Southern Paranormal - Investigations
Buckingham House & Felton House Investigation
Friday 19th June 2009
Attending Investigators –Julie Harwood, Maria Street, Di Moore, Marie Holder, Amanda Horley, Mark Boulton, Gill O’Farrell, Rob Butler, Kieran Gillingham, Jane Gillingham, Karen Reynolds Day & Alison Crocker.
Time of Investigation –9pm - 3.30am
Introduction & History
Every paranormal group in the South knows of Buckingham House in Old Portsmouth and many have been able to investigate it including us in 2007 however Felton House which stands next door has always been on the groups wish list to investigate and so when Alan said we could investigate both on the same night we were delighted. Thanks again Alan for putting your trust in the team.
For an idea of Buckingham Houses’ long and interesting past please see timeline below, courtesy of http://uk.geocities.com/oldportsmouthbuckinghamhouse.
1180 St Thomas's church founded. Four parallel streets laid out of which the High Street was the principle thoroughfare.
1523 the first known reference to the house appears as "le Greyhounde"
" A brewery, granary and garden" licensed to Richard Palshyd the collector of taxes from Southampton.
After 1523 House was re-built retaining many of the original features
1544 home to John Chadderton, Captain of Southsea Castle
1626 Purchased by Captain John Mason, Employed by Duke of Buckingham as paymaster to the Fleet.
Founder of New Hampshire (America) Erstwhile "pirate".
1627 Major building work alleged to have taken place
1628 August 25th: King Charles I visits the house.
August 28th 1628: Murder of Duke of Buckingham by John Felton
After 1628 House renamed Buckingham House
1661 May 2nd: Samuel Pepys visits Buckingham house - to see the room where Felton killed the Duke of Buckingham
1700 House joined to what is now number 11 and Refronted
Installation of panelling identified as William & Mary period.
1705 Purchased by Dr. G. Smith - founder of Portsmouth Grammar School
He lived there for 27 years and is attributed with building the canopy over the front door.
1760 Part of house demolished for building current No. 10 High Street
about 1800 House divided in to two properties known as 10½ and 11 High Street
1801 January 26th: Hampshire Telegraph reports - a maniac at Buckingham House
1818 Owned by Rev. George Cuthbert - Refronted west wing and destroyed the symmetry.
1836 Occupied by Miss Helby Begg and her sister. Used as a day and boarding school for young ladies.
1840 March: Occupied by Miss Tilley's seminary. One of her pupils was Jessie White, from Gosport, who became a major figure in the re-unification of Italy under her married name Jessie Mario White and supported the Garibaldi campaign.
Newspaper report: Young soldiers tore away the railings from outside Buckingham House
1856 Cambridge Barracks built - this development included the original garden and orchard of Buckingham House up to 1881 Owned by Anne Deacon
No 11 lived in by owner.10½ tenanted.
1881 Purchased by Mr Archibald Henry Ford - architect and surveyor Purchase price £750.00.
Lived in number 11 until about 1930; his wife lived there until 1939.
1890's 10½ rented by Bramsdon and Child solicitors
1892 Wooden beam across chimney breast catches fire
Original -spit rack - removed and chimney breast rebuilt
1933 10½ registered as a house under the Rent Act 1941 Badly damaged in WW2 blitz
Kitchen wing destroyed and roofs left open to sky
1945 Advertised for sale by order of Public Trustee. Purchased by Albert Edward Hadley
1946 Purchased by Mr Robin Aubrey Thomas for £1350. Major two year restoration programme begins.
1951 Visited by members of National Trust as guests of Dickens fellowship
Visited by a group from New Hampshire researching Captain Mason
1953 February 11th: Listed as of - special architectural and historic importance
1966 Offices of R.A. Thomas & Son Architects
2006 Major restoration and plans for the future unveiled
Felton House - is a large 18th century townhouse building set on 4 floors which stands next to Buckingham House and was named after the man that took the life of the Duke of Buckingham, John Felton. The house is currently in disrepair and is awaiting renovation. In one of the first floor rooms Portsmouth Football club was formed in 1898. Like Buckingham House, Felton House has seen many uses over the years however it is believed something far more sinister remains here now. The house used to be a large family home however the family found the constant “ghostly” activity too much to live with and fled vowing never to return. The house was put on the market but no one would take it on and Felton House has not been lived in since. It is now a project for a local developer who is trying to restore both Felton House and Buckingham House back to their former glory.
The Investigation
Vigil Locations
We had the two properties to investigate and so we split the team into two.
