Borough Hall - Investigation Report

The History Of The Borough Hall

The Headland was founded by the De Brus family in the 12th century and quickly became a major port. From this point on its history has been turbulent, it was the base for the English Fleet during the Scottish Wars and saw action in the First World War.

The Headland of Hartlepool is located on the north-east coast of England on a ridge of limestone with cliffs to the east and south and a steep slope to the harbour on the western side. With a natural bay in the lee of the limestone ridge, it was an ideal haven for shipping.

One of the Headlands most famous historical stories surrounds St Hilda, an English abbess of Whitby and Princess of Northumbria, who joined a convent on the headland and remained there from 649-657AD. The convent was destroyed by the Danes in 800AD yet the legacy of the religious significance of the site remains to this day with St Hilda's Church which dates back to the Norman period taking pride of place on the Headland.

It is perhaps the esoteric significance of the Headland which has spawned so many tales of hauntings. If there is anywhere in the country with more haunted buildings per square mile than the Headland then we at Northern Ghost Investigations have yet to see them.
Borough Hall

Borough Hall

Hartlepool Borough Hall is one of those buildings. Built in 1865 a short walk from St Hilda's Church and falling within the old borders of the convent. However, the Borough Hall has its own history that few are aware of ? even so far as being used as both an open air market and as a roller skating rink in the 1930s!

Not only did the building house the administrative council offices but it also contained a Magistrates court and holding cells for rogues and vagabonds. Many of the cells have been converted to other uses now, but many of the original cell doors remain in place, including the little hatches where the constables would look in on their 'guests', within the building as do many of the barred windows within the cells. A 'hidden' staircase used to transport the prisoners from the cells to the Magistrates court (which remains the same and is now known as the Croft Room).

The Paranormal History Of The Borough Hall

Given the historical nature of the entire headland and the numerous buildings situated there - its little surprise we find tales of paranormal activity within the Borough Hall.

Within the old Mayors room many many strange noises have been heard and recorded over time with nobody ever being able to identify them or to explain their source.

Some noises within the Borough Hall are more identifiable - throughout the building reports of footsteps have been heard even though nobody else has been present in the building itself. Its not sure where these footsteps are heading - perhaps prisoners being led up to the Magistrates? - but what is known is that the footsteps are a common occurance and have been heard by many people.

There are some rooms of the Hall which contain an incredibly heavy atmosphere within them that can make people feel very uncomfortable - again, there is no logical explanation for this atmosphere and no sooner does it come and is felt by people, it drifts away.

With reports of unexplainable smells that waft through the Borough Hall and reports of people being physically pushed by what and whoever roams the hallways at night - the activity within the Hall seems sufficient for the Borough Hall to take its place alongside the other paranormally active locations on Hartlepools Historic Headland.

Borough Hall - Baseline Report

Before every investigation we conduct a thorough examination of the location site to highlight anything within the environment which may interfere or influence with any later investigation through the night. For instance, if there is a railway line nearby which, with the passing of trains throught the night, could cause virbrations in within the location - we'll make sure it's noted down

We also take readings throughout the investigation site (see actual locations) so as to set a baseline which all further readings can be compared againt. At present, we currenly take readings concerning the Temperature, Humidity and of the local Electro-Magnetic Field.

Information Regarding The Borough Hall Investigation

What follows is some general information regarding the investigation at The Borough Hall.

Possible Environmental Influences At The Borough Hall

Borough Hall - The Ballroom

This image is merely a representation of the location and not to be taken as an exact

The ballroom consisted of 2 levels. Firstly, a huge dominating open area in front of a stage and secondly, running around the side of the open area on an upper level was a seating gallery.

There were various rooms adjacent to the ballroom. A pub (our base room), a kitchen area and various storage areas. The stage was curtained off in some areas - a set of 3 heavy curtains at the back and a smaller, lighter curtain on the side.

Baseline Report

Environment Readings

No baseline readings were taken in this location

Group Vigils

What follows are the group vigils that took place in this location.

Note : These vigils are presented purely in Group Order and in no way reflect the order
 in which each group visited the location during the night.

Group 1

NGIers - Jay, Michelle, Carol

Guests - Various

The first location this group visited was the Ballroom, on the first floor of the Headland. -Jay noted that the first room a group visits is often the quietest room of the night. During our time in the Ballroom, members of the group observed and experienced several sensations and occurrences.

Everyone in the group noticed that the aluminium/metal door in the rear of the ballroom on first level rattled quite loudly. During our time in the ballroom, people called out and asked if anyone was intentionally rattling the door. The door did not appear to react to these attempts at communication in a systematic way. Jay noted that wind was likely causing the rattling sound.

