Southern Paranormal - Investigations
Brading the Experience Investigation, Isle of Wight
Date – Saturday 25th February 2006 11pm – 5am
Attending Investigators: Julie Harwood, Wayne Blyth, Alison Blyth, Brian Ward, Amanda Horley, Ed Ashton, Steve Gilbert and Ian Pratchett.
Guest Investigator: Suzanne Gilbert
Thanks to Brian
Introduction
Some of the group had heard of Brading the Experience and had visited it either recently or as children. Other members had never heard of it. The one thing we all had in common was the fact we had all been looking forward to it for a long time. We caught the 8.40pm ferry from Southampton to Cowes and quickly made our way across the island to Brading, Nr Sandown. A warm welcome greeted us thanks to Ralph Edermaniger, manager of the complex and those warm mugs of tea on a cold February night were most welcome, thank you.
The entire group went into this investigation blind as we asked Ralph to with hold any information relating to previous sightings, investigations or experiences from the group. The following information was provided to myself (Julie) after the investigation had taken place.
Many orbs and light anomalies have been caught on recording devices in and around the old house, especially close to the Louis display and the Kind Charles display. There have also been reports of people’s hair being stroked and a small girl has been sensed and seen on the upper stairs of the house. An angry man is also said to be still walking the house and courtyard, cross at being disturbed and people have reported the feeling of being watched. Someone has been seen walking the top balcony and also footsteps and banging doors have been heard even though there are no doors up there. Island Ghosthunters did two nights in the Old House and courtyard and recorded footage which includes a number of orbs, flashes, rods and lights.
ALL PHOTOS AND FOOTAGE CAPTURED ON SITE ARE USED WITH THE KIND PERMISION OF BRADING THE EXPERIENCE LTD
Baseline Tests – completed by Brian, Ian & Julie
War Display Area – EMF reading 00.1 – 00.3 fluctuating occasionally but not to an unusual degree. Temperature 10.5. Team to be aware of acoustics as display is in a long tunnel with glass fronted displays.
Courtyard – EMF reading 00.1 – 00.2 no fluctuations. Temperature reading 2.0, again be aware that although open air, acoustics of courtyard mean sound is echo and magnified. Lots of trees and plants rustling in high winds.
Stairs to 1st Floor of Old Mansion house – EMF reading up to 1.1 in some parts. It is unknown if any cabling is present in these stairs. Very solid steps but do creak in some parts. Temperature reading 5.0.
Louis Display Room – EMF reading 00.2 – 00.4, fluctuating slightly but not to an unusual degree. Temperature reading 5 – 5.5. Team to be aware that above this area is glass hatch in roof with waxwork looking down.
2nd flight of stairs to loft area – EMF reading 00.2 – 00.3 no fluctuations. Temperature reading 7.0. Area feels a lot colder.
Skivvies Bedroom Display area – EMF reading 00.1 – 00.4. Temperature reading 4.0. Very small area. To access you have to duck under a beam (team to be aware of this in the dark)
Far Loft area – EMF reading 00.1 – 00.3 no major fluctuations. Temperature reading 6.5, but feels a lot colder. Back stairs down to more displays.
Back stairs from Far loft area – EMF reading 00.1 – 00.2, temperature 9.0.
Inside Coffin Display area – EMF reading 00.1 – 00.3, no major fluctuations. Temperature reading 5.0.
Outside Coffin Display area off of courtyard – EMF reading 00.1 – 00.3 no major fluctuations. Temperature reading 2.5. Cobble flooring around coffin is very uneven.
Priest Hole – EMF reading 00.1 – 00.4. Temperature reading 3.0.
Chamber of Horrors – EMF reading 00.2 – 00.6 fluctuating slightly but put down to electric running through area to feed displays. Temperature 10.5 – 11.0.
