Most Haunted Live! Spirits In The Skies - Llanbedr, North Wales

September 11, 2004 10:00 PM ‐ Most Haunted • Paranormal • Television • Long Reads

This article is more than ten years old and was last updated in July 2019.

The team embark on the 10th Most Haunted Live!, this time spread over three nights as Yvette Fielding and her team of investigators attempt to uncover Wales' darkest paranormal secrets.

As always David Bull is the studio host, joined by 300 excited Most Haunted fans in the village of Llanbedr in North West Wales. He's also joined by the show's two historians, Richard Felix and Richard Jones. While Julian Clegg manages the interactive team and dealing with the thousands of messages from viewers.

Over the three nights Yvette and the team will investigate the many mysteries of the Maes Artro site, a collection of buildings that was once home to the servicemen stationed at RAF Llanbedr. Maes Artro is now a museum.

The team hope to get to the bottom of rumours that a ghostly man wanders through the old mess hall, and the mystery of the aquarium that once was a morgue and is now derelict and haunted. They'll explore the secrets of the lost underground chamber, and the World War II crash relics which have become a psychic hot spot. The team also plan to conduct a controversial "time slip experiment."

Before the first night's investigation got underway, an excited Yvette told David, "there have been so many paranormal investigations in this particular place and so many people have come away absolutely terrified. They have seen things, they have felt things, they've caught things on camera. So, we couldn't leave it alone, we just had to come and do a live show here."

Yvette was joined by her frontline investigation team, which is made up of psychic medium Derek Acorah - who said "I'm really really excited and I can't wait to get started here," and parapsychologist Ciarán O'Keeffe, who was hoping for hard evidence of the paranormal.

As always there are webcams set up across the location, situated in the shower block, the nearby woods and two cameras in a 1940s-themed room in the museum.

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Is Maes Artro Haunted?

Maes Artro, which means "meandering river" in Welsh, is said to be intensely paranormally active, with 30 reported unique paranormal sightings. The 10 acre site lies between the dark and imposing Rhinogs mountain range and the treacherous Irish Sea in the North West of Wales. The site was originally built in 1941 to house the staff and pilots of the adjacent RAF base, which saw considerable active service during the war.

This site is made up of over ten single storey buildings, which served as living quarters, the officers' mess, a morgue and a gymnasium. In its heyday the site housed hundreds of pilots and support staff from all over the free world, joined in their battle against the Nazis.

Sadly the base saw more than its fair share of air accidents, with loss of live becoming a regular - almost daily - occurrence. The nearby graveyard reflects the high death toll, with many of the dead being from abroad.

The site and area has always been known for its paranormal activity, with the local standing stones, mountains and nearby islands being regular locations of sightings. Since the war, paranormal activity has multiplied. Allegedly a ghostly man walks between the officers' mess and one of the other buildings, and the shower block has been the focus of many unexplained sounds particularly in the morning.

The RAF Llanbedr WWII museum, which is housed at the site, seems to attract paranormal phenomena. Staff regularly encounter poltergeist and audio occurrences, they're often too scared to enter some rooms after dark.

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The Sergeants' Quarters

On night one the investigation started in the Sergeants' Quarters, which includes the old mess hall. Many strange things are said to have been witnessed in this room, including the lights flickering on and off, and strange shadows have been seen moving. There has also been reports of odd sounds, which have been likened to the sound of military exercises, and the sound of a man's voice saying "no".

Unusually, the team started by conducting a séance in the mess hall. Yvette said, "it's an unusual start to the show, but we think it's probably the best one here because there's been so much paranormal activity." Yvette was joined by Derek, Catherine Howe and Stuart Torevell around the table. Ciarán was on-hand overseeing the vigil and psychic artist Brian Shepherd was sat in the room sketching away.

After a few minutes the team noticed a sudden drop in temperature and the candle on the table started flickering wildly. Then moments later, Derek began to channeling the spirit of a Squadron Leader, a man named Ian Warren. Using Derek's voice the Squadron Leader started talking about a fellow spirit who haunts the site called Alan.

The team then turn to Brian who has sketched a Czechoslovakian pilot who, according to Derek, was killed in a training exercise. Brian backs up Derek's take on the photo. Brian says that the man crashed into water in flames.

The team resumed their séance, but were soon interrupted by a sound from elsewhere in the dark room. The team were unsure what had caused the sound, some thought it was a chair in the room moving, others thought it was a knock on the window coming from outside. They later heard the sound of something moving around above them on the building's room.

The show's resident skeptic, Louie Savva, said he's "not particularly impressed" by the information Derek gave during the séance. Louie says the fact that the medium was able to pull out wartime dates and names like Alan isn't convincing as they are investigating a RAF base.

