Supernaturalearth.myfreeforum.org

partoflancs

We were asked to conduct a full investigation at the Royal Court Theatre and compile a report for their web site. The Investigation was conducted on Saturday 12th April 2008. The P.A.R.T. of Lancs members present for this investigation were: Pete Bony, Marlene Bony and Peter Everitt (P.J.), accompanied by their Guest Mediums - Bob and Judith Roby (both highly spoken of Spiritual Mediums). The team were also accompanied by various members of the theatre staff as independent observers. The team members and observers split into two groups and compared notes at the conclusion of the investigation, this report is a combination of their notes.

The Circles Seating Area: One of the main things noticed by team members and observers was the noticeable sound of the "shuffling of many feet" as if people were preparing for a theatre performance. Several team members stated that they saw the shapes of people moving about in various parts of the seating area. Another thing of note was that most people present (both team members and observers) felt that they were being watched. Marlene picked up on a lady called "Kitty" moving near the stair and relayed this to P.J. who noted that this was accompanied by a "bitter cold breeze circling us" at the time.

Judith reported that a man (in spirit) had come close to her and touch her on her left shoulder. He gave the name of "Mr. Jackson" and said that he had once owned the theatre! He was a portly man who was quite short and wore a three piece suit and a pocket watch. He spent some time moving around as if he was just watching what we were doing. At the same time I could see other men dressed in top hats and tails as well as a man who had a chain of office round his neck. Judith commented that "I felt as if I was a part of the audience at a show from the past".

The Paint Room: Judith felt the strong presence of children. Their energies were amusing and childlike, they were peering round the door at us. She also felt the presence of a man who was dressed in a leather apron and started to feel very dry in the mouth. At this time several members and observers commented that they could all smell grease, the type used with machinery, and they also sensed people "moving amongst them".

When Marlene and P.J. were in the paint room one of the observers with them asked them to try "calling out" for spirits to draw near (something that our team do not normally do, but we were willing to try on this occasion). After just a short while of "calling" the wall near the door which is painted white and was just visible darkened off as if there was a "black shadow" covering the whole area and 3 different sized lights showed up on the wall for about 3 to 4 seconds. These lights were witnessed by Marlene, P.J. and one of the observers at the same time! This session was halted quite quickly as one of the observers were feeling very uncomfortable in this area and asked to leave.

Corridor Outside the Paint Room: Marlene and P.J. were standing in the corridor with Betty (a theatre observer) when something lit up the end of the corridor outside the paint room. Whatever it was did not seem to have any point of origin nor did it cast any shadows! Accompanying this light was the sound of 4 or 5 heavy footsteps (as if made by someone wearing clogs). The light and the sound of the footsteps stopped just as quickly as they started and were witnessed by both Marlene and P.J. and Betty (the independent observer).

The Upper Seating Area: Marlene reported that she sensed the presence of a young lady called Arrabella who was standing in front of her. At the same time Peter (who was unaware of what Marlene was picking up) mentioned to Bob and Judith that he could "see" a young lady standing in front of Marlene. Shortly after this Peter remarked that he could "smell" smoke and suspected that there had been a fire in the building, Judith corrected him and said that she believed that there had in fact been two fires, one accidental and one started deliberately. Shortly before we left this area a rather "plump stern looking lady was sensed walking up and down the aisle.

The Bar Area: Very little was picked up here except for a feeling of being watched. Trish (another observer) commented that it felt as if there was someone leaning on the back of her chair and was uncomfortable about it and another member of the team "saw" what he believes to be a young child moving behind Judith.

Upper Coffee Bar and Reception Area: We all sat quietly as a group in the here to see what we could pick up. There was the movement of several "spirits" sensed and, coincidentally, at the same time the Infra Red Movement Sensor kept going on and off, even though no-one in the group was moving. Pete "saw" a man pass through the area wearing a heavy dark overcoat and a bowler hat. He was carrying what looked like a "Gladstone Bag". Peter said that believed him to be a doctor.

The Stage Area: Peter spent a few minutes on to the stage accompanied by a member of the theatre staff. While on stage Peter stated that someone had fallen to their death towards the rear left of the stage. The observer was about to comment on this when Peter asked hem not to and if they could go to the "Fly Tower". After several minutes in the Fly Tower Peter pointed out a small area where he felt that the unfortunate person, (who he said was in his mid twenties and was fairly tall) had fallen from.

The Rehearsal Room: Judith went to this room with Bob and Jim Schofield. While in the room Judith "saw" a lady playing the piano. This lady was wearing a long grey skirt and a white blouse with her hair pinned up in a bun. Judith felt as if she were playing a tune to accompany a silent movie. At the same time they all reported seeing several "spirit lights" and heard the shuffling of feet.

Conclusion: As time was catching up with us we had to call an end to the investigation at about 1.00 in the morning as some members had to work the following day. When we relayed all of our findings to the theatre staff the following details were confirmed to us:

1. There had been a man called Mr Jackson who had once owned the theatre.

2. There had in fact been 2 ladies called Kitty who had worked at the theatre in years gone past.

3. The building had once been used as a foundry (which could account for Judith getting a dry throat) and there would almost certainly have been children and machinery in the Paint room area. Many of these would have worn clogs!

4. There had in fact been two fires in the theatre. One was purely accidental but the other was started by children burning bits of paper.

5. There had been an occasion when an elderly member of staff had had a problem with what was suspected to be his heart and a doctor was called. Happily the gentleman concerned made a full recovery!

6. There was a plump, rather stern lady who had worked at the theatre as an usherette. She was known to constantly walk up and down through the aisles making sure that people were "behaving themselves".

7. A young man had been working in the Fly Tower and had slipped. Somehow or other as he fell one of the ropes got caught round his neck. This unfortunate young man died as a result of his fall from the exact spot in the Fly Tower that Peter had pointed out. Several members of the theatre staff have reported seeing the "shadow of someone or something in that area of the Fly Tower".

8. The piano had come from another theatre which was much older than the Royal Court, so it could be that the lady who was playing it was from the other theatre, this will need to be researched.

It is our opinion that there are quite a few different spirits in the Royal Court Theatre, spanning many years and different uses of the building. Due to the time factor we were not able to spend as much time as we would have liked to conducting our investigation due to other commitments the following day, there are many places that we were unable to investigate, all of which will reveal even more history from this historical and very active building. If any paranormal Investigation Teams are looking for a venue to conduct a vigil or an investigation they will most certainly not be dissappointed with a night at the Bacup Royal Court Theatre.

This report was compiled by Pete Bony of The Paranormal Activity Research Team of Lancashire. Please visit our web site at:
http://www.partoflancs.co.uk to read all of our other reports and to sign our guest book.

_________________
Searching for the truth and reporting it honestly!

Blackbird · Joined: 17 Mar 2008 Posts: 119

Great post partoflancs