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Southern Paranormal - Investigations

Valence House - 14th October 2006

Attending Investigators - Kerry Price, Mandy Bradley, Lee Barrows, Selina Dean, Alan Hall, Jim Lewis, Maxine Willard

Staff and Guests - Leeanne Westwood, David, Maureen

Introduction

Southern Paranormal conducted an investigation at Valence House in March 2006. Luckily for us we were allowed to conduct a 2nd and final visit there on 14th October 2006.
Valence House is known to have regular spirit activity and as a result keep a 'ghost book' to record these events. On our 1st visit we recorded a range of activity from orbs and taps to an image of what appears to be the outline of a dog captured on digital camera.
As past activity at this site had shown there were a range of things to pick up on so with this in mind, I arranged a different team (with a couple of exceptions) to investigate for the 2nd visit as in my experience not everyone picks up on the same thing.

Team 1:
Mandy Bradley- Team Leader
Alan Hall
Selina Dean
Maxine Willard

Team 2:
Kerry Price- Team Leader
Lee Barrows
Jim Lewis

Rota:

8:30pm- Kerry and Mandy arrive & start set-up and baseline tests
9:00pm- Rest of team arrive, meet and greet.
9:15pm- Continue with set-up and distribution of equipment.
10:00pm- Leeanne's tour and talk
10:15pm- Break
10:35pm- Vigil 1
11:35pm- Break
12:00am- Vigil 2
01:00am- Break
01:30am- Vigil 3
02:45am- Pack up and leave

Team 1:
Vigil 1: Ground floor and cellars
Vigil 2: 1st floor and attics
Vigil 3: Stairs and O'Leary Gallery

Team 2:
Vigil 1: 1st floor and attics
Vigil 2: Stairs and O'Leary Gallery
Vigil 3: Ground floor and cellars

Locked off Equipment

Camcorder at bottom of stairs looking up
Camcorder in upstairs corridor
EVP and dictaphone in Fanshawe Room
Trigger object in boiler room
Motion sensors to cover window area in O'Leary Gallery

Experiments

Ouija
Table tipping
Glass divination
All to be distributed as required

Main Baseline Tests

Boiler Room	- EMF 2.5mg in doorway - TEMP 10.5c left back corner - " " " 12c right back corner - " " " 14.5c right inner wall - " " " 15c left inner wall
Main Cellar	NO EMF.TEMP 14.5c all around
Mock Kitchen	NO EMF. TEMP 15.5c all around
Stairwell	NO EMF.TEMP 16.5c
Emergency Exit	NO EMF. TEMP 17c
Fanshawe Room	NO EMF. TEMP 18.5c right side, 20-20.5c left side
Stairs	NO EMF. - TEMP 16.5c 1st corner - " " " 15.5c 2nd corner - " " " 17.5c top
O'Leary Gallery	NO EMF. - TEMP 20c near right corner - " " " 18.5c far right corner - " " " 19.5c far left corner - " " " 19c near left corner
Dagenham Room	NO EMF TEMP 16c by windows,18.5c rest of room
Period Room - NO EMF	TEMP 16.5c far right corner 17c far left corner 18c near left and right corners
Becontree Room	NO EMF. TEMP 16c near doorway,16.5c rest of room
Industry Room	NO EMF. TEMP 19c all around
River Room	NO EMF. TEMP 16.5c near right corner 17c far right corner 18c far left corner 18.5c near left corner

Vigil Notes:

Team 1.

Vigil 1:Fanshawe Room-

10:50pm- Alan feels cold and is given the name May
- All start to feel cold.
- Two small light seen by picture
- Alan sees a shadow go past the door
- Glass divination attempted
11:50pm - A groan is heard
- Mandy feels someone standing over her
- Glass moves slightly followed by 2 orbs coming away from glass.
- Temp drops to 14c left back wall

Small Cellar-

Temp drops to 10.5c and then to 10c.
11:00pm- Selina hears noise on her ear
11:05pm- Someone touched Selina' s back twice.

Main Cellar-

11:17pm- Alan hears creaking
- Bang heard on floor above.
- Cold by Selina
- Mandy hears tapping
- Something touched Alan's shoulder which makes all jump!
- Alan feels sick and has a back ache
- Alan feels that we are not wanted here, and calls out.
- Mandy and Leeanne hear shuffling noises.
- Orbs captured on camcorder around Alan.

Vigil 2:

Furbished Attic-

12:10am- 4 orbs captured above Leeanne's head
- More orbs seen around Maxine and Leeanne
- Selina given the name Anita or Annette
- Leeanne and Alan hear a whistle
- Maxine and Alan feel pain in their right hnd side and down leg

Un-furbished Attic-

12:20am- Alan notices temperature drop, feels cold draught.
- Temp drops from 17.5c>15c
- Cold draught felt in doorway
12:25am- Temp rises to 17c but still feels very cold.
- Camcorder switches off
- Orb caught on camera
- Alan given the name of Thomas
- Alan calls out to Thomas, orb around Alan captured.
- Mandy and Alan hear a click
- Selina, Alan and Maxine feel a cold blast.
- Selina sees a white light after thud heard by all.
12:28am- Loud thuds heard downstairs
12:29am- Loud noises heard downstairs
12:30am- Loud bang heard by all as leaving room.
- Alan's legs feel heavy
- Camcorder in hallway has switched off(again)

River Room-

12:35am- Alan feels someone touch him
- Orbs seen around Alan
- Tap heard from corner of room.
- Mandy and Leeanne hear tapping in hallway

Industry Room-

12:40am- Alan and Mandy hear tap on the floor

Hallway-

12:45am- Selina calls out, orb comes towards us from Period Room.
- Selina calls out again and same thing happens
- Selina asks for another sign, cold blast comes from Industry room followed by another orb in the hallway.
- Selina calls out again, no response.
- Alan calls out, no response.
- Alan asks if spirits want us to leave, tap heard.
- Alan asks for spirit to repeat tap, thud is heard coming from the River room.
- Alan asks for repeat, no response given.

