EXCLUSIVE ROBERT ATKINSON CENTRE - Friday 29th December 2023
Robert Atkinson Centre 29/12/23
Clare, Kate, Michael B.
After setting up and before the guests arrived, we decided to spend a bit of time in the main hall, calling out to spirit and re-introducing ourselves again. As is usual for RA, the evening began quietly though we did start hearing a few noises towards the back of the hall that did sound like a potential voice at times. We also got a hit on the cat ball when we asked if spirit were with us. This was a very good indication of what was to come for the rest of the night!
We welcomed the guests and Clare began the introduction talk, during which she made a comment about being unsure as to whether the building had a fire alarm system (so far, so Clare!) The guests found this pretty hilarious given the huge alarm lights visible on the walls and also the huge glow in the dark fire exit signs that were dotted around all over. What we didn’t realise was just how relevant this would be later on!
After Clare delivered the white light protection, she took herself off across the courtyard to do her Lone Vigil whilst Kate and Michael settled the guests into the main hall to start the evening off. Again, this started off quite quietly though noises were again heard from the back of the hall with the entire team hearing what sounded like a person attempting either whistle or give a breathy laugh (think Mutley from Dastardly and Mutley). Rob, one of the guests for the evening, was picking up on a spirit but wasn’t able to get any clarity on who or what they were. He felt that it was moving around the edges of the room, trying to remain out of sight. Whilst calling out, Kate thought she’d seen a tiny flash of blue light near another guest’s arm but couldn’t be sure. Theresa guest in question said she kept hearing the phrase, “Mary Mary, quite contrary,” running through her head. We went with this and asked if the spirit of Mary was with us but we didn’t get any firm responses relating to this. Another guest who was sitting near the doors to the main hall felt that someone had stroked the top of her head and we ascertained there was nothing around her that could have caused this sensation. We asked spirit to confirm it had been them who’d touched the guest on the head and the cat ball lit up in response.
Michael asked if the spirit of the headmistress was with us in the room but we weren’t able to get any responses to confirm or deny this.
After this small flurry of activity in the main hall, everything became very still and the guests suggested we move to a different area to try to rebuild the energy. Rob suggested the large male changing rooms at the end of the hall, so off we went, leaving the guest who’d had her head touched, alone in the main hall with an EMF bear as she felt she may get activity if she was alone.
In the changing rooms, we spread out as best we could given the tables stacked in the main changing area and began to call out. We’d brought cat balls and the colour changing vibration pad with us but got no real responses when calling out. All of the guests commented on how still it was and how it felt like as soon as we went into one area, spirit went to another. Michael suggested we all move into the small shower area of this block as it was darker in there and we may get more of a response. At this point, Kate commented to Rob that she was sure spirit was able to do something really big if they wanted to and we all crammed into the shower room. At that, all hell broke loose as the fire alarms in the building all went off! We evacuated the building and met Clare in the car park as she had just finished her live.
Eventually, we were rescued by the security team who appeared to sort out our little issue and they checked out the building to make sure it was safe for us to re-enter and Clare asked where the alarm was which had activated. The response? It was in the changing rooms where we’d all been gathered - and where Kate had made the comment about spirit doing something big only moments before it went off!
Whilst outside, another of our regular guests complained of back pain and said he felt like spirit had given him a good kicking in the kidneys. As seemed to be the pattern for the evening, this became relevant later!
Once the building was declared safe, we all re-entered and after a short coffee break to warm up, we headed to room 1 where Claire had done her Lone Live and recommenced the evening.
We’d brought a few pieces of equipment with us, one of which was Bender the Robot which one of the guests had decided to try out. Kate asked if it was spirit who had triggered the fire alarm and immediately, Bender made a noise and fell face down. We re-set him and asked the same question: again, Bender made a sound and fell face down onto the floor! Was this spirit confirming that they had indeed triggered the alarms?
We’d decided to bring the radio scanner with us to see if we could get any responses from spirit this way and we began asking questions. Guests thought they heard a woman’s name come through which had come up several times in relation to the location but we weren’t able to ascertain anything further when asking more questions. Guests also heard the word “fire” come through the box. Were spirit referring to the fire that was known to have happened here many years ago? Following the usual pattern of the night, the area became very quiet and we received no further responses to our calling out, so we headed back to the main building and decided to gather in the main hallway by the staircase.
Within a few minutes of relocating, a REM pod which had been set up in the main hall earlier, began to alarm. One of the guests agreed to sit in there on his own and the REM alarmed again a few times over this portion of the evening.
