Southern Paranormal's coat of arms
Members of the TAPS International Family

Southern Paranormal - Investigations

Victoria Cottage Investigation

Saturday 24th May 2008

Attending Investigators: Maria, Amanda, Maureen, guest – Lissie, plus Ed and Frankie, the tenants of the house.

Teams

Team 1
Amanda,
Ed,
Frankie

Team 2
Maureen,
Maria,
Lissie

Baseline checks

Front room - Temp 21 – 22 EMF - 0
Living room - Temp 23 – 34 EMF - 0
Stairs - - Temp 22-23 EMF - 0
Back bedroom Temp 22-23 EMF - mostly 0, but high close to the clock.
Bathroom - Temp 21-22 EMF – 0

Itinerary

Outside vigil areas were abandoned after the first vigil as the weather turned very wet and windy, vigils were therefore as follows -

Vigil 1 (8.30 to 9.15)
Team 1 – Back bedroom
Team 2 – Front room

Vigil 2 (9.30 to 10.15)
Team 1 – Living room and bathroom
Team 2 – the garden

Group glass divination session – 10.30 to 11.30, but continued for an extra 45 minutes or so after a break as things were so active.

Vigil 3 was abandoned and the final vigil was as follows – Team 1 – Front room Team 2 - Back bedroom

Glass Divination

We initially opened the cupboard door (under the stairs) and set the video camera up on it, but didn’t pick up anything of interest during the divination.

When we asked out initially asking if there was someone there the glass moved to no, then yes. It seemed to move less when Frankie didn’t have her finger on it, and when we asked for a name we got the initial R, but nothing further. The air felt a lot colder on Frankie’s side of the table. Although there was some slight movement, the glass didn’t seem to want to move steadily. After a time we switched hands so that we were all using our left hands and immediately the glass started moving.

How many spirits present ... 7
Is one spirit more dominant ... yes
Did the spirit whose name begins with R live in the house ... RICH
Richard? ... yes
Richard Andrews, the doctor from Marwell? ... yes

At this point the back door rattled loudly.

Have you come to tell us something in particular? ... no
Just a social call? ... yes
Do any of you have something to tell us? ... WILLI
Are you spelling William? ... yes
Do you have something specific to tell us?

At this point the glass appeared to spell the word Garlic, but when we queried if this was the word spelt we got a very firm NO.

Can you spell that again please... CHARLIE
Is your name Charles? ... LIE
Is your name Charlie? ... LIE
Are you spelling out the word lie? ... yes
Who is lying? ... CHARLIE
Why is Charlie lying ... no response
(I have now realised that Charlie was trying to differentiate between himself and his cousin, giving us not the word ‘lie’, but the last three letters of his name)
Who else is here? ... AMEL
Is that Amelia? ... yes
Is Beth here? ... yes

At this point the glass was off to one side and we asked Beth to return it to the middle of the table. It very firmly went to NO

So who are the other two? ... CHARLES
So who is number 7? ... R
Can you spell the rest of your name? ... S
(Maureen said “it can’t be”)
Is this who Maureen thinks it is? ... yes
Is this one of the others winding us up? ... No

There are at least two people here who won’t know who we are talking about, please could you move the glass towards one of them……the glass moved towards Ed.

(Maria was feeling really light headed at this point)

Why are you here, did you come with the doctor? ... yes
Are you just here to spectate? ... KEEN
What does that mean? ... no movement.
Are you interested? ... no movement
Are you keen to find something out? ... no movement
Are you keen to create mischief? ... the glass rocked slightly but didn’t move.

Amanda stated that he tends to omit rather than lie, and asked if that was what he was doing ... at that point the glass went right across to Frankie, pushing the letters out the way. When asked to spell out a word for us, it just moved towards Frankie several times.

Are you planning to make mischief later on? ... Yes
At this point Amanda asked silently if this would be by the canal ... yes
Why, there is only one man with us this time? ... the glass moved firmly towards Frankie again.

