A husband and wife ghost hunting team believe they have recorded a ghostly voice during a live streaming event at Strelley Hall. The couple from South Yorkshire have visited haunted locations all over the world in pursuit of the paranormal.
They say a spooky voice piped up during an electronic voice phenomena (EVP) that the couple set up in one of the original parts of the hall. An EVP picks up voices or sounds that cannot always be heard in the room through background or static noise.
The Georgian-era castle and panelled rooms and dungeons are the only parts of the original castle that remain. Strelley Hall was originally built as a castle in about 1200 AD although a lot of the castle fell down during Tudor times.
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It is not understood why but an archaeological dig in 2006 showed that there was potentially a huge fire at the end of the medieval period that may have caused damage. Linzi Steer and her husband Lee have been ghost hunting together for years and live-stream their experiences to more than two million fans on their Facebook page. The couple, based in Rotheram, visited Strelley Hall at the weekend to see if they could capture anything supernatural.
"We were in the Castle Room when my husband captured a voice on electronic voice phenomena (EVP). There have been reports that Queen Elizabeth I was seen in there and in the cellars, too. Those are the original Medieval parts before it was destroyed and rebuilt. Those areas were kept and since then there have been reports of ghosts and sightings there," Linzi said.
She added: "In our video footage, my husband set up the EVP with the light on. He was just about to switch it off and, if you look over his shoulder, then you can see a white face. We do this every day and we don't get freaked out easily but this really made us jump. I saw a very white face but then, as Lee moved, it went away. I asked the spirits to sit near Lee then this thing appeared next to him."
The couple were shocked at the appearance of the white face in the video footage but were even more spooked when a ghostly voice could clearly be heard on the EVP.
Linzi said: "Lee asked who was with us and a voice said 'Elizabeth' then repeated it sounding a bit angrier: 'it's Elizabeth'. You can hear it very clearly and I thought, 'wow, have we really captured Queen Elizabeth I?'"
The couple tried to debunk the sighting by investigating the potential for shadows or other reasons for the video and sound. However, they couldn't find an easy answer for either. Lee reported that doors were opening and closing at the same time while another piece of equipment that monitors air pressure also went off.
Lee said: "We have a device that detects air pressure in the room. That went off a few times and it's one of the hardest devices to actually set it off. It's really hard to change the air pressure when there is no one there."
They also recorded sounds in the dungeon where they felt they had a clear message from a spirit. "We heard a woman humming and it was so clear and loud. It was so strange as our voice recording from there picked up something like 'get out'," Lee said.
Linzi said: "It was creepy but we do this all the time. I don't generally tend to be scared but this popped up out of nowhere. It's so bizarre. We didn't go with the intention of finding Queen Elizabeth but we went with an open mind. We thought if we find something then we do."
She added: "It's not like you see on TV where it could be edited. As we stream live, people experience what we do as well. People know I don't freak out easily but even I jumped." Elizabeth I was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603.