Becontree Room-

12:50am- Maxine calls out, Temp fluctuations and orb caught on camera.
- Maxine calls out again, no response.
- Alan feels cold blast of air to right ear
- Temp up from 17.5c<20c
- Maxine calls out and asks to affect temperature, Temp goes down to 18c.
- Maxine continues to call out, no response.
- Leeanne calls out, orbs caught on camera over table.
- Orbs continue to occur from table on Leeanne's calling out.

Period Room-

1:00am- Alan calls out, orb seen by Dave at window
- Both Alan and Leeanne see the cradle rocking.
- Selina calls out. Alan see's something move in the corner by grandfather clock.
- Alan calls out, orbs seen by cradle.
1:05am - Orbs continue to come from cradle.
- Alan asks for the abacus to move, no response.

Dagenham Room-

- Dave calls out, orb seen.
- Dave calls out again, another orb seen.
- Leeanne feels shivery.
- Orbs continue across table where Mandy is leaning.
- Alan calls out and Leeanne hears banging noise above us.
- Alan smells something akin to a farmyard which is gone in a couple of seconds
- Vigil closes 1t 1:15am

Vigil 3:

O'Leary Gallery-

1:50am- Start Ouija
- No response from Ouija so try all standing apart(1 in each corner of room).
- Alan calls out, no repsonse
- Maxine calls out, 2 orbs caught on camera
- Cold breeze to Mandy's leff
- Alan hears mumbling voices
- Alan calls out again, 2 orbs caught on camera
- Alan calls out again and sees a black shadow go across the chairs, followed by an orb by chairs.
- Alan calls out again, orbs caught on camera and camcorder
- Mandy calls out, no response
- Leeanne calls out to ' Eliza", no response
- Alan calls out, no response
- Alan hears creaking noise and feels cold on his face.
- Alan and Leeanne both see a light by chair in middle of room.
2:30am - All move to stairs

Stairs-

2:35am- Ouija starts at bottom of stairs
2:35am- Orb activity captured on stairs
2:40am- No reponse From Ouija
2:45am- Alan calls out, no response
2:50am- 3rd vigil ends

Team 2

Vigil 1:Period Room-

Temp 14c fireplace, 15c by window, rest of room 17c.EMF none.
10:35pm- Kerry's heart racing
- Growling noise heard by all
10:40pm- All take turns in calling out. No activity reported.
10:41pm - All move on to attic area.

Furbished Attic-

Temp 17.7c far left corner, 19c far right corner, 17c by Jim, 20c by Lee.
Jim feels tightness to throat.
Dave, Maureen and Lee all feel fine by the door area. Lee asked to move past middle section of attic to feel if he can pick anything up. He stands opposite Kerry by the windows.
Lee has cold draught on hand.
Jim cold and has goose bumps and has turned cold to Kerry's left.
All take turns in calling out, very quiet.
Lee gets goose bumps and starts to well up.
Lee feels cold on top of his head, calls out.
Temp 27c top of Lee's head, 21c to his left, 16c to his right.
Faint growling heard again.

River Room-

Temp 16c by windows, 18c rest of room. No EMF
Call out, no response.
Kerry and Jim split from Lee, Dave and Maureen to cover 1st floor hallway(team 2a).

Industry Room-

Team 2a Lee, Maureen & David.

- Lee & Maureen comment on how cold it is. As soon as it is said Lee's right leg starts to get very cold.
- Maureen hears a pinging noise come from the bottles on the table.
- Both hear a similar ping come from Lee's left.
- Camcorder starts to go out of focus.
- Lee hears a noise coming from the left of him then both Maureen and Lee hear a ping again come from the left of Lee.
- Loud tap heard again from Lee's left.
- Lee and Maureen both hear a low whistling noise.
- David enters room.
- Maureen hears a noise come from Lee's left again.

Team 2b Kerry & Jim

Hallway-

11:18pm-Both hear a noise, both thought it was the other person
- Kerry calls out
11:19pm- Kerry feels that someone is behind her in the Dagenham Room
- Both hear a noise coming from Dagenham Room so enter.
- Jim sees an orb and his camcorder keeps going in and out of focus.
11:20pm- Jim feels cold to his left hand side
- Both sense someone around the doorway
23:22pm- Jim moves to display cabinet and feels cold around his back.
- Both move towards door which feels icy cold.
23:23pm- Tap heard on the display cabinet.
23:24pm- Kerry calls out.
- Both get pain in back.
- Kerry feels sick.
23:26pm- Both move into hallway again and both feel cold.
- Both hear a clock ticking but cannot find the source.
23:27pm- Both hear click come from the Dagenham Room.
- Both step into the Dagenham Room and feel cold.
23:29pm- Kerry jumps and drops temperature gun as she sees a shadow in the doorway of the Period Room.
- Both hear footsteps and moving around in the attic, However the other team are in another part of the building.
23:31pm- Jim feels cold coming from the Dagenham Room
23:33pm- Jim feels cold around his arms.

