Southern Paranormal - Investigations

Avenue House Investigation

Saturday 2nd March 2008

Attending Investigators: – Leeanne Westwood – Leading Investigator L&E, Rab Gardner - Leading investigator D&H, Sheila Simpson, Maureen Westwood, Denise Guy + guest, Lee Barrows, Steve Crouch, Gary Catlin, John Zimmerman, Emma Curtis + guest & Matt Hasler.

Introduction

Avenue House is an imposing grade II listed mid Victorian Mansion with extensive grounds situated in Finchley, London.
Originally owned by the Bishop of London, the land on which Avenue House stands used to be known as Temple Croft Fields, after the Knights Templar who were granted it in 1243. From 1312 it belonged to the Knights Hospitallers until their estates were seized by Henry VIII in 1540.
The house then passed through various hands until in 732 it was bought by Thomas Allen, the builder of the existing manor which is now the Steinberg centre.
In 1859, Reverend Edward Cooper, a relative of the Allen family, built a villa on the site, which later became known as Avenue House. It was bought in 1874 by Henry Charles Stephens, son of the inventor, famous for blue-black ink. He died in 1918, bequeathing Avenue House to the people of Finchley.
On May 3rd 1928, nearly ten years after Stephens’ death, Avenue House was formerly opened to the public and has since become a major part of community life in Finchley.
Sadly in 1989 the building was ravaged by fire and since then it has been refurbished sympathetically to retain its character.
On the 1st November 2002 Avenue House Estate Management, a charitable company, took over the management of the estate from the London Borough of Barnet. The trustees comprise of local residents and representatives of the users of the estate.

The Investigation

Teams

Team 1 - Leeanne, John & Matt
Team 2 – Steve, Denise & guest Julie
Team 3 – Rab, Sheila, Emma & guest
Team 4 – Lee, Gary & Maureen

Itinerary

7.45pm All meet outside house
8.00pm Meet hosts and have quick tour of the location
8.30pm Set up equipment & prepare for starting vigils

8.45pm Vigil 1
Team 1 – Basement
Team 2 – Ground Floor
Team 3 – 1st Floor
Team 4 – 2nd Floor

9.45pm Break

10.00pm Vigil 2
Team 1 – Ground Floor
Team 2 – 1st Floor
Team 3 – 2nd Floor
Team 4 – Basement

11.00pm Break (1/2 hr recharge break)

11.30pm Vigil 3
Whole group séance vigil

12.30am Vigil 4
Team 1 – 1st Floor
Team 2 – 2nd Floor
Team 3 – Basement
Team 4 – Ground Floor

1.30am Break

1.45am Vigil 5
Team 1 – 2nd Floor
Team 2 – Basement
Team 3 – Ground Floor
Team 4 – 1st Floor

2.45am Pack up
3.00am Depart

Team / Vigil Notes>

Instead of asking each team to complete notes during vigils we asked each attending member to submit a much more in-depth personal report documenting both their group experiences and their personal experiences. This has proved successful for other regional SP UK teams especially when, like in this instance there are less members than usual per team. It allows members in the team to concentrate on taking emf, temperature readings and filming etc while on vigils.

Personal Reports

Leeanne Westwood

As the person who arranged this investigation, I have to admit that I was a little worried in the lead up to the night. The building looked magnificent but would it deliver on the night? The most prominent story of paranormal activity centres around sightings of a Victorian lady dressed in a brown bustle dress, often seen outside what was once the school room for the Stephens family children. Staff think that she is a governess, and call her Dora. However, a descendent of the Stephens family, when given a description of the ghost, claimed that she was his great aunt Emily.

Would Dora/Emily make her presence known on the night? Would the investigative team end the night believing that the property was indeed haunted? Certainly for my group (I was with Matt and John) activity was a little hit-or-miss, but I think everyone experienced something to make them stop and think!

Vigil 1 – Basement

EMF – none
Temp – Slowly fluctuating between 11.8 and 12.1?
8:50 – Shuffling noise heard by all coming from ceiling.
* Noise of chairs being dragged across the floor upstairs – the room above is carpeted!
8:55 – I see a flash of light behind Matt
9:10 – John and I can both smell an antiseptic smell – I think it is like Vicks Vaporub.
* Matt’s torch starts to flicker and then goes out when he is calling out for something to happen
* All hear a noise like a “hum”, again in response to Matt’s calling out
9:13 – I feel a breeze across my face – but we are near an external door
9:14 – I hear a shuffling noise to my left, from down the corridor
9:15 – Hear a noise like one of the doors moving
9:30 – I ask for the temperature to drop and it goes to 10.4 degrees and then quickly rises to 11.5 degrees
9:32 – Noises heard from corridor
* Matt senses a young girl with us who hid down here. Her name was Gertrude and she was 15. She comes from the war period and was killed by shrapnel in her back
9:40 – Two knocks are heard when Matt starts to talk about Gertrude, who was pregnant and was being forced to have a termination
9:41 – Johns torch flickers when we continue to talk about terminations

Vigil 2 – ground floor

Temp – 20.7 degrees
10:20 – We are all standing on a small landing that contains some empty coat rails, full of metal hangers. The end hanger suddenly bangs against the others like it has been hit. None of us was near enough to touch it
* We all agree that we feel very comfortable on this level, as if we are being made to feel welcome

Group Séance – The Stephens Room

The whole investigative team take part. 6 members of the group try glass divination whilst the rest of the group sit on the periphery, commenting as needed. There was a very strong response with the glass, which seemed to respond particularly well when Matt, Steve and Lee asked questions. They seemed to be connected to the presence in some way.

Questioning revealed the spirit of a woman called Sarah Jaggler, who was born in 1826 and died 1866. Matt can see her standing by the mirror above the mantelpiece – its an area where she does not want any one to go. She killed her husband during an argument when she threw something at him. She presents herself covered in blood, from cradling her husbands dead body. Steve and Lee seem to remind her of the policemen who arrested her. She is tied to this plane because of her guilt.

A number of the group, including myself, feel very sick during this séance. I find the atmosphere very stuffy and claustrophobic.

