The Mitchel Memorial Theater

‘The Mitch’ is a funny looking building and is reminiscent of the old Pontins days with its porthole style windows and Formica tables. This little theatre was built on the foundations of the previouse building 'The Whitehouse' and was built as a fitting memorial to Reginald J Mitchell designer of the "Supermarine Spitfire, " fighter plane who sadly would never see his plane fly in combat, as he died of cancer in 1937 at the age of 42. It is the principle venue for amateur and youth theatre locally and was official opened in 1957 by Group-Captain Douglas Bader a Royal Air Force fighter ace who flew Spitfires in the Battle of Britain. The area was dominated from the early 17c by the pottery industry. The Mitch has had a history of paranormal phenomena, Employees have experienced many strange occurrences over the years.

REPORTED ACTIVITY

Theater Auditorium;

• A man has been seen sitting in the middle section of the seats and standing by the safety curtain mechanism side of stage then vanishing as if walking through wall.
• A Little boy in shorts and clogs walking along the gantry above the stage, whistling.
• An employee felt as if she was being hurried through the tunnel at the back of the stage, almost pushed.
• Vanilla smells on stage.
• Children in casts have experienced brushing past someone that wasn’t there and having their hair touched whilst in the wings waiting to go on stage.

In other areas of the theatre there have been;

• Sour milk smells in Dressing Room 1.
• Several people have experienced different sensations in Dressing Room 4, i.e. being watched, hearing children singing, icy sensations even though heating was on, feeling they must leave as they were intruding, a horrible rotting smell.
• Pens and keys being moved on the desk in the office. The kettle turning itself on.
• a small lady wearing a black cloak with a cowl shaped hood was seen standing at the bottom of the stairs in the foyer.

Outside of the theatre a male was seen wearing a top hat and tails standing on the corner of the driveway by the lean-to. Oh and the famous photograph of the ghost!!!

CASE REPORT

Areas investigated

• Main Auditorium and Stage
• Dressing Rooms 1 and 4
• Theatre Office
• Workshop

Trigger objects:

• DR1 - magnetic letters,
• Dr4 - Old pennies
• Stage tunnel- toy car
  
  
  
  

Experiments:

• Suspended pendulum enclosed in a perspex box.

Evidence Collected

• Evp's

Team Experiences

• The Spirit of a little girl was sensed, Squeaking sounds emanated from the seated area, Mary Blackeman's seat had come down in the main Auditorium.
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• A Shadow was seen moving along on the gantry in the workshop, and tapping sound from the piping along the wall (this was not connected to any water/electrical supply)

CONCLUSION

All in all it was a very quiet (but a typical one)nights investigation. The staff and players of the theatre obviously feel there is something unusual happening in the theater. Activity is more prevalent when productions are in full flow. It was very strange that Mary's seat came down, and when investigated our team found that when we moved one of the seats downwards it made the 'squeaking' sound we heard earlier in the evening? DR4 which is one of the rooms that most people reported feeling 'frightened' in, had NO activity or experiences from our team. The room had been checked for EMF and hidden cables so there were no concealed wiring (except the plugs of course).

We recorded 2 EVPs, 1- feint whispers in the auditorium, 2 - a response to a question recorded in the corridor adjacent to DR4.

In conclusion at this point in time there was nothing that could not have been explained by natural means.

AND FINALLY there is the 'Ghost photograph' seen here on the right. Yes on first observation itDOES look like there is a face in the background, but on very close inspection it is just the patterns made from the background and doorway.

The theatre is undergoing major renovations over the next 2 years, so we shall be asking the staff to note down any further phenomena with a view to another investigation.

Morecambe Winter Gardens

The Winter Gardens has a wonderful history. Many famous Actors, Comedians (Laurel and Hardy) graced it stage. The theater fell into decline and finally closed its doors in 1977. Since the MOST HAUNTED visit the theatre has become very popular for Ghost Hunts and is bringing a regular revenue for the theatre restoration fund.

REPORTED ACTIVITY

• Phantom footsteps


• Knocks and bangs.
  
• Physical contact - people touched and pushed.
  
• Haunted staircase - the spirit of a woman who fell to her death after a row with her partner. Was she pushed?


• Poltergeist activity
  


• Singing ghost - woman's voice heard singing.
  
• Dog - heard growling.
  
• Apparitions - a male on the stage who does not like anyone else there.
• The office is haunted by the two men who designed the winter gardens .


• A young boy named Thomas who drowned.


• Two ladies, Mary and Elizabeth.

CASE REPORT: START 9AM-FINISH 4.30AM

Areas Investigated:

• The main auditorium


• The Circle.
  
• The Gods.


• Gents and Ladies Bar.


• The Stage and Access balconies.


• Dressing rooms.


• The Cellar.

Evidence Collected:

2 x EVP's
Orb

Personal Experinces:

At one point late into the morning I was last to descend the staircase leading from the Gods down to the Circle balcony. Half way down, there was a very loud bang. I actually thought something had fell out of my rucksack and turned to look, but all was clear. The whole of the stairs was checked and there we found nothing. The bang sounded like a very heavy object had dropped. All the group present tried in vane to re-create the sound but to no avail.

The group were all present when individual seats in the Gods came down of their own accord (I did check how easy this was to do manually and the seats were quite stiff to pull down). All the seats were checked before hand. This happened 3 times. Jacqui (please view her detailed report on her experience) had a very alarming experience in the cellar area. Before I give you an overview of this I would like to state that I have know Jacqui for 8 years now and can say that she is a very honest down to earth person, and I believe what happened to her to be genuine.

NOW down to details. Our group plus the medium were in the cellar (part of this is flooded). The story goes that it is believed that a previous TV programme who ventured into this area opened a portal which allowed all and sundry to enter into the space. An Entity was said to live in the cellar and trap unfortunate souls who pass through the portal.

A circle was formed which included Jacqui and the Medium, John. Those left stood close to them. People reported cold draughts (I have to say I thought they were coming form the open drains), swirling blue mists in the centre of the circle (I could not see this) and some felt they were aware of the Entity and of a spirit of a small child.

Jacqui started to shake uncontrollably and gripped the hands of her companions to such a degree that she was hurting them, she stared to sob. John came in and held Jaquie hands. He came to the conclusion that a spirit was seeking refuge in the circle and wanted to be released through Jacquie... which was done. At which point Jacqui collapsed, sobbing. She was then helped out of the cellar to recover.

The Circle reformed on John's request, where the said Entity spoke through him briefly and said "Get the fxxxk out" nothing else transpired and as the team was leaving the cellar, Gill took a little paddle through to the other flooded rooms much to some peoples dismay.... of course, nothing happened to her.

During the start of the session I could clearly hear what sounded like the tinkling of metal, this was recorded on the Digital Recorded. This sound stopped when Jacqui had supposedly released the spirit. There was also a strange sound of what sounded like a man wretching in the background.

Conclusions

A great place that I want the team to return to at some point. The night was extremely quiet for such a reportedly haunted location, and apart from the seats, the loud bang and Jack's ordeal nothing else happened.

Did Jacqui channel the spirit of a trapped boy? I can only say that I feel Jacquie may have! We can only go by our own experiences, and I trust her to be genuine.