Southern Paranormal - Investigations
Jamaica Inn Investigation
Saturday 20th November 2010
Attending Investigators - Julie Harwood, Maria Street, Jackie Gilmartin, Gary Catlin, Sarah Pettet, Mark Pettet, Gill O'Farrell, Mark Boulton, Rob Butler, Marie Holder, Wendy Callaway, Steve Boston.
Jamaica Inn History & Sightings written by Marion McCaffery with excerpts from "The History of Cornwall
Right at the centre of Bodmin Moor; lay the village of Bolventor which takes its name from the "Bold Venture" that it was to have established farmland in this harsh moorland spot.
At the centre of the village is the "Jamaica Inn" which has stood there since 1547. This coaching house was of course immortalised by Daphne du Maurier in her novel and now the name will always be synonymous with the exploits of ruthless Cornish smugglers.
Picture copyright Sarah Pettet 2010
To the north Bolventor looks across to Cornwall's highest peaks, Brown Willy and Roughtor - while a short distance to the south lays Dozmary Pool, by legend the lake into which King Arthur as he lay dying instructed Sir Bedivere to cast Excalibur.
The inn sprawls over a wide area. Clearly, outbuildings have been converted over the years. Though, thanks to dark slate and stone, it somehow merges with the moorland backdrop. There are two car parks, one so large it hints at coach parties. I bet they pull in for lunch and a visit to the inn's museum - devoted to smuggling and Daphne du Maurier memorabilia.
A large mounting block still stands in the cobbled front yard where once coachmen would have had the horses changed on the Truro to London route. It wasn't only coaches that stopped here, however. The inn opened in 1750, and was a regular stopping point for smugglers, who used some 100 secret moorland routes to move contraband around. This is a lonely spot all right. In 1778 it was extended to include a coach house, stables and a tack room, which is the building that exists today. Horses on the stage coaches would be changed here.
It is believed that around half of the brandy and a quarter of all tea being smuggled into the UK was landed on the coasts west of here. Jamaica Inn was remote served as a staging post for some of this contraband. The Inn may have well got its name because smuggled rum stopped here.
The Jamaica Inn has changed little over the last 200 years and has not lost its original charm.
Some say ghosts frequent Jamaica Inn because of its rich and long history, others say that they are attracted here after becoming lost on the treacherous Bodmin Moor. Whatever the reason a large number of ghosts are regular "visitors" to the Inn. A paranormal television show filmed here recorded 15 different ghosts during their investigations.
Guests staying at Jamaica Inn have frequently reported hearing footsteps, unexplained movement of doors and other objects. Ghost hunters and psychics brought to Jamaica Inn have determined that there were several ghosts there. The most reported sightings are that of a man who has been seen by many people, sitting on the wall outside the Inn. He neither speaks, moves nor acknowledges a greeting but his appearance is uncannily similar to a man who disappeared from Jamaica Inn in the 19th century and was found dead on the moor nearby. It is believed that it is his ghostly footsteps that are often heard by staff and visitors at 'Mary's' bar as if he is coming back to finish his drink.
Previous managers of Jamaica Inn have heard conversations uttered in a foreign tongue. Visitors have reported cold spots in their rooms, photographs with orbs in are also common. The ghost of a gentleman wearing a Cloak and three-cornered hat has been witnesses in the bar area, the spirit is usually seen walking through closed doors. Locals believe that this is the spirit of Jack Travellis a notorious smuggler who was put to death close by.
Two guests Mr. K. Pettit and his wife of Strood in Kent witnessed the ghost in their bedroom. 'We were shown into the last room on the right of the corridor', he said 'but shortly after falling asleep my wife woke me and said that there was a man standing by the bedroom door. I could see him rather faintly. He seemed to have a three-corned hat and a long, old fashioned coat. He moved gradually and slowly along the end of the beds and the room suddenly went very cold. When he reached the large wardrobe he just walked straight through it and disappeared'.
Horse's hooves and the sound of metal wheels have been heard on the cobbles outside but nothing is seen and bedroom 4 is said to be the room to sleep in it is above the original part of the inn.
One of the most extraordinary
collections of Victorian taxidermy and other curiosities was auctioned
at Jamaica Inn in September 2003 and raised over half a million pounds.
The Jamaica Inn has been home to The Potters Museum of Curiosities for
the past 16 years. The fascinating and eclectic collection of over 10,000
items included around 6,000 pieces of taxidermy created mainly by the
famous Victorian taxidermist Walter Potte
The Investigation
Teams
Team 1
Julie
Gill
Wendy
Rob
Team 2
Maria
Steve
Marie
Mark B
Team 3
Sarah
Jackie
Gary
Mark P
Itinerary
4-5pm Members arrive at the Inn
7.30pm Team have a brief walk around the museum
8.00pm Start set up in the accommodation part of the Inn, including trigger
objects etc.
8.45pm Pre vigil break
9.00pm Vigil 1
Bedrooms
10.00pm Vigil 2
Bedrooms
11.00pm Break
11.30pm Vigil 3
All members to museum. Here we conduct a group vigil, spreading
ourselves around the museum.
12.00am Vigil 4
Team 1 - Remain in museum or move to bedroom of choice
Team 2 - Bar
Team 3 - Restaurant / Food Bar
12.35am Vigil 5
Team 1 - Restaurant / Food Bar
Team 2 - Return to museum or bedroom of choice
Team 3 - Bar
1.20am Vigil 6
Team 1 - Bar
Team 2 - Restaurant / Food Bar
Team 3 - Return to museum or bedroom of choice
2.00am Finish & retire to rooms
Personal Reports
TEAM 1
Julie Harwood
I was the only member of the visiting team that had investigated the Inn before. The last time we visited it was an eventful night for some teams and a fairly quiet night for others so I was expecting the same again.