Vigil 2:O'Leary Gallery:

Team 2 rejoin to conduct a ouija session in the O'Leary gallery.
After much calling out little was given except the letter T.

During ouija board experiment which has just taken place Lee saw a movement by the windows. As a result the group splits, Maureen and Lee stay in the O'Leary Gallery while Kerry and Jim cover the stairs.

Team 2a( Lee, Maureen & David O'Leary Gallery

No times recorded

-Lee calls out
-Maureen feels cold and Lee who is on the other side of the room confirms.
-Maureen sees a light by the wall near the windows so Lee calls out
-Lee gets goose bumps and both hear a noise like something rolling, confirmed by Maureen.
-Lee calls out
-Both hear a noise but can't confirm what it is or where it came from
-Lee hears a small thud on the floor
-Lees legs start to feel cold but start to warm up when he calls out.
-Lee feels cold coming towards him
-Lee moves to the far left corner near door and moves away instantly as he doesn't like the feeling there. Temperature 16.9c in that corner and 17.4 where he is standing by the windows.
-Lee returns to the corner and sees a shadow in the place where he has just moved from, he doesn't feel uncomfortable this time but the temperature is still 16.9c.
-Lee comments on the loudness of the clock ticking.
-Lee sees a shadow again in the place he just came from and hears a noise like papers being shuffled coming from the room marked fire exit only in far right corner.
- Maureen stands in the 'cold corner' and comments on how cold it is there.
- Lee turns the camera away from the room marked fire exit and stand with his back to it and instantly feels as though someone is standing behind him.
- Lee takes temp of far left corner which has dropped to 16.4c.
- Lee stands by the piano and feels that someone is standing behind Him, when he turns the camera in that direction he feels the presence move away as though trying to avoid being filmed.
- Lee sees a light but might be a reflection from the display cabinet.
- Temp near piano 16.3c.
- Maureen sees a shadow by far left door.

Team 2b Kerry & Jim

Stairs:

12:31am- Orbs caught on camcorder
12:32am- Orb in front of Jim on camcorder
- Jim feels upset and tears appear
12:33am- 2 orbs and a click caught on camcorder
- Jim sees a shadow at the top of stairs near the door to the hallway.
12:34am- Jim feels someone touching his arm
12:35am- Orb on camcorder
- Kerry feels upset
12:37am- Jim calls out
12:39am- Jim cold on left hand side
12:40am- Both get headache
12:42am- Orb on camcorder
12:43am- Jim hears chimes of 'Big Ben'.
12:44am- Jim's phone goes off even though he has turned it off this is the second time that it has happened this evening.
12:45am- Both get pins and needles
- Jim hears noise at the bottom of stairs.
12:47am- 2 orbs caught on camcorder at the bottom of stairs.
- Another orb bottom right of camcorder screen.
12:48am- Jim sees shadowy figure halfway up stairs.
- Kerry sees movement at the bottom of stairs.
12:49am- Jim's headache returns
12:51am- Kerry calls out and feels sick.
12:52am- Kerry calls out if there is a man on the stairs
- Orb caught on camcorder coming from the top of stairs moving towards Kerry's foot.
12:53am- Kerry feels uncomfortable and feels cold.
12:56am- Kerry points out cold spot on stairs to Jim(towards bannister around 3rd step down on top flight of stairs). Jim confirms.
- Kerry stands in cold spot and asks someone to push her. 12:57am- Jim feels hot and out of breath.
- Kerry feels cold and feels as though someone is pushing into her back.
- Jim gets cold blast of air around his head.
12:58am- Jim's legs feel tingly especially on his right.
- Orb caught in stairwell.
- Jim feels sick.
- Orb caught on camcorder on 2nd landing.
12:59am- Orbs caught in stairwell
01:00am- Orbs coming from top to bottom of stairwell.
01:02am- Kerry believes something is to the right of the door to the hallway.
01:03am- Kerry gets pain in her arm after asking to be pushed on stairs.
- Cold spot returns.
01:04am- Kerry feels as though someone is trying to move her foot off the stair.
01:06am- Jim gets cold breeze from left and headache returns. - Kerry feels sick.
01:08am- Both hear noise.
01:09am- Kerry sees naked eye orbs at the bottom of stairs.
- Both hear a tap.
- Orb on camcorder.
01:10am- Kerry gets heart palpitations which Jim had felt earlier
while sitting on the stairs.
01:11am- Jim feels someone touch his him on right arm.
01;12am- Kerry gets impression of a mans feet on bottom flight of Stairs, one foot raised to take the next step. Brown trousers and shoes and green socks.

