The Beneficial School - Portsmouth
Halloween Investigation
Investigation Date: 27 October 2012
This classical building was built in 1784 by the Beneficial Society, as a public hall and charity school for poor boys. It was extended in 1836 to provide an education for girls as well. The school closed in 1960 when St George's was built alongside it, making it redundant.
What secrets does this school hold. Come and join us on this special Halloween investigation and find out for yourself.
This classical building was built in 1784 by the Beneficial Society, as a public hall and charity school for poor boys. It was extended in 1836 to provide an education for girls as well. The school closed in 1960 when St George's was built alongside it, making it redundant.
What secrets does this school hold. Come and join us on this special Halloween investigation and find out for yourself.
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Those attending are:
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Jim, Jane, Helen, Tina, Patricia Coles, Pauline, Gail, Mac, Steve, Emma, Gary
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Personal Reports
Spiritualist Medium Jim Arnold
I have been too many exciting places full of activity over the years, but sadly the Beneficial School was not one of them. Yes had lots of noises like someone tapping the window, footsteps, voices, someone singing, and when we spoke to the hoist he told us this was what everyone seemed to get, but all of this was not evidence yes it all could have been paranormal Activity but it could have been the wind, people outside and the fact it's an old building. Gail had a good photo, which at the time we thought was a spirit or ghost, but on checking it was one of the team.
We had a good time, and a laugh, but i was hoping our last Invest of the year would go out with a bang, not a whimper, but I guess this is what we get when we don't settle for what other teams do. Would I go back to the School, No it has nothing for me. The full report will be on the website in a couple of weeks
Nicolette Richards
Had a really great time as usual with fantastic company. Sadly The Beneficial School was not very active; it felt a very calming place. We did hear some movements and tapping. Some of the team heard a voice saying 'yes' whilst other members of the team were asking questions on the Ouija board. Gail took a photo in the theatre area, when checking through what she had taken, she asked who a person was in the photo, as neither she nor any other team member could recognise....could she have captured a spirit? Was disappointed not to have loads of activity as it's supposed to have 10 spirits! Glad we investigated the place, but don't think I'd like to return.
Tina Marie Wade
Beneficial school i feel for me did not live up to its reputation of being very active unfortunately some of the noises we heard may have been the at the hands of the barman who stayed up for the night and kept wanderering around we did hear someone say yes that could not be explained and some activity on the K2 but it just felt really flat most of the time No i wouldn’t go back to this venue but as always a fun night with the team thanks guys x
Pauline M Jenkins
Thanks for last night team, sadly not much to report, heard some footsteps , whispering, but not much more, they did not want to play last night. Not one I would go back to, hoping to see if the photograph Gail took is something, Enjoyed meeting some new people, hopefully they will join us again.
Helen Gell
In my humble view, an odd place! I couldn't quite work it out? Sadly not as active as we'd hoped, & not a particularly spooky place. It got very cold at times & There were bumps & whispers ( & a spider! ) we tried every trick in the book to make contact, we did get one man who liked to be referred to as 'sir' who's known to the place & who i think was the man Jane called my 'piggy back rider' & followed me around for most of the night complaining about the mess of the place & making me feel stroppy!???
I don't feel the need to go back again.
And I should probably have apologised to the owner for the window I managed to destroy!
Jane Taylor
Well I have to say I enjoyed the beneficial school. It had a very calm feeling to the place unfortunately not a lot of activity. We picked up on a young boys voice clearly saying yes, I myself had a strange moment when I just feel asleep couldn't explain it just went into a deep sleep. We heard lots of footsteps talking and knocking. I had another moment after doing a human pendulum I sat down and had my chair shook a few times which was quite strange. All in all a good night I wouldn't want to go back but I did enjoy this location, as always well done team a great night had
Mac O'Brien
Great night out again with the team. Good location and we had lots of board activity but nothing would make any sense. Must be the kids playing games. But a number of us did hear someone saying YES to one of our questions to are you 13. Loads of knocking noises but wasn't sure if this was fireworks and def sounded like footsteps upstairs. Didn't experience very much except for when I left the theatre and the door slammed behind us which made us both jump
Spiritualist Medium Jim Arnold
I have been too many exciting places full of activity over the years, but sadly the Beneficial School was not one of them. Yes had lots of noises like someone tapping the window, footsteps, voices, someone singing, and when we spoke to the hoist he told us this was what everyone seemed to get, but all of this was not evidence yes it all could have been paranormal Activity but it could have been the wind, people outside and the fact it's an old building. Gail had a good photo, which at the time we thought was a spirit or ghost, but on checking it was one of the team.
