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Southern Paranormal - Investigations

Marwell Hall Halloween Investigation

Sunday 31st October 2010

Marwell Hall Investigation

Attending Investigators - Julie Harwood, Amanda Horley, Maria Street, Jackie Gilmartin, Kieran Gillingham, Marie Holder, Jane Gillingham, Steve Boston, Mark Pettet, Sarah Pettet, Robin Turton, Brian Witt, Daniel Cook, Simon Harwood, Amy Coxhead, Gilly Utting, Wendy Callaway. Guest of SP UK John Utting.

Marwell History

Courtesy of The Kings Theatre

Marwell Hall is situated 6 miles south east of Winchester in the grounds of Marwell Zoo and was built around 1320 by Walter Woodlock, a relative of the Bishop of Winchester. The original building was a timber-framed structure and over the centuries there have been many alterations. The original medieval hall still remains. The name Marwell comes from the words ''mere" (meaning pool) and "well" (referring to a spring or body of water). Although there is no natural lake at Marwell, the nearest being Fisher's pond a mile away, there are several natural springs around the zoo. Although the land had been granted to Walter Woodlock by the Bishop, he did not initially have the King's permission to build there and the hall was built before this permission was granted.

says that Henry V111 and Jane Seymour were married there and it also said that their son who later became Edward V1 was a visitor the Hall. They certainly were visitors to the hall on more than one occasion and the family's coat of arms is carved above the fireplace in the library. On 2nd March 1644, 60 Round heads who formed part of Waller's men were based at the hall as the troops pressed south. Cavaliers were based in Winchester and on this occasion, after the Cavaliers had spent a greater part of the day drinking, they rode out to the hall to challenge Round heads. In spite of heavily outnumbering the 60 Round heads, the 200 Cavaliers went back to Winchester well and truly beaten.

From 1799 the Long family owned the hall for some 40 years until the death of Alice Long. William Long made major alterations to the hall between 1813-1816, tearing down much of the existing upper 2 storeys and rebuilding them. This resulted in the building that still exists today. The large cedar tree that stands on the back lawn was probably planted during Long's time at the hall. Between the period 1851 to 1862 John Gully owned the hall. He was a gentleman and a sportsman of the time. He was a boxer and trained race horses (although not at Marwell) and went on to become MP of Pontefract. He had two wives and 24 children

The Investigation

Vigil Areas

Mildmay Room - Team Base
Library & Long Room & Woodlock Room (ground floor)
Main hall, kitchen corridor & kitchen (ground floor)
1st floor (incl. hospitality room & both staircases)
2nd Floor - designated area's only due to safety. Team leaders will be advised of the boundaries on the night.

Vigil Teams

Team 1
Julie (SP UK)
Sarah (SP UK)
Daniel (SP UK)
Amy C (SP UK)
Brian (SP UK)
Wendy (SP UK)

Team 2
Maria (SP UK)
Kieran (SP UK)
Jane (SP UK)
Robin (SP UK)

Team 3
Amanda (SP UK)
Mark (SP UK)
Gilly (SP UK)
John (SP UK guest)

Team 4
Steve (SP UK)
Jackie (SP UK)
Marie (SP UK)
Simon (SP UK)

Itinerary

5.20pm Team to arrive at location
5.30pm Tech set up
6.30pm Pre vigils break to settle in & for SP UK to allocate equipment to
        teams. Kieran to show a member of each team the allowed areas on
        2nd floor.
7.00pm Vigil 1
        Team 1 - 2nd floor
        Team 2 - 1st floor
        Team 3 - Library/Long Rm/Woodlock Rm
        Team 4 - Main Hall, Kitchen corridor & Kitchen
8.00pm Break
8.30pm Vigil 2
        Team 1 - 1st floor
        Team 2 - 2nd floor
        Team 3 - Main Hall, Kitchen corridor & Kitchen
        Team 4 - Library/Long Rm/Woodlock Rm
9.30pm Break
10.00pm Vigil 3
        Team 1 - Library/Long Rm/Woodlock Rm
        Team 2 - Main Hall, Kitchen corridor & Kitchen
        Team 3 - 2nd floor
        Team 4 - 1st floor
11.00pm Break
11.30pm Vigil 4
        Team 1 - Main Hall, Kitchen corridor & Kitchen
        Team 2 - Library/Long Rm/Woodlock Rm
        Team 3 - 1st floor
        Team 4 - 2nd floor
12.30am Pack up
1.00am Depart

Personal Reports

Steve Boston

Team Members - Steve (Team leader) Jackie, Marie, Simon, Phil (Guest), Jo (Guest)

TEAM 4

This is my second investigation at Marwell; the first was in March and was my first investigation with SPUK. I was looking forward to a chance to re investigate the premises a second time, on this occasion returning as a Core Member and a Team Leader.

