This building on Town Hill is believed to be well over 300 years old, but the oak beams in the shop have been dendro-dated or tree ring dated to around the 1500’s The beams are believed to have come from a Spanish Galleon which sailed with the Spanish Armada in 1588. Many Spanish ships were damaged and founded on our shores as they fled the fighting, driven off course by severe gales they either perished on rocks or ran aground in order to save lives. Those ships that survived this storm, headed for Ireland. Here they were convinced they would get help and supplies. Why did they think this? Ireland was still Catholic and the Catholic Spanish sailors believed that those with the same religion would help them. They were wrong. The Armada harboured in what is now called Armada Bay, south of Galway. Those sailors who went ashore were attacked and killed. The Irish, Catholic or not, still saw the Spanish as invaders. Figures do vary but it is thought that only 67 ships out of 130 returned to Spain – a loss rate of nearly 50%. Over 20,000 Spanish sailors and soldiers were killed.

Wrexham gained its first newspaper in 1848. Market Hall was built in 1848. In 1863 a volunteer fire brigade was founded. (The corporation formed a professional fire brigade in 1895). Wrexham Waterworks Company was founded in 1864 to provide the town with piped water. Also in the 1860s sewers were dug under the streets of Wrexham. (Although it was not until 1894 that all houses in the town had flushing lavatories connected to sewers). The first cemetery in Wrexham opened in 1876. Furthermore from 1876 horse drawn trams ran in the streets of Wrexham. The first public library in Wrexham opened in 1878. Overton Arcade was built in 1868. Central Arcade followed in 1891.Meanwhile Wrexham was incorporated (given a mayor and corporation) in 1857. Wrexham was also given a coat of arms

The Investigation

The proprietors of these premises on Town Hill, Wrexham, had allowed the North Wales Paranormal Group in to investigate what they believed was paranormal activity in their shop.

The group’s medium wasn’t told anything about this location beforehand and knew nothing concerning the history of the shop. He and another paranormal investigator performed a walk about with one of the shops proprietors Richard Hughes the week before.

On the top floor he picked up on a strong smell of pipe tobacco and a gentleman in a white shirt, wearing a dark waist coat. The owner confirmed that this was what they and others had experienced; the very strong odour of pipe smoke was causing a problem due to the fact that smoking is banned in all shops and people might assume that someone in the shop was breaking the ban. Richard Hughes said: “That a gentleman in a pinstriped suit had also been seen walking across the shop floor and was then seen to disappear through a solid wall” Our medium would try and find out the identity of this spirit gentleman, when we returned for the investigation.

On the night of the investigation the group set up two of their night vision locked off cameras on the top floor where the spirit of a gentleman had been seen previously. Hopefully the group would record orbs or even catch some movement. All the lights were switched off and the investigation began.

The group’s medium soon picked up on the same spirit he had encountered the week before and gave the name of Edwin Owens and a date for him of around 1880. Edwin Owens was a clock maker, who had a workshop at the back of the premises; he made and repaired all sorts of time pieces including pocket watches. Edwin was a pleasant man and liked the shop now because it also sold time pieces. He also enjoyed smoking his pipe, the smell of pipe tobacco had been prevalent the week before but during our evenings investigation nothing was detected.

On a number of occasions during the investigation orbs had been caught on our night vision cameras moving about on the top floor and coats could also be seen moving on the coat racks. Knocks and taps were heard coming from behind a door on the top floor and on the ground floor a door was seen to open slowly, no explanation could be found as to what would cause this to happen.

The Ouija Board was used to try and gather more information from Edwin, we do tend to be sceptical especially when dates are given, past experiences have been encouraging but for some reason dates are not always accurate. Edwin said he was married to Andrea and they had six children, Edwin, Paul, Oliver, Benjamin, Rebecca and Elizabeth. He apparently fathered another child by a lady that lived on Erddig Road Wrexham. He also preferred to be called Mr. Owens and not Edwin. He lived with his wife and children at 8 Market Street, Wrexham. Allegedly he lived in Market Street until a fire destroyed the house in 1937 which also took the life of one of his sons.

He wasn’t happy however about one of the rooms on the top floor of the shop and said things needed to be changed to help sales, the suits needed to be moved away. He had seen some plans that Richard Hughes had for changing the lay-out of the top floor and agreed this should be done. Edwin Owens had also followed Richard home and when the group asked why? He replied, “He was lonely”

Richard asked if Edwin was related to the owner of the shop, and Edwin replied “Yes” Richard then asked, what is his name? And he spelled out Brian Wicks, Richard who seemed utterly surprised said that this was correct and that there was no way any of us could have known that.

