Beware, beware for you have just entered Chilling Chimpchester!
Every city has its dark side and Chimpchester is no different. Down its dingy backstreets and lurking along its lanes, Chimpchester is home to some frightful characters and creatures.
This side of the city is not for the feint hearted. If you haven’t the stomach or strength to walk these cobbled streets alone, there’s still time to flee…..otherwise, take a deep breath and see what you find…or what finds you….
St Chimpbrose Churchyard
It’s said that on Halloween the supernatural and living worlds are closest together, and that in Chimpchester the souls of the dead return to the living world for one night.
Take a walk in to the graveyards of Chimpchester’s cemeteries and churches and you may well come face to face with those whose name are carved in to the gravestones.
All of Chimpchester’s children dare each other to camp out or walk through graveyards on this night, but very few have the bravery to carry out the challenge for fear that they will see someone or something that makes their blood run cold…….
Have you taken Chimpchester Ghost Walk yet? It departs every night from Blackchimp’s Lane. If you hurry you can catch the next walk with your host Archibald…..just click on the picture above…
The Vanishing Village of Chimpsclough
In 1971, three hikers were walking up Chimprigg Moor when they were surrounded by an unexpected, dense fog. They relied on their compass to get them down from the moor, but in the final stages their descent the compass started to act strangely, spinning around and leaving them clueless as to which direction to head in.
After several hours blundering through foggy fields one of the hikers spotted a light in the distance and they headed towards it. Looming through the fog they saw several buildings. One of the group remarked how strange this was, as even though they’d lost their bearings they should still have been several miles away from the nearest village.
As the settlement emerged through the gloomy soup of fog, they were taken aback at how old the buildings appeared. They were all timbered buildings with thatched roofs. The street seemed deserted but they were soon startled as a chimp loomed ahead, walking towards them, singing. It seemed to be a drunk on his way home.
As he neared them they saw that he was wearing strange clothes, dirty brown clothes that wouldn’t have looked out of place hundreds and hundreds of years ago. They thought he must be returning from a fancy dress party. The drunken chimp stumbled towards them, knocking one of the trio to the ground and spilling coins in to the muddy road. As the drunk picked them up they asked him where they were, to which the drunk replied “Chimpsclough” before walking on and muttering to himself. One of the hikers saw that he’d missed one of the coins on the ground and shouted back to him “Your money, you’ve missed some of it” but he’d already disappeared in to the dense fog.
Chimpsclough. The hikers were confused because they’d never heard of this village before. Concerned, they pressed on through the village and soon saw a pub. Better to ask for directions, they thought. However, upon opening the door the hikers froze. This was no modern pub. It looked straight out of a medieval film set, with a large open hearth, wooden benches and straw on the floor. The locals all looked around at them as they entered and the landlord called over to them as they stopped in shock and stood motionless. ”Evenin’. Never seen you ’round about. Come ye and sit down. Get some warm ale down ye.” The hikers looked at each other, frozen, before quickly backing out of the door way. Spooked by the strange situation they found themselves in, they ran. And they ran, in to the fog and away from the village until they eventually found their bearings a couple of miles away.
The next day, after they’d returned home, they searched for evidence of Chimpsclough at the library and in the museum, but could find no trace of it. They weren’t sure if they’d imagined the whole thing until the hiker who had picked up the drunk’s coin found it in his pocket. He took the shiny coin to a Professor at the University of Chimpchester who eyed him suspiciously and asked where he had found it. He refused to say where but the Professor told him that it was a Medieval coin from 1261.
The trio fell in to silence, not knowing what to believe. Five years later though an archaeologist found evidence of an abandoned medieval settlement near Chimprigg Moor. Within the settlement archaeologists were perplexed to find a modern plastic flask buried deep within a pile of medieval rubbish. One of the hikers had lost a flask on that strange night as they fled the pub. The find prompted them to come forward to tell their story to the archaeological team on the condition that they could remain anonymous. To this day no-one knows whether to believe their account, but no-one can credibly account for the coin they found or their flask being buried metres under the soil amongst a medieval settlement. Was it a time slip, or just a great story thought up by the three hikers?
As for Chimpsclough, theories put forward are that the settlement was wiped out during the Plague, or that it was razed to the ground during one of the many border raids that occurred in the 13th Century.
Medium Derek Chimpeh tries to make contact with a spirit...
It’s the final night of the investigation and it’s Halloween. The team are expecting a big result. After his experience last night Jon nearly had to be left at the hotel, but fortunately Derek forced him to drink the contents of the minibar and a slightly intoxicated Jon with alcohol induced courage is still on the hunt.
Tonight the ghost hunters are concentrating in the Great Hall. Kevin has recharged the batteries on all of the equipment and set them up all around the room. After an hour of wandering about and not much happening, Derek says that the time is right for a seance.
