The True Crime Museum
£45 Full or £20 Deposit
7PM-1AM. Friday 13th February 2026
Address: Palace Court, White Rock, Hastings, TN34 1JP
REMINDER: 18+ ONLY, NO PREGNANT WOMEN DUE TO INSURANCE.
The venue is usually unsuitable for disabled guests due to the nature of the buildings, although some venues may be accessible if unsure make sure to get in touch
Join the Phantom Ghost Hunts team as we travel to East Sussex and investigate the very haunted True Crime Museum. With regular unexplainable occurances in the dreaded DEATH CHAMBER are you ready to investigate with us. With Hastings history of smuggling in these very caves and original artifacts owned by some of societies worst criminals who will we come into contact with? Why not take up our optional challenge, 15 minutes in complete darkness in the death chamber, ALONE!
THE HISTORY:
The True Crime Museum occupies a network of caves beneath Palace Avenue Arcade on Hastings seafront. These caves once formed part of the grand Palace Court Hotel, built in 1885 by architect Arthur Wells on the site of a former brewery. Cave 1’s sloped brick floor was originally designed to roll beer barrels toward a now-sealed entrance.
The caves were expanded from natural sandstone fissures by Cornish miners working on local railway tunnels. Their pickaxe marks can still be seen in several caves today.
The Palace Court Hotel was built to profit from the nearby Hastings Pier and offered luxury accommodation, fine dining from Piccadilly chefs, and some of the first electric lighting on the south coast. The huge generators powering the hotel and its central lift were hidden in the caves—fixing points remain visible in Caves 3 and 4.
The Hastings Chronicle reported several tragedies at the hotel in 1905, including a mysterious lift-shaft death and a failed suicide in what is now the museum entrance.
The hotel closed in 1917 and later housed Canadian and RAF personnel during WWI. In 1926, Captain Vincent Moss converted it into Palace Chambers, luxury seafront apartments. Its bar became a bohemian meeting place for artists and occultist Aleister Crowley.
Druid ceremonies were also held in the caves; the raised platform now displaying serial killer John George Haigh’s acid vats likely once supported a Druid altar. Despite a petition signed by nearly 1,100 people, including Crowley, official permission for worship was denied.
THE HAUNTINGS:
More recently, visitors to the True CRIME Museum have reported events of possible paranormal significance. There is a Christian Spiritualist Church neighbouring the caves and photographs taken during the surveys for the Museum revealed extraordinary imagery of glowing orbs and shapes. In November 2014, the Museum's Curator, Joel Griggs was monitoring the CCTV cameras when he witnessed "a hunched, scurrying figure enter Cave 2 via Ripper Alley. I thought it must have been someone who had come down the fire escape steps from above, so 1 ran in after the person and there was no-one there." In additon to the above accounts staff regularly get the feeling of not being alone, footsteps heard in the cave area and whispers.
Hot drinks and biscuits are provided
£45 Full or £20 Deposit
7PM-1AM. Friday 13th February 2026
Address: Palace Court, White Rock, Hastings, TN34 1JP
REMINDER: 18+ ONLY, NO PREGNANT WOMEN DUE TO INSURANCE.
The venue is usually unsuitable for disabled guests due to the nature of the buildings, although some venues may be accessible if unsure make sure to get in touch
Join the Phantom Ghost Hunts team as we travel to East Sussex and investigate the very haunted True Crime Museum. With regular unexplainable occurances in the dreaded DEATH CHAMBER are you ready to investigate with us. With Hastings history of smuggling in these very caves and original artifacts owned by some of societies worst criminals who will we come into contact with? Why not take up our optional challenge, 15 minutes in complete darkness in the death chamber, ALONE!
THE HISTORY:
The True Crime Museum occupies a network of caves beneath Palace Avenue Arcade on Hastings seafront. These caves once formed part of the grand Palace Court Hotel, built in 1885 by architect Arthur Wells on the site of a former brewery. Cave 1’s sloped brick floor was originally designed to roll beer barrels toward a now-sealed entrance.
The caves were expanded from natural sandstone fissures by Cornish miners working on local railway tunnels. Their pickaxe marks can still be seen in several caves today.
The Palace Court Hotel was built to profit from the nearby Hastings Pier and offered luxury accommodation, fine dining from Piccadilly chefs, and some of the first electric lighting on the south coast. The huge generators powering the hotel and its central lift were hidden in the caves—fixing points remain visible in Caves 3 and 4.
The Hastings Chronicle reported several tragedies at the hotel in 1905, including a mysterious lift-shaft death and a failed suicide in what is now the museum entrance.
The hotel closed in 1917 and later housed Canadian and RAF personnel during WWI. In 1926, Captain Vincent Moss converted it into Palace Chambers, luxury seafront apartments. Its bar became a bohemian meeting place for artists and occultist Aleister Crowley.
Druid ceremonies were also held in the caves; the raised platform now displaying serial killer John George Haigh’s acid vats likely once supported a Druid altar. Despite a petition signed by nearly 1,100 people, including Crowley, official permission for worship was denied.
THE HAUNTINGS:
More recently, visitors to the True CRIME Museum have reported events of possible paranormal significance. There is a Christian Spiritualist Church neighbouring the caves and photographs taken during the surveys for the Museum revealed extraordinary imagery of glowing orbs and shapes. In November 2014, the Museum's Curator, Joel Griggs was monitoring the CCTV cameras when he witnessed "a hunched, scurrying figure enter Cave 2 via Ripper Alley. I thought it must have been someone who had come down the fire escape steps from above, so 1 ran in after the person and there was no-one there." In additon to the above accounts staff regularly get the feeling of not being alone, footsteps heard in the cave area and whispers.
Hot drinks and biscuits are provided