Southern Paranormal - Investigations
The Tudor Grange Investigation
Saturday 18th November 2006
Attending Investigators – Julie Harwood, Wayne Blyth, Alison Blyth, Rab Gardner, Marc Munro, Charlotte Munro, Tim Stevens, Paul Martin, Simon Steadman, Rachel Bettany, Amanda Horley, Ed Ashton, David Ireland, Cain Liversedge, Maria Street.
Also present – Doug (Manager), Louise, Fran & Steve
Introduction
This beautiful hotel situated in Bournemouth in the heart of Dorset, stands out from the other buildings in Gervis Road. When you walk into the reception you are greeted by a spectacular and original 300 year old “William & Mary” staircase and panelled wood walls which helps transport you back to days gone by. It is easy to understand why this hotel is so popular and why people keep going back.
Pictures courtesy of www.tudorgrangehotel.co.uk
We were contacted by people who have stayed at the hotel with reports of suspected paranormal activity and so were delighted when Doug, the hotels manager agreed to let us visit to conduct an investigation. One lady who contacted us reported looking out of her front facing bedroom window and seeing a hooded man stood in the middle of the front lawn (pictured above) just staring back at her. Her first thoughts were that it looked like a monk but when she turned to get her husband, she looked back and the figure had gone. This intrigued us as we could not see why the building or indeed the land would have any connections to Monks.
The second sighting was again, in the grounds and towards the right hand side of the building if you face it front on (near the ornamental pond). A man who had gone outside to have a cigarette reported hearing children giggling and then a strange mist sweep across about 2 foot from the ground before disappearing. Again he thought this odd, as it was a clear night. The third sighting was in the hotel itself this time and in the dining room. A lady was sat eating breakfast when she reports seeing 2 small lights dance across the room in front of her table. She then felt a sudden cold breeze.
It is important to stress that only Julie Harwood knew of these sightings. No team members were informed of the reports before hand.
Pictures courtesy of www.tudorgrangehotel.co.uk
Southern Paranormal UK would like to sincerely thank Doug and his family for not only letting us have the chance to investigate these sightings but also for joining in with us on the night and making us feel so welcome.
Vigil Area’s
Dining Room, Bar, Kitchen
Grounds, Hallway, Stairs and Upper Landing
Lounge
Vigil Teams
Team 1
Julie – Team Leader
Rab
Wayne
Charlotte
Tim
Paul
Team 2
Alison – Team Leader
Simon
Amanda
Fran – Guest of Manager
Steve – Guest of Manager
Team 3
Rachel – Team Leader
Ed
David
Cain
Marc
Maria
Doug – Manager of Hotel
Louise – Guest of Manager
Itinerary
| 10.15pm | – Julie, Wayne & Alison arrive to meet Doug and survey vigil areas |
| 11.00pm | – Team arrive and meet in car park |
| 11.15pm | – Set Up equipment & Baseline Tests |
| 11.45pm | – Team Brief |
| 12.00am | – Vigil 1 Team 1 – Dining Room, Bar & Kitchen Team 2 – Grounds Team 3 – Lounge |
| 1.00am | - Break |
| 1.15am | - Vigil 2 Team 1 – Grounds Team 2 – Lounge Team 3 – Dining Room, Bar & Kitchen |
| 2.15am | - Break |
| 2.30am | - Vigil 3 Team 1 – Lounge Team 2 – Dining Room, Bar & Kitchen Team 3 – Grounds |
| 3.30am | - Pack Up |
| 4.00am | - Depart |
Team Equipment
Each team had –
1 x Night vision Camcorder
1 x infra red torch to boost night vision quality
1 x EMF meter
1x Non contact thermometer gun
At least 1 digital camera
Clipboards, note sheets & pen
Access to – glass for divination, dowsing rods
Locked off Equipment
1 x Night Vision Camcorder was locked off in the lounge, facing window. Camcorder also had 140 bulb infra red lamp positioned next to it, to boost night vision quality.
Baseline Tests
Completed by Paul Martin, Cain Liversedge, Maria Street & Alison Blyth 11.20pm 18/11/06
Dining Room - Temp 17.5, No raised EMF readings. Panelled Room, open fireplace with lit fire.
Bar – Temp fluctuating 18.5 – 21.0, No raised EMF readings.
Kitchen – Temp 16, No raised EMF readings apart from near electrical equipment (expected)
Lounge – Temp 23, but has had large amount of people in it as also team base for night. No raised EMF readings. Large open fireplace with lit fire.