Our first vigil was in room
6. This room was very atmospheric for me and I felt myself constantly
looking around the room waiting for something to happen even though
it was quite dark. The fan in the bathroom seemed to keep coming on
even when we made sure it was completely switched off. The bathroom
door was closed and we checked no one was in there but every time we
went to investigate it (literally as one of us had our hand on the door
handle) it switched off. We times it several times as we thought it
could be a fault (though we could not see how as the switch was isolated)
however the timings between fan going on and then going off were completely
random. This seemed amazing especially as it seemed to react to when
we were calling out. While in this room we also heard footsteps like
someone was outside the door. Each time we checked and no one was there
or in the corridor at all. There were also creaking noises in the room.
Considering the age of the building I am happy in this instance to put
it down to the building settling as there was no way we could prove
otherwise. Rob had felt odd feelings while on the bed and so Gill swapped
with him to see what she could feel. She sensed a man who felt as if
he was in charge. She made several very funny comments about getting
taller and having huge feet. This was odd as he voice did seem to change
though when I mentioned it to her she was completely unaware of anything
being different but to be honest as I looked at her she still looked
like Gill but with an odd look in her eyes. Sorry Gill J
Our second vigil was in room 3 and this was a horrible room in my opinion. No offence to the Inn, it was immaculately decorated and very comfy. Unfortunately for me it had a heavy oppressive atmosphere and the 4 of us were ill at ease from the moment we went in there. It was a family room and as well as having a double bedroom it also had a small room adjoining it with bunk beds. I hated that little room and I had no logical reason to say that. I just hated it and it made me feel trapped like a prisoner. I much preferred the main room even though I was not too keen on that. Gill got very emotional in this vigil (I will let her explain her own feelings) but we felt like someone was trapped in that room and could not get out. We had readings on our KII meter in this room and we had placed well away from us (freestanding on its own) so there was no human intervention. We knew that there were wires in the floor and also lots of wifi wires and games machines downstairs but this emf meter only went off once in the hour we were in that room. Gill and Wendy senses a trapped little girl and the initial M was mentioned. Both Rob and I had names and ages pop into our head and so we opted to write them down and not share them until the end of the vigil. When we did check we had both written down Mary and aged 6. Wendy and Gill are able to verify that we did not discuss these details prior to writing them down.
Gill and I did face our fears and stand a while in the small room but it just felt to me like we were intruding and we did not feel comfortable. How you slept in there Steve I will never know.
Vigil 3 was just myself and Rob in Bedroom 1. It was very quiet for a lot of the time we were in there but then we started getting readings on the emf meter that seemed to be responding to us calling out. If the emf meter was to be believed the it answered positive to us communicating with a man that used to work at the Inn and died there but was not murdered, but died in suspicious circumstances. He was not an old man but confirmed what some of the members had sensed in regards to a little girl called Mary aged 6. This was a fascinating vigil as I have never seen an emf meter apparently answer questions so directly. I am currently transcribing the video tape to collect all details.
Vigil 4 was in the museum however sadly I experienced nothing here. The only odd thing we did notice in regards to the museum was earlier in the night, when a couple of us went to unlock the museum with our host we could smell a really really strong smell of stables & hay. Now I know the museum is based in the old stable block but our host confirmed it had not been used as stables for 20 odd years. I know that stone can retain smell and indeed some believe energy but boy that's a long time to retain such a potent smell. It was so strong that I could feel myself wheezing, my eyes got itchy and I was starting to sniff as I suffer from an allergy to hay (literally hay-fever!) When we returned hours later for vigil 4 the smell had completely gone!
Vigil 5 for us was downstairs in the bar area and we teamed up with Maria's team. I called out and Maria was sure she saw someone walk behind the bar. We called out and checked but no one was there. A little later I believe Gill saw the exact same thing as Maria, yet there was still no one there. I felt very comfortable in this area and personally did not experience anything here.
Vigil 6 was also very quiet for me in the restaurant part of the inn. We tried glass divination in here but if anything the glass only moved fractionally and so I am happy to put that down to involuntary human contact. I was filming and asking the questions but the members on the glass did seem to feel that something was trying to get our attention but maybe it was not strong enough.
I had an amazing time at Jamaica Inn and would re visit this place day or night in a heart beat! It oozes atmosphere from the minute you walk in the door and its nice to see that the current owners upkeep it in a way that former owners (who may still visit) would be proud.
Gillian O'Farrell
Having stayed in Jamaica Inn on several occasions I was really looking forward to this investigation, as I knew this place was atmospheric and full of history. Before the investigation we had dinner at the end with a roaring log fire. Soon the atmosphere was set for what was to turn out to be a very eventful evening.
Vigil 1
Our first vigil was in room 6. Wendy had spent the previous night in this room. It didn't take long before we sensed an atmosphere here. This didn't frighten us; it was more of a sense of anticipation and high energy. The first strange occurrence was when we heard the sound of a fan switch on. As we explored this we found that it was the same sound as the bathroom fan despite switching this off at the isolator. On each occasion that we try to investigate the noise it stopped. The team heard several noises like footsteps, creaks and knocks. I began to sense that a man was walking backwards and forwards at the end of the bed. He seemed agitated but not angry. It was as if he was waiting for something. I mentally asked what he was waiting for and I got back the answer "gold". I had the impression that he did not own the building but had previously been responsible for and in charge of the building. He may have been a previous innkeeper. He was wearing long white stockings that reached up to his knees where his trousers ended. I felt his dress dated from the end of the 18th century at the beginning of the 19th.