Vigil 3 – 1st floor

Temp – 16 degrees, but fells a lot colder
12:35 – I am sitting in front of the fireplace in the School Room and feeling so cold that I am shivering, but my right side (which is closet to the fireplace) feels very warm, as if there is a fire in the grate
1:14 – The Balcony Room – Temp: 17.9 degrees (but feels warmer), No EMF
* Temp rises to 19.1 degrees
* Tap heard in response to calling out coming from the ceiling – the group on the floor above had already left and gone back downstairs
* Matt sees a young boy aged about 5/6
* I see a streak of white light on the back wall, and then a similar light on the middle of the floor
* My torch flickers when Matt asks if the little boy is scared of planes – he prefers trains
* Matt thinks he is playing hid and seek
1:16 – I get the name Tommy. Matt has previously got the name Thomas but kept it to himself.

Vigil 4 – 2nd floor

1:45 – Turret Room - temp: 14.3 degrees; EMF: none
* Matt and I both feel that this could have been a child’s playroom
2:15 – Top stair landing – Temp: 16.4 degrees; EMF spike to 1mg
* I start to feel a little queasy again
2:20 – John enters the turret room on his own. I call out, with no response. John then calls out and his torch starts to flicker and then goes out completely, only to come back on. At the same time he feels something hot on the top of his head. Matt and I go back in with John, but experience nothing.

Steven Crouch

First impressions

Avenue House is an impressive building situated on a main road. One of the amazing things about being involved in SP UK is the hidden gems that are tucked away in plain sight which we investigate.
The house is a big property with lovely grounds and a maze of rooms on all levels with varying degrees of splendour. Some of the rooms, especially the Stephen’s Room were amazing to look at.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the current owners for allowing the investigation to take place and also to Leanne & Rab for co-ordinating the investigation.

Investigation

I was in Team 2 which comprised of myself, Diane & Julie.
Upon arrival to the property I sensed an air of tension and thought that we would be in for some interesting activity throughout the night.
Our first series of investigations were on the ground floor.

The first room we investigated was the room in which we based ourselves the Dining Room. As it was our first room (and I had just changed a tyre on the M25!) it took a while for us to ground. After a few minutes of quiet I started to sense the energy of a tall man. I was seated near the window and the man came and stood behind me. With this man I got a sense of knowledge nad good morale fibre. I got the image of a red heraldic lion and a gold crown (akin to Richard the 1st with a design like the top of a castle wall). These were the age of this man. I think that he was involved with the Knights Templar and had knowledge of the crusades and the Rosicrucian line. This was all the man was prepared to tell me, as I felt that he was sworn to secrecy about some of the goings on here. I am unsure if this can be verified but I think that if there are no documents that exist which prove this, then I think that some will be uncovered soon. If this knowledge does exist then I think something will be found soon that will change the perception of the involvement.

I also picked up on a rather weasel like man who lurched in the door. I felt that he worked in the house but was not a particularly nice man. I felt that he would lurk around the house and he would almost secrete himself in to a room. He was not a particularly nice energy, but also not particularly malevolent. He had black hair and a drawn face, maybe even a slight hunch to the back. I felt that if you wan in the room on your own you would feel as if you were being watched and he was the watcher – quite unnerving. He didn’t come too far in to the room as he knew that I could see him, so the fun was ruined. I also got the image of a big brown dog, the type of dog I was given was a Springer Spaniel. Although I have no idea what that dog looks like!

We then went in to the Drawing Room. This space seemed to ooze male energy. It was a very male orientated space and I felt very relaxed and welcomed here. I could sense the men walking around in the space and relaxing and smoking and chatting. In here I connected with the learning part of the house. It felt that if the building was not a school that is has been used as a learning establishment of some kind – there has been an impartation of knowledge in the house and in this room. I got the image of three high backed chairs that were in this room, as if there was some kind of judicial working taking place. Although I am unsure if judicial is correct it is more of decision making, but with that comes the making of laws and the punishment of minor crimes. I got the image of a young girl in this room by the name of Annabel and the male name of Stuart. The image I got of Annabel was as if someone else was describing her to me.

Our next room was the room with the painting of Spike Milligan on it (not sure of the room name) and this room felt very cold and unwelcoming. Both Julie and myself felt an energy by the door we entered the room and that this felt unpleasant. I also felt that this energy was female. I sensed someone sitting in this room looking out of the big windows writing and painting – inspired by the view which would have a calming influence in the daylight. We joined hands and I got a shaking in my right arm which then passed to Julie and then Denise. The shaking was more of a resonance vibration as opposed to a vicious shaking. I got the smell of salt water and felt as if there was naval links with a person that used to reside in this room. There were cold spots throughout this room.

The next floor that we investigated was the first floor. We had a quick walk around the level and decided to dedicate 20 minutes to the Stephen’s Room at the end of our hour and whiz through the other rooms. In the diary room I got the sense of a large man sitting at the table writing.

The next room we did was the Balcony Room. This was an interesting space and both Julie and I felt that the room was crammed full of people. That the room was a very busy room and bustling with a lot of people. After calling out there was a response of one knock. We then continued to discuss the space and as we talked there was a knocking noise that was a very continuous rhythm, almost like the dripping of water. I then asked if the rhythm could be made faster.

The knocking then went double time to the original pattern. I then asked the knocking to stop and it did. The knocking seemed to be coming in the corner to the left of the fireplace. I then asked it start again and it did. This time the knocking continued to get louder and louder and louder and louder as if someone was knocking getting closer to the room. The energy changed in the space and became colder then stopped. At this point we were unsure if we should remain in the room but it was almost time for us to go to the Stephen’s Room. So we thanked the space for communicating and left the room.

We then went to the other side of the level and stood between the kitchen and another room and called out there for five minutes (less time then we had planned due to us getting a lot in the balcony room). There seemed to be no reaction to anything.

Finally we went in to the Stephen’s Room. In this space it felt as if we were being observed. I felt very tired almost drunk in this room. We then linked hands and called out. There was one very loud knock, then nothing.

The next part of the investigation was a group séance which was back in the Stephen’s Room.

I sat at the table as we did some glass divination. The glass moved very voraciously. Lee and Matt picked up on a woman standing by her mirror covered in blood. I can’t recall exactly what they said. Through a series of questions we go the name Sarah Jaggler and that she died at the age of 30. the years that we were given, 1304 to 1344 (I think) did not tie in to the house or the information that we were given. The energy did not like me at first as I am a medium and so I left the table and Lee took my place. The energy did not like Lee at all. After a lengthy glass divination it was concluded that she had been arguing with her husband and he had been killed, and it was his blood that she had on her. She apologised to me for not liking me at the start, but did not apologise to Lee.