Upper part of staircase – Temp 19.5, no raised EMF readings, flooring/steps creak
Lower part of staircase – Temp 17.5, no raised EMF readings, flooring/steps creak
Hall/Entrance – Temp 17.5 – 24 fluctuating, but doors lead off the hall including door to outside so draughts are obvious. No raised EMF readings.
Grounds – Noise from road nearby, pond to right of property. Spitting with rain on and off.
Team/Vigil Notes
Team 1
12.00am Dining Room Temp on outside wall 16, inside walls 18, no raised EMF readings.
12.05am Rab is sat on floor in front of fire and feels a cool breeze, draught?
12.06am Waynes captures an orb on camcorder behind Paul
12.06am At the same time Tim and Julie captures orbs on their camera’s in the same direction as Wayne.
12.08am Rab is stood to the left of the fireplace now and feels very cold – so much so his voice is shaky. To his right (closest to the open fire) is 16.5 and to his right is 17.5.
12.10am Charlotte feels a breeze in front of her
12.11am Paul & Rab feel a breeze between them when they are stood in front of the fireplace.
12.15am Wayne captures an orb on camcorder above/behind Julie and at the same time Tim captures one on his digital camera in the same place.
12.16am Julie smells cinnamon
12.18am Rab and Paul feel a cold breeze between them again
12.20am Julie & Tim hear a clicking noise from the corner
12.22am Tim stands by the right of the fireplace and can feels a cold spot. Temp in that area 17.5, rest of the room is now 19.5.
12.30am Rab stands in corner (left of window) and feels very dizzy
12.32am Julie and Paul feel a cold breeze behind Paul
12.32am Rest of the room is now 20 yet there is a cold “line” down the room from behind Paul to Rab temp 17.
12.40am Rab senses a sickly feeling like after taking morphine, senses a male
12.40am Team attempt glass divination
12.42am Weak movement of the glass is felt and experienced and on occasion the glass seems to shudder. Group tried to ascertain details –
Male – Yes
Female –Yes
Are you confused whether you’re a man or woman? – Glass stops moving
Are you in your 20’s – No movement
Are you in your 30’s - No movement
Are you in your 40’s? - No movement
Are you in your 50’s? – Yes but very vague, weak movement
Did you die naturally? Shuddered
Did you die from an illness? – Yes
Can we ask that if there is a spirit with us that you follow us for the night - Yes
Glass continues to shudder and shake until session is closed
On leaving the dining room and meeting up with team 3, all members present hear what sounds like “help” coming from the dining room/kitchen area
Garden 1.15am – 1.40am
Julie & Charlotte feel apprehensive by the pond area
Charlotte feels fine when she stands one side of the tree but anxious when she stands between the tree and the swing
Rab senses something round by the pond area
All team hear what sounds like footsteps but suspect it is rain falling on the leaves
Wayne feels a blow of warm air across his face
Hallway, Stairs & Landing – 1.40am – 2.15am
Wayne & Tim sit in Hallway – Wayne has a headache and a feeling of sickness while in the main hall.
Tim catches 2 orbs on camcorder and saw 2 dark shadows moving towards dining room
Julie & Paul sit on the stairs – Both see flashes of light but they are so quick they can not see where they are coming from. Not knowing how Wayne feels Julie feels very sick.
Rab & Charlotte sit on the Landing at top of stairs – Both see flashes of light. Both feel uneasy when they see shadows at bottom of small staircase. The unease subsided when they saw some red dots/orbs appearing in the area.
Lounge
Temp 22, no raised EMF readings
2.35am Julie, Rab and Paul can feel a cold spots
2.45am Team attempt glass divination
Glass moves in same sort of way to how it did in dining room but a little stronger
Glass keeps moving over to Paul.
Glass only repsonds when Tim, Paul or Rab call out. Does not respond very often to Julie or Charlotte.
Are you male? Yes
Did you used to live here? No
Did you used to work here? No
Tim starts coughing and has to leave divination to get a drink
Team senses a female presence but glass denotes male (??)