I arrived at the hall at approximately 16:55 and met some of the other core members and tech team so that we could set up prior to the investigation starting. To begin with I discussed with Mark where we were going to do the tech set up, we decided that as with the March investigation we would concentrate the 4 DVR cameras to the first floor and the rear stair way that winds up to the attic. Whilst doing the camera set up Kieran arrived and placed a lock off Mini DV camera in the attic at the end of the servant's hall in the right hand room. Around this time I took one of the IR DVR cameras up to fix it in position pointing down the servant's corridor. At this time I thought Kieran was also on the top floor with Amanda, having a quick walk around and adjusting the lock off Mini DV. As a result I was not at all surprised to hear the sound of footsteps coming from the end of the attic corridor. As it was now dark and there were no lights on at the end of the attic I could not see them. Around half way down the corridor it became very dark and you could not see the end. The footsteps were very clear and it seemed obvious to me that someone was down there, at this time I was sure it was a team member. After securing the camera I heard the footsteps coming down the corridor toward where I was stood by the top of the stairs. It was a very clear 'heal sound' on bare floor boards and not the natural cracking and tapping you get when a house cools down in the evening. I went to the landing near the corridor entrance and called 'Kieran is that you?' There was no reply so I headed down to the 1st floor offices where the tech base was. On entering the office I was very shocked to see Kieran and Phil (a Marwell employee) both looking at the DVR Monitor. In a very shocked voice I said 'You were …. Upstairs … weren't you ?' I enquired if any other team member was up there to which he replied 'I don't think so'. We both went to the attic and made our way to the end of the corridor. There was no one up there. I asked Kieran to remain at the end of the corridor and I went to where I'd set the camera up. I asked him to walk down the corridor toward me, to test the sound. It was near on the same as what I'd heard when up there alone moments before. I have not been able to debunk these footsteps. It was clear that even early on Marwell Hall was not going to disappoint!!

From here the other team members and guests arrived and the investigation began.

Vigil 1 - Kitchen Corridor, Kitchen & Main Hall (Ground Floor)
We began our investigation on the ground floor a little after 19:00. We investigated the rooms in the order listed below.

Kitchen Corridor
Temperature readings on entry as follows: Floor 21.1°C / Internal Wall 21.5°C / Ceiling 22.9°C
EMF: No ambient EMF showing on the K2, there was an alarm system present but it did not activate the K2 until you were within 2 inches of it. We began with calling out, done by both Jackie and I. It was very quiet in the corridor, Jackie did not pick up on anything, and we had no readings on the K2 and no paranormal activity to report.
Temp readings on exit as follows: Floor 20.4°C / Internal Wall 21.3°C / Ceiling 21.7°C, this works out to be an average temperature drop of 0.7°C over 10 minutes.

Kitchen
Temperature readings on entry as follows: Floor 15.6°C / External Wall 17.4°C / Ceiling 17.6°C
EMF: There was a lot of machinery and fridges in the room but there was no ambient EMF showing up on the K2.
The kitchen was considerably cooler than the corridor, this was due to the fact there were very large windows along the external wall and there were a lot of cold metal surfaces.
On entering the kitchen and taking the readings we began calling out. Jackie asked for the floor temperature to be dropped to 13°C, the temperature on the floor did drop from 15.6°C to 13.8°C during the vigil over a period of approximately ten minutes. This was a drop of 1.8°C, however it did fluctuate and go back up toward the end of the vigil.
During the vigil Jackie said she felt someone pull on her Bra Strap and Jo jumped and said that she had felt a breath on the side of her face. She was stood by a large window, however she had been there for approximately 15 minutes and had felt no draft previously. I checked the window frame and window. There was no draft I could pick up on and there was no part of the window open. We were unable to debunk what she had felt and this appears to be a genuine personal experience. There was no trace of the breath picked up on the sound recorder. We continued to call out after this but we had no other activity, we decided to move on to the main hall.
Temperature readings on exit as follows: Floor 15°C (This had fluctuated to 13.8°C during the vigil, on request from Jackie to drop the temperature. External Wall 16.9°C / Ceiling 15°C, this works out to be an average temperature drop of 1.23°C over 16 minutes, not counting the initial drop to 13.8°C during the vigil.

Main Hall
Temperature readings on entry as follows: Floor 15.8°C / External Wall 17.7°C / Ceiling 15.8°C
EMF: There was no ambient EFM picked up on the K2. There were slight readings picked up from the till and bar area but nothing that made the K2 react until you were inches from it.
On entering the main hall, during the baseline test, Jackie said that a spirit had come up to her and said 'I'm William Long' before rushing out of the hall. On speaking with Kieran after the vigil we found out the William Long had been involved with some of the building plans for Marwell Hall. Apart from this personal experience the main hall proved to be quiet. The group did hear the sound of a door being shut twice; this came from the direction of the kitchen and corridor area from where we had just come. There were no other groups in that part of the house. We could not explain these sounds. There is a possibility they were natural and caused by drafts.
Temperature readings on exit as follows: Floor 15.8°C / External Wall 18°C / Ceiling 19°C, this works out to be an average temperature rise of 1.96°C over 28 minutes.

Vigil 2 - Seymour Library, Long Room, Woodlock Room (Ground Floor)
We continued our investigation on the ground floor at the other end of the building. We investigated the rooms in the order listed below.

Seymour Library
Temperature readings on entry as follows: Floor 18.3°C / Exterior Wall 18.3°C / Ceiling 20°C
EMF : There was no ambient EMF picked up by the K2. There was a WIFI router in the far corner of the room that did cause the K2 to activate but only when inches from it.
In general the Seymour Library was very quiet. We had no K2 activations. We tried glass work. The glass did move very slightly but nothing definite. Jackie said she heard a voice say 'OK' during the vigil. I am yet to review this audio to see if the audio recorder picked this up. There were no further occurrences. Temperature readings on exit are as follows: Floor 17.3°C / Exterior Wall 18.8°C / Ceiling 19.7°C, this works out to be an average temperature drop of 0.3°C over a 29 minute period.

