The Gaumont Cinema by Toxteth – more commonly known as Dingle’s Gaumont Cinema – is situated in a very interested spot.  It has been observed that the haunted theatre’s position on a map of Liverpool forms a triangle if plotted alongside the nearby Turner Memorial Home and the impressive Ancient Chapel of Toxteth.

Toxteth Gaumont Cinema

The odd shape of the cinema is simply due to the curve of the roads the building stands beside. It was built in 1937 to house Britain’s first Gaumont projectomatic system. This is a cinema system that automatically changed film reels and controlled the lights. The issue of light control is interesting as some of the reported hauntings in the old building have featured the lights.

The art deco building was built to replace the Dingle Picturedrome. After the Gaumont theatre was decommissioned it was turned into a bingo hall.

Hauntings at Toxteth Gaumont Cinema

There have been a number of ghost sightings at the cinema; ranging from strange lights to shadowy figures.

It is rumoured that a bingo player lost her life while playing the game – her heart giving out to the drama. One of the popular stories suggests that she still lingers on in the hall trying to claim her winners. Another local story speaks of a suicide; a man who killed himself behind the cinema screen.

Interesting Locations Nearby

The Turner Nursing Home was created by Anne Turner, wife of Charles Turner (the first Chairman of Liverpool Docks which may also be haunted) and mother of Charles William Turner. Anne out lived them both. The home opened  in 1885 and featured work from Sir William Hamo Thorneycroft and the architect Alfred Whitehouse.

The red ashlar home has a large chapel that features octagonal columns and stained glass. Some whisper that the souls of some of the less than sane former inhabitants at Turner may linger still; especially near the chapel.

The Ancient Chapel of Toxteth dates back to around 1604 – nearly three hundred before the Chapel at the Turner – and was originally built by Puritan dissenters from the Church of England but is now owned and used by the Unitarians.

The land which the Ancient Chapel and its graveyard is built one was sold to the Puritan families by the Earl of Derby. The inside of the chapel is dark even in summer.

In Pure Spirit

Have you been to any of the locations mentioned above? What do you think? Have you sensed anything other than natural there?

Related posts

1. Ghosts in the mortuary and witches in Liverpool’s Central Library?
2. Ghosts and murder at Samlesbury Hall
3. Ghosts at the Maritime Museum in Lancaster?

Layer Marney Tower in Essex is an impressive Tudor building. Construction was begun by the first Henry Lord Marney but he died in 1523 before the project was finished.

Layer Marney Tower was inspired by Henry VIII’s belief that a building should reflect the status of its owner. It is said that Lord Henry, 1st Lord Marney’s tomb is the best example of this as it combines beauty, innovation and a lightness of touch.

After Henry 1st, Lord Marney died the ownership of the tower passed to his son John. However, John died two years later. Other owners have included Sir Brian Tuke, Nicholas Corsellis and Quintin Dick.

The Great Earthquake of 1884 damaged Layer Marney Tower but not seriously enough to destroy it completely. Alfred and Kezia Peache, brother and sister, are credited for leading the repair efforts as well as adding to garden to the south of the Tower

Hauntings

It is said that Layer Marney Tower is haunted. A common ghost story is that the ghost of Henry, 1st Lord Marney haunts his home and that he is unhappy the building was not completed to his liking. Some paranormal investigators suggest that the ghost favours one set of stairs in particular.

The gardens of Layer Marney Tower are impressive. Another popular ghost story is that the spectre of a gardener is sometimes seen where graves of small children where found.

It is also suggested that an author of ghost books is actually now a ghost himself and roams the hallways.

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Gallows Hill is part of Lancaster, next to the Ashton Memorial and Williamson Park, and was the favoured execution site of the Hanging Judges until 1800.

The infamous Pendle witches were executed on Gallows Hill. They died in the traditional manner of executions on the hill; first made to stand on a cart, wait while a rope was fastened around their neck and then die as the cart was moved away.

A hanging, done well, kills when the drop instantly breaks the neck of the unfortunate. A bad or deliberately slow hanging leaves the victim twisting on the end of the rope while they are slowly strangled. The death sentence “hanged, drawn and quartered” begins with a slow hanging from which the victim is ‘saved’ before they’re next drawn through the streets and finally quartered.

Ten Pendle witches died on Gallows Hill on the 20th August 1612. Members of both the Demdike and Chattox families where hanged on the hill. Owd Demdike (Elizabeth Southerns), leader of the Demdike family, escaped the executioner by dying in her cell in Lancaster.

