Southern Paranormal - Investigations
Junior School, Southampton Investigation
Saturday 19th May 2007
Attending Investigators – Julie Harwood, Maria Street, Alison Blyth, Wayne Blyth, Di Moore, Dan White, Brian Ward, Amanda Horley, Emma Curtis, Rab Gardner, Maureen Taylor, Paul Martin, Mark Pettet, Marie Holder, Gill O’Farrell & Mark Boulton.
Members of staff – Martin, Kim, Rachel, Julie
Guests of SP UK – Joan Holding, Robert English & Tracey Potter
Introduction
After our last visit to the Junior School we were eager to return and were very pleased when our wish was granted. So much had been picked up on by our members that we hoped this visit would reveal some more of the schools secrets.
Again, being the school history is pretty un-researchable meant it posed its problems as well as its benefits. The benefit being that no members could read up on the school however the problem was that anything picked up on is so hard to verify. This visit however we were lucky enough to have some old school log books in the hub, which meant the hub team could look up any names that were picked up on during the investigation.
Previous Sightings / Experiences
Alice – a little girl has been picked up, seen and heard in the school. Little is known about Alice apart from that she is very young and legend has it she died at the school but no one is sure when.
A former caretaker - has also made his presence known, especially in the area that his office used to be. He died of Lung Cancer in 2004. His name has been withheld to protect his family’s privacy.
Footsteps have been heard on stairs in one of the buildings.
A little girl singing has also been reported (some believe to be Alice).
Doors in a certain area fly open of their own accord.
It was also hoped that a former head master of the school who dies in 1998 would also be picked up on.
A little girl apparently haunts the art cupboard in one of the blocks, so much so that some of the cleaners refuse to go in to that area.
Humming and laughter have been heard in one block.
Fleeting figures/flashes have been seen in the library
Pencils have been reported to fly off a desk in front of 2 witnesses.
Members also hoped to pick up again on spirits that had made themselves known to the sensitives in our team on our last visit in November. For details of these, it may be best to read our November report prior to this report.
http://www.southernparanormal.com/reports/junior-school.html
Vigil Area’s
East Block – incl Library
Year 3 hall and 5 classrooms (all lead off from the hall)
Bell Tower and music rooms
South Block – incl Corridor
Main hall and 5 classrooms (all leading off from the hall)
Caretakers room & The Snug
North Block - Incl
Year 6 hall and 7 classrooms (all lead off from the hall)
The Snug & Art cupboard
Non Vigil Teams
Hub Team
Julie Harwood
Maria Street
Wayne Blyth
Dan White
Moving between teams filming
Brian Ward
Vigil Teams
Team 1
Rab – Team Leader
Paul
Di
Gill
Mark B
Tracey – Guest of SP UK
Robert – Guest of SP UK
Team 2
Alison – Team Leader
Maureen
Mark P
Joan Holding – Guest of SP UK
Julie – Member of Staff
Rachel – Member of Staff
Team 3
Amanda – Team Leader
Marie
Emma
Martin D – Member of Staff
Kim Axtell – Member of Staff
| 8pm | Team arrive and meet in Playground |
| 8.30pm | Tour of the school |
| 9.00pm | Pre Vigils Break |
| 10.00pm | Vigil 1 Team 1 – East Block Team 2 – North Block Team 3 – South Block |
| 11.00pm | Break |
| 11.30pm | Vigil 2 Team 1 – North Block Team 2 – South Block Team 3 – East Block |
| 12.45pm | Break |
| 2.00am | Vigil 3 Team 1 – East Block Team 2 – North Block Team 3 – South Block |
| 2.45am | Break |
| 3.00am | Vigil 4 Team 1 – South Block Team 2 – East Block Team 3 – North Block |
| 4.00am | Pack up |
| 4.30am | Depart |
Team Equipment
At least one digital camera
1 x Night Vision Camcorder
4 x labelled vigil tapes for camcorder
1 x EMF Meter
1 x Non Contact thermometer
Clipboard, note sheets, pen
At least one torch
Teams also had access if they required it to – glasses for divination, Ouija Board, automatic writing planchette, dictaphone.
Trigger Object Experiments
Marbles in classroom 5JI
TIME SET – 8.45pm
SET BY – Julie & Wayne
PHOTO TAKEN - Yes
TIME CLOSED – 4.00am
RESULTS – These trigger objects did not move
PHOTO TAKEN - Yes
Ghost books & Pebble in Library corridor
TIME SET – 9.10pm
SET BY – Julie & Wayne
PHOTO TAKEN - Yes
TIME CLOSED – 3.45am
RESULTS – The books did not move position however the large pebble / stone left in the middle of the books turned a full 180 degrees only a couple of hours after it was set up.
PHOTO TAKEN - Yes
Locked off Camcorders
Locked off 1
TIME SET – 9.30PM
LOCATION – Outside Music Room, North Upstairs
SET BY - Wayne
TIME CLOSED – 4.15am
CLOSED BY - Wayne
Locked off 2
TIME SET – 9.35PM
LOCATION – Top of stairs, South Block
SET BY - Julie
TIME CLOSED – 4.20am
CLOSED BY - Brian
Baseline Tests
recorded by Rab, Di & Emma
East Block
Hall – Temp 19.5 fluctuating to 20.0, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations
Library / ICT Suite – Temp 22, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations apart from near power points and electrical equipment where readings were as expected. Area noisy due to computers and other electrical equipment. Also Library and ICT suite were the site of the hub.
Music Rooms – Temps 20.0 – 21.0, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations, sound present like a tap has been left slightly on in one of the rooms
Bell Tower Room – Temp 21.0, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations
Little room off Bell tower room – Temp 22.0, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations
South Block
Hall – Temp 20.0, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations
Corridor to hall – Temp 19,5, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations
5 Classrooms – Classrooms have not be named to keep anonymity
classroom 1 – Temp 20.5, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations
classroom 2 – Temp 20.0, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations
classroom 3 – Temp 21.5, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations
classroom 4 – Temp 21.0, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations
classroom 5 – Temp 20.5, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations
Stairs – Temp 21.0, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations
Caretakers Room – Temp 23.0, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations
The Snug – Temp 20.0, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations
North Block
Hall – Temp 21.0, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations
7 Classrooms – Classrooms have not be named to keep anonymity
classroom 1 – Temp 21.0, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations
classroom 2 – Temp 20.5, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations
classroom 3 – Temp 21.0, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations
classroom 4 – Temp 21.5, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations
classroom 5 – Temp 21.0, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations
classroom 6 – Temp 20.5, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations
classroom 7 – Temp 21.0, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations
The Snug – Temp 19.5, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations
The Art Cupboard – Temp 20.0, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations
Boiler Room
First Part of Room – Temp 15.5, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations
Centre of Room – Temp 14.5, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations
Cubby Hole at end of area – Temp 16.5, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations
Vigil / Team Notes
Team 1
East Block –
10.05pm In the Hall, Di & Rab feel cold spot on their backs
10.09pm Music Room, Di, Paul & Brian feel cold spot
10.11pm Music Room, Tracey feels cold breeze on her back
10.22pm Paul feels something on top of his head, feels like a hand
10.31pm The snug, Rab sees an orb move across the room
10.32pm The snug, Rab feels a tickling on the top of his head and gets the name Jane
10.33pm Store room, Paul senses a slim woman, dark hair, wearing a cardigan
10.35pm Tracey and Rob sense the name Sara
Team attempt a glass divination and make contact with a former caretaker of the school, William that knows Rob and Tracey.
