Southern Paranormal - Investigations
Private House Investigation, Southampton
Friday 24th April 2010
As this was a private house investigation the report for this will just consist of personal reports from some of the members that were present. The owner did not want any details of the property in the report – other than in the personal reports from some of the investigators. Our heartfelt thanks go to the owners of house who opened up their home for us to investigate.
Sarah Pettet
Team – Amanda, Julie, Mark and myself
Vigil 1 - lounge
I felt comfortable in the room to start with; I was warm and quite relaxed. After a while though, I started to feel cold inexplicably, and uncomfortable about the area to the right of me, to the extent that I was turning my back and moving away from it. I was quite grateful when Julie requested that the lights go back on as most of us were feeling uncomfortable. Otherwise then only sense I had on this vigil was of an old man in a flat cap.
Vigil 2 – front room and front bedroom
Still felt quite chilly, but otherwise comfortable and relaxed. Got no real sense of anything in the first room. In the second room again I was comfortable. I don’t think anyone was really uncomfortable whilst we were sat in there. I noticed after a short while we all seemed to be filled with a little sense of mischief and were messing about with our camera. When we left the room I felt uncomfortable for the first time and didn’t want to be last out of the room. It was almost as if there was something not wanting us to leave.
Vigil 3 - Group vigil in the lounge
I was aware that some people were feeling uncomfortable or sensing things, however, I felt more or less comfortable. I was sat in a different chair and didn’t feel the same way as I had in the room previously. However, I was very tired at this point.
Summary – On an earlier walk round I was drawn to the back bedroom and the attic room as I had the same feeling in both areas. I would have liked to have explored these areas fully but we did not have enough time. Overall, the house felt like a family home and nothing there seemed to mean any harm.
Amanda Horley
No two private residence investigations are the same, and I always enjoy the anticipation of not knowing what we are going to encounter. This particular bungalow in Southampton looked perfectly ordinary from the outside, and we were greeted by the owners and settled in for what was to be an interesting evening. Before the first vigil I had a quick walk round, and found myself drawn to the front bedroom, which had also intrigued me when I first entered the building, but I couldn’t say why exactly.
We were a small group and initially split into two teams. I was in a team with Julie, Sarah and Mark, and we started our first vigil in the lounge. During this vigil there were noises above us several times, but as this was an extension with a flat roof, we cannot be sure that there wasn’t a cat or something else up there. I was videoing this vigil, and at one point there was a strong pinpoint of light that rose up to the ceiling to the left of the fireplace. We had placed the voice recorder and EMF meter in the middle of the floor, and a light anomaly moved towards the voice recorder and then disappeared when it reached it. When looking at the camcorder viewing screen, I kept expecting to see someone walk across the fireplace. We all felt that there was someone with us and came up with several names between us. After a time, the other three team members expressed a feeling of unease. They were a little nervous or uncomfortable, but I felt fine. In fact, I had a great desire to scare Julie, who was sitting near me. I wanted to roar at her with my hands held up like claws. After a time the atmosphere changed, and we all said how relaxed we felt in what was, after all, a stranger’s house.
After a short break, we moved on to the front sitting room. This room seemed very different to the rest of the house, and didn’t seem to fit in. When I was first in the room with Julie, waiting for Mark and Sarah to join us, we had a red torch on, and I saw a shadow move across the corner of the room. Julie tried moving her arms to see if we could re-create the shadow, but it didn’t seem to have been caused by her. Whilst I didn’t pick up on anything specifically paranormal in here, we did have an odd experience. We found that every time someone said something, another member of the team would come out with a song title. It seemed that everything that was said would link to a song, and quite a diverse selection, from hymns, through pop music and musicals to rock music. There was an Organ in the room, and the owner confirmed that it had been there for 10 or more years, so maybe we were picking up energy in the room related to family gatherings and singsongs. After a time, things seemed to change and we realised that no-one was coming out with song titles any more, and in fact, there just didn’t seem to be any to fit with what was being said.
We then moved on to the front bedroom which for me was very quiet, although the others were getting unusual lights on photos that they were taking.
After the next break we gathered as one large group in the lounge, with Julie and me sitting at the dining table whilst the others sat on the sofas. Julie and I could see through the kitchen into the corridor beyond. There were a large number of noises coming from the kitchen area, some of which could be put down to the kettle or other appliances, but some which just couldn’t be explained. I could see pinpricks of coloured lights in the kitchen that were mainly red and occasionally blue. Julie had seen mist in the kitchen, and someone else (I can’t remember who) saw mist in front of the fireplace in the lounge. It definitely felt that there was someone in the kitchen, just moving around. Julie became increasingly uncomfortable sat so close to the kitchen door, so she moved to a chair next to me at the other end of the dining table. Out of the blue I suddenly got the feeling that someone had come through the kitchen doorway into the lounge with us. I couldn’t be certain, but I think it was male. However, once the “person” was in the room with us, I couldn’t sense them anymore, and found that incredibly unnerving. Maria, who was sat on the sofa, felt that there was someone standing in front of her. We called out and asked several more questions and I again had a desire to scare Julie, although this time I wanted to shout Boo at her. It again felt like there was someone in the kitchen, and this time I had the distinct impression that they were coming into the room furtively, almost on their hands and knees, and that they were going to creep up on us. This was followed by quite a loud noise from the kitchen and at that point we decided to turn the lights on. The owner confirmed that their grandfather used to scare them as children by creeping up on them and shouting Boo. Also, a child that visits the house frequently also creeps up on people and roars at them making a claw shape with their hands. This made me feel a lot more comfortable about what had just happened.