Therefore, the names of the Pendle witches who were hanged on Gallows Hill are: Anne Chattox (Anne Whittle), Anne Redfern, Elizabeth Device, James Device, Alizon Device, Jane Bullock, John Bullock, Katherine Hewitt (Mouldheels), Alice Nutter and Isobel Robey.

Jennet Preston, who lived in Yorkshire, was hanged in York.

There’s no record of what happened to the bodies of the Pendle witches after Gallows Hill.

Is Gallows Hill haunted?

On October 29th in 2009 the TV program Most Haunted Live visited Gallows Hill. While the cameras were recording they gave the impression of the presence of some spiritual entities and perhaps the Pendle witches.

Despite some of the Pendle witches actually admitting to witchcraft it is now widely believed that none of them were. Alice Nutter, in particular, was a soft spoken and well off lady and probably guilty of practising the (at the time) unpopular Catholic faith. The Most Haunted crew, however, have allegedly been harassed by entities claiming to be or giving the impression of the Pendle witches before.

It is rumoured that Most Haunted Live may return to Gallows Hill for a live broadcast on Halloween 2009.

In Pure Spirit

What do you think? Is this site more or likely to be haunted by the ghosts of the witches than Pendle Hill itself?

Did you watch Most Haunted Live? What did you think of the team’s encounter with apparent spirits?

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Should a singing bowl be used in a seance?

The opening night of Most Haunted Live 2009 showed Yvette Fielding using a singing bowl at the start of a seance. Skip to about 7:40 to see the bowl in action.

Writing on Tarot Elements, Catherine notes that she finds the singing bowl useful for fine tuning clairvoyance and psychic frequencies so that spirit communication is clearer but stresses that the bowl isn’t a means of communication like a Ouija board or seance.

An article “How to summon spirits” on eHow has an average rating of three out of five stars and suggests the use of a singing bowl. It suggests the bowl was meant to summon positive spirits and energy but this is not entirely correct. Singing bowls, with their buddhist orign, have no direct link to the spirits. However the author of this article clearly finds singing bowls to be useful.

Ghost Watchers Inc, founded by Phil Jones, and medium Liz Maguire often mention the use of a singing bowl in their ghost hunts.

There is no restriction on the buying and selling of singing bowls in the UK. 10-13cm fair trade bowls can be bought for less than £25*.

In Pure Spirit

What do you think? Should a singing bowl be used in a seance? Is it a clash of cultures? Is this just an example of desperate ghost seekers trying to use whatever they can lend a hand on or being seduced by the singing bowl’s song?

Caveat: Links marked with a star(*) are revenue links.

The Golden Ball is a pub on the bank of the Lune and is known as Snatchems by locals. The pub has enjoyed a notorious past. It was frequently visited by press gangs – violent men who would ‘recruit’ or kidnap citizens in Lancaster and forcibly conscript them into the merchant navy and the cotton trade.

It is also said that Snatchems has been something of a smuggers pub as well. Boats would make their way from smuggling ships along the Lune in the darkness and attempt to land goods without paying the appropriate customs.

It is said that Snatchems does have a mystery room – a small area behind the bar. Could this have been used for smuggling?

Such trips were not without risk. In addition to the risk of being caught by the law (and perhaps a trip in front of one of Lancaster’s infamous hanging judges any would-be smuggler would have to make it across the dangerous sandbanks.

Hauntings

Is Snatchems haunted? Paranormal commentators have suggested that possible ghosts for The Golden Ball would be either that of a smugger or perhaps someone who died in a press gang gone wrong.

There have been reports of cold spots in the kitchen and of pans flying off the table. The pub’s attic is a foreboding place in which some sensitive people feel they’re not welcome.

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3. The Judges’ Lodgings: home of witch-hunter Thomas Covell

Lancaster’s Maritime Museum was designed by the famous Richard Gillow and initially opened as a Custom House in 1764. The building is one of the Georgian collection in St George’s Quay and alongside buildings once owned by the Quaker slaver Dodshon Foster.

By 1801 there were 76 ships supporting by the port, all of which would have made use of the Customs House and which represented some 13,996 tons of trade.

Exports were often manufactured goods from Manchester and Glasgow. Imports included sugar, coffee, cotton, rum and mahogany from the West Indies and other colonies.

The Martine Museum hosts Halloween events. The 2009 schedule promises Spooky Ships and Mysterious Mariners.

