MAGICAL MIRROR MAZE/VICTORIAN PENNY ARCADE
Even with the lights switched on, this area was really spooky with just the six of us there. I have always been slightly unnerved by mirrors but I wanted to challenge myself. We had only just entered this area and we received an EVP of a female moaning. This was encouraging. Quite quickly, we all heard tapping right beside us and Jacky captured some strange light anomalies onto her night-vision camera. Jacky 'called out' and we heard an eerie creaking sound, followed by a loud thud. Jacky asked any spirit people within this area to start up one of the arcade amusements. I asked if 'they' could also move our trigger object. They didn't. We all heard a loud thud followed by another sound which we all felt was a voice but we could not discern what was said. We picked up this sound on our equipment.
Dave said, “Can you hear that?” We all listened and we could hear a strange noise as if something was spinning. We checked all the machines in the room, especially the one-armed-bandits but we could not see anything moving. We heard a tap and a creak and then we could hear footsteps within the room. Dave went to investigate but there was nobody there. We sat quietly and we heard a tap right beside us. Dave swung around and looked behind him and said that he had heard a weird noise. Jacky said that she'd seen something very bright traveling from left to right on her night-vision camera.
Dave 'called out' and there were two thuds. I knocked onto the side of an arcade game and something copied. I knocked a few more times and they were imitated over by Jacky. Jacky heard a voice beside her and as I was looking through my night-vision camera (which was placed on the table), the lighting behind Debbie completely changed and then changed back again. It was as if a shadow had passed by. Jacky asked for three knocks in the room and we all heard three knocks. The sound of the knocking was really deep. Jacky asked for another three knocks and we heard three knocks. Dave and Andrew were standing by the entrance to the room and they both looked around at the same time as they heard a groaning sound right beside them.
We walked into the mirror maze. It was very spooky in the dark. We kept bumping into each other and scaring ourselves. Dave went for a walk into the mirrors on his own and said, “There is something in here with us. It's eerie.” Everyone decided to go through on their own. I didn't think that I would be brave enough to walk through the maze on my own but I did. I was terrified that I would see something on my night-vision camera but I didn't. I kept jumping and right at the end, I felt like something was really bearing down on me. When Jacky walked through on her own, she said, “Dave, stop following me.” We were all standing together at the entrance of the mirror maze and Jacky was inside the maze on her own. We called to her, “We are all out here together, you are in there alone” and Jacky let out a squeal as she could hear movement in there with her. When Jacky came out, we all walked through together. We were very quiet and we heard footsteps following us through. But we knew that there was just the six of us in this area.
We walked back into the Victorian Penny Arcade. We were standing next to a very old table-top football table. I 'called out' and we all heard a tapping on the glass surface of the football table. We started to ask questions and asked for one tap for 'yes' and two taps for 'no.' We asked:
Did you work at the paper mill? Yes.
Are you male? Yes. (The football table actually shook and the taps were louder).
Are you ever seen? Yes.
Are there any other spirit people in this area? No. (We discovered that this was inaccurate but perhaps this spirit was unaware of them).
So you are the only spirit here? Yes.
Do you go anywhere else in this building? No. (We all heard a scratching noise).
Can you make that scratching sound again? The football table shuddered.
Did you have an accident at the mill? Yes.
Was it documented? No.
We all heard a strange 'bumping' noise in the room, followed by a sound which sounded like fingernails being drawn along wood.
Another spirit came through. We asked if the first spirit was still with us and we received an affirmative response.
We asked:
Do you two spirit people like each other? No.
Are there any female spirits here? Yes. (We picked up a female voice (EVP) but we couldn't understand what she was saying. The female voice was captured again. This time Loretta and Debbie heard it but we couldn't work out the words).
Dave said that he had started to feel disorientated and Loretta felt dizzy and nauseous. I heard a male voice. The table-top football table was moving.
CIRCUS MUSEUM
We walked around the clown museum. It was amazing with many clown costumes, props and artifacts from all over the world. We took it in turns to 'call out.' It was very quiet. The Ovilus said, 'Look!' Jacky asked, “Look at what?” The Ovilus said, 'Ian.' Jacky asked, “Is your name Ian?” We did not receive a reply. We looked around the room for a clown named Ian but we didn't find one. We stayed in the room for a long time but nothing else happened.
CAVE MUSEUM
Despite 'calling out' for a considerable time, all was quiet in this museum.
PAPER MILL MUSEUM
We sat quietly in here and Jacky 'called out' asking for any spirits present to make themselves known to us. We didn't see, hear or feel anything for a long time. We were just preparing to leave this room when we heard a loud tap. It sounded like somebody had knocked on wood. We sat quietly and then Dave told us that he had seen someone leaning over in the shadows. I heard a sigh. After this, nothing else happened.
THEATRE AND STAGE
This was an interesting room which contained lots of costumes and props. There was a uni-cycle which Dave tried. He burst through the curtain on the cycle, then stopped suddenly as he saw someone standing at the back of the room, behind the audience seating. We checked and there was nobody there. We sat around and 'called out.' I asked, “Please join us.” There was a loud bang. We were wondering if this was a spirit that we had conversed with before but it felt different so we thought it may be a different spirit. We communicated with him and we learned that he had once worked at the site and people see him.
All was quiet for a while. Jacky tried to resume the contact. We were sitting around a table and although we were not conducting a séance as such, the table suddenly moved. We asked if the table could be lifted to show where this spirit was standing. The table lifted, lowered, lifted again and then lowered very slowly. We asked some questions which were not answered and then we heard a 'mmm mmm' sound. The voice we heard was behind us. It felt as if there were two spirits with us and Jacky kept talking to them. There was a long time of nothing happening and then we all heard a scratching noise.
CAPTAIN JACK'S RESTAURANT
Attached to the restaurant was a new attraction (which had not yet opened). It was an 'Alice in Wonderland' attraction and we walked though it in the dark. Nothing happened in here. We walked back into the restaurant and sat down.
As soon as I entered the restaurant, I could feel a strong presence. We all heard footsteps walking around us. The storm outside had got worse and this added to the eerie feeling within the room. Loretta saw a shadow move across the wall. Jacky 'called out' and asked if the presence we felt with us could make a loud noise. There was an enormous crash but nothing had been knocked over. We asked for another noise like that. It didn't happen again but we heard footsteps walking towards us. Something was thrown at us. Whatever it was seemed to bounce on the floor just before it got to us. We didn't find it.
After a while, we heard a sound like marching which was really creepy. Something else was thrown and again. The objects (which we didn't find) were hitting the floor closer to us each time. There was a long time with nothing and then the table moved and we felt vibrations under our feet. Loretta saw a figure move past one of the mirrors. I asked the shadow figure that she saw to join us and the table that we were leaning on, started to move. I told the others that I could hear voices and they said that they could hear them too.
Eventually, our time at Wookey Hole Paper Mill was over and we packed up to go home. We had an amazing evening at this fabulous location. Thank you to Emma for inviting us.
Written by: Maria Williams