Vigil 3: Cellars

Main Cellar;

01:52am- Lee calls out
01:52am- Battery dies in Kerry's camcorder which had just been changed.
01:53am- Kerry calls out.
01:54am- Lee thought someone was standing behind him ( to right of whalebones).
- Kerry calls out again.
01:55am- Lee asks if Kerry has a torch on as he has seen a light go from his right towards her ( near right corner).
01:56am- Kerry calls out.
- Jim is startled as he sees the figure of a man to his right.
01:57am- Kerry calls out.
- Lee asks Jim to take photo behind him as he feels someone is behind him( towards whalebones).
01:59am- Kerry feels a tap by here left foot at the same time as Lee hears a sigh.
02:00am- Both Lee and Jim calls out.
02:01am- Lee feels hot.
02:02am- Kerry has sensation of burning
- Lee feels hot.

Small Cellar

02:04am- Kerry stands in near right corner and feels like she has just backed into someone.
02:05am- Jim feels presence is around.
- Kerry hears tap.
02:07am- Lee feels something brush past his left kneecap.
- Kerry calls out.
02:08am- Lee has same 'goose bumps' feeling he felt before in the Attic( he is standing in the stair recess).
- Jim moves to near right corner and moves away as he doesn't like the feeling. Kerry confirms that's why she had moved to the far right corner.
02:09am- Lee says that the feeling went after Kerry calls out feeling to be taken from Lee.
02:10am- Kerry calls out.
- Stone hits wall to right of Lee's head.
02:12am- Lee hears a breath or sigh from direction of bottom of stairs.
- Lee calls out.
02:13am- Kerry feels as though someone is grabbing her knees and trying to pull her backwards.
- Lee hears mumbling.
- Kerry feels like someone is behind her.
02:14am- Kerry moves to stair recess.
02:16am- Kerry feels something poke her in the side and feels pins and needles.
- Jim then moves to that area and feels cold.
- Jim calls out.
02:17am- All hear tap on where Lee is standing.
02:18am- Jim calls out.
- All hear a bump come from above.

Fanshawe Room-

02:24am- All start glass divination.
- Kerry calls out
02:26am- Glass moves between Kerry and Maureen.
02:37am- Kerry asks for glass to move around the table. Slight response is shown.
02:38am- Slow movement towards middle of table.
- Kerry feels a touch on her head.
02:39am- Glass moves around the table anti-clockwise.
- Is a woman present? Glass moves faster.
- Were you a visitor to this building? Glass stops.
02:40am- Did you die because of something that you believed about someone in these paintings? Glass stops.
02:41am- Did you sit in this room and look at one of these paintings?
No response.
- Is woman still present? Glass moves.
- If the woman is still here can you move the glass faster around the table? Glass respondes.
02:42am- Move the glass faster if you lives in this house. Glass responds.
- Have you been seen upstairs? Glass responds.
- Have you been seen on the Period Room? Glass stops.
02:43am- If the woman is here please move the glass. No response.
- Repeats question. Glass moves around the table anti- Clockwise and then stops.
02:45am- Are you still here? Glass moves between Kerry and Maureen.
- Did you live here? Glass moves towards Lee.
02:46am- Is your name Louise? No response.
- Is your name Elizabeth? No response.
02:47am- Is there anything in this building that once belonged to?
Small reponse.
- Is there a painting of you here? Small response.
- Is the woman still here? Glass moves between Maureen and Kerry.
- Kerry asks 'are you standing next to me?' Glass moves towards Lee and stops.
02:49am- Kerry and Lee both think that they saw a shadow behind Each other.
- Are you female? No response.
- Did you live in this house? No response.
- Did you work here? Small response.
- Did you die in this house? Glass moves towards Kerry.
- Are you male? No response.
- Are you female? Glass moves towards Jim.
- Point the glass to where you are standing. Kerry sees something move behind Lee and glass moves to Lee.
- Were you murdered in this house? Glass moves towards Kerry and then back to Lee and then stops.
- Move the glass around the table. Glass moves between Kerry and Maureen.
- Were you murdered here? Small response.
- Is your name Agnes? No response
- Is your name Emma? No response.
- Is the female still here? No response.
- Is someone else here? Glass moves towards Maureen and then veers towards her left.
- Are you male? Glass moves towards Lee and then back to Kerry.
- Jim is given the name Robert and asks out if that is his name. Glass moves towards Jim and then continues anti- clockwise around the table.
- Did you find love in this house? Glass continues to move.
- Were you in your 30's when you died? Glass stops.
- Were you in your 40's when you died? Glass moves anti- clockwise around the table.
- Did you die through foul play? Glass stops.
- Have you been seen in this house? No response.
- Have you been felt in this house? Glass moves anti- clockwise.
- Was it you on the stairs earlier? Glass continue and movements become faster.
- Stop the glass. Glass stops.
- Point the glass to where you are in the room. Glass moves towards Kerry's left.
02:57am- Is your name Robert? Glass responds.
- Were you in the army? No response.
- Were you in the navy? Glass moves towards Maureen.
02:58am- Kerry says 'you have been seen here' at which point the EVP makes a short buzzing noise.
- Is that you affecting the noise? Glass responds.
- As group discuss closing down the glass divination as we were running out of time the glass moves between Kerry and Maureen and then back between Jim and Lee and back again towards Kerry and Maureen.
03:00am- All take fingers off glass and join hands and asked for EVP to be affected. Slight change in pitch of EVP noted.