We had a good time, and a laugh, but i was hoping our last Invest of the year would go out with a bang, not a whimper, but I guess this is what we get when we don't settle for what other teams do. Would I go back to the School, No it has nothing for me. The full report will be on the website in a couple of weeks
Nicolette Richards
Had a really great time as usual with fantastic company. Sadly The Beneficial School was not very active; it felt a very calming place. We did hear some movements and tapping. Some of the team heard a voice saying 'yes' whilst other members of the team were asking questions on the Ouija board. Gail took a photo in the theatre area, when checking through what she had taken, she asked who a person was in the photo, as neither she nor any other team member could recognise....could she have captured a spirit? Was disappointed not to have loads of activity as it's supposed to have 10 spirits! Glad we investigated the place, but don't think I'd like to return.
Tina Marie Wade
Beneficial school i feel for me did not live up to its reputation of being very active unfortunately some of the noises we heard may have been the at the hands of the barman who stayed up for the night and kept wanderering around we did hear someone say yes that could not be explained and some activity on the K2 but it just felt really flat most of the time No i wouldn’t go back to this venue but as always a fun night with the team thanks guys x
Pauline M Jenkins
Thanks for last night team, sadly not much to report, heard some footsteps , whispering, but not much more, they did not want to play last night. Not one I would go back to, hoping to see if the photograph Gail took is something, Enjoyed meeting some new people, hopefully they will join us again.
Helen Gell
In my humble view, an odd place! I couldn't quite work it out? Sadly not as active as we'd hoped, & not a particularly spooky place. It got very cold at times & There were bumps & whispers ( & a spider! ) we tried every trick in the book to make contact, we did get one man who liked to be referred to as 'sir' who's known to the place & who i think was the man Jane called my 'piggy back rider' & followed me around for most of the night complaining about the mess of the place & making me feel stroppy!???
I don't feel the need to go back again.
And I should probably have apologised to the owner for the window I managed to destroy!
Jane Taylor
Well I have to say I enjoyed the beneficial school. It had a very calm feeling to the place unfortunately not a lot of activity. We picked up on a young boys voice clearly saying yes, I myself had a strange moment when I just feel asleep couldn't explain it just went into a deep sleep. We heard lots of footsteps talking and knocking. I had another moment after doing a human pendulum I sat down and had my chair shook a few times which was quite strange. All in all a good night I wouldn't want to go back but I did enjoy this location, as always well done team a great night had
Mac O'Brien
Great night out again with the team. Good location and we had lots of board activity but nothing would make any sense. Must be the kids playing games. But a number of us did hear someone saying YES to one of our questions to are you 13. Loads of knocking noises but wasn't sure if this was fireworks and def sounded like footsteps upstairs. Didn't experience very much except for when I left the theatre and the door slammed behind us which made us both jump
The Beneficial School 28th Oct 2012-10-28
This was out last Investigation of the year so we were looking forward to whatever the school could give us.
We arrived in good time for a 10pm start, but due to the theatre running late and poor communication the bar was still serving drinks and was not happy when told they should have stopped. We all felt a very warm happy atmosphere within the building when we arrived
The Team: Jim, Jane, Mac, Helen, Nickki, Tina, Gary, Emma, Steve, Patricia, Pauline, Gail
We stayed as one team starting with the downstairs we moved around the ground floor
Using the rods we picked up on a male who said he was happy there, and been there for a long time.
When asked if he was connected to the school, the answer was debatable going from yes, to no.
Pauline asked if he name began with the D, yes was the reply
Were you a pupil at the school? Yes
Pauline asked if his name was Douglas. Yes
We hear knowing unsure where it was coming from; we ask if it is spirit making the sound and told yes.
Jane asked if he liked to be called Duggie. Yes
We tried to find out the time line by asking who was on the throne, and get a yes when we say Edward.
We offer him the toys that we had brought, but they didn’t move throughout the night
We called out for him but he had moved away, so Helen called for anyone else to come forward.
We got the feeling that someone else was holding him back, a male spirit came forward
He came across like a teacher or headmaster there seemed a strictness about him, when we called to a teacher nothing happened, when we asked the headmaster we get a response.
Jane said she had the feeling of a cane around the back of her legs
Jim said he felt someone walking around who was walking around with a cane in their hand.
Helen started to feel funny, and had not felt right since we arrived, this later seemed to just go, and something she had not felt before.
We moved to the back room
Again we hear footsteps from upstairs; Jim says he feels like he wants to dance
Jim said he was feeling cold and warm spots throughout the place
During a séance Jim calls out for spirit to make themselves known, again noises are heard we are not sure who or what is making them. During the séance Jane feel in to a sleep like state, she was really out of it and took some calling back. She afterwards that she could hear us calling her, but she felt so relaxed.
