With the latest issue of Ghost Voices Magazine hitting a news agents near you, thought I should post something on my blog ‘all about it’!

We investigated Landguard Fort back in March of this year and with that I learnt a valuable lesson! If a location is predominantly outside with little heating, then at that time of year you’re gonna get pretty damn cold! However, putting that aside I think the investigation still went pretty well. 

Many Military installations are surrounded by an abundance of history and some paranormal activity. With a history spanning as far back as the 1500’s, Landguard point was no exception. The Fort seemed to hold an abundance of reports through the years. From odd lights, strange feelings and eerie places to full bodied apparitions, physical contact and objects being moved or thrown, the Fort seems a location too good to be true.

Landguard Point has been home to a number of fortifications over the years. Two blockhouses which rapidly deteriorated were built by Henry VIII in 1543, and in 1552 the guns were returned to the Tower of London. Then in 1628 a new fort was built, which was square with a bastion at each corner. A brick wall was built around the fort in 1666 under Charles II. The Duke of York and Albany’s Maritime Regiment of Foot, commanded by Captain Nathaniel Darell repelled the massive Dutch assault in 1667 during the second Dutch War.

1717 saw the construction of a new brick Fort, which was later replaced with a new structure in the shape of a pentagon with bastion at each corner in 1744. It is these walls which remain today.

The Fort was remodelled in 1871 from yellow London bricks. A seven gun casemate battery was constructed facing the river, accommodation was added in a semicircular block connected to the casemates to form an inner defensive position.

For most of the 20th century the Fort was used as barrack accommodation and in 1951 two of the old gun casements were converted into a ‘cold war’ control room.

Landguard no longer had a military purpose from 1956 when Coastal Artillery was disbanded. Following nearly ten years of military neglect, the Fort was sealed and left to deteriorate. During the 1980’s there was a renewed local interest in the Fort, then in 1998 the English Heritage took over the care for the Fort. The Landguard Fort Trust have maintained and opened it to the public on their behalf ever since.

Over the years the Fort has had a few reports of paranormal activity, from footsteps, to voices, to cold spots, all the way through to sightings of a full blown apparition. Not only has some of this been documented by the men that lived and worked there, but also experienced by more recent visitors and staff. It would also seem that the Fort has some possible resident spirits with John Lowes and the last Musketeer in the Holland Bastion, and the Portuguese woman and the sick soldier in the Chapel Bastion. There are also various other reports of activity throughout the Fort.

On that cold night in March, yes I will probably mention it several times, I think we managed to conduct a well planned investigation despite the conditions. Some of the team arrived the night before to ensure plenty of time for preparations. With a large scale of the Fort we wanted to ensure the location of the CCTV cameras was already decided prior to arriving back on site the evening of the investigation. This also allows for the camera team to prepare for filming too.

Then as the day passed and the evening approached we headed to the Fort again, meeting up with the rest of our team and the guys at the Fort.

The investigation presented some challenges such as covering the location with only four CCTV cameras which we overcome quite well. The visit in the afternoon saw to that! Also, with a location such as Landguard you can only really plan to hit the hotspots as its impossible to spend quality time in every room. Although whilst some members of the team setup equipment, others did have a wander around entering a few of the rooms which were unlocked. Sometimes doing this can pay off as you may experience or pick up on something which may help direct the investigation later on.

With the kit in place we began ! As ever we began the night by sticking to my plan and carrying out the noted Vigils in the hotspots. With little picked up at that time, apart from the team longing for the breaks where they could return to the warm HQ and a coffee, we decided to change things a little for the second half of the investigation. This was also spurred on by some information Leanne received from the Security Guard that at a certain location people had experienced being touched! My team headed their and sure enough we experienced similar things.

The last vigil of the night saw both teams combine into one and gather in the ‘War Room’ to see what was in there. Starting off with no plan we stumbled into the idea of calling out, which was cut short by a member of the team hearing something from an adjacent room. From there it pretty much got interesting, with noises, temperature variances and more..

I have to wonder if the large empty Fort and the freezing conditions played on our minds progressively over the night, leaving us with the greatest experience at the end of the night!

Either way Landguard Fort did seem to present some oddities !

Please grab a copy of Ghost Voices Magazine for the full report or sign up for the digital copy at www.ghostvoicesmagazine.com and let us know what you think?

If you would like to visit Landguard Fort during the day and learn more about its history please check their website for details www.landguard.com

If you would like to experience the Fort at night and search out some paranormal activity for yourself, then I recommend checking out www.deadhaunted.com

And of course check out the Farsight Paranormal Research Society’s website at www.farsightfiles.co.uk the online episode of our investigation at Landguard Fort is coming soon !