Irchester Working Mens Club 20/7/2013- Investigation report

“Thanks for a great nite last nite some very good evidence on my first Ghost Hunt”

I knew that this venue was going to be active but I had no Idea just how active!

in a past investigation of the working mens club flat done privately a few months back we experienced footsteps in empty rooms and disorientation in certain team members. There was also rapping and good communications through the ghost box.

This time we were in the main building.

We started in the billiard room, probably the most active room in the house. After protection was laid down I called to any spirits present to interact with us and let themselves be known in any way possible. Almost straight away one of our more sceptical investigators began to feel unusually hot, (It was a hot evening, but a quick temperature check around him confirmed that area of the room was warmer then the ambient temperature.)

Next, barely a minute later, two of our guests in another part of the room felt pressure on their shoulders, as if someone was leaning between them to get a better look.

Then we noticed something more physical. The ceiling fan, which was turned off was moving in small, short jerks. The manager of the WMC confirmed that when it’s off it just doesn’t move like that, also if there was any power going through it, it would have swung in the opposite direction. This was very exciting as physical phenomena is quite rare at events of this nature, and it just proves you never know what you’ll get.

Moving on to the ghost box, we made contact with a spirit called “Andy” who was generally talkative, but didn’t give much more than yes/no/hello type responses. We were given a couple of other names as well, including “Neal” and “Wesley” both of which were names on a board of members in display at the main bar, we found out later.

A real highlight came during this section as “Andy” complained about the light, asking me to switch the torch off I was holding to illuminate the ghost box. I did this and put the torch on the table next to the box in the middle of the room. About 10 minutes later the torch switched on by itself! I asked the spirits to switch it off again and on once more, it complied both times! All this happened in the first hour and a half of the evening!

Next we went upstairs to one of the function rooms. I honestly didn’t expect to get much from this room, as if felt clinical and empty. However we heard rapping, knockings and footsteps where nobody was moving, and at one point we all clearly heard the emergency exit door catch rattle.

Using the Ouija board produced little movement in the glass, but several guests began to be affected with headaches, and at one point our psychic, Lynne Taylor had to leave quickly as she was having difficulty breathing! Lynne felt we had made contact with something unpleasant, so to be on the safe side we banished it.

A second attempt on the board later produced another interesting result. Looking at the reflection of the group around the Ouija board both myself and a guest counted seven people when there was in fact only six.

At midnight we moved into the main bar. Starting with the Ouija board, we were given the letters PAL. but nothing more. We couldn’t think of a name beginning with these letters, and so assumed he was just being friendly! However the manager informed us afterwards that the letters were actually the initials of a funeral directors that was on that site many years ago.

I then lead groups of four down into the cellar under the bar, were the ghost box produced the name “George”, apparently the staff nickname for the ghost there is also George, a fact I was unaware of at the beginning of the evening!

Finally we had a ghost box session in the main bar, and picked up lots of names of former club members- some who died recently! The staff of the club were on hand to validate each name, and even ask questions to confirm they were who they said they were. One staff member asked what music a certain member liked, and got a quick response of “Elvis” which happened to be the right answer!

All in all I feel that Irchester Working Mens Club is one of the best venues I have investigated to date, there was a strong flow of activity, and the spirits seemed to be happy to play with us and interact.

I want to give a big thank you to the club management for allowing me to hold the event, and hopefully we will be arranging another date there soon!

5 easy mistakes to make when starting out as a ghost hunter

Recently I was asked what mistakes I had made when I first started doing paranormal investigations. Whenever you start something new it’s inevitable that there will be teething troubles, & I know that there is a lot of things I have yet to get perfect. The truth is there is never a time when you know everything there is to know about a subject, and if you feel you do it’s time to give up!

However there are one or two newbie blunders I have made over the years, & if I’d have been warned about them at the start I may have had a smoother ride.

Here are a couple of them, I hope you find them helpful.

 

1) Never jump to conclusions.

