The Grey Ladies

INVESTIGATION REPORT

After Supper, the team ventured over to the ruins of nearby Twizel Castle.  This Castle was originally a 15th century stone tower or hall house, founded by Sir John Heron. Destroyed by war and abandoned in 1496, Sir Francis Blake absorbed the house and barmkin, in the construction of a late 18th century five storey Gothic mansion. Rectangular in plan, with circular towers on the angles and two wings on the north side, the basement rooms in the main block, are stone or brick-vaulted as a precaution against fire. After being built for over 50 years, the house was never finished and it is now a two storey folly. Of the medieval fortalice, blocked windows, a chamfered doorway and the original north-east angle quoins are visible.  Stones from Twizel Castle were used to build the nearby Tillmouth Park Hotel.

Inside Twizel Castle, Debs sensed much negative energy from within the stone walls.  She sensed troops had carried out rape acts on local women.   It was starting to get dark, so we decided to return to Tillmouth.

We walked around the grounds for a while and Debs could “hear” soldiers preparing for battle.  She said she could hear cannon and gun fire nearby.  On our return to the hotel, we prepared our equipment for carrying out our baseline tests.  Nothing was picked up on the EMF meter and temperature readings were taken.

Our first vigil was in the Garden Room which is a separate building from the hotel.  We were told that Liz Taylor and Richard Burton once stayed in these rooms.

Debs sensed that the energy of two male spirits were arguing over money and she “saw” a glass being thrown into a fire.  The staff who joined us on the vigil confirmed that the fireplace had since been closed up and the layout of the room had changed.  The fireplace is presently hidden behind a bed headboard.  A female spirit was also nearby in the room, but Debs could not get her to come forward and make herself known.  Whilst we were in these rooms, we had left a tape recorder going in one of the hotel bedrooms.  We moved back into the hotel.

The hotel receptionist advised us that she often felt a strange energy from outside the billiard room.  On arriving into the billiard room, Debs advised that she thought this room had previously been the Butler’s Quarters.  We then went to the room where the tape recorder had been (forgot the name).  This used to be the nursery.  Nothing was picked up on the tape recorder after the investigation.  Debs picked up on a female spirit called Sarah who was a maid and was fond of the children at the time.  However, she had a fear of something and Debs could not get Sarah to come into the room.  She stayed outside the room in the hallway.  Debs sensed that the Butler at that time has something to do with turning Sarah into a nervous wreck.  Had she been bullied or mistreated?

We had a break and went back to where we left our belongings – in the gun room. The hotel staff left us to continue.

We went to the small lounge off the first floor hall and dining room area and sat quietly.  Debs announced that she could see a large black mass floating above us.  A sort of negative, dark energy like a sponge.  We nicknamed that room the “Sponge Bob (Square Pants)” room!  The room had left an effect on Pat - sore head and feeling extremely tired.  Pat decided to leave the investigation there and headed for home.

The rest of the team and Debs continued.  We sat in the first floor hall and we thought we heard footsteps from the nearby back stairs.  We knew nobody was going about as all the staff had went to bed or gone home.  Debs watched ghostly staff wait on tables to assist ghostly residents in the nearby dining room.

Debs then announced her work here was done and that her energy was now drained.  So she left for home too.

Angela, Carole and Nicola headed back to the Garden Room and Nicola was convinced she saw shadows moving about in the bathroom.  On turning the lights on, it turned out to be carpet marks and a trick of the light.  We had hoped to hear the ghostly sound of a horse and carriage moving past outside, as previous residents have apparently heard this, but not for us on this occasion.   We called it a night and went to pack up our equipment about 3.30am.

Overall, Tillmouth Park Hotel was a fascinating place to investigate.  We were slightly restricted on where to investigate, as many of the grand luxury bedrooms were occupied by guests.  Staff told us which rooms past guests have had paranormal experiences in, so it was a little disappointing that we couldn’t spend some time in those parts of the hotel.

However, we appreciated the areas we were allowed to investigate and in summary Debs gave us lots of information, some of which we hope the staff can verify.  We heard footsteps and felt various emotions such as headaches and shivers and heard lots of knocks and bangs, some of which would have been natural building movements.  We also captured many light anomalies on camera and film.

We thank the staff at the Tillmouth Park Hotel for allowing us to investigate this very elegant building and grounds and also to Debs for accompanying us on this particular investigation..

Report compiled by The Grey Ladies Team

July 2006