WAH Paranormal: Sheffield ghost hunters reveal spooky voice recordings at Meltdown Bar, formerly The Boardwalk

The findings at The Meltdown Bar, on Snig Hill – dating back to the 1930s and previously called The Black Swan and popular music venue The Boardwalk – is the latest in a string of investigations in around the city by the South Yorkshire-based paranormal investigation group WAH Paranormal.

Using what they call a ‘ghost box’, which uses radio frequency so spirits can make contact, the group thinks it detected a voice which said "hello", "who's there?", "oh wow" and "I'm sorry I let you down".

The group is made up of friends and neighbours Andy Pollard, Wendy Whitehouse, and Wendy’s daughter Hayley. The initials of their first names make up the name of the group.

During the investigation at the pub, Hayley reported her phone repeatedly stopped recording and also said she felt cold, both believed to be signs of paranormal activity.

She asked spirits in the cellar of Meltdown: “Is anyone that passed away in the war trapped down here?”

This triggered a K2 device, which claims to use electromagnetic fields to see if there are any spirits present.

Staff at the Meltdown Bar called WAH in after noticing TVs and lights seeming to switch on by themselves, as well as bangs.

Staff member Adam Varley had said he was at the end of the bar when he felt like someone was ‘walking over to come and talk to me’.

"So as I glanced up and I see someone coming for me but there was no one there,” he said.

He told WAH: “I’m not easily spooked like that but when that happened I did get a bit shivery.”

WAH Paranormal, which led the investigation, suggested that the extensive history of the bar may be a reason for the paranormal activity.

Stocksbridge by-pass ghosts

WAH was set up in autumn 2021. They have also done investigations near the Stocksbridge bypass and Bunting Nook, also in Sheffield, and at the site of a former prisoner of war camp near Lodge Moor, as well as at Dead Man’s Cave, in Dinnington.

Andy had previously been involved in another investigations group, and Wendy used to see him arriving back home after investigations as she was leaving to go to work in the morning. It turned out that Wendy and Hayley were also interested in getting involved, and asked to go with him on an investigation.

Andy’s father died 20 years ago, while Wendy’s mum died last year. Both developed an interest in the paranormal afterwards.

Since setting up last autumn, they have used modern ghost hunting tools to investigate haunted places all around South Yorkshire.

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As well as filming their investigations, they listen back for any hidden voices after they return, which is where they find much of their material.

Ghostly voice at former Lodge Moor prisoner of war camp

They have published their investigations on their YouTube channel and say they are committed to sharing quality content on the fascinating subject of the paranormal.

The material that they have published includes audio and video clips showing ‘ghosts’ answering their questions, or interjecting with comments.

Andy said: “There is a big difference between occult and paranormal, and we try to keep what we do respectful. Some of the voices we pick up we find after background noise has been taken out."

He took his daughter to the investigation at the prisoner of war camp at Lodge Moor, where some of the original footings can been seen among trees.

He believes they captured a ghost voice on their recording at the scene.

Andy said: “We saw some flashlights in the woods, and I said to her ‘it’s not scary, is it?’ She said ‘no’. But we we listened later, another voice could be heard saying ‘yes it is’.

"We’re due to go back there and do a bigger investigation in the future.”

Haunted Bunting Nook, near Graves Park

They carried out an investigation of Bunting Nook, near Graves Park, with the local author Adrian Finney, writer of a book called Strange Sheffield’, to show them round some of its spooky spots.

He told them he thought if they picked up anything, it was most likely to be a ‘grey lady’ near the boating lake.

She is thought to have been seen since the 1930s around the park and the boating lake, where pictures are said to have shown a mysterious figure in the background.

Adrian told them there had also been reports of a green ghost which knocked police officers’ helmets off.

They believe they picked up a voice saying ‘go down there’.

An investigation of Stocksbridge by-pass was carried out near an electricity substation and an electricity pylon. and they believe they picked up on their sensors a child’s voice saying ‘hello’ near Pea Royd Lane.

But Andy, from Maltby, believes reports of ghosts round there could be due to an effect of the electric charges of the electricity pylons.

Further away from Sheffield, in one video filmed at Cadeby tunnel, between Doncaster and Rotherham, a female ghost appears to ask "is my baby there", while another voice is heard saying "can you help me".

And an investigation at Dead Man’s Cave, near Dinnington, appeared to produce a voice saying: “Can you see me?”

Andy says they hope to carry out more investigations in the future, and he is keen to hear from anyone who would like them to look into paranormal happenings in other parts of the city.

You can contact them via their WAH Paranormal YouTube channel.

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