Southern Paranormal - Investigations
Buckingham House Investigation
14th July 2007 7.30pm - 5.00am
Attending Investigators :Julie Harwood, Maria Street, Di Moore, Dan White, Sandy Rutter, Eileen Rutter, Amanda Horley, Rab Gardner, Mark Pettet, Jan Coles, Adam Hackett, Marie Holder, Emma Curtis & Julie Martin.
Introduction
Every paranormal group in the South knows of Buckingham House in Old Portsmouth. The area is known as being rich in history and this house on the High Street is no exception. With its colourful past it is somewhere the group have wanted to investigate for some time, thanks to the owner Alan we were able to accomplish this.
To give an idea of the 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
Vigil Areas
Basement
Ground Floor
First Floor
Second / Top Floor
Teams
Team 1
Maria Team Leader
Julie H
Dan
Eileen
Julie M
Team 2
Jan Team Leader
Di
Sandy
Mark
Marie
Team 3
Amanda Team Leader
Rab
Emma
Adam
Itinerary
- 5.45pm - Julie, Maria, Sandy, Di, Dan & Eileen arrive to meet Alan & set up
- 6.15pm - Initial tour of building to establish vigil areas and any no go areas
- 7.15pm - Rest of team arrives
- 8.30pm - Di takes group on tour of building highlighting vigil areas & no go areas
- 9.30pm - Group séances covering the different floors
Group 1 - Ground Floor - Members - Julie H, Jan, Amanda & Dan
Group 2 - First Floor - Members - Maria, Mark, Emma & Eileen
Group 3 - Top Floor - Members - Rab, Di, Julie M, Sandy & Adam - 10.30pm - Break
- 10.45pm - Vigil 1
Team 1 - First Floor
Team 2 - Ground Floor
Team 3 - Basement - 12.00am - Break
- 12.15am - Vigil 2
Team 1 - Ground Floor
Team 2 - Basement
Team 3 - Top Floor - 1.30am - Break
- 2.00am - Vigil 3
Team 1 - Basement
Team 2 - Top Floor
Team 3 - First Floor - 3.15am - Break
- 3.45am - Vigil 4
Team 1 - Top Floor
Team 2 - First Floor
Team 3 - Ground Floor - 4.45am - Finish & Pack up
Personal Reports
Amanda Horley
From the outside this building is quite unimposing, and a bit of a tardis, as there appear to be far more rooms inside than could possibly be expected from the front of the building.
We started off by holding a group vigil on the ground floor, and attempted to contact any spirits present through glass divination. At times, both the glass and the table were definitely moving, but in quite a gentle way rather than whizzing all around the table. We had set an alphabet out around the table, and several times when we asked questions there seemed to be appropriate responses. Initially I felt the presence of a big but gentle man who I felt was linked to somebody at the table rather than with the house. Julie picked up on a joker, then we got a man who identified himself as RC, which were initials Dan had mentioned from when he did the walkround on the top floor.
Our first main vigil was in the cellar. It seemed very quiet down here, but quite cold. There seemed to be quite a bit of orb activity and I picked up on two orbs myself, but although Rab picked up on several details relating to a female maid, I didn't sense anything. I did pick up on a smell that I initially couldn't identify, but then decided was saddle soap. As Adam had picked up on the smell of leather earlier in the vigil, this made sense. Otherwise, this was a quiet vigil.
Vigil two saw us at the top of the building. The whole of this floor was relatively quiet, but the back room did produce some information. We tried a glass divination but although there was a little movement, it was hesitant and very quickly stopped. I felt that whoever was there was uncomfortable about communicating with us. The word "inappropriate" kept going through my mind. I could sense a woman in a grey dress, possibly a governess, but I couldn't get much more detail. I then picked up on a man in the corner of the room. Standing with his hands on his hips, he was not happy with us being there. He was quite cross, but also very proud and arrogant. His clothing was a bit like cavalier or musketeers, and he definitely had a sword. Rab came up with the name Henry.
For Vigil three we were on the first floor, and as the first room we went into was quiet, we moved into the red room. We sat around the large table, and picked up a lot of knocks and bangs, and it really did feel like the table was swaying or moving, but it was quite heavy and would have taken a lot of effort to make it move. Rab was picking up a lot of orbs, but the only other thing that happened to me was when Emma's face disappeared. It was very dark in the room and all I could see was a pale shape where her face was. Rab commented that Emma was fading away, and I realised that I couldn't see her anymore. I could still see the other two, and Emma confirmed that she was looking towards me. After a time, her face reappeared. I cannot explain this.
Our final vigil was on the ground floor, and nothing much happened.
We all had some exciting experiences in the initial group vigils, and I think these heightened expectations. Certainly, for my team, the following vigils were extremely quiet in comparison and a little disappointing. A lovely building, but I would have liked more to occur.
Sandy Rutter
What can I say about last night it was fantastic from the first vigil to the last. The Seance was brilliant and the other vigils where fantastic.
At the start before any Seances Rab and myself were downstairs with the rest of the team. A few of us rushed up to the red room as the door rattled but I was just in the room moments before. Julie M picked up on a boys name, Edwin, he was educated there but it was a finishing school around 1760
The Seance team was Rab Myself (Sandy) Di Julie M and Adam.
We were on the top floor. We went in to a room, it was very quiet and nothing happened so we tried another room with the same result. For some reason I was pulled back to the room we originally started at and the atmosphere changed dramatically. Outside the door I got a tingling sensation all over my body. I called for the other team members to come over and everybody felt the same tingling sensation as I did. We all sat down at the table and we tried glass divination again it was fantastic. We asked if there was anybody there and the response on the glass was out of this world, it was going crazy. We discovered he was a gentleman who was a naval man from 1802 he was a captain on the Mary Celeste. We asked him a few more questions and we discovered his name was Captain John Walker, he was married to his ship and he was so excited by us being there.
The Vigils
1st Vigil team included Jan, Di, Sandy, Marie and Mark P
We started on the bottom floor. We went into a room (it was the smallest on the ground floor room). We all got aquatinted with the room and took a few snaps with our cameras. Jan had some rods and we discovered there was a woman called Victoria Emily / Emmly that was there with her children and parents. We discovered the lady died during childbirth. We went into the next room it was a large room with a statue in the corner with an Italian hat on and there was an Ouija board there. We again got ourselves aquatinted with the room. There was four chairs around the table. Di pulled one of the chairs out and sat near the window, Mark was filming all the time and we saw an orb right behind her. It was a good start so we decided to do glass divination on the board even I took part to my surprise, as I said I would never take part in OUIJA experiments. Again we asked a few questions and the glass started to move and we asked him, as we had established it was a gentleman to spell out his name. He spelled out Jake. He was also a captain. We asked him a few more questions sometimes he answered yes and sometimes no. We asked him if he was married he said yes but to his ship he was a bit of a lad as we found out. He had a girl in every port he sailed into.
2nd Vigil
Basement, it was not very exciting as nothing much really happened. Marie tried the rods and we started talking to George Villiers and discovered how he was murdered and we took a few pictures of the place, very dusty place but that was it for the basement.
3rd Vigil
Top floor - well what can I say about this vigil except for what a great vigil. We went into the room that we went into for the group séance. We sat around the table with the glass and started talking to Captain John Walker, what a fantastic gentleman. We discovered he wasn't English but Spanish. He said he was reincarnated and was reincarnated as Alan the owner of the house (not sure how Alan feels about this!). We asked him to move the cupboard door. He did it, it was fantastic. We didn't want to leave the room, as Captain John was a brilliant host. He took a liking to Marie as she was blown on a few times as she had cold blasts on her arm, maybe because of her Spanish name?
