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Bidston, just west of Birkenhead and south of Liverpool, is an area of Merseyside with a dark history.
One of the worse murders of the 19th century can be attributed to the area. The discovery of the remains a family of five was found buried in the cellar of a building near Rain Hill. Emily Williams and her children; Bertha, Marie, Lilla and Syndey had been cruelly butchered.
Suspicion soon fell on the surviving member of the family – the father and husband – who had fled. Police investigated and discovered that Williams had a dark past. Williams true name was likely to be Deeming. Deeming was also suspected for murder – his wife Marie. He had grown up in the Bidston area of Birkenhead before going on to travel the world and using such esoteric aliases as Baron Swanston.
Journalists writing at the time compared the knife slayings to those of Jack the Ripper in Whitechapel just a few years earlier. Some papers even speculated that Williams/Deeming may have been Jack.
The area also has associations with witches and witchcraft. Alex Sanders – who was born Orrel Alexander Carter in 1926 at Birkenhead – was known as King of the Witches. Alex Sanders practised a form of witchcraft that was a blend of Crowley’s magic and Masonic symbolism.
Bidston Hall has a history as a Masonic Lodge.
Alex Sanders once attempted to summon a demon in front of an audience at the Hendon Classic Cinema, London, in 1971. The stunt went wrong and Sanders blamed the failure on one of the audience members wearing a silver Christian cross. To this day some people suspect that that audience member was none other than Sean Manchester
Bidston Hill sits on top of a warren of tunnels. Some suggest that these tunnels are used to connect the houses of witches together and that the cellar of Bidston Hall acts at the nexus.
Hauntings
Visitors to Bidston Hall’s bedrooms – especially women – have reported unwelcome attention from paranormal entities during the night. Could this be Williams/Deeming again? He certainly seemed to favour women.
Other guests wake only to discover that they cannot move with some feeling an oppressive weight on their chest or a force holding them down.
The Bidston Hall cellars are also reported to be haunted. Mediums have suggested that the lodge has been the scene of more than one death.
In Pure Spirit
Do you think Bidston Hall could be haunted? Or is the building simply unlucky with its association to withcraft, Alex Sanders and his demon summoning attempts?
The Williams/Deeming murders are only a few years removed from the Whitechapel murders. Whereas both used knives and Deeming seemed to target women… was the Press right to speculate that there may have been a connection?
Most Haunted Live visited Bidston Hall (but called it Bidson Lodge) in January 2009. This post was published before the program aired but we welcome any insight or opinions from any of the audience.
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January 17, 2009 at 2:20 pm
I have been to Bidston Lodge and i would never go back. I would recommend to everybody to not got there. It's terrifying. The ghosts follow you everywhere and dont leave you until you leave Bidston Lodge. I have been in the haunted rooms. The bedroom is haunted. The well is haunted and the cellar. I dont know about the other rooms because i had to leave because it was a terrifying experience. If your brave enough you can give it a shot. Its horrific.
January 31, 2009 at 9:27 pm
i am reading your story about bidston lodge is the house open for the public to go round we went today but it looks like it all locked up .
February 1, 2009 at 4:41 pm
I gather it is a private house (one of the reasons Most Haunted used a slightly different name for it) so you may find its not open to the public.
November 6, 2010 at 1:35 pm
Where us bidston lodge?
January 17, 2009 at 2:34 pm
I totally understand I have been in also. Wouldn't do it again. I wouldn't recommend it to anybody. Worst experience of my life. I was crying with fear. It sounded very interesting to visit the house but when i arrived i could sense people watching me. When you put the lights out you can see white figures and black firgures. You can hear crying and growling and banging. I called out if there was anybody with us. The cellar is the most popular place, lots of spirits in the cellar. It's a very terrifying experience but also very exciting!
June 20, 2010 at 9:51 pm
sophie…the only "spirits" at bidston hall celler…are of the alcoholic type love!!…this is my brothers house now…and there is nothing there to say its haunted….believe me!!……when did you visit bidston hall??
January 17, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Hi how people believe that this house is haunted is so silly. this is a house we're my friend lives and i have stayed many nights over their and have never felt any of these things.
June 20, 2010 at 9:56 pm
this is also my brother & sister in laws house sarah!!…hope you enjoyed your stay there!…kev just thinks this is a huge joke!…xx
January 17, 2009 at 5:08 pm
My mum's friends used to live there- years ago. It was a very scary place- I was only young then anyway! Didn't get chance to see the program does anyone know if i can download it or watch a repeat?How do people go to it to loo around? It is somebodys house?
