(UK Paranormal) Mike Driscoll. Wendy Driscoll. Samantha Marriott. Louise Marriott. Ray Matthews. Scott Badger. Anji Ricobi. Claire Nicholas. Richard Reynolds. Kristy West. (EMGIG) Anthony Biggs. Sue Binch. Denise Morris. Mark Scrimshaw. Mark Biggs. (Guests) Brent Vardy. Carly (Galleries). Lara (Galleries).

(UK Paranormal) 2 x digital video camera (night shot). 1 x Advantix camera. 4 x digital stills cameras. 2 x EMF meters. Digital thermometer with remote units. Multiple flashes for all cameras. 4 x Dictaphones. Walkie Talkies. Lap top computer with motion sensing software. (EMGIG) Camcorders x 3 (2 with night vision). Digital Still Cameras x 3. 2- way radio transmitters x 3. Mini-disc recorder x 1. EMF meter x 1. Digital/laser thermometer x 1. Dictaphone x 2. Torches x 7.

This was always going to be a difficult report to compile and write due to the size of the venue and the amount of people that were involved. What follows is my best attempt to report on what has to be one of the most interesting nights that UK Paranormal have spent in any venue.
Due to the size of the Galleries we had decided that we could not possibly cover the whole venue effectively on our own so had invited the team from Emgig to join us. As the venue was so large and Mike had not yet had a chance to recce it, it was decided that he would have a look over the building with Louise whilst Sam and Ant (Emgig) covered up any telltale signs on the walls that could give our sensitives any information. This started to take much longer than anticipated so Mike brought in the two sensitives to start working in from behind so we could speed things up a little. Brent Vardy a good friend to UK Paranormal was on hand to film the Sensitive's walk through as he was going to be filming the team for a short documentary he was making. Because the walk through was being filmed we decided not follow them and take notes. This was to be a big mistake, due to camera malfunction, natural, not paranormal, nearly all sound on the tape was lost, and what remains is not significant enough to report on here. .

At 7 pm we made our way over to Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem where Sam and Lou had kindly arranged with the new landlady for us all to have dinner. Many thanks to the staff at the Trip for keeping the kitchen open so late just for us. .

We returned to the Galleries at around 8:30 and were informed that the sensitive's needed to finish there rounds, so the rest of the team of were forced to wait a while longer before we got under way. So it was 10 pm before we could start our first little experiment of the night. Mike put all the remaining team members into pairs and sent them off to different rooms in the building along with a questionnaire to fill out and after telling each pair a couple of things about alleged haunting in the room they were to stay in. How ever unknown to all the teams apart from Sam and Wendy every thing he told them was a pack of lies used to try and gauge if auto suggestion had any part to play in an alleged haunting. Note: under usual circumstances we would NEVER tell anyone about any aspect of a haunting, so as not to influence them in any way. This was an exercise to see if being told what to expect would induce any effect in the people observing the room. I'm happy to say that all apart from one pair came through with out reporting any phenomena that had been suggested to them. 30 mins is a very short time for this kind of experiment and its something that UK Paranormal are going to look at in greater detail in due course. Whilst the team were spilt into there pairs a couple of things of note were reported.
Please not that during all experiments and vigils undertaken at the Galleries all lights and display equipment were switched off at the main office. This is because the lighting and audio circuits used to give information on the tour are on the same switches. The lights ECT going off timed all experiments and mini vigils until they came back on. The only noise that we were unable to stop was from a faulty fire alarm that kept beeping in the background in the dark cells.

In the criminal court Anji and Wendy reported the following.
10:01 scream heard from downstairs. (The courtroom has stairs leading down to the cell areas via the dock).
10:04 a bang heard on the balcony in front of us.
Anji is getting goose pimples and feeling cold. Wendy feels normal.
Anji is getting the feeling that someone is following her around the room and has hold of her arm.
Wendy and Anji both feel the need to debate.
Again Anji feels as though she is being followed around the room.
As Anji jumps Wendy sees someone behind her.
Anji is sitting in the big chair (judges) and Wendy sees someone beside her.
10:21 both see a shadow move near the exit sign near the witness stand.
(Emergency lights were left on for safety reasons).

Ray and Carly were in the women's bath house/laundry.
A snore like sound was reported by Carly but not heard by Ray.

Sam and Denise were placed in a cell with door firmly shut.
Both report seeing small light mainly near the door of the cell. Note: the only power in that part on the building was to the emergency systems and no lights are any where near the door to the cell.
Sam heard a noise in the corridor shuffling of feet and a door slam.

Mark Biggs was in the room called Burning at the Stake.
Saw light patches on the ceiling.

Ant and Sue were in the turnkey
Sue reported feeling achy down left arm and neck and also a headache.
Footsteps were twice reported from the room above. The room above is the laundry and was occupied by two investigators at the time and this no doubt the source of the footsteps.
Both report a feeling of getting colder although room temperature remained the same at 19 degrees Celsius.

