The building was originally built to house the orphans of Liverpool seamen and was established in 1873 and was officially opened by the Duke of Edinburgh in 1874. The benefactors looked after their hundreds of charges as well as any Victorian home would,with a stern hand and plenty of hard and fast rules, they even raised funds for a swimming baths to be built in 1900 to teach the children to swim, a benefit that their fathers never had. The building saw years of prosperity and kind donations by many visitors and was even evacuated in1939 for 3 years to safe guard against the eventual blitz of all the major cities and ports in the uk. Fast forward to 1950, and sadly the orphanage was forced to close as the welfare system was seeing children cared for within their own communities and parents were able to manage a family on a small donation for food. It was however a chance to then reopen the building for a short period as a mental hospital and until the late 80's it stayed that way. Sadly the beautiful building is now falling into disrepair, but is still drawing interest thanks to Simply Paranormal, with whom I booked my evening with.
Other paranormal groups visit too, but is mostly private groups only. Torches were a must for our evening as their was no electricity and only one working toilet. We were told a few stories about tormented spirits and a lonely 5 yr old child wandering the hallways. Personally I just found the place amazing to walk around! It's such an enormous building with typicle high Victorian ceilings and old fashioned decor.
The grounds were very extensive boasting a chapel,baths,college block and housing for Staff as well as kitchens and a laundry room. I much appreciated the time after our seances and Ouija Board sessions to wander the building and take photos whilst absorbing the very still and cold atmosphere of the place. We got chance to spend some time with their medium too, and as we visited the chapel I must admit even for a skeptic I really felt like something did not want us there. A few of our group even refused to enter certain rooms. We all got a little spooked as ,whilst our medium was attempting to call the spirit of a middle aged gentlemen that has apparently been seen wandering the place, we heard footsteps and creaking on the old wooden stair case. It felt pretty intimidating in their, and we all soon left after uttering a prayer.
It was an amazing visit and I certainly recommend it to anyone. Although I will warn you, the price is around £65 but you do get a full evening ( 8pm-4am) complete with free hot drinks,soup and snacks as well as guided tours and a chance to use paranormal investigative equipment. I was also pleasantly surprised to see EMF monitors, movement sensors and EVP's being used as well as the good old fashioned Ouija Boards. I think it gives a chance to really ask the question we all crave to know the answer to, is their something on the other side?
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