Fort Widley, Portsdown Hill Road, Cosham, Portsmouth
18th April 2026
The event was hosted by Brothers And Spirit. Five members from Cauldron Paranormal attended. Start time 8pm.
Every guest went to the end of the North Tunnel and formed a human pendulum. A spirit came through who was a British soldier resident of Widley. The spirit had died in Fort Widley, which is where he had lived with his family. The spirit was a Sergeant Major and said he did something bad in the tunnels. Someone got killed and the Sergeant Major felt guilty about it. This spirit had made contact with some of the team before. The spirit box said, ‘John’. The spirit said that was his name. Some other words were said on the spirit box; ‘Bev. Phillip. I’m deaf. Him. Sue. Darkness. Billy. Dead. Hung.’ Other spirits came into the circle who were personal to guests. Footsteps were heard coming from the stairs and an unexplained light was seen in the tunnel. More spirits came forward who were connected to guests. An unexplained voice was heard coming from the tunnel. The circle was closed and guests went off with the Brothers and Spirit team. The rest of this write-up follows the Cauldron Paranormal team members.
The team went down the West Tunnel to the room at the end where the guns would have been placed. They did some calling out and the spirit box was turned on. ‘James. Help. Gil. Help. Steve. Innit. Bad. Help. Eddie.’ A lady’s voice said, ‘Leave.’ The spirit box said, ‘Friend. Pull. What’s that. This is. Stop. Fight. Hung well. Fight. Walk. You. Sarah. Witch. Helen. Guide.’ A lady’s voice said, ‘Go.’ A very evil voice said, ‘Hello.’ The spirit box continued, ‘Go on. You. Are they here.’ A red flash of light was seen near the window. One member said they could hear on the spirit box what sounded like Jaws music and the member started to sing along with the music. On a second spirit box it sounded as if someone had started to sing the same song. The spirit box continued, ‘Will you help him. Sue. His. Gil. Miss. Door. Please. You heard. Dead. Wait. Gone.’ A toy rabbit sitting on the floor near the entrance of the tunnel started to flash and a child’s voice on the spirit box said, ‘Bye.’ A load of swear words were said on the spirit box. One member said it sounded as if the spirit had tourettes and the spirit box said, ‘Yes. Sorry. Jesus. Wretch.’ There were more swear words then a sinister voice said, ‘You.’ The group asked, ‘Have we got a Sergeant Major talking to us?’ The spirit box said, ‘Yeah. Were you. Me. Help.’ One member said, ‘When I was here before, did you stamp behind me?’ The spirit box said, ‘Yeah. Grip.’ The group asked, ‘Is your name John?’ The spirit box said, ‘Help us. Help. Ghosts heat.’ The light on the rabbit flashed. The group could hear a lot of shouting coming from the Brother’s group in the other tunnel and the spirit box said, ‘Shout.’ The group commented on how loud the talking was and how noise travelled. The spirit box said, ‘I know. Walter. Is there. Die here. Please. Ya mate. Kate. Were you. Russ. Certain. Cold.’ The group said, ‘Shall we open an Ouija board,’ and the rabbit lit up.
A stick-man was seen on the SLS camera. It was jumping on dolly who was sitting on the floor. The rabbit lit up again. The spirit box said, ‘Girl. Lady Grey. Die.’ A child’s voice on the spirit box said, ‘Hell.’ A sinister voice on the spirit box said, ‘Hello. Hellllloooooo.’ Lots more talking was heard on the spirit box, but the group decided to open an Ouija board. A female came on called Jamie Shipman. She died in 1879, aged 8 years, and had lived in the fort. She had a baby brother called William (Billy), aged 3 years, who died at the same time as Jamie. Jamie had two other siblings aged 5 and 7 years. A stick-man was seen on the SLS camera standing in the corner near the window and the fireplace. It was small like a baby. A second stick-man was seen standing next to the first, but the second one was taller.
The group went back to the base room for a tea break. During the break, the group were laughing and talking and rabbit (sitting in a bag) kept lighting up as if it was joining in with the conversation. After the break, the group went into the semi-circle tunnel. Toys, cat balls and K2 meters were placed on the floor. The temperature started as 12.6 degrees. The group did some calling out and Teddy’s eye lit up. Several orbs were seen through the camera. The group started to sing and the K2 meter went off. The spirit box said, ‘Up. Fred. Tom.’ Some of the group felt cold and some felt really warm. The group asked, ‘Are you Tom?’ The spirit box said, ‘Aye, it is.’ The noise of a small aircraft was heard on the spirit box and teddy’s eye lit up. The group spoke about the temperature dropping quickly (it was now 10.6 degrees) and the spirit box said, ‘It’s done. Billy.’ The group could smell wet clothes and it felt as if someone was walking past the group and walking along the tunnel. Teddy went off again. One member started to cough a lot and said it felt as if something had walked right through them. The spirit box said, ‘Billy,’ and a feather orb was seen on the camera. It moved along the tunnel and teddy went off twice. One member heard a shuffling noise coming from behind him and someone else heard footsteps. The spirit box said, ‘Bill is a ghost. Bill. Prostitute.’ The group asked, ‘How many spirits are here with us now?’ The spirit box said, ‘Ten.’ The group said, ‘Go and hold someone’s hand’. Laughter was heard on the spirit box and one member said their hand felt really cold in one particular area. Everyone put their hands on the same spot, and it really did feel cold. Lots of orbs were seen on the camera travelling from one end of the tunnel to the other. A mist was seen next to one member (this was captured on the camera). There was a very sinister voice on the spirit box saying lots of words but the group couldn’t work out what was being said. The temperature had gone down to 10 degrees. One member picked up a teddy that had it’s throat cut and a cat ball placed in it. The spirit box said, ‘Severed.’ French words were heard on the spirit box then it said, ‘Angels.’ The group asked how many white angels were in the tunnel and the spirit box said ‘ten’. The group asked how many dark angels there were and the spirit box said ‘four’. The group said, ‘Confirm you said four.’ The spirit box said, ‘Yes. I’m back. Dark.’
The group headed back to the base room for a tea break, stopping at the toilets on the way. The bag carrying all the toys was left outside and when the group returned, one of the cat balls was going off. After the break, all guests joined together and went back down the North Tunnel. The went to the end and up the stairs to the back room, known as the witches room. Toys, cat balls and K2 meters were placed around the room and everyone did some calling out but absolutely nothing happened. An Ouija board was opened. A spirit spelt their initials as ‘FL’ then went to goodbye. Another spirit spelt their initials as ‘TL’ and someone said they felt their back being tickled. The planchette kept going round in a circle and felt very strong. It said it was a male and that it was bad, negative spirit. The group asked, ‘Who are you here for?’ The planchette spelt ‘RM’. Another spirit came on the board and spelt Diane who passed in 2008. One guest confirmed this was their mother. The planchette spelt ‘Charlie’ and ‘kiss’. Another spirit came on the board who was a spirit guide for one of the guests. It said there were four spirits in the room. Everyone heard what sounded like a loud sigh coming from the doorway. A female spirit came on the board. She was spelling words that made no sense then said she was talking in Spanish. She died in 1918 and was born in South America. She had a connection to one guest who confirmed a lot of the information was correct. A couple of other spirts came on the board. One had the initials GLK and another passed in 2010. Another spirit said they were closely connected to someone in the room. Their name was Robert and they passed aged 26 years. They were in purgatory and wanted help to pass over. Everyone came off the board and a ceremony was preformed to help spirits pass over to the light. Afterwards, people went back on the board but nothing more happened at all so the board was closed down and the evening ended, finishing at 2.15am.