Peterborough Museum
Date - Sat 4th Aug 2007
Location - Museum
Group Info - We attended as part of another group who had a variety of expertise
Team Info - Laura and Mark
Introduction:
Peterborough Museum is a location that has come to prominence in the headlines over the past two years, with many reports of alleged paranormal occurrences being made, these events being observed at all times, day and night.
With a free weekend coming up, we both decided to join the ‘Dead Haunted Nights’ event at the museum – a company run by ex Scream Team and Most Haunted investigator, Phil Whyman, and to have a closer look at the location ourselves.
Attempting to communicate with spirits in the Lab at the top of the museum later on during the investigation |
We arrived at the museum at 8pm, to find that the rest of the group had already assembled inside and started introductions etc - being the last in was like being back at school and late for assembly. This room was a large hall type room being used as the hub (somewhere to keep your belongings and meeting points etc) the group must have consisted of about 25 people so quite a large group.
Anyway, after about 10 minutes of chit chat from the group/team leader we were told we would tour the building first with the museum worker (S) whom has a wealth of knowledge of the location.
At this point I commented to Mark the group was larger than I had expected and didn’t think I would be able to pick anything up tonight (I am easily distracted naturally so therefore I find larger groups a little off putting for me).
Few minutes later I noticed a guy sat three rows in front to the left of us in a red t-shirt, I turned and said to Mark "He has something" (meaning some kind of ability) The trying to work out what it is I thought possibly Healing and left it at that thought no more about it.
We toured the building the only place that really stood out to me at this point was the cellar. Whilst in the room in the far end, we were in there several minutes when I said to Mark "I think there used to be a tunnel leading from here to a local church originally" (the cellar seemed too small to me).
Myself and Mark were stood in the doorway of this room with 2 other people (P) & (S), whilst here the guide went through some history of the cellar etc to me he seemed distant as I was distracted by the hallway corridor outside the doorway I felt as though someone was watching then I saw what I can only describe as a shadowy like misty figure go from left to right of the hallway/passageway getting smaller in size as it went.
This I didn't think much more about apart from the fact it could have just been my imagination and that it would be interesting to see what if anything we get when we go back down there for vigil placements later on.
We went back to hub after tour to be divided to groups and arrangements as to where we were going etc and when. whilst waiting I remember saying to Mark "the lady two rows in front with the red and white top will pick something up tonight" (madness it sounds I know but I can tell by people’s eyes if they have abilities or not and I saw something in this lady's eyes).
Team Member (V) grouped people together for the teams. First was me and Mark, two other members one male and one female (father and daughter) along with two females in front of them (one being the lady in the red & white top) And one other male (the guy in red top ) for me personally I was pleased with the group arrangements so far, feeling comfortable with these people.
Our Team
Mark and Me
Male with Daughter. Him (T) Her (B)
Two lady's (not sure of names sorry) 1st Lady in red & white top / 2nd Lady
Male (red t-shirt) M
Team Leaders changed throughout the night so will add those as we go.
After the recording thing, we sat for another five minutes or so when I picked up on a male, a porter, by the name of Harry, nothing else with this just that.
After a little while more we decided to move to the last room in the cellar we had not been The mannequin room, we must have sat in this room for about ten to fifteen minutes until our vigil time in the cellar area was up we didn't pick anything up in this room at all so we left to return to the hall/hub for a break and arrangements for where we are to go next.
2nd Vigil - Ground Floor (team leader D)
We started in the shop at the main entrance area, in here I felt nothing to report although we sat in here for about twenty minutes or so before we all agreed to move to another area. We moved up the hallway towards the main staircase with a quick wander around the rooms as we passed. Once at the staircase (D), (T) & (B) sat on the staircase (M) took pictures from the bottom of staircase 2 ladies stood to the right of the bottom of the staircase with myself and mark more in the hallway near the staircase.
