Private House, Pontefract.
Date:Saturday 10th January 2009
Overview:
HYPR were contacted to look into the problems that a family of four, in a smart suburbian four bedroomed house, had been experiencing over the last several years.
After the initial interview, it was apparent that the family had infact, only been living in this residence for approximately three months and the activity and occurences reported, had been happening to them in all the different houses that they had lived in previously over several years(the family admitted to moving several times to try to rid themselves of the activity, only to find that it seemed to "follow" them from house to house).
The Investigation
After setting up our CCTV cameras and equipment (approx 7.30pm)in the areas where the alleged activity was occuring, we settled down in various rooms logging the EMF readings, temperature fluctuations and other envoironmental readings.
Over the course of the evening, several large EMF readings were apparent, but the house was full of lots of electrical equipment(computers, tv's in most rooms and other domestic type appliences)all giving off large amounts of EMF(electro magnectic fields), so this had to be taken into account during this investigation.
A few dust orbs were picked up on the footage from the CCTV cameras (infra red), and envoironmental readings were continually taken during our investigation. None of the reported knocks, raps etc were heard during the night.
Incidents
During our investigation, Mr ****** (Father and Husband in the household) returned after finishing his late turn at work (approx 10pm)and walked into his daughters bedroom, which was being monitored by CCTV and Joan(HYPR member),plus his daughter and her friend, who were quietly sat, whilst doing EMF sweeps and taking notes. It was noted that as soon as he walked into the bedroom, the EMF meter went off the scale(large spike), which was witnessed by HYPR member "Joan" and his Daughter and her friend. No apparent explination for the large spike was found, nothing had been switched on, lights or tv etc....
Foot Note
Although nothing was actually picked up on camera and due to the amount of electrical equipment in the house, our findings are sketchy at best for this location, I did feel however, that due to the 'personal problems' of one member in the household, that some sort of professional help may be needed to help resolve this situation.
March 1st 2008
Location: North Yorkshire.
Property: Barn Conversion: A Private Residence.
Age of Property: Pre 1700’s.
Members Present: Dawn, Russ and Joan.
Weather Conditions: Moderate Wind, and 8-10 degrees Celsius.
Moon Phase: Waning Crescent
Geomagnetic Field: Quiet
Solar Rays: Normal.
Brief Description of Activity
Having moved into their barn conversion slightly over a year ago it was noted by the family, that something strange was occurring.
Whilst sitting in the kitchen, Mrs A and two other people heard loud footsteps crossing the landing. This continued, on frequent occasions, until one day, there was the loudest bang. This noise was similar to a large individual jumping from a height and landing on the upstairs floor.
Pictures in the house have been moved also... Their previous pet was scared of going no more than half way up the stairs.
The family consulted with a clairvoyant/medium who came to the house and who informed them of a male who occupied the upstairs. A clearing was done, but in recent months things have begun again. They have now seen shadows and have all witnessed, on separate occasions, a voice calling.
So a date was agreed, and HYPR made its way up the A1 to the barn conversion.
Equipment Used
4 X IR CCTV Cameras
1X Sony Nightshot
2 X EMF Meters
Walki Talkies X 2
Various Digital Thermometers’
1 X Digital Voice Recorder
Dowsing Rods
Note Pad
2 X Torches
1 X Crystal Pendulum
1 X Digital Camera(Still Shots)
Baseline Testing
Sweeps were made for any unusual EMF readings, none were present.
Sweeps were made with our Carbon Monoxide detector for any unusual readings. None were present.
Digital Thermometers’ were set up to read ambient temperatures in each room to be investigated. They remained constant.
The Investigation
After doing the baseline tests and setting up the IR CCTV cameras, we spent time in each individual room where activity had been reported. All readings were constant with no fluctuations showing on any of our gadgets.
Only myself and Joan conducted the investigation and we spent a lengthy amount of time doing EVP work (electronic voice phenomena) trying to pick up any disembodied voices. Quite a few sounds were heard but were discounted as being made by people elsewhere in the building and other unrelated factors.
Through out the evening, everything remained quiet and nothing of any note occurred.
During the night, we used our dowsing rods in most of the house and they crossed in the majority of the rooms in the house, upstairs and down., we also tried(three separate people) to use the crystal pendulum but none of the team could get a movement out of it.
Conclusion
All in all it was an extremely quiet night, with nothing untoward to report.
I have reviewed all out footage, and apart from the odd dust orb and one of the cameras getting accidentally knocked, nothing was apparent.
On this occasion, nothing ‘paranormal’ is to be reported.
September 29th 2007
Location: Military Base: Undisclosed. N.Yorks.
Members Present: Dawn, Russ, Joan, Wendy, Graham and (guest investigator)Darren.
Weather Conditions: cold and dry.
Moon Phase: Waning Gibbous
Geomagnetic Filed: Quiet
Solar Rays: Normal.
We were contacted by Mr and Mrs X who live in the married quarters of a military base in the North of England, who reported to us, several different types of phenomena.
In the several months they have been there, they have been experiencing phenomena and which has also been confirmed by their next door neighbour who has heard some of the noises also.
Here is Mr and Mrs X’s notes and feelings about their house:
Since moving here in July of this year (2007), we have always heard someone walking about upstairs during the day and night. Our dog has been in my daughter’s bedroom growling into one corner.
Sometimes he would jump on the bed and growl as if he is protecting her. Shadows have been see on the landing also.
My daughter saw 4 bright lights (white) in her room; they hovered for a bit then shot to the floor leaving a tail, but then disappeared.
Several occasions now, we have heard walking round all day followed by lots at night time also. Our cat was looking around me in the night and the dog was growling on the landing area.
One day one of my friends saw what she describes as a “bubble” coming down my staircase, which then disappeared. We have also smelled perfume or polish coming from upstairs too…
So on the 29th of September 2007, HYPR went to investigate…
The house is a semi detached comprising of a hallway through to the kitchen, off that is the staircase to the right and the lounge and dining area to the right. Upstairs is a galleried landing area with three bedrooms further to that comprising of a good sized bathroom.
Wendy and Joan did the base line readings and Graham and Darren had a walk round to get a feel for the place, Russ and myself started to set up the table and monitors for the CCTV camera control area. On that particular night we used 4 b&w IR CCTV cameras placed in the “hot spots” in the house.
Graham’s Report 29th September 2007
Position in Team: Medium
On entering the house I was aware of a dark shape / shadow on the first landing of the staircase this figure would possibly appear to be looking into the lounge but would vanish as soon as being seen.
In the spare bedroom I was aware of a male stood with his hands on the window sill looking out into the paved area in front of the house .( Mr X said he feels he is being watched from that room when he returns home from work ).
On investigating the spare room with Darren I discovered that the image at the window was only residual energy and as such was not really in visitation or grounded. I was told by my guide that the mans name was Robert Parnell who appeared to be in his late 30's early 40's I believe that he had a heart attack in the area possibly 1986 and was taken to a hospital in *********** where he died twice ! He was brought round only to die several hours later.
Robert was wearing a black t shirt with “university of California written on it with what looked like a quartered shield in the middle, Robert also had a signet ring on the index finger of his right hand which had the initial SP.
Robert also wanted to tell Mary he was sorry (not sure why) he said it had broken her heart.
I feel that Robert was a building worker (electrician) who was from Ruislip? Down south, somewhere.
I was shown a packet of senior service cigarettes which Robert enjoyed he also liked a drink (a lot) he worked hard and played even harder.
This image will be seen often as the family seem sensitive to spirit but Robert is only like looking at a picture on a TV screen.
In the main bedroom I feel that it was a very calm and very peaceful room and certainly not a room to be afraid of I feel that there is a spirit who comes in visitation to the room who is a Grandfather/great grandfather figure initial J but I did not get a full name, I believe that this older gentleman is responsible for stroking the hair of Miss X and maybe what is thought to be a draught is him just blowing on her cheek, I also feel that he will sometimes sit on the end of the bed, again nothing to worry about as he is a very good sort.