We called again Pauline felt there was a female around like a matron
Whilst we are holding a the séance Jane sees shadows under the door
We get some movement on the K2 meter with odd readings up to the red, but not staying there
Jim makes a bang and asks for it to be copied, a bang is heard but we were unsure if this was the fireworks.
We try the human pendulum with Nickki standing in the middle
We did pick up a little but decided to move on
The dressing room
We were using the Ouija board in the dressing room during this we asked if the young boy who had come through was 13 years old, although not everyone heard it a number of the team heard very clearly ‘Yes’ this was not on the recorder as for some reason it was off.
We asked some more questions but the glass just kept going to 1, C, and nothing made any sense. We gave up as we were not getting anywhere.
Throughout this vigil several believed they heard the sound of children laughing and talking, and one point it was like they were singing.
Some of the team thought they saw a light coming from the end of the room, we checked this out but could not find it, or anywhere it could have come from.
During the use of the Ouija board we had a male spirit come through who wanted to be called Sir.
1st Floor
We tried everything here, the dowsing rods, and séances.
When using the rods we had a male come through, and we asked for the rods to be pointed to where he was standing, but got nothing, but Jane tried again further into the room and this time a little girl came through.
We asked for her to make a noise, there was a feeling that she was not alone and there were many children, but no sounds were picked up that we could be sure it was her, but a photo taken by Pauline that showed faces which looked like children, (this is displayed below with the photos)
Jim says he can feel that there is someone there much older than children
During our time on this floor and during a séance we heard many sounds, at one point it sounded like a tapping on the window, and someone moving around you could hear someone walking about, but all this could have been the wind, and the host who was walking around downstairs. Pauline also felt like someone had their hands on her back.
During a séance Jim started to connect with a young boy who seemed disabled, Jim’s left arm became very twisted he told us he liked being called Stevie, and he was 10 years old, this boy left and again we heard sounds which sounded like they were coming from behind us, at this point Jane’s chair seemed to move up and down on one of the legs, there were many things within the room that could throw a reflective light which could easily be mistaken for the shadow of someone.
We decide to try a human pendulum, sadly none of the guesses would try it, but Nickki was willing
We did get a response with Nickki being pushed, Jim asked if the spirit person to push Nickki forward if it Nickki was being pushed back and forth, Jim asked if they were brother and sister, we were given a yes for this, Jim also asks test questions to make sure it’s not Nickki acting on her own, at this point the test questions were being given correct and Nickki would not have known the answers.
Did you die here? No
Was you taken from here and then passed? Yes, those questions were asked to both brother and sister.
We were not sure if they both knew that they had passed.
We found how easy it was to have the trick of light try and trick us, first Emma showed us a photo that really looked like children, but on a closer look we were able to de bunk that and found what was causing it, then we had Gail show us a photo from her phone, it looked really good but of course far too small to see it clearly, so Jim checked It out of the Laptop and found it to be one of the team.
The Beneficial School is said to be one of the most haunted buildings on Portsmouth, well we are always honest with our reports, and it was far from anything like that. I have seen many teams commenting on noises such as tapping on windows, footsteps, singing, and the sound of music, well we had all these, but it could have been anything from wind, the building cooling down and many other things, and yes some of it could be paranormal, so I will leave it up to you the readers to decide, accept everything on face value, or check everything for answers.
Would we go back, no there is nothing there for us, I feel like many of these places it maybe a little overrated, but the cost makes it worth a look if you have never been,
We believe it’s just as important if not more so to be able to debunk things as not paranormal as it is proving it to be paranormal
Jim
This was out last Investigation of the year so we were looking forward to whatever the school could give us.
We arrived in good time for a 10pm start, but due to the theatre running late and poor communication the bar was still serving drinks and was not happy when told they should have stopped. We all felt a very warm happy atmosphere within the building when we arrived
The Team: Jim, Jane, Mac, Helen, Nickki, Tina, Gary, Emma, Steve, Patricia, Pauline, Gail
We stayed as one team starting with the downstairs we moved around the ground floor
Using the rods we picked up on a male who said he was happy there, and been there for a long time.
When asked if he was connected to the school, the answer was debatable going from yes, to no.
Pauline asked if he name began with the D, yes was the reply
Were you a pupil at the school? Yes
Pauline asked if his name was Douglas. Yes
We hear knowing unsure where it was coming from; we ask if it is spirit making the sound and told yes.
