Intro
After spending nearly most of 2012 out of the paranormal, not investigating much I knew it was time to get back involved. What better way to get back int the swing of things than joining a public investigation at a location I’ve never been to before. What better than Dead Haunted Nights for a good investigation and when the 17th of November came around I headed off to Sheffield to see what the Fire Police Museum had to offer.

History
Built back in the early 1900’s as Fire and Police Station with a watch tower, the building is an impressive idea and stands tall on the street. In fact there was a reason, originally the building was the tallest in the town specifically so it may spot fires and attend to them. As long as you house had a brass plate of course, as this represented a kind of insurance policy which meant you contributed to the fire service. It was simple, if the house has a brass plate they would save it, if not they would let it burn! Hard times!

Although connected the building was clearly split, dividing the Police and Fire section for effective use. There’s an excellent cobbled courtyard type thing which allows access from the street to the Police garage area and rear of the Fire Station, not forgetting that at one point there would have been a stables area too.

Since around 1984 the Station has been a museum which now holds a large number of items related to Police Forces and Fire Brigades from around the world. Including vehicles too, which I’m sure every small child in us loves. Especially the Army vehicles and the American Fire Engine.

Activity
However, as darkness falls on Sheffield and this building is now shadowed by the taller cityscape, it takes on a very different form presenting itself to the nations Ghost Hunting enthusiasts.

With previous investigations turning up various types of activity over the years, the Museum seems to be a good location to investigate.

These reports include light anomalies, object movement, objects thrown, some taps, knocks and even loud bangs. There have also been some warm spots and cold spots reported at the museum at various locations.

Something I also saw on the night was a photo that one of the DHN guests took on a previous visit to Sheffield Police Fire Museum. Darren took the photo by the door of the furtherest cell looking up the corridor. The odd thing is there appears to be a hand by the door, but Darren stated there was no one there at the time. Although photos like these are often looked at with a very sceptical eye! This isn’t because we don’t believe the person who took the photo, but more along the lines of its difficult to totally prove the circumstances were as they believed at the time taking. This particular photo showed what looked like a working mans hand, which didn’t return for me! Still as we know this doesn’t prove it either way! After speaking with Darren though I would like to think this is a good little photo. Darren of you read this, please send me a copy?

Phil’s Intro & Location Tour
As ever Phil kicked off the night by ensuring who was meant to be there was indeed in the room. If you haven’t experienced this its a little like the school register with Phil’s additional sarcasm! Personally I think it helps set the scene for the rest of the night, you know the team are serious and focused, but equally relaxed to make it fun. After all a nights investigation should be fun as well as an experience to remember.

I believe at this point we were given a tour of the Museum, which also included important information in regards to Health and Safety. You know how it goes, your fire exits are here, here and here! This finished with us all returning to our base room and Phil.

Phil then continued with a brief explanation of the equipment available to use during the investigation. Personally I thoroughly this little piece as the usual jokes vary a little, but generally are spot on. More importantly Phil makes an excellent statement, which is simply ‘none of the tools on the table will detect ghost’, so true and proves the honesty of DHN.

Finally Phil introduced the team, Sara, Kev and Louise. He then splits the guests into their respective teams, who is where and who will team lead then first.

We then headed out for our first vigil of the night!

Vigil One – Second Floor Fire – Sara & Louise
As we headed up the stairs to the second floor and our first vigil, I have to admit I was a little apprehensive. Still from previous experience on DHN events I knew it would be okay, plus the added bonus of this being a Gold Event meant reduced numbers.

Louise and Sara kicked us off, with part of the team attempting to communicate through the Ouija board in one room, a couple taking photos in another and the rest of us checking the rest of the floor out.

Although this Vigil was relatively quiet there were a few things of note. Some noticed a few shadows moving about down the corridor, but there was no one there at the time! However, myself, Louise and Sara witnessed pin prick red lights in various places. The odd thing about this is we all witnessed the red lights at different times! In fact I disregarded the red lights I saw until I heard Louise tell Sara about them. It was only then that I understood its relevance.

This was confirmed by the notes Louise passed onto me from the night. However, she also brought to my attention that Danny reported a tingling sensation in his leg, he said it felt ‘strange’ whenever he crosses the room. There were the initials ‘GH’ returned from the Ouija board which could possibly be a close relative of Leslie, but this wasn’t confirmed. Otherwise the vigil was pretty quiet, but perhaps the museum was going to be a good night?