Reports

Jim Lewis

On entering Valence House Museum it seemed quite comfortable until you see the stairs which has an eerie feeling. Myself and Kerry did an investigation on the stairs, it was quite spooky especially when the lights are turned off. On the stairs I started to feel unwell with headaches and a sense of misery as i was filming I began to feel streams of tears down my face. I also felt unhappy as if something was wrong but i didn't know what. I was filming from the mid section of the stairs when I started to see floating orbs which was great as we knew something was there, what we didn't know but something was definately there. I then went to the top of the stairs and filmed at the bottom when I caught more orbs floating up the stairs . Kerry was talking to the spirit and with that more orbs came. But this is all I had to report on the stairs.

We then went upstairs to one of the period rooms where we had a sense of someone watching us as well as a couple of taps heard. Myself, Kerry, Lee and Maureen proceeded downstairs to the Fanshawe room . As I took some photographs on my digital camera 92 to be exact there was about 5 with orbs in them. This was great yet we got more proof when we then carried out the glass divination. We found that we contacted a spirit called Robert the glass went round in a circle with quite some force and I can guarantee no one was pushing the glass as we also have this on film. Kerry, Maureen, Lee and myself went to the main cellar. There was nothing to report until I saw a figure of a man with a hat standing next to me. I jumped out of my skin as the rest of the team could tell you. Scary or what! After that there was nothing to report. As we went down the drop down cellar I didn't really get any feelings but the photos proved otherwise with more orbs and streaks of light captured. This as far as I'm concerned is a very active room.

Selina Dean & Alan Hall

Upon entering the house we both felt at ease and peaceful, after meeting everyone and the investigation got under way neither of our thoughts changed in any way. I was keen to go into the small cellar and as I understood at the time, no-one else had done a vigil in there.

I was filming and Selina was also present, when suddenly the temperature dropped rapidly and Selina heard a groan in her left ear. There were orbs showing up on film and then Selina was pushed in the back. Apart from the drop in temperature, I never felt anything or heard anything.

The other cellar was different though. I was asked by Mandy if I would stand in a particular spot and call out. Whilst all was quiet I was grabbed hold of on my left arm and I shouted out to the rest of the group which slightly scared them. There was no one stood either side of me and I was in a horrendous cold spot. Maxine was filming and said that she caught loads of orbs coming from my left side. There was definitely a presence there with me yet I never felt threatened in any way.

In one of the rooms, I cannot remember which one; I was getting thoughts of a name. All that was coming to me was the word "MAY" I didn't know any more than this but it was so strong and I had to say it out loud. I kept repeating myself, yet it made no sense. I cannot remember if it was in the same room or another that I was thinking of the name James. After the investigation, Leeann told me that someone who was attached to the house in the past was called James May. I was actually quite spooked by this and it continued to spook me until the following day.

Séances and Ouija boards were done, but to no effect apart from when we were at the stairs everyone could feel a large drop in temperature around their legs. Selina did witness many small flashing lights in the room which was fully clad in wood and they were also witnessed by Leeann.

In the unfurnished loft, I caught on film a white object float in between the beams and then seconds later Selina saw the same thing in a different part of the attic.

Again on the stairs, I went for a walk up stairs whilst the rest were table tipping. From a picture on the left as you walk up the first flight, a light appeared which was not an orb, more like part of a figure. This too was caught on camera.

Maxine Willard

Valence House dates back to the 1400's and has been enlarged and extended many times up until the present day.

Vigil 1
The first room we investigated was the Fanshawe Room. This was a lovely wood panelled room with various portraits on the walls. We attempted glass divination and after a few attempts at calling out we didn't get any response. Mandy and Selina felt that there was someone standing behind them. There were a lot of orbs caught on the camcorder. Alan picked up the name 'May'. I didn't get any sort of feeling from this room unfortunately, but did see some orbs while filming. We moved onto the cellars. We again called out and there were a few noises, but whether they were in response to questions or just coincidence I don't know. It seemed to get colder, although I didn't feel the drop in temperature. We all heard what sounded like footsteps above us and we didn't think that the other group were in that part of the house at that time. Next, Selina and Alan went down into the empty cellar. They felt a drastic drop in temperature . Selina also felt something touch her face. As the rest of us were standing at the top of the cellar we all felt a rush of cold air come out of the cellar at which point Selina and Alan felt the cellar warm up considerably.

Vigil 2
The second vigil started in the loft. Again we caught orbs on camcorder which seemed to appear in response to calling out. Strangely both Alan and myself felt a pain in our right leg which disappeared when we left the loft. Again I didn't sense anything about this room. Hopefully the locked off camera caught something. We then went to the attic. There wasn't much room, so Selina, Alan and myself went in while Leeanne and Mandy stood just outside. Selina saw a white flash to one side of her. Again I felt nothing and orbs were caught on video.
We also went into the Period Room, which was another wood panelled room. There was lot's of old furniture in here. Alan thought he could see the cradle moving. We asked if anybody was there and we got orbs around the cradle. We also went in the Valence Room, May Room, River Room and Industry Room, but again other than a few orbs nothing else occurred.

Vigil 3
We tried the ouija board in the O'Leary Gallery, but through no want of trying we could not get any response. We moved the ouija board to the bottom of the stairs, but again there was no response. Alan caught orbs on his camcorder, but other than that, there was nothing to report.
On the whole, Valence House was a lovely house which has obviously got a lot of history connected to it. This was the Team's second investigation here, but my first. The House has a great atmosphere and I can honestly say, with a bit of regret, that nothing happened for me. Hopefully, the other group was more successful and more was revealed through photos and video. All in all it was an interesting night and thanks to everyone.