Team 1 investigated Buckingham House first and then Felton House
Team 2 investigated Felton House first and then Buckingham House
Team 1
Julie – Team Leader
Maria – Team Leader
Kieran
Jane
Karen
Alison
Team 2
Amanda – Team Leader
Di – Team Leader
Mark
Gill
Marie
Rob
Itinerary
9.00pm Arrive at Location
9.30pm Time to look round both locations
10.00pm Pre vigil break
10.15pm Vigil 1
Team 1 – Buckingham House
Team 2 – Felton House
11.15pm Break
11.30pm Vigil 2
Team 1 – Buckingham House
Team 2 – Felton House
12.30am ½ hr Break
1.00am Vigil 3
Team 1 – Felton House
Team 2 – Buckingham House
2.00am Break
2.15am Vigil 4
Team 1 – Felton House
Team 2 – Buckingham House
3.15am Pack up
3.30am Depart
Personal Investigator Reports
TEAM 1
Julie Harwood
As a team (and personally of course) we had waited what seemed a long time for our return to Buckingham House and so we were delighted when Alan was able to give us a date and as a bonus Felton House right next door as well.
I was in a team with Maria, Alison, Kieran, Jane & Karen and we started our night investigating Buckingham House. We started in the raised room, the room on our last investigation we had used as a kit room. Kieran stood by the window, Maria, Alison and I sat on the benches by the door and Karen and Jane sat opposite us on the far side of the room. There was a lot of discussion during this vigil as the entire group felt that this was an odd room as it was raised (unlike any of the other ground floor rooms) and it seemed to be raised over the cellar. A few knocks and taps were heard in this room but nothing extra abnormal and so we believed we were listening to an old house beginning to settle. The one odd thing that did happen was a large knock by Maria, which we later discovered to be the clip on Maria’s camera bag knocking on something. This was quite a way from Maria’s feet and as we were all sat extremely still we were unable to see how it could have been knocked.
We then decided to make our way upstairs to the red room. On our last visit to the house the red room had contained some amazing period furniture which included a large 16-18 seater dining table which on command seemed to jump a good couple of inches, scaring the life out of some of the investigators. Sadly this table was not there this time and so we all seated ourselves around the room. I sat on one windowsill and Alison sat on the other. As it was quite early in the evening still, the room was not pitch black and we could all see around it relatively clearly. We began to call out and Alison was picking up on a man in here that was done an in justice. She became increasingly concerned about the room and as we were calling out all the team noticed that the end of the room by me was gradually getting darker and darker, so much so that a cabinet down that end was coming in and out of vision as the room got darker then lightened a bit before getting darker again. As the person sat closest to this, it did worry me a little bit and in the end I went and stood with Maria and Kieran sat where I was. Alison was still very concerned and I believe was having some trouble breathing in this room, like someone was pressing on her neck, throat and chest. Kieran also reported a slight sense of unease in this corner of the room and try as we might to explain what was causing the coming and going of light (i.e. passing cars, members moving etc) we could not come up with a solid logical reason why only one end of the room suddenly kept going pitch black. Alison remained very, very quiet through this vigil and when I asked her if she was ok she did say that this room was very threatening to her and she was sat quietly not wanting to let anything affect her. I am sure her report will do her feelings more justice than my account.
After this vigil we had a quick break and we all went out for a cigarette while Maria stayed inside and spoke to her daughter on the phone. We were very quiet outside as we were aware of it being late and while we were stood quietly talking we could hear Maria inside. It must have been the acoustics of the building because every now and then all of us could hear what sounded like a man talking in a deep voice, then we would hear Maria’s normal voice again. This was very weird as the mans deep voice sounded as clear as Maria’s but it must have been Maria we were hearing but she sounded so – well - male.
After our break we decided to spend a bit of time in the large auditorium type room at the back of Buckingham House. It was laid up for a conference talk the next day so we were careful not to move any chairs and just sat in the audience. Maria and Alison felt this room was used to dole out justice of some kind, but not the normal kind. It was mentioned that maybe it was used for a naval court case at some time. Kieran on the other hand (who was sat at the fair end by the piano) felt it was like an auction room from the 50’s and he could imagine large foreign artifacts like large stuffed birds being sold here after they were imported. Alison and I were sat close together (she was sat in the chair directly in front of me) and we felt very uneasy and like we were being watched from close range. She felt that that was someone sat behind me and at one point I did feel like someone touched the top of my back / hair. We called out and we all heard a chair move near to where Alison and I were sitting but we did not know exactly where. We put the torches on and it appeared that the chair in the row behind me had been pushed out of line, like when someone gets up from a chair and it pushes back a bit. We also heard some taps and knocks coming from the corner behind me and at one point it sounded like someone was rustling a bag behind me.