R Reynolds and Lara reported from the Dark Cells.
Lara felt a pressure on the top of her head.
Lots of external noise.
Approx 10:25 a metallic sound was heard from the next cell. The next cell holds a small exhibit of a man in chains sat on the floor. He has a metal plate on the floor in front of him. When this plate was disturbed by investigators Lara confirmed it was the sound she had heard.

At 10:30 the lights went back on all personnel were collected and paperwork gathered up. Mike and Ant from Emgig had a chat for 30 mins whilst the rest of the two teams had a general wander around building to get their bearings. These things rarely go that smoothly and it took a little longer to collate the information gathered. Brent related to Mike about an incident he found interesting while working with the sensitives, as one of them had picked up on a hospital area/dentist with out entering the area. He also pointed a strange effect he had on his camera as he filmed in the 1833 cells. Mike realised that he must have missed this part of the venue of on his earlier tour as he no idea where Brent was referring. Mike was taken to the place in question and he was leaving after meeting with ray and Sam was walking across the men's exercise yard he noticed a figure move past the door to the Turnkey and Condemned Cell he and Ray took off to check it out closely followed by Sam and Brent. Their search took them thorough the Condemned Cell and into the dark cells where they both heard a noise from the cell used to lock people up. Soon after this Ray reported seeing movement through the grill in the floor that leads to the underground pits. No satisfactory explanation has been found for any of these events apart from human error/mistake.

A control experiment using a pair of old handcuffs lent to us by the venue was set up in the laundry area next to the woman's cell.
The teams were finally organised into smaller teams and sent off for the first of the night vigils. I will not try to report on everything done by every member but only relate what is considered to be important from each group.
Ray, Carly, Lara and Sue were in the transportation exhibit for this vigil.
At 12:39 Carly reported her right hand getting colder. Two others checked this feeling although no actual temperature drop was apparent.
12:34 Lara hears possible voices and crying, this is not confirmed by any other member of her group.
12:57 sounds of groaning heard by all in room with the exception of Ray.

Sam, Scotty, Anji and Ant were sent to the Medieval Midden
12:45 Anji says her foot is being pulled and scrapped. She has a feeling of a patch over her left eye.
12.55 Sam heard a noise like a moaning come from the top of the midden area

Denise, Mark, Wendy and Lou found themselves in the 1833 cells with Brent also present.
12:40 During an EVP session two taps were heard in the corridor outside.
12:53 during a channelling session Wendy say she is feeling sick and the session is halted. Brent who was out side the circle reported being cold, however as the channelling session was ended Wendy feeling hot and visibly red in the face both people were checked by touching and a physical difference was apparent.
1:00 Lou hears noise like door moving. Decision made to move to cell 3.
1:01 lights come on and Brent thinks he hears noise from room 6.

It is at this point that I have to admit to breaking one of my own fundamental rules for paranormal investigation. I was feeling a little stressed by the fact that organising such a large group of people hailing from two separate groups was proving difficult as people kept wandering off to have a cigarette or visit the toilet and it was almost impossible to get every one in the same room at the same time. So I decided to have a bit of time alone knowing full that if anything happened I would not be able to prove it as it would be my word alone. With this in mind I took my Dictaphone and a copy of our paper work and sat alone in the criminal court asking question to thin air and making notes about outside noises that could interfere with the possible results. One possible result here and its presented at the bottom of the page for your inspection. It comes after I have asked the question, where you perhaps tried or convicted in this room?
At 12:45 I left the courtroom and returned to the room we using as base/coffee room. I put my Dictaphone down made myself a coffee and was walking back towards the door when something caught my attention. I should point out at this stage that one of our members had recently purchased a laptop computer and was running it in this room with motion sensing software running a web cam. It was in this room because I had not yet decided where else if anywhere to deploy it. The camera was pointing at the owner's bag on the floor as he had his wallet in it and we had guests with us on the vigil that we didn't know, (no offence meant to any of our guests btw). Anyway it was the fan on the laptop stopping that had caught my attention and made me look in that direction. Seconds after I looked up what I can only describe as a bunch of twigs tied together like the end of the traditional witches' broom that was stood leaning back against the corner fell over on its own. There was no one near it at the time, the bundle was leaning backwards and would have needed to be pushed to fall. I was the only witness and accept that I am leaving myself open to criticism for being alone (well founded as it one of my paramount rules to always be with someone else while on site).
On the plus side the fall was at least partly caught on the motion sensing camera, again however we are open to criticism on the footage of the brush because it can not all be seen at the beginning, and it will no doubt be speculated that it was pushed from above and out of shot, a fair point again! What is interesting is what starts the camera rolling, the bag in the centre of the shot is seen to move and it is possible to see the whole bag and a good area surrounding it. I'm sure people will also find something to pick out about that as well. For instance, because the movement seems so sudden people may think we have used stop motion capture somehow. All I can say to that is that it was captured on a motion sensing camera and it's the movement of the bag that set the camera running so it will appear to jerk somewhat. Or, well it's on a digital media, so anything could have been done to it! It is on a digital media so we have no negative or film based back up, what can I say, that's the media this camera and software use.
In fact the only thing you have that says this footage is genuine is my word. People no doubt start to shout fake or fraud, but the people who have worked with me and know me will (I hope) confirm my honesty and objectivity when dealing the paranormal and any evidence gained or submitted to us, and I will sign any statement or swear any oath that I am telling the truth in this matter.
So where is this footage you cry? It's near the bottom of the page and you will eventually have to make up your own mind about it, so have a look. It may not mean much to the layperson but its gold to us.
After the general excitement of discovering that we had indeed caught the movement on the motion-sensing camera, the group was once again spilt up into the smaller teams and sent off on another vigil. (Mike was in tow with one of the groups this time).

