Southern Paranormal - Investigations

The Echo Offices Investigation, Blandford

Saturday 18th March 2006 - 10pm–5.15am

Intending Investigators: Julie Harwood, Steve Gilbert, David Ireland, Ed Ashton, Wayne Blyth & Alison Blyth

Echo Office Staff:Pauline, Liz, Michelle & Paula

Introduction

When we saw the article in the Echo telling of strange goings on in their Blandford office we were intruiged. Its wrong but when you think of an office you do not tend to imagine it as haunted and yet some companies offices are in some of our countries oldest buildings. We were delighted when Pauline Bailey Wright, the Blandford Office Manager invited the Southern Paranormal Team to investigate. We had previously met Pauline and Liz at our Halloween event that we held at the Grosvenor and so going and working with them was like visiting old friends. We are pleased to now welcome Pauline, Liz and Pauline’s husband David as members of Southern Paranormal UK.

From the 1960’s there have been strange reports of moving furniture on the first floor of the 300 year old building which is located on Sheepmarket Hill. Tables and chairs shift position overnight and on one occasion the office safe, small but far too heavy for one person to lift was found moved several feet into the middle of the floor. The only way it could have been moved was by dragging it, yet the vinyl flooring underneath was undisturbed. More recently sweets have disappeared from the office only to turn up in a completely different place 24 hours later. Printers and hand dryers start up of their own accord a black cat has been seen by staff sat just outside the ladies toilet door. When staff go to approach it or step over it, it disappears.

The staff have started leaving controlled experiments over night, only to find the next morning the experiments have been moved. They often leave a game of Jenga and also several coins (drawn round) as trigger objects. More often than not, the next morning the game has been disturbed and the coins are well out of the circles they started in.

A man has also been seen sitting at a desk in one of the offices and a photo frame was found one morning completely dissembled with all its screws removed.

The strangest thing is the phone calls that members of the office staff receive when they are at home and often late at night or very early in the morning. Phone calls from the office number when they know it is empty!

However disturbing all this sounds the staff are adamant that nothing there is malicious as it is a happy office. We were just intruiged to try and find out who was playing games with the staff. All of the above information was withheld from the group and was only known by Pauline, Liz, Michelle and Paula.

We would like to thank Pauline, Liz, Michelle and Paula for letting us into their workplace and for making us feel so welcome there. We look forward to working with you all again in the near future.

Baseline Tests – completed by Alison & David 11pm

Alleyway to side/rear of building – erratic EMF readings peaking at 3.0. No wires found. Temperature 7.5, 5 by door leading to street.
Cellar – EMF normal 00.1 – 00.3, apart from raised reading near meters, elec. supply boxes etc (as expected). Temperature 4.0. Very small area, dusty, maybe only suitable for locked off experiment/camcorder. Access from ground floor office only.
Ground floor (1 office/reception area) – EMF normal for most 00.1 – 00.3 however many electrical items incl computers, cash register, printers etc cause a few elevated readings. Temperature ranging from 17 – 18.5.
1st Floor (1 office, small kitchen & toilet/wash area) – EMF normal 00.1 – 00.3. Temperature 21 in office, 22 in kitchen, 20 in toilet/wash room area.
Attic (storage area) – EMF reading by chairs 4.0 though the possible cause of this is the light fitting on the ceiling on the floor below. Rest of the room normal 00.1 – 00.3. Bare floorboards uneven in parts. Temperature 14.5.

Equipment and Locked off camcorders & experiments

2 teams, each had use of –
Night Vision Camcorder
Digital Camera
Laser Temperature Gun
EMF Meter
Clipboard, Note sheets & pen

Experiments –
Attic – trigger object coins (2) on chair
1st Floor – Set up Jenga tower, coins and small replica gun (non working model)
Ground floor – trigger object coins (3) on desk

Locked off Camcorders –
1 x locked of analogue camcorder in the cellar
1 x locked off night vision camcorder overlooking trigger objects on 1st floor (Jenga, gun & coins)
1 x Locked off night vision camcorder in attic
1 x Locked off night vision camcorder in ground floor office

Locked off Dictaphones –
1 x in kitchen area
1 x by trigger object experiment on 1st floor
1 x in entrance to cellar
1 x in attic