Vigil Two – Police Area & Cells – Phil & Kev
Following a short break Phil & Kev headed up the group I was in and took us to the Police side of the Museum and the Cells. Although very much connected it was slightly strange how you could walk from one environment to other. Most of the team took up residence with Phil & Kev in the end Cell. Whilst they dabbled in a Ouija board and other activities myself and a couple of others wandered around the remainder of the Police section.

I spoke with a few of the other guests and swapped a few stories about the paranormal. Then I looked around the garage area for a while which was full of a few vehicles from policing history. I also took some time to look around the middle cell, which was full of items and pictures related directly to murder. We are not just talking written reports or basic information, there are scenes of crimes photos and the weapons that were used to commit those crimes too. This room brings home the cold hard truth of crime and if the theories around emotions being recorded almost to a reality. The question is will the possible energy that could be connected to the items in that cell present itself during our investigation?

Vigil Two – Fire Section – Sara & Louise (Louise’s Notes)
Although I don’t usually report on the other teams vigil, which is due to not being present, thanks to Louise’s notes I am able to get a bit of picture.

Louise’s notes refer to some tapping being heard on the glass during the use of the Ouija board. Meanwhile Sara in the room opposite fireman’s was going icy cold. Sarah on the Ouija board reported being touched twice and stroked on thigh too. I think the team also attempted the ‘Human Pendulum’ and David felt heat, pins and needles in his thigh. That’s the second mention of physical connection to the thigh! The team believe they got a welsh gent come through and that he can do anything to ladies. His intentions were indeed less than honourable! The heat then intensified when the team asked provocative questions. They believed him to be a prisoner, but this was not confirmed. Once again the reports of red pin spot lights were seen in different areas of the top floor.

Vigil Three – Fire Sections – Phil & Kev
Our third Vigil took us back to the Fire section of the museum and back up to the second floor. Most of the team gathered in the room to right, made up like a bedroom, where they attempted spirit communication through the Ouija board. As they did so Phil offered some advice and Kev attempted to connect with any spirits present. In fact Kev picked up on the name Molly and a religious link, both connected to one of the team present!

We then headed downstairs to one of the far rooms in the Police area. This is where we joined hands and Kev talked us through the ‘human pendulum’. The Ghost Touch device was also setup at the back of the room. As we moved forward a member of the team felt the guy next to them being gently pushed. Kev then started asking some questions using a push forward as a ‘yes’ answer and a push backwards as a ‘no’ answer. This line of questioning then established the spirit as a guard, although initially we mistook the spirit for a criminal. Although towards the end we were a little confused to the identity of our spirit, especially when it spelled out the name ‘ebbaf’! Your guess on that is as good as mine? However, during the session we had a positive reaction on the Ghost Touch Device where it seemed to react a couple of times to requests. I would like to test the device further as it seems positive at this point.

Vigil Three – Police Area & Cells – Sara & Louise (Louise’s Notes)
Again as I was present with the other team during their vigil, I am drawing from Louise’s notes for this. It seems that they attempted the ‘human pendulum’ again in the far cell. Once again David was the pendulum and he felt pins and needles again. Lorraine was also pushed. Louise also noted the sound of a table moving from the middle cell, but only Louise and Sara were present. They searched for the source of the sound finding a table within that room. They decided to attempt a table tipping experiment on the table they thought moved with no results. They also picked up on the sound of someone sitting on the bed and scratching whiskers in the other cell too.

Vigil Four – Police Area & Cells – Phil & Kev
My last vigil of the night saw most of our team attempt spirit communication in the far cell using the Ouija board. It wasn’t long before Kev picked up on a criminal and defined him as being a ‘nasty type’ which would require some intimidation to get a result. The team in the cell attempted to insult, in various ways, the spirit and received a few possible reactions to this. We felt some relevant temperature changes, which I checked on my MEL meter, but only registered as a few degrees drop! One of the team however felt absolutely freezing, even when he moved positions. There were also a few cool drafts at times too, which I can confirm personally. As ever all very odd, but not conclusive!

Vigil Four – Fire Sections – Sarah & Louise (Louise’s Notes)
Once again I look towards Louise’s notes for information on the other teams vigil. Most began with information returned from work on the Ouija Board. They picked up a lonely man who worked at the station, but means no harm although there is a spirit in the building that does mean to cause harm. They also picked up on a policeman called ‘Harold’ who apparently wanted to harm a member of the team! This is because this member of the team reminds the spirit of someone, perhaps a ‘bad man’! The team also saw the shadows moving about again, they also felt cold blasts of air at times. They also picked up on the Welshman returning and that he likes ladies.

Free time
Finally, as with any DHN event I’ve been on you get 45 minutes of free time to investigate any part of the location you like. As I was happy with the vigils already conducted I took this as an opportunity to take some pictures of the location. So, I took myself around spoke to a few people and snapped, well clicked on my iPhone!

