Ghosts Cause Alarm At Haunted Hall
[Ghostbuster at the Haunted Hall
You've just bought a very large house in the country and you have the family to fill it. Only one problem- you discover it's haunted. found out how the new owner of Bunny Hall in Notts dealt with sharing space with the spooks
At first it was one of those things that seems sent to try you when you move house - a burglar alarm going off continually, without explanation.
No one thought the repeated sound of the siren in the old servants' quarters at the dead of night was eerie, just irritating.
It didn't signal an intruder, because a quick check showed there was nobody there.
When Chek Whyte bought historic Bunny Hall, he expected a few glitches in the process of making the 17th-Century pile his own.
But the father-of-three didn't expect a well-known security firm to tell him he was dealing with the paranormal rather than an electrical fault.
"It was going off probably three times a week, and it was always between 1am and 2am.
"We called out an alarm specialist, and they told us something was drifting very slowly past the sensors - but it never came back the other way.
"The alarm company could not explain it. They put it down to unexplained phenomena.
"They said they'd only had one other incident like this at a place in London, and it had to be something paranormal triggering it off.
"A lot of people came into the room and felt something, some kind of presence - they described it as a cold feeling."
Chek, 38, who works in the building trade, was none too pleased at this addition to his estate.
"The hairs on the back of my neck stood up when I heard about that, definitely, and that's why I brought somebody in.
"I wasn't going to live in a haunted house!"
Chek's children, aged four, seven and 14, are still unaware of the otherwordly company they may be keeping, in case it scares them.
But their parents were sufficiently nervous to call in the professional "ghostbusters".
Enter Barrie from Mansfield. The medium claimed to find more than a dozen spirits haunting the place.
The 30-year-old professional medium does not want to give his full name, because he is aware from his own experience that the supernatural is an area which can sometimes attract some dubious enthusiasts.
But he is happy to talk about what he found at Bunny Hall.
After Barrie had investigated the half-million pound house, the owner was astonished to hear how many "guests" were sharing it.
Among them were seven children, a nanny, a horse groom, a cook, and an inebriated butler.
In the end, Barrie found not one spirit, but 14.
"It was the most I've ever found in one place," he said.
"You could hear footsteps upstairs when there was nobody else around. And you could tell when there was a temperature change around you.
"It's not a problem as such, more of a situation. We try to help them on their way by talking to them.
"But you will still get some coming back to visit."
Barrie and others who have visited agree that they feel the ghosts are not hostile or malicious, and a seance held at the home (with the Whytes' agreement, but in their absence) encouraged the phantoms to leave in a process which involves lighting candles and drawing them "into" the flame.
Chek, meanwhile, started to research the history of his 56-room home to find out what happened there.
He said: "I'm sceptical, but coming down on the side of believing. I"ve definitely been in a few rooms here and got some strange feelings.
"But they are supposed to be very friendly and very happy. I don't think they"ll do us any harm."
A previous owner of the hall still lives in a nearby coach house and says it does not have a reputation for hauntings. The property was originally built in the 1600s by eccentric local benefactor Sir Thomas Parkyns, part of an ancient, distinguished and influential local family which inhabited the mansion for generations.
The continuous suite of rooms are said to be some of the biggest of the grand houses in Notts, and the Grade I listed hall stands in 17 acres with a boundary wall three miles long.
Portraits of the family, including Isham Parkyns, a hero of the Civil War, are kept at the hall.
The Parkyns built and endowed schools and almshouses at Bunny, and members of the family are buried in the grounds.
Whether these are the ghostly characters that still wander through the spacious corridors and rooms of Bunny Hall is not known.
There are those who remain disbelievers, despite the peace of mind the "exorcisms" have given Chek Whyte.
But Barrie, the phantom's menace, says - if you haven't felt it, don't knock it.
"I don't have to justify what I do. I've experienced it and I know it's true.
"Until you've felt it, you can't comment on it."
As a professional medium, his role is to help people who have concerns about the way the afterlife is affecting their lives here and now.
But some people just want to tell him their favourite stories.
"You do get people telling you stories," he says, "but it's a totally different thing.
"With a lot of these stories, there's no proof. It's probably just someone making it up."
And he also takes issue with those who poke fun at his profession.
"It's not a comedy," he says. "It's very serious.
"What I do provides a lot of comfort to people."
He tells the story of a young woman who had lost her boyfriend in a car crash.
Barrie said he was able to make contact with him, and let the woman know that he was safely on the other side.
"When I got that message across to her that he was there, it was very moving," he says.
But what of the ethical issues - such as withholding bad news or giving good news to appease a grieving relative?
Barrie is a member of the Spiritualists' National Union.
"I would never give people that comfort if there was nothing there," he says.
"You can get information about things like weddings, and occasionally you will get information about a passing.
"What you have to do is to relay that message professionally, and without causing any distress."
Barrie says there are numerous ways he can discover who the spirits are.
"There are different smells and feels to things, I get different pictures in my mind and sometimes they talk to me and tell me things about themselves and their former lives.
"The butler was slurring when he talked to me and smelt of alcohol, and all the ghosts told me about their roles at the house and the things they did there.
"I think they were all people who had lived or worked there in the past.
"Bunny Hall's a very old property with a lot of history, and that's why there were so many spirits there.
"It's not very nice to say I got rid of them, but that's what I did."
David Farrant, president of the British Psychic and Occult Society, is looking for people who may have accounts of ghostly experiences at Newstead Abbey for his latest book. He can be contacted at the British Psychic and Occult Society, PO Box 1112, London N10 3XE.
Nottingham Castle Isabella, wife of Edward II, is said to wander the underground passages where she was caught with her lover Mortimer in 1330. She and Mortimer had plotted against her husband.
Bonington House, Arnold Visitors have experienced "cold spots" in the building and felt a caress from an invisible hand on the stairs. Wet cement in a cellar was found with the imprint of a child's foot .
Newstead Abbey The Black Friar is probably the most famous ghost in Notts. The friar is supposed to appear whenever the abbey is under threat. Lord Byron is said to have seen a "goblin friar" the night before his wedding.
The Salutation Inn, Nottingham A whole host of ghosts have been spotted here, including a highwayman and a suicidal landlord.
Wollaton Hall Room 19 is supposedly haunted by Lady Middleton.
She fell down the stairs and had to spend the rest of her life in this room.
Attenborough Troops of Roundheads on horseback have been seen at the site of Barton Ferry, crossing the river towards the church at Attenborough.
East Stoke The ghosts of naked Irishmen are said to haunt the area by the riverside, after the Battle of East Stoke in 1487. It was the scene of the final battle in the War of the Roses, when the Earl of Lincoln's bedraggled army unsuccessfully sought to depose Henry VII.
Council house, Ruskin Road, Mansfield Two years ago a family was moved from their council house after an attempt to exorcise the property failed. The family had reported switches turning themselves on and ornaments mysteriously breaking.
Annesley Hall A White Lady who became pregnant by a squire and died in childbirth is believed to haunt the hall.
The Old Angel Inn, Nottingham The pub is variously said to be haunted by a singing ghost, a one-armed-bandit-playing-ghost and a policeman.
• Story originally published by:
Evening Post via thisisnottingham / England | David Whitfield + Mhairi McFarlane - Aug. 17.02
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