The guest in charge of Bender set him up again and Kate asked if this was a new male spirit who was causing the evening’s activity. Bender fell down face down and switched off, as if in confirmation. Kate asked the question four times, and Bender did the same thing each time: made a noise and fell face down before switching himself off. When Kate asked a control question, Bender remained upright and switched on!
Theresa entire team could hear what sounded like footsteps on the floor above us and also rustling noises as though someone was moving. This was extremely frustrating as we didn’t have access to this part of the building! Rob, who was standing at the bottom of the staircase, thought he could see someone poking their head around the top of the stairs, as though they wanted to see what they were doing. We couldn’t get any firm answers from spirit about who they were or whether they had anything they wanted to say, so we moved into the bait room as this is an area that we rarely investigate.
One of the guests had chosen to go to the ladies toilets alone and two other guests remained in the main hall. The guests in the main room chose to do an Ouija board to see if any responses would be forthcoming this way. After a slow start on the board, one of the gentlemen using it asked if a relative of his was there with him. The group immediately began to get responses through, including the relative’s age and his name. Remember the guest who had said he felt like he had been kicked in the kidneys earlier in the evening? It was at this point that the manner of death of the spirit coming through on the board, correlated with the symptoms of the guest with the back pain. The spirit coming through on the board and the guest with the pain also had the same name.
We decided to end the night by conducting a human pendulum in the main hall. A female guest was selected to go into the centre and Kate began to ask questions. No real answers were forthcoming and the guest in the middle began to sway back and forth, as though spirit wasn’t interested in responding to anything we asked. Kate decided to break the pendulum and try again to see if spirit would be anymore forthcoming with someone else. Again, the same guest was selected and she returned to the centre of the circle. We had the same response with the guest rocking quite violently, back and forth. Rob noted that the guest’s breathing had changed and he feared that this had a negative connotation so we again broke the circle. The guest continued to rock and seemed badly affected by the experience, so the lights were turned on and she was helped to a chair. She said she felt that a female spirit had been trying to communicate through her and whilst the woman wasn’t intimidating or angry, she was a very strong spirit and she had felt very warm during the experience.
The evening had absolutely flown by and at this point, it was time to call it a night. Robert Atkinson had given us all an evening beyond our wildest dreams! Spirit definitely gave us their all and we all finished the night in absolute awe of what had happened to all of us. We can’t wait for the next time!
Clare, Kate, Michael B.
After setting up and before the guests arrived, we decided to spend a bit of time in the main hall, calling out to spirit and re-introducing ourselves again. As is usual for RA, the evening began quietly though we did start hearing a few noises towards the back of the hall that did sound like a potential voice at times. We also got a hit on the cat ball when we asked if spirit were with us. This was a very good indication of what was to come for the rest of the night!
We welcomed the guests and Clare began the introduction talk, during which she made a comment about being unsure as to whether the building had a fire alarm system (so far, so Clare!) The guests found this pretty hilarious given the huge alarm lights visible on the walls and also the huge glow in the dark fire exit signs that were dotted around all over. What we didn’t realise was just how relevant this would be later on!
After Clare delivered the white light protection, she took herself off across the courtyard to do her Lone Vigil whilst Kate and Michael settled the guests into the main hall to start the evening off. Again, this started off quite quietly though noises were again heard from the back of the hall with the entire team hearing what sounded like a person attempting either whistle or give a breathy laugh (think Mutley from Dastardly and Mutley). Rob, one of the guests for the evening, was picking up on a spirit but wasn’t able to get any clarity on who or what they were. He felt that it was moving around the edges of the room, trying to remain out of sight. Whilst calling out, Kate thought she’d seen a tiny flash of blue light near another guest’s arm but couldn’t be sure. Theresa guest in question said she kept hearing the phrase, “Mary Mary, quite contrary,” running through her head. We went with this and asked if the spirit of Mary was with us but we didn’t get any firm responses relating to this. Another guest who was sitting near the doors to the main hall felt that someone had stroked the top of her head and we ascertained there was nothing around her that could have caused this sensation. We asked spirit to confirm it had been them who’d touched the guest on the head and the cat ball lit up in response.
Michael asked if the spirit of the headmistress was with us in the room but we weren’t able to get any responses to confirm or deny this.
After this small flurry of activity in the main hall, everything became very still and the guests suggested we move to a different area to try to rebuild the energy. Rob suggested the large male changing rooms at the end of the hall, so off we went, leaving the guest who’d had her head touched, alone in the main hall with an EMF bear as she felt she may get activity if she was alone.
