Dudley Castle - February 2006

This was an event organised on behalf of P.I.R.T. by Emma, and four of us, Alison, Matt, Cara and myself joined them on this investigation at their invitation.

The evening started at 8pm with Alison and myself driving right up through the gardens and into the castle grounds, a privilege not available to the general public. Initially we parked by the roundabout with an elephant in the middle – disappointingly we found it was made of stone – but then drove into the castle courtyard itself. As the rest of the people (about 20 of us) gathered it became clear that Matt and Cara had been left behind and Emma and Keith (The Dudley Zoo and Castle guide) went down to find them at the meeting place.  Meanwhile the rest of us got used to the comfortable tearoom area of the castle, which was to be our base for the night. It was good to see Lyn, Michelle and Mel from previous investigations. We now split into two groups with us in the ‘non-PIRT’ group, to be led by Emma.

Once we were all gathered together we set off on a quick tour of the area we would be allowed into during the night- this included all the area of the Castle and the upper reaches of the Zoological gardens, and Keith was also able to give us interesting information on some of the animals there. Obviously it was important that we knew where we could go as an investigation in the Lion compound was bound to find some activity, but not of the paranormal kind!

By now it was becoming apparent that we were in for a cold night (sadly Alison forbade me from taking a picture of her wearing my football woollen hat), and it was fortunate that a lot of the areas we would investigate was undercover as there was the occasional few spots of rain as well. We started off with a trip to the museum and a vigil in the room next to the supposedly active undercroft area. With the lights out a few people felt there were moving lights and draughts in this area, but the variable lighting in adjacent rooms of the museum and the amount of draught from the adjacent gift shop left these in doubt.. Also changing lights were thought to be seen in the adjacent gift shop by a couple of people, an area that Keith confirmed had no way of being illuminated from outside.

After a warm-up in the tearooms we headed to the undercroft for further series of vigils. This was a ground-floor room, probably used for storage in the days of the castle, and was quite large with a projection area at one end – and with two open stone coffins there as well! One of the group thought she heard dripping early on – Keith says that previously mediums often noted some association with water in that room – a search for the cause proved fruitless and no-one else heard the sound. A number of ‘calling-out’ and energy channelling sessions followed and Chris became very cold and concerned and had to return to the tearooms. During these vigils some other members of the group felt a presence there and a few sounds were heard, but nothing particularly unusual – but it was quite an atmospheric room. Bizarrely, I didn’t find it too cold, and even removed my coat and gloves.

After another break we headed up to the castle keep with four of the group (including me) braving the cold wind and spiral staircase to ascend it for some fine views and to hear about the place where a figure of a lady is said to be seen.We now returned to the museum and carried out a short vigil in the power room, where recent restoration had revealed ancient graffiti on a wall. However nothing of note happened here, and a return to the original museum room we had been in also seemed very quiet.

After another break we headed into the remaining, roofless, rooms of the castle – a place where the black monk is often seen. By now several of the group were becoming very cold and, with the other group having already left, we ended the investigation by leaving the castle at around 3pm. Throughout Keith had done a good job of looking after us and been very helpful. The group the four of us joined was quite sensible and seemed a nice bunch with Emma being a good leader. The early vigils were interesting but several normal reasons (including the presence of another group in the grounds at the same time) could be found for the experiences. The four of us did not find anything we felt was very unusual or sense anything at all odd. But it was a pleasant night, especially for those of us who weren’t too cold.