Long Room
Temperature readings on entry as follows: Floor 18.5°C / Exterior Wall 17.1°C / Ceiling 18.2°C
EMF: There were no ambient readings picked up by the K2 and no EMF picked up on from any items in the room.
In general the Long Room was very quiet with no occurrences. Jackie picked up on hunting and dogs in this room, also that it was a very jovial place and it put her in a happy mood. We had no K2 activations.
Temperature readings on exit as follows: Floor 19.1°C / Exterior Wall 19.5°C / Ceiling 19.6°C, this works out to be an average temperature rise of 1.47°C over a 11 minute period.

Woodlock Room
Temperature readings on entry as follows: Floor 17.8°C / Exterior Wall 17.8°C / Ceiling 18°C
EMF: There were no ambient readings picked up on the K2 and no EMF picked up from any items in the room.
The Woodlock room proved to be very quiet and we had no occurrences and no activations on the K2.
Temperature readings on exit as follows: Floor 18.4°C / Exterior Wall 18.4°C / Ceiling 18.7°C, this works out to be an average temperature rise of 0.63°C over a 15 minute period.

Vigil 3 - Hexagonal Room, Landing, Stair Cases & Offices (1st Floor)
We continued our investigation on the 1st floor. We were lucky enough to have Phil on our team who worked in the Octagonal Room and he allowed us access to investigate. We carried out our investigation of the rooms in the order listed below.

The Octagonal Room
Temperature Readings on entry as follows: Floor 19.4°C / Exterior Wall 19.4°C / Ceiling 19.4°C
EMF: There was no ambient EMF detected by the K2 in this room. There were approximately 4 computer terminals that did activate the K2 but only when it was placed inches from the computers.
We had no direct occurrences in this room; however Jackie picked up on a lady named Jane in the room. She also made several observations about Phil and the room that were very accurate. Phil commented on how accurate she was with her observations, these included things like.
You have a radio playing in here don't you --- the lady I'm picking up on loves the music that is played, but she does not understand it. Phil confirmed that a radio is played during the day.
The spirit lady also told her that Phil often sings in the office and is the joker of the office. This was confirmed by Phil. She also provided details of a previous employee who worked in the room. A moody girl with dark hair. Her desk was also identified by Jackie; this was also confirmed by Phil.
I found Jackie's observations very interesting. On two occasions I had goose bumps buy the room was generally warm. We had no direct occurrences and nothing on the K2 meter.
Temperature readings on exit are as follows: Floor 15.5°C / Internal Wall 17.6°C / Ceiling 16.1°C. This works out to be an average temperature drop of 2.9°C over a 13 minute period. Considering the amount of computers operating and the fact that half the room was internal wall, I would say that this is a considerable temperature drop for 13 minutes; also taking into account the body heat of six people in the relatively small room, I would say these are the most interesting temperature readings we have captured so far.

Boardroom & Rear Facing PR Offices
From the Octagonal Room we made our way down to the Boardroom where we sat for a short while. On walking to the Boardroom Jackie had picked up on something in one of the PR/Marketing offices that faces out to the rear of the building so we were keen to have enough time to fully investigate this.
In the Boardroom Jackie picked up a spirit that was lurking in the far corner of the room. She also felt her trouser leg get tugged and when sat in a chair by the corner in question she felt a shove on the back rest of the chair. The spirit in the corner of the room was the same as Alison had picked up on during the March investigation. I found it interesting that there was continuity between the two readings.
From the Boardroom we made our way to the PR and Marketing Offices that face to the rear of the building. These were two adjoining offices. The temperature readings were similar between the two rooms as follows: Floor: 19°C, Ceiling 19°C and Exterior Wall 17°C, however the left hand office felt very cold to all the team. This was the room that Jackie was drawn to. She picked up the spirit of a large man. She said she could see him pacing around the room, that he was worried about some plans. 'Where are the plans, the plans' she said. She picked up the name of John Seymour. No one in the team knew this name. I have since researched the name John Seymour and found that he was Jane Seymour's father. He was also head Courtier to King Henry V111. Henry is reputed to have married Jane Seymour at Marwell Hall. It is likely to be the case that, as her father and a man high up in the Kings staff, he could have been involved in planning the wedding of his daughter to the king. This may have been what Jackie was picking up on. We had no temperature changes and nothing on the K2.

Vigil 4 - Attic Area Including the Nursery & End Bedroom
The conclusion of the investigation was held in the attic area. Due to the presence of Marwell staff in the team we were lucky enough to have unrestricted access to the bedroom, bathroom and nursery at the end of the hall.

Attic - Nursery
Temperature readings on entry are: Floor 15.4°C / Exterior Wall 14.8°C / Ceiling 15.1°C
EMF: There is no ambient EMF that registers on the K2 meter and there is no electrical equipment to set off the K2 meter.
The attic area is without doubt my favorite part of Marwell to investigate. The walls are still decorated as it would have been when it was active servants quarters. The nursery area is still carpeted; however the majority of rooms are bare floorboards. I am aware that this is one of the most active areas of the building. I believe this may be due to the fact it's pretty much untouched and empty. There are no offices and a few of the rooms near the stairs are only used for storage.
We settled down and began calling out, within a few minutes I felt something run through my hair. This then went down the left hand side of my face. The only thing I can describe it as is cold fingers/cold cobweb feeling. Within seconds of this another team member, I think it was Marie, felt exactly the same thing. At this point Simon said he saw what looked like a black moth shape anomaly around Marie's face. There were no insects in the room and I've never come across a moth that's black. Being aware that in the past there would have been children running around playing in this part of the building and taking into account the 'Can you find her?' EVP that Kieran caught in this part of the building earlier in the year, we turned our calling out into a game of hide and seek. I used a call out in this style 'If your hiding here give us a clue where you are and say hello.' We waited in silence, the bedroom opposite is bare floorboards and I heard the boards creaking. It was not strong enough to put down as footsteps but I turned to Jackie and whispered 'I think someone's moving out there.' As I did, a disembodied voice came through very clearly and said 'Hello'. Every member of the team heard it. The voice sounded like that of a child. On audio review the digital recorder had picked this up and the evidence has been saved. Marie was recording on a Sony 0-Lux Nightshot camera and she picked up a number of light anomalies. Due to the age of the carpet and the state of the room, this could be dust kicked up by the team. We continued to call out and sit in silence. We were aware that it felt as if something was moving about in the bedroom opposite. At this point Jackie stated she had heard the same voice say 'Here I am!' No one else heard this; however in audio review the voice can be heard. It is very, very faint but just audible. Sensing that something was playing with us and hiding in the other room we made our way to the bedroom.
Despite the voices and the physical interaction there was no change in the temperature during the 17 minute vigil. We had no K2 activations.

