The Old Hall Hotel was so scary, Richard Felix admits he wouldn’t sleep there in this series five episode of Most Haunted, writes JOANNA HAGUE
Episode Title: The Old Hall Hotel
Location: Sandbach, Cheshire
Series: 5 Episode Number: 2
Originally broadcast: 21 September 2004
Review of The Old Hall Hotel, Most Haunted
The Old Hall Hotel is one of the most haunted hotels in Britain, with 14 apparitions and a violent poltergeist. The building dates over 350 years. It has been a manor house, a parsonage, a pub and it is now a hotel.
Richard Felix talks about the house been originally built for John Radclyffe in 1656. In room 2 a man hung himself, in room 11 a person died while in their favourite chair. Current staff of the hotel talk about the noises that come from the room and guest have felt pushed under the water while in the bath.
The old building was ravaged by a fire, students who were filming in the hotel fled in terror down to the kitchen where knives moved on their own. The chef of the hotel talks about when he was cleaning down the kitchen and he was covered in ice as it fell from the sky. Some of the panelling of the new building was brought from Haslington Hall, while they were removing it a skeleton was found, and it is believed that the ghost has followed the beams.
Gabi Roslin is a guest on the investigation, Yvette asks is she is a believer, or a sceptic and she says she is definitely a believer. She has had experiences in the past while staying at her grandparents’ house. Gabi is looking forward to the night’s investigation.
The mediums on the investigation are Derek Acorah and David Wells. In the lounge/dining room, Derek picks up on a man, he says the energy is deep in thought and contemplation, he feels that he is a priest. Derek found a door in the panelling of the wall, which he says leads to a tunnelling system underneath the hotel.
Derek then picks up the energy of a man who is active in the dining room, but this spirit does not interact with the monks. Derek talks about the man’s energy is very authoritative figure and picks up on the name John. Information pops up on the screen saying that the old hall was built for Sir John Radclyffe in 1656.
Moving upstairs Derek instinctively closes one of the doors and states that he does not like the energy that is in that room. Heading towards room 11, he picks up on someone walking in and causing havoc in the room. He then gives an example of the things that the spirit would do in the room, this included a person having a bath and the water would drain or overflow in the room. Gabi begins asking if Derek knew anything about the room as she is being sceptical.
While in the room earlier, David picked up on the sound of a cat meowing and he asked if Gabi had heard the sound too. A clip then comes on showing the moment earlier. David says that the cat follows the lady’s energy. Her apparition can be seen in the chair, she has a good energy but lost her life by a possible heart attack.
Down in the kitchen Gabi feels uneasy in the room but Yvette makes her enter by saying if she can do it then Gabi can too. Derek picks up on individuals rushing into the building and been slaughtered in battle. Outside in the courtyard David has also picked up on fighting and screaming. On 3 September 1651, Scottish soldiers lost their lives in the Civil War.
Derek channels the energy of a very depressed person, says he has lost his spark and the way that he died was not natural. He begins clutching at this throat and begins trying to ask Sam, his spirit guide, to take it off. Gaining his composure again Derek informs the group that the man hung himself, that he had been pushed to his limits. He was an overly sensitive, others ridiculed him, he names the spirit as Matthew Tennant, 1659-1660. There is no record of this man, but other mediums have picked up on him on previous investigations.
Up in the attic, Derek senses the residual energy of heavy footsteps and thuds. David also picked up on these sounds earlier. Derek identifies the man as angry and violent; he was a well-known man, possibly a Lord who would take advantage of young maids. He feels the energy of the young women will be stronger in the cellar.
Venturing down into the cellar, Derek takes the crew to a wall and informs them that if they knock the wall down, they will uncover a skeleton of the young woman. Above them there is lots of knocking and banging, when Yvette radios through there is no one above them. Derek says the powers above knew what was happening to the girls, but they looked the other way.
David Wells is in room 11 and he is instantly drawn to the bathroom, he gets inside the bath and begins to feel a restriction on his throat, causing his voice to change. Cath gets in the bath after David she says she is feeling fine, but her voice begins to crack as she is talking. Cath is then convinced that she is sliding down the bath, but she is not moving. At this moment David hears the voice of a man saying that he shouldn’t mess with him.
Down in the cellar, Stuart is down there on his own said that he was all up for coming down on his own when he was with everyone but now, he is there he is feeling different about it. He begins to call out, but he seems to be getting annoyed with this. Panning the camera round Stuart thinks he has seen something but there is nothing on the camera.
In room 11, Karl, Yvette, Derek and Ray are in the room calling out for the spirit of the woman, when Derek exclaims that he can see something by the wardrobe, but nothing is visible on the camera. Derek can see a swarm of bees around a woman, Karl and Derek move closer to the wardrobe and an orb flies through the middle of them.
At the end of the night, Richard Felix returns to his room, where he finds two books stacked up on the windowsill. He is the only one with a key to the room and he swears that he did not do it. Yvette tried to recreate the balancing books and it takes her around 10 minutes to balance them. Richard is convinced that it is poltergeist activity, finishing the episode by saying “I ain’t bloody sleeping in here”.
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