Miss X’s room again very calm and peaceful! Nothing nasty, I followed Joan who had an experience in the room with a young girl called Grace which had left Joan emotional as she had felt the pain of Grace who was searching for her true love called Kevin.
Through my guide I feel that I was given the name of Kenneth who was based at RAF ********** around the war period, he was from Weston in Ontario / Toronto; I was shown a picture of the CN tower? Why I do not know? I was later given the surname / nickname Pincoe, I feel that this person was involved with Grace; Kenneth was killed in an explosion caused by a fuel spillage from what appeared to be a tanker/wagon.
Grace was from the midlands Wolverhampton area and had been sent to the ********* as a land army girl she was the only spirit who was grounded and she wanted to move over into the light but was afraid to go because she had " taken her own life at an early age 16 / 19 " by Gassing herself ! This happened after the death of Kenneth; Grace was a Roman Catholic and had been told that those who committed suicide went into purgatory? As a team we reassured her that she would be fine, Mr X used the crystal to ask Grace who she wanted to communicate with and Grace indicated that it was Miss X who she wanted to talk with.
Mr X had the feeling that one of the children of the house may be the reincarnated soul of Grace?
I could not give him an answer to that! But it is not beyond possibility.
We asked Grace to move over into the light into the arms of her loved ones I told Grace that her guardian angel would be waiting to guide her to her loved ones, Grace went over into the spirit world and a greater peace seemed to come into the room, I checked with the crystal and there were no spirits in the room.
Mr X brought his dog up into the room and the dog remained calm where before it had been staring and barking at the corner of the room. Again, nothing nasty.
I feel that a lot of the “footsteps “which are heard during the night will be the natural contraction of pipes / floorboards.
I asked Mr&Mrs X to use sea salt and water to cleanse the 4 Buddha figures they had on their unit just to remove any negative energy from them! The figures were fine but had some negative energy attached to them. All in all a very calm, peaceful and relaxed home, no problems on leaving.
Joan’s Report.
HYPR Investigator.
At 7.20 Wendy and I went into each room to do baseline testing’s to take readings and recorded them.
At 8.30 we went upstairs into the back bedroom, which I later found out was the room a girl of 12 years old. We sat down on the floor in the dark and started asking if there was any spirits there, if there was, would they make themselves known. I got the name of 'Grace' and I asked if she was elderly. Suddenly a feeling of great sadness and panic came over me and I was told that she was a young girl looking for her lover who had been killed. I found myself in tears; it was as though I was feeling her pain. I asked 'Grace' for his name and it sounded like 'Kevin' whom she loved very much. I asked her how he died and she said 'burning' and the year was 1948. I told her we would help her and she whispered right in my ear 'thank you' (and that spooked me.)
At that point I realized I had a headache, so we went downstairs for a break, the experience had exhausted me.
Findings
I have reviewed the CCTV footage and found nothing of any note except a few dust orbs stirred up after the passage of the investigation team past the cameras in the dark.
Most of the phenomena described were residual; Graham felt that nothing was ‘grounded’ in that location. Footagewise (CCTV) we picked nothing up on that particular visit.
I would like on behalf of HYPR to thank Mr and Mrs X and their family for allowing us there to conduct this investigation.
Update: 19th November 2007
I have just received this email from Mrs X: Well things have been pretty quiet here lately...there have been no footsteps, the dogs not been barking nothing. All we get now still is the shadow on the landing but he has become one of the family now...even Miss x and Mr X say’ night’ to him when they go to bed…
A Church Yard
West Yorkshire
Saturday 8th September 2007
Team Members Present: Dawn, Russ, Joan, Graham and (guest investigator)Darren.
Weather Conditions: Warm and dry and clear.
Solar Rays: Normal
Geomagnetic Field: Quiet
Current Moon Phase: Waning Crescent
HYPR travelled about a half hour by car to the location of HYPR’s first ever outdoor investigation.
I have tended to avoid doing outdoor investigations if at all possible for the simple reason your at the weathers mercy and also you cannot control the area you are investigating. You can and do have problems that include not being able to use many of your investigation gadgets because they may be triggered by wind or a small animal and cause many false positives, another factor we found out whilst conducting EVP sessions, was a function going on a few fields away and the background noise from that which tainted all the EVP sessions, these are all factors that you cannot control and until you get there, don’t know about, so its pretty much a case of go and take pot luck.
Due to the party going on down the way, we didn’t stay long, (probably did about two hours, that’s all). It was a lovely quaint church yard, inhabited by a plethora of bats and an owl tooting in the trees added to the ambiance; this location could be worth another visit in the future to try the EVP sessions again.
Investigation Sunday 6th May 2007: Public House.
Investigation Team Present: Dawn, Russ, Joan, Wendy, Graham, Eddie (Guest Medium), Val (Guest Medium).
Current Moon Phase: Waning Gibbous, 83% full
Solar Data: Solar Rays, Active.
Geomagnetic Field: Quiet.
Unfortunately I can not divulge the location as we were asked that it not be made common knowledge, but all I can tell you is this is a public house in the Bradford area.
I was contacted by spiritualist medium Eddie Peace who asked us if we would be interested in investigating this location, as he had already been there once and had picked up on several presences and thought that we might want to have a look. So, without further ado, we arranged to investigate!.
The team ventured practically all over the pub and did base readings, etc and got a general feel for the place. The first place to be investigated was the cellar area, which had a few fluctuating EMF readings, but that said y have to bare in mind that there is a lot of electrical equipment down there so that may be expected.
Graham commented that he was picking a lady up, who was in her late forties, early fifties, and he said he thought that she was grounded. Eddie also agreed he had a ladies energy also, and he picked up that she had passed over from the disease TB.
Both Mediums agreed that the lady was of “hefty build”, and a date put forward for this lady, was in the 1950’s. The EMF was telling me I had a reading of 4mg and was fluctuating, but I cannot say for sure it was not some appliance causing this. The temperature was 9.8 degrees Celsius.
From there we headed to the Pool Room, and two of the mediums were experiencing headaches at this point, (in the corner of the room sat on the bench seating…). It was sensed that a male energy had a head injury and a feeling of a “metal plate” was felt by Graham. Eddie said that he sensed a male also who was cussing… All agreed that this was a residual energy only. The temp in here was 17.4 degrees Celsius, and the EMF was reading 3Mg near the bench seating, we looked for a possible source for this reading and none was obvious.
During the evening, various members of the team reported feeling bilious in various rooms, especially the larges of the bedrooms, two of the mediums where feeling dizzy at the side of the bed, the temperature was 17 degrees Celsius and not a flicker was evident on the EMF meter…
We then ventured into the son’s room where everyone agreed that it had an odd feeling to it, but again no EMF readings were evident. Temp readings:-18.2 degrees Celsius. And again some were saying they felt a bit dizzy. Graham said he had again picked up a residual energy by the window, looking out.
From there we headed for the lounge area, and Val asked me to check for a reading by the gas fire, I had a 1.5 mg reading showing on the EMF meter at the point where she asked me to scan, the reading went down to nothing when I moved away, and apart from near the window where an electrical cable was, again causing a slight reading on the EMF, no other readings were evident. Again a residual energy was picked up, looking out of the window into the street in front. Graham said that it was the energy of a child (female) looking out at a horse and cart in the street, and a man wearing a leather apron, again he stated this was a residual playback.
Residual Energy is simply a sort of play back effect… an impression made in time if you will... There is no spirit there as such just the residue of something that happened and has been left as a sort of imprint in time, only to be played back at certain times; it can happen every day, every week every year at certain times… There is nothing you can do really with this type of haunting except try to understand what’s happening and simply learn to live with it. I would say that this is the most common form of haunting that an investigator will probably have to deal with in our field of work.
From there we headed down in to the bar area for a break and a well earned cup of tea…
We decided that we would have two teams, with an infrared camcorder in each room for a lone vigil to see whether anything would happen. They stayed upstairs approximately 30-40 minutes and on returning downstairs, both teams said that they had hears movement, and one team in particular had heard footsteps in the rooms above them (Attic rooms), on inspection, no one was found to be up there. Camera evidence has to be reviewed yet and if anything is picked up, I will add it to this report at a later date. The other team with the camera stated that they had heard what sounded like banging several time but could find no answers as to where it was coming from.