June 20, 2010 at 9:58 pm
hi sue!…the hall now belongs to my brother & sister in law!…its a very beautiful buildind…but…there is no way its haunted!!….xx
January 17, 2009 at 7:40 pm
ive lived in bidston all my life and bidston lodge has always been a scary place even when i was a kid
February 4, 2009 at 2:15 am
It is only scary because it is old and the frontage is onto an unadopted dirt track at the end of Eleanor Road which is pitch black because there are no street lights. I lived around the corner for 19 years and walked that stretch daily. I never saw anything remotely spectral
May 26, 2009 at 12:43 pm
hi i live just round the corner from bidston lodge and i go past there everyday and to tell you there is something in that house for when i went past it one day there was a strange figure in one of the back windows but i thought it might just be someone looking around the house but i wasent moving it looked like a man and he was just looking at the garden. when i was on my way home i past the house again and he was still there but then he saw me and just vanished in front of my eyes!!! THIS IS NO JOKE DONT GO IN THAT HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 20, 2010 at 10:01 pm
it is a joke!…
May 26, 2009 at 12:45 pm
i mean IT wasnt moving
October 2, 2009 at 2:09 pm
I live in the Farms opposite & have never seen anything weird, the Haunted Cellers that people go on about is actually a really modern Wine Cellar & their is a young couple living in their, she said that most haunted didnt even see or hear anything it was just a big con! Bidston Observatory however is very weird & around the windmill. I would suggest Ghost enthusiasts go around there on a solstice or Halloween, lots of weird things happen up there at night especially in the woods, there has been lots of ghostly sightings & at night its pitch black!
October 26, 2009 at 8:55 pm
i maintain the the grounds at the observatory cut the grass and that i feel very on edge there i meen like when iv been cutting the grass with my ipod on in a world of my own il just be looking straight in front of me and il just see sudden movments in the corner of my eye it could be a bird or cat thers loads of cats around there but u just get that mad feeling that your being watched it is one mad place but im only there in the day so dont no wot its like at night dont think il try it tho lol
December 27, 2009 at 2:39 am
i live on eleanor rd and i always expect a ghost coach and horses to appear when im alone in the dark, i dont know about evil but it is such a lovely historical village id love to know everything about it. i do think its haunted though, the whole hill, im in a new build and i can still sense it.
January 29, 2010 at 6:17 am
Hello i'm Mr.P I used to live in bidston hall from around 1996-2002…urm lets say the house creeked and moaned but never met a ghost
February 6, 2010 at 6:57 pm
Hi Mr P how u doing? I used to work for you and have been in Bidston Hall when you first moved there, was a bit spooky but never saw any ghosts. Who owns it now? Tina
May 24, 2010 at 8:05 am
Bidston Observatory is where you want to go if you are looking for spooks and not the Hall which is just very old. Did you know Shakespear performed there on a couple of occasions? The 'Obbo' is very haunted. A mate of mine lived there for a couple of years and reported very strange goings on
May 26, 2010 at 8:30 pm
Hi, I had a remarkable dream about Bidston observatory and I live in Cheshire, I have never been to Bidston…I had never heard of Bidston before the dream, I didn't know it existed….! can anyone tell me what the name 'Bidston' actualy means…
August 18, 2011 at 4:35 am
cheek google it will tell u wot it means i think it is a norwegin word donot no wot 4
June 20, 2010 at 9:45 pm
my brother & sister in law own bidston hall now!…..there is no way that this house is haunted!…we have stayed there many times…and have never witnessed any strange things!!….
even when they filmed for most haunted they never found it to be haunted!!…it was just a big con!
though the history and the hall are very interesting to say the least!…..
July 1, 2010 at 7:54 pm
My nan was supposed to live at bidston hall probably in early 1900's her maiden name was Bessie povall does any body know anything about the time she lived there her father was a roof thatcher.
October 24, 2010 at 6:31 pm
I have been told that Bessie Poval lived at the Hall as viners tennet famers in 1900, Ed
October 29, 2010 at 11:05 pm
Staying at Bidston Hall on Saturday (30th Oct) night. It's my girlfriend's dad's cousins' home.
Hi, Rena, lol!
October 31, 2010 at 3:46 pm
hi all i was in bidston hall on saturday on 30th oct 2010 with my partner ,mum and step dad
and we never seen any thing :( x
July 5, 2011 at 7:52 pm
So, I live on Eleanor Road and have done all my life. Can honestly say Bidston Hall/Lodge is NOT haunted. However, i've been in there and you do kind of get the feeling that something can happen at any minute. I used to know the lady that lived there and her dog used to react very strangely at random times barking as if someone was there when there was nobody. The only thing to suggest its 'haunted' is the bedroom balcony doors that do sometimes open randomly by themselves and sometimes there is an overpowering smell of lavender that just appears, but nothing sinister. I even went down when Most Haunted filmed and Yvette Fielding herself said if theres anything in there they are not out to harm anyone…..bearing in mind this is before one of the crew was taken to hospital in an ambulance…which was not set up like some said, i was there and the team was genuinely worried. But apart from what happened that night and other things i've mentioned, i dont think its 'haunted by evil' i walk my dog past it nearly every day and i've never thought of it as creepy, although the old stain glass windows can be deceiving!! bidston Hall is just an old and beautiful building. x
August 18, 2011 at 4:30 am
bidston is that old it got to be haunted
August 18, 2011 at 4:38 am
go to biston hill on ur own go by the wind mill at night and then till me there nothing up there