Haunted Tyneside at Halloween
Date 11/11/2003 | Topic: Media
| "There is no mistaking Halloween is one of the scariest nights of the year. So when I agreed to spend the night in a haunted cinema for BBC Tyne I clearly wasn't thinking straight. Of all the places, on all the nights why would you even entertain the notion? I must have been off my rocker."
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Article by Phil Hall for BBC Tyne: November 6th 2003
However, spend the night I certainly did, accompanying Ghost Haunted North East a paranormal investigation team. Frankly, had they not been there, neither would I.
The evening raced off to a promising start when I joined the team for a Halloween meal at the Copthorne Hotel. After a tasty meal and ghost stories from Chairman Dean Maynard, we rushed off to Tyneside Cinema. This was to be our location for the next seven hours.
Our base in the building was a screen in the present cinema that at one time was frequented by monks. Did any of them die there, I thought?
Firmly filing this in my mind under 'BE AFRAID', the task of setting up the equipment began. An elaborate collection of high-spec technology ranging from monitors to motion detectors were placed in predetermined and promising paranormal hotspots including the old projector room. Here was a team who meant business and with years of experience of hunting ghosts under their belt, I felt safe…at least for the moment.
Enter medium Paul Sandbach, who having no (and I mean, NO) previous knowledge about the building, managed to pace its ancient floors and reel off the historic functions of the place and list the people who were associated with it. All information he provided was confirmed by historian Tracy Teasdale - a feat as amazing as it was worrying. This certainly set the tone for the evening.
The hours ticked by, the temperature dropped and my expectations rose. I decided it was time to go and explore by myself. Ten minutes later I was back, having scared myself senseless in the dark creaky corridors and pitch black auditoriums.
Spineless I may be, but I wasn't giving up. Tony Liddell, an author on ghosts of the North East, invited me to join him performing a 'dowsing' in the creepy corridor. Stepping into the passage, I felt a chill - the type that makes all your body hair stand on end - and grew more concerned by the minute. The dowsing method uses a pendulum which swings when a spirit answers interrogative questions, and believe me it swung. Here, we were led to believe, was a tortured soul.
Sounds thrilling? Well yes, but the night was also punctuated by long periods when nothing happened. The team seemed disappointed with what they were experiencing. A few 'orbs' (unusual rings of light to you and me) were caught on camera, which I understand are the traces of a spirit, at that exact moment in time - I even snapped one without realising it.
The mood was deflated when it was time to leave. No ghosts had actually been seen, though some strange things certainly happened.
It was suggested that spiritual energy levels had dropped simply because there were too many people there to hunt (as well as myself there was a camera crew from Sunderland).
I wasn't disappointed though. In fact, I'm relieved. A ghost may not have drifted through a wall, but the professionalism of the team suggests that if it did, they would be more than ready to record the moment for prosperity.
As to the big question: Do I now believe in ghosts? Well, I'm not sure, but some spooky things happened that night which just can't be explained…"
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Article by Phil Hall for BBC Tyne: November 6th 2003
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