The four chimps gather around a table in the centre of the room. Jon has another double whiskey and Derek uses the glass for their investigation. Placing it in the centre of the table, after upturning it they all put their finger on it.
“Are there any spirit chimps out there?” Derek asks. “If any spirits are out there, please show yourself.”
Nothing happens.
“Use your energy to move the glass” he says.
The glass suddenly starts to slide across the table.
“That’s you pushing it!” Kevin protests, glaring at Derek.
“Oh, I’m sorry” he replies. “My hand slipped.”
They try again, but nothing happens. After a few moments Jon grabs the glass and starts to pour the contents of a hip flask in to it. Clara tries to grab it off him but the glass slips out of Jon’s hand and smashes on the floor.
“Now look what you’ve done” growls Clara.
“Not to worry” says Derek. “Everybody link hands and the spirits can use our energy to move the objects on the table”.
They link hands and Derek calls out again to the spirits several times. After five minutes Derek says that he can feel an evil spirit in the room, the spirit of a murderer. All four chimps are shocked to see the candle flicker in to life and the wine bottle move across the table. Kevin looks under the table to see if Derek has placed some sort of magnet under there, but he becomes anxious when he can’t see anything.
Derek’s head suddenly begins jerking, and he makes a growling noise.
“Not again” groans a drunken Jon.
“Who are you?” asks Derek in a low monotone voice. “Why are you here? You must leave. You must leave now, or I will harm you”.
Kevin looks terrified. Clara slaps Derek to no avail. He still has a mad look in his eyes.
“Get out” shouts Derek and puts his face up against Clara’s.
“It’s happening all over again” sighs Jon as he takes a sip from his hip flask. He then picks up the wine bottle to see if it’s still half full. Meanwhile, Derek rises to his feet and once again starts waving his arms around. A flailing arm strikes poor Kevin in the jaw as Derek raises his hands in the air and lets out a primeval roar. He grabs the table and overturns it.
“I’m not having this” mutters Jon. “I’m not waiting around until I get another black eye.” Jon hits Derek over the head with the wine bottle, knocking him out cold.
As Clara slaps him again to bring him back around they hear a cackling noise coming from the floor above them, followed by a rush of footsteps. They freeze.
“I think it’s time we get out of here” Clara says. Kevin and Jon nod silently and they scramble out of the Keep, leaving Derek still sprawled on the floor…..
Live Feed - Camera 4, The Hole, Gatehouse
The ‘Hole’ is a tiny room underneath the gatehouse of the castle. If you really were a hated prisoner you would not be granted the comparative luxury of the dungeons and you would instead be thrown in here. It’s a squeeze for a chimp to fit down there, but up to six chimps at a time were kept in the hole with no light and rarely any food. You were literally left to rot, with no way out. The team had originally planned to send Jon down there but after his experience in the dungeons he refused to do it. Fortunately they lowered a fixed camera down there on the first night so that we can view live footage inside there. If there’s going to be a ghost, it’s going to be in here…..
Live Feed - Camera 3, The Dungeons
The dungeons in the depth of the castle are the one place that you’d expect to be haunted. As the place where chimps were tortured or spent their last days awaiting their execution, there is a lot of emotion trapped in those cold stone walls.
No-one likes to hang around in here….
Jon is not alone in the cell...
The team have returned for the penultimate night. So far the investigation hasn’t gone to plan, but the ghost hunters are undeterred and have vowed to find the evidence of paranormal activity they’re so desperate to find.
The team are back in the Keep, but this time they’re trying a different tactic to draw out the spirits. In the bowels of the castle lie the dungeons and Jon has just been locked inside a cell. He’s all alone, in the pitch black.
The rest of the team have retired to the top floor of the Keep to continue the hunt. Kevin is setting up his electromagnetic recording devices. They hope that by subjecting Jon to the isolation and despair of imprisonment he’ll experience similar feelings of desperation that the incarcerated prisoners felt. This may lead to a close encounter with a spirit.
Jon has mixed feelings about this, although after last night he’s quite glad to be away from Derek. However, his thoughts soon turn to the prisoners who spent their final days in the cell awaiting execution. He shivers. He tries the door. It’s locked. No escape then…
“Guys!” he shouts. “Are you there? I’ve changed my mind, let me out”. His shout is met with silence. “I’m serious, let me out”. He bangs on the door. There’s no reply. He fumbles for his radio and tries to transmit, but there’s a long crackle before the radio dies.
“Batteries! I’m going to kill Kevin!” he curses.
Retreating from the door he tries to focus his eyes through the dark gloom, but he can’t see anything. He feels someone’s breath on the back of his neck and spins around, waving his arms in to the darkness. He can’t feel anything but he’s overcome by an icy chill. He steps backwards until he reaches the damp wall of the cell. His heart pounds.