Team & Vigil Plan

Team 1
Pauline
Liz
Julie
Alison
Steve

Team 2
Paula
Michelle
David
Wayne
Ed

11.45pm – 12.15am	All team Séance in ground floor office
12.30am – 1.30am	Team 1 Ground Floor & Alley Team 2 Attic
1.45am – 2.45am	All team vigil spread across 1st floor (3 on stairs to attic, 3 on stairs to ground floor, rest in 1st floor office)
3.30 – 4.10am	Alison, Steve, Ed, Pauline & Michelle – Attic Julie, Wayne & Liz – 1st floor David & Paula – Ground floor
4.10 – 4.45am	Julie, Wayne, Liz, Paula & David – Attic Alison, Pauline & Ed – 1st floor Michelle & Steve – Ground floor
4.45am	Debrief by Pauline
5.10am	Finish

Vigil & Team Notes

NOTE – WHILE WE PREPARING TO BEGIN THE EVENINGS VIGILS SOME OF THE GROUP WENT OUTSIDE FOR A CIGARETTE AND THE REST STAYED WITH PAULINE, LIZ, MICHELLE AND PAULA IN THE DOWNSTAIRS OFFICE. WHEN WE ALL RETURNED TO THE 1ST FLOOR THE JENGA GAME HAD BEEN MOVED AND THE COINS WERE MOVED WELL OUTSIDE THEIR CIRCLES. THE CAMERA HAD STOPPED RECORDING FOR NO APPARENT REASON.

All Group Séance –

11.45pm EMF reading 00.1 – 00.2. Room temperature 15.5, middle of the séance circle 16. Lots of traffic & Street noise.
11.55pm Alison calling out – thud on floor from inside the circle
11.57pm Michelle feels like floor is moving and is swaying
12.00am Michelle is still swaying (possible cause – having eyes closed)
12.03am Pauline catches an orb on night vision between Michelle and Liz
12.05am Alison calling out and a couple of taps are heard coming from behind Michelle
12.05am Alison asks for repeat of noise. 4 taps from behind Michelle again
12.05am Wayne gets a stabbing pain in his chest and Julie has a thumping headache
12.06am Liz is very cold and feels like something is touching her hair
12.06am Pauline joins the circle between David & Liz
12.07am Both Alison and David feel a poke in the small of their backs
12.08am A rustling is heard, as if something is moving on the desk behind Michelle.
12.10am Pauline becomes very dizzy and also starts to sway and then stumbles forward a little

For most of the séance the EMF meter remained in the same place (with Steve) giving off no reading. For a period of time the meter fluctuates up to a max of 2.0 for no apparent reason and is not moved from its original place. After a good 15-20 minutes the meter then returns to normal reading.

Team 1 Ground Floor & Alley

Temp at start of vigil 15.5, team feel a little chilly in here at beginning
EMF meter is left where it was for group séance to see if any other readings can be picked up
Still quite a lot of street noise
About 20 minutes in Julie feels like there is someone looking over her right shoulder. She is sat at Liz’s desk which is next to the side door to alleyway.
EMF meter starts to tick slowly (EMF meter is next to Julie)
Pauline, Julie & Liz all comment on how the temperature feels like it has dropped quite considerably. Temp taken 14 (1.5 degree drop in matter of 20 minutes)
Alison can smell a musty smell that seemed to come from nowhere as she had not smelt it earlier.
All team hear clicking noise from entrance to cellar – decided that it was the electric meter box
All team hear movement above them and people coming down the stairs from the cellar to the 1st floor and then moving around. Makes team wonder why the other team have finished their vigil so early. Pauline goes up to check only to find that the other team are still in the attic and have not moved let alone come down the stairs.
Couple of thumps heard from above Pauline & Liz (Kitchen area?)
Alison and Steve spend a little time in the alleyway and Alison picks up the thoughts and feelings of a woman who was murdered there. Possibly a prostitute on a job. Pain in her chest. No abnormal EMF readings this time unlike when Alison did the baseline tests.
Julie, Pauline and Liz swap with Alison and Steve. They do not sense anything out of the ordinary but all 3 smell the strong odour of beer/ale/alcohol.

