The jitters set in again on those
nervier members of the group as
the weirdness of the situation
sunk in... several times we calmer
sorts had to implore them not to
break the circle as the sensation
of flight or fight took hold! Even
handbag Victoria, next to me,
was gripping my hand peculiarly
tight...
As soon as we started to think
that this knocking, (as in full
blown, Most Haunted fashion),
might just, might just, be being
performed by an intelligent
entity, we started requesting if
the knocker could respond with
differential knocks for yes and
no.. when the knocker rapped
twice for yes several of us nearly
wet ourselves in glee!
Calling out logical questions
goes out of mind in the heat of
amazement... we ascertained that
the knocker was not a man... was
definitely not a servant... strong
knocking response to NO for that
one... was not connected to the
family that once resided within
the Castle... WAS ...a lady of noble
birth... (can you see where I’m
going...), Victoria squeezed my
hand so tightly my eyes started
to water... the question had to
be asked.. “Spirit. Are you called
Mary...?” Strong knock for YES...
Victoria audibly gasped as she
involuntarily twisted my hand,
{which at the time was connected
to my arm} into some unnatural,
professional wrestling, three
quarter Nelson manoeuvre... for
a few moments, stupid question
syndrome took over... “Are you
happy Mary? Mary, do you know
you’re dead? Mary, did your wig
really fall off after your head was
cut off?...”, fortunately Victoria
came to her senses and started
asking the spirit Mary questions
that only a Mastermind contestant
specialising in Elizabethan gossip
could answer... stuff from her
(brief) marriage to some French
royal bloke.. questions about her
kids... (no, I’d no idea either...)
Then we discovered a way to
ascertain dates by getting Mary
to rap how many numbers she
wanted to pass on to us...(in
decade decimal style)... one knock
for one, followed by five knocks
for 15, followed by four knocks
then five for 1545 example.. in the
excitement she was responding
with dates that we thought were
totally wrong... but she was
adamant in her knocking answers.Then Victoria dropped a bit of a
bombshell when she admitted
to Mary, that she was the
descendant of the bloke who
signed Mary Queen of Scots death
warrant... Lord Chief Justice
Christopher Wray... {1524-92}
..well you could have knocked
me down with a cod-piece...
especially when she started
apologising for his actions...
that done.. the excruciatingly
uncomfortable wrestling hold
was relaxed... and Mary, started
to tire, seemingly... but not
before answering the perplexing
question... “Mary. Do you haunt
anywhere else...?” (Indignant
silence) ... “Do you VISIT anywhere
else?” (YES.) ... “Many places?”
(YES)!!Well, this being a time restricted
public event... we reluctantly had
to wind the session down... and
as we left the musty confines
of that mind-boggling space...
(creeping joyfully past the still
snoring Vikings), we were all high
as kites...Was this really Mary, Queen of
Scots...?? I’ve experienced some
crazy stuff in the pursuit of the
paranormal... but this was off the
scale even for me... we spent the
next few weeks debating if this
could have really happened or
not... I’ve always been sceptical,
(yes even me), to the ability of
spirits being able to communicate
in such a fashion... to open
to falsification and abuse in
the pitch dark with a group of
people you don’t know... could
the location have organised
the activity in some way.. was
there a joker in the pack...? The
atmosphere we sensed in the
room though would have been
hard to fabricate... and Tutbury
Castle did reckon that Mary has
communicated in that manner on
previous occasions!!Then historian Victoria thought
she might have caught a ghostlyimage of Mary, stood by the door
of the Dungeon, as if welcoming
us in... and as we googled the
dates and details that Mary had
knocked out for us... we found
that where we thought she was
getting her information wrong...
she wasn’t.. she was right...
it was us imbeciles that were
incorrect...!! So... to this day... I’m
still not sure if we actually were
honoured to be in the court of
Queen Mary that night... I hope
so... if we truly were, we were
privileged to have experienced
the greatest spirit phenomena
ever... so in trust, until I discover
otherwise... I’m going to believe
we did!Oh, and one more thing... on the
long, open mouthed drive home,
Victoria being the chauffeur... I
kept sensing something unseen,
sat in the back of our vehicle...
I didn’t like to tell Victoria, so I
didn’t mention the fact!Next morning, she messaged me
that after she had dropped me
off, she drove home, entered her
house, which was empty, climbed
the stairs to bed and suddenly felt
a few sharp blows on her neck and
base of her skull which brought
her to her knees...she couldn’t
move for quarter of an hour or so,
until the pain vanished... then she
was fine...Perhaps Mary had taken
umbrage to the Christopher Wray
connection after all??We were investigating Tutbury
Castle, Staffordshire as guests
of Dark Soul Events.
This event was their first
at Tutbury and was allowed
courtesy of the Tutbury Castle
paranormal team (Portal
Paranormal)Highly recommended for an eerie
night Castle romp!!Hubert Hobux