Elite Hair Design
Visited 14 October 2006
Over the last few years Ghosts of the North East has investigated some amazing places with rich and fascinating histories, castles, battlefields, graveyards, we've done them all. Now for something completely different - a hairdressers. People have experienced ghost children, ghost animals, and been terrified by the spirit of a previous owner who can't leave this place. We had high hopes of a 'hair raising' night at Elite Hair Design, Birtley.
Before Elite Hair Design became a hair salon it was just an ordinary house on Orchard Street, Birtley, with no report of any strange happenings. Built in the 1800s, families have came and gone and it's now rented by Nicola Hall who runs the salon. After lengthy correspondence with Nicola the date was set, the team was rounded up, and when the evening of the Saturday the 14th of October came, Dan Armstrong, Brian Moore, Thomas Kirkup and I descended on the darkened streets of Birtley in Brian's van. We were all in high spirits, but probably feeling less confident of experiencing anything than usual due to the setting. I'd decided not to tell them too much about the place or what has been experienced there and there's very little to be found about the place, either in any books or on the internet, so if anything did happen that matched previous experiences it would make for far more compelling evidence.
Nicola greeted us at the door and welcomed us in. We were given a tour of the salon, there are three floors, the ground floor is where the customers get their hair cut and styled and so on, there is also a drying room. The lower floor, which isn't used anymore, used to also be used for hairdressing but is now empty apart from a couple of sinks, the lower floor also has a smaller side room which doubles as a fancy dress shop. The upper floor is the most active room in the building but for unknown reasons the landlord has recently changed the locks and told Nicola she can't use it anymore.With the lights on it was exactly as you'd expect, a nice hair salon, nothing unusual at all.
Tour over. The time for business came. The lights went out.
Nicola greeted us at the door and welcomed us in. We were given a tour of the salon, there are three floors, the ground floor is where the customers get their hair cut and styled and so on, there is also a drying room. The lower floor, which isn't used anymore, used to also be used for hairdressing but is now empty apart from a couple of sinks, the lower floor also has a smaller side room which doubles as a fancy dress shop. The upper floor is the most active room in the building but for unknown reasons the landlord has recently changed the locks and told Nicola she can't use it anymore.With the lights on it was exactly as you'd expect, a nice hair salon, nothing unusual at all.
Tour over. The time for business came. The lights went out.
We headed downstairs. With the lights off this room seemed like a totally different prospect, eerie and it gave me a feeling of foreboding. Tom set up a trigger object, coming off this room is a small doorway (see photo above) and it leads to a bathroom so Tom set up three AA batteries standing upright in a formation that made the three points of a triangle, I also set a dictaphone recording in one corner of the room where it would remain for the duration of the investigation. Nicola told us of some of the things that have been experienced in this room. When the room was in use it was very common for things to go missing, then reappear in the spot that they had originally vanished from. Also one day Nicola came into work to find that the floor had been swept during the night and the dust was in a pile shaped perfectly like a pyramid in one corner of the room. They didn't have a cleaner and they hadn't tidied the night before and they've never been able to explain how it happened.
A short while passed and we decided to split up, Tom and Dan would stay in the lower room while Brian, Nicola and I went upstairs to the drying room which is said to be haunted by the ghost of a young girl that they have named Lily. A little while back one of the members of staff had their hair pulled while in this room and were so scared by it that she ran out of the building and never returned.
A short while passed and we decided to split up, Tom and Dan would stay in the lower room while Brian, Nicola and I went upstairs to the drying room which is said to be haunted by the ghost of a young girl that they have named Lily. A little while back one of the members of staff had their hair pulled while in this room and were so scared by it that she ran out of the building and never returned.
Brian and Nicola sat in chairs and I sat on the floor. Apparently when Lily is present it gets very cold, but it only gets cold quite low down up to around knee height so I wanted to sit as close to the ground as possible so I wouldn't miss this if it was to happen. Nicola was taking a lot of photos and most of the photos she took had orbs on them, I was taking just as many photos and not one of my pictures had anything on it. Does this prove that the orbs couldn't have been dust or flying insects, or does it show something may have been wrong with her camera even though the orbs were in different places in each photo? I'm not sure but it was very strange as this continued for over an hour. At around 11:30pm I felt a breeze across my face then suddenly had a pounding headache, and just as I opened my mouth to say this Brian said "I've got a really bad headache", coincidence? possibly, but the timing was impeccable. A few minutes later I was convinced I saw a large black shadow move across the wall to my right (the wall to the right in the photo above) there was no windows in this room so it couldn't have been something outside causing this to happen and Nicola said she saw the same thing. We asked for whatever was present to do something, make itself known to us. Brian said his legs felt cold and if he tried to move them they were heavy. Nicola said that this is a common occurrence and seems to indicate Lily likes him and has sat on his knee.
Downstairs Dan and Tom were talking quietly between themselves as opposed to sitting in silence as the other group had been upstairs. This was because I'd left the dictaphone recording in the hope of catching some Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP). There are two schools of thought on how best to encourage response from the dead, one is to ask questions and leave a gap for an answer that will be unheard to the naked ear but will be picked up on tape. The other method is to simply chat quietly and spirit will often join in the conversation, this can make for remarkable results and this is what we decided to try. I listened back to the electronic dictaphone the next day and It seemed on this occasion though that any ghosts that had been present while Dan and Tom were chatting didn't fancy joining in their conversation, possibly because there were no spirits there, or if something, or someone, was with them it didn't feel it could bring anything to the topic of which football boots are currently the best on the market.