Team 2 Attic

Start of vigil EMF reading normal throughout area 00.1 – 00.2. Temperature 16.
Paula sees a small light on the floor
David senses the presence of a man and Michelle at the same time picks up a musty smell.
Wayne feels like he wants to be sick and Michelle says she associates this room with sickness
Wayne can now smell the musty smell too
David senses the man with them is of Asian origin, is of very slim build with thinning hair.
All team hear the sound of what they believe to be the other team returning to the 1st floor, early from their vigil. Lots of walking about and noise on the stairs.
David picks up the tune ring a ring of roses
Wayne still feels sickly and a high EMF reading of 1.5 is picked up around Wayne
(It was later confirmed that team 1 had not come up to the 1st floor apart from when Pauline had crept up to see what the noises were that her team had heard)

All Team – 1st Floor

Unfortunately we are unable to find the notes for this vigil. This has never happened to the team before and we can not explain why they are not with the other team notes. We heard several noises while we were in this vigil most of which seemed to come from the floor above us (attic). Wayne went and sat in the attic when we heard them and he could still hear them.

Julie saw a shadow move across in front of Pauline near the kitchen and the toilet doors and could imagine a man stood there with his hands on his hips (with a white apron on).

Alison picked up on a man sat at a desk, facing out of the window. In a box/drawer he kept a hip flask with the initials E.M on (under a pile of papers) which contained rum. Alison also picked up on a small boy who used to run errands.

Please see personal reports for other accounts of this vigil.

Alison, Steve, Ed, Pauline & Michelle – Attic

Glass divination
Name picked up – Smythe
1 girl, 5 boys
TB
Glass moved a little but did not go to any specific area of letter
Name was requested – glass moved eventually very very slowly to yes
Steve felt his chair move very slightly
Asked if the person contacted was with his father in a family business
Glass moved very slightly but did not indicate a yes or no
Asked if lodged with family – slight movement but no decisive
Asked if of Irish decent – glass moved but not to any letter
Asked if they were playing with us – went to no
Asked again if Irish – no movement
Pauline asked out to see if it was someone called Harriet

Julie, Wayne & Liz – 1st floor
Batteries in Liz’s camera drain
Liz gets sensation of her ears popping
Wayne has stabbing pain in his eye
Waynes legs go extremely cold
Group comment on how well the glass divination must be going as they can all clearly hear the glass rushing about on the table.
Lots of banging coming from upstairs, sounds like it is coming from the table. Group decide the other team must have tried table tipping with great success.
For the rest of the vigil noises are heard from upstairs, little else is heard or felt on the 1st floor.

When the team from the attic came down Wayne Julie & Liz were shocked to hear that the glass had moved but only very slowly and very slightly. It had certainly not been rushing about. As for the table tipping, the team in the attic had remained still the whole time and had not tried table tipping. They had not heard the noises that Julie, Wayne and Liz had heard (??)

David & Paula – ground floor

David picked up a lady in a long flowing dress – wedding dress ?
Given the name Harriet
She seemed very happy and yes it was her wedding day.
She was marrying Philip and the year was 1874
We were surprised afterwards to find that while David was sensing Harriet, Pauline was calling out for her 2 floors above.

Wayne, David, Julie, Paula & Liz – Attic

Glass divination
No movement however David could sense Harriet again
When we called out for her, orbs were caught on camera around the table
We did feel a very definite drop in room temp and kept hearing noises from the corner of the room.

Personal Reports

Julie Harwood

I have to say, from the minute I walked into the building I had the idea of bakery, bakers, flour & milling. I did not mention this until well into the investigation though I had no idea why I was thinking this. After beginning to set up the equipment, we noticed that some of the trigger object coins, placed on the middle office by the staff had already moved and the game of Jenga set up next to it also had a brick out of place. This only excited us further and so we reset the objects and continued to set up as normal. The building is compact and so as there were 10 of us we decided to split into 2 teams and to keep a floor empty between us at all times so we could reduce the chance of hearing another team. Before we did this however we spent half an hour conducting a séance in the Ground floor office to begin the evening and settle everyone down, as several members had mentioned that the building itself made them feel a little hyper and excited. It was the exact opposite for me as I suddenly had a cracking headache, which I had not, had before, which made me very quiet and mellow. I can not attribute this to the paranormal as after I had had a drink and some fresh air it did fade. I was a little worried about Wayne however who sat quietly during the séance as he had chest pain. I believe this did go when he left the area.

Alison led our séance in the ground floor office and we did hear a couple of thumps and creaks though they did not appear to tie in with us calling out. This made it almost impossible to determine whether they were noises from the street or the building settling down or indeed something else! I was interested in the way Michelle seemed to sway during the séance, in the end having to lean back on the desk to steady herself and then when Pauline joined the circle she began to sway but a lot more violently like someone was pushing her with quite a force. Alison and David also reported being poked in the back and Liz was sure something touched the back of her hair.

The thing that interested me the most was the EMF readings we recorded. Steve, who was holding the EMF meter in the middle of the room had not moved for atleast 5 minutes and the EMF meter was reading nothing abnormal. After the team called out the meter started to tick quicker and quicker until it reached a reading of about 2.0 (a reading we do not often see). There was electrical equipment scattered about the desks (and these were picked up on baseline tests) however Steve was not moving and so why were the readings not recorded earlier in the séance as he was no nearer when it started to tick than he had been before when the meter was silent. We asked for spirit to stop the meter. It took a minute or so but it did actually stop.

Our following vigil was in the ground floor office, so while team 2 made their way to the attic we (myself, Alison, Steve, Pauline & Liz) settled ourselves down. I sat nearest the back door and the whole time I was there I felt like something was moving behind and to the right of me even though the team were all still. I kept having to look over my right shoulder to check. Half way through the vigil we all heard what we thought was team 2 coming down the stairs into the office above us and we all heard movement on the floorboards and chattering. We wondered why they had finished their vigil so early. In fact all through our vigil we had heard people walking and pacing above us and we moaned a little at the other team for being so restless and not settling down. At one point we heard someone come down the stairs from the attic and walk across the middle office floor. We decided it must have been Wayne coming to check the camcorder as the steps were so purposeful yet when we checked with the other team we were surprised to hear that no one had moved about at all, they had all sat very still, very quiet and no one had come out of the room or down the stairs. They had heard the same noises and wondered why our team were so restless and why we were walking up the stairs. They were as surprised as us when we said we had sat very still!

When we returned to the middle floor for a break we were surprised to see one of the Jenga blocks had moved again and so we reset it before continuing the investigation. We decided that due to the noises we had all heard we would hold a large group vigil based on the middle floor covering both staircases. 5 of us sat in the office and the others sat at various points on the staircase. We called out but the areas remained so very quiet this time. A couple of clicks and taps were heard from the attic floor but in terms of noise that was about it. Alison picked up on some fantastic information while in this area and her retelling of it fascinated the group. Please see Alison’s report for these details. I also swore I saw a shadow moved across between the top of the stairs and the kitchen door and the toilet door. It was tall, 5-6 feet of the ground but it was so quick I remember little else about it. I was interested to hear afterwards that Liz had also seen the same thing in the same place on a previous occasion but she had not told me this before hand.

Next we split into 3 teams, as the group wanted to try a glass divination in the attic. While the first team went up myself, Wayne and Liz sat in the middle office. We did not experience much. We were a little envious of the team above us as we could hear the glass whizzing about on the divination table and then after about 20 minutes we could hear the table rocking and banging on the floor as all commented how they had obviously moved on to table tipping and the table must have been going mad! It was not until the team came down and we excitedly asked them about it that we found out that the glass had moved but only a couple of cm’s (was definitely not whizzing back and forth) and they certainly did not try table tipping, in fact they stayed very still, 4 at the table and 1 taking notes! We can not explain this but if there is ever a lesson to be learnt it is never presume noises you hear on an investigation are what you think they are, always investigate them. We have been caught out like this before (Pengersick Castle).

We then moved in the attic to try some divination with David and Paula. 4 of us sat at the table and Wayne filmed. We all felt what we thought was the glass move but it did not budge. We put this down to tiredness and the fact that we were resting our fingers so lightly on the glass. David called out for Harriet, a name he had picked up on earlier and we did capture some good moving light anomalies on camcorder. We also heard a few taps from the corner of the room but this was about it. We did try table tipping but with no results.

