Brinsford isn’t the only haunted prison in the Midlands.

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Brinsford isn’t the only haunted prison in the Midlands.
Jan 3 2010
by Paul Cole
Sunday Mercury

FROM medieval dungeons to modern penitentiaries, prisons are truly frightening places – and they remain frightening long after the last inmate has finished his porridge.

One former prison that sees a lot of paranormal activity is the former Derby Gaol, now owned by ghost expert and historian Richard Felix.

It was built in the 1750s on a traditional and very busy execution site. As a result, death and suffering were associated with the building right from the start.

England at this time was experiencing a massive crimewave caused by terrible poverty and cheap gin which large numbers of the population were addicted to.

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The gap between rich and poor was immense and the ruling classes were not about to let the peasants get their grubby hands on the family silver. If you were poor and committed a crime you could definitely expect brutal punishment.

More than 260 crimes carried the death penalty. A 12 year-old who stole a handkerchief was just as likely to hang as a highwayman who committed murder.

Therefore, the vast majority of the poor souls who entered Derby Gaol had a rather unpleasant appointment with the hangman.

As if the prospect of the gallows was not terrible enough, condemned inmates had an additional fear which caused them great anguish. Their bodies were often handed to the surgeons to be dissected and examined (and then put on public display as a warning to others).

In these more religious times it was firmly believed that your soul could not enter heaven if your body had been dismembered.

This belief could be a contributing factor as to why some spirits stay on the earthly plane and refuse to “cross over”.

Today, Derby Gaol is regularly visited by paranormal investigators and interested members of the public. Many have witnessed unusual and sometimes quite scary activity within the building.

Even an experienced investigator like Richard Felix has been frightened by close encounters of the paranormal kind. He was once confronted by a grey haze in the shape of a man, who glided straight past him before disappearing at the end of a corridor.

A builder was once working in one cell when the heavy door slowly closed by itself, locking him in. He also experienced feelings of nausea – a common experience in haunted locations.

No rational explanation could be found.

In fact, many people visiting Derby Gaol begin to feel sick and have to leave. Some feel that they are being suffocated or strangled.

Hanging

People also claim to have seen two young men hanging from a beam, their bodies slowly rotating.

A similar vision has been witnessed in the Day Room where a visitor noticed a man hanging from a doorway. He thought that this was a very convincing stunt by an actor but was shocked to discover that nobody else had seen the hanging man.

Could these frightening visions be somehow conjured up by the building’s long association with death by hanging?

One particular scary figure has been encountered lurking in a doorway of Derby Gaol.

He has been described as an evil-looking bald man wearing a kind of leather garment or apron. I remember reading that when prisoners were flogged, the jailer would wear a leather apron because it was easier to wipe off blood.

This leather-clad bald man has also been seen to walk through a wall.

Another strangely dressed figure, a woman in a large fancy hat, was seen to walk down a corridor and through a door to the outside. The witnesses followed her outside to be confronted by freshly fallen snow – and no footprints!

Derby Gaol seems to be full of strange ghostly people.

A man in a long scarlet coat is sometimes seen acting as if he is looking for someone. A “terrified-looking” blonde woman was witnessed lying on a bed, a dark figure seeming to menace her.

Derby Gaol also has more than its fair share of poltergeist activity. Cups, glasses and various ornaments have all moved by themselves – sometimes flying past the heads of shocked visitors and staff.