Jane asked if he liked to be called Duggie. Yes
We tried to find out the time line by asking who was on the throne, and get a yes when we say Edward.
We offer him the toys that we had brought, but they didn’t move throughout the night
We called out for him but he had moved away, so Helen called for anyone else to come forward.
We got the feeling that someone else was holding him back, a male spirit came forward
He came across like a teacher or headmaster there seemed a strictness about him, when we called to a teacher nothing happened, when we asked the headmaster we get a response.
Jane said she had the feeling of a cane around the back of her legs
Jim said he felt someone walking around who was walking around with a cane in their hand.
Helen started to feel funny, and had not felt right since we arrived, this later seemed to just go, and something she had not felt before.
We moved to the back room
Again we hear footsteps from upstairs; Jim says he feels like he wants to dance
Jim said he was feeling cold and warm spots throughout the place
During a séance Jim calls out for spirit to make themselves known, again noises are heard we are not sure who or what is making them. During the séance Jane feel in to a sleep like state, she was really out of it and took some calling back. She afterwards that she could hear us calling her, but she felt so relaxed.
We called again Pauline felt there was a female around like a matron
Whilst we are holding a the séance Jane sees shadows under the door
We get some movement on the K2 meter with odd readings up to the red, but not staying there
Jim makes a bang and asks for it to be copied, a bang is heard but we were unsure if this was the fireworks.
We try the human pendulum with Nickki standing in the middle
We did pick up a little but decided to move on
The dressing room
We were using the Ouija board in the dressing room during this we asked if the young boy who had come through was 13 years old, although not everyone heard it a number of the team heard very clearly ‘Yes’ this was not on the recorder as for some reason it was off.
We asked some more questions but the glass just kept going to 1, C, and nothing made any sense. We gave up as we were not getting anywhere.
Throughout this vigil several believed they heard the sound of children laughing and talking, and one point it was like they were singing.
Some of the team thought they saw a light coming from the end of the room, we checked this out but could not find it, or anywhere it could have come from.
During the use of the Ouija board we had a male spirit come through who wanted to be called Sir.
1st Floor
We tried everything here, the dowsing rods, and séances.
When using the rods we had a male come through, and we asked for the rods to be pointed to where he was standing, but got nothing, but Jane tried again further into the room and this time a little girl came through.
We asked for her to make a noise, there was a feeling that she was not alone and there were many children, but no sounds were picked up that we could be sure it was her, but a photo taken by Pauline that showed faces which looked like children, (this is displayed below with the photos)
Jim says he can feel that there is someone there much older than children
During our time on this floor and during a séance we heard many sounds, at one point it sounded like a tapping on the window, and someone moving around you could hear someone walking about, but all this could have been the wind, and the host who was walking around downstairs. Pauline also felt like someone had their hands on her back.
During a séance Jim started to connect with a young boy who seemed disabled, Jim’s left arm became very twisted he told us he liked being called Stevie, and he was 10 years old, this boy left and again we heard sounds which sounded like they were coming from behind us, at this point Jane’s chair seemed to move up and down on one of the legs, there were many things within the room that could throw a reflective light which could easily be mistaken for the shadow of someone.
We decide to try a human pendulum, sadly none of the guesses would try it, but Nickki was willing
We did get a response with Nickki being pushed, Jim asked if the spirit person to push Nickki forward if it Nickki was being pushed back and forth, Jim asked if they were brother and sister, we were given a yes for this, Jim also asks test questions to make sure it’s not Nickki acting on her own, at this point the test questions were being given correct and Nickki would not have known the answers.
Did you die here? No
Was you taken from here and then passed? Yes, those questions were asked to both brother and sister.
We were not sure if they both knew that they had passed.
We found how easy it was to have the trick of light try and trick us, first Emma showed us a photo that really looked like children, but on a closer look we were able to de bunk that and found what was causing it, then we had Gail show us a photo from her phone, it looked really good but of course far too small to see it clearly, so Jim checked It out of the Laptop and found it to be one of the team.
The Beneficial School is said to be one of the most haunted buildings on Portsmouth, well we are always honest with our reports, and it was far from anything like that. I have seen many teams commenting on noises such as tapping on windows, footsteps, singing, and the sound of music, well we had all these, but it could have been anything from wind, the building cooling down and many other things, and yes some of it could be paranormal, so I will leave it up to you the readers to decide, accept everything on face value, or check everything for answers.
Would we go back, no there is nothing there for us, I feel like many of these places it maybe a little overrated, but the cost makes it worth a look if you have never been,
We believe it’s just as important if not more so to be able to debunk things as not paranormal as it is proving it to be paranormal
Jim