Vigil Plan & Teams
Vigil 1 11.30pm – 12.30am
Courtyard – Alison & Julie
Louis Display – Wayne & Ed
Far Loft – Steve & Amanda
Chamber of Horrors – Brian, Ian & Suzanne
Group Séance Outside 12.45am – 1.15am
Courtyard & Coffin area – Wayne, Amanda, Ian, Brian, Suzanne
Priest Hole – Julie, Alison, Steve & Ed
Vigil 3 1.45am – 2.45am
Far Loft – Julie, Wayne & Suzanne
Louis Display – Alison & Steve
War Display – Brian & Amanda
Inside Coffin Display – Ed & Ian
Vigil 4 3.00am – 4.00am
Chamber of Horrors – Julie, Amanda, Alison, Steve & Ed
War Display – Wayne & Ian
Louis Display – Brian & Suzanne
Vigil 5 4.15am – 4.45am
All Loft Area – Ed, Alison, Brian & Ian
Louis Display – Julie, Steve & Amanda
Inside Coffin display – Wayne & Suzanne
Team/Vigil Notes
The Courtyard – Alison & Julie 11.30pm – 12.30am
11.35pm Alison is sure she sees someone walk out of the door on the balcony directly above the coffin display area.
11.40pm Julie imagines lots of people gathering to see something and gets the immediate feeling of being watched.
11.42pm Calling out – 2 loud clicks heard from the gift shop area
11.45pm Alison feels drawn to look up the stairs towards the balcony.
11.47pm Alison gets the words “What do you want from me” and feels it may have something to do with the priest hole.
11.50pm Julie and Alison decide to walk slowly to priest hole and call out at same time. Response – two very loud thuds from coffin area.
11.51pm Alison tries walking over again and Julie calls out. Again 2 very clear thumps come from the priest hole area. Both get the impression they are not welcome over there and someone is cross that they are being disturbed!
11.53pm Alison senses 2 people present. A woman who is grounded and a man who is very aggressive and defensive.
11.55pm Julie & Alison hear a series of 4 or 5 footsteps on gravel
11.58pm Alison can hear chattering. Unsure if it is another team or not.
12.04am Julie smells and off smell and Alison smells the odour of rotting or old flesh.
12.10am Julie and Alison hear again the sound of 3 or 4 footsteps on gravel, but on investigation can not see any gravel around, just concrete ?
Louis Display – Wayne & Ed 11.30pm – 12.30am
11.35pm EMF reading 00.3 – 00.4. Temperature reading 3.5.
11.55pm Wayne gets pain in the side of his head
12.06am Wayne has same pain but in the other side of his head now
12.11am Temperature reading 4.0
12.23am Wayne feels and icy blast on the side of his face
12.30am nothing else experienced in this area
Far Loft – Steve & Amanda 11.30pm – 12.30am
11.35pm EMF reading 00.1 – 00.2, temperature reading 4.5
12.00am Temperature reading 5.5 near door to waxworks but 4.5 in rest of room
12.01am Door rattling in breeze and although only 1 minute later, temperature had risen to 6.5.
12.30am Nothing experienced in this area
Chamber of Horrors – Brian, Suzanne & Ian 11.30pm – 12.30am
11.30pm Ian holds the mummified hand and foot (with permission from Ralph). To Ian it felt very delicate but he did not experience any unexpected feelings.
11.45pm Suzanne handles the torture instruments & weapons (with permission from Ralph) – no unusual sensations.
11.50pm Team sit quietly – no unusual feelings or noises
11.52pm Team feel a little cold but put it down to being a cold February night
11.55pm noise heard “EWC”, another team?
12.00am Suzanne hears the noise of a distant door banging
12.02am Brian feels colder around the exhibits
12.05am Brian sees a light pass across the witches’ exhibit
12.20am While Brian is filming Suzanne holding the Highwayman’s Hat, Brian imagines trees, green fields and hedges.
Group Séance Outside – All group 12.45am – 1.15am
Wayne has slight feeling of dizziness when he stands near the top end of the coffin
Julie has slight headache
Team call out in turns, but nothing out of the ordinary is experienced
Far Loft – Julie, Wayne & Suzanne 1.45am – 2.45am
1.45am Temperature 5.5, EMF reading 00.1 – 00.3 nothing unusual
1.50am Julie gets the distinct smell of roses – Suzannes perfume?