Hauntings

The old Custom House is a significant building for Lancaster mariners of old and may be one of those places that sailors who died at sea return too. Could sailors like Thomas Woodhouse, who died at sea in 1805 at the age of 47,

There’s also the story of the Wennington. The Wennington was the first iron ship to be built at Lancaster, it was built by the Lune Shipbuilding Company and launched in March 1865. In January 1878, with Captain Sterwood in command, it sailed from Samarang, Indonesia, was seen at the end of the month passing through the Bali Straits and was never seen again. In this case Bali is an Indonesian island but it is also fun to note that the word “Bali” is synonymous with King Bali, one of the Asura, or demons.

Needless to say there’s also the chance of angry ghosts of slaves who may have been mistreated or killed in the maritime museum back when it was the customs house or in St George’s Quay.

In Pure Spirit

What do you think? Is there any evidence that the martime Museum is haunted or is death by sea a stretch too far even for believers in the paranormal?

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The Three Mariners Inn is a popular and historic pub. It’s notable for having a gravity-fed cellar. In the Three Mariners the cellar is above the pub, this means the casks need to be hefted upstairs but it means the beer and ale flows naturally downwards.

The pub is old, perhaps one of the oldest in the city. Before the name Three Mariners it was known as the Carpenter’s Arms; both names likely derive from the pub’s proximity’s to the River Lune and the ship’s carpenters or mariners who may have visited the building since the 13th century.

The pub stands on the cobbled remains of Bridge Lane – a road that would have been very busy until the New Bridge was built in 1788. Even today the pub enjoys a pleasant spot in Lancaster and is near popular tourist attractions such as Maritime Museum, the Priory, Lancaster Castle and the Judges’ Lodgings.

In its 600 year history the pub would have seen Henry VIII close the priory, the trial of the Pendle witches, the burning of Penny Street in 1643 during the civil war, the imprisonment of George Fox – founder of the Quakers – in the nearby castle, the construction of Penny’s hospital, Dalton Square, the Corvell Cross, the Buck Ruxton murders and so much more.

Unfortunately for the pub, the name Three Mariners made the news in 2006 after a vicious murder in the nearby underpass.

Hauntings

It is said that the Three Mariners is haunted. The popular story is that the ghost is in the toilets but people have reported sudden drops in temperatures and strange noises in the cellar as well.

In Pure Spirit

Have you been inside the Three Mariners? Love to hear what you thought of the pub. Do you think it’s haunted?

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3. The starved ghost of Ashton Hall

The Ashton Memorial was built by the Oilcloth King; James Williamson. The Oilcloth King got his nickname from the vast empire and fortune he amassed from his oilcloth and linoleum empire. Williamson was so successful that, at one point, he employed nearly a quarter of Lancaster’s workforce. When he was made sheriff he threw a breakfast party to some 10,000 workers.

In architectural terms the Ashton Memorial is a folly – it is a building constructed purely for decoration. In fact, Baron Ashton began construction of the memorial between 1907 and 1909 in memory of his second wife; Jessie Ashton.

The Memorial is sometimes used as a wedding venue today and local authorities have run ghost story nights for local families.

The Ashton Memorial is part of Williamson Park and is an open neighbour to Lancaster Moors and the horrible Gallow’s Hill. In fact, the view from Ashton Memorial is so good it is said that it is sometimes possible to see the Isle of Man or Blackpool Tower.

Hauntings and History

Until 1800 Gallow’s Hill was where condemned prisoners were taken from Lancaster Castle to be hanged. The judges of Lancaster sentenced so many people to the noose that they became known as the Hanging Judges.

The Ashton Memorial is used as a ghost story venue for reason – some people suggest it is still haunted by the spirits of those hanged here or even perhaps one of the Williamson family.

The moors also saw the death of the Lancaster Martyrs. In the religious conflict of the English Reformation priests where hanged, drawn and quartered. There are 15 catholic martyrs who met their gruesome end in the moors; including martyrs who later became saints.

Their names are; Blessed James Bell, Blessed John Finch, Blessed Robert Nutter, Blessed Edward Thwing, Blessed Thurstan Hunt, Blessed Robert Middleton, Venerable Lawrence Bailey, Blessed John Thules, Blessed Roger Wrenno, Sir Edmund Arrowsmith, Blessed Richard Hurst, Saint Ambrose Barlow, Blessed Edward Bamber, Blessed John Woodcock and Blessed Thomas Whittaker.