Attic - Far End Bedroom
On the way to the bedroom we paused in the hall to investigate the bathroom and take pictures down the corridor toward the stairs. We then settled down and sat on the bare floorboards in the bedroom.
The floor, wall and ceiling temperatures were almost identical to that of the nursery. Simon noted that the ambient air temperature felt quite a bit cooler. This would be due to the fact that the room is bare floorboards and the nursery is still carpeted. This would naturally make the air feel cooler as the room cannot retain heat as easily.
EMF: There was no ambient EMF in this room and no electrical equipment to activate the K2
One thing we noticed was that the creaking of the boards stopped on entering the room. It was felt that whatever had been hiding from us could have moved back to the nursery. We began a calling out session. We got no audible response as we did in the nursery. We all had the feeling that we were not alone and that something was hiding in the shadows. Due to the appearance of this part of the building, it is likely that this is just the mind playing tricks as your senses are heightened. Had we not heard those voices then I would go for this explanation, but I'm not so sure!!!
With time ticking away and the other end of the attic still to investigate we decided to move back to the end that is now generally used as storage. We moved out of the bedroom and came to the first set of doors on the left. This is an old store room and bathroom. The bathroom was locked so it could not be investigated. As we moved away from the bedroom/bathroom, both Jo and Jackie grabbed me and said 'Did you hear that.' Both of them had heard a disembodied voice say 'Where are you going?' Due to the sounds of six pairs of feet on the floorboards this was un-audible to team members in front of them. As both Jackie and Jo heard the voice I have no doubt that they did hear a voice. On audio review a voice is audible just before Jackie and Jo stop me. I can just about make out a voice saying something like 'Where you going' or 'are you going', however due to the footsteps on floorboards it's in the back ground, however the voice is there and we have physical evidence to back up their experience.
With a presence obviously not wanting us to leave we went back to the end rooms and decided to forfeit an investigation in the storage rooms in the hope of hearing more voices. We split the team so 3 went to the bedroom and 3 went to the nursery. We had no further voices; however we became aware of the sound of footsteps above us. I asked Phil what was above us and he said it was just roof space. There is a possibility that it was traveling sound from another part of the building and completely natural, however in my opinion it was too close for that. It was like you could hear steps right on the ceiling above us. Everyone heard it and it happened on two or three occasions. Also during vigil time no teams should have been moving about on the stairs.
Despite the hub of activity in the attic there was no temperature change and no K2 activations.
Unfortunately the hour long vigil came to an end and so did the evening.

Joint K2 Activation Main Stair Way
As the teams disbanded and I began to get my kit up together I became aware that Mark P was on the main stairs with a K2 meter. He said 'Lady Elizabeth please walk down the stairs with me.' I could see the lights on his K2 were lit up to the red. He slowly walked to the first landing where I had a locked off webcam and sound recorder. On the first landing, the lights went out. I joined him with my K2 and we went back up toward the main landing on the first floor. Around six steps from the top both K2's lit up to the red. We both walked down the stairs asking the spirit to follow us. We got past the lower landing and halfway toward the ground floor before the lights faded. I took quick base readings off the light, walls and floor. Nothing was causing any ambient EMF and there was no obvious reason why they would activate.
Mark made his way back past the lower landing and asked again 'Lady Elizabeth, please come down the stairs.' He walked a short way with the K2 activating. He then stopped and asked the spirit to continue toward me. As Mark's K2 light dipped, mine activated. The time scale was identical to that of someone on the stairs leaving Mark and heading toward me. We then lost all K2 readings. Another ambient sweep was conducted with a negative result. This is the most amazing K2 work I have seen since starting out as a paranormal investigator. I have checked the locked off web cam and it has captured the experiment but no light anomalies or any other phenomenon.
This drew an exciting conclusion to a very fruitful investigation at Marwell. My digital photography has turned up nothing and at present I still have some video and audio to review, however I am more than happy with what I have found so far.

After Thought
Once again Marwell did not disappoint. There is no doubt that my favorite part of the house is the attic. It is my opinion that this deserves a whole investigation on its own with a small team of say six to cover both ends as it always turns up more questions than answers.