1.52am Julie gets distinct smell of Hay but only for a couple of seconds
1.55am Wayne calling out, tap heard like someone flicking a tin can
1.59am on 2 separate occasions Wayne feels a cold breeze across his legs (he is sat on the floor on the right of the back stairs, Julie & Suzanne are sat on the seat under the window)
2.06am Wayne moves from Stairs area as he feels very nervous and wherever he goes he feels dizzy. Camcorder runs out of tape unexpectedly.
2.10am Julie smells Hay again and again it only lasted 2 or 3 seconds
2.12am Wayne can smell old rubber
2.15am Team comment on how cold it now feels in the room, temperature has actually increased by 0.5 and is now reading 6.0.
2.17am Tape recorder at far end of loft switches off
2.20am Wayne calling out and Julie thinks “Bugger off” in a loud, gruff voice
2.23am Wayne calls out again and Julie gets the name Glaffen Maeyar. She does not know the significance of this ie persons name, town etc
2.24am Wayne calls out Glaffen Maeyar and a large bang is heard from the bottom of the stairs. It sounds very plastic (like a cat coming through a cat flap) and sounds very close, startling Suzanne who is at the top of the stairs.
2.24am Orb caught on digital camera at the bottom of the stairs.
2.28am Wayne calls out again and same noise is heard.
2.40am over the next 5 –10 minutes the sound is heard a couple more times and group put it down to a door banging in the wind.
2.45am Team leave and investigate the bottom of the stairs. The only door that could have made the noise that close is bolted shut and very sturdy. Team try to push it about to recreate the sound but are unable to.
Louis Display – Alison & Steve 1.45am – 2.45am
1.45am Temperature average of 7.5, 6 on walls and 3 on the floor
1.50am Taps heard nut team are unable to discount that this could have been the radiator
2.00am Temperature 7.9. Loud tap from corner of the room
2.10am More taps and a shaft/beam of light is seen from the staircase at the far end of the room
2.30am Temperature drop to 7.1. Footsteps heard from above. Presumed other team, but when checked there was no team above them and the only other team in the building were stationary.
War Display – Brian & Amanda 1.45am – 2.45am
The team in this area experienced nothing out of the ordinary
Inside Coffin display – Ed & Ian 1.45am – 2.45am
The team in this area experienced nothing out of the ordinary
Chamber of Horrors – Julie, Amanda, Alison, Steve & Ed 3.00am – 4.00am
Temperature around area varied from 8 – 9.5 depending on where you were. There were no major jumps in reading.
EMF meter battery drain
Taps heard in far end of chamber
Steve thought he heard the faint sound of a child
Amanda and Alison could hear gentle thuds and taps from the far end of the chamber
All team agreed it was not an oppressive atmosphere at all
Orbs picked up on digital camera by Egyptian display
War Display – Wayne & Ian 3.00am – 4.00am
The team in this area experienced nothing out of the ordinary
Louis Display – Brian & Suzanne 3.00am – 4.00am
The team in this area experienced nothing out of the ordinary
All Loft Area – Ed, Alison, Brian & Ian 4.15am – 4.45am
- All group members hear the sound of a door banging. This may've been caused by the wind.
- It comes and goes throughout the whole 30min vigil
- It is difficult to pinpoint exactly where the sound is coming from.
- Sometimes it is a loud bang/thud, other times it is very faint.
- Ian calls out and appears to be answered every time by the banging.
- When the bangs are loud, Alison is sure it is coming from above.
- Ed is sure that this noise is just the strong wind outside making a door (or shutter) bang/thud that isn't properly latched.
- Another sound of a door banging is heard, although this time very nearby. Ian & Brian go downstairs to investigate as they think that it sounded as though it came from a door at the bottom of the stairs
- Ian continues to call out with various questions and again the banging appears to answer, although this may of course just be sheer coincidence.
- At the end of the vigil, it is undecided as to whether this noise was indeed caused by the wind or was in fact something else. Alison wants to verify location as her thoughts on the sound coming from above are questioned when it is discussed that, being in the loft (the upper most part of the house), there shouldn't be any other part of the building above the group
Louis Display – Julie, Steve & Amanda 4.15am – 4.45am
2 very bright light anomalies caught on digital camera
Steve stood by Louis display, Amanda & Julie sat on bench at end of room
Amanda could hear a sound on a couple of occasions, that resembled material being rubbed together.