The third space we investigated was the third floor. We went up in to the turret first of all and it was interesting to see the images of the old decorating on the walls. This room was very noisy as it was so windy outside. We could see what appeared to be the fixings for a bell in the ceiling and there was a bell on the floor. We got no energy here. We then went to area at the bottom of the turret and got nothing here for a while then I got the image of the young girl I reached earlier – Annabel. I could describe her as having long dark hair and dark brown eyes. She had very delicate features, almost like a china doll. This time I was picking up on her energy direct as opposed to being the memory of another. It was unclear why she was here.

We then went to the top of the stairs and called out there but got nothing.

Our final space was the basement. It was very cold – even I wore a coat! We tried to go around all the rooms but there were so many it seemed difficult to do so. The room we did first was the big room that if you descended the stairs and turned right it was the final room you came to. In this room were three high backed chairs, like the ones I described I saw in the drawing room. To the right of these chairs there was a tunnel with a gate in front of it. Apparently there is a well at the bottom of that tunnel. We called out here for a while but did not get any responses that we could definitely say were in response to our questions.

We then went to the room at the opposite end of the basement where there are glasses and bowls stored. Whilst in this room the wind was rally blowing and the doors next to the room were banging loudly. We then heard a shuffling of footsteps outside and clear footsteps pattern of sound. We then heard a dragging sound. This seemed to be coming from the space outside this room so we moved to by the door and heard the sounds again. I threw out a 1p and asked for it to be thrown back, but got no reaction and the 1p was found easily.

Conclusion

Overall this was an interesting house that was well worth the visit. As with so many of the investigations it felt as if we only touched the tip of the iceberg and that there is a rich vein of history running through the place. I felt that had we more time we could have dug deeper in to the layers of memories, but in the time that we had I felt that the team that I was with started to unravel the some of the secrets of the past.

Once again I would like to thank the organisers of this event and the owners of the property; it was a very interesting investigation.

Emma Curtis

When the chance came up to attend this investigation I was eager to secure my place, mainly due to the size and the amount of rooms it had. It looked like it could be a very interesting investigation, so when the night arrived I was really quite excited.

Our first vigil was on the first floor which had a large room with a weird shaped roof, sort of pointed like cats ears. This room was strange it had a large cabinet at one side of the room, and what looked like to be an old fireplace blocked in and above that a big mirror. These were the two parts of the room that I decided to focus on but as I was just randomly taking pictures I noticed on one photo I had caught what looks like to be an orb just above the chairs in front of the cabinet, a few minutes later I caught possibly another four orbs, one of them was right near the top of the cabinet and was larger then the other orb I had captured. We called out but with no joy. For the last ten minutes of that vigil we went into a different room with another giant fireplace that was the main focal point when entering room. We decided to sit at the table that was in the room and to once again call out, lots of cold breezes across different people’s hand and face’s at different times but that was about it.

Our next vigil was on the second floor, the top so to speak, this had an extra room with tiny stairs that went up in the roof. This was a very small bare room very old looking, I took some pictures but nothing caught. This floor was very flat and I think started to make people restless, myself included so I decided to quietly sit out at the top of the stairs and take some pictures, a few orb pictures the most interesting being the one that seems to appear on the wooden chair arm.

Next was our whole group séance which I was looking forward to, I sat at the table for a glass divination with six others while the rest of them sat round the room watching, the glass eventually started moving and general questions were asked to try and determine who maybe we were talking. I thought some of the answers we were getting were odd and didn’t match the original answers that this “Sarah” supposedly was giving us so I comment no more on this, it possibly could be because there was quite a lot of people in one room and with more than one question being asked could get confusing.

Next vigil was the basement/cellar. This was amazing, so many rooms under one house. After walking around we decided to go back to one particular room that had a tunnel with a gate covering it, you could see down there but not actually go down it. We found a glass and a table and tried divination again but not really anything to report. No pictures of any orbs taken.

Our last vigil was on the ground floor, this floor also felt very flat, I did take a few pictures of the ground floor and noticed nothing at the time but when I got home and enlarged the pictures to my computer and noticed that one of them had a small orb present, apart from that not a lot of activity on the ground floor. We even sat down at a table and tried calling out and once again used a glass for divination but the glass movement was so weak it was hard to tell if it was just the pulse from the end of our fingers or arm ache from holding finger on glass for so long waiting for something to happen.

All in all this was a great investigation even if the activity could have been more.

I learnt a bit about the history of the house and where it’s heading in the future from the friendly host who let us in and stayed until we had finished, which I thank her for, also thank you to the owner for permitting such event to take place.

Gary Catlin

Avenue House is located in Finchley, London. This former manor estate is now a registry for wedding and civil partnership

We started our investigation 2nd floor. This was a small area with access to the bell tower and main stair way landing. Myself, Lee and Maureen began in on the small landing area at the foot of the stairs leading up to the bell tower. Maureen and Lee began calling out, we all felt a temperature change during this time, how ever we could get a clear response. Near our position there is a fire escape and this did cause drafts. Lee did feel that there was something in this space but could not make out clearly who or what it could be. We decided to move up to the bell tower. Upon entering the bell tower Lee got a clear presence of a woman standing out side the door leading into the tower. He did feel that she would not enter while we were in this space. But due to heavy winds it made it difficult to make out any clear noises or temperature changes. As we went to leave and to head back down stairs, I suddenly felt giddy but only slightly; I am unsure what could have caused this. I am not prone to giddy spells and disorientation so this was very strange for me. We decided to move onto the landing area by the main stairs, Lee once again began calling out. He did feel a presence on the stairs of a man but only very faintly. He also said that the side of his face felt like it was burning. I personal did not feel anything in this area, once again heavy winds made it difficult to hear noises. We then moved back to our original starting place to see if Lee or I, Maureen could pick up on the woman who Lee had mentioned. When we opened the door to the landing area, by the bell tower stairs, I notice that the door leading to the bell tower was open; Lee said that he had shut the door and it was closed. I headed up the stairs to close the door again and to see if it would open on its own. As before I felt giddy as I got to the top of the stairs, I closed the door again and headed back to rejoin Lee and Maureen. We continued calling out to see if we could hear anything or make the door open again. Sadly nothing happen.

