Southern Paranormal - Investigations
Fairkytes Arts Centre Investigation
31st March 2007, 8pm-4am
Attending Investigators :Kerry Price, Mandy Bradley, Julie Harwood (D&H), Steve Crouch, Leeanne Westwood, Maureen Westwood, Selina Dean, Alan Hall, Matt Hasler, Di Moore (D&H), Maria Street (D&H), Lee Barrows, Dan White (D&H)
Introduction
Southern Paranormal conducted an investigation at Fairkytes Arts Centre on 31 March 2007. Permission to investigate these premises was kindly given by Havering Council via the centre's manager. Our investigation was of the main house and grounds.
Fairkytes Arts Centre is venue that is well known to Steven Crouch, event organiser who, being involved in performing arts has rehearsed at this venue on and off for 20 years! It is for this reason that Steven having experienced unexplainable goings on thought that the site was well worth investigating.
There are many local stories and rumours about the house including suicides and other paranormal goings on. When Steven first contacted John Shadwell (Fairkytes Manager) John said that there has not been that much activity in the house except in one specific space. I said that I am sure that we would investigate the house and try to unlock as many secrets as possible.
Teams
Team 1:
Steve Crouch (team leader)
Leeanne Westwood
Maureen Westwood
Matt Hasler
Gary Catlin
Team 2:
Kerry Price (team leader)
Julie Harwood
Di Moore
Lee Barrows
Team 3:
Mandy Bradley (team leader)
Alan Hall
Maria Street
Selina Dean
Dan White
Vigil Areas
Ground A: Main Room and Gallery
Ground B: Art Room and Garden
Ground C: Sculpture Room, Store Room and Pottery Room
First A: Galley, Toilets, Room 13, Dark Room
First B: Room 8, Room 12 and Photo Gallery
Rota
8:00pm- Baseline tests and tour
8:30pm- Distribution and set up
9:00pm- Vigil 1
10:00pm- Vigil 2
11:00pm- Break
11:30pm- Vigil 3
12:30am- Vigil 4
01:30am- Vigil 5
02:30am- Break
03:00am- Group séance
04:00am- Pack up and leave
Vigil Plan
Team 1
Vigil 1: First A
Vigil 2: Ground C
Vigil 3: Ground A
Vigil 4: First B
Vigil 5: Ground B
Team 2
Vigil 1: Ground A
Vigil 2: First B
Vigil 3: Ground C
Vigil 4: Ground B
Vigil 5: First A
Team 3
Vigil 1: First B
Vigil 2: Ground A
Vigil 3: Ground B
Vigil 4: Ground C
Vigil 5: First A
Experiments
Ouija
Table tipping
Glass divination
Baseline Tests
Garden
Uneven ground and constant traffic noise
The Gallery
Small EMF spike in centre of room, Temp 15.3c.
Main Reception Room
Creaky Floor, Temp 13.8c.
Sculpture Rooms
Temp variations, 9.3c>8.8c
Pottery Room
Small EMF spike by sink(possibly cable or earth wire), uneven floor.
Temp 3.3c<5.5c
Servants Quarters
Temp 3.3c
Room 13
Sloping floor, Temp 7c<8c
The Galley
Smell of cats by stairway, Cold spot by microwave.
Temp 5.8c<6c
Room 8
Uneven floor
Temp 5.3c<9.5c
Storeroom
Small EMF spike in front of wardrobe
Temp 7.5c>6.5c
Room 12
Small EMF behind stack of chairs in corner
Temp 7.3c<7.5c
Vigil Notes
Team 1
Vigil 1: Servants Quarters - Dark Room
21:10 -
Steve felt claustrophobic and sensed a lot of people in the space
Andy felt cold - around the top section
Steve sensed a dog, Andy and Mo sensed movement around their feet
There was response to questions and faint knocking
Steve had his hair stroked
The group heard the door to room 13 banged
Matt sensed an energy on the stairs, was not sure of sex at first but became convinced that the energy was male. Matt felt that the energy would storm in to the space and storm out again and he felt that he was being stared from the space by the stairs.
Steve experienced a sharp pain in his ribs on the right hand side.
Matt got an achy jaw sensation as if he had been punched.
Andy and Steve heard a whistle form the stairs.
Room 13
21:30 -
When we entered the room and closed the door to the servants quarters Matt sensed that there was a lot of activity in the servant's quarters, people rushing in and out.
Leanne heard a clang down the corridor
Matt's head hurt on the left hand side and he sensed that there had been a fight in this room. He felt that the fight continued in to the servant's quarters and the rushing he could feel from that space was people rushing away from the fighting. He felt that the fight was between a servant and his master, and that the servant had been disobedient.
3 knocks were heard by everyone.
Steve sensed that the family had a shield and the shield had 3 something on it, and was topped with a bird - maybe an eagle.
Steve sensed that the Lord of the manor was very sad. Andy went cold and there was a drop in temperature to 16ºC.
Steve and Gary heard a sigh and a dragging noise.
Leanne sensed pressure in her nostrils going to her eyebrows
There was a knock by the fireplace and Matt heard some dripping sounds.
Two slow bangs were heard but not in the room.
Matt sensed an energy behind the door to the servant's quarters.
Steve senses hands on throat. Steve then feels a beard on his face and threatened by the energy in the servants quarters.
Andy sensed a weight on both hands as if being pushed down lightly.
Matt sensed a little boy and somebody kicked Maureen in the leg.
Matt sensed that the boy was 6-7 years old and was a prankster, opening and shutting doors and flushing the toilets. He would flush the toilet and then watch the water run away to see which direction it went.
Toilets
2150 -
When we went in to the toilet space we all heard a small wheeze. The ladies toilet is the space where Matt felt the boy would play.
Steve felt that he wanted to go out the window by the toilets. There was female energy but he did not feel threatened by it. There was a small tap.
Steve and Andy went to the top of the stair cases and Steve smelt sour milk or baby sick. The space felt very soothing. Matt wanted to take the table away and he got the image of a woman looking out of the window longing for someone.
There was vibrations felt on through the banister.
Sculpture Room
2215 -
Matt and Steve saw something at the window outside.
Andy sensed an energy by the fire exit door.
2220 - Steve sensed the name 'Peter' with the space and was someone that used that was associated with the arts and crafts side of the house. There was a knock and this was followed by two knocks after calling out.
1 thud heard in response to is your name Peter (No)
2222 - A squeak was heard by Gary and Steve
Steve felt disorientated
Andy feels something behind him at the window
2225 - Maureen calls out
Matt gets the name Phillip, and grand bookshelves, a Gentleman's library, thick books, all red and green.
Andy felt a presence in the bathroom area.
Steve feels someone stand next to him
2228 - Matt gets the name Lang and Heart, Heart belongs upstairs.
Steve is pushed
The trigger object has moved. The trigger object moved all night and was put back in place by other groups as they went around the house.
Pottery Room
2232 -
Steve felt that this was a scullery to the kitchen (the sculpture room).
All heard a bang noise
2234 - Steve hears a female moan
2235 - Matt senses that there was once a door where the kiln is that lead to a cellar but the door was blocked up after an accident. Steve said that the house has never had a cellar. Matt felt that the accident occurred when barrels fell on a man. Steve suggested that the man could have been bought in to this space after the accident.
2240 - Matt and Steve smell a sweet caramel smell
Steve then gets the smell of violets - strong and sweet.
Steve can hear people singing whilst washing and working and gets the name Mary. Steve gets the surname DeVere but does not think this is associated with Mary.
2243 - There are two faint taps after Steve calls out.
Matt and Andy feel that the space was divided in to two rooms before.
2244 - There was a metallic sounding tap next to Leanne which Gary and Andy heard.
Maureen gets the name Sally
Steve gets an image of what the lady he thinks is called Mary looked like. He described her as having curly, dark hair. He got a pain in his heel as if he had stepped on something like a knife or sharp stone. Steve said that Mary was accident prone.
2245 - Matt feels another presence saying to the one that Steve senses saying, "You useless girl", and "eventually she'll leave."
Steve has his hair touched.
Steve feels that there is someone at the far end of the space behind where Andy was standing. Matt agrees with this and feels that the spirits are hiding.
2246 - Matt feels that the door in to the pottery room would have been propped opened and very rarely shut. At this point a small light anomaly went past Matt's collar - but this could have been an insect or dust particle.
Sculpture Room again
2246 -Steve suggests that they conduct a séance around the table in the room.
All sit around the table touching fingers.
Steve calls out - no response
The table started to lightly move/ vibrate but not enough to be caught by the camera placed on it.
Andy started to feel as if he had a heavy head.
Matt felt that the room/ table was undulating in a wave effect - speeding up and then stopping.
Andy's head continued to feel heavier and heavier
There was light tapping heard by all but this did not get louder even though it was asked to.
Steve felt that there was an energy that did not want us to be here.
Gary and Andy felt that sensations on their body - but found it hard to place.
A vibration was passed around the séance.
Matt heard footsteps.
Steve and Matt heard a whispering voice behind Steve.
Andy feels a cold breeze around ankles/ like an animal at his feet.
Matt felt that his left hand was being pinched
Steve said that he got the feeling that the energy in the room felt that he did not see why he had to communicate with us.
Andy felt his throat was being poked. This got worse and Andy asked it back off. This got worse up to the point where Andy had to come out of the circle.
Leanne smelt a smoky smell, as did Maureen and Steve.
Everyone's hands were really cold after the séance.
Gallery
2345 -
2345 - Steve calls out but gets no response
2347 - Steve smells chives and fresh lawn grass
2348 - Steve feels that there are people in the main room that are waiting for us to go in there and that the gallery holds no energies
2350 - Steve feels that his camera case is being tugged and that he has to secure further.
Nothing captured on video
The Main Room
2352 -
Steve states that it feels colder than when they came around earlier.
Steve comments that the energy in the space is enjoying the laughter.