David then let us in on another of the mysteries that surround Maes Artro, and that's one concerning and underground chamber. During WWII there were underground tunnels of some sort under RAF Llanbedr, but they were kept secret and after the war they were filled in. Viewers were asked to try to find the chamber via a map on the website where they could click where they thought the chamber was.

Later we catch up with Yvette who is outside in the grounds with another of the show's psychic mediums who thinks he is in the area where the opening to the secret chamber is. David Wells says he thinks there is several chambers with one big room and many smaller chambers. He thinks they are currently stood over the main chamber.

RAF Llanbedr's Runway

We then see an investigation that was recorded previously. In the segment Yvette and the team visited the grounds of an old farmhouse at the end of RAF Llanbedr's runway. The farmhouse was the site of a crash after a stricken plane suffered an electrical fault on a test flight. Two crewmen were killed during the accident.

Derek picked up on the spirit of a Canadian man with the nickname Mac and gave the date of the crash as 1942. However, back in the studio Richard Felix states that the crash was actually a year later than the date Derek gave and that both men involved were British.

The Shower Block

After a brief update on the mission to find the secret chamber, the team moved on to the shower block, the scene of one of the most regular paranormal occurrences. It's said that around 6am each morning the abandoned shower block comes to life with the eerie sound of running water, footsteps and men chatting. Two airmen are often seen here.

Straight away Derek picked up on the residual energy of a spirit. He told Yvette, "what I heard, and it was very very clear, was a conversation going on between two males." Derek said that the conversation was taking place in Polish. This meant Derek couldn't understand the men but he could tell that one of them was angry. Derek said he was angry because his comrade lost his life during a training exercise. Seconds after Derek said this, Yvette and the team heard what sounded like someone stomping their foot behind then.

Yvette then decided to split the investigation, Cath was left in the shower block while Yvette, Derek and Ciarán returned to the officers' mess. Where they almost straight away heard unexplained sounds from the back of the room.

Here Derek once again picked up on the name Mac, but this was a different spirit to the one he'd been aware of at the farmhouse. Richard Jones thinks this is probably the spirit of James McLachlan, who was once stationed at the base.

Later in the mess, Yvette and the team were joined by an audience member named Nicole for the final vigil of the night. They decided to try some table tipping, a method of spirit communication, what should happen is that the spirit is able to move the table and answer questions with its movement.

During the experiment they seemed to once again make contact with the spirit of Ian, who seemed to be answering their questions with knocks on the table.

Night Two

The site is in the midst of one of the most violent storms seen in the area for many years, leading the producers to make the decision to move the audience out of the main studio tent and into a drier and safer, but smaller building on site.

Yvette, Derek and Ciarán are also in the dry, the first location they are investigating this evening is a building that was once the gymnasium for all the staff and crew that lived on the base. They decided after a while that they wanted a change and it then became a cinema. The room now houses a massive aeroplane.

Ciarán is armed with a thermal imaging camera, which Yvette tells us is a first for British television. Derek made contact with his first spirit of the evening, an angry energy, which he says is the entity that drives staff and visitors out of this part of the museum. Derek said this spirit is called Johansson, a Norwegian pilot. Before long it seemed as if Johansson was tapping on a wartime plane that was on display in the large room.

Stuart was then sent to do a lone vigil in what was the old projection room for the cinema.

The 1940s Room

Next Yvette, Ciarán and Louie visit a 1940s themed room at the museum. In order to get into the room a security guard had to cut off a padlock. This is because yesterday the team set up a complex paranormal experiment in the room, which involved several trigger objects, a Polaroid camera that took photos at regular intervals as well as an audio recording device. The room was locked to ensure no one tampered with the experiment.

Once they'd checked over the experiment, in which it seemed a couple of the coins they'd placed on the bed had moved, Derek came into the room to continue the investigation. During the vigil Yvette was terrified after hearing a wheezy laugh. Derek said a spirit called Flight Lieutenant Jeffery Page was responsible for this. A spirit who Derek said had a burnt face.

We then rejoin David Bull who is no longer in the studio. Due to the worsening weather, the tent that houses the studio has started to collapse. So, David has joined the audience in the Officers' Mess. Richard Jones was also in the makeshift studio, and he confirmed that the information that Derek had given on Jeffery Page was correct.

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Meini Hirion Standing Stones

In a pre-recorded segment, we see what happened when Yvette, Derek and Ciarán investigated some ancient standing stones in the village of Llanbedr itself, just half an hour northeast of the studio location.

These sacred and magical monoliths stand beside an ancient oak tree, surrounded by stunning scenery. Mystery surrounds how such huge stones came here as scientists have discovered they are not formed from local rock.

Thought to be from bronze age, arguments continue as to their original purpose. One theory states that the stones might have been erected as indicators to signify the precise positions of underground streams, magnetic flux and ley lines. Some think the stones might represented giant astronomy chart, perhaps as a signal to extraterrestrial life.