After a short break we moved to the basement area. This is a large and cold space. We explored around for a short time to get our bearings. While up one far end of the tunnels we heard several loud bangs on a door. We called out to see if it was someone from the group or the caretaker. We have no response. We headed in the direction of the bangs but could not find anything that would explain it. We carried on and headed into a room which was used for storage of cutlery etc. This was an odd space and we agreed that is felt like a kitchen or some sort. Lee started to pick up on a presence while walking around the area. We then all heard a shuffling noise coming from the corridor outside, we went and looked to see if we could find the cause of the sound. We could not find anything that may have made that noise. Once again we returned to the storage area, Lee then believed that he had see someone standing by the door way, at the same time we heard 3 knocks from the door in the corridor. Again we went into the corridor but found nothing. We did notice that the fire door did bang and was lose, but we all agreed that it was defiantly a knocking noise we heard. We kept calling out and on three occasions we did hear the shuffling sound again.

After a break the whole group made their way to the Stephens room on the first floor to a séance vigil. A hand full of the members took part in glass divination, the rest sat around the outside of table. Steven picked up on a presence of a woman, who was showing signs of anger towards himself, also matt, and lee had picked up this sprit, lee was also feeling anger towards him. Matt how ever did not feel this, during the vigil; I could not concentrate and can not remember most of the conversations between the group. I am not sure if it was fatigue, or the room itself. This was a strange experience for myself and has never suffered from lack of concentration during other investigations. I will however type out what I do know. Steve had picked up on the name of the sprit which was Sarah; he also said that she was showing herself to have blood on hands and clothes. Lee and Matt also said they can see this. The anger that Steve and lee had felt towards them was because they had reminded Sarah of police officers, Matt was feeling something else, they found that he reminded her of her husband who was killed. Once again I can not remember most of this vigil and I am unsure what may have caused this. I do no that it was not I believe fatigue and for the rest of the night I have felt fine and my concentration was good as well. There was something about this room or the séance that may or may not have affected me. This was a very strange experience.

We did not have a break from the 3rd vigil, so we moved to the ground floor. Our group started in the room where civil services are preformed. This was a pleasant area, and none of us felt anything really in this space. We decided to move in the large conference room towards the side of the property. This room felt very “grand”. We began asking out for tapes, etc but once again we did not feel anything. I did however have a vision of a white pipe, made of ivory. Myself, Lee and Maureen discussed this for a short while and deceived to move into the last room which was our base for night. Lee began to pick up on a energy with in this room, but once again unable to find out if this was male of female. Maureen said that she could feel like there was an argument of some sort in this room, I also felt this and once again the vision of a pipe came back, this time however I could see three gentlemen standing at the fire place two on one side and the other opposed them. The two were in a heated argument, we were however unable to find out what the argument was about or names.

After a break, our final vigil was on the 1st floor. We started just outside Stephens Rooms. Lee began calling out and straight away the door to the room banged. We decided to move into one of the smaller rooms. We spent some time is this room, and Lee felt there was a presences in this room but was unable to find anything else, we changed to another room once again we felt there was nothing really to report on. Finally we decided to go into Stephens Room again. This was where earlier in the night the group as a whole held a séance, and my moment of lack concentration. Lee once again picked up on the woman called Sarah, who was not pleased with Lee being back in this room. Maureen and myself felt that there was something but not as strong as before. We then saw a flash of light by the window where a mirror is in the far corner of the room. Lee told me that this mirror is where Sarah stands most of the time. We moved to look out of the window to see if there was a car or someone taking a picture, there was no one outside, this was later confirmed by the rest of the group. The flash happen twice more so I decided to set my camera up facing out of the windows to see if it would catch the light again. However it did not happen again. A short time after I started to lose my concentration again, it was very difficult for me to keep focused on the vigil. Soon our time was over and we had to rejoin the group. Once again this is a very strange room for me, due to the two times that my concentration had lapses.

As a whole I was impressed with this location and feel that further investigation might reveal more.

I would like to thank all the people in the Southern Paranormal UK group for a very interesting night, also to pass my thanks to The Langdon Down Centre Trust and all the staff there. Now I have joined up to the SPUK group I look forward to investigation other locations with them, just maybe on the next one I will not lose my nerve.

Lee Barrows

Vigil One
Location: 2nd Floor hallway

We started the first vigil at the far end of the 2nd floor landing, near the stairs leading up to the turret room. It was very cold and very quiet. I tried asking out but there was no tangible response. A slight tap was heard, but it only happened once, was very quiet and difficult to work out where it came from. I thought I saw a flicker of light coming from the stairs leading up to the turret room, however it was in the corner of my vision and could have been a reflection on my glasses in the otherwise dark hallway.

Location: Turret room

I call out but there is seemingly no response. But a few minutes later Maureen says that she can smell Lavender almost at the exact same time as I get the mental image of a young lady in a cream, floral dress and blonde hair on the stairs leading up to the room. I get the feeling of impatience from her, as if she is waiting for something. Almost as if she is waiting for us to leave the turret room so she can go in. I also, almost really, hear the word ‘sister’. When we leave the room and go down the stairs I get the impression of her going into the room.

Location: Landing at the top of the main stairs

Maureen calls out and there is what seems to be a tap on the window in response, although it should be noted that it was quite windy outside and that may well have caused that, but it did only happen after Maureen had asked for it. A few minutes later, my face suddenly felt really hot as if I was standing in front of an open fire! Maureen senses a man in a cloak or possibly a long coat.

Location: 2nd Floor hallway (return)

Upon returning to where we started, we find the door to the turret room open – now I’m pretty certain I closed that after we left earlier. Gary goes up to investigate and close the door again whilst doing so he starts to feel dizzy. I get the impression of the girl from earlier again just as Maureen mentions smelling the lavender again. A few minutes later Gary can hear whispering but it’s too faint for him to be able to work out what is being said. He then picks up on the smell of burning oak but neither Maureen or I can.

Vigil Two
Location: Basement

Almost as soon as we start the vigil, there is a loud knocking noise heard that seems to be coming from the door we came through. We think that it might have been another team, but we asked them all afterwards and no one knows anything about it. I feel quite an odd sensation in the store room. Maureen feelings a tightening on her arm as if something has been tied around it. There is another loud noise from outside the room, this time something that sounds like a door closing. Maureen calls out and a few minutes later I start to feel icy cold. The basement was a generally chilly place anyway, but it was a very noticeable drop in temperature that I felt. I then get the mental image of two men having a fist fight, one of them getting quite a heavy blow to the stomach. We all keep hearing a rustling noise and a clear dragging noise from the corridor but whenever we step out to investigate it, it stops and doesn’t happen again until we return to the store room. We worked out that the rustling noise might well have been some bin bags outside in the wind, however we could not explain the dragging noise. Towards the end of the vigil as we begin to wrap up there is quite a clear and loud hissing noise heard.

