NEAM - North East Aircraft Museum (Investigation)

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RAF Ghosts

RAF ghosts have been an interest to me since 2015 when myself and Chris both caught on camera what we believe to be the ghost of a dead RAF pilot. We later found out that he was stood literally meters away from a field where there was an RAF crash during WWII. It was an event that was life changing for us both, and for a few weeks we were all over the local and national news stories. Below is some of the press coverage the footage received.

The Mirror 

The Daily Mail 

The Express 

The Evening Chronicle

The truth is, a lot of men served in RAF bases during the two world wars across Britain. Some of these still exist, some are now airports, some are racetracks, and some have been built on. Many of these sights saw many accidents, a lot of them fatal, and there have been hundreds of stories of paranormal encounters.

The town of Thornaby is built over what was RAF Thornaby. Several housing estates and shops now occupy the site. But many people have seen a man in a grey trench coat inside their homes. He has also been seen in nearby woodland (where a plane did crash after takeoff). The local snooker club often has reports of poltergeist activity at night. It is claimed that the owners, who live upstairs with their family, have reported their young child often talks to "a man called Peter in a dark coat" at night. The snooker club is built in the exact location as RAF Thornaby's infirmary.

Many of the dead from RAF Thornaby are buried in Thornaby Cemetery, and many others claim to see the outlines of soldiers standing beside the war graves.

And then there is RAF Lindholme near Doncaster. In September 1941, a plane flown by Polish pilots on a mission returning from Cologne in Germany, as descending to the runways of the RAF base when they crashed in thick fog in Hatfield Moore, just meters from the edge of the runway. 4 men died and 2 were seriously injured. The crash site is still visible with a memorial built there.

But one in particular stands out, and that is 18 year old Sgt Wictor Wasilenko...or Lindholme Willie as those who have seen his ghost refer to him. He was a regular at a local pub in Hatfield while stationed here, and that was where his ghost was first seen, on the night of the crash. Drinkers at the pub reported hearing about the crash, as they prepared for a game of darts, and in walked Willie. He was quiet that night, but there are many eye witness accounts placing him in the pub that night. The next day, his name was on the list of servicemen missing in the crash.

It was Christmas 1967, and Peter and Jennifer Wharton stopped at the pub for a drink. They noticed a strange man standing in the carpark, who was wearing pilot's clothing. They thought nothing of it until they went inside and asked the barman, who he was. The barman looked from the window and he could see him too. He walked to the bar and pulled 2 brandies, downed one himself, then took the couple outside. As the barman raised his glass to the pilot, he turned and nodded back, and then faded away.

Lindholme Willie was also been seen in the final years of the RAF base walking around the base, standing at his crash site memorial, and in the prison cells of the jail that was built on the site of part of the base.

The barracks of RAF Ouston are said to be haunted to this day. Sightings if pilots have been made on the sands by RAF Barrow, and many other locations where RAF bases once stood have had reports of bizarre activity. 

It was time to visit NEAM, an aircraft museum, built among the hangars of RAF Usworth, near Sunderland.

About NEAM

My first ever ghost hunt was from NEAM in January 2010. I had just started my own radio show, and this was the first location that got back to us to say we could do a live ghost hunt in there.

Planes have landed on this site since 1916, but it was during WWII that facilities at RAF Usworth were upgraded, and it saw plenty of action. After the war, it was well maintained until the site was bought by Sunderland Corporation for £27,000 and turned into Sunderland Airport in 1962. It served as a small airport until it closed on the 31st May 1984, when the land was sold to Nissan, who planned to built a car factory on the location of the runways. As of 2019, Nissan is still the largest employer in the area, with over 7,000 workers working there.

The Callender-Hamilton hangar and the old camp area from the old RAF Usworth site now form part of NEAM, and it houses many aircraft.

What about the ghosts of this site? In my research, I have found 15 plane crashes occurred either at RAF Usworth, or were flying from ot to Usworth.There have been many fatalities in the area. One is said to be a Canadian man called George Hamilton who died here. One source claims he died falling from the top of a hangar after he had been sunbathing there, another claims he died in an accident. A guard at the RAF base he was locking up the Lamella hangar when he saw a WWII airman "hovering about a foot above the ground". Guard dogs would refuse to go anywhere near the same hangar at night.

Members of the Flying Club were based in this hangar, and they are said to have witnessed the ghost several times. One time, an instructor called Steve was working late one night on a plane, when a man in WWII RAF clothes walked up to him. He did not speak, but gave a thumbs up, and vanished into thin air.

