The Albert Hall
The Albert Hall, located in Manchester, England, was built as a church before being used as a nightclub and then as an events venue. The ground floor has been used as part of the church, but more famously it has been used as 'Brannigans' nightclub, and presently it houses 'Alberts Schloss'. It also seems the ground floor was once home to a car showroom. With the drinking culture housed in clubs such as Brannigans showing a clear contradiction to the preaching of the church, it's thought that the spirit of this church's founder haunts the location out of disapproval for the establishment's new-found culture.
History
A church has stood on the site prior to the Albert Hall as the space had been used as the New Jerusalem Church from 1793 until the end of the 1800s. This older church belonged to the Swedenborgian congregation. Once this old church was gone, the Albert Hall was commissioned by the Methodist Church and designed by William James Morley of Bradford, who started building the location from 1908. The Methodist Church went on to open in 1910, and was used by the Manchester and Salford Wesleyan Mission, which was a temperance movement at the time. The head of this congregation, which is known as the largest methodist congregation in the world at the time, was Reverend Samuel Collier. It's important to note that there is inconsistency between the 1908 date and 1910 date being mentioned in reference to the church being built, the church being designed, and the church opening. From what I've read, I assume it was designed and construction began in 1908, and that work was completed in 1910, but this could be incorrect.
The Albert Hall was built out of necessity when it was realised the church's primary location on Oldham Street was no longer big enough for the growing congregation. This new church, located on 27 Peter Street, was spread across four floors and it's organ is said to be the largest in Britain. The organ was maintained by Rushworth and Dreaper, plus was possibly built by them too. The Albert Hall's desigh was intended to look different from churches as it was suspected that by deviating from traditional church design, more non-churchgoers would be enticed to visit the location. The building featured boys and girls club rooms, a reading room, kitchens, and sister's offices. It's designed in a neo-gothic style, and has a horseshoe shaped upper hall to make preaching to the congregation far easier. At the time of it being used as a church, the ground floor was used as lecture halls and classrooms.
As the upstairs floor had a capacity of roughly 2000 people, although some say this number as possibly being 2,500 people, the Hall was used not only for church ceremonies but also for certain events. Several 'people's concerts' were held in this space while the location was still being used as a methodist church, with one such concert occuring on the 10th of November 1917. One particularly unexpected event occured during 1950, this being the fact that Winston Churchill spoke here in an address to Manchester. Some photos show a completely different use for the ground floor: a car showroom. The earliest picture showing this function dates from 1956, although the opening date of this showroom could have been earlier. The latest picture of the showroom dates from 1973, but it's been speculated that it could have lasted until the 80s.
Despite the ground floor still being used for various purposes, the hall officially closed during the July of 1969, nine years after Samuel Collier died. During the 1990s, the ground floor was bought by Cougar Leisure Ltd and they transformed this floor into Brannigans, an establishment which was the complete opposite to the anti-alcohol message the church used to preach. This nightclub lasted until 2011, during which time it was featured on 'Most Haunted' for it's claims of poltergeist activity. Quite importantly, it has been cited that the 'Most Haunted' team investigated the location during its 'dying days', although the club did remain open for roughly another eight years after their investigation of the property.
Following the closure of Brannigans in 2011 due to insufficient funds, the whole building was bought by the Trof Group during 2012. This group owns a number of bars in Manchester, and they transformed Brannigans into 'Albert's Schloss'. The Albert Hall briefly opened during the July of 2013 for the Manchester International Festival, and then general access occured from the 6th of February 2014. This event was marked by a performance by Anna Calvin on this date, however some sources have said general access occured from 2013, and others have said mid-late 2014. Regardless, the Albert Hall was opened as a multipurpose venue and hosts gigs, festivals, club nights, and has private hire for events such as weddings and conferences. It seems the Alberts Schloss restaurant and bar opened during 2014.
The Albert Hall became a grade II listed building on the 30th of April 1982, and on the 6th of June 2017 it hosted 'BBC Newsbeat Debates: The Final Debate' ahead of the general election which occured two days later. The organ has been restored by Jardine Organs, and the entire venue was restored by Mission Mars between 2012 and 2014. This group is the same behind 'Alberts Schloss'. The current capacity of the hall is said to be 1,800 people standing, and 1,170 people seated theatre style. Sources have also said that even though the events hall closed during 1969, it was left unused from 1965 until 2013.