Vigil Three – Group séance
Location: 1st Floor

I should explain here that I did not take any notes during this vigil as I found myself to wrapped up in the proceedings to want to start writing things down – so my notes for this vigil are from memory.

We set up a glass divination experiment in the centre of the room with six people participating in it. The rest of the group sit around the edges of the room. Steve calls out and the glass starts to move quite quickly in response to the groups questions. The apparent spirit communicating identifies herself as ‘Sarah Jaggler’, gives us her age as 30 and places when she died as the mid Fifteen century (1442?). Matt, who was sitting around the outside, has started to pick up on her as well and tells us he can see her with blood on her. I seem to start tuning in on her as well and get the impression that something happened to her that really scared her. ‘Sarah’ tells the group that she does not like Steve because she reminds him of someone she knew. I get the impression that something isn’t quite right, that she is hiding something, or not being honest with us. Seemingly quite reluctantly she admits, when asked if this is so, that it is. She then communicates that she was really from the Nineteenth century (1860?). She had had a fight with her husband, and in the heat of the row had apparently thrown something at him that had hit him on the head and killed him!

She seems to not respond when I ask her questions directly, but she does when almost anyone else asks her and when asked why this is, it is communicated that I too remind her of someone she knew, apparently the police officer who arrested her for the death of her husband!

This was a very interesting vigil and I wish we could have spent more time on it, however we were in danger of running over schedule so we had to close it down.

Vigil Four
Location: Ground Floor

The ground floor seemed very quiet to us. It was very relaxed and calming and it stood in stark contrast to the activity we’d experienced during the previous vigil’s séance. In the reception room, Gary picks up on an Ivory pipe and also later on he has the image of a man walking around very proudly. We move onto the room we’ve been using as a basecamp for the evening. We take up seats and after a few minutes both Maureen and I admit to suddenly having headaches. Maureen calls out and both Gary and Maureen seem to pick up on a group of 3 or 4 men who are not very happy. Gary says that he ‘feels anger in his throat’. He then calls out and feels a hand resting on his shoulder. He then picks up on 3 men standing by the fireplace, two on one side and one on the other, and they are arguing over something important. Gary describes them as being 30 to 40 years old with large moustaches that join up to their sideburns. He also gets the year 1901 and also the fact that one of these men has the Ivory pipe that he’d picked up on earlier.

Vigil Five
Location: 1st Floor ‘Balcony Room’

Both Gary and I try calling out in this room but there is no response, it all seems very quiet.

Location: 1st Floor ‘Diary Room’

We all try calling out in here, but again nothing seems to happen. Although at one point we do hear a noise like a sort of gargled growl, but that is all.

Location: 1st Floor ‘Stephens Room’

Back in the room where we’d held the séance earlier and almost as soon as we sit down in there I get the impression that ‘Sarah’ from the séance is still there and still not very happy with me. I feel as if she is ranting at me, but I do not get any details. I try explaining to her that I don’t know or remember the events that she remembers which seems to make her calm down or at least leave me alone.
Whilst in the room we all see what looks like flashes of light coming through the far window (unfortunately as is the case with these things, it is whilst the camera is turned off). We look out of the window but can not see anyone outside, although we try to work out the angle the light came from and it looked as if it would have had to have been coming from half way up a rather large Willow tree out in the grounds!
I get the feeling that ‘Sarah’ is still with us in the room, but she seems to be coming and going. Gary suggests that she is tired and I agree. After this brief conversation about her, she seems to come back with full force and is once again I get the impression that she is annoyed with me. Then I suddenly realise that she doesn’t like us (or rather me) talking about her as ‘she’ instead of using her name. I apologise to her and she seems to calm down again.

Conclusion:

A very interesting investigation and one that I hope that we can return to in the future as I have the feeling that there is a lot more afoot in that building than we encountered.

Rab Gardner

For this Investigation my fellow team 3 members were: Sheila, Emma and Pete.

Vigil 1 - 1st Floor

Stephens Room – This is a large green room at the end of the building with windows on three sides. Two areas seem to draw your attention: one is a boarded up fireplace with a mirror above it, and the other is a large alcove dominated by a purpose built cupboard attached to the wall. Of the two, the alcove and the area of the room in front of it had a lot of light anomaly activity both seen and caught on camera. Other light anomaly activity was photographed between the mirror and the middle of the room.

Temperature remained consistent, apart from one cold spot that appeared to follow Sheila as she moved around the room. A light anomaly was photographed behind her, but the camcorder battery had failed by then.

I got the impression of two presences in the room, one male and one female. For the male, I got the name William Horton and the number 53 (possibly age). The female, I only got the name Elizabeth.

Moving on, we went into the Balcony room. A light anomaly began to appear near the fireplace where Pete sat. Before long it appeared to linger in front of him and then Emma and I saw it move around the room towards each of us. The feeling was that of a young boy and I kept getting the letters EN. Unfortunately, time had run out and we had to go. Of note, throughout the time we were in this room we could hear male voices talking above us, but that room was supposed to be out of bounds. Team 4 on the floor above us heard nothing.

Vigil 2 – 2nd Floor

Top floor of the building with attached tower leading up. Very little activity, no temp changes or EMF anomalies. I did see a light anomaly appear in front of a door and then move towards us along the landing. As I moved to try and film it I had a feeling of falling backwards and had to grab the banister. Moving to the top of the stairs I finally caught the anomaly on film as it moved from Pete and then across Sheila. By then the Vigil time was up.

Séance

This was held in Stephen’s room in the area I had seen a lot of light anomaly activity. Leanne and I decided on glass divination. A female presence came through and was questioned by Leanne, Matt, Lee and Steve (see their reports for more information). Personally I felt it was the same woman as earlier. Her answers were contradictory and sometimes misleading. Matt, Lee and Steve did a brilliant job at questioning her but I felt she was playing and ‘fed’ us a story.

