[stargemmer]

OK, so a week ago I went to Newcastle and decided to visit the "New Castle Upon The Tyne" (or it was when the Normans built it!).

I was interested because I'd seen the Most Haunted team go there with Gordon Smith, it was his first venue with them.

This very old castle was built on the site of an old Anglo Saxon cemetory, & has 1000s of bodies under its foundations. Prior to that it was an old Roman fort. The Normans built the castle, and later it was used as the primary prison for the whole of Northumberland, nasty place, especially the ground floor. Like a maze inside, lots of stairs, corridors, rooms off the side & ante chambers.

The upper floors are OK, sort of evocative & full of "residual energy". Lots of pictures you get coming at you from the past.

The ground floor is ominous, dark place, pretty grim, - especially the dungeon part and chapel.

I went into a room called "the Queen's Chamber". It was sectioned off with a railing, beyond which it was mocked up as a medieval bed chamber with furniture, dummies in costume etc.
I was on my own, the castle had very few visitors at all. I could hear someone enter the huge chamber I had just come from, & heard him walking about. Any steps were very audible, not really possible not to hear them. Behind me to my right was the entrance to that room, and behind me to my left was an exit going up a spiral staircase, and another one going down into a miserable dungeon type of room called "the mezzinine".
There was light behind me from a window.
So there I am leaning on the railing musing about the history of the room, and suddenly a large dark shadow passed accross me from behind, as if all the light coming from behind me had been blocked. The "shadow" swept suddenly from right to left, as if a large person had entered the room from behind and gone down the stairs to the left, sweeping through the room very fast.
This seemed odd, as I could clearly hear the other visitor stil in the large room next door, walking around and he hadn't come near my room. There had been no sound of footsteps, no noises, and it seemed too fast for someone to move. And yet the shadow was very dark and big, as if someone had been directly behind me.

I looked round quickly, no one there at all. I looked round too fast for anyone to disappear on time.

Then I heard the other visitor in the room next door coming toward my room, and thought "well let's just see if the same effect occurs when he walks in here and past me?!".
The man walked in, walked through the room behind me and down the stairs to my left. Hardly any shadow AT ALL, just a vague perception of one as he passed the window. And his footsteps were very audible & loud due to the echoey stone floor.

So, I experimented. I walked back and forth about 4 times trying to simulate the conditions that would make that big black shadow. Nothing worked. Then I noticed ALL the light shining down on my back as I had leant on the railing was coming from a powerful spotlight that had been back of me about 2 feet, and on the ceiling pointing down at the railing from a sharp angle. So the only way a "shadow" could have been created was if something BIG had swept BETWEEN me and that spotlight, and it would have had to be at least 6.5 feet tall and very wide.
I tried moving my hand in front of it but no effect.

So, all in all I was convinced the only explanation could be paranormal.

I then did my rounds of the keep, and eventually came to a large room set up as a museum. In one corner were displays of information about the numerous paranormal investigations that have been done there, including an impressive array of ghost photos.
One display was about the Queen's Chamber. It said: "this is one of the most active parts of the Keep. Most frequently reported are sights of a large dark shadow figure which has been seen moving rapidly from different parts of the room to the other. This has been seen in other parts of the keep, but most frequently in the Queen's Chamber.

So, there you go.

Incidentally, I had a good chat with the guy on reception who has worked there for over 10 years. He says hardly a day goes by when there isn't some paranormal happening. Lots of sightings, bangs, things flying around. The Keep has regular investigations & vigils for that reason, lots of which have been free & public. He has been present at all of them, and as they don't share their discoveries easily and tend to be secret about what comes up, he finds it facinating to often see them discovering the same things.

He said the vigils done by Most Haunted were interesting as this was Gordon Smith's first ever show with them. He said it took him a long time before he could actually "tap in" to the Keep's ghosts, just because whenever he opened up he was inundated with messages from dead relatives of the Most Haunted crew, and had to run them out before he could do the keep.
The Most Haunted crew had been extremely impressed by this, even astounded, as Gordon came up with lots of personal information no one knew but them. Apparently some of the most impressive stuff Gordon found was for Louis Saver (the young parapsychologist) who really had his tree shaken due to this.
Interesting question for you is: in all the years Derek was on the show, don't you think they would have all had plenty of accurate & impressive messages from dead relations already. And why then did they have to wait for Gordon Smith to arrive to get any???

