Southern Paranormal - Investigations
The Lone Barn Southampton
15th September 2007
Attendees :Maria Street, Di Moore, Amanda Horley & Marie Holder
Guests : Diana (Host)
Introduction by Maria Street
Back in June, whilst I was enjoying an anniversary meal with my husband, I discovered that the Lone Barn has its own resident ghost. I asked our waiter, Andy, if we would be allowed to conduct a paranormal investigation in the restaurant and he suggested I speak with the landlady, Di. She very kindly said yes. This is a very welcoming place, with great food, so I was really looking forward to being there after everybody else had gone. The barn itself, dates back to the 1600’s and was originally based in Winchester. It was then moved, lock, stock and barrel in 1969 to Hungerford Bottom, where it remains today. The flagstones, however, date back to the mid 700’s, so a few stories to be told maybe.
Ghosts of the Lone Barn
The spirit of a man nicknamed George by the staff
The spirit of a large horse
Teams
As this was a small investigation with only 5 people present all members and the host stayed in one team. This allowed the group to eliminate any other team noise and also meant that they knew they were the only ones in the building.
Vigil Areas
Vigil area 1 – The restaurant
Vigil area 2 – The cellar
Equipment
The group had use of –
A night vision camcorder
At least 1 digital camera
Temp gun
EMF Meter
Note sheets & pen
Glass for divination
Itinerary
11.15pm All team meet outside of the Pub/Restaurant
11.30pm Meet owner and guest and conduct baseline tests
12.00am Group Séance in main restaurant
12.30am Vigil 1 - Restaurant
1.30am Break
1.45am Vigil 2 - Cellar
2.45am Break
3.00am Vigil 3
Restaurant
4.00am Finish & Pack up
Baseline Tests – Maria & Marie
Lone Barn
Ambient 21-22, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations
Stone & carpet flooring
Lots of tables and chairs to bump into in the dark.
Generator in the bar quite noisy
Chair in the far corner squeaks when sat on.
Cellar
Cellar 14-19 fluctuating, EMF 00.1 – 00.2, no fluctuations
Very noisy generator in the cellar
Personal Reports
Maria Street
We arrived at 11.15 and started setting up. I took a few photos and managed to capture some great orbs. The atmosphere was as charming as ever and certainly, nothing threatening was detected. We took the ambient temperature and noticed it was a lot colder by the cellar door, but this was due to the cellar being kept at 11c. Amanda was drawn to the far corner opposite the cellar, so this is where we started our vigil. We started with glass divination but we had very little movement from this. Di picked up on witchcraft and I picked up on the name ‘Jim’ and also the name ‘Marco’. I moved off down to the other end of the barn and got the names Lisa and Bella. I asked Di, the owner if there was an Italian connection somewhere, but she did not know.
Nothing much more to report so we stopped for a break. I sat in the barn by myself for a while with only the red lights on. I heard a very loud tap from one of the booths. It is interesting to note that considering all the wooden beams in the place, this was the first tap to be heard that night.
For our next vigil we went into the cellar, where Amanda sensed the presence of a man and thought he may have been into piracy or smuggling when he was alive. He didn’t hang around for long though, and neither did we because things then went quiet. I suggested moving back into the barn and just sitting quietly to see if we could pick anything up. I sat in the booth where I had heard the tap earlier. After a few minutes I said that sitting there just felt right. I couldn’t explain it any other way, so Amanda suggested we do a glass divination there. Once again, there was very little movement from the glass, so Marie used her divining rods. There was more success this time. It seemed we were communicating with a spirit with the name of George. He had red hair and he worked at the barn. He had no idea that he was dead. I then pictured in my head, a female in her early forties. She was dressed in a pale blue dress with a white pinafore and white headgear, reminiscent of that worn during the Salem witch trials. She was not aware of us being there. Amanda also sensed a female of the same age, but she sensed she was sad and melancholy. I got the name Daisy, but am not sure if this belongs to this lady. Marie also got the name Anabella which is very close to the ‘Bella’ that I had gotten earlier. The best part of this vigil though was the audible taps we could hear under the table in answer to questions. I personally have not heard that before, so that was a new one for me. We didn’t stay for much longer because Di, the landlady had to be up the next morning. I would really like to thank her for giving us the opportunity to investigate this wonderful place, particularly because she works such long hours and it was very kind of her to give up her time to accompany us. Hope she enjoyed it as much as we did.
Di Moore
We arrived at the Lone Barn at 23.15. This was a late start for us, being a restaurant we had to wait for all the customers to leave. We were greeted by the Landlady and went straight to the Old Barn, which had a calm and friendly atmosphere.
We had a small team, which were Maria, Amanda, Marie and myself Di and also Diana the landlady joined us.
We started with baseline tests and walked around. Maria got some great orbs on her camera. My first feelings were of swaying and having a heavy load on my shoulders like I was carrying a sack on them. We asked the landlady to turn off the lights, which left the small red ceiling lights on.
Because we were a small team we stayed together.
Vigil 1 - Old Barn Restaurant
We did a seance round a table next to the fireplace and called out to spirit. We then did a glass divination. The glass moved slightly but not a lot. I got the feeling that there was a Witch there. Not an evil one, but one who made potions with herbs and plants. We walked around and called out. There were cold spots at the other end of barn not much happened to me on this vigil. Time for a break.
Vigil 2 - Cellar
This was where the beer was kept so the temperature had to be kept low and yes it was cold. Too cold for me, I could not think straight. It was strange as I kept looking towards the door (maybe I just wanted to get out) but nothing for me in the cellar. Then on to a break to warm up.
Vigil 3 - Old Barn Restaurant
As we started this vigil Amanda picked up on a Horse walking though and asked me what I felt. I sat down with my hands over my face and could see a horse, a working horse, ginger to light brown in colour, very heavy and kicking both it's back legs out. It was very well looked after. We sat down again but at another table this time and did a glass divination. Once again not much movement after calling out to spirit, but someone came up with the name George. George seems to have had two sons and daughters all working on the farm and one of the daughter’s name was Daisy. We heard some taps or knocks and I started to feel flustered, I dont know why.
All in all the night was very interesting. We asked the landlady if the barn had been investigated before and she said no, so the any ghosts in the building might not have known how to get though to us, this could have been something new to them.
I would like to thank the Landlady Diana for having us in her Old Barn.
Marie Holder
Introduction
Having eaten at this location on a couple of occasions I was curious as to what we would pick up. I was aware that the structure originally stood near Winchester and that it was dismantled and painstakingly re-assembled in Hungerford, Bursledon in the late 60’s. I was unaware that there was any paranormal activity here and was looking forward to investigating such an ancient building.
Vigil 1 – Lone Barn
After doing the baselines we took some pictures. Maria got a fantastic and rather large orb on one of her pictures.
While walking round the bar Di (SP UK) felt as though something or someone was pressing down on her shoulders or that she was carrying something heavy on her shoulders. Di, the owner, then joined us.
We tried a glass divination on the corner table, as there seemed to be a presence in that part of the building; we got very slight movement but nothing significant.
We then tried another divination and again got very slight movement. We tried calling out but got no responses. Amanda sensed that a horse walked through the bar.
Di (SP UK) sensed that there was more than one spirit with us. Amanda also sensed that there was a lady’s spirit with us. We then tried another glass divination but again only got slight movement.
Vigil 2 – Cellar
Upon entering the cellar, which was on the same level as the Barn, we went into the far room where the beer kegs where kept and which had a very noisy generator located there. It was very cold in there so we did not stop for very long. Amanda sensed that there was someone standing in the corner of the room.
We called out to ask whoever was there to tap on the beer barrels to let show us they were there, but there was no response.
Vigil 3 – Lone Barn re-visited
We decided to try another glass divination in one of the booths. Again we only got slight movement of the glass but we did hear some tapping noises coming from under the table and when asked, nobody said they had moved their feet at all, which was interesting.
During the investigation we did come up with some names, Maria came up with the names Bella, Marco and Lisa and I came up with the name Anabella.
We then moved to another booth and decided to try the divining rods. We got more of a result with these and contacted a male by the name of George who said he did not know he was dead and that he was married with a daughter and two sons. We asked him if he worked there and he said he did.
Conclusion
We all sensed there was something there and whatever was there certainly tried to communicate with us, but unfortunately on this occasion they did not have enough energy to move the glass, however they did move the rods.
I felt that the Barn was more active than the cellar as when I sat in the Barn on my own on one of the breaks I did feel as though something was looking over my shoulder.
I would like to thank Di and Andy for allowing us to investigate this wonderful old building.
Amanda Horley
Although the structure of this building was quite old, and the stalls for the animals had been retained as dining areas, the furniture gave the impression of quite a modern building.
Initially on entering the barn I was drawn to the area to the immediate right of the fire. We decided to use this area for our first vigil and tried to get responses through a glass. It did feel that there was someone there and at one point I felt that there was a man in an armchair looking at the fire, but the glass movements were very slight and after a while we decided to move to the other end of the barn. Whilst I didn’t feel any particular presence’s here, I felt that there was a lot of dust in the air and could taste what to me seemed to be straw dust. I moved back down towards the fireplace, but on crossing the halfway mark in the barn, the sensation disappeared only to reappear again when I returned to that area.
During the break I was talking to Maria and got a sense of horse’s hooves on stone. I looked up and although I couldn’t physically see it, I felt that a horse had just walked into the barn, through the connecting doors from the bar!
For the second vigil we went into the beer cellar and like all of these it was quite cold and very noisy. Very little happened in here although I did get a brief picture of a jovial man who looked very much like a pirate or smuggler.
We returned to the barn for our third vigil and sat in one of the stalls. Again we got little response from the glass, so Marie decided to try her rods as before the investigation started, she had picked up something with them. We were able to get a connection with a male spirit, who responded to the name of George and confirmed that he worked in the barn. He wasn’t aware that he was dead. I didn’t pick up much about him, but got a distinct impression of his hair colour. I asked if anyone else could sense this and both Maria and Di came out with Redhead, which was exactly the word that had come into my mind. Whilst we were talking to George there were intermittent taps coming from the floor under the table between Maria and me. We were all careful to keep our feet very still so we can be fairly certain that it wasn’t one of us. They weren’t regular, and we hadn’t been aware of them earlier in the evening, so it is unlikely that pipes under the floor caused them. During this vigil I did also that there was the energy of a woman around and that she was sad and melancholy. However, I think it was only residual energy as I was unable to make a connection with her.
We called it a night shortly after this and I would like to thank Di, the owner for allowing us to investigate this building. It definitely held a lot of memories and residual energy in its stonework, and there did seem to be one spirit around who may account for a lot of what Di’s customers have seen. Hopefully we were able to answer a few questions for her.