Scala Cinema
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After taking her mother's memoirs away to write a book on her maiden name, Bronwyn Hayes of Brinsley found journals written by her mother detailing scary sights at the Scala Cinema on Pimlico.
Bronwyn's mother Vambria Walters worked at the Scala 20 years ago in which time she saw apparitions and heard noises on a regular occurrence.
Her husband Arthur Walters said:
"She would often come home and tell me about seeing people walking down the stairs while she was cleaning the Scala, people who were not really there or who would vanish. One time she saw a man on the stairs and he then walked in the front door."
The story goes that the former owner of the cinema Mr Brailsford haunts the building and started making more appearances when the foyer was changed to modernise its appearance.
The Scala was in the Brailsford family for a long time so it is unknown which member of the family is still 'active' on the site.
Jack Phillips, Parapsychologist, lives a few minutes walk from the Scala on New Lawn Road and is keen to investigate.
He said that the reason behind the haunting is not unfamiliar:
"There are two kinds of impression left by a spirit. One is a paranormal one which can't be explained and is related to a spirit that is present trying to right a wrong. The other is a supernormal psychic impression which is left when particularly strong emotions are experienced in a building and the energy transfers into the walls. It is most common in stone walls and lime.
"There have been incidents when spirits have made themselves known when somebody changes their environment and they don't agree with it.
"Imagine when people grew up in one home and it was passed onto them when their parents died. They will have had a 'family home' so when it is disrupted and changed they make their unrest known."
Jack will now research the cinema site and then look to conduct tests with the new owner's consent.
