Victoria Hall

24 February 2018

For our latest investigation, our team found ourselves in the lovely and atmospheric Victoria Hall in Tisbury.

History

The Victoria Hall was built privately, in 1887 for the Golden Jubilee. It was bought by public subscription as a War Memorial after the First World War. During the Second World War it was used extensively as a cinema showing films to troops stationed in the area including Americans. There is a Victorian period style balcony which has fixed padded seats and is used by audiences at theatrical events.

After a lovely catch up with the team (followed by fish and chips), we all got down to exploring our latest location. The Victoria Hall is a lovely spacious hall with a fairly big stage area (complete with red velvet curtain) and seated wooden balcony which looked down upon the hall and stage. Just to the left of the hall was a wide corridor which leads down to an entrance to the kitchen and to a smaller more modern hall (Elizabeth Hall).

The investigation

20:00

We decided a good way to start was to set up a *table tipping experiment to see if we could get some energy going. It usually takes about 5 or 10 minutes from starting the experiment before anything obvious happens. After approximately 10 minutes, we started to hear the familiar creaks and taps that you start to hear while the energy is building. Very soon we were hearing quite distinct knocks under the table which seemed to intelligently answer our questions. Maria had agreed that the code for answers was 1 knock for yes, 2 knocks for no. However; we were getting 3 knocks. We wondered if this meant maybe. We managed to ascertain that there were 4 spirits in the room with us.

While the table tipping experiment continued, James, Maria and I sensed a spirit by the main wooden door which leads to the hall. I kept thinking I could see a humanoid shaped figure stood by the door in my peripheral vision. Maria and James also agreed that they could too. Others of the team also commented on how much darker that area of the room had become, in particular the balcony. Dan exclaimed that he could see a figure stood up on the balcony (over to the right). A lot of the team (including me) also confirmed that we could see this. It almost appeared to be stood right at the edge of the balcony (arms stretched out both sides and resting on top of the balcony) as if observing us. I also noticed that I had started to feel very uncomfortable and the atmosphere had taken on a much more eerie feeling. As we were all discussing the ‘white mass’, I saw in my peripheral vision to the left of the mass a dark shape dart to the other end of the balcony. I was secretly glad that I had not set up an experiment up there with James as we had suggested earlier.

We turned our attention back to the table tipping experiment and tried to focus. Maria asked if the spirit could move the table. To our amazement, the table did suddenly lurch forward. Maria asked for the spirit to move the table back. It did. Some of the team thought they heard footsteps coming from the balcony area. We focused back on the experiment. Dave thought he heard a male voice.

The table tipping experiment continued, we continued to ask out. We were suddenly aware of what sounded like a door closing somewhere in the building. Dave went out to see if he could see where. It was at this point that the table slid across the floor towards the stage. As I became level with the open door next to the stage, out of the corner of my eye, I saw what I thought was a figure in a sheet stood there. “You have got to be kidding!” I said. Maria asked what was wrong. I was actually terrified and could not look. I explained what I thought I had seen. Dave went off to see. As he got to the door, he went into the little corridor by the stage and half shut the door. I was horrified and said not to. Next thing we know there is a white sheet flying towards us though the air!! I wasn’t the only one to scream. That is all I am going to say. Turns out my ghostly apparition was just a sheet and had been placed there by Dave to see if anyone would notice.

After our scare (thanks Dave!), we decided to change our experiment. We all chose a place to sit and spent a few minutes listening and getting a feel for the surroundings. After a few minutes, I started to call out. Not much happened to begin with, and then we started to notice the atmosphere changing in the hall again. Some of the team said that they had started to see shadows passing the gaps in the curtains just out in the corridor opposite us. The more we concentrated, the more obvious these shadows became. Tracey noticed that she could see what looked like feet walking backwards and forwards over by the door under the clock. We started to hear footsteps too. They were really hard to pin point. It sounded like footsteps you hear when someone is moving around in a room upstairs. They were very faint but definitely there. Tracey, Maria and Dan suddenly claimed that they had all seen a light on the stage with their own eyes (and not through a night vision screen). James said he could see the figure stood by the door in the corner of his eye again. We were startled by the sound of something hitting the floor. Dan went to see and found what looked like a bit of copper piping which resembled a gold ring. I was reminded by Andrew that I had asked out for a gold ring to appear earlier in our investigation while conducting the table tipping experiment. This type of phenomena is called and *apport. While we were discussing the apport, James said that he saw in his peripheral vision, a figure move towards where the toilets were. We were definitely starting to feel very spooked as it was obvious that the energy was growing in intensity as the night wore on.