I offered to lie on the bed as wanted to try and replicate the experiences Wendy had had the night before. I began to feel as if I was growing taller; my legs were longer and my feet were bigger. I also began to feel much more confident and in charge. I also wanted to laugh. Some of the team members felt that my voice seems different. I had a name at in my head that sounded something like "Thomas". The team also noticed several lights that appeared in the room with no explanation. Both Rob and I saw a light flash on the wall underneath the window that we could not account for.
This room was full of activity all of which felt positive. None of those were anxious about being in this room, just excited. The hour when really fast and we were all keen to carry on. Unfortunately, things were not quite so positive on our next vigil.
Vigil 2
We moved on to room 3. This was a double bedroom that had a small room containing two bunk-beds that was accessible through a doorway. Immediately we all sensed a different atmosphere in this room. I felt a great deal of distress and unpleasant emotion. We placed the K2 meter on the table by the doorway to the other room. Both Julie and I felt much safer in the main room and were quite nervous about the small room. I sensed a small girl who was very frightened and carried a lot of distress. Indeed, her upset was so great that I started to cry. I sensed that she was too scared to move out of the small room and was very tentative about coming towards us. The K2 meter started flashing. I sensed that the girls name started with an “M†and sounded something like "Miranda". Both Julie and Rob had the name "Mary". The picture I had was of the girl wearing a full white skirt with a powder-blue apron. She was wearing a white cap that came down over her ears. I felt that she had spent a lot of time in this room and was not often allowed out. She was frightened of someone.
We moved into the small room with bunk-beds to see what we could pick up in there. However, the atmosphere in there was so oppressive we could not stay there long. Towards the end of this vigil we began to feel very drained and emotional.
Vigil 3
Wendy and I moved to room to for this short vigil. Whilst doing an initial K2 sweep of the room, we picked up and huge EMF source in the floor by the doorway. We sat on the bed and began to ask out for something to happen. The atmosphere in this room felt completely different, it had a rather more modern feel and it did not seem to be of the same period as the other bedrooms. There were two patches on the bedspread that felt damp and different to the rest of it. These were, however, not damp at all and I could not determine why these two patches felt different.
After we had been lying there for a few moments the K2 meter began to flash slightly. We could not determine the pattern to this triggering of the meter and throughout the vigil it continued to flash sometimes in response to questioning. On one occasion, I asked a question and a great darkness descended over my side of the room and safe someone had thrown a blanket over me. This took me so much by surprise that I made to jump up. I quickly gathered my sensibilities thinking was my imagination when I realised that Wendy had experienced this too. She saw the darkness descending and reported that when this happened she could not see the light from the window. I cannot explain what this was and what happened, but I have to say it was one of the most unnerving things that ever happened to me.
By the time these three vigils were over I was glad to have a break is my nerves were jangling!
Vigil 4
The whole team moved into the museum and spread out to cover the whole area. I don't think any of us experienced anything at all. I think this may have been because by then all our energies have been so drained by what had happened in the Inn's bedrooms that we were unable to summon up any other activity.
Vigil 5
By now the restaurant and bar area had cleared of customers and we split into two larger teams for the remainder of the investigation. We started by investigating the main bar area. Julie was calling out and asking for responses. At one stage Maria said she had seen somebody walking from left to right behind the bar. A few minutes later I had the same experience; I clearly saw a black shadow outlining the shape of a person. This shadow seemed to move up as it travelled from left to right, then moved down again as if somebody was standing up and then crouching down again. There were no other experiences in this area.
Vigil 6
Our final vigil was in the lower restaurant area. We attempted some glasswork and the glass felt as if some energy was building up. However, it did not move so we abandoned this attempt. It was hard for is to summon up any phenomena by now as we were so fatigued by the events of the investigation.
All in all, this was a fantastic venue and a really exciting investigation; in fact, it was the most interesting and productive investigation that I have been on with the group. Jamaica Inn is a beautiful and atmospheric venue steeped in history, moreover, it still seems to be visited by people from the past!
Wendy Callaway
Friday 19 November
I arrived in Cornwall on Friday evening to a stunning view of the Inn. It was a dark, cold, wet evening and the building looked magnificent against the gloomy sky. As I crossed the car park there was even the sound of a sign creaking in the wind - it was like walking onto a movie set!
After much debate with the barman I was allocated room 6, one of the rooms with a four poster bed and said to be one of the most active. I went to bed at a reasonable time, tired from the long drive and soon fell asleep.
At 1.15 am I heard 3 footsteps crossing my bedroom and went to sit up to investigate. At this point I felt a firm, but not oppressive, pressure on my chest like I was being held down. I tried to put my left arm out to turn on the bedside light but couldn't, it was like someone was standing in the way. I turned on the K2 meter that I had left on the bed and it flashed right up to red and stayed there under everything returned to normal (I had done readings in the room when I entered earlier in the evening and there was no change to the lights throughout the whole room). There didn't appear to be any change in temperature in the room.
Saturday 20 November
Saturday night I was in team 1, with Julie, Rob and Gill. Before we began the vigils Julie, Maria and myself did a walk round the museum. As we walked in there was a very strong smell of horses, apparently this used to be the stables. When we went back later on in the evening the smell was much weaker.
Room 6
Our first vigil was in Room 6, I had great expectations of this room after the previous night and we were not disappointed. I felt various sensations when we were in this room: -
It felt like the bed was vibrating beneath us, and when I put my hand on the bed it felt like I had static
When I sat in the chair I could feel the floor making small vibrations even though no- one was moving
We also heard a lot of tapping, footsteps and what sounded like the fan in the en suite being turned on and off (despite this being turned off at the plug)
Room 3
This room was the one with the four poster bed, and the bunk beds in the side room. There were no K2 readings around the room when we walked in, but we all felt uncomfortable in here from the start.
