Most Haunted At HMP Shrewsbury - Halloween Special 2016 Review 🎃
This article is more than eight years old and was last updated in September 2019.
The Most haunted team, headed up by Yvette Fielding, return to a location that she swore she'd never go back to for a very special 'as-live' edition of the show for Halloween at HM Prison Shrewsbury.
Unlike previous Halloween specials, this two-hour show isn't technically a 'Most Haunted Live', but Yvette explains in her opening link that because the place is "so terrifying and potentially violent" thy can't guarantee what will happen. She explains that they've opted to show this remarkably haunted place 'as-live', "which means you will get to see everything unfold as if it were live with no edits, but gives us the option to stop recording should something untoward happen."
The last series of Most Haunted ended with a pretty exciting three-part investigation of the prison in Shropshire and there was so much paranormal activity, a lot of which was quite violent, that Yvette said she'd never return to HMP Shrewsbury
During their previous night at the prison, a crowbar was thrown several times, on one occasion only just missing Yvette. The team heard plenty of odd sounds including whistling, doors slamming, banging, footsteps. A trigger object in the form of a small wooden box was caught moving on camera, lights turned themselves on, cell doors were banged on from the outside, and most worrying, Karl Beattie collapsed for no apparent reason moments after reporting being kicked in the leg several times.
So, why is there so much paranormal activity in this disused prison? Well, the building has a great deal of history. The earliest prison was built on this site in 1793. It is now buried underground and used as nothing more than a conduit for pipes and cables that served the newer prison building above.
The prison we see today has stood since 1877 and has housed both men and women up until 1922, when C-Wing was shut to female inmates and opened up to vulnerable prisoners, those who needed to be isolated from the general population in A-Wing and B-Wing.
HMP Shrewsbury has seen its fair share of judicial executions. In fact in one single day in 1822, five prisoners were hanged. The last public hanging in Shrewsbury was that of Edward Cooper, carried out in 1863 for the murder of his own son. In 1868 all public hangings were banned and brought inside the prison.
However, not all the deaths at the prison were judicial. Some were natural, but there are also stories of inmates taking their own lives as well as other prisoners'. With so much anger, rage and death, no wonder this place is said to be so full of paranormal activity.
More From 'Most Haunted'
For more from Yvette and the gang, check out our 'Most Haunted' hub, where you will find up to date news on the show, highlights and evidence from the latest investigations, and a complete 'Most Haunted' episode guide.
Introductions
Before the team head out into the prison, Yvette first introduces us to the fearless gang. Starting with Karl, Yvette's husband and the show's executive producer. Karl says, "I absolutely can't wait, bearing in mind what happened here before. I just hope we get something even similar to that, it would be brilliant."
Next up is Stuart Torevell, one of the show's camera men who tells Yvette, "I'm going to be with Karl at some point later on I'm assuming, so I've got every reason to feel nervous." Yvette says that, "no one really likes going off with you two because stuff really happens when you're alone with you two, so I'm hoping I'm not alone with you two at all."
Then we meet the show's resident skeptic, Glen Hunt. Usually Glen suggest to Yvette that she should ignore the stories they've heard about the locations they visit and go into them openminded. But tonight Glen says, "I feel we're at a disadvantage tonight, and the reason for that is we're stuck with the memories of our own experiences very very recently and we can't get rid of those memories. If we get anything like that activity tonight that we had on out previous visit then I'd be really happy with that."
Yvette then moved on to Fred Batt, a self-styled demonologist, who confessed to Yvette, "tonight I've got something up my sleeve, I think it's going to be right up your street." Because of this he gave Yvette a crystal bracelet that he said would protect her, as "there's something going to happen tonight that I've conjured up."
There was also Gregg Smith behind the camera and sound man Darren Hutchinson.
Locked Off Cameras
Yvette tells us that they have four locked off cameras set up around the prison and introduces us to Rose Hillan, the show's assistant producer who has a tough job for the evening.