One man who worked at the Nissan car plant, which is built on the site, claims to have seen the ghost of an airman on 3 different occasions. He claimed one one occasion, he and several colleagues also saw the same man, who had a mustache and an RAF uniform on.

The aircraft museum is also very much said to be haunted. A pilot called Sgt. Shaw is said to haunt the museum after a Spitfire was recovered and stored inside one of its collections. He is to blame for footsteps heard in the museum and canteen area at night. His boots are kept in a storage cupboard containing other parts of wreckage, and he is believed to be looking for them. Others claim to have seen a pair of black trousers walking from beneath the planes. When they go to see who is there, they find that they are the only ones in the area. Historical research by Dead Air's historian Georgia has found that a Edgar Grenville Shaw aged 21, was in fact stationed here, and died in a crash close to Wingate, in the area around White Hurworth farm.

There is the story of a man and a woman who haunt the area where a medical facility once stood. It is believed they met and had an affair together, and one night they were both killed in a car crash. Strange flashes of light, the sounds of talking and cold spots are often experienced here.

The sounds of 'click click click' are blamed on a ghost called Frank who required the use of a walking stick to get around after his leg was badly injured in action.

The ghost of a Czech spy called Augustine Preucil has been picked up by mediums around the site on many occasions, and he is believed to be the same dark shadow that people witness walking between buildings and peeping out from around corners in the dark shadows. He was based here during the war, but has sympathies towards the Nazis, who had invaded his home country prior. He managed to infiltrate the RAF and gained many secrets in doing so. One day, on a dog chase practice mission over the North Sea, Augustine sent his plane into a downward spiral, leading other pilots to believe he was a goner. He had really managed to bring the plane back up and flew it to Belgium where he landed it. An elderly couple working for the resistance took him in, but he soon fled and reported them to the German army, who killed them. After the war, he was hanged by his own country for spying.

Another area of interest is a former Westland Whirlwind XN258 search and rescue helicopter. It has been involved in a number of rescue missions around the world since the 1950s, but most notably, it was involved in a rescue mission in the 1960s when a boat race hit bad weather. A number of people died onboard the vessel that day. Volunteers at the museum feel uneasy around this aircraft, and it is often said to rock from side to side on its own. Photographs have also captured strange lights inside.

You get the idea - this place has many stories. Children have apparently had full conversations with WWII pilots inside the hangars, and when they've told their parents, it has been apparent that there was nobody else inside. Workers at Nissan still blame 'the ghost' whenever something goes wrong or there is a malfunction. This place is active. On my first visit here in 2010, I saw a small stone land at my feet while I was alone in one of the hangars, and one of the NEAM volunteers claimed he saw a shadow walking across a grassy area at the back of the site.

Visiting NEAM

The museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday (10am-4pm) and costs £6.50 for adults, and £3.50 for children. Under 5s go for 50p.

This satellite image from 'Airfields of Britain' shows the location of NEAM, inside the red annotated circles. The yellow lines are the old runways and perimeter roads, and red blocks are the location of hangars and other RAF buildings. The white buildings on the image are the Nissan car plant.

Address
Old Washington Road,
Sunderland,
Tyne and Wear
SR5 3HZ

Phone: 0191 5190662

The Legend Of the Lost Viking Ship of Jarrow

About

I am always of the belief that there is no smoke without fire. So when I came across this bizarre legend, I just had to investigate.

During the 8th Century, Britain was invaded by Vikings, coming from Scandinavian settlements around Sweden, Norway and Denmark. They would use longboats to make the journey across the North Sea where they would land on beaches and invade the local area. These longboats were also specially designed to be able to sail in water less than a meter deep, meaning sails could he lowered, and the men could row up rivers - this was much better for getting to places inland.

These Vikings were feared, especially up the North East coast of England. The most famous invasion occurred on the small tidal island of Lindisfarne, known as Holy Island where a monk monastery was situated. The invasion was so brutal, that monks were used as target practice, and one legend states that some were skinned alive, with their skin folded up and nailed to the monastery door as a warning. The skinned individuals was kept alive and tortured. Local women were raped and abused, and religious figures were slaughtered. Lindisfarne has its own ghostly legends, and we will be bringing you that in a video later in the year.

The Vikings weren’t always brutal. In later years, invasions and pillaging stopped and trade agreements with communities were established, meaning a much less hostile relationship. 

But Tyneside has its own legends. It is well known that Viking longboats used the River Tyne as a route inland. There are stories from towns a villages up the Tyne valley of Vikings living there, marrying local women and starting Viking bloodlines. It’s possible that many people aroun here do have some link in their distant family line to Vikings.