Just because there is a tapping noise in the house you are investigating does not mean it is supernatural! When you enter a new location take some time to get used to the natural creaks of the building. Also try to find a logical explanation for the sounds you are hearing. Is it raining outside? Is it windy? Are there cooling water pipes, central heating or a smelly hobo living in the cellar? A good paranormal investigator will try to eliminate everything terrestrial before attributing any phenomena to the supernatural.

 

2) Know your equipment.

The moment something new appears on a ghost hunting show on TV it’s only a matter of time before there is a manufacturer selling them on eBay! Call me Mr. Cynical, but isn’t it possible that there is some sort of sponsorship deal here? Don’t get me wrong, I love my K2 meter- it looks great!  it makes me feel like a Ghost buster! But what does it actually do? It detects AC EMF fields. That is Electromagnetic fields that are generated artificially by things like radios, mobile phones etc. Surely a ghost or spirit would generate a natural DC EMF? if that is the case the K2 may be totally useless!

Before you spend a fortune on the latest must-have gadget, read up on what it is you are actually spending your money on. What does it do? Why do you really need it? Is there something cheaper that would essentially do the same thing, (In the case of the K2- a compass maybe?) I have written about this in the past on this blog, see “Buying your research equipment”.

 

3) Show respect (to the living and the dead!)

Let’s just say for the sake of argument that when you die you remain on this plane in spirit form. You go about your life in much the same way as you did when you were alive. You wake up at the same time, you eat your breakfast, you go to work etc. The only difference is that you are dead.

Now how would you feel if a group of people came into your home waving around strange devices and demanding you knock once for yes twice for no! Would it make you angry? You’d probably want to yell at them to get out. Maybe you’d yell abuse at them, you’d probably be justified! Or maybe you’d just not give them what they want.

When you are trying to communicate with spirits try to remember that they were people once as well and you are probably more likely to get them to comply with your wishes by asking them politely!

 

4) Record your investigation.

This should be a no brainer! Say on your investigation the dark room is illuminated mysteriously and Cthulhu himself manifests and starts singing “hit me baby one more time”?

It would be great evidence if you had that camera switched on. unfortunately you didn’t.

And no matter how well you tell the story, and even if people believe you- it would never count as proof. Ok visual manifestations are rare, & I have my own theories about why they seldom appear on camera, but there have been many times when I have heard more on the ghost box when listening to the recording, than when I was listening in real time. Use a video camera, a voice recorder, or even a mobile phone. Just make sure everything is recorded!

 

5) Historical research later!

We have all seen those shows where they spend the first half of the investigation going over the history of the building they will be investigating. Wouldn’t it make more sense to do the research after the investigation? If we know the pub is haunted by a ghost lovingly known as Bertie, isn’t it more likely that we would be listening for that name on the ghost box? Wouldn’t it be more believable to get a specific name & personality come through on the Ouija board when nobody who has their finger on the glass knows the history of the building? A little historical knowledge can strongly contaminate a ghost hunt, so do the investigation first, then try to validate your findings with historical research later.

 

So there you are, 5 newbie mistakes that I could have avoided when I was starting out. Hopefully it will save you doing the same. One other thing I’ll add as an afterthought, and that is read the works of those who have been ghost hunting for years. There are many expert books on ghost hunting that I wish I had read before I started. I could recommend a few, but I’ll leave that for another day!

Happy Hunting!

The Lamb Inn 22/6/13 Investigation report

This was the third investigation I hosted at the Lamb. It’s a nice little venue in a sleepy village just outside Wellingborough and it never fails to surprise me!

Despite advertising a “Light finger Buffet” Adam, the landlord treated us to a very filling meal of Sausage, Chips & two large plates of Sandwiches. There was so much food that there was leftovers at the end of the evening! A huge thank you to Adam for providing this off his own back!