Our last vigil in Buckingham house was down in the cellar. When we all went down we commented that it was a bit like walking through mud and felt like something was trying to stop us going down. Once down there, there was a strong smell of alcohol and also of “sweaty man” a kind of musky unwashed smell. The layout of the cellar just seemed wrong to me like something was missing. We all got a little unnerved then and all the girls tried to exit the cellar through a small door and kind of got a bit jammed. I don’t know what freaked us out.
After a longer refreshment break we started our investigation of Felton House. We started on the ground floor, in the main bedroom that was closest to the front of the house. To me, ever since the walk around earlier in the evening, it felt like a nursing home or old peoples home. I felt like it was for old people everywhere I went and especially in this front room. I could imagine a very well off little old lady sat in a big armchair with lots of expensive furniture around her. I was fairly warm in this room but I was aware that others were chilly, especially Maria who was sat in the corner of the room.
We then moved on to the room opposite this room with the window that over looked the courtyard. As we all got in Jane and I noticed the hall light was still on so both went back into the hallway to turn it off. As Jane flicked the switch, I backed back in to the room the rest of the team were in and as Jane came towards the door to come in to the room I swear I saw an arm come across the door almost like it was trying to stop Jane coming back in. This was over in less than a couple of seconds but it was enough for the “heart in my mouth” feeling and it shook me up a bit as I saw it so vividly. We carried on with the vigil and at one point while we were calling out there was a loud knock that came from behind Jane who was sat with her back to the doorway. Not long after that Kieran reported seeing very clearly a hand come around the top of the open door (where a hand should not be) and then slowly withdraw again out of the doorway. This visibly shook Kieran up and Jane especially (being his mum) could see the difference in Kieran’s behaviour. Everyone felt uneasy in this room but only because of the corridor outside and it took us all a while to build up enough courage to actually leave the safety of the room and venture into the corridor.
We went to the next floor and went into the boardroom wherein Portsmouth FC was conceived. In here, some members picked up on a religious connection and nuns. We then went into the room opposite where most of the team thought it felt like a small schoolroom where 4 or 5 children would have been taught. The odd thing was that most felt they would have been girls with maybe 1 little boy present. We then headed up to the very top floor of the house to the room with the exposed wooden beams. Again, while heading up there it was evident that the team were most nervous when in the corridors. When we reached this room we all stood around the perimeter of it. We all reported a slightly drunk seasick feeling and we put it down to the uneven floor making us feel like we were swaying.
We had only been there a couple of minutes when there was a god almighty bang downstairs that really made us jump. It was so loud we thought that the other team had come back early or someone had actually broken in. We called out but there was no response and so after composing ourselves we headed down to investigate thinking one of the doors must be shut as it did sound like a door being slammed shut. To our surprise all the doors were still open and nothing seemed out of place. The bang definitely came from inside the building but we could not ascertain what it was. Hopefully as we had a camcorder recording so it should have caught the noise on it when it happened.
In conclusion, Buckingham House was nowhere near as intimidating at Felton House and I think all my team would agree on that. We were a calm inquisitive team in Buckingham House yet when we went to Felton we became very nervous and almost like we were staring in a bad horror movie! We experienced possible activity in both houses and yet the possible phenomena was so much more threatening in Felton House. Would I go back? Without a second thought!
Alison Crocker
I arrived at Felton House first as another team member beckoned me in from the street. I was immediately drawn to the room with the huge bay window that looked out onto the courtyard at the rear of the property. As I went in to the makeshift break room I thought, as I was walking down the corridors, that the houses' unusual layout was unsettling, as if someone was unhappy with the amount of the renovations being done there. It added to the house’s already unsettled feeling.
When the rest of the group arrived we assembled for a group tour of this house and Buckingham house next door. Out of the two, I felt more unsettled in Buckingham House. I noted that Buckingham House had a grander aura to it as opposed to the more 'earthy' Felton House. I felt this was because people of a higher social class and status lived at Buckingham as opposed to a not so grand connection at Felton.
My first location with the team was in Buckingham. We sat in a small room with immensely large beams in the ceiling just off the main corridor. I felt immediately that the floor in this room was too close to the ceiling and that the floor was 'false'. I sensed that the house had connections with a strong male character and two ladies who, appearing like sisters, were more close friends. On had a small animal imported from overseas, or something kept in a small glass cage, not stuffed and very much alive. I felt this animal was 'sneaked' into the country and the ladies were 'amused' by it. I also felt strong connections to furniture and items in the house that came from overseas or at least travelled across water, like an ocean. I received the name Emily. We heard interesting sounds in this room, I felt scratching under my feet and the others felt more vibrations under the floor. I linked this room and the room below (the cellar) together somehow. I had strong links to tobacco and other fineries being bought into the house. I also felt connections to a music room in the house where music was played because of the room's acoustic values.