I opted to lay on the bunk beds with my head against the small door that we believe led to the attic. Rob & Julie called out and both came up with the name Mary, we also had a lot of readings on the K2 meter as they asked questions. The room I was in suddenly became very dark and I felt the need to move in to the main room with the rest of the team. Everyone felt very uneasy in Room 3 and I think we were all relieved when this vigil was over.
Break
At the end of the break Jackie tried to enter room 4 to start her next vigil but a chair from the inside blocked the door. This was very odd as the chair was quite heavy and it would have been very difficult for it to have moved on it's own.
Room 2
Gill and I did a half an hour vigil in this room. The EMF readings in this room by the door were extremely high, but there was no movement on the meters in the rest of the room. We settled down on the bed, the covers felt damp in some areas.
Suddenly the window side of the room went completely black, like a curtain had been dropped down, blocking out all light from outside. It was only a momentary but it made us both jump.
Museum
A number of us sat in the auditorium, but we didn't hear or feel anything in here. However, it was very windy outside so would have been difficult to say for certain that a noise had been in the room.
Room 4
This was the room with the twin beds. As Sarah had had some experiences in this room the previous night we thought there might be some activity in here. Whilst Gill felt something touch her head I was sat near her and felt nothing during the time we were in there.
Bar & Restaurant
We did two vigils downstairs, one in the bar area and one in the restaurant. Both of these were very quite and I had no experiences in either area.
Room 5
Our final vigil was in room 5, this was another four posted bedroom. I had no experiences whilst in this room, though the triple mirror in this room made me feel uncomfortable.
After a long evening Marie and I slept in Room 4. I had no experiences in the night.
TEAM 2
Maria Street
My weekend started on the Friday when I travelled down to Julie's to spend the night. This took an hour off the journey the following day (thanks Julie). After a few hours sleep we set off on the 3 hour journey to Cornwall. The first sight of the inn is almost as you are upon it. An incline hides the inn from sight, with just a glimpse of a chimney peeking above it. As you get to the top the whole of the inn comes into view and only then do you appreciate just how big it really is. We lunched in the dining room and made our way up to Wendy's room as we were too early to check in to ours. Wendy supplied the coffee and I supplied the chocolates (thank you Wendy). We had a chat and waited for the others to arrive. We then checked in and met the others in the bar for a quick drink (non-alcoholic for me). We then had a lovely dinner followed by a bit of free time before we started our vigils. I was in Team 2 with Mark B. Marie and Steve. We started in Room 4, reputedly the most haunted room in the hotel. I did a sweep with the gauss meter but this showed no fluctuations. We got fluctuations on the K11 meter, but they weren't as random as first thought. We timed the peaks and they were 10 minutes apart. This would suggest an electrical surge and as we were above the bar we thought it may have been the fruit machine coming to life to attract the customers. We also tried calling out. This elicited no response so we tried sitting quietly. For me, the room remained very quiet and it was soon time to move on to our next vigil.
We split into two teams for this one and Mark B and I made our way to the landing to swap keys as we were going to Room 6. As we passed Room 4 we noticed a commotion. The next team could not get in there as there was a chair placed across the door. It took a lot of manoeuvring to move it out of the way. We had just left this room and were in no doubt that there was no way we could have inadvertently pulled a chair across the door as we closed it. It was actually impossible to do. I was very intrigued by this. We moved on to Room 6 and tried calling out but to no avail. It all seemed very comfortable and pleasant. In fact I would quite happily have done a lone vigil in any of the rooms and as anybody would tell you I do not do lone vigils!
After a welcome cup of coffee we all made our way to the museum for a group vigil. Some of us stayed in the auditorium whilst the others made their way through to the exhibition. We sat quietly and called out. The outer door rattled a few times but it seems this was down to the wind which was gusting a little outside. It all was rather quiet however and soon it was time to move on. Our team was supposed to be investigating the bar. However, there was still a lot of human activity happening there, so we made the decision to make our way to Room 1, the room I was staying in with Julie. We settled ourselves down and called out but unfortunately once again all was quiet for me.
We asked Julie if we could join her team for the next vigil as it was in the Bar. She kindly agreed and we all made our way down there. We called out again and sat quietly but personally nothing of note happened for me. We carried on into the Food Bar. We tried a glass experiment and it felt as if the glass was trying to move but there was no real movement unfortunately. One loud knock did cause us to ask the other team if it could have been them but it wasn't so we weren't too sure where that came from. All in all I had a great time at Jamaica Inn. It doesn't matter that I didn't seem to encounter anything paranormal, it was just a great opportunity to stay in this iconic building, immortalised by Daphne De Maurier. I had a very good night's sleep there, although I hear that wasn't the same for some of the others! I would love a return visit at some time in the future.
Steve Boston
Although I had not previously seen any of the TV Shows or read any of the books about the location I was fully aware that this was quite a high profile place to investigate.
I arrived at the Inn with Marie and Rob at about 3pm. It was a cold and fairly bleak afternoon with a light mist was rolling in off Bodmin Moor that set the scene very well. Julie and Maria met us outside. I took the opportunity to snap a few photos of the famous pub before the cold got the better of me and I headed inside.
Mark, Sarah and Wendy were in the bar area having spent the previous night at the Inn which they said had been an active night in both their rooms. No details were divulged for fear this may affect the way we carried out our investigations as the rooms formed a big part of the nights' schedule. After a quick drink it was soon 4pm and we were able to check in and get our room keys; I was set to stay with Rob in room 3. We were all staying in the oldest part of the Inn and as we went upstairs the upstairs floors were very uneven, and the door frames looked crooked and really showed the age of the building. On entering our room we saw it to have one four poster bed and a small adjoining room with a bunk in it. We also had an ensuite bathroom and a large walk-in wardrobe with tea making facilities. I opted to sleep in the bunk room and set about unpacking my stuff. As I began setting my laptop up on the dressing table I heard a loud breath or sigh right behind me. I turned to Rob who was texting on his phone and said 'Was that you?' he did not know what I was talking about and had heard nothing himself. He was sitting approximately ten feet behind me.