4th VigilFirst floor - We all went into the red room. We sat at the top near my locked of object, the knife. I borrowed a glass from Julie and again we did glass divination. It was good. We asked if there was anybody there and the glass moved almost instantly. We were talking to firstly George Villiers we asked him if John Felton was there he said yes, so we started talking to John Felton. We asked John if we were in danger he said yes. He was stood right behind me as I felt a pressure on my back, with his 2 hands on my back just shoving me closer to the table. Di asked why we where in danger and to leave me alone as I never did anything to him. We got a few light anomalies and the table also collapsed on us without anyone touching or moving it.
All in all it was a fantastic night from start to finish. I want to go back right away it was that good. The team was brilliant, we conducted our selves very professionally and it was great so thanks Julie for picking a brilliant location and thanks to Alan for letting us in to his house.
Dan White
Upon entering the house, I had a feeling that we would experience something here. Many of the rooms were used for storage or contained minimal furniture (such as a chair and/or settee) with the exception of the `Red room`, which looked like it was set out to receive guests at any moment!
One experience I had was in the room with the large fireplace. I thought I saw something bluish attempting to materialise. I put this down to my tiredness and and I felt unwell.
When in the front lounge we conducted a séance. Even before we started, the presence of the armless, naked statue in the corner added a creepy tone - we decided that it reminded us of the weeping angels from Doctor Who's `Blink` episode that we'd all seen a couple of weeks back. The initials that I picked up, and were then spelled out by the Ouija board, were R and C, also during another try we picked up the numbers 18 and 3. R is the 18th letter of the alphabet and C is the 3rd. Not sure if that actually means anything though! I also had the image of a man in a suit. He sort of looked like Quentin Blake's depiction of Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The table that we were using to conduct the Ouija session was covered in patches of glue but even so, when I asked the class to tip over, it did at that exact moment. Okay it was a hard patch of glue that cause the glass to tip, but the timing was 100% spot on; just after I had given the command.
In the `Red room`, we sat around the table. Julie initially started off with her back toward the darkest area of the room, she moved away after a couple of minutes. I really did feel that there was something in the shadows. It didn't help that nearly all of the rooms had another door that led off of them. It made the whole experience more frightening, like you were constantly looking over your shoulder as well as towards the darker areas of the room. I had an image of a man sat opposite me at the table. He sort of looked like the bad guy from Torchwood. What was really amazing was the way that, when prompted, the table was pushed off of its caster twice. Again the timing was exact. Once the order/request had been said, it happened.
Nowhere else in the house seemed haunted. Just the `Red room` and the front lounge that contained the `Blink` statue. An amazing place to visit though and with some great action from the table upstairs.
Marie Holder
Introduction
Having heard a little about this house before booking myself on this investigation I did know something about its history, and so I could not wait to get stuck into this investigation and upon seeing the house, it certainly showed promise! Time would tell.
Séance - First floor
Team: Maria, Mark, Emma, Eileen and Marie
The first room we sat in was very quiet and I personally could not feel anything at all, we therefore decided to go next door into the red room. There was a large table in there so we decided to try some table tipping. We asked out and I did hear some creaking and thought it might have been another member of the team but nobody admitted to having moved. The creaking noises seemed be coming from the end of the table that Maria and I were sitting at.
We then tried asking specific questions asking the spirit to try and move the table for a positive answer. At one point when mentioning pirates the table suddenly jolted forward quite violently and was knocked off one of the casters, which obviously made us all jump. Almost immediately I felt something or someone prod me in the back and I checked to see if there was anything on the back of the chair that could have done this but I did not find anything.
After this incident I felt almost afraid of what was going to happen next. It was interesting to get such a strong response when mentioning pirates and we could not ascertain whether this was because we had contacted a pirate or whether the person we had contacted had been a victim of a pirate. The table continued to shake slightly and at one point Maria said she thought Mark looked like he had a big white beard and Emma thought he looked like he was wearing a patch, which was also very interesting.
Vigil 1
Ground Floor
Team: Jan, Mark, Sandy, Di and Marie
We took our positions in the first room and Jan used dowsing rods. We contacted a lady called Victoria Emily who died in childbirth and had many children. Both Di and Jan felt cold when standing in a particular place.
After a while we went into the second room and again Di felt a cold spot in the room over by the door. We tried a glass divination and at first there was nothing, we then managed to contact a man calling himself Captain Jake who was born in the 14th Century, he also said he was Duke of Buckingham. He seemed to be a very strong presence as there were, eventually, very strong movements of the glass.
Vigil 2 Basement
This was an area of the house I was looking forward to investigating as on the walk around with Di at the beginning of the evening it seemed to be very atmospheric.
The first part of the basement we went into we felt nothing so we proceeded into the main part. Jan came up with the name Jimmy in a strong Scottish accent.
We then tried the rods again and at first Thomas came through but he left us quite quickly and another man came through claiming that he has buried in the basement and that he had been murdered by being stabbed by a man called John Felton.
Towards the end of the vigil Jan reported that she felt extremely agitated and I noticed that the tone of her voice and her manner had changed.
Vigil 3
Top Floor
We went into the back room, which when walking around at the beginning of the evening it felt as though this could have been a nursery or a room connected with children as I felt very impish and giggly which was completely unprovoked.
We decided to do a glass divination, Sandy, Jan, Di and I sat at the table and Mark taped us. The glass moved straight away and we contacted a wonderful spirit by the name of Captain John/Juan Walker who was a Spanish captain who died of cholera at the age of 22 and who is buried in a Gosport Military Cemetery.
He had a great sense of humour and we asked him many questions about his brief life. He joined his ship at the age of 11 and moved to England as he did not have a very happy life in Spain. He also said he fought in the Spanish Armada.
We asked him if he could give us a sign that he was here by moving the door to the cupboard which was open and he agreed. Although we all tried to concentrate on the door it did not move. We then asked him if he could give us another sign like blowing in my ear as he had earlier mentioned that he had taken a shine to me because my name sounded Spanish (as the team were calling me Maria). What happened next I just cannot explain but was the most wonderful paranormal experience to date.
When he was asked to blow in my ear I suddenly went extremely cold to the point where I was shuddering when before I was perfectly comfortable and not in the least bit cold. I remained like this for a good few minutes before it finally subsided.
We continued "talking" to Captain John and hearing some more about his life and after communicating with him for over an hour we said goodnight and the same feeling of coldness came over me, which I took to be his way of saying good-bye.
Vigil 4
First Floor
We decided to do another glass divination in the red room as this was certainly an interesting room with a strange atmosphere.
We called out and again the glass moved straight away. We contacted the spirit of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham and he told us that he had been murdered by a man calling himself John Felton because he owed him money and that John Felton was blaming him for the death of his crew. I asked him why he could not leave the atmosphere and go to the light, was it because John Felton keeps you here and he said yes.
We then got to speak to John Felton who was also in the room. At first he appeared to be quite threatening as when we asked whether he intended to hurt us, he said yes, which was a little worrying. We asked him the same question again a bit later on and on this occasion he said no.
He seemed to show no remorse whatsoever for what he had done and that he was glad he had done it and he loathed George Villiers for not paying him the money he owed him. He went on to say that he had stabbed George Villiers in the stomach and he died instantly. He also confirmed he was caught in a matter of days and hung for his crime.
