2nd September to 6th September 2009

This year the Society for Psychical Research’s (SPR) annual conference was being held on the Jubilee Campus of Nottingham University and once more two members of LPS (Bill and Steph) went along. The conference was taking place from 2-30pm on Friday 4th September until 1pm on the Sunday with papers being given by people like Archie Roy (who appeared in the original, British, series called Ghosthunters in 1996) and Richard Wiseman (who has appeared on just about everything). As Nottingham is a very haunted city we decided to travel up early and spend a couple of days exploring the area before the conference started.

The first place we visited was the City of Caves which exists beneath the Broadmarsh shopping centre. The first thing we discovered was that it was not obvious as to where the cave entrance was and the maps and signs in the city centre did not really help. Eventually we found it but it was in the most unlikely of places, one floor up in the Broadmarsh shopping centre. Of all the places you would have thought the entrance to an underground area would have been ten metres above the ground and tucked down a side alley in the shops was not one of them. We arrived just as a tour was about to start and were rushed through by the attendant so we could join it. Putting on our hard hats (many of the roofs are low so hard hats are required) we descended the stairs down to the caves. The tour, like many in Nottingham, was done by a couple of people in period clothing starting with one of the oldest uses of the caves from the 1600s and progressing forward in time to the 1940s. The first guide talked about the use of the caves as a tannery involving the uses of urine and fæces which is why the caves were used (as people above ground complained about the smell). For the second part of the tour we were led into a reproduction of an Anderson shelter with appropriate sound effects of an air-raid. After this we were left to ourselves to explore the remaining area of the caves.

One thing that did happen towards the end of our exploration of the caves happened in a large chamber near the exit. When Steph walked in there she suddenly felt as if her breathing was restricted, as if there was tightness in her chest. She said that it felt as if her throat was closing, like someone was pressing on it. These feelings lasted until we left the caves.

The caves themselves are said to be haunted by several ghosts. Several dark and indistinct shadows have been seen and people have reported that they heard the sound of explosions overhead. The caves were used as bomb shelters during World War II and explosion sound-effects are used during the tour but one assumes it was not these that were heard. In addition the figure of a woman dressed in Victorian clothes has been seen and who appears to be very upset.

Like the City of Caves the first part of the Galleries of Justice experience starts with a tour, again given by historically dressed guides. The first part of the tour took us to a wall where the names of various criminals were given along with the details of their crimes and their life histories. Each name had a number which corresponded with the number on our admission tickets. These were real people whose crimes varied from petty theft to murder and which would be used later as the first part of the tour involved a role playing game. This part of the tour took us into a courtroom where four people played the parts of judge, accused, defence witness and prosecution witness. Steph was the accused and Bill the witness for the defence but it seems his evidence was insufficient and Steph was found guilty and sentenced to be executed. The part Steph played was that of George Beck who was accused of taking part in the Reform Act riots and burning down Mr Lowes Mill at Beeston. George was found guilty and executed on 1st February 1832 on the steps of the building.

From the court room we made our way to the prison below the court (literally being sent down) as we were now playing the roles assigned to us according to our ticket number and we were all guilty. In the prison we met our warder who lectured us on how we would be treated and what it would cost us as we had to pay for our ‘room and board’. Bill would have been okay as he has three gold teeth, his wallet and glasses all of which could be traded for better treatment. The warder was very convincing as someone who really enjoyed his work.

From here we passed down to the cell area, and suddenly we all became women as the next part of the tour took us to the women’s prison to meet another convincing role player. Here we were told what we could expect by way of work in the laundry but not until we were stripped, head shaved to remove lice and our clothes fumigated (not really).

After the women’s prison we were left to explore the rest of the open areas including the exercise yard and a display of prison life over the centuries. Whilst we were alone in the exercise yard we had an interesting experience. We had been looking at names scratched into the brickwork (former prisoners) followed by a descriptive board after which Bill walked off one way to look at one of the names and Steph walked off in the opposite direction. When we were some way apart Steph stopped to take a photograph and had just focused the camera when she heard a man’s voice say what sounded like ‘that’s the’. The sound seemed to come from over her right shoulder but it was not Bill who by then was ten metres away to her right and had not said anything.

The Galleries of Justice are said to be haunted by numerous criminals who were executed there. Footsteps have been heard along with bangs and doors closing of their own volition. A shadowy figure was seen by one visitor and a black object floating in the air has been seen by a member of staff. Even our first tour guide said that he had had strange experiences.

After a quick tour of the grounds we headed for the museum in the 17th century ducal mansion, mainly to get out of the squally rain. As the weather cleared we went back outside to admire the views across Nottingham before returning to the museum to join the 3pm tour of the caves beneath the site. This took us down into Mortimer’s Hole which is the one of the few surviving mediæval parts of the mound as the castle was razed after the execution of Charles I.

Roger Mortimer had, along with Queen Isabella, wife of Edward II, been responsible for Edward’s murder. In 1330 the two were acting as Regents during Edward III’s minority when the young king entered the castle via a secret passageway and arrested them both. Mortimer was imprisoned beneath the castle before being taken to the Tower of London where he was later executed.

During our trip down through the mound we did not experience anything except for loads of orbs on our photographs due to all the dust in the tunnels.

The reported haunting of Nottingham castle naturally involves both Mortimer who has been heard pacing his cell and Isabella who has been heard screaming. The site is also said to be haunted by the ghost of a child and the spirit of the Countess of Nottingham who, it is said, only appears to people who will die within twelve months.

On the Friday morning before the conference started we decided to pay a visit to the haunted Wollaton Hall. We started off with a tour of the park looking for the swampy area where some children had a strange encounter. This we believe we found on the west side of the lake but the area was not accessible as it is a conservation area (a retreat for the park deer).

After touring the park (and a spot of lunch in the courtyard café) we went into the house and visited all of the exhibition rooms and the gallery. We did not sense anything within the house but Steph did feel that the building was atmospheric, especially the upper floor.

Within the park several children are reported to have encountered a group of friendly ‘gnomes’ who chased the children around the park in cars with two ‘gnomes’ per car. It is said that the cars moved without making a sound. The children described them as looking like Noddy but with white beards.

In the hall, room number 19 is said to be haunted by the ghost of Lady Middleton who spent the remainder of her life in the room after she was paralysed as the result of a fall.

On the Sunday afternoon, after the SPR conference had ended, we travelled the short distance up to Newstead Abbey, another haunted location.

We started with a tour of the house which is an absolutely excellent building with features dating back to the thirteenth century (particularly the West front of the Priory church). The path through the house is well-planned with a very good leaflet which explains everything you see. Parts of the house have been refurbished as they were in the poet George Gordon, the 6th Lord Byron’s, time and in that of the later owners Thomas Wildman and William Frederick Webb. The early part of the tour took us up to Bryon’s bedroom next to which is the dressing room that is said to be haunted. The only problem with the house is that there was so much to look at that you had little time to open yourself up to see if you could sense anything. The area which had the most effect was the chapel, even though you could only look into it from the door Steph felt as if she needed to go in, as if there was something in there.

After touring the house we went for a walk around the garden and park which are extensive and very nicely laid out. This included a walk down to the fort on the banks of the Upper Lake where live canons were used to shoot at a miniature fleet of ships on the lake in mock battles. Unfortunately the boats were manned, including by the 5th Lord Byron’s servant Joseph Murray who was paid six weeks wages to be shot at. Once more we did not sense anything in the grounds.

The hauntings of Newstead Abbey include a ghostly black friar who is said to have haunted the site for five hundred years and was seen by the poet Byron in his dressing room. Other ghosts include that of Byron himself who is said to sit near his picture and a white lady who smells of roses. Byron’s dog, Boatswain, also haunts the area and so does a woman dressed in black the sighting of whom, it is said, is unlucky.

As a final place to visit before making the journey home we nipped across to Annesley Hall near the M1. Both the hall and the neighbouring ruined church are said to be haunted but only the latter is accessible as the hall, though empty, is privately owned and dilapidated. We toured the church site and took pictures if the hall which lies just metres from the edge of the churchyard. This is a very good site and looks as if it should be haunted but we did not pickup anything while we were there.

The church is said to be haunted by a grey lady who appears in misty form and has been seen early in the morning. The hall itself is haunted by the ghost of a mistress, of a former owner, who died in childbirth. Another ghost was seen in 1970 when a car driver drove straight through it as it crossed the road outside the hall.

Once more the conference consisted of a number of papers covering various aspects of psychical research. Over the three days of the conference a total of twenty three papers were presented ranging from timeslips to a possible explanation for dowsing through evidence of the reality of mediumship.

Richard Wiseman talked about a website he had created where members of the public could submit their paranormal photographs to be assessed by visitors to the page. He showed the audience dozens of images which ranged from the bizarre to obvious natural phenomena with a few that could not be explained. . If you want to take a look at the photographs yourself then they can be found at http://scienceofghosts.wordpress.com/.

One interesting paper gave a possible explanation for the success of dowsing where the dowser was actually responding to visual clues in the landscape based on fractal geometry (patterns that repeat at different scales so that when you zoom in on an image you see the same pattern as you saw in the large image). As trees grow their growth patterns are fractals and the better the environment the more the tree grows and the greater the fractal dimension (the number of times a pattern repeats as you zoom in on the pattern). It is this fractal dimension that it is said the mind responds to, seeing the fractal dimension as evidence for the presence of water.

Another paper talked about the apparent connection between the bizarreness of dreams and the level of geomagnetic activity. It seems that the lower the level of geomagnetic activity the less bizarre a dream can be. One thing we did discover is that for a good nights sleep with a minimal level of bizarreness in your dreams you need to have a bed orientated so that the bed head is not to the north (like ours is).

All told it was a good conference in an interesting city and we look forward to next years ‘vacation’.