Most Haunted Live Christmas 2004 :: Blackpool

Posted by webmasterPLG as 2004

Derek, Yvette, and the team investigate the town of Blackpool. Under the darkened New Moon what will they uncover, and what will they learn about Blackpools curious past! 
 
Night One : Blackpool Pleasure Beach

Night Two : The Tower

Night Three : Winter Gardens

 
First broadcast : 12th December 2004

Most Haunted Live Halloween 2004 : Pendle Hill

Posted by webmasterPLG as 2004

Night One : Lower Well Head Farm, Bull Hole Farm, Tynedale Farm

Night Two : Waddow Hall

History

The relatively undiscovered region known as Pendle takes its name from Pendle Hill, which can be seen from different angles throughout the area, the ‘pen’ being the same word as the Welsh for ‘hill’.

Pendle Hill towers 1,831 ft. above the region, and as well as the obvious connection with the history of the Witches in 1612, it used to be a beacon hill at the time of the Spanish Armada.

The hill has been associated with the formation of the Quakers and of Methodism, In 1652 George Fox, the founder of the Quakers, had a vision after climbing to its summit. The Quakers flourished, but at the time were often bitterly persecuted.

The village of Trawden was home to their first meeting house in 1697, although membership began to fall around 1844, doubtless due to the strict mode of life adopted by the movement. Methodism too flourished under its founder, John Wesley, who was inspired in his sermons by the beautiful Pendle countryside and landscapes. In 1759 he was preaching to his followers in Waterside in Colne.

In 1821 Methodism flourished under Sir William Hartley Pickles and many chapels can still be seen in the region, although many have now been converted into private homes.

Sir William Hartley Pickles was one of the region’s famous sons – he set up factories for jam making and preserving, whose products grew to be world famous and helped to put the area on the map. Another well-known local was one Wallace Hartley, a musician on the ill-fated ‘Titanic’, who bravely played ‘Nearer my God to thee’ as the ship was sinking, and indeed perished with his fellow musicians and most of the passengers. He is buried in Colne and has a memorial dedicated to him in the town, which has been visited by people worldwide, particularly since the success of the recent film about the story.

The architecture of the area still reflects its history – Nelson and Colne were once towns at the heart of the Lancashire cotton industry, made famous by the author Robert Neill, author of ‘Mist over Pendle’ and ‘Songs of Sunrise’, telling the story of the lives of people in the area during the 19th Century, when passions were aroused by the introduction of power looms. Before the turn of the century indeed most people in the region were earning their living on the land or from textiles, the early morning and evening noise of clogs on cobbles could be heard throughout the area. The area also saw the Chartist riots and the arrival of gas light, and also the steam railway, the building of the Leeds/Liverpool canal for the transportation of cloth from the mills to the port of Liverpool and wool to the factories in Leeds.

The area has several pretty villages with historical connections, one of which is Wycoller (pictured right), the buildings reflecting the architecture of the 17th Century, and it is said that the Old Hall inspired Charlotte Bronte to make it the ‘Ferndean Manor’ in her ‘Jane Eyre’. The villages of Barley and Roughlee feature in the history of the Pendle Witches. All the Pendleside villages have historical backgrounds and we can only hope to give you a taste here of their charm and beauty but we feel you will be captivated by the character and mystery of the area under the shadow of Pendle Hill.

For info on the Pendle Witches visit

http://www.pendlewitchproject.co.uk/
 
First broadcast : 30th October 2004

Most Haunted Live 2004 : Spirits in the Skies

Posted by webmasterPLG as 2004

Maes Artro Heritage, RAF Llanbedr

On September 11, 12 and 13th, the Most Haunted Live team investigate Llanbedr, North Wales. The site, at Maes Artro Heritage, served as the living quarters for the adjacent RAF Llanbedr air base during WWII. The base opened in 1941 as a training and rest camp for active squadrons. Since then, the base has witnessed much violent loss of life. Unexplained crashes and accidents were frequent and rumours abound of other macabre incidents…

Located in Llanbedr near Harlech, Maes Artro Village Museum includes three different museums that portray life in the 20th century. The RAF Museum gives the history of RAF Llanbedr, which used Maes Artro Village as its living quarters; the Rural Heritage museums shows how people lived before the electric revolution and the Yester Years Museum features a re-created Welsh village street from the 1900.

Broadcast Started : 11th September 2004

Most Haunted Live Summer Solstice 2004 : Derby

Posted by webmasterPLG as 2004

Most Haunted Live Summer Solstice comes from the ‘dead’ centre of Britain. Is Derby Britain’s most haunted city?

Day 1

House Of John Flamsteed

John Flamsteed FRS (19 August 1646 – 31 December 1719) was an English astronomer and the first Astronomer Royal.

The Silk Mill

The Silk Mill Museum is on the site of the world’s oldest factories, the Silk Mills built by George Sorocold in 1702 and 1717. The foundations and parts of the tower from the 1717 mill are still visible.

The Old Dolphin Inn

Built over 500 years ago, the Dolphin pub, claims to have more spirits than the ones found behind the bar. This Tudor building from 1532 and boasts no less than four resident ghosts as its regulars.

Day 2

McCluskys Nightclub

Awaiting info

Derby Gaol

The gaol which stood on Friar Gate from 1756 to 1846 and the cells of which still exist and are open to the public as a museum, and the 1843 to 1929 Vernon Street Prison whose impressive frontage can still be seen today.

 
Derby Gaols Hangings, 1732 to 1847. This sheet was (apparently) made available [1] to satisfy the interest of Derby residents on the occasion of the hanging of John Platts the previous day. (Click image to enlarge and read)In 1652 the Cornmarket Gaol (no longer extant) was the site of the imprisonment of George Fox on charges of blasphemy. Fox became the founder of the Christian denomination the Religious Society of Friends, perhaps better known as the Quakers. It has been alleged that Judge Bennett of Derby first used the term Quaker to describe the movement, as they bid him to ‘quake for fear of the Lord’, but the phrase had already been used in the context of other religious groups so the etymology is dubious.

The last person to be hanged at Derby Gaol was William Slack on 16 July 1907 for the murder of Lucy Wilson.

The Friary

Awaiting info

Day 3

Elvaston Castle

In the 16th century the estate was held by the Shelford Priory. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries the Crown sold the Priory and its estates in 1538 to Sir Michael Stanhope of Rampton, Nottinghamshire. Sir John Stanhope(d1611) granted the estate to his second son, also Sir John Stanhope (d 1638) High Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1629.

Originally a manor house built for the latter Sir John in 1633, it was redesigned in grand style by James Wyatt in the early 1800s for the 3rd Earl of Harrington. Further modifications were made in the 1830s by the architect Lewis Nockalls Cottingham.

In 1968, the estate was sold by the then Earl of Harrington to Derbyshire County Council. This coincided with the Countryside Act of the same year which proposed the creation of “country parks” “for the enjoyment of the countryside by the public”. The council opened the estate to the public in 1970 and have operated it since then, as Elvaston Castle Country Park.

In 1969, Elvaston was also used as a location for Ken Russell’s film adaptation of the D. H. Lawrence novel Women in Love.

 
For the last eight years the Derbyshire County Council has been marketing the estate to private companies, claiming that it cannot afford to repair and maintain it but its actions have come to nothing. The latest of these is an attempt to turn the Castle into an hotel and the Park into golf courses. This is being fiercely contested by “The Friends of Elvaston Castle” on behalf of the local community.
First Broadcast: 19th June 2004

Most Haunted Live Easter 2004 :: Matthew Hopkins – The Witchfinder General

Posted by webmasterPLG as 2004

This holiday weekend, Derek, Yvette and the rest of the Most Haunted team will be following the story of “The Witchfinder General” and that of the Essex witch trials to tap into the past and reveal some of England’s darkest secrets!

Matthew Hopkins (ca. 1620 – 1647) was an English witchhunter whose career flourished during the time of the English Civil War. He held, or claimed to hold, the office of Witch-Finder General, although this was not a title ever bestowed by Parliament, and conducted witch-hunts mainly in the counties of Suffolk, Essex, Norfolk and occasionally in other eastern counties of England. The one surviving example of his signature shows he spelt his name Mathew Hopkins.

 It has been estimated that in all of the English witch trials between the early 15th and late 18th centuries, fewer than 500 witches were executed. The work of Hopkins and Stearne would at the lower estimate of numbers of witches “found” and hanged account for 40% of that total. Their actions during these years became solely responsible for the increase in witch trials.

Day 1 Graveyard Of St. Nicholas Church, Crossroads

Day 2 Seafield Bay, The White Hart, Mannigtree Green

Day 3 Mistley Towers, Thorn Hotel, Mistley Pnd & Hpoong Bridge, Church Ruins

First Broadcast: 9th April 2004

Most Haunted Live Leap Year 2004 :: William Shakespeare

Posted by webmasterPLG as 2004

Night One : Avon Riverbank, Falstaff Experience, New Place

Night Two : Halls Croft, Clopton House and Well

On this Leap Day, in memory of the man who wrote the greatest love stories ever told, Most Haunted Live will endeavour to unearth the mysteries and stories that surround the Stratford bard, William Shakespeare. Spoken from the heart and immortalised in print, the life and works of Shakespeare have created some of the most romantic heroes and heroines of our time, inspired by local tragedy and the many muses and women who filled his heart.
 

First Broadcast: 28th Februaury 2004