At this point we decided to go down to the bar and meet the other team members, as I walked out of the bunk room I heard our door open and as I rounded the door frame I saw it close. Rob was approximately four feet from the door and was holding both his palms up by his chest. I said
'Did you just open the door?'
'No,' he replied 'Did you see that?'
I told him I'd heard it open and then saw it close, Rob said that as he was approaching the door it opened a few feet and closed. He said the handle had moved like someone had hold of it. The door had been shut on the latch, it was secure in the frame and there was no way a draft could have caused it. Nonetheless, we shut the door again, latched it and checked how secure it was in its frame. Without pulling the handle down it would not move!
I then checked the hallway side of the door. There was no handle this side as entry was by key. I placed the key in the lock and turned it to check if this would cause the handle to move. I was thinking that maybe a member of staff had used a spare key opened the door and realized that a guest was in the room. Turning the key did not cause the handle to move. We could not debunk this occurrence. The door was also of fire safety grade and on a door closer, thus it was very heavy.
Room 4
I was aware that this room had featured on a paranormal television show, however having not seen the show I didn't know what to expect and was uninfluenced. We carried out an EMF sweep with a K2 and Gauss meter. The baselines in the room were all green, however in the walk in wardrobe it spiked both the K2 and Gauss to maximum. With this in mind, we set up these instruments well away from the area. The ambient temperature in the room was 20°C having taken our baselines we turned the lights out.
We soon began to get spikes on the K2 meter that was placed on the bed. As I have found many times, it did not directly react to us asking for a spirit to move close to the green light, however, as soon as we stopped asking and began talking amongst ourselves it activated. This always seems to me like something is saying:
'Hey look I'm here, don't get distracted!'
We asked some direct questions and tried to see if specific trigger words would invoke a reaction on the device but we got nothing conclusive. With the randomness of these activations we set about trying to debunk them, even timing the intervals between the lights. Again we got nothing conclusive. Having seen the K2 react directly to questioning I am not willing to put these activations down to anything paranormal. The team were all aware that we were sat directly over the bar, this was open and trading whilst we were in the room. The activations could have easily been caused by fruit machines or patrons using mobile phones below us .In all we had a quiet time in Room 4; on exit the ambient temperature was still 20 deg C.
Room 2
We then moved to Room 2, this was situated at the other end of the oldest part of the building. On entry we carried out baseline readings, the ambient temperature was between 18 to19 °C. The EMF sweep was negative on the K2, however the Gauss Meter picked up readings from the floor which was likely to have been caused by older cables running through the floor. Newer plugs and cables don't tend to give off a high EMF if any, I suspect that the wiring in the floors is quite a few years old. This older electrical kit really kicks out a high EMF field. We had another quiet investigation in Room 2, the ambient temperature on exit was 18 to 19°C.
Room 5
In order to cover every room simultaneously we split the teams down to pairs, with Marie and I heading to Room 5. The ambient temperature was 22 °C and the EMF sweep using the K2 showed that the room in general had a very high EMF reading covering the floor and the bed. I have never seen background EMF readings as high in any other location we have investigated especially one of this age. I again suspect that this could be down to older wiring in the building. Once again we found this room very quiet, the ambient temperature on exit was 21 °C.
Museum
After a short break and some much needed coffee the whole team headed to the Museum which used to be the stables. The building is adjoined to the old part of the Inn at a right angle. I joined Jackie, Sarah and Mark .P. in the exhibits section. Due to the fact that the Museum was closed and no heating was on it was very cold. As a result I did not take any temperature readings.
Jackie soon picked up on a male named Fred who used to keep his horses at the stable. We asked for him to make his presence known but got no responses. We were also using a parabolic microphone and head phones to boost the back ground noise. Both Jackie and I took turns using this kit. Jackie thought she could hear the sound of running water when using the headphones, especially near the floor; I tried to validate this by using the audio booster but could hear nothing.
Jackie stated that she had just caught a glimpse of Fred, as she said it I heard very light footsteps on the audio booster; my audio recorder did not pick it up. Mark .P. and I also thought we heard whistling, however the audio recorder did not pick this up. A few minutes later Jackie saw this male a second time, stood in full military dress in the doorway to the Museum. No other team members picked up on this and nothing has come up in any of my photos. The time in the museum drew to a close and we moved into the bar and restaurant area as it was now closed to the public.
Bar & Restaurant
With the whole team now split into two larger groups we set about the bar and restaurant area. Unfortunately I found this as quiet as the rooms that I had been in earlier in the night. There was no background EMF and no K2 activations. I have been though my audio and photography of this part of the investigation and turned was evident. At around 2am the investigation was drawn to a close and we all retired to our rooms for what we hoped would be a sleepless night!
Room 3
Just after 2am, Rob and I returned to our bedroom. Investigations had been conducted in the room during the evening, I had also set up a lock off Webcam on the door to try and catch it opening as it had in the afternoon.
Keen to make the most of the location, I moved the camera and set it up in the hall between our door and the door to Room 4. We placed a small ball as a trigger object in the hall and focused the camera on it. Having done this I went to the walk in wardrobe to make a hot chocolate, and as I approached the door I heard a loud sigh or groan. I froze and looked round finding Rob had heard it to. We tried calling out but got no response.
