Shepton Mallet Prison Ghost Hunt and Sleepover

Notorious for being home to the Kray Twins we have a guest star at this event!

Dave Courtney - former gangster, now author and celebrity and a fun loving criminal. Star of The Krays in 1990. Courtney is closely linked with The Kray brothers and Lenny McLean. He is best known for arranging security for The Krays funeral.

Dave will be talking about his time with Reggie & Ronnie and will be sharing some inside knowledge about what they would of got up to in Shepton Mallet Prison and joining us for the hunt.

Your ghost hunt at Shepton Mallet will be nothing but intense.  With the overriding emotions here being that of sheer survival, basic instincts and challenging behaviours, it makes sense that these emotions are still entrenched within the fabric of the building.  This is a ghost hunt where you will definitely need your wits about you.  The echos that you will hear and the evidential existence of the prisoners who have left their mark in many ways, some as simple as writing on their cell walls, will leave you in no doubt of how things may have been.   That is only the modern evidence.  You should also bear in mind that Shepton Mallet was originally establilshed as a House of Correction in 1625 so again you are left to only be ablet to imagine its barbaric and grissly past.

Working in small groups you will be taking part in some amazing experiments in our attempts to make contact with whoever or whatever still walks through these prison corridors.  These experiments will include Ouija Boards, Table Tipping, Glass Moving and some intense watch and wait vigils with our up to date ghost hunting equipment.  We will be using the most active areas of the prison throughout the night and you will be guided through this terrifying process by our friendly and capable team of qualified psychics and paranormal investigators.

HMP Shepton Mallet, sometimes known as Cornhill, is a former prison located in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England. Before closure Shepton Mallet was a category C lifer prison holding 189 prisoners.  The prison was opened before 1625, expanded in 1790 and further building work was undertaken in the 1820s and 1830s. This included the installation of a treadwheel for those sentenced to hard labour. In 1843 the number of cells was increased by adding a second storey to each wing. The prison was damaged during a fire in 1904. In 1930 the number of inmates had fallen and the prison was closed.

Interesting facts about the prison:

The Kray twins were prisoners there after going AWOL from the arm. They were to await court martial but their behavious become out of control. 

During the pitchfork rebellion (Monmouth Rebellion) 12 men were hung drawn and quarted and they body parts displayed thought the town with their heads on poles on the prison walls. 

“In the 1970’s, the Home Office were requested to investigate some strange happenings in one of the wings. An increase in prisoners requesting additional bedding due to a cold draught was becoming an issue, and the occasional smell of sweet perfume would waft around the prison. Prisoners were becoming uncomfortable in their cells and officers started to refuse working the night shifts.

The Home office carried out a 3 day investigation and results remained inconclusive.

As the years passed new reports were coming in that the draughts would continue as would the smell of sweet perfume. Some night officers’  would report seeing shadows and white figures standing on the stairs.

The story of the white lady was revealed after some research.  She had murdered her husband and was brought to Shepton Mallet Prison for her final days before being hanged in the town centre.  The night before her execution, she was offered her final request – she asked to wear her wedding dress.  The morning of her execution, the door to her cell swung open and to the surprise of the officers, her lifeless body laid on the bed. Dressed in the wedding dress the officers silently checked her body for a reason behind her death.  No marks were found and it was concluded that she must have died of a broken heart.

She is said to still wander the wings and has been reported to be seen on multiple occasions, and if she isn’t seen, the smell of a sweet perfume has been reported to waft through the prison wing.