Southern Paranormal - Investigations
Bitterne (Southampton) School Investigation
Saturday 8th August 2009
Attending Investigators – Julie Harwood, Maria Street, Rob Butler, Mark Wright, Di Moore, Amanda Horley, Rachel Steadman, Mark Pettet and Sarah Pettet.
Introduction
Due to the sensitive nature of this investigation, we are unable to give too many details and any history of the site. We have never visited this location before and so we thank them for allowing us to visit and trusting us. We would love to return someday to conduct a follow up as we feel we only just scratched the surface... and to the 2 policemen that visited us to check everything was ok and then wanted to join in, I bet seeing what you saw made you think twice about teasing us with what we were doing J
Paranormal Sightings
Members of staff have reported incidents of a strange nature which cannot be explained. Over the years members of staff have felt uneasy in certain areas of the school and the nursery have reported on several occasions smelling perfume and having their clothes tugged at by what appears to be a child. Also children have reported seeing a large lady in the kitchen area of the nursery looking at them, and when the staff turn to look there is nobody there.
Team 1
Julie
Mark W
Rachel
Team 2
Maria
Rob
Di
Team 3
Amanda
Sarah
Mark P
Vigil Area’s
Reception & Yr one class rooms
Yr two & three classrooms
Yr four, five & six classrooms
Nursery & Library
Main Hall
Itinerary
8.30pm Rob, Maria, Julie, Rachel & Mark W arrive to set up
9.45pm Rest of team to arrive at school
10.00pm Tour of school to highlight vigil area’s
10.30pm Pre vigil break
11.00pm Vigil 1
12.00am comfort break
12.15am Vigil 2
1.15am Break (1/2 hr)
1.45am Vigil 3
2.45am comfort break
3.00am Vigil 4
4.00am Pack up
4.30am Depart
Personal Reports
Robert Butler
As I have just been made a core member of the team this is my very first report and feel excited to be part of a great friendly team all seeking the same answers.
Investigation team 2 – Maria, Di and Rob
Vigil 1 – Years 2, 3 and the community room
Year 3 classroom - temperature = 20.8°, EMF reading was normal
Maria, Di and I made our way to the year 3 classroom to begin our vigil. The room was very dark and quiet with no activity to start but as questions were asked, Di could feel the presence of a young child in the room by the side of her. I went across with the temperature gun and there were fluctuations in temperature, sometimes by 6 degrees or more. We did try and look for any possible signs of a draught or where air could escape into the room but could not detect anything. Maria started getting names popping in her head and thought she heard a loud sighing. Sadly none of the other members heard it. Although there were some taps we concluded that this was due to the lights cooling down, however there was a large tap that we could offer no explanation for. After 25 minutes we decided to move on.
Community room – Temperature = 22.3°, EMF reading was normal
In this room we had set up a television that was on but not tuned in (white noise). Reputedly spirits use this device as a form of communicating. The three of us settled down and just as we started asking questions Maria had a picture of a horse and cart appear in her head, and Di could smell manure. Maybe a possible link to the farm that was here. Although we were there for 20 minutes nothing more was felt so we decided to move on .
Year 2 classroom – temperature = 20.4°, EMF reading was normal
This was a very interesting room for as soon as we started to ask questions Di could see the image of a young girl (maybe dressed in 1940`s clothes with a bow in her hair). She started getting various names as did Maria. I started to get a slight headache and also had two names pop into my head Michael and Ruth. Di could also smell the distinct smell of washing powder and she could also see a large house. Maria asked me if anyone had died on or near the property (possible reference to the child found). There was also some tapping from the corner of the room, but as the lights had been turned off some time before we could offer no explanation for this. At 12.00am we finished vigil 1 and headed back to the staff room. As Maria and I were walking past the large kitchen area of the school we both saw what appeared to be two shadows in the kitchen. One was seen by Maria to be stationary just inside the door and the one I saw was walking towards the kitchen door that leads to the outside area. We spoke about it to each other for quite some time and even tried to shine a torch and walk to create what we saw but we could not come up with a reasonable answer for this .
Vigil 2 – Years 4, 5 and 6 classrooms
Year 4 classroom – Temperature = 23.3°EMF reading was normal
Maria, Di and I made our way to the year four class to start our next vigil. The trees next to the school are right next to the classroom and Maria and Di both had the uncomfortable feeling about them, that nasty things had happened there. We were all calling out and asking various questions when we all had the feeling that we were being watched by a small child from the doorway of the year four classroom. The corridor was very black but to one side it was even darker, like a shadow was stood there, and it was only child height .As I went over to record the temperature I saw what appeared to be a large white light anomaly flying under the table where I had been sat. I did ask the other two members of the team if they had seen it but sadly they hadn’t. We were asking the child to come forward and say hello but it was if they were hiding round the corner and peeking round (something a child would do if they were shy or nervous). We decided to move on to our next vigil area.