Phil’s Wrap Up
We then all returned to the team room and gathered for the usual wrap up conducted by Phil. This is something that DHN have done on every event I’ve attended and if I’m honest I think it’s a great little conclusion to the night. Basically Phil runs through the findings from each vigil as they occurred laying out the experiences for the team to hear. As a little extra he usually checks in where a personal experience occurred, sometimes asking the individual for a little additional feedback.

The wrap up immediately highlighted for me the number of times we all encountered the pin prick red lights. In fact I think it even mentioned how both teams saw the lights in different locations at the same time. Although this is unusual and from my own investigation we couldn’t discover a natural or man made source for these lights, personally it’s something I would like to investigate further. I’ve been caught out by light anomalies before! Still if these are paranormal in origin then it’s an oddity to be sure. Perhaps even evidence of a spirit or spirits attempting to manifest itself.

Phil also touched on the audible notations made by the team which on this visit were in the form of taps. Again not uncommon, but also good as they had been noted on previous visits.

The information picked up on the various Ouija board sessions was also discussed, but no relevant connections made at the time. Which isn’t unusual either. We also covered some of the spirit connections made like Molly, possible prison guard and the inmate in the cell. These were also backed up with various pieces of evidence such as the temperature drop or at least the cold feeling. Another important thing that was mentioned was the Ghost Touch device interaction and its relevance to the course of events at the time.

Although individually the pieces of activity may seem small, once you piece them together and see them spread out across the night you can quickly notice patterns and that in fact it was a relatively busy night.

My Conclusions
My visit to the Fire Police Museum in Sheffield was a relatively last minute affair, which I was a little apprehensive about. This mainly due to the long drive to join the guys at a location I’d never been to before with fairly little information at the outset. Still my confidence was good as I knew DHN have always delivered a professional nights investigation that although serious and focussed on locating paranormal activity was also a fun night too. Perhaps like me the DHN team recognise the simple fact that sometimes when you sit quietly in a room nothing can happen, but when you are interacting sometimes even laughing then that is a time when all manner of activity can occur.

As for the Fire Police Museum I have to admit I was quite impressed, the location was everything most look for in an investigation. Including various rooms, floors, a defined split of two buildings and even some police cells to investigate. Although the location didn’t seem to deliver what could be called a dramatic significant piece of paranormal activity such as a loud bang or apparition, there were many significant smaller pieces of activity. These smaller pieces seemed to cover light anomalies, taps, table movement and temperature change. Each significant in their own right, but also as a whole.

The DHN night as ever was organised professionally and delivered perfectly, Phil, Sara, Kev and Louise have clearly got this down now. I thank you all for an excellent night at the museum, once again you’ve not disappointed. So, if you’re reading this with an interest in the paranormal, but have yet to spend a night somewhere investigating then I urge you to look up a location close to you on the DHN website. Simply point your browser towards http://www.deadhaunted.com and find somewhere that pulls your interest. After all if paranormal investigating is for you then you’ll be hooked from your first night somewhere and perhaps our paths will cross on a future DHN event.

In regards to the Fire Police Museum, personally I think there is something there! At least that warrants further investigation, perhaps from another visit or by Farsight PRS maybe. Many locations have caught my eye on a first visit, but some have been disregarded due to a lack of activity or even just a feeling sometimes. As for this location, I think perhaps from walking through the door and up those warn stairs to the team room for the night I quickly realised the potential of the location. I know looks can be deceiving, but on occasion I will enter a location and get an instance feeling that the location won’t disappoint. Don’t get me wrong I’m far from sensitive in a spiritual way as far as I am aware, but this feeling is more of a hunch if you like. With the abundance of smaller activity at the location I guess my hunch wasn’t far off.

The museum is definitely a location I urge you to visit and not just on a paranormal investigation either, there is a great deal of Police and Fire items from all around the world there which are all interesting.

Is the museum haunted? Personally I would like to say yes it is, as we certainly experienced some oddities on our visit. However, actual hard evidence is lacking here, but perhaps on a more focussed investigation we may be able to capture more. Although my time there with the DHN team was certainly enough to get me intrigued and thinking about a return visit! I would like to attempt to recreate some of the activity we witnessed, connect with the spirits which we ,picked up on and look into those pin prick red lights more.

All in all though an excellent nights investigation, my thanks go out to the DHN Team and the other guests too. With an extra thank you to Louise for our little post investigation discussion and the use of her nights notes too.

Please feel free to comment on this post, as I would like to hear from you?