We carried out a vigil until approximately 3.30am. I had a very uneasy feeling in the room that I had not picked up on in any of the other rooms. During the night I slept very restlessly. I had a very vivid dream of being chased across the courtyard of the Inn, being caught and bound up. I woke to the feeling that my ankles were being held / restrained and physically could not move them. Both my hands were also dead and I had the worst case of pins and needles ever, even though I was on my back on not laying on my arms so as to cut off the blood supply. Rob and I also thought we could hear mumbling coming from the closed bar area below our room a number of times during the night.
After a few restless hours it was morning and time for breakfast.
Afterthought
Whilst the scheduled investigations at the Inn had proved very quiet for the teams I had worked with, there was no denying that some unexplained things had occurred in Room 3 whilst Rob and I were there. I believe that some of the phenomenon that patrons experience whilst staying at the Inn could be naturally explained. Many of the rooms had fairly high base line EMF readings on both the K2 and the Gauss Meter. Couple this with the way the floors and walls are off-balance and it could bring on a sense of unease, nausea and the feeling of being watched. Especially if exposed to the higher EMF readings for long periods (the bed in room 5 being a prime example). However there is no doubt in my mind that this cannot account for all the reports of paranormal activity experienced at the Inn. It certainly cannot account for the breath/sigh/groan that was heard twice in Room 3, or the door opening on its own.
I would like that chance to return here at a later time and would even consider spending the weekend there as a normal guest in the original part of the Inn to see what happens.
Marie Holder
What a fantastic opportunity to investigate such a prestigious location, I couldn't wait to find out what the night would bring. I arrived at the location around 3pm and was met by Maria and Julie and later on more members of the team. I was informed that a number of things had happened to people during the previous evening as some team members arrived the day before, so I was quite optimistic about our investigation.
We were shown our rooms and we settled in, investigation started at 7.30pm. I assisted Sarah and Wendy in setting up some trigger objects in different parts of the upper floor.
Vigil 1 - Room 4
During this vigil I captured lots of light anomalies on the camcorder but in general it was very quiet. The K2 meter flickered, which when timed we found that they occurred every 9-10 minutes. I got the names Willamena and Francesca.
Vigil 2 - Room 2
Nothing unusual happened in this room and was again very quiet.
Room 5 - Steve and I
Our teams were split into pairs and Steve and I made our way to Room 5. Again I captured some light anomalies on the bed and we also saw some K2 readings on the bed. During the investigation I heard some very distinct taps coming from the corner of the room. I felt a bit unnerved in this room as if I was alone. I got the name Rosemary.
Vigil 3 - Museum
It was very quiet in this part of the location. The door was banging but one member of the team went outside and it had got very windy which was making the door bang.
Vigil 4 - Room 1
Nothing unusual happened. Very quiet.
Vigil 5 - Bar and restaurant
Nothing unusual happened
Vigil 6 - Room 6
This room was very interesting. Although it was very quiet I did not feel comfortable in this room and out of all the rooms I had investigated this one was the most unnerving. I got the sense that someone was pacing up and down at the bottom of the bed (although this was not mentioned to the rest of the team at the time).
Conclusion
I was really looking forward to investigating this location and although on the night nothing much seemed to happen in my team, it was an investigation I wouldn't have wanted to miss out on. The only significant paranormal occurrence happened during the night which was while lying in bed I felt something prod my leg and I heard whispering in my room. It's certainly a location I would love to come back to.
Mark Boulton
Like everybody else, I was pleased that we were able to investigate such a famous place. I have stayed at Jamaica Inn several times in the past and have always found it a very nice place, cosy and full of character.
After meeting up with the team and having dinner, we helped set up a camera in the museum area, before starting the vigils.
The first vigil was held in room 4. We did have some fluctuations on the KII meter, but nothing that you could say was 'intelligent'. We were above the bar seating area with a 'fruit' machine below, we didn't get 'round to checking whether this could effect the meter if someone was operating it. At the end of this vigil I was the last to leave and shut the door as I went back to retrieve the key. We moved on to room 2 for our second vigil. This room was extremely quiet, we did locate a constant 'hot spot' near the door, but this was assumed to be the electric cabling.
For the third vigil, I 'paired' up with Maria to sit in room 3. Whilst waiting to get the key for this room, and supply the key for room 4, we were aware that the couple due to investigate room 4 could not enter the room as a chair was blocking the door! As stated previously I was the last one to leave this room and was definitely not aware of a chair fouling the door, and did not slam the door shut, I just closed the door 'normally'.
After the vigil in room 3, we were due to get a coffee in the bar area, because our vigil was very quiet, we left the room exactly at the time specified. As the landing was empty we proceeded to the bar for our coffee. It later transpired we were the first out. Everybody else were waiting in the landing area for us to exit the room, as they could 'hear' voices coming form our room. We did notice however that we could clearly hear 'punters' in the bar below, during our investigation.
The rest of the vigils from my/our teams point of view were very quiet, with nothing to report of interest.
Conclusion.
Sometimes I do feel sorry for the team that I am part of, as usually we experience nothing that could definitely be said to be paranormal. I am open to such occurrences and go with a positive frame of mind, but am particularly critical of 'experiences' when we cannot definitely rule out more likely alternatives (the engineer in me, I guess). However I have no explanation for the chair being in the way of the door in room 4. I thought of trying to replicate events, but unfortunately ran out of time to do so. It was however, still an enjoyable investigation.
TEAM 3
Sarah Pettet
Night 1 -Room 4
Whilst sleeping I felt inundated with 'messages' and feelings, ones that particularly stood out were:
'Fetch the pipes, where are the pipes'.
I had the impression this referred to bagpipes and that they would be played on the arrival of someone or several people. I felt that my wrists were bound together - when I came to I was still unable to move them apart, at first I was thinking it was sleep paralysis, however, I then realised that I was too awake for that to be a factor. I then looked over to Mark and I had the impression of a man standing over him, not in a menacing way. I looked over several times and he still stood there and appeared aware that I had seen him. At this point I turned on the light (this all took place around 2 am). Mark woke at this point and said his waking thought had been about barrels being rolled across the courtyard outside; however, this was not what he had been dreaming about.