Lee Barrows

Location overview:
We split the house down into three areas, 1) the 1st floor rooms and the attic 2) the staircase and the O'Leary gallery and 3) the cellars and ground floor.

Report and observations:
We started in the attic - which seemed to have quite localised phenomenon - the first area, as soon as you came into the room seemed normal with nothing to report, but the far end seemed very different. At one point I experienced very strong 'goose-bumps', followed by quite a noticeable temperature drop just around me. During this, for reasons I can not explain my eyes started to well up - I did not feel anything to justify this - they just did it - this experience did not last very long.

Moving to the 1st floor rooms, Jim and I volunteered to go to the Industry room to collect the Ouija board for the other team to use elsewhere. Upon arriving outside the Industry room we were met by a very loud and quite alarming noise from the doorway to the room next to it. It was like a very loud clattering/banging noise - unfortunately neither of us had our cameras on and we both ran away. We returned minutes later, cameras armed and the noise happened again, briefer than before and not as alarming as the first time. Suffice it to say the Ouija board was promptly collected and moved. It is worth noting that earlier, a couple of orbs had been caught on camera in the room where the noise seemed to be coming from.
I was then given the task of holding the vigil in the Industry room with Maureen. This vigil did not turn up very much beyond a few unexplained noises, these were a strange clinking noise - like glasses, a clunk from the corner of the room and a whistling like someone breathing tightly.

After a break we moved to the O'Leary gallery where we attempted to communicate using the Ouija board - this met with little success other than the letter T being given to us. During this I had the impression that someone was standing in the near right corner of the room by the piano. I was then again in vigil with Maureen in the room to ourselves. Not much seemed to occur in this room, until one point I moved into the far left corner of the room and had the most horrible/unpleasant feeling - it also felt quite cold. I swiftly left that corner for the far right corner. Upon returning to the corner moments later that feeling was not experienced again. Twice during the vigil in this room, whilst turning away from the right hand wall I thought I saw a silhouette of someone in the dark but there was no one there. Also later Maureen thought she saw someone in the far right corner of the room, where I had first seen the silhouette. We had left the Ouija board in the middle of the room untouched but unfortunately that was still undisturbed when we finished the vigil there.

After another break, we moved down to the cellars. In the first, larger cellar, there was an odd sensation of being watched and at one point Jim was made jump by a shadow of someone standing beside him when there was no one there. Later I then had the impression that there was someone standing right behind me, by the Whale bone remains. Moving to the second cellar seemed to give us a bit more activity, with things seemingly hitting the walls beside me and Kerry at different points and an odd noise coming from the area in front of the staircase.

We then moved to the last room were we attempted to communicate using glass divination. At first we met with no success but then we appeared to communicate with two separate individuals. Firstly there was a female spirit who was attached to the house and seemed to be moving from beside Kerry to beside me, this was both indicated to us by the glass and by our own feelings on the matter. Secondly there was male spirit, who Jim was able to give the name Robert to. This spirit seemed quite lively and energetic and seemed reluctant to end the communication with us. It is during the communication with this male spirit that the EVP may have picked up something as the white noise speaker seemed to crackle at one point.

I think that it is worth noting that through most of the investigation at Valance House, whilst there was not a lot of activity caught on camera, there was a very strong feeling of presence. A feeling like that there was someone there but not wanting to 'play a long' for the cameras, but were willing to do things when we weren't prepared. This feeling was voiced by a couple of people, including myself and Maureen particularly in the O'Leary gallery.

Mandy Bradley

Our 2nd trip to valance house, was a completely different experience from the first.
The first time was a very relaxing night, nothing uncomfortable and I didn't feel worried or uneasy. This time was the complete opposite. From about 1hr into the investigation I really just felt like I wanted to go home and that we were not welcome there. Kerry also felt the same way.
Most of the team arrived at 9pm and we soon split into our teams and started our first vigil.

Vigil One:
We started our first vigil in the Fanshawe room, which I felt when doing baseline tests maybe a room where things might happen tonight (which would be the opposite of our 1st visit) We started by calling out, but got no response, so Alan called out instead and straight away he could feel coldness around him. We attempted to do glass divination but nothing happened. So we went back to just calling out. Alan again could feel coldness down his left side and Leanne (staff member) sitting to Alan's left also felt the cold down her right side. After calling out for a little bit, we felt as though an energy was building and attempted glass divination again. The glass moved slightly, but nothing else after that. David felt that there was someone standing in the doorway to the offices, at which point photo's were taken of the area and orbs were seen.
We then moved on to the boiler room, small side room and small cellar.We split into 2 smaller groups, Alan and Selina in the cellar and Myself, Leanne and Maxine in the side room. Alan called out in the cellar and right away they got a reaction, we left the side room to stand next to the entrance to the cellar and I could feel a cold breeze that was not there before. Selina heard someone whisper in her ear and then also felt someone touch her back. They reported that the area had gone extremely cold which was confirmed by temperature readings. After a short while of calling out, I took Temperature readings again and it had gone back to how it was during baseline test. Selina also confirmed that it didn't feel as cold anymore.
After a short break we continued on with the 2nd vigil