We then asked John Felton if there were any other spirits in the room besides George Villiers and himself, he said yes. We then contacted another spirit by the name of Captain Williams. Unfortunately we did not get to speak to him for long as we run out of time. We then closed the divination down and finished.
Conclusion
I was really looking to this location and when I arrived and was shown round, it appeared to have centuries of history imbedded into the walls and a particularly bloody history with a murder having been committed in one of the first floor rooms.
The highlight for me was definitely the top floor glass divination which has amazing as we contacted a lovely spirit by the name of Captain John or Juan, a Spanish captain who had an eye for the ladies! The experience I had during that divination is one I will never forget and still gives me an uplifting feeling every time I think of it. I hope I will re-visit Buckingham House in the very near future.
Emma Curtis
From the outside of the house my first impressions were how small it looked, I was soon proved wrong when we all went on a tour of the house. With 3 floors and lots of rooms including a basement to investigate I could now see why this investigation was a early morning finish. With no previous history of this house known to me I was keen to see how the night unfolded. We started the night with some group séance's on different floors while a few others finished setting up. We had the first floor and this was where on our walkabout was one particular room that stood out from the rest because of the décor and atmosphere in the room itself. This room was called The Red Room. Being this was at the beginning of the evening it was not totally dark out side so bits of light could be seen through the blinds but not much. Someone passed comment that the corner of the room by the spiral stairs had a strange sort of presence, a few of us went and stood near this area but nothing seemed different to me , a few others felt this too . We decided to sit at the table that was situated In the middle of the room, this table was huge and pretty solid not your average dinning table. This table was on wheels and also had a broken wheel at one of the ends but was very heavy and could not be moved easily by one person, I pulled a chair round to the end of the table and sat down, like wise did the others. While sat there I could see very dark shadows moving around to my left but thought this was just my eyes adjusting to the darkness as it was now getting very dark very quickly, I'm not sure how long we were sat at the table before the table started to make strange movements towards my end of the room , Maria our group leader kept asking questions trying to get more of a response to the slight ones we were having, well from then on I couldn't tell you how the order of events unfolded exactly but I do remember the table moving towards me so much so that it came off the wheel, yes you guessed it my instant reaction was to move and move quick, not because the table was going to fall over but the fact it had moved towards me and to be honest for that split second I was scared and my heart was racing real fast. After a few minutes I sat back down, in a different seat I might add. The table kept its slight movement for a bit but eventually stopped and by then it was time to re-group to start our vigils. The basement was our team's first port of call, can't say there was anything that stood out to me; one of our investigators experienced strange cold feelings over her back but nothing apparent to me directly.
Our second vigil was to the top floor. Someone had made a comment that something had happened on there séance earlier but was not told what so I was looking forward to this room especially. I was soon disappointed because this room to me felt blank, just a feeling of nothing-ness, if there is such a word, I'm not sure if what happened earlier on with the table had some affect on me but I seemed to go in to my own little world, just saying nothing, sensing nothing strange, and most probably making the rest of my team think I'm either ignorant or just not interested because of my quietness.
Our third vigil was back on the first floor where the red room was that had the table in so I was really excited about going back in here , our séance's were different teams then our vigil's so none of the people I was with knew hat had happened earlier on , I of course did not sit at the end of the table but sat in the chair by the door ,by now it was pitch black and I could not see the person at the other end of table, I could just make out the person sat opposite me and to the side of me but that was as far as it went, comments were made about the shadows by other people in the room who had not been there before so maybe I was not seeing things but do certainly have no explanation to what they were and could not have been made by light from outside. We tried the table again but I noticed it was not like the first time I had visited the room. We continued to sit at the table waiting for something to happen. I had a feeling that someone was stood by the side of my chair to the left so I looked round to see who stood up. I cant explain on paper what happened next, it was like a face not with any visual features, because it all happened so quick, was coming right up to mine, then gone in a split second. Well that was me jumping again but stayed in my seat this time at least, could have been my eyes playing tricks because I also told Mark sat to my right that it looked like he had a beard when he doesn't, he told me my outline looked really tall sat in my chair and that my face looked like it kept disappearing and re appearing as I could not see that I can not comment but that room was definitely strange and dominated my thoughts almost all night . Our fourth vigil was ground floor where I can say that nothing happened at all, it was still silent and peaceful but then I was still thinking about earlier on.
Overall this was an excellent place to visit and one of those places you would go back.
I thank the owner for making this happen and honoured to have been to such a wonderful place.
Maria Street
When Julie first suggested Buckingham House as a location, I really didn't know what to expect. I knew it was an old town house situated in Old Portsmouth but that was about all. After a bit of difficulty finding the place, we arrived at around 5.30pm and Alan, the owner turned up shortly afterwards. I had travelled down in Di's car with Julie and Dan and we all traipsed in with our equipment. Well, how deceiving was the frontage compared to the rest of the house! From the outside we could see that it was pretty wide and a lovely looking house, but the inside was something else again. It was a warren of different rooms with a character that could only be matched by Wymering Manor. After a quick tour, kindly conducted by Alan, we started to set up equipment and trigger objects. It whilst we were doing this that the rest of the team started to arrive. Alan had to leave for a while so we took a short break and it was during this break that we noticed that the letter box, which had been wedged open, was now closed. We examined it and ascertained that it could not be shut from the outside without severely jamming your fingers, (which Alan later verified) We asked all the members but nobody had closed it. It was too stiff to close in a draught, so was this the promising start to an exciting night ahead?
Whilst waiting for Alan to return, it was decided that the group should split and do a mini vigil, and that Julie and I would wait for Alan. We sat in the front room and soaked up the atmosphere. Considering we were on a main road, and in a house which attracted a healthy interest from members of the public, it was surprisingly quiet apart from the screeching of the seagulls circling around outside. Before long Alan returned and I mentioned to him of another property in the road that was also reputedly very haunted and did he know of it. To my utter surprise it was the house next door that Alan also owned. He then offered me and Julie an impromptu tour and we tried not to make too much of an indecent haste towards the front door! How cool was that! And how kind of Alan to take time out of his Saturday night just to show us around. It was another very impressive property and I would like to thank Alan, once again, for his kindness.
We soon rejoined the others and once again split into teams for a séance' on each floor. My team was on the first floor and we, first of all sat in a back room, but it was very calm and serene and not a lot seemed to be happening, so we made our way to a very intriguing room next door, called the 'red room'. The main feature of this room was a huge highly polished table, so, obviously, this was the place to sit. I, however sat in the corner opposite an imposing Egyptian mummy! I was accompanied by Emma, Mark P, Julie M, Eileen and Marie. Emma was sat at the head of the table and after sitting quietly for a while, we started to call out. Emma was feeling very uneasy and I felt like I had to keep looking over my shoulder, although there was just a wall behind me. Cold breezes and taps were coming from around the table, so I decided to join them. As things were heating up I decided to try some table tipping. We all sat round and rested our hands lightly on the table. I called out and not a lot happened,so I asked Mark to try in case this particular spirit would only respond to a man. This didn't seem to be the case and I had the impression of piracy. Looking at Emma's face I had the impression of a man in Jacobean clothing. I also got the name Jones. I started to feel a bit mischievous and decided to goad this particular spirit by nicknaming him Pirate Pete. Well, this got the reaction we were hoping for! The table at my end started to creak and we could feel it move beneath our fingertips. We goaded more and more and got the impression that this spirit did not like Emma sat at the head of his table. We asked the spirit to push the table or to lift it. The momentum of the movement of the table was building and the creaks were quite audible. There were also taps heard and orbs caught on camera. I decided to turn the camcorder round so it was facing the end of the table that was being pushed, and the light on the display appeared to be moving over to the right even though the camcorder was stationery. It was not long after this that the table gave an almighty shove, so forceful, that the castor at the top end came off. This was at Emma's end and she was so shaken that she swapped places with Mark. Although the table did not move with such force again, it was trying to move. It was whilst looking towards Mark that Emma and I noticed his facial features appear to change. He looked bearded and somebody suggested he was wearing a patch over one eye. Mark also felt that Emma's face had also changed and she was now wearing a bandanna. Unfortunately time caught up with us and we made our way back downstairs. Everybody was glowing with excitement. It seemed we were not the only ones who had had a successful vigil.
