| Investigation Content |
|---|
| Darlington Civic Theater |
| Stage Area |
| Auditorium |
| Dressing Room 12 |
| The Fly-Pit |
| All Pages |
{rokbox title=|Darlington Civic Theater|}images/stories/locations/DarlingtonCivicTheater/Darlington_Civic_Theater.jpg{/rokbox}The Darlington Civic Theater or the then New Hippodrome & Palace of Varieties was formally opened on Monday September 2 1907. Its first Managing Director was Signor Rino Pepi, an Italian ex patriot who was originally a quick-change artist (or protean) and impersonator, whose love of theatre took him into a management career.
... Head over to Haunted UK for a review of the general history and haunted history of the Darlington Civic Theater. Alternatively, use the table of contents to view the reports for each location.
... Head over to Haunted UK for a review of the general history and haunted history of the Darlington Civic Theater. Alternatively, use the table of contents to view the reports for each location.
Stage Area
The stage area stood - obviously - in front of the main Auditorium and was separate by a large heavy safety curtain.
On stage were a few background sets from the current Pantomime that was taking place at the Civic Theatre at the time of our investigation - namely a set of elaborate steps which dominated center stage. We added a medium sized table to the setting to be used for both Ouija and Table Tipping.
There was access to backstage on both of the wings and groups needed to be mindful of the fly-pit above - another location on the night - which would be occupied by another group.
Group 1 Report : Jay Claire Various Guests
The was our location immediately after the mid-investigation break and the theatre took a little time to settle.
Joining us in this location was Peter - the general floor manager of the location - who had previously experienced good results on the stage with Glass Divination's and Table Tipping (hence why we'd set the table up here).
We started with a glass divination and set about just trying to encourage any spirits present to just move the glass. And it did. It moved around the table quite smoothly. Although we attempted to explain the rules of the game - move this direction for a 'Yes' and that direction for a 'No' - nothing sensical came out of the experiment .. Merely a glass moving around the table.
We put the glass aside and moved straight onto table tipping hoping to get more of a direct communication. The table almost immediately began vibrating and rocking ever so slightly. At times the rocking would become more violent and at one point it lurched up onto one leg - the participants fearing it was about to tip right over. Fortunately, it soon righted itself.
After these two episodes, we never had much time left remaining for anything else and nothing else was reported.
Group 2 Report : Carol Julie Karl Lisa James Sharon
On this particular location/vigil we were joined by Bekki our resident NGI sensitive.
We carried out a seance, using the Ouija board - Carol declined this and just took notes.
The name Olga came through, who it appeared died at the age of 80. It seemed this person was a narrator of some sort at the theatre, and another spirit came through with the name Jimmy. When asked if he was a friend or keeping Olga company, the answer was no he was not.
At around 12.34 a.m. what appeared to be stones being thrown at the near by safety curtain was heard by ALL of the group. Mark, from another group, also heard this and was at the other side of the curtain in the Auditorium at this point, shouted through if that was us making that noise. When it was realised that this wasn't the case, that no-one was responsible for the stone throwing, it was deemed unexplainable and worthy of note.
Apart from that particular incident, nothing else was felt.
Group 3 Report : Mark Phil Tracy Sharon Margaret
Mark 'called out' but achieved no response – not even anything that could have been filed in the “maybe” section.
A flash of light was seen at the bottom of the metal safety curtain with no obvious source except possibly the flash of somebody’s camera in the Auditorium. Mark, Tracy and Sharon took turns calling out to see if the light would reappear which it did.
Mark went out into the auditorium to see if they had been using flash photography. It turned out that they had, so it was suggested that they wait 60 seconds then take another photo to see if the flash would show under the safety curtain. The light did return, so this was deemed to be the explanation.
The rest of the vigil passed without incident.
... Head over to Haunted UK for a review of the general history and haunted history of the Darlington Civic Theater. Alternatively, use the table of contents to view the reports for each location.
Auditorium
The Auditorium of the theatre spreads over 3 levels with most seats, as can be expected, on the ground level. The highest level of the Auditorium looked down sharply on the stage which, on this night, was closed off with a heavy safety curtain so that a group investigating the stage area would not interfere with those in the Auditorium.
Flanking the stage at both sides, and accessible via a curtained off set of stairs, were private boxes - one of which was Senoir Pepe's own personal box.
Group 1 Report : Jay Claire Various Guests
This was our final location of the night and decided to spread ourselves out wide across the auditorium in groups of two.
Before this though - a couple of the group seemed to think they could make out two human shapes sat in one of the boxes which overlooked the stage (not Pepe's box). Jay and Claire entered the box to investigate. They both sat for a while and conversed with the people below to try to see if the shapes could still be seen. On further investigation - Jay found a small light source which seemed to be responsible for casting a 'human shaped' dim light on the back of the wall. Mystery solved!
As we spread out through the auditorium we intermittingly called out for any spirits that may have been present but got no noticable results.
Group 2 Report : Carol Julie Karl Lisa James Sharon
James and Sharon conducted their investigation on ground level of the Auditorium/ front stage area. Karl, Lisa and Carol conducted their investigation in the stalls, circle and box areas above. Julie remained in the middle of the Auditorium, seated in a seat that has a reputation for paranormal activity.
