Stanley Palace, Chester
2nd November 2007
UKPARASEARCH kick of their first every public event and it starts with a bang, as we marked our 1st Anniversary by hosting a night at Chester’s Stanley Palace with a select few guests.
Stanley Palace is one of many, many Tudor style buildings in the heart of Chester. Neither of us had actually visited the centre of Chester before this night and if we did we were oblivious to the fantastic architecture of the City Centre. After seeing the breathtaking 4 or 5 story tall Tudor buildings lining the streets as we search for refreshments, we reflected on the modest, humble 2 story building we had access to for the night. We were/are grateful for the owners for allowing us access and we will definitely be returning next year, but the history and potential many other locations have in this Historical City is hard to escape.
Yet, despite its modesty, humble 2story, Stanley Palace gave us and our guests a memorable night. With murmuring and cold stops, banging and the sound of a dragging chair, guests’ psychological fears and a well structured and controlled night, we’ll look back at our first public event with great pride as UKPS steps it up a gear.
Whilst walking around the building with John from the Friends of Stanley Palace and the respectable Cheshire Paranormal group, Philip and Steve had incidents occur that could’ve been linked. Standing in the Gallery Steve thought he’d mention that he thought he had seen someone in the Gallery as he ascended the stairway. The placing of where the supposed figure appeared was next to a set of table and chairs, the same area where Philip had felt a tug on his shirt only moments earlier. Philip isn’t convinced that the tug was spirit, but more than likely either his necklace catching on the collar of his shirt or simply his shirt moving. Adding extra value and possible credentials to these incidents is the report of one of these actual chairs witnessed shaking vigorously, exactly 12 months previous, on the 2nd November 2006.
We had a few hours’ full access to the building before our guests ETA, so we took the time to set up some equipment and experiments, then we took the time to get a feel for the place and from the start, as we have just mentioned, we experienced odd, psychological, incidents.
Around 19.00hrs after our return from tea, Philip was looking through the history in the dining room while Steve was outside. Philip thought he’d heard banging or rapping from up above in the gallery. He ignored it and carried on working, aware he was still hearing banging. Steve came back into the building and as he proceeded to the kitchen he heard three loud bangs that appeared to come from above. After clarifying that both had heard the same thing and Philip claiming, unconvincingly, that he thought it might be from outside, we went to investigate the rooms above, only to find nothing out of place.
By 8:30pm our first guests arrived, early, and our excitement of hosting heightened as they keep arriving and our Public Event was underway.
We started with introduce UKParasearch and our ethos on paranormal and investigating, ground rules, housekeeping and then we set of on a walk around of our own and introduced Stanley Palace to our guests. We have no delusion of our medium or sensory abilities and rely on information we collate from various sources. We use this information to focus our attention on active areas and use names of people linked to the location in an attempt to energize whatever presence is available.
With the Queen Anne Room, the Stairway, the Foyer and the Gallery to cover we took our guests back to times of old, when Thomas and James Stanley (picture JStanley) once ruled this abode and days when King Charles I, once dined in the long Gallery.
With Protection wanted by the guests we took the time to call upon Spirit Guides to blanket us with its Love and Light. Formalities out of the way, we spilt into two groups and headed of to conduct vigils of our designated rooms.
11pm: For our first vigils, Philip took his group to the Queen Anne Room and Steve lead his group up a level to the Gallery.
Philip’s group had just started their vigil when they all heard a ‘murmur’. Although it resembled the sound of a stomach making a noise, all group members denied it was them. One female member complained of sharp pain down her left hand with the other hand feeling like it was a dead weight. After a short time Philip instructed the female member to tell spirit to take it off her and not surprising when she did this, the feeling subsided. The vocal calling out and even calling out within ones self for spirit to back off, usually is enough to ease or control unwanted emotions. This can be a prime example of how much paranormal activity can be put down to psychological effects. The circle was also tightly sat together and with holding the arm out to place a finger on the glass for a prolonged time causes aches and stiffness, and as the woman moved from the circle calling for the spirit to ‘take it off’, the physical restriction of the circle also lifted, giving her the actual relief of the ache and stiffness easing.
Another female member also felt very shivery during the vigil. The group decided to give Table Tipping ago, as efforts using the glass provided no results. The table’s movement was slow and everyone felt calm and the glass was moved without malice.
Steve took his group to the Gallery, where night vision cameras and EVP recording equipment was set up and ready for use. One night vision camera was focused on the chair that was reported to have moved twelve months ago, the other was recording the area used for the vigil circles. The guests where encouraged to help us monitor the equipment, but everyone was keen to be amongst whatever what was about to happen and everyone was too afraid to be left alone at the monitor station.