Steve sees an elaborate table in the window laden with food - not a banquet but al lot of food
2355 - All hear an elaborate whistle
2358 - Steve gets the image of a young lady sitting on the floor to the right of the main bay window rocking. Steve is overcome with sadness. Leanne hears a tap to the right of the window where Steve pictures the young lady
0000 - Steve asks for the clock to stop after a count of 5. At 5 his phone vibrates and the clock stops briefly. - Not picked up on video camera.
Andy moves from the back of the room to front as he feels uncomfortable - Steve replaces him at the back of the room and gets an odd smell. He picks up perfume in one place and semen in another.
0010 - Repeated taps and clicks are heard by the window.
0012 - Andy sees a light pass above the fire - but this could be car lights.
0012 - Steve says that he has to walk around the space and that his hands feel as if they have to busy. Gary and Matt feel very comfortable and relaxed
Steve says that the smell is not just semen but the smell of sex.
The following notes are taken from Steve's video footage
Steve suggests that they gather around a table and try a séance to improve the effect of a group energy.
Matt says that the Main Room is a very dominant male space and would be a space where the finest of the family's possessions were displayed to show off.
Steve says that he got the image of hands clasped in prayer symbolising a religious link to the property.
Matt chose to sit out of the séance.
As the séance started Steve picked up the smell of cigar smoke.
A few minutes in Steve picked up the image of a skull.
Andy started to feel very cold and Steve asked that the spirit should affect someone else in the round.
Steve said that the spirit that is strong in the room feels that Gary reminds her of someone and that she wants to be with him.
Steve said that he could hear someone singing.
Matt senses that he should sitting in one of two high chairs and a large fire where the gas fire is and that the grand chairs would have a foot stool. These chairs were the high command chairs one for a man that lived here and one for a close friend of the property, of this other man.
Matt felt that if people stepped out of line or sat on these chairs they would be locked in the space that is now the store room for the art room.
Steve sensed that the energy started to build and then the table started to shake - this was sensed by all who had their hands on the table.
Steve started to feel cold and asked that the table be moved.
Andy started to fell nervous and Leanne heard a series of taps by her which Andy and Steve also heard.
Maureen said that she could feel someone pulling at her finger. This is the finger that Maureen does not have. She sensed that it was being pulled and you could see the knuckle twitching. Steve said that this is because they are curious about the finger.
Steve said that he heard in his head "fucker" and Matt said that's really weird I had the same word in my head, but did not want to say it out loud.
Matt felt that he wanted to play cards.
[All laughed]
Again the energy built.
Steve said hat he feels that there is an energy below the activity. Matt smelt pipe tobacco and Gary felt that he had the urge to smoke a pipe.
Steve got the image of a wedding ring his head with a Latin inscription on it.
The inscription was like, "the love that can't be broken" or "let god has joined let no man put asunder" but that is not right either it is more that, "love is binding."
Andy felt heartbreak and Gary felt a lot of love. It seems as if both sides of the history are being picked up on.
Steve felt that the man had to leave the house. Matt pointed to where the woman was and his eyes started watering.
Matt felt that the main room was a Gentleman's room and that the women should not be in the space. Matt felt that the man that he is picking up on died of a heart attack caused by smoking related illness that died in the space as he sat on his grand chair, causing the pipe to fall on the floor. The woman discovered the man in his chair and grieved in the space where Steve and Matt felt the woman was.
Steve felt that the woman had felt happiness and was longing for it again and that the woman is sitting in here feeling lonely.
Steve saw a man at the glass window of the door going in to the gallery.
Photo Studio
0020-
Gary feels as if he wants to play the scales on a piano and sing them.
Steve feels as if he wants to chant - Am domini spiritus sanctus...
Andy felt really cold in the room.
1245 - Steve felt his left side of his face going very hot like a hand on the face and the it was 30ºC, 5 ºC hotter than the rest of his body.
Steve saw a light anomaly close to the floor and very fast moving - could be an animal or a child.
Steve and Gary heard a scratching sound.
Steve saw an energy go through the panel in the room where a mirror was.
1250 - Knock on window heard by all
Andy's bottom jaw was beginning to really hurt - a stabbing pain
Store Room
0052 - Nothing was detected in this space at all
Room 12
0055 - Light anomaly caught entering the room after the group have walked in, then go back across the door frame! - Amazing footage!
0100 - Steve gets the same image of the wedding ring that he had in the main room
Andy sensed the smells that he was getting downstairs
0101 - Andy gone completely cold.
0102 - Matt feels that there should be a chair in the window bay for the man of the house, so that he ca sit and look over the gardens.
Steve smells the ammonia of horse manure
The temperature starts to fall
0104 - Matt says that the man that sits in the chair is an agoraphobic which is why he likes to sit at the window.
Steve saw someone sitting next to Gary on the window bench.
Steve heard a bang outside the door and the saw the door move caused by the bang outside (not caught on camera)
0107 - Andy pictures a big four post bed in the room opposite the window
Various clicks and taps heard by all in group
0110 - Three big vibrations in the floor felt by all in the room - Steve then went cold
One big vibration then a pause then another one.
Steve asks them to tap - two faint taps
Steve asks if you caused the vibration could you tap - two taps were heard (not caught on camera)
0115 - Steve asks spirit to tap out number of spirit people in the house - Andy hears two faint taps.
Steve then says that if the tapping is too difficult could we go back to vibrating the floor again.
Matt senses a chest pain.
0120 - Gary asks for the floor to vibrate if the spirit doing this recognises him - the floor gently vibrates
Steve asks if the spirit recognises who Gary used to look like - floor vibrates
Steve asks if this makes the spirit happy - no response
Steve asks if it makes them sad - the floor vibrates
Steve asks if the spirit loved the person who looks like the person we know as Gary - there is a bang in the room next door and the floor vibrates.
2 bangs are then heard
Gary asks is your name Ann - the floor vibrates gently
Steve senses two presences and asks are you male? There are 2 knocks (yes) from opposite corners
Steve then asks if you lived in the house - 1 knock (no)
0125 - Did you work for the family that lived in this house - two knocks (yes)
Did we meet you in the servants quarters earlier - two knocks (yes)
Matt and Andy went home as Matt felt over tired, which he thought was very unusual.
Garden
0150 - Nothing felt in the garden - apart from cold!
Art Room
0157 -
Steve called out but nothing happened. He said that as the energy of everyone was low he suggested a séance.
Breathing was heard but the energies seemed very low so Steve suggested glass divination.
Steve asked if the spirit in the room wanted to talk to someone in the room to move the glass to the person. The glass moved to Gary. Steve again asked this question and the glass moved quicker to Gary. Steve explained that if the answer to a question was yes then the glass should be moved and if the answer was no that the glass should remain still.
Are you a man? - no
Are you female? - Yes
Are you a woman? - Little movement
Did you die in this house? - Yes
Does it matter if you died in this house? - No
Are there any spirits here in the space with us - yes
Steve suggests that everyone rub hands to build up energy.
Are there any spirits with us - yes (faster)
If you would like to communicate with someone at the table please move the glass to them - Gary (very quickly)
Are you sure? - Yes?
Is there anyone else in the house you would like to talk to - no
Do you know anyone on the table if so move the glass to them? - Glass moved to Gary
Do you know this person as Gary? - No
Does this person remind you of someone you used to love - yes
Please move the glass to the person who reminds you of someone you used to love - glass moved to Gary.
Leanne heard a scratching sound.
Did you die in this house? - Yes
Is your name Elisabeth? - No
Are you a woman? -No
Please tell us the year you were born...
1600 - no
1700 - yes
Did you die in 1700s - no
1800s - no
Did you die young - yes
Steve said that this is why she did not see herself as a woman earlier.
Are you a girl - yes
Are you happy that we are here - small movement
Are you happy a little bit - yes
Will you be happy when we go - a little bit
Will you be sad when we go - yes
Is it the person we know as Gary you will be sad to see leave? - Vigorous yes
Was you married to the person we know as Gary? - Yes
Did you have a child? - Yes
Did this child die very young? - Yes
Do you want to talk about that? - No
Steve said that we would not ask any more about this.
Did the person we know as Gary go away form you? - Yes
Were you divorced? - No
Separated? - No
Did he go away on business? - No
Did he go to fight in a war? - No
Was he forced to leave because of his faith? - No
Was this person move through choice? - No
Did this person not come back to you? - No
Did this person come back to you at this house? - Yes
Was there another person with him when he returned, another woman - no
Was this person your father? - No
Was this person that Gary looked like a relative of yours - no
Who on this table do you want to talk to - glass moved to Gary
Gary then asked the questions
Were you the lady of the house? No
Were you one of the maids? - Yes
Did I work here as well? - Yes
Steve then asked
Is your name Elisabeth - no
Gary then asked Ann? - No
Please move the glass on the initial of your name (went through alphabet) - stopped at M
Leanne remembered Mary from earlier
Gary asked is your name Mary? - Yes
Steve asked if it was her he picked up on in the scullery? - Yes
Did people used to blame you for things going wrong? - Yes
Gary then asked? Did I work in the grounds? - No
Was I stable boy? - No
Gamekeeper? - No
Odd job - no
Gardener? - No
Steve asked Smithy? - Yes
Did the person that looked like Gary used to repair gates and shoe horses? - Yes
Gary then asked. Did I leave you? - Yes
Was it through choice - no
Through death? - No
Was I forced to leave? - Yes
Was it because someone was jealous of our relationship? - Yes
Was it the master of the house? - No
Was it the head butler? - Yes
Did the butler dislike me? - Yes
Did the butler like you, but you did not like him? - Yes
Was my name Edward - no
Was his name Peter - no
Paul - no
Phillip - no
Again went through the alphabet. The glass moved at H
Harry - no
Howard - yes
Was his name Howard Long? - No
Howard Hart - no
Howard Longhart - yes
What was your surname Mary - do you know it - yes
Could you help us work out what your surname is - yes
Was it Longhart - yes
Steve explained wanted to check out that she was married to him
Gary asked, has she been following Gary since the Main Room? - Yes
Were you making the floor vibrate upstairs - no
Were you sitting next to Gary upstairs - yes
Steve asked if it was her he saw next to Gary - yes
Do you have long dark curly hair - yes
Did you have a daughter named - Ann? - Yes
Gary asked if that was the name of the daughter that died - the glass started to move
Steve said that we would not talk about this so stopped that line of questions.