After another small break, the three mediums sat quietly in various areas in the bar… and I took this time to use the dowsing rods, I did virtually the entire area of the bar area and pool room and corridor, and nothing untoward happened with the rods, they stayed in the exact position in all areas. On returning back to the bar area Graham said he had picked up on a lady who he said quote: “Worked from this pub”…. I asked him to clarify and he again repeated that, and said he was getting the feeling this spirit, was in visitation, and may well have been on of the Yorkshire Rippers victims?, Graham names the lady, but for obvious reasons I won’t be naming her in this report; we did research this name and it did indeed come this name, for the Bradford area… this lady had said to Graham this short message: - “F***** Sutcliffe”… and that was it. He said that this lady would be less than forty years of age, and the feeling he was getting as he was connecting with her was of a massive pain to the right side of her neck. The time scale he said would be approximately 1977.
Again the mediums were experiencing headaches and pains around the neck area… after a short while we decided to call a close of this investigation.
Conclusions: There are a couple of spirits that were picked up on, that were in visitation, but other energies were simply residual. Everyone agreed that nothing of a malevolent nature was present, although some people reported feeling uncomfortable and on the odd occasion, & dizzy or nauseous. I had a couple of good readings on the EMF meter, but as this was mainly in the cellar area, that could have been from wiring which was numerous. Film footage has to be reviewed yet. No other readings were worthy of mention on this occasion.
The Rastrick Investigation
This investigation was instigated not by the occupiers of the house, but by the lady who actually owns and rents out this stone built property nestling on a hillside in the Rastrick area of West Yorkshire.
The people who live in the house have been experiencing some strange and uncomfortable things happening since their arrival there, approximately 8 weeks previous to our investigation there.
The present occupiers have reported very loud noises from the cellar area and on investigation have found no logical reason for these noises. Footsteps have been heard, across the upper levels of the building, when the only person in the house was downstairs… & things happening that have been affecting the whole family and causing a general feeling of depression and tension all the time. The family pet (dog) was also acting very unusually since the move there, pacing round and round and round in the kitchen, then digging for something under the floor...as if to reach something in the cellar area…
The family have reported troubles sleeping, and have also said that activity levels remained there more or less, all the time.
24th November 2006
Team Members: Dawn, Russ, Graham, Wendy & Joan
Moon Phase: Waxing 14% full
Geomagnetic Fields: Storm
Solar Rays: Normal
We arrived at approximately 7pm and started the investigation shortly thereafter setting up various cameras etc at the location.
The Boy’s Room
Temperature 12.6 d cel.
EMF: 2mg in doorway only.
Graham set off upstairs straight away (please note that Graham was not privy to any of the details of things happening here). And had no prior knowledge of where we were going…
It was only a very short while before he said that he had the energy of a lady and her daughter in what is now the boy’s bedroom on the second story of the building. He said the timescale would be approximately in the early 1900’s possibly, and that the lady looked to be in her early 50’s… the girl would be about 8 or 9 years of age…
He had the name of” Kathleen Ballatyne” for the lady’s name and Sara for the girls name …He sensed that the lady had been a school teacher and that they had both passed during what he describes as an “explosion”…. From there we ventured back down stairs.
The Parent’s Bedroom
Temperature: 19 d Celsius
Hygrometer Readings: 76%
EMF: none
The Lounge
Temperature 15 d Celsius
Hygrometer Readings: between 52% & 57%
EMF: 2mg
There were no significant EMF readings anywhere in the house, except in the lounge area & the boy’s room (doorway).
The Kitchen
Temperature 13 d Celsius
Hygrometer Readings: 67%
EMF: none
Russ had been observing the family dog as he started his circling of the kitchen table once again. The owners said that they had taken the dog to the vets to be checked out and that he said the dog was ok. It is possible that this activity may be more anxiety based, as it is a repetitive behaviour that the dog is displaying, and some animals display a repetitive motion/action’s when bored or at times of anxiety. Graham said that he sensed nothing at all in the kitchen area.
The Cellar
Temperature: From 11.4 to 14.2 d Celsius
Hygrometer Readings: 81%
EMF: none
Graham had a quick look in the cellar and decided to set up an infrared camcorder on a tripod. And myself, Joan and the lady of the house decided to stay down there for a few minutes…we stayed in the cellar for approximately half an hour of which included doing several readings and sitting quietly. On two or three occasions we heard what sounded like movement, and radioed upstairs to see whether anyone had made any noises, it was decided that we couldn’t totally be certain it wasn’t the dog so sat for a few more minutes. We were sat more or less straight in front of the camcorder; I was sat on what I would describe a stone shelf like slab on bricks, there was a cardboard box behind me on the slab. A wall & doorway that partitioned off the next part of the cellar, was directly behind me and the cardboard box.
We were just quietly sitting, when something quite loud, felt like it had dropped right at the back of me, making everyone jump up, including me! The box was still there, and nothing seemed out of place. I cannot explain what it was but the noise was caught on tape. I was sat still, so it certainly wasn’t anything that I had knocked or moved…
From there we headed back up stairs to the lounge to report what had just happened.
The Boy’s Room
Graham once again wanted to go back up stairs to the boy’s room … he said that he thought that he needed to go back up there… this time he decided to use a divination technique called dowsing with a pendulum.
This time I had no EMF at all, where there had been some before. On this visit, Graham was picking up something else, and after a short while the name of “Charlotte” was on Grahams thought’s…she was about 45 yrs of age, and the time period would be approximately 1927. She confirmed she had passed over, of natural causes, in this building. Graham felt that this entity was not sure whether she liked people being here in what was her house and on further questioning, he came to the conclusion that this spirit person called Charlotte, had downs syndrome. She said also that she didn’t’ like the family pet (dog) and was responsible for the ‘footsteps’ that the family had reported hearing… Graham asked her whether she wanted to see her family again, to which she indicated that she did, and at that point Charlotte was moved over, to the spirit realms.
******
By now members of the team were feeling drained and we decided to draw things to a close, on returning downstairs, we discussed what Graham had picked up and told the proprietors and owners of the property, our findings. It was at this point that the owner brought out an old photo album that she had found in the cellar from previous occupants, going back years ago. Graham was browsing the pictures when he came across some old black and white photographs of a lady and her daughter, with the names of Kathleen and Sarah written underneath! We were all pretty impressed that the very things Graham had picked up, upstairs were confirmed in the album. I can say without any doubt that NONE of the team, including Graham had any prior knowledge before this investigation started, and that I was the only person that knew where we were investigating on this night.
Overview
About a month previous to our investigation, I was contacted, via email from a gentleman (Brian) who is living in a three bed semi detached house on the outskirts of Bradford, with his seventeen year old daughter, Caroline(Names have been changed). He told me that he and Caroline, had been living there for approximately six years and all had been well, up to the last twelve months; he went on to say that also in this time period, quite a few renovations to the property had been taking place, and he realised that the activity had started around this time also… he went on…. things had got that bad that he had stopped the renovations, and the house upgrade was now halted.
In this last twelve months he had been experiencing an increasing amount of “strange happenings” at his house which got so bad he moved out of his bedroom and now slept in the lounge, on the couch. He told me he had been putting up with the things that had been happening to him personally, but what had really started to get to the man, was the fact that this “spirit” had now started to latch its self to his daughter! And increasingly it was her that its attentions were turning to.
Brian went on to tell me that when things had first began to happen, its was him that seemed to attract the spirits attention, he said he knew when it was “around” because he heard what he describes as a “cracking” sound like a static crack, as it came into his home. The spirit would literally turn up anywhere in the house, but he said that upstairs, in his bedroom, had become intolerable, and also in the bathroom, and now his daughters bedroom also. Caroline then went on to describe how she actually saw a dark shadow of a head and upper body, get up from what seemed to be a ‘seated position’ and stand up straight, right in front of her! She reported also feeling like the spirit passes through her bedroom wall to and fro, from her father’s room.
