An old Victorian fort used as a wartime Royal Navy base has been exciting interest from experts in from the Ghost Club – as well as terrifying visitors who are out to seek paranormal thrills.

Coalhouse Fort in East Tilbury, on the north bank of the River Thames in Essex, was the home of HMS St Clement, sometimes described as HMS St Clements, a Combined Operations and landing craft base between 1943 and 1946.

There was also a degaussing station attached to the establishment, and after the war until 1962 it was used as a Sea Cadet training centre and an Admiralty store.

The fort itself dates back to the height of the Victorian era, having been built on earlier gun emplacements in 1874 – and is one of the finest surviving armoured river forts.

The area has often been in the front-line. Numerous aircraft, both friendly and enemy, were brought down in the area during World War II, but connections with naval forces go right back, at the very least to the 17th century – a Dutch fleet sailed up the Thames and Medway in 1667, and are said to have fired on the tower of the nearby church, bringing down the bells.

Coalhouse Fort contains a labyrinth of underground passages and chambers, and is a labour of love for a loyal army of volunteers who since 1983 have been working hard to restore and maintain the place, many parts of had fallen into a poor state of repair.

One of their main aims is to open it to the public as often as possible, and their main source of income is from such public open days – the last Sunday of each month, March to October, and Hallowe’en open evenings.

This year’s Hallowe’en event was particularly successful in raising twice as much as last year – as well as confirming that there is more to the place than meets the eye.

Sue Oliver, one of the volunteers, said that one method of judging the success of the Hallowe’en evenings was the reaction of members of the public. This year three visitors were so scared they literally wet themselves, while one individual managed to top even that.

The spooky atmosphere had attracted a party of 17 researchers from the Ghost Club of Great Britain in the weeks before Hallowe’en, who planned to explore the tunnels and casemates armed with cameras, recording and sensing equipment.

The Club had initially been alerted to the possibilities of Coalhouse Fort by reports from volunteers of unusual occurrences, including the witnessing of a ‘replay’ of a wartime poker game, batteries suddenly draining, the sounds of footsteps and heavy items being dragged in empty rooms, unexplained voices and on occasions, possible apparitions.

After initial familiarisation tours with guides, and some very strong first impressions, the most promising areas were chosen as vigil sites and the teams went their separate ways.

Two rooms of the Fort are filled with wreckage and memorabilia of aircraft, pilots and aircrew from crashes in the vicinity, and at just after 3.40am in this area a researcher requested if anything was there could it make itself known.

In response, ‘something’ turned off the camcorder light, and when asked to turn it back on, it did so, repeating the trick on a number of occasions on request.

Sue Oliver and Membership Secretary of the Ghost Club, Kathy Gearing, who organised the investigation, had toured the tunnels before the main visit, and both had been struck by a strong smell of garlic in one location, which quickly faded. On the night of the visit members noted a strong sweet smell, which when identified rapidly changed to a citrus smell, then perfume, then faded again.

“One member sensed a boy who appeared to be suffering from gangrene,” said Kathy, “and several members reported mists appearing in the corridors and several reported fleeting glimpses of a man.”

Spectacular temperature drops were noted at various points, often accompanied by unexplained orbs of light.

One member had a particularly unnerving experience.

“Whilst negotiating the various tunnels trying to find me and another member, his oil lamp went out, leaving him in total darkness,” said Kathy.

“What was particularly strange was that when I went to relight it, the wick seems to have been turned down so that none was showing – although he was adamant that he had not touched the dial at all, and the wick did not appear to be loose or faulty in any way.”

Kathy herself said on a previous visit she had sensed a presence in the area of the gun placement – a vivid and strong impression of a middle-aged man in Army khaki with severe burns to the left side of his face.

“I also experienced this ‘vision’ again on the night,” said Kathy.

“When I mentioned this to Malcolm [one of the volunteers at the fort], he said that there was indeed some sort of document that mentioned this incident, and that a visiting medium had also recounted the same.”

The visit is likely to be repeated next year in the hope of gathering more material, said Kathy, who praised the work of the volunteers in preserving the complex.

“Coalhouse Fort was a wonderful place, and the investigation did seem to produce some worthy phenomena,” she said.

“Obviously, one would expect the tunnels to make people uneasy, as it is possible to lose all sense of direction in such a place.

“Likewise you would also expect draughts and cold spots, and I am always aware that there will always be a large group who are sceptical of psychic phenomena – that is, things that are sensed, perceived and felt – but with the strange odours coming and going as they did, and the camcorder appearing to take a life of its own and turning on and off on request, I think that anyone would agree that Coalhouse Fort definitely deserves further investigation.”

• The website of the Ghost Club of Great Britain is www.ghostclub.org.uk

• The Coalhouse Fort website is at www.coalhousefort.freeserve.co.uk or www.qq22.net

• HMS St Clement is to feature in a ‘Stone Frigates’ feature in Navy News in due course. If you have any memories or pictures of the establishment, contact Deputy Editor Mike Gray.