Year 6 classroom – Temperature = 20.7°, EMF reading was normal
As this classroom is also near to the trees it did appear darker one side than the other. We all sat down and began asking questions again and immediately there was a loud bang from one of the cupboards. It definitely wasn’t lights cooling down as they had never been on, but it was a definite bang when we asked if anyone could make a noise. Maria also had the number 16 in her head. She wondered if anyone had died or been found on this site as she had the feeling that some one had. Di could also smell again the distinct smell of manure. As we were picking nothing more up we went to investigate year 5 classroom but sadly had run out of time.
On our way back to the staff room as we passed the kitchen door area we didn’t notice any shadows but we did however notice the ladies staff toilet in the kitchen area was wide open (we knew it had been shut because another investigator had closed it up after first vigil and no one had been near it to open it, so again we closed the door up and went to the staff room for a break.
Vigil 3 – group vigil in the hall
On returning from the staff room we all passed the kitchen area and to our amazement the toilet door was again wide open. We know that no one had been out there because we were all accounted for in the staffroom for the entire time of the break. We tried to establish whether a draught had opened it but you would have to give it really big push and turn the handle to open it and we all know it was completely shut when we left it the last time. We all spent a few minutes in the kitchen area but nothing happened so we made our way into the hall for the group vigil.
In this vigil we had a device on the table in the centre of us called franks box (a device that continuously scans radio stations not tuning in just flicking through as apparently the spirits use the various words of the flicking stations to talk. Although we were there for an hour I am not sure whether spirits did talk to us when we asked direct questions to the machine. Certain words were picked up on the machine but on many occasions didn’t make sense to the questions we were asking. I took two pictures in the hall as Julie had heard someone or something walk across the hall. One of them contains a very bright thick set light anomaly possibly floating one and a half feet above the hall floor and another photo contains a dimmer anomaly around the back of Julie. We decided to close the group vigil at 2:45 am and make our way back to the staff room. On passing the kitchen door, the toilet door was still shut from when we had shut it earlier so we went for our last break.
Vigil 4 – Nursery reception and year one classroom
Nursery area – temperature=23.8°, EMF reading was normal
Maria Di and I made our way into the nursery area to begin our last vigil. I was particularly excited as this was the area where most incidents have occurred over the years with children and staff. As I took various photos of the nursery upon entering, a light anomaly appeared on two of the three photos I took. Di and Maria were picking up the picture of a large lady in the kitchen area (the apparition of a lady has been seen by many children over the years) also Di could smell perfume (staff have reported smelling perfume every now and then). I could see what appeared to be the outline of a child by the main windows into the nursery. Di saw it too .Maria was again getting various names coming into her head.
There was also a loud tap at the window. It sounded like what we all agreed to be grit being thrown (there is an empty gold fish bowl on the side with grit inside). We decided to move on to the year 1 classroom as we had spent so much time in this area.
Year 1 classroom – temperature = 21.4°, EMF reading was normal
This class room was very quiet and nothing happened at all in here. Although Di picked up a man in the room, we did ask and awaited responses but sadly nothing happened. Maria was still getting various names in her head . We decided to call a close to the investigation at 4:00am.
Over all it was a very interesting evening for me . The significant thing for me was seeing the shadow in the kitchen area and also the light anomaly in the year 4 classroom.
Di Moore
Arrived at School at 21.30, weather good not windy and clear sky. I was in Team 2 with Maria and Rob. We had a tour round then started investigations.
Vigil 1. Year 3
This was a large Classroom. I walked around and found a spot. We settled in, and then called out to spirit. The first thing I got was a child (I think it was a girl). She was hiding but I could sense her round me. Maria said Julie, but I am not sure this was her name. We heard some tapping sounds but this could have been the lights cooling down. As time went on saw some quick moving shadows darting about around the area I was in, so I sat at a table with pad and pen to see if she could lead my hand and write something but nothing happened and it was time to move on as we had no time left.
Community room.
Nothing happened for me apart from the name Benjamin came into my head.
Year 2
This room was quite. I got another girl (not the same one as in Year 3). This girl was from before the school was built and I had the name Margaret in my head. I could see this girl in my mind. She had a bow in her hair on the right-hand side with shoulder length hair. She was from about 1930's and her age was between 9 -14 years. I was getting hot sweats. This was the girl and she had died of pneumonia. Then I got a smell of a washing tub, and sensed hanging washing on a line. This had to have been a house or a farmhouse before the school was built.