The group started with the Glass Divination experiment with Steve standing outside the circle. The glass didn’t fail to energize the tension of the guests, but as with the above vigil, everyone felt that nothing was to be feared from the ‘communication’. The glass’ movement was varied, depending on the questions and our encouragement. At one point the glass was pushed from the table surface, only to be caught before it hit the ground.
As mentioned at the start, we use the information available to us to see if any of the past residents/owners where present. The answering from the glass indicated we were in the presence of a 16th Century woman, who had two children with her. Shortly into our questions, it was sensed and indicated that the woman was become protective of the children, probable due to constant questioning.
There has been reports of children being heard running along the Gallery floor, laughing. Although this was known by Steve, he stood back from the circle to allow the line of questioning to be controlled by the guests and to give them the freedom to experience and the assurance that if it did move it wasn’t him creating activity for the paying guests.
During this same vigil the circle, encouraged by the initial ‘communication’, moved the table to an area in the room that is claimed to have a ‘vortex’ and had a go at Table Tipping. At one point, a member of the circle mentioned feeling very cold, nobody else did. The table begun to steadily rock and despite our encouragement, the rhythm of the rocking never changed. Eventually from outside the circle, Steve requested the table to stop and that, it did.
Watch footage of this Vigil here.
1am Without discussing what results each other got we had a short break before swopping rooms.
Steve’s group conducted the Glass and Table Tipping experiments in the Queens Anne Room, where the responses to the questioning gave us some interesting results, as we found from Post Investigation research.
As with the vigil in the Gallery, Steve remained away from the experiments and only called out to spirit when he felt the circle was losing the connection with spirit or the direction of questioning. The glass first indicated we were in the presence of two children again. Child one was Thomas (George – surname), the members on the glass felt as if the glass was moving in a playful way. Thomas was then chased by Child Two, who was Elizabeth, a cousin of Thomas. Then Thomas Stanley Senor claimed to come through when the glass altered in movement and answering. The glass movement quickened and moved along the edging of the table, which Steve found impressive for a group of new comers to ghost nights and in the pitch dark too. As always skeptic of the glass experiment, Steve doesn’t believe any member was moving or manipulating the glass.
Following the events of this vigil, the name George was the only surprise. The names Thomas, Thomas Stanley and Elizabeth were previously known to us and we used them purposely during vigils, but the name George was a of the top of the head name thrown at the child Thomas as a possible surname, rather than offering the first choice name of Stanley Palace, Thomas Stanley, Steve expected a ‘No’ reply and when it came back as confirming it was Thomas George, who was Steve to argue with that he can’t see…
Our researching of more past paranormal experiences and the locations history, throw the name George back at us. A report was found naming a 16th Century ‘man’ as George, but it was a christening and the report named him George surname Simmons.
Philip’s group headed to the Gallery and experimented with Glass Divination. Philip rotated from being active and passive in his group experiments and during a passive period, one of the circle members commented on her hand feeling very cold. On touch Philip confirmed that there was a difference in her hand to that of others on the glass. Thermometer readings also confirmed a temperature difference in the members own two hands too.
The group returned to the hub and with all members of Philip’s group accounted for, and Steve’s group still in the Queen Anne Room, the sound of a chair being dragged across the floor came from above, where they had just come from. Philip and several of his group immediately returned to the Gallery only to find nothing out of place. The sound was so distinctive we were sure it couldn’t have been from any other source than that of a chair being dragged, but where the sound came from is still unknown.
Stanley Palace offered interesting incidents and some that we’ve been baffled with. The dragging of the chair and the banging Philip and Steve heard before the guests arrived to name two. A fantastic night and one we hope to repeat in the near future. Stanley Palace is well documented through many paranormal groups and we hope our little offering so far has added to the intrigue that surrounds this location and the potentiality of it being haunted.
UKPS will reserve their opinion of Stanley Palace until able to return and follow up on any inital findings. The group of people that accompanied us to this location showed complete respect for what they where doing and for the location itself, every one of them made the first UKPS night a memorable one and from the end of the night evaluation every one of them want to be considered for future UKPS events and we will happily offer these people first refusal on anything we do.
Some of our guests as they leave Stanley Palace
With Stanley Palace being UKPS’s first public event, we now have the opportunity to show feedback and our response to it. Click here to read what our guests had to say.
