Haunted Britain- the guild hall

The only place in Leicester city that is in the book that i brought is the Guildhall.  The book goes into more history of the hall and what its been used as. From its early beguinnings, over 600years ago to the to its restoration and change into the museum in the 1920's

The GuildHall

wanting to get into this project i wanted to get into it as quick as i could due to my slow start to the project. So i wanted to get some back story and start shooting, one of the easiest places for me to get to and i knew the location of was the guildhall. 

The Guildhall has had many uses and lives. The Great Hall itself was built in about 1390 as a meeting place for the Guild of Corpus Christi (a small but powerful group of businessman and gentry).
By the end of the 14th century the corporation of Leicester had begun to meet in the Guildhall. When the Guild was dissolved in 1548 the Corporation bought the buildings.
In 1632 the Town Library was moved into the East Wing of the Guildhall from St Martin' s Church. It is the third oldest public library in the country.
The Great Hall was often used as a courtroom and was also used regularly for theatrical performances, banquets and civic events. It is thought that Shakespeare performed here.
With the growth of the town a new Town Hall was built on Horse Fair and opened in 1876. For the next fifty years the Guildhall was used for several purposes including the headquarters of the local police and a school. Following a major renovation programme it was opened to the public as a museum in 1926.

Haunted Britain Book

I brought this book when i spotted it in town, its a collection of books set into specific areas of the country (NORTH, EAST, SOUTH, WEST, MIDDLANDS, ECT) and each area are a selections of some of the most haunted areas or places, also between the information on the haunted places it also has information on local legends and myths as well as history. i thought it would be very useful for this project. Expesh cos it will allow me to learn more about the middlands which im not really as familier as i am with the history and legends of back home in kent.

Locations reserch- the council

 Leicester council haunted places

My idea of looking of places that have a bad history or even a history of haunting, made me begin to serch with a basic search local historical places. On the councils website ive found a few interesting locations i can go to photograph and some of the history of the places.

I wanted to kick start this project at last so locations near by are the best place to start. 

The locations on the website are:

Belgrave Hall and gardens

Belgrave Hall is often reported as one of the most haunted places in leicester. Its history is swamped in accounts of ghosts and most famously ghosts caught on camera there.

The 'Victorian Lady' has often been heard walking around the upstairs of Belgrave Hall and on occasions, fleeting glimpses of her have been witnessed by staff on duty. On occasions, the aroma of cooking has been smelt within the Hall when nothing has been cooked. The smells are usually of fresh bread, stewed fruit and gingerbread. In 1998, staff w by the main door when one of the group suddenly went extremely pale. He said that while they were talking, out of the corner of his eye he saw a women in a "terracotta coloured Victorian style dress" walking down the stairs and turn into one of the adjoining rooms. When he looked at her full on, she disappeared.  Another member of staff witnessed the same figure on the first floor landing. Footsteps are often heard on the first floor landing, doors close of there own accord and room alarms are mysteriously activated when no one is there. In December 1998, luminous figures, one believed to be wearing a long flowing dress complete with bustle, were captured on film outside the hall. The figures appeared to be surrounded by a halo of light. The image was recorded on the halls security camera at about 5.00 a.m. and was first spotted by a museum assistant who was reviewing the overnight video. Other members of staff who studied the tape confirmed that the images appear to be that of two figures in Victorian style clothing. The story was made even more bizarre when it was discovered that the camera, which records an image every second, froze for five seconds while the image appeared. It also appears that the images come through the courtyard wall. Experts confirmed that the figures 'were not human' due to the luminous effect they made on the film - it is believed that the figures were producing heat and energy similar to that given off by a fluorescent light. A suggested cause for the camera to stop filming was sudden surge of electricity in the atmosphere. A mysterious ball of mist or fog was also seen swirling over the garden throughout the experience. The curator of the museum admitted that the video had him and his staff baffled. "The images appear from nowhere. "They make no entrance nor exit - they just appear and disappear". It is thought that the ghost is that of Charlotte Ellis, who lived at the Hall with her seven sisters after John Ellis brought the property in 1845.Many explanations have been given regarding the two figures including a leaf, a moth, people dressed in luminous clothing and…a ghost. As there isn’t a definite answer, staff at the museum let visitors reach their own conclusions.

Abbey Pumping station

Abbey Pumping Station is reputedly haunted by the ghost of an engineer who worked at the site in the early nineteenth century. He plunged to his death in 1890, falling over 50 ft from the top balcony of the pump house down into the depths of the engine room. Friends of the engineer commemorated the funeral with a cross and an inscription on the basement wall which bared his initials.Unexplained occurrences have happened at 'the pumper' over many years, mostly taking place around the engine house. strange noises have been heard on many occasions, usually late at night when the museum is about to be locked up, items have been moved around. Previous members of staff at the pumping station have, on many occasions, been too spooked to lock up.

