Minsden Chapel / Hitchwood Investigation Blog

On Friday the 27^{th of} June 2025 Luton Paranormal Society made the relatively short trip to the new and not previously investigated location of Hitch Wood which is situated about eleven miles to the east of Luton and nestled the other side of the picturesque Hertfordshire village of Whitwell and St Pauls Walden. Not a great deal is known about Hitch Wood, and you will find no reference to it any ghost books or indeed it being mentioned as being a known paranormal location on the internet.

Luton Paranormal Society has prided itself for many years as being a society that is prepared to investigate locations that have no known haunting or that other Paranormal groups have unlikely investigated before and this seemed like an excellent location for an investigation.

Upon arrival at approximately 21:00, the team decided to firstly visit nearby Minsden Chapel, which unlike previous visits, has now been restored and gated off however Ben took the advantage of making a live video for social media purposes. Numerous group members also took photos etc before heading back to the meeting point, and then into Hitch Wood.

Minsden Chapel

Minsden Chapel is an isolated ruined chapel in the fields above the hamlet of Chapelfoot, near Preston, Hertfordshire. Today it is a roofless shell, partly surrounded by a small wood, and accessible only by footpath. It is a Scheduled Monument and is Grade II Listed.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minsden_Chapel

Minsden chapel was named after St Nicholas – the protector of children and the poor. Its mother church was St Mary’s at Hitchin.

The chapel of ease served the farming communities of Minsden, Langley, Preston and even farther afield – Robert of Walsworth rode to services in the middle of the fifteenth century.

As the chapel stood near St Albans (High)Way, it was also a sanctuary for travellers and pilgrims en route to St Alban’s Abbey. During the Reformation (from 1538) worship at Minsden chapel declined. The congregation was small and couldn’t afford a minister. As the local people were too independent to travel to St Mary’s, every few months a clergyman rode to Minsden to conduct baptism, marriage and burial services. The chapel continued to drift apart from its mother and became increasingly neglected. In 1650, a report noted ‘that no dues had been paid to the Vicar of Hitchin for many years (by Minsden); that it had been destitute of a preaching minister for divers years past; that the chapel had fallen into great decay”. Then, incredibly, it added that “it was fit to be made a parish church”.

Source: https://prestonherts.co.uk/minsdenchapel.htm (Also provides a detailed report ‘The ‘Ghost’ of Minsden Chapel’ and further useful information) Although the team attended Minsden Chapel, no investigation took place as the church is now fenced off and inaccessible to the public.

Hitch Wood

At Hitchwood, about a mile south-east of Preston, two camps (‘North ‘ and ‘South’) were established to train soldiers for fighting overseas and the D-Day landings. A local builder in Hitchin built huts in there, which housed some of the men. The remains of the brick ovens can still be seen.

Frank Thomas has recorded his experiences at a Hitchwood Camp: ‘About the middle of August 1942 a number of us younger soldiers were posted to 39th L.A.A. Regt which was in camp at Hitchwood, a wood about 3 miles from Hitchin, Herts. The regiment was preparing to go overseas, but where no one knew. When I joined the 39th Light A/A (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment….. I was allocated to 111th Battery D Troop. I arrived at Hitchwood in time for 6 weeks of infantry training before more serious A/A training for overseas. The infantry training stood us in good stead when in August 1944 we were ordered to leave our Bofors guns behind us and go into the front line as an infantry regiment.

At the time I joined, intensive training was going on, not just with anti-aircraft guns, but also infantry training in case we had to resort to this. There was a large common opposite our camp where this training was carried out. Not only was there the usual assault course, and training in tactics, but also at times we would form a line in a clear part of the common and be ordered to proceed straight ahead. Whatever obstacle lay on our path we must not deviate from a straight line. Our motto was “Get through it”. I have been thankful for that tough course many times in my life when things had been difficult. What did St Paul say? “I have fought the good fight; I have kept the faith” Yes he went straight ahead. Alas I have often failed, and yet often in difficult times I am thankful for Hitchwood.’

Source: https://prestonherts.co.uk/wwtwo.htm#:~:text=At%20Hitchwood%2C%20about%20a%20mile,this%20training%20was%20carried%20out.

Investigation Begins

The team base themselves around, being the remains of what may have been part of the WW2 barracks. The team all remained at the one location throughout the duration of the investigation. Tisha says the man she senses was tall, and although in the army was more of security and more of a camp watchman. She got the name Bill. Tisha states the man did not die in the war but died later with lung problems, possibly lung cancer and in the 1970’s and was around 64 years of age. He just wants to watch us. Jane states that her father-in-law was called Bill and died of lung cancer in his 60’s. he was a military man who was stationed in this area during the Second World War as a watchman and enjoyed photography.