Amanda told him to leave Frankie alone and that we weren’t scared of him and weren’t going to talk to him anymore. This spirit was Rowland Standish, although interestingly, during the entire conversation with him, none of us used his name, even though the majority of people around the table knew who we were talking to. (Rowland Standish was a 19th century owner of Marwell Hal, and though they didn’t come up in this session Maureen and Frankie have discovered that there were connections between the original tenants of the cottage and people at Marwell)

We asked if Beth was still around ... yes
Can you keep him out of the way ... yes
Maureen asks if the two Charlies are still here ... yes
You’re cousins aren’t you ... yes
You’re both called Charles Dacre aren’t you ... yes
Last time we talked to you, you said you went down with the Titanic didn’t you ... yes
You didn’t go on the Titanic did you ... yes
I have checked the passenger and crew lists and you are not there ... yes
Did you go on it at Southampton, just to look around ... yes
You didn’t sign on as crew did you ... no
Did you sign on but weren’t accepted ... yes DRUN
Are you spelling the word Drunk ... yes
So you were drunk at the time were you ... yes

(A previous divination with these two came out with the fact that they made moonshine)

Should you have been on the sailing but missed it ... yes
Is that the truth ... no
When the Titanic left on its voyage you were never meant to be on it ... no
You were too old to sign on weren’t you ... yes
(At this point Maureen confirmed that at the time of the Titanic’s sailing these two were in their 70s. No one at the table other than Maureen and Frankie were aware of this before hand)
For those who haven’t met you, can you tell us about yourselves. One of you was the lock-keeper weren’t you ... WILLIAM
Do you want to talk about William ... yes
OK then ... GRANDSON
Maureen confirmed that William was Charles grandson
Can you tell us the name of William’s father, your son ... no
Did he have the same name as someone in this room ... yes
It was Edmund wasn’t it ... yes
Amelia, you were William’s wife. Can you tell us your mother’s name please ... FRANCES
The glass then spelt out LILY (who we believed we had met upstairs earlier)

At this point Frankie was feeling quite sick and asked us to close the cupboard door which we did.

Are any of you able to tell us about that cupboard ... yes
Is there a good reason for Frankie to feel bad about it ... (partly towards yes and then partly towards no)
Something was mentioned last time about the cupboard by someone who was there. Is what they said relevant ... RAB (Rab had got some very strong feelings about the cupboard last time we did an investigation)
Why is it important ... RESJI

(At this point the glass stopped completely).

Are you having difficulty spelling that word ... yes
If someone trying to stop you ... yes
Is Rowland trying to stop you giving us details ... yes
Don’t forget Beth is around and can help you. She is very strong. Can you try spelling out what is so important about what Rab said about the cupboard ... DEEDS
Beth are you still there ... yes
Beth is Rowland winding us up ... no
Beth can you spell this. Do you know what they are trying to spell out ... yes
OK, can you spell it out for us ... DE
We got Deeds what was the other word ... no
So ‘deeds’ is the only word that’s important. Is it something to do with this the deeds of this house ... no
The deeds that someone has done ... yes
Was that cupboard used for illicit purposes ... yes
Was it the two Charlies and their moonshine ... yes
Was the tin box connected to the two Charlies ... no

Frankie pointed out that the atmosphere in the room, with the two Charlies around was quite upbeat, which we agreed with. However, at other times when she has the cupboard door open, the atmosphere is completely different, and not nice. You feel a heavy pressure on your head and feel dizzy.

Was anybody locked in the cupboard ... yes
Were they left to die there ... no
Was it a punishment ... yes
A child ... yes
Was it a boy ... yes
Can you spell his name ... GEORGE
Maureen asked, is it the one from earlier ... yes
Amanda asked, was he also upstairs with us ... yes
Frankie and Ed confirmed that when the cupboard door is open they feel like someone is trying to escape, to get out of the room.
Can we help George in any way ... no
Is the cupboard used as a gateway to other worlds, a vortex ... no
Is it just George that gets trapped in there ... yes
The glass then spelt CAST and we all heard a thud from the front room.
Can you spell that again please ... CAT
Was there a cat trapped in the cupboard ... no
Ed asked if it was a cat made the noise at the front door ... yes
Did George live in the house ... yes
What date ... 1957
Maureen asked again if it was the George in the front room from earlier ... yes
Did you used to play in Otterbourne Woods ... no
Were you forbidden from playing there ... yes
The glass then spelt CHALK

Frankie commented that it didn’t feel like Beth anymore. The glass felt much heavier.