 

The GuildHall

 

The Guildhall is reputedly Leicester's most haunted building – five ghosts have been reported in total. The most frequent visitor is the White Lady, a name given to the phenomenon though she is very rarely seen. The ghost makes her presence known by moving the heavy Tudor furniture around the library and by opening doors once they have been locked and bolted.On numerous occasions, staff and police have been called out in the evening to attend to burglar alarms which have been triggered by an unseen presence. The White Lady also has a soft spot for the large Bible which is situated on the main table within the library. Staff will often close the Bible in the evening only to find that in the morning it is back open in exactly the same place as the night before. No one has any knowledge to the identity of the ghost.the sound of heavy footsteps has often been heard crossing the main entrance to the constable’s cottage. This ghost is believed to be that of one of the officers who would have been based in the building during the Victorian era. Footsteps have also been heard in the roof space which, again, is believed to be associated with the Victorian police force. The officers slept in the roof space - the pegs for their uniforms can still be seen today. a medium visited the site and said that she could 'see' a cavalier type character in the Great Hall and a phantom dog in the courtyard, though no record of this phenomena has been recorded.

 

The Newarke Houses

 

The figure of a man dressed in an Elizabethan style costume has been seen at Newarke Houses. The figure appeared out of the wooden panelling in the Gimson Room and disappeared through an adjacent wall. A mysterious shadow, with a distinct human form, has also been seen in the area.On more than one occasion, staff have moved to one side to let a figure through only to realise that no one was there. A figure in a long, dark cloak has also been seen at the top of the main staircase walking towards the window. Once, when repairs were being made in the building, a postcard holder rotated on its own, throwing all of the cards out on the floor. Although the figure is mainly seen in the area of the Chantry House, its identity remains a mystery.

 

 

 

 

So far.... movement in ideas

So in my last few bits of reserch ive been looking into why ive looked at fears, and also looking into some film suggestions about building fear and tension in cinema. So far ive pulled up a few ideas to do with places, and this really interests me! the idea that a place holds a memory or the history of a place is tragic and therefore people are scared of it. In  a sense looking at haunted locations, not at the idea of a physical ghostly apperition but of the idea of a haunted place, a place thats atmosphere is different because of its history. I love the idea of going to areas that are ment to have a bad past to it and photographing them as they are now, but trying to create tension and fear into a photograph of a place, without the ghostly figures ect. just the place. of course i will need to be subjective. visit these places of interest to this idea and get a feel for the place, maybe visit at different days, different weather, different times to get different feelings. I dont want a boring photograph. And looking into otherways other people have created atmosphere in there images or even how films build tension and fear into a location. I like the idea of trying to sort out a trip to london to get images of those places where the bombings took place, as well as other big locations that are reeped in historical tragity. I know from doing ghost walks in the past in my home towns that there is much history everywhere, often in locations looked past. This is what i enjoy to do, taking photos based upon some form of meaning that i can reserch and submurge myself into. and i think i can achieve some real amazing works.

The Stanley Hotel

After watching the shining, the classic Kubric film, it reminded me back to another favourite thing of mine, Ghost hunters. 

Ghost Hunters is an americal reality t.v show following the members of TAPS (the atlantic paranormal society.) This show and all 9series has sperned my love of the paranormal and my eegerness to explore it. Each episode the group investigate one or two locations (depending on the size of the job) and using scientific equipment try and disprove locations that are said to be haunted. They take the approach of wanting to debunk these locations using things such as Inferred cameras, wireless audio, k-2 meters, digital sound recorders, EMF detetors, Thermal imaging ect. More times then not the places are debunked showing what could cause these things people assume to be paranormal, but when they go over the evidence and cant disprove or have an explination of what is going on, they will use the evidence to backup the claimes of hauntings.It makes for additive t.v.

One episode of Ghosthunters  (episode 222 aired May 26th 2006) and again on there halloween special (november 8th 2006) the team investigated the Stanley Hotel.

The Stanley Hotel is a 138-room Georgian hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. Located within sight of the Rocky Mountain National Park, the Stanley offers panoramic views of the Rockies. It was built by Freelan O. Stanley of Stanley Steamer fame and opened on July 4, 1909, catering to the rich and famous, including the Titanic survivor Margaret Brown and  Theodore Roosevelt, The Stanley Hotel also hosted Stephen King, inspiring him to write The Shining. Contrary to information sometimes published, King was living in Boulder at the time and did not actually write the novel at the hotel. Parts of the mini-series version of The Shining were filmed there, although it was not used for Stanley Kubrick's version.

