Reading time: 4 minutes
The Most Haunted team delve into the chilling mysteries of Fitz Manor in Shropshire, discovering apparitions, mysterious sounds and paranormal insights, writes JOANNA HAGUE
Episode title: Fitz mansion
Place: Montford Bridge, Shropshire
Series: 3 Episode number: 7
Originally broadcast: November 18, 2003
Fitz Manor, most haunted review
Yvette Fielding opens the episode by introducing the beautiful Fitz Manor in Shropshire. The manor is originally a Saxon house and is mentioned in the Doomsday Book. The manor has its own church on the land, where a priest was supposedly tortured and crucified in the manor itself. Dark figures can be seen, along with sounds, and there are even hidden tunnels that are believed to lead from the mansion to a church and a local mansion. The family who now own the property have seen apparitions, heard sounds and believed they had seen the apparition of a priest.
As she walks through the house, Yvette talks about the sounds that can be heard, including sobbing. The families’ dogs refuse to enter certain rooms and are known to bark intensely while staring into the corners of the rooms. A Victorian lady has been seen in one of the rooms and has been witnessed fourteen times in the past four years. The family found a photo that resembles the woman in the attic. Cigar smoke can be smelled in one of the bedrooms if no one in the house smokes, but the family reports smelling it regularly.
Phil Wyman explains that he conducted the baseline tests while walking around, measuring the temperature in the rooms and setting up trigger objects and motion detectors in the more active rooms.
The crew began the investigation, accompanied by paranormal medium Derek Acorah. They start on the stairs, where Derek notices the smell of smoke. He states that the ghost liked to smoke when he was alive, and he continues now, in this case he doesn’t care who knows or smells it. Yvette leads him out of the room and into the hallway.
Derek says that someone is walking between the rooms and that the footsteps will be heard by the people in the house. He picks up a lady who is active in both the bedroom and the hallway and who is connected to the family that currently owns Fitz Manor. Derek provides a name, but as always without a last name it is very difficult to trace the person.
Down in the drawing room, Derek immediately picks up the energy of a priest. He discusses how the priest was injured and the people who took his life were very judgmental of him. Derek calls on his spirit guide Sam to find out more information about the priest. Sam tells Derek that the priest was crucified because of his sexual orientation. He does make it clear that the priest has moved on, but has still returned for visits.
Feeling brave, the team decided to enter the grounds and go to the cemetery on the grounds. Armed with night vision cameras, you go to the spot where you saw a Victorian lady walking. In true Most Haunted fashion, Yvette scares herself when she sees a tree looming in the distance.
Derek is drawn to an area where he says there is the ghost of a little boy who wants him to go to an arch in the basement. Derek says that’s where the hidden tunnels are, and that’s where the boy died in an accident. While in the cemetery, they all look for the name Derek came up with in the room, but they don’t find one with her name on it.
Down in the basement, Derek leads Yvette to the gate; he believes the tunnels are behind. Yvette makes a note to ask the owners, if they do look back, to let them know what they find. While explaining about the tunnels, Rick, one of the crew members, says he feels sick while standing in the tunnel doorway.
When it is time for the crew to split off, we see groups in the parlor where the priest died, in the basement and into one of the bedrooms. Everything is quiet in the salon; no one feels any presence, and even the dogs lie relaxed and asleep on the floor. The only interesting thing that happens in this room is that the owner sees some flashing lights, but unfortunately these are not captured on camera.
Rick and Yvette go back to the basement. They both begin to describe a strange smell; However, since they are in a basement, this cannot be anything more than damp. They decide to move on and sit on a bench. Yvette feels a vibration on the couch.
Just as she talks to Rick, he says the smell seems to go away, but he feels pins and needles in his neck and back. Just as they leave the basement, Rick catches something with his foot and poor Yvette almost hits the ceiling. They both laugh as they leave until Rick sees something shoot in front of them, and they both leave screaming.
Karl and Stuart go into the basement to see if they can experience anything. There are dragging and shuffling sounds, and then something that sounds like glass falls somewhere. They both decide to sit in separate rooms to see if they can spot anything, but nothing much seems to happen until a possible orb passes through Stuart’s camera.
Yvette summarizes other activities the crew experienced: Kath, the make-up lady, kept feeling like she was being watched, and Phil Wyman had a problem with a door that kept moving and then was pulled out of his control.
It was a great episode with a lot happening during the program. Fitz Manor is a beautiful location with beautiful gardens and lots of history.
Tell us your thoughts on this Most Haunted episode, Fitz Manor, in the comments below!
JOANNA HAGUE says: “I write fiction and enjoy ghost hunting in my spare time: I have been into the paranormal since I was a child. I currently live in Yorkshire. My latest book is on Amazon: Ashfield Asylum and Other Haunted Memories.”