Upstairs in the red room was a completely different feeling. I was very unsettled in this room. I felt it had a menacing feel to it. I felt hands around my throat and the feelings of a fight or violence from one male to another and one male to a woman. I didn't mention this next part to the group as it's highly embarrassing but I kept wanting to touch my self in an intimate sense whilst in this room, as if someone had frequented this area who was perverted in a sexual sense... All very unnerving I can assure you!! There seemed to be one dominant male who was angry at some kind of injustice and trickery. He is angry about this and feels like his point of view was not heard and an event was cleverly orchestrated to make him appear guilty which I feel he wasn't. I had the feeling that one of the rooms in the house was a makeshift courtroom, not like a court of law we know today, but more makeshift. In this room we had some interesting developments regarding the rooms lightness and darkness but only in one end of the room, the end with the huge wardrobe/cabinet. It seemed to get lighter and darker by itself without the interaction from the passing traffic which we had to rule out as a possible cause. Julie felt highly unsettled and moved from where she was sitting. I felt very threatened in this room and was happy to leave.
We had a short spell outside the property in the courtyard area to the rear. I was very uncomfortable here and I felt we were being watched. I also feel that people have had strange 'corner of the eye' phenomenon there and that there was some kind of incident. I also felt there was a well somewhere in the location between the two houses and I feel it is significant. I would go so far as to say someone possibly lost his or her life in this area but specifically outside. This feeling was towards the far rear of the courtyard way from the house. I was also drawn to the building at the bottom of the courtyard that was separated by a huge brick wall. I felt this could have been a hospital but it too had a negative 'feel' to it. For some reason I also felt that these two buildings were connected in some way.
Our next vigil was in the room Julie said may have been used as a naval courtroom (I should say she told the group that AFTER I had said about the makeshift courtroom!) This room also had an unsettling feel to it, similar to the red room. I was not happy to leave my torch off! I ended up having to switch it on again but keep it dimmed!! I was whistling the Navy whistle, (the 2 musical notes as they board the boat I think?) and we all heard the first note of the whistle comes back to us, not as an echo but more like a breathy attempt to whistle back. This was very interesting as it happened more than once.
I was drawn to the door and kept watching it as if someone was about to burst through!! I was aware of two figures sitting in the room, one behind Julie and one in the far corner. I was also aware of a priest or vicar who I feel was drafted in to give witness/character references, during some kind of trial that too place here. I was aware of people spitting at the assumed guilty party and an enormous feeling of shame, pity and sorrow felt by the man in question. We all heard chairs being moved and with the lights on saw that indeed there had been movement in two of the chairs.
Next came a rather interesting happening. Maria had a song containing the word Dakota. She asked if anyone knew about the word Dakota, I sat and thought for a minute and then for some reason the assassination of John Lennon came into my head as he had been assassinated on the steps of the Dakota building in New York. Julie commented on how 'interesting this was' but would tell me why! It was a little later than Jayne mentioned that a Duke had been assassinated here in Buckingham House. Strangely I felt we were receiving guidance from the spirit world in the form of cryptic clues.... even more cryptic than I normally work with!! Walking out of this room we all smelt really horribly rotten eggs!! I usually attribute that to an unfriendly energy, in my personal view.
We then had a quick look in the cellar. I received the name Pete and wanted to sing ' Jake the Peg'!! I felt a pirate connection. We all smelt stale breath alcohol. The next location was Felton House. Our first room was the large bay windowed room I spoke of in my first paragraph. I picked up the name Edward and felt he had connections to Carmarthen in Wales, something about a castle too. I also received the name Darcy. There was a lady with him; I felt she was wearing a white long dress with frills around the wrists and collar and with a bustle and very elegant. I felt a rags-to-riches element too where the man (Edward) had come into money via gambling on horses but then losing it all a few years later. He was angry at the changes being made to the house as he still felt it was his property and that he and not the current owner should implement the changes! The next room was the carpeted room opposite the bay windowed one, still on the ground floor. I didn't really pick up on much here only links to Alan, the current owner of the property. As it was personal I didn't discuss what I received as I didn't have Alan’s permission.
Around the doorframe and door to this room I did see lots of sparkling lights and strange misty white shapes (not human forms) that I’m at a loss to explain. I'm assuming it was simply energy manifesting but in a way I can't describe. I did briefly feel that the house had religious connections but not in a major way, as if a priest or vicar had stayed there or had some loose religious connection.
Going upstairs we spent a short while in the tranquil blue room. I had an instant connection to nuns either staying at the house as guests or working here. I wanted to place my hands in the pray position. Moving upstairs to the highest rooms in the attic I felt sick and uncomfortable in the room with all the beams in. I felt a male presence there but as we all heard a huge banging sound coming from down one level we didn't hang around to find out more! We looked for a possible cause for the banging but couldn't find one.