End of divination as time ran out.
Team 2
Vigil 1
Main Reception Room(ground floor)
9.00pm - Smell of spices noted on entering room
- EMF 1mg in centre of room, Temp 18.5c
- Lee has a headache
- Kerry’s right index finger touched
- Lee sees something in far left hand corner of room
- Kerry, Lee and Julie have Goosebumps
- Kerry and Lee have a headache
9.28pm - Temp 13c by stacked chairs on right hand side, 16c rest of room.
- Kerry and Lee have a headache
9.31pm - Lee’s camcorder loses half of its charge
- Temp 16.5c back of room, 13c by Di, 13c by Lee.
- Motion sensors will not set
- Lee feels hot by the windows
- Kerry cold down right hand side, Julie has goose bumps.
- Lee and Di both feel a cold breeze go past them and makes them jump as it was so sudden.
- Kerry can smell opium.
- Kerry asks out if there isan opium smoker present and 2 taps are heard, one to the left of the room and one to the right of the room near windows.
9.35pm - Draft by Lee, Temp 14c by Lee and 16c rest of room.
- Kerry can see 2 maybe 3 figures by the curtains.
- Julie has an image of a man in a striped waistcoat.
9.44am - Light seen by Di on ceiling.
- Di calls out for window blinds to move, blinds move.
- Di sees a mist outside to the left of the window, Temp 14.5c windows, 13.5c in front of windows.
- Kerry once again can smell opium.
- Julie sees a light on the chair in front of Kerry
- Lee feels cold.
- Julie sits in the chair in front of Kerry and feels cold.
- Di calls out
- Julie feels something touch her hair, Di calls out again.
- Julie feels someone playing with her hair.
- Loud bang heard from upstairs as though someone had fallen out of bed.( no-one was in the room above this room).
- Julie moves out of chair opposite Kerry to be replaced with Lee.
- Lee feels hot, left hand side.
- Camcorder is ‘grabbed’ from Julies hand and almost falls to the floor.
- Chair to the left of Lee starts creaking ,Temp 13c under Kerry’s table 16c rest of room.
- Lee hears the chair next to him creak and Kerry hears a noise from the stacked chairs.
Vigil 2:
Room 12
10:15pm - Temp right side 9c, left side 7.5c
- All feel as though they are on a boat.
- Kerry and Di stand by door to the right.
- Julie sees a flash of light over Kerry's shoulder.
10:19pm - Lee and Kerry hear running coming from the corridor. Lee comments that it is the same noise he heard when coming upstairs to use the toilet in his break.
- Orb on camcorder
- Di is very cold, everyone else is fine.
- Kerry relays to the group how she had felt earlier in this room, room feels dimmer and Kerry gets a headache.
- Di calls out
- Infrared light on the room's motions sensor goes off and on even though no-one is moving.
- Kerry's torch fades as Di calls out.
- Lee's camcorder goes in and out of focus.
- Di continues to call out ' Did you die here? Thud heard in response. Is there a man here? Thump heard in response. Did you live here? Orbs on camcorder.
- Kerry and Lee hear crying coming from the corridor.
- Di calls out, Julie is standing where Kerry felt people have been pushed and is swaying.
- Lee feels tightness and pressure around his throat.
- 2 thuds heard and felt underfoot.
- Lee, Di and Kerry have goose bumps.
- Lee's legs are very cold.
- Julie senses someone crawling around on the floor.
- Lee temp right side 11c, left side 14.5c
- Di's camera goes off
- Julie says 'She's crawling around and the man is crawling around after her, imitating her pain'.
- Lee hears a noise coming from the door into the room, when checked the door is slightly open even though it was closed behind us.
10:44pm - Lee has pressure on right shoulder as though someone is using him to help themselves upright.
- Lee's right hand is freezing cold.
- Julie calls out
- Something touched Kerry's behind and now feels freezing.
- All hear a noise, Kerry has an image of a woman pointing towards the entrance to the room in her head. As this though comes to her, Julie says that the woman is being strangled and that most of the action takes part in the corridor.
- Kerry, Julie and Lee hear a noise 'whoop' or a whine.
- Di says that Julie is surrounded by a bright white light and is being protected.
10:52pm - Di comments that the light is getting brighter around Julie.
- Julie asks if she has got this right and a bang is heard.
10:53pm - Light that Di can see starts to fade.
- Kerry can see a disembodied hand beckoning to Julie to go out into the corridor.
10:54pm - All move to corridor, all feel cold.
10:56pm - Kerry and Julie feel sick and all feel like the cold is in front of them leading the way.
- Extremely cold in toilet cubicle, the cold is low down around the knees.
10:57pm - Lee sees movement on the turn of the stairs from where we have just come and starts to shake.
- Di, Kerry and Julie feel sick.
10:58pm - Kerry and Di start scrying while Julie and Lee film
10:59pm - Kerry can't stare into the mirror, is making her eyes water.
- Di can see someone else instead of herself when she stares into the mirror.
- Lee is given image but does not recount at this point.
- Kerry has an image of a naval gentleman standing in the same space near the door that Lee and Julie are standing in. He is bearded with big side-burns.
- Lee confirms that is the image that he had seen.
- Lee and Julie scry while Di and Kerry film.
- Lee looks as though his face is changing into the man that we both saw. He looks quite mad! At this point we stop filming as the vigil time is up.
Vigil 3
Kitchen
11:41pm - Kerry calls out
- Orb across screen of Julie's camcorder
- Noise heard
- Orb on Julie's camcorder in same position as last.
- Kerry continues to call out.
- Julie does not like this room.
- Di feels something touch her bum.
11:42pm - All hear a 'whooo' noise
- All feel draft under table.
11:43pm - Kerry calls out for spirit to do it again.
- Large orb on camcorder in same position on camcorder but slower.
- Lee sees a mist in far right corner
- Kerry calls out again
- Orb on Lee's camcorder
11:44pm - Kerry sees movement in area of door to Lee's left & Lee says that he saw something move across the door when we first entered the room. Thought it was a window.
- Lee, Kerry and Julie say that the room feels sad
- Di feels the room to be very busy with work going on.
11:45pm - Kerry feels that the spirit is female and is comes from the room where the toilet is. She also feels that the woman is on her knees & then gets up. She has on a long white apron (Tapping heard) She has long dark hair and is very upset.
11:46pm - Kerry calls outs for the spirit to come forward and all hear a whine.
- Kerry comments on how 'expectant' the room feels, Julie agrees and her heart is racing.
11:47pm - Julie comments on how tense the atmosphere is.
11:48pm - Lee says that there is something in this room that the spirit does not like. Maybe it is the plague cross that is being used as trigger object?
11:49pm - Kerry calls out.
- Julie says that she has the words 'the baby is wrong' going through her head.
11:50pm - Di asks why the kitchen is called a galley? Was the master here the Naval gentleman we had encountered upstairs?
11:51pm - Lee hears a sigh
- All are cold.
- Di feels something touch her bum.
- Di calls out.
- Lee takes a photo and Kerry can see someone standing in front of the group.
11:52pm - Lee sees a shadow across the entrance way to the toilet.
- Lee is freezing.
- All hear a distant 'whooo'.
- Julie's legs are freezing.
11:53pm - All hear a faint tap.
- Lee & Kerry see naked eye orb from coming from the doorway to the toilet.
11:54pm - Kerry calls out 'what is wrong with the baby? And all hear a rumbling noise.
- Di is freezing.
- Di thought that there was a range in the space where the chimney is.
11:55pm - Lee comments on the feeling of cold under the table
- Orb on camcorder.
11:56pm - Julie is given that the baby is was downs syndrome and that it would have been frowned upon in the time that it was born.
11:57pm - Kerry calls out
- Julie says that the female spirit comes to visit the child, the child is still here.
11:58pm - Julie calls out for confirmation for what she is saying is true.
- Lee has sharp stabbing pain under his ribcage.
- Di say's 'may be the baby was stabbed?'.
12:00am - Julie calls out ' why are you affecting the only man in the room?
- Lee and Di hear a noise 'hmpphh'.
- All hear a faint tapping.
- Julie comments that the tapping sounds like it is in the room even though it is faint.
- Lee calls out.
12:01am - Di has a splitting headache.
12:02am - Di comments on how depressing the room is.
12:03am - All hear a whoosh like a gust of wind.
12:04am - Lee sees someone lean over Julie.
- Orb on camcorder from Julie's right.
12:05am - Julie calls out.
- Kerry takes the temperature which is 7.5c under table and 8c all over.
- The temperature under that table feels a lot colder than the rest of room.
- Kerry calls out.
12:06am - Lee has a headache.
- Kerry feels a breeze coming from under the table.
- Julie feels that the spirit has stood back.
12:07am - Kerry has the phrase 'curiosity killed the cat' going through her head.
12:08am - Kerry calls out for something we can all experience.
- Loud whoosh noise heard by all.
- All agree that the noise should be the wind but the only times we have heard this noise has been in response to calling out.
12:09am - Di is given the name Ethel.
- Julie calls out.
- Julie has tickling sensation on the top of her head.
- Di calls out.
- All hear movement to Lee's left.
12:10am - Kerry leans back and feels that she has leaned back on someone's hands as though someone is standing with their hands on the back of her chair.
- Di calls out.