Brian jovially told me that at first, although the things that were happening, were very odd… it was strangely comforting, as this spirit would seemingly “tuck” in his bedding at night, as he was going to sleep, and he would feel the weight of “it” sitting on the end of the bed! Caroline had not been experiencing anything at this point, but as the weeks and months passed by it was also beginning to happen to her, the bedding being tucked in and the feeling of someone sitting on the end of her bed…and to that end that is when Brian decided to call in Haunted
The Investigation
Time: 19.09
Date: 3rd November 2006
Team: Joan, Dawn, Wendy, Russ & Graham:
Our first port of call was the upstairs, straight at the top of the stairs, was the bathroom, to the right was the first bedroom (Caroline’s rooms) a large double room, the second bedroom (Brian’s room) was also a large double room then the third bedroom was a single room which housed the computer etc.
On entering Caroline’s room, I instantly felt dizzy; there were EMF readings in the doorway and also for about a meter inside the doorway, fluctuating from 1.5mg to 3 mg. On entering the room Graham, the medium, also reported feeling dizzy and Joan was reporting strange fluctuations with the laser thermometer, (by 4 degrees) which was fluctuating between 17 dc down to 14dc. Wendy had 47% humidity on the hygrometer.
Graham sat on the end of Caroline’s bed and it was only a matter of a few seconds and he was reporting that he had a lady in her 60’s called Mavis Kenyon!, he said she was very aware of us and was complaining about us all being there in the room. At that point three people stepped out of the room. He asked her whether it was her that had been causing Brain a few problems, and she laughed and said “yes”! Graham asked her what she was doing there, and she replied, “I belong here”…he describes her as having curly shoulder length hair and wearing a piny/apron. The things she had been doing had not been done in a vindictive manner. Graham mentioned he had another energy coming in also, of a young male, called Andrew Dews, he was coming here in visitation, and when Graham asked him why, he said to visit his Grandma, Mavis!. We asked “Andrew” whether he had done anything to cause concern at the house and he said that he had not, he went on to tell Graham how he had been killed at an accident at a local mill, where his arm had been trapped in a ‘belt’ and that had thrown him against a wall.
Graham then went on to ask Mavis why she stays at the house, and she said that she had “no where else to go”, he asked her whether she wanted to pass over and she said that she didn’t as she would have to see him! (her husband). Graham sensed that she had had a bad life with her husband.
Graham went on to say that Mavis did indeed come through the wall that partitioned off the two larger bedrooms, and Caroline said she felt also that that was where Mavis stood quite a lot, Joan said that she was getting a higher reading on the laser thermometer where Graham motioned to (on the wall) and after examining either side of the wall, no reason was found for the rise in temperature at this location. Emf readings were still present around this location also, (2-3mg).
Graham then reached inside his pocket and took out his crystal pendulum, after grounding himself he asked Mavis whether she would like to go over to the light…. The answer of yes came back. He then asked her what year it was and she indicated it was the 1960’s. He then asked her if her husband had been a bad man and again she said yes…She confirmed her age to be 65 yrs of age.
At this point Graham said a few words and asked Mavis to go into the light…it was very quiet for a few moments, and then Caroline said that she had seen a few bright lights near the coving in her bedroom…as Graham was asking Mavis to go over into the light…
I asked Graham if Mavis had gone and he said he no longer sensed her there anymore, and also commented that he was not aware of any more spirits present.
(I have to make mention that we still had EMF readings at the same rates as previous in the rooms up stairs).
From there we went downstairs as Brian mentioned some activity in his kitchen: I had readings yet again on the EMF meter in the doorway2-3mg) and around the top end of the kitchen near the microwave, I moved the meter about near appliances and it seemed that there was no obvious reason for the readings…Humidity here was 42% and a temp reading of 14.4dc. Graham said he sensed nothing in the kitchen but on taking a few digital photos, we did see a couple of orbs.
After the kitchen we then drew a close to the proceedings…
We said our goodbyes and thanked the family for allowing us to come and witness for ourselves any strange happenings.
*****
Then on the 5th November, I received another phone call from Brian, saying that we had only been gone from their house about an hour or so and things hotted up, with the activity levels. No one had been touched, but things had moved and the settee had been vibrated whilst Brian was laid watching the TV!
I immediately contacted Graham and the rest of the team, as I had told Brian that we would be over within the next day or two to conduct further investigations! So on the Monday, which was the 6th November, HYP&PRG again pulled up outside what we now call the “Ghost House”!!
This time we had arranged to stay much later, and this time we brought extra monitoring items with us.
Monday 6th November 2006
Team: Dawn, Joan, Graham.
Guests: Brian & Caroline.
Time: 21.30
Solar Rays: Active
Geomagnetic Field: Quiet
Current Moon Phase: 99% Waning Gibbous.
Humidity: 55%
It took us about one hour to get the various infrared cameras situated and ready for the off. This time we had an IR cam in the downstairs hall way, one upstairs in Caroline’s room and also one in the Kitchen area.
After a short brief, Graham set off for Brian’s bedroom, and the girls began monitoring the other bedroom on CCTV, from the lounge area which we were using as base for the investigation. After a short while Brian stood up and walked to the bottom of the stairs and I joined him looking up into the darkness. Only a few minutes had passed by and I was taking some emf readings, in the downstairs hallway and at the bottom of the stairs, the readings were now reaching the 3mg mark, earlier there were none!, practically at the same time as I was getting the readings, Brian said to me “It’s here, I can feel the atmosphere change”, I was getting strong 3mg readings up the staircase…I slowly walked up the stairs in the dark with Brian close behind me, and even though I knew Graham was up stairs in the front bedroom, I felt quite wary. The readings remained the same on the landing and just into both bedrooms and the bathroom. I had Graham telling me now that he had another spirit here, & that it was most definitely not there the first time we came, last Friday! And that this was male. He entered Caroline’s room and said that it was in here that the energy was the strongest. He was sensing a big man, huge, about 6 feet 3-4 and of wide build, this energy was not being very forthcoming to Graham, but after a short while he was getting the name of John Coulson? I was getting readings of between 2 to 3 mg in this room also, and temp readings were between 16 & 17 degrees C.
I have enclosed Grahams own words here to describe things:-
“On our second visit I encountered a completely different spirit in the form of John Coulson who had murdered his own child during infancy, John had been in hiding in that area ( before the present housing was built ) and had been caught and taken away to Leeds to be executed for his crime ! I feel that this was in the 1860's, John was a huge man standing around 6 foot four / five, at one point I felt that John tried to enter my aura as I felt as though I had been pushed which caused me to go off balance, I also feel that if I had let him in he would have used me to communicate with the team, he showed me the noose which was self explanatory , he also showed me caves / tunnels and flames for which I have no explanation, John was reluctant to go into the light as I believe that he had a fear of what lay beyond, after we explained to him that the crime had been dealt with and that he had paid the price for his crime he agreed to go into the light and I believe that he did just that, prior to that John just liked being in the shadows and hiding in corners.
On both visits I am convinced that all the activity was centred in Caroline’s bedroom, on both visits the atmosphere in the home was quite calm with no malicious entities being present.
And here is Grahams report on the footage that he has reviewed from his camera on the investigation:-
On the camera which was first placed in the kitchen, there was a noise unexplainable after 4mins 22 seconds at 6 mins and 12 seconds the camera was touched ( maybe cat ) after 16 minutes the camera was touched again and there seemed to be whispers in the background.
Another unexplainable noise after 23 mins.
The camera was then moved to the landing at 41mins 15 secs a small black shadow was seen at 46 mins 16 secs Brian asked if he should turn computer off, a very clear voice was heard saying NO, it was not one of us. At 59 mins there is a very faint voice (the one we all heard) and on 1 hour 7 mins and 13 seconds an “out breath” (HUH) when the camera was moved into Caroline’s bedroom a new tape was put in the camera! a period from 38 mins 30 seconds to 46 minutes very clear orbs were seen coming from Caroline’s headboard two more were seen at 1 hour 41/42 seconds , at 1 hour 19mins and 53 seconds there is a dragging sound picked up by the camera, at 1 hour 30 mins and 34 seconds another feint orb was seen.