North Block –
Team spend a little time in the boiler room
Rab feels a cold spot behind him that moves before he can take a temp reading
Team call out
Di senses a person stood by the door and gets the name Arthur
Mark gets the name Winguard (possibly Arthur Winguard?)
Rab feels the presence of 2 men
Paul senses 2 men fighting, one man he felt was nasty the other liked to laugh every time Di called out.
Di and Paul feel a moving cold spot
Gill feels a sensation like she is being pulled backwards
Team make their way to the Music room
Brian gets goosebumps in this area
Team attempt glass divination and manage to contact William again. William confirms there are other spirits in the building. He agrees to step back to let other spirits make contact. Team pick up on a Nelson and Robert and also on a baby boy.
South Block –
In the Snug – Tracey feels a moving cold spot
Tracey felt she had been poked in her lower back in response to the team calling out
Di & Rab feel a cold spot
Caretakers room – Gill and Mark – Light anomaly caught on camcorder and temp gun seems to malfunction reading a temp of 106!
Gill gets the name Derek
In Classroom – Di has a headache and Rab sees an orb move across the room
On the left hand side of the classroom Rab sees a large blue shape moving past the window
All team hear creaking noise in hall that seems to be in response to calling out.
Di sees a large shadow move across hall
Rab hears a low/deep chuckle
Team 2
North Block Room 3
Temp 19 – 20, normal emf readings
Alison’s heart starts fluttering
Maureen feels touch on her head and around her back
Maureens leg is also cold but both her legs read the same temp. She also feels a coldness on her left ear. Temp readings confirm this. Left ear 25, right ear 29.
Alison senses a man and when asked for a name gives George
Joan also was thinking of the name George and felt the surname was Randell
Julie has the phrase Randy Randell in her head
Alison calls out for George to confirm this information by knocking above the team
Crystal indicated a definite no when asked for confirmation and in her head Alison heard “F*** off” but said with a giggle.
Alison feels George is a bit of a woman watcher and she feels a prod in her back when she asks this
As Alison was calling out to George Mark captures a light anomaly move across Alison
Team attempt glass divination and call George but they do not get a response.
Alison was given the year 1908.
Main Hall
Team tried glass divination again but get no response in this area either.
Both Maureen and Alison smelt disinfectant. Alison smelt it quite strongly while Maureen only smelt it faintly.
Alison felt like she was being told to count back from 10 and also felt something was on her face. She also felt very woozy like she had been sedated.
Maureen felt like this related to the 1st world war and the area being used as a make shift hospital.
Team feel a sharp drop in temp and so check for any obvious sources and can not find any.
Whilst walking up and down this area both Mark and Alison felt a heat on their arms and hands like a burning sensation. Mark noticed that in the dark the floor looked like it had been spattered with blood.
Team felt rooms of the hall could have been make shift wards.
Maureen was given the number 8 in the main hall, which all thought may relate to the numbers of beds.
Mark felt the corridor at the far end of the hall could have been used for a nursing station with the double doors being where the patients or wounded were brought in.
South Block
Team stand in corridor and call out.
Alison was given the name of Henry Carter, a tall man around 6’5’’. When she said his name she felt she was being corrected to say – Major Henry Carter
Classroom 1 – When entering the classroom all team feel uneasy and uncomfortable as if they were going to be given bad news of some sort. Something that would change their lives or they would have to make a life changing decision.
Mark and Alison feel shaky and nervous.
Joan feels the room has an edgy feel to it.
Classroom 2 – Maureen and Mark get pins and needles and a feeling of coldness from their knees down.
Mark feels the room could have been used for amputations. He had an overwhelming desire to just lay back and a feeling of just wanting to give up.
Both Maureen and Alison feel sick, very tired and heady.
Team feel room is very oppressive and Mark gets sudden toothache even though he has not had it before entering the room.
On leaving the room Mark notices his toothache has disappeared.
Team move on to caretakers room
Team notice how welcoming the room felt. It felt to some of the team like someone had only just left it.
Maureen and Mark get a picture in their heads of the room looking slightly different with a table and chairs, bed, comfy chair by a fireplace, over looking the playground. They feel like the room would have been occupied by someone in a position of responsibility but are not sure this was to do with the school.
North Block
All areas seem quiet nothing experienced by the team apart from Maureen heard someone in her head say “What do you expect they have all settled down for the night”. This, the team feel could have related to the hospital activity picked up earlier in the investigation.
East Block
Quiet vigil however Alison at one point feels like someone blew on her hand and arm.
When calling out she also heard the name Wayne spoken in a whiney voice.
Team 3
South Block
Special Needs area – Temp 23. Emf started to fluctuate in the centre of the room for no apparent reason however after a short while the readings dropped back down to normal again.
The Caretakers Room – team picked up on a energy who appeared to know Dan. In the corridor the team picked up that this spirit passed in the 1980’s and it wanted to lead the team downstairs. Marie did not like the end of the corridor and the team, using the rods seemed to pick up the presence of a spirit, possibly a teacher.
Downstairs in the end classroom, Martin felt the temperature had dropped and Emma confirmed this by picking up a drop in temp with the temp gun.
The camcorder the team was using was picking up lights that the team could not explain.
The group sat on the floor initially and both Amanda’s elbows felt cold, then the feeling moved to just her left elbow. The temperature gun did not show any difference in temperature but Amanda could definitely feel the difference.
The team moved to the next classroom and started calling out. The rods they were using moved slightly and Dan, Martin and Maria all heard footsteps coming from the entrance corridor. Dan and Martin investigated but found no cause for the footsteps.