Throughout the investigation, Rose will be sat alone in the small office which adjoins the execution room. He job is to jeep an eye on the live feeds from around the prison on a monitor. If she spots anything odd, she's instructed to use her radio to contact the team.
Advertisement ‐ Content Continues Below.
C-Wing
With the introductions out of the way and the lights turned out, it was time to start the investigation. The team's first stop was on the upper landing in C-Wing. As the team peered over the balcony they heard sounds like movement coming from the lower level and headed down to investigate.
Yvette's first scare of the night was when Karl called out "hello," she jumped and complained, "you could have warned me before you said that in my ear."
They then heard rustling coming from inside one of the cells, so they all went inside. Yvette called out to the spirit, "is there anybody here? Can you copy me?" She whistled and heard an identical whistle a few seconds later. They walked back out in to the cell block where the sound seemed to have been coming from.
Moments later there was a loud noise as am enamel mug was then thrown behind them. They weren't sure where it had come from, so Karl and Gregg went to the upper balcony to investigate. They then heard a door slam from the far end of the wing and ran in that direction.
There was then another clatter as something else was thrown and at the very same moment a cell door somewhere in the wing had slammed shut.
Gregg then realised something, "have you noticed how it's splitting us up already?" So, as the gang left C-Wing in the direction of the kitchen, Stuart said "everyone keep together, anyone can get picked off now."
In The Kitchen
As soon as the team stepped into the large area that was once the prison's kitchen area, they heard two objects being thrown loudly with force. No one could work out what had caused the sound, which Karl described as being like cutlery hitting a metal kitchen counter.
Yvette called out to the spirits, asking any present to walk towards them. She said she wanted to hear their footsteps. The team all said they could hear footsteps, Glen said it sounded like someone trying to tiptoe ever so gently, the others described light footsteps at the other end of the kitchen.
Another enamel mug, or perhaps the same one, was then thrown across the kitchen behind them just as they were about to leave the room.
Split Up
Yvette then decided it was time to split up. She sent Karl and Stuart off together with the instruction "please don't be doing anything stupid." They headed to C-Wing but other than a few knocks and taps, didn't experience much.
Meanwhile, Yvette and the rest of the team went to A-Wing. Even before they got there, Yvette shouted "to the left, to the left," which Gregg thought sounded like a Beyonce track. However, Yvette had heard what she described as someone shuffling their feet through an open doorway to their left.
Once in A-Wing Yvette saw what she thought was a shadow moving form left to right in the distance. This is almost exactly how the team's last visit to A-Wing started in the pervious episode. Fred ran the length of the cellblock to investigate.
"Rose To The Team"
Just then a call came through on Yvette's walkie-talkie, "Rose to the team." Yvette responded to Rose who was still sat on her own. Rose said, "I just wanted to check, no one's up here are they?" Yvette replied, "no one's up there with you Rose." And Rose explained, "I just heard, I know this is really silly, but the sound of a key on a piano being hit, like just round the corner from me."
Yvette and the gang then heard a bang from one of the upper level and they all climbed the stairs to investigate. They heard distant noises and Yvette called out, "can you make another noise, can you slam another door?" But her request was answered with silence.
A few minutes later the team were back on the lower level of A-wing when they heard an almighty crash. It sounded like something slamming on the metal stairs between the balconies. Once again they ran up to the next balcony. Yvette said, "let's stay together and calm down," probably due to their constant running between levels. While standing in silence they heard what sounded like intermittent deep thudding sounds and what they described as the sound of something running up the stairs.
Advertisement ‐ Content Continues Below.
Later in the investigation while on the lower floor of A-Wing, Yvette was peering into the darkness as if she could see something. Then suddenly she lost it, "oh my god!" She dashed upstairs claiming she saw someone. Karl and Stuart came running into the wing having heard Yvette's screams.
She explained to Karl what she had seen, "it was a man, I saw a him. Here, right by here," pointing to the area near the pool table on the first floor, "crouched here, a big guy. I watched him for ages, he then got up and just moved really quickly." Yvette added, "I honestly thought there was a proper person here."
