History
Starz Karaoke Bar and Deacon Brodie's Bar are housed within a former Methodist church and its adjoining building. There is an inter-connecting
stairwell at the rear of the premises.The Ward Road Wesleyan Chapel, housed at 15-19 Ward Road, was opened in 1867 and was designed to hold 700 people but had seats for 500. The galleries offered extra space. Buiding work started in July 1866 following the plans of David MacKenzie who also designed a block of tenements and offices next door between Rattray Street and Nicoll Street. The chapel was built to replace the earlier and smaller church on Tally Street. Below the church were several classrooms and a vestry which now house Deacon Brodie's bar.
The church buiding remains merely a shell of its fomer self. The galleries are still evident and stained glass windows are visible from outside. The interior has been adapted with partition walls which prevent light entering the body of the church via the large windows at the front. Stone steps run up either side of the building inside to the galleries above within this partitioned area.
Dundee city council has a selection of old photographs of Ward Road and the chapel.
Old maps of the area show Ward Road to have been named Ward Street. The 1857-58 map shows a railway station to be on the site of the present church buiding. This was the original Southern terminus of the Dundee-Newtyle railway. The line actually passed under the Eastern part of the Dundee Law via a tunnel. The station was closed on the 8th June 1861, five years before buiding work commenced on the church.The newer map of 1870-72 shows the chapel in its current position in front of a timber yard. The church was situated next to a large warehouse owned
by Messrs. Gilroy and in front of a large timber yard. To the west was
Foresters' Halls built later in 1900 to accommodate upto 1500 people. Other notable buidings and businesses of the street are as follows :
- Nicoll & Sons, the iron and steel merchants, are listed as Nos. 1-5 Ward Road in the Dundee Directory
- The auctioneer and valuator at No. 10 Ward Road was Robert Curr,
- The Ward Road Baptist Church, foundation stone laid in October 1894 and church officer Charles Davidson., was on the opposite side of the street
- No 14 was the Dundee Water Commissioners' Yard
- The Ward Road Gymnasium, dating from 1891/2.
John Wesley, 1703-1791, was the founder of Methodism, which originated in Britain. "The Supernatural Occurrences of John Wesley"by Daniel R Jennings is a non-fiction book gives accounts of various paranormal phenomena recorded by Wesley. Of relevance to the investigationare the following quotes from Wesley :
"A drunkard is a public enemy. Above all he is an enemy of God"
"Distilled liquors have their use but are infinitely over-balanced by the abuse of them, therefore, were it in my power I would banish them from the world"
Organised opposition to the use of alcohol began in the early 19th century. The temeperance movemnet sought to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed or prohibit it entirely. One can't help but wonder if there are any spirits associated with the church who look on in disgust at the desecration of their place of worship.
"A drunkard is a public enemy. Above all he is an enemy of God"
"Distilled liquors have their use but are infinitely over-balanced by the abuse of them, therefore, were it in my power I would banish them from the world"
Organised opposition to the use of alcohol began in the early 19th century. The temeperance movemnet sought to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed or prohibit it entirely. One can't help but wonder if there are any spirits associated with the church who look on in disgust at the desecration of their place of worship.
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Entrance to Starz Stage where altar would have been situated
Paranormal Activity
See our haunted properties page for a summary of the activity experienced in both bars. Staff are keeping us updated with recent events which include the karaoke machine dials being reset and a stereo downstairs switching itself on when the staff are locking up for the night.
The Investigation
Outside conditions : Moon : waning in Cancer on Samhain Weather : windy, dry, mild
Investigators present : Katrina, Tori, Mike, Natalie, Bozzie, Laura plus staff : John, Lindsay, Ryan and Sandra
Equipment used
Camcorders: nightvision Sony Hi8 analogue, Sony DCR-HC35E digital, Sony DCR-SR32E
Investigators present : Katrina, Tori, Mike, Natalie, Bozzie, Laura plus staff : John, Lindsay, Ryan and Sandra
Equipment used
Camcorders: nightvision Sony Hi8 analogue, Sony DCR-HC35E digital, Sony DCR-SR32E
Digital cameras: Sony cybershot 3.2mp, Lumicron LDC4013 4.1mp, Epson Photopc 2100Z
Digital voice recorders: Olympus set at high quality recording x 3
Thermometers: 2 in/out digital thermometers, Infrared thermometerr
EMF meters: Electrosensor
with detection range 50-60Hz & display range of 1.334-30
milliGauss, Cellsensor meter with detection range of 50-60 Hz and
display range of 0-50 milliGaus
Security : UV detection powder and UV torch for trigger objects, IR security alarm
Other : IR torches for enhanced night viionSecurity : UV detection powder and UV torch for trigger objects, IR security alarm
Pre-Investigation
The team visited both bars twice before the investigation date. Once when the premises were
empty and another once when the bars were open and full of customers. Here are Tori's
thoughts and feelings prior to the investigation :
The first contact I had with the location was when we went to walk round to see the location,
during which I was drawn to the kitchen of Deacon brodies and was given the impression of a
man and children. It was quiet but there as still the presence of somebody watching us.