There is a legend in Jarrow that a Viking longboat is buried somewhere underneath the town. Jarrow wasn’t a random place for the Vikings to target - there was a monastery here, and it was also the home of St Bede. The site of this Monastry is now built into the church of Paul. The reason for this Viking boat to be buried under here is unknown, but stories do exist in the area that a group of locals ambushed the invaders. By inviting the men into their small village and offering them food and alcohol, these Norsemen were soon drunk and asleep, allowing a massacre to take place.

A similar story exists on the town of Whickham, further up the River Tyne. Whether this ever happened, is a mystery for now.

But locals of the town of Boldon have reported seeing the ghost of a Viking. In the video, I have documented some of these sightings and visited the spot where they were said to have taken place...and that spot is by a narrow stream, which is part of the River Don, a tributary that flows into the River Tyne at...Jarrow.

This River was once a lot deeper ad much wider. Is it possible that a boat once sailed up here? Is it possible that that boat is still here, and this was the site of a bloody massacre? And what did a group of workmen really find when they dug a sewer for a nearby housing estate in the last century? 

Visit Jarrow

Jarrow is located up river from South Shields, which is where the River Tyne enters the North Sea.

The area of St Paul’s is located at:

Church Bank,

Jarrow,

NE32 3DY

The River Don flows past the church, and it is very likely that the longboat did go up the river, to this point at least. 

To see the site where the Viking ghost has been seen, and where rumours of the boat being buried, it is very close to Brockley Whins Metro station. If you come out of the Metro station but go to the side opposite the housing estate, you will see a big open area of grass and a small stream. This is the location I have been told the sightings occur.

The Real Story of Winter's Gibbet

Anybody who knows of the legends of Northumberland will have heard of Winter's Gibbet. It is a dark reminder that there was once a time when the worst crimes would be punishable not only with death, but humiliation too. Gibbeting not only executed the criminal in question, but would display the body via a raised structure, until all of the meat and flesh was rotted away, and the bones would then be taken down and buried somewhere.

The North East of England was the last area to still use a gibbet, when William Jobling was executed by hanging and gibbeted in the town of Jarrow in 1832. He was found guilty of murdering a local magistrate. His body was paraded before being put in the gibbet.

But near the small village of Elsdon, a gibbet remains to this day on a hill known as Steng Cross. Now the story of the murder is often confused and details have changed. I felt the need to make this video and post this blog because I have seen people who claim to be paranormal investigators making videos about a "William Gibbet" and believe that the murder took place in the village of Elsdon itself by a Pele tower. This is far from the truth.

Hit play, enjoy the video, and please like & subscribe to the channel!

About The Gibbet

The current gibbet is actually a replica. The original wooden structure became too rotten and eventually had to be removed. There was also a replica head which used to dangle down, and popular myth is that this keeps getting stolen, but my research leads me to believe that it is kept in safe hands by its owner who paid for it many years ago.

William Winter came from a family of trouble makers. Most of his family spent time in and out of prison, and William had recently spent years locked up on a prison ship for petty crimes, but upon his release, he made his way back to Northumberland. For reasons unknown, William decided to kill.

Together with 2 sisters helping him, Eleanor and Jane Clark, they had their target. An elderly woman living 3 miles north of the village. It would be the perfect crime - a remote area, no witnesses, and a woman so fragile. On a rainy night in August 1791, they struck. They knocked on Margaret Crozier's door, and when she opened, they battered her to death, and ransacked her home.It was the perfect crime.

A few days later, William was spotted napping close to the scene with a boot bearing a nail matching that of a bloody footprint at the scene of the murder. He also had items belonging to the deceased in his possession.

The ghost of William Winter is said to stand close to the road, by an old cattle grid. This is not visible anymore, but a dark patch of tarmac shows where the cattle grid once was. Many motorist has driven past in the dark and seen a man standing in this spot. Some even claim to still be able to see a body hanging from the gibbet itself.

In 1832, a woman from Newcastle was showing off to her friends and decided to swing on the gibbet. The rope gave way and she came crashing to the ground, suffering some deep cuts to her neck and hands. Her injuries matched that of Margaret Crozier.

In 1987, a man called John Harbottle and friends decided to investigate the site. One of his friends screamed when she saw the head begin to swing from the gibbet on its own accord. 

Finding the gibbet can be tricky. The first time I went, I spent ages driving around. Above is the location of the gibbet in relation to the village of Elsdon. It is about 2.5 miles south east, and the gibbet is not sign posted anywhere.