After a break we split into the teams that we would be in for the rest of the evening. I was with Julie H, Eileen, Julie M, and Dan. Our first vigil was on the first floor, so guess where we made a beeline for! The red room beckoned once again and we were not to be disappointed. We sat around once more for table tipping and we did not tell Julie H or Dan what had occurred before. We did mention that Emma had ran from the top end of the table but did not tell them why, so Julie very bravely offered to sit at the head of the table where Emma had been sitting. Dan had the impression of a man in a smoking jacket and he felt that he was called Graham. He felt that he was sat at the table with us, but meant us no harm. I had a very strong feeling that there was a spirit with us who should be addressed as Captain. I felt he was either a Captain or an Admiral but Captain seemed stronger. Once again we called for Pirate Pete and things started happening almost immediately. Our video camera cut out with 36 minutes to spare on the battery and the table was constantly creaking and moving. This time it came off the castor three times in total, the first time pushed violently towards Julie H and, after the last occasion, as I was helping to keep the table in place whilst Dan fixed it, it flew out of my hands and shoved over to where Julie M was sitting. Once again, time caught up with us and it was back downstairs to wait for the next vigil.
For our next vigil we were on the ground floor and we made our way to the front room where a Ouija board had been set up earlier in the evening. We all sat round and rested our fingers on the glass, which started to move almost immediately. We asked for a name and it got a little confusing. We weren't too sure who we were speaking to but we got the impression that this was a spirit who may have come over from Africa aboard a boat with very cramped conditions. We then moved into the comfortable back room where I got the name Hazel. I also got the impression of the colour green.
Our next vigil was in the basement, but this proved to be very quiet so we decided to try a different tack by going back to the ground floor and investigating the team room. We settled ourselves down and could hear muffled voices from the team above us. We tried to goad 'Pirate Pete' to move the table from where we were sat, but were not successful. There did, however, appear to be a lot of moving around from upstairs. It even sounded like furniture being moved. When questioned, however, the team said that they had moved only twice.
Our final vigil was on the top floor and we sat in a little front room. Julie H sat at a table in the corner and I immediately got the impression of her being some kind of matron for children and names were flowing thick and fast and strangely, they were all female names. I got Belinda and Julia, amongst others. I was sat on a little sofa opposite Julie H, with Eileen and Julie M. I felt that the sofa was being pushed behind me and it was creaking quite loudly. It was actually quite creepy and thankfully didn't last for too long although Eileen was quite disconcerted to find her hair band being pulled out of her hair! Whilst we were coming down the stairs, I got the name of Sally Wyndham.
This was a fantastic evening and I would so love to go back at a later date. Thank you so much to Alan for trusting us enough to leave us in the house by ourselves all night. We had an amazing time and a very pleasant time was had by all.
Rab Gardner
Group Séance
Our team vigil area was on the top floor and the team consisted of Adam, Sandy, Di, Eileen, Julie M and I. Instinctively we were all drawn to one room at the back of the building next to the kitchen. After a lot of calling out and no light or temp variables, we decided to try glass divination.
Initially there was no response but with a lot of encouragement a presence came close to us. A temp difference was felt but there was no change recorded by the temp gun, nor did the EMF reading change.
The glass began to move, slowly at first then it quickly gathered pace. Di was picking up a ships Captain, which was confirmed by the glass moving to our established Yes position. I then got the name John - again confirmed. The glass moved faster around the table as we asked more questions. I was able to get confirmed that he was 22 yrs old when he died onboard the ship in the West Indies in 1802, that he was a frigate Captain, the frigate was French built and had 24 guns aboard. John also confirmed that we were the first people he had spoken too and that he had at one time owned the house. I struggled for a long time to get a surname thinking it was Williams, but thanks to a prompt, John confirmed it as Walker. He was also quite insistent that his ship was called the Mary Celeste (no connection with the Canadian built Mary Celeste 60 yrs later). By this time our vigil time had run over and we sadly had to close down.
Vigil 1 - Cellar
A slight change to our team: Amanda, Di, Emma, Adam and I. Here we go again I thought, how many creepy cellars and basements actually do have something in them and I expected a quiet time. EMF and temp remained constant as we stood for a short while. Amanda began calling out and I saw a light anomaly/orb behind Emma in the large fireplace. Unfortunately that area holds the fuse boxes for the entire house, therefore EMF was unreliable. Amanda continued calling and the orb was seen again in the corner of the fireplace. As I stood at the other end of the fireplace, I got the name Helen and when I asked for a surname I was given Withers. I then got an image of a girl in her early 20's in a maids outfit. I was also given the time period of 1840-1850 and when I asked for more information she told me she had come from Avebury and that she had passed away in 1874. I also saw a light grey cat that Helen used to keep in the basement. At that point we could hear a lot of noise from upstairs and there was a feeling of Helen leaving us. We moved to a different area in the Cellar, but were unable to detect anything more.
Vigil 2 - Top Floor
Back to the top floor and more expectations from our earlier visit. Adam, Di and I kept quiet about which areas to investigate. We started off in the rear room and sat quietly for a while. Soon Amanda got the impression of a stern gentleman stood in the cupboard doorway.
A little later I could sense a woman with long black hair stood outside the room. I could only get the name Margaret from her and she seemed reluctant to come in. No amount of calling out would convince either presence to come forward, so we moved on.
We next went to the Nursery. This area felt peaceful and very calm. We positioned ourselves around the room and settled in. As soon as I began to think that it was quiet an orb flashed between Emma and Adam, but there was no change in EMF or temp. A long time passed before I noticed a slight change to the atmosphere of the room. As I looked around the room I found myself looking at Di but getting the feeling of someone else there. I got the impression of a woman dressed in a black calf length skirt and a white high collar blouse. She was sat on the edge of the seat - very demure. I got the name Emma, but the surname was difficult and I think it was Hurst.
Vigil 3 - First Floor
We started off in the room adjacent to the red room. This room seemed stable, there were no anomalies witnessed or recorded.
Moving on, the Red Room was next. I had been looking forward to this room since I had heard the door knob rattle earlier in the evening. We sat around the table and began calling out. Emma was sat at the end near the staircase and started to feel 'funny'. She asked if I'd like to swap, so I gave it a go. After sitting for a little while I began to feel that something was rocking me backwards and forwards. I thanked whoever it was and asked them to do something else around the room. In the meantime, Emma was now sitting with her back to the door and every time I looked in her direction she appeared to be taller and a little different. As I looked towards her a dark shadow seemed to be covering her face, occasionally she even disappeared into the darkness. Adam was sat opposite me at the other end of the table and every now and then I could see a green orb flash from him towards Emma. As we continued to call out, we received the odd knock on the table in return.
Towards the end of the vigil, I got the image of a young boy (10-12 yrs old) dressed in green, stood next to Adam but resting his head on his folded arms on the table. He was smiling and looking towards me and then went off towards the door.