When I went back to sleep, despite dreaming of something totally unconnected, I had the voice I had previously telling me over and over again:
'They didn't belong here, they had to be removed, you see'.
This repeated until I got up. It was like watching the TV and listening to something else on the radio! Both of us repeatedly got pins and needles in our hands.
Night 2
Vigil 1
Room 1 - Average temp 18 deg, no EMF readings. The fully charged battery on the camcorder goes dead. We settled in to the room and called out. Jackie had the impression of a woman in here that was annoyed that her name was recorded incorrectly. We were not getting much response to our call outs, but apart from the heating pipes we were getting the occasional tap especially from the dresser/wardrobe area. At one point we all heard a noise that we thought was a belly rumble, but it was not any of us. The ghost voice app gave the following whilst we were in there:
Official, population, bridge (this came up as we asked for a name), kept, apart (these two came up as we asked for what had happened), ranch, seat (this came up when we asked the spirit to sit with us), strength, throat, hour, steady, famous, hurt, definition, score, label, hold, floor, origin.
The 'lady' that was with us was annoyed and a bit distressed, her name may have been recorded as Katherine (or Kate) but she was Kathleen. Personally I felt a little sad in this room but not much else, I had little response to my call outs.
Room 5
Average temperature 20deg, no EMF readings other than the bed. We found that the EMF meter was continually going off on the bed and about 6 inches above and underneath bed, we would suggest that there must be a lot of cabling running under the floorboards (possibly old cabling), which are giving off a large amount of EMF. That would suggest that if people are experiencing activity whilst in the bed it could be down to the effect of the EMF.
We made ourselves comfortable in this room and called out. Jackie had the impression of a large man who was a sheriff pacing the room; she could also smell kegs of beer and tobacco. I was sat on the bed by the window and was uncomfortable about the area around the chair beside of me, but I thought this could be down to EMF so I forced myself to clear the chair for Jackie to sit on. Whilst doing this the uncomfortable feeling left me. We had a couple of unexplained taps and sounds of mumbling in this room, but nothing definitive.
Vigil 2
The team was split - Gary and I went to room 6. This was the room that Mark and I would be staying in for the night, and I noticed that the curtain tie was wrapped round my suitcase. I know this was not there previously as I had hooked the tie-backs up when we set up the trigger objects in this room.
We settled in the room - called out and got no response at all. In the end we turned the light on to see if that made any difference, but still got no response. We then decided to just randomly chat to see if that made any difference and we began to get some unexplainable noises but not sufficient to say that there was definitely something else going on in the room whilst we were there.
Group vigil - Museum. (Vigil 3)
Although we were altogether as a group we still split down. I was with Jackie, Gary, Steve and Mark. Jackie was picking up on someone in the museum, a male, who she felt kept horses in the stable (now the museum). I had the sensation of a being nearby to me but I could not draw any closer. At one point Jackie jumped as she thought she had seen the man standing in the corridor next to me. I took some photos but nothing showed on them. The rest of the group left the museum but we stayed a little longer to see if we could get anything more, but nothing further happened so we moved on to our next vigil and Steve joined our group.
Vigil 4 & 5 - Bar/Restaurant
We started in the restaurant. Unfortunately, there were two hotel guests wandering round this area taking photos and talking, and this cut into our time in here. We heard noises coming from the passage way next to Joss' Bar. We went to investigate; Gary, Mark and I found the smell from the passageway too much so ended up not going in there, the door to the passageway was heavy and a couple of times it seemed to move on its own, we were not entirely sure how it was doing this. Other than this the restaurant was quiet so we moved on to the bar.
We settled down on here and called out, to begin with we didn't really get anything. I also felt like I needed to pace around or stand in front of the fire so I went with this. We got the odd noise that was unexplainable. At one point we thought we heard a couple of footsteps. Both Jackie and I felt that we definitely had something in this area but we cannot pinpoint who or what.
Vigil 6 - room of choice (room 4)
Mark and Jackie had been in this room before using the Franks box. So we decided as a team to use the Franks box again. We appeared to be getting some answers to our questions but nothing conclusive, certainly not as much as Jackie and Mark had previously got in this room. All too soon this vigil came to an end, and just before the time that we were disturbed the previous night. We all retired to our respective rooms after the vigils, we were staying in room 6. Nothing further happened for us in this room though.
I was looking forward to this investigation from the moment we signed up for it and it did not disappoint, even though on the vigils I personally did not pick up much, others in my team and on the group did, and I certainly did on the first night I stayed there. Jamaica inn was a fascinating place. It was warm, welcoming and comfortable place. Certainly it had all the atmospheric conditions to be a haunted place, a remote village on a desolate moor.
Mark Pettet
We had a lovely trip down to Cornwall to a small village called Bolventor, to Jamaica Inn. Sarah and I got down on the Friday to get a feel for the place and we were glad we did. Wendy had also arrived that evening so after having some food and couple of drinks we retired to our rooms. I decided to set up a voice recorder in the dressing room and in the morning I played back the recorder. I had picked up a few knocks and some snoring. The strangest thing was that Sarah had woken up with the feeling of her hands tied together but strangely enough I had woken with both my hands having pins and needles.
At around about lunchtime Julie and Maria arrived, as Julie was very excited to get there. Throughout the rest of the afternoon other team members arrived and it was all nice to see everybody. The evening had finally arrived and I think pretty much everybody was excited on this investigation. We all met up in the bar area to get into our respective teams and to be given our equipment and also our ID cards (thank you Gary).