Fred, who says he also saw the figure, described it as a demon, "like an animal," running along hunched over. Fred claimed that this sighting was probably what he summoned, the surprise he had up his sleeve.
It's Behind You!
We then cut back to Rose in the execution room where she is completely unaware of a strange light anomaly which appears behind here. At first this odd glowing light which seems to move across the wall is quite impressive. No explanation for this strange light is giving, but as the clip continues it becomes apparent that it's nothing more than an insect which is attracted to the light of the camera.
Cell 20
Karl suggests splitting up again, he turns to Yvette, "why don't you take a camera and go on your own?" But she's not keen, "because I don't want to, I don't want to do that." Trying to convince her, Karl says, "I think every viewers who's watching this will want to see you on your own."
Fred then chips in, "the only thing I'm worried about is what I've called up." But Karl reminds Fred he's given her protection in the form of a bracelet, so she should be fine. Yvette eventually agrees but says, "I'm not happy about this at all."
A terrified Yvette then makes her way back to the lower level of A-Wing, where almost immediately she heard doors banging all around her. It was all a bit much for her and Yvette started to crying, "I'm sorry, I'm so scared."
"I'm going to go in here now," Yvette said as she walked into cell 20, "I'm feeling very very vulnerable so I'm just going to go into one of the cells."
Once inside the dark cell, she said "I'm going to stand in the corner, I feel safer." Telling her self to calm down she said, "there's definitely something out there." She then bravely started calling out to the spirits. At one point she whistled and a lower pitched, slower copy echoed back at her. This was followed by more noises and crashes from outside the cell.
To Yvette's horror, the cell door then slammed closed. A locked off camera out in the cellblock showed it shutting from the outside, while Yvette was still huddled in a corner inside the cell. She screamed and began to sob, "is there somebody in here with me? If there's somebody in here with me, can you make a noise?" But there was nothing but silence.
After a while she grabbed her radio to contact Karl, "I'm trying to be really brave but the door has locked, well it's shut. I haven't been anywhere near it but I just wondered if you'd be very kind and come and see if you can find me."
Not really knowing where Yvette was, Karl and Stuart run through A-Wing trying to find Yvette, swinging open doors as they went. Eventually they arrived at cell 20 and Karl tried to push the door open but it wouldn't budge. After several attempts the door eventually slowly pushed open and Karl ran inside to rescue his terrified wife.
Yvette hugged Karl and described her experience as being like "living in a horror movie."
The Execution Room
With just about ten minutes remaining, the ream regrouped in the execution room for a ouija board session. Yvette called out, "tell us who you are, introduce yourself please." The planchette steadily moved towards the letter "f" and then to "no."
Confused, they tried again but this time the planchette moved straight towards "no". Yvette asked, "you don't want to speak to us?" And the planchette moved to "goodbye." Although the spirits clearly didn't want to communicate, Yvette said she could hear scratching sounds coming from underneath the very cool Most Haunted branded spirit board.
Despite the spirit's rude replies, the gang didn't give up and after a few seconds the planchette started moving in circles across the board, getting faster and faster. It then spelt out the word "gaffer." Yvette asked "were you the boss of this prison?" But the spirit answer with "no" via the board. It then spelt out "did I not kill" ...whatever that means.
Karl then abruptly left the séance having heard something from outside the room. Stuart, armed with a camera followed him back to A-Wing. They ended up at the same spot where Yvette had seen the figure earlier, next to the pool table.
Without warning, a ball from the table was thrown and bounced across the hard floor, followed by doors slamming in the dark cellblock.
Moments later the rest of the team arrived to bring and end to the show. Yvette said, "we're going to wrap up our time here now, we're going to continue with our investigation" as they walked off into the darkness of cellblock A.
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.
More From Most Haunted View All
Related Content
Daily Horoscopes
Sagittarius
You will be in a good mood right now. Your sense of humour returns, and you are energetic. You are up for some fun, too. You might actually drag your partner out of the house to go party this evening.... Read More
You May Also Like
