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HISTORY The Ragged School Museum in London has a long and colourful history. Opened in 1990, this Grade II listed museum occupies three canal side warehouses in East London, but the history of the building goes back a lot further than this. In 1876 Thomas Barnardo rented two warehouses (now 46 Copperfield Road) with which he opened the Copperfield Road Ragged School. The school catered for children between the ages 5-10, where they could receive a decent and free education as well as meals and help on finding their first employment. Inside, the warehouses were built into classrooms and fireplaces were added for comfort. The winter months and the basement/cellar areas were turned into play areas for the children's recreational needs. Due to overcrowding of the 46 Copperfield Road School, Dr Barnardo acquired and converted the warehouse next door; this accommodated both the girls' and infants' schools. In 1908 the London Council ordered the day school to close due to the buildings being unsuitable for education purposes with only the Sunday school and evening classes permitted to remain open up until 1915. After the school closed the warehouse buildings were used for various trades etc: No 48 was a factory until the early 1980's, and Number 46 was used by a Jewish clothing manufacturer, rag merchants, a furniture business and lastly as a government surplus warehouse.
BASEMENT After a walk round with Museum liaison Richard, Team A headed downstairs to the basement with Phil. This was situated adjacent to our crew room and the group settled down to see what may occur. Marq was first to call out and had a digital Dictaphone recording at the same time. Marq asked Alan if he was sensing anything and he pointed to the far corner and was aware of a small boy within the atmosphere. Marq and Rich (of Renegade Spirit) walked over to the corner but picked up nothing. However, images taken towards the group revealed a few light anomalies around Darren and Aaron.
FIRST FLOOR After a break we headed upstairs to the First Floor with Tim. We started off in the main classroom at the top of the stairs. Once again, we did various callouts but it’s hard to determine any audible here, as the floor was very creaky. It was at this point that Marq and Tim had a shock as something hit the floor very loudly right by them. Upon investigation, a piece of chalk was found that had not been there before. Making sure no one had thrown it, we were at odds about how this happened and luckily Marq caught the sound on camera as he was filming Tim at the time. It’s worth noting that we still cannot rule out that someone threw the chalk but it is doubtful, as we have all worked together before. A few more callouts were made and Museum liaison Richard suggested calling for Dr Barnado himself although nothing was heard back from this communication. Marq, Becky and Marc went through to the next section of the landing to join Alan in a supply’s room, which was formally a classroom. He was picking up on a former Teacher (18th Century) and had the names of Miss Olson and Eleanor (these names could not be verified due to lack of records from this period). As we sat quietly, Alan sensed her energy in front of him and Marq decided to walk into this spot. Although this area was cold anyway, Marq felt freezing as he stepped into this spot. He also felt a strong tingling on the bottom half of his legs and something pulling at his jeans. Alan captured a lot of light anomalies in this area too. What was interesting is Richard from the Museum pointing out that other paranormal groups have also picked up on a lady teacher within this area on a number of occasions.
SECOND FLOOR After another break, we went with Sara up to the Second Floor. This comprised of a smaller room with a replica of an early Twentieth Century Kitchen. Although Alan once again photographed some light anomalies, we decided to move to the large classroom in the next section of this floor. Marq took a photo and caught a rather large light anomaly above the desks. Alan was sensing a presence around this area. He was picking up on a lady who seemed very sad. He said that she had received bad news about her husband that had been killed but couldn’t connect any further information. We stayed in here a while longer and concentrated in the corner of the room that seemed alight with a few light anomalies before calling it a night.
CONCLUSION The Ragged School was a fascinating location and although we didn’t get much in activity, the chalk being thrown and various light anomalies gave reason that there may be something here that needs exploring further. |
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MEV Productions / Spiral © 2008 |