Vigil 4 - Ground Floor
I think that by the time we got to this vigil, my excitement of earlier had caught up with me and I struggled to focus on much. I was unable to pick up on any anomalies or non organic phenomena.
This was an outstanding investigation for me and I really feel that I benefited from Paul Waymans workshop. Throughout most of the evening I was picking up on information that, for me, was quite in depth. I still get a buzz now thinking about Captain John Williams and everything he gave me.
Eileen Rutter
We split up into 2 groups and the group I was in went up to the Red Room. We had a look around etc and sat down at table. Not a lot happened, couple noises and creaks, Very light, didn't feel or see anything, thought would be better later, when it got dark. Some people were uncomfortable with the end off the room where the stairs are.
Seance
I went up to the Red Room for the second time with the seance team, Maria, Me, Emma, Mark, and Marie. Getting darker now, we all sat down round the table, Emma sat at end by small stairs then I sat next to her with my back to window. At the other end of table was Marie opposite her was Maria, then Mark. We all put our fingers on the table, Maria started asking if anyone there, quiet a few times, table making slight vibrations, Emma felt like someone behind her, Maria kept asking about a Captain etc, seaman, trying to get a response from who ever was with us. There was a few creaks the table shook, Emma jumped up ran behind me and screamed, as she did I felt someone else go past as well, then when she went past Marie, Marie said she felt someone poke her in the ribs. We found the caster had come off the table leg, so Mark and I put it back on and all sat down again, but Mark sat where Emma was sitting at the head of the table. We all sat quiet Mark said as he looked across table at Emma he thought she looked like a scaw with a headband round her head with long straight hair. At one time he thought he saw out of the corner of his eye standing by me a man with a big chain across his belly.
Vigil 1
Went up to Red Room for vigil 1 with Julie, Maria, Me, Dan, and Julie M, We sat down round the table, Julie and Dan sat with backs to the door, Maria sat at corner next to Julie, I sat at corner by window and Julie M at other end table, This time it was really dark only had light off camcorder. Maria started asking if the captain was still here who knocked table off its leg before , kept goading him asking him to do something to let us know he was here , the table was moving slightly, people again felt like their was something or somebody at the end of room by the stairs. Very uncomfortable. Took picture looking at Egyptian casket thought I saw a mist above nothing on picture though, Kept goading and calling out to do something saying would all these women be allowed to sit at captains table , table moving slightly, vibrating a little , decided to put camcorder on floor by table leg to see what happens ,carried on talking to who ever was with us, camcorder battery died .Went really dark, I put on a small torch so we could just see. Kept asking who was with us to do something so we know they are with us, the table was pushed a little on the side where I was sitting, weird! Then a few seconds later a big push in the same place and the caster came off again. Really strange sensation at the left hand side of me .Dan and I put the caster back on table leg, all sat down again very dark. Julie put a small light on her phone I think as she did it lit up her face ,only when I looked it was not her face , but someone else ,chubby round face, round chin wavy brown hair and fringe, rosy cheeks, asked Julie if I could put torch on her face to check, it definitely was not Julie's face???? It was the same chair, that Mark thought Emma, looked like a scaw. Julie decided to sit at the head of the table by side me , try and get who moved table to do it again, she felt very uneasy sitting there, we again goaded and said if he did it again we would leave him in peace and go., again the table was pushed from the side again and the foot came off again, quiet shocked at this, as promised we left, Both times I left the Red Room last, felt like somebody behind me.
Vigil 2
Julie, Dan, Me, Maria, Julie M.
We went into front room ground floor with Ouija board, we all sat round table ,it was quiet and dark, street lights on, We asked if anybody there the glass went to several letters ,by E possible L and R A Z H . We understood it could be a boy of 8 years old. Possibly African brought here by ship with sails. Then a little girl letters S possibly 7 or 8 years old the glass juddered a few times and tipped over, but then it went quiet.
Vigil 3
Same bunch as before,
Went down to cellar very small for the size of the house. Really quiet down there, smelly, nothing happened, so went back up to ground floor. Went and sat in back room with a large fireplace and Dan opened door to fetch something for Julie. I thought I saw someone peer round the door so I took a photo, couple of orbs on there. Took picture of garden turned out strange. We went to room where we are all based, with large beams. Which look like ships beams, the only thing there was the smell of vomit. Heard lots of noise up above from red room.
Vigil 4
We went up to the room at the front of house with the 1969 paper in it. Julie sat on green chair by window Maria sat on sofa, I sat in the middle on edge of seat Julie M sat on arm at end. Dan sat on the floor. Maria felt someone behind us, Julie said she could see orbs behind us on the camcorder, felt a little pull on my hair band thought nothing of it, then slowly something pulled it all the way off, it fell on to the sofa behind me, Very strange. Otherwise a very quiet room. Brilliant night.
Adam Hackett
Arrival:
Upon arrival at the house, I had a quick wander around the rooms that were easily accessible in order to familiarise myself with the surroundings. Then, once the rest of the team had arrived Di gave us a quick tour of the property.
First Séance:
We were unable to launch straight into the vigils because we had to wait for the owner to return to the property. So, whilst waiting, we were split into two groups to carry out brief and unplanned séances on the first and second floor. In my séance group were: Jan, Amanda, Mark, Marie and Di and we were assigned the second floor for our impromptu séance. Myself, I did not experience anything during this séance but Marie was using dowsing rods to ask questions to which she appeared to be getting answers but I didn't have a pen and paper to write down the details of the conversation.
Second Séance:
The planned proceedings started with another séance. My group for this séance was: Di, Julie M, Sandy and Rab and we were assigned to the second floor. I suggested that maybe it would be a good idea to use a glass in the room next to the kitchen, A glass was found and we sat in the room, around the table with fingers on the glass hopeful that something would "happen". Sadly, nothing happened so we went to the other room on the first floor and sat there, calling out hoping for a response of some sort. Again, nothing happened.
So, we made our way back out onto the landing to try and see if anyone could pick up on anything out there. Whilst there, I thought I could see a shape sitting in a chair in the room next to the kitchen and said so. It was most probably just the shadows of the chairs playing tricks on my mind but Sandy went to have a look in that room. After a few seconds, he came back out indicating that he felt uneasy in there and that maybe we should go back into the room to try once more.
So, again we took seats around the table with our fingers on the glass and started calling out asking for an indication of a presence being in the room with us. We got slight movements from the glass but nothing particularly definite. Di then suggested that maybe things would work better if she was no longer in contact with the glass as she had found from previous experience that communication via a glass would often start to work better when she was excluded from the circle.
Sure enough, we started to get some definite and positive movements from the glass and we were to establish a yes/no direction and then start to ask questions. Before long, the movement of the glass was in an incredibly rapid circular motion that took up most of the width of the table with the circular motion only being broken to make a short, sharp diversion to the designated yes/no areas when responding to questions.
From the questions asked, we were able to establish that we were communicating with a captain John Walker who had captained a French built ship which was a 24 gun frigate and called the Mary Celeste. He had owned the house but had died in 1802 at the age of 22 in the West Indies after suffering a long term illness.
Almost all of the information received was done so by asking questions to which there could be a yes/no answer and without prior knowledge by anyone in the group with the exception of the surname "Walker" which was volunteered by Sandy who was the group Historian for the location and night and who obviously knew this name beforehand - but this still received a very definite "yes" response from the glass.