Temperature is 4 and team is extremely cold
Steve can here a sound like a groan, but it is repetitive so team expect it to be something being blown about in the wind i.e. the Brading sign
Inside Coffin display – Wayne & Suzanne 4.15am – 4.45am
The team in this area experienced nothing out of the ordinary
Personal Reports
Julie Harwood
Along with the rest of the group, I was really looking forward to the Brading Investigation. Its somewhere I had visited many years ago and I remember it being creepy then. I never imagined I would be investigating it for paranormal phenomena a couple of years later.
My first vigil was with Alison in the courtyard of the old Mansion (The Isle of Wight’s oldest house). To say we were both terrified would somewhat be an understatement. Once in the area we felt frozen to the spot and although it was an icily cold night, it was not the weather that made us freeze. We felt we had to keep looking around us and our eyes were constantly surveying the small area. We also had the most overwhelming feeling that we were being watched. We experienced a couple of strange things in this area. I smelt a very potent “off” smell and Alison hit the nail on the head when she said she could smell rotting or stale meat. I only smelt the odour for a couple of seconds. We called out and we did hear bangs and thuds all around us however we were very aware of being in an enclosed space (as a courtyard is) and that sounds did echo. Also we were near other teams stationed in the house so some of the noises could be attributed to them. The strangest thing I think we experienced was the sound of 4 or 5 footsteps on gravel on 2 separate occasions. This was odd as everything was concrete, there was no loose gravel that we could see yet the sounds were coming from very close to us. A mixture of fear and cold brought us back to the team area where we approached Ralph to ask him a couple of questions. Alison told him of the meat smell and he informed us that part of the building used to be a mortuary so the old flesh smell would be a relevant thing to pick up on. I asked him then about the gravel and he confirmed that there was, as we thought no gravel in the area, just concrete.
As a whole group we then conducted a séance in the courtyard/priest hole. I experienced nothing unusual during this time, though I was interested in the dizziness Wayne felt while standing by the coffin. As far as I know nothing else was experienced by any of the group.
My second vigil was with Wayne & Suzanne in the far end of the loft of the mansion. We heard nothing for about three-quarters of the hour vigil apart from the distant sound of a door thumping in the wind in another part of the complex. Then while Wayne was calling out a door slammed at the bottom of the back stairs. We all jumped out of our skins and Suzanne went to investigate. The noise happened another couple of times and sounded (I know it sounds silly) like a giant cat flap opening and closing. I also came up with a name (atleast I think it’s a name) from nowhere and I could see it clearly in my mind but could not pronounce it so I spelt it out to Wayne, Glaffen Maeyar. I will be very surprised if this makes any sense to anyone or even is of any relevance! Just after this I could smell hay really strongly! We put the noise down to the fact that there was a door banging in the wind at the bottom of the stairs as it sounded so close to us. At the end of the vigil when we investigated we found the only door at the bottom of the stairs was bolted shut and when we all tried to move it, it hardly budged an inch.
My third vigil was in the Chambers of Horrors. I had a fantastic time looking at all the exhibits and freakish waxworks but unfortunately for me the vigil produced nothing out of the ordinary.
My last vigil was with Amanda and Steve in the Louis bedroom area. Amanda and myself sat down and Steve stood a little further forward. Amanda heard on a couple of occasions the sound of material rubbing together but sensibly considered the possibility it could be the sign on the building outside blowing in the high winds. I caught a couple of very bright light anomalies on my digital camera but again unfortunately experienced nothing else in this room.
On the whole, I do feel that despite the bangs and thuds heard on the night and the strange smells etc, unfortunately we did not experience any paranormal phenomena, however that of course is a personal opinion. Does that mean it is not haunted? Who knows for sure.
I had a great time on this investigation and although it was in the most part uneventful for myself, the fact that we got the chance to investigate such a fantastic complex was such a privilege. I would like to thank Ralph Edermaniger for his warm welcome and hope that we would be allowed to visit again, maybe next time we will pick a slightly warmer time of year.
Steve Gilbert
Severed Head, Decayed Torso, Mummified hand - no these were not the demons chasing us through Bradings "chamber of horrors" ala Scooby doo fashion but just like those characters from "Mystery Inc" we had some of our own and "there was a mystery to solve" - is the oldest house on the isle of Wight haunted ? Hmmm - not on the evidence from the night. You so want it to be because the place is magnificent with its long glass sided hallways, its often creaky doors and floors and the twisty spiral staircases, not to mention its dark alcoves and the brilliant glass tomb reputably holding the skeletal remains of Louis de Rochefort who thanks to our host informs me was a French emissary who was assassinated.
I set up a locked off video camera beforehand in the "loft room" along with a tape recorder and as luck would have it I found myself along with Amanda doing the first vigil in here. The noises were un-nerving for both of us as we tried to settle down, the glass cabinet doors rattled occasionally and one almighty bang from a door down the staircase was heard but this was put down to the wind whistling through.
Strangely the video camera light which is over 10 years old and gets used on nearly every investigation went out of its own accord and never came back on meaning we had to change to a night vision camera for the remainder of the locked off experiment.
The courtyard, the priest hole, the chamber of horrors and another room mansion were the other areas my teams investigated but I cant report seeing anything unusual or though there were a couple of odd squeaks and thud noises. No mystery solved then but it was a truly great night out though and many thanks to our host at Brading for letting us come.
Wayne Blyth
As I had visited this attraction in the summer of 2005, I knew much of the layout and some of the history. I was looking forward to having the opportunity to investigate.
On arrival, we set about setting out our plan. Our first vigil was Ed and myself in the “Louis” room.
Apart from being extremely cold during our vigil, not much out of the ordinary occurred. I felt, a couple of times a sharp pain to either side of my head. At one point, I saw what appeared to be a beam of light running down the wall and across the floor. On a few occasions both Ed and myself felt extremely cold draughts to our necks and cheeks.
Vigil 2 was a group seance in the courtyard. Unfortunately nothing was experienced here, apart from, again, the extreme cold, and a feeling of dizziness when I was standing at the head end of the coffin.
Vigil 3 was Julie, Suzanne, and myself in the “Far Loft”. This was my most eventful time. We proceeded to ask out and were rewarded with the occasional draught and knocks from the glass doors. At one point, after Julie had come out with a name, I asked if that was them who had made themselves known. Immediately, I heard in the distance, a voice say |yes. On checking with other team members, I found that no one had been in the area that the voice came from. On a couple of occasions, we heard some strange noises, which were akin to the sounds of cat flaps in operation. (One of which, caused Suzanne to turn and flee the stairwell) I also had several cold breezes occur to my hands and feet, as well as my hands being very warm at times, and a few times I felt extremely dizzy, almost to the point of falling over.
Vigil 4 was in the Military display and corridor, with Ian. Unfortunately, neither Ian nor myself experienced anything here, which is exactly what happened in our final vigil, with Suzanne and myself in the Coffin room. Again, nothing out of the ordinary happened in this room, although from the nature of the display, I would have thought that this would have been one of the most supposedly active areas.
Conclusion.
Although I had high hopes, I came away being mildly disappointed. Several unexplained things did happen, but still, I will not say they were of paranormal nature. I would like to go back again and investigate, because maybe conditions were not quite right.
Thanks to Ralph for his hospitality. Hopefully we will be back soon.
Ed Ashton
Like the Opera House nightclub, a waxwork museum seemed the unlikeliest of places to perform an investigation in, but once I heard that part of the complex included the oldest house on the island, my interest and enthusiasm were stoked.
This was actually the 4th time I had been to this particular location as I had visited previously as a tourist, but I can honestly say that I probably never expected to be investigating the place for suspected paranormal happenings!
The majority of the investigation seemed to pass without incident. The strong wind that was occassionally blowing outside, at times made it difficult to pick out the abnormal noises from the normal ones especially during the group vigil in the courtyard. It was also very cold it certain areas but this of course has to be put down to the fact that, being the time of year and in a house this old, it had to be expected.
An interesting occurrence happened during the last vigil in the loft, when all members in the group kept hearing a door banging. No doubt this was probably caused by the wind, but we felt it bizarre that nearly every time we called out, it seemed to appropriatley answer! Could this have just been sheer coincidence or maybe a spirit presence trying to contact us? It was also quite strange that at times this sound appeared to be coming from above us, but if we were in the loft/attic, then there couldn't have been anything above us! In conclusion, I found the building to be a great place to investigate and I was glad I participated.
Robin Banks
Clanking of chains and screams in the night, there was none this at the Brading Wax museum but on the other hand I did find the building and its associated history a fascinating and historical place. Unfortunately i did not really feel that i was in the presence of the supernatural. Even when in the chamber of horrors surrounded by, and touching genuine torture implements (used). While we were in the torture chamber i took the oppertunity to touch the 3,500 year old possibly cursed mummies hand. Although this felt dry and delicate there was no other feelings.
On our attic vigil two possibly interesting situations occured the first being when some knocking sounds were heard although it was hard to place their origins, consensus being that it was coming from somewhere around the roof. In order to try and pin down their nature I several times asked for a knock or two to be given at certain times. Although there were knocks afterwards they only broadly matched the requests with some happening randomly. Although during the brief period when I asked no knocks it was qiet I think it would be wishfull thinking to attribute anything more than randomness to the sounds. The second and perhaps more inexplicable events also involved noises when twice during the vigil we heard distint noises of what sounded like a metal door handle bar being rattled. There was a fire exit door at the base of the staircase just below the attic and it is possible that the rattles were caused by nothing more sinister than gusts of wind.
In general although i would happily visit again i do not think there is anything supernatural there.
Brian Ward
VIGIL 1 [TORTURE CHAMBER] SUZANNE, IAN, BRIAN
The Torture chamber we settled down by the display of tools of torture, being so close to these tools and knowing what pain they inflected, made me a little unnerving, But that was all until Suzanne picked up the Highwayman and pirate’s helmet she sat holding this helmet seeing if she could pick anything up from it, I was filming while looking through the viewfinder watching Suzanne with this item of humility For some strange reason I was no longer in the torture chamber doing a vigil I was walking across a grass field with hedges around it with people to my left and right, and a feeling of [ o well this is the end ].
Suzanne put the the item back into the display cabinet and the feeling left me and I was back in the torture chamber on a paranormal vigil Very strange I have no answer for this experience.
GROUP SÉANCE
The group split into two one half doing a séance around the coffin in the court yard and the other half done a vigil in the priest hole.
My team’s first vigil was a séance around the coffin I was filming, Wayne was calling out, but to me nothing happened there was a light anomalies on the night vision and a few knocking sounds which could have been the wind, then we changed over to the priest hole but again nothing happened .
VIGIL 2 [1st WORLD WAR DISPLAY] AMANDA, BRIAN
This area to me felt just what it was a corridor with wax work displays.
There was a strong breeze coming waist high along the length of the corridor which I put down to a door open leading to the court yard down the other end of the corridor.
A few knocking sounds where heard by Amanda and myself but nothing else was picked up on night vision camera, still camera or audio.
VIGIL 3 [LOUIE AREA] SUZANNE, BRIAN
Now this area had a lot of atmosphere being I think the oldest building on the complex the smell the old beam roof, creaking floorboards and quite cold even though there was a heater on it’s not the coldest investigation ive been on.
This area was very quite a few tapping sounds but we put that down to the heater. We started to feel the cold so we moved and sat around the heater feeling a bit more comfortable I started to call out as soon as I did light anomalies went across the night vision. I come up with the name Isaac so I called out this name asking for a light form or a tapping sound guess what another light anomalies went across the night vision. But nothing else so we decided to end the vigil.
LAST VIGIL 4 [TOP LOFT AREA] ALISON, IAN, ED, BRIAN
Again being a part of the oldest house it was full of atmosphere, from the very start through Ian called out we started to get knocking sounds could not make out where it was coming from above or below us then a large Bang coming from downstairs which made us all jump a little. Again through Ian calling out we started getting the knocking sounds again, then another large bang came from downstairs looking downstairs Ian started calling out again and the knocking sounds started again then we where looking down the stairs another large bang we went down the stairs to investigate by trying to push the door trying to make the same sound.