Vigil 2:
We started in the furbished attic with calling out. Orb activity was picked up by Alan on camcorder, which all seemed to be coming from Leanne's direction. Other then that there was no more activity to report. We moved on to the unfurnished attic Leanne and I stood in the doorway and Alan, Selina and Maxine went into the attic, Alan began calling out .
Alan was given the name Thomas which was a name Steve picked up on in this attic on our first visit here. When Alan called out the name he got a reaction and then believed he saw someone move over in the left corner. We then heard someone slamming a door downstairs twice, and I thought that it couldn't be the other group(which was later confirmed by Kerry). We then moved down to the 1st floor and started a vigil in the River room, Alan immediately felt uncomfortable in this room. He really didn't want to be in here. Orb activity was picked up on both camera and camcorder, and Alan felt someone touch his bottom area and at the same time Selina picked up an orb in the same area. As we moved out of this area and stood in the doorway, both Leeanne and I heard what sounded like a clock ticking down the hallway. This was also heard by Kerry's group earlier. We then moved on to the industry room, but nothing happened in here, and it felt to me like everything had stopped as nothing happened in the period room either and this was a room with lots of activity on our first visit.
After a short break we moved on to the O'Leary Gallery, we first tried the Ouija board but got no reaction. We all then stood in a corner of the room so we didn't miss anything but, alas other than a few orbs nothing happened. We then moved onto the stairs, which I know had had activity earlier for the other group, but despite calling out and trying Ouija nothing happened. It felt as though we were being watched, but they just didn't want to communicate with us, with this we ended our vigils.

It was really great to come back to Valence House Museum and would defiantly do it again should we be given the opportunity, Many thanks to Leanne, Dave and Maureen for allowing us back and for the refreshments.

Kerry Price

I was looking forward to going back to Valence House Museum as I had found that there was a lot of activity on our first visit and it had been such a comfortable investigation. As soon as I entered for the second investigation I thought that this would be a lot different. For some reason I was very on edge and felt quite wary of going around the building on my own (something which I hadn't felt before).
Before we started our 1st vigil Jim was experimenting with dowsing rods in the garden. When we had visited the garden earlier Mandy had heard a woman singing which I didn't hear and for some reason this made her feel quite uneasy. While we were out there the second time both myself and Mandy thought that there was a spirit of a woman in the garden near the bench which was directly opposite the picnic bench. The left-hand corner of the bench seemed to become fuzzy and when that had gone we heard shuffling noises on the hard standing near to us. We looked around for the cause, there was a solitary leaf on the ground and no wind so we did not come to any conclusion. We heard this noise every time that we went into the garden and saw the same blurring at the side of the bench. For some reason this made me want to cry, not because I was scared I just was overcome by a very strong feeling of loss. I did become scared when myself and Mandy moved towards the bench. I had not liked this area on our 1st visit and could not go towards the bench on this occasion either.

The 1st vigil had a host of strange events. In the attic Lee didn't feel any spiritual presence until he moved towards the end section. We all felt cold in this area and Jim and Lee both seemed to be affected by something there. It is strange how the feelings change in this area but, I knew that both Jim and Lee would feel a strong/strange feeling here. We moved to the Industry and River rooms without much reaction so I decided that we would split up with myself and Jim taking the corridor and Lee, Maureen and Dave staying in the River and Industry rooms and corridor far corridor area. The 1st strange thing that happened was the locked-off camcorder switching itself off which had been set to record just before we started the vigil. In the Dagenham Room we both heard noises which sounded like small pebbles being thrown on the glass of the display cabinet. We had EMF readings around the doorway to this room which were short lived but this had happened on our 1st visit. What I was not prepared for was how scared I was in this area. I did not want to stand with my back to the door, neither did I want to stare straight on as I would only be met with the eyes of the model/dummy of a young girl opposite. This area was creeping me and Jim out. We also heard ticking which I assumed was coming from the Period Room as I went towards it I saw a shadow of a person in the doorway, which made me jump. I looked in (armed with a torch) but could not see anyone in there. I looked at the clock to see if something had set off the ticking. The clock had not started nor was the ticking coming from the Period Room. Back into the hallway I soon realised that the ticking seemed to be coming from the corridor itself. As there was not anything around to cause this and as it was witnessed later by the other team it remains a mystery. It is also strange to note that while Lee and Maureen were in the O'Leary Gallery, Lee commented on how loud the clock was ticking and also that Jim had heard Westminster chimes while conducting the stairs vigil.

After splitting up and myself and Jim going to the stairs area activity was few and far between although we did pick feelings up and some orbs nothing too much happened. The cellars I found very interesting as there was definitely a sense of someone down there which has also been felt by the other group and also a range of orbs being caught. For me the most interesting vigil was the glass divination with a male and female spirit being contacted and fairly constant glass movement. Although the EVP was checked nothing was picked up other than the change of pitch and the short buzz.

I found it very strange that throughout the night I felt uncomfortable and the house seemed far more foreboding than it had done on my 1st visit there.
I also found it odd that nothing was picked up on the locked off camcorders so activity only seemed to be taking place when we were present.
There was a very strong sense of presence in the house which was also very different from the 1st visit although we did encounter far more orb activity on the 1st visit. I must say a quite baffling investigation. Although there was no sense of menace it definitely made me feel as though there was someone constantly present but they did not want to communicate. Many thanks once again to Leeanne Westwood and the staff at Valence House Museum for their hospitality and allowing us to investigate this lovely building once again.