Each of the Lancaster Martyr stories are grim. Blessed Thomas Whittaker, for example, was witness to Edward Bamber’s hanging and then John Woodcock’s botched hanging – where the rope broke the first attempt and he was hung again and butchered alive – was given the chance to recant his faith in order to save himself and he refused. Little wonder that people sometimes sense the presence of a holy man or total hatred on the moors.

In Pure Spirit

Have you walked in Williamson Park or spent any time at the Ashton Memorial? Did you detect any sort of ghostly presence? Do you think so much death and murder in the name of religion could have effected the countryside around the memorial?

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The Judges’ Lodgings take their name from the courts of Lancaster Castle. The current castle and priory were founded by Roger de Poitou in 1086 (the same man responsible for the founding of Ashton Hall).

The Castle hosted the Assize Courts and was responsible for many trials. These courts became infamous for handing out more death sentences than any other Court in England outside of London. The Assize Courts only happened twice a year, prisoners would be stuck in tiny cells for months, sharing with others, but between 1776 and 1975 the judges would stay in the building now known as the Judges’ Lodgings.

It is said that the Judges Lodgings are the oldest town house in Lancaster and is a Grade 1 listed building. It is currently a museum and has a fantastic collection of gorgeous Gillow furniture as well as a Museum of Childhood which has toys and games dating back to the 1700s.

It wasn’t always the Assize Judges who stayed in the building, though. Perhaps the most famous lodger was none other than the feared witch-hunter Thomas Covell who played a key roll in the Pendle Witch affair.

Thomas Covell stayed in the Judges’ Lodgings between 1590 and 1638. He had many responsibilities; Keeper of the Lancaster Castle, Country Magistrate and Coroner. It was his role as Keeper of Lancaster Castle that meant he was responsible for the interrogation, imprisonment and execution of anyone sentenced to death during his time. The Assize Courts did not reserve the death sentence just for murderers. Forgers were also commonly sentenced to death. Little wonder that they became known as The Hanging Judges of Lancaster.

In 1612 the Pendle Witches were arrested and it was Thomas Covell who held them until their trial began. The judges at the trial were Sir James Altham and Sir Edward Bromley. The prosecutor was a local magistrate called Roger Nowell and it was Nowell who had collected a number of the statements and confessions from the accused witches.

Thomas Covell was not well liked. Records indicate that one of his contemporaries described him as “a beastly man”.

In Pure Spirit

The Judges’ Lodges are open to the public. Have you been inside? Would you recommend it?

What about ghost or psychic phenomena? There’s so much associated with the Pendle Witches that it is surprised there are so few tales of haunting and ghosts?

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Picture by Kate Chandler/The Scotsman

John Ritchie, author and historian, admitted the debate, “It is a crude carving, quite primitive, but I have never seen anything like it in my life. It has a whole series of symbols on it and the symbols are very interesting.

“The symbols at the bottom look like Viking sun compasses, while the dials at the top look a little bit like a Celtic cross but with notches carved on them.”

David Connolly, of Connolly Heritage Consultancy, told The Scotsman that; “It is a significant site because it was the Templar Preceptory for Scotland. I think from the condition, it may once have been set inside the church – which was once much bigger,”

“He could be a Templar, he could be a Hospitaller, he could just be a knight who wanted to be buried there – but the heraldry is like nothing anyone has seen before.”

Connolly believes the stone may have been carved in the 13th or 14th century.

However, the historian Michael Turnbull was more sceptical. He told the newspaper that he did not think the find was significant; “There were certainly Templars there but this might be a fake,” he said.

The stone was discovered by Crispin Phillips as he worked to renovate a house beside The Old Parish Church. He was repairing an old wall which was beginning to fall into the graveyard when he unearthed the stone among the foundations.

The plan is to compete the rebuilding of the 17th-century graveyard wall but to leave an opening or arch to allow scholars to further examine the stone.

Treasure in Temple

The remains of an abbey founded by the Templars can be found in Temple. The building was placed on lands granted to the Templars by King David I of Scotland in 1127.

The Templars were famously rich knights. Many believe it was their wealth that led to their downfall as some of the royalty of Europe and the Catholic Church turned against them. The Templars are also credited with the early invention of international banking as they used credit notes to allow the easy transfer of wealth between people and support the vast sums of gold they had hidden elsewhere.

It is believed that some of this gold was hidden in Scotland. An old Temple legend suggests that some of this treasure is buried in the village. The only clue is an old rhyme, “Twixt the oak and the elm tree/You will find buried the millions free.”

In Pure Spirit

Do you think the stone is significant? A fake or perhaps another clue in the great Templar mystery?

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