A temperature reading of 20.9c was recorded for this particular site. Julie on a personal level felt nothing around this area of note.
For their vigil Carol, Lisa and Karl sat in the viewing box area on the left hand side of the Auditorium. This is the area where the owner Pepi would sit during performance nights.
Halfway into the vigil after a period of calling out, Lisa who was sat on a chair near the exit door of the box, complained of feeling 'very' sick and being extremely cold. Carol took another temperature reading at this point, it read as 24.2.c. Lisa at this point left the location and sat outside of the box area. Karl then sat on the same chair as Lisa (so did Carol later) but nothing was felt by either of them.
From there Lisa, Karl and Carol proceeded up into the top half of the Auditorium - the cheap seats/stalls.
While they sat, Karl heard footsteps as if someone was coming up the stairs at the back of the theatre. They went to investigate, but no-one was there. Lisa was sat a bit further away from us, and Carol asked her if she wanted to have a go at using the pendulum. After a few minutes she again felt very unwell, and couldn't carry on with the pendulum exercise - again the feeling of nausea and extreme coldness had returned to her, at this point she had to leave the location.
Carol, Lisa and James then ventured down towards the stage area, where James and Sharon were. Nothing was felt around this area of note. The end of the vigil and we moved on to our next location.
Group 3 Report : Mark Phil Tracy Sharon Margaret
The group was sat in Pepe's Box talking about the ghosts that are supposed to haunt the place. Tracy's legs and ankles suddenly feel cold. Phil also says that he feels very cold. Phil then sees a streak of light flash across the curved ceiling, something similar to what we had witnessed on our initial pre-visit to the place. (Later experiments show that a torch light reflecting off the glass covered paintings at the rear of the dress circle produce exactly the same effect, so we can probably put this down to this).
Mark then takes a series of photos at 2 second intervals from Pepe’s box out across the auditorium. The series seems to show a variety of orbs. One in particular orb seems to be moving across the auditorium from right to left (although there is no way to know if this is the same orb, it does look like it). What is interesting about this orb is that usually when you take a picture of one it will not be there in the next photo, as they are usually bits of dust/moisture that have to be a certain distance from the camera to show up in the flash. This orb seemed to hang around. Phil also managed to capture this orb on his camera phone as the same time as Mark was taking his own pictures but from a different angle.
At 12.34am the group is still in Pepes box when what can only be described as a hand full of gravel is heard being forcefully thrown into the metal safety curtain. My group assumes that it is another group who are carrying out a vigil on the other side of the screen. During the mid investigation break it is revealed that the other group had heard the sound and thought it was us. This still remains a mystery. Mark and Phil made a thorough investigation of the area during the break and no sign of gravel or anything else that could account for the noise was found.
The group explored the rest of the Auditorium, tried sitting in the 'Haunted Seat' and went up to 'the Gods', but nothing else of interest was reported.
... Head over to Haunted UK for a review of the general history and haunted history of the Darlington Civic Theater. Alternatively, use the table of contents to view the reports for each location.
Dressing Room 12
Hidden away through a maze-like warren of corridors was Dressing Room 12 - a part of the Theatre which was later built on top of slum houses.
The room was medium sized and consisted of mirrors along the length of 2 parralel walls and within the center of the room we arranged a number of chairs into a small circle.
Group 1 Report : Jay Claire Various Guests
The dressing room at first seemed disappointing. It was in this room where we had been informed a small girl usually showed up and had regularly communicated with people. We tried a little calling out and a couple of people attempted to scry in the mirrors but sadly for us .. nothing (although somebody did get a little freaked with the scrying - nothing paranormal really).
Until, that is - about half way through our vigil - we began a Ouija session with everyone sitting in a circle around the central table. Although the Ouija produced nothing but gibberish - one of the participants suddenly said she felt could on her right hand side - and felt as though somebody was standing right behind her. If so, we encouraged whoever that was to move around the table so others could feel the presence.
We let go of the Ouija and all held hands and started a small seance. Again, this cold presence was reported at the shoulder and then others began to feel a coldness creep around the circle. Jay and Claire who were sat next to each other both reported each others hand who they were holding go icey cold.
At one point, Claire left the circle and exited the room to check the corridor after a noise had been heard out there. Jay carried on leading the seance. From outside, Claire shouted that she was hearing a knocking sound - but it only happened when Jay was talking.
Everyone else left the dressing room - leaving Jay by himself in the darkness to continue calling out and Claires report was confirmed - Each time Jay was actually talking and calling out there were small tap-taps on one of the outside walls of the dressing room which fell silent when he did.
Group 2 Report : Carol Julie Karl Lisa James Sharon
After a little while of adjusting to the surroundings, Carol began calling out. Four of us were seated around a table which was in the middle of the room. Lisa was sat facing a mirror, which had a Plasma Ball near by.
Lisa suddenly felt the presence of a little girl looking over her shoulder. Lisa could see the reflection/image of the little girl - who she thought looked about 7 years of age, in the mirror in front of her.