During our coffee break as we all chatted about the investigation, people mentioned that they had seen various orbs with their naked eye by people the investigation team in the lounge, who were monitoring the CCTV camera. Brian then went on to tell us that in the last 2 or 3 month’s he has had various people (clergy and then another medium) in to try to get rid of what ever it is that has been bothering the family, he went on to say that although nothing malevolent had happened towards the family, he was now considering selling the house for a fresh start somewhere else…
I have to mention that during the investigation, Graham’s new CCTV monitor stopped working completely, why we don’t know. And my footage revealed some evp (Electronic Voice Phenomena). It was only two words, which were “John’s Son, or “Johnson”, this was a male voice, very deep and sounding nothing like any of the men present on our investigation.
All emf readings dissipated to nothing after approximately an hour.
I spoke to Brian via email and to press it has been quiet in the “Ghost House of Fagley”, except the odd visual orb.
Bolton Abbey
The abbey is mainly a ruin of what once stood there in the 12th century. It was founded in 1151 by the Augustinian order, right next to the river Wharfe which runs at the foot of the Abbey remains.
****
It was getting very cold as we arrived at Bolton Abbey and the sky was clear. We had a walk round the initial abbey remains then stood by the road that passes by the Abbey, to study an archway that I had commented on. I could see a slightly misty area in the archway, but I couldn’t decide whether it was my eyes playing tricks on me. Graham said he could see a dark outline of a tall person and Joan also said that she could see something. We ventured closer to take a look but neither myself or Joan could see anything then, Graham was still picking up on the residual energy of this man, he said he did have connections with the abbey, and that he was from the order of monks that once resided there. Nothing else was forthcoming at this point so we walked the ruins once more before deciding to bring things to a close, as people were getting very cold and tired by now. Other than that one incident, nothing of any note happened or was felt there at this time.
Skipton Castle
31st October, 2006.
Team: Joan, Wendy, Graham, Russ & Dawn.
Temp: 17.3°c (inside)
Humidity: 51%
Moon Phase: 66% full
Solar Rays: Normal
Geomagnetic Field: Quiet
Weather Conditions: Breezy & Intermittent Cloud, A Few Showers & Cold.
****
Skipton Castle stands in all its original grandeur at the top of the high street in Skipton town centre. It is reputedly over 900 years old and stands today much as it did when it was built; it remains to this day one of the best examples in the UK of a medieval castle.
****
As we began to walk round the various rooms at the beginning of the castle, Graham commented on how he was picking up nothing what so ever, and I was starting to think that this was going to be no more than a pleasant look round this most wonderful castle.
But it was when we entered the Watch Tower, that Graham said he saw a male energy stood looking out of the window, which in turn looked down to what was the old chapple/church out side in the grounds.
I asked Graham what he could see and he described a man very smartly dressed in brown apparel, with what he describes as frilly cuffs and a frilly frontage to his shirt, with a waistcoat and a longer coat on top of that. He had long hair, and was looking out the window for a lady called Anne. (1629/39 came to mind). I asked Graham how old this man would be and he said he would be in his 30’s. The title of the “Earl of Thanet” also came to mind for this man. (Which we verified by the usage of a mobile phone which connects to the internet). We also verified that there was a lady called “Anne”, who fitted this time period).
From there we ventured down a spiral staircase that lead us to the main courtyard (conduit court) out side, from there we entered another part of the castle that takes you down to a basement level which is reputed to be the dungeon area, again Graham said that he was picking up an energy, this time of a woman who he said would be about 60 yrs of age, with the name of “Elizabeth Trent” she was there because people had thought that she was a witch. The time period for this he said would be about the 1600’s. Graham commented on how he was feeling very sick now. He said that this woman had been nothing more than what would have been called a wise woman and or an herbalist. She was taken from here and taken to water, where she was drowned (ducking stool). (I have found no mention of the name Graham came up with, but there is mention of a ducking stool and witches associated with Skipton and surrounding areas), he did say that she was grounded here and often walked the perimeter regions of the castle, he also made mention of a nickname for her of the “water witch”.
From there we headed in and out of various other rooms’ which offered Graham no feelings much of anything, until we then reached what is called the Norman Fighting Chamber South.
Here in this room Graham said he was picking up the energy of a small fellow who was probably only about 17 or 18 yrs of age and very small. The name of Edwin Calvert came to mind and Graham commented on a pain in his chest at this point. He said he felt this was a residual energy. (Once more we were able to verify that this information was correct via our mobile phone internet connection).
From there we had another walk round all the rooms and then drew things to a close as we had our second location to go to.
Halifax Terraced House
Date: 29th September 2006
Team: Dawn, Russ, Joan & Graham.
Introduction
I was contacted by (*) Sally a few weeks ago, asking us if we could help, as she was experiencing a few strange happenings at her property. She explained that she had been there about four years and things had been happening literally since the day she moved in.
I said that of course we could help and that we would be only too glad to go over and take a look one evening.
******
We arrive on the evening of the 29th September to this road side property; it is set slightly back from the road and required you to go up a flight of steps to her front door.
The property consisted of entrance through the kitchen and in to the lounge area, then through another doorway, from there you could access the staircase to the landing area which has two good sized bedrooms and a bathroom.
I set up camp in the lounge area and started to get the items out we were going to use for the investigation, out of my case, Graham was off upstairs already with Russ in pursuit with the night vision camcorder in hand.
Joan was handed the laser thermometer gun and a torch and I had the hygrometer and EMF meter and also the note pad, and we then made our way upstairs to find Russ and Graham already at work in the child’s bedroom. Graham was already sensing something in the room and as he stood in the very corner he said he was now feeling disoriented and dizzy , he asked me to stand there, to see whether it was his imagination, and as I stood there, I too lost my footing!. There were no readings from the EMF; the temperature was 17 degrees C., the Hygrometer was reading 67% humidity. Graham was definitely sensing something, but at this time could not say what; he did say that it was definitely not anything nasty.
From there we went into the main bedroom (Sally’s room), Graham sat in a leather high backed seat, as he was picking up a male energy in this location. The temperature was hotter in this room, 26%degrees C; (note: there was no central heating or fires switched on in the building). The Hygrometer was reading 70% humidity, and again there was no reading on the EMF meter.
Graham said the man he was picking up on was about 60 years of age and he had died at this property, he also mentioned that this poor man had died from a complaint in his lower abdomen and that his body had not been found for quite some time (possibly several weeks). He said that he felt this man had spent a lot of his time in this bedroom and would often cuss (curse) at the kids through the window for making noise out side in the street. I asked for a time scale and Graham said that the year of 1945-46 came to mind. He said this spirit was definitely grounded here, and that he had smoked a pipe. The name of Jonathan Midgely came to mind, and Graham said this chap was a grumpy man!.
From there we moved back into the child’s room, humidity levels had fluctuated to 51% now…I was casting round the room when the EMF meter went ballistic!, right where the child’s chair was, but as we investigated further behind the chair, I discovered an electric socket (wall fitting), which explained the fluctuations…
Temperature was now at 15.8 degrees C. Again Graham said he felt something but still could not get a definite on this energy, again we moved out and on to the landing, where we took several pictures with the digital camera, and the resulting pictures showed several orbs.
From there we ventured downstairs, and spoke to Sally a little about what we had found, especially in her room, she admitted she had realised there was a male presence in her room. I asked he if she was uncomfortable with what we had found and she said that although she had a couple of spirits in the house, one which resides there (the male in the front bedroom), she didn’t feel threatened by them and when I asked her if she wanted us to clear them, she said it was ok at this time. I did say that if things changed and things did get unpleasant, we would be only too pleased to return and do a clearing for her.
Shortly before we left, Graham went up to the child’s room with a pendulum, to get a definite on what was in the child’s room. When he came back own stairs after a short while he told us that this spirit was in visitation, and that is was a boy, called Christopher Sykes, he had brown hair and blue eye’s, and his demeanour was that of a bit of a street urchin, the spirit told Graham he meant no harm and enjoyed visiting the child that lives in the house.