Many people claimed that the hotel was haunted and it is explained in the show that even Stephen King himself witnessed some of these hauntings, and that is what lead him to write the famous novel.  During the show we learn of the history of the hotel and the goings on. From the sounds of a party going on in the empty ballroom to objects moving and apperitions of men and children.  

  the show starts and the manager showed the TAPS members the various places where these alleged ghost activity has occurred.the team discovered some rational reasons for the various phenomena (debunking), such as wind and pipes. However, they could not decipher incidents in the ballroom.  the team also claimed to experience other paranormal occurrences, such as seeing people in hallways then hiding, and hearing children running and playing on the floor above them. The biggest occurrence was that during changing of the film in the camera, a table jumped two feet in the air from the room in which King stayed. Ghost Hunter Jason stayed the night in the room with the "ghost thief", Jason stated that the bed moved, the cupboard doors unlocked and opened and his thick glass by the bed cracked open on the inside.

Can it be said that this hotel and its ghostly occurences lead to Kings novel, well evidence seems to point to that, but only King will ever know for sure!

This idea that the building and its history and the events that tookplace here are what lead and inspired King to write such a tence and fear provoking novel which in turn leadto such a great intense film is an inspiration. The idea that a building or a location can hold so much fear and memory is interesting. 

can a person fear a place?

can a places history change peoples views on an area?

is it possible to pick up vibes from a location of tragedy without knowing?

this idea really interests me, the idea of looking at places that may not look it, but hold this history of tragedy and fear. Its like the idea that an object can keep a memory and a feeling, so maybe a place can too? Many places we walk past everyday can have a history of death or violence or just general bad stuff! 

The Shining

One of the films i was refered to during my tutorial was the classic Kubrick film the shining. As a huge fan of  Stanley Kubricks work of course it was one to look at. Kubrick to me has an amazing use of tension and can create fear from just one look of a character. 

The plot remains true to the original by Stephen King. It follows the retreat of the Torrence family to the Outlook hotel, Where the son Danny starts to recieve terrorfying visions of the past and the future via his gift known as the Shining. It also follows as the father Jack falls into madness and insanity from cabin fever and the haunting of the ghosts of previous staff and residents. As a former caretaker (that which hacked to death his own wife and two daughters) persuades Jack to 'correct' his family like he did, jack falls into a murderous rage and ends up murdering (REDRUM! redrum!) a chef who was called back to the hotel by his sons powers, and attempts to kill his wife and son. 

What i love about this film is that its hard not to be scared or uneased by this film even no its not overly gorey or graphic. There is no monsters, no nightmarish creatures. The ghosts we see look like ordinary people not there to scare and makes the audience wonder if they are ghosts or just a dillusion from jacks mind. He manages to make things overly creepy by the use of close ups of peoples faces, and the great skills of the actors shine through (expesh that of jack nickleson who is very convincing as he is going insane) its the silent pauses, the feeling of ... somethings going to happen next! even the 'nightmare' visions that danny gets arnt really over played for a horror film. the scene where he sees the twin girls who were murdered is brilliently shot and edited, where it flips from them standing there to flashes of them laying murdered on the floor. and even tho the editing is fast-ish paced, its not as subliminal as some of the more modern day horror films. 
The soundtrack to this is both amazing and annoying, the soundscape tends to get into this irritatingly annoying highpitched tone as we see Dannys visions, or something not quite normal is about to happen and it just helps to make the audience feel uneasy. 

Some of the scenes are just beautiful in such a weird way, like the final chase through the maze, the lighting mixed with the snow just creates this stunning quality to it.

The premise is what strikes me more is this idea that a place holds its memorys of all the bad things thats happened in the past. To quote: 

Danny Torrance: Mr. Hallorann, are you scared of this place?
Dick Hallorann: No. Scared - there's nothin' here. It's just that, you know, some places are like people. Some "shine" and some don't. I guess you could say the Overlook Hotel here has somethin' almost like "shining."
Danny Torrance: Is there something bad here?
Dick Hallorann: Well, you know, Doc, when something happens, you can leave a trace of itself behind. Say like, if someone burns toast. Well, maybe things that happen leave other kinds of traces behind. Not things that anyone can notice, but things that people who "shine" can see. Just like they can see things that haven't happened yet. Well, sometimes they can see things that happened a long time ago. I think a lot of things happened right here in this particular hotel over the years. And not all of 'em was good.  




This reminds me of what i was saying in a previous post about a place holding a memory associated to it. and i feel i could look more into this! 


Here is one of the documentrys thats attached to the film on bluray that i watched featuring many directors and other roles of the film making industry discussing the work of Kubrick