Derbyshire, UK
SCALA CINEMA
FOLLOWING the revelations of a haunting at Ilkeston's JD Cafe Bar (Now the HOP) on South Street, another old building is set to have its history examined for spooks.
After taking her mother's memoirs away to write a book on her, maiden name Bronwyn Hayes of Brinsley found journals written by her mother detailing scary sights at the Scala Cinema on Pimlico.
Are You Sitting Comfy let the Haunting begin
Bronwyn's mother Vambria Walters worked at the Scala over 30 years ago in which time she saw apparitions and heard noises on a regular occurrence.
Her husband Arthur Walters said:
"She would often come home and tell me about seeing people walking down the stairs while she was cleaning the Scala, people who were not really there or who would vanish. One time she saw a man on the stairs and he then walked in the front door."
The story goes that the former owner of the cinema Mr Brailsford haunts the building and started making more appearances when the foyer was changed to modernise its appearance.
The Scala was in the Brailsford family for a long time so it is unknown which member of the family is still 'active' on the site.
Jack Phillips, Parapsychologist, lives a few minutes walk from the Scala on New Lawn Road and is keen to investigate.
He said that the reason behind the haunting is not unfamiliar:
"There are two kinds of impression left by a spirit. One is a paranormal one which can't be explained and is related to a spirit that is present trying to right a wrong. The other is a supernormal psychic impression which is left when particularly strong emotions are experienced in a building and the energy transfers into the walls. It is most common in stone walls and lime.
"There have been incidents when spirits have made themselves known when somebody changes their environment and they don't agree with it.
"I imagine when people grew up in one home and it was passed onto them when their parents died. They will have had a 'family home' so when it is disrupted and changed they make their unrest known."
The Scala cinema is over 100 years old and is one of the earliest purpose built cinemas in the country. Originally built on the site of a graveyard this building has more than it's fair share of Ghostly activity.
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Are YOU Brave enough to venture into the Projectionist room where much Activity has been experienced? or are YOU a Seasoned Ghost Hunter enough to sit alone in one of the HAUNTED Auditoriums Armed only with a video camera and a torch to keep you company?
Join US as we go in search of more than things that go bump in the night, where Evil lurks behind every corner of this Haunted Location.
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The story of the building being built on a cematary is part of urban legends so we set out to prove, or disprove it. On maps of the 1880's we found the land to be referenced as belonging to the chapel and there was a path through it. After some digging we found reference to the construction of the building and indeed it was a graveyard.
In an artical in the advertiser dated 06/01/1989 we found stories of the reverend of the late 1800's offering a Christian burial to the bodies in the yard, moving the stones to the St Marys Graveyard. We also found that there was a man, who was old enough to remember before the cinema was built, and indeed it was a walled graveyard, with around a dozen stones.
A Investigation that went beyond the expected
Scala Investigation
Posted on January 3, 2015 by ilkestononlineuk
In 2014 an investigation was done at Scala, the results where better than expected.
A Summary of Scala Investigation
Report by Twilight Paranormal who did the investigation. (Via Facebook)
A mind-blowing experience at the Scala cinema. Aug 2014.
Twilight Paranormal investigated the overwhelming reports of unexplained activity.
List of activity
There were lots of activity in various places, notably on the balcony and down the right-hand side of the lower section.
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• Brilliant table-tipping session,
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• Some glass work and Ouija board sessions proved to be successful,
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• REM-pod went off, K-II responses in places,
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• Lots of tapped responses to questions, various audio phenomena including movement from between the seats, whispering, and sighs.
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• Various shadows were seen moving about
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• Cameras refused to function properly.
Our mediums had a hard time passing over a particularly negative male spirit, who refused to give any information about himself.
Some information linked to a known name associated with the cinema came through on the Ouija board,
We did get a spirit claiming to be a projectionist from 1913 (when the cinema opened) come through, he was apparently just going about his usual business, because he came and went a couple of times. When we asked him if the film had finished and he’d gone to change it, we got a positive response.
A few shadows were seen around the left-hand side exit at the start, but later on most of the focus seemed to be on the right-hand side where most people have reported some kind of activity. We did table-tipping at a specific spot about halfway down the right side, as I’d been getting K-II activity all night around that area. Proved to be some of the best table-tipping footage we’ve ever captured.
Member Feedback
Debra Reeve – When I worked there , I felt very uneasy in the men’s toilets , I did my job and got out quick , I was talking to some old timers who worked there years ago , the lady told me when she lit the gas lamps she felt someone’s hand on her back and dark shadows were seen
TP
One of our team heard something inside the women’s toilets and startled her to the point she got up from her seat and moved quickly. No-one else heard it at the time, but it was captured on audio. Sounds like the internal door in the toilets squeaking. It also happened at the end of the night as we were packing up, but at that point we had stopped recording and so was not captured.
Research
We already know that the cinema was owned by the Brailsford family for some time.
Frank Hubert Brailsford was manager of the Scala in 1934. We know that because he was referred to in an article in the Derby Daily Telegraph dated 27th June of that year. He lived on Park Avenue in Ilkeston at that time. National Census records for 1931 were destroyed in a fire, and the 1941 Census never took place because of WWII, so finding out names, occupations and addresses for this time period is quite limited. We have managed to find records documenting his birth on 31st March 1909, and his death in December 1969