Team a little confused to who they are talking to and whether it is one or 2 spirits
Do you like the men? Yes
Do you not like women? Yes
Are you unsure of us? Yes
But you like the men? Yes
Can you confirm you are male? Yes
Rab feels extremely sick and his back in freezing cold (even though he has his back to the fire) and has to sit out for a moment
Are you ashamed of something? Yes
Can we go through the alphabet and try to get your name? Yes
Rab immediately senses the name Simon
Is your name Simon? Yes
Were you with us in the dining room? Yes
Simon can we ask you, are you a homosexual? Yes
Are you ashamed of this? Yes
Do people judge you because of this? Yes
Please be aware that now there is no shame in it, you don’t have to be confused or feel guilty.
Do you know you are dead? Glass starts circling
Do you know you have passed over? Yes
Julie feels Simon has an artistic connection
Were you an artist? No
Were you an entertainer? Yes
And you live in this area? Yes
Glass movement is getting weaker and team close down divination as it is the end of the vigil time.
Team 2
Grounds – 12.00am
Team by pond and Amanda has dowsing rods. Slight crossing of rods in this area.
12.20am Camcorder and digital camera batteries die (although both have been fully charged)
12.23am Dowsing rods are wavering slightly
12.28am Team move inside
12.29am Simon goes up onto the stairs while rest of team remain in foyer
12.29am Temp increases from 11.5 to 19.5
12.32am Temp drops again from 19.5 to 12.5
12.40am Top of stairs 14.5
12.55am Simon quietly calls out, 2 taps heard on first floor by toilet/bathroom
12.57am Amanda and Simon quietly call out and hear a groan however they believe as they are so near the guest rooms, it may just be one of them.
While Alison and the rest of the team are in the hall they hear the door to the dining room creak quite loudly. They check with Team 1 who were in the dining room to see if they moved the door. Team were in fact all sat down and did not even hear the creak even though they were only feet away.
Lounge
1.25am Alison senses the name Emily
1.50am Team attempt glass divination (Alison, Amanda & Simon)
1.51am Slight glass movement
1.52am Team hear slight knocking on the table
1.55am Amanda & Simon hear a possible breathing sound
2.05am Fire dies to embers during glass divination
Dining Room
2.24am Temp 16.5, no raised EMF readings
Nothing was experienced by the team in this area
Bar
2.45am Temp 17, no raise EMF readings
Nothing was experienced by the team in this area
Team 3
Lounge
Table tipping experiment tried. Table moved ever so slightly
Maria feels conformable in room but feels trepidation towards one of the corners
David and Maria take pictures and both capture orbs in the corner
EMF – no notable readings in this area (or in the rest of the room)
Kitchen
Most of group had an uneasy, slightly odd unexplained feeling in the kitchen
David senses a troubled spirit hiding from the team
Dining Room
Glass divination tried and table tipping – no result
Garden
Maria captures mist on digital camera
Hall
Cain feels building is being protected by some sort of presence
On returning to the lounge area all team members hear what sounds like “help” coming from the kitchen/dining room area
Bar
Marc tried a version of scrying in here and saw his face develop a beard. He could also not see any features on his face.
Personal Reports
Julie Harwood
The Tudor Grange is a wonderful building and when you step inside, it is no surprise why guests keep coming back to this hotel.
I was in Team 1 with Wayne, Rab, Paul, Charlotte and Tim and our first vigil was in the dining room. The team kept picking up on cold spots and breezes though I strongly believe most of these were draughts from doors or windows. One cold spot did interest me because it was felt by both Rab and Tim and strangely enough was right next to the lit fire, where you would expect it to be warmer.
At one point I could smell cinnamon, an aroma I really do not like but this seemed to pass very quickly and no one else could smell it. Another strange thing I experienced was when we had just started glass divination. Myself and Paul who were sat on one side of the room were putting our hands out to see if we could feel a breeze and when we moved our hands it was like we were moving them through fog or cotton wool. The air around us seemed to feel really thick, something I personally have not experienced before. The glass divination was interesting too, as the glass seemed to shake and jitter but did not seem to move with much energy.
Our next vigil was in the garden and I have to say I did not experience anything out of the ordinary there even when I stood where I knew the hooded figure had been seen. The only odd thing was the feeling of being anxious that Charlotte and I had when stood near the pond. We then went inside and split up in the hall. Paul & I sat on the stairs and after about 5 minutes we both saw a flash of light like someone taking a picture. We could not see where it came from which confused us as we knew there was no team outside as we had just come in, so our first thought that a camera flash could have been seen through the window was near impossible. Not long after I began to feel very sick and dizzy and I just wanted to leave than area, however anyone that knows me knows I don’t like being stationary on stairs as it makes me nervous so I think on this occasion I will put my feelings down to this.