Shadowy figures are said to have been seen moving around the stones and voices have been heard beckoning passersby towards the stones. Visitors have reported feeling like they are being watched and others report a feeling of déjà vu.

While at the stones, Derek picked up on the residual energy of strange rituals, worship, animal sacrifice and perhaps even human sacrifice. He said the activity dates back to a settlement that lived in the area.

The Morgue

The second night ended with an investigation of probably one of the scariest parts of Maes Artro, the morgue. A lot of the staff at the museum refuse to go near the room. Straight away Yvette and Derek were overwhelmed by the negative atmosphere in the room.

Joined by Ciarán, they walked deeper into the morgue where they found Brian, who was once again sketching his interpretation of the spirits of Llanbedr. Brian felt that he had encounter the spirit of Jeffery and said he was picking up on "a sense of death", but then it is a morgue.

The team then joined hands and conducted a séance, and straight away several members of the team reported feeling an oppressive atmosphere, as well as feeling a sudden headache.

Night Three

At the start of the third night we get an update on the secret chamber that the team are trying to uncover. The mission was aborted on night two because of the torrential rain, but with better weather tonight excavation has begun. At the end of the episode we see Yvette and Derek stood in a tiny square pit in the ground, which Derek said is just the start of the chamber. The improvement in the weather conditions also meant that David and the audience were back in the main studio tent.

Yvette starts the night's broadcast by conducting what she calls a "time slip experiment" in the officers' mess. She was joined by a group of volunteers dressed in 1940s style clothing. The hope is that when the music starts playing and the volunteers start dancing, as they did at this location in the 1940s, paranormal activity will occur.

The lights were then dimmed and they switched to night vision cameras. Yvette said, "the experiment has now begun. They're dancing around in the dark, hopefully something is going to happen." We're then told that the team will be monitoring the experiment throughout the show. Later Derek and Brian picked up on several spirits, including that of Jeffery. They attributed several knocks, bangs and mysterious noises in the room to these spirits.

The team then moved on to the next location, the air raid shelter where three paranormal events are said to take place on a regular basis. Firstly, a tall dark ghostly shape appears. Secondly, a trigger object that's set in the subterranean room is said to move. And lastly, the sound of squeaky boots will often be heard. However, on this occasion no activity seemed to be occurring.

The Old Farmhouse, Shell Island

We're then shown the team's pre-recorded investigation at a cottage found less than a mile away from the end of the airfield, which is said to be haunted in its own right. It is located on a peninsula, which is accessible at low tide via a narrow causeway. The surrounding sea has become the watery graves for seafarers, pirates, smugglers and, in the last century, a strangely large number of distressed aircraft and crew.

From its windswept and often deserted beaches mysterious and eerie lights are seen falling slowly towards the horizon, and ghostly planes are heard dive-bombing or passing overhead. The historic and imposing old stone-built farmhouse dominates the island and keeps a sinister yet watchful eye over the bay.

Inside the farmhouse with its ancient beams and stone floors, the piano is often heard playing by itself. Up the creaking stairway and along the landing, a melancholy woman wanders forlornly around the bedroom. In another room a poltergeist is said to throw objects from on top of a wardrobe.

At the location Derek picked up on the spirit of Sean Phillips. Richard Felix confirmed that a famous Welsh bard names Sean Phillips did use to live at the house and died while rowing to the mainland.

The Projection Room

The viewers, voting via the Living TV website, have decided to send Yvette and the team to hold a vigil in the projection room of the old wartime cinema. The team have various objects to help them encourage the spirits to communicate with them, including playing cards and a glass on a table.

Yvette, Derek, Cath, team member Sally Matthews and a member of the audience, named Carly, sat at the table and lightly placed a finger on the glass. As Yvette and Derek encouraged the spirits to interact, the glass started sliding across the table.

During the experiment they heard several unexplained knocks around them and Yvette reported feeling incredibly cold all of a sudden. Towards the end of the vigil the glass started sliding rapidly around the table in a large circle. Derek said that this was the result of a spirit called "Bingo". According to Richard Jones back in the studio, this could have been Bingo Brown - a South African Air Vice Marshall who sent 26 of his 29 squadrons to train here.

The final night of the investigation ended with a table tipping experiment in the officers' mess. The table the team was using was on wheels, making it very easy for the spirits to move it around. The table did spin rapidly in response to their questions. At some points it was spinning so fast that the team couldn't keep up.

Derek described the three-night-long investigation as "the absolute pinnacle of our investigations to date."

Locations Visited

Maes Artro Heritage Museum, Llanbedr
RAF Llanbedr, Llanbedr
The Old Farmhouse, Shell Island
Meini Hirion Standing Stones, Llanbedr

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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