17 June 2024 , 09:05
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Once a symbol of grandeur and opulence, a crumbling English country house has now fallen into a state of disrepair - but is awaiting an unusual revival.
Built in 1704, Woolton Hall in Liverpool was initially sold to the wealthy politician Richard Molyneux, the 1st Viscount Molyneux. The classical building underwent a significant renovation 68 years later under the guidance of renowned architect Robert Adam. For its first two centuries, it served as a residence for the rich and influential, including the Earl of Sefton and ship owner Frederick Richards Leyland.
However, the 20th century saw the hall being put to various uses, such as a private school and an army hospital. It narrowly escaped demolition in the 1980s and earned the status of a Grade I-listed building. There were plans to transform it into a retirement home, but they never materialised, leaving the hall to deteriorate over time.
Harry Achilleos, Brett Jones and Danny Moss run My Haunted (My Haunted Project)A massive fire engulfed the building in 2019, leading to it being added to Historic England's Heritage at Risk register as a Category A site, reports the Liverpool Echo. In recent times, the hall has become a target for break-ins, vandalism and urban explorers who are drawn to its faded splendour - which includes a main hall with a marble floor, a tapestry room, and an ornate staircase.
The historic Woolton Hall is on the brink of an eerie new era as a local entrepreneur plans to transform it into a chilling destination for ghost hunting tourists, dubbing it 'My Haunted Mansion'. Ultimately, he hopes to establish it as a hotel for those daring enough to extend their spectral explorations overnight.
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Harry Achilleos, the 48-year-old mastermind behind the 'My Haunted' project, comes from Mossley Hill in Liverpool and runs the venture alongside his colleagues Brett Jones and Danny Moss. They have already successfully established a haunted hotel in The Old King's Head in Chester, as well as a hair-raising manor in Pennsylvania, USA.
Inside the dilapidated Woolton Hall (My Haunted Project)Harry, who used to work in the catering industry, embarked on this ghostly business endeavour, opening up historical sites for brave people to probe their halls for otherworldly activity. After striking entity-detecting gold in Chester and across the pond, Harry was keen to bring his business to Liverpool, with Woolton Hall topping his location list. With family connections to the grand estate through their catering ventures, the structures supposed supernatural past has always intrigued him.
Harry said: "Our family had a fish and chip shop in Woolton and we used to deliver food to Woolton Hall back in the day for people that resided there at the time. The owner would get food delivered when there were parties on.
The fire at Woolton Hall in 2019 (Liverpool Echo/James Maloney)"I used to speak to people about the hauntings in Woolton Hall, so I was keen to get back in and have a look at the place. It closed down in around 2005. Urban explorers were breaking in all the time, smashing the windows to get in to record content, kids were getting in to set fires, they absolutely trashed the place.
"It was in dire straits when I took over a couple of months ago. The agreement with the owners is that I secure the place, I put the cameras in to stop any further vandals getting in and any further dilapidation. Me and my team have cleaned it all up, so there's no debris. It's not in perfect condition, the windows are all boarded up.
Woolton Hall is over 300 years old and Grade I listed (Chris Varnes)"We've done two or three investigations there and the place is insane from the stories of monks who walk the cellar - they've been seen, apparently a pregnant woman fell down the stairs and she haunts the place, there's loads of sinister stories. We're trying to bring the place back to life without making any structural changes. We secured it six weeks ago. I'm dealing with planning officers and I'm hoping to open this year - in time for Halloween."
The 'My Haunted' experience sees guests come into the building, where they are set tasks by the staff. It is all recorded, allowing Harry and his team to determine whether there is any paranormal activity. He explained: "When these urban explorers go into Woolton Hall, they all claim it's one of the most haunted places they've ever been into. So, we've been there two times, we heard disembodied footsteps walking right in front of us, while we've just started recording.
A shot taken inside the hall (Chris Varnes)"We've been cleaning the place up and heard a knock on the doors when there's nobody about, we've heard voices. This is without the cameras fully covering the whole experience. I'm pretty sure we're going to capture some really amazing things. We're there to work out if it is legitimately haunted and find an explanation either way. That's kind of what we do.
"People will arrive around 8.30pm. We've got to deem the place to be completely safe in order to have people staying over. There's no electricity in the place at the moment, there's no water. If deemed ok by the council, then people would be able to stay over at night and we can be a hotel. If not, it would finish around 2 or 3am."
Harry added: "We have cameras in every corner to capture everything. We set experiments for guests to do, we sit in the control room, monitoring everything. They'll have a walkie-talkie on them and they get in touch with us to say 'right, we've just heard a voice', so we can then replay that moment from any angle within the building and determine whether it could be outside noise population, them imagining things or actually paranormal.
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Woolton Hall near Liverpool (Liverpool Echo)"But we spend 90 per cent of the time debunking situations and giving them a rational explanation. That 10 per cent is when you get liquid gold when you might see some poltergeist activity or hear a voice phenomenon. You'll have the gold moments when you see an apparition or a disembodied figure walking past. We've caught that four times in the hotel (Chester) and once in the manor (USA) so far, so that's what we're hoping to achieve.
"But we also want to bring back such an iconic building and restore it to its former glory. We want to have it used and not have these vandals breaking in."