While Jay and most members of the group explored the rear of the ballroom, Carol sat on the stage and did some calling out. She noted that she could hear the wind rustling through the curtains to the rear of the state behind her.

The rest of the group explored the upstairs area of the ballroom. While we were upstairs, we heard several sounds. Members of the group heard a bang from the lower level. Jay called out and asked for another bang. No second bang was heard. As members of the group were in the upstairs area, some thought they heard footsteps approaching.

Jay noted that he felt as though there might be something active or present in the right hand corner of the upper level (as you faced the stage). He called out to it. Following this calling out, he noted that it felt like there was a drop in temperature in the area. Several members of the group noted that they felt as though their arms were growing increasingly cold. Jay began to experiences the hee-bee-jee-bees while walking through and standing in the corner area.

As Jay walked back and forth through the corner area, he observed that the rattling of the metal door increased as he approached it. He asked for two loud rattles/knocks on the door; however, the door did not provide corresponding rattles/knocks.

In the meantime, several members of the group were sitting in the rows of seats to the right of the stage (facing the stage) on the upper level. Two members experienced a cold mass passed over them from the left to the right. One of the members thought that she felt something touch her on her shoulder. Initially, she thought it was one of her friends but the friend assured her that she did not touch her.

One member also visually observed a shadow on the lower level to the left of the stage (facing the stage). Carol, who was still sitting on the stage, did not see the shadow from where she was sitting.

As the group was sitting upstairs, Jay and others thought they heard dull tapping and, perhaps, footsteps. Shortly after that, Jay and much of the group went downstairs for a final walk through of the ballroom. Carol joined Michele in the upper right rear (facing the stage) of the ballroom. Carol and Michele sat in the area where Jay had experienced the hee-bee-jee-bees. Carol called out, asking if anyone/thing was present. Michele fleetingly felt a tingling sensation on her neck and back. After more calling out, neither Carol nor Michele felt anything. At one point, they both heard a gentle, electronic hum. They concluded that it might be a refrigerator somewhere in the area.

Group 2

NGIers - Bekki, Julie

Guests - Craig, Michael, Lauren, James, Sharon

The group spread out for a little and wandered around the location, but within time we all seemed to be drawn to the stage. We congregated on the stage, some sitting in chairs, and some standing. As we were stood talking, Craig was sat on a chair with his back to Michael and Lauren, Michael had his arms around Lauren and was stood at a slight angle to Craig, Bekki was facing all three, when Craig jumped up from his seat, startled and immediately turned to Michael as he had thought it was him who had touched him.

When Bekki enquired what had happened, Craig said he’d been shoved on the left shoulder. Michael had not moved and Bekki confirmed this as she had been watching him and Lauren all the time. This was also the wrong side for Michael to have touched him, as he would have had to lean over and would have been noticed. The stage area had a heavy feeling, especially around the back of the curtains and to the left hand side.

Group 3

NGIers - Mark, Lee

Guests - Mark, Sinead, Deborah, Delyth, Richard

The group met up with Claire and Ian. In this room there is a large stage used for bands and dramatics. The group got up onto the stage and attempted a human pendulum. Claire called out for us. During the activity Sinead felt as though she was being pushed and Deborah had pain in her stomach – which when asked to stop, it did.

Ian gave us a talk about hypnosis and did a few tricks and tips about illusionists.

Borough Hall - The Magistrates Room

This image is merely a representation of the location and not to be taken as an exact

In the Magistrates room, a large table – surrounded by chairs – dominated. Although once an actual magistrates, today this room was a meeting room for the staff who worked in Borough Hall and, in the days the Hall was used as the Council Building, the Magistrates was used as the Chambers for the Council.

The Mayor’s Office, accessed through a door from the Magistrates, was as the name suggests, an office that was once used by the Mayors of Hartlepool. One interesting feature of the room was that adorned on the walls were photographs (and for before photography was invented, drawings) of all the Men who had held the office of Mayor of Hartlepool since the middle of the 18th century.

Baseline Report

Environment Readings

No baseline readings were taken in this location

Group Vigils

What follows are the group vigils that took place in this location.

Note : These vigils are presented purely in Group Order and in no way reflect the order
 in which each group visited the location during the night.

Group 1

NGIers - Jay, Michelle, Carol

Guests - Various

he second room we visited was the Magistrate’s Room. As we walked around the Magistrate Room and Mayor’s office, Jay noted that there was a funny, heavy atmosphere in the Mayor’s office. Other members of the group noted that the Magistrate’s room felt very peaceful to them and they observed that they felt comfortable in the room.

