NATIONAL GALLERIES OF JUSTICE- Saturday 19th August 2023
National Galleries of Justice, Nottingham
Chris welcomed guests to the investigation and Kate completed the white light protection – we were then ready to get going and made our way to the Criminal Court, with Chris descending further down into the building to complete his lone vigil in the cells.
Criminal Court
K2, cat balls, intuition
We placed ourselves around the courtroom, using the K2 and cat balls as visual/physical trigger objects.
We began calling out and almost immediately several guests commented on seeing a shadow figure in the balcony above us. This shadow seemed to be interested in what we were doing and throughout our time in this area made several appearances from behind the pillars.
We asked if they had been to the court charged with an offence and a guest felt that they were there as a spectator watching someone else on trial for an offence that they had committed.
There were several spikes on the K2, cold drafts could be felt, and sensitive guests were picking up on mixed feelings in the courtroom. Those of despair and also someone getting away with something that they had done and let someone else take the blame for! A hissing noise could also be heard at one point, afterwards when we were reviewing the evidence, we discussed the fact that civilians would attend the court as a source of entertainment, and should the defendant be accused of something that caused public outrage, they would be booed and hissed at from the galleries.
Several bangs and taps could be heard around the courtroom, but we had to be mindful that this space was built entirely from wood and that we had to account for a certain amount of settling noises.
Civil Court
K2, cat balls, intuition
We placed ourselves around the courtroom and Katie gave a brief explanation what cases a Civil Court would hear and how it differed from the Criminal Court. As debtors were treated harshly in the Victorian period and before, this court would have had just as much high emotion and stress as the Criminal Court – at this point we could see a shadow figure look out from the balcony above us, so we invited them to join us and communicate their story.
We made several attempts to communicate with spirit, but couldn’t get any hits on the equipment, and we felt that spirit was reluctant to come forward.
We had a quick break at this point as we were going downstairs into the cells for our next section to investigate.
Male Cells
Bells, music box, K2
Chris joined us again from his lone vigil and we made our way to the cells. Guests were placed into the cells with the doors closed. We set up some trigger objects along the corridor by hanging two sets of bells from the bars and also placing a music box near the entrance.
There were a few slight taps along the corridor, but at this point we felt that the groups needed to be a little smaller to try and gain some clear evidence and reduce the chance of noise contamination.
Alan & Katie’s Group
Laundry Room, Female Cells
Human pendulum, K2, cat balls
We held a human pendulum simultaneously with the group in the next room to see what we could get through.
One of the guests was chosen for the centre of the pendulum and began asking questions. We found that we were talking to a male spirit, who had been employed at the courts. He thought that he was a nice person and that he was well liked amongst his peers and colleagues. He confirmed that he was working in the courts during the 1600s, and the year 1659 in particular was significant, although he didn’t give us an understanding why.
Dungeon
K2, Rem Bear, Tibetan Bowl, Crucifix, Music Box
We spread out across the dungeon placing the crucifix on a ledge as a trigger object. Rem bear was positioned at the back of the room and the music box and K2 were placed in the walkway to the dungeon.
Alan built up some energy using the Tibetan Bowl and we called out to invite spirit to join us. There were hits on the rem bear but couldn’t ascertain whether we were talking to a male or female spirit.
A shuffling noise could be heard behind one of the guests as she was pushed forward, with a hit on the rem bear.
A few members of the group mentioned that they felt uncomfortable in the dungeon and that the atmosphere was ‘thick’. We decided to move along to another location.
Dark Cells
Crystal board, K2
Four guests were placed into the condemned cell, and we began a session on the crystal board.
A male spirit called Alexander came through to the board and talked about being hanged for stealing money. He mentioned that he was 80 years of age when this happened, and the year was around 1860. We asked if Alexander had committed the crime, or if he was falsely accused, but we couldn’t get a clear answer on this and closed down the board.
At this point, some guests made their way around the outside of the grounds and other parts of the building on their own to finish the last half an hour of the investigation.
Chris and Kate’s team
Laundry area
Equipment used: cat balls, K2, cameras / camera flashes.
Chris and Kate remained in the laundry area with a smaller group as activity such as bangs and knocks had been heard in there prior to the teams splitting.
Chris had experienced significant activity in that general area during his live and viewers had also picked up on the spirit of a lady who had worked in the area and was a very forceful character. A guest on the event confirmed this as she was also picking up on this lady and she felt she would be very masculine in appearance and presentation.
We began asking out and a different guest felt that she was being pushed in response to questions that were being asked. Guests all commented that the room appeared to be getting darker and the atmosphere of the room felt very heavy and intimidating.
Chris began to experience feelings of anger and also felt his right arm getting hot. A regular guest was facing with his back to Chris and Chris said he felt like barking the words, “Don’t you turn your back on me!”
