The Lantern Man at Fort Widley
- Dr Iain M Lightfoot
- 12 hours ago
- 8 min read
If you search for stories on the Internet about Fort Widley undoubtedly you will find numerous accounts of people having come up against the "Lantern man". Like many stories in the paranormal world, these stories seem to be biased in one direction, and that is malevolence. Why everything in the paranormal world has to be feared or has to be dominant or be scary? You know it’s absolutely fine and I understand that very little in this world is understood. In investigations or hunting, we can see little, we reside in the dark straining with our eyes and ears and wondering if the shadows are playing tricks on us. However, when it comes to the Lantern man that’s not Barry or my experience. We’ve had a number of experiences over the past few months, and collected evidence of this.
What we have experienced across multiple investigations is structured evidence of an intelligent haunting. Of a spirit who is curious and wants to make contact. As an aside I am quite frankly surprised that more spirits aren't angry and frustrated, confused and upset by their earthly presence. No, if I had to describe the Lantern man based on what we have expereinced, I would describe him as an older gentleman who was completly focused on his duty and dedication to still walking his rounds.
The Lantern man Story Didn't Come From One Night
Over three different investigations across many months we have built up a better picture and understanding. It’s no-where near complete, of course I’m not sure what ever fully complete means, but at least we are a few steps further towards knowing a little. It is similar to completing a jigsaw puzzle and beginning to put the pieces into the middle to reveal the start of the picture.
Breakthrough
The first real breakthrough came in May 2025 when Barry and I were focusing on tunnel W1. As I lent against the wall Barry suggested that he felt that his hackles were up, this aspect is very common in active locations because often your body can sense the presence of an entity before you see or hear anything. We checked and there was nobody about and so as we continue to focus on W1 we then both heard footsteps and saw the flicker of a light on the wall in front of us. I suggested it was a group coming back up the tunnel and simply dismissed it. We both then realised it wasn’t ambient lighting nor was it a group comibng up the tunnel... Anpother group? That felt right and normal, it was completely logical and rational explanation and 100% sounded like a group coming back up the tunnel. Only a few seconds later when the footsteps stopped and when nobody appeared we began to realise that there was actually nobody around and we were still in our own. It was so exciting, finally we had a breakthrough and experienced the Lantern man for the very first time ourselves… On reflection where the light had reflected was a really important aspect to our understanding, more about this later.
A number of months later in November 2025 we had the opportunity to attend another Fort Widley investigation but this time we weren’t exploring the fort, no, we decided to specifically look for the Lantern man. I suspect, just by reckoning that it was around about the same time of night - about 11:25pm, although in the darkness the minutes turn into hours, the hours fade away because time becomes disorientating and loses meaning. Now, on this occasion Barry saw a light first and then another person we were there with also saw the light; it wasn’t flickering, it was moving deliberately on the wall (to the right of the wall where we originally saw the light for the first time). I quickly turned round and I’d missed it! I felt like child who’d not been offered a sweet, I couldn’t believe it but there it was two people had witnessed the light once again. From this we knew that the Lantern man absolutely frequents that central stairwell regularly.
During the invesitgation we were also calling out the usual, “is there anybody here, can you communicate with us?” In our analysis, we captrured what could only be described as a class A EVP. When we played it back, we hear a voice clearly saying, “can you hear me?” (Embedded video below). This is important because we knew therefore there was a spirit trying to make contact. Was it the Sgt major, the drummer boy or somebody else? If you listen to the voice, it very much sounds like an older gentleman with a slight West Country accent… This was to become an important factor because months later we heard this exact same voice once again, firmly ruling out noise pollution.
Now, we fast forward to April 2026 and our investigation at Fort Widley turned into something spectacular for us all. In fact, it was especially for me. I was thrilled to be the main protagonist because of course I’d missed the event during our previous investigation! What was this amazing spectacular event? Well, we were standing in the central stairwell watching, listening, observing. We were waiting specifically to make contact with the Lantern man. We heard footsteps coming down the stairwell and we looked up and there were two people coming down a man and a woman carrying torches, it was freezing cold and the wind was howling somewhat through the tunnels. As I remember, it was a particularly cold and windy night. They both came down the stairs, we had a brief chat and then they walked and disappeared into the dark down another tunnel.
