Step inside one of the UK’s most talked-about haunted-object collections, housed inside a building with its own reported poltergeist history.

Hidden on Broad Street in Rawmarsh, Rotherham, Poltergeist House is home to The Haunted Objects Museum — a collection of famous, feared, and much-discussed haunted artefacts gathered through years of paranormal investigation. Visitors can explore rooms filled with dolls, paintings, cursed-looking objects, investigation equipment, and stories of strange activity reported by guests, teams, and former occupants.

OUR FAMOUS HAUNTED OBJECTS

1. THE POLTERGEIST HOUSE

Long before it became home to The Haunted Objects Museum, this building was already known locally in Rawmarsh as The Poltergeist House.

Former owners, who once ran a bridal and formalwear business from the property, reported a series of strange and unexplained events inside the building. Visitors and staff spoke of a woman in white seen standing at the top of the staircase, while objects were said to move on their own, disappear from one room and reappear in another.

There were reports of items being thrown across rooms, including scissors, as well as larger objects such as gramophones being disturbed. Radios were also said to switch themselves on without explanation.

One of the most memorable reports came from the former bridal dress room, where the unexplained smell of roses was often noticed. Today, that same room is known as Elizabeth’s Room — a fitting and eerie connection, as it is now home to one of the museum’s most famous haunted bridal dolls.

For this reason, the building is not simply the home of the collection.
It is part of the collection.

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2. Elizabeth — The World-Famous Haunted Bridal Doll

Elizabeth is one of the most famous haunted objects in The Haunted Objects Museum and has become one of the best-known haunted dolls in the UK.

Her story has reached far beyond Poltergeist House. Elizabeth has been mentioned by Warner Brothers, appeared on television many times, including This Morning and GB News, and has been featured in national and international headlines.

Elizabeth is said to be linked to intense paranormal activity. She has been reported to scratch married men, set off fire alarms, throw objects around the room, trigger unexplained noises, and create sudden changes in atmosphere. Visitors and investigators have also claimed to feel watched around her, experience sudden drops in temperature, and feel uneasy or emotionally affected while in her presence.

She is housed in the former bridal room of Poltergeist House — a room where the mysterious smell of roses was reported long before the museum opened. Today, that eerie connection only adds to Elizabeth’s growing legend.

Famous, feared, and instantly recognisable, Elizabeth is more than a haunted doll. She is one of the museum’s most iconic and active objects. VISIT ELIZABETHS HOMEPAGE to learn more about her.

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3. The Famous Haunted WWII Wheelchair

The WWII wheelchair is another famous item now inside The Haunted Objects Museum at Poltergeist House, Rotherham.

The chair first became widely known after appearing on ITV’s This Morning on 20 March 2018, when paranormal collector Neil Packer brought items from his Haunted Antiques Paranormal Research Centre into the studio. ITV’s own programme page described the segment as featuring objects from “a World War II wheelchair to a Victorian doctor’s bag,” with Neil revealing the stories behind the “possessed possessions.”

According to its reported history, the wheelchair dates back to the Second World War and is said to have been used in a military hospital treating wounded servicemen. The story attached to the chair claims that many injured soldiers used it, with some reports suggesting that the emotional and physical trauma connected to wartime injury may be linked to the strange sensations people later reported around it.

Its paranormal reputation centres mainly on physical sensations. Previous investigators and visitors have claimed that people sitting in or standing near the wheelchair have felt coldness, heaviness, discomfort, or strange sensations in their legs. Some have described the feeling as though one of their legs had been injured or even amputated, despite having no such injury.

The chair’s fame grew during and after its This Morning appearance. Reports from the show described Neil Packer claiming that the chair was haunted by wounded soldiers and that when he sat in it, he felt as though his left leg had been amputated. Phillip Schofield then sat in the chair on air and joked that he felt “perfectly normal,” but the segment later gained more attention after viewers discussed an image in which his leg appeared strangely hidden or missing while seated in it.

The same This Morning feature also became known for another strange moment: haunted antiques from Neil Packer’s collection were reportedly left in the studio overnight, and footage showed the studio lights going out at around 3:41am. The incident was covered in the press after Holly Willoughby was shown reacting to the footage.

The wheelchair was later acquired at auction by Lee Steer for £350 and brought to The Haunted Objects Museum at Poltergeist House in Rotherham, where it now forms part of the museum’s collection of haunted and historically significant artefacts.

While the chair’s full early history is difficult to independently verify, its public story is now well established: a reported wartime medical object, connected to claims of wounded soldiers, made famous on national television, and now preserved and investigated as part of the Haunted Objects Museum collection.

Historic, unsettling, and nationally recognised, the WWII wheelchair is not just a display piece — it is one of the museum’s most famous haunted objects.

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4. Annabelle UK — The Haunted Raggedy Ann Doll

Annabelle is one of the most recognisable dolls connected to The Haunted Objects Museum at Poltergeist House, Rotherham.

This Raggedy Ann-style doll has often been compared to the infamous Annabelle case connected to Ed and Lorraine Warren and later made famous by The Conjuring universe. While she is not the original Warren Annabelle, the museum’s Annabelle has developed a disturbing reputation of her own.

According to media reports, Annabelle uk was bought then, Soon after, the doll became linked to unsettling claims, including movement on CCTV, strange activity around her display cabinet, unexplained illness, near car-crashes, and dramatic activity during Ouija and séance sessions. MyLondon reported that Lee and Linzi claimed CCTV appeared to show the doll emerging from her display cabinet, and that they had previously caught her flipping over a Ouija board table.

One of the most widely reported incidents involved a heavy Ouija table at the museum. Annabelle was said to have been positioned nearby when the table suddenly flipped or collapsed. Other reports linked the doll to objects moving, people feeling watched, and frightening physical sensations around her.

Media Coverage

The Annabelle story has received coverage across national and regional media. MyLondon covered the case.

The story was also picked up by WalesOnline, which reported that the couple believed their Annabelle ragdoll was possessed

In earlier coverage, Manchester Evening News described Annabelle as the “twin of the USA Annabelle” that inspired the doll in The Conjuring films, and reported claims that the doll had nearly caused a car crash and tipped over a metal table.

The story also reached wider tabloid coverage. The Mirror reported that Lee and Linzi, owners of a haunted objects museum in Rotherham, claimed the doll had caused near car-crashes, a mystery illness,

Internationally, the story was also repeated by OZFM, which reported the claims that Annabelle had flipped a Ouija board table, nearly caused a car accident, and was linked to a mystery illness that allegedly led to Linzi being hospitalised for a week. OZFM also repeated the reported claim that the doll was made in the same factory as the doll connected to the famous Annabelle legend, though that should be worded as part of the doll’s reported story unless documentary proof is available.

Because of this coverage, Annabelle has become one of the museum’s most controversial and recognisable dolls. She connects the Rotherham collection to one of the most famous haunted-doll legends in the world, while still having a story, reputation, and media history of her own.

Part horror icon, part haunted-object mystery, Annabelle remains one of the museum’s most talked-about dolls.

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5. Ed Gein’s Soil — The Plainfield Farm Relic

This small jar of soil is one of the museum’s darkest true-crime objects, said to have been taken from the former property of Ed Gein, the infamous Wisconsin murderer and grave robber known as “The Butcher of Plainfield.”

Ed Gein became notorious in 1957 after police searched his isolated farmhouse in Plainfield, Wisconsin, and discovered human remains and objects made from body parts. His crimes later inspired some of horror’s most famous fictional characters, including Norman Bates from Psycho, Leatherface from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and Buffalo Bill from The Silence of the Lambs. The Graveface Museum, which has a dedicated Ed Gein exhibit, also notes that Gein was arrested in November 1957 for the murder of Bernice Worden, was linked to another murder, and had robbed multiple graves.

The soil in the museum’s collection is reportedly from the land where Gein’s farmhouse once stood. Because the house itself no longer exists, the object represents a claimed physical connection to one of America’s most infamous crime locations.

According to news reports, Lee Steer purchased the jar of soil from an American antiques dealer for £20, with the soil allegedly linked to Gein’s former home. The object later gained media attention after Lee claimed to have used it during a paranormal investigation and captured what he believed was communication connected to Ed Gein.

Media Coverage

The Ed Gein soil story has been covered in the press after Lee Steer claimed he had captured the moment Ed Gein’s spirit communicated through paranormal equipment. Examiner Live reported the story under the headline “Eerie video shows ghost hunter ‘talking to prolific serial killer’”, while the Daily Star also covered the claim, reporting that Lee believed he had made contact using earth allegedly taken from Gein’s former home.

The story was also shared through regional news networks and social media pages connected to outlets such as Plymouth Live and Bristol Live, helping the object reach a wider UK audience online.

Because of its connection to one of America’s most infamous crime scenes, this object carries a very different atmosphere from many of the museum’s haunted dolls and antiques. It is not simply a haunted object story — it is a physical reminder of a real location connected to murder, grave robbing, horror history, and the public’s dark fascination with true crime.

Visitors should understand that the soil’s link to Gein’s property is based on its reported provenance, but the story surrounding it has already brought national attention. Whether viewed as a paranormal trigger object, a true-crime relic, or a disturbing piece of horror history, Ed Gein’s Soil is one of the museum’s most controversial items.

Small in size but heavy in history, this jar of soil represents the ground where one of the darkest legends in American crime began.