Carol took a temperature reading on the mirror wall, and it read 15.3c. She called out to the little girl but no response, so she asked if Lisa would do the honours, seeing as she was the only person in the room who had a connection with this particular spirit.
Sadly Lisa was too scared, and wanted to move and stop facing the mirror. I took Lisa's place but sadly I could not see anything in the mirror, along with Karl who also saw nothing.
It has to be borne in mind, that Lisa's Father had passed away a few weeks back, which may of accounted for some of her experiences this night. Although Lisa said she never classed herself as sensitive to spirit before this, it did appear that the death of her Father brought these feelings to the fore, especially regarding the Auditorium and this location.
Unfortunately, Lisa and Karl left halfway into the vigil and went home, so therefore missed out on the last location.
Group 3 Report : Mark Phil Tracy Sharon Margaret
The group sits down at the table and attempts to do a Ouija Session. This proves fruitless. All the group at this point are feeling a bit deflated and sit around chatting about the paranormal in general.
All of a sudden the temperature in the rooms seems to drop suddenly and the whole atmosphere seems to change and become 'more heavy'. It is then decided to try the Ouija board once more. Almost immediately the planchette responds by moving to 'yes' when asked if there is a spirit with us.
Mark and one of the guests distinctly feel a cold draft blow across their hands whilst touching the planchette. When asked if the spirit is a girl, the planchette responds by pointing to 'yes'. When asked 'her' age, the planchette points to 8. When asked to spell out 'her' name the planchette points to 'H' and then 'U'. The 'girl' seemed to be a happy soul who enjoyed coming to watch the other children in the dressing room through the mirrors.(note: Other than the fact she is a young girl, this information does not match with the the stories of the girl that is supposed to be present in dressing room 12).
The session was then interrupted by Margaret claiming that she had been prodded in her back through the open back of the chair she was sat on. No EMF recorded and photos of the area showed nothing unusual.
The Ouija session was then continued with the planchette moving to the latter 'W' when asked to spell her name again. When asked her age again the planchette moved to 9 this time instead of 8.
The atmosphere had gradually turned back to how it had been before and there was no more response from the board.
(Note from Mark: Up until this point I have never had any success with a Ouija Board. I am as certain as I can be that none of the participants were knowingly moving the planchette and I studied their fingertips closely. We also took turns at removing each of our fingers fro the planchette as it was moving and it continued to move. There was also a time when none of the guests had their fingers on the planchette (just Phil and I), and it still continued to move. All in all, a very interesting experience).
The rest of the vigil was uneventful.
... Head over to Haunted UK for a review of the general history and haunted history of the Darlington Civic Theater. Alternatively, use the table of contents to view the reports for each location.
The Fly-Pit
Up above the stage area was the Fly-Pit - an area of the theatre were the various background displays that were suspended by thick ropes, would be hauled into place when needed.
The area itself consisted of two narrow corridor like rooms - separated by a metal door - with the further of the two being the actual fly-pit which looked out over the stage and was approximately 40 foot above the stage.
This part of the fly pit was were we spent most of our time and contained small work-desks and of course, the ropes holding the background sets tied up against the railings.
Group 1 Report : Jay Claire Various Guests
This was our first location of the night. We all gathered in the second of the two rooms which made up the Fly-Pit and after a little while in letting the location (and the stage below) to settle we began our vigil.
Sadly, emergency lights in the Fly-Pit were bright and in the lighted room (as is usually the case - but it shouldn't make a difference) seemed to effect the atmosphere (it felt perfectly 'normal' being here.
Claire noticed a strange breeze which seemed to be emanating from an area of the fly-pit which shouldn't have a breeze - all the area consisted of was a brick wall with no obvious gaps or windows. There was a window on the side wall but unless the draught was gymnastic it could not produce what was being felt. A couple of people sat in the area and each felt the breeze just tickling the back of their neck. Its entirely possible that another window out of sight existed and was responsible for this breeze.
A photo of the area overlooking the stage was taken on a mobile phone which, upon zooming, seemed to contain a "theatrical mask" of a face. No explanation could be found at the time for this 'face' despite investigation through the night - although comparing it to other photographs in the area it could have just been a co-incidental positioning of the rigging above the stage. Don't quote us on that though!
Group 2 Report : Carol Julie Karl Lisa James Sharon
Sadly, a couple of our group members – Karl and Lisa - had to leave (as it was now getting late) and missed our time in the fly-pit. Fortunately for them, they never missed much.
It felt a bit cooler at the far side of the room as the baseline temperature above indicates. Sharon thought she saw a dark shadow on the end wall area just near the steps leading up to the next level. Sadly the rest of the group didn't witness this as it disappeared from view, and Julie had her video camera pointing the other way at the time. Apart for that, there was no other paranormal (or otherwise activity) present in this particular location.
Group 3 Report : Mark Phil Tracy Sharon Margaret
The groups sits in the flies for a while, before calling out. Nothing is recorded. People try to replicate the 'Ghost Face' picture that everyone has seen in the mid investigation break, but to no avail. All of the group, bar Margaret, ascend into the attic area. There is a slight knocking sound but it is inconclusive.
The rest of the vigil is uneventful.