In the changing rooms, we spread out as best we could given the tables stacked in the main changing area and began to call out. We’d brought cat balls and the colour changing vibration pad with us but got no real responses when calling out. All of the guests commented on how still it was and how it felt like as soon as we went into one area, spirit went to another. Michael suggested we all move into the small shower area of this block as it was darker in there and we may get more of a response. At this point, Kate commented to Rob that she was sure spirit was able to do something really big if they wanted to and we all crammed into the shower room. At that, all hell broke loose as the fire alarms in the building all went off! We evacuated the building and met Clare in the car park as she had just finished her live.
Eventually, we were rescued by the security team who appeared to sort out our little issue and they checked out the building to make sure it was safe for us to re-enter and Clare asked where the alarm was which had activated. The response? It was in the changing rooms where we’d all been gathered - and where Kate had made the comment about spirit doing something big only moments before it went off!
Whilst outside, another of our regular guests complained of back pain and said he felt like spirit had given him a good kicking in the kidneys. As seemed to be the pattern for the evening, this became relevant later!
Once the building was declared safe, we all re-entered and after a short coffee break to warm up, we headed to room 1 where Claire had done her Lone Live and recommenced the evening.
We’d brought a few pieces of equipment with us, one of which was Bender the Robot which one of the guests had decided to try out. Kate asked if it was spirit who had triggered the fire alarm and immediately, Bender made a noise and fell face down. We re-set him and asked the same question: again, Bender made a sound and fell face down onto the floor! Was this spirit confirming that they had indeed triggered the alarms?
We’d decided to bring the radio scanner with us to see if we could get any responses from spirit this way and we began asking questions. Guests thought they heard a woman’s name come through which had come up several times in relation to the location but we weren’t able to ascertain anything further when asking more questions. Guests also heard the word “fire” come through the box. Were spirit referring to the fire that was known to have happened here many years ago? Following the usual pattern of the night, the area became very quiet and we received no further responses to our calling out, so we headed back to the main building and decided to gather in the main hallway by the staircase.
Within a few minutes of relocating, a REM pod which had been set up in the main hall earlier, began to alarm. One of the guests agreed to sit in there on his own and the REM alarmed again a few times over this portion of the evening.
The guest in charge of Bender set him up again and Kate asked if this was a new male spirit who was causing the evening’s activity. Bender fell down face down and switched off, as if in confirmation. Kate asked the question four times, and Bender did the same thing each time: made a noise and fell face down before switching himself off. When Kate asked a control question, Bender remained upright and switched on!
Theresa entire team could hear what sounded like footsteps on the floor above us and also rustling noises as though someone was moving. This was extremely frustrating as we didn’t have access to this part of the building! Rob, who was standing at the bottom of the staircase, thought he could see someone poking their head around the top of the stairs, as though they wanted to see what they were doing. We couldn’t get any firm answers from spirit about who they were or whether they had anything they wanted to say, so we moved into the bait room as this is an area that we rarely investigate.
One of the guests had chosen to go to the ladies toilets alone and two other guests remained in the main hall. The guests in the main room chose to do an Ouija board to see if any responses would be forthcoming this way. After a slow start on the board, one of the gentlemen using it asked if a relative of his was there with him. The group immediately began to get responses through, including the relative’s age and his name. Remember the guest who had said he felt like he had been kicked in the kidneys earlier in the evening? It was at this point that the manner of death of the spirit coming through on the board, correlated with the symptoms of the guest with the back pain. The spirit coming through on the board and the guest with the pain also had the same name.
We decided to end the night by conducting a human pendulum in the main hall. A female guest was selected to go into the centre and Kate began to ask questions. No real answers were forthcoming and the guest in the middle began to sway back and forth, as though spirit wasn’t interested in responding to anything we asked. Kate decided to break the pendulum and try again to see if spirit would be anymore forthcoming with someone else. Again, the same guest was selected and she returned to the centre of the circle. We had the same response with the guest rocking quite violently, back and forth. Rob noted that the guest’s breathing had changed and he feared that this had a negative connotation so we again broke the circle. The guest continued to rock and seemed badly affected by the experience, so the lights were turned on and she was helped to a chair. She said she felt that a female spirit had been trying to communicate through her and whilst the woman wasn’t intimidating or angry, she was a very strong spirit and she had felt very warm during the experience.
The evening had absolutely flown by and at this point, it was time to call it a night. Robert Atkinson had given us all an evening beyond our wildest dreams! Spirit definitely gave us their all and we all finished the night in absolute awe of what had happened to all of us. We can’t wait for the next time!