Ghost Tours held at Kenilworth Castle's Gatehouse. October 2006.

The Gatehouse at Night – Photo above
These unique events took place thanks to Steve Bax and the staff of Kenilworth Castle in the evenings of 28/29/30/31 October 2006. Most unusually for such an historic site, the members of the tours were invited, even encouraged, to touch and experience the fabric and artefacts of the Castle Gatehouse, the most intact part of the Castle ruins.

Area Plan
Ground Floor

Entrance Hall:
Southern Room (also referred to as the Dining Room)/The Oak Room.

Stairways and Passages:

1st Floor
Elizabethan Bed Chamber:
Drawing Room:

Original Wooden Spiral Staircase

2nd Floor
Exhibition Room:
Small Rooms in the Turrets

The Gatehouse, Western Elevation.
The frontispiece of the porch displays the initials 'R L', for Robert, earl of Leicester

	Originally part of gateway through castle, walled in and divided into  Dining Room and the Oak Room by using stone from castle. The floor of the gatehouse was raised by a few feet during this rebuilding which took place in the 1650s along with the Elizabethan panelling
	Jerry Richards of Team Spirit introduced the participants to the evening's event of the Ghost Tour.  Prior to the Ghost Tour commencing, Karmen requested all in attendance to switch off their mobile phones.  She further requested for all to join hands and form a circle, Karmen then conducted spiritual protection to protect one and all from psychic attack. After spiritual protection had taken place, Karmen felt the presence of a lady from spirit, who resides at the Gatehouse, she visualised this lady wearing Elizabethan dress, Karmen continued to receive messages from the 'Grey Lady'.
	Participants gave their accounts and experiences to Team Spirit; some participants began to feel the sensations of gentle paranormal activity, one participant  felt a cold chilling sensation down the side of his face and felt a breeze pass down his arm and across his chest; another participant at the same time felt a blowing breeze on his cheek as though a kiss had been placed there.  The atmosphere felt very tranquil and uplifting.  Another participant felt the feeling of being lifted off her feet, there were further reports of cold breezes on the nape of participants necks, tingling sensations down the spine and extreme cold spots in certain areas of the room.
	Doorway to the Oak Room. On entering the Oak Room two participants reported the sensation of extreme cold and described their feelings to Karmen.  They further explained, 'Its as though one enters the area of phenomena by taking two footsteps into a freezing atmosphere, as though one has entered into a freezer, with the sensation of walking through a water fall and feeling the water flowing above one's head and on the third step, one exits into a normal climate again".
	Oak Room or “Grey Lady” Room An area where paranormal phenomena most reported by staff over longest period of time. The Grey Lady apparition is common folklore in Kenilworth and Coventry, like many other spirits of local fame, assumed to exist by multitude of sightings by witnesses of all ages, backgrounds and psychological states with consistent reporting over centuries. The Grey Lady is also to be found residing in the grounds of the castle during daylight hours, but most commonly observed in windows of the gatehouse, particularly this large bay window known to have been moved from Elizabeth I private chambers. Due to the long standing tradition of castle employees dressing in Tudor style, from the late 1920’s when the Stables were turned into a themed  restaurant and tea house, to the re-enactments and entertainments of the 1970s and 1980s, many sightings were assumed to be staff by witnesses, only for that assumption to be overturned by Castle crew who knew that nobody was dressed that way at that time.  A notable sighting occurred in the late 1960s when Castle employees assumed the Grey Lady was a member of a period music group preparing in the room, and the musicians assumed she was one of the staff.
	Fireplace: The most extraordinary feature of the room is the fireplace, carved with a Latin inscription “DROIT ET LOYAL” (Right & Loyal).  The fireplace was probably relocated from Dudley's privy chamber.  It bears Leicester's initials 'R L', with the date '1571' and the motto and badges of the Order of the Garter, of which he was a knight.  The carved wooden over mantle has the initials 'E' and 'R' ('Elizabeth Regina'), it is thought to have been part of a bed head which was made for Queen Elizabeth I.
	Participants Reactions: One particular lady described sadness and  tears surrounding the fireplace.  This is an interesting point; As Karmen had  reported whilst conducting the vigil on 25/09/06 a 'veil of tears' surrounds the fireplace  and she gave further accounts and  links with spirit reciting the names and the story surrounding the fireplace; this information was captured on film when team spirit conducted the vigil at the Gatehouse on 25/09/06.  Staff at Kenilworth castle confirmed Karmen's findings regarding the fireplace to Team Spirit.
Participants Reactions One participant reported she felt a strong presence cascading by her left-side, and then felt the sensation of someone stroking her cheek; another participant reported a strong fragrance of scented roses hovering in front of her; a member of staff smelled the pungent fragrant scent of lavendar which she doesn't normally like.  Other participants reported the sensation of overwhelming sadness when they touched the fireplace.
	Stairways and Passages: On the wooden staircase leading up to the first floor, the Castle Guides drew attention to the Stonemasons Marks on stones. The staircase was relocated from another part of the castle, and was cut in half down the centre of steps to fit in and to double its length, hence half newel posts and half banisters strangely disappearing into walls. This staircase was added in the 1650s rebuild of the gatehouse. Several participants on the Ghost Tours reported a strong fragrance of roses on certain parts of the staircase; One gentleman described his experience as 'The smell of old fashioned roses, very very strong, a beautiful scent'. Participant Reactions: Whilst conducting psychometry on the staircase, Karmen linked part of the staircase to the Castle; which was further confirmed by staff members, Karmen also reported the 'sighting' of a lady-in-waiting, she visualised the apparition walking through the staircase from the waist up.  Karmen further reported a beautiful scented fragrance of roses drifting up and down the staircase.  Karmen also linked the 'sighting' of  child spirit,  running up and down the stairs, calling out for 'Daddy'  A member of staff at Kenilworth Castle confirmed the sighting of the lady spirit; and further reported a child's voice has been heard within the Gatehouse out of hours.
Participants Reactions: A number of participants felt a heaviness hanging in the atmosphere; many reported the feeling of being watched.  Several participants felt the sensations of suffocation.  Another participant felt a damp, cold breeze across his cheek. Three participants witnesssed and felt paranormal activity of strong vibrations and movement from the cot that resides at the end of the four poster bed.  They further reported 'the cot just shuddered'. Many participants did not want to linger in this room, they further reported to the team, they felt very unsettled in this area of the Gatehouse.	First Floor Drawing Room. This has been preserved as a drawing room from the 1930s period, when the castle was privately owned/rented.  The phenomena reported by Castle staff in this room mainly involved the unusual behaviour of a glass-fronted bookcase. The room has a cosy feel. During the ghost tour nights we took time to have a quiet few minutes in this room to listen to the silent ambience of the castle gatehouse and allow sensitives to  focus in the atmosphere. Due to the sensation of overwhelming heat and suffocation, one lady had to leave the room, as Karmen, Jerry & a member of staff from the Castle went to the lady's aid; she described the experience she had encountered in the drawing room. Another participant reported the same sensation of overwhelming heat.  Many of the participants described their experiences to the team.  A gentleman reported hearing the voice of a man talking; whilst two other participants reported hearing music accompanied by  two female voices singing to its song. There were no heat sources in the room, the temperature being equally cool throughout the building on the tour evenings. Elizabethan Bed Chamber Dark oak panelled room with original Elizabethan four-poster bed, though not originally from Kenilworth Castle.  It was in this room that tour members had some of their strongest sensations. The bed is surprisingly small. Not because the Tudor people themselves were small, but because they thought it good for the constitution to sleep in a more upright position.

                  

Elizabethan Bed Chamber:
A member of staff reported a 'sighting' of a ghostly apparition with red eyes in this room; a photo was  taken immediately, and there appears to be a face in the fabric of the chair.



Exhibition Room:
Reached via the wooden spiral stairs, the exhibition room, with its small rooms in the turrets were retiring or bedrooms.
  


The roof structure and ceiling of the Exhibition Room utilises king post roof trusses  and was used as the council chamber of Kenilworth Town Council from 1958 until very recently, when it was converted to an exhibition room on the theme of Elizabeth and Leicester.

Spiral Staircase: The tours descended the Gatehouse via the tight spiral staircase, the original staircase for the building, another    feature of the gatehouse usually not open to the public to exit through the original small door at the foot of the tower.
 

Unfortunately, Health & Safety requirements made it impossible for the participants of the Ghost Tours to experience the external; roof of the building where some of the more interesting and exciting moments of the vigil of 25 09 06 took place and which have been captured on the DVD entitled Ghosts of Kenilworth.  Currently in post-production and will be made available on the teamspirit.online.com website.