Break. This is when the Police turned up after having a report of flashing lights from neighbour. One of the group showed them round and they saw in one of the corridors a dark shadow going into Year 3. They thought it was one of our group, but it was not. They also they heard a laugh and investigated but no one was there. What a result for them, I don’t think they will be back soon.
Vigil 2. Year 4
I didn’t like this classroom and I could not settle. I sat by the window looking at a door and felt something nasty outside wanted to come in. I even took my cross (which I always wear) outside of my top from inside as I felt threatened but saw nothing.
Vigil 3. Kitchen/Hall.
The Kitchen had an eerie feeling to it. There was a toilet next to the back door and it's door kept opening and had been shut and latched by one of the group. We then moved into the Hall and the whole group sat in a circle and did (a first for me) a Franks box experiment. The only thing for me was Gypsy and I think there was a Gypsy camp at some time on this site.
Vigil 4. Nursery
The first thing that came into my mind was the name Agnes. I could smell cooking and a large woman, cuddly and warm seemed to be looking for her son. She has lost him and can’t find him. Then we heard what only could be grit being thrown across the classroom.
Year 1
There was a smell of mothballs and I seemed to sense an older man, hence the smell of mothballs. Maybe a teacher as he was standing to the right of me and loves the school. Arnold came into my head and I saw an orb go from one of the tables to the floor, but time has run out and we have to go.
A very interesting night, and thank you for letting us into your school.
Amanda Horley
We arrived at this small school to find that despite the poor weather we have been having this summer it was incredibly hot inside. There was a very distinct smell in a lot of the rooms, probably caused by the place being shut up for the holidays. After a walk around the building we split into three teams for the investigation.
I was in a team with Mark P. and Sarah and we started the vigil in the year 6 classroom. There were several knocks and bangs during our time in there, but nothing that could be linked to any questions we were asking. After a time we moved into the year 5 classroom and on one occasion there was a loud knock from behind Mark that we couldn’t explain. Other than this and the fact that it felt very hot (but was a degree cooler than the previous room) it was very quiet in here. We moved on to the year 4 classroom but nothing happened in here for me and we finished the vigil in the library which again seemed quiet. The corridors in this area felt a little unsettling, but this could have been because they were darker than the classrooms.
Our second vigil was in the pre-school rooms and in the far room I felt a feeling of apprehension, as if someone was going to suddenly appear and go “boo!” However, this didn’t happen. Whilst we were in this room there was a loud knock from the room next door. We moved into this room, and there were various knocks and bangs that we couldn’t explain, but again not consistent with our questioning.
During the break we noticed that a door from the kitchen to a storage area was open. I couldn’t say for certain, but we were all sure that it had been shut previously and no-one else had been in there. I closed the door and am sure that it latched shut properly. However, when we went to start the group vigil, and passed the kitchen, this door was again open. We closed it again, but it didn’t open any more during the night.
We next held a group vigil in the school hall, and set up a Franks Box experiment. This was the first time I had seen this being used, and whilst we didn’t seem to get anything definitive, there were words and phrases that emerged that did appear to answer some of our questions. Interestingly it seemed that when we were getting a run of responses, it was the same voice or type of voice that was providing them.
We split back into our teams for the final vigil, and my team spent our time in the community room. This was very quiet for me.
Overall, this was a quiet night for me, but it was an interesting building to investigate and I would like to go back if the opportunity arose.
Maria Street
It was a very warm night and quite sticky so we were hoping that maybe a storm might accompany this investigation. The school itself was only five minutes away from me which was lovely. I met up with the others in the grounds and we went inside. It was even hotter inside so I was glad of the bottle of water I’d taken along.
I was in a team with Rob and Di and we started our vigil in the Year 3 classroom. The temperature was 20.8c and there were no fluctuations on the EMF meter. We sat down and accustomed ourselves to all natural noises then called out. I got the name of Julie in here, but, as this is a school, many people would have been here in the past and it could apply to any one of them. A little later I heard a noise like a yawn, but nobody else could hear it. Di felt cold on her back and the temp gun confirmed a drop in temperature around her. She felt the presence of a little girl but could get no response from her. Rob heard shuffling and Di heard some taps. I then got the name of Alison. It turned very quiet so we moved on to another area in our vigil, the Community Room. We had set up a white noise experiment in here with a camera trained on an un-tuned portable tv. I had a very strong image of a horse and cart in here. It was very quiet in here however, so we moved along to the year 3 classroom and settled ourselves down. I got three boy’s names in here, Malcolm, Billy and Alastair and a girl’s name, Bridget. Also the horse and cart came up again and Di felt the place was once a farm house and I was picking up on the farm. This was confirmed. I also felt that something may have happened in the woods nearby and a body was found. It was confirmed that a body was found at the gates to the school some years ago.
