HAUNTED Ilkeston

Bennerly School -

History in Repeat

 

 

Ghost Hunt report by Erewash Sound

 

Hi, my names Dan and I work on the local radio station Erewash Sound. We launched in March 2010 and up until February 2011 we were based in B Block of Bennerley School (BBEC).

We moved into our area of the building kindly given to us by the college in October 2009 to convert the area into a working radio station. From the start I plus others felt there was something just not right about the place, however in the excitement of fitting things for the radio station we brushed this feeling off.

I work in the technical side of the station and up to the March 2010 launch I was there sometimes really late installing equipment and setting things up etc and one February evening me and my colleague got our first experience of something very strange in the building. We were working in what was the studio getting the playout system configured at around 10pm and we started to smell burning, I asked my colleague "can you smell burning?" he replied "yes" and we both agreed it was probably a bonfire as it was only a small smell at the time. About 10/15 minutes the smell grew and got very very strong, I said to my colleague that something wasn't right and he thought we should leave in case the building was on fire.

We opened the studio door and the smell continued to linger and grow slightly, we expected now there to be a fire at the bottom of the stairs, this is how strong this smell was. We went down the stairs expecting the worst and to our amazement, nothing! We left the building and did a quick walk round, looking for smoke or any signs of fire, nothing was found. Whilst outside we noticed that as soon as went outside the smell disappeared, the smell was only inside the building. Completely confused we went and sat in my car for a while, upon entering the building again the smell had got weaker however it was still there, we went and stood in the downstairs corridor area to be greeted by the strong smell again. My colleague alerted me that he felt very unusual and really felt like he wanted to leave so we did, he was white as a sheet.

We went and got some chips and came back and there was no smell but we didn't hang around and we locked up and went home and continued our work another evening when once again we got greeted by the smell but didn't investigate it.

The burning smell continued to become a well talked about issue in the station as no one could explain it. The second big thing to happen was a few weeks into the station operating, a presenter was locking up on a Saturday night. He brings quite a lot of material for his show so it took him a few journeys back and forward to the car to put all his stuff back into his car. After taking his laptop down to the car and returning to get his box of CDs he heard what he describes as a very loud rumbling or roar noise from behind him in the corridor as he stepped onto the stairs.

In fright he ran up the stairs and locked himself in the studio to calm down. We could never explain what it could be.

On top of this, weird senses of being severely watched have been felt by nearly everyone working in the studio, breathes have been felt on peoples necks, the burning smell was nearly a daily occurance at random points during the day. I personally have seen white flashes in the studio.

On the move weekend, after we had stripped all the equipment out of the building and we were running from our new building at the college, I had the task of locking up B Block and felt the same weirdness as I did when I first went there.

On top of that, when outside at night on the whole Bennerley School site, I still feel very nervous and start to feel very anxious and can't wait to leave.

It was pretty bad doing late night shows in that place! The haunting might not just be connected to b block, I and others feel very uncomfortable on the whole site outside.