Puhoi Centennial Hall

Puhoi is a picturesque town located to the north of Auckland in New Zealand. The history of Puhoi is closely tied to the immigration of Bohemians, a German-speaking ethnic group, who in 1863,  selected the Puhoi River valley as the site for their new settlement. They named the area Puhoi, after the river that runs through it.

Today, Puhoi remains a small but vibrant community, proud of its cultural heritage and its role in the history of New Zealand immigration. The legacy of the Bohemian settlers is evident in the town's architecture, traditions, and the ongoing efforts to preserve its unique identity.

Puhoi Hall has been a vital hub for the local community since it opened at Easter in 1900.   In 1963  it’s name was changed to Puhoi Centenial Hall and whether hosting epic community events, weddings, or being the hub for local gatherings, this iconic hall has seen it all.  From lively celebrations to heartwarming ceremonies, hall has been the canvas for countless community events. 

Members of the Paranormal Researchers team have investigated the hall several times and have found it to be a very interesting venue.  During our last investigation on a freezing cold evening in  July 2020 the team arrived,  took baseline reading of temperature and emf throughout the building and set up audio recorders, video cameras, data loggers, thermometers, motion sensors and emf meters.  We then left all these running and went across the road to the lovely (warm) Puhoi pub to have dinner.  Upon return we continued investigating by holding several communication sessions in various areas of the building.  We also tried to elicit responses from any possible spirits that may have been present at the time and invited them to make themselves known using a variety of techniques.  As with most investigations it was a very busy night and finally crawled into our sleeping bags at around 3am.  We were hoping to sleep to escape the biting cold which literally seeped in through any small chink in our sleeping bags but were wakened several times by bangs and an odd popping sound.  We did get up and check for the origin of the sounds but could not find an explanation for them at the time.

Once the investigation had concluded and we have returned to our respective homes, had warmed up and caught up on our sleep each investigator commenced their post investigation review and analysis.  This is a long process whereby we go through every second of our audio, video and detailed information about air pressure, temperature, emf reading ect collected on our data loggers.  Once finished that process our individual findings are analysed and discussed among team members in order to eliminate and debunk as much as we can. 

Final Evaluation:

• We did record some possible evps however none were particularly clear (and certainly not the Class 1 evps that we strive for).

• While we were out of the building there were some interesting noises including bangs, cracks, rattles and a sound like someone was tapping on a go-pro which had been left running.  While we would expect a few cracks and creaks from on old building as the night got colder there were a lot of these noises and they were not heard once we returned.  (In fact apart from a couple of creaks and taps the building was relatively quiet between when we got back and when we tried to sleep.)

• During a communication session on the investigation two of the investigators reported feeling something like a cat moving around their feet.  This is what we call a personal experience as while the investigators were sure that that is what it felt like we were unable to corroborate this with any equipment at the time.

• A shadow figure was seen to move across the entrance hall of the hall.  Unfortunately there was not a camera facing that area at the time.

• A melmeter was seen to rock on the table in front of investigators.  No one had bumped the table at the time and luckily there was a camera that recorded it at the time and this is in our video of the investigation.

• Footsteps were heard several times through the investigation while the team were either all seated or not moving.

• The sounds we heard through the night may have been from outside (possibly bamboo popping).

Conclusion:

While much of the “activity” noted and recorded throughout the night could have a rational explanation there was also some interesting occurrences which were caught on video.  Paranormal Researchers feel that this venue should be investigated further in order to attempt to replicate some of this activity and to explore further the source of some of the anomalies noted.  We look forward to returning to further our research in this intriguing historical building. 

Video soon