I thoroughly enjoyed this investigation and would love to go back. Well done to Julie who organised a joint property investigation so efficiently.
TEAM 2
Amanda Horley
I arrived at these adjoining properties to find several of the other members of the group milling around outside. We guessed that the others were inside, but didn’t know which property they were in. Disturbingly, when we knocked loudly on the door of Felton House, after a few seconds the doorknocker “knocked” without anyone touching it. There was probably a very logical reason why this happened, but interestingly, the group inside Felton House didn’t hear either our knock, or the following one.
We had a walk around both properties, and the floors in both were in quite a poor state. However, the fact that there was no heating or upstairs water in either property meant that if we did hear any knocks or bangs during the evening, they would not be easily explained away. During the walk round I was particularly drawn to two rooms in Felton House, a beamed attic room and the smaller of the two first floor rooms. This room had a recently replaced wooden fire surround and cupboards either side of the fire. The right hand cupboard in particular made me feel very uneasy and I did go and look inside it as I almost expected to see something in there.
We split into two teams and our team started with two vigils in Felton House. We began the first vigil in the attic, and quickly picked up on the presence of a woman in the beamed room. I felt that she was a prostitute, and was wearing a tightly fitting corset that would have accentuated her figure. I couldn’t get any idea of what else she was wearing and was interested to find that Di could only see her upper clothing and couldn’t work out what if anything she was wearing on the lower half of her body. Di and Marie both felt that she was called Sarah and also came up with the name Marshall. I felt that there would have been a large armchair in the corner of the room where Rob sat, and she would have danced for an older man who would have sat there. After a time we moved to the other attic room which felt much “busier”. It felt like a child’s room, and I got the impression that he/she likes looking out of the window at the “pretty lights”. Gunwharf Quays and the Spinnaker Tower were clearly visible from the windows. We felt that he/she would have been 7 or 8 and died at that age. Rob got a pain in his stomach whilst we were in this room. After a time, the atmosphere changed completely and got a lot heavier, and we felt that the child had left.
During our short break, we stood in the small courtyard garden and I got the impression of seeing people walking past the room at the end of the courtyard. This would have been the corridor from the main door to the stairs. Both Di and I felt that the courtyard was very peaceful and I could imagine spending time out there on a summer’s evening surrounded by sweet smelling flowers; almost a Mediterranean garden. Whilst we were outside we heard what we thought was the other group on their break next door, and they were laughing and talking. Jokingly we told them to keep the noise down, but when we mentioned it to them on the following break, they confirmed that they had only briefly gone out into the garden and hadn’t been laughing and joking out there. Whilst the noise could have come from further down the road, the fact that there are high walls between the properties, and the noise only lasted for a few minutes made it unlikely.
For our second vigil in Felton House, we initially moved up to the first floor and into the Blue room. This room had been quite extensively renovated, and overlooked the road. I could picture it with furniture in it, possibly from the second half of the nineteenth century. I couldn’t however sense anyone in the room. There did seem to be a presence in the corridor outside the room who was watching us, but I couldn’t pick up too much on him. Because he didn’t seem keen to join us, we decided to move out into the corridor and spread ourselves over the corridor and stairs. I stood just outside the Blue room and Rob stood across the corridor by the doorway of the room that had disturbed me on the walk round. He seemed interested by the room and I suggested that we go in there. Immediately the atmosphere hit me as not nice at all. It felt very unpleasant and I didn’t venture too far in. I was again drawn to the cupboard to the right of the fireplace, and we both heard knocks coming from inside the cupboard. None of the others outside the room were moving, and neither Rob nor I felt inclined to remain in the room any longer than we had to.
After the next break, we swapped houses with the other team and moved next door to Buckingham House. Both Di and I had investigated this property a couple of years ago, but it was new to the others. We decided to start our vigils on the first floor in the paneled room. After we had gathered enough chairs together so that we could all sit comfortably, we waited quietly, calling out on occasion. There was a very loud knock in the corner cupboard on one occasion, but other than that, the room was generally quiet. After a time we moved up to the top floor and into the back room where there had been a lot of activity on our previous investigation, however, this time it was also quiet. When we returned downstairs, Rob noticed that there was a light on in the ground floor front room. This had definitely been dark when we went upstairs, and when we investigated one of the corner lamps was turned on.
After a short break we returned to the top floor and went into the front room. I felt that there was a man in there and Di felt he was an Admiral. He was very much of the opinion that this house was more “respectable” than Felton House next door. There were a few knocks and bangs, in particular one by my foot, but I couldn’t pick up on anything else. We then spent some time in the cellar, which was quiet for me. To finish the evening we went into the ground floor front room. Although I felt uncomfortable when leaning on the table in here, I didn’t really pick up on anything.