After a short break, we continued in the years 4, 5 and 6 classrooms. We heard taps and creaks and I got the number 30 in my head but I don’t know why. I also got the number 16 and felt that it meant either 16 years of age or 16 years ago. It was confirmed that the body was found 16 years ago. We were due for a break and as we headed back I heard Julie and Rachel talking and saw somebody in the kitchen. I stepped back to say ‘Hello’ but there was nobody there. Rob then asked if I had seen what he had seen and he had seen the same as me. We walked through the kitchen to see if anybody had gone through and out the other door. Rob opened the door but there was nobody there. Closer inspection found everybody to be indoors. We all had a look but could find no explanation. Amanda noticed that the toilet door was open so closed it and we all went for our break. Our next vigil was a group vigil and we decided to tackle the kitchen first and the first thing we noticed was the toilet door was open. Mark W firmly closed it. We stood in the kitchen and called out, hoping for the door to open again, but to no avail. We carried on into the main hall where we had set up a Frank’s Box experiment. We all sat round and asked questions, all the while keeping an eye on the kitchen which was visible from the hall.
For our next vigil we went into the nursery where Di picked up on a large lady. It was confirmed that a large lady had been seen here. I had the names of James and Steven and I did feel that a little boy had been sensed here. A tap from the toilet door was heard as were several creaks from the kitchen. The most impressive activity was the sound of what sounded like grit being thrown. This is a rare occurrence and we could not get it to happen again, no matter how much we asked. We moved along to the year 1 classroom and I felt a connection with dogs here, a dachshund in particular but I have no idea why. Very strange! I had the names of Susan and Michael also. This was otherwise very quiet apart from the odd tap and this concluded our investigation of the school. I would like to thank one of our members for securing this vigil for us. Even without the hoped for storm, we had a great night!
Mark W
This was the first time investigating a school for me, and the first time I had been in a primary school for 20 years. Apart from the addition of computers, I was surprised how little had changed in that time.
We arrived early and had a nice long time to get everything set up. We had a lot of rooms to cover on this one so we spent our time making sure cameras were set up to cover as much area as possible. As a slightly overweight adult, I have to admit to feeling a little dubious hanging off the top of a climbing frame designed for children whilst setting up a camera!
Our first investigation saw us in the Nursery. These were separate rooms with one leading through to the other. We heard a few knocks in this room which at times seemed to respond to us calling out. Using a hearing amplifier we were able to hear these a lot clearer than normal. These noises could have been the building, but at times seemed to be close to us, like they may have been on furniture which shouldn’t really make the sound we heard.
Moving into the next nursery room I found this it to have quite an oppressive feeling. It felt very “black” if that makes any sense, like it was smothered in something. It is not a sensation I have experienced before.
After a break and quick equipment check we moved into the reception area. Not long after we first went in we noticed odd things happening. The printer making a noise like it was shuffling the paper tray, despite the fact it was in sleep mode and shouldn’t have made that particular noise whilst in that mode. (We use the same model of printer at work and it never makes this sound whilst in sleep mode). Twice Julie felt something touch her hair and several loud clunks were heard from within the office. Just as the vigil was drawing to a close, we also heard music that sounded like it was in the main hall, but upon investigation there was nothing to be heard.
Our next vigil saw us in year 2 & 3 classrooms. I really did not like this room. I felt constantly on edge there. We tried table tipping but go no results. We also tried an experiment using the tuned out static image of a TV but this also gave us no results. Even though nothing was happening in this room I could not settle down, it just felt wrong.
Our next vigil saw us in the main hall. Previous to this we had reports from team 2 that they had seem a figure walking though the kitchen. In addition to this one of the doors in the kitchen although closed firmly, kept opening. The kitchen opened up into the main hall so we set up a camera on the door that was opening and opened up the doors which separated the kitchen and main hall. We set up a Franks box in the hall and seemed to get some very good and accurate results. At one point when I had gone to check on the kitchen door and was returning to my seat in the main hall the Franks box declared “he’s coming” followed by “see you next Thursday/Tuesday” (nothing of note happened on the next Tuesday or Thursday so I’m unsure what this was referring to).
After a break and an equipment check our next vigil saw us in the year 4,5 & 6 classrooms. Unfortunately we could not stay in here long as there had recently been some work done on the ceiling and the glue smell was very overpowering so we headed down the corridor to the library. All was fairly quiet in here apart from a large flash. After radioing the other team to see if they had used a camera they said they had and we asked then to use it again in the same place to see if the flash had somehow bounced into our vigil area. They took another picture but not flash was seen.
All in all it was a good night, a lot of interesting things happened. Thanks to Rob & Julie for organizing it all!