Sarah Pettet

On this visit to Marwell we had several guests with us as well as 2 new members. As team trainer I spent a lot of time concentrating on the newer members of the team and so did not experience as much as I would normally in this location. In fact I felt that, on this visit, the hall seemed much quieter than normal. We started our vigils on the top floor (attic rooms), in room S20. Mostly we heard small taps that we were unable to explain and at one point a member of the team thought they saw a light out in the corridor. I went out to investigate and could find no cause for it. The team split momentarily and some of us went into S13 (with all the animals in) and the rest in the corridor. I was in S13 with the 2 new team members. We heard some odd noises in here but were able to track down the cause - which was insects. We rejoined the rest of the team and went in to rooms S11 & S12. Here, several team members felt queasiness (I did as well), coughing (myself and Brian in particular), constricted breathing, headaches and tickly sore throats. To me the rooms felt like they may have been 'sick' rooms at one point. There was also a feeling of being unbalanced (like onboard a ship) in these rooms, and I remarked after being told this that this had been felt before in these rooms on previous investigations.

Our second vigil took place in the Boardroom. We had passed this room on the way down from our first vigil and could smell a soapy floral smell emanating from the room which we were unable to identify the cause of. Interestingly, when we came into the room for our vigil (after a 15 minute break) the smell had gone. Personally, I was again concentrating on the new team members, so I did not experience much. The room felt fairly quiet, though it felt as though there was an air of anticipation in there. There were a few taps which again we could not easily identify a cause for.

Our third vigil was in the Library and long room. We started in the library. I felt fairly comfortable in there and had the sense of some presence in there but could not bring it forward, and again this could be because my mind was also concentrating on looking after the new people. Two team members got differing names in there, one male one female. And the team member who had the male name was also able to describe how they felt they looked. We decided to do some glass work in here and encouraged the newer team members and guests to take part in this. We got some definite movements on the glass on our call outs, but no answers to any questions. Whilst doing the glass work we all heard a door slam and it sounded as if it was on the ground floor where we were. Julie went to check with the other team on the ground floor who were in the main hall, and they had not heard it. We moved on to the long room. In here we could hear foxes calling outside, and at one point some of the team thought they heard horses' hooves outside the window. Someone also felt that the room felt like it should be busy, filled with people about to do something, and another member of the team felt as if it was like people preparing to go on a hunt (I checked with Kieran later and he confirmed that the hall was a starting point for fox hunts in the past). We heard several creaking noises, footsteps and voices coming from above which puzzled us as, although we knew there was a team on the floor above, we didn't believe anyone could access the rooms above the long room - as it was it did turn out to be the team on the floor above who had managed to access the rooms. We did hear a noise like someone crying coming from outside of the room, and Julie checked with the other team on the ground floor to see if it was them, it wasn't and they had also heard and were unable to explain it.

Our fourth vigil was again on the ground floor in the main hall, the kitchen corridors and the cellar. We started with the main hall, but felt as though there was more activity in the kitchen corridor, so moved there. The team decided to explore the cellar - I only went half way down the steps as I am uncomfortable in cellars at the best of times. I lasted possibly 5 minutes before I decided standing on my own in the kitchen corridor would feel better. I did get the song Chattanooga choo choo going through my head similar to an experience I had on my last visit to the hall. The rest of the team joined me in the corridor, but it seemed then as if there was activity going on in the main hall so we all went back in there. As soon as we were settled there it seemed as if the activity was in the corridor again so we decided to split the team and some went into the corridor whilst the rest of remained in the hall. Again I got the sense of anticipation but nothing seemed to come of it and after a while I felt as if the activity had moved from the kitchen corridor to the stairway outside of the library. Unfortunately we ran out of time to investigate further.

At the end of the vigil we found some team members out on the stairs where they had 2 K2 meters going off at the same time in the same spot. The meters continued to work as they walked (backwards) down the stairs as if a presence was walking down with them. It would only go so far. I went to the top of the stairs and followed them down in a slow descent. I was able to pick up on a presence but it was quite fleeting (though some how familiar).

Summary - I was happy with the visit to Marwell, even though I had not experienced as much as I have done in the past. I felt it was a great introduction for the 2 new team members as well. As always Marwell was a pleasure.

Robin Turton

VIGIL 1 - 1st floor
We started the investigation on the first floor in the boardroom. A large office full of computers, printers etc. This room was warm and felt very comfortable. At one stage during the investigation the room seemed to darken more making it difficult to discern and shapes of the other investigators. Most of the team noticed and commented on this. A couple of the guests kept feeling colder and one felt she has a feeling of weight pushing down on her shoulders. We carried on calling out. A few knocks and bumps were heard, nothing conclusive. The battery drained on the radio carried by a Marwell staff member but nothing can be taken from this as the age and condition of the battery was not known. In the second half of the vigil we moved to a room which used to be the estate office that contained a large table with chairs. The team carried out table tipping whilst calling out. I did not participate in this as I did not feel comfortable doing so. A number of knocks and noises were heard in the room and outside. One of the team believed he saw movement at the bottom of the door. I checked but no one was outside. Maria and I saw an odd moving light on the fireplace wall but couldn't determine the source. Around this time a number of the team felt the temperature drop.

VIGIL 2 - Attic
We started the vigil in one of the rooms at the far end of the attic which I believed used to be the nursery. During this session of calling out we heard a number of knocks that seemed to answer the questions asked. Unfortunately the floorboards in that area were very sensitive to movement; even shifting your weight caused the floorboards to make a noise. We then moved to the other end of the attic. The temperature felt a lot cooler. We went into one of the rooms and started calling out. One of the guests kept seeing a light on the back wall of the room and a number of the team felt uncomfortable. We then heard the noise of a door closing. We determined the sound came from the nursery corridor as we investigated the sound. A number of the team said they had heard shuffling footsteps. We then carried on investigating the attic room and found most of the rooms had large temperature fluctuations, which we couldn't find a good reason for. Most of the team also saw very small flashes of light in some of the doorways to rooms. A very interesting vigil with a lot of temperature fluctuations and light anomalies.