- Lee has unusual light effect on camcorder however when footage was viewed this appeared to have been through the movement of the other camcorder.
12:11am - Lee sees movement to his left by the door.
12:12am - Kerry calls out.
12:13am - Julie takes a photograph which looks like there is a finger in front of the screen which she tries to recreate but cannot.
12:15am - Julie feels tense.
12:16am - Kerry calls out.
- Lee and Kerry hear a shuffling noise.
12:17am - Di & Kerry hear a noise.
- Lee has a pain in his right eye.
- Di feels that someone may have had a brain tumour.
12:18am - Lee sees something come from the door with the aprons on. As Lee is explaining what he saw Julie's camcorder jumps continuously.
12:19am - Julie calls out.
- Kerry feels cold.
- Julie has the feeling of madness and calls out if there were any mental patients here.
12:20am - Di comments that if the breezes we felt had been coming from the toilet are then why hadn't the apron strings moved that was in the breezes path?
12:21am - Julie calls out and a tap on the window behind is heard.
- Camcorder flicks in and out of vision before switching off.
Notes end
Vigil 4
Garden
All take a walk around the garden. Julie & Kerry think that the house came out further back than it does now, parallel with the mound. Kerry believes there may have been burials on the line of the road running to the side of the property. Kerry can see a man leaning against the mound facing the house. He is slumped against the wall. He is wearing a tan leather tunic type waistcoat, breeches made of the same material and a floppy tri-corn type hat and a faded red collarless shirt. He is drinking and is very drunk. Kerry believes that the man raped someone in the garden.
Hub
00:54am- Large orb in front of Lee's face moving to his left. 00:55am- Kerry feels this room was a bedroom or convalescence room. 00:58am- All are really tired. Julie and Kerry want to lay on the floor. 01:00am- Lee sees orb on his camcorder. 01:01am- The question 'I wonder what's happened to Alan?' keeps going through Kerry's head. 01:05am- Both Julie and Kerry lay on the floor and have to have a rest. They are both overcome with tiredness and have to have a rest. No more notes for this vigil.
Vigil 5
Room 12
01:54am - Ouija starts
- All are shivering.
- Kerry says that the woman is here and Julie and Lee hear a noise which is either the door or something outside in the corridor.
01:55am - Julie and Lee can hear tapping noises as Julie is saying protection.
- Tapping continues (it could be the strip lighting as it has just been switched off?).
- Julie calls out.
01:56am - Kerry calls out.
01:57am - Lee feels something touch his hand, the finger of which is on the planchette.
01:58am - Kerry comments that it is very quiet which seems purposeful as though spirit is just watching us.
- Kerry calls out.
01:59am - Julie feels as though everything is swaying in the room and Lee can feel the ouija board swaying.
02:00am - Kerry calls out
- Q: Are you here?
- A: Small movement to left.
- Q: Where are you?
- A: Planchette moves to right between Julie and Lee.
02:01am - Q: Is there a man in this room?
- A: No movement
- Julie feels that the man is present and is stood between her and Di
- Julie hears 2 faint knocks on the door, Lee also heard them but thought the noise came from the corridor outside.
02:02am - Kerry continues to call out and says that we will only communicate with the spirit through this board and to stop making noises.
- Planchette moves to left.
- Q: Will you communicate with us?
- A: Planchette moves further to the left.
02:03am - Q: Is there a man here?
- A: Yes
- Q: Did you hurt a woman here?
- Lee's camcorder clicks and then switches itself off.
02:04am - Q: Are you still here?
- A: Yes
- Q: Can you spell out your name?
- A: T/U
- Q: Please try again
- A: F
- Di says Frederick.
- Q: Can you give us the second letter of your name?
- A: G
02:07am - Q: Are those your initials?
- A: Yes
- Q: Is your name Frank/Francis?
- A: No movement
- Q: Are you still here?
- All hear a noise like a footstep which sounds as though it came from the locked door.
- Kerry continues to call out
02:08am - Q: Can you point to where you are in the room?
A: No response.
Q: Is there a woman here with you?
A: Planchette moves to right.
02:09am - Noises are heard in this room and Kerry tells spirit that we will only ommunicate through the board and not to make noises.
- Q: Are your initials FG?
- A: No movement.
- Q: You're not playing, are you?
- A: Yes
- Q: Did I see you in the garden?
- A: Yes
- Creaking heard by all as though someone has sat in a chair.
- Q: Were you a drinker?
- A: No response.
- Di calls out.
- Q: Did you smoke a pipe?
- A: No response.
- Q: Did you father 2 children?
- A: No response.
02:12am - Di has a cool breeze go across her face from the right hand side.
02:13am - Kerry asks someone else to call out as she feels angry and does not want antagonise the spirit.
- Creaking heard behind Kerry, she believes that the spirit is standing behind her and is angry.
- Julie asks for the male spirit to step back and let the female spirit come through.
02:14am - Di feels blowing on her face.
02:15am - Julie attempts to provoke spirit.
- No response.
- Julie calls out for female spirit to come forward.
02:16am - Kerry feels that the spirits face is close to hers and is staring angrily at her.
- Kerry says ' get your stinking breath out of my face'. Kerry, Di and Julie can smell something foul.
- Julie once again calls for the female spirit to come forward.
- No response.
02:17am - Julie attempts to provoke male spirit.
02:18am - Julie's left leg is numb and freezing cold.
- Rhythmic creaking heard behind Kerry
- Kerry feels that the spirit is trying to impress the feelings of anal rape onto her.
02:19am - Left hand side of Di's chair moves.
- Kerry is very angry.
- Kerry say's ' come on arse hole, planchette moves slightly.
- Q: Di says 'does that mean you're an arse hole?
- A: Yes and then starts to sway from side to side.
02:20am - Di's chair moves again as though someone is trying to lift it.
- Di calls out.
- Q: Did you go to prison?
- A: Planchette continues to sway.
- Julie's leg feels completely numb.
- Di feels that her chair is trying to come off the floor.
02:22am - All take fingers off planchette
- Kerry is very angry.
- Julie feels the room has got lighter.
02:24am - Julie can see a cat under the chair by the fire place.
- Lee sees something in the corner to right.
Team 3
Vigil Notes
Photo Studio
2123 - Baseline Temp: 18ºC - 18.5ºC 2126 - Flashes of light were seen at the end of the room 2127 - Alan feels chill on back of neck 2130 - Tap by window behind Mandy followed by a thud 2132 - Thud by door and temperature dropped by Mandy then rose to 20ºC 2136 - Alan feels a cold spot on elbow
Room 12
2138 - Baseline Temp: 15ºC 2140 - Cold spot and orb by Alan 2145 - Selina gets the name Amy 2150 - Maria gets the name Isobel 2150 - Mandy feels the place could have been an orphanage and home for young mothers 2151 - Planchette moves by itself after Selina calls out 2152 - Temperature in room is 23ºC at ouija board temperature is 10.1ºC
Main Room
2220 - On entering the gallery, Mandy saw a figure looking down the stairs at us. 2223 - Alan uses divining rods (rods move in a positive response to questions) Is anyone here? - rods move Are you male? - no movement Are you female - rods move Is your name Bernadette - rods move Are you religious - rods move Were you a sister here? - rods move Did you used to look after children? - rods move Did you used to look after orphans? - no movement Was this a school - rods move 2231 - Alan sees a ball of light 2233 - Alan & Mandy see movement by the piano 2234 - Mandy feels a woman standing over her 2235 - Camcorder switches itself off 2236 - Mandy, Selina & Alan feel cold 2240 - Mandy & Selina see big moving light 2246 - We all hear singing 2247 - Mandy's temperature is 25ºC on the left and 24ºC on the right 2250 - Alan hears children laughing outside the window 2251 - Alan feels someone touch his leg, temperature around the piano drops 2252 - Maria sees two flashes 2255 - Alan hears someone say no 2256 - Everyone hears a tap 2303 - Camcorder switches itself off Lots of bangs and thuds were heard in the room above (Room 12) through the vigil even thought the room above was empty.
Art Room
2345 - Baseline temperature 20ºC Selina sees flashing lights by the doorway, picked up on the camcorder Alan uses rods Rods point to Mandy when asked where the spirit is. Yes they know who's affecting Mandy The lady is in the room Yes she had a mental illness and a baby girl Baby was taken at birth The lady is Sister Bernadette She is from the 1700's She lived here and her family bought her here. She is stood next to Mandy She died here. She is happy She knows she is dead Mandy reminds her of how she was at 17 Mandy feels dizzy The group start a ouija Somebody walks past the door in the garden Mandy is still effected by the woman and steps away from the board 0009 - The board points to Dan, then to the letter T - everyone hears a tap Maria picks up on the name Theresa 0011 - All hear a tap 0020 - Lots of orbs caught on camera 0023 - Mandy picks up on the same lady Alan uses the rods and picks up on the same lady There are two females present The other lady is called Elisabeth 0029 - Selina picks up on the name Annabel The rods answer to Annabel She has had a child to and they both had their children taken away They were the same age and friends Their Children were adopted She wants us to carry on asking questions Taps are heard Yes she died here
Pottery Room
0045 - Selina thinks this room used to a be a morgue Alan calls out - no response Alan feels sick Maria wonders if any on died of diphtheria here Alan calls out - again no response Maria asks if anyone has committed suicide here Maria calls out - Mandy feels cold
Sculpture Room
Alan calls out - no response Alan calls out again - no response Alan feels sick again He feels a lump in his throat and feels he can't breathe properly Alan tries the rods again, asks if anybody here - no response Alan calls out again - no response to female names Yes to a male spirit Selina suggests David & Charles- No to both Used to work here Selina suggests Joseph, Maria suggests Tom - no response to either Spirit does not want us to know name - lived and worked here Alan tried to establish job: Doctor, mortician, porter - all no response Alan asks if spirit can hear his voice - yes Alan asks if he was a chef - no gardener - yes He worked outside a grounds man who died in the house. He hung himself and was affecting Alan's throat earlier. He was forced to commit suicide. He knew Annabel and Elisabeth and was father to both their children. He raped them both and other girls. Alan asks if he is telling the truth - yes. He asks if he is playing games with us - no. Alan asks if he was found out and if that is why he committed suicide - yes He died in the 18th Century. Mandy suggests John - no. Alan asks if he enjoyed what he did to the girls - yes If he had a chance he would do it again. Eh says that he would like to touch one of the girls and says he is playing a game with us. Man calls out. Mandy, Maria and Selina then did some table tipping. Selina felt a cold draft - more of a blast! Alan filming Maria calling out - no feeling Maria sensed that she could feel the energies shifting Selina & Maria feel a side to side movement. Dan thought he heard rods tap together, even thought they were on a chair and not in anyone's hands. Selina calls out Alan and Mandy no longer feel any energies in the room. Trigger object appears to have moved.
