Room five and new locations - Amazon Prime renews 'My Haunted Hotel’ for two more seasons
An Amazon Prime show based on Chester's 'most haunted hotel' has been commissioned for another two seasons.
In May of this year, 'My Haunted Project', a series set within Ye Olde Kings Head on Lower Bridge Street, was released on Amazon Prime.
At over 400-years-old, the building has had over two thousand eye-witness accounts and 'reports of paranormal activity' spanning over decades.
The series explores the documented activity inside the inn, with detailed footage and commentary throughout.
"There's a lot of moments where I'll be quite honest with you, it's boring," said Danny Moss from My Haunted Project, who cited one of the biggest challenges to filming was adopting a new documentary-style format.
"It's really boring because you're going through weeks and weeks and weeks of footage where nothing is happening."
In 2019, landlord Harry Achilleos closed the hotel for standard use and rigged the entire place with cameras - including night vision and thermal imagery.
For the first time, guests could book 'overnight investigations' at the former hotel, where they could take part in their own 'ghost-hunt' with live cameras recording the whole thing.
The team launched 'My Haunted Project' on Youtube to share the footage caught on camera. Now boasting over 1.7 million views, it paved the way for a show on Amazon Prime.
One of the more intriguing plot lines of the series followed a secret void in room five, in which the team eventually discovered a mysterious box.
"To be completely honest with you, me and Dan actually really wanted to go in there," Danny told Chester Nub News.
With the series rounding off with Harry's decision to not disturb its contents, Danny revealed the rest of the team were slightly more keen to peak inside.
He added: "That whole box scenario has been a thing since the project started.
"Once we figured out there is a void behind the wall of room five and once we got Dan up into the attic to kind of discover what that is, everybody wanted us to get into that box and find out what was in it.
"What we believe is there is like a clay doll or clay toy inside.
"I would absolutely love to excavate it and get it tested very much, like we did with the sword, you know, and try and find a date on it - try and find out when it's from, why it's there.
"But the decision ultimately is Harry's. I think one day he will agree to it."
During the same episode, co-producer Dan Callaghan is sent into the attic to find a route into the void, during which he loses consciousness as the crew calls for him below.
Danny added: "It was really an exciting day because no one had ever been up into that attic space since Harry had owned the building.
"So for us, we were like, 'oh my God, what's he going to find?' A sword had already been found in the building, so is there a possibility of him finding something else?"
Appealing to a sceptical audience alongside believers of the paranormal was something the team wanted to focus on for the first season.
To do this, the series featured local psychologist Dr Nicola Lasikiewicz, who provided commentary for each moment of reported activity, often suggesting explanations to rule out the paranormal.
Danny said: "We get a lot of people, myself included, who are quite sceptical of the paranormal.
"We kind of wanted to create something that would hit a much wider audience rather than your avid believers, which was why it was important to feature people like Dr Nic to really try and spin that scientific aspect and that kind of rational approach."
Whilst the co-host remained tight-lipped on plans for the next two seasons, he did reveal the location for filming would not be in Ye Old Kings Head.
"Probably the disappointing thing for you is that it's not going to be in Chester," he added, "What I can say is in season two there will be an update from the hotel.
"You know, what's been happening since we filmed season one, because it's still open all the time to the public and the cameras are still rolling to capture those moments.
"There will definitely be an update and a kind of glimpse into what is going on at Ye Old King's Head.
"My Haunted Project is a huge thing, it's not just about My Haunted Hotel.
"Seasons two and three of the Amazon show will be based on some of our other locations."
Danny revealed his belief that experience is often the root of most people's interest or fascination in the paranormal.
He said: "I really do think that it takes you to have an experience to kind of spark your interest.
"Certainly in my situation I never used to give paranormal things a second thought, but once you have that experience it does pique an interest.
"I've lived close to Chester all of my life and I've been visiting Ye Old King's Head since 2014.
"I've always known it to have some really strange goings on.
"You only have to look at the sheer amount of eyewitness accounts from over the last sort of 20 years with that place.
"Not all of these people can be just imagining things.
"When a place has that many eyewitness accounts, it really does pique the interest of people who research the paranormal."
My Haunted Project season one is available to watch on Amazon Prime.
The Lower Bridge Street building remains open for those who seek to conduct their own investigations or simply experience the building for themselves.
You can book your own stay or find out more here.
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