The Sounds of Haunted Lincoln

 

Many of the sounds we experience in everyday life can be listened to in several different ways based on the context. For example in the test recordings which are linked below, we recorded (the same) footsteps in two different locations; one in a living room and one in a cathedral archway. The natural reverb created by the archway provided a much more sinister sound than the minuscule level of reverb created by the room. That’s why, as a group, we think it is important to develop a clear idea of location before any of the recordings are even taken into consideration.

Many buildings in and around Lincoln have been labelled “haunted”, mainly for their eerie and gothic architecture and dark pasts but there have also been many reports from workers and tourists at these locations of strange sounds and unexplained occurrences.

A particular example of this came from Nocton Hall, located a few miles south of Lincoln. It was burnt down in 1841 and since then has been completely rebuilt, it was also used throughout WW1 to treat wounded American Officers. It was later turned into an RAF hospital which soon became available to the public. This building has been abandoned since then and those who have been brave enough to stay there have reported hearing sounds of young children mumbling and crying, particularly in one of the upstairs bedrooms. This would be a great place to record a lot of our natural sounds, for example, creaking doors, floors, footsteps and it’s always possible to capture an unexpected sound or two which would be ideal to use in the creation of our soundscape.

We will also consider recording at the Castle. Lincoln Castle, like Nocton Hall, has had many reports of unexplained sounds, particularly coming from the Male Prison. Rattling keys, doors slamming, footsteps and screams are amongst just some of the stories and reports heard from the Castle.

Therefore I think in order to get the scariest and creepiest sounds possible, the location and background of those sounds is an extremely important factor to consider. Anyone can create a sinister artificial sound of, say a “ghost,” but it will be much more engaging for the audience to know just where that dark sound came from.