Is there a connection between ED and George and the Chalk Pit……no definite answer.
Rowland are you back ... no
Beth are you still here ... yes

The glass felt much lighter and faster for this answer, and on the video can be heard moving very differently than for the previous couple of questions, when it was scraping across the table much more.

Was it someone else when I asked about George and the Chalk Pit ... yes
Was it George ... no
Is this still to do with the chalk pit ... yes

At this point Maureen’s other son came home so we took a break.
The lights were left on for the next session and Amanda sat out and held the video.

Are you all still with us ... 6
Does that mean someone has gone. Who has gone ... LILY
Beth have you got him (Rowland) in check ... yes

The glass had moved quite heavily to yes, so we asked again and got a further “yes”, but again very heavily.

That isn’t Beth, is it someone else ... the glass didn’t move
Do you think we are stupid ... yes
Who is moving the glass ... CHALK
Is it George then ... no
Please will you spell out your name ... no
You don’t want us to know who you are ... no
Are we supposed to guess ... no BURN
Did someone get burned ... yes
Did you get burned ... yes

We were aware of very cold air above the glass at this point

Did you follow Frankie and Ed home from the Chalk Pit ... yes
You must have some reason for that ... FREE
Are you asking for help ... no movement

Frankie expressed unease about helping him, when he had followed them home.

Are you stuck ... no
The glass then moved right across to Ed, pushing the letters out of the way.
Did you link to Ed to follow s home ... yes
Why ... no
Are you saying you don’t know ... the glass again moved right across to Ed
Can you tell us more ... ENERGY
You liked Ed’s energy ... no
You were using Ed’s energy ... yes
Did it have to be a man’s energy ... no
Was it a way of getting to Frankie ... yes
Do you want something from Frankie ... yes
Do you need to be able to attach to someone to get out of there ... no
Are you free to come and go as you please ... yes
You’re not trapped then are you ... no
You don’t need to be freed ... no
Why are you here ... 5
Did you know Frances who lived here before ... no
So was it purely random when they turned up ... yes
Were they the first people you’d seen for a while ... no
Why them ... no
Can you leave here easily ... yes
So why are you staying ... The glass moved right across to Frankie
Do you mean her any harm ... RODGER (Frankie’s father’s name)
Can you give us the first letter of your name ... no
Can you come and go as you please ... yes
So you’re not here all the time ... yes
If we ask you to leave and not come back will you do so ... no
Are you aware that if we ask you to leave, you have to, you can’t stay ... yes
So then please leave ... no
Is there unfinished business ... no movement, but very cold across the glass.
Please answer ... yes
Can you tell us what it is ... FREE
Does someone else need to be freed ... yes
Who ... LADDER

(There was a ladder between the two chalk pits)

Do you know that Frankie couldn’t sense anyone else there, just you ... yes
Do you realise that she can’t help people if she doesn’t know they are there ... yes
Who does she need to help ... glass moved across to Frankie
Is this because Frankie invaded your territory ... yes
Do you have something to hide ... no
Do you know you are dead ... yes
Frankie asked if when she looks at Ed sometimes and his face seems to have changed, is it this spirit doing it ... yes
Do you feel as though you are stuck to Frankie ... yes
Do you want to leave Frankie ... yes
Is there something stopping you ... glass moved to Ed
The glass no longer felt cold
Are you still here ... no movement
Is it just the others with us now ... yes

There was then a short discussion about who he could be and why he was there, and what it all means.

