Alton Towers
Alton Towers is the largest theme park in the UK, spanning 550 acres of land within the middle of Staffordshire. Home to many iconic rides such as 'The Wicker Man', 'The Smiler', 'Hex', 'Oblivion', and 'Nemesis'; Alton Towers is known worldwide by theme park enthusiasts, thrill-seekers, and families alike. Within the scenic countryside stands the towers themselves, a large house which was once residence to the many Earls of Shrewsbury through history. Before this, it was even home to the iron age King of Mercia: so it's to no surprise that this area is said to be extremely haunted, and even cursed.
The sources I will be using:
3. Towers Times
10. Historic UK
History
The building that is now 'Alton Towers' was founded on the site of an iron age camp where many buildings existed at the time. The main building was used as a fortress by Ceolred, the King of Mercia during his rule which spanned from 708 AD to 716 AD. He ruled for seven years before going insane. It was believed that the king and the grounds were cursed, and that this curse is what led to his insanity. Not much is known about Ceolred, and I would assume the talk of him being cursed came about through his unpopularity with the church. St Boniface wrote that Ceolred was accused of 'the violation and seduction of nuns and the demolition of monisteries'. Ceolred died at a feast, probably from being poisoned.
The main building, at the time known as 'Alton Lodge', became owned by the Verdun family and upon Lady Ankarat de Verdun marrying Sir John Talbot, the building became home to the Earls of Shrewsbury. The Earls resided here between 1412 and 1920. Despite the early residence of the Earls, it was not until the 15th Earl, Charles Talbot, that the location was really put on the map. Charles was born in 1753 and during his time in what at the time had changed name from 'Alton Lodge' to 'Alton Abbey', he worked to tame the landscape which surrounded the now famous building. He employed Thomas Allison (1790 - 1852) and Robert Abrahams (1774 - 1850) as the principal garden architects, and with their help Charles Talbot 'made the desert smile'. It was also during Charles' time that he hired a blind Welsh harpist, who he housed in the Swiss cottage, to fill the garden with music.
After Charles Talbot died in 1827, his nephew John Talbot, the 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, continued to improve the area. From 1837, the building took on the name 'Alton Towers' and John designed the Dutch gardens. He also built the bath fountain which was renovated in 1994, and a new base was installed using stone from the hotel site. The 16th Earl also successfully completed the gardens during his stay at the towers. During the 1850s, Alton Towers was one of the largest privately owned houses in Europe.
It was then in 1860, under the 18th Earl of Shrewsbury, that the grounds were opened as an attraction. This happened because the Earl needed money to restore parts of the very old house. By 1890 crowds of 30,000 were common in the gardens as many visited to see the acrobats, lion tamers, elephants, bands, and fireworks which would all be on display at the towers. Sadly due to the monetary struggles following a divorce, Lady Shrewsbury sold the bulk of the estate in 1918 and lived in the towers alone until 1923. By 1924, the towers were no longer owned by the Talbots and were instead owned by a group of local businessmen with the main shareholder being William Bagshaw.
William Bagshaw, along with the other businessmen used the house and gardens to form 'Alton Towers Ltd' and restored the gardens in 1924. Their direct ownership didn't last for too long however, because following the outbreak of WWII in 1939 Alton Towers was requisitioned as an officer cadet training camp. It remained under control of the war office until 1951 when a legal arguement over the condition of the towers led to the army passing it back to the owners. In 1952 the gardens were officially reopened to the public, although the house was run down. Due to the lack of metal available after the war, the house was stripped of its contents which had left it empty. The banqueting hall had been repurposed as tea rooms and travelling fun fair rides made their way into the grounds. This was the first semblance of what the grounds would later become.
1973 is really where things start progressing towards the towers we see today. This year is when John Broome becomes involved as he marries the owners daughter and then buys a majority stake in the company. It's under his direction that Alton Towers becomes the bones of todays theme park. During the 70s parts of the house were restored with reinforced floors and ceilings to allow for public access. In 1980 the corkscrew, Britain's first double loop rollercoaster, opened. Alton Towers officially became a theme park on the 4th of April 1980. During the 1980s the park underwent massive development with certain additions such as the monorail, skyline, Congo River Rapids, Enterprise, Tea Cups, and Pirate Ship all making their first appearence to the public.
In 1990 Alton Towers Ltd is purchased by the Tussauds Group and this further pushes development of the park as during the 90s the Runaway Mine Train, Haunted House, Ripsaw, Nemesis, and Oblivion were all installed. Nemesis first opened in 1994, and Oblivion first opened in 1998. The Haunted House faced two refurbishments up to the publishing of this post, the first transformed it into 'Duel', the second into the newly opened 'The Curse At Alton Manor'. The ride 'Hex' used to be a gift shop, and before that an armoury. The first Alton Towers Hotel opened in March during 1996. It seems strange for a place to have so much change, yet so much seems so similar to how it was back then.