Leeanne Westwood

At the very beginning of the night Alan Hall picked up on the name May and later the name Thomas. The last family to own Valence House as a home were the May family, headed by Thomas. He brought his family to Dagenham from Devon in 1878, and began business as a market gardener, supplying fruit and vegetables to the markets in London. He also established a very successful horse stud at Valence, possible the farmyard smell Alan picked up in the Dagenham Room!. Thomas May died at Valence House in 1913. Mystery surrounds his life, as his dying words were "I am not Thomas May".

Also living with Mr May was his mother-in-law Eliza Luxmore. A formidable woman who travelled the world with her naval husband Benjamin, Eliza is one of our most prolific ghosts. She died in the Period Room in 1913 from a cerebral haemorrhage. Her ghost was first seen in this room by her great grand daughter during the World War I. The young girl enquired about the old lady that she had seen upstairs, rolling and packing bundles of cloth into a chest on a four-poster bed. They searched the house and failed to find anyone. They sat the young girl down and gave her a photograph album to sort through. She identified an old lady in the book as the women that she had seen. This was her great grandmother Eliza Luxmoore whom she was too young to have known. The ghost was seen again in the Second World War by a fire watcher based in the house. He encountered the ghost standing at the end of the upstairs corridor when he went to relieve himself in the middle of the night. She has also been seen twice by visitors to the museum in recent years, and she seems to be moving further away from her original "haunt", now being seen on the stairs and downstairs corridor. She appears as a solid person wearing old fashioned clothing.

Our other prolific ghost is that of Agnes de Valence, after whom the site is named. Often called the grey or white lady of Valence, she was first seen about 100 years ago by a gardener at Valence House. He saw a woman in white walking round and round a cherry tree in the orchard. He came back to the house and accused the three daughters of the house of walking outside in the middle of the day in their nightclothes. A search of the grounds revealed no one. The grey lady is often said to be the restless spirit of Agnes, who died in a house on the site in 1309. The myth surrounding the ghost tells of how she was murdered by her brother Aylmer who wanted her property, who threw the murder weapon, a dagger, into the moat. Her spirit continues to walk the site of her murder until the weapon is found and the mystery of her death cleared up. In the 1950s Egbert Smart, a local librarian and Mr O Leary, the head of the museum service, made faked photographs of the ghost, pointing to the spot in the moat where the dagger could be found. However, there is no truth to this murder story. It is interesting that both Mandy and Kerry felt uncomfortable outside in a spot near to where the orchard would have once been.

A lot of activity was picked up in the Fanshawe Room; however, this has never been a particularly active part of the house. Moving pockets of strange smells, similar to burning dust, have been experienced by various staff members, and very recently a young girl killed herself after becoming convinced that she was the reincarnation of Margaret Fanshawe (1635-1674) who was the wife of Thomas Fanshawe (1628-1705), whose two portraits hang in this room.

Areas such as the attic and two cellars are rarely used by staff, and so no activity has ever been recorded here. However, scratching noises have been heard coming from the main cellar. A survey of the house in 1999 by English Heritage found evidence of a serious fire in the attic. In places the timber beams have been replaced and other shows signs of smoke damage. We have no evidence of when this happened. Recently, a visitor to the museum, who was being taken around the building on a tour said that she sensed an image of a young girl in a striped long dress screaming to be let out of the attic as we had locked her in. Interestingly, we had just had a dead bolt put on the outside of the attic door to stop children from going in there!

All of the activity in the loft seems to have been picked up at the far end of the room. During a previous investigation, a medium sensed the presence of stern man named Alfred here, who energy could also be felt in the room directly below (the River Room). Light anomalies have been caught at this end of the loft by Museum staff. The names Anita or Annette picked up by Selina have no known connection to the House. However, they are quite recent names in origin, and it is possible they belong to staff who worked at Valence when it was a Town Hall or Library.

Alfred's energy has also been sensed in the River Room, and orbs have been caught here by staff in the past. The Industry Room is not known as an active space; however female singing has been heard in the corridor outside in the past.

As well as Eliza the Period Room is also said to be the home to a female spirit who has been seen staring out of one of the windows on numerous occasions. This door of this room is always closed to the public, so the image at the window cannot be put down to this. The story connected with her states that she threw herself out of the window in grief after the death of her baby.

The O'Leary gallery is a particularly active part of the building. 3 or so years ago, a member of Museum staff was working in the room, cleaning the glass of a large display case, when she saw a reflection in the glass of a shadowy human shape move from one side of the long window to the other and disappears. Eliza's presence has also been felt in here. This room was once a council chamber when Valence House was used as a Town Hall during the 1920s and 30s. This section of the house was actually enlarged specifically to make this room into a long chamber. The shuffling papers could be an echo of the room past use as the centre for council administration.

The main staircase is probably one of the most active parts of the building. They are not original to Valence House and are actually much older than this part of the building. It is possible that they were salvaged from East Hall, an ancient farmhouse which stood near Old Dagenham Park, and which was once owned by the Valence Estate until it was demolished. Again Eliza has been seen on these stairs, but the presence of a man, possibly from the military, has also been felt standing at the bottom. In 1948 an un-named caretaker was found dead on the stairs when the building was unlocked in the morning. His cause of death is unknown. Two members of staff have fallen down these stairs, and they both claim that they felt as if they had been pushed. One even broke her arm.