The remaining team called out again and heard a noise that was described like a crisp packet being scrunched. All felt this came from within the room. Amanda started a “pat a cake” game and the EMF meter that Emma was holding near Amanda spiked several times for no apparent reason while she was doing this.
The team heard the scrunchy sound but this time it sounded more like someone saying “shoosh" like they wanted the team to be quiet. The team noticed that this happened when they were chatting and not really concentrating on the vigil.
East Block
Snug area – Temp 20, EMF readings normal
Team attempt glass divination but no movement was experienced
Art Cupboard – Team find this area very quiet and nothing is experienced
Downstairs – Team go into a room and can hear tappings coming from one of the tables. They tried glass divination and it did move slightly but nothing conclusive. Team does hear a very quiet groan.
In the main hall team hear lots of tapping and clicks which seems to be coming from the sports equipment area.
Kim feels cold in the middle of the classrooms. The emf meter turned itself on in this area and went straight to orange light (high reading) but no one was touching it at the time (Note – the type of emf meter the team were using can only be activated when the button in the centre is pressed down quite hard)
Return to South Block
Nothing was experienced when the team returned to this area
North Block
Music Room – Temp 20 fluctuating to 21, EMF readings normal
Mrs C’s room – Temp 16, noticeably colder to the team, EMF readings normal
Downstairs – All class rooms and hall temp 18, no unusual EMF readings noted
Mrs R’s room – The team felt this room had something in it and described it as feeling “not empty” however they could get no response to calling out. After this the room seemed to become very calm and so team headed back to hall where they could hear noises coming from Mrs S’s room. The team felt it felt “wrong” in there and they could hear more noises. The temp in this room was now 20 and none of the team felt comfortable.
Emma got a headache and felt she needed to leave the room. Her team mates followed shortly after as they did not want to stay there.
Personal Reports
Dan White
I joined Amanda’s group part way through their vigil of the upstairs of year 4. As a group we felt nothing upstairs so we moved to the lower floor after a short while. The year 4 hall (South hall) is a bit creaky, but during our investigation there were so many creaks that there was hardly a minute of silence. The creaking noises were one after the other, to my recollection not quite simultaneous, but so fast and so frequent that there was barely a moment of silence. Some of the other team members felt uneasy in certain areas of South block, however I felt nothing.
Later I joined Maria, Julie and Wayne for a Ouija board session in the year 3 hall (aka North hall). After a slow start the glass began to move on one occasion resting on JI – Maria and Julie thought about the classroom 5JI which is a room off of East hall (the main assembly hall). Then the initials LM came up. I thought of the party I had thrown on Friday night and the person who had those initials. Wayne then pointed out 3LM – a year 3 classroom, I then (finally!!) managed to put 2 and 2 together, the party attendee is also a teacher at the school whose classroom was a couple of metres away from the Ouija board.
Next I joined a group in 5JI who seemed to have `tapped in` to a spirit who seems to join the group on frequent occasions. After a while, the spirit seemed reluctant to communicate so we ended the séance. One thing that was amazing was when Julie said protection, two bright yellow snaps of light appeared above her head. If a person with fire for fingers could snap them, that’s what it looked like, a quick blink/burst. One snap directly above the centre of her cranium, the other slightly off to her right. It wasn’t until we reached the staffroom, that I told her (I felt a bit stupid and thought it was the affects of the previous night); however Maria saw something very similar.
A few occurrences tonight, but being someone who works at the school and has worked alone at night, the building felt inactive from the start, like we weren’t going to get anything. I know what I have heard when alone in the building, and I know what the atmosphere has felt like. This unfortunately was not the case tonight, the school felt asleep, but perhaps dormant is a better word for it!
Marie Holder
Location: Junior School, Southampton
Date: 19th May, 2007
Team: Amanda Horley, Emma Curtis, Marie Holder, Martin Davies & Kim Axtell
Introduction
This was the first time I had visited this school and what a beautiful old school it was, dating back to 1899 it still has all the characteristics of a school of that era.
Maria took those who had not been there before on a walk round and we got to see the boiler room in East block which was very spooky and I looked forward to doing a vigil down there.
Vigil 1 – South Block
I had heard that this was the most active part of the school, so I was very hopeful. We started upstairs in the **** room at the end of the corridor and I sweeped for EMF readings, I found that it showed readings of 2mg in the middle of the room where I could find no logical explanation and after a while it dissipated.
Maria, Martin and Kim then joined us and we sat in the dark and called out, but I could not hear any responses to our questions. Amanda asked us if we wanted to investigate any other area on the upper level and I said the caretaker’s room might be interesting so we moved in there. Dan then joined us.
Amanda tried the diving rods and both she and I tried calling out and the rods did show some signs of movement. We then asked the spirits if they recognised anybody in the room and they pointed to Dan.
We then moved into the corridor and tried the rods again, we asked if there was anybody present that they would like to ask the questions and the rods pointed to Maria. Maria managed to ascertain that the spirit we contacted worked at the school and died in the 80’s and Amanda mentioned that this tied in with a spirit she contacted downstairs the last time she investigated the school.
We then went downstairs into the main hall and I approached one of the corners that was very dark and lead to a corridor, I felt as though there was something there stopping me from going down there it was a very strange sensation and quite threatening. We tried the rods in that area and we contacted the same spirit as upstairs.
We found that one of the classrooms had a lower temperature than the others and spent a little time in there calling out.
It was a little disconcerting in the hall, as there were lots of loud creaks and cracks from the lights.
Vigil 2 – North Block
We started upstairs in the snug and decided to try a glass divination, unfortunately on this occasion there was no movement so we went into the art room for a short while but could not sense anything then we went downstairs into one of the classrooms.
We tried another glass divination there and we got slight movement but nothing significant.
We moved around the classrooms and called out but got little response.
Vigil 3 – South Block re-visited
We stayed downstairs on this vigil and went in the after school club cupboard, I sweeped for EMF readings but got nothing unusual.
We went back to the main hall and I went back to the same area where I felt my strange sensation and it did not feel as bad as before as I actually went into the corridor whereas before I couldn’t!
The one classroom on the other side of the hall to the entrance door which on the first vigil proved to be colder than the others was still colder so we decided to go in there again and call out.
Amanda, Kim and I sat on the floor as Amanda felt there was a child’s presence in the room and we all played ‘pat-a-cake’ with invisible partners to see if we could get a response but I did not feel anything.
We tried calling out in the classroom next door but got no responses there either.
Vigil 4 – East Block
We started by going upstairs to the server room and we then decided to sit in the music room and see if we could sense or hear anything unusual. Unfortunately I did not feel anything unusual.
We then moved on to the upstairs classroom. We sat in there for about 15 mins and again I did not feel or hear anything unusual so we decided to go downstairs.
We walked round from classroom to classroom and there was one room which when we entered we all heard a loud bang and a shuffling noise coming from the sink area, Amanda shone her torch over to the area and we could not find what had caused the noise.
Conclusion
The best area for me was the Main Hall in the South Block as when I approached that corridor I experienced a sensation I had not experienced before and will not forget in a hurry!
It was a great opportunity to investigate a wonderful old school and hopefully next time I will get the chance to investigate the spooky boiler room. Bring it on!!
Wayne Blyth
Due to the level of activity picked up on our previous visit, I was anxious to get started on our return. Again, I was lucky enough to join different teams as I was part of the “hub” team. This involved making sure everyone had the right equipment and the setting of locked off cameras.
Julie and myself joined Alison, Maureen, Mark P and our guest Joan in the classroom in the north block. Immediately, both Alison and Joan picked up on the names, Randall, and George. Julie and I decided to go and look through the schools logbooks, to try and search for the name. I picked up the first book I came to and started searching. Spookily, when I opened the book, on no particularly chosen page, the first word that my eyes were drawn to was my own surname!! My name is actually Scottish and not very common in the south of England, so to find it in a logbook from the 1950s, of a school in Southampton was the last thing I expected.
Next, Julie and I set up a table with letters/numbers to be used for glass divination in the hall, along with a trigger object experiment in the library corridor adjoining the hall. This, we decided, was to be a pebble set at a specific angle, between several ghost and paranormal books. Interestingly, when we checked later, the pebble had moved to a different angle. Dan, Maria, Julie and myself attempted glass divination in the hall, and received several responses to our questions. The glass moved to certain letters and for some reason I thought of a little girl. Maybe this was just because of our location. The glass also went to the number 3 and settled between the letters L & M. We carried on until I suddenly noticed that one of the classes was called “3LM”! We decided that we had to come back to visit that classroom. Unfortunately time caught us out and we never managed to return.
My next significant vigil was in another classroom with Rab and Paul et al. Again glass divination was attempted and again we received responses. However it appeared that we were making contact with someone who had, on a previous visit, latched on to Julie and was intent on antagonising her. For me, I began to feel extremely angry during our experiment. I still cannot explain this.
Lastly I was in the library with Maureen and Maria. Here I was to experience the strangest cold spot I have ever witnessed. My left leg started to feel very cold and, measuring with the temp gun, there was a 2 degree difference from my right leg.
Conclusion.
I certainly experienced more here than last time, and certainly think there is more to this place than meets the eye. I feel class 3LM is calling us to a return visit.
Thank you to all concerned and especially Dan for your excellent tea. (I think your website description may start reading, Tea Maker!)
Maria Street
I was so excited about this one and although I shouldn’t think like this, I was expecting great things. This was only because activity had been increasing in the building for the previous fortnight, which sort of gave the impression that ‘they’ were getting ready for us. We arrived at 7.45 and started to set up. After a quick cup of tea and a tour of the building conducted by Dan and myself, we split in to our respective teams. For the first vigil I was with Amanda’s team and we set off for the South Block. We settled in to the ELSA room but felt that the energy was in the next room, the caretaker’s room. Amanda used the divining rods whilst Marie asked the questions. Amanda got the name Geoffrey and it seemed that he recognised two members of staff stood in the vicinity. We heard a couple of thuds downstairs and decided to make our way down. We settled in to the hall and Marie felt drawn to the far corridor. We made our way over there whilst Martin, a member of staff, had a good look round. He soon called us over as he felt one of the classrooms was very cold. We stepped inside and it was indeed colder than the hall. We did some calling out and some light anomalies were captured on the video recorder. Somebody else, I can’t remember who, drew our attention to the next door classroom because it was colder still. We went inside and called out and at exactly the same moment, Martin and I heard footsteps coming from the main corridor. He went to investigate with Dan whilst the rest of us called out some more. The hall had been very noisy with creaks and taps whilst we were in there, but they were now increasing in momentum. It was whilst we were calling out that we heard what sounded like something moving. It was very loud and very definite. Unfortunately we could not pinpoint the exact location of these phenomena but it was very exciting all the same. A little while later we heard what sounded like Sssh. It was so good that we over ran by ten minutes! What a great start. A quick break and off to the next one. This time I was accompanied by Julie, Wayne and Dan and we went in to one of the North hall classrooms. We called out and we could hear the most incredible taps coming from the hall and then Julie jumped out of her skin! She saw somebody outside the classroom door and went out to investigate, but there was nobody there. It was then decided that we would do a Ouija experiment in the hall. We seemed to be making contact with a belligerent spirit that we had encountered before. The glass kept spelling out the initials of two classrooms, one of which was where the encounter had been before. We were still getting the obligatory taps when I saw something flit in front of one of the classroom doors. A little while later Dan thought that he could see something similar. My hands also felt quite cold, although Wayne’s were just the opposite and were uncharacteristically warm. We knew exactly where to hold our next vigil and went straight to one of the classrooms spelled out on the Ouija board. We tried glass divination but this spirit, although quite strong at times, was reluctant to give us his story. It seemed that he disliked everybody and was very negative indeed.
The last vigil for me was spent once again in the company of Amanda. Unfortunately everything seemed to go very quiet and nothing was picked up. Once again a thoroughly enjoyable evening spent at this location and I would like to thank the Head once more for allowing us the privilege of investigating here. We all really appreciate his trust in us.
Gillian O’Farrell
This was my first investigation with the team and was much anticipated. The team for this investigation was quite large and there was a big area to cover. I also had to get to grips with the equipment and methods of investigation so it was a steep learning curve.
We first had a tour of the area to orientate ourselves during which baseline measurements were taken. Rab ably led our team; other members included Paul, Di, Mark and two guests who had associations with the school. Brian followed with the night vision filming.
East Block
Our fist vigil was in hall. We spent some time getting the feel of the building and listening and observing. I was carrying the temperature meter. Temperature measurements were all normal ranging from about 17 to 20 oC. Nothing unusual was noted although I felt drawn towards the staircase leading up to the art room. I had a sense of a small girl looking down, standing on the landing halfway up the staircase. Upstairs were two rooms and team members sat in each. There was a lot of noise from people and traffic outside the building so it was hard to pick anything up. We attempted a glass divination without response. We went back downstairs and into one of the class rooms. On entering this classroom I took a temperature measurement and the gauge read 104 o. I took it again and got 86 o. The measurement was then consistently 104 o. I though I must have been doing something wrong with the equipment and didn’t think much more of it.