We then drew a close to the investigation, and thanked Sally for allowing us to investigate her home.
(*) Name changed to protect identity.
The Red Lion Investigation (part two)
Date: Sunday 9th April 2006
Members Present:
Dawn, Joan, Russ, Tracy, Wendy, Graham, Michael.
Our first visit to the Red Lion in Pontefract, had been quite eventful, and before we left, we made arrangements for a follow up investigation to take place, which is why Haunted Yorkshire have returned to this dramatic location.... The investigation started at approximately 7pm, and after setting up base camp in the old disused kitchens on the first floor, we all set off for tonight's investigation. The Ballroom Temp: 10.1 Humidity: 42% EMF Readings: Fluctuating 1.5MG to 2MG (no electrical sources in the room, electricity off) Graham and Tracy paced round for a while getting feelings in the room...Tracy commented on having a feeling of children's a children's party, whilst Graham was stood in a corner of the Ball Room once again picking up on the energy of a woman... Wendy walked over with the dowsing rods, which strangely crossed at the exact spot as Graham was mentioning about this lady, I checked EMF readings there and the EMF meter sprang into life going up to 3 MG for a split second, before returning down to 1.5MG. Russ, our cam op, had stopped filming and was reporting feeling sick and drained, so at this point filming was stopped, and Russ went for a sit down. (little did we know-not to return !!) .
Graham decided to use his pendulum to try to ask some yes & no questions of this mystery lady in the corner of the ballroom....she confirmed she worked there, and that she was happy there, and was under 40 yrs of age when she passed over, and when Graham asked for a date she indicated that it was the 1700's. The hallway to the Ball Room was causing Graham quite a bit of discomfort, as he was essentially feeling a painful stabbing sensation under his ribs to his right hand side....The dowsing rods were used again in this area, which once again started to become crossed and again, & the EMF meter readings went up exactly where Graham had said he felt an energy.
By now Tracy had arrived in the hallway, and she too said she felt a pain in her side...Humidity readings were 30% in the hallway, with EMF readings fluctuating between 1.5 & 2 Milligause. Tracy reported that she was having her head touched. Graham once again used his pendulum to ask yes and no questions, and found the name of Oliver Haywood was prominent, and his age was 65 yrs old on passing over, at this point my EMF meter read 4 Milligause for a short time then back down to 1.5. The man Graham was in contact with (Oliver Haywood), was wearing glasses, a shirt and waist coat, but the painful stabbing pain was back in his side, and the name of George also came through. Tracy reported feeling quite sick during this time. Graham asked the spirit of Oliver whether he had stabbed someone, and he gave Graham a clear indication that he had stabbed George fatally over an argument about money! Oliver said he had not intended to kill George, but confirmed he had and had served time for this crime! Graham asked for a date and 1724 was confirmed...Tracy went on to describe a knife with a blade about 4 inches long which resembled a bowie knife. At that point Graham said that the energy had gone and EMF readings confirmed no reading of any electromagnetical sources.
Private Flat, First Floor Humidity: 40% EMF Readings: 2 MG Fluctuating to 3 MG Tracy was picking up the energy of a woman, in her 20's, with blonde hair and of slim build. She said she look relatively modern, 1960's, and was about 5"7 in height. The name of Joanna came to mind. Once again emf readings were fluctuating and the dowsing rods crossed in certain areas of the room. On entering one of the other rooms in this flat Tracy picked up on the energy of a male who was large in build who had a heart condition, she also commented on the feeling of a buzzing atmosphere in this room, and how she would feel uneasy staying any length of time in there.
Top Floor, End Bedroom Air temp: 22.5 Humidity: 42% EMF: Fluctuating Graham felt as though he had been pushed, and gets a bad feeling in this room, the feeling of dodgy dealings...This is the room when we last visited, that Graham sensed there had been an abortion carried out... Spot temp readings with the gun shows 7 degrees. Once again we had a slight reading of 1.5MG where Graham said there was an energy.
Top Floor Corridor All of the team agreed this was not a pleasant part of the building, and it wasn't long before one by one, practically everyone reported feeling nauseous! Russ had long gone from the investigation, reporting feeling sick, and now Tracy, Wendy, Myself and the bar maid, said we were also now feeling physically sick.... so we briefly spent just a minute or two in the few rooms on this floor...Graham was once again picking up on the energy of the clergy man, who wasn't very happy we were there.... Graham said he wouldn't be at all surprised if we didn't get something thrown at us if we stayed, plus with people feeling nauseous ... it was time we decided to move on.
Main Bar Area-Ground Floor EMF: 1.5-Fluctuating A few members of the team sat down and had a coffee in the bar area, & reported feeling very tired... the customers were long gone and the bar area was in darkness, I was feeling very drained and sat down, whilst three or four of the others carried on... Graham went off to the very back of the pub where he was being drawn...He said he was seeing a horse and cart, which appeared to be delivering coal, or something in sacks... and had writing on the side, with the name of T.A.Howarth... Tracy had picked up on the energy of a man sat in the reading room, who would be about 80 yrs old.
Wendy asked Tracy where she had seen this man, as she had felt a presence in that room earlier, Tracy confirmed that she was indeed right about what she had felt... Once again, time had over taken us and we had to draw the investigation to a close... Many thanks once again to Toby and thanks for loaning us your father, Michael, for the evening!
Copyright © 2005, Dawn Stead
Beastfair Vaults
Town, Pontefract.. Time: 23.00hrs
Team Members Present:
Dawn, Russ, Graham, Tracy, Mel, Wendy, Joan.
Locations for Investigation: Cellars, main bar areas & upstairs (Briefly) Note: The only two people aware of where we were going, was Joan and myself, the rest of the crew were unaware until we arrived that evening at this location.
Our investigation of the Beastfair Vaults started in the cellar area in this old pub which pre dates the 1700’s. As with the majority of buildings in this ancient market town, the main buildings above street level can only be dated back to around the 1700’s, but there is strong evidence to say that the cellar areas date back much further, as brickwork subsides away to reveal sandstone/limestone, once you go into the basement areas.
Our pre investigation checks with the EMF were just about a waste of time, as there was so much electrical equipment in most of the areas, there were fluorescent light fittings in most of the rooms and with the ceilings only being at best about 6”6 ins and in other areas about 5”6!. Hygrometer readings were approximately 64% and the air temperature was approximately 21.5. Before we started the investigation, the landlady, Cate, asked if it would be possible for Tracy & Graham, our Mediums, to take a walk round up stairs, but as the kids were in their bedrooms asleep, quietness was uppermost…. Our two Mediums agreed that they would indeed take a quick look upstairs… On their return to the cellar, where we were setting up for the investigation, they both began to tell me what they had sensed whilst on the walk round…
Both Graham and Tracy had picked up on a female, who’s age would have been about in her mid thirties, she was dressed in an Edwardian type of dress with a high collar and a broach. The name of Elizabeth Jones was in Grahams thoughts with this lady, and she told graham that she was “Learned”, when he enquired about her….He got the impression she was maybe a teacher or some sort of head teacher…He also felt that ‘Elizabeth’ was a grounded spirit. Further in to the walk round upstairs, a male energy was sensed, and the name of Charles Treadger, came up, Graham felt also this man was grounded….he was dressed in a black waistcoat and had a bowler hat on, Graham felt this man was a ‘business’ type man, he was of a medium build, and the date of 1876 was brought to mind…
They then both went into another of the upstairs rooms, where a bed settee was situated, in this room was a trap door into the roof space and a little boy was sensed, the feeling was that this little boy was scared of someone downstairs and was in fear…whilst on this walk round Tracy reported her torch battery drained. The team’s investigation in the cellar area was now getting started. There were 5 areas in the cellar, all different rooms… and our first room to be investigated was what we call the small staircase room, which has the remains of a stone spiral staircase of the sort you would expect to find in a castle!...
