Site History
In her book, ‘Mysterious Occurrences’, Rugeley Author Carol Arnall briefly mentions a possible haunting at the Anchor Hotel in Wednesbury, West Midlands. The following excerpt is reproduced with Carol’s kind permission:
"There was a restaurant in Wednesbury called The Anchor. The building is still there, but its something else now. Whether they still have the problems my Mother, Grandmother and I experienced, I do not know.
My Mother and another cook were always the first in the building of a morning. The dumb waiter was always going up and down of its own accord and although the electricity had been checked numerous times, no fault was ever found. As it needed someone to operate it by the push of a button, and there was no one upstairs, no explanation was ever found.
The owner of the restaurant had two big German Shepherd dogs as security, but love nor money could not get them to go upstairs : they would bark and growl at empty space, their hackles would go up at nothing, and in the end they had to be kept in the yard. They would not even go in the building.
Doors were always being found locked, closed or open. Just opposite to the way they were left. Overall, the whole building had an atmosphere about it that would give you serious goose-bumps".
In checking up on the site in mid-March, The WMGC found that the building in question currently houses the Livingston Academy Of Dance, which has occupied the site for the past 5 years.
In a subsequent phone conversation with one of the Academy owners, we found that potential paranormal activity still continues at the site and the incidents cited to us do, in certain instances, tally with the report mentioned previously.
A group member was kindly invited to visit the Academy and was shown around the building by one of the owners.
During the visit, we were told that at fairly regular intervals framed photographs - which decorate the walls of a particular corridor in the building - are inexplicably found smashed on the floor. (A number of these reside in the School Office, awaiting repair!) This phenomenon has been occurring since the Academy took over the site and, on average, occurs at a rate of one picture every two to three weeks!
The door of one particular room along this same corridor was once found to have been locked, seemingly of its own accord. Unfortunately, this happened one afternoon, around four or five o’clock, when the room was being utilised as a changing room for a number of girls. Consequently, the door had to be forced open in order to release them and no reason for its locking was ever found.
Certain doors within the Academy are quite regularly heard opening and closing, at which point the occupants of the nearby office rush out to see who has entered the building - only to find no one there!
Upon leaving the Academy at night, the owners have sometimes noticed light coming from a grille in the car park floor which leads to the cellar of the building. No reason for this light having been switched on at these times was ever discovered.
Following a fire some 18 months ago, workmen had to be called in to carry out quite extensive repairs. (The fire badly damaged the office / corridor area). A number of the men mentioned the fact that they did not like working in the building and one in particular practically refused to work there, even during daylight hours!
Two West Midlands Ghost Club members paid an investigative visit to the site on Wednesday April 24th, 2002.
During the visit, video and audio recording sessions were carried out in the Academy attic, first floor corridor and a disused section of the building situated on the ground floor.
At one point during the visit, the researchers concerned were chatting briefly in a downstairs dance studio when a nearby door - leading to the disused section of building - slammed shut of its own accord. The area was subsequently checked and it was found that, while not actually ‘spring loaded’, the door concerned would not stay ajar unless it was propped or jammed open. The door was already ajar when researchers arrived - held open by a nearby rug - and our subsequent to-ing and fro-ing had simply dislodged it from its anchor point.
One of the audio recordings made in the disused area of the Academy was found to contain the peculiar sound of ‘running water’. (A brief sequence of ‘water hitting water’ - some five or so seconds duration - very much like the noise made by someone pouring out a jug into a bucket already filled with liquid).
As the recording were checked in the days following our visit to the Academy, a further visit was arranged for Monday the 29th in order to check out this particular sound anomaly.
It was soon discovered that a number of pipes associated with the Academy toilets run through this section of the building. A few brief experiments - loo flushing, etc - duplicated the noise caught on the initial recording exactly.
Following this experimental recording session - literally two or three seconds ‘after’ the cassette recorder had been switched off - the researcher concerned heard a sound akin to someone throwing a small stone across the wooden floor some ten to fifteen feet behind him. There was no one else in the area at the time.
Investigation revealed a substantial amount of brick mortar scattered on the floor of the room concerned. A torchlight search of the ceiling - there is no electric light in this area - revealed loose masonry at roof height and this was assumed to be the most probable cause of the aforementioned sound.