EXPLOSION! Museum of Naval Firepower, Gosport 21/06/08

Weather: Mild, Damp

Duration: 22:00-04:00

Members:12

Guests: Garry, Jill, Rick

This was a location that SPRG had been eyeing up for sometime, and we were truly grateful for Marc and the team at EXPLOSION! to allow us a free run of this magnificent historical sight. On arrival, Gregg from the museum met us and was kind enough to take us a really detailed tour of the site. The museum once served as an armoury, housing and orchestrating the weaponry that was primarily used aboard some of the best and biggest battleships that served the country through both world worlds, the battle of Trafalgar also not forgetting the Falkland's. Several warehouses if you like, now display these awesome artefacts for all to enjoy, also opposite the main entrance of the museum, stands the now derelict MOD offices that at one time would have been the hub of all activity in ensuring the weapons went where they needed to go and did what they needed to do! The site dates back to 1771 and was only decommissioned as an armament depot as recent as 1989. Once again we thank Gregg for his tour and some wonderful information. Covertly Gregg informed us to be on the look out for a certain spirit that walks the museum, but as usual, Angie was one step ahead and already explained to us what she had seen, a man in an impeccably dressed uniform wearing a tri-corner hat. This is reported to have been seen by visitors, and Angie picked up on him pretty much before we had even begun.

The building certainly began to take on a very uneasy feel during setup, apparently just the day before, a customer was using the toilets and left pretty hastily after being confronted by a figure, again in uniform, from what era we were not told. Details of this occurrence were a little sketchy. After a quick cuppa it was down to setting up our gear. We were quite excited as we were to test out our brand new camera setup. Four night vision cameras, that run directly into a hard drive unit that can record up to ninety hours of footage, the images are then displayed on four split screens on one monitor. A breeze to set up, no more videos! Before we had even started recording we were catching orbs. It was decided to run one camera facing up an incline in the main building, this would have been where workers of the time would have rolled their barrels of gunpowder of heavy equipment to and fro for convinience. Angie, Liz and Clint D had picked up on the area feeling very uneasy. To the top of the incline, near our base station, the path split into crossroads another camera faced down a corridor to the right, the other to the left. The final camera was placed in the now covered courtyard area. During setup, April, Adel, Emma Angie and Lorraine along with Ben. Seemed to be having some activity near the camera at the left of the crossroad. Whispers were noted by more than one member, as well as a shadow, again noted by more than one person. Without further ado, it was time to begin. Liz kicked things off with a prayer of protection, then it was time to gather our groups. Clint D, Adel, Garry and Ben took guest Garry over to the derelict offices, Liz, Tina, Clint S and Emma took guest Jill to a "magazine" room, this would have been used to store weaponry or explosives when not in use. Angie, April, Craig, Ed and Rick took the main museum building first. The group in the magazine room didn't seem to have anything unusual happen, but to look at it logically, it would have only been a store room and people would rarely have spent a lot of time in such a place, we had also been informed that no records indicated any deaths in that building. Clint D's group had a rather uneasy hour's vigil in derelict offices, the first floor had one particularly active area, a large room with green walls, there seemed to be a strange feeling in the room to start with, then a loud knocking was heard on one of the windows, wind had been discounted as it was a calm night, after Clint D called out the knocking seemed to be more frequent and almost on command, there seemed as if there was someone up there, and more than one person in the room was aware of movement in the corridor, an area that was looked at next.

An orb caught on camera off the corridor by the stairs

The rest of the first floor didn't seem to feel as bad as the "green" room, so the group headed back downstairs before the hour was up,  Clint D and Ben spent some time in one of the main rooms downstairs, Clint D seemed to think that the name Thornton, or Thornberry had some significance, this has yet to verified. Upon leaving, Garry, our guest. Stumbled and nearly fell, immediately looking for a nail in the floor or some obstruction to explain his near fall. No such objects found, Garry said he felt as if his foot had been grabbed. Odd, and very unsettling indeed. The group in the main museum building didn't really experience anything untoward, a few noises were heard and orbs captured. before we knew it, it was time to break and prep for the séance. Excited discussions took place during setup, of what had been experienced so far, and our guests seemed to be really enjoying their experience. During the séance Craig stayed on monitor duty at the base station, again orbs were being captured around that area. Angie was picking up on a child, which would have seemed strange for the nature of the building, the glass movement was very timid, and the spellings or numbers were not very precise at all, several members noted a draught around the circle which kept coming and going. After nearly an hour we decided to call a halt to he séance, have a break and then decide where to head next as time was running out. Gregg kept checking to see if we were ok and interestingly told us that there had been reports of children assisting in the loading of weapons and armoury at stage stage when the building was fully functional, could this justify the little girls Angie was picking up on?  

The group decided that they would go where they placed for the last few hours, some decided to go places they had yet been, others decided to conduct min vigils or re-visit certain location that had some interest to them. April took a small group into the theatre area of the museum, this area once housed the gunpowder and various explosives. A cool cavern of brick arches that certainly had an indescribable feel, April started to call out, and loud shuffling and movements were noted which certainly put a few members on edge, including our guests, whatever it was seemed to be moving closer, then faded away. The group walked on and gathered en masse in a part of the museum that displayed the more modern missiles. Adel, Liz and April all seemed to pick up a noise that seemed to sound like the jingling of keys, the last people in this section were our three guests who all noted and excitedly told us that the rubber door in this room seemed to move in a way as if someone had entered!

Time was pushing on and we began to clear down, Gregg was only too pleased to hear about what we had experienced, despite the fact like us he hadn't been to bed yet. This is definitely a site we would love to re-visit in the near future. Some of us are even considering visiting just for a day out as were were so impressed with what it has to offer. We at SPRG highly recommend this as a trip for the family, it is such an important location delving deep into our maritime history, and lets you see first hand some of the weaponry used by the brave man and women that have served our country. Visit their website for more information here. We would like to extend our gratitude to Marc and Gregg at Explosion for being so helpful in securing our place at the museum for the night and for making us feel so welcome, good luck with the museum it's a great place. Finally thank you to our astral friends who stopped by. Until next time, keep believing!

SPRG 2008