It was great to be able to revisit Buckingham House, which was very different to the last time I investigated it. Maybe it was the fact that most of the furniture was not there. Felton House had a very different feel to it, despite being next door. It seemed a lot more “down-market”, as if a very different class of person had lived there. I would love to see both of these properties once they have been fully restored, as with the furniture returned I think they would make very interesting places to investigate again.
Marie Holder
I was really looking forward to this investigation; not only were we returning to the place I have enjoyed the most but we were getting the chance to investigate Felton House that we were unable to investigate the last time. I arrived at the location at 8.55pm and was met by members of the team who informed me that some members had already experienced some strange phenomena, so the evening showed promise.
After a walk around both properties we split up into our teams and went to our first vigil area.
We made our way up to one of the 3rd floor rooms. I stood by the doorway and noticed nothing at first then I felt a draught on my back, which seems to have started suddenly. Di complained of being cold so she moved positions but the ‘coldness’ followed her. I then thought of the name ‘Sarah’ and Di immediately said she was thinking of the same name. I then said I thought the second name was Marshall. Nothing else was experience by me in this room.
We then moved to the opposite room. After some calling out by different members of the team I felt nothing and experienced nothing unusual.
After a short break we decided to move back upstairs to the 2nd floor. We went into one of the rooms on this floor and after some calling out I experienced nothing unusual in this room. Rob mentioned that he did not like one of the rooms on this floor and had a ‘feeling’ about this room and refused to enter that room alone. Amanda offered to accompany him but they did not stay in there very long. I got a similar feeling in the room directly below that room.
We then decided to do a vigil on the stairs as some team members felt that there was a lot of activity coming from this area. I was sat near the bottom of the stairs and had my eyes fixed on the room to my left and I could not take my eyes off this room as if I expected something to come out but nothing did.
We then decided to stand in the corridor leading to our base to wait for the other team to come in. I was stood by a doorway with a clear view of the staircase. I looked up and I saw what looked like the bottom of a ladies white skirt as she ascended the staircase. I tried shifting positions to see if I could duplicate what I saw but I could not. I was made aware before we began the investigation that Alison had seen a lady in white and a gentleman in one of the rooms but I did not make a connection with what I saw until much later during a break.
We made our way to the panelled room which was the room with the large table on the previous investigation. Unfortunately the table was no longer there. We sat and called out but got no responses.
We made our way to other areas of the house concentrating on upstairs and tried glass divination in a couple of areas but got no responses.
We also went down into the cellar and called out but again got no responses.
After my previous investigation where I experienced a phenomenal amount of activity the whole house on this occasion, for me, was really quiet and I experienced nothing unusual in any part of the house.
I really had high hopes for this investigation but unfortunately, on this occasion; especially in Buckingham House it was a little disappointing. My favourite part of the investigation was standing in that corridor in Felton House and seeing what I thought was the bottom of a ladies skirt go up the stairs. I hope we do another investigation at these locations in the future as I would like to go into that room in Felton House that was a bit foreboding! Maybe next time.
Gillian O’Farrell
We arrived at the location in plenty of time and waited outside for the others to arrive. Once a few other team members had arrived, it became apparent that people were in the houses. We knocked on both doors to try and attract attention. After a couple of attempts we could not attract the attention of the team members in the house. Mark gave several knocks on the doorknocker on Felton House once more, and then stepped back onto the pavement. A few seconds later, we were rather surprised to hear the knocker knock once more without anyone touching it!
The walk-round of the properties was intriguing. It was clear that these houses held a lot of history and had been altered and built onto in several stages over the years. One could easily imagine past residents going about their day-to-day lives in these surroundings.
Our first vigil was in the very top floor in the back room that had old beams in the ceiling. As soon as I entered this room I felt two blows on my stomach as if I had been stabbed. The pain went very quickly and did not return. I certainly sensed something in the room but I took my some time to understand what the emotion was. I felt sure there was a link with a spirit here but the person (probably a woman) was very confused and didn’t understand what we were doing. The team members were calling out imploring this spirit to respond. I was convinced that the spirit could not respond because she didn’t know how too. It was as if she had some kind of dementia, or was a younger person with an illness that clouded her understanding. She was nervous about going outside of the room, as in life she was not supposed to.
The room we were standing in had been her room, where she had to live and were she was (relatively) happy. She was used sit at a table by the window and draw or look at books. I felt that time period was around 1790. I saw several lights and many “corner of the eye” phenomena. We moved to the opposite room at the front of the building but did not experience anything similar in this area.
Our next vigil was in the Blue room. I got the immediate sense of wanting to cry. I felt a lady, Catherine, who was very distressed. We did some calling out but I thought the energy seemed to disperse. We heard several knocks from the staircase as if someone was walking up the stairs. I half expected someone to come in but there was no-one else present.
