The thriving Tivoli Night Club was built in 1925 as a theatre and cinema, and draws young people from around the locality and is also fondly remembered by those whose endearing young charms have long gone. In the past groups such as Status Quo, Mud, Thin Lizzie, Freddy and the Dreamers, Voulez-Vous, The Lightening Seeds, Dodgy, Space, Shed Seven, Slade, The Real Thing, Earth Wind and Fire, Desmond Dekker, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin have appeared at the club, the list is endless. Comedians like Chubby Brown, Frank Carson also appeared at the Tivoli.  Between the summer of 1992 and the spring of 1993, Radiohead played there twice. Since a renovation and rebranding in 2000, few bands played live at the venue, with the club music policy having more emphasis on commercial dance and pop music, with a rock night on Fridays. Recently, bands such as Skindred, Hed PE and OPM have all played there. The venue attracts crowds from Chester, Wrexham, Manchester and Liverpool. Also in the old days, boxing bouts would take place there using the old 'stage' to accommodate the ring. When it was a theatre, the building was converted and modernized to include electric lighting; this was in the later part of the 1920s. The building was once home to the famous Buckley Amateur Pantomime Company. It was 7.30pm on a chilly evening half way through January in 1933. A crowd of people was sitting expectantly in the auditorium of the Tivoli Theatre waiting for the show to begin.

The show in question was the second pantomime performed by the Buckley Amateur Pantomime Company and the first produced by Dennis Griffiths (1895-1972).

As the curtains parted on the opening chorus of Dick Whittington and his Cat, an enchantment had begun which weaved its magic through the hearts of Buckley folk and far beyond throughout 27 glorious years. People walked from as far away as Broughton, Hawarden and Ewloe. For rehearsals The Tivoli, then a cinema and now a nightclub, was unavailable until the Sunday before the show so rehearsals were held in Mr. Griffiths' house, the Assembly Rooms, Liverpool Road, now the Conservative Club, in a hut in Church Road and in the hut at Hawkesbury. At 8.45pm on March 14 1959 the curtains raised on the last performance of the last pantomime, Puss in Boots. The only death recorded on the premises was that of a projectionist when the Tivoli was a cinema he was killed in a fire which started in the reel room. Nitrate film base was the first transparent flexible plasticised base commercially available, thanks to celluloid developments by John Carbutt, Hannibal Goodwin, and Eastman Kodak in the 1880s. Eastman was the first to manufacture this for public sale, in 1889. Unfortunately, nitrate also had the drawback that it was extremely flammable (being essentially the same chemically as guncotton) and decomposed after several decades into a no less flammable gas, leaving the film sticky and goo-like (and ultimately dust).As this happened, the likelihood of auto-ignition increased even further. Projection booth fires were not uncommon in the early decades of cinema if a film managed to be exposed to too much heat while passing through the gate, and several incidents of this type resulted in audience deaths by flames, smoke, or the resulting stampede. [Picture of the Tivoli in the 1930’s] You can talk to almost anyone who has worked in a theatre for any length of time, and they will very likely have a story about unexplained goings-on. Spirits and ghosts seem to like theatres. Perhaps many theatres are thought to be haunted because of their cavernous structure and acoustical design that amplify every sound: in a quiet, empty theatre, the gnawing of a mouse becomes the sound of an actor's spirit traversing the stage, or the knocks and creeks caused by the natural expansion and contraction of its many parts is thought to be a deceased crewman still hammering together a set. Then again, perhaps because a theatre is a place of drama and emotion, those feelings are in a sense captured by the building and re-enacted even when the stage lights are off, resulting in a residual haunting. Nearly every human emotion has been played out on the stages and screens of old theaters. Maybe these highly charged emotions, both real and make-believe, are the reason that so many ghosts choose to haunt theatres. Then again, maybe a few ghostly actors simply crave attention, whether dead or alive. Likewise if you ask anyone who works in a cinema - even the newest, shiniest multiplex - they will almost certainly tell you that the place is haunted. Why should this be? Here’s one theory:

In a cinema auditorium, laughter or tears are evoked as the on-screen story weaves its spell over the audience. So what happens to all these emotions? It has been suggested they are absorbed by the bricks and mortar of the building, in the same way that heat is retained by a storage radiator. And given the right circumstances they may be released; experienced by the susceptible as uncanny sensations, strange noises or visions, half-glimpsed through shadow. Any cinema, whether old or new, contains a sense of vastness. I defy anyone to stand alone in a darkened auditorium, and not be awed by the towering height of the ceiling far above. Then they might notice that peculiar optical illusion of the screen becoming endlessly larger, and jump when the inevitable little cracks and creaks begin. And although we tell ourselves it’s just the building settling down; the ordinary contraction of cooling materials and pipe-work, why does it feel as if someone - something - is there with us? Maybe because under normal conditions a cinema is full of people, and this unnatural emptiness calls out for our minds to fill it.

So if you feel a cold breathe on your neck when next in the Tivoli, it’s probably not an exit door that’s been left open; it could be the resident ghost.

Group members attending the investigation

Lorraine Ellis, Andrea Ellis, Kate Lloyd, Vivienne Davies, Mike Griffiths and Jimmy Ellis.