VIGIL 3 - main hall, kitchen corridor, cellar
We started the vigil on the cellar steps but nothing was seen, felt or heard. We then went to the kitchen corridor. Unfortunately the noise from the computer room curtailed the investigation of that area. We then moved to the great hall which felt warm and comfortable. Most of the team sat and called out during the vigil. A very loud noise was heard by the team. I personally didn't hear the noise but some members from another team did which was strange. Unfortunately the great hall is an area which can be difficult to investigate due to openness and the fact that noise travels greatly. At Marwell hall unfortunately that night one of the other teams were quite vocal with giggling etc which was a little annoying.

VIGIL 4 - library, long room and Woodlock room
Carried out investigations of the above areas and found little of any significance. We noticed a couple of knocks and had one EMF spike of 3.1mg, but nothing else. We carried out a franks box experiment but nothing was heard in the end. The vigil was very quiet and uneventful.

Marie Holder

Team: Steve, Jackie, Marie, Simon, Jo and Phil

Introduction
I met some of the group at the roundabout outside the zoo and around 5.20 Sarah joined us to make sure we were all there. We then made our way to the hall where we met the rest of the group. Amanda then took us round on a quick tour of the vigil areas and when going up the back stairs to the 2nd floor I sensed the presence of a little girl running up the stairs. Later Jackie sensed that one of the rooms used to be a nursery.

Vigil 1
We made our way to the kitchen corridor and kitchen area and after the rest of the team took photos we did some calling out but I did not experience anything unusual.
After a while we moved into the kitchen. I came up with the name James (although I did not say this straight away) and Jackie came up with the name Jacob, which is vaguely similar. I got the impression that James was 54 years old and that he used to work in the kitchen.
We then moved to the Main Hall. As soon as we walked into the room Jackie said she had a man come up to her face and say “I'm William Long”. Jackie then mentioned that he then went to the opposite door that we came in and stood there. I focused the camcorder on that door and caught lots of light anomalies. During the vigil we heard lots of bangs coming from the kitchen area so Jackie and I went to investigate but got no responses to our call outs. We tried calling out in the Main Hall and got a couple of taps.

Vigil 2
We then conducted a vigil in the Seymour Library. I got the name Sarah Louise who I felt was 22 years old and in some way related to William Long, either his daughter or niece?
At one point during the vigil I got a tingling sensation all over my body and felt extremely cold. We tried a glass divination and got some significant movement which Jackie thought was a lady called Anne.
We then went to the Long room where I did not experience anything unusual.

The last room we investigated on this vigil was the Woodlock Room. I still had the name Sarah-Louise in this room and sensed that she was very sad because of how the house was used now and that it was not lived in anymore.

Vigil 3
We made our way to the 1st Floor and to the Octagonal room where I stood by the doorway with the camcorder and I kept hearing tapping noises behind me. I looked round to see if I could catch any light anomalies as I was convinced there was someone there but I did not catch anything. I got the name Hayley who I felt either works in this room now or used to.
We then went to the Boardroom. The atmosphere in this room changed half way through the vigil and seemed crowded as if there were more people than there actually was in there. Jackie sense there was a male entity in this room and while Jackie was sat in a chair he moved it! During the vigil I got a horrible vision of a little girl running towards me and as she got closer her face changed into a grotesque witch's face which took me ages to get out of my head. I felt increasingly uncomfortable in this room and I could not wait to leave it.
We then made our way to the Press and Marketing Office. It was very cold in here and had a 'creepy' atmosphere. There was a desk at one end of the room by the window and I sensed that if anyone was sitting at that desk they would sense that someone was behind them watching them. I felt very uncomfortable sitting at that desk, the same tingling sensation I experienced in the Library happened again and I felt very cold.

Vigil 4
We made our way to the top floor and went into the left hand room at the end of the corridor. I sensed the same girl I picked up on, on the tour. I got a few light anomalies on the camcorder and we all distinctly heard a child's voice say 'hello'.
We tried a vigil in the room opposite but I did not experience anything unusual in this room so Jackie, Steve and I went back into the first room. I felt that the little girl's name was Alice and that she was about 5 or 6 years old. We sat very quietly to see if we could hear anything and we did on occasion hear some tapping.
As we were walking away to investigate another part of the top floor Jackie and Jo heard someone say “Where are you going?” Unfortunately I did not hear it as Jackie and Jo were at the back of the group. We therefore decided to stay in this area and do some more calling out but for me nothing significant occurred.

Conclusion
It was a real treat to be back at Marwell and Phil and Jo were a pleasure to have in our team and I hope they enjoyed it. My favourite room was the Boardroom as although I could not wait to leave the experience I had in there is one I will not forget in a hurry! The Library was also interesting as I definitely sensed there was someone in there with us and at one point was stood quite close to me.

