Stephanie Boddy

The Ragged School ghost hunt

 

My husband and I were recommended The Ragged School last year by a couple we met on another hunt. They told us about slamming doors, moving desks and made their whole experience sound pretty awesome. Needless to say we were eager to go on the hunt straight away. So for my birthday this year I asked for tickets for my birthday. We booked through Ghostly Goings On (who I haven’t used before) and it just so happened that Yvette Fielding and Karl Beattie were also attending so it was the perfect line up.

 

Due to work commitments and an accident on the M11, we were running about forty-five minutes late for the event. We arrived around 11pm but were told by members of the team that we hadn’t missed anything besides the briefing and meeting with Yvette and Karl - both of whom were extremely approachable and friendly and were obviously there with professional expectations.

 

There were a lot of people at the event which was a little disappointing for me as I always feel that to get the right atmosphere, you shouldn’t cram too many people into the building. We were sectioned into smaller groups of about twelve and Karl and Yvette flitted among us.

 

Elliott and I were sent to the art room for our first vigil. We saw the room in the light first of all. It was currently being used by children for their art lessons so as you can imagine, it had a really welcoming vibe. With children’s paintings and art equipment all around it, I just didn’t sense anything untoward. When the lights went out it was pretty dark. I cannot remember the names of the two members of Ghostly Goings On who attended that vigil with us but they were really good. I really dislike it when people grasp at straws and there were two women in our group who did just that but the team members were offering logical explanations to them and the rest of the group for any noises or such like.

 

I have always been quite sensitive at picking up on hauntings and connections and I can only describe the initial feeling I get as eyes on me from every orifice.  I didn’t get that once at The Ragged School. The only thing that happened in the art room was that the light sensor came on twice but as the team members pointed out, it could have just been a fly or bug that triggered it.

 

We moved down to the ‘kitchen’ although it was more of a staged kitchen in a room not too dissimilar to the art room. This time we were joined by Yvette and a member of the Ghostly Goings On team. I was really excited doing the vigil with Yvette. I’ve seen her so many times on Most Haunted, I wondered if she would spend most of her time jumping, screaming and running. The answer is no. She was very professional and took it very seriously which was great. I got told off a few times for taking photos (as my flash was on) but it’s not uncommon for me to get in trouble at ghost hunts but it’s usually because I wonder off by myself. We tried rolling marbles, glow balls and even a sound ball but there was zero activity. Yvette was the first to admit that she didn’t feel much activity and I respected her for saying it.

 

To be honest I was pretty disappointed – not with the Ghostly Goings On team or Yvette but with the location. As someone on my Facebook page said, ‘it was dead’ – pun intended but I’m referring to the level of activity.

 

I would recommend Ghostly Goings On and I would certainly recommend picking a hunt with the Most Haunted team, but The Ragged School was very dull. It may have just been that on Friday 07th November any entities that might have been there were out celebrating Bonfire Night.

 

I took some pictures at the location anyway in case you are interested in visiting :