Dark Room
0150 - No activity
Room 13
0158 - Camcorder switched off 0200 - Camcorder switches off again after calling out Mandy feels sad 0202 - Selina and Maria hear a tap Alan uses rods Yes to female, yes to Abigail, asks to talk to Mandy. Mandy reminds her of Elisabeth Selina sees something in the middle of the room Abigail said it was her. Abigail lived in the house with Elizabeth in the 1700s. Elisabeth is with her and is standing by the door. Both rods point to Mandy when asked if they recognise anyone Abigail was raped in this room Elisabeth was raped in the garden They know who raped - possible name John Charles - the grounds man Abigail is in visitation and Elisabeth is grounded here Mandy looks like Elisabeth Elisabeth thinks Mandy is related to her Elisabeth wasn't sot talk to Mandy 0220 - Mandy calls out - nothing happens 0230 - Stairs 0230 - Camcorder switches off Switches off again when Alan asks. Alan repeated the calling out and asking for the camcorder to be switched off this happened four times consecutively.
Reports
Steve Crouch
Being the investigation organiser I was very happy with bringing the group to house that I have spent a lot of my youth rehearsing in for various projects over the years.
It is a place that I feel comfortable in and it was unusual to do an investigation in a house that I knew the layout of.
It is an interesting house with a lot of activity through out the house although not too much - an interesting amount of activity. I seemed to pick up a lot at the house.
For me the interesting rooms were the pottery and sculpture rooms and felt that I had to leave the groups trigger object here and was very happy that it moved through out the night. I felt that the servant's quarters was a very interesting space that felt intimidating on the walk round but less so when we got to do a vigil there.
By far the most interesting room for me was room 12. I have never experienced a floor vibrating like that and responding to questions. This really was an interesting space and one that gained in interest the longer we stayed there. I was very fortunate to catch some orb activity on the video camera upon entering this space which could not be down to insects or anything else.
The female entity that I picked up on in the scullery that recognised Gary was a very interesting energy and one that I will try and research to see if I can shed any light on the names or the place.
We did some glass divination in the art room and found out that Gary reminded Mary of her husband who was an iron monger. This is particularly interesting as there used to be a forge opposite the house that used to do metal work on the house as described in the vigil report.
It really is a very interesting house and I feel that even though we had a lot of time in investigating the house we have only touched the tip of the iceberg and would like to return to do the rest of the Fairkytes area and the Billet as it seems that the spaces are linked and it would be great if we could tie this in with vigils at surrounding locations.
I thought the physical attacks on Andy were very interesting and am always shocked when physical harm is inflicted on people, especially when it leaves a mark.
I am pleased that all attending enjoyed the house as it was the first event I had organised and pleased that it did not let me down.
I would like to thank John and Havering council for allowing us to conduct this investigation and look forward to hopefully doing other investigations with the Council and John.
Kerry Price
This was an unusual investigation for me as I had not arranged this one, nor did I know much about the site. The only info I knew for sure about this site was that it was once inhabited by the son of Elizabeth Fry and was one of the very few remaining buildings in Hornchurch of historic value.
On entering the building I was excited as it seemed active and so was looking forward to the investigation.
We started off with a tour of the building by Steve Crouch who had arranged this investigation for us. The things that struck me on the walk around were some areas which I thought were particularly active and luckily which turned out to be on our vigils. I pointed out the top of the staircase as being haunted by a woman. I also felt the presence of the same woman and 1 other in room 12. As I entered room 12 I had to duck out of the way as it felt as though someone was going to hit me. I felt like people get pushed in this room.
Downstairs in the kitchen/galley area I had a sense of the space being used as a blacksmiths or similar. The room that led off that which was the kitchen area gave me the creeps. I could sense children staring in at the window and thought that they were from the workhouse. Was there a workhouse in this area?
I knew we were in for a great night of activity.
Before vigils started Julie and I went to the toilets upstairs. While Julie was in the toilet I heard a rap on the window behind me (which was slightly disconcerting as we were on the 1st floor). I carried on standing there and heard banging on Julie's toilet door as though someone were trying to get in/out. Julie thought that I was banging on the door and I assumed that she couldn't open the door. The sound wasn't caused by either of us. Banging was then heard on the door next to the toilet to the right of the window. I must say at this point that there were in fact 2 toilets upstairs however neither of us wanted to use the toilet to the left of the window, my reason being because of the large mirror in the toilet cubicle. It made me feel like someone was going to come out of it and the cubicle had the sense of someone in there. I used the toilet after Julie and for the whole time felt that there was someone standing just behind me to the right. There was just about enough room to put a toilet in and I felt uncomfortable using this space.
Our 1st vigil was to be downstairs in the main reception room which is reached via a small office on the ground floor. We stayed a little in the small office area where we heard a few noises and took some readings however we were all eager to get into the next room as we could hear moving around in there even though we knew no-one was present. This was the weirdest room for me. As soon as we entered we could all smell something which at 1st was not strong enough to identify. When the smell got stronger it was suggested by Julie that it was spices. To me she was right as I could pick up on saffron and tamarind and vanilla which are not the most commonly used spices these days.
We sat down and started calling out. We could sense someone by the window so called out which had knockings in response. The table in front of me seemed to be the place which was most active as there was creaking coming from the chair positioned there and it was very cold there compared to the rest of the room.
We also heard a very loud thud from above as though someone had fallen out of bed on the room above us. We assumed that it was another team however we later learned that there was not a team in the room above us for the duration of our vigil. This is where things started getting a little weird for me.
The smell of spices that had made its self known earlier came back and changed. I couldn't pin point it at first but then I recognised the smell as opium. I called out if someone liked to smoke an opium pipe and there was knocking in response. This is where my memory fades me, well not my memory as such but my recall of the vigil. As I sat in the chair I became very sleepy and my mind started to wander. I remember people talking and was not surprised at all to see a clown in front of the window. I knew no-one else could see it. It moved nearer me but I wasn't bothered because I knew it was all in my mind. It felt as though my drink had been spiked and I felt out of my head. After this vigil we went for a break however I continued to feel drowsy and stoned.
Our 2nd vigil was to be in room 13 however by miss-reading the vigil sheet we ended up investigating room 12. To me this was a very odd room. I didn't like it at all.
Di, Julie, Lee and I all had a sense of something not very nice happening in this room. It was just one of those rooms which seemed occupied and to me had a sense of doom attached to it.
The first thing that we all really picked up on was that the room felt like being on a boat. The floors were slightly askew and the boards creaked when stood upon however I don't know if this was the cause of the feeling or that there was a naval connection to the house. Julie suggested that maybe the house was built from ships timbers. This was common practice however this would be impossible to verify without seeing the deeds to the property.
This room really got to me, it made me anxious. I didn't want to stay in it nor did I want to go into the corridor outside. I felt trapped. We all felt that there were 2 people attached to this room, 1 male and 1 female. We thought that the female had been either murdered or bullied in some was by a male in this room.
As I looked at the wall opposite the window I was gob smacked to see a woman's arm pointing in the direction of the door and I got the name Elizabeth. I told the others what I had seen but did not give them the name as I thought that maybe the name Elizabeth was connected to the Fry family and did not want to put names into peoples minds. The image of the arm faded and then reappeared near the door that it had been pointing to, this time it was pointing at the area of floor near the fireplace. When I relayed this, Julie said that she had an image of a woman being knocked to the ground and a woman crawling on the floor. The thing that made my blood run cold was that she also said that a man was crawling around after the woman making fun of her and turning it into a game. I didn't want to stay in this room any longer however stay we did. Other notable things during this vigil were the table that Julie was sitting at made a large creak as though shifting. Also, Di could see Julie surrounded by a white protective light at which point I saw a hand beckoning to Julie to go outside into the corridor. As Julie thought that most of the activity stemmed from this area we made our way out into the corridor. This space was absolutely freezing. We decided that we would conduct a scrying experiment in the largest of the 2 toilet cubicles and made our way there, noting all the while how very cold it was and that the cold seemed to be in front of us leading the way to the toilets which were the coldest room we had entered so far. We hastened our way past the turn of the stairs on the 1st floor as none of us had liked this spot and me and Julie thought that we had seen someone there earlier.
This was an odd experiment.
We decided to lock ourselves into the cubicle, as Lee looked behind him he saw movement on the turn of the stairs and started to shake. We were all very apprehensive.
Me and Di were the first to try scrying with Julie and Lee filming. Almost straight away Di was aware that the face she was staring at was not hers and I could not look into the mirror as it was making my eyes hurt and I could see someone stood between Julie and Lee who were behind us filming. Lee said that he could see someone else in the mirror at which point the image came to mind of a naval gentleman. I said this and Lee confirmed. I could see that the man had a beard and side burns. We swapped over filming. When Lee looked into the mirror his face seemed to be changing, it may have been the light or merely suggestion but it seemed like his facial hair grew and he had a mad, wild look in his eyes. I was quite glad when the vigil was over as this experiment seemed very powerful indeed and took quite a lot of our energy.