Beth are you here ... yes
Can you tell us about him ... yes
Was he married ... yes
Was his wife still alive when he died ... yes
Did he die at the chalk pit ... yes
Does he need Frankie to reunite him with his wife ... yes
What is his wife’s name ... SUSAN (at this point the glass felt too heavy for Beth to be moving it)
What time period ... 1973 (Beth was back again at this point)
Did he work at the chalk pit ... no
Did he die recently ... yes
Did he marry in 1973 ... yes
Is his wife now dead ... yes
Did he have any family ... no
Maria asked was his name Thomas ... yes
Is his surname Hughes ... no (the glass felt as if it was getting heavier again)
Beth is someone trying to stop you giving us answers ... yes
Is it Thomas ... yes
Can we help him in any way ... no
Can we get him to leave the house ... yes
What do we need to do ... MARRY
Does Frankie look like Susan ... yes
Do they have to wait 3 months then (until Ed and Frankie’s wedding) until he leaves them ... yes
Will he go away when they get married ... yes
Can we make him leave before then ... no
Will he try to stop them getting married ... no

Again we had a discussion about why Thomas had attached himself to Ed and Frankie and not to someone else.

Maria got the name Matthews possibly in connection with a church.
Is the name Matthew or Saint Matthew relevant ... yes
A church ... yes
Is it local ... no
Where is it ... the glass rocked but didn’t move.
Where is it ... LINC
Are you trying to spell Lincoln ... yes
Frankie knew of a St Matthews 8 miles from Lincoln and another about 6 miles away.
Is that where Thomas and his wife are buried ... no
Married ... yes
Frankie felt that although he was still around, he felt different.
Beth is Thomas too shy to talk to us ... no
Why won’t he talk to us ... glass moved to Frankie
Did you live in Lincoln ... yes

At that point the battery on the camcorder ran out. Although we did get some further information from Beth about Thomas, there was nothing definite about how to get rid of him, just that he will go once Ed and Frankie are married. (Some of what happened during the rest of the glass divination session can be read in Maureen’s report)

All together, our two sessions of glass divination had lasted almost an hour and a half, and proved interesting as there were definitely different spirits on the glass at different times. Beth was very obvious, as were Rowland and Thomas. With Thomas, it was almost as if the glass was being pushed down into the table top and scraped across the table, and this came out on the video. Beth’s movements were light and rapid and the glass hardly seemed to be touching the table.

Personal Reports

Maureen Taylor

Vigil 1 – the front room

As we walk in the room feels cooler than it was when the baseline checks were done, but the temperature is actually just the same.
As we sit quietly I feel the room to be very warm and the atmosphere oppressive, this is followed up by brief and faint smell of cigar smoke.
As Maria calls out she get pins and needles up her back. Gets the name Charlie, and I want to giggle, but didn’t.
Maria gets the name George, and I feel a cold draught across my right heel, we check the front door for draughts, but there are an inner and an outer door and no draughts can be felt. The temperature has risen to 23.7 degrees.
Lizzie suddenly feels much sadness and feels that she wants to cry.
Maria starts coming up with more names – and after a few of them we realise that they’re all male. We have Samuel, Albert, Victor, George and David with us. I start getting images of a street party – tables of food out in the street, all the front doors standing wide open and people running in and out of them. At first we think that this is possibly a VE Day party, but on asking find that’s not the case, and realise that it’s more likely to be in celebration of the Coronation in 1953. OF the boys with us we discover that Sam and Albert lived in the house at that time.
In general conversation between this and the next vigil Frankie asks us if we had someone called George come through - - it seems that he had gone upstairs to visit the other team as well as ours.

Vigil 2 – The garden

It was a very windy evening, so quite noisy out in the garden, and we didn’t stay out there for long.

I walked towards the far end of the garden and as I got close to the shed was feeling a little uncomfortable, though the wind was less here, so that space was calmer. Either Maria or Lissie, I can’t remember which, felt that there might have been an Andersen shelter at the bottom of the garden during the war. What was quite strange was that all three of us were quite happy standing in the middle of the garden, but as we approached either the house or the shed we felt quite uncomfortable. What occurred to us was that if there had been an Andersen shelter in the garden then what we were feeling might be the emotions of the people as they left it after an air raid - - i.e. would their house still be standing, so a sense of apprehension or even foreboding, and on walking towards the house, wondering if the raid was actually over, when would the next one be, would the house and its occupants escape any loss or injury, so a similar feeling on nearing the house as when leaving the bottom of the garden – while the middle of the garden felt like a fairly neutral area.

