Ripon Workhouse & Main Block, 16th April 2022

Ripon Workhouse & The Main Block

Saturday 16th April 2022

Team Members: Brett Rogers, Nicola Rogers, Sammy Avison, Kit Brewer, Ann Marie Pooleman

 

A new venue for Visage to run an investigation. Many years after Brett & Nic last visited with another paranormal group. Excited to be back investigating and even more excited to hear on arrival that we had the run of both buildings. Double the chance to find evidence of spirit. Bring it on!

 

On setting up for the arrival of the guests at 20:40 I went to the kitchen area in the Day Room after eventually finding it in the maze of corridors and rooms. I thought there was a person stood behind the table looking at the crisps and snacks who disappeared when I entered the room. I checked that this was not a reflection if myself in the mirror to the side of the table but could not replicate what I had seen.

 

It looked like it may be a good night!

 

While writing notes at 20:55 in the reception area with all the guests & staff, I repeatedly got the name ‘Daniel’ & another member of staff got the name ‘Elsie’. Guests also reported feeling a cold draught around their legs during the protection circle.

 

During the first group table tipping session in the main room at 21:44 the glass began to twitch & Nic sensed the presence of a school mistress enter the room behind Brett. The name ‘Miss Jeffries’ came to me. Nic then got the name ‘Gwendoline Jeffries’.

 

During the table tipping exercise I got the word ‘nonsense’ a few times & Nic got the number or year of 1834. The name ‘Henry’ came through to me and when asked out if Henry was with us, the glass went to Yes. Asked if the dominant male wanted to speak to us, the glass also went to Yes. A guest got the name ‘Jerimiah’ and another person kept getting “Row, row, row your boat” in her head. The glass only seemed to respond to when guest Kenny asked questions.

 

From this we received via the glass the numbers 1,8,2,8 (possibly

1828). As the workhouse was not built until 1854 the question was asked if this spirit was of someone who belonged to the land rather than the building. The answer was Yes. When asked to spell out its name, the glass went to the letters K & A, which Kenny noted were his own initials.

 

Asked if the spirit knew anybody at the table, the answer was Yes and the glass went towards guest Taylor. No response received when asked to provide a name.

 

The energy around the room then seemed to drop so we took a coffee break.

The second group who were near the cells corridor heard knocking from the cells when calling out and received the names ‘Anthony’ & ‘Jim’ & the initial ‘D’.

 

Upstairs in the Master’s Room we had responses on the K2 when calling out. Asked if there was ‘Paul’ with us & the K2s flashed. (Paul is the name of one of Nic’s haunted dolls who was with us in the room). Some guests reported smelling something like tyre rubber.

 

Some guests opted to try a Human Pendulum experiment which garnered mixed results. Information given was that someone was judged here & that there was a young girl named Daisy present & possibly the year 1784, the number 12 and the name ‘Frank’. Guests reported cold feelings “like cold water dripping down their back” & some guests & a staff members reported twinges, aches & cramps in their bodies. We then broke for another coffee break when the energy once again dropped.

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In the kitchen area of the second building there was a lot of K2 activity. To the point that we all double checked that phones were on flight mode & we ruled out anything that might be interfering with the K2 like light fittings etc. Both K2s at opposite ends of the kitchen table beeped and lit up in answer to questions.

 

They seemed especially lively when we asked about food items, particularly

making a cake. When someone asked about Wilfra Cakes & whether we could have one, both K2s lit up to orange and beeped several times. Wilfra cakes were a cake particularly popular in Ripon at the time of the workhouse being built apparently. Some guests reported seeing tall shadows on the wall in the ante-room next to the kitchen & also hearing footsteps.

 

Moving on to the Master’s Quarters some guests tried table tipping without much success although one guest reported that it felt like something touched her finger. In the parlour area a guest felt as if her foot had been trodden on although none of the other guests or had been placed part way up the

stairs in-front of a sign advising that nobody was allowed past that point staff were close enough to her. When calling out to see if “Daniel” was around, as this name had come up several times during the evening, On the Alice Box the words “Timothy Go” came up & the Rempod, which had been placed part way up the stairs in-front of a sign advising that nobody was allowed past that point,

suddenly burst into life. We went to investigate & the lights were all on it & it was bleeping away. It only seemed to calm down when it was called out that we would not be going up stairs.

 

The device sounded & lit up for a good few minutes before eventually stopping. Nothing could be detected around it that may have been causing it to go off & no other people were nearby when it started up.

 

By now it was 01:30 & time to start wrapping things up for the night. We had a short debrief in the reception area before wishing our guests a safe journey home. All of whom said they would love to investigate with us again.

 

Join us next time at on one of our other investigations or join us on our return to Ripon Workhouse Museum in June… if you dare!