A new haunt for shoppers
PARANORMAL RESEARCHERS OPEN STORE
WITH Hallowe’en just around the corner, many people will be looking to get in touch with their spooky side or experience the world of the paranormal.
An antiques and gifts shop that has just opened in Hinckley could help.
The shop, in Regent Street, is filled with an array of curiosities, from creepy dolls and organs in jars to more ordinary antiques, such as model ships and old cameras.
It is run by the group behind the Haunted Antiques Paranormal Research Centre, which has been based above the shop for the past few years.
Owner Neil Packer said: “It’s something different for the town. A lot of people in Hinckley don’t know about us.
“The objective of the shop is to get people coming in. We’re going to be doing lots of different events now we have more space.”
The team are planning film nights and fish and chip suppers, followed by a seance, and candlelit tours of the rooms upstairs, where the investigators say they regularly have communication with spiritual beings.
The most recent additions to the paranormal research centre are on the first floor, where a medieval room has been set up, including a complete set of armour and a plague doctor’s outfit.
In one corner is a spinning wheel, thought to be at least 200 years old, and there are several large paintings.
Neil said the themed collections are intended for visitors to see if they feel a connection or spiritual presence associated with them. Not long after the centre opened, he said there was a visitation from the spirit of Richard Smith, who was killed by a soldier in the 1700s, just outside in Regent Street.
The investigators said he told them that he was still angry with how he died.
The first floor also has a Victorian seance room, furnished with framed pictures and an old cabinet with two imposing candelabras on top.
A copper frame was recently bought by the centre, to contain special items during seances. The metal is associated with channeling spirits.
An unfinished section next to the seance room will eventually be a fairy porch, where woodland spirits and the fairyfolk will be invited to come and speak to the investigators.
On the top floor is a wartime room, with an old wheelchair, soldier’s kit including helmets and a gas mask, part of a metal shelter and a large chess set.
In the next room is a collection of dolls, one of which has allegedly been caught on camera moving around.
A narrow room has occult books and paraphernalia, a large mirror of black glass and a framed death mask of occultist Aleister Crowley.
The group has also created a chamber of fear, a sinister, small room which can be closed off and where people can sit alone in the dark.
Another seance room has a cabinet with human bones, including the skull of someone who was supposedly a murderer.
Neil said the spirits of our departed loves accompany us through life, so more people visiting the centre means more opportunities for messages from the other realm.
The research centre regularly posts Facebook Live videos of its investigations, where the team will move around different rooms and see what they can pick up.