 Above is a closeup of the gibbet. You can see there is a lay-by opposite to park in. The red circle shows the location where William's ghost has been seen. You will notice the road is a different shade - this marks the spot of the old cattle grid. I believe the exact spot of the sighting is at the grass verge on this cattle grid and on the side of the road of the gibbet. I stand on this exact spot in the video above.

From Elsdon: Leave via the south west end The old circular stone enclosure which was used for livestock will be on your left as you leave. Its about  a 5 minute drive, and you cant miss the gibbet.

The postcode for the gibbet is NE19 1TB. It is very windy up there, so wrap up warm!

The Murder Scene

Please don't arrive at the pele tower in Elsdon itself, the poor vicar who lives there must get sick of people going and knocking on his door because someone uninformed posted it online.

The Murder took place at the Bastlehouse on Raw Farm. It's nearly 3 miles north of Elsdon. Drive north out of the village and keep going a fork off to the left and a space to park. You can drive all of the way up to the farm but I wouldn't recommend it. Its only wide enough for a single vehicle from this point, and the road is often used for military vehicles accessing the ranges, so any car coming in the opposite direction would have to reverse a long way! Plus, its a nice walk to, and you will see the spot where William was caught. The walk takes about 30 mins from the main road to the farm.

When you arrive at the farm, you will see that the road runs right through it, so it does have public right of way. Below is a marker showing which building the murder took place in. It is now used as a storage building on the farm.

If you do visit, please ask permission from the farm before trying to enter. The road is public access, but the buildings belong to the farm and is private land. I have heard of people asking to see inside and being given permission. People on the farm have also reported this building to be haunted too.

Finally, if you do wish to visit the execution site, it was on Westgate Road in Newcastle by the old West Gate. It is opposite the Tyne Theatre and is approximately on the location of where a newsagents now stands.

Hvítárnes Hut in Iceland (Investigation)

In August 2019, we were given access to visit and record inside the Hvítárnes hut.

About

Hvítárnes is the oldest mountain hut in Iceland. It was built in 1930 and is still operated by the Icelandic touring association. In terms of its interior, it is very basic. There is a downstairs room that sleeps 4 in bunk beds, and a kitchen space with a gas stove and running water from a water tank. Upstairs there are sleeping mats for up to 25 people. There is no electricity in this lonely hut, no WiFi, no telephones, and you certainly can't get a mobile phone signal out here. This is the most remote you will ever be. It is located very close to the Hvítárvatn lake, which serves the River Hvítá (translates as White River) which flows into the famous Gullfoss waterfalls, which all tourists will see if they ever do a Golden Circle trip in Iceland.

The views are stunning - to the north, you can see the spectacular Langjökull glacier. If you're lucky, you will see icebergs floating in the lake. About 20 miles to the west is Hofsjökull, another Glacier which is very much visible from the hut. Its hard to put into perspective just how remote this place is. Its possible that you can sleep here and be 15km from the next nearest hut. This hut is really for hikers, climbers and local shepherds...and that's how the legends started.

The ghost stories of this hut are terrifying, especially for men. The stories go back pretty much to the opening of the hut when Englishman staying here claims to have seen a woman walking out of the hut, and vanish into thin air in its first season of operation.

A lawyer from the small town of Keflavík was so afraid, he slept outside in a tent. When he woke, he saw a woman in the tent with him, and claims to be able to see the fabric of the tent through her body. Until then, he knew nothing of the legend.

The hut has several guest books going back over 70 years. It is full of accounts of bizarre goings on. A regular occurrence is for men to be awoken in their sleep to that of a woman trying to physically pull them from their bunk bed. This occurs mainly in the bunk downstairs by the door. One man claims he was dragged out while his son watched him...3 times in one night.

In the 70's, a group from Austria and Switzerland were on a hiking trip, and slept in the hut for the night. It is claimed that a woman was seen in the middle of the night talking in a strange language, and even went as far as pushing one of the guests out of the upstairs window and onto the roof.

Stories of the haunting also very common within large groups of people staying in the hut at the same time. In the early 2000s there is a report of a group of visitors that were woken during the night to the sounds of metal scraping on metal as if someone was trying to climb up to the top floor.

There have also been sightings of the face of a woman seen inside of the hut while people are standing outside. When people go inside to investigate, the hut is empty.