I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this investigation, it was a real treat. Ok, so there were no full apparitions or levitating chairs but the information that was picked up on was really good. As I said before, Alison picked up on many relevant things and David also sensed a lot that made sense to Pauline and her team, who kept the history of the building very close to their chests.

Thank you to Pauline, Liz, Michelle & Paula for inviting us into their workplace and providing us with as much food and drink as we liked. Generous hosts are always such a treat. Thank you.

Steve Gilbert

There are two schools of thought with regards to possible paranormal activity regardless of its location.

One is that a building under certain circumstances is simply replaying a picture (or ghostly image) of its past events and residents.

The other theory is that it is spiritual and somehow able to interact with the present day people and objects.

The fascination about the happenings as reported occurring at the Daily Echo offices by Pauline and her staffs in Blandford were that they appear to fall into the later category.

The movement of objects including coins which were strategically placed on paper and circled and then placed in various parts of the offices would give the group some of its best evidence if we could capture it on film.

The evening started on a promising note, as we were all able to see some movement of both coins and the wooden blocks, which were earlier placed by the staff. Unfortunately this was prior to our cameras rolling and we must now await the review of the tapes to see if there were any other occurrences although i must say I didn’t witness any movement during periodic checks.

The offices themselves were in a central hub of human activity frequently due to their location adjacent to the taxi rank taking people home from the towns pubs. So it was a little difficult to distinguish any possible un- natural noises to ones from outside. However all of this did not detract from the overall feel of the investigation and for me personally although it was probably the smallest overall investigation area we have done as a group it benefited from having a more controlled experiment environment within the building because of it.

I had earlier set up a locked off video camera in the very small cellar room which no one but myself entered during the night and i will be looking at the contents of those tapes during next few days.

I myself took part in vigils on every floor. Starting at the ground floor the first vigil saw some strange readings on the E.M.F meter which I was holding absolutely still in a area behind the rest of the group. The noise from the meter was the first indicator as it went from nothing to a gradually increasing level and then decreased again and so on for several minutes during a seance.

During the second vigil the groups were separated into two teams and kept apart by one un-manned middle floor so as to help with our experiments. But we had the bizarre sense afterwards to report that each of the groups had thought the other had entered the un -manned middle floor during the vigils due to the noise and loudness of the footsteps heard. Neither had reported doing so and this determined where we positioned ourselves on the next vigil - mainly in the middle (first floor).

Following this we moved on to the attic room which i can understand looking at it is not a favourite place for the staff to be in although fortunately nobody works up there.

Overall i enjoyed doing this investigation simply because it was different, there was a smaller group of us, it was a little more controlled and it offered a new set of paranormal angles. I would like to with the help of Pauline be able to conduct further video/web cam experiments on the coin movements, which are so frequently reported.

Many thanks to Pauline, Liz Paula and Michelle for allowing us to do this and they I look forward to seeing them on future investigations with us.

Ed Ashton

Of all the places we have so far investigated, this probably has to be the smallest!

Even though the building had 3 floors, the whole place appeared very 'compact' and at times even with only 10 of us in there it seemed to get a little cramped! Deciding to have a limited number of people attending this investigation was certainly a good idea! Throughout the evening, I found it difficult to get an overall sense of the building's atmosphere. I knew it was around 300 years old, but it just didn't feel the later category.

Following this we moved on to the attic room which i can understand looking at it is not a favourite place for the staff to be in although fortunately nobody works up there.

Many thanks to Pauline, Liz Paula and Michelle for allowing us to do this and they I look forward to seeing them on future investigations with us.

David Ireland

Well we have just finished our investigation at The Echo newspaper offices in Blandford, Dorset and it was very interesting to say the least. We all arrived at around 9:45 and were greeted by Pauline (one of the ladies who was a guest at the Grosvenor Halloween event and also an employee at the Echo). We took our equipment inside and met three other ladies Michelle, Paula and Liz who were also joining us for the investigation. We set up base camp with our equipment on the second floor and had a quick talk with the ladies before we set up. As soon as I walked into the building I picked up on an Asian man in his late 20’s – early 30’s who I thought worked in the building quite recently. I decided not to mention anything until later on in the night to see if I could pick up anything else. Alison and I completed the baseline tests while the others set up the cameras. The only place we picked up EMF fluctuations, which seemed very strange to me, was in the alley just outside of the building. At some points the EMF was spiking really high and neither Alison nor me had any rational explanation for this.

Vigil 1

For the first vigil Julie decided to hold a group séance in the main office of the building which was on the ground floor. Alison led the séance and began by protecting it. She began to call out but we didn’t get very many responses. Unfortunately for this séance I wouldn’t say that we picked up on anything that was definitely paranormal activity. We experienced a lot of clicks and bangs but being an office there was a lot of computers, printers ETC that could be the reason for the noises that we heard. The only thing I found strange was after Alison called out we both felt a slight pressure in the small of our backs like someone was poking us but very gently. Alison also told me that she was experiencing a pain in her back as well.

Vigil 2

For our second vigil we split into smaller groups. I was in a group with Paula, Michelle, Ed and Wayne and we were in the attic. There had been reported movement in this room by the people that work there which is why they always kept three coins on a chair in the middle of the room as trigger objects. I began calling out but got no response at all. I said to the group that I was still experiencing an Asian man but he wasn’t telling me his name or any dates ETC. Wayne said that he had felt sick every time he was in this particular room but he didn’t feel it anywhere else. We decided that, as we weren’t getting anything to finish early and wait for the other groups.

Vigil 3

Our third vigil was another team séance this time in the office on the second floor where the girls told me that on a number of occasions they had seen a dark shadow either stood or going across the door to the ladies toilets. Julie decided that for this vigil some of the group would sit on the stairs going down and some would sit on the stairs going up. This was because some of the other groups had heard noises on different floors when they had been calling out. The noises that were heard were not made by any other group member. In this vigil toward the end I was very impressed with the information that Alison picked up on. As I can’t fully remember everything she picked up on you can read it in her personal report. I was impressed because neither me or Alison, as sensitive people, do any research on a location and the information that she was given was extremely relevant to the history of the building.

Vigil 4

For our fourth vigil I joined Paula down in the main office were we had held our first team vigil. Almost instantly in my minds eye I saw a lady in a stunning white gown just holding the front and spinning round. Psychically I asked her why she was wearing the gown and she told me it was her wedding dress. I asked her if she could tell her name and she said “Harriet”. I then asked her who she was marrying and she said “Philip 1874”. Paula had been writing down this information while I was saying it and it was also extremely relevant to the building. I was also given “factories” and “coal mines”. Later in the night Pauline told me that Harriet used to make gloves which could be the connection to the factories. Pauline also told me that when I had picked up on Harriet downstairs she had been calling out for her upstairs!!.

Vigil 5

Our final vigil was in the attic for a glass divination. Members were: Julie Wayne Liz Paula and Me. I protected the séance and began to call out. Julie suggested that because Harriet had come through to me that I try calling out for her. We got absolutely no movement from the glass but a lot of clicks, bangs and orbs were also captured so Thank you to Harriet!

Conclusion

In my personal opinion the Echo newspaper offices are definitely haunted but they are haunted by very happy and very settled “spirits”. I would like to say a massive Thank you to our guests for joining us and for providing us with all the refreshments.

Wayne Blyth

I must admit, on first impressions, the building that houses the Echo offices, looked as though they held something quite spooky. It wasn’t too long before we found out.

On setting up our equipment, I noticed that some trigger object coins that been set up prior to our arrival, were sitting way outside of the circles that were drawn around them, as well as a “Jenga” block being out of position. It was decided to set up a locked off camera observing these items.

Our first vigil involved a group seance downstairs in the main office. During this seance, several knocking and tapping sounds were observed. Also the EMF meter seemed to peak in odd places. Steve held the meter in the middle of the room and it gave off very high readings when it was nowhere near any electrical items.

Cold spots were also observed and both Pauline and Michelle seemed to be swaying whilst the vigil was taking place.

Vigil 2 was, for myself, David, Ed, Pauline and Liz, upstairs in the attic room. One thing that struck me as odd was that I suddenly began to feel extremely sick, which carried on right until we left the room later.

What has still to be explained though, is the fact that, we all as a group, heard someone downstairs on the floor below us. They seemed to be making such a noise that I was almost ready to go down and ask them to be quiet. On completion of our vigil we talked to the other team who had been situated on the lower floor. They had heard much the same noise and assumed it was one of our group who had come downstairs for something. I know for a fact that no-one in our group had made any such noise. And I would wholeheartedly believe the same of the other team.