Kate suggested trying something new to increase the energy in the room and encouraged the group to stand in a circle and all take a picture together, which would cause a burst of light energy. On the first occasion, both of the men in the group’s photographs “failed” and their pictures didn’t take. On the second attempt, the guest who had had his back turned to Chris initially, had a failure again.
As Chris was still feeling affected by the activity in the room, it was decided that it would be best to take a break from the area and move out of that particular energy’s space.
Oubliette and condemned cells
Equipment used: spirit table and cat ball
Guests set up a spirit table outside the doorway of the oubliette and began to call out. The spirit of a gentleman came through who affirmed that he had gotten into debt which had resulted in his legal troubles. As the group continued to ask out, it was ascertained that he had lost all of his family’s fortune, however the blame had been placed at the feet of his brother who had been convicted of the crime and ended up in the oubliette as a result. The male spirit continued to answer yes and no questions when asked if he had any remorse about his brother taking the blame and the glass on the table settled firmly on no. During the spirit board session, the cat ball beside the table flashed significantly three times when the spirit wanted to emphasise a response.
After several minutes of significant responses, the energy in the room waned and it appeared that the spirit had finished answering our questions. The group thanked the spirits of the oubliette and moved onto the condemned cells.
The Condemned Cell
Equipment used: cat ball.
Guests sat in the condemned cell with Chris and Kate in the area outside of it, asking questions. A cat ball was placed outside of the condemned cell door and we began asking out. One of the guests stated he felt completely at peace in the cell and wondered if that was how a condemned prisoner had felt because it was him finally accepting his fate prior to being hung. Guests in the cell began to feel very warm and the cat ball went off three times in direct response to the questions being asked.
As the energy waned, the team thanked the spirits for interacting with us and returned to base camp.
Civil Court
K2
We tried the Civil Court for the last ten minutes of the investigation to see if we could pick up on any energy in here as we had seen shadow figures earlier in the night on the balcony.
One of the guests had a word generator app running. Alan stood up and said that he was before the court for being in bad debt with his landlord – with one of the guests presiding as the Judge. At this point, the word generator app came up with ‘disrespectful’, which we apologised for, perhaps spirit thought that we were making a mockery out of something they had been through in life.
At this point, the investigation was over, and we made our way back up to base camp.
Our time at the National Galleries of Justice was over, but we will be back to further investigate this amazing building – it definitely has more stories to tell yet!
Chris welcomed guests to the investigation and Kate completed the white light protection – we were then ready to get going and made our way to the Criminal Court, with Chris descending further down into the building to complete his lone vigil in the cells.
Criminal Court
K2, cat balls, intuition
We placed ourselves around the courtroom, using the K2 and cat balls as visual/physical trigger objects.
We began calling out and almost immediately several guests commented on seeing a shadow figure in the balcony above us. This shadow seemed to be interested in what we were doing and throughout our time in this area made several appearances from behind the pillars.
We asked if they had been to the court charged with an offence and a guest felt that they were there as a spectator watching someone else on trial for an offence that they had committed.
There were several spikes on the K2, cold drafts could be felt, and sensitive guests were picking up on mixed feelings in the courtroom. Those of despair and also someone getting away with something that they had done and let someone else take the blame for! A hissing noise could also be heard at one point, afterwards when we were reviewing the evidence, we discussed the fact that civilians would attend the court as a source of entertainment, and should the defendant be accused of something that caused public outrage, they would be booed and hissed at from the galleries.
Several bangs and taps could be heard around the courtroom, but we had to be mindful that this space was built entirely from wood and that we had to account for a certain amount of settling noises.
Civil Court
K2, cat balls, intuition
We placed ourselves around the courtroom and Katie gave a brief explanation what cases a Civil Court would hear and how it differed from the Criminal Court. As debtors were treated harshly in the Victorian period and before, this court would have had just as much high emotion and stress as the Criminal Court – at this point we could see a shadow figure look out from the balcony above us, so we invited them to join us and communicate their story.
We made several attempts to communicate with spirit, but couldn’t get any hits on the equipment, and we felt that spirit was reluctant to come forward.
We had a quick break at this point as we were going downstairs into the cells for our next section to investigate.
Male Cells
Bells, music box, K2
Chris joined us again from his lone vigil and we made our way to the cells. Guests were placed into the cells with the doors closed. We set up some trigger objects along the corridor by hanging two sets of bells from the bars and also placing a music box near the entrance.
There were a few slight taps along the corridor, but at this point we felt that the groups needed to be a little smaller to try and gain some clear evidence and reduce the chance of noise contamination.
Alan & Katie’s Group
Laundry Room, Female Cells
Human pendulum, K2, cat balls
We held a human pendulum simultaneously with the group in the next room to see what we could get through.
