20 years on: Most Haunted visits the Oldham Coliseum

Back in 2004, season 5 episode 10 had Yvette Fielding and her team investigating the haunted history of Oldham's most popular theatre as they spend the night there. 

The coliseum as it is today first opened in 1887 with Culleen's Circus as its resident show before it was eventually sold and relicensed as a theatre and had famous names such as Charlie Chaplin grace its stage.

First aired on November 16, 2004, the episode began with Yvette discussing the history of the Coliseum with various people, including historian Richard Felix. 

He told the story of Harold Norman, an actor who died after he was stabbed with a sword on stage while playing Macbeth.

The historian said that while Mr Norman initially managed to get first aid in the wings of the theatre, he died of his injuries a short while later.

Harold became the main menacing spirit in the episode and caused goosebumps and screams throughout the 44-minute episode. 

The first instance of the paranormal we see is Derek Acorah, a spiritualist medium, who begins to say he is communicating with 'energy' he begins to feel.

Derek Acorah 'speaking' to 'energy' (Image: Most Haunted)  

Derek says he is conversing with a spirit who tells him there is someone else there and when he asks for the name, he repeats the name Harold Norman. 

He then begins to enact a scene of a sword fight and grabs his stomach before falling to the ground. 

If to be believed as genuinely paranormal, his action is especially strange as Harold Norman's injuries were sustained to the abdomen.

Over the rest of the episode we see various 'paranormal' examples, such as two seats falling down on their own after cast members asked spirits for a sign. 

One cast member gets rather excited at three 'sightings' of 'orbs' across his camera.

Perhaps the most adrenaline-filled scene, which did create a bit of a jump scare, is when Yvette is in the basement of the theatre and a generator starts up, seemingly spontaneously. 

After the initial fright, in which Yvette grabs hold of the cameraman, she demands they get out of the basement.

The team claim that the manager of the Coliseum at the time told them the generator was not programmed to go off in the middle of the night.

The next moment we are shown is a 'table tilting' exercise the team perform, in which a member of the team is speaking as a young boy named 'Tom'. 

As 'Tom' the team member says: "We want you out, the man is chasing me- Harold, Harold is chasing me because I stole from him." 

Whether the team simply put on a good performance or whether ghosts truly exist in the Oldham Coliseum is perhaps up to personal opinion.

Either way it made for an entertaining watch, even if it was just admiration for their dramatics.