Vigil 3 – Basement

After a thorough walkthrough, we decided to settle down in a storage area next to the well access. I began by calling out and soon afterwards we began to hear movement behind Emma and I. This was then followed by a light anomaly to the LH side of Pete. We had set a table up for glass divination and a camcorder to film above and below the table. I started calling out again but this time asked for three taps identical to the ones I had just done on the table.

We were soon rewarded by the sound of tapping on the back of Sheila’s chair. I asked to do it again, and we heard the same tapping on the chair. I then asked if there was someone he (felt it was a he) would rather ask questions. The chair was tapped again immediately followed by a shout from Sheila. She had just been pushed forward in the lower back – caught it on film as well.

There then began a series of questions which resulted in the man saying he was Chris John Wheeler age 20. He had died from a fall from the roof in 1924. Seemed that his mate and he had been clowning around and Chris came off worse.

Vigil 4 – Ground Floor

The Salon was a room that led directly onto the garden. I couldn’t shake off the feeling to dance in that room and I actually grabbed Sheila and started to dance. Not for long though. Throughout our time in there I felt happy and at peace. However no anomalies were recorded.

Next was the Drawing room, situated immediately below Stephen’s room. This room was set up for a function with a lot of tables and chairs making it difficult to navigate in the dark. No anomalies were recorded in here either, but as we sat there towards the end of our vigil I began to see a young girl (possibly 8 or 9yrs old). She had dark coloured hair, brown though not black and a blue ribbon on top off her head leading to a pony tail. All I could see was the top off her head and nothing else. Sheila picked up the name Annabelle, but by then we had run over our vigil time.

Sheila Simpson

Vigil One – First floor

When entering into Steven’s room Rab felt uneasy his hair on his arms stood up. It was an unusual room, was decorated in green and loads of wood. The room felt interesting and we all hoped to get some good reports from here. After spending some time in here Emma picked up several orbs on her camera. Walking down the stairs from Stevens’s room there was a small landing with a chair on it, Pete said he felt he had to sit on the chair which he did yet had no more feelings. We went into the Balcony room where Pete kept feeling the temperature drop in front of him this was not picked up by the temperature reader, yet Rab felt tingling in the same spot. He also believed there was the spirit of a young boy present.

Vigil Two – Second floor

Interesting tower but the only thing to report was Rab saw light on one of the doors.

Vigil Three - Séance

It was decided by all to do the séance in Steven’s room. Due to the darkness of the room I am not to sure who was asking some of the questions so I am only able to write down what I heard others say were coming through by using the glass.
Sarah Jaggler 1304-1344 - (this would make her 40 yet it came through that she was 30)
Matt saw woman covered in blood believes she was harmed so Steve asks if she was harmed to which she confirms this.
She says she was killed in 1334 – (early it was 1344)
Someone asks if Morgan means anything – no response.
She says she is unhappy when she was alive and that someone hurt her husband.
She now says she hurt her husband and police officers took her away in 1866.
Matt feels she was born in 1826.

Vigil Four – Basement

We was sitting quietly, Rab and Emma saw a light over in the corner then I felt three small taps on the back of the chair that I was sitting on. Then again three small taps on the back of my chair. We then decided to use the glass asked the spirt to show us a sign, with this I was pushed in the back. Then for a third and final time I felt three small taps on the back of my chair. Through the use of the glass we were able to discover the name Chris John Wheeler, 20 years old. He fell of the roof whilst mucking around with his friend who had accidentally pushed him which lead to his death. We also picked up the date 1924.

Vigil 5 – Ground floor

Rab felt like dancing in the saloon. But no one had any other feelings in this room. In the drawing room both Emma and Rab both saw several orbs. We then sat for a while and Rab felt the presence of a little girl with a blue ribbon in her hair and I also got the name Annabelle.

Maureen Westwood

Avenue House is an impressive looking Victorian building. Seeing it from the road gives you no clues as to how big and meandering it is inside. I was really looking forward to this investigation.

My team began their investigation on the top floor. This was a small space, as one whole wing and various other rooms were closed to us on the night. However, this level did give access to a very interesting turret room, which was very small but had an elaborate fireplace and intricate wall decoration. I felt extremely uncomfortable in here and needed to get out. I did not like it at all. Although the top floor was very cold, we did not experience anything here.

Our next vigil took place in the basement. The basement was cavernous, with endless corridors and various rooms leading off them. One room even had a tunnel in it which led to a well. The whole team felt very scared down here, and at one point we all heard a scraping noise, as if a chair was being dragged across the floor above.

I then took part in the group séance in the Stephen’s Room. I was one of the people who actually took part in the glass divination. The results of this were very interesting – I have never seen a glass move in such a determined way before. Because I was taking part in the experiment, I was unable to take notes during it. I remember that we contacted a woman called Sarah, but other investigators reports will give more details on this.

Our two final vigils took place on the ground and first floor respectively, but we experienced nothing unusual in either location.

John Zimmerman

Basement

EMF 0 - 0.1 at one point fluctuating for a split second to 0.3, although I put this down to my own body movement as no other anomalies were apparent nor recorded when this occurred.
Temp 10.4 c going up to 14 c at the bottom of the stairs into basement although weirdly it felt as if it was colder here. This was when the first possible evp was caught.
Average temp was about 11.4 c
As it was pretty much pitch black when we entered the basement and with no previous walkabout, I was pretty much disorientated as to where I was in relation to the building above.
We entered a part of the basement that had a gated off tunnel, at this point none of us were aware as to what the tunnel was. We later found out from the guide/host it was a tunnel that led to a well.
Start by doing some evp which at Leanne's suggestion I was the first to do some calling out. Although no audible voices were picked up I did pick up a small single click sound that was heard at the time by all three of us at the time. Other than that nothing to report from our first evp session.
We continued to examine this part of the basement, at one point stopping to ponder the identity's of some people in some old paintings that were stored down there. I also did some more calling out directly down the gated tunnel whilst also filming on Hi8 IR still nothing was caught on either audio nor video.
Leanne started calling out next. No responses in either the audio form were recorded nor any signs that were acknowledged by any of us.
Matt told us of a feeling of being isolated, when Leanne asked him if he meant "isolated" from the group, Matt went on to explain that he meant as in, that he should be somewhere else but he/they had been,” tucked away, hidden away, out of sight" but someone knew that, "you were not allowed to be seen anymore".
Leanne continued to call out, there were no audio nor visuals recorded of anything significant, although Leanne claimed to be aware of a flashing light at one point.
We continued to move through the basement all the time my audio running.