Unfortunately the vigil was only a ½ hr one so we decided to end the vigil so we will never know if the sounds where natural or paranormal.
CONCLUSION
The Brading Experience and what an experience it turned out to be.
Having the privilege of walking around this wax works in the dark and to walk around the very old house with its smells and knocking and bangs I don’t think we will ever find out if the sounds where natural or paranormal.A Big thanks to Ralph for his hospitality and the cups of tea and putting up with us all night.
Alison Blyth
I have visited this building so many times in my life that I thought I would not experience anything paranormal or out of the ordinary. I have nothing but fond memories of the place and felt this would cloud any negative feelings that could be thrown my way. How wrong could I have been!
Our first vigil was in the courtyard. There was just the two of us, in the dark and cold.
Just walking into the area caused problems for both Julie and I as the atmosphere was tense and oppressive. We attempted to walk across the courtyard to the area where the coffin was, but we both felt an immense sense of fear. As we have done so may investigations, I couldn’t put this down to nerves as we have been in a similar situation many times, but I was petrified and felt as if I was being watched and someone did not want us in the area. We made it half way across the courtyard and scuttled back to the safety of the alcove where the wheel was placed.
I sat looking towards the balcony as I felt drawn to this area, and saw what can only be described as a woman floating down the stairs. She seemed to not notice me and seemed set in a routine as if she was stuck there doing the same walk over and over again. I got no name from her as she did not acknowledge me whatsoever. I didn’t feel threatened by her in any way, just fascinated and captivated.
I called out and taps were heard on the window of the gift shop, so we both called again. On two separate occasions we heard what could only be described as footsteps coming from the direction of the coffin. The footsteps sounded as if they were made on gravel, but we could see no gravel in the courtyard area. I sensed a man, and not a pleasant one at that. He seemed allusive and angry that we were there. I called out stating that if he wanted us to go he must let us know. I became brave and angry, I don’t know why, and decided to walk towards the priest’s hole. Julie called out as I walked towards it, and a loud bang was heard. This did scare me as for some reason I felt extremely vulnerable. I rejoined Julie to calm my nerves, and tried on three occasions to walk towards this area. Each time a loud bang was heard. Whilst sitting in the alcove, I mentioned to Julie that I could smell what could be only described as rotting flesh. We could take no more so finished our vigil after half an hour.
Our next vigil was again in the courtyard, but this time the whole group joined us. We split into two halves to cover both areas we felt were active and called out in turns from each points. Taps were heard and the smell was given again
.My next vigil was in the Louis area. Again for some reason I was scared. I don’t know if this is because of my fear of the courtyard or whether I could feel something in this area. Small taps were heard, but I cannot rule out the natural noise of the radiator. Light were also seen from the top of the stairs as if a torch was being shone down. No one was in that area so I cannot explain this.
We joined another group to visit the chamber of horrors. Unfortunately I didn’t pick up on anything or anyone in this area, but other members of the group picked up a child who seemed playful. This area surprised me as I felt comfortable and calm. This may be because the lights were on .
Our last vigil was in the far loft area. Almost instantly loud bangs could be heard from above us, and considering there was nothing above us this puzzled us. We couldn‘t find an explanation and without having access couldn‘t determine whether this was the wind causing this or a spirit. We called out and the bangs continued to the point we began to assume that it was the norm in this area. I have absolutely no explanation for this. On one call out, it sounded like a door had been slammed down at the bottom of the stairs, Ian went to investigate, and I sensed a man and extreme anger. I felt totally vulnerable, as the feeling I was being given was that women were not welcome, and seeing that I was the only woman in the group it did worry me.
Once again I felt unwelcome. We tried to mimic the noise, but the door was on the latch and the only way to mimic the noise was to take the door off the latch which was not entirely accurate as the conditions were not the same.
Brading hides some dark secrets and very strong atmospheres not all pleasant.
I am so glad I attended this investigation as despite feeling scared, it was an experience I will not forget.
I would like to thank Ralph for making us feel so welcome, and for looking after us so well.