HEDON BLOG is delighted to publish an article from an old friend, Mike Covell, on his team’s investigations into the paranormal potential of Hedon’s ancient Town Hall. The team was invited by Hedon’s 676th Mayor Councillor Di Storr to spend the night in the Hedon Town Hall from 11pm Friday 26 until the morning of Saturday 27 January. It was a charity night, raising £200 for the Mayor’s Charity which this year is Hull and East Yorkshire MIND. Di said of the evening: “What an absolutely amazing night!”
AN EVENING AT HEDON TOWN HALL – MIKE COVELL – EAST YORKSHIRE PARANORMAL INVESTIGATIONS
On the evening of Friday, January 26th 2024, East Yorkshire Paranormal Investigations had the pleasure of investigating Hedon Town Hall. The team was invited by Di Storr, the current Mayor of Hedon, and the evening was to raise money for Hull and East Yorkshire Mind.
The team, made up of myself Mike Covell, Beth Murphy, Matt Hodgson, Sophie Juncar, Callum MacInnes, and Louise Smith met Councillor Di Storr at the front of the property. During the evening we were joined by several members of the council, and others, who had come to support the evening.
The property is a stunning building situated in the heart of Hedon on St Augustine’s Gate and dating back to 1693, with a new facade added at a later date in 1860.
The interior of the property was an awe-inspiring outstanding collection of history, politics, and more. The main entrance hall, with its neat stone flooring, and the old lock up on the left-hand side, was warm and welcoming compared to the frosty exterior, but a slightly unnerving Knight in black armour stood at the foot of the staircase, watching over us.
The grand staircase was beautiful, with big wooden handrails, balusters and newels. On the staircase, numerous photographs and portraits of previous mayors and lord mayors watched over proudly, and a roll of honour stood halfway up.
On the first floor, we visited the Mayor’s Chamber, which has a lovely high ceiling, an old fireplace, chests, numerous old charters and agreements, and a couple of benches. The room was warm and welcoming, and the carpeted floor made it more like someone’s living room.
Adjacent to this room was the council chamber, where a large table filled the room, with numerous portraits of former mayors, lord mayors, Members of Parliament, and several long handwritten framed lists of former mayors and lord mayors. One end of the room was dominated by the semi-circular magistrates’ bench that was curved to allow attention to be focused on all members of the bench.
We started by introducing ourselves, and then arranged everyone in a circle, opening the evening, and placing equipment around the property. We had numerous ITC devices, night vision cameras, thermal cameras, SLS cameras, multiple audio recorders, just short of 20 motion sensor devices, multiple REM pods, EMF detectors, and Russell, our REM pod bear.
While we were in the circle we had the guests participate in the “Human Pendulum,” which returned some interesting results, especially when other members of the circle started to sway. Several described it as “like being on the deck of a boat.” Hedon was, for many years, a well-known, well-established, historical and ancient port.
The most interesting aspect was when we tried a new form of communication, standing two guests back to back, and asking for them to be moved. Surprisingly they moved in sync with each other back and forth. The only way I could describe it at this moment in time was like the scene at the end of the hit movie “Grease,” where Danny and Sandy are dancing on the fun house and moving back and forth in sync. It was really unusual but really interesting.
At the same time, Russell triggered on several occasions, and we heard numerous large knocks and taps around the room. One of the guests felt dizzy and had to be seated, and another guest felt like her hair was being played with.
We had a quick break and broke into smaller groups, two of the team taking three of the guests, and splitting across the property.
Teams described all manner of weird and wonderful events and activities, including the glass moving during glass divination in the council chambers, temperature changes, sudden drafts, being touched, footsteps, knocking, strange lights, black orbs seen by the naked eye, and Matt, our resident sceptic, described a feeling and sensation of something in his pocket. He would later claim it was probably a draft. Strange clouds of mist were seen near the safe, a feeling of being rocked back and forth, and again the sensation of having hair played with.
All the groups rotated around the building, giving everyone a chance to explore and investigate every room, and the whole evening was fascinating. At no point during the evening, however, did it feel dark, or scary. The whole building felt warm, inviting, and welcoming.
We concluded the evening by standing back in the circle, closing the night, and thanking whomever it was who was present for attending and interacting.
Among some of the most interesting aspects of the evening were:
- Beth seeing a lady on the grand staircase, which was something that has been reported on numerous occasions, Beth’s ear was also on fire, it was visibly red, and the temperature probe showed that her body temperature was at a constant 35 degrees, but her ear was over 37.5 degrees hotter.
- During glass divination, several names came out that were relevant to the property and its history
- The spirit box said names that were relevant to the property and its history
- The Alice Box said names that were relevant to the property and its history
- The spirit box said the name of a guests several times, and later the Alice Box said information that was also relevant to the guest
The evening was a great success, it was such an honour to be invited by Di Storr and the group, and lovely to be able to raise money for charity. Di was a wonderful host, and we had a lovely evening, with some funny moments, some poignant moments, and while the activity wasn’t off the scale, it was a lovely place to investigate, and we cannot wait to return.