To date, this is one of the most convincing paranormal events that I have experienced first hand. The glass was moving at such a rate that I don't believe that anyone person could have been moving it themselves and towards the end of the séance it was just Rab, Sandy and myself left with fingers on the glass and at times we each had our fingers leave the glass due to the speed at which it was moving. I'm not entirely sure how long this lasted as I lost track of time but I would say it was most likely a good 15 minutes or so. My arm was aching by the end of it!
Sandy had a camcorder on the proceeding for the most part.
The Vigils:
My vigil group for the rest of the evening consisted of Rab, Amanda and Emma.
Vigil 1: The Basement
For this vigil, we descended into the basement. I experienced very little whilst down in the basement other than the smell of leather on occasion - something which Amanda later noticed. In addition to this, Rab claimed to be picking up on the presence or a maid called Helen Withers (?) who he thought may have had a cat. Amanda was also able to smell the leather on occasion but she could also smell what she described as "carbolic soap" and then later when on to think that it could be saddle soap hence the smell of leather.
Other than the above, the only other event of note was a couple of locals on their way home (from the pub I assume!) stopping right outside and one of them saying out loud and nice and clear for us to hear: "This is Buckingham House. It's called this because the Duke of Buckingham was murdered here!" Just what you don't want to hear when on an investigation of a place who's history you have deliberately avoided looking into!
Vigil 2: The Second Floor
I was excited by the prospect of returning to the second floor, hoping that we would again be lucky enough to receive such a positive response as that which I had been lucky to experience on my second visit to the floor. Sadly, this was not to be. The only memorable thing is Amanda sensing the presence of a man in the room next to the kitchen - one dressed as a Musketeer would have been - but as she said, that may just be her mind playing up because of where we were.
Vigil 3: The First Floor
Again, I was hopeful that we would experience something as others who had returned from their vigils on this floor had come down the stairs full of excitement after their experiences. Sadly, I again experience nothing at all. When sat in the red room, it was commented that Emma's head (or what we could make out of it in the dark) looked unusually high up. And Rab was able to see red and green orbs hanging around myself and Emma.
Vigil 4: The Ground Floor
This was yet again another uneventful vigil for me.
Summary:
To date, this has been (for me) the most eventful investigation that I have been lucky enough to be involved in. There was only a brief period of activity and then more or less nothing for the rest of the night despite every other group seemingly experiencing something on every vigil. However, that little that I was privileged to be involved with first hand is by far the most convincing display of paranormal activity that I have personally experienced and I hope that it's just the start of things to come for me! That's saying a lot coming from a bloke who has up until this point considered himself to be more of a psychic fire blanket than anything else!
Di Moore
On arriving at Buckingham House and walking though the front door in the room to the right I could smell and sense a piano, on going later on the walk round with the owner on the first floor landing was a foot peddle piano!
The Group arrived and we had a walk round. The floors felt uneven and it made you feel like you were on a ship (corny as we were in Portsmouth) lots of cold spots, could not wait for investigation to begin.
At 9.30pm we split into to groups (Rab, Sandy, Adam, Julie M and myself) had a seance this was good. We did glass divination on the top floor, back room. I said that I knew it was Portsmouth but could sense a Sailor with white leggings and jacket and triangle hat. I took my finger off the glass as it not always works for me but I asked the questions. At this stage Sandy's camcorder, which was placed on the windowsill, turned itself off. We got a Captain come though then the name John so we presumed Captain John was his name (at first the glass was calm and then went very fast). Captain John seemed very excited and it seems this was the first time he had contacted the living. His name was Captain John Walker! He served on the Mary Celeste and died at an early age. We asked him how many spirits were in the house and he answered six. He was married to his ship. We went over our time doing this seance as he didn't want us to go but promised to contact other groups that night. We thanked him and told him we would be back later.
10.45pm Vigil 1, Ground Floor. Team 3 We started in the back room. Jan had Dowsing Rods. We settled in and began. The rods crossed to questions that were right and we picked up on a Lady called Victoria Emily who died of child birth after having other children. I was stood the far side of the room looking out of the window and could see the courtyard covered in snow. This was at Christmas time. We went into the front room and did glass divination round the table another good result. The glass moved and questions were answered we picked up on Captain Jake, two Captain Williams who were brothers and the 1st Duke of Buckingham and the 2nd Duke of Buckingham.
12.15am Vigil 2, Basement. I never got a thing in the Basement but others did. It was cold, Jan used the dowsing rods but for me nothing.
2.00am Vigil 3, Top Floor. Was looking forward to the top floor again and was not disappointed. Captain John came back. As Sandy and I knew about Captain John we had to be very careful not to say much but still asked him questions. He told us again that he served on a ship and loved being there and didn't want to leave. It was his home, I think he loved contacting us and having a chat.
3.45am Vigil 4, First Floor. Well this was the Red Room, I was confused I remember going into this room with Rab, Sandy, Adam, Julie M earlier and being drawn to the far corner. J had felt cold spots but couldn't remember what happened. Anyway, this room had a large table in it with eight chairs round it and panelling on the walls. We sat round the table and did a seance then glass divination. This time I had my finger on the glass and it worked for me. We got lots. John Felton came though and first he told us he killed George Villiers who was over in the corner as the glass (after asking for it to go were George was) it went in that direction. He said that George owed him and his crew money and he stabbed him at a party in that spot. Later to be found and hung he hated George even to this day and wont speak to him even in spirit. Also George lays there in a coffin (he's not stood up), we asked him to step aside and let other spirits to come though, he was fine about that. At one point the table came off its caster and made us all jump, (dont know if that was spirit or it just came off). We also picked up on the two Dukes of Buckingham. Then it was time to go we said thank you and told them not to follow us. I've never said this before but felt this time I had to. What a exciting night, so much. I know it was the same six spirits, but they lived there, it was their house, we were their guests and they made me feel welcomed.
Thank you to Alan for letting us stay the night.
Jan Coles
On arrival, I immediately felt welcomed into a light, happy, atmosphere with no sense of fear or danger. Throughout the investigation I noticed that most of the group were confident and comfortable in the house.
The stairs gave a most odd sensation, as if you were at sea as you walked up them. I wondered at the time if any undamaged, beams from a ship were incorporated into the staircase when it was built. I felt like a matelo on his return to his ship after a long night in the watering holes of old Portsmouth.
On the familiarisation tour, as we moved to the First floor, the atmosphere changed to a more serious, cautious tone - with more spirits from many ages waiting.
The Second floor returned to the same welcoming feeling as the Ground floor.
Group Séance - Amanda, Dan, Julie and Jan
This was held in a front room, around a circular table, with the letters, numbers and words usually seen on an Ouija board placed around the edge of the table.
Amanda sat opposite Jan, with Julie to her right and Dan to her left. A glass was placed in the centre of the table and the room was in darkness.
Amanda asked out:
Question: 'Are there any spirits in the room with us? We mean you no harm, e are just interested in your life before you passed and your life now. Please move the glass to indicate that you are here'.
Answer: The glass moved gently.
Q: Hello, thank you - are you female, a lady? A: No
We have a gentleman with us A: Yes
Q: Did you own this house? A: Yes
Q: Where you married? A: No
Julie was given information of a private nature, a secret relating to the spirit when in life.
At this point, I found myself wanting to sit in a decidedly masculine fashion, on the edge of the chair, as if she were wearing tail-coats. And with both hands facing each other, resting on thighs, in a light hearted mode.
Q: Can you move the glass to the first initial of your name please? A: Glass moved carefully to the letter 'R'
Q: Thank you. And move the glass to the first letter of your last name please? A: Glass moved to the letter 'C'
The glass then moved without prompting to the letter 'M' (Monsieur perhaps? then 'R' and 'C' again
Q: Are you an English man? A: Yes
Dan said that earlier in the evening, on the tour of the house, he had the initials 'RC' in his mind. He was also given a picture of a man in a green velvet top hat and plum velvet tail coat.
