Most Haunted At Drakelow Tunnels - Series 16, Episode 8 Review
This article is more than ten years old and was last updated in December 2018.
Yvette Fielding leads the Most Haunted team into a network of dark and haunted underground tunnels in Worcestershire to check out reports of ghostly goings on.
Yvette described the former wartime tunnels, which are said to house the wandering spirits of the dead as "a labyrinthine hell on Earth."
The Drakelow Underground Dispersal Factory was excavate during World War II within sandstone hills near the town of Kidderminster. The three and a half miles of interconnecting tunnels were originally constructed as a shadow factory for the Rover car company, who were helping with the war effort and could move their operations here if their main factories were destroyed.
During the 1950s with the threat of the Cold War, the site was used by the Ministry of Supplies for storage. In 1958 part of the network was redeveloped by the Home Office as a nuclear bunker to house the local government.
In 1990, the tunnels were decommissioned and sold in 1993. Now the tunnels are in private hands and are slowly being renovated with plans of opening them as a museum.
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Are Drakelow Tunnels Haunted?
As well as plenty of wartime secrets, the tunnels are also said to house plenty of ghosts. Noises, disembodied voices, cries and poltergeist activity are the main phenomena, but some of the reports of these hauntings are quite alarming and dangerous. One ghost of a past worker is said to physically push guests, made all the more scary as it's so easy to become disorientated in the dark.
The hauntings are said to be made worse by the fact that some of the tunnels were excavated under a medieval burial site. It's claimed that a spiritual guardian of the graves takes a dislike to anyone who enters.
No matter where you go in this dark, foreboding place, there are phantoms, ghostly noises and just about every type of paranormal activity. In fact, there is no safe place.
The current owner, Sid Robinson, has had several paranormal experiences in the tunnels himself since taking over the site, "my first ever sighting was a chap who we believe to be a miner. He was killed down here and he quite often follows you around. There's also the ghost of a lady who is quite often seen near the entrance with a child, and the story is the a lady got run over by a dumper truck during the excavation of the tunnels."
The most commonly reported ghost is an entity which likes to interact with visitors, but in a vicious way. The show's resident demonologist said, "there'll be a few demons coming out tonight I think."
Fred remarked, "this places stands out to me because it's like you're coming into a city, in to a town. Everything's here, you could come and live here forever because it's got every facility you need."
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The Investigation
The team started their investigation off together in one of the four main tunnels which crosses through the site. Karl Beattie suggested that the team split in two and walked along, one half walking along to the second tunnel. Both teams will then walk along the tunnels in parallel and meet at the end.
A very reluctant Yvette and Mel Crump were sent in to the second tunnel, while Karl, Stuart Torevell, Gregg Smith and Darren Hutchinson stayed on the main drift.
It wasn't long before Yvette screamed having heard a knock in the darkness. Yvette said that the knock had been the result of a really big stone being thrown, Mel said it has skimmed the back of her head.
The two teams were still in shouting distance of one another. Karl shouted "are you OK?" Yvette replies, "no, we're very frightened." A few minutes later Yvette asked where the guys were, Karl said "not far," so Yvette asked them to come and get them, but Karl pretended not to hear.
The two teams then reunited and went into a grim old washroom, where Stuart felt something blow in his ear. Yvette started to call out to the spirits, "if there's anybody here, if there's something following us, please can you make yourself known." As Yvette finished speaking something fell from the ceiling.
Karl took over, "come on do your worst, you don't scare me." Yvette then reported hearing the sound of something being dropped, she said it sounded like it was coming from behind Stuart. Moments later an old key was thrown and hit Yvette on the shoulder before falling to the floor.
Darren reported feeling a tension in his head. Yvette said it was interesting that he should feel this sensation, as one of the ghosts of the tunnel, who has been nicknamed Oswald, is said to have died during the excavation of the tunnels when a rock fall crushed his head. Some believe that his death may not have been an accident, suggesting that he was actually murdered.
As the team left the washrooms, Karl called out "come on, if you're here, do something else" and instantly they all heard a deep breathing sound. Stuart said, "you could not miss that," although it wasn't audible on camera.
Yvette then started whistling to try and encourage the spirits to copy, the team all heard a whistle in response, which Karl said could have just been an echo. Moments later Karl saw what he thought was a dark shadowy figure walking past a doorway.
Yvette then jumped when she heard what she thought was a footstep behind her. A nervous Darren then pointed out, "they've got us trapped now, they've got us right in a corner because we're at the far reaches of these tunnels."
Ouija Session
Yvette, Karl, Fred, Mel and Stuart sat around a table with a large ouija board in the dark, with the site owner, Sid and his dogs looking on. Yvette started the session by calling out to the spirits, "is there anybody here connected with this place, with Drakelow Tunnels?" When Yvette asked, "is there a gentleman here who was killed here?" the glass that the team had their fingers lightly resting on slid across the board to "yes."
Yvette then asked if the man was murdered and then glass slid so forcefully across the board that many of the team couldn't keep up with it. The team then deduced through subsequent questions that they were talking to a murderous spirit who, in life, intentionally killed another man over a debt when he was just 17. The board even spelt out the murder weapon, "rock." According to the spirit's interactions through the board, this occurred in 1941. This does match up with the date that the tunnels were being constructed.
The Hunt Continues...
Yvette, Karl and Stuart then returned to roaming the dark tunnels, and it wasn't long before Karl again thought he saw a dark shadow, this time watching them from a dead end. A few minutes later, Yvette heard an unexplained metallic rattle.
The team were now so deep into the tunnels, that they had no idea how to get back to the entrance. As they walked further into the darkness, Yvette said "I've suddenly got a real wave of fear come over me like you wouldn't believe."
Stuart didn't do much to help Yvette's fear. As they passed through a creepy doorway he said, "there could be thousands and thousands of souls in this room, flying around us." Yvette snapped, "shut up!" But seconds later a they heard the sound of a stone landing on the floor after being thrown.
They then heard what Stuart described as sounding like a groan or a growl. Yvette was terrified at this point, saying "I'm too scared to go back the way we've come." But the gang did eventually decide to retrace their footsteps and head for safety.
On the way they heard plenty more objects being thrown or moved in the darkness around them, as the team argued about which direction the way out was. Karl joked that if they got stuck down there, because they got Yvette with them they could start their own "subterranean family." Stuart laughed as Karl added, "part Beattie, part Torevell, all Fielding."
After several more minutes of wandering around, Stuart said "I think we're well and truly lost now." The show came to an end, so we can only assume that the team finally made it out of the tunnels.
For reviews of all of the new episodes, plus highlights and evidence from the shows, and to find out when Most Haunted is on next, visit the Most Haunted episode guide.
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