We then resumed our vigil. Shortly afterwards, we heard footsteps again in the stairwell, a man and woman talking and distinctly coming down the stairwell. I went in and looked up and I said quite clearly, “there’s loads of people coming down the stairwell” and absolutely what I had seen was lights and people coming down the stairwell and with that I went back to watching the tunnels again. We heard a loud bang, I remember Barry saying it sounded like a cannon and I went to tunnel W2 and had a look down towards the end. Of course I didn't see anything, but of course it’s one of the things you do. Then I suddenly realised that no-one had come down the stairwell. I went back and I questioned this, everybody stated that they had actually heard the footsteps and the talking but it was down to me, because it was I who saw the light and the people moving down that stairwell.
We, or rather I, had done it again, made an assumption that it was another group… When we replayed the video, although the video show up the stairwell, because I didn’t think that it was anything to take a video of, you can experience the confusion. The 'cherry on the cake' though was that I had actually captured a Class A EVP of a voice saying, “hello?” It certainly was not one of us. I firmly believe this was exactly the same voice that was heard many months previously. (Video attached). You can go ahead and listen to the two voices on the videos back-to-back, what do you think? This now changes everything.
The evidence suggests something fundamental; this entity is not merely a presence drifting aimlessly. This is something that knows the space, and walks it. That is not residual energy, this is conscious awareness.
So, What Are We Actually Dealing With?
When you bring these experiences together, light that moves with intent, footsteps that respond to request, voices that answer back, you are no longer dealing with something passive, you are dealing with something rather more intelligent. Now we know this, we can place that intelligence within a consistent location, the central stairwell, the conflux of the tunnels, the same route, it allows one to begin to form a profile.
Earlier I said that the wall between tunnel one and two had been lit and on the second occasion the wall between tunnel two and three had been lit and now the central stairwell… We now make the assumption that his route comes down from the central stairwell through with the rear door opening and around to tunnel W3 or perhaps W2. I know this isn’t a lot to go on but it absolutely means that if we can establish the route from the stairwell to tunnel W3 we begin to understand where we can position ourselves to see, hear and capture even more evidence to compile a bigger understanding.
Now the idea of malevolence begins to fall apart because during our encounters there was no escalation, no aggression, and no sense of any threat beyond us naturally standing in the dark and cold in the presence of a spirit. What instead comes through is routine, purpose, and presence. To me it feels like somebody still doing their job dutifully.
Then There’s the Question No-One Is Asking
If this is intelligence… something aware… something capable of interaction… Then why the fleeting nature of the light? Why appear briefly? Why not fully manifest? Why allow itself to be seen only in fragments? Unless it’s not about being seen all the time, it’s about choosing when to be seen and by whom?
This then introduces something far more compelling decision making and choice, this a conformation of intelligence.
The Lantern Man May Not Be Alone
Our April experience has added another layer which nobody has talked about thus far and one that we certainly didn’t expect.
The voices we heard stairwell were not singular. The voices sounded like more than one person. A man and a woman. Movement that suggested a group. This opens the possibility that the Lantern Man is not an isolated, lonely presence, this changes the investigation completely.
What Happens Next
As we move into the next phase of the investigation it becomes rather exciting, not sensationally but from a genuine academic perspective and an investigative stance, because we are no longer asking if someone or something is there, no, we are asking who is there. Who is he? What was his role? Why is he still here? What is he doing and what is he achieving? Would you like to say to us? How does he experience Fort Widley? He certainly can 'see' or 'sense' us.
Barry and I need to engage with the Lantern Man properly, recording 100% of the time, free from noise pollution, structured video recordings 100% time, laser grids, our focus is in the central stairwell. Is this a haunting? Yes, but somehow different. This is now about continuing communication with the other side.
Final Thought
The Lantern Man of Fort Widley is not, in my view, someone to fear, this is more someone that we need to understand. He is a presence, an entity, a spirit that is anchored to this place and seems to be continuing to do his duty. Yet he is reaching out and asking to make contact with somebody that he knows. He’s walking those rounds, possibly with somebody else, doing his duty for time and eternity. We wonder who is ready now to answer the questions, us or him? The real question is not whether, or when, he will appear again, it’s if we are finally ready to understand what he wants from us?
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