The male spirit was communicating with Julie directly and she answered him by saying 'You have no need to feel ashamed - in our time it is considered normal, no-one would find any reason to comment. We here are not judging you - we are in here in total respect.'
Q: You prefer men to women? A: Yes
Q: Are you happy to have us in your house? A: Yes
Amanda asked out if there were any other Spirits who would like to try and communicate with us, use our joint energies if you need to, without harming us.
The glass moved very slowly in response, and we wondered if this was a child who could not read, write or understand our modern speech or native language.
Amanda felt that this was not a human spirit that has passed on, but a different kind of entity. More like a Guardian Spirit or Protector entity.
Q: Are you related (by blood or associated with) any person around this table?
A: Yes
Amanda and I felt that the Guide/Protector was a gentle giant, a Grandfather-like figure.
Q: Can you move the glass to that person please?
Unknown to each other at the time, Amanda, Julie and I felt this entity was actually for Amanda and the glass would move towards her.
A: Glass moved to me, who felt overwhelming warmth, happiness and couldn't stop smiling. I had said previously that I would like to meet my Spirit Guide and wondered if this was a prelude to a stronger meeting in the future.
Incident with glass just being moved to 'Hello' and 'Goodbye', backward and forward.
I felt that I wanted to sit up in a ladylike position, knees and feet together, hands folded on my lap; as if a young girl about 14, slender, with dainty feet and hands.
I was dressed in an Empire line/Jane Austen cotton dress, pink with tiny blue bunches of flowers on the material. Also my dark brown hair was parted in the middle, gathered into a bun at the back under a summer straw poke bonnet.
I was aware of white frills on the inside at the front of the bonnet and of long, white silky ribbons tied in a bow to one side, under my chin. I was wearing lace half mittens.
I got the name 'Abigail', a name Dan confirmed he had earlier received upstairs.
We then asked if 'RC' was still with us and apologised but we had to leave this room.
Q: 'Would you speak to our friends and us again, please? It is a real privilege to be able to speak with you and learn of your life.' A: Very firm 'Yes!'
We thanked him and said goodbye. The Séance worked continuously for an hour, though we all felt we could have carried on all night.
During this break, I tried out my new bronze dowsing/divining rods out in the little paved courtyard, where Julie and Amanda were for some fresh air. Asked out if there were any spirits present who wished to communicate through the rods - crossing them for 'yes' and moving them apart for 'no'. The spirit had caused this to occur just before me asking… (Sometimes a spirit appears to pre-empt the question you have asked and answer it before you've finished speaking - also occurs when using the glass and Ouija board)
Q: Are you a male? A: Yes
Q: Are you associated with the sea in your life? A: Yes
Q: 'Were you an officer?' A: Yes
Q: a Lieutenant?' A: Yes (I felt the spirit had achieved a higher rank than this, of Captain. I just hadn't asked!)
Q: Was this your house? A: Yes
Q: Were you married? A: Yes
I felt this spirit was jovial, almost amused at what I was doing and around 39 years old. Also that he had children in his lifetime.
Q: Have you experienced war at sea? A: Yes
At this point, Julie and Amanda became very nauseas and left. I felt really bad about this and immediately said I must go, apologising to the spirit for breaking off our conversation.
Q: Would we be able to speak with him later? A: Yes
Said 'Goodbye for now and thank you'
Inside the house Julie now had a severe headache. I asked the spirit to stand back from Julie and take the pain and nausea away from her; which it did.
Team 3 - Team Leader - Jan, Di, Marie, Mark, Sandy
Vigil 1 Ground Floor Back Room, overlooking courtyard
Mark = Digital Video Camera, Marie = Digital stills Camera and Temperature Gauge, Sandy Digital stills Camera, Di = EMF Meter
We stood in various parts of the room to sense the presence of spirits and Di called out for any spirit person who wished to communicate to do so. Almost immediately she felt the presence of a woman near her.
I used the dowsing/divining rods as Di called out again for any spirit to communicate with us either though the rods, crossing for 'yes' and moving apart for 'no' or show themselves in the form of a light. We all contributed to the questions.
Q: Is there a female, a lady with us? A: Yes
Q: Are you the lady of the house? A: Yes
Di was getting the image of a white Christmas, with the courtyard outside the window as a garden in snow. I could sense the garden in sunshine, with the scent of pink summer roses. The lady was standing by the window at this point.
Q: You liked very much the view from your window. A: Strong 'Yes'
Di was given the names 'Victoria' and 'Emily' and the lady confirmed these were her own names - Emily being Di's middle name too, a useful connection!
Q: Are you a married woman? A: Yes
Q: Did you have many children? Four boys? A: Yes
Q: Was one called Edward? A: Yes
Q: Did your last baby survive? A: Strong Yes
Di felt that the lady had died in Childbirth and this was confirmed - also that she was in her late 30's when she passed. I felt she had watched all her sons growing up and was around them.
We said how welcome we felt on arrival in her house and thanked her for this. My left arm felt chilled and Di confirmed Victoria was standing next to me.
Q: Are you pleased to have the opportunity to speak with us? A: Strong Yes
At this point Sandy and Mark were in the corner of the room having taken some great images of light anomalies and were discussing them. I felt Victoria's amusement at this.
Q: They never grow up do they? A: Strong agreement
Q: Are you with your husband and children now? A: Strong Yes
Q: Are you happy? A: Strong Yes
Throughout this vigil, Victoria made her self known by a lovely, warm, humorous presence. The whole room felt as if many happy events had taken place here with this ladies' family - a really enjoyable experience.
Extra Vigil Upper Floor
Di - Temperature Gauge, Jan - EMF Meter, Mark - Digital Video Camera, Marie - Digital Stills Camera, Sandy - Digital Stills Camera
Mark said the word 'Nursery', and felt it was a child's room, schoolroom for learning letters and numbers.
We decided to use the glass to communicate. It began to move very slightly, with no energy behind it
Di became very giggly, like a happy child, speaking in a teasing, child-like manner. I found myself sitting very upright with my hands folded in a purposeful manner and felt very well corseted in a dark dress. I was smiling in a benevolent way, as if keeping an eye on the manners of the child - using the glass to communicate - one whom she was very proud of.
Di and noticed my finger on the glass was moving from side to side in a tiny oval.
Vigil 2 Basement
Di - EMF Meter, Jan - Dowsing rods, Mark - Digital Video Camera, Marie - Digital Stills Camera & Temperature Gauge, Sandy - Digital stills Camera.
Small ante-room with lockers - felt no spirit presence. EMF Meter went crazy as Electric and Gas meters were in here, with a lot of loose wiring on the ceiling. I began to feel fed up with being down there and an almost 'couldn't be bothered' attitude - not me at all. This stayed with me until we left and hour later, dissipating as we went up the stairs.
Tiny ante-room beyond coal cellar - felt no spirit presence.
Larger coal cellar - Sandy asked out - no apparent response. Marie used the dowsing rods and called out. We all contributed to the questions. A male spirit called Thomas came through, but that was all I remember of him.