We had a short break and then continued in the lounge, but this time Mark and Julie swapped places and Mark sat at the dining table with me. The kitchen seemed a lot quieter to me this time, no mist or coloured lights. I did however get a strange image of Pennywise the Clown (from Stephen King’s “It”). The orange hair in particular stood out. When I mentioned this, the owner confirmed that ginger hair did run in their family.
All in all, the time we had in this property passed incredibly quickly and we were amazed to see how late it was when we finished. This was definitely a fascinating place, and seemed to have a lot of energy within it from members of the family, both those who had passed, and those still alive. I’d like to thank the owners for allowing us into their home for what was a truly remarkable investigation. It really was a great night.
Maria Street
This two-three bed bungalow is perched on the East side of Southampton in a grass lined street. Everything about it suggests normal but one of the owners had agreed for us to investigate his property as strange things were happening.
As the owners were away on holiday, I was entrusted with the keys and was soon joined by Julie, Mark P. Sarah, Amanda, guest Rachel, Alison and her son Jason. After a lovely Chinese meal, we split into two teams. I was in a team with Alison, Rachel and Jason and we made our way to the front half of the bungalow, the front room and two bedrooms, whilst the others stayed in the back room.
We started in the front room. We stayed quiet for a while to acclimatise to the different sounds in and around the property then we called out. Alison picked up on family members and came up with some convincing evidence. We could hear small taps but could not discern where they were coming from. Then came a huge thud. I quickly checked with the other team that they had not made the noise, to find them all sitting quietly. They too had heard it and were just as baffled as we were. Alison picked up on a small boy who had died from drowning. We could not place him but did know that most of the back garden was once a swimming pool. However, without knowing the history of the place it is hard to know whether this was conducive to this little boy’s fate.
Our next vigil was in the front bedroom, where I knew one of the owners had once witnessed a sighting. However the room had a very calming atmosphere and all was quiet in here, although Alison picked up once more on family members, which was fascinating.
In the back bedroom, the atmosphere was somewhat more sombre. Even taking into consideration the fact that the bedroom was darker than the first, it was a much heavier feel in this room. In fact we felt quite uneasy. Alison picked up on a high society family which could be connected to the owner’s past family.
A welcome break followed and we then started our next vigil. We sat in the back room. Alison and Jason sat by the fireplace and Rachel and I sat on the sofa opposite the fireplace. After a little while, Rachel and I were fascinated by tiny pinpricks of light which looked like little stars disintegrating. They were appearing by Alison and in front of the fireplace. I so very rarely see things with the naked eye and it was intriguing that Rachel was witnessing exactly the same phenomena. The room also seemed to grow darker very quickly and then lighten up again. We could also hear taps which sounded as if they were coming from the kitchen but apart from the odd electrical click, we could not ascertain where the others were coming from. Alison also saw a white shadow about child height making its way from the kitchen into the living room.
All too soon it was time for another break and we all decided to come together for our next vigil. Alison and Jason had to leave so the rest of us all converged together in the back room. Rachel and I sat in the same sofa, Mark and Sarah sat in the other sofa and Julie and Amanda sat at the dining room table directly opposite the kitchen. The first thing to happen was the sound of the blinds cord moving. This was not caused by somebody moving by it as we were all sat far enough away from the blinds. We called out and could hear many noises coming from the kitchen and Amanda picked up on a man who was making her nervous. She saw him crouched in the kitchen doorway and could imagine him crawling into the living room ready to rise up shouting ‘Raaaaar’ She and Julie were both feeling very uneasy until I explained this was a childhood prank from a granddad or dad to his child. That made them feel a little easier but we stopped for a break to lighten the atmosphere. When we reconvened the feeling in the room was definitely lighter and more jovial. This was a very interesting vigil and certainly warrants further investigation which I hope we can do in the near future.
Mark Pettet
Team – Julie, Amanda, Sarah and myself
Vigil 1
The lounge was a nice relaxing area, it was warm and comfortable. There was nothing here that I could put down and say that I felt anything, but the only thing which did seem to get my attention was that I had the feeling that there was somebody standing next to me as I was looking in the mirror on the opposite wall.
Vigil 2
The next 2 rooms for me were completely blank for me and I did not feel or sense anything here. The front bedroom was the only one that had any bearing of being slightly strange as after a little while of the group being in here there was a lot of light heartedness and a playful manner and we were all taking pictures into the big mirrored wardrobes.
Vigil 3
Group vigil in the lounge. Julie was feeling uncomfortable sitting in the corner of the room so I changed with her after a short break but I did not feel the same, though it was a much darker area.
Summary
Having done an earlier walk round I was asked which rooms I sensed anything in, to which I said the front bedroom and top of stairs leading to the attic. I later found out from Maria that these 2 places have some kind of history of possible activity.