At 13minutes into the vigil Matt can be heard talking about a previous investigation, Leanne can be heard to laugh at the end of Matt’s sentence, this giving an idea of her proximity to the microphone, immediately after an unexplained vocal can be heard that sounds like a woman’s voice, what it is saying or exclaiming, I cannot decipher at present. My initial feelings are that it is another group member in another part of the building, perhaps immediately above us. Perhaps another member that was present will recognise their own voice? I have listened carefully to the preceding and proceeding audio, there is no further voices that suggest a conversation elsewhere in the house going on. Two knocks like footsteps follow the audio "voice" but I have no idea whether that was a group member with me or above me as nobody commented on it at the time, so Im taking it that it was us walking. Just after this I take a temperature reading and although it feels colder it is actually 3 degrees warmer and has increased from 11c to 14c.
This does however tell me that we were fairly near the bottom of the stairs when this possible EVP was caught and therefore with only a hallway and a wooden door between us and the level above there is an extreme likelihood that what we are hearing is the voice of another investigator.
We carried on moving round the basement until we got to an area that had two internal doors with crosses marked on them a narrow hallway and a door that led to the outside. As we rounded the corner to the two doors with crosses on Matt declared he felt the presence of a woman, I could distinctly but mildly smell an antiseptic / disinfectant type smell like maybe tcp or savlon, Leanne suggested perhaps Vicks vaporub as she could smell something too. I don't rule out the possibility that it was something behind either one of the locked doors.
As we faced up the hallway to the outside door, Matt’s torch started flickering and going from dim to bright, I caught some of this on video. Matt stated he had put new batteries in at the beginning of the investigation and at this point we were only 20 minutes in.
Matt called out followed by Leanne but no evp's were recorded nor audible noises or sounds to those present.

We moved back to the part of the basement where we had begun our vigil, and all three of us heard at approximately 28min and 10 seconds into the investigation we all heard a noise like somebody briefly scribbling, unfortunately down to excess noise of my own movement nothing was picked up on the audio.
Matt corrected himself about his earlier statement about the presence of a woman and said he felt that he had been wrong earlier and that it was in fact a teenage girl. At this myself first then Matt suggested that a teenage girl might be more likely to converse with Leanne and that perhaps Leanne should go through by herself to conduct some evp work, Leanne declined declaring she wasn't brave enough. Respecting this we all proceeded through together to conduct more evp work to the area with the two doors with crosses and outside door, where Matt had previously mentioned the presence of a woman/now teenage girl. Further temperature readings were taken and although slightly lower than earlier nothing unusual as we were in a basement at night that would effectively be getting colder.
EVP 41-42 mins in. Although at different points Leanne heard a tapping sound a Matt a sliding across the floor sound neither the audio nor video picked up either. I carried on recording temperature while calling out was done and at this point Leanne requested a drop in temperature down to 9 c the lowest I recorded was 10.4 which rose again to about 11.5 c. so all in all a fluctuation of about 1 c. Emf was consistent at 0 and 0.1 Matt felt that the teenage girls presence he was picking up upon, wasn't responding because she was so used to being ignored, and didn't know she was dead. He believed her death was caused by a bomb blast and shrapnel.
The temperature rose up to 11.9 c.
Matt then added he felt that a pregnancy may have been the reason the teenager had been hidden away. We carried on calling out asking for a response to Matt’s theory about the pregnancy, Leanne thought she heard 2 faint knocks although nothing was picked up on the audio. Matt concluded that the antiseptic smell myself and Leanne had picked up on earlier was from the procedure of trying to save the teenagers unborn baby when she was killed in the bomb blast. We all moved to the spot where it was smelt and Matt and Leanne said they could both smell it. Matt picked up on the name Gertrude and that she was 14/15/16 yrs old.
Although at times both Leeanne and Matt felt uneasy in the basement I personally felt quite at ease at all times.

Vigil 2

Ground floor 9.30pm
Temp 17.6 – 20.4 c
EMF 0 - 0.1
Ballroom

We stood in the main room which Matt suggested had been a ballroom, temperature readings, 20 c and emf 0 – 0.1 were taken, I had an audio recorder and Leanne a video. Nothing was particularly felt on this part of the vigil nor was there anything picked up on my audio.

Hallway by coat hangers

When we were up a couple of steps by some coat hangers I knocked one of the rails causing the hangers to jingle against each other, after several seconds when I had moved away from them and they had settled they were heard to jingle again, this was picked up on my audio recorder. We tried to recreate this by standing on different parts of the floor fairly heavily but to no avail. Unfortunately Leanne’s camera was on standby so no visual evidence. The temperature here was 17.6 c with an emf at 0 – 0.1
After the coat hangers moved I did some calling out, though nothing was picked up on my audio. We continued through the first floor to what would have been a dining room again temperature of 20 c and emf between 0 – 0.1 We continued around the first floor calling out with audio running at all times, with nothing else to report.
The room where the whole group had breaks in had a temperature again of 20 c and an emf of 0 – 0.1
We then headed towards the toilets in the hallway by the dumb waiter, there was a draught and a lower temperature of 18 c but not unusual for a hallway that led to outside doors at both ends.
We head back towards the coat hangers where there is now a temperature of 18 c. We try and recreate the hangars jangling by themselves by seeing if when I had knocked them perhaps they had caught up on each other only to fall seconds later but to no avail we couldn't recreate it as they wouldn't hang on each other at all.
In general everyone felt at ease on the ground floor with Matt reporting a feeling of being welcome.

Next up Vigil 3 on the first floor for the séance

I video and audio recorded the whole séance but unfortunately didn't pick up any evidence to back up what was coming in answer to our questions. The answers that were coming from the glass referred to a woman named Sarah Jabler who was born in 1304 and died in 1344 this would have made her 40 years old but she claimed to be 30, a couple of people in the room agreed with me when I pointed out that the house wouldn't have been built in the 1300's. Sarah apparently resided in the room with her husband.

According to the history of the land it would have been when the knights Templar had possession of it from 1243 till 1312 when it belonged to the Knights Hospitallers until 1540 when it was seized by Henry VIII. So it seems unlikely that this particular upstairs room would have existed. At this point a lot of conjecture from some present was discussed about why she would have been lying etc, perhaps because she was a lady it was rude to ask her age. When pushed, she concede by admitting she was lying by moving the glass accordingly.