We had another attempt at glass divination and I could definitely feel energy building up in a kind of circular pulsing round the top of the glass. The glass started moving and gave answers to questions moving clearly and firmly. The messages were from a man who had previously worked at the school and was related to two of the team members. As we were getting so much information we were reluctant to end the session but had we had already over-run by ten minutes. On ended the session I took the temperature again which read 86 o. I was sure then that the gauge was malfunctioning. On leaving the room I immediately checked the temperature. The reading was 21 o. I cannot explain why this happened but the temperature gauge behaved normally after this; only in that room during the divination was the gauge apparently affected.
North Block
We started in a basement boiler room, which had not previously been investigated. I experienced a few fleeting temperature peaks here. Whilst standing in one part of the room I experienced some odd sensations of movement. I felt as if I was being pulled and moved. I was swaying and finding it hard to stand still. When I moved into another part of the room I did not experience this. On moving back into that area, the movement started again.
In the music room, we attempted another glass divination. In this room, I sensed a girl called Hannah and some constriction of the throat. This glass movement was very strong and turned out to be the same person communicating as in the East Block. After a while, we asked him to step aside and some other energies communicated, one personal to me.
We went back into North Block with another team for the third vigil. No phenomena of any kind were observed.
South Block
For the last vigil we were back with Rab’s team. We started upstairs in the site manager’s office Mark and I sat down and I called out. I had the feeling that my breathing was more difficult in this room. After a while we noticed a flash on the lower part of the opposite wall. We asked again for another light and then saw a large orange flash in the same area. Another smaller one followed. I sensed a male in this room with an attachment to the model of a ship on top of one of the cupboards.
We went back downstairs to the hall and classrooms. This was the only area where I felt a little wary, as if someone else was there. We all heard an unusual noise. It sounded to me like a voice through an intercom. We heard it again and could not identify the cause.
In this investigation I experienced some interesting phenomena; light anomalies, noises, movement, temperature spikes and results from glass divination. The whole site felt very safe and comfortable though and gave the impression of being a happy place. It was a great place to do my first investigation and I look forward to the next one!
Mark Boulton
Being my first investigation and having seen the many TV programs, I was unsure as to what it was really going to be like. We arrived at the school in good time to see some of the others waiting outside. Julie introduced to some of the team whilst entering the site.
We started with a tour of the school to orientate ourselves. We were put into team 1 led by Rab, and consisting of Paul, Di, Gill and two guests.
Our fist vigil was in the east block hall, I was pleased (and relieved) with the organised and sensible way that Rab led the team. We started by standing as a group in the main hall. After a while of inactivity we moved upstairs. I volunteered to a stint in a store cupboard, with Paul, I did not experience anything but Paul sensed a lady. On returning to the other upstairs room a glass divination was attempted (I was videoing) but with no responses. We returned downstairs and entered one of the class rooms. After some calling out, another glass divination was carried out, this time I joined the group sat around the table (Gill, Rab, Paul and one guest).
As I mentioned before I have never tried any of this before so did not know what to expect. Almost immediately after placing my finger on the glass I could feel a ‘pulsing’. At first I thought this was the pulse in my finger tip, as I was only lightly touching the glass. I thought that any slight movement of my finger could feel like the glass was vibrating. While I was thinking this and trying to keep my finger absolutely still, the glass started moving, and towards me. As the glass had moved towards me, we thought that the message (if any) was directed to me. After calling out and asking yes/no questions we identified the message was from an ex-caretaker and a relative of our two guests.
Our second vigil was in the north block, again with team 1. We started in an underground boiler room; to be honest I experienced nothing in the room though some of the others did. We then moved upstairs to a music room, again we carried out a glass divination with the same people as before though now including the other guest. Very soon the glass started moving again. It became evident that this again was the ex-caretaker, he then apparently let another person in, and this turned out to be another relative of our guests.
After the following break, we were put into another team, and returned to the north block. This time however everything was quiet and another glass divination was attempted but without any responses.
For the last vigil we were again placed back into team 1 and went to the south block. We started upstairs. Gill and I sat in the site manager’s office and did some calling out. We experienced some sort of light anomaly though nothing else happened. We returned down stairs to the hall and classrooms, we heard a sort of ‘intercom’ white noise type of sound a couple of times but could not identify the cause. This ended my first investigation.
Overall, this was a very good experience for my first investigation, and I successfully managed to stay awake! The team, as I said were very organised and professional. This type of event must be quite hard to keep everybody together and focused but was handled very well by all the teams. I do believe that the results from the glass divination were genuine (i.e. not deliberately being controlled) but not necessarily convinced they came from ‘spirits’.
Mark Pettet
As I missed the first investigation at this location I was very pleased to get the chance to go. For me this investigation was a delight to do as I experienced a number of things. 1st Vigil was in North Block. I had the feeling that the main hall had a hospital feel about it. Alison & myself experienced this. Plus numerous hot and cold spots. I also experienced pains in my chest and a burning sensation in my hands.
The whole layout of the building resembled and suggested it had been some kind of hospital in previous years.
The second vigil was in South Block. This was a very strange place with different feelings. In all areas, especially 2 of the classrooms, I had the feeling of apprehension and unease. The 2nd classroom when entering gave me the sensation of tingling below my knees and this was also felt by my team mate Maureen. Strangely enough when I sat down on one of the tables, I began to get toothache and had the urge to lay back like I was sat in a dentists chair. Upstairs in the caretaker’s room I was totally different and felt very comfortable and relaxed. The 3rd Vigil took us back to the North Block to investigate the upstairs music rooms, which did not produce any results. We tried glass divination and calling out. We then went down to the Boiler room. It was very dark and very quiet, too quiet in fact. It had an uneasy feel but I put that down to heightened senses.
All in all a very good night and I look forward to visiting again.
Alison Blyth
The North Block.
I was joined by Mark, Joan, Maureen and our two guests.
Our first vigil was in one of the classrooms. Wayne and Julie joined us for this vigil. We called out and whilst no taps were heard I was given the name of George. I asked again to obtain a bit more information and was given 5'7" for some reason, and Joan was given the name of Randell. At the same time Julie giggled and said she had the name randy Randall given to her. This lightened the mood, as the impression we were given is that he liked the ladies but unfortunately they didn't really like him. I felt slight touches and asked him to move the feeling to someone else as it did make me feel a little uncomfortable. As our time had run out we moved on to take a break.