Brian Witt

Vigil 1: 2nd floor.
We started in S20. A small room with part wooden, part carpeted floor and 1 window. We heard some noises in the room but nothing conclusive. We started to hear noises from outside the room so we moved into the corridor. I saw a few light anomalies on the camcorder but it was dusty. The group heard a step around the corner on the landing so I started filming there. I saw a shadow in the doorway directly opposite where I was filming. This was seen on the camera viewfinder not looking directly at the doorway. On entering the room where I had seen the shadow I saw another solid shadow move from left to right. As I had my torch on I presumed it was a shadow cast by me but I was unable to recreate it after trying 5 or 6 times.
Dan started feeling a little odd in this room (11). As he was stood by the door I moved and stood in the doorway. I also started feeling a little odd. It felt like sinus pressure build up. In the adjoining room (12) I thought I saw another shadow but the camcorder was out of focus at the time. In this room my throat felt restricted and my cough seemed worse, but felt better on leaving.

Vigil 2: 1st floor.
This room seemed colder than the thermometer was indicating. I saw something move past the window blocking out the light from outside (video has been checked and it was a group members arm). I could hear the ticking of a clock although there was not one in the room. I could also hear tapping from the corner of the room but it was not in response to questions or requests.

Vigil 3: Library / long room.
We started in the library. We didn't hear anything while calling out. We did some glass divination and had slight movement but nothing conclusive. The whole group heard a door bang outside of the room followed by what sounded like an entry alarm that you have to warn of someone walking through a shop door. We went to see which door it could have been and were told that no doors had this alarm. We moved to the long room and sat around the table. We kept feeling bangs on the floor and could not find any reason. They were random and not in response to us calling out. I relaxed in my chair and closed my eyes. I had a flash / feeling of people around me, busily getting ready for something. Then the words fox hunt came into my head. I have never felt anything like this before. We started to hear voices from what seemed to be upstairs. I opened the door and the voices stopped instantly. I stood in the doorway for a few minutes then heard a high pitch crying that seemed to be coming from the direction of the kitchen.

Vigil 4: Main hall, kitchen and corridor.
The main hall has 3 doors into it and a bar area. We sat on the chairs and called out. No responses to any requests. I did feel like I was waiting for someone to walk in from the door that led to the kitchen. We started to hear noises coming from that direction so we moved into the corridor by the kitchen. We went down into the cellar but no one felt anything so we moved back to the corridor. I had another flash / feeling that when I turned around I would see a staircase but there was not one there. We heard noises from the main hall again so moved back there. Then the noises were back in the direction of the kitchen. I moved and sat in the doorway and could still hear sounds from the direction of the kitchen corridor. No explanation for the sounds could be found.

Amanda Horley

Marwell is a place that I love investigating, but also a very difficult place for me to investigate as I have spent so much time researching the history of the building and the surrounding area. Also, I have had so many experiences whilst in the building, that I have to try really hard to distance myself from what has happened previously. We were very fortunate that on this investigation we had several members of the Marwell staff with us, whose curiosity in the paranormal activity had been raised by their own experiences whilst working in and around the Hall.
At Marwell in particular, I have to be careful not to influence what other members are sensing/picking up, and had made the decision before the investigation that if I was aware of someone in the room with us and recognised them, unless other members of the team were picking up on them too, I would not go into too much detail about who I was picking up on.

My team consisted of Mark P, Gilly, John, Dave (Marwell), Leah (Marwell) and Amy (Marwell).

Vigil 1 - Ground floor - Long room, Library, Woodlock room
We started in the Long room where the temperature was 19.5°C. We sat down, leaving the door between us and the Library open. It was very quiet and we couldn't hear the other teams, but after a short while we heard a knock on the door leading into the corridor. We checked, but there was no-one there. I was sitting with my back to the windows and felt a draft on my right arm coming from the direction of the library. I looked towards the library and was aware of a man standing in the doorway. It felt very much like Rowland, who I have encountered several times in the Hall. He was just stood watching us. Although I asked him (silently) to make himself known to the rest of the team, he did not seem keen to join in.
After a time we moved into the library (temperature 18°C). After settling down, both Leah and I felt that there was someone in the area in front of the door that leads to the stairs. I couldn't say for certain if it was a man or a woman, but they didn't feel particularly pleasant to me. Since the investigation Leah has sent me a description of what she felt was a woman behind us. It is not someone I am familiar with. John was sitting at a table to the right of the fireplace, and I got the sensation of a man sitting at a desk in roughly the same area. After a time Gilly, who was picking up on a man in the room, said that she wanted to go and stand in the corner of the room, but in fact positioned herself to the right of the fireplace. As she did that I saw a brief blue light by the fireplace.
We then moved on to the Woodlock room (temperature 18.5°C) which for me for quiet. The EMF metre did flash twice, but we were unable to get any responses to calling out.

Vigil 2 - Ground floor - cellar, kitchen corridor, functions office, main hall
We spent some time down the cellar stairs, and in the kitchen corridor, but for me, both these areas were quiet. We then moved on to the functions office, which I can't remember having investigated before. There was a locked off camera in there, but no infra-red light, so the light had been left on. We decided to turn it off whilst we were in there, and I quickly became aware of a young lady in the office with us. From the feeling I got, I am sure it was Lucy Standish. She moved across the room, and I have been told since the investigation that the locked-off camera shows a light moving by the windows at that time, although I can be sure that my team were all still with all the torches turned off.
We moved into the main Hall (temperature 19.5°C), and Lucy followed us. The EMF metre went off whilst we were in the Hall, but we didn't get any responses to our calling out. Gilly was aware of a man in the Hall with us, and my right hand side went very cold. Knowing that there can be drafts in the Hall, I turned through 180° but my right had side remained cold. This makes it unlikely that it was a draft causing it. The EMF continued to flicker from time to time.

