spirits during the evening, although there were one or two unusual things that did happen during our vigils.
My team started out on the stage and then moved to the area below the stage. Whilst under the stage, there was a loud bang from inside the dressing room down there, which we could not explain. Marie was sitting inside this room at the time and confirmed that nothing fell over or moved that could have caused the noise. Shortly afterwards there was a tap on what sounded like a pipe that seemed to come from the central area. Again we couldn’t explain it.
We then had vigils in the main auditorium, the promenade running behind the circle, the back stairs leading to the gods and a final vigil in the auditorium. None of these produced anything of note for me.
It is strange how two investigations in the same location can produce such different results, and after picking up so much on my first visit, I cannot explain why, this time round it was so quiet. This however, just makes me want to go back again to see what it will be like next time.
Thank you to the Kings Theatre for letting us return, and a big thanks to Gill and Mark for driving me back to my car so I didn’t have to walk back past the pubs.
Gillian O’Farrell
I was really looking forward to the investigation partly as it was relatively near for us and I hadn’t investigated a theatre before. I also knew that the previous investigation had been very interesting. We began with the tour around the building, which was magnificent. It was rather like stepping back into history to see the restored condition of the building. One could almost feel the people from a hundred years ago still enjoying the building. The walk-around convinced me that the evening would be interesting!
I was in a group with Rob, Mark, Amanda and Marie. Our first vigil started on the stage behind the show curtains. Initially, there seemed an eerie atmosphere and there were a few creaks and bangs. None of this seemed to develop into anything much though. It was quite a windy night, which produced a lot of play on the external stage door which explained most of the noise. Whilst standing centre stage, I did get the sense of being lifted into the air and had the sensation of a woman hanging. Nothing came through very clearly however.
Next, we moved downstairs into the under stage maintenance area. This too seemed quite atmospheric and spooky initially. There were a few knocks but nothing seemed to want to respond to our asking out. Marie went off into one of the rooms in the far end and heard some bangs but these were difficult to pin down.
Our second vigil took place in the stalls of the main theatre. We sat in various places, in the orchestra pit, boxes and other seats. We did calling out but elicited nothing of interest. At one point I was sitting on left hand side of the stalls and heard a noise as if someone was sitting down in the seats along the row to the right. I was quite excited that perhaps things were started to get going. Unfortunately, that was the lot!
The third vigil took place on the back corridor behind the auditorium. We sat on the two couches situated against the back wall. I started to feel quite anxious early on and was expecting someone to walk towards us from the right-hand side. The feeling passed shortly after and this area again proved very quiet. We moved around the building after this and got a bit lost before sitting ourselves on the stairs. Again, nothing much happened.
For the final vigil we all sat again in the main theatre seats, alternating between the boxes, circle and the stalls. Despite more calling out noting of note was experienced.
In summary, the evening started well but did not live up to its initial promise. It would be nice to investigate again though as the building itself is so lovely.
Mark Boulton
I had not been on the previous investigations that had been much talked about. So, I was looking forward to this very much. The Kings Theatre on the outside looks to be a very impressive building and it is always good to be able to go behind the scenes (literally) in places that normally the general public never get to see.
I was in Team 2 with Amanda, Marie, Gill and Rob. After the initial walk-throughs etc. we began the investigations. Again I had managed to borrow a Thermal imaging camera and used it extensively throughout the investigation.
Vigil 1 – The Stage area
We began on the stage behind the closed curtains; most of the lights had been turned off so the whole area was quite dark. Using the Thermal Imager (TI), I could obviously see very clearly the others in the group and used it to survey the area. Nothing out of the ordinary was detected; the only hot/cold traces detected came from electrical equipment, residual footprints, windows or reflections. After a while, with calling out with no discernable response we decided to leave the stage and go down to the storage area underneath.
The under stage area was extremely dark, with no light leaking in from anywhere. Again using the TI, I could readily survey the area. There were plenty of hot and cold spots but nothing that was not readily explainable.
Vigil 2 – Auditorium
Our second vigil was held in the main seating area of the theatre. We all pretty much split up and did our own thing. From the circle area I had a good view of the others in various places in the stalls. Also of interest was that I could detect the areas and seats that the previous group had used. Initially I thought I was seeing strange phenomena but it was the residual activity of the other group. Again here all was very quiet.
Vigil 3 – The remaining areas (corridors, stairways and entrance hall).
We began by sitting behind the auditorium and calling out, but to no avail as again all was quiet and still. We then attempted to get to the very top most seating area (the Gods?) however we could not find the way, so we held a vigil on a back stairway, but other than noises from passing traffic and pub goers all was quiet.
Vigil 4 – Auditorium
Our last vigil was again in the main seating area. This time I stayed by the stage area looking up at all the seating areas using the TI. Nothing unusual was seen, but I could detect the other group as they passed through a higher seating area.
Conclusion
After all the build up from previous investigation, this was a bit of a let down. However the place itself was so interesting that this was not a particular problem.