Our next vigil was in the garden. It was getting more than a little cold by this time. Still I don't remember much about this vigil as I was still 'under the effects', however I do remember myself and Julie discussing that the house seemed to be much smaller than originally intended and thought that the foundations came out a lot further along the garden than they do now, running up almost to the point of the mound in the garden. Also, I felt the mound had maybe been a brock (a public shelter/resting place which originated in the Roman/Saxon period); however I also thought that pigeons had been kept there. The only other thing I picked up on in the garden that there was a man leaning against the mound. He was about 5ft 4inches and was dressed in a tan leather tabard and trousers with a floppy almost tricorn hat and trousers made of the same material. He had on a faded red open necked collarless shirt and had a tankard in his hand. He raised his tankard, laughed and then drank deeply. I knew he was drunk and that he had raped someone in this garden.
I felt absolutely drained at this point and had to have a lie down on the floor that we were using as our hub for the night, which leads to the garden. I felt as though I had been out all night!
Our next vigil was in the kitchen areas. We didn't make it to the pottery/galley as we thought that there was activity in the old kitchen which had the large table in it. I felt uncomfortable in this area. When I had seen this area earlier I thought 'great I won't have to use the upstairs toilet during breaks', on entering the toilet I walked straight back out again. To me there was a woman crying in there and I thought that she would make her presence felt.
When we started the vigil, I didn't know where to sit. I walked into the toilet at which point a bang was heard as soon as I walked in, so once again I walked straight back out. We all settled down at the large farmhouse table however I once again felt uncomfortable as I didn't want to sit with my back to the window. Every time I stared at it I could see sullen, unhappy looking children staring in silently. It made me sad however there was also something quite menacing about it.
When we called out in this room we heard moaning coming from the toilet area. All I could see when I stared in there was a woman looking almost on the point of hysteria. She was pulling at her hair and leaning over and retching, although I couldn't always hear the screaming her face was in a permanent wide mouthed scream. She was young, no older than 25. She had on a long apron and had long dark hair. Julie picked up that the woman had a baby but something was wrong with it and had the phrase' the baby's all wrong' going through her head. We heard cries, knocks and bangs in this area and the trigger object that another team had places in there had moved.
I was glad to leave this spot.
Our final vigil was upstairs again. Through a mistake earlier we had unwittingly conducted a vigil in room 12. Firstly, we went to see if we could conduct a vigil in room 13 which we had missed out on earlier. We wove our way around the rooms until we reached the room which was next to the servant's quarters. We could hear noises coming from the adjoining room. To be honest I didn't want to look so, I opened the door and Julie peered in. At that point Julie let out a loud gasp and we all either jumped, ran or dropped something on the floor. Luckily for us, another team were in there. It was the funniest point of the night for us and just goes to show that some of the scariest things actually have a logical explanation!
Once again reluctantly we returned to room 12 this time with the ouija board. We did get some movement from the board at 1st responding sensibly. Then the planchette just moved haphazardly around the board and we knew that we would not get any sense out of whoever was trying to contact us. We heard a lot of creaking coming from behind me and to be honest the feeling that came with the noise was that someone was in fact trying to take ' liberties' with me. I was not happy to continue the vigil so we made our way out of the room. Another team were conducting a vigil on the staircase which was proving to be rather interesting. They had a camcorder set up and when asked the camcorder would switch itself on/off. We stood there watching for some time as the camcorder seemed to respond to calling out. I have never seen anything like it and was amazed by this.
Lastly we all got together for a séance in the main room downstairs. Unfortunately this proved to be fruitless, probably because we were all drained by then and there was no energy left to summon anything else up.
I thought this was a great site with some great activity noted. On discussions with the other team leaders it seemed that we all had a great night for activity and seemed to pick up on the same spirit energy.
Something else I also found interesting were that quite a few people commented on not liking the part of the corridor and staircase that led to the 1st floor toilets with some people hearing footsteps, seeing movement etc.
Also, while the smokers were outside in the grounds during breaks most of us saw small naked eye orbs in the flower bed to the right of the door in the bed adjacent to the wall. On searching nothing could be found. This was witnessed twice. The only other time I had witnessed this was at Belgrave Hall in the grounds there. We had an impression at the time that someone was buried around the area of the lights which proved true. It would be interesting to find out of someone was indeed buried in the grounds of Fairkytes. The site goes back a long way and is parallel and very close to an old road so it could be possible that there was a Roman/Saxon burial nearby.
I will be very interested to read the results of this investigation as the building seemed very active. Once again it seemed that a lot of the activity was actually telling a story of what had happened here in the past, something we have come across quite often of late.
I would be very interested in returning to this site as I believe that it has a lot of activity to offer and would be very possible indeed to capture spirit movement on film here.
Many thanks for Steve for arranging this investigation and many thanks to the sites manager for letting us investigate.
Dan White
The first thing that I noticed about the outside of this building was how many windows it had. A curiously positioned window on the right of the house looked like it was tacked on to the side of the building. This was a building with character.
First B: Photo Studio, Room 8, Room 12
I didn't feel anything in this area and if my recollection serves me correctly, I don't think anyone else felt or sensed anything in these rooms.
Ground A: Main Room, Gallery
This room seemed to be quite `active`. I didn't sense anything but Alan - using the diving rods, Maria and Mandy all seemed to experience different feelings. Selena caught some orbs on the video camera. I heard some noises and think I saw a few orbs. There were some loud noises from upstairs, but I don't know if that was another team moving around, if it was another team, they sure were noisy!
Ground B: Art Room, Garden
In the Art Room I used the video camera and caught some orbs. Mandy reported that she'd felt sick and had a funny feeling in her stomach. When we ventured out into the garden, the `mound` did seem rather strange, but it was a little hard to concentrate in this area due to the noise of residents.
Ground C: Sculpture, Store Room, Pottery Room
It was in these areas that Alan's diving rods seemed to step up a gear. The pottery room seemed to be the gloomiest place. I had a bit of a dry cough in there (the clay dust?) and then Alan felt a choking sensation from around his throat. We then moved into the larger room and sat around the table. Between the team, they concluded that a groundskeeper had raped 2 women, who had then gone on to have babies. The groundskeeper, however, would not confirm his name. When questioned he would not answer. The rods also seemed to have a connection with Mandy.
First A: Galley, Toilets, Room 13, Dark Room
In room 13 Alan's divining rods seemed to again have some connection with Mandy. The spirit using the rods affirmed that Mandy looked like the person's daughter. It also said that it was related to Mandy. Selena said that she saw a figure on the floor. For some part of this vigil I used the video camera, but unfortunately did not pick up anything on this.
Group Séance
Unfortunately I did not pick up anything at this location. In fact it might have been my heavy breathing (I was knackered) that frightened some of the spirits away.
Di Moore
We arrived and did a walk round. The toilets off the sculpture room were very cold and straight away I did not like this room. Upstairs was also very cold. In room 12 I had the EMF meter and in the far corner it felt like something touched my little finger. What a good start to the evening.
Ground Floor Main room - We walked in and immediately there were cold spots. We walked around and settled down. We decided to do a séance and ask if there were any spirits with us. I asked if there were could the spirits move the blinds in the window. We had already checked with the temperature gun that there were no drafts. There were three blinds in the Bay windows and the one on the far right started to move. I started to walk around the room and found cold spots that actually gave me the shivers. I stood in one place that actually made me sway. When I stood where Lee was stood in the centre of the room we both jumped as it felt like something very cold walked between us and this surprised both of us. We heard a lot of thumping and banging coming from upstairs directly above us. I described it like someone falling out of bed but later found out that there was no one up above us at that particular time.
First Floor - Toilets, Room 12 and Dark Room - We all went to the toilet area first. These toilets were very creepy. At some point during this vigil Lee, Kerry and I tried scrying in the large mirror. I found that I was staring and did not want to move but the reflection did not look like me. Lee seemed to have grown a full beard in his reflection.
We went into room 12, which was directly above the room we were in on the first vigil. The rest of my team picked up lots in this area but I just had very cold feet so I sat on one of the tables and sat looking at the door in the far corner (not the main door into the room). Julie had closed the main door into this room however it opened again. I saw a bright white aura around Julie who was sat on the opposite side of the room to the rest of us. It was like it was protecting her. I got up for no reason after and started pacing round the room. We spent so long in room 12 we never got to the dark room.
Ground Floor - Sculpture Room, Toilet - We sat around a large table in the sculpture room but felt we all wanted to sit close together. There was a toilet off this room, which we could not take our eyes off of. This area was cold and scary and just felt evil. In the dark I could see the old Victorian kitchen fireplace / range but when I turned my torch on it had been blocked up which I did not realise. We heard some noises and we kept calling this room the Galley, which it was not, but we did not know why we kept calling it this! We never made it into the pottery room and all the team seemed confused for a lot of this vigil.
Ground Floor - Garden & Art Room - We spent most of our time in the garden. It was next to the main road and quite noisy. I did not get anything out here. The Art room we were based in felt fine and we started to all feel very tired. We called out but nothing happened apart from a few clicks in the corner.
First Floor - Although we had already been in room 12 we decided to venture back. We tried a divination in here and the planchette did move slightly however I think I was blocking it as I did not like it. I prefer not to do it as I think I block it sometimes. As we sat there we heard noises and bangs again but did not know where they came from. We stayed there for a little while and soon it was time to pack up and leave.
Another good night, thanks to all.
Gary Catlin
Fairkytes is one of those places that I have been in and driven past loads of times however I have never really through about its past. Once I knew the location, I did not research anything about the building or its past; the only knowledge I had was from living around the area as a child.
Being where Fairkytes is located in the middle of a very busy road and not far from the high street, I did not think that anything would happen that could not be explained either through traffic or passer-bys, I am glad to say I was wrong on that.
