Ghostly goings on at abandoned stately home

Karl Hassall, of Dark Arts Paranormal, specialises in amateur investigations into the unexplained.

He says his latest half-hour programme was intended to highlight and help influence the future of the deteriorating remains of Winstanley Hall, ancestral home of Squire Bankes.

But when he viewed the footage, the freelance videographer found evidence of what he terms an unexplained “mist”... in the bright afternoon sunshine.

Foible of the sunlight or reflection in the lense?

Karl insists that he undertakes each filming session with an open mind and doesn’t have any truck with “stunts”... no matter how many hits that would give his work on social media.

Make up your own mind by viewing the video here

Karl, who lives in Astley, reveals that his profound interest in the paranormal dates back to his days as a child when a priest was called in to perform an exorcism like ceremony at the family home to rid it of “haunting” troubling spirits.

But he still insists that the reason he has focused on Winstanley Hall, which has been long owned by building developers after the Bankes family relinquished their financial interest in the 1980s, is to try and protect its future.

Karl made the recording in bright conditions in the early afternoon.

He said: “I have long noticed that there isn’t much reporting on Winstanley Hall.

“It seems to be a case of out of sight out of mind and in the meantime there is a real danger of it falling down.

“Because it is surrounded by thick woodland many people in Wigan don’t even know it exists and unlike Haigh Hall, those that do know of it haven’t necessarily seen it.

“Our heritage is important and the reason we went down initially was to document it, show how it is now in a state of total disrepair and how we could lose it all together due to lack of maintenance if we are not careful.

“The unexplained sighting we have recorded was just a bonus.

“But that wasn’t why we chose the hall in the first place because we rule absolutely everything out before we start labelling things paranormal.

“But on the video in one part you actually see a weird mist kind of thing appear, very bizarre, which I could actually see with my eye but looks a lot clearer on our recording equipment.

“And then half way through that you get Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP) sounds which are picked up by the recording but weren’t audible to the human ear at the time.

“It could certainly stand further investigation.”