In starz I had the impression of lots of movement. There were a lot of spirits present there. Again
I had the impression of a man and thought there might be a few men there also a boy, a woman
and a little girl.I found it a little overwhelming, just with the amount I was picking up. I had to sit
down as I felt a little light headed with it all.
Many days prior to this investigation I had a lot of information coming through to me.
John
I picked up on spirit named John who would be at the church. He was related to the building
because he had worked there for a short period when he was a young man. He had lived to an old
age.While John had worked in the church he had to seal a coffin one day before a funeral and had
taken the opportunity to steal from the deceased. He would be the last to see the body and stole a
ring. He was in the same situation again when he decided to steal but this time the dead person was
a woman and he touched the body. After this he went on to lead a rather dark life. He was not a nice
person and he murdered at least one perhaps more people in his lifetime. He was never caught fo
his crimes. He was still at the church because not only had it all started there with the coffins but he
was also wracked with guilt for what he had done, although it never stopped him. He had been in the
war and had been blackmailed by a man and killed this man to stop him telling something he had
known about him. He killed this man by hitting him repeatedly in the head with something like a rock
but not sure exactly what he used.
I was told by my guide to be careful of john as he wouldn’t like us and would try to threaten us. After
this point whenever I tried to get more information on John all I got wERE nasty images probably
meant to scare.
We thought his name might have been Higgins and we also thought his date of birth may have been 1896,
however glass divination on the investigation said it was 1897, and for some reason the date 1892 stands
out in my mind. All of these socalled facts have not been verified in any way.
Vigils
The team arrived at the location and met up with the 4 staff members who would be accompanying us for the investigtaion. After explaining what would be involved and being shown around the building again the preliminaries were carried out : basline measuremnts, photos were taken, trigger objects set up, the participants split into two groups.
The trigger objects were lasi out on top of the bar in Deacon Brodies as the intention was to investigate the other areas first. There had been activity behind and in front of the bar several times before thus the reason this area was chosen. As the bar area was not locked and would be in a room where everyone would be walking through various security measures were utilised to protect our experiment from any potential tampering. The items were drawn around and the paper taped to the bar to prevent anyone pulling it from the edges out of shot of the camera. The items were lightly dusted with UV powder which is easily transferred to clothing, hands, doorknobs etc if even lightly touched. This would be visible under UV light. The trigger objects were filmed throughout the experiment and a voice recorder activated along side them. A min/max thermometer was placed alongside and an IR alarm was positioned to alert us if anybody approached the bar.
Tori then helped the team and the guests toprepare psychologically for the investigation and we all carried out the grounding, centering and protection exercises as advised.. The team split into two groups forthe first vigils. One team of 4 went upstairs to the long-forgotten and delapidated flat and the other team of 6 went in the opposite direction to Starz within the main church building.
1.The Flat
2.Starz
The camcorder was set up downstairs and the team decided to start off up in the gallery area. Various noises were heard, for example dull thuds heard by everyone and thought to have originated within the buiding. Other noises like footsteps were heard coming from the stage area which is the only part of the building not to be carpeted. At one point Bozzie was filming near to the stairwell and gents' toilet door when a very loud rasping/scratching noise startled the team. It was initially thought to be Mike coughing in the flat but the staff pointed out that the area from where the noise had come was at the opposite side of the building to the flat. The staff present could not thinkof anything in the building which would cause that particular noise. On returning downstairs it was discovered that the camcorder left filming had switched off and had not recorded at all. There were 87 minutes remaining on the battery. A further loud bang was heard by Katrina and Lindsay. The CCTV camera filming the front of the church showed that this was not due to a car door being slammed in front of the building.
Area where rasping noise was thought to have come from Spiral stairs by bar
3.Starz
The two groups rejoined for the second vigil in Starz bar at Tori's suggestion. She was drawn to that area as she felt more activity would be witnessed there. Everyone remained downstairs on this occasion seated at the tables. There was an air of unease among everyone present and most agreed as time went on that the room felt colder although the thermometer showed no significant change in the ambient temperature of 20 degrees C.