The East block's main hall was fascinating for me as for some reason I could see it as a hospital and not a primary school's hall. We called out and didn't get a response, but instead I was given the smell of disinfectant and told to count back from ten. I felt like a mask had been put on my face which bothered me as at first it made no sense to me at all but as time went on it clicked into place. I believe that the hall was used as a 'makeshift' hospital during the first world war and whilst counting backwards from ten is a new thing when being put under anaesthesia, it was a way of letting me relate to what actually happened here.
The other thing that struck me as very strange was the fact that both Mark and myself felt like the back of our arms had been burnt and we both felt that the classrooms lent themselves to being wards.
The Boiler Room.
Mark joined me for this vigil. I have to say that I was very apprehensive of this area as it was extremely dark and I have a phobia of rats and basements seem to be the ideal hiding place for them. All this aside, and when i got over the fact that there was nothing there except Mark and I, I settled into the vigil. I got the distinct feeling of someone lurking in the corner of the main room and felt that maybe this room was used as a meeting place to discuss private matters. I also felt that the meeting was not for pleasantries and was a plot to 'have it out' with someone, a final solution to an ongoing problem. I was given no more details so was unable to establish the meaning of this.
The South Block.
We split the group so we could cover the area effectively. Joan and I were in the small corridor by the far end of the area. I felt very uneasy here and felt in the way for some reason. It felt like a busy area where patients were brought in to be assessed before being made comfortable. I felt the presence of a very tall man who stood by the doors and reached to the top of the door (estimated at 6'4" in height). He gave me the name of Henry Carter and spoke in a very 'posh' voice. He later dropped the fist name and claimed he was a major which i assumed related to the army.
We entered the other classrooms and despite not hearing any noises felt very uncomfortable as if we were being given bad news of some sort. Mark felt toothache and the feeling of wanting to lay back. This struck me as strange as when we left the area the pain disappeared and he felt fine.
Our last vigil was in the East Block. Both Julie and Wayne joined us. We called out but unfortunately had no response but I felt the distinct feeling of pain in my left leg and had to check it was still there. Other than that the atmosphere was light and non-oppressive.
All in all an interesting evening. Once again, thanks for the opportunity to investigate these premises.
Emma Curtis
I had a good feeling about returning to this place, I was feeling more settled in the group now and this made it once again easier than the first visit which was my very first one with the group.
In the first vigil it was quite peaceful not a lot happening, we did have a spiking of EMF meter in the centre of the room at one point. While our team leader was calling out there were 2 slight bangs and some of us also heard a rustling sort of noise but it never happened long or again while we were in this vigil.
I did feel something by my ear but I’m not sure if that was my hair touching my face.
The rest of the vigil was peaceful whichever room we entered.
The 2nd vigil again was not very active apart from near the end when I noticed that my EMF meter was yellow and green and seemed to be stuck. I don’t even remember turning it back on but I quite possibly could have done with out realising but then I only noticed because we went to another part of the building, it was only when we returned I noticed it.
When holding the video camera in the 3rd vigil I might have seen a light flutter, that looked like came from the direction of one of our guest’s legs but can not be sure. In the same vigil the video camera did not like one end of the room it kept moving out of focus and not correcting itself but move to any other part and it would re-focus.
Our last vigil was quiet and peaceful much like the rest of the vigils that we had done that night but when returning to the hub (main meeting point) we entered a few more rooms to which one had a not nice feeling what so ever. I cant explain why but I just felt pressure all around my temple and it wasn’t a nice feeling so left the room, others in my group also felt this not nice feeling.
Although not much happened on this visit I would say this is always a great place to investigate.
Thanks to everyone for making it happen again.
Maureen Taylor
Vigil 1
Our first vigil – a gentleman (if that’s what you could call him) turned up, he told us he was George Randall – seemingly a bit of a bottom pincher (the bottoms in question being of the female variety of course). We tried glass divination, but with no success, so instead tried pendulum dowsing and had more luck with that. The atmosphere in that particular classroom felt a little oppressive at first, but once George turned up things changed, and the atmosphere was much lighter, I think some of us even wanted to giggle. Alison had the date 1908, but I got 1890 – same numbers, different order. Talking through it the most likely thing we could come up with was that he had some connection with the construction of the building, so perhaps my 1890 date was a little closer the mark, We felt that maybe he was one of the construction workers (which is why I doubt the term gentleman in connection with him), and that there had possibly been argument with a fellow worker, something to do with George and the wife of one of his fellow workers, though by this time he seemed to be getting weaker and answers to our questions not always coming through very clearly.
We then moved out into the hall (each block of the school has its own hall, and there are three of them), where between us, Alison, Mark and I got a considerable amount of information. No names this time, just images, feelings and smells mainly. A smell of disinfectant, a feeling of being suffocated, or shortness of breath. Some of the group getting various aches and pains. I came up with a First World War time period, and a possible temporary military hospital. Mark wandered into one of the classrooms and got the impression of a makeshift operating theatre of some sort. As we walked around the hall, we were getting a very clear picture of it as a hospital ward, with eight beds along one side, with curtains between pairs of beds, we couldn’t get an impression of how many beds along the other side, but I wanted to say five or six. A desk complete with nurse/ward sister or whatever, in a corner near one of the doors, and people generally coming and going. Other classrooms leading off the hall may also have been used as wards, in order to accommodate as many patients as possible.
Vigil 2
Our second vigil had some similarities to the first. Alison and Joan were in a short corridor leading to one of the external doors, while the rest of us were in a nearby classroom. On calling out Alison saw a mist close to the door, and an impression of a figure walking through the door, she came up with the name Henry Carter, then modified it to Major Henry Carter. As he came through, without even thinking about it, she found herself pressing back against the wall to allow him to pass. I walked to the classroom door and felt him pass too - - and I also found myself unintentionally flattening myself back against the wall to allow him passage – didn’t realise I was doing it until a moment or two later. He seemed to be pacing up and down across that end of the hall as we were standing there.
We moved to another of the classrooms, and immediately upon walking into it my legs, from the knees downwards were tingling, goose pimply and going icy cold. Mark too, on entering this room felt something similar, we felt that here we had someone who had had to have both legs amputated just below the knee, and that this classroom was the ward he was in.
Vigil 3
A much quieter vigil than the last, with very little going on. We had no direct encounters with any of the spirits of the place, we were receiving images and feelings here rather than having any direct contact We spent some time in the caretakers’ office – upstairs in one of the buildings. Just two rooms, one fairly small, with a blocked fireplace, the other about twice the size, its windows looking out over the playground. The smaller room, as Mark and I walked into it, felt to us as if its’ occupant had only that moment left. It was warm and cosy, very pleasant. I was getting the impression of a setting of about the 1940s/1950s, in the room a fire burning, a cosy old armchair pulled up close to it, a table with a couple of chairs at the other end of the room, and a bed along the wall opposite the fireplace. The other room felt more like an office of some sort – I suppose it’s possible that a previous headmaster or schoolmaster may have lived up there. We got nothing more anywhere around that block during that vigil.
