Tivoli A Haunting We Will Go in Buckley – Blazing Minds

The Tivoli Theatre, affectionately known as The Tiv, was built in the 1920s on the site of the former Central Hall.

It is said that in 1946, a projectionist died after being caught in a fire in the projection room. Rumour has it that he was purposely locked in by the person who started the fire.

The venue’s ghostly goings on have also attracted attention from television show Most Haunted and an episode filmed at The Tivoli will be shown soon on Really.

I have to admit I am the first one to jump in and say that I have my doubts, but after spending an evening at The Tivoli, I am now split 50/50 on what I believe!

During the evening at the “Ghost Hunt“, I decided to go in with an open mind and just see what all the fuss was about and whether or not something would happen in this rather amazing building. But I wasn’t ready for the evenings ghostly going ons.

The Tivoli is an amazingly big place with many dark foreboding areas that even without spending an even in the dark are spooky, so I met up with the Loose Ladies and the guys behind the “60 Minutes With” podcast to start our evening of Ghost Hunting.

After a chat we made our way to the room that is over the top of the stage and met up with Ewan (@mediumewantg) the resident medium and our guide to the spirits for the evening and Gill & Carly who would be with us during the evening.

Photo of Karen Woodham by Lynne (Loose Ladies)

We were taken through a little of the history of the building such as the devastating fire in 1946 in the old theatre above the main area.

We were also told about many of the spirits in the building that walk the building, the great thing that we didn’t know about was all the gear/tech that we could use during the evening, such as night vision goggles, torches (much-needed) and dowsing rods which are used to ask questions to those visiting us.

One of my favourite gadget was the “Franks Box” that goes through the radio frequencies which can be used to have conversations, more on that later, when we made use of it towards the end of the evening.

Listen to ‘The Tivoli Ghost Hunt’ on audioBoom

The Tivoli Haunting Begins

So now it was time to get going and we split in to groups of men and women and made our way to the cellar to start our Ghost Hunting in the lower part of the building. But before that we left the building for the “cleansing” to us on our way.

After the cleansing we headed back in to the building and went on our way to look for some of the spirits that were waiting.

Walking through The Tivoli in complete darkness is a nerve wrecking thing, with the building being so old t has an unnerving that everyone that may have left some residue of themselves there is watching you walk around, we headed to our first stop the cellar.

I have to say, I didn’t feel anything in the cellar, it just seemed like any other place that you would find those beer kegs for the bar, but after a while, the temperature would rise and fall erratically and upon asking the spirit for some communication there was a strange news outside the door!

The news was only there after a question, a strange almost scraping noise, which later turned out to be a plastic cup out side that would move after each question, I have to say at this point I thought its the wind, but wait, there was no wind to move it and why only move after a question.

We moved on to using the dowsing rods which did move for questions, but sadly nothing really showed up here, but the night was young and you just never know what was waiting around the corner.

The Tivoli Projection Room

Now this dear readers did put me slightly on edge, the room is small, very small and there was a strange sensation as we all walked in, something just not right, Lynne from Radio Deeside thinks she saw a figure briefly up against the wall, spooky, spooky indeed, later we learnt about Harry, who was killed in the fire!

We moved away from the projection room and headed towards the theatre that is above the dance floor of the The Tivoli, there was a happy feeling here, I can’t explain it, but maybe it was from all the happiness that the theatre had seen in its glory days for the terrible fire.

While here we sat on the steps and I had chance to get a photo of the amazing roof that visitors to The Tivoli never see, its ornate plaster work and fire damaged walls, with the steps going down to the point where those going to the theatre would look down on the stage, it’s locations like this that fascinate me and it is such a shame that amazing building like this have this hidden from public eye.

The Theatre was the room that we had the most happening during the night, during the questions being asked and the long moments of silence we had one moment when we heard a metallic sound, which turned out to be a tiny rusty nail appearing from nowhere, almost as if it had been dropped behind me and just in front of Lynne’s feet.

Then shortly after there were sounds, almost like a sigh, but very faint, then the moment came when we all jumped and huddled up in a close group, the question, “Are you an actor?“, got a response from the other side of the room, which can only be described as a, “shhhhhh“!

I think everyone’s hearts was racing at that point, so after we had calmed down for a while, a figure appeared in the doorway, with the light of the outside streets bringing out its silhouette, but don’t panic, it was Ewan, he’d come to see if we were OK, as we had turned the radio off, after it had turned itself on earlier.

Time To Take A Break From Ghost Hunting At The Tivoli

We all regrouped and talked about what we had seen and/or heard and everyone was having many different experiences during the night, some more than others and later we would be going in to the rooms that the other team had visited to see if we could get the same effects.

So after nerves had been calmed down, it was time to move on with the night.

A Dark Dressing Room And Scriying At The Tivoli

We headed back down stairs to the rear of the stage to a rather small, dark and very cold feeling dressing room, where we sat in the down waiting for something to happen, but again there was changes in temperature during the time in this room, but sadly nothing else, so we moved away from the room and headed to the ladies toilets right at the back of the stage.

This room was spooky, there were no toilets in the cubicles, except for the odd one, we each took to a cubicle and waiting in the dark to see what would happen and something did happen, a few doors down from me the door was being pushed and pulled, making a banging noise, what this was caused by I can’t say, it could’ve have been something or nothing.

Next it was time to do some “scriying” and poor Lynne was the guinea pig again, she stood in front of the mirror and stared, we all stared at her face, the after a while her face changed, this shook me up a bit, so much that I had to turn away, her face changed to an older woman with slightly sagging eyes and a weathered looking face.

Others saw different faces, it was reported earlier that the men had seen a man’s face that kept pushing through more, almost as if he didn’t like the women coming through.

It was all a little unnerving and I can’t explain what I saw, but it did give me the heebie jeebies for a little while. we then went on to us the “Franks Box“.

The Franks Box cycles through the various FM/AM frequencies and it is said that this is a way of communicating and after using the box, I can well believe it.

It’s a strange feeling when you stand there asking questions to a bit of tech and you get answers, we are asked, “Would you like to talk to us“, and after a few seconds of static, music snippets, you get, “YES“! That’s the moment when you preferably “cack” yourself!

The A Tivoli Haunting In Buckley

What an amazing night, now I can’t really explain a lot that was happening during our Ghost Hunt at The Tivoli, but it was a fascinating thing to spend a night doing, I am sceptical and I think I still am a little after the evening, but and it’s a big but, after all that was happening, I am at that point of thinking, may be there is something or someone who is still looking to make contact.

There are many explanations for “Ghosts“, such as those that can’t cross to the other side, a residual recording of past lives and that moment time that may be playing back on a loop and the idea of a multi-verse that from time to time mergers with us to have a brief moment of something not right.

Whatever it is that is happening, spending an evening Ghost Hunting at The Tivoli is something that I strangely enjoyed and for those that would love to try it then I would highly recommend The Tivoli for this one, it’s not only fascinating, spooky and fun, it’s something that everyone should try at least once.

If you would like more details about the Ghost Hunts then you can find out more at their website at www.tivolivenue.com and also on Twitter and FaceBook or call them on 01244 546 201.

Most Haunted | Season 17 Episode 1 | FULL EPISODE