Our first vigil took us to rooms 1 and 5. We all got settled into the room and took EMF and temperature readings. We found somewhere to sit and sat in silence for a few minutes. Soon after, Jackie started to call out and there were a few small bangs but we put that down just to the building settling. After a while we were generally chatting and Maria's iphone started to say words as it had the 'Ovilus' app on it. Sarah wrote down the words.
We all moved on to Room 5, which had a slightly different atmosphere to it. We took some pictures and in one of Sarah's photos there was a blue light anomaly which appears to be in front of Jackie. Jackie also picked up in this room a presence of the man but couldn't give much detail.
In our second vigil we had to split the team into two. Sarah and Gary went to room 6 and Jackie and I went into room 4. We decided to conduct a Franks box experiment which had some interesting results. We had picked up on two spirits, a male and a female. We believe that they are only in visitation and not grounded in this building.
Our third vigil was in the museum with all the team in attendance and split into two teams. For me personally this was a very quiet vigil but Jackie had a bit of a fright when she saw a figure in a small corridor.
Vigils 4 and 5 were in the restaurant and bar areas. Unfortunately this was a very quiet area and nothing of any significance was picked up. Vigil 6 was left to us to decide whether we wanted to go back to the museum or bedroom of our choice. We chose bedroom 4 and to do another Franks box experiment. This however proved to be not as exciting as our previous attempt but still a good investigation nonetheless.
I feel very pleased to have been able to investigate Jamaica inn and would definitely love to have the chance to come back again.
Gary Catlin
Jamaica Inn is a free house in Bolventor, near the middle of Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. Built as a coaching house in 1750, it is famous for being the base for smugglers in the past and known as the setting for Daphne du Maurier's novel of the same name. The young author was inspired to write her novel when, having gone horse riding on the moors she became lost in thick fog and sought refuge at the inn; whilst recovering from her ordeal the local rector is supposed to have entertained her with ghost stories and tales of smuggling. He would later become the inspiration for the enigmatic character of the Vicar of Altarnun. The novel was made into the film Jamaica Inn in 1939 by Alfred Hitchcock and Jamaica Inn a 1983 television series starring Jane Seymour.
After arriving we had a short tour of the building and made our way to our first location. We started in bedroom 1. Maria had left an Iphone switched on which had a low level sound decoder running. The idea of this bit of software is that it picks up on low frequency sound and translates them into words. We began by taking our baseline readings, and setting up the equipment. We then took it in turns to call out; Jackie felt the presences of a lady in the corner by the TV. She could not get a name as such, but felt as if this person was just watching what we were doing, and did not know or understand how to communicate with us. The Iphone picked up several words and Sarah was writing them down. We could not however be sure if these words were in answer to our questions. Some perhaps could have been, this was only because they seem to form a sentence. This mainly occurred when we were talking to each other and not paying attention as it were, to the lady in the corner.
After an hour we moved onto the next room which was room 5. We started by taking our base-line reading. There was a locked-off video camera on the window seat. Once we had settled in, we called out, Jackie could sense an older man, and said she could see a “pork belly†gentleman pacing the room between the main entrance door and the foot of the bed. She explained that he was implying that he is a man of court, such as a JP or Judge. Several attempts from each of us were made to try and get some level of response but however nothing significant happened that could confirm any of this. Sarah and Jackie both took several photos in this room and would be interesting in finding out if anything came out. We noticed that on a couple of the photos had what seemed to be blue and white dots mainly taken by the wardrobe area. It is worth noting that the TV located in the corner of this room had a blue standby light so this might account for the unusual blue dots on the photos.
After an hour in each room, the whole group met on the landing to divide into pairs, to allow us to investigate all the rooms. Sarah and myself were in room 6. Nothing really happened in this room, however, Sarah noticed that the trigger object placed on the window seat had moved and she took a picture to compare later. Also, the curtain holder had fallen onto her bag; it is worth noting that the bag was placed at least two feet away from where the curtain holder should have fallen if it was knocked off it's holder.
After a short break we continued our investigation in the museum to the left of the main Inn. The museum had been created to show the history of the Inn and local area. The build itself appears to be a converted barn; this might have taken place during the mid to late 1970's. The whole group was involved in this vigil and it was decided to split into two groups. The first group settled in the presentation area towards the back of the museum. Our group set up in the front part of the museum. We took it in turns calling out and Jackie picked up on a military general that seem to be related or linked in some way to the area, and she continued trying to get a response from him. Jackie then said that she saw a figure in the doorway, Sarah took several photos and it would be interesting to see if anything came out from them. There was a display of a general uniform to the right of the door where Jackie said she had seen it, when she looked closer at the display she was 99% sure that was the coat she saw in the doorway. We went over our time in the museum but I felt it was worth staying a little longer. Steve had joined us from the other group and remained in our team until the end of the investigation.
We then moved into the restaurant area; however nothing major was reported from our team. It seemed to settle down as the bar area did not give anything
In our final vigil we all decided to go back to room 4. This is the room Jackie and Mark were in during the pair investigation earlier on. Jackie and Mark were using the Franks box, a device that continually scans radio frequencies. The idea is that sprits can form words though the white noise and radio station as it passes. Jackie and Mark had reported that when they were in this room last, they had got several defined answers to their questions from the Franks box. We proceeded along the same route this time. However our results were inconclusive and we could not get defined answers to our questions.
Overall I enjoyed this location and would be very interested in a return visit.
I would like to thank Julie for the opportunity and all the members who work really well on the night. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the staff/Owner(s) of Jamaica Inn for letting us in for the night. I would also like to pass on my appreciation to all the members of SPUK who came to this investigation and supported the night; I hope to work with them even more in the not too distant future.