Hauntings
The Albert Hall is said to be haunted by a poltergeist that is thought to be the restless spirit of Reverend Samuel Collier. It seems the hauntings began once the ground floor opened as Brannigans in the 1990s, and staff have reported a number of phenomena. Lights are said to turn on and off, glasses are known to smash, the warm lower floors have experienced extreme temperature drops, and it is said the spirit pushes people down the stairs. It's said that Samuel haunted the bar area, and that he wore a long black cloak. As a slight contradiction if there is only the one spirit present, it's said the spirit doesn't only haunt the downstairs area, but the chapel hall too.
Bar staff have felt the feeling of being pushed, and orbs have been seen; however it's likely that the orbs were just dust being caught in a place in dire need of renovation. When Most Haunted visited the location, Derek Acorah picked up on the name 'Godfrey', and claimed to have been possessed by the man. The man's full name is Godfrey Parks, and it seems a whole tale was woken about him regarding the man being aggressive and having killed at least one little girl. It's also said this man is kept in the tower by Samuel as an act of protection for everyone who visits the building, and that loud bangs and footsteps have been heard in that part of the building. It's also said that the screams of the girl who was murdered can still be heard. I will discuss these claims more in the section regarding my thoughts, but apparently during 1999 the hauntings became so common that the venue looked for paranormal investigators. It's also important to mention that there are no records of a man called Godfrey, or Godfrey Parks, that have a connection to this building.
Summary Of Hauntings
1. Poltergeist - upstairs, chapel hall, ground floor, bar area
2. Samuel Collier - bar area
3. The feeling of being pushed
4. Orbs
5. Glasses smash
6. Lights turn on and off
7. Young girl scream heard
8. Footsteps
9. Loud bangs
My Thoughts
It's very important to start this section by explaining what I have and haven't included in the summary of hauntings. I have not included Godfrey due to it being well known that the Most Haunted team are dubious to say the least, and that Derek Acorah was proven to be providing false and previously researched information. As no record of Godfrey exists, then I feel it's likely that this spirit was made up by Derek. I've still included other details such as the screaming, footsteps, bangs, and being pushed because these aren't uncommon instances of phenomena. Footsteps and bangs are expected, and it seems from my research that it's the staff who have reported being pushed. One thing I haven't mentioned at all yet is that there is allegedly the noise of a screaming baby that comes from the tower. It seems this may be tied with the girl, but it definitely seems to be something that has stemmed from Most Haunted's investigation of the location.
I've included the young girl's screams because you never know, and hearing a female scream is somewhat commonly reported. As it's a tower, I likely think this ghostly scream will actually have been caused by some nesting birds in the area. Dispite it being thought that Samuel is the poltergeist, I've included them as seperate entities because you can never be sure if you're dealing with one spirit or two; especially as both have slightly different places of activity. I absolutely think that Samuel Collier could haunt the location, and it doesn't go beyond reason that a poltergeist of some sort would also haunt the building. Due to the amount of people who will have spent a good amount of time here, or who will have experienced the emotion of an event such as a concert, I wouldn't be surprised if a number of spirits are present in this location. If Brannigans had a lively atmosphere, and regular guests, it would be interesting if this location picked up in hauntings around the year of 2050. It could be a good example of a location thriving with modern hauntings, but we will have to see.
Thank You!
Thank you for reading to the end of this article! I found this was quite an awkward location to research due to the contradiction to the uses of the building, plus Brannigans seems to be a chain with a second location in Manchester. I did find it interesting to write though, and I believe it's the first church I've documented. I seem to remember hearing at some point that churches are supposed to be void of hauntings, so it will be interesting to see how many haunted churches I document. I could be wrong with this detail though as it's something vague I remember hearing years ago.
A special thank you goes to Damain, Nicolette, Kerry, GD, Chris Willcx, Nicola Jada, Nita Raveling-Hamilton, The Cornish Ghost Whisperers, Beardo Gets Scared, Starlight Phoenix Paranormal, Paranormal Penny Pinchers, the Australian Paranormal Society, Codegas Codex of Curiousity, Phantom Detectives LLC, Shadow Walkers Paranormal Investigators, South Of Spooky, and Don't Scare Claire for your continued support of The True Paranormal. If you want to be thanked in an article, then please share this article across social media and tag 'The True Paranormal'. If I see that you've shared, then I will thank you in the following article.
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Sources I Have Used
7. Higgypop
9. Geograph
11. Time Out
14. Burnley Express
18. Mirror
20. Manchester World
21. Spooky Isles
26. Visit Manchester
27. Skyliner
29. Kiddle
31. Untapped
32. Haunted Hovel
33. CS2
34. Lancashire Post
35. Wander Mom
36. The Manc
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