Our last vigil was in the lounge where we took part in one of the most interesting glass divinations I have done in a long while. The glass moved very similar to how it had done in the dining room and we wondered if we had been followed by the same seemingly friendly but nervous spirit. Charlotte and I both called out but the glass would rarely respond to us yet whenever Paul, Rab and Tim called out it would move towards them quite strongly (especially to Paul at first). We ascertained that the presence did not like females but not in a nasty way, it just preferred the men. Of course we all presumed it was a woman because of this when in fact when we kept asking it insisted it was a male. After a little while it dawned on us to ask the rather sensitive question of are you a homosexual which we got a very positive response to. It had never dawned on us until then. Rab was also given the name of Simon, which the glass responded to straight away.
All in all a fascinating and very different night than usual at the Tudor Grange and I would like to wholeheartedly thank Doug and his family who were not only very welcoming but also joined in with us through out the night. It was a pleasure thank you very much. Would I like to return to the hotel, of course I would. We picked up on nothing but good warm friendly energy and so why on earth would we not want to go back to that, even if it was just to see if Simon our Gay ghost was still happy there in the knowledge that he did not need to be ashamed anymore.
Wayne Blyth
My first impressions of the Tudor Grange were of a fantastic looking building with lots of potential.
Myself, Julie and Alison were first to arrive and we quickly introduced ourselves. When the other team members arrived we proceeded to set up our equipment. Then it was on to our first vigil.
Ours was in the dining room, a lovely room with a roaring fire. Whilst I was filming Paul in the corner, I captured what appeared to be an orb rising from his direction. Hopefully this was recorded on film. A few times I felt cold spots around me which I would have assumed to be from the windows. However, On inspecting them, I found they were sealed. We attempted glass divination too, with some positive results.
Vigil 2 was outside in the grounds. Unfortunately, I did not get much from here, except when I was standing near the tree. I experienced a warm draft of air on my face. This was highly unusual as the night was cold and I can not explain where this came from. We decided to go inside to the hallway. With Tim, I sat downstairs in the entrance. Here, for some reason I started to feel extremely sick and I started to get a headache. My headache disappeared as soon as the vigil was over.
Vigil 3 was in the lounge. Personally, nothing of note was to happen here for me. I busied myself with an EVP experiment. I recorded several segments of the vigil, and await the results (if any). Interestingly, the glass divination session attempted by Julie, Paul, Charlotte, Rab and Tim, seemed to reveal some fascinating aspects of "spirit". I will let others who participated explain.
All in all, an exceptional location with lots of atmosphere and warm and friendly hosts. My thanks to all for allowing us to indulge in our unusual hobby. Paranormal? Unfortunately, not too much evidence for me.
Rachel Bettany
The evening passed by quietly, on the first vigil in the lounge, very little happened. The team tried table tilting and glass divination, both proving fruitless, although some orbs were caught on video and on stills cameras, the guests with us joined in both experiments.
Our second vigils were in the bar, dining room and kitchen. The team split into 3 groups of 3 to cover all areas at once, again little happened, although a couple of us felt a little uncomfortable in the kitchen but were unable to explain exactly why. While sitting in the bar, I heard a breath from the passageway, which was also heard by Doug. Our last vigil was the grounds and the stairway, nothing happened outside and with it being cold and damp we went inside, splitting the team into two groups, 2 went upstairs two on the stairs and the others sat in the hallway. Again nothing occurred although I caught some interesting orbs on my stills camera.
I felt very welcome at the hotel not only by the staff there but also by whoever still remains at the Tudor Grange, The place had a wonderful inviting feeling very homely and is somewhere I would like to re-visit.
Simon Steadman
The Tudor Grange was a lovely building, with a wonderful atmosphere, Warm, friendly and welcoming, but unfortunately paranormally quiet. We did a glass divination experiment in the lounge, with a small amount of movement. Outside gave little evidence, although both my stills camera and video camera had complete battery drain within roughly 15 min (both were fully charged at the start of the vigil). We did also record some odd temperature fluctuations on the stairs and first floor landing. A trigger object was set up in the bar but no movement was detected. Some small orbs were caught on video at various points but no conclusive evidence. On the whole I did have a good night, the staff were a friendly helpful crew who really seemed to take an interest in what we were doing and the equipment and methods we use (and the best kit room so far!!)
