In 2004 my school organised a hockey tour in Kimberley in the Northern Cape. As one of the outings while we were there was a ghost tour through parts of the suburb of Belgravia which has been around since the late 1800s, but we mainly toured through the school we played at which was founded in 1897. When I think back to this tour (and even during the tour itself), I can't help but feel that a lot of the events/stories that took place were fabricated just for the experience of the tour. But then again, Kimberley has over 158 confirmed haunted locations and some of South Africa's most common ghost sightings. So I cannot confirm nor deny that what was said and experienced on the tour was legit, but regardless I'm going to share my experience and hear what your thoughts on it are 
.
We started the tour in the old boarding house of the school that hasn't been used in decades. But since the 1940s up until the 1960s, it was believed that the ghost of a World War 2 soldier guarded the entrance to the boarding house. This entrance's only lock was a simple latch, so if the boarders wanted to sneak out at night, it wasn't a problem. Shortly after WW2, a number of photos of people connected to the school who went to fight in the war were hung up (and many of these people died in combat). One particular photo was of a young man in military uniform (who had died in combat) and he was facing the direction of the boarding entrance. It was said that whenever students tried to sneak out at night, his photo frame would fall off the wall and the glass of the frame would break, alerting the night staff on duty. Apparently this would happen every time.
In the girls' boarding house (also no longer in use), one of the rooms was the scene of a suicide hanging. No one wanted to sleep in the room afterwards so it was empty. The way the building was structured, the girls would have to walk passed the room to go to the bathroom and it was reported that whenever they walked passed the room, the door would open slightly, and when they went back to their rooms, the door would close again. Apparently it got the boarders so startled that they demanded that the door be removed, which it was.
The tour then moved to the school hall where it was reported that the "cloak room" was haunted. This room is where the school stored costumes and props for school plays and there have been a number of reports of costumes being worn and moving around without any visible person wearing them. Apparently it was not a rare occurrence yet they wouldn't take us into the room. Now one could argue that it was for safety reasons in case the entity was malevolent but yet they took us into a haunted chapel and alley way to experience phenomena. So already now I was started to question this tour.
The tour then went to the school chapel where it was believed the organ inside on the 2nd floor would be played even after being turned off. The tour guide had someone play the tune that the ghost in question would play, then demonstrated what sound the organ made when it was turned off. So the person plays, and afterwards the guide says the organ will be turned off and we must stay quiet as we leave the chapel or else instead of the organ playing, the ghost from the Alley of Distress will scream. The organ gets turned off, we start making our way out and one of the other kids starts talking and next thing there's this deafening loud scream that comes out of nowhere echoing in the chapel. It scared all of us quite a bit because it caught us by surprise but I saw something just before that made me question the authenticity of that experience. After the tune was played, the guy explained how the organ sounds when turned off, and while he did that I saw someone come down the stairs leading to the organ and go into a small room under the balcony where the organ was. And I know it was not an apparition. I also found it odd that when the tour guide spoke after the organ was off nothing happened but when he turned it off again to be played unaided and one of the kids talks, something happens. Outside the chapel I actually asked him if that was real and he insisted it was.
So now the tour made its way outside the buildings and we went onto the school sports fields. What apparently happened on the field a number of decades ago, a cricket match was played and the batsman hit the cricket ball with such force that it a clock tower across the street, which was about 300m (585ft) away. And on the anniversary of that match, people have reported hearing a cricket match being played at night and the clock tower getting hit by the ball again.
From the field we made our way to the Alley of Distress. The story behind this alley is that it was initially called Lover's Lane and during World War 1, a woman's boyfriend died in combat and she was devastated. As the tour guide put it, "she died of a broken heart". Anyway, it is believed her spirit is the one that screams in the chapel and screams in the alley as well. So as we make our way to the alley, the guide says we're actually going to walk up to the rock where she would sit and cry and where she was apparently died. As we approach the rock, we hear the loud deafening scream again.
After that, we turned around and the last part of the tour went through the street of a very old part of Belgravia and the guide said to listen out for music playing, lights turning on and off in the houses, and other strange phenomena. All that was heard was a piano being played in a house across the street but it was quite loud given that the windows of the houses were all closed and the street was very broad.