This session began with Mike's camera switching off for no apparent reason as he took photos around the room. He also reported the sensation of somebody tugging his hair as he walked around the perimeter of the room on the side by the Karaoke machine. Various faint noises were heard by the majority of those present. Some of the noises were thought to sound like laughs, voices, bumps and squeaks. There was also a strange noise identical to a zip being pulled up which came from the corner behind where Bozzie was filming and where nobody else was sitting. The loud rasping/scratching noise heard earlier during the first vigil was again heard and appeared to be much louder on this occasion. This sounded really quite frightening and some of the group actually got up and moved seats as a result. Neither the manager or the cleaner who were present could explain the noise and could not suggest anything in the building which may have caused it. It was asked if there were any automatic air freshners in the toilets or if the urinals flushed automatically. We were told that the air freshners did not work at present and that he urinals did not self clean. The trigger objects were lasi out on top of the bar in Deacon Brodies as the intention was to investigate the other areas first. There had been activity behind and in front of the bar several times before thus the reason this area was chosen. As the bar area was not locked and would be in a room where everyone would be walking through various security measures were utilised to protect our experiment from any potential tampering. The items were drawn around and the paper taped to the bar to prevent anyone pulling it from the edges out of shot of the camera. The items were lightly dusted with UV powder which is easily transferred to clothing, hands, doorknobs etc if even lightly touched. This would be visible under UV light. The trigger objects were filmed throughout the experiment and a voice recorder activated along side them. A min/max thermometer was placed alongside and an IR alarm was positioned to alert us if anybody approached the bar.
Tori then helped the team and the guests toprepare psychologically for the investigation and we all carried out the grounding, centering and protection exercises as advised.. The team split into two groups forthe first vigils. One team of 4 went upstairs to the long-forgotten and delapidated flat and the other team of 6 went in the opposite direction to Starz within the main church building.
1.The Flat
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Several orbs were filmed during this vigil but the floor area was very dirty and littered with rubbish and debris which negates these as anything of importance. Sandra felt an uncomfortable sensation across her face for quite a long time whilst in the second room. Mike captured a white floating particle on video which again may have beeen relevant but may equally have been something disturbed from the littered floor or a piece of cobweb. Some movement was seen by Tori both by her feet and in front of a doorway. No activity was witnessed in response to 'calling out'.
2.Starz
The camcorder was set up downstairs and the team decided to start off up in the gallery area. Various noises were heard, for example dull thuds heard by everyone and thought to have originated within the buiding. Other noises like footsteps were heard coming from the stage area which is the only part of the building not to be carpeted. At one point Bozzie was filming near to the stairwell and gents' toilet door when a very loud rasping/scratching noise startled the team. It was initially thought to be Mike coughing in the flat but the staff pointed out that the area from where the noise had come was at the opposite side of the building to the flat. The staff present could not thinkof anything in the building which would cause that particular noise. On returning downstairs it was discovered that the camcorder left filming had switched off and had not recorded at all. There were 87 minutes remaining on the battery. A further loud bang was heard by Katrina and Lindsay. The CCTV camera filming the front of the church showed that this was not due to a car door being slammed in front of the building.
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3.Starz
The two groups rejoined for the second vigil in Starz bar at Tori's suggestion. She was drawn to that area as she felt more activity would be witnessed there. Everyone remained downstairs on this occasion seated at the tables. There was an air of unease among everyone present and most agreed as time went on that the room felt colder although the thermometer showed no significant change in the ambient temperature of 20 degrees C.
Movement was seen in various places around the room but especially by the dance floor, bar and up on the gallery to the right of the spiral stairs above the bar. Tori and Ryan both saw movement by the bar at the same time followed by Laura seeing movement in the mirror behind the bar whichled Katrina to turn the locked-off camera around to face the bar. Lindsay saw a dark shape by the door next to the bar and later saw what she described as a black square in the middle of the same door. Mike and Tori both saw movement in the same spot above the bar - an outline of a figure as if about to stand up. Tori aslo saw a man leaning on the balcony above the group leaning on his elbows looking down at everyone.She was told by her guide that this was the aforementioned John. This was to the left-hand side of the spiral stairs next to the bar.
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Towards the end of this session loud voices as if in conversation were heard by everyone and were thought to be coming from Deacon's side of the buiding or to the back of the stage area. The buiding is fairly soundproof and all of the windows had been closed and in any case were in the stairwell and not in the main room where we were sitting. The door to the back stairs down to Deacon Brodies was also closed. To rule out the possibility of the voices being people outside John and Lindsay ventured out into the carpark at the rear of the building and talked very loudly, almost shouting. Their voices were heard by everyone inside the building although they were quite faint and quieter than the voices heard prior to that.
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4.Deacon Brodies
Tori picked up on a male and a female spirit in this area. During break Tori and Nat both heard what they thought to be a child's voice. Neither were recorded on the voice recorder which was still running at the time. Nevertheless, the whole pub felt less threatening and calmer to Tori. The trigger objects had not moved during our time elsewhere. A short time was spent in this area during which some of the staff reported seeing black shadows moving about and feeling vibrations through the floor. At one point as Katrina was filming by the bar she was surprised to hear what she described as a laugh in her left ear shortly before Sandra laughed on her right hand side. The bar was on her left and nobody was sitting at that side. The laugh was recorded on video but not on the voice recorder which was further away. It does not appear to be as loud as Katrina had initially thought but then again she did say it was close by her ear.