We were getting a little chilly and windblown by this time, so joined the other group indoors. It was time for a break before we got on with the glass divination session.

Glass divination

Frankie and I have always had good results with a glass in this house, and tonight was to be no exception...

It took just a few seconds after calling out for the glass to start moving. We asked how many spirits were with us and got the answer seven. We introduced ourselves and asked just who was with us. Some of them Frankie and I had met before. There were William and Emelia, the original occupants of the house, William’s father Charles, and Charles’ cousin, another Charles. These were all members of the Dacre family - - yes, a connection, very indirectly, with Marwell Hall. There were further connections with the hall too – a Richard Andrews, the doctor who looked after Rowland’s ‘maids’ (but they’re another story altogether and not relevant here) back in the 1870s. He employed William Dacre as his clerk. Our young friend, Beth, turned up as she always does on investigations, she usually stays in the background, but this time she was a great help to us. Finally we kept getting the letter R, but nothing else was coming through for a while, then when asked again to introduce himself we were given the letters Rand S, at which Amanda, Frankie and I all looked at one another and without having to say anything to one another just knew that it was Rowland Standish from Marwell Hall – and he had no business turning up at all. We asked if he had come in order to cause mischief, to which he answered yes – so we asked Beth if she could keep him at bay while we continued, and she did a very good job of it too, we knew he was still around, but as long as Beth was keeping him occupied there was nothing he could do to affect any of us. Okay, I can hear you saying that’s eight not seven...you’re right, it is, but none of us, the rest of the spirits included, counted Rowland among that number, only seven of them were important.

As arranged in advance, the door to the cupboard under the stairs was opened during the session with the glass and a camcorder pointed at it. We had George appear again, we’re fairly sure he was the same George as earlier, and the conversation with him proved that to be so. Frankie has always been uneasy about that cupboard and will only go into it if absolutely necessary. George gave us the reason why. It seems that as a punishment he was often locked into that very cupboard, and today when it gets opened what Frankie senses is a rather unhappy George escaping from it and running away. We established that he lived in the house in 1957, so a few years after the street party we had sensed earlier in the evening, but George was close enough in age and time to have been there, and probably lived close by, possibly somewhere else in the street.

We then started talking to the two Charlies (to differentiate between them they are Charles and Charlie). In a previous session with the glass some weeks ago they had come through and spun us a tale about signing on as crew on the Titanic and going down with her – knowing that they were both well into their seventies at the time of that sinking (Frankie and I had chatted to them on several occasions in the past). After our earlier chats with the pair of them I had looked up both the crew and passenger lists for the Titanic and there is no Charles Dacre to be found anywhere – I was sure at the time that they were winding us up, possibly just trying to keep us amused. We tackled them about it this time – and they admitted that they hadn’t sailed on the Titanic, though they had gone on board to have a look round her.

We had been told previously that one of them had been a lock-keeper on the Itchen Navigation, just a matter of yards away from the house, and the other was a bargee, owning a number of barges and trading up and down the canal. Over the years they had got involved in smuggling illicit liquor – moonshine – over from Ireland, by a very devious and convoluted route – they were also in the habit of drinking the stuff as well of course.

When tackled about their Titanic tale, they admitted that it had been a wind-up to some extent, but yes, they had been on the Titanic, but only as visitors looking round her before she sailed, and that they were drunk at the time. They told us that they had got it into their heads that it would be a good idea to try and sail with her… and made attempts to sign on as crew – they may have been making money from moonshine, but certainly not enough to go as passengers, so crew it would have to be. Unfortunately for them, not only were they drunk, but they were far too old to be taken on – both being well into their seventies at the time. This tale caused great merriment around the table – and all we’d been drinking was tea...

Things now moved away from those spirits who had once lived in the house and had connections with it, and a new spirit came through to us. He didn’t belong in the house, but had come there through a chance encounter with Ed and Frankie….One evening a few weeks ago they had been out for a walk and ended up in Otterbourne, close to a small, disused chalk pit; they didn’t like the atmosphere there and soon moved on and headed for home again. Over the next few days the atmosphere in the house, their living room in particular, changed, and they felt that a spirit connected with the chalk pit in some way had attached himself to them and followed them home – this was who we were now talking to. He wouldn’t spell out his name for us, but Maria got the name Thomas in her head, and he confirmed that this was his name.