After about ten minutes I started to pace back and forth and went to check out the rooms alone feeling nothing apart from the kitchen room smelling like a butchers with sawdust and everything. I walked back to the staircase to join the others again stood at the bottom of the staircase for a few minutes when I heard someone say in a female voice the name "Ann" I then said aloud I had just been given the name ANN of a female with some connection to the stairs.
At this point the group above on the first floor started to get a little loud which I found distracting and couldn’t pick up on anymore. After a few more minutes getting a little restless again I left the group and went into the gallery alone again felt nothing so rejoined group again feeling nothing back at the staircase
I asked Mark if he wanted to try sitting in the gallery for a while see if we could get something in there he was willing, so off we went we sat in there for about five minutes just as the light had gone off several other members had had the same idea and followed us in.
Team Leader V
The group decided to split and go and do their own thing and meet back up for the last half hour or so to do something as a group again.
| We started in the shop area. We tried sitting there for a while to see if we could get anything. After about five minutes I guess, being sat there, we were joined by M. We tried calling out etc to see if we could get any responses but there was nothing. |  |
We sat with M for a further 10 minutes before we were joined by V. At this point I said to Mark why don’t we give it another five minutes and then try moving to another area, to which he agreed. The only thing I picked up from here was the fact that the area should be more open and structurally, this area has been changed.
From here we went to what I call the ‘Children’s Room’. As soon as I walked in, I picked up several children in the room with us. We were then quickly joined again by M. We sat on the right side of the room, behind some dividing screens.
During the whole time we sat there, I could not get the idea of these children out of my head, even seeing in my mind a picture of several children in the area playing. We tried calling out and asking questions etc but at the time, without checking audio, no response.
I then tried a little experiment with an object (pritt stick - the only thing I could find!) and asked the spirits to try and move the object for us. After around fifteen minutes V asked if we wanted to join the rest of the team for a séance, so we joined the rest of group on the other side of the screens, in the same room, near the cabinet with the sword.
At this point we learnt that several of the people in the group had never done a séance before. Throughout the séance I felt like the people that I had picked up on earlier in the other areas, especially in the cellar area, were connected to the spirits trying to communicate with us in the séance. Two females amongst our group came over very emotional throughout the séance and there were cold and tingly feelings reported also by other members of the team.
All in all, it was quite interesting. We continued with the séance until our time ran out on this level, then returned to the hub for a break before our last’ planned area’ of the night.
Level 3 - Team Leader V
We started our investigation of the top floor by commencing in the room with the coffin. Mark and myself sat in this room on our own for a while. Like before, the group agreeing to split do their own thing then meet up near the end for a group vigil.
Apart from having my hair played with and getting ‘April’ (I’m not sure if this is a name of a woman – I felt it was definitely a woman, or whether ‘April’ was significant with an anniversary related to the female). After about fifteen minutes, we were joined by V. who sat with us for a while.
I kept trying to get a connection with the lady, but after endless calling out I just couldn't manage it. Time seemed to be running away fast on this one and soon the rest of the group came in to rejoin us for the last vigil before I had a chance to go out onto the stairway to see if could pick anything up there.
 | V. and the rest of the group started a séance, so Mark and myself went out to the stairway to see if I could pick anything up. We were out there about five minutes but I was unable to pick anything up, so we decided to rejoin rest of the group. |
V. and the rest of the group started a séance, so Mark and myself went out to the stairway to see if I could pick anything up. We were out there about five minutes when we decided to rejoin rest of group.
As we went back up the stairs to exit the door to the main corridor, Mark went first and, as I followed him closely, I sort of stumbled at the doorway thinking that there was another stair to climb. As we came out of the door, I was still feeling a little confused as to where the ‘step’ had gone. I actually felt as if my head had took a ‘whack’ - my forehead felt like I had been head butted or something, this is the only way I could describe it at the time. And still now, even thinking back to the events that night, that's the best way I can describe it.