The room opposite this room was extremely unpleasant and none of us wanted to go into it. We spent some time sitting on the stairs and then in the corridor but despite a great sense of foreboding and tension, I did not experience any other phenomena.
Our first vigil in Buckingham House was in a third floor room at the back of the house again. The room was very dusty due to the amount of renovation work ongoing. We sat for some time and tried a glass divination but the conditions were not good (a rough surface) and we did not get any results. We then moved down into the panelled room, which was a very beautiful room but completely lacking in any form of paranormal phenomena.
On the final vigil, we visited some of the downstairs areas. We again tried glass divination in the ground floor front room but got absolutely no response. We tried the glass several times throughout the night and normally one would get some kind of movement so I was very surprised that this investigation yielded absolutely nothing. The furniture in this room exuded some kind of varnish-type smell. I don’t think there was any paranormal smell; it was definitely a woody smell.
We moved into the cellar, which seemed completely unthreatening particularly for a dark damp cellar. Despite calling out and desperately trying to get some response, the spirits were not obliging.
Since our visit, I read the reports from the previous investigation at Buckingham House. It seems that the team experienced a fair amount of activity on that visit, but sadly not so on our trip. Buckingham House seemed a thoroughly benign and inactive house. Felton House, however, seemed a very different place. I felt many layers of history in that place and we were beginning to perhaps make connections with past residents. I would welcome the opportunity to visit again and explore other areas of the house.
Mark Boulton
After arriving and identifying the locations, the properties certainly looked full of character. On trying to gain access I rapped twice on the front door knocker, upon standing away from the door the knocker then sounded once again (quite a promising start). I did try to repeat the situation but the knocker could not be held off the base enough to make the same sound.
We eventually managed to gain access and did the usual prior to starting. We did a walk round to familiarise ourselves with the two places. Both houses consist of three floors and plenty of rooms, so we would have our work cut out to try and cover all areas.
We split up into two groups; I was in team 2 with Amanda (team leader), Di (team leader), Gill, Marie and Rob. We were to start the night in Felton house. Our first vigil was to be held upstairs on the third Floor.
We started the vigil in the room at the back, as this room was on the top floor we were essentially in the roof space. After a short while Di stated that she was feeling cold and felt drawn to one side of the room, sensing a bit of the layout and the position of a bed. Amanda said she had the name Sarah come into her mind, while Marie had the surname Marshall. Di sensed the woman as being in her thirty’s, with dark curly hair tied back and being quite tall. She seemed to date from pre Victorian times. Whilst sensing this woman we could not make any contact through calling out etc. Gill sensed that the woman was confused and did not understand our questioning and could not communicate.
We then moved to the front room, where the only point of interest was that we could hear the noise of a train. The house is situated approx 500 yards from the line to the Harbour station.
After a short break our second vigil was held on the second floor. We started in a blue painted room, after some calling out we did no get any responses to note. Again some names were sensed, these were Amy, Andrew and Amos. Di sensed that the name Amos should be preceded by a title such as Captain. After this room we moved to the landing area and the lower stairs, but there was nothing to report.
We finished the vigils in this house in the ground floor corridor, but here again nothing occurred.
We moved across to Buckingham House which, like Felton House was in the midst of being renovated, it was of the two, probably the more advanced. It was littered with pieces of wooden furnishings and wall hangings that had probably been purchased from auction (stickers still attached) ready to be used in the renovation.
We again started on the top floor. The room was dusty and nearing completion due to the amount of renovation work ongoing. We sat for a while and tried some glass divination but we did not get any results. Any calling out was met with silence. We then moved down into a panelled room, but again any attempt at communication was in vain.
After a short break, was carried out our last vigils. These met with similar responses as the rest of the house. We even tried the cellar, but other than some feelings of the area being used as a shelter, we experienced no paranormal phenomena.
Conclusion
Like a lot of places, these two houses are being renovated and converted into a hotel I believe. They have also undergone many alterations and additions in their past history. Whilst these latest alterations seem to be of a fairly good standard, to me the places are loosing their ‘soul’. Some of the near finished rooms are very modern in appearance having no sense of place. There did not appear to be any tangible paranormal experiences witnessed in our team during the investigation.
Maria Street
I remember investigating Buckingham the first time we did it and I also remember what a very interesting night we’d had and I could not wait to go back. Julie and I were very privileged to be given a private tour of Felton House by Alan, the owner, so to be able to investigate this house as well was a very welcome bonus.
I drove down with Di, Rob and Julie and we met Alan outside. After a quick chat with one of our favourite hosts and a walkround of Felton House, we sorted out our kit. I particularly did not like the first room we came across or the corridor. Di did not like it also. The whole place seemed to be teeming with spirit activity but this was just a feeling, nothing more. The others went into Buckingham House, whilst I stood outside Felton House. I was just not brave enough to stand inside and was glad when Alison turned up. We wandered in, and, immediately we came to the first room, we both heard two loud taps from the corner. They sounded like footsteps. We were glad when the others came to join us. I sat in the Team Room having a coffee whilst Alison, Julie and Rob went into the garden. I suddenly heard a loud exclamation from Alison and went out to investigate. She explained that she had just seen two people, a man and a woman, through the window, in the first room. We hadn’t even started yet!
I was in team 1 with Julie, Kieron, Jane, Karen and Alison. We started our vigils in Buckingham House whilst Team 2 stayed in Felton House. We started our vigils in the room to the left at the end of the corridor. We all sat on the wooden benches and settled down. Buckingham House felt a lot more comfortable than Felton House did and none of us felt uneasy here. Alison had the impression of a ship and a Captain but did not know why. I remembered from the last time we were here that the beams in this particular room were reclaimed timber from a ship so she was spot on. I had the song ‘Oh Carolina’ in my head, and, a little later, ‘The Black Hills of Dakota’. This seemed an obvious reference to America and it was only when we turned the lamps on at the end of the vigil that somebody noticed the inscription on them included the word, America. After a quick break, we made our way to the conference room. We could not access this on our previous visit as it was full of furniture. We all sat at different intervals and called out. I was still getting ‘The Black Hills of Dakota’ in my head and Alison was feeling the presence of somebody to her left. Unfortunately the photos showed nothing. Julie was feeling very uneasy and thought somebody was sat behind her to her left but there was nobody there. We called out again only to have the chair move just in front of Julie and Alison. The atmosphere had certainly changed since we started but still did not feel threatening. Alison also felt that justice as carried out in this room, but not as in a normal court of law. Kieran also had the feeling of an auction being carried out here and I was interested to note that the one thing the two had in common was the gavel! We carried on into the cellar. Alison felt the presence of somebody here as well and mentioned that she had a name. We asked her what it was and she replied quite definitely ‘Pete’ This was very interesting, as on our previous visit, I called out for a Pirate Pete as this was the name I’d had in my head. I mentioned this to Alison to which Julie immediately replied that she had heard ‘I am not a Pirate, I’m an importer’ which we all found quite amusing. Further taunting didn’t really elicit any response so we made our way upstairs to the Board Room where we had had experienced a fantastic table tipping session on our last visit here. Sadly the table was no longer there but we all settled down anyway. I went across the hall to fetch a chair, all the while humming ‘The Black Hills of Dakota’ Alison had the definite feeling of a music room in the house and we wondered if it could have been in this vicinity. This room had a completely different feeling to the rest and felt almost threatening at times. It seemed to darken quite considerably at times and it felt as if we were being watched. We called out and heard a few taps in the room but we could not ascertain where they were coming from. Our last vigil in this room was on the upper floors. Alison felt this was a school room for the privileged. It was quiet in here and it was time to change houses so we made our way back to Felton House for the swap.
After a welcome break we went into the first room and on entering, Julie let out a yell. She had just seen an arm go across in front of Jane just as she entered the room. It certainly had a very uneasy feel about it and I don’t scare easily, but this room was very uncomfortable. We called out and heard some taps. Kieron then let out a yell because he had also seen a hand go across the top of the door! This was very unnerving for everybody but we stayed where we were. We called out some more and heard a very loud bang which came from the very room we were standing in. We asked for more but there were no more bangs like that one. We were very glad to move on and we moved into the room next door. This one had a few comfy chairs to sit on so we took advantage. We sat quietly for a while then called out again. Once more we were treated to some thuds and taps. Alison felt there was a man here who was very jealous of the alterations being done to the house because he felt he should have been doing them. He was quite angry about it.
After a quick break we carried on our vigils on the upper floors. We started in the blue room and Alison got a religious connection. There was a church opposite but she didn’t feel this was where it came from. We had some very interesting light anomalies from this room but it has to be noted that the place was littered with dust, so was this just that? We called out but it was relatively quiet so we moved to another room. I wish I could put my finger on what the feeling of the place was, but I can’t. I will say it felt as if we were being watched and not just by a few. I would say the place is overcrowded, that is the sort of feeling you get. We called out a few times and it wasn’t long before we heard a very loud bang from downstairs. We immediately went down to see if the other team had come back but they had not. This was very disconcerting. All the doors were open so we know that none had slammed, although this was exactly what it felt like. This signalled the end of our evening in Portsmouth and I would like to thank Alann for giving us the opportunity to investigate both buildings. It’s not often we have this sort of offer and I think we definitely grabbed it with both hands!