Frankie wasn’t certain about continuing the contact with him, but wanted him out of their house, so we carried on. We asked him why he was in the house, and the glass moved towards Ed and Frankie in turn, and he spelled out the word ‘love’; he then insisted that he couldn’t leave them, or at least wouldn’t leave until they were married. We asked if Frankie reminded him of his wife, to which we got a positive reply. At this point we realised, though none of us actually voiced it, that we had to help him, it was going to be the only way to get him to leave Ed and Frankie alone. We asked him whether, if we requested it politely, he would leave of his own accord – we got a very definite no to that one. We felt that there had to be some particular reason for his attaching himself to them, but we didn’t get much of an answer at first. Beth was still with us (as were all the others, we could feel them around us, but they were keeping in the background while we tried to resolve the problem of Thomas), so we asked her if there was any way we could help him to move on – she said yes, there was. At this point we were joined by another spirit who spelt out the name Babs – a relative of Frankie’s who in recent months has turned up now and then at times of crisis or change in order to try and help. We asked her if there was any way we could help Thomas move one – she said yes, there was, but we didn’t get much more from her.

Things had been getting quite intense and we decided to take a break and go back to it afterwards if Thomas was still with us.

He was. We tried a different line of questioning this time, and asked if he had been married – he confirmed this. Told us his wife was called Susan and that he knew she had died just a year or two after he had. He told us that they had married in 1973, and he had died in 1991, and that his wife had died just a couple of years after he had. He knew that she was buried in the churchyard of St Matthews church somewhere near Lincoln. We asked if he had stayed in the chalk pit after his death in the hope that he could find someone who could reunite him with his wife, this he confirmed. For seventeen years, therefore, he had waited, until he came across someone that he could tell was aware of his presence – it just happened to be Ed and Frankie, and for his purpose they were an ideal couple to help him. We pointed out that there was no way that we could actually locate his grave and have his body disinterred and reburied alongside his wife, but we said that if he could help us find her spirit then we could possibly get them back together. This we did, and here Beth helped us out, we asked her if she could locate his wife’s grave and escort him there, she was more than willing to do so, but offers of help came from William and one of the Charlies as well, so we asked that the three of them escorted him to the church near Lincoln, and that they return to report to us one they had completed their task. They hadn’t returned an hour later when we sat down to the glass again, the only spirit with us was Emelia who was also waiting for the others to come home again. I can’t report the outcome of this as yet, not until I’ve seen Ed and Frankie and spoken to them again, but we’re hopeful of a happy ending.

Vigil 3

By this time it was far too wet and windy to do the outside vigils, so we rearranged things and while Team 2 headed up stairs to the back bedroom, Team 1 went into the front room. All had gone quiet by now and neither team had any results from calling out or using dowsing rods.

Our final vigil was to have been a walk of just a couple of hundred yards, to the towpath of the Itchen Navigation, but it was still too wet and windy so this was abandoned. We would everything up at about 1.15 and all headed homewards.

Our thanks to Ed and Frankie for allowing us to return to their home for a second investigation. I have since spoken to Frankie, and she tells me that all is now quiet in the house, Thomas is no longer following them around, and now that George has told of what used to happen to him the cupboard under the stairs is no longer a problem either. It seems that by telling his story George too no longer has such fear of the cupboard.

Amanda Horley

This was my second investigation to this small house. A typical two up two down that had been extended to add on a kitchen and bathroom downstairs. Prior to the investigation starting, I went out into the garden which had previously felt almost sad. This time it felt very different. Not happy, but content and relaxed.