Our next vigil was again as a group with us all positioned either sitting on the stairs or in the office in the middle floor. I cannot say that anything untoward happened during this time except a few taps I heard coming from the corner of the attic room. However, our next one was to prove strange too. Whilst a team were upstairs in the attic room, myself, Julie and Liz were downstairs on the middle floor. We were just having a general chat when we heard what at first sounded like a jet engine, however it was very early in the morning and no jet would be flying at that time. I then recognized it as a glass moving on a table as in glass divination, which was being attempted upstairs. We thought no more of it, other than it was good for the other team to have activity like that. When the vigil was over I went to speak to the other team about it only for them to tell me that the glass had barely moved at all. It had moved but only about 6 inches in about ten minutes and certainly not to the extent that it would cause the noise we heard. When it was our turn to try the glass divination, unfortunately nothing happened, although, through the view finder on the camera I was using, there are a couple of orbs to be found

Conclusion.

I would say that there is definitely more to this old building than meets the eye. Strange noises in uninhabited rooms, names being given to Alison and David, (later corroborated by Pauline and Liz) and moving coins, all add up to something strange.

Paranormal? Too many plausible explanations could be found if looked for hard enough. But we shall keep on trying.

Thank you to Michelle, Liz, Paula and Pauline for their wonderful hospitality and patience in our continuing saga.

Alison Blyth

This was a strange one for me I must admit, as I felt so comfortable here. It may have been that the people in our company were friendly, warm and welcoming I’m not quite sure. But nothing struck me as unusual or strange about the building.

We were introduced to the gang and guided around the building. The ground floor seemed happy and quiet, but as soon as I entered the attic I could sense something else. A name was given to me straight away from a man of about 32 years old. Well I assumed the number referred to his age, but I cannot be sure. His name was Paul Stevens and he seemed to stand by the window and watch the world go by. I felt quite sick and had a headache here. We moved on to the first floor, which again gave me a different feeling. This one was of someone who was curious of us being there, almost as if we were disturbing their flow of work.

We set off to commence our vigils. My first vigil was in the main office. I felt fine here and unfortunately nothing out of the ordinary happened here. There were a few abnormal readings from the EMF meter, which I cannot explain.

Steve and I decided to wander out into the alley to see if anything could be felt here. On our baseline tests, for some reason the EMF meter seemed to peak around a bin, which I still, cannot explain why. We tried the meter again and no readings were recorded so whatever was there earlier had disappeared. I did sense a woman here, a prostitute who had been doing business here. It gave me the feel of London, with the only places to conduct this line of work being the alleys between the buildings. She gave me a sharp pain underneath my chest, which felt to me as if someone had plunged a knife between my ribs. I also felt hands around my neck as I felt like I was choking. I was given the impression of a disgruntled punter not wanting to pay, so he took her life to avoid putting his hand in his pocket for services rendered. She didn’t give me a name , but seemed to stay in this area replaying the events of this night.

My second vigil was in the attic. The area gave me a bad headache, but despite attempting the Ouija board, no names or movement was felt. The team who were on the first floor knocked on the door half way through as they could hear what sounded like the glass moving from our vigil area. I confirmed that this wasn’t the case, but I cannot explain what they heard. My final vigil was on the first floor. I was given two names, the first being Bertie and the other being Ernest Matthews. Ernest was showing me a silver flask with the initials EM engraved on it used for dark rum. I know this, as I could smell the distinct smell of rum. He cheekily showed me how he hid it in his drawers in a box with papers on the top, and would have a sneaky swig from time to time. His desk was facing the window not to the side as it is now. Better for inspiration he said. I also sensed a young boy coming down from the attic. He was quite scruffy, but not unclean. He came from a poor background and gave the name Davidge from around 1872. He seemed quite happy in himself and advised that he was an errand boy getting work where he can to support his family. He seemed to have come from a large family and had younger siblings and reminded very much of the story Angela’s ashes, living in poverty but trying to make ends meet by doing whatever he could for money. I cannot explain this or why he gave me the impression of being about 17 years old.

No further information was gained by myself, but all in all a enjoyable evening. Thank you for making us feel so welcome.