The investigation

Most theatres pick up some form of psychic phenomena, perhaps due to the high emotions generated by the theatre’s everyday activities. A ghost of a man is believed to have haunted the Tivoli for decades. For those employees who work there, the ghost is part of their everyday life - part of the fixtures and fittings. For those who have seen him or sensed him, they believe. For others it’s a bit of a mystery and they would like answers. The investigation started with the group setting up their night vision cameras in the stage area and bar. A night vision camera was also placed in the long disused circle area above the false ceiling. The group performed a baseline test throughout the building. There are many potential causes for the unusual values we sometimes see on our EMF meters and it is only with careful observation, sound measurements and a good understanding of the way in which EMF's behave that we are able to make an informed assessment of the causes for any unexpected measurements we may see.

Some of our group along with our medium had performed a walkabout with the owner some weeks before in order to work out just where to situate the equipment and cameras. During the walkabout our medium had picked up on a gentleman in a pantomime costume close to the stage area. The manager said that a few years ago sometime around the 1980’s a young girl had a conversation with a man dressed in a pantomime costume in one of the changing rooms situated at the back of the stage area but on the next floor up, to the girl’s horror the man suddenly and inexplicitly vanished, could this apparition be the same man our medium was picking up on and would we come across him again tonight. All the lights in the building were switched off and the investigation began.

One of our mediums started to pick up again on the same man he had seen some weeks before, however it became obvious that because of some confused facts he was actually picking up on two gentlemen with similar names and religious backgrounds. He gave the first man’s name as Harold Dolby who he said was Jewish. Harold had worked and performed in pantomime at the Tivoli for many years and loved pantomime. Harold appeared to have been involved not only with acting but also helping backstage as a stagehand moving props and generally helping with whatever he could. Harold wasn’t grounded and said that others also occasionally return in visitation and gave the Christian names of Thomas, Richard and Mark. He also said his brother had also worked with him at the Tivoli, the name he gave was Ruben, however Ruben never returns to the Tivoli. The second gentleman appeared to be Harry who was also Jewish, hence the confusion. Harry was the projectionist killed when the reel room exploded when the Tivoli was a cinema. Apparently he had been smoking just before the fire; however during this investigation some doubt emerged as to whether indeed this version of events involving his passing was factual. There is little doubt he died in the fire but foul play might have resulted in his death and the resulting fire which engulfed the Projection room.

In the ladies toilet which was once a dressing room Vivienne began picking up on a lady who she thought was a cleaner the name Vera was given and this was confirmed by the owner who said that when the fire started the only other person in the building was a cleaning lady, but didn’t know her name, unfortunately she wasn’t able to reach Harry because of the intense fire that had taken hold around the projection room and stairway. The female members decided to experiment with table tipping. Table tipping in the early days of the 20th century was really considered little more than a parlor game. The basic technique behind it is quite simple. The group of people simply sits around a table, with each person resting his hands flat on the top surface of it. If everyone is patient enough, and prepared to possibly do this for several sittings, they will almost always be rewarded with some sort of phenomena. When starting out, it’s likely that the sitters will be startled by rapping and knocking noises but as the experiments continue, the table will likely vibrate and will eventually begin to move. As the number of sittings increase, the group will increase in power and the phenomena will increase along with it. It’s also possible that the table (as it did in the days of the home circles) will behave as with some intelligence. Once the group has begun to experience strange effects, it will be possible to ask questions

The table began to vibrate and then move violently, Vivienne began to pick up on a little girl by the name of Molly with blonde hair. The group tuned to the Ouija board in the hope of gathering some more information. The group asked for the surnames of the gentlemen Harold had said return in visitation and the information that was spelled out was a Richard Roberts – Mark Johns – Thomas Jones. It gave Harold Dolby’s birth date as 1905. More information was forthcoming about the little girl Molly; she was 6 years old and was allegedly involved in stage shows along with her mother Vera. Vera also worked as a cleaner at the Tivoli in 1926; she then went on to perform on the stage when the cinema closed and reopened as a theatre. Her daughter Molly had blonde hair and blue eyes and carried a teddy bear she called Clifford around with her. Another ladies name that came out from the Ouija board was Judy who had also worked as a cleaner in the Tivoli in 1939. Again messages from loved ones had also been given to some members of the group which is always very emotional for those taking part. Some users believe that paranormal or supernatural forces are at work in spelling out Ouija board answers. Sceptics believe that those using the board either consciously or unconsciously move the pointer to what is selected. Everyone has their own opinion on Ouija Boards and that’s fine.

On one of our night vision cameras which had been placed up on the now unused upper circle had recorded some fascinating and puzzling anomalies, the group rewound and played it back for the owner to watch. The footage was some of the best we have ever seen and it remains unexplained. Some orb activity was also caught on another night vision camera which we placed facing away from the stage and looking down on to the dance floor. Another camera which had been placed close to the bar where employee’s had always felt uncomfortable did not record anything out of the ordinary.

We would like to thank Martin for his hospitality and for allowing our group in to investigate the Tivoli which we all agreed was a fantastic location to search for paranormal activity.