Ghosts
Pictured above is what you may recognise as the entrance to the indoor ride 'Hex'. It is in this area that most hauntings seem to happen. According to Will Broome in a blog for 'London Launch', he and his family experienced many hauntings during their stay at the towers. Many seem to focus around what is now Hex, but was a gift shop, and before that an armoury. It was during its gift shop days that Will recounts many strange occurrences of intense poltergeist activity. In his post he describes staff at the time seeing a female apparition. He also says toy soldiers were found scattered on the floor with the ones holding weapons laying on their fronts and backs, and all the ones without weapons remaining standing. He also says jewellery would be found ripped apart, or draped over dolls which would be found sitting in chairs within the restaurant. The dolls would also be found in the bookshop positioned as though reading books. Paper would be torn and scattered on the floor, and stone ducks would be facing the opposite direction from how they had been left.
Will Broome's quotes:
'During the 1960s and 1970s my otherwise sane and somewhat sceptical family witnessed regular paranormal activity in the shop. The poltergeist, which they believed to be a woman, as staff claimed to have seen her, became so active that my family went to great lengths to investigate.'
'It all started fairly gently, with granny noticing a line of ducks which she could have sworn were facing one way when she priced up the night before but were then facing the other. She brushed it off but then it happened again and again - and then it got scary. One morning a few weeks later, she unlocked the huge front doors and was faced with hundreds of those little green soldiers (which had all been packed away and sealed in boxes behind the toy department) scattered across the stone floor. All the soldiers who were brandishing weapons were lying on the their front or on their backs, presumably 'dead' whilst every single one of the others (all those without weapons) were still standing. Alton towers is an amusement park by day but a ghostly playground by night. Poltergeists, twisted jewellery, flying books and the chained oak.'
There is also an account of the head gardener at the time, George Noakes, encountering a man in the gardens who would be in medieval attire. George thought the man could have been an actor hired to entertain the visitors, but the man never responded when George would try speaking to him, and when George approached the man would disappear as though he was never there. Over time, George became convinced this man was not an actor, but was instead a ghost.
Plus, there's also one other account of a haunting which I can guarantee you will not find any information about anywhere online at the time I am writing this. I once worked with someone who recently worked at Alton Towers and when they found out about my interest in the paranormal, they told me that the Towers are haunted, and the main hotel is haunted, but also that the Wickerman gift shop is also haunted. It has been roughly five years since the Wickerman ride was built, so it seems odd that this particular area of the park would be haunted. However, I was told that a staff member had sadly died and following this death an employee was working in the shop alone after the park had closed, and they heard a disembodied (I think female) voice speak to them. Unfortunately I can't remember what was said to the employee, I assume something simple like 'hello', but it is an example of a recent haunting which an employee has experienced.
My thoughts
I recommend you definitely look at source number 8 which I have used and linked at the start of this blog 'towers street'. There you can read Wills full article on the hauntings his family experienced and it sounds, to me, too extreme to be real. What he describes is the kind of stuff you see in films. I want to believe him, and I think it's fantastic that a previous resident of Alton Towers has written about what their family experienced there, but I also want to see proof. I would hope that they have photos of the dolls, of the army men, of the torn paper, or even if they still have the broken jewellery they found it would be great to know they have something which can kind of back up what happened.
I do not doubt that a location as old as Alton Towers is haunted. I would love to properly investigate the towers, the hotel, and the Wickerman gift shop to see if there really is anything to the stories I've found online and been told by someone who used to work there. My theory on the potential woman in what is now the Hex preshow is that she is maybe Lady Shrewsbury who had to sell the towers around 1923. Her name was Ellen Mary Palmer-Morewood (later Chetwynd-Talbot) and she died in 1940, which kind of lines up with a gentle haunting starting to be noticed at the towers from the 1960s after the army had cleared out. It also makes a couple of specifics around the hauntings make sense too. The toy soldiers could have been a way of Lady Shrewsbury communicating her dislike of soldiers, especially as it is said the army didn't leave the towers in the best of condition and in the 50s it had to be stripped of resources due to the impact of the war. The damaged jewellery could also reflect on how she couldn't afford to keep the towers herself.
There have also been claims of hearing footsteps in the banqueting hall and of seeing soldiers, but I don't know how valid these claims are. There are also tales of stones being thrown at people in what is now the hex queue line. I can see this being possible, and I would love to ask staff members about it when I next go. I would say Alton Towers has the potential to be at least a 6/10 haunted location as it seems to have one very active spirit in that old armoury area, and then a few more weaker ones dotted around the park.
Thank you for reading to the end of this post! I really hope you enjoyed it. If you have any comments whether that be about the blog, experiences of your own, or even places you would like for me to investigate, then you can comment and follow on here, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or Reddit, and you can email thetrueparanormal1@gmail.com for a quick response to any questions.
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