He can hear someone breathing. Or can he? He wonders if he’s imagining it, if it’s real at all. Is that whispering he can hear? He shuffles towards the cell door, but a stone hits him on the back of the head. Was that thrown at him? Or did it drop from the ceiling? He thinks he’s going mad.
He grabs the bars of the cell and calls out again for the rest of the team. He bangs on the door and cries out in desperation, but no-one seems to be able to hear him and no-one seems to be coming. He feels something touch his shoulder, and it’s all too much for him. He passes out….
Live Feed - Camera 2, The Armoury
Many visitors to the Armoury in the Keep of Chimpchester Castle find it spooky even during daylight. It’s easy to imagine those suits of armour coming to life. A room full of weapons that’s associated with poltergeist activity is not a good place to loiter either.
Cleaners and the castle curator have all reported objects moving in here, and several visitors have reported seeing the ghost of a Parliamentarian Civil War soldier….
If you see a ghost on this camera, please leave a comment to let the team know and make sure you return tomorrow for the third night of the hunt….
Medium Derek Chimpeh finds himself possessed...
After a terryifying and testing first night, the bleary eyed ghost hunters have returned to Chimpchester Castle. Jon is sporting a bruise and a little wounded pride from his fright last night in the South Tower. The paranormal investigators experienced several strange noises last night, but did not catch any spirits on film. They will need to check the footage on the fixed camera later. They did hear footsteps on several occasions but Kevin had forgotten to replace the batteries in the sound recorder and so they weren’t able to record them.
Tonight the team have entered the Keep, the main hotbed of activity in the Castle. Sticking together this time, they begin wandering through the cold, dark corridors.
It’s not long before the team’s medium, Derek, says that he senses an evil presence stalking them from the shadows. Derek has been warned about the presence by his ’spirit guide’, a 9,000 year old stone age boy named ‘Ug’ who he knew in his past life as a mammoth. Derek says that Ug is a good spirit who watches over him and acts as an intermediary between him and the spirit world. Whenever he’s challenged about how Ug is able to understand and communicate in modern English, Derek quickly changes the subject on to his favourite television show, or his pet cat Cedric.
“He’s angry. Very angry. He’s a very bad man” Derek says, talking about their spirit stalker. “This man is called Fis….Fistil…..Fitzwilliam. Yes, he’s called William Fitzwilliam. I sense that he was some sort of spy, for the King. He spent a lot of his time listening at doors and spying on people. He ate a lot of turnips”.
Derek pulls a strange face and sticks his tongue out. No one knows why.
“He’s muttering to himself, leaning against the wall and sharpening a knife” Derek adds, casually. “He’s getting angrier and angrier and shouting the word Traitor louder and louder.”
“Oh my……” gulps Kevin.
“I’m uneasy about this. He’s a bad man and I don’t like what he’s planning. Ug says that he can’t protect me from him, he’s not strong enough”.
“Should we call this off and leave?” asks Kevin nervously.
Suddenly, Derek starts making a strange gurgling noise. His face contorts even more than usual. He starts muttering something, and then makes some high pitched squeaks. His arms jerk frantically to the side and his head rolls back.
“Traitor” he mutters in a very deep voice. “Traitor” he says. “Ye have plotted against thy King”.
Derek falls to the floor and starts shaking violently.
“He’s having a fit” shouts Jon, dropping to the ground to hold him still.
“I think he’s possessed” shrieks Clara.
Suddenly Derek headbutts Jon and jumps up to his feet. ”Ye have plotted against the King and ye must be silenced”. He lunges forwards towards Clara. Kevin tries to hold him back, but he elbows him in the groin and lunges again towards Clara, who picks up a priceless vase from a table and smashes it over his head. Derek collapses to the ground in a heap.
Moments later a dazed Derek struggles to his feet, trying to make sense of his surroundings. Kevin holds his groin area, his face still creased with pain, Jon holds his head in his hands once again, and Clara surveys the smashed vase on the floor. This hunt isn’t going very well.
Live Feed - Camera 1 - State Room, Chimpchester Castle Keep
The State Room in the Keep of Chimpchester Castle. This room has historically formed the living quarters of the Duke of Chimpshire, but throughout history has welcomed several monarchs including Queen Chimpbeth, King Chimpry VIand King Chimpward VI.
Soon after tonights investigation started the pendulum of the grandfather clock stopped and it has stopped chiming. In the past this has happened in the hours prior to the sighting of a spirit. Several ghosts have been seen in this room, including the ghost of King Chimpry VI.
If you see a ghost on this camera, please leave a comment to let the team know and make sure you return tomorrow for the second night of the hunt….