We were suddenly treated to the sound of lots of footsteps. Again it sounded like the footsteps you hear when somebody is moving around upstairs. We identified that it seemed to be coming from the balcony area. Dave bravely went to sit up on the balcony. We heard something else clatter to the floor. It turned out to be another copper ring. Dan decided to go and join Dave up on the balcony as did Molly and Andrew. They said that they could hear footsteps up there. Maria asked for the spirit to walk around so we could all hear the footsteps. The team up on the balcony said that they could really hear the footsteps up there with them and seemed to be walking around in the centre area. We all decided to go and join the team on the balcony. We called out to hear the footsteps again. We could hear them for a short time but they seemed to go quiet. Some of the team decided it was a good time to have a break but Dave, Maria and I decided to stay up there.

When the team had gone down to the kitchen area, we called out again. To our alarm, we heard very loud footsteps that seemed to be coming down the steps of the seated area to Dave’s right. Dave actually flinched. We sat there in stunned silence. Maria whispered that she loved it. I replied that I was terrified. Dave agreed. She called out again. We heard some very loud knocks in response. Maria called out again and said to the spirit to copy her and she knocked very loudly on the wooden projection box that we were all sat with our backs too. Almost instantly we had equally loud knocks coming from the wooded projection box in reply. Again we sat there in stunned silence. The knocks happened again and again. We called Andrew and the rest of the team up. Again, we noticed that the more people that joined us to witness the phenomena, the less intense the knocks became. Dave decided now was a good time to go and get a drink. As he walked down the steps from the balcony he tripped. Andrews *Ovilus device suddenly sprung to life and came out with the words “pushed, steps, cellar!” This was a bit too much of a coincidence for our liking.

No sooner had we all come down from the balcony area, we heard something clatter to the floor up there. Maria bravely went up to have a look but couldn’t see anything obvious which it could be. Literally a few minutes later, another apport appeared. This time a little stone landed on the floor next to me which seemed to have come from the balcony area.

As we seem to be getting a lot of apport activity, Maria threw a sugar cube up on the balcony and asked the spirits if they could throw it back. (The cube was not thrown back.)

After our break, we sat around the room again and asked out. The eerie feel to the hall was tangible and I must admit I was not inclined to encourage anymore activity. Dave who does not usually spook easily even felt very jumpy. Dave and I were sat not far from one of the stairways up to the balcony area. We were sensing the area by the base of the stairwell was growing darker and every now and then could hear tapping noises coming from that area. Various members of the team took in turns to call out. During this time we hear footsteps up in the balcony area, saw shadow figures out in the corridor and heard tapping noises (at times behind us on the wall) in response to our questions. I was feeling very unnerved.

Dan, Tracy and a few of the team decided to do a table tipping experiment again. I stayed where I was to observe. Quite quickly, the table started to move and slide across the floor. The table moved towards the corridor area where we thought we could see shadow movements. It stopped just short of going totally into that area. The table suddenly jumped very violently. This made the team jump too. Dave and Andrew said that they didn’t like the corridor that the table was heading towards. Andrew also said that a black mass seemed to be present on his night vision camera which he couldn’t explain. The others continued with the table tipping experiment. The table seemed to jump violently again. The others took their hands off as they did not want to be lead out in the corridor. It was here that the table seemed to jump twice by itself. This was just a bit too much and the table tipping experiment was brought to an end.

As it was getting late, we decided now was a good time to wrap up the investigation.

So, on review of our experiences, what can I say? This was an amazing and quite surprisingly active location which unnerved quite a few of the team, including me. We have already confirmed a return date to continue our investigation which I hope will be equally active.

I would like to thank Tracy and Dan our location managers for finding this little gem of a place and arranging such an incredible investigation.

J Wicheard ©

*Table-turning (also known as table-tapping, table-tipping or table-tilting) is a type of séance in which participants sit around a table, place their hands on it, and wait for rotations. The table was purportedly made to serve as a means of communicating with the spirits.

*According to parapsychologists and spiritualists, an apport is the paranormal transference of an article from one place to another or an appearance of an article from an unknown source that is often associated with poltergeist activity or spiritualistic séances.

* The Ovilus X is an experimental ITC device. It is a speech-synthesis device that talks! It says words depending on environmental readings, including electromagnetic waves.