Ghostly Encounters at Bradwell Farm House Leave Sceptics Shaken

A chilling investigation at Milton Keynes’ Bradwell Farm House left sceptics rattled after encounters with a ghostly child and a sinister woman seen in mirrors, writes EMMA SAUNDERS of Ghostly Gatherings

Bradwell Farm House does not look especially eerie from the outside.

It used to be a YMCA building – the sort of place with plenty of beds, hired out to groups for all sorts of functions – but it has long since been sold off and turned into flats.

Bradwell itself is one of the oldest parts of Milton Keynes, built around the historic Bradwell Abbey, and it is well known locally for its ghosts.

I had heard of a couple of pubs in the area with activity, but the farmhouse drew me in because it had that still, watchful feel before you even walked through the door.

In May 2017, we were upstairs in one of the bedrooms, set up in a circle.

One of the attendees was in his early 20s, on his first-ever investigation, and very sceptical.

He has cerebral palsy, which means he has limited use of his left side and cannot lift his arm higher than elbow height.

We were just getting started when the medium said a spirit was coming in.

All of a sudden, he said, “My arm’s lifting”.

It crept up to the point he could usually get it to – and then it kept going, right above his head.

That is a movement he simply cannot make.

His face changed instantly; he went from joking to absolutely panicked.

He was so shaken, he had to leave the room.

We calmed him down in the corridor, but he would not come back in.

My feeling at the time – and it is only a feeling – was that it might have been a child spirit.

Back in the day, disabilities were not understood in the way they are now, and I think this child might never have seen someone with cerebral palsy before.

Maybe they were curious, trying to figure out why his arm did not work like everyone else’s.

Whatever it was, it scared him enough to change his mind about the paranormal completely.

He had arrived that night not believing in anything; he left convinced there was something more out there, though I do not think he has been on another investigation since.

Later that night, we decided to do some scrying – using a mirror to see if any spirit images would appear.

We split into two groups, each with our own mirror in separate rooms.

I was in one room with his sister and four or five others.

She had come in with the same scepticism as her brother.

She sat down in front of the mirror, started to focus – and then suddenly freaked out, backing away.

She said she had just seen the image of a woman looking back at her.

The description she gave was very specific: witch-like features, pointy nose, long hair, and a sinister expression.

While we were still processing that, we heard screaming from the other bedroom.

We rushed out into the corridor and met the other group coming towards us.

They had seen the exact same face in their mirror at the same time.

Same pointy nose, same hair, same unnerving look.

There were five or six people in that room too, but only the person directly in front of the mirror saw her clearly.

Even so, the reaction from both rooms was instant and intense.

It was not a vague shadow or a trick of the light – it was a clear, identical image appearing in two different places at once.

That is when I started to think we might be dealing with more than one spirit here.

The curious child interacting with the young man felt completely different to the woman in the mirrors.

My guess is the child may have been part of a family who lived here long ago, perhaps when it was still a farmhouse.

The woman? I honestly do not know.

She had an energy that did not feel connected to the boy – more like she moved between rooms, watching what we were doing.

The building’s history gives it plenty of opportunity for lingering energies.

When it was run by the YMCA, it hosted all sorts of overnight stays, but the bones of the place go back much further.

Bradwell is an old settlement, and Milton Keynes has simply grown up around it.

I would not be surprised if the land itself has seen centuries of lives and stories, each leaving something behind.

That night at Bradwell Farm House has stuck with me for two very different reasons: the deeply personal, physical interaction that challenged someone’s belief in what is possible, and the shared, simultaneous sighting of a figure that chilled two groups in different rooms.

Encounters like that – especially when they happen to sceptics – can turn an ordinary investigation into something unforgettable.

I have never been back since it was turned into flats, and I often wonder if any of the new residents have had strange moments there.

If the boy and the woman are still around, I doubt they will be leaving any time soon.

Have you experienced anything paranormal at Bradwell Farm House or nearby? Tell us in the comments section!

Find out more about Ghostly Gatherings’ paranormal investigations on its website.