The above photo shows an orb and a white mist to the top right of the red pillar.
The close up reveals more than one misty patch to the right of the orb
Here is a close-up of the largest white mist. It almost looks like a skull but it maybe a reflection from the flash causing the image.
5.Starz -Glass Divination
Another short time was spent in the body of the church after 3 of the group had gone home. Trigger objects were set up on a coffee table on the balcony where Tori had seen the male figure earlier in the evening. This followed the usual procedure of having a locked-off camera and voice recorder in place.
Glass divination was attempted and some contradisctory answers were received to questions about dates and initilas. The main gist of the information gained backs up what is written earlier by Tori : a male spirit was contacted who used to work in the church as a caretaker or similar. He may have been called John Higgins or John W. He was born in 1897. He was a prarticularly nasty character and would still harm anyone if could manage. Tori reassured everyone that he would not be able to do this and could really only try to scare people by making noises etc. Various noises were again heard from within the room as glass divination was taking place. Quiet bangs from the corner above as well as the rasping/scratching noise heard previously. The above photo shows an orb and a white mist to the top right of the red pillar.
The close up reveals more than one misty patch to the right of the orb
Here is a close-up of the largest white mist. It almost looks like a skull but it maybe a reflection from the flash causing the image.
5.Starz -Glass Divination
Another short time was spent in the body of the church after 3 of the group had gone home. Trigger objects were set up on a coffee table on the balcony where Tori had seen the male figure earlier in the evening. This followed the usual procedure of having a locked-off camera and voice recorder in place.
Katrina and Bozzie went upstairs at the end of the vigil to collect the trigger objects (none of which had moved). Just as Katrina was putting the items a way they both heard the loud rasping/scraping noise again and decided to investigate the area it had apparently come from. Joined by Tori and Natalie they checked the gents toilets and noted that the urinal was dry and the air freshner on the wall was not working. The emergency exit stairs were also checked and nothing could be found to cause this particular noise.
Review of Material
Trigger Objects none of the trigger objects had been moved in either Starz or Deacon Brodies.
Temperature room temperaturesremained fairly consistent throughout the night. Some attendeesstated that the temperaure was dropping and that theyfelt cold when the actual room temperature had not altered any.
Photo as usual several orbs were photographed and these cannot be ruled out as airborne particles. One photograph from near the ceiling in Deacon Brodies appears to show a skull when enlarged. The flash can be seen reflected in one of the metal rimmed spotlights on the ceiling so ther is the possibilitythatthe white shape is due tothe flash or the reflection of the flash off the light fitting. The flash was an IR one as thepicture wastaken using night shot mode. Perhaps this is a case of pareidolia and the humanability to create faces from random images.
Audio frequent strange sounds such as bangs, voices and laughs were heard. It must be pointed out that it was quite windy outside and that there were several guests accompanying the team so it was difficult at times to know if somebody had said or whispered something. On the other hand, the open windows to outside were closed in Starz and were within a separate corridor from where the vigil took place. Very little outside noise was heard throughout the night. No animals are known to visit or live in the premises.
Video orbs were filmed and cannot be considered as anything important for the reasons given above. A white drifting particle was also filmed in the flat but caneasily be explained. Several of the voices and bangs were recorded on video as well as on voice recorder.
Temperature room temperaturesremained fairly consistent throughout the night. Some attendeesstated that the temperaure was dropping and that theyfelt cold when the actual room temperature had not altered any.
Photo as usual several orbs were photographed and these cannot be ruled out as airborne particles. One photograph from near the ceiling in Deacon Brodies appears to show a skull when enlarged. The flash can be seen reflected in one of the metal rimmed spotlights on the ceiling so ther is the possibilitythatthe white shape is due tothe flash or the reflection of the flash off the light fitting. The flash was an IR one as thepicture wastaken using night shot mode. Perhaps this is a case of pareidolia and the humanability to create faces from random images.
Audio frequent strange sounds such as bangs, voices and laughs were heard. It must be pointed out that it was quite windy outside and that there were several guests accompanying the team so it was difficult at times to know if somebody had said or whispered something. On the other hand, the open windows to outside were closed in Starz and were within a separate corridor from where the vigil took place. Very little outside noise was heard throughout the night. No animals are known to visit or live in the premises.
Video orbs were filmed and cannot be considered as anything important for the reasons given above. A white drifting particle was also filmed in the flat but caneasily be explained. Several of the voices and bangs were recorded on video as well as on voice recorder.