Once the investigation was underway, members of my group were Steve, Leanne, Maureen, Matt, Michelle, Steve and Matt started to pick up on various aspects of the building before it became Fairkytes. In the sculpture area Steve had pick up on a presences of a individual whom was located near the w/c. It was only later in the investigation that he discovered that the person could be a former butler of the estate.
When we went in to Main Room and Steve connected with a lady that had worked as a maid, she seemed to have taken to myself and was around me for the time we were in the room. I had a feeling of being very comfortable and at easy while I was in this room. It was very hard for Steve to get any information about her at that time, however once we had moved on to the first floor to room 12, we all were experiencing vibrations through the floor. It did seem to stop at one point. Then Steve picked up on her again around myself while I was sitting at the window. When I asked out the floor did start to vibrate again but not as powerful as before.
Our final part was in the Art room where I was involved in glass tilting. Once again the spirit of the maid had seem to have followed me to this room, there was now four of us in our group, and we took turns asking out, each time the glass kept moving towards myself. It was only when I asked out that we started to get a response, Steve had got a better connection with her and we found out that her name is Mary. We also found out that she was indeed a maid who worked at the manor, and that I had reminded her of her past love. For which we found out that he had worked in the grounds as a blacksmith. We also found that the butler Steve had picked up on in the sculpture area had been involved with dismissing or removing her love from the grounds.
Overall I was very impressed with what had happened with this being my first investigation. I feel that the night's vigils were very good and that I found out more about Fairkytes and its history.
I would like to thank all the people in the Southern Paranormal UK group for a very interesting night, also to pass my thanks on to Fairkytes and finally to Steve for inviting me as a guest. I look forward to investigation more sites.
Alan Hall
Upon entering the building at around 8pm with my partner Selina, I felt a calming and relaxed atmosphere, yet there was an air of anticipation.
I instantly came up with the name of Sister Bernadette and she was a very unpleasant woman, very strict and untrustworthy. This name kept coming to me during the night but faded around 12 midnight.
Although there wasn't that much activity of notoriety, there were however many unexplained things, especially the noises coming from above the main room. We all witnessed the sounds and bangs, like furniture being moved and people walking around, we dismissed these sounds thinking there was another group in the room, but later discovered that the room above was empty and no-one from any other team was in there.
We / I picked up on the names of Abigail, Annabel and Elizabeth whilst using the divining rods, all around the age of 17 years old and came to a conclusion that the latter two names had in fact been raped by the grounds man in the 17th century and their children taken away from them.
In the sculpture room, again using the divining rods, I picked up on a man who said he was the grounds man and that he was the one who raped the girls. He would not give a name though, no matter how hard we tried.
Whilst in the art room I saw clearly two men walk past the exit doors, talking pretty loudly. We know there was no-one out there as we had previously been in the grounds. I cannot explain this. We all went for a look but could not see any one.
Elizabeth was very prominent throughout the night, especially towards Mandy, when asking questions with the rods, she said that Mandy not only looked like her but was also a distant relative.
All in all, it was a very interesting night and I would like to return at a later date to see if the same spirits are still aware of us and maybe get something a little more concrete.
Maria Street
It was with some trepidation that I agreed to attend this investigation, not because of the ghosts, but because I suffer from terrible travel sickness and I just wasn't sure that I would survive the journey intact. As it happened I needn't have worried. Dan drove well and I enjoyed the good company of him, Di and Julie on the drive there and back. We took around two hours to reach Fairkytes and the building looked characteristic enough from the outside, but what a treat inside. Steven led us on a tour of the place and it was full of little corridors and tucked away rooms. I was in Mandy's team with Dan, Alan and Selina. Our first vigil was in the photo studio, Room 12 and the stairway leading to Room 8. All was very quiet, although there were a few taps and orbs and Alan was visibly affected during a Ouija experiment where he felt sick. After a quick break it was on to the main room where a lot of noise seemed to be coming from upstairs for a sustained period of time. Although there were teams up there, we usually settle down pretty quickly once we start a vigil. Light anomalies were spotted in the room and we decided to call out. We appeared to be in touch with a lady called Bernadette or Sister Bernadette. We set up a Ouija experiment to investigate further but the planchette would hardly move and Alan thought he heard somebody say "I don't want to" when we asked them to move it. Mandy felt quite threatened in this room but I felt fine. Another break and then it was out in the grounds. It was a bitter wind that was howling and we didn't stay long there. The noise from the wind and the traffic made it virtually impossible to investigate there anyway. We made our way back in to the Art Room and this was the most interesting part of the night for me because I filmed the first part of the vigil and was treated to some fantastic orbs and some light anomalies. They were mostly emanating between Mandy and Alan. Alan used the divining rods to contact spirit and Mandy got the name Elizabeth, which the rods confirmed. It was established that Elizabeth was around in the 18th century and that she was 17 years of age and it seemed that Mandy reminded her of herself. She had also had a child taken from her. On a later investigation in the pottery room I felt that somebody had committed suicide in the house but didn't know who. The divining rods seemed to pick up an unsavoury character who was grounds man in the house at the time that Elizabeth was there. It transpired that he had raped her and at least two other girls. It seemed that he had committed suicide when he was found out. However, later, he seemed to be saying that he was not ashamed of what he had done and would do it again tomorrow. One of the highlights of the night was on the stairway. I was calling out and asked for definitive proof and the camcorder just cut out. It had been doing this on and off throughout the evening but it was just about to get more exciting. Four times after that I asked for spirit to turn off the camera and every time it did just that. Team 1 were in the next room and we called them out to witness this phenomena and we were not to be disappointed. A group séance in the main room later on generated a few thuds in response to questions but nothing concrete could be ascertained. Once again an enjoyable evening spent in good company. I'd like to thank London and Essex for inviting us and for being great hosts. Thanks also to Steven for securing the investigation, to the owners for allowing us the opportunity and thanks to Dan for driving us the long distance to Romford. Look forward to the next one!
Julie Harwood
After the long drive from Poole to Essex, Fairkytes was a welcoming site. On approaching the building we mentioned how many windows it had and it reminded me of a small private school.
Once inside we settled down and had a quick comfort break before starting the vigils. A group of us were outside during the break and even though everyone was talking and catching up, I could not help acknowledge the feeling that there should have been another building next to the house. It really felt like something was missing.
Our first vigil was in the main room downstairs. As soon as I walked into the room (I entered first) I could smell spices of an Indian or Eastern nature. At first I thought it could be the smells of a takeaway outside somewhere however these were not cooked or food smells, it was just the smell of the spices alone. We settled in by taking a few temperature and emf readings of the area and noticed a few static cold spots. Di and Lee tried to locate them and Di felt one near the door and Lee could feel one by the large windows. Obviously our first thought was drafts however when we took readings round the doors and windows we found these to be negligible. I believe at one point, where Lee was stood was 13 degrees, 3.5 degrees cooler than the rest of the room. For the first half of the vigil at least we were cursing the team above us as it sounded like they were banging and moving furniture. It was not even the sound of floorboards being walked on, but really loud and continuous thudding. At one point Kerry likened a series of 3 bumps to the sound of someone falling out of bed.
We started calling out and I started to smell a sweet unfamiliar smell. I could not tell what it was and did not recognise it in anyway. I also could not find a source for the smell. It was like a musty candy sort of scent. Not pleasant but at the same time not unpleasant. I also had the image of a middle age man in a striped waistcoat.
Di and Lee were still finding the cold spots and were both stood together when they both let out a cry. They both felt something rush between them even though they were stood close to each other. Di called out and asked for the blinds to be moved if there was someone with us. Almost immediately the right-hand side blind started to push out. Kerry was sure she could see someone stood there. We asked for it again and it seemed to be doing it on command. Again we considered a breeze or draught but one could not be detected either by our hands or our temperature equipment and the blinds were not light. It is interesting to note that for the rest of the vigil I kept an eye on the blinds. We did not ask for the blinds to move again and interestingly they did not move again.
Kerry or Lee (forgive me forgetting which) was sure they had seen a chair move and so I decided to go and sit in the chair.
Di asked for one of us to be effected and I did feel something stroke the top of my head. I then felt a tingle down my neck. This made me feel a bit uncomfortable and so I swapped with Lee and he sat in the chair.
For a lot of the time we could hear tapping noises from within the room and lights however it was difficult to tell whether this was just the building settling and the lights from the passing cars on the busy road outside. A lot of the noises and lights we had to discount. One strong feeling I had about this room was that it used to be two smaller rooms.
When we finished the vigil we checked with the team above us to see why they were making so much noise. The only team on 1st the floor were not even in the area above us so we have no idea as to the cause of these noises.
Our next vigil was on the first floor. We started in the toilet corridor and everyone felt very nervous and apprehensive. There was a huge mirror in one of the toilets and none of us wanted to look in it. The landing area did not feel much better so we crept along to room 12 (the area we had heard all the noise coming from earlier). We settled down quickly making sure we did not make too much noise. We all felt fine. The room was very calm and no one seemed to be picking up anything. Just as we were commenting about this the whole atmosphere changed so dramatically that we could hardly believe it. The temperature dropped, our digital cameras were dying and we all felt very uneasy like someone had walked into the room.