Maria Street
This was only my second investigation with the group and as the first was so good, I was really looking forward to it. As I drew up to the front of the hotel, it just looked so welcoming. It truly is a lovely place and has a very comfortable look and feel to it.
We all met in the Lounge where a log fire was burning in the grate and comfy sofas were in abundance. I felt privileged to be here for the night. The owner, Doug, was very welcoming and extremely interested in what we did, which really put us at our ease and made us feel very welcome.
I was in team 3 with team leader, Rachel, and team-mates, David, Cain and Ed. We started in the lounge accompanied by guests of Doug, and Boris the dog! It was very quiet in the lounge with just the occasional hiss from the fire breaking the silence and the occasional snore from Boris! It felt very comfortable and we could have stayed there all night very happily, although the corner of the room, by the window, made me feel uneasy. These feelings were confirmed when both David and I took photos in that area only to capture some orbs. I took charge of the EMF meter and took it over to the window, but nothing was recorded. When Cain noticed orbs by the mirror on the video camera, I swept the EMF meter over this area, but again nothing was recorded. We tried calling out and David felt the presence of a monk, but there was no response, so we thought we would try table tipping. The table did tremble slightly but this seemed to be very weak, so we tried glass divination instead. This also prompted no response and our session in the lounge came to an end.
After a short break, we went into the dining room, bar and kitchen. Again, there was nothing to report, although the kitchen made us feel uneasy, in particular, a couple of doorways. David picked up a troubled spirit in this area of the kitchen who had walked from one doorway to the other and was hiding from us. We tried glass divination and table tipping in both the bar and the dining room, but again to no avail. This kind of proves (take note parapsychologists) that people do not move the glass or the table, because we so wanted it, that they both would have been flying!!
Another short break and then we went out in to the grounds. It was out here that I photographed a strange mist. Ed tried to recreate this effect by breathing in front of the lens, and this did indeed create something similar. It was only when I downloaded the pictures on to my camera, that I noticed the difference between the two mists. I emailed them to David so he could have a look at them both and he has spotted what looks like a face in the original photo I took. Very curious! It was getting quite cold by now, so we came back inside to the hall, the stairs and the landing. Cain, again, caught some light anomalies on the video camera by the fireplace in the hallway, but we could hear and see nothing. He did however feel that the hotel was being protected by a presence. We made our way back to the lounge and team 1 were still conducting their investigation outside the lounge door. We stayed very quiet and we all heard what sounded like “help”. It was coming from the direction of the kitchen, so we asked the people in there if it came from them, to which they replied that it hadn’t. This was a really good way to end an investigation which didn’t seem to yield much for our team, but that is the nature of this sort of thing. It won’t always happen for you but it was worth travelling to Bournemouth just to stay the night at this fantastic place and I’d like to thank Doug and his guests for making us feel so welcome on the night. I’d also like to say once again how great it is to be working with such a great team. I am really looking forward to the next one now!
Rab Gardner
Team one consisted of Julie, Wayne, Paul, Maria, Tim, Charlotte & myself.
Vigil 1
Dining Room: Room felt cold even though a fire was burning in the hearth. A large bay window at one end may be a contributor to this feeling. After settling we detected a cold spot moving around the room, it was most dramatic when passing in front of the fire where the change in temp was easy to distinguish. At one point I stood next to the fire and immediately went cold to the point of shaking. Shortly after I felt something move away and I got warm again. Tim got good shots of orbs moving from corner to corner around the room. I then walked in the opposite direction until, near the bay window; I was overcome with a sickly dizzy feeling – not dissimilar to using morphine as a painkiller. Glass divination indicated 2 presence’s, one male and one female. By then it was time to move on.
Vigil 2
Outside: Not much to report. Didn’t notice any anomalies, but towards the end I did have a feeling that something was outside the downstairs window.
Top of stairs: Charlotte and I took post at this location near the upper stairway. The large windows made it difficult to substantiate light anomalies from ‘flash’ photography effects. However, we did start to notice small red orbs which at first appeared as temp gun dots. Since nobody was using those devices at that time it proved difficult to prove what they were. Soon, an air of uneasiness began to build up and the red orbs disappeared. Charlotte noticed it at first and it seemed to be coming from the upper staircase. As we watched, that area began to get darker and the feeling of something there peeking round the corner got stronger. I walked up to that area but didn’t see or feel anything. Shortly after we felt more comfortable and the area seemed to get lighter. We also noticed the red orbs had come back and then everything settled back down.
