- [Narrator] Incredibly spooky World War II control tower
haunted by airmen.
- [Announcer] Welcome to Fact Feast.
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- [Narrator] War time air fields
were witness to much emotion and fear,
for airmen related to missions yet to come over Germany.
And the inevitable tragedy
of the returning injured or casualties.
RAF Bury Saint Edmunds, now known as Rougham Air Field,
also witnessed disaster.
And it is perhaps no coincidence that there are tales
of hauntings and ghostly apparitions of lost airmen
centering on it's control tower.
Fact Feast takes a look at the creepy reports
of supernatural happenings, so you can decide for yourself
if there is any truth to the spooky accounts.
Rougham Air Field is located east of the town
of Bury Saint Edmunds, contructed from 1941 to 1942
for the United States Eighth Air Force.
The airfield is now in private ownership,
much reduced in size, but still active
for civil light aircraft flights on two grass runways.
It's wartime layout comprised
of three intersecting concrete runways,
with the main runway on a roughly east-west axis.
The airfield also comprised 50 hardstands.
Hangars, technical buildings,
and accommodation for 3000 staff in Nissen type buildings
around the village of Rougham.
It served as a base for various light,
medium and heavy bombardment squadrons.
Initially, Douglas A-20 Havocs,
and then Martin B62-B and C Maruaders,
which completed the airfield's first operation
with an attack on an electrical engineering plant
on 14th of May, 1943.
The second mission on 17th of May, was a disaster,
as no planes returned.
And the third mission of 29th of May,
witnessed a catastrophe when a B-26 crashed on the airfield,
killing the crew, damaging a hangar,
and inflicting a severe demoralizing impact on group morale.
On 15th of June, 1943, the 94th Bombardment Group
began operations at the airfield with a Boeing B-17
Flying Fortress and strategic campaigns
against key industrial targets, resulting in a number
of successes and citations awarded from key battles
at the end of the war.
Including D Day and the Battle of the Bulge.
With 300 missions, despite successes,
there have been crashes, accidents,
injuries and loss of life.
The airfield was returned to the Royal Air Force in 1945,
after the war, closed in 1948 and left unused
for several months.
The concrete runways and hardstands, being broken up
and returned to agriculture.
Some hangars and attendant buildings
were still used for industry.
The control tower, however,
was occupied as a private dwelling for many years,
before being abandoned in 1988.
In the 1990s, it was restored to its present use
as an aviation museum, preserving history
by telling the story of its wartime function.
There are a number of stories of hauntings,
resulting from the airfield's turbulent history.
One such tale, is of an airman named L'il Butch,
who was shot down during a raid over Germany in 1945
and whose apparition was witnessed by his comrades,
wandering around the base not long after his death.
As if he had just returned from the mission,
and hadn't died at all.
Of course, with emotions running high
with his fellow crew after such a tragic event,
you might wonder if a snatched glimpse
of one of the numerous airmen,
in similar uniforms at the base could be mistaken for him.
But that's for you to decide.
L'il Butch doesn't seem to be
the only serviceman seen wandering around the airfield,
after losing their life.
So much hauntings, if you believe them,
aren't isolated to one incident.
During the 1970s, many events couldn't be attributed
to any source and remain unexplained, perhaps, supernatural.
Sounds of phantom aircraft taking off were heard.
Although you might think
this could have been a civil aircraft,
mistaken for one of the heavy aircraft from the war.
That said, there should be a noticeable difference
between the sound of a light and heavy aircraft taking off.
And the noise of a light aircraft would be more localized.
If we look to other sources,
there are industrial buildings nearby.
But surely machinery here couldn't reproduce
the distinctive mechanical and aerodynamic noise
of rotations from a propeller engine,
as it rises into the sky, could it?
Although those who claimed to have heard
these propeller like noises have checked the sky
to find it free of aircraft, it's not obvious
that anybody has been able to record what they heard.
So, it remains a mystery.
In the control tower itself, people have witnessed faint,
but audible sounds of transmissions,
and scraps of conversations.
Perhaps the most disturbing is that of a pilot,
who crashed his plane after running out of fuel,
while waiting to land.
He is heard to cry out
"Why wouldn't you let us land?"
It's similarly hard to rule out
interference from other sources,
but it would be easier to accept such reports,
if we know that no other electrical equipment was present,
albeit the fizz of static from radio transmissions
are normally distinguishable from other noise mediums.
And if you believe the seemingly haunting words
of the desperate airman were heard,
and set aside the possibility of misinterpretation
of noises or a vivid imagination,
then you may agree that this is unexplainable.
You might also believe that it's difficult
to explain that the tannoy, has apparently been heard,
but later checked and seemed to be disconnected.
Given the ghostly activity,
said to have been experienced at the airfield,
it is no surprise that the control tower
and it's attendant buildings have become a modern day focus
for paranormal investigation, using an array
of modern electrical equipment, such as infrared
and electromagnetic energy sensors, alongside Ouija boards
and standard methods, such as spirit box,
radio frequency scanning and dowsing rods.
Unexplained phenomena, attributed to the supernatural,
include mysterious smells of oil and perfume.
Strange lights, as well as a glimpse of feet,
and even the figure of a stocky man,
with slicked black hair have been seen
on the ground floor,
Whilst upstairs, visitors have experienced
a strong smell of tobacco.
It is worth noting that the museum and Nissen huts
display aircraft instruments and parts
recovered from crash sites in Suffolk and Norfolk,
and there may be residual impressions
of these traumatic crashes associated with them,
that have manifested in seemingly paranormal phenomena.
That include strange tappings or banging noises,
and feelings, such as a sense of being watched.
Of course, there is always the possibility
of worldly explanations of what people saw or smelt,
and responses to stimulus of random shadows and light
can cause the brain to construct shapes,
such as people or faces, that make sense to our minds.
Do you think that Rougham Airfield is haunted?
Or are you sceptical of these apparitions?
Would you spend a night in the control tower?
Tell us in the comments section.
Thank you for watching.
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