Downstairs in the hall of that block we were all talking about it all feeling very quiet and empty and none of us being able to sense anything at all - - and I heard a whispered comment from somewhere - - heard in my head though, not actually audible -- and it was ‘well, what do you expect, we got them all settled down for the night, so keep it quiet will you’ – oh dear, a telling off from the spirit world………….. Echoes of the military hospital still.
Vigil 4
Our last vigil was completely quiet, nothing happening at all, and when we met the other groups back in the staff room, we discovered that their last vigil had also been very quiet, with virtually no activity being sensed at all.
Di Moore
We arrived at the school for 8pm. I had two guest with me my niece-in-law Tracy and her brother Rob they were really looking forward to this evening as they had never been on a investigation before but had been pupils at this school some years before.
We had are walk round and then started our investigation.
Our first vigil was East block were stood in the hall with class rooms off, in silence for a few minutes. Then we did séance. Not a lot happened so we went into one of the class rooms found some cold spots and felt a presence. We went into the next class room this also had cold spots. We sat round a table and did glass divination. I stood back as there were a lot of fingers on the glass. Rab asked if there were spirits there and the glass started to move, we asked if the spirit had worked in the school the glass said yes, we also asked if they had anyone they knew there and the glass went to Tracy. I can’t remember how we got to it but the name William came up, this was no surprise to Tracy as her grandfather whom she's never met, as he died when her Mum was 14 years old, had worked as caretaker there. At this point I went to get Rob, Tracy's brother how was out in the hall and got him to come in as neither have done glass divination before. They were amazed. We kept asking questions and Rab asked Tracy to take her finger of the glass but it still moved. I asked if his name was William Fry (I had asked Rob for a surname) and it said yes. We asked him if there were other spirits in the school he said yes. We asked will they harm us the glass went to no. A lot more happened to the glass in this room, we then went back out into the hall and into other classrooms but they seemed peaceful.
Next vigil was in North Block. We went into the music room as on our walk round I had heard which sounded like a bongo drum beat. We settled in, sitting for a few moments and then started glass divination again as we had had good results before. Yes it started to move straight away, once again Tracy's Grandfather was there answering our questions. We asked him to step aside so some one else could come in and he did. The next spirit, Rab asked if we could get a name this was done by asking the glass to go to the person with the initial in there name the same as theirs. We all said our names and the glass came to me Rab then went on. does it start with D no, does it start with I no, does it start with A no, does it start with N yes, I had said my name was DIANA which is unusual for me as I always say my name is Di. We went through names starting with N then both Rob and I said Nelson. Rab said Lord Nelson but the glass went to no. This turned out to be Tracy and Robs other Grandfather Nelson Potter he was a medium when alive. After asking him questions we asked him to step aside for more spirits to come in, he did, the only other spirit was a child possibly a baby but we stopped there as this was upsetting for one of the group and this was the end of this vigil.
Down to the Boiler Room. This was a first for all of us. This was cold and with the lights out creepy too. I kept looking at the entrance from where we came in expecting someone to come in. I got the shivers and Rab said it was not coming from the doorway. Both Rab and I stood near each other. I got what felt like something had walked though me and it went right by Rab which he felt too. We stayed down they for some time, Tracy got some orbs on camera one on a chair and one on Robs chest in the boiler room.
Now over to South Block. This is a place were cold spots are very always felt and we were not disappointed. In the hall were lots, but we were a bit put off by a monitor flashing at one end of hall, so we went upstairs to the caretakers office and special needs room. We sat there and did a seance but not much happened. Tracy was sat on a large ball looking at her photo's when she got push off by what she thought was a shove of a hand, this really scared her.
These are my highlights of a never disappointing school, Thank you Headmaster for letting us come back.
Paul Martin
VIGIL 1 - EAST BLOCK.
To start, Rab, (our team leader), myself, Di, Tracey, Mark and Gill headed Upstairs to the "Snug" and Storeroom area.
I spent the first part of this vigil in the Storeroom with Mark, where after a while I sensed a lady watching, with a rather disdainful, haughty look on her face.
At the same time, in the adjoining "Snug" Rab and the rest of the group picked up on the name Sarah or Sarah Jane.
The second part of this vigil was spent downstairs in one of the classrooms off the main hall.
Here, we connected strongly, by means of glass divination, with a previous caretaker at the School.
This energy appeared to be called William, and it turned out that he had a close family connection to a couple of the members of our team.
VIGIL 2 - NORTH BLOCK.
We started this Vigil in the boiler room where I situated myself in a small annexe just off the main area.
Here I picked up on two men, one of who had a nasty vibe around him, and another who appeared to be laughing hysterically at Di, who was calling out at the time, asking for a reaction from any of the energies who may have been present.
I had the sense that these two men did not get on, and often fought...
After this, we moved up to the music room where we again, via the divining glass, encountered the caretaker we had previously had a connection with in the East block classroom. Another gentleman, with a connection to the caretaker, and small child also came through briefly.
Again, these three energies appeared to have a family connection to a couple of members in our team, and it must be left to those people to decide how much information about these connections they would like to give.
VIGIL 3 - EAST BLOCK.
We spent all of this vigil in a classroom off the main hall, where we picked up on an energy that seemed to want us to know that he/she was around us, but did not appear to want to connect very strongly with us, or enter into any meaningful interaction.
VIGIL 4 - SOUTH BLOCK.
For the first part of this vigil we went up to the caretakers office, and the adjoining area, where apart from seeing a brief red light on the stairway, I didn't really sense/feel anything here.
We spent the last few minutes of the investigation downstairs, in and around the main hall of this block.
Myself and Rab had hoped to spend a bit of time in a particular classroom, where during the previous investigation we had encountered a young girl who had led us a merry dance around the room. However, before we had chance to do this to any degree, we heard a couple of particularly loud noises coming from the other end of the main hall, and went on to investigate these, as they seemed to be rather more than the usual creaking wood that we often encounter.
Unfortunately, we then came to the end of the investigation and it was time to pack up and head home for bed.
Amanda Horley
Having investigated this school before I was interested to see what would occur on our second visit. The initial walkround proved to be more active than I expected, as when we were walking around upstairs in the South block I suddenly felt like my chest was being squeezed, and it became quite difficult to breathe. The moment I went downstairs, this passed, and although it could have been caused by dust, no one else seemed to be affected.