Vigil 3
Lounge: A very warm and cosy room that felt quiet and comfortable, so I was happy to sit back and take the notes. Julie opened up with glass divination and very slowly we began to get a response. Orbs were picked up again and a cold spot began to move amongst us. By the way the glass was moving it appeared to be the same 2 presence’s that we had picked up in the dining room. Normally, I don’t enjoy using the glass but this time I felt I had to give it a go. We picked up on a slow, weak moving energy and a more energetic one. The glass kept going to Paul in response to questions. It said it didn’t like women and wanted to speak to the men. I started to feel a little strange and in my head began to think that the 2 presence’s were one and the same. I then thought that this single presence was homosexual, at which point the glass came to me. I told Julie my feelings and she asked out if he was homosexual, again the glass came to me affirming this was right. Paul suggested that we go through the alphabet to find out his name. As soon as he said that, I was given the name of Simon. When I asked Julie to speak out the glass moved to me confirming his name was Simon. I couldn’t believe it or explain it; I don’t know where the name came from.
I can’t remember much after that because I felt very cold and the sickly feeling came back. This time it stayed and I thought I was either going to faint backwards or fall forwards and throw up. At one point I grabbed Julies arm to stop me. The feeling got worse and I know Simon was trying to show me how he died (mercury poisoning), but I panicked and broke away from the circle.
I’d like to thank Doug and every body at Tudor Grange for making us feel so welcome. What a place, normally I only pick up on cold spots, but the Grange proved a new step for me. I’m so pleased that I was able to pick up on a lot of things and hope that somebody can substantiate what I felt.
Alison Blyth
What amazed me most of all about this building was the fact it had been kept in its original state. The staircase was fantastic and the atmosphere was warm and welcoming.
Our first vigil was outside and in the hall area.
Both Amanda and I sensed something outside, but couldn’t pinpoint what it was. We kept hearing strange noises and shuffling, but I cannot rule out animal activity. As it was starting to rain we came indoors. The group split with some of the group sitting upstairs and the remainder sitting downstairs. I felt comfortable in this area but kept getting a strange bitter/sweet smell which we couldn’t say what was causing it. I recognised part of it being clary sage with the undertone of citrus but apart from that nothing unexplainable happened to me.
Our second vigil was in the lounge area. We attempted Glass divination, but nothing significant was reported. Both I & Amanda smelt the sage again and a couple of orbs were captured, but all in all a relaxing room. The only strange thing that we couldn’t explain was when we were doing glass divination instead of the glass moving the fire seemed to respond. I know this sounds quite daft and you would have had to see it to understand, but every time we asked a question the flames dimmed. This was noticed by all our team members. I cannot rule out this being a natural thing rather than paranormal but it did grab our attention.
Our final vigil was in the dining area. I felt very ‘laddish’ as if I had been to a party which made me quite giggly. We called out and heard a few taps, but no other occurrences happened to us in this area.
I have to say that on all of our vigils I did not seem to pick up on anything out of the ordinary, the only thing that struck me as strange was the smell of sage and a citrus based scent which periodically followed us around the building. I couldn’t pinpoint where this was coming from despite sniffing every candle in sight.
I have no explanation for this, but all in all I enjoyed the evening and am very pleased to have visited as we were made to feel very welcome by the staff who avidly joined us in our vigils.
Tim Stevens
Dinning room
Rab felt various cold spots one especially by the fire I also felt it as if a column of cold air was situated by the fire place it could be felt distinctively by hand the difference between the warmth from the fire place (about 3-4 foot from the fireplace )
And the cold about 2-3 feet in width then you could feel the heat again as if there was no cold spot between you and the fire very strange and I could not explain this!!
Also I photographed a number of orb lights that seemed to be circling the room as if a presence was investigating what we were doing in the room.
I took part in the glass divining that we did and we appeared to contact a female spirit but could not get a name. This was my first time doing this and I felt warm and totally relaxed and comfortable with this and my whole body felt energised and tingly quite an experience.
Garden
I didn't really experience anything in the garden but I did get a sense that once my team left the pond area that something was there so I took a photo and caught an orb!
Hall
Myself and Wayne were at the bottom of the stairs in the hall I didn't really experience anything here apart from catching a small orb on camera on the staircase which I showed to Wayne he then went to check the stairs at which point I took a second photo which showed a very large orb next to and touching Wayne's face!