Vigil 3 - Attic - Nursery and room S4, Rooms S13 and S20
We started this vigil in the Nursery and I was sat just inside the doorway, with Leah across the door on the other side. For some reason I am not comfortable sitting further into this room, and never have been. From the moment we settled and started calling out I was aware of a man stood in the doorway to my left. He was very big and imposing and dark. More than that I cannot say. I didn't feel threatened by him, but I really wasn't comfortable with him standing there, and I felt that he wasn't happy with us being there. It wasn't a presence I recognised. There seemed to be a general air of discomfort amongst the team in this room.
After a time the team moved into the back room, but I decided to remain in the corridor outside. This didn't last for long however, as the area very quickly felt very, very dark and I moved into the room with the others. Once in the room, the corridor seemed fine to me, so I am not sure why I reacted the way I did. After a time I felt that there was someone out in the corridor, but a different person to whom I had picked up on in the nursery. Whoever it was did not want to come into the back room with us.
We then moved down to room S13 which was quiet, which is unusual for this room. Because of this we moved to S20 at the front of the building. Whilst in here several of the team felt that there was someone out in the corridor, although there definitely wasn't.

Vigil 4 - boardroom and octagonal room
We decided to start the final vigil in the boardroom. Initially we had the door to the kitchen open, but the fridge was so noisy we quickly closed it. I normally pick up on Rowland in this room, by the kitchen doorway, just standing and watching us, but tonight he wasn't there. Mark also commented on this. I don't know if it was because of his absence, but I suddenly got a picture of the room with furniture in it. I could see two large sofas against the back wall, and a writing desk along the small wall by the door. Also, and what was most distinct were the pictures on the back wall. I could see, very clearly a portrait of a man in the centre. Middle aged, balding, and possibly in a uniform. There was a picture to either side of this portrait, but I am less sure of the subject matter of them. I felt that the room was from the time that Pride and Prejudice was set in, which would have been shortly after that wing was added to the building. I have never seen this room in this way before, and whilst I was describing what I could see, the EMF meter was spiking.
After a time we moved down the corridor to the Octagonal room. I felt the presence of a woman in here, someone who was in her late teens. I don't know who she was, but she loved the views from the window. When I looked out, the trees across the zoo shouldn't have been there, as they were blocking what I should have been able to see. I wasn't able to recognise the woman so tried to picture the room so I could work out the historical period. I couldn't see much, but I don't think the “octagonal” walls were there, which isn't particularly helpful, but does mean that it was mid 1700's or before. Also, and this is something I have only realised as I type this. I could clearly see the view, and yet it was the middle of the night, and there are very few lights in the zoo at night. We finished our vigil in the area at the top of the stairs, but this was quiet for me.
As always, Marwell doesn't disappoint. For me, the best part of the night was “furnishing” the boardroom. I would love to know whose portrait I was seeing. Many of the regulars were there for me, but I also picked up on spirits that I didn't recognise, and would love to be able to identify. Thank you Marwell for letting us back in for another investigation, and a big thanks to Kieran for getting all the arrangements in place. I can't wait for the next time.

Maria Street

I love Marwell and I love investigating and when you add to the fact that we investigated on Halloween which coincidentally also happens to be my birthday, you can only imagine how I felt on that Sunday evening. I didn't care I had to work the next day, I could always sleep on my breaks; this was one opportunity I was not willing to forego.

We all met at the roundabout and Amanda let us all in. After our usual settling in and setting up we set off on our vigils. I was in team 2 with Kieran, Jane and Robin from SPUK and Regan from Marwell with her two guests. We started on the 1st floor and made our way to the boardroom. We have had some great results in here in the past but it was a bit quieter tonight. We called out and were treated to the odd tap, but nothing concrete. We did notice the room getting darker in the corner opposite the door and this kept happening. It would lighten, then darken again. We decided to move on to the conference room where we tried a table tipping experiment. The table did seem to be vibrating under our fingertips and we could hear creaking and lots of taps in the room so it seemed the energy was definitely building but our time was up before it could do anything tangible.

After a welcome break we set off for vigil 2. This time we were on the 2nd floor which is where we seem to get a lot of activity. We spent a lot of time on the landing and called out. This was to ensure we didn't miss any movement/noises from any of the adjoining rooms. We also went into Maureen's room. I found it rather quiet so we went into the room next to the attic. This was a little more interesting for me as we seemed to have taps in answer to questions. I couldn't get direct answers however, it's just when I asked for a tap to come twice so we knew it wasn't just random, it did. Also, one of the guests thought there was somebody stood behind me but there wasn't.

We stopped for another break and then carried on to the next vigil which was on the ground floor. We started in the kitchen corridor but all was quiet so we moved on to the main hall. We could hear noises from upstairs so checked to see if anybody was on the move. They had been but had now settled down. We called out but all was quiet so I set up the Ghost Radar app on my phone which proved to be very amusing. Does it work? I cannot categorically state that it does but I can't say it doesn't either. It has thrown up some very interesting words in the past but on this occasion seemed just so random. In the middle of all this we heard a door slam very loudly in our vicinity. The strange thing was it sounded like the outer door, which was in full view of all of us but that didn't move. A few checks on the walkie talkies confirmed it was nobody else in the team so this was something we could not explain. It was not a windy night at all and all windows were closed, so was not a draught.

Our next vigil was in the library. I had the name of Jack in here but have no idea what it means. All was quiet in here so we moved to the long room. This was also very quiet and calling out evoked no response. It was soon the end of our investigation at this fabulous place and once again, I felt very privileged to have been here and I hope our guests enjoyed themselves as much as we did. Thank you once again Marwell!