Kerry did not like the door leading to another room and then saw a woman's arm pointing towards the door or fireplace. We all then noticed the door had opened slightly and so thinking that maybe someone wanted us to go and look out the door, I went over with the camcorder and opened the door fully. The corridor was eerie to say the least and I did not like looking out into it however nothing odd seemed to be happening and so after 4 or 5 minutes I came back in and shut the door tight. I then sat the door side of the room. I am sorry to say I can not remember who picked up what but the team came up with a woman crawling around the floor after she had been strangled and hit by a man. The man then in a mocking way crawled around behind her scaring her more. Temperature readings seemed to back this up as there were notable differences between the readings. I started to call out to the man or the woman and we did seem to get a few tapping responses. At one point both Kerry and myself saw the table in front of me move and I believe Di and Lee heard it. Lee had a sore throat and although he did not like to say it he did say it felt like someone trying to choke him. While Kerry, Lee and Di were discussing this they looked over at me and said I was pointing in the same way as the woman towards the fireplace. This freaked me out a bit as although I was aware I was pointing, I did not know what I was pointing at and could not say anything. It was like I was doing it while I was asleep or dreaming. Di then noticed that she could see a bright light round me. I will let Di explain that as obviously she could see it. The door had also opened again yet I know I had shut it properly. This was very weird for me. I could clearly see the others in the group were still uneasy yet I felt strangely serene. We decided to leave this area then and make our way back to the toilet area. We decided to try scrying in the large mirror and Di and Kerry stood looking in while Lee and I stood back and filmed. Kerry could not look at herself as all she could see was a mans face and she could even see him wearing a sailor or naval uniform. I was watching Di's face and she did look very different. Her fringe looked a lot longer than it was and her eyes were so dark and deep set. Her face almost took on the image of a skull and both Lee and I could see that. Lee then changed with Kerry and Lees face seemed to change too. It seemed to get longer and he appeared to have a full beard. Kerry and I could even see this in the camcorder view screen. I asked Lee if he was grinning as I could see him smiling broadly and just presumed he was laughing at what I and Kerry were saying about the beard. It took me aback when he said he was not smiling at all yet he could see an inane almost insane / mad grin on his face. At this point we had had enough and decided to head down for a break. It was on the break that the team that were directly below us asked if we had been moving furniture and banging about. They had been in the Main Room and had heard exactly what we had heard. We let them know that we did not go in there until about half way through the vigil and when in there we stayed relatively still and certainly did not move anything or bang about.
Our next vigil was in the sculpture room back on the first floor. All four of us hated this room the minute we went in. Lee, Di and Kerry all saw something in the little room which lead off to the toilet and were very nervous of this area. The trigger object cross in the room had moved and so after taking a bit of video of this we all sat down as far away from the toilet corner as we could. I felt very very depressed and the looks of the others faces told the same story. Lee and Kerry were staring into the toilet area and Di and I seemed to be staring at the green doors just to the right of the toilet. For some strange reason we all thought we were in the galley, it was not until the end of the vigil that we realised we were in fact in the sculpture room. Kerry got the distinct impression of stables and I felt like it was a kitchen. Di could feel the hustle and bustle like there were a lot of people in there with us.
Di & Kerry sensed the woman in the toilet area hiding from us and Lee I got the name Mary. I suddenly thought the following phrase over and over again for no apparent reason and that was "The baby is wrong". Kerry called out and asked why I was thinking this. I closed my eyes and in my mind I saw a little girl, with curly blonde hair and she was downs syndrome.
The rest of the vigils we had done went so quickly however this one felt like we were in there for hours (when in fact we only lasted 40 minutes). We were all glad to leave this area.
Our next vigil was back up on the first floor and we returned with the Ouija board to room 12. As soon as we set it up Lee's camcorder battery with over 80 minutes of power remaining died. We got little sense out of the Ouija board but Kerry (who was sat with her back to the window) was getting increasingly angry and could feel someone behind her. The floorboards behind Kerry were creaking yet none of us were moving. Di then felt her chair lift up at the side. Even though I was not a team leader it was then I decided to remove the group from the area, for Kerry's sake more than anything as she just wanted to lash out as she was so cross.
Our final vigil was in the art room (team base) and in the garden. We managed 15 minutes in the grounds but were just too cold to continue. Kerry saw a man in leathers leaning up against the small outbuilding which Kerry believed was a Brock. I however felt like I was walking through another house when I walked at the side of the building. I traced out the line of the building I thought should be there. It was a very strange feeling.
We then returned to the art room where we sat quietly for the rest of the vigil. This was the one room we picked up nothing in. It was so peaceful and quiet that we nearly all fell asleep.
Thank you to Fairkytes and Havering Council for letting us visit this wonderful building. Thank you also to Steve from the London & Essex team who secured us the investigation there. We very much hope to be able to return and I look forward to seeing if anything the team picked up on ties in.
Matt Hasler
This investigation was an odd one to say the least. We arrived and Steve greeted us and took all of us on a tour around the building. It was small in comparison to the previous investigations; however it had a really odd feeling to it.
Just to sum this one up with my favourite part of the whole night was to see my friend's neck when he had a hand print around it where he had said he felt like he was being strangled on the stairs!
Other odd happenings included the toilet flushing footsteps and a vibrating floor in a bedroom! This was particularly odd as it takes more energy to move a large object than a small thing!
The venue was great and what a strange yet great night I experienced that night! If it comes up again I'll be there 1st!
Lee Barrows
Overview
Fairtykes, from the outside looks very peaceful and tranquil. And it is inside too truth be told, apart from a few very odd things which i will go into detail later on. It is a great location and I am very glad to have had the chance to investigate this property.
First Vigil
Ground floor, main room
This was a fairly large room at the front of the building, with some noise and light pollution coming into the room from the road outside we had to be wary of this. However, we soon came across some phenonmenom we could not explain. The temperature in the room seemed to vary greatly, with hot and cold spots forming and dissipating around us nearly all the time. In fact at one point, I was standing next to Di and a gush of cold air effectively hit my left hand side, causing me to jump to the right in surprise, simulatinously Di leapt in the opposite direction having experience the same thing on her right hand side. There was also a series of loud bangings coming from upstairs, which, at the time, we atrributed to another group conducting a vigil in the room above us. However, upon checking this later, we discovered that they had not been in that room at the time we heard the loud and very distinct noises. Other key events that occured whilst we were in this room included a video camera nearly leaping out of Julie’s hand and the blinds on the window seeminly moving in response to Di’s request for them to move.
Second Vigil
First floor, room #12 / toilets
Prior to beginning the second vigil, during the break, I had ventured to use the upstairs lavatory. However, upon getting to the second/third step on the stairs, I had heard what i thought was another team already up there and so decided not to interupt them. However, everyone was infact present on the ground floor. So who had I heard upstairs? Needless to say, this didn’t leave my mind before we began this vigil... upstairs.
Room 12 seemed to make us all a little unsteady on our feet, as if we were aboard a ship, experiencing a gentle rocking of the floor as we walked about. We also seemed to be sharing the room with a female spirit, one in some distress. Distress caused to her (either physically or mentally) by a man, also present in the building. Cold spots were felt around our legs and the impression of the woman seemingly crawling/dragging herself around the room was picked up on.
There were also noises heard which appeared to be coming from the doorway. At one point the door seemed to come open despite Julie having ensured it was closed earlier after we decided that the noise of footsteps was in the corridor outside and seemed to be coming towards the room we were in.
We moved on to the toilet area on the otherside of the first floor, where we all instantly felt quite uneasy. The sensation of being watched and followed was very strong upon moving to this location and none of us were too happy about that. We all entered the larger of the two toilets and set about a Scrying experiment with the large mirror in that room. Kerry sensed the presence of a naval officer of the rank lieutenant with us during this, but to me the most startling thing was what I saw in the mirror instead of my face; it was the face of a man with a heavy beard and small yet wide eyes staring back at me. He had a wide, inane grin on his face and I did not like this at all! Kerry and Julie could also see this in the reflection and kept asking me if i myself was smiling... I most certainly was not!!
Third Vigil
Sculpture room
We were somewhat confused by this room. We all kept referring to it as a galley and even had a conversation about what an odd name for a room galley is as we weren’t on a boat (another boat connection). We were also at one point surprised to find that there wasn’t an old fashioned stove in the room (it’s likely there once was judging by the room) and at one point Di had gone over to it to see if the drafts we were feeling could be coming from it. It was infact an area that was boarded off with quite heavy looking wood. The atmosphere in this room was very odd, not oppressive as such but very tense. There was an adjoining store room and toilet and we all had the impression that there was someone in there and on several occaisions there were noises in there as if there was. During this the name Mary popped into my head from know where.
Fourth Vigil
Art room and grounds
We ventured outside into the gardens and had a wander round for a while. However it was quite cold and constant noise from the road was distracting so we didn’t stay outside for very long. However whilst wandering around outside I felt as if something had banged into the back of my ankle, I at first suspected i had stood on a twig that had snapped up and caught the back of my foot, however there was nothing on the ground except grass.
The art room had a strange effect on us. A sudden sense of tiredness and lethargy seemed to overtake us all. Maybe it was just where we were starting to relax after the tenseness of the Sculpture room previously, or maybe something in there was effecting us. Whichever it was, we didn’t pick up on anything else here.
Fifth Vigil
Room 13, Photo Studio and Room 12 revisit.
None of us were particulary looking forward to returning upstairs again, but of course we did so. And after having a close encounter with another team on a different vigil in room 13, we decide to return to room 12, none of us wanting to go into the photo studio for some reason. We set up a Ouija board in room 12 and made what seemed to be reluctant contact with a male spirit. I say reluctant as it was quite a lackluster affair with the Ouija, however the room around us seemed to become full of noises of movement and both Kerry and Julie were starting to get annoyed with this apparent male spirit. Interestingly whilst this was happening both myself and Di where starting to feel quite downbeat and depressed. Also, whilst starting up the Ouija, my video camera’s battery (which was freshly put in before the vigil and had reported well over an hours charge remaining as we sat down to do the board, went totally flat in about five minutes).
Group seance
We all returned to the Main room on the ground floor and started up a group seance. However despite a few odd noises and some temperate variations we did not seem to pick up on anything during this vigil.
Conclusion
There is, in my opinion, definitely something odd about this otherwise great location. Of course, the fact that there is, is also great in itself. I thouroughly enjoyed this investigation although the scrying experiment is something that will (if you’ll pardon the pun) haunt me for sometime to come. I sincerely wish that we can maybe return again sometime in the future.