Another common phenomenon are people having strange dreams while staying in the hut. There are several cases in guest books where people have described the exact same dream. It starts inside the hut, and the person realises that they can see a woman standing out of the back of the hut. Every time she beckons them to follow her. When the person who is dreaming does follow her outside, she leads them past a fence surrounding the hut. This seems bizarre because there is no fence around the hut, but back in the early days, there was one. Once you get next to the woman she points back towards the hut and you can see the face of a man staring from the window. The woman seems distressed to see him and at this point to dream always ends. Since the first guest book in the 1930s there have been over 25 cases of people reporting to have had this exact dream. Descriptions of the woman are almost identical, and also match those who have seen her at the hut in a ghostly form.

So who could be haunting this hut? Many people theorise that it may have something to do with the ruins visible outside of the hut. It is believed that they are part of an old settlement that once existed on this site. According to legend and there was a murder here, although there have been several different variations in the story. One Legend claims that's when this place used to be a village, a man murdered his wife for reasons unknown. It is claimed that he cut her body up into several pieces and either buried her in a shallow grave or dumped her body in the lake. Many people believe that it is her restless spirit that haunts the site. Could this ghost be trying to tell people where her body is hidden?

The settlement on this site was abandoned after the Hekla volcanic eruption some 70km away. Many other small settlements in Iceland were also abandoned because of the ash that travelled such a great distance in the year 1104. The Hekla volcano last erupted in 2000.

Another legend tells of a woman who got stranded during one of Iceland's bad winters in the 1930s. It is said that she became lost and disoriented, and froze to death outside. This version of the story is least likely as there have been no records of a woman dying in these circumstances.

During my research, I spoke to Halldór Óli Gunnarsson who wrote his entire university thesis on this hut. During a stay, he captured this photograph.It clearly shows a strange mist n shot over the spot of the old ruins.He claims he took several other photos, and this is the only one with anything like this on. This is also the exact spot that people have claimed to see the woman in their dreams.

It was taken facing the hut from beyond the ruins of the old settlement. In the photo you can clearly see a strange mist over the old ruins. He claims that he took several photos, and this was the only one with this phenomenon in the photo. I can't thank Halldór enough for giving me access to the research, interview transcripts and photos he has taken of this place and it's guests.

Visit Hvítárnes

The first thing I must stress is how difficult it is to reach this location. The only way that you can reach it it is with a 4x4. It is around a 3 hour drive from Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. The main route actually takes you past the Gullfoss waterfall, and then a mile or 2 later, the tarmac road ends and you drive on a single gravel road. It really does feel like you are on the surface of Mars, ad the orange dust, and large boulders on either side are similar to that of The Martian. Over 20 miles of the journey is on terrain that only a 4x4 vehicle can handle. If using a rental car, using a non-4x4 vehicle could void your agreement.

It is also worth noting that all hire car companies in Iceland have 4x4s, as the terrain can be unpredictable. Most rental companies require bookings made with a credit card, and do not accept debit cards. There is one company that will accept debit cards, but they do require you to buy the premium insurance package. Lotus car rentals do this, and they are based at the main Keflavik Airport.

Finding the hut can be tricky, but keep an eye open for sign posts. In fact, the drive from Reykjavik was very enjoyable. I chose to take the southern route, which takes you past the Blue Lagoon and over the former sea bed where today you can still see the old cliffs inland where the waves would crash against, up until the last ice age. The other route takes you through a lava field and through the town of Selfoss. This town was where the epicenter of a 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck in 2008, injuring 30 people. If you stop at the supermarket, you will see an earthquake simulator, which is terrifying.

Below shows where the Hvítárnes Hut is located. You will also appreciate from this just how remote this part of Iceland is, as there are no villages or towns nearby.

To book a stay in the haunted hut, visit The Icelandic Touring Association's Ferðafélag Íslands.The cost of staying for the night is 6000KR (£37.50 as of 2019, or €43) per person, and it can accommodate up to 30. It Is essential that you bring your own food, as there are no shops for miles. There is an outdoor toilet located about a 30 second walk from the hut.

There is no postcode or address for the hut, but it's GPS coordinates are 64°37.007 – W 19°45.394.

Summer if the best time to visit, as the roads are clear, and also there is no heating in the hut. Don't forget your camera...the views are out of this world.

Top Tip: When leaving, leave early in the morning and stop at Gullfoss waterfalls. The coachloads of crowds won't arrive until late in the morning, so get there early and appreciate the stunning photo ops.

Contact Icelandic Touring Association:
Telephone: +354 655 0173
Email: fi@fi.is

Meanwhile, while visiting Iceland, visit Reykjavik, its a cool town, and I have also compiled some of the city's best ghost stories in another video.