As I said, I still feel this ghost tour was more fabricated than legitimate, as the lighting in the alley and the street was bad so speakers could have been playing the sounds in hidden places. I know some school chapels have sound systems used for weekly services. I didn't look for or see any in this chapel but I'm in no position to rule out that possibility either. Also given what I would feel (presence or otherwise) whenever paranormal activity took place during 2002/2003, I didn't get any of those feelings on this tour when events took place. But please share your thoughts, I would be very interested to hear what you think
.We started the tour in the old boarding house of the school that hasn't been used in decades. But since the 1940s up until the 1960s, it was believed that the ghost of a World War 2 soldier guarded the entrance to the boarding house. This entrance's only lock was a simple latch, so if the boarders wanted to sneak out at night, it wasn't a problem. Shortly after WW2, a number of photos of people connected to the school who went to fight in the war were hung up (and many of these people died in combat). One particular photo was of a young man in military uniform (who had died in combat) and he was facing the direction of the boarding entrance. It was said that whenever students tried to sneak out at night, his photo frame would fall off the wall and the glass of the frame would break, alerting the night staff on duty. Apparently this would happen every time.
In the girls' boarding house (also no longer in use), one of the rooms was the scene of a suicide hanging. No one wanted to sleep in the room afterwards so it was empty. The way the building was structured, the girls would have to walk passed the room to go to the bathroom and it was reported that whenever they walked passed the room, the door would open slightly, and when they went back to their rooms, the door would close again. Apparently it got the boarders so startled that they demanded that the door be removed, which it was.
The tour then moved to the school hall where it was reported that the "cloak room" was haunted. This room is where the school stored costumes and props for school plays and there have been a number of reports of costumes being worn and moving around without any visible person wearing them. Apparently it was not a rare occurrence yet they wouldn't take us into the room. Now one could argue that it was for safety reasons in case the entity was malevolent but yet they took us into a haunted chapel and alley way to experience phenomena. So already now I was started to question this tour.
The tour then went to the school chapel where it was believed the organ inside on the 2nd floor would be played even after being turned off. The tour guide had someone play the tune that the ghost in question would play, then demonstrated what sound the organ made when it was turned off. So the person plays, and afterwards the guide says the organ will be turned off and we must stay quiet as we leave the chapel or else instead of the organ playing, the ghost from the Alley of Distress will scream. The organ gets turned off, we start making our way out and one of the other kids starts talking and next thing there's this deafening loud scream that comes out of nowhere echoing in the chapel. It scared all of us quite a bit because it caught us by surprise but I saw something just before that made me question the authenticity of that experience. After the tune was played, the guy explained how the organ sounds when turned off, and while he did that I saw someone come down the stairs leading to the organ and go into a small room under the balcony where the organ was. And I know it was not an apparition. I also found it odd that when the tour guide spoke after the organ was off nothing happened but when he turned it off again to be played unaided and one of the kids talks, something happens. Outside the chapel I actually asked him if that was real and he insisted it was.
So now the tour made its way outside the buildings and we went onto the school sports fields. What apparently happened on the field a number of decades ago, a cricket match was played and the batsman hit the cricket ball with such force that it a clock tower across the street, which was about 300m (585ft) away. And on the anniversary of that match, people have reported hearing a cricket match being played at night and the clock tower getting hit by the ball again.
From the field we made our way to the Alley of Distress. The story behind this alley is that it was initially called Lover's Lane and during World War 1, a woman's boyfriend died in combat and she was devastated. As the tour guide put it, "she died of a broken heart". Anyway, it is believed her spirit is the one that screams in the chapel and screams in the alley as well. So as we make our way to the alley, the guide says we're actually going to walk up to the rock where she would sit and cry and where she was apparently died. As we approach the rock, we hear the loud deafening scream again.
After that, we turned around and the last part of the tour went through the street of a very old part of Belgravia and the guide said to listen out for music playing, lights turning on and off in the houses, and other strange phenomena. All that was heard was a piano being played in a house across the street but it was quite loud given that the windows of the houses were all closed and the street was very broad.
As I said, I still feel this ghost tour was more fabricated than legitimate, as the lighting in the alley and the street was bad so speakers could have been playing the sounds in hidden places. I know some school chapels have sound systems used for weekly services. I didn't look for or see any in this chapel but I'm in no position to rule out that possibility either. Also given what I would feel (presence or otherwise) whenever paranormal activity took place during 2002/2003, I didn't get any of those feelings on this tour when events took place. But please share your thoughts, I would be very interested to hear what you think