I was in a team with Ed and Frankie and our first vigil was in the back bedroom. Shortly after settling down, it began to feel oppressive, and my upper body felt very warm. I didn’t say anything, but Frankie immediately asked if the air felt heavy to me, and said that her body had become hot from the waist up. After a time the room felt more normal. This happened several times during this vigil, and each time I felt it happening again, Frankie would confirm shortly afterwards that it had happened to her too. At one point I heard and felt that someone had come out of the front bedroom and gone down the stairs between the rooms. Frankie felt that one of her records over by the window had moved, and although I hadn’t been aware of its earlier position, I can confirm that when we went back up to the room a little later in the evening, it had moved to a different position further along the wall, even though no one had been up there in the intervening time.

Our second vigil was in the living room, and I didn’t experience much in there. There were several knocks and bumps from the kitchen area so Ed went and ensured that both the kitchen door and window were firmly shut. The knocks continued, however, it was a very windy night which could have had something to do with it. Because of the weather, the group outside came in early, so we started the glass divination early.

This was a very long divination with a lot of questions and answers, and several spirits involved. Details of the questions and responses are in a separate report, but there were one or two things that I found particularly interesting. Initially we had no response from the glass, but when Frankie suggested we all switch to using the same hand, the glass immediately began moving. Also, although Maureen, Ed and Frankie knew all the details of the spirits that were around the house, the rest of us had limited or no knowledge of those present. We did hear a loud thump from the front of the house at one point, but were advised by Beth (whom we were talking to at the time) that it was just a cat! Not all of the responses were as expected, which can to some extent rule out subconscious responses from us moving the glass. In particular for me, I asked about something that had been picked up on during the previous investigation concerning the cupboard under the stairs. I was expecting a yes or no answer, and the glass spelt out RAB, the person who had felt that there was something odd about a tin kept in the cupboard.

We took a break when Maureen’s other son came home and continued the divination after a cup of coffee. Once the divination had finished, my team went into the front room for our final vigil. It felt very peaceful in there compared to the living room and other than a faint smell of pipe smoke I didn’t feel any spirit presence.

Although we had been due to do a vigil in the garden, this was abandoned, as by this time it was tipping down with rain.

This was again a fascinating property to investigate, with some interesting things coming up, especially in what was an incredibly active glass divination.

Maria Street

This investigation was by private invitation from the owners, so I felt very privileged to be asked along. I met everybody at the house on a very windy and soon to be wet night. After a welcome drink, one of our guests, Lizzie, who is a sensitive, was asked to stand at the bottom of the stairs to see what she could pick up. She got the impression of somebody (female) falling down the stairs. It transpired that this did happen many years ago. Next we split into our teams for the vigils. I was with Maureen and Lizzie and we started in the front room. It was very quiet to start with, but I then felt bombarded with boy’s names. I had George, Albert, Victor, David and Charlie. Maureen got out the rods as she felt these boys did not all live in the house and that they had got together for some kind of street party. It seemed it was the Coronation of our present Queen. They all seemed happy and mischievous.

For our next vigil we went into the garden. The middle section was ok, but both ends felt oppressive and heavy. I got the name Susan but did not voice it, which I could kick myself for because she came up later in the evening. We did not stay out for too long however as it was very windy and starting to rain. We decided to join the others in the back room. We all sat round the table and conducted a ouija experiment. I will let the notes speak for much of this as my memory is not that good. However it did seem we were in contact with a boy named George who was often locked in the cupboard in the corner. The owner had said that she always felt something rush past her whenever she opened the door and she did not like the feeling it emitted. I also got the name of Thomas which the ouija board told us was the name of a spirit that had apparently followed the owners home from the local chalk pit. It told us he died there in a fire and that he was working down here from Lincoln. I got the name of Matthew and the owner, who is familiar with this neck of the woods, said there was a church in Lincoln by the name of St Matthews. We then had the name of Susan spelt out. It seems she was the wife of Thomas and was buried in St Matthews. It seemed that Thomas had had an affair whilst alive and was afraid to be reunited with his wife.

For our next vigil we headed upstairs to the back bedroom. All was very quiet in here however and we rejoined the others downstairs for another ouija session. Sadly we had to call off our last vigil along the towpath as it was very wet and windy and was just not conducive to an investigation. This was a very interesting night for me and I would like to thank the owners very much for the invite and also to Maureen for organising it all.