Twilight Shadows (North) Paranormal

Woodchester Mansion

 

On March 28th 2009 Phoenix of Wessex had the privilege to visit the unfinished mansion of Woodchester that Most haunted went to with one of their live shows for the summer solstice 2003.

 

Woodchester Mansion built by the freemason William Leigh. Since his death in 1873 the Mansion has been the focus of investigations into its unusual symbology and hauntings. Many sightings have been reported over the last two hundred years.

 

In 1902 a local vicar saw a strange apparition at the gates to the mansion and a few years later a phantom horseman was also seen on the drive. But it is the Mansion itself that is the epicentre of hauntings. From the Tall Man of the Chapel to the elemental in the cellar, the Mansion has some of the most fearsome ghosts in the England.

 

There are many local legends associated with Woodchester Park and its famous house. Most of these stories have not been recorded in detail but one has recently surfaced which has even captured the imagination of Hollywood, that of an angel which haunts the fifth lake. Some of the other documented hauntings include: a Roman centurion who patrols the gate on the south road, a ragged dwarf, a headless horseman, a floating coffin, a Black Dog which was a death portent and most frequently, a spectral figure which has come to be regarded as the man in his night-shirt who was unfortunately savaged by his own dogs. It’s possible that this and the ‘angel’ were one and the same.

 

Visitors have collapsed uncontrollably and been attacked by invisible forces. In the bathroom is the ghost of a man who often manifests to visitors as a floating head and nearby the ghost of an old woman likes to attack women by grabbing them in the dark.

 

Why the Mansion is so haunted no one knows for sure but one theory is that it stands on the site of three previous buildings and it is haunted by the ghosts of each of those structures.

 

Well. Armed with all this knowledge how we could refuse yet another amazing opportunity.

With the satnav (eventually programmed) and the aa route finder printed and the way highlighted in the road atlas just in case. We set off to the unknown.

 

The route to Nymphsfield was surprisingly easy and only took just over an hour to reach our meeting place for the night which was the Rose and Crown pub. As we set off with plenty of time we decided that we would go into the pub and order ourselves a meal which we would all thoroughly recommend you do if ever have the chance to drop in.

 

At 9.20pm our guide for the night arrived and once we were all up together we then convoyed it to the Mansion.

 

We had to drive down quite a rough country lane which seemed never ending but eventually we came across some gates. Immediately inside the gates was Scar hill lodge that is mentioned in the Mansions history and you still have to travel even further down a much worse lane which eventually takes you to the mansion.

 

We parked up and our guide took us inside the Mansion which I noticed had very uneven flooring and we then went to the only finished room in the house which is the drawing room.

 

Here we were given a bit of a talk about the mansion ect and what to expect from the nights events. We were then taken on a tour of the mansion where our guide gave us the stories of the many ghosts that have attached themselves to the mansion. After this bit was over we split into teams and went to our first destination.

 

Our team was headed by Gill, a medium. We stood in the corridor that led from the chapel to the front door and she said that she could sense a tall man stood at the top of the corridor. She said to make a space as he was going to walk right through. We did this and she started to call out to the supposedly spirit man to come forward, drop the temperature down and walk through the door! (?) I have never heard this before. Still she asked out a few more times and then suggested we try a few things to get the energy going. She mentioned singing which to this Dave W said sing in French. We all started to sing Frere jacques and even though the song is a jolly one I have to mention that the atmosphere was starting to get very oppressive. We started to see flashes which I first of all thought was a torch or camera flash but it turned out not to be. This happened a few times. We moved down the corridor towards the chapel and started to sing again. Almost at once I lost sight of the chapel door and really felt like there was something baring up the corridor towards me. I shrank back behind Dave and another member of the team. We witnessed a few more flashes after this and Gill decided to move us to one of the rooms in the chapel. It was here that Dave exclaimed that something had tapped him on the back. Now I have to admit I did hear something but I thought he had caught his back on the wall. This happened 3 times while he was in the room and each time I heard the noise of whatever it was hitting him on the back. Also, another member of the team had her torch turned on in her pocket. This torch was the type you have to turn the top of the torch right around to turn it on and off and she claimed it was turned off properly.

 

We were at the end of our vigil allocated time and so we joined the other team back in the drawing room. We had a break and then decided to try some table tipping. Again I have never seen this attempted in quite a way before. We all had to chant "if there is a spirit in the room please move this table". This was to try and get energy going to help the spirit’s move the table. It didn't seem to do the trick this time so they tried some glass divination. This worked for a bit but Dave and I did not take part. We were then moved to the cellar. Here we were asked to stand in a circle and hold hands. We then hummed when the torch was pointed at us to try and get energy in the room flowing. While we were in the cellar we did experience loud bangs, prods and jabs and I did see a light form moving towards me at one point but this could of been the trick of the light (or lack of it as it was so dark)

 

After we stayed in the cellar for a while we then split into teams again and this time we went to the bathroom. Here we did an experiment with a conduction rope.  (This is a rope with copper wire wrapped around it with crystals hanging off at intervals to help conduct energy building more easily. We all held the rope and hummed. A person was stood in the middle of the "rope circle" The idea being that a spirit could imprint itself on you. A few people had a go but I did not take part.

After this finished we then had another short break and then could go about the mansion and do our own vigils.

 

This was the best part of the evening for me. Dave and I went to the top corridor by ourselves. This part of the house is not particularly nice and as we were stood talking a pebble was thrown at us. I did not hang about to find out why and so we then decided to try the kitchen. This part of the house is supposed to have an interactive ghost in it so I started to ask out. We were interrupted a few times by people wandering in and out of the room so after a while I decided to knock this particular vigil on the head. Just as we walked into the main part of the kitchen another pebble was thrown at us. I again ran out and then walked back in again. I apologised for my jumpy behaviour and asked for the same thing to happen again. After about 5 minutes we did have more stones thrown at us. This happened once more. We then decided to walk to the chapel (which I really did not like the feel off) We were not in here for long and to be honest I did not even want to call out. Within 5 minutes I had a handful of stones thrown at me with force and I have to admit I pushed Dave W into the wall to get out of the way. I also left him in the dark without any torch either which I am not really very proud of. In my defence I have been fighting a rather nasty virus and probably should not take part and put this down to my unusual jumpy behaviour. We had to call it a night now as it was 5am (or 6am with the clocks going forward)

 

I am very excited to say we will be revisiting Woodchester mansion in the next couple of weeks and cannot wait.

 

 

 

 

 

J Wicheard ©

 

 

Woodchester mansion the return 11th April

 

Dave and I of Phoenix of Wessex and Maria and Loretta of Twilight shadows had another chance to visit the lovely Woodchester mansion with Haunted Devon.

 

This time we arrived a bit earlier than the previous visit and descended on Woodchester for 8pm. We had another brief tour and were split into 4 teams.  I and Dave were on Barry's team and Loretta and Maria were on another team.

 

We started our evening in the Bathroom. This is a horrible room. It seems to serve no purpose. It has a big stone bath down the left hand side of the room and there is a shower room. The taps of the Bath are heads of dogs and the shower shoot where the water flows out is also a dog’s head.

 

Dave was invited to sit in the bath and we started to ask out. We sat for a few minutes and suddenly a pebble fell on the floor from nowhere. This happened on previous investigations to me while I was at Woodchester mansion.

 

We continued to call out and this time another lady got in the bath.  Again another pebble was thrown at us. There was a man stood out in the corridor filming who said he could hear another pebble being thrown. I got into the bath this time. I had a strange sort of dragging feeling and felt like I should not be there.

 

We started to feel as if there was a presence building in the room and to me it felt male. I did not like being stood by the shower room. Barry the team leader had got into the bath this time and said he thought he could taste blood in his mouth.

 

We had a break at this point and the relocated to the middle corridor. We started to call out and heard what we thought was a girl screaming. Barry checked with the other teams that no one had shouted out and no one had. We continued to call out and this scream was heard again. Barry thought he had a name link which was Stevie R. He was not sure if this was tied with the mansion or a message but whoever it was he felt had had a stroke. The team relocated to the drawing room and Barry, I and Dave stood talking.  Out of nowhere a stone landed on the bottom step which made us all jump. Barry radioed up to the team above and they confirmed they had not thrown stones as an experiment just in case one had come down the stairs.

 

When we resumed the investigation we were in the top corridor. This place was very cold and not very big. When the light were out though it seemed a lot bigger. We asked out and not much happened to begin with. A male presence seemed to form though and gave the impression of some sort of authority. We moved to the end of the corridor where the caretaker lives. While here we heard grammar phone music. We travelled back to the other end and the cameraman stayed at the other end. The next bit was pretty amazing. We all heard a female voice shout. "Help me" "He did it". This was really pretty terrifying. I could still hear the female speaking but could not make out what she was saying. It was almost echoing like when in a bathroom. I did not know it then but a few members of the team picked up on a girl in that bathroom. The camera man did not like being down that end of the corridor so Dave and I swapped with him. I had just started to ask out when Dave stopped me. I became aware of a very angry male spirit and he was not happy with me at all. After a while even though we could all feel the presence we decided to go back to the drawing room.

 

As we had a long way to go, we had opted to go home at 2am instead of 5am. Just before we went Maria and Loretta joined me and Dave for a little look around. We went to the kitchen and started to talk. Not long after we got there a big stone was chucked at us and landed on the floor. This seemed to be the norm where ever I am in the mansion. The others jumped together and I ran out. Once I realised I was on my own I ran back in again.  The stone was on the floor and it was not from the ceiling. The stone was very cold to touch. We then went to the chapel. I had not had a very nice experience in the chapel before and was not happy to go back. Nearly at once a stone was thrown at us. We all jumped but stayed put. As we were trying to work out where it had come from I saw a stone just appear out of nowhere and arch over us towards the back of the chapel. This was amazing. I have no explanation for this at all. If the stone had come from the ceiling it would fall straight down and not in an arc away from us. To of been thrown the person would of had to of been in mid-air and stood where the window is.

 

As it was the end of the evening we said our goodbyes and travelled home.