Ghost Hunting At The Haunted Antiques Paranormal Research Centre
June 28, 2022 1:00 AM ‐ Paranormal Investigation Reports • Paranormal
This article is more than two years old.
I joined Haunted Live on a midweek ghost hunt at the Haunted Antiques Paranormal Research Centre (HAPRC) in Hinkley. The intimate public event was hosted by Paul, Andy and Jason at the haunted museum on Regent Street.
Haunted Live have been holding events at HAPRC for almost five years and admit that the place baffles, confuses and amazes them. They write on the event's web page, "we can't guarantee paranormal activity, but we can guarantee a warm welcome and a friendly relaxed evening," so how could I resist a night in the dark with the team?
There was indeed a warm welcome when I arrived at the centre just before 8pm along with six other eager investigators attending the event. With just seven of us, it was one of the smallest public events I'd been to. Of course, a smaller group has its benefits, something the Haunted Live team were very aware of. Having fewer guests meant that we all got a say in where we investigated across the museum's two main floors.
We started out as a group, ten of us including our hosts, in the Doll Room. This was one of the original rooms of the museum, located on the top floor. The night got off to a quiet start, but collectively we decided to split up and tackle different areas of the museum.
While some of the guests stayed in the Doll Room, others headed to the War Room and later the Victorian Room. I went into the Attic Room, a very cozy space that was originally set up to resemble a traditional séance parlour. The centrepiece is a large table draped in a cloth, where visitors can conduct séances. In this room there's also the centre's famous shattered mirror, as well as several of the museum's artefacts.
I was joined by Jason and two of the guests. Again, the room proved to be fairly quiet, although we did have a few interesting moments with motion-sensitive lights switching on, although we couldn't rule out the fact that one of us triggered them.
Just before the halfway point in the night, I joined Paul who was in the War Room with another guest, Leanne. With break time approaching we walked from the War Room into the Doll Room and as we did a creepy ventriloquist's doll that was sat on a rocking chair fell off and landed on the floor with a thud. We though that perhaps it had been our footsteps that had caused the doll to fall, but some good stomping around the chair didn't cause the re-positioned doll to fall again.
Paul and Leanne left the room in order to retrace their footsteps in an attempt to recreate the moment. I remained in the Doll Room and was just taking my phone out of my pocket to film the scene, when the doll fell again, just seconds before I could hit the record button.
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This gave us something to tell the other guests as we re-grouped and headed down to the ground floor shop to exchange stories about what had happened while we were spread out across the building over a cup of tea. One pair of investigators had heard something stalking the corridor outside the Victorian room on the middle floor. One of the guests even told me that it sounded like something was trying to open the door and come into the room with them.
Although the attic room had been quiet before the break, it felt like something was building there. I decided to go back alone, partly out of curiosity and partly out of the desire to feel scared on a ghost hunt like other people often are. Because the team were so flexible and open to guests shaping the events of the night, it wasn't a problem for me to go back to the room on my own.
I took a seat at the large table in the darkness. To my left was the large cracked mirror in its weathered wooden frame. The mirror came from a house clearance and is reminiscent of the Mirror of Erised from the Harry Potter movies. Opposite me there were various potentially haunted artefacts on display, including two real human skulls.
The atmosphere did continue to grow heavier and I felt ill at ease to the extent that I didn't feel comfortable turning my torch off. It's not often that I feel unsettled on a ghost hunt, on a few very rare occasions I have felt scared by my surroundings and I was on the verge of this while in the Attic Room alone.
Despite my slight discomfort, the room ultimately failed to scare me out. Other than a few very slight knocks and bangs heard around me, the room was pretty peaceful and I was later joined by Paul and another guest for one final vigil in the Attic Room.
The end of the night was fast approaching, so we all came together back where we'd started the night, in the Doll Room. The team and all the guests had one last attempt at communicating with the spirits of HAPRC, but as is often the case on ghost hunts, we weren't rewarded for our efforts.
The event finished at 11pm, which is perfect for a midweek event on a work night. Getting the chance to go looking for spooks on a week night was a nice change from the usual weekends in the dark. The event cost just £20, which felt like a very reasonable amount for the duration and venue.
HAPRC also felt perfect for a weekday event. It's not too big so you don't wear yourself out trudging around a huge site all night, it's all indoors and sheltered from the elements, but there's enough different and unique areas to investigate during the three-hour event.
I'd like to say thank you to Paul, Andy and Jason for inviting me along and for making an otherwise dull Wednesday night a little bit spookier. Also a big thanks to all the other guests, who helped make the event fun and fascinating.
To find out more and book your own ghost hunt at HAPRC with Haunted Live, head over to hauntedliveofficial.com.
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