While sitting at the table in the Magistrate’s room, Carol called out, asking for knocks. No knocks/wraps emerged in response. Jay also called out to the person/being responsible for the footsteps heard in the hallway to make himself/herself/itself known. There was no response.

After waiting for a bit, Jay suggested that the group try to enact a human pendulum. We gathered in a circle and held hands. Eventually, it became clear that Sheila would act as the human pendulum. Whatever entity was present pushed her forward into the circle as a means of answering yes and pushed her backward out of the circle as a means of answering in the negative. With this method of communication, the group learned about a spirit/entity who often occupied the Magistrate’s room.

During the course of using the human pendulum, we learned that the entity that was moving Sheila was named was Oliver Beed. He identified himself as being 48 years old. He was originally from Newcastle. He was sentenced to 6 months of prison for being a debtor in the 1740s. He was a gambler who played cards with the same group of people. He was very good at cards and he was never cheated. During his life, he was not a sailor. He never had either a wife or children. He was unable to knock on the desk for us. He tends to hang out in this room with another gambler. Another gambler eventually murdered Beed because Beed owed him money.

After using the human pendulum, the group moved into the mayor’s office. In that room, Jay called out a bit, asking for knocks; however, there were no knocks. Carol and Michele sat near the door. Carol noted an odour. Michele also noticed it. Carol suggested that it smelled like smoke.

Group 2

NGIers - Bekki, Julie

Guests - Craig, Michael, Lauren, James, Sharon

Our third location started off as uneventful, although Bekki felt a heavy atmosphere in the Magistrates court, she couldn’t be sure that it wasn’t to do with her own past experiences of court. We sat in this room and attempted to call out, when this failed we tried using pendulums, although some of the guests got theirs moving, we got very little from them.

Some of the group remained in this room and some of us moved next door to the Mayors Chamber. This room seemed imposing, due to a ring of pictures of past Mayors surrounding the room and looking down on you. This room felt a little edgy, but we experienced nothing and returned to the Magistrates. As we sat and attempted to call out, one of the guests whistled twice, on the second whistle there was a slow and low whistle in response, this seemed to be somewhere between Bekki and the guest who had originally whistled.

Passing by Julie, although we attempted this again we didn’t get a response. We did however hear some slight noises on the other side of the wall, we tried to work out where this lead, as there was a door leading off the Magistrates room, which was locked, we realised that this was in the wrong direction to be coming from another group and listened carefully. The noises seemed to be almost like creaking wood, as if someone was moving around furniture etc.

Bekki tried looking through the keyhole of the door, but could see nothing due to a key being on the other side. She put her ear to the door, to see if she could identify whether these sounds where coming from windows, blowing in the wind. As she did, she felt there was someone on the other side of the door and she heard a deep breath, like a snarl, coming through the crack in the door and felt breath pass by her, as if someone had put their face against the door and snarled at her. She jumped back, startled, making the others jump. Although it hadn’t scared her, it had surprised her somewhat as she had put her ear against the door expecting to hear a creak or tap or the wind, not a heavy breather.

(Later after the investigation, Bekki asked one of the staff where this door lead, and was told it lead to a staircase leading down to the bar. Was this the staircase that prisoners where brought up, from the cells to face the court? The noises we heard could have been the banisters or stairs creaking - without access behind the door, we'll never know)

Group 3

NGIers - Mark, Lee

Guests - Mark, Sinead, Deborah, Delyth, Richard

At 2.50am we visited the Croft Room upstairs. These were the magistrate’s rooms and were quite large and surprisingly warm. We met Di and Kirsty here and planned to try a few activities to make use of their ‘sensitivity’ to spirit. But after a failed attempt with the Ouija board, calling out and table tipping the group decided to sit quietly for a while. Lee drifted into sleep for a few minutes!

We moved into the neighbouring room and it was a lot smaller and very cold. After just 5 minutes we decided we’d had enough. The spirits were not playing tonight.

Borough Hall - The Stairwell Area

This image is merely a representation of the location and not to be taken as an exact

This area consisted of a couple of small rooms, teaching rooms and a major stairwell leading down to an area of the building that was sadly off-limits to us on this night.

One of these rooms – perhaps used as a small boardroom contained - a fireplace as referred to in Group 2s Report.

Baseline Report

Environment Readings

No baseline readings were taken in this location

Group Vigils

What follows are the group vigils that took place in this location.

Note : These vigils are presented purely in Group Order and in no way reflect the order
 in which each group visited the location during the night.

Group 1

NGIers - Jay, Michelle, Carol

Guests - Various

The third area we visited that night was the stairwell / boardroom area. During our visit to these rooms, Kirsty and Diane joined the group.