One of the guests was chosen for the centre of the pendulum and began asking questions. We found that we were talking to a male spirit, who had been employed at the courts. He thought that he was a nice person and that he was well liked amongst his peers and colleagues. He confirmed that he was working in the courts during the 1600s, and the year 1659 in particular was significant, although he didn’t give us an understanding why.
Dungeon
K2, Rem Bear, Tibetan Bowl, Crucifix, Music Box
We spread out across the dungeon placing the crucifix on a ledge as a trigger object. Rem bear was positioned at the back of the room and the music box and K2 were placed in the walkway to the dungeon.
Alan built up some energy using the Tibetan Bowl and we called out to invite spirit to join us. There were hits on the rem bear but couldn’t ascertain whether we were talking to a male or female spirit.
A shuffling noise could be heard behind one of the guests as she was pushed forward, with a hit on the rem bear.
A few members of the group mentioned that they felt uncomfortable in the dungeon and that the atmosphere was ‘thick’. We decided to move along to another location.
Dark Cells
Crystal board, K2
Four guests were placed into the condemned cell, and we began a session on the crystal board.
A male spirit called Alexander came through to the board and talked about being hanged for stealing money. He mentioned that he was 80 years of age when this happened, and the year was around 1860. We asked if Alexander had committed the crime, or if he was falsely accused, but we couldn’t get a clear answer on this and closed down the board.
At this point, some guests made their way around the outside of the grounds and other parts of the building on their own to finish the last half an hour of the investigation.
Chris and Kate’s team
Laundry area
Equipment used: cat balls, K2, cameras / camera flashes.
Chris and Kate remained in the laundry area with a smaller group as activity such as bangs and knocks had been heard in there prior to the teams splitting.
Chris had experienced significant activity in that general area during his live and viewers had also picked up on the spirit of a lady who had worked in the area and was a very forceful character. A guest on the event confirmed this as she was also picking up on this lady and she felt she would be very masculine in appearance and presentation.
We began asking out and a different guest felt that she was being pushed in response to questions that were being asked. Guests all commented that the room appeared to be getting darker and the atmosphere of the room felt very heavy and intimidating.
Chris began to experience feelings of anger and also felt his right arm getting hot. A regular guest was facing with his back to Chris and Chris said he felt like barking the words, “Don’t you turn your back on me!”
Kate suggested trying something new to increase the energy in the room and encouraged the group to stand in a circle and all take a picture together, which would cause a burst of light energy. On the first occasion, both of the men in the group’s photographs “failed” and their pictures didn’t take. On the second attempt, the guest who had had his back turned to Chris initially, had a failure again.
As Chris was still feeling affected by the activity in the room, it was decided that it would be best to take a break from the area and move out of that particular energy’s space.
Oubliette and condemned cells
Equipment used: spirit table and cat ball
Guests set up a spirit table outside the doorway of the oubliette and began to call out. The spirit of a gentleman came through who affirmed that he had gotten into debt which had resulted in his legal troubles. As the group continued to ask out, it was ascertained that he had lost all of his family’s fortune, however the blame had been placed at the feet of his brother who had been convicted of the crime and ended up in the oubliette as a result. The male spirit continued to answer yes and no questions when asked if he had any remorse about his brother taking the blame and the glass on the table settled firmly on no. During the spirit board session, the cat ball beside the table flashed significantly three times when the spirit wanted to emphasise a response.
After several minutes of significant responses, the energy in the room waned and it appeared that the spirit had finished answering our questions. The group thanked the spirits of the oubliette and moved onto the condemned cells.
The Condemned Cell
Equipment used: cat ball.
Guests sat in the condemned cell with Chris and Kate in the area outside of it, asking questions. A cat ball was placed outside of the condemned cell door and we began asking out. One of the guests stated he felt completely at peace in the cell and wondered if that was how a condemned prisoner had felt because it was him finally accepting his fate prior to being hung. Guests in the cell began to feel very warm and the cat ball went off three times in direct response to the questions being asked.
As the energy waned, the team thanked the spirits for interacting with us and returned to base camp.
Civil Court
K2
We tried the Civil Court for the last ten minutes of the investigation to see if we could pick up on any energy in here as we had seen shadow figures earlier in the night on the balcony.
One of the guests had a word generator app running. Alan stood up and said that he was before the court for being in bad debt with his landlord – with one of the guests presiding as the Judge. At this point, the word generator app came up with ‘disrespectful’, which we apologised for, perhaps spirit thought that we were making a mockery out of something they had been through in life.
At this point, the investigation was over, and we made our way back up to base camp.
Our time at the National Galleries of Justice was over, but we will be back to further investigate this amazing building – it definitely has more stories to tell yet!