This is not my usual content for this site, but I figured it could be a fun Halloween post! I’m a horror author doing horror activities, so it makes sense overall.

Last year, I met up with my friend Billie in Shrewsbury for Halloween and together we took a ghost tour of Shrewsbury Prison. I didn’t really expect to catch any phenomena, but during a section where we were locked in a cell, I took some videos and captured some strange sounds.

Now, I’m not going to say I even particularly believe in ghosts–my logic brain thinks the whole idea is stupid–but I do find the concept of them incredibly interesting and ‘ghost hunting’ is really fun. I grew up a big fan of Ghost Adventures (nothing better than a sick day off school and a Ghost Adventure marathon on TV) and I still remain fan of the Youtube ghost hunting duo Ryan Bergara and Shane Madej. I can never be a true sceptic ‘Shaniac’ I suppose, but to say I’m a full-on believer ‘Boo-gara’ would be wrong too, I think.

I am just a filthy fence-sitter.

So, we take the tour, snapping photos and listening to the stories, until we come to a part where they lock the individual groups on the tour into separate cells. It’s very quiet and incredibly dark. We can’t hear the people in the other cells and can only hear the tour guides when they yell or bang on the door to make us jump.

Due to the quiet, I figure now is a good time for us to actually do some ‘investigating.’ I place my phone down on the bunk bed on video mode and let it record. The room is just darkness, but I was hoping to catch any strange noises or responses to my questions.

Here is one of the clips we captured. For best practice, I recommend you listen yourself before continuing to read this and being influenced by my interpretations of the noise. The link will take you to Flickr and in the caption there I have put a transcript of everything else said in the video, but NOT what I think the whisper says. I will discuss that below.

CLICK HERE >>>>RECORDING 1: WHISPER<<<< CLICK HERE

Recording 1 Transcript:
Joey: Kinda wish they weren’t stomping around y’know? Let’s just be quiet, let’s see what they gotta say–
Tour Guides, Charlotte and Barry: Wakey wakey unintelligible!
Joey: Dark
Not me or Billie: loud raspy whisper
Billie: (climbing on the bed) Urgh!
Joey or Billie: unintelligible
Joey: It’s sturdy I don’t think you’ll break it, especially you.

Now, when I first heard this, I thought it was Billie whispering or talking breathily. However, when reviewing the recording later that evening neither she nor myself remember her making a comment–as you can hear in the clip, we had just discussed being quiet before the tour guides decided to make a racket by yelling. I comment one short word–“dark”–and then Billie grunts as she tries to lay down on the bare bedframe. Between those two utterances is a clear whisper, which in my opinion sounds like “such a hater.” You may think that this also seems like something Billie would say, as it comes across as surprisingly ‘modern.’ However, Shrewsbury Prison was only decommissioned in 2013–every chance a more recent ghosts might call someone a “hater.” Or maybe the old ghosts picked it up from the more recent inhabitants? Maybe calling someone a hater isn’t as modern as I think it is? Who knows?

I’ve also had other people say they interpret it as other things, such as “I’ll get you later,” which is about 1000 times creepier than what I heard and much more of a classical ghost utterance. So, maybe I’m mishearing, and I was in fact threatened by a spirit instead of just being sassed by one.

I will admit that the more I listen to this one, the less certain I am. So, onto the next one, which I have more confidence in. Once again, listen for yourself and make your own interpretations before continuing and reading mine.

CLICK HERE >>>>RECORDING 2: YELL <<<< CLICK HERE

Recording 2 Transcript:
Joey: Spiritssss
Billie: (whispering) I’m cold.
Joey: Talk to us.
Joey: (in a funny voice) What’s your name?
Something: (yells)
Billie: (sighs)
Joey: This is Billie…I’m Joey. What’s your name?
Noise: Tiny short whisper, maybe?
Voice at end: (unintelligible comments)

So, as you can hear in this clip, there is a loud yell right after I ask, “What’s your name?” You probably think that’s the tour guides, or people in the next room. But the thing is, the tour guides were quiet at that point. We heard no yelling from them, or anyone around us. That’s why there’s no reaction to it in the recording, and why I go on to introduce myself and Billie and repeat the same question: because as far as I knew, there had been so no sort of noise that could be mistaken for a reply. Had I heard something I thought would impact the recording, such as a yell from the next room, I would have stated–I only do this for fun, but even I know to do that. The noise is so short and followed by no other yells–it seems to stand apart from everything else recorded.

In my opinion the yell sounds like the name “Chris.” I recognise that it is obviously influenced by the question that came before it, that I am looking for a sound that could be name, but I honestly do think it sounds like the name Chris.

So, yeah, those are my two little clips. There are, of course, logical explanations for both–we were on a tour with a bunch of other people, just because we didn’t notice their voices doesn’t mean the phone didn’t. They could even not be voices at all, just ambient noises that I’ve imposed meaning onto, in an attempt to send a chill down my own spine. Maybe they are really us, somehow, despite our memories insisting that they aren’t–“hater” isn’t really a word I’ve known Billie to use particularly, but who knows. It was a ghost tour specifically, so one can’t technically rule out tampering too…

Anyway, what do you hear when you listen to the recordings? Do you hear the same as me, or something entirely different? Do you think this is all nonsense and this whole post was a waste of your time? Let me know!