Gemma, of Junior Paranormal Events, uses Champness Hall as a location to run events. A property steeped in rich history and paranormal phenomena, Gemma was happy to find Champness Hall becoming a second home to her and her team.

For The Haunted Attic, Gemma is going to write a series of entries about her experiences in this fascinating location. Here is her first “diary entry” in which we will delve into Gemma’s experiences in Champness Hall…

A Haunted Office? Really…. 

“We first visited Champness Hall in December 2021; we had a meeting with the trustees about Junior Paranormal Events being able to use the hall as a venue for our events.  I have to confess; I have lived in Rochdale all my life and had only been in Champness Hall once up to that point.  I had only ever been in the front of the building to a soft play area, I had no idea about the grandness lurking behind those blue internal doors. 

We had a meeting and then were given a tour of the building, I can remember getting goosebumps, actual head to toe goosebumps, the first time I stood in the Auditorium.  Stood in the centre, the grand stage and wooden organ in front of me and surrounded by rows upon rows of seats on the upper level. Then the lights went out and we were stood in the darkest, dark I have ever experienced. I had already fallen for her eerie charm.  The tour continued and we got deeper and deeper into the building, each corner we turned there was another stairwell, door or corridor leading us further and further into the history hidden within Champness Hall. 

The tour ended with a climb up what felt like an eternal staircase which winds around the oldest lift in Rochdale – it was part of the original building and, although maintained, most tenants opt to take the stairs.  Right up on the third floor we are taken through a wooden door which leads us into an open area with a small kitchen space and two large offices off it along with a smaller office next to the kitchen area.  There was nothing remotely eerie about this space, it felt warm and comfortable.  We are taken into Office 7, reportedly one of the most haunted office spaces within the building. Again, I felt nothing here, although I was taken back by the stunning views over the town and the Pennines beyond. ‘What has happened in here for it to be thought of as a haunted office?’ I was keen to find out a little more. In other areas of the building, the spooky corridor for example, I could believe that was haunted as it felt very creepy but this felt calm and welcoming. ‘A paranormal group came in here and there are reports that people were touched and they had communication through a Ouija Board’.  Sigh and slight eye role – no solid evidence, no research, sounded like the power of suggestion and psychology to me. 

The trustees jumped on board our vision for Junior Paranormal Events, we held our launch event in January 2022 and then our first public event in February 2022.  The more time we spent in the building, the more we loved her so much so that in February 2022 we signed up as tenants and got the keys for… you guessed it Office 7. So, I hear you ask… is it a Haunted Office?  That’s for me to know and you to find out! Watch out for the next instalment – moving day.”