THE LOCATION

A short drive eight miles north of Lancaster will take you to the small village of Borwick and Haunted Escapes first visit to the eerie Borwick Hall for a ghost hunt weekend.

Borwick Hall, now a Grade I listed building, was a former grand home dating back as early as the 14th century and is now primarily used as a retreat getaway and conferencing hall. This location from the outside gives a real sense of haunted, the ancient mason work eroded through time, and the small-paned windows that are sure to have had many a person peering out across the beautiful gardens on the estate.

PRE EVENT WALKAROUND

When stepping inside this place, the modern day world is immediately taken away. The ground floor you have the main hall with its dark paneled wooden walls and a huge stone fireplace. Not everything is as it seems here. Behind the walls are not so obvious rooms, the panel room and judges room which are perfect for lone investigations.

On the first floor, you will reach the library and billiards room along with small private bedrooms scattered throughout. Heading further up, the second and third floors have narrow spooky corridors that appear to stretch for longer than they really are, with even more private bedrooms, some of which are named the coffin room and priests’ bedroom.

One thing that massively stands out is the quirkiness of this building, all the floors here are not level, you’ll find nooks, crannies and hidden staircases throughout and this alone gives you a feeling of being lost and vulnerable, a perfect blend to add into the mix for ghost hunting.

Beginning with the opening, we each introduced ourselves one by one. After all, this is a polite way to act when meeting people and spirit for the first time. Spirit is often very receptive to introductions, and this was proved by a K2 EMF meter on the table having a quick flicker of lights.

The female name Sarah, which was sensed on the previous vigil, had made a strong return. It’s not often that I get images of spirit, but I was able to describe the height, build and clothing of Sarah. When describing this to the group, faint knocking could be heard. Some members of the group even felt an unseen presence walking on one side of the room.

As the group were in conversation asking questions about Sarah after describing her, the highlight of the entire evening occurred. Positioned in each corner of the room are two pianos, one which has the key lid open, and the other with the lid down. The piano with the lid down sounded out a keystroke, which was heard by the majority of the group.

Hearing a single key played on the piano is something Haunted Escapes has witnessed only once before at Armley Mills. It’s something that is both fascinating and exciting. Surely this will be a remembering point for those who witnessed this occurrence.

Could this have been Sarah responding to us? As the key lid was closed, and with nobody close enough to interact with the piano, it does make the mind question who played that single key-stroke.

VIGIL THREE

As everyone took a well earned refuel from a tea of coffee, it was soon time for the third vigil.

For this session, I was joined by a co-host who is a professional medium. A séance style investigation for vigil three was in order. This vigil was one on a more personal level. There was plenty of loving and meaningful messages being conveyed to individual members of the group.

Despite the personal theme to this session, everyone in the room was captivated and moved by what they were witnessing.

Once this dowsing rod experiment had passed, the group member returned to the table as we continued to see who else would make themselves known. During a brief conversation, two guests had their emotions toyed with. One feeling sadness and the other feeling angry. With these emotions coming to the forefront, it was a good thing that this was at the end of the session giving everyone a quick five-minute respite for the changeover.

VIGIL TWO

For this vigil, it was to remain on the emotion play for one member of the group. It wasn’t long before a female energy made themselves known. One member of the group felt drawn to the corner of the room, and when they moved to this area, the emotional play began.

As the group continued to call out and question, the person who had moved to the corner of the room had a mood shift. Repeatedly, this person firmly stated, “this is a private conversation, go about your business”. When asking this person to expand on what they were feeling, the response of “I am in a private discussion over here and you should not be listening to us” was voiced.

This strange mood shift continued for quite some time. When the member of the group returned to the table, the mood was soon turning towards one of anger, and the guest was answering questions being asked with language that they said they never use in day-to-day life.

The interesting thing to note, this mood shift into one of anger, happened to someone from the previous group who was sitting in the same chair. Could this have been a spirit who was drawn to females and draping their emotions on them?

VIGIL THREE

Our third vigil had arrived. This vigil was to be a challenge as, for the most part, things had fallen very much silent. After 45 minutes of energy building and different calling out techniques, the silent equipment slowly began to react.

Sadly, to my own disappointment, the next change and final group of the night was about to happen. Even as an experienced ghost hunter, expectations can sometimes be too high. Sometimes, the paranormal world likes to remind you of this too, as it’s not always possible to have a continuous flow of activity.