For those of you who are interested in exploring the paranormal and finding out about local history, you should tune into Most Haunted tomorrow evening.  They will be featuring the haunted history of Dingle’s Gaumont Cinema – the Gaumont Cinema by Toxteth.

There have been reports of ghosts appearing for many, many years as well as unexplainable events such as strange lights and noises.  Rumors abound, of course, given the long history of the location and building.  One story tells of a man who supposedly committed suicide behind the cinema screen.  Another local tale, which is of supreme interest to myself and the readers of this blog, tells of a bingo player who died while playing bingo.  The story says that her heart gave out due to the excitement of the game and now she haunts the premises looking to claim her bingo.

Paranormal experts say that the cinema building is in a possible nexus of otherworldly energy.  Apparently there is a triangle formed on the map of Liverpool when you draw a line from two other buildings with a haunting reputation – the Turner Memorial Home and the ancient Chapel of Toxteth.

The unique shape of the building follows the curving road and was built in 1937.  The art deco style building was built to hold the first Gaumont projectomatic theatre system in Britain.  An early precursor to today’s modern cinema equipment, the projectomatic system automated both the lights and the changing of the reels.  There has been some theorising that problems within the system have caused the odd lights that have been spotted, yet the issue has yet to be pinpointed.  When the theatre closed, the building was turned into a bingo hall for a time.