Q: Are you a male spirit? A: Yes
Q: Did you own this house? A: Yes
Q: Were you married? A: No
Q: Were you in the Royal Navy? A: No
Q: Is your name George Villiers? A: Yes
Q: Were you the second Duke of Buckingham? A: Yes
Q: Did you die in this house? A: Yes
Q: Did you die in this room? A: No
Q: Were you buried in this room? A: Yes
Q: Did you die of natural causes? A: No
Q: Was it an accident? A: No
Q: Were you murdered? A: Yes
A: Sorry to hear that - did you know your murderer? A: Yes
Q: Had you committed a crime? A: Hesitant, no direct answer
Q: Did you follow us down here? A: Yes
Q: Are here any other spirits here with us? A: Yes
Q: Can we speak with them? A: Yes
Q: Hello, are you a different spirit from the first one we were speaking with? A: Yes
Q: Do you know the spirit we have just been speaking with? A: Yes
Q: Are you female? A: No
Q: Are you related to him? A: No
Q: Did you live in this house? A: Yes
Q: Did you murder George? A: Yes
Q: Do you follow him around? A: Yes
Q: Do you know you can move to the light? A: Yes
Q: Are you angry with George? A: Yes - Very strong movement of rods
Q: Is your name John? A: Yes
Q: Is your surname Fulton? A: Yes
Q: Did you use a wooden handled knife to stab George? A: Yes
Q: Did you stab George twice? A: Yes
Q: Through the heart? A: Yes
Q: Do you mind us knowing this? A: No
Q: Were you executed? A: Yes
Q: Were you hung? A: Yes
Q: In Southsea? A: No
Q: In Portsmouth? A: Yes
Q: Were you buried in a family tomb? A: Yes
Di feels that she is waiting for someone to walk past the cellar door and for the light seeping in to flicker.
Q: George, are you standing by the door? A: Yes
Q: In here with us? A: Yes
At this point no more messages were received.
Vigil 3 Top Floor (2nd visit)
Paper on table by Captain's chair, by window, dated 1950's.
Di felt the room was a place of relaxation from the rest of the houses' business.
We sat in silence and it felt like we were being watched as if the person was amused by us. We began to use the glass to communicate - continuously for over an hour; always thanking him after receiving an answer. The spirit used two tiny taps of the glass for yes and one for no. Never encountered this before.
There was a feeling that this was a male spirit - clever with numbers and his hands - very practical. Not Accountancy as we had thought, but Navigational and Seamanship skills.
Di called out and we all added questions throughout the vigil. The information we gathered was immense.
We were apparently talking through the use of the glass to Captain John Walker, who worked his way through the ranks (on Spanish Ships) from Cabin Boy to Captain. We said he had done very well in his life - he agreed.
He was originally Spanish, but considered himself an English gentleman now. He had been a prisoner of War in England. Never saw Spain again.
Confused dates given varying from the Peninsular Wars, Boer War to the 1500's.… The Captain had a great and cheeky sense of humour or it could be another spirit answering.
John Walker appeared to be clever, flirtatious, handsome, dark eyes, curly dark hair and olive complexion.
Wasn't married but liked blonde ladies like Di; and Maria because she has a Spanish name and long hair. Had many girlfriends, said I was too old - and then retracted this. (Good job too) He said he was really married to the navy.
He was 29 when he died and was buried in a Royal Naval church in Gosport. We said we would try and find his grave, if it had survived the bombing of a war we had in our time. He was a happy man continuing into spirit.
John Walker was an Anglicization of his Spanish name Juan Romero? Or Peatón/Peon? Caminante?
John said there were six sea Captains from all periods of the house's life, including two Captain Williams. John speaks with Captain Jake/Jacques. They talk about ships, the sea, women, and also about war. These conversations are also held with the other Captains. They also drink alcohol, and are able to go to sea in their many sailed wooden ships - they all love being at sea. The general consensus is that they were and are all married to the Navy.
We asked if he could see the cupboard and if so, could he close or open the door or move it. It's believed he did but we were unsure whether our eyes saw this in the dark. It was filmed.
We asked if he believed in reincarnation, which he did. Did he know who he was reincarnated to now in the physical sense - he very strongly said he did. Did he know the person he was now? Very strong confirmation. We sensed that it was Alan, which John again confirmed. Did he know what Alan was going to do to he house? Yes but he wasn't happy about it.
Di explained that the house needed to be repaired as in our time it was in need of attention to make it last longer. Did that make him happier about it? John said it did. Could he be with Alan and be himself at the same time? Yes. Do you follow Alan around the house? Yes.
Could he tell if we had been reincarnated? Yes. John moved the glass to show who had been reincarnated - in his view - when asked to Di and Marie definitely, Sandy and Jan not.
We asked if it was John that was standing by the door, as some of us could feel this. We said we had to move on to another room, and it was great privilege to speak with him. He was a lovely man, very funny and had a life to be proud of.
Captain Walker said he had enjoyed conversing with and teasing us. It was the first opportunity to speak with the living he had ever had.
Vigil 4 First Floor the 'Red Room'
Sandy - sat at end of the table, Di to the left, Marie and I to the right. Digital Video camera on sideboard behind Sandy, EMF meters, Temperature gauge, Digital Video stills Cameras on table - to hand. One torch was left on to view the glass, as it was very dark. Glass on table was used to communicate, Sandy asking out, others asking questions too.
I asked Sandy to call out, again we communicated with the spirit of John Fulton. He told us that he stares constantly at George Villiers, to remind him of his misdeeds. GV was in the far right corner to us. I do not want to look towards this corner. When I do, a small light anomaly in the form of an orb moves slowly along the painted wall panelling, from left to right.
Very strong movements came from the glass, great swirls and JF said he was a strong, large man, a sea Captain. He confirmed he was sent on a fruitless voyage by GV that took the lives of many of JF's men from cholera.
GV did not pay JF or his crew. The ships name was the 'Mary Celeste'. JF was a very, very angry man to have lost his men and been treated in such a way by GV. JF knew that GV was responsible.
We asked if JF would allow GV to speak with us. He admitted sending JF and his crew on a fruitless voyage and to the murder of the crew.
GV said he was BI-sexual.
JF said he was not into men, women only.
JF came back, confirming that he stabbed GV twice - once in the stomach and once through the heart. Sandy was given a sharp pain through the left lung to indicate the precise stabbing place and felt JF's hands pushing strongly on his back.
JF confirmed he was standing behind Sandy. The temperature was taken and was indeed significantly cooler than previous readings.
Very strong swirls with the glass from JF. Less strong from GV. Asked if J meant us harm - yes he did. We meant him no harm, he didn't mean us harm really? No he didn't.
We asked if JF ever saw his crew, he said yes and confirmed that they were in the room with us.
Sandy, Maria and I began to feel very nauseas, heady in this room. It felt full of people, temperature rising. We did not feel confident at this point to turn off the torch.
We asked if JF had ever fought in wars at sea. He confirmed that he had fought the French and lost, the Scots and lost and that he admired the Scots fighting abilities. They had more ships and more men. He did not fight the Spanish.
JF confirms that he converses with the other sea Captains from differing ages.
He confirmed that GV was still in the room. Sandy asked if GV was the second Duke of Buckingham, he confirmed this. Was he in the far corner, he replied he was, also that he was lying down in a box, that was his coffin. Was the coffin also on the table? Yes it was.
JF and GV lived in the house together. JF stabbed GV at a party, in the Red Room. Someone saw him and JF was hung for murder.
At this point we had to leave the room as the Investigation time was up. We thanked them for communicating with us on such a painful subject. Was his the first time they had been able to speak with the living? Yes it was.
Di very strongly warned the spirits to stay in the house, in this room and not to follow any of us home. Di also noticed that there six chairs around the room - six spirits in the house.
An incredible night for me!