[noreen]

hi star im glad u visited the keep as i practally lived in that castle, im born and bred in n/cle..when i was younger (36 now) i used to go there every weekend with my sister and play all day even on school holidays, i loved it...i remember going down to the dungeons and climbing under the cast iron doors ( i was a skinny kid) my sister seen someone standing next to me and she ran like a bat out of ****..as nothing scares me, untill i herd a voice then i ran..i used to love to go on top of the castle's roof i felt safe there, i dont know why tho...i live 5 miles from the city and i havent been in the keep for over 10 years..i seen the most haunted what you were talking about and what freaked me out the most was when the band started playing...it was the best most haunted ive ever seen x noreen x

[stargemmer]

Hi Noreen, Wow, that is interesting about your experiences in The Keep. I'm from up here, Northumberland, but I've been living away for a long time since I was a child, & just returned. I just discovered The Keep, and my attention was drawn to it by the Most Haunted show. Yes, I agree it was a really good one, - I think also especially because there was the change of medium when Gordon Smith arrived on the show. The guy on the reception at The Keep was the one who organized MH to come to the place, and he said this was Gordon's first venue.
He also told me this place is so haunted virtually no day goes by that something doesn't happen. And it's funny what you said about feeling safer up on the higher floors, because the mediums there picked up less heavy incidents - and more of an up-beat spirit up there. It was down in the dungeon/mezzinine that the heavy stuff was. The place on the ground floor & dungeon was used as a prison, and also was a "hospital". I say that in inverted commas, because I think it was more a place to get RID of people who were dying, so there was less chance of them infecting others. - so they threw people down there who had severe sickness etc. Funnily enough, that's what I perceived more than anything else when I went down into the Mezzinine area.
I'm going to go there again in a week or two, as my brother is visiting with his two kids, and I think they'd love to run around that place, and it's a very cheap visit at only ?1.50 for an adult.
Thanks for your story. I'd love to know if you saw any ghost there.

[noreen]

hi star thanx for the reply...i love all castles (i dont know why) i have always been drawn to them even as a kid i find there past history is worth looking in to....northumberland is a lovely place and also the spookiest place to live (according to alan robson m.b.e metro radio's nightowls), have you been to the scooner pub in alnwick ?. i hear that is so haunted..chillingham castle scares the life out of me, i aint been yet but i can get a feel of the place, im going there soon i hope :shock: ...when i was looking in the forum and seen your story about the keep it made me think i have to go and visit the castle again and take my 2 kids and hubby, it will bring back great memories apart from climbing under cast iron gates lol, the roof is closed at the moment (i think) the workmen are doing some work..i did'nt see anything strange apart from my sister running , just whispering and david wells was brill...when i go back i would love to hear and see spirits....x noreen x

[noreen]

:smt046 i ment Gordon Smith, not david wells x

[stargemmer]

Wow!! When did you meet Gordon? Were you there at the Keep when he was there? Or did you see him another time?
He's a very good medium.

[noreen]

i wish i met gordon, i think you read my message wrong lol, i mentiond david wells but i ment gordon, dont worry im blonde.
if i knew most haunted was gonna be in newcastle i would have been down there like a shot, i think they visited a lighthouse on our coast line but i dont know what one!!...i was gonna see colin fry at the city hall for my birthday in november but they ran out of tickets as he is my fave medium :smt022

[stargemmer]

LOL LOL light dawns, I read "I met" instead of "I meant". Anyway, .. they'll all be thinking this is just coz we're from the North East or something ...

It was the Seuter Lighthouse (I think that's how you spell it). But it was a pretty poor episode, that one. The Chillingham one was great, though. But I'm afraid I'm rather disillusioned about Derek now, and think Gordon is one of the best.

I'd like to see Colin Fry, - I think he was scheduled to come to Newcastle, but he was all booked up pretty fast when I checked online to get tickets.

[noreen]

lmao.. that was the lighthouse i was thinking about, cheers..i dont think much of derek i think it has gone to his head now.. i think gordon has done most haunted proud...im thinking of going to the keep this week with mick and the kids, i have to find a digi cam as mine got stolen from blackpool can't wait it's been a while and im hoping to catch something [-o< ....Beamish is canny i aint been but my kids says it's spooky...i have seen pics of bemish when a relative of mine went and the pics was full of orbs....my hubby is due holidays soon from work so im gonna go ghosthunting to chillingham, bemish and castle keep :twisted: ....i will let you no x

[noreen]

P.S lol....i've only been a member for about 4-5 days so i can't post pics just yet x