As we walked up the stairs into Area Three, several members of the group remarked to each other that they “wanted some action” in the next area. Immediately afterward, two individuals heard a loud male voice in their ears. Sarah noted that afterward, her ears hurt for sometime as a result of the high volume of the sound she heard.

After this, the group stood at the top of the stairs. Kirsty began to call out. She and Diane sensed a man on the stairs. They weren’t able to establish the man’s original time period. They noted that he felt spiteful and suggested that there might have been a lot of fighting in this area of the building. They noted that there was a male energy that was active in the area that tried to intimidate people. They thought that the entity had been active in fighting. The male entity seemed to enjoy intimidating and frightening people. They suspected that the male entity did not enjoy us being there.

At this point, members of the group relocated from the hallway into the room off the hallway. Kirsty and Diane continued to sense the aggressive, male energy in the hallway. Jay decided to try to provoke the entity verbally. He walked out into the hallway and tried to antagonize the energy into coming into the room where the group was standing. As he walked in the hallway, Jay noted that he experienced the physical sensation of cobwebs settling onto his head.

He tried to provoke the male entity by noting that there were lots of women in the area now and none of them were scared of him. Several members of the group joined Jay in attempting to provoke a reaction from the entity. As Jay attempted to lure the entity down the hallway toward the group, Diane and Kirsty noted that it seemed like he may have been a soldier. At this point, Diane, Kirsty and several other members of the group heard footsteps. Diane and Kirsty also sensed the name “Ralph.” They thought that he might have had an experience with chest pain.

After waiting in the room at the end of the hallway for a while, the group reconvened at the end of the hallway near the top of the closed off stairway. Jay suggested that we sit quietly to see if we heard or saw anything. People sat against the wall near the top of the stairs.

While sitting quietly, several members of the group saw and heard activity coming from the foot of the stairs. Overtime, the movement and noise seemed to move to the stairs. Jay noted that he saw a shadow at the foot of the stairs and remarked that he was experiencing the hee-bee-jee-bees.

Kirsty and Diane sensed that the name the name “Sgt. Peter Morsley” and thought it might be significant in that portion of the building. Diane noted that she felt as though this area had served a military function at some point. She could sense gunpowder smoke and chaos.

As we sat there, several people thought that they heard distant voices coming from somewhere. One person also felt a cold draft or touch on her neck.

Kirsty noted the she felt as though something was watching us from the stairs and that it was moving up toward the group. Jay remarked on the slight breeze that was moving from the bottom to the top of the stairs.

Group 2

NGIers - Bekki, Julie

Guests - Craig, Michael, Lauren, James, Sharon

This location was fairly un-eventful for our group, although very cold and there was a lot of noise from the wind. The only activity experienced was a slight flicker, caught by the naked eye, by the fire-place in the large board-room. This was just below the level of the mantelpiece and was only caught out of the corner of someones eye, but happened on a couple of occasions. One of the group also said she had seen something like this on the medium walk-around.

However as we left this location, we were early and congregated at the top of the back stairs, which where cordoned off to prevent access. Bekki felt drawn to these stairs and looked over the banister where she felt the presence of a monk, who seemed to be pacing around, but at the same time the building wasn’t there, she got the picture that this monk was walking around near a sand-stone wall, as he was on watch for something.

Bekki also felt a lot of energy in the area which didn’t seem associated, The Monk felt more like residual energy, But the other energy seemed separate, It had a reddy orange glow and she got the smell of sulphur and a whistling noise, it seemed to me like something out of the holocaust movies, with a smoky haze and a reddy, pink glow, she described this too Claire and as she described the whistling she said “Like a doodle-bug” As we were about to leave, Bekki felt my nose was bleeding and could taste blood. When she put her hand up to her face thinking she had a nose-bleed because of the cold, she found it was only running.

Group 3

NGIers - Mark, Lee

Guests - Mark, Sinead, Deborah, Delyth, Richard

The group sat for a while in the boardroom. Lee did a tech talk about some of the equipment we use on investigations. The guests were asked if they’d like to try some experiments. The guests fancied trying the pendulums. After explaining how they were used the guests set about trying to get some information. But it was Delyth who felt as though she was getting something. After a few questions we had the following information from the pendulum:

A male, about 6 years old, died in 1880 in the building through illness. Although he was alone he was not afraid and was quite happy for us to be there. We asked the boy to drop the temperature on the thermometer. It did go from 14.1 to 13.4 over a couple of minutes but considering it was freezing outside this could have simply been natural. The conversation seemed to end here so we moved on.