Edwin Owens talked of his distress at losing a locket in the shop, it contained a photograph of his wife and children, and he had last seen it while in the attic. The attic space was renovated about 8 years ago but it is unclear whether the locket was ever found. Edwin Owen apparently lived to be over 100 years old and his wife Andrea passed away aged 86.

The conclusion

A good investigation with a lot of information for our historian to research. Plenty of orbs and anomalies caught on our night vision cameras for us to review.

This really confirms to me that Wrexham is one of the most haunted towns in Wales. In fact, it sometimes seems as though Spirits reside in just about every building in town.

 Group members attending the investigation

Andrea, Lorraine, Kate, Mike and Jim

Death and the Entrance into the Spirit World

When a person dies the silver cord, which is an energy cord that connects the soul with the physical body, ceases to exist. The physical body is now under the influence of its spirits and the four Elements which will decompose it and return it to the earth. From near-death experiences we know that when people die, some of them go through a dark tunnel towards a light at the end; others are immediately greeted by already deceased friends and relatives; or they are bathed in a brilliant light. The way of dying has a strong effect on the state of mind of the deceased immediately after passing over.

  When a person dies a sudden death, as with an accident, he often has no clue that he passed over. He thinks he is still alive and is puzzled why he cannot do the things he used to do, or why people do not respond to him. His consciousness is as clear as when he was in the physical body just before he died.

 When a person dies a natural death, he notices that he leaves his body, but soon afterwards he goes ‘to sleep’. His consciousness goes into a vegetative sleep which is more like being in an undifferentiated state of mind for a while. In this state of mind he can hang around in the neighborhood of the place where he passed over. His nebulous consciousness is able to perceive the physical world vaguely, and sometimes he will attach himself to objects, plants, animals or people. In the esoteric teachings this is called the great Sleep, caused by the Dark Angel, the Angel of Death. This initial vegetative state can last from a couple of hours to several days. When he leaves his place of passing over, he still thinks he is alive, and visits the living, and sometimes he lives with them for a while. He is still half or totally unconscious of his deceased state.

Many souls have little interest in what happens to their physical bodies once they are dead. But they do like to hover around the place where they died for a few days.

 Some souls are still attached to the physical world. They try to communicate with the living. In houses that have been built over an earth’s energy spot, they are able to use that energy to manifest themselves to the living. Some of the deceased are still so much attached to the physical that they attach themselves to a living person to enjoy, through that person, the earthly pleasures, like the taste of alcohol, cigarettes, and food and so on. Those souls used to be habitual drinkers, smokers and even compulsive criminals. Such a situation is always to the detriment of the living person, as the deceased interferes with the energy body of that living person. Ailments and disease will follow, sometimes quickly, sometimes gradually. Some of the deceased have a grudge against a living person and will attach themselves to him in order to cause harm. Others had such a strong connection with for example a family member, that when they pass over they attach themselves to that family member, because they cannot give up the relationship they had with that person. This also causes harm to the living person, and the deceased often does not realize that. Such disturbed spirits are rare, and help is available from higher, caring entities, who can assist in the adjustment process from the other side.

 So, the deceased now knows that he has passed over. Some of the deceased now create themselves a dream world based on that what they had expected to find when they would die. Based on these expectations he creates himself a heaven, a hell or any other place he likes. Here he indulges himself in what he likes to do, like eating, feasting and so on, until, after a while, he gets bored with it and realizes that heaven or hell, as he imagined it, is a boring place, and that his expectations of these places were childish constructs of his mind. More developed souls will move much faster through this stage.

 Many spirits will hear relaxing music, allowing them to feel more "at home". Souls will find themselves in an environment of houses, rooms, parks, nature and so on. These are all places created by their mind that relate to the laces they have lived in on Earth. This astral world is usually much nice, more beautiful, more colorful, and much more euphoric.

 Although the soul itself is androgynous, it will usually adapt an outer appearance of male or female in the spirit world. It is a question of what sex one wants to identify with.

Once the deceased wakes up from his dreamy consciousness, and is clear and lucid, he is calm and feels free. In this of mind he can also contact the living.   Souls arriving in this world are greeted by soul mates, friends, and guides. Initially guides might be in the background when friends welcome the deceased soul.