Once again I will only relate the important points.

Ray, Carly, Lara, Sue and Mike headed off to the smaller of the pits and sat for a while in silence. EVP questions were asked and so far we have no results to report. During the time spent in the pit everyone heard the sound of possible footsteps and after checking we can only say that we don't know what caused the sounds. The sound of the night cell door opening was also heard, Mike and Ray went to check and found that another member had been responsible. When the two returned the others reported that they had felt the temperature lower and a nasty smell was now apparent in the pit, it can only be described the odour of a male toilet in a public house with a strong smell of urine. The atmosphere had also changed and a feeling of not being alone was noted by Carly, she also became "shivery cold" and could feel someone to her right. After a few moments she told the others she could feel her hair moving.

Denise, Mark, Wendy, Louise and Brent found themselves in the caves/Midden area. Wendy's first impression was one of extreme dislike. An EVP Q and A session was the first order of business but again with no apparent results.
Two bangs were heard by all in the cave from the far end, followed a short time after by a long scream. Note: This is a good example of why paperwork is so important. Due to the meticulous notes kept of all noises and activities it was easy to find the reason for the scream. I t was in fact Mike and Ray investigating the sound from the night cell door.
At 2:43 all team members noted the darkness in the room had deepened and at 2:49 groans and the sounds of "seagulls" were reported.
A channelling session was undertaken at this juncture and during the session Wendy asked for some lights as she had been touched by something, shortly afterwards as the vigil was due to end Wendy and Louise left leaving Mark Denise and Brent who opted to stay on for a while longer. They moved to the end of the cave and picked up a very low EMF reading (there are no electrics in this part of the venue so the only explanation is that the reading is of a natural EM field). The group left the area at 3:14 and as leaving heard a high-pitched scream/moan; we have found no explanation for this sound. The only other point worth noting is that over the course of almost an hour the temperature in the cave dropped from 23.9 C to17.1 C.

Sam, Anji and Ant were based in the transportation exhibit for this vigil. EMF readings of 3 and 4 were found around 2 separate exhibits respectively. Anji sensed a man and a small child following the group around, and was given the impression that they wanted to stay with them. They stepped outside and the EMF jumped to 5 and the readings continued as the group made its way towards the gallows at the end of the men's exercise yard. Note: The reading was only apparent in-between Anji and Sam. Once up on the stage of the gallows the reading moved from between the ladies as if it didn't want to stand over the trapdoor and only appeared between to two ladies when they moved back down from the gallows.

Claire, Richard and Kristy were in the criminal court; again an EVP session was conducted again with no result. 10 minutes in Claire was shocked to feel a finger stroke her face. At 2:40 Scotty who ran his Dictaphone took some digital pics and checked out the room with his EMF meter, all sadly with no result joined them.

As the vigils all drew to a close the whole group gathered together in the criminal courts for a mass channelling session lead by Denise from the Emgig team. We all gathered around the large table in the middle of the room and attempted to channel energy into the centre, this proved fruitless and it was decided that we might be to far away from each other. The group relocated into the dark cell and tried again. No success this time either.
The control experiment was checked and broken down with no result. The teams cleaned up and removed the covers from all the wall posters collected all there gear together said there goodbyes and left.

From a personal point of view, the GOJ was probably one of the best and one of the worst vigils UK Paranormal have organised. One of the best because of the fantastic venue and the results we gained. One of the worst due to the amount of people from two separate groups. This made it very difficult to co-ordinate the night's events. If I have learnt anything from this vigil it's that a smaller group is in my opinion the desirable option. I would like to return the Galleries of Justice with a more streamlined approach and a more definite plan of attack. I have also learned that it's a real good idea to have seen the venue before turning up on the night. Some of the group had done so, but I hadn't. This meant a lot of waiting around for the rest of the team before we all got started, although I had made it clear what I intended to do.

Many thanks to EMGIG who joined us on the night and helped with covering this huge building, their web site can found at EMGIG.com
If you would like to visit the Galleries of Justice for an overnight stay you could a lot worse than contacting Martin and Louise at Fright Night's. They organise overnight vigils at the Galleries and even supply all equipment, an evening meal and breakfast after vigil. They are very professional, extremely knowledgeable and very nice people. You can find Fright Night's on the web at Fright Nights