A SUPERNATURAL investigation team was dumbfounded by the wide-ranging paranormal activity they witnessed at a Herefordshire school.

The school in question is the George Jarvis boarding school for children from poor and less fortunate families.

Set in Staunton on Wye, in Herefordshire, the school was built in the late 1850s, opening its doors in 1862 and closing in 2010. The school was left completely closed until a group of volunteers started to bring the school back to life in 2020, but echoes of the past have seemingly bled into the modern day also.

Herefordshire's George Jarvis school initially offered boarding for underprivileged childrenHerefordshire's George Jarvis school initially offered boarding for underprivileged children (Image: Tony Ferguson)

American forces were said to have stayed at the school while it was being used as a military hospital, but during the 1980s, the school became a youth hostel.

Tony Ferguson, along with fellow investigators Bev Ferguson, Sue Robinson, Adam Clark, and Paul Cissell, travelled to this “most haunted school within the UK” and, as very few schools can be booked out as a venue for investigations, “we knew we had to visit,” said Mr Ferguson. 

Tony Ferguson and his fellow investigators visited the 'haunted' schoolTony Ferguson and his fellow investigators visited the 'haunted' school (Image: Tony Ferguson)

“We didn’t want to know the history of the school but wanted to go in blind to see for ourselves what we would encounter on the evening,” he said, claiming that the team was “expecting nothing".

ALSO READ:

To the team’s surprise, they were to encounter much more than “nothing” that evening, catching their findings on camera and posting them to TikTok.

@tonyfergusonghosthunter1 Ghost Of Children Caught at Uk's Most Haunted School #tonyfergusonghostwhisperer #tonyfergusonghosthunter #tonyfergusonparanormalinvestigator #paulcissellpsychicmedium ♬ original sound - Tony Ferguson Ghost Whisperer

“During our investigation, we heard children's voices in the cellar and in the upper rooms of the school,” he said.

There were also “loud footsteps” and a singular, masculine voice conveying a threatening message.

The unwilling benefactor of the school, George Jarvis, left his enormous fortune to the poor of Staunton-on-Wye, Bredwardine and Letton in 1793.


What are your thoughts?

You can send a letter to the editor to have your say by clicking here.

Letters should not exceed 250 words and local issues take precedence.


The investigation team said he had demanded his legacy never be used to erect public buildings, but the building of the school went ahead against his wishes.

Whether coincidentally or not, “a male with a slightly aggressive manner told us to 'get out'” when the team were inside the sinister school’s premises, Mr Ferguson said.

As an investigator that has visited thousands of locations, Mr Ferguson “would easily put this in my top 20 locations in the UK” as “there is a lot that I cannot explain about this building".

“It needs further investigation,” he said.