Haunting
Although the fort was built between 1861-74, quite some time after neighbouring Tilbury Fort, which was built in the 16th Century for Henry VIII. Roman remains, dating from AD 43 or shortly after, have been found in East Tilbury, and at some point during AD 600 St. Cedd erected a church in the area.
The site saw action in both world wars before being brought by the local council, Thurrock Council in 1962. Loud sighs and the sounds of men playing a game of poker have been heard echoing through the building and tunnel systems. Many ghost hunts, séances and Ouija sessions have left interesting results, including the recording of electronic voice phenomena, cold spots noted by thermometers, the draining of batteries in touches and cameras, orbs and even misty apparitions. Sounds recorded included sighs, footsteps and a strange dragging noise.
The fort was featured in a double episode of the 10th series of Most Haunted - a TV show which the UK TV regulator, Ofcom, has ruled is "an entertainment show, not a legitimate investigation into the paranormal". The ruling also said that viewers of the show were not in full possession of the facts.
Read more about this topic: Coalhouse Fort
Famous quotes containing the word haunting:
“There is something haunting in the light of the moon; it has all the dispassionateness of a disembodied soul, and something of its inconceivable mystery.”
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924)
“And my youth comes back to me.
And a verse of a Lapland song
Is haunting my memory still:
“A boy’s will is the wind’s will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.””
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1809–1882)
“But those rare souls whose spirit gets magically into the hearts of men, leave behind them something more real and warmly personal than bodily presence, an ineffable and eternal thing. It is everlasting life touching us as something more than a vague, recondite concept. The sound of a great name dies like an echo; the splendor of fame fades into nothing; but the grace of a fine spirit pervades the places through which it has passed, like the haunting loveliness of mignonette.”
—James Thurber (1894–1961)