Ghostbusters find 'unexplained things' at 'haunted' Caesers nightclub

Matt Watts, right, joins the paranormal investigators in Streatham

Club owner Fred Batt

 

 

 

There was something strange in the Streatham neighbourhood this Friday the 13th as paranormal investigators visited Caesars nightclub. MATT WATTS went along to investigate.

Ghastly screams, unidentified footsteps along empty corridors, unexplained dark shapes moving across rooms, doors opening on their own, and the appearance of a ghostly woman.

All seem the perfect recipe for a haunted house horror B-movie.

But these have all been reported by staff working at Caesars nightclub – and have led many, including owner Fred Batt, to believe the former theatre is haunted.

Spooks who allegedly call it home are said to include Ruth Ellis – the last woman to be hung in Britain who used to work in the club in 1948 – and gangsters the Kray twins who once frequented the club.

Sightings of their ghostly forms were enough to bring paranormal investigators from TV show Most Haunted to film a programme at the venue in 2003.

Following in their footsteps on Friday night were teams of ghostbusters from throughout the UK, invited by Mr Batt to finally lay the ghost to rest as to whether the place is haunted before its demolition.

Forever the sceptic, I could not turn down the chance to go with them.

On my arrival I find groups of people who have paid to explore the club with the spirit hunters already excitedly hanging around outside.

Some are already convinced they will see something, others who have never been ghosthunting before, simply hopeful.

“I’m not sure what to believe, but part of me really wants to see something,” says David Patching, from Paddington.

One man who has certainly already seen something is our psychic medium for the evening, Dr Marty Cia.

He tells me he has a natural affinity with the spirit world – so much so that after five minutes he says he has already had contact with a ghost named Ruth – who he has now been told could be Ruth Ellis.

I ask him if his hunch is because he has already done some research on the place. He assures me this is not the case.

Dr Cia works full time as a medium, carrying out tours of haunted sites and helping people communicate with spirits.

He has known about his “ability” since he was a child.

“I used to play with children in my garden. I never knew where they came from until I found out our house was built on the site of a children’s hospital that was bombed in the war,” he explains.

For the next few hours we explore the building in groups. We try out a relatively unsucessful ouija board – but I witness a group of four people who are convinced the glass they are touching is being spun in circles by the paranormal.

Through a series of questions they ascertain the spirit is of a 23-year-old former barmaid called Natalie Smith who was strangled to death inside the club.

Later we are all left in a pitch black room and told to call out to any ghosts to communicate with us. Dissapointingly none respond.

Next comes the turn of technology. The ghostbusters bring out a range of devices to test for the paranormal.

A temperature guage is used in one room to show how the temperature drops in a room as Dr Cia communicates with Ruth Ellis.

Rather scarily it is all too much for one guest who faints shortly after she smells rosewater perfume - the same scent she picked up while practicing a ouija board earlier.

Cameras are also used to take photos and these are looked at on computers to show unexplained circles on the images which are called Orbs – believed to be ghosts.

The investigators are clearly buoyed by their findings and seem in no doubt that the club is haunted.

But as I leave the club in the small hours while the investigation still in full swing, I feel a little how Louis Theroux must feel after one of his documentaries.

But as Mr Batt – himself now Most Haunted’s Demonologist and Master of the Black Arts - told me earlier: “There are many unexplained things in this life. It is up to each of us to believe what we want to believe - and are comfortable believing.”