The Harrogate Ghost Hunt
Posted on 26th July 2023
So Jessica and Sarah went on their first ever ghost hunt at The Turkish Baths in Harrogate and here is how we got on 👻
The first Ghost Hunt to be held at The Turkish Baths in Harrogate with Paul from The Harrogate Ghost Walk and the team at Angelic Forces was held between 7.30pm and 1.30am on Friday June the 16th 2023.
Two very excited and slightly nervous ladies set off to the Turkish Baths from Harrogate Lifestyle Apartments around 7.05pm. Luckily it was not far to go with the Turkish Baths so close by! The baths are only a four minute walk from our apartments!
Paul from the Harrogate Ghost Walk was there to greet people as they arrived and we headed inside. The atmosphere was very different to the kind you would experience during the day. Having been to the baths many times myself to enjoy the use of the steam rooms and sauna or have a treatment -or three, it was interesting to see some of the massage therapists and staff had also purchased tickets for the event. There was a good mix of excitement, sceptisim and different belief systems within the groups which made for a very interesting night ahead of us!
After a short introduction from Paul and the team at Angelic Forces, they went on to give a detailed and informative talk about what we should expect from the night. Things like how to keep ourselves and our group safe, and the evacuation procedures. We were then split into groups of between 10-11 people. They really looked after us as we would all need to have our energy levels kept up during the night so this energy could be lent to spirit forces that we might encounter and with the baths still in the cooling down process, we would also need to stay hydrated. The team had provided bottles of water for everyone and so many biscuits!
We learned that spirits can attach themselves to a person and you can take them with you. Not all trapped energies are good and can even have malicious intentions! The group was grounded with help from the Angelic Forces team and we were instructed on how we can interact with any spirits trapped in the building safely.
Here we have the stall set up with the different types of energy crystals and souvenirs available to purchase at the end of the hunt, including Paul's book, Haunted Harrogate. This well written book is full of many original stories from all over Harrogate and contains the accounts of many different experiences of ghostly encounters!
All the devices seen here are triggered by electricity, heat or energy given off by spirits that may be present. Spirits can also use some of these to communicate "yes" and "no" which we learned later in the evening! There were infra red devices, night vision equipment, thermal imaging devices, rem pods, EMF measuring devices, a ghost radio, laser grids and spirit dice to share between us.
The first area our group was taken to explore was upstairs right at the top of the baths. In here we used rem pods which measure EMF frequencies to help detect when a spirit was in the room, spirit dice to communicate and ask questions, and an EMF meter to confirm and source the direction of the readings from the rem pods.
We weren't in the room long before the devices started to pick things up! Our group was introduced to the spirits who may be with us and we started to use the spirit dice to ask questions. We had a lot of repetitive words like "stuck", "lost", and the same names kept coming up in the letters created by throwing the dice. The spirits in the room often used the rem pods to answer yes or no when the dice were not yet thrown. We started to use these to aid us with basic questions but would then throw the dice if we needed to explore that further.
Our group moved on to our next area deep within the treatment rooms of the baths. In here we discovered one of the ladies in our group was a massage therapist who works in this room! She had booked to come onto the ghost hunt because she had experienced strange things happening in the room and felt she wanted to know more about who might be doing these things.
As we started to interact with the spirits in the room we discovered that again we were getting answers through the spirit dice. It seemed the energy in this room was very different to that of the last area. Our group was starting to realise there was a very angry spirit here with us! He liked to tourment the other spirit that was trapped in here with him! He didnt like having to share his space or being disturbed. Quite the grumpy ghost and a bit of a bully!
The lady in our group told us of how strange things had happened in her years of working at the baths while being a massage therapist. She said she had heard noises and even witnessed on more than one occaision the light pulley cord in the room start to swing quite violently by itself. The answers we had from the dice showed that the two spirits were male and female. Trapped, but also unable to coexist together. I really didnt like being in this room as I found it difficult getting almost a sense of panic and fear even though it wasnt me that was feeling it.
It turned out that the site was once an old hospital and a story was beginning to form from the names and the information we were able to piece together from the answers we received. It was really interesting to learn who, when and how these people had died trapping their spirits behind and if they knew each other.
We had a little break at this point before moving on to our next area in our groups. A few minutes to rehydrate and get our energy up with plenty of biscuits for the last few hours of the hunt. It was also a good chance to catch up and share our findings with each of the groups. We were all a little surprised to hear we had the same names, similar answers and were able to add more details and depth to this story.
Some had experienced EMF readings of a person they had picked up with one of the devices sat in the steam rooms. Others had used the spirit table and had great results with a spirit that tipped over the table!
Our next area was at the back of the baths where they keep the private steam room and jacuzzi complete with a little foot spa area. In here the ladies who worked at the baths explained they had heard reports of music from the room at night, laughter and upon entering the room would fall silent! It was here we learned more of the story from our first room through a little boy we had encountered before.
Our last area was upstairs in the changing rooms. We used EMF devices, a spirit table and the spirit dice in here to help us. Some in our group including Jessica started to use the spirit table to communicate and it seemed we had encountered the same boy again. We discovered more to his story through the dice but it was very hard this time. It was explained that you could see through the rem pods when his energy was split. The group next to us in the changing rooms could be overheard and were also talking to the same boy. As their devices would pick up, ours would drop. Often the rem pods would stop altogether as the spirits grew tired in an area, signalling time to move on and hunt elsewhere.
Jessica and I were both very curious to find out more about this kind of experience and we had an absolute blast doing it! I went into this ghost hunt wondering if really knew what I believed in and to be honest, I was a little sceptical of the whole thing until afterwards. I'm still not sure what I believe, but this night left me with so many questions. I know we cant wait to go on another hunt!
Harrogate Lifestyle Apartments team would like to say a huge thank you to Paul from the Harrogate Ghost Walk, the team at Angelic Forces 44 and the team at the Turkish Baths Harrogate for an unforgettable evening. If you want to try something unusual or unforgettable during your time in Harrogate there are more ghost hunts coming up! Paul has managed to secure some amazing sites such as The Ripon Workhouse Museum and Ripon Prison in August, The Old Deanery in Ripon in September and The Empress Pub in October.
I hope we can look forward to more hunts at some of the most haunted sites in Harrogate! I would love to see one held at the Harrogate Theatre or even Hales Bar which is one of the oldest licensed pubs and an old coaching inn founded in the mid 17th century! 👻👻👻
This blog post was brought to you by Sarah. #HarrogateLifestyleApartments
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