The galleries staff chatted to Nicola and I, telling us of a little girl that had been seen on the stairs in the main foyer, I had heard this story many times over the years, (it's a popular assumption).
So I took a random photograph of 'said stairs', yes something white can visibly be seen, no not a ghost.
Beginning of the investigation, [foyer in-front of crowd], again staff told the story of the 'spirit girl' who was allegedly seen on the stairs in the main foyer, (suggestion). The staircase was causing much intrigue.
During lectures we sent messages to Ciaran from the opposite side of the room via an iPhone app. We also kept sending him jokes trying to make him laugh, he managed to stay professional but his face slipped once or twice haha!
Through the night a number of people kept coming up to me waving their camera screen in my face, asking me what my opinion was of what they had photographed on the stairs and I continued to give a rational explanation. I double-checked the risers and treads of the steps again for flaws in the floor material (possibly varnished) that could be make it look a bit white. Close up, I couldn't find anything at all, not even any dust, but as you stood away from it you can see something white.
So this is possibly just worn out varnish and maybe a dose of wishful thinking for the most part.
Turn off all the lights so we can see the ghosts.
For most of the night we were herded like sheep, into tiny cells, how many to a cell 35? Almost like Leeds jail lol. What am I doing here, I don't do ghost hunts, I like being on my own at locations and I hate been in crowds, particularly on a 'ghost hunt' hate that term, they are just for entertainment, nothing serious , but I paid for the ticket, so I put up with it. Squished into a corner of the condemned cell with the rest of the public in near total darkness, Nicola and I stood listening to a fright nights 'rep' speaking of the ghosts to an intrigued audience.
Frenzied gasps came from other corners of the cell, "I just felt a draft on my face!!' 'oh that will be the ghost of 'X', replied fright nights, 'you will feel things like this in here...oh did you hear that'?? He continued in the corridor. Ermm no not from in here. How on earth could you hear anything with a room full of people. Nicola and I actually didn't take it seriously and we knew what to expect. It was good to watch how people reacted to suggestions. Eventually I did wander off on my own in the dark once or twice, just to get away from the crowds.
What are people really seeing at the galleries, do people really see ghosts and spirits or are they just delusions and hallucinations?
We were once lucky enough to have the galleries of justice more or less to ourselves one night, it was a friend who arranged a private event and there were only a handful of people in the building. I was with my partner nobody else was about; we were in the corridor where the pictures are and I thought I would try something, I jokingly called out to spirit (which I never do) because it's 'assumption led' bollox... I said something like, "hey you that growled in my ear the last time I was here, can you do that again?!" Almost immediately we both heard a guttural sound about a foot away from us, it was horrible, we legged it.
So is the Galleries of Justice haunted?
That is not for me to decide, but from personal experience and as a rationally minded sceptic I would say 'possibly'.
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| Nicola |