Out first vigil was in the South block, and after my reaction there a short while before, we started upstairs. This time I felt no adverse reaction and it seemed quiet to me. The first room we were in seemed to have an area in the centre of it that affected both EMF metres. After a few minutes, they went back to zero readings, and we were unable to recreate what had happened to them, despite moving them around. In the second upstairs room, there was some reaction with the rods, but no definite responses, although Marie came up with a date of 1980. We then tried downstairs and in one of the rooms there did seem to be something affecting the rods, but not actually answering questions. We tried sitting on the floor and at that point both Dan and Martyn heard what sounded like footsteps outside the classroom. They went to investigate and whilst that was happening we heard what sounded like a rustling sound in the room. We then tried “pat-a-cake” games, and this caused one of the EMF metres to spike, but again we were unable to get any definite responses to questions we asked.
Our second vigil was in the East block, and although we tried both upstairs and downstairs, this was a fairly quiet area. There may have been odd knocks, but these could have been down to the pipe work.
We then returned to the South block and this time concentrated on the downstairs. We were unable to recreate what had happened during our first vigil, and it felt a lot quieter.
Our last vigil was in the north block. We started upstairs, which seemed quiet, and then moved into the classrooms downstairs. Initially all the classrooms were a similar temperature but we felt drawn to one room, and when we went in there, the temperature did seem to have dropped by a couple of degrees. Some of us again tried sitting on the floor, and although there were odd small sounds we could not account for, it was difficult to pin them down or describe them. The room did not feel right, but I can’t really explain why. After some time, the whole atmosphere seemed to change, and the temperature had gone back up to what it had been originally, so we decided to try one of the other rooms. As we were leaving, there was a loud bang from the room next door to us, which seemed to come from the sink area. The temperature of this room had now dropped, and we were all rather unnerved by what was going on. We decided to be brave (but with our torches on) and went in to investigate. It did feel very unpleasant, and although no further noises were heard we decided not to stay in there. The unpleasant feeling may have been subconscious because of the loud bang, but I really did not want to linger there.
All in all, it was a very interesting night. The EMF metres were affected several times by something that we couldn’t explain, and there were a lot of audibles, some of which could have been lights/pipes, but some of which definitely weren’t.
Brian Ward
Our Second Visit to the School and again it let us have a bit more history.
Most of the Night I spent Filming, spending much of my time with Rabs Team the atmosphere of the Building is Electric and most of the class rooms and other rooms have some feeling or other.
For me two areas have the most feeling. One was the music room, which is where the hatch is to enter the bell Tower (unfortunately we were not allowed up there). I had the same feeling in this area as my last visit and in my minds eye I could see men in some form of Military over coats making Tea and they looked as though they where waiting for something to Happen. It’s as though they where Local Home guards or Air Raid Wardens from WW11. I still can’t find any evidence to this affect.
The Second Area was The Boiler Room with its little Nooks and Walkways which you could not get into but seemed to go under the school. I did not Feel anything or see anything down there but I really liked investigating areas like this Boiler Rooms and Cellars Etc. A lot of glass divination Experiments were very successful for some of the members of the team. Information of a personal nature. I found this all very interesting as I was born just down the road from the site and all my family where born and raised in the vicinity of this school. I think I was hoping for some of my passed family members would come through - Oh well may be next time.
All in all another good investigation and a big thanks to Maria and The Headmaster for letting us come back to this lovely old building.
Rab Gardner
Vigil 1 East Block
We began our in the large hall. I asked every one to settle down and get a feel of the area. I felt it necessary since the large timber beams that supported the roof tend to make a lot of noise as they cool down. Soon, all creaks, cracks and groans were identified and we began to notice a few clicks from one of the classrooms in response to calling out. On investigation they stopped and didn’t resume.
Moving on we went to the snug upstairs. Di and I called out for a while but got no response. I thought I saw an orb near the table towards the end, but there was no discernible change to the feeling of the room.
Back downstairs Di drew us into Dan’s room and there did seem to be a feeling of change. Time was pushing so I wanted to do a séance and asked our new members (Mark and Gill) and our guests (Tracey and Rob) if they were ok with that. Of course they were, so we began. Very quickly we got a response and were impressed at the speed of the glass as it moved to Di’s requests. Through questioning, Tracey and Rob were able to confirm that it was their grandfather (refer Team report for details) who had worked there. All in all, a very good start to the evenings investigation.
Vigil 2 North Block
We started off this vigil down in the boiler room. There was a slight draught coming down the steps from the door, so we made a note to discount that. Di picked up the feeling of a man stood by the door watching us. Shortly after we could feel a cold spot moving near the coal chute entrance and the temp gun began giving wildly variant readings. Paul was stood in the old coal bunker and could pick up on two men arguing. In the main room Rob also felt the presence of two men. We called out, but received no discernable reply.
Off to the music room next. I wanted to take my team to this area because of some anomalies picked up on the baseline checks. Eager to see if we could pick up anything I only waited a short while before setting up a glass divination. In no time at all, we were picking up another enthusiastic spirit which turned out to be Tracey and Robs other grandfather (refer Team report for details) another great result. We were told that there was a spirit present for everyone around the table all eager to come forward. Time was almost up, so I asked for only one spirit to use the glass. One did come forward and it was a personal spirit for Gill and I would rather leave it for her to describe what happened.
Vigil 3 East Block
Back in the East building: The hub team joined us so I separated us again into 2 groups. With me in one of the classrooms were Julie, Maria, Wayne and Paul. I picked up an orb in the corner of the room as we sat down, then we began with glass divination. After a period of calling out, the glass started moving, but slowly and only a bit at a time. There seemed to be a reluctance to communicate and only indicated that it was male. In the end it would only move to let us know it was still there. In the end with only 5 mins left we shut the divination down.
Vigil 4 South Block
We started out this one in the large hall and I let the team go where they felt drawn, but nothing seemed to be happening. After a while I moved us to another area.
Next location was the upper floor, comprising of a snug, the caretakers office and a stairway corridor. I decided to split the group up into these three areas and I would move between to fill in the Team report. The only incident reported was from Gill and Mark picking up light anomalies in the caretakers room (a good start for the newbie’s on their own).
Back down to the hall and try again. This time it was a little different. On calling out, we began to get knocks from different areas and classrooms. We congregated near to the coat racks and whilst there, we could clearly hear a chair scraping from the other end of the hall in response to calling out. But like earlier on, when we went down to that area, we could no longer get any responses. Unfortunately by that time anyway we had to close down and finish the vigil.