North East Aircraft Museum
17 March 2007
The
North East Vintage and Veteran Aircraft Association was set up in 1973 by a
small group of vintage aircraft enthusiasts. They would meet at the Sunderland
Flying Club to exchange views and information. The name would eventually change
to the North East Aircraft Museum. The museum currently has over thirty aircraft.
This includes impressive examples such as the Vulcan B.2 Bomber, and Avro Anson
C.19,
as well as hundreds of model aircraft and other historic aviation pieces. It is also said to be haunted and has been investigated by numerous paranormal investigation teams including the Most Haunted crew.
An over night vigil was arranged by London Paranormal Society and Haunted Experience. Mediums included Ian Shillito and Peter Bradshaw. My account of the evening is as follows.
Setting the scene
It started off as a warm but slightly windy evening. It was a clear sky and this was all to change. The wind swept up and it remained that way for most of the evening, with occasional rainstorms thrown in for good measure. Try to imagine the sound of howling wind and driving rain when you’re inside a metal hanger – I loved it!
After initial introductions were made, we were split up into three groups. My group consisted of medium Peter Bradshaw, his wife, four people and Rob from Haunted Experience. We would begin our vigil in the large, modern, hanger 3.
Hanger 3 (Largest of the three)
Peter said he could see a man dressed in uniform near the doorway. Keith, who is based on the site said to take an EMF reading of the door’s frame. He said nowhere else gave off a high reading. Sure enough, when tested, it gave off a high reading and it stopped as you moved away. This is where it is clamed a spirit is sometimes seen. I was not convinced for there could be cables or wiring running through the structure though Keith insisted there was not. Apparently it is supposed to stop after 1am. But every time I tested it, there was still a high reading even after 3am.
Calls for activity went unanswered. In the small museum area, a model plane suspended on a wire very slowly turned. Peter picked up on this and asked it to stop. It did, eventually. He then asked it to move the other way and eventually and slowly it did. I felt that a draft may have been the cause and the twist of the wire caused it to stop and return back through natural physics of unwinding.
Later in the night all groups merged for a séance. The wind was so loud at this point it was impossible to hear anything other than metal banging and vibrating. A small séance was set up in the shop area. It was claimed that lights appeared on the ceiling but I didn’t see these. Vera Lynn was played to stir up some activity but again nothing. I did see on the opposite side of the room, a dim glow of white light that I put down to someone occasionally checking a light on their watch. When the lights came on however, no one was there; everyone was sitting on the floor!
Back in our small groups, this time led by Ian, we all sat in the Gill Air Short 330. Ian, who was sat in front of me, said something had touched his head at the same time I saw a tiny white light floating in front of me. As I reached out to hold it in my hand it disappeared!
My night ended in this hanger too at 4am. After calls for activity, in both English and German, remained unanswered it was decided to end it here. Someone claimed to see men in boiler suits and other figures but this was unique to her and no one else, including other mediums present.
Hanger 1
This hanger contains the remains of a Westland Whirlwind helicopter and a couple of other planes. Apparently there is said to be paranormal activity around this helicopter so myself, Peter and five other people sat inside and shut the door. My initial feeling while I sat in the dark was of travel sickness. After a couple of minutes this passed and I was fine. I sensed nothing else during my time though other people said they felt vibrations. The door clicked and seemingly locked itself as we were about to leave, but nothing else was noted in this hanger.
Hanger 2
This hanger has a number of remnants of aircraft, but one in particular, the De Havilland Sea Venom, is said to judder and move of its own accord. Our group stood around the plane and each of us touched a different area. I held the middle of the wing (wings were folded up after this point). One of the crew called for spirit communication and I did sense movement in the wing, as did everyone else. The plane is big and heavy and unlikely to be affected by a breeze, but it did feel as though it was moving. I sensed and mild vibration at one point that ran along the wing. Other than this nothing else happened. Pete asked for knocks or sounds to be made for communication purposes but the wind, noise of the hanger rattling and debris being blow against the metal outside made it impossible to identify individual sounds as being ‘communication attempts’.
Conclusion
For my first vigil I was disappointed. I was determined to remain open-minded and accept what happened. Maybe I tried too hard to want something. The few things that were unusual I could put down to tiredness or willing something to happen, but nonetheless it is something mull over. None of the alleged poltergeist activity took place, which was disappointing.
Some of my photos contained a few orbs, but I also noticed there was a lot of dust in the air. I did capture a brief orb flash on the video but nothing impressive. Maybe it was too windy even for the spirits that night.
I’ve since found out that some of these planes contain a very minor amount of radiation. Apparently not enough to cause harm but could this explain some of the paranormal phenomena?
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