We joined the rest of the group, who were already started into the séance. I joined the circle whilst Mark left the room to retrieve his torch that he had left on the stairway. Shortly after joining, I started to pick up on some things - people related to the house etc. (spirits). I would estimate that the vigil must have lasted for about twenty minutes.
This level, for me, was interesting, although not much majorly happened.
From here, we again returned to the hub, where we would take another break before having an hour free time to go and investigate where ever we liked in the museum.
Top Floor - Team leader V
After spending the majority of our time in the large room containing the coffin barrow in it (is only way can remember).
I didn’t pick up much in this room really, only a name and date. We then moved to the back staircase area, where we sat for a short time, but still nothing major came through, just a few strange feelings on leaving there, but that’s it.
From there, we joined the rest of the group in the coffin barrow room again for another séance. Again, like before, I did pick up on some information and feelings that related to the location and that I had felt or picked up upon earlier on in the evening.
Once finished here we went back to hub once again for our final break and then on to our free time, where we were able to go to whatever area in the building of our own choice.
Free time
This time no Team Leaders were present, as we were pretty much given free rein to do as we pleased for the final session. We worked our way through different rooms, over different floors, to try and pick something up, but to no avail.
 | We finished the night up on the top floor, joined by Team Leader D, who had joined us earlier whilst we were attempting to make contact with spirit using a glass (glass divination). D didn't join the circle but observed from the side of the room. |
Attempting to make contact using glass divination
When D. had joined up with our group, I had started to try saying aloud some of the things that I had picked up on previously throughout the evening, to see if, maybe, it would help with contact.
Whilst doing this, D seemed surprised at some of the things I was saying and asked if I had been here before, to which I replied no. He then confirmed most of the information I had got and seemed a little more interested in sticking with us for a while.
From here, we moved to the back staircase area to try with the glass again, but again with no contact being made. We then all agreed that we would try one last attempt with the glass in the cold fan room, opposite the coffin barrow room.
Once settled, we tried sitting for a short while before attempting the glass divination experiment, to see if maybe we could build the energy up any more. Again we tried making contact with the glass and nothing happened, except for something that I personally picked up, connected to one of the members in the small group there. I kept this information to myself at the time, trying to make sense of it. To be honest, I have never had information for someone like this before and I wasn't sure what I should do with the information. I mean, if I was right, all well and good, but if I was wrong I could be setting myself up for a fall and I don’t trust myself enough, so if I did this and was wrong, my trust is gone. Anyway, with my dilemma, the information seemed to keep going over and over in my head I decided what the hell, go for it and give the information and see what happens. The person accepted all of the information I gave and I think that they were as surprised as me. I thought that this was a pretty good way to finish off the evening.
To be honest, this was a great place, with a great bunch of people and I can’t wait to go back sometime.
My bit about this place
I just wanted to add a little foot note to my report.
This place, for me, was a great location for many different reasons, the main one, I guess, being the fact that I didn’t feel like this place was really a museum the whole time we were there, but more of a grand house.
I liked the layout and felt very relaxed there and guess that’s why I opened up and managed to get some good checkable information whilst there.
The main highlight for me, with this place, was that final piece of personal information that I was able to pass on for that team member and with them being able to accept the information, this was a big bonus for me. This place has helped, I feel, with my development of my sensitive ability's.
Laura xx
Mark’s Report:
My brief summary is more of supplement to Laura’s report above, who has covered the events of the evening in detail. The investigation provided us with over six hours of audio for analysis, along with numerous photographs and proved to be a very enjoyable evening, that was made more interesting with the information that Laura picked up during the investigation, some of which was confirmed as correct by the curator (S.) on the night.
The most interesting moment, for me at least, was during the pre-investigation tour when I observed a most unusual shadow at the end of the entrance corridor, that was also spotted by Laura independently and referred to in her report above.
Comparing notes afterwards, it was clear that we had managed to observe the same shadow along with its actions, the only difference being that I saw it more as a misty brown shadow as to a darker version seen by Laura.
Overall a very good investigation where we made many new friends.
Mark.