The next room, (Heugh Room) was a lot smaller and void of furniture. We sat in the dark and called out for a noise or visual confirmation of spirit presence but nothing happened. Richard went into the Pilot Room next door to try a lone vigil. We met up after ten minutes and neither group had success.

Some of the group attempted scrying in a bathroom mirror – again without success. When Mark (guest) and Deborah at 11.35 pm went in to the small cupboard Mark was sure that something had touched his head. We looked to see if anything had low or hanging but could see nothing that could have touched him.

Borough Hall - The Dressing Room

This image is merely a representation of the location and not to be taken as an exact

This was a large open room that was sparsely furnished – merely a couple of hard backed chairs and a small dressing area. The room would be used by acts that would be performing on stage.

With no windows, when the lights were out, this room was perfectly dark without any chance of seeing anything at all unless it gave off its own light source.

Baseline Report

Environment Readings

No baseline readings were taken in this location

Group Vigils

What follows are the group vigils that took place in this location.

Note : These vigils are presented purely in Group Order and in no way reflect the order
 in which each group visited the location during the night.

Group 1

NGIers - Jay, Michelle, Carol

Guests - Various

Our fourth and final location was the dressing room off of the ballroom. During the group’s visit to this room, Claire and Iain joined the group. There was not a lot of activity in this room but everyone agreed that it was a comfortable, relaxing environment.

At one point toward the end of our time in the room, Claire began to experience the sensation that there was something that predated the Headlands itself. She experienced the sensation of dark religious rituals. The visual imagery of the ground composed of a big disc, like a necklace woven with shapes, began to emerge to her. She sensed people walking the patterns of the disc/ground and thought the patterns were meaningful to them. Jay suggested that, perhaps, there was some sort of demonic group here.

At this point, Jay began to experience some pressure in his head. The pressure felt like someone was squeezing his head above his ears.

Group 2

NGIers - Bekki, Julie

Guests - Craig, Michael, Lauren, James, Sharon

For this location Di and Kirsty the two mediums joined us. We turned off the lights and adjusted to the environment, the one of the mediums suggested that we do a mini séance. The group sat on the floor in a circle, holding hands; Bekki stood to the side of the circle to observe. The group started to call out and the atmosphere changed, the corner of the room began to darken and one of the mediums tried calling out to a female spirit she had picked up on her earlier walk-around. She felt this spirit, who is believed to be named Ella was present. Some of those in the circle commented on a breeze and coldness from the corner of the room, this was identified to be coming from a door that leads to the outside. One of the guests chose to leave the circle after felling uneasy.

During the circle, Bekki felt the presence of a male spirit. This spirit seemed to be moving around by the wall, behind where Julie was sat. He seemed reluctant to come forward and she got the impression he was a soldier, the mediums attempted to make contact with him, and at one point he moved to stand above one of the mediums, who then felt that he was reluctant to come forward, because he was afraid they would attempt to move him on and she felt he had done something bad in his life, and did not wish to leave. Bekki got the name Theo with this man. One of the male guests commented on a feeling of two people fighting.

We decided to use the Ouija Board to see if we could find anything else. We called out to see if any spirits where present, then attempted to call out to this soldier. At first he seemed reluctant to communicate and Bekki spoke out : “We are not here to judge you”. She could feel his presence and in her head she said “I’m hardly in a position to judge anybody am I?” at this he seemed to respond and identified himself as the soldier we had picked up. He spelt out his name on the Ouija board as Theo Jones, we asked him if he had died fighting and he said yes, we also asked him when he had died and he indicated the year 1914. He was asked what rank he was, to which he replied ‘Private’. We asked who he had been fighting with, He spelt out the letters SGERRIES, some members of the group believed this to mean Gerry’s as in Germans, and some believed he had been trying to spell out SGT, meaning sergeant.

Group 3

NGIers - Mark, Lee

Guests - Mark, Sinead, Deborah, Delyth, Richard

After what felt like a very quiet time we moved onto the 2nd location at 11.50, just off from the stage in the ballroom. This was the dressing room area. Straight away there was a strange smell about the place that reminded Lee of a mortuary. Richard the 2 Marks and Lee attempted a Ouija board but after 5 minutes gave up as nothing happened. Sinead complained of pins and needles in her legs but this was probably due to the positional way she sat rather than anything paranormal.

The group spread out between the various rooms in this area. The first dressing room did have an atmosphere about it and the second felt fine. Lee felt the atmosphere was purely caused by the smell though a couple of the guests felt quite unnerved in the room.

The group tried the Ouija in the second dressing room and called out by had no success. The whole group felt that the atmosphere in this location was empty. The group then wandered around to the main entrance, which is a glass and metal covered structure. After what felt like many minutes we decided to move to the next location.