Ben feels that we are being watched. Jane feels she can hear footsteps behind her.Tisha picks up an energy that is not a good energy and believes it is not a little girl. A K2 activation was encountered when a male voice in ghost tube app said “I don’t like it” and “where is the little girl?” followed shortly after by two plasma ball activations. At the same time a voice said “reasonable” twice followed by a female voice saying the word “mind” followed by a further K2 activation, the spirit talker app said “they see the mist” at this moment there was notably a mist present in the trees surrounding us. The spirit talker the came up with “happy to talk” “I’m in my 20’s” and the ghost tube app came up with a male voice saying “on the shelf” “do you need it?” and a female voice saying “he can’t stay”

Ben and Robins plasma balls are acting strange as if the electricity is hitting a specific part of the ball. Lilly thought she saw something in the tree but thought she was being overly paranoid. Both plasma balls appear to be acting strangely again.

Jim felt his chair move. Tisha picks up on a spirit, Mary, as a gentle woman and a witch, but not a bad person. She had no link to the woods but linked to a member of the team. Tisha thinks she is linked to Robin and is protecting him. Tisha believes Mary came from outside Norwich and was there to protect Robin as she felt the energy wasn’t good. Tisha was sensing a huge amount of spirit activity around the team. Coming from different times, some linked to the area others to team members.

The spirit talker said “My name is Helen” and it was established that some of the spirits were indeed linked to the people present, with others linked to the area. It is noticed by the team that the wooded area in the direction of Hitchwood Road has got significantly darker, pitch black. Jim notices a drop in temperature. The trees that could have been seen previously across the road can no longer be seen.

The pitch blackness is seen to lift. It was observed that nothing had happened that would have meant that the eyes had to readjust to the darkness.  Jim, Lorraine and Jane can hear wood chopping from the woods on the opposite side of Hitchwood Road.

Tish made contact with a pretty woman in her 30’s who sadly died of breast cancer around 10–15 years ago. Her mother is named Sarah and is still alive as is her sister. She loved this area as a child.  Tish also made contact with a man with a raspy voice aged in his very early 70’s who had a tracheotomy and died around 20 years ago from heart issues. He is in uniform possibly in the RAF. 

Contact was then made by Tish to a very old lady named Margaret who died peacefully in old age however Margaret seemed unsure as to how she died, hinting at something like dementia. Margaret was a glorious woman in her day and had anxiety and a lot of nervous energy. She also worked as a teacher. 

It was noticed that once again the pitch blackness was coming down again over the team. At the same time as Ben announces we will do another 10 minutes silent visual; Jim and Lorraine hear a rustling. Robin said it was him moving but both Jim and Lorraine hear it from Richard’s direction. Jim was watching Richard, and he was not moving. This is picked up on Jims Audio device that he had with him.

The name Sarah came through that was possibly her mother who is still alive and she has a sister. Tisha felt that this female came to the woods as a child with her family. She liked people coming to the woods as they were happy.  It’s noticed that once again it has got very dark around the team. Jane can barely see Richard sitting approximately 10 meters away from her.

Tisha picks up on another person coming through. Matthew. He may have taken his own life. Was depressed. He may have overdosed. He liked bike riding add his younger life may have been hectic. He left behind a girlfriend and son and his mother died after him. He is unhappy about the fact he left his son behind, but the son is doing alright now. Drug abuse with the girlfriend is picked up on and h may have liked alcohol as well. Possibly from the Stevenage area, died in the 1980’s/1990’s. Matthew was in his 20’s, 24.

Jim and Robin both feel that there is someone watching them from behind all the time. Tisha gets the spirit of a man with Parkinson’s and false teeth. As she is talking, a Rem Pod activates. Spirit box “2000’s” Tisha believed he died 2003/2004. Ill in November and died in the January. Wore thick glasses and had dark hair. Tall and slim. Dry sense of humour. Not connected to the area. Had a passion for gardening. RemPod activates again.

Robin thought that he could see shadows and a red light in the ruins. Jim and Jane see flashing lights dodging around behind Robin. The spirit box came up with “why would I?” Followed at 00:15 by “stop mucking about” around this time the REMPOD activated and Tish made contact with a man with Parkinson’s who was quite tall and slim with a very dry sense of humour. At this point the phrase “2000’s” came out in the spirit box and Tish managed to find that he had passed around 2003/2004 sometime between Nov-Feb. It was discovered that the above man has a passion for gardening & likes the place, especially as the seasons change. 

For a full report please visit our website

Hitch Wood