Posted on January 15, 2009 - by Andrew
Is there something strange at Bidston Hall?
- Image via Wikipedia
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.
Disclaimer: Links marked with a star* are revenue links.
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January 17, 2009
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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.
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January 17, 2009
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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!
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January 17, 2009
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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.
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January 17, 2009
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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?
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January 17, 2009
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ive lived in bidston all my life and bidston lodge has always been a scary place even when i was a kid
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January 31, 2009
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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 .
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February 1, 2009
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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.
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February 4, 2009
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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
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May 26, 2009
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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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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May 26, 2009
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i mean IT wasnt moving
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October 2, 2009
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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!
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October 26, 2009
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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
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December 27, 2009
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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.
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January 29, 2010
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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
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February 6, 2010
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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