Once everyone was fed and watered we got down to the investigation proper. As always, we began in the function room, that has seen a vast majority of the activity in my hunts. Although quiet to start we did get a significant amount of spikes on the K2 meter- although by the end there were so many hits on the K2 I began to suspect it was picking up something more terrestrial. I feel more investigation would be needed to verify this. Some of our more psychically inclined guests picked up a little girl who was setting off the meter, one person even got the name Sarah. Sarah has appeared on previous hunts, although this cannot count as scientific evidence as the details of that hunt are elsewhere in this blog.

We had a smashing ghost box session, with clear responses and defined personalities coming out. Although every investigation at the lamb draws out a different cast of characters. Maybe the Lamb is also a pub in the spirit world with many people going through. In any case the responses were very intelligent, one even commanded I sit down when I was standing up!

During the Ouija session I had a direct hit on the Trifield natural EM meter. Unlike the K2 this does not get set off by mobile phones or AC electricity. It will respond to the electrical field that humans will generate however, so it was fantastic to hear it spike when there was nothing nearby. It also coincided with one of the numerous K2 spikes, suggesting that something was passing through.

The Ouija itself made contact with an Italian soldier from WW2. Apparently there was an Italian POW camp in the area during the war. If this stands up historically it could prove interesting.

Although we did try some experiments in the main bar and secondary bar, we didn’t get much. I suspect this was not helped by the fact that a number of the Lambs clientele had chosen to remain after last orders and Make silly ghost noises as they communicated with a different kind of spirit. I will endeavour to try & ensure that this doesn’t happen in future events.

So all in all a very good evening was had. We got some interesting activity during the evening and I’m curious enough to go back again!

Our next investigation at the Lamb will be announced soon- watch this space!

Buying your research equipment.

A few weeks ago I decided to get a thermometer to check suspected cold spots during my ghost hunts. It seemed a worthwhile purchase as my guests often report feeling suddenly cold on one arm, or feeling colder at a certain part of the room. I even experienced a significant temperature change myself at a recent event, only in that case it was warm spots.

I knew what I was after, I’d once seen a surveyor use a lazer guided infra-red thermometer when he was checking the walls of our house once and knew it would be right for the job. A very brief search on eBay unearthed one for a little over £8 including P&P. I clicked buy it now, it was delivered, jobs a good un!

A few weeks later I received an email from a company who were selling “Professional Paranormal investigation equipment”, inviting me to view their wares.

There were some nice bits and bobs there, one or two things that are on my wish list, and then I came across the exact same thermometer, the same make and model, at £20. That is over double what I paid for it. without postage and packing!

A quick browse on eBay at the time of writing, (Searching Infra-red thermometers) reveals quite a range in prices for this item some even cheaper than what I paid!

And it does seem that the price rises when something is sold as “Paranormal investigation equipment”.

There is always going to be another “Must have” gadget when working in this field, but when shopping around it is worth asking yourself two questions: “What does this item do?” And “Why do I want/need it?”

If the answer to the first question is “I don’t know.” and the second one, “I saw someone use one on Ghost Adventures & thought it looked cool.” You seriously need to reassess your needs!

Most of the equipment you see “professionals” use has not been designed to hunt ghosts, rather it has a much more terrestrial purpose. Consequently it seldom comes with instructions for use in a paranormal environment. If you don’t know why you need it you are  unlikely to know how to use it when you get it. Trust me on this. My first serious piece of kit was the Tri-field Natural EMF detector. I bought it nearly 10 years ago and didn’t have a clue what to do with it until I sat down and searched the net several years later!

If you can answer the first question, “What does this do?” it is likely you will know why you will need it. And if that is the case it may be worth asking yourself, “is there anything that does the same that is cheaper/more efficient/more practical?” you may find something that works more effectively. Just because it looks good on TV doesn’t mean it’s going to be any good for your investigation!

Bottom line is it pays to shop around, but also make sure you know what you are getting!

Coming soon…

We have a couple of events looming over the next couple of months, Tickets are selling already and places are limited to 20 people per event so book early to avoid disappointment!

As always, tickets are available on the website event page.

The Hind in Wellingborough has become a firm favourite in my list of venues. Although we have yet to capture any of the classic ghosts that have been reported in the past we have  seen consistent activity from a particular mischievous spirit over the last two hunts.

The activity has been consistent, and the same names always seem to crop up. The Hind has always been a fun and interesting location for my investigations.

The Hind has kindly agreed a 10% discount off the Bar meal menu or restaurant menu for would be ghost hunters eating before this investigation.
They are also offering a special bed and breakfast deal for attendees to this event of £20 per person, based on 2 people sharing, (£32.50 single).
You can book these through the hotel itself, once you have bought your tickets of course!

Full details and updates on the facebook page

The Falstaff experience in Stratford Upon Avon has the reputation of being the most haunted building in England, so I’m expecting great things for this event!

The evening will begin with a short History tour of the building, then its up a set of rickety stairs to the seance room, where we will conduct ghost box sessions, automatic writing experiments and more!

When I visited the venue to see about securing this event I found myself alone in the seance room for a short while and not only heard, but felt firm footsteps on the floorboards I was standing on, so while there are never any guarantees of activity, this venue has a head start!

Refreshments are available.

Check the facebook page for updates.

And finally…

I was invited to join the UK Haunted team on their investigation of Haughton House, in Bedfordshire recently. It proved to be one of the most active locations I have been to! You can see what happened in the video below, (It’s a long one, but worth it!) however let me just tell you some of the highlights:

Warm spots were felt in a cold environment.

Ghost box responses were relevant to the questions asked, (Albeit abusive & unpleasant)

EVP was recorded of doors slamming, (There are no doors)

We heard Gates that weren’t there slam.

We heard a woman’s voice say “Hello” when nobody was there.

The Ghost Box stopped scanning on request, twice.

My torch batteries were drained. Twice. My K2 meter batteries also drained.

I’m sure more happened that I am not remembering, so it’s probably better for you to discover it all for yourself! Check out the video!

See you next time!

Using a ghost box

A few people have been asking me about the ghost box, a radio like device that I have been using on my ghost hunts recently.
It is, in fact,a digital radio that has been “hacked” to do a couple of things a normal radio would not do.
Firstly as it scans through the AM or FM frequencies it doesn’t mute, allowing the listener to hear the airwaves in all their naked glory, & secondly it will not stop scanning once it finds a solid signal. The upshot of this is you hear a mish-mesh of white noise, static and broadcast transmissions. Its a little like listening to the shipping forecast on speed.
The theory is that ghosts & spirits have no voice of their own but can manipulate the ghost box to give the appropriate answer to any questions you may ask.
I know I was sceptical of this when I first heard of it- after all, you are obviously going to get clear words out of it when it is using existing radio stations. I often joke to people attending my ghost hunts not to be surprised if the ghost answers using David Camerons voice, (some may find that idea more scary!).
What is interesting, however,  is just how often the answers make sense.
When I first got my ghost box in the post I couldn’t wait to switch it on. We had experienced activity in our home including apparitions & poltergeist activity so knew if the ghost box was likely to work we’d get something straight away.
I felt very corny uttering the stereotypical, “is there anyone there?” But was surprised to get the immediate response of, “John”.
I pressed on asking if anyone was with them, the reply was immediate, “Ben”.
I then asked who was it that one of our guests had recently seen walking by the stairs wearing a beige cardigan. The answer was once again a very clear, “John”.
At this point my wife said, “yeah ok- switch it off now!”
Although not conclusive proof, it was enough to warrant further investigation. Either there were some amazing coincidences happening here or our ghost had appalling dress sense.

Since that day I have always began my ghost box sessions with control questions, that is clear questions to which there could only be one answer.
An obvious control question would be, “my name is Rob, can you say my name?”
Its great to hear the reply come through clearly & correctly! On good ghost box sessions in my commercial ghost hunts I’ve been able to persuade the spirit to say hello to everyone in the room individually!
Another good control question would be, “what do I have in my hand?” Providing you have something in your hand and there is a spirit in the room you should get a favourable response!
However if you continue to ask control questions, I find the intelligence you are communicating with will get weary, and even frustrated with it. After all, they didn’t sign up to be your personal lab rats!
Start to ask them about themselves and you will hear clear, distinctive personalities come through. I have had consistent personalities come out in venues from one hunt to another in the past! The voices won’t just be made up of the broadcast transmission either, often in a good session I have realised that the voice I was communicating with was the same one even though the ghost box had scanned many channels. Sometimes clear words are heard through the static itself.
You won’t always get perfect responses. At a recent investigation at a reputedly haunted cemetery, I didn’t get much from the ghost box. At one point an over familiar song came out, obviously paying on radio 1, that covers several frequencies so it made it hard for us to hear anything outside that pattern.
I do not know why ghost Boxs’ are hard to find on sale now. When I bought mine barely a few years ago there were a few to choose from on Ebay. Now, however, unless you want to buy from Singapore or pay the expensive American shipping costs you are out of luck. Occasionally a good second hand one will surface on Ebay, but it would appear that most UK suppliers have dried up.
There are a few options to the would be ghost hunter who wishes to try out a ghost box at a pinch however.
If you are ok with electronics & circuit boards you could have a go at hacking a digital radio yourself. The hack is relatively simple & a quick YouTube search will unearth countless instructional videos. The other option is to try some of the more reputable mobile phone apps. In all honesty I’ve never used them myself, however I’ve heard some good reports & they are a fraction of the cost of a ghost box so the risk is very low.
Over recent years I’ve come to regard my ghost box as one of the main pieces of equipment I use in my hunts. I’ve had some fantastic results from it & many clear conversations that have all but rendered the Ouija board obsolete.
I have no idea weather the intelligences I an communicating with are spirits, ethereal beings or aliens, (it has been suggested in the past by someone on one of my hunts) but I have no doubt that they are intelligent-whoever they are!
If you have an interest in paranormal investigation it is worth trying out & seeing the results for yourself. You may be surprised!

Coming up in 2013

A belated happy new year to you all!

After a very busy season between Halloween and Christmas it’s almost nice to come round to a quiet January, However I have been making time to plan events and goings on for the next 12 months and some of them are rather exciting!

Ghost Hunt

The first big event is the next evening of paranormal entertainment at the Lamb Inn, Little Harrowden. The last evening we investigated I was not expecting too much, having found very little history save a few tall stories from the locals.

It turned out, in fact, to be one of the most active venues last year! As well as picking up multiple personalities on the ghost box we had one of the most active Ouija Board sessions I have ever seen!

I’m going back next month to connect with the spirits once again, and you can join me! I put the tickets up for sale before Christmas, but didn’t expect much with so much else happening, so I’m amazed at the level of interest & ticket sales I have already received!

Tickets are £15 and can be bought on line here.

Readings

A lot of people have been contacting me for private readings in the last few months & I’m happy to say I have been quite busy lately in this field. Time & distance mean it’s not always possible to travel to accommodate everyone’s needs, however, and for those who just live too far away I am happy to offer an on-line reading service.

Currently I am offering 3 card readings, In-depth readings and Dream analysis via email. All readings are personally written for the individual, and on most occasions you will receive your reading within 24 hours of purchase.

To take advantage of this, go to the “readings” link on my website.

I am also doing monthly taster nights in Lucy’s Tea room in Desborough, Kettering. These evenings are very popular and always sell out fast.

Admission for the evening is £15, and you will get tea/coffee, cake and a quick 10 minute reading. The next evening is on January 26th, to secure your place call Lucy on 01536 762078

Other Stuff

I’m feeling quite honoured to have my true story, “The Grey lady of Whitby” featured on the “Spooky Isles” website. You can see it in all it’s glory here: http://www.spookyisles.com/2013/01/my-ghost-experience-the-grey-lady-of-whitby/

I’m also delighted to announce that one of the nations leading paranormal teams UK Haunted, have invited me to be part of their team for public events. I have already joined them in a couple of investigations, and they have attended some of mine, so it makes sence that we eventually would join forces! their YouTube channel is midway through their second season, featuring some incredible locations and amazing evidence. Check them out here: http://www.youtube.com/user/officialukhaunted/videos?view=0&flow=grid

Finally, I have started an online paper via the paper.li social media site. Basically it searches through a pool of sources I select and picks the best stories to feature each day. You can subscribe to the Lupinemagic Daily here: http://paper.li/RobLupine/1357545945#

See you next time!

The Grey Lady of Whitby

The story that follows is a true account of an event that happened when I was at primary school in Whitby. It is also one of the first times I encountered the paranormal, if that is indeed what it was- read on & decide for yourselves!

Have a Happy Halloween!

Growing up in Whitby, one was never far away from the supernatural. The town is overcast by the Abbey ruins, Sea fret drops with little or no warning plunging locals and tourists alike into bleak obscurity, and the town and surrounding villages have more than their fair share of ghostly encounters.

The town is featured heavily in Bram Stoker’s novel, “Dracula” and consequently there is not a school boy or girl that does not know the quickest way to deal with a vampire. Should the undead beast rise from his grave and attempt to hold the town to siege we were ready!  And it was my school days that provide the backdrop to the true story that I will now tell.

I went to a primary school on the east side of Whitby between the late 70’s and early 80’s and it was in my final years that the Grey lady caused terror and mayhem, disrupting the natural order and running of the school.

The first I heard about her was towards the end of a lunchtime break. A girl in my class approached me  as I stood talking with some of my friends and asked me if I knew about the grey lady. I admitted I did not, and she immediately gave a very animated description of the ghost and what had happened earlier that morning.

Aside from being clothed in grey, dusty rags, the grey lady had another strong feature. Her hands and her bare feet were red with bloody sores. She was heard sobbing in the school assembly hall, behind the scenery panels of the stage. Apparently the deputy headmaster had gone up to investigate only to have her fling him from the platform in a show of incredible strength.

Not being present to witness this for myself I cannot verify how much of the girls story was merely artistic licence! however we listened to her story with morbid fascination and carried on talking about other things once she rushed off to tell someone else about it. To be honest I thought no more of it. Until the next day.

By then talk of the Grey lady was all over the school. She was blamed for everything from missing pencil sharpeners to unexpected fire drills.  Infant classes were frightened to walk past the assembly hall, let alone go in- for the rumour was to hear her sobs would mean death within 24 hours! Teachers did their best to dismiss these stories, but no sooner had one tale been quashed, another couple of stories would arise about this spectres latest antics.

I do not remember how long this went on for- it could have been a couple of days, It might have even been a week. However I do remember the day everything came to a head, the day she manifested in front of most of the school.

The Junior playground is situated behind the school, and a path leads from it to the teachers car park, outside the assembly hall. All the juniors took that route daily to come to school, and in those days a child could easily sneak out unobserved during a break time.

On this particular day word spread across the playground that the grey lady was active in the assembly hall, right there and then! Not wanting to miss an opportunity a gang of us slipped out of the playground to witness this paranormal activity first hand. We stood in the car park, none of us daring to get too close. At first we saw nothing, but then we became aware of dark shadows moving around within the hall. at the back of the room was a maypole, it spent most of the year stored there only to be brought out in the spring. Suddenly we all saw it move. Gasps of astonishment emitted from the crowd as the maypole began to sway backwards and forwards until we were convinced it would topple over. And when we tried to make out what could be causing it to move like this the cause became very apparent. At the centre of the maypole, gripping it tightly was an ancient leathery hand with red, bloody sores.

Some of us began to scream, and we all fled from the car park back to the safety of the playground, only to be met by a furious deputy head, who happened to be on duty that day. It was then I realised that most of the school had witnessed the maypole move, and it’s little wonder our absence was noticed!

The next day the headmaster stood in front of the school and said there was to be no more talk of the grey lady, and any child caught telling stories would be severely dealt with. Sure enough the rumour died down and so did any reports of paranormal activity.

My Story could end there. But there is more.

Many years later I was talking to one of my former classmates and we were reminiscing the old days at that school. Inevitably conversation turned to the subject of the grey lady, and my friend turned white. “Don’t talk about her, ” He told me in earnest, “I was there the day she first appeared.”

It turned out he was with a friend in the storeroom under the stage. His teacher had given him the task of seeking out a prop for a forthcoming production. Both boys became aware of a sudden chill in the room, and then the strip lights flickered out momentarily. In those few seconds of darkness, my friend saw what he described as a transparent grey curtain floating in the air. Then he heard a thin ghostly whisper, and the words remained with him ever since, “I have come to meet with you once more. At midnight.”

The lights came on once more and it was later that day the deputy head was flung from the stage.

Scroll forward a few years and I was researching local ghost stories of Whitby for a ghost walk.

I found that the school stood on the same piece of land once occupied by a leprosy hospital in the dark ages. I also came across the story of a nun called Constance de Beverly, who had been bricked up in the Abbey Dungeons for an illicit affair with a knight called Marmion. As it happened there is no dungeon in the Abbey, and the characters mentioned are a work of fiction by Walter Scott. In the story the nun wasn’t bricked up at Whitby Abbey, but Lindisfarne Convent. But what if there really was a nun who behaved in such a way to disgrace the convent in Whitby Abbey?

Wouldn’t the convent put her somewhere out of the way where she could be conveniently forgotten?  Could the red sores on her hands and feet be the results of an infection that she had contracted from her patients? We’ll probably never know.

I’m not sure what I saw that day in the teachers car park, whether it was a collective hallucination brought on by mass hysteria, or the grey lady herself. It was never fully explained and I don’t expect it ever will be.

However by way of a postscript I found myself recently trawling the internet looking for other accounts of this story that I  could compare my experience with. I didn’t find much, however on facebook there was a group put together by former pupils of that school for the purpose of sharing nostalgia and forming reunions. Among the reminiscences of various teachers and school dinners somebody asked, “Does anyone remember the grey lady?” .

There was one anonymous reply.

“OMG! She’s still here!”

The Hind Hotel, Welingborough 20/10/2012- Investigation report.

This was the second investigation into the Hind Hotel, You can read about the first one here, and this time there were certain things I was looking for to achieve validation for our findings. As it happened I was not disappointed!

Before I tell you our findings I need to stress that apart from myself & one other, nobody else had attended the previous investigation, nor had I told them of our findings from that occasion.

First of all the location proved a lot more active on this occasion, with the EMF meter spiking on the slightest movement someone made, something it failed to do last time even with people jumping up at it! Although we never got any movement when everyone was still it made me feel quietly confident for the night we had ahead of us.

After some initial invocations that produced very little of note, we moved on to a short pendulum session. I had the pendulum suspended in the glass from the beginning of the evening and there was a few points it would start swinging even though nobody was near it. When I asked the entity that was pushing it to make it go faster it stopped mid-swing as if somebody had grabbed it, something that happened last time we were at the hind.

The Ghost box once more proved to be the star of the show, and this time I asked control questions, That we all knew the answer to, to make sure the answers we were getting weren’t random, but clear responses. Simple questions like “How many fingers am I holding up?” Got immediate answers, most of the time correct! And even when they got the answer wrong and I asked them t try again they were insistent that they were right. (we got a determined, “I said- TWO” even though I was holding up four fingers!)

Questions like, “what am I holding in my hand” got less clear responses. It did correctly identify a ring, but wasn’t able to recognise a key for example.

Last time we were in the Cromwell suite we started conversing with an entity calling himself “Jim” on the ghost box.

The main characteristic about Jim was last time he wasn’t happy with us being there, and kept telling us to go. He also wouldn’t let us speak to anyone else, preferring all the attention on him!

Jim appeared again this time, and showed similar characteristics, although this time he seemed in a better mood and did humour us with a little light conversation!

One of the most frightening  points of the evening occurred when I switched on the Ghost box for the first time and got a very clear, yet inhuman , “Shut up!” emit from it. I asked the entity to repeat itself, and got the same phrase, in the same voice instantaneously. This did not sound like the usual contact the ghost box makes. Rather than being compiled of broadcast transmissions it sounded like it had been constructed from white noise, static and interference.  This was one of the strongest cases of E.V.P. I had heard to date, although once it had said it’s piece decided to amble off and make way for more polite beings!

The Ouija board produced no perceivable movement on this occasion. And like last time I asked the sitters to try physically pushing the planchette, and found they had difficulty doing so, as if something was holding it in place, yet again on par with our last visit.

The automatic writing was very interesting. Even though the lady holding the pen was in a trance, the pen managed to move along a particular pattern perfectly several times.

Automatic writing- The subject drew over the “V” shape perfectly several times before going into the rest of the work. She was in a deep trance.

On examining the final product of the automatic writing several members of the group identified the number 8 and an arrow pointing in a particular direction. we discovered if we followed the arrow out of the room it pointed to room 108.

On comparing it to the two examples of automatic writing we did on the previous visit, we found that 8 appeared in both drawings.

Around Midnight we moved to the restaurant. There have been many reports of happenings in this room and I was particularly interested to see what we found. One of the stories we had heard was there was a ghost of a little girl, who the staff left the light on for. The story goes that anyone who switches the light off would hear her crying.

We switched the light off and sat in darkness, but no crying was heard on this occasion, although one of our participants did feel sad, and had an urge to cry.

The Ghost Box picked up on someone calling himself “Eric”, and he informed us he was protecting the little girl.

Eric also told us he was a rifleman in the RAF. there have been reports of a soldier appearing at the Hind, so this was particularly noteworthy.

All in all we had a much more active visit the second time around, and I was pleased in our findings. I was really interested to see particular phenomena that matched up to previous visits, there were reports of people getting very cold arms or legs, or suddenly getting pins and needles. often the phenomena would happen in the same part of the room as last time as well, and affect people sitting in the same spot.

I will be looking at going back to the hind at some point early next year, so watch this space!

Sent in by one of our sitters, Anita Weekly.
A figure can be seen hovering on the beam above the light switch.

The figure blown up can be seen in more detail. It’s features appear in one other picture taken in a different part of the room.

What happens at a Ghost Hunt?

A few weeks ago I hosted a paranormal investigation at the Lamb inn at Little Harrowden. It proved to be a very enjoyable night with a considerable amount of interesting activity. My full report of the evening can be read here.

One thing that interested me was the amount of child Spirits we seemed to pick up, who didn’t seem to have a connection to the building, or even know what we were talking about when we asked them if they lived in the Lamb.

Story from the Northampton Mercury, 1902

However I did a little searching about on the British newspaper archives and found more than one report of an inquest into child mortalities being held at the Lamb. Maybe there is a connection there?

Another thing that delighted me on the night was being joined by professional ghost hunting team UK Haunted. These guys have ran investigations in some of the most active locations in the UK, you can read about them here.

They were very professional in their approach, brought a lot of their own equipment, and very much got into the heart of the evening. They even shot video, (A lot of it so discreetly I didn’t know they were doing it!) and put together this film that covers a lot of the interesting things that happened that night!

Now you can listen to the Ghost Box in all it’s glory, were there words and phrases that we missed?

There is also a chance to see the Ouija Board in all it;s glory, as it connects with Sarah, one of my personal Favourite ghosts that evening.

I just want to say a huge thank you to Alex & Michael for making this video, and their amazing support over the last few weeks!

If you want to take part in the next Ghost hunt, it it this Saturday, 20th October 2012, at the Hind in Wellingborough.

There are still a few tickets left and you can get yours here!

I hope you can make it!