tutbury report

Report written by Trudy

Our visit to Tutbury castle was on one of a series of events organised there by The Paranormal Investigation Team (P-I-R-T). We had looked forward to our visit having seen the Castle featured on recent ‘television programmes’. We arrived at the Castle at 7pm and met up with the other participants for refreshments in the Castle’s tea rooms.

Situated in a beautiful elevated position, the extensive views from around the castle were breathtaking. It was a fascinating place which is steeped in history which makes the right ingredients for a haunted location. Our initial reaction to the Castle itself was one of surprise. The remains and useable areas of the Castle were a great deal smaller than we had first expected.

After an enjoyable buffet and a welcome talk from the organisers we were shown around the Castle grounds by Richard and Helen, who work at the Castle, they are historians and were very knowledgeable on the Castle’s history. The areas we were allowed to access were the; Kings Chamber; the Great Hall; the South Tower and the North Tower, which held a very well equipped torture chamber!

The evening was somewhat structured and began with the Castle historian and curator Lesley, taking the part of Mary Queen of Scots in the Great Hall. This was absolutely fascinating and the whole group were transfixed on the lady who had ‘transformed’ herself into a very realistic and knowledgeable of events, Mary Queen of Scots. Strange events have frequently been reported to happen while Lesley takes on the persona of the queen but sadly in this instance even though we filmed throughout we were unlucky and had nothing of interest to report.

From there a small group of us went next door into the Kings Chamber, where Mary (Lesley) Queen of Scots continued her presentation. It was very interesting and everyone in the group enjoyed the experience but filming at this time and photographs were prohibited. During this talk there was a great deal of ‘suggestion’, on what to expect, what we should be feeling and what many people before us had felt.

One group member did feel a sudden breeze on his hand and face at one stage and although he may have looked a little flushed and hot after this, he was honest and said he didn’t really feel any different than before he entered the room. We did find it interesting that one lady who was with our group saw a light at the same time as he felt the breeze. However, we will never know if this light really happened or not as we weren’t allowed to film at that point. We would like to have spent more time with Lesley during the course of the evening because it is believed she encourages more activity.

Back in the tea rooms we were split into groups, our group stayed together and we made our way to the South Tower.

South Tower

Thankfully it was a mild night because the chamber we were in was open to the elements, a fire had been lit in one corner, which took the chill off to some extent but the smoke from this was overpowering and quite uncomfortable. The group spent a few hours in this area, filming, taking photographs and sitting on the steps leading down into the chamber. The steps where reportedly, figures had been seen and photographed prior to our visit.

There was nothing to report from group members at this time, apart from one member who was sitting alone at the steps, asked for a photograph to be taken because she felt there was something just behind her. The later viewed photograph shows a face and figure on the door just behind her.