However Dan and Tom did have some success, while they were chatting Dan saw a flash of light near a mirror and suggested Tom try to take a photo to see if anything appeared on the picture, Tom pressed the button to take a photo - nothing. He tried to take a photo elsewhere in the room and it was fine, he tried to take a photo near the mirror again and it refused to work again.
A short while later Dan said that his left leg felt really cold, but his other leg felt fine. Tom felt Dan's leg and could definitely feel a difference in temperature. This was followed a short while later by a dramatic drop in temperature in the whole room. Tom told Dan that he could sense a name beginning with the letter 'J' was in the room with them, but did this have any relevance?
However Dan and Tom did have some success, while they were chatting Dan saw a flash of light near a mirror and suggested Tom try to take a photo to see if anything appeared on the picture, Tom pressed the button to take a photo - nothing. He tried to take a photo elsewhere in the room and it was fine, he tried to take a photo near the mirror again and it refused to work again.
A short while later Dan said that his left leg felt really cold, but his other leg felt fine. Tom felt Dan's leg and could definitely feel a difference in temperature. This was followed a short while later by a dramatic drop in temperature in the whole room. Tom told Dan that he could sense a name beginning with the letter 'J' was in the room with them, but did this have any relevance?
We were joined at around midnight by a Lucy, a member of staff, and her father who live nearby and were keen to join us. Lucy has experienced the haunting of Elite Hair Salon first time having had her arm tugged by unseen hands. They decided to have their own vigil in the main salon. In the drying room we got back to sitting silently to have it broken by Lucy's screams coming from the salon. We ran in to check she was alright and she had been given the fright of her life. She was sat silently with her father when she saw two figures walk towards her in the darkness. It was Dan and Tom. They were downstairs when Lucy arrived and she didn't realise there was anyone else here and when Dan and Tom decided to move to another room they had came up the stairs and straight into the room that Lucy and her Dad had set up camp in.
Another room change, and Dan and Tom joined me in the drying room, with Brian, Nicola, Lucy, and Lucy's dad going to sit on the stairs just outside of the locked door to the attic. The attic has been the most active room in the past but even though it's now off limits, banging has been heard coming from inside the locked room, and orbs floating down the stairs have been regularly witnessed. It was now close to 1:30am and everything had gone a little quiet. There had been a flurry of activity in the drying room earlier but this seemed to have calmed down now, and the atmosphere that was present during this activity, seemed to have lifted. The other group weren't having much more success that us, a few orbs on some of their photos, but nothing visible to the naked eye and no unusual noises coming from behind the locked door.
Another room change, and Dan and Tom joined me in the drying room, with Brian, Nicola, Lucy, and Lucy's dad going to sit on the stairs just outside of the locked door to the attic. The attic has been the most active room in the past but even though it's now off limits, banging has been heard coming from inside the locked room, and orbs floating down the stairs have been regularly witnessed. It was now close to 1:30am and everything had gone a little quiet. There had been a flurry of activity in the drying room earlier but this seemed to have calmed down now, and the atmosphere that was present during this activity, seemed to have lifted. The other group weren't having much more success that us, a few orbs on some of their photos, but nothing visible to the naked eye and no unusual noises coming from behind the locked door.
I decided to spend some time on the lower floor alone. I checked on my dictaphone which had stopped, unusual considering it should run for up to 6 hours continuously, however I assumed Dan or Tom must have stopped it before leaving the room earlier. I checked the trigger object, but it hadn't moved. I sat quietly, hopeful of something happening, we'd had a taste of what this place had to offer earlier but it had gone quiet, sitting here alone, I felt as thought something would happen, I was convinced of it. I could feel an air of oppression all around me, I asked out loud for a sign, nothing. I waited and waited and this 'something' I was sure was coming, never came.
Our night drew to an end and before we left, Nicola told us a little more about the hair salon. She's looked into the salon's history and in the past a man called John Dixon, a coffin maker, lived here with his wife Jane and he died in this house. Maybe Tom picking up on a name beginning with J had more relevance that he realised at the time.
Our night drew to an end and before we left, Nicola told us a little more about the hair salon. She's looked into the salon's history and in the past a man called John Dixon, a coffin maker, lived here with his wife Jane and he died in this house. Maybe Tom picking up on a name beginning with J had more relevance that he realised at the time.
Conclusion
A great night was had by all, however Elite Hair Design blew hot and cold, occasionally there would seem to be a flurry of activity, accompanied by all manner of coincidences. Unfortunately these occasions were few.
As a team we encountered some unusual phenomena; severe headaches brought on simultaneously, a black shadow in the drying room, the feeling of being 'sat upon' by the dead (Brian in the drying room, and Dan's cold leg downstairs).
Is Elite Hair Design haunted? On tonight's evidence it's difficult to say, but personally speaking I would love to come back and see what else we can uncover about this place.
As a team we encountered some unusual phenomena; severe headaches brought on simultaneously, a black shadow in the drying room, the feeling of being 'sat upon' by the dead (Brian in the drying room, and Dan's cold leg downstairs).
Is Elite Hair Design haunted? On tonight's evidence it's difficult to say, but personally speaking I would love to come back and see what else we can uncover about this place.