Lounge
In the lounge area we did glass divining again and contacted the spirit of a man called Simon we were about to ask the spirit to answer yes when we called out the letter beginning his name when Rab had the name Simon pop into his head we asked the glass this and it was to our surprise correct!!! It appeared that Simon was the spirit of a homosexual man who was masquerading as a woman in the dining room when we were glass divining. It seemed he was a little frightened of us and admitting that he was gay!! We assured him that everything was ok and that there was no shame in this!! I’m not sure of all the details as I continued to video and take pictures. Also in this room a very strange light anomaly showed up in several photos I have tried to explain this and cannot as at one point I thought it was a reflection from a table top but as Julie pointed out I took several shots from the same angle (without moving) and it only showed in one pic. But appeared in other pics throughout our time in the lounge!!!
Amanda Horley
Our first vigil was covering the grounds and the hall and stairs. Outside we were drawn to the pond area first. There was still a lot of traffic around, and one of the hotel residents was also walking his dogs and it was quite difficult to concentrate. For me the grounds were relatively quiet, and a shower of rain cut short our investigations. The hallway was also quiet, but there was one area on the stairs where there was a strange smell. It was spicy but sweet, and we were unable to discover why it was in that small area alone. Our second vigil was in the lounge, and the same smell was very evident when we went into the room. This room was also being used as the team room between vigils and the smell was remarked on by several people entering the room at different times during the night. The unusual thing was that it wasn’t obvious on every occasion I went in there. Alison felt that there was someone standing to her right and I took a photo which showed an orb to her right. Alison was picking up on the name Emily so we tried a glass divination. The glass did respond to our questions but didn’t really give us many answers. It didn’t confirm that it was a lady, so we weren’t sure if we were speaking to Emily or not. Whoever it was had a love of flowers and herbs, and we wondered if this might be anything to do with the smells we had picked up on.Our final vigil was in the dining room, bar and kitchen area. For me there was very little happening in these rooms.It was an interesting evening in a lovely hotel, but for me, there was not a lot of paranormal activity.
Paul Martin
Vigil 1 - Dining room, bar and kitchen.
Here, we discovered a distinct cold spot in one corner of the room, by the
window. Tim caught many Orbs on camera a lot of them in the same corner...
Glass divination... we appeared to make contact with a spirit.. but a very
hesitant and wary one, who didn't seem confident enough to say much to us..
Vigil 2 - Grounds, hall and stairs.
I didn't feel hear or see anything I could be sure of in the grounds,
partly, i'm sure, because of the traffic going past and the lights shining
into the garden from the adjacent buildings / street.
There was also nothing for me in the hall / stairway apart from the feeling
of a hand resting gently on my head.
Vigil 3 - Lounge.
Here we spent the whole session with the glass, and appeared to pick up the
same spirit that had tentatively been with us in the dining room...
After a good bit of coaxing, the spirit seemed to open up a bit to us, and
Rab felt that he was named Simon - a name that he did indeed seem to then
respond to.
It appeared from subsiquent coaxing, that he had been Homosexual, and
because of the feelings of most people in the time that he was living.. he
was very ashamed of this, and what we might think of him.. and indeed this
was why, apparently, he had been so hesitant and wary of us...
At this point, Rab bagan to feel very strange..(mind you, he is Scottish!!)
and felt that Simon had somehow affected him and actually felt quite ill for
a while.
David Ireland
We have just come back from The Tudor Grange Hotel and it was a very quiet investigation for me. There was not a lot of physical activity occuring no matter what kind of seance we tried. One particular area that was of interest to me was the alley that leads off of the kitchen. I went in to this area on my own just having a look and quickly picked up on a "spirit" that seemed to be cowering by the door. I took a photo of the doorway and caught an orb on camera just so I could confirm my suspicions to myself and other people as well. It seemed to me like this "spirit" had been running from us and it was almost as though he was cowering in the corner because I had found him. I tried to reassure him by talking out loud that I wasnt there to hurt him in any way. I decided to leave that area, go into the kitchen, then back into the alley. when I went back in he had gone. I also briefly picked up on a monk in the lounge but sadly every other vigil area we had was pretty quiet. I personally had a lot of light anomalies caught on digital photo which was good but other than that sadly nothing.
Big thanks to Doug the Manager and the rest of the staff who joined us for the night and allowed us to investigate this very peaceful building.