CHRISTINE MILLER takes a look back at Most Haunted: Belgrave Hall
Episode Title: Belgrave Hall
Location: Leicester, Leicestershire
Series: 2 Episode Number: 28
Originally broadcast: 2003
Medium: Derek Acorah
Parapsychologist: Dr. Matthew Smith & Dr. Ciaran O’Keeffe
Comedian Vic Reeves and his wife Nancy are guests for this special edition of Most Haunted, coming from Belgrave Hall in Leicester, a place that is said to be extremely haunted.
Both staff and visitors have claimed to have witnessed a variety of paranormal activity on a regular basis. Ghostly shapes, unexplained noises and strange images appearing on CCTV have all been reported here over the years.
History of Belgrave Hall
Having been built in 1709 by Edmund Craddock, and passed to a plethora of families throughout the years, it was eventually sold to the local council and turned into a museum in 1936.
On the second floor staircase, it is alleged that an elderly gentleman tragically fell to his death, and ever since has been seen wandering between the second floors.
Also on these stairs, a Victorian woman has been seen, only pausing to stare out of the window into the garden below, and then simply vanishes into thin air.
Richard Felix talks us through the infamous CCTV footage of alleged paranormal activity at Belgrave Hall stating that a fox triggered one of the exterior cameras. But, what is seen next proves to be quite a shock – what looks to be two luminous white figures can clearly be seen within the grounds. Richard is quick to point out that many have claimed these supposed figures are no more than fallen leaves. However, Richard states what cannot be explained is the large ball of light in the video that moves across an exterior wall.
You can view the footage below if you don’t wish to watch the entire Most Haunted episode, which is also freely available on YouTube.
Make of it what you will.
Richard says that the confusion regarding what the figures are do not distract from the numerous confirmed hauntings that take place within the building itself.
Derek arrives by the evening and the full investigation of Belgrave Hall can begin. Derek is immediately drawn to the stairway area, and in particular to a male energy. With this, he gets a feeling of hopelessness and senses that the man’s death was not by his own hand.
He also becomes aware of a young girl around the age of six or seven, who he describes as ‘pleasant’ in nature. She has a distinct disliking of a different male spirit who scowls at her from the bannister area – the man’s name, Derek claims, is Edmund Craddock.
Moving into the hall area, Derek senses a group of sisters who although peaceful, have a mild disliking for the modern-day decor of the building. According to records, there were indeed seven sisters that resided in the house until 1923, could these be who Derek is referring to?
Derek then appears to go into a semi trance-like state, where a male presence speaks through him saying that Edmund does not like his sisters – ‘he’s a toad’, apparently.
Yvette, Vic and Nancy all begin to speak to the man Derek is channeling, asking him why he dislikes Edmund so deeply. The answer given is ‘he scares young Hilda’. According to records there is no evidence of anyone of that name having a connection to the hall.
When Derek comes out of the trance, he says that Edmund is a nasty soul who deeply dislikes the sisters of the house, and neither do they like him. Derek believes that Hilda is the name of the young girl he picked up on near the bannister area who so greatly fears Edmund.
Yvette informs Derek that she had been led to believe that it is in fact the spirit of a little boy who has been seen, not a girl. Derek says the child has long blonde hair, which made him assume that the child was female, ‘but I might be wrong’.
Next in the nursery area, Nancy said she has had a strange uneasy feeling in this particular room earlier in the day. Derek says he doesn’t feel there is any spirit present. The group sit quietly, and one of the sound man’s batteries begins to quickly drain. While discussing this, Yvette hears a clicking noise somewhere in the room, and Rick, another cameraman, becomes faint and has to be helped from the room to outside.
Some time later, the crew attempt to move to a different part of the building, but are stopped by Stuart who has been outside with Rick making sure he’s ok. He tells the crew that, while with Rick he witnessed a white figure pass by the wall outside. The entire crew head outside where Stuart shows them the location of where he spotted the figure.
Some time later, Vic becomes a bit restless and decides to explore on his own. Suddenly though, he makes a run for it, camera in hand. He bumps into the rest of the crew who ask him what had occurred. His reply was that he heard ‘two creaks and a bang, and that was me, I was off.’
Next, Yvette, for reasons unknown, decides now is the optimum time to conduct a seance on the ground floor. The group sit in a circle with Derek leading the seance. Derek immediately becomes ‘possessed’, something which Vic and Nancy were very much hoping to witness tonight.
‘Get out, get out, get out, get out’ he whispers followed by him making a series of grunts and laboured breathing. Twice Derek throws his head back against a wooden wall rather hard. He stands up and places his hand around Stuart’s throat, and has to be brought round by a number of members of the group, all helpfully screaming, ‘come back, Derek’, and, ‘Derek, breathe’, which surprisingly works rather well.
Derek is then sent off for a time-out.
The remaining crew decide to attempt the seance again, and soon various members believe they have become affected by their collective attempt to contact Edmund Craddock. Some feel cold, some drained, and others angry. Yvette’s claims her feet feel as if they are lifting without her doing; something which Richard Felix feels he is able to confirm.
The seance is brought to a firm conclusion when Jon Dibley appears to almost pass out. Karl somehow becomes affected and is taken outside also. The seance appears to have descended into total chaos.
It doesn’t end there however – during all the commotion, Vic Reeves decides to venture upstairs. Afterwards he explains what happened: he believes that he was psychically told to come upstairs, but why he sensed this instruction, remains unclear.
Despite the panadomium of the last 24 hours in Belgrave Hall, nothing was caught on camera.
And so here ends another episode of Most Haunted.
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