The rest of the team were having a look round the area as myself and Graham went into this room, after a short while, Graham was picking up on small animals… a goat possibly, but he kept saying he was sensing animals…he mentioned later to me that he was also seeing a stone bock or slab, with meat on it… By now Tracy had also joined us in the room and she too was picking up on the animals in this room, but over by the staircase, an energy of a male, who Graham describes as a big man, age wise about 45, with brown short curly hair, was now being sensed, Tracy said she could feel the man quite close to her and asked him to back off…The energies of another male was being picked up, but Graham kept referring to this man as being disabled in some way, with a spinal problem and possibly also of a diminished mental state, but he was not sensing anything nasty about this disabled person…During our time in this area we asked out on several occasions for a sound to be made and on several occasions we did hear a sound from various areas in this room. Other members were wandering about in the other rooms in the cellar and Joan and Russ informed me that some small lights and an odd shaped anomaly was seen in the area of the cellar where the beer barrels were dropped down from the outside. They both agreed that what they saw was very odd and was at a loss to explain what they had seen. Throughout the investigation, most of the rooms were very warm, with all the various electrical appliances running etc….
From there, myself, Russ, Graham and Tracy went into the cold storage area where the beer barrels were kept, this room was chilled down…. Tracy mentioned that she saw a man with his sleeves rolled up and a ‘fag’end in the corner of his mouth, he was wrestling with the barrels, the name of Archie Pearson was mentioned...the barrels were not the ones here, but wooden ones from bygone years…after a short while we moved on to another area… (It was felt this man may be from about 1900) The last room in the cellar that we were to investigate, was located at the bottom of the main stairway from upstairs….we had to move some items before we could get in to investigate. The room had a very low vaulted ceiling, it was of a stone construction and not brick, and unlike elsewhere in the cellar…it was very cold and damp and had no window, just a door.
As we were setting up, Russ mentioned that either his jacket had moved by its self or something had tugged the back of his coat… There were three of us in this cold low ceiling room, and Russ was filming the proceedings, Tracy and Graham were both picking up on different energies….Tracy was picking up an energy which was kneeling down; she interpreted this as a man of the cloth, in some way… But Graham was picking up on a different energy …he did mention that the room was very cell like, and we all agreed, as with no window and the low ceiling and just the wooden door it did have that feel. It was unlike any of the other rooms and had an uneasy feel to it…
By now it was getting quite late and we decided to start drawing this visit to the Beastfair Vaults to a close… I don’t think it will be too long before Haunted Yorkshire will be making a return visit to this location. We all agreed it had been a busy night and is definitely worthy of further investigation…
Copyright © 2005, Dawn Stead
Illingworth Gaol, Halifax.
Member’s in Attendance
Dawn, Russ, Tracy, Graham.
Saturday the 12th March 2006, Haunted Yorkshire undertook a request by "Ghost Towns"( on Living TV), to investigation the old gaol (jail) in Illingworth, just on the outskirts of Halifax, West Yorkshire...
The Goal was built in 1823 and had four cells, which housed local drunks, vagabonds and the like… The Gaol its self stands at the side of the road that runs straight through the village of Illingworth, and from the out side looks like an old stone barn with its small windows and doorway, its not until you look again you see the remains of the bars up at the windows and the stocks to the left hand side, that you realise what this old building is...
The stocks were used quite frequently in bygone years as a method of punishment for crimes such as not being able to pay a fine, you would be placed in the stocks and local villagers would come and hurl rotting old veg as well as verbally abuse you whilst you were encased on the stocks! There are several sets of stocks that survive to this in the Halifax area to this day and outside Illingworth gaol, is one of those sets....
The weather was cold, and it was snowing ever so slightly as we walked up the hill to the gaol... First impressions on standing outside were one of awe, with the bars on the windows and the wobbly looking roof of slate that had obviously seen better days! We walked on in through a big door which was rounded at the top and quite tall, into the downstairs area, we had been asked not to investigate the downstairs area due to the amount of things stored there…
The building it self was smaller that I had imagined it would be from our view of it outside.... But once inside, I noticed the floor was solid stone, which lead you to the staircase, which was also made of sand stone and quite steep. Upstairs you basically have two separate rooms now, and any evidence of the cells had obviously long gone in the ravages of time... We found an area for our kit and started to get ready for our investigation.... Our baseline testing showed a fluctuation in temperature in both rooms, one being warmer than the other.... I found no particular reading on the EMF meter, but temperature was fluctuating in the rooms from 0.4 degrees to minus 2 in places.....
Obviously this was going to be a cold night. I set the hygrometer up in the first room, which showed low levels of humidity... Graham and Tracy were walking round getting a feel for the place....as we walked into one of the upstairs rooms, we nearly jumped right out of our skin, as we saw a black shape on the far back wall!
At first glance it looked like a hooded shape, the building is now used to store what appears to be all sorts of effigies and things that may be used for the theatre ect… but on second glance it was quite apparent it was nothing more than a cloak someone had hung up on the back wall, with a face mask... Graham walked into the room and stood in the corner with his hands on the wall....he said he was picking up on a male energy. I checked the area and again there were no flickers from the EMF meter evident, temperature was pretty much the same as previously, although everyone was commenting on how cold it was feeling.
There was an area to that room where Graham could feel an energy....again, nothing on the EMF meter... I brought the hygrometer through to this room, and sat it down to get a reading on humidity levels, and again the levels were around 41 percent... Tracy wandered into the second of the two rooms upstairs, this room was much colder, but that was to be expected as a couple of the windows were slightly broken.... She mentioned that she was picking up on an energy in the far end of the room.
From there we walked back into the other room, and stood quite for a while, everyone was very still and from the left hand side of me we all quite clearly heard a noise like someone moving! As we were all stood still, it certainly wasn't one of us... Graham was starting to get a name..... I asked Graham whether he thought the man was working at the Gaol or an inmate... Graham’s Words Well from the time we were in the building it seemed that there was some form of paranormal activity around the dummy sat in the chair in that area there was a cold draught colder than the rest of the room, unfortunately due to the noise from the traffic outside it was difficult to listen for any noise within the building, Tracy did hear a deep breath from someone in the same room which was neither from Russ or myself, there was also a noise which came from the left hand side of that room ( left on entering the door ) there was also an energy around the first room where the pipes were against the back wall.
My own personal thoughts are that there was more activity going on downstairs where we were not allowed to go due to the amount of things stored there, it was down there where the name John Ffox came into my mind as we were leaving the building I can not give you any dates for this person but on looking on the pictures I have taken I get the feeling that this man was a vagrant. Tracy’s Words While we were waiting to go inside I got the feeling that there was many souls inside. On entering the building it was very calm which I didn’t expect at all....
Upstairs after a short while, I was drawn to the right corner outside wall (room with the stair case in) and in the other room where the cupboard was (inside back wall). Things were just starting to happen for me when we had to leave. As we hadn’t been given a lot of time to investigate the Gaol, we had to draw to a close, but hopefully we will be able to go there again in the future, to further this investigation…
(It must be noted that the jail stands at the very side of a very busy road, and noise pollution is a big problem with this location)
Copyright © 2005, Dawn Stead
Stony Cottage, Bradford (name of property changed to protect client)
My first knowledge of this cottage came when I received a call from Eddie Peace (Spiritualist Medium), who told me about a lady who had contacted him about a haunting at this property. He told me she had recently moved in, and had started to have some strange incidents happening at the cottage so he was called in for his opinion.
He went to the house and had a walk round all the rooms, and told the lady exactly what was there; he then suggested that Haunted Yorkshire be contacted, to investigate further... So, on a very snowy Friday night, we arrived, albeit a bit late, due to the weather, at Stony Cottage, on the outskirts of Bradford, West Yorkshire.
We were greeted by the lady who lived there, and her family, who started to show us some film footage taken on their mobile phone, of a shadowy item on the staircase of their home... I had made a note of what Eddie had told me, and I had also spoken to the lady of the house about the incidents witnessed there. No one else in the group knew anything about the cottage we were investigating this evening....
We had an initial walk round of the whole house, and then decided where our investigation was going to be concentrated... After only a short while Graham was already picking up on the spirit of a little boy on the top floor of the cottage, he said he was certain the boy was grounded there and was quite a happy little lad, who looked like a street urchin, of the type you would see in "Oliver Twist".
Graham spent a while in the room communicating with him, the little lad had asked Graham if he 'was in some sort of trouble?', to which Graham said no, definitely not.....but whilst they were communicating, Graham could feel a tightening round his throat, as if the lad had had an injury of some sort, or even strangling.....and the overall feeling was that this spirit lad had been here for a long time…….
Meanwhile in the next bedroom, Tracy was picking up on the energy of a lady, wearing a bonnet and a shawl, and a long dress, she said she didn't feel this lady was grounded, but was just in visitation there..... Out temperature checks fluctuated slightly, only by a few degrees, and the EMF readings were nil throughout the night….. We set up our digital voice recorder in the bedroom that Graham had picked up this lads energy and we left the recorder going for about 15 mins or so…..
From the top floor, we went down onto the second landing/floor where the main master bedroom was, and both Graham and Tracy picked up on a lady stood by the window looking out as if looking at a garden that may have been there in the past, both Graham and Tracy felt that this lady was not grounded, but in visitation…... We spent a while on the second floor, and again the temperature readings and emf readings were 'normal'…...
Graham felt compelled to go back up onto the top floor, and back into the smaller room where the spirit of the boy was felt, again Graham said he was still there, and that he doubted the spirit boy ever left this location, as he felt it was looked on as his 'safe area'….. From there we went back into the bigger of the two bedrooms’, where Graham was now picking up the energy of a 'big black dog'. A Great Dane type dog..... I was not aware of any such report of a big black dog, until we got back downstairs into the kitchen and spoke to the owner of the house and she confirmed that a big black dog had been seen!...
Our next port of call, was the lounge on the ground floor, no reports of any activity had been told to myself or any of the group, but our two mediums were picking up on a man stood in what was the old main doorway to this building, he is best described as a 'Fred Dibnah' type of chap in his attire, with a collarless shirt, with rolled up sleeves....Tracy kept saying the room 'was all wrong'.....and that it had infact been a much smaller room than it is today, she sensed a passageway as you come in through what was the old door.....an Graham looked into a cupboard under what is now a staircase and said he felt the stairs would have originally gone up there!....
Tracy felt the fireplace was different and that it used to be an 'Arga' or a range type fireplace.....Graham picked up on the man now stood near the fireplace with a pipe, and again he picked up on this big black dog, which he said was now in the lounge with us......Tracy mentioned that the energy of an old lady was being felt, age wise in her 60's or even 70's, and the name Bertha came to mind...
By now it was getting late and we decided to call it a draw for this investigation, we recessed to the kitchen area where the owner and her family were sat and we began to tell her what we had found out, once again again I was not privy to any of the information about the 'Lounge', until we told the owner what had been sensed and she confirmed that when she first moved in, the fireplace had indeed been different.....and that the whole layout of the building had been different as it used to be an old basket weaving cottage which was originally a large building, and had been separated a few years back, into three separate dwellings..... We have arranged a return to Stony Cottage, as we feel this requires a more in depth look…
Copyright © 2005, Dawn Stead
Preliminary Investigation: The Red Lion, Sunday the 26th February, the members of Haunted Yorkshire Paranormal Research Group arrived at the Red Lion Inn, in the historic market town of Pontefract.
The Investigation Team; consisted of eleven people:- HYPRG Investigation Team consisted of Dawn, Russ, Tracy, & Graham. HYPRG Guest Investigation Team was Joan, Wendy& Mel Guest’s also present wewe Student Reporter, James Smallwood, Toby Metcalf, Michael Metcalf, and Mrs Metcalf.
We arrived at approximately 1900hrs Sunday night, and with the area for tonight’s investigation being well away from the bar area, we were lucky enough to be able to start investigating these premises early in the evening. By 20.00hrs we had set up our base for the night which was an old disused kitchen, on the first floor of the building, we used this room to put equipment that wasn’t being used on the investigation……& the main investigation team set off to have our walk round and whilst doing so we also conducted our baseline testing…..
Because the building is so large, we will be doing an on going investigation at the Red Lion, as there was no way we were going to cover the whole building in one investigation, so we shall be returning at least a couple more times over the next few weeks and months. (With tonight’s investigation, we probably saw about 7 or 8 rooms in total).
The first room we saw was the Old Ball Room, we did our baseline tests and also took several still photos in various locations, most of which has some form of anomalies (orbs) etc on them. Both Graham and Tracy commented on seeing people in spirit dancing round the ballroom and also stood in one corner of the room near a window.
From there we went into the first room that had been nailed shut, again we did baseline testing and took several photos, nothing particularly was picked up in that room.
We headed for the now infamous room where we had felt a tremendous cold feeling when we first looked round a few weeks back. As our team entered more or less straight away, everyone commented on how cold it was! I got out my laser temperature gun and we all witnessed that the temperature in the room began to drop like a stone….. It went from being 2 to 3 degrees to minus 10 at one point! The temperature outside last night was above freezing, 4-5 degrees, so we were at a big loss to explain this massive temperature drop. On several occasions Tracy would ask me to point the temperature gun in a certain area, and the temperature would start to drop.
Graham also commented that he could see a tall man in his mid 50’s with pointed features, he was well dressed. The man seemed to be unaware we were there in the room and just seemed to be going about is business…. Tracy then became aware of a little girl, who loved nursery rhymes and was singing them as she played…….there was a wardrobe in the room, which no one seemed to have good feelings about, when we opened the door the cold literally hit you, as if you had just opened a fridge door….the temperature in the wardrobe began to plummet and very soon we had minus 9 in the wardrobe. Graham said he felt that someone had been locked in the wardrobe and whoever it was, liked the door to be kept open!
As time was now ticking on, and we had taken far longer on our initial walk round, it was decided that team two should conduct a vigil in the attic room, which stretched the whole length of the building, so team ‘B’ got themselves settled, with the infra red camcorder and their clipboard, and we continued the exploration. We walked into several of the disused bedroom, and had varying feelings, some ok and some a bit more uneasy, a couple of the rooms had coldness to them, but not in the same way the other room had…..
The EMF meter began to register a reading on about two occasions, the only source of electricity in the room was the wall fitting near the sink and the ceiling light, both of which had no power to them! Interestingly, as I was registering this reading, Russ took a photo with the digital camera and in the photo he had just taken, showed a light anomaly in the area of the reading!….we walked out of this room and on to the landing area. We then shut all the bedroom doors on this landing, and had practically total darkness, we just stood, and listened….The Student Radio presenter was stood beside me, and we both clearly heard the floor boards creaking in the room we had just shut the door of!
No one was in the room and everyone in the team was stood with us…. Tracy began to pick up on the spirit of this little girl again, and this time she could get the impression of what she was wearing, both Tracy and Graham agreed that the little girl was wearing a floral print dress with a pinafore; she had mousy hair, and had some form of a hat or cap on her head. Again we began to register a fluctuation on the emf meter, which dissipated as quickly as it came! Tracy picked up on a toy that can only be described as a fluffy dog on wheels that you pull along on a string, and the name Pollyanna came to mind.
From there we went down a corridor and on to a different landing, this lead to a doorway and from there lead down a corridor with several rooms leading off to both sides. We walked to the bottom of this corridor, and then slowly made our way back up the corridor, popping into various rooms on our way. Towards the end of the corridor was what used to be the bathroom area for this landing, there were three rooms, two of which had baths in and one was the W.C. Graham started picking up on the spirit of a gentleman of the clergy, who was seemingly pacing up and down the corridor, in a very angry fashion…. He was sensing that this was a man of the “cloth” who had been discommunicated by people, for either helping & or performing abortions. Graham said he felt that on one particular occasion, a female and her unborn child had lost their lives whilst such a procedure was taking place and that the blame was laid squarely at the foot of the “Dean”. Graham had the location of “Wentworth?” put in his mind and said he felt this man was possibly the Dean of Wentworth? His attire was shoes with a large buckle on and ‘plus four’ type leg attire, and a neck ruff, of the kind that a Barrister might wear in court room’s today…
Tracy and James were now mentioning that they were experiencing quite a bