Visit type: Investigation
THE GALLERIES OF JUSTICE
Location: Lace Market, Nottingham, England.
Built: On the site since the 13th century.
History There has been a court on the site since 1375 and a prison since 1449. The Galleries contains the original cells, dungeons, 2 courtrooms, and medieval caves.
It is the only place in Britain where you could be tried, convicted, and sentenced. Some executions were even done at the entrance of the building. With all punishments such as whipping, imprisonment, and executions.
Ghostly manifestations: Full apparition. A plethora of ghosts and spirits are said to roam the building.
Ghostly anomalies: Footsteps, disembodied voices and whistles, ghost lights, cat in the dark caves, groans, knockings sounds, black shadowy figures, stones been thrown, been touched and breathed on by unknown entities.
My Report:
Date of Investigation: 13/3/05
Other groups who attended:
UneXplained Investigations, Anglia Paranormal Investigation Society and guest spirit medium Louise Morton.
I arrived at the Galleries at approximately 9pm. I was introduced to the other teams in the main base room. There was lots of equipment and gadgets that I had never seen before some were designed by Nigel Brockwell. One of the main monitors had failed, so Nigel Brockwell from Brotronics set up one of his own mini monitors which seemed to do the job as well. Remote cameras were set up in the court rooms which relayed audio and visual information back to the main base room and two members from each of the groups monitored the screens.
The teams were split into 3 groups and we were separated and we monitored different sections of the building. Louise the medium made a start at seeing what spirit activity she could pick up. As we walked through the main downstairs corridor Louise didn't mention any immediate so called entities, but she explained that she was sensing 'a lot of residual energy' [sic] from the main court room even though we hadn't actually entered that part of the building. Further down we walked towards the main jail area, Louise said, "there are so many spirit children here, some wandering about looking for mum and dad". We then went into the condemned cell. Louise continued, "They were very lucky if they even managed to get themselves locked in here, this is a hotel compared to down there! There is much fear of a man, a jailer, I think he was an ex-inmate too, he liked nothing better to flog these poor souls, beat them up whenever he felt like it, he took pleasure in doing so. Many would have liked a quick death by the neck just to get away from this horrible man, but many couldn't afford the privilege". I thought it was very sad how these people were bullied by this horrid soul and wishing death to come soon.
We then went to the laundry room area, Louise pointed to the bath tub in the corner; "They were lucky if they could get a bath, not many got the chance". In the bedroom area Louise was sensing the same man mentioned previously; Louise explained that she had done a psychic sketch of this spirit entity earlier that day and according to Louise it did very much resemble the foyer mannequin (coincidence). "The bed didn't used to be there, Louise pointed, "It used to be here on this wall, she pointed to the wall nearest the door. Standing at the bottom of the bed she said abruptly, "This is that horrible man again! He is next to me now on my left, this was his room, even though I am sensing females and children , this was his domain, basically in here he could do whatever he wanted, he would have done sexual things in here whenever he wanted with whoever he wanted!" Louise continued to sense this man, she then started walking in circles, "He is walking round me, making me dizzy, this character has hit someone on the head, I am getting a pain in my head." Louise seemed to be following something around the room, see the light? (No, I saw nothing) "He is going round the room now." The medium followed the light with her finger. I them started with a tremendous stabbing pain in my right temple, a team member asked if I was ok, they seemed concerned. I was ok, I said "Yes." it was interesting that I had listened to her suggestion of a spirit following us all, then I got a pain in my head, 'had I subconsciously given myself a headache or was this true paranormal phenomena, suggestion perhaps or just low blood sugar. I said, "I do not suffer from headaches 'at all'. I continued to massage my head for five minutes after. We then left the laundry area and continued into the cave system which is known to date as far back as the medieval times. The pain had left my head by the time we got down in the cave. Louise continued with her mediumship. "There was no sanitation down here, they were doing their business on the floor, in-fact they even went to great lengths to spread it on the walls so they didn't have to sit in it!" I found this information fascinating, although she could have got her information from outside sources. Louise also noticed a small bricked boxed area in one corner, "they stored food there, what little food they had, which wasn't much."
We then sat in the dark cave for a while, Louise sensed a man from the 1700s. "He is coming close now, died from starvation, malnutrition and wounds not tended to, I'm chatting with him now, he is a nice man, my knees are tingling, he is in-front of me right now, he passed 1722 or 92" this information coming through was vague. Tony our team leader, was sitting in the doorway of the cave, he continued "I sense a heavy presence with me now, standing in-front of me, I know your there, yes, someone / thing has just breathed in my ear." I didn't hear a thing as I was roughly 10 feet away from him. I have physically felt breathing in my ear in that location on a previous investigation. Tony then asked us if we could hear a tapping sound, none of us did. One of the younger lads started to complain that something had grabbed the back of his leg, I think Tony sensed that this chap was quite frightened and he joked with him saying, "Well I can't see anyone under your bench!"
Later in the investigation I decided to go and do a vigil in the court room, I started off in the main court room area, nothing happened, no auditory phenomena and the IR camera wasn't picking up any clear images as the room was too large. After about 20 minutes I decided to head back to the laundry room, I sat in the bedroom to listen. In the pits area it was much the same, nothing out of the ordinary happened, not even any weird smells which I thought there may have been which I had picked up on a previous visit.
I then went into the last night cell, this room is where men were held awaiting execution, an according to some psychics, the majority of them went raving mad waiting for the inevitable. I pulled the large heavy door shut behind me, it gave out a high pitch screech which was enough to curdle the blood itself. The cell was in total darkness, I could see a pinprick of light coming through a tiny blocked off window, I only managed to stand it in there for about 20 seconds, I had to get the door back open, but only because I wasn't keen on the dark and my mind was going haywire as to who occupied these cells many many years ago.
After a short break and a chat with the other investigators, I decided to sit in the civil court room, a much smaller room than the main court room. On entering, all was quiet and nice and warm compared to the other rooms. In the past a so called spirit has apparently shown himself to others as a full manifestation but there is no evidence to back up this claim. Earlier in the evening, Louise made a point of explaining where this spirit accommodates himself, "He stands by the clock looking down, he wanders around that level, his soul intention to be seen by the living"
Still in the same room and about 30 minutes of sitting quietly, I began to hear tapping sounds coming from my right, then the sounds appeared to be right in-front of me. I got up to check the radiators at the other side of the room, but they were all off. The room consisted of lots of wood and people were coming and going a lot so I think it was wood contracting. Later, all the other groups came into the court room along with Louise the medium, we all sat around for another 20 minutes trying to make out what the strange sounds were.
Conclusion
I don't think I witnessed any paranormal activity on this particular visit, but I do believe that the Galleries Of Justice does on occasion have a strange feeling, whether they are ghosts or spirits I don't know, something happens in there, but I am not sure what it is. On a previous visit to the Galleries Of Justice, I have felt cobweb sensations on my face but I didn't discover any spider type webs. I had heavy audible breathing in my ear, this was heard by a group of 7 people, but it was pitch dark yes someone could have breathed on me, but only my husband was sat next to me, he isn't a practical joker. I heard what sounded like a cat in the closed off area of the dark cave also whistling that had a slight echo or reverb in the corridor when there was definitely no one there. I noticed a bizarre smell in the pits resembling bovine excrement/body odour, there was a window slightly open but the smell seemed to emanate from the centre of the room, only 3 people out of about 10 noticed this, . I have noticed that there seems to be more activity when a medium is present, maybe they draw these energies in, but people seem to be more suggestible when a medium is present.
Always use critical thinking.
Do I think that Galleries of Justice is haunted? Yes, it's a possibility, it certainly has made me wonder over the years. I have dared myself to walk around the galleries corridors on my own, I was told I was stupid!! I like a challenge. I did, but I wouldn't advise it in the dark.
