|
Chillingham Castle ~ England
| ||||||||||||
|
We arrived at the investigation and were met by Rob, our guide for the evening. Immediately, Ollie sensed a lady standing quite close to Rob. When she told him of this, he said it was his Spirit Guide named Helen. Ollie then felt the presence of a small child take her by the hand and attempt to pull her off balance in a playful way. The Castle was the home of the Earls of Grey and is now the family Home of the Wakefields' who are actually in residence and, so as not to inconvenience them, we were taken to only those areas we could access in respect of their privacy. Our first call took us into a spacious well lit room and through a door into a small stepped corridor toward a claustrophobic small holding cell that gave me a feeling of great anguish still trapped within its walls. There was a grid in the floor where bodies, both living and dead, were disposed of and left to rot away. I did not like it in there and felt lifted when the time came to move off.
We headed over to the torture room complete with its tools of persuasion ~ various implements that had been used at one time to torture men, women and children in shameful ways conceived by the darker side of the human psyche. As to be expected, the room had a terrible atmosphere which accompanied a dank smell that seemed to fill the nostrils and stick to ones clothes.
From there, we headed up a very narrow flight of stairs to the oldest part of the castle called the King Edward 1st Room. This room is said to be haunted by a Black Knight. This was a strange room with an atmosphere all of its own. I got the impression of anticipation as though something was waiting to happen because some past business hadn't quite been concluded.
This room was sparsely furnished with a central table complete with high chair and had a balcony running two thirds of the way around the top of the room. Ollie sensed the strong presence of a very evil man enter the room. Rob said his name was John Sage, and during a period of the castle's history, he was the castle torturer. By all accounts, John Sage was a thoroughly nasty individual who indulged himself in a type of work that gave him great job satisfaction. Rob and Sarah were both affected by this unfinished atmosphere and went quite faint, so we decided to come away from it. |
Rob led us into The Great Hall. This was an elegant room filled with all manner of curios and housed a beautiful long central dining table illuminated with candles. This room had a light atmosphere and one of expectance. Period furniture and collectibles peeked out from corners, nooks and crannies which made spending time here a pleasure for us.
Entering a doorway leading off from The Great Hall found us in the family chapel. I personally disliked it and found it to be a pious place of double standards for those that had only paid lip service to compassion when one considers the violent nature the castle once had. It was filled with old wooden benches and pews, had no natural light to speak of and felt very sad and dour in its decor.
Leaving there, down a flight of narrow stairs, we found ourselves in the kitchen/reception room with its huge old fireplace. Various cooking pots and tongues of cast iron hung and warmed themselves around the large open fire burning away merrily in the grate. Centre piece to this great fire was a solid metal grid over which the cooks of the past must have heated and stirred their broth whilst maybe a passing soldier or two craftily dipped their bread when the cooks backs were turned before turning out for the watch. A bit romanticized considering the history of the place but it certainly was a pleasure to warm your hands and backside in front of it.
From there, Rob took his leave and left us making our plans for the night's investigation over hot tea and slices of Parkin cake. It was decided to split into three teams and to let those individuals who wanted to go it alone take off but keep in radio contact at all times with the team on the monitors.
PAGE TWO OF CHILLINGHAM CASTLE (Investigation Team Observations)
BACK TO ARTICLES AND INTERVIEWS
| |||||||||||