It was concluded she didn't want one of the guys at the table, so he left. At this point there was a small debate as to whether the séance should end or continue as it had been rescheduled to only last 30mins, it was decided to continue.

Sarah was asked if she was still with us, she didn't respond. When Matt asked her if she would mind him walking to the other side of the room by the mirror, the glass moved, this was taken as an indication she would mind.
Further questioning "Revealed" the following:
She had no children, she also wanted someone else to leave the table, another male unfortunately I only have this on audio so cant say who it is as it was decided by a glass moving towards them and not a name. Sarah confirmed she was happy, not now but then. She is sad now. Because she is here alone with no friends nor family. There is something she can’t let go of that happened to her husband. This related to someone hurting him, herself in fact it turns out. She was happy for Matt to question her. Matt reminded Sarah of somebody, her husband it transpires. Matt makes her happy.
Matt felt welcome Lee and Steven were invading her privacy because they were in the wrong area of the house...
I could go on transcribing every question and response but remain sure somebody else has already done so. The conclusion was Sarah had killed her Husband and she thought Lee and Steven reminded her of 2 policemen hence the lies.
Matt and Leanne claimed to have felt nauseous throughout the session at points as well as a temperature drop being noted physically as opposed to any thermometer reading by several members of the group myself included, It was however moving on into the night so only to be expected.

All in all for myself the whole séance was inconclusive and full of inconsistencies (come the end she had died in the 1860's) and answers provided by questions full of conjecture. The time dedicated to this and the nature of being so open to human (living) intervention left me feeling a little disappointed. I don't necessarily believe anyone was deliberately lying by pushing it but who will ever know?

Apart from the temperature drop which I feel was natural, I felt nor recorded anything.

Jabler from my research is a polish name/word though I couldn't find it on an online translator.

Vigil 4 1st floor

First up was the School room I recorded a temperature here of 16.9 c dropping to 16.5 c. Leanne declared she was shaking though I pointed out there was quite a draught coming through one of the windows which she agreed upon. Matt announced that he was now on edge about the whole house due to the previous séance and the "knowledge" we all had. I recorded a further drop in temperature to 15.6 c.
I proceeded to call out though nothing was picked up on audio nor video. We chatted briefly about how the previous proceedings in the séance had left Matt feeling uneasy, then Leanne called out again there was no recorded responses nor anything audible to any of us present.
We move from the schoolroom to the next room. The temperature is recorded at 16.2 c. nobody feels anything significant other than the drop in temperature which we attribute to another draught from a window.
Next we move to the study/boys bedroom the temperature is recorded at 17.35 c climbing to 18.6 c emf is recorded at 0 – 0.1 again. emf is again recorded at 0 – 0.1 all around the room. Nobody has any feelings in or about this room. We call out there are no audio nor video responses captured nor anything by any of us present.

Leanne then caught a flash of light in front of her, but unfortunately there was no video evidence to back this up. Leanne and Matt continue calling out, when Matt was talking about a train set, all heard a faint knock. But although audio and video recording were running nothing was captured.. Matt then claimed the child was in front of him, a small boy aged about 5 or 6 or possibly a small older child, as he couldn't see past him. Questions continued, Matt was asking him if he liked planes when Leanne claimed to see a flash on the floor, unfortunately there was no video evidence to confirm this. Both Leanne and Matt got between them the name Thomas / Tommy. Both Leanne and Matt felt hot in this room and concluded it was a bedroom. Leanne then starts questioning a boy called Tommy as to whether he knows he’s dead or not or where his mummy and daddy are, Leanne's torch flickers from bright to dim on 2 separate occasions on this part of the vigil.
Next we move to the room the séance was held in the temperature is recorded at 18.2 and matt claims a trigger object has been moved and a camera that was left there recording had switched itself off.
We head back down for a break before the final vigil.

Vigil 5 Second floor and turret room

We spend a brief amount of time in the upstairs hallway and decide to head straight up to the turret. Temperature is recorded at14.4 c, with an emf of a consistent 0 – 0.1.
The turret is a small room with a fireplace in it. Matt confessed to finding the room quite scary. I didn't feel this myself anymore than I think I would in any dark derelict turret at about 2am in the morning. There was a walkabout around the tower that Matt felt was used as punishment, my own feelings were that due to there being a fire in there and a parrapette with fantastic views that if anything the room was used more by "the King of the Castle!" (metaphorically). Examination and discussion of the room ensued.

We departed for the level beneath the turret, the 2nd level was very small emf readings were taken and recorded again at 0 – 0.1 so no change there then. It was getting late so I guess what we had next was what you might call some "Quiet time" everyone was feeling tired. Leanne then suggested that I go up in the turret alone to do some evp work, perhaps payback for my suggestion in the basement.

I headed up to the turret alone armed with Matt’s torch and my audio recorder and video camera. Leanne started calling out from the safety of the level below with the comfort of another person. The torch started dimming again, I called out requesting that if something was using the torch batteries for energy they would like to do it again.

Leanne then called out requesting that anything may show itself to my camera, I followed with, "its your chance to perform" still no responses Leanne called out again. A minute or two passed and Leanne asked me how I was feeling, I said it's a bit draughty the windows are rattling, and at that point the torch went out completely and stayed out for what was probably no more than 2 seconds but felt like 30. This being left in the dark unnerved me enough to want to leave the turret, its a shame because if I had not been alone I would have definitely stayed, but yes in layman’s terms I was very scared. I then followed every rule of paranormal research etiquette and the room calmly at a reasoned pace. I also felt at the same time an extremely hot burning sensation as if hot embers were being showered on my crown, this I think could have been adrenalin combined with the icy draught on my head as sometimes extremes of temperature can be hard to differentiate. I explained how I felt too Leanne and Matt and requested that we all returned there. We all returned to the turret, I got a return of the hot sensation when Matt suggested could it of been a fire in the building the turret did look smoke damaged but the smell of smoke in here I put down to the fact there was an open fire in the room. I called out to no response, the heat on my head subsided. I continued to call out, we heard some tapping but all agreed we could attribute it to the wind rattling the windows.

Matt suggested that it could have been a windy day when the fire was lit and a gust down the chimney caused to set the room alight. Matt noted that written in the turret was "Control 47" which he said would be associated with a rebuild. Leanne added they are doing phased work up there. At this point we concluded the vigil.

Click here to listen to a possible EVP recorded during this investigation