School Play - Abandoned Theatre (Location Redacted)

Deep in rural Kent sits an Abandoned Theatre, its lights dim after the final curtain fell many years ago. A ghost affectionately called The White Lady has been seen walking the roads nearby, but as I tried to follow the directions I had been provided by GHT I was beginning to think the Theatre was a phantom as well. Eventually I found the crew for tonight’s investigation who were equally lost and by the light of a full moon we pulled onto the hardstanding and unloaded our equipment.

Credit:SJP

The warm greeting from the new owner of the wooden fronted building was a stark contrast to the icy chill that met us as we crossed the threshold. Apparently he was told to leave the heating off as it would add to the atmosphere for a ghost hunt – dear reader it was bloody cold.

This was the first time ever that this location had been subjected to any known form of paranormal investigation and all we knew was that it was built in the late 1970’s as an educational establishment’s performing arts space. The land on which it was built on was farmland, as was much of Kent and would have attracted a holidaying workforce to bring in the crops. Our tour of the space was short with two identified locations to explore. The Large auditorium area fully equipped with seating and a stage, and the smaller dressing room area accessed off stage left.

There was an area under the stage that could have been an option, but with a head clearance of about 4 foot and accessed only by removing a panel in the floor of the wings it was decided to leave this space and the old staging and scenery alone. As the crew made sure the tea urn was up and running (it was defiantly going to be needed tonight) I set up a locked off experiment under the seating in the auditorium.

Credit:SJP

After a cheeky cup of coffee to warm us up it was time to welcome the guests, who remained huddled in their jackets clutching steaming paper cups in defence of the temperature. Once our investigating team had been briefed the only thing remaining was to ask them the question “Are you brave enough?”

In a break from tradition we stayed together for our first session and soon motion detectors, music boxes, K-2s and cat balls were distributed around the space. Forming a circle we tried to build the energy to give any spirits that had lain dormant for sometime something to feed off.

There are many theories of what causes places to be haunted. Sites of tragedy and violence, a place that was beloved in life or the belief that somehow the environment captures events and plays them back when the circumstance is right. In my research I could find no record of any murder or sinister deeds linked to where I was now stood but it doesn’t mean to say that trauma had not been experienced on this land, and it appeared that historic trauma was what the spirits wanted to get off their chests.

As the original circle descended into a human pendulum session, we were introduced to a female. A female who was very unhappy. A female who was very unhappy and reacted with a violent lurch of the pendulum subject when asked if she was male. Those with a greater sensitivity than me (which in fairness is pretty much anyone) reported seeing an image of a sad female carrying flowers standing just outside the circle who appeared to be waiting for someone.

The myriad of phones running Alice Box apps (much the same as the Ghost Hunter Tools app I had used on previous investigations)  began throwing out names; Deborah, Crystal, Samantha, Veronica, Lucy reminding me of paranormal remix of Lou Bega’s Mambo No. 5. A rapid drop in the temperature from 11.9° to 11.3° on the Boo-Bear signified a noticeable feeling of change in the energy as 6 year old Callum, the son of Deborah entered the chat.

Through the forward and backward motion of our human pendulum we established that Callum was stabbed by his grandmother but before further information could be established the question “Could we ask one more question?” was asked and responded to by an aggressive jolt signifying ‘No’.

It appeared that any spirits residing in the Theatre were now aware of our presence, and that some wanted to communicate (or at least provide their names). What was very apparent and reported by many people including myself was the feeling of being watched. The watcher felt as if it was sat in the top row of the seats, but did not want to engage with any of the equipment deployed in the area, just observing as a passive audience the action unfolding in front of them.

Credit:SJP

Callum’s resounding ‘No’ called an end to our first session, and as half the group exited to the dressing rooms, I remained with the other half in the auditorium.

At the front of the stage were many heavy desks, and feeling that we had stirred up some energy we attempted a table tipping experiment. With hands on the polished surface we urged the spirits to make the table move, (or even vibrate) but after asking, encouraging and cajoling (and finally resorting to pleading) we were left wanting. An upturned glass was added to the table and aside it providing the feeling of trying to hold two magnets of equal polarity together we were not getting much response.

Credit:SJP

Not wanting to give up I had a rummage in my bag pulling out a book of Psalms to serve as a trigger object in the hope that some divine intervention would prompt some activity. I also grabbed a new acquisition to my arsenal. A clear orb sat on a black plastic base that when switched on produces purple tentacles of energy. The plasma ball works by using a tesla coil to force electrons through a coil of wire causing them to oscillate at a high frequency. The tentacle will attract to your touch as it seeks to ground the electrical energy through your body, the theory being is that this energy transference would work as well with the dead as the living. Either that or it will add more electro-magnetic energy to the environment to power up any hungry ghosts. With this in mind the use of a plasma ball renders any K2 meaningless (but does give a nice sweeping light effect).

Setting the ball down and retiring to a safe distance I noticed that the other guests were not having any more joy with the book and table. However as I observed the plasma ball the initial flurry of activity within had changed to a slow, methodical crawl as if someone was interacting with the strands of light.

Further research with the plasma ball will be needed to ascertain what this is showing but for a first time out it seems like a promising bit of kit.

Calling it a day with the table and trigger objects it was decided to try a spirit board on the stage. The planchette slid to ‘yes’ indicating that a male wanted to communicate and although further questions were asked the entity was not forthcoming with answers.

Credit:SJP

What we witnessed however was very strange. The planchette with several sitters’ fingers attached raised up at an angle, with the pointed end several inches away from the surface of the board with the tail end remaining on the board’s surface. The planchette then began to sweep around as if pointing at something invisible circling the table, tracking its movements in the darkness behind us.

Before we could explore this phenomenon further time was called on the session, and after closing the board down it was time to warm up with a hot beverage. As the guests retired to the kitchen area I stayed in the auditorium to take some photographs of the seating area where the watcher had been felt.

Credit:SJP

As the hot black liquid started warming me up from the inside out, I had a scroll through the photographs I had taken during the first two sessions. I discovered the following in a series of three photographs:

Credit:SJP

Credit:SJP

Credit:SJP

The face appearing does not match anyone that was on the event, and when I took this set of photographs everyone appeared to be looking towards the centre of the circle. Although there are several explanations, pareidolia, low light photograph, contamination etc, when I shared this with the crew, they did not recognise the face as belonging to anyone working with us.

With the paper cups properly recycled it was time to start the third and final session as we gathered our group and headed back stage to the dressing room.

This was a space with an identity crisis, a shower in an adjacent room, kitchen running the length of the back wall and a cluster of armchairs around a small coffee table, it was not what you would expect. With a constant creepy sound effect of a child slowly singing “Ring a Ring of Roses” coming from a motion sensor box, we turned the lights out (and eventually the motion sensor) before starting an Estes session.

The sitter, blindfold and headphones on, reported that they could feel something touching the top of their head before reporting the sound of children laughing coming through the headphones. “I’m Scared” repeated the sitter before reporting several voices all talking at once and pressure building in their head. Again a list of names came from Alice Box apps seeing a return of Veronica, who was joined by Bill, Greg and Mike S.

As our final session came to a close I noticed my K2 on the table illuminating, with little pin pricks of orange light joining the green glows. My K2 was joined by two others with the one placed closest matching the readings of my own with the third responding as an echo. Although there are phones on the table I asked if they were all on flight mode to which I received responses to the affirmative. A very interesting end to the session as you can see from the video.

Packing up the equipment I returned to the auditorium to recover the locked off experiment. At the beginning of the night I had set up 2 mirror balls which had been marked to show rotation and any movement under the watchful gaze of a trail camera. I had marked the location and direction of the torch to be able to replicate the same conditions from set up to close down. As you can see, on this occasion there had been no noticeable movement, and nothing had been captured by the trail cam.

Credit:SJP

Credit:SJP

My experience at the Abandoned Theatre had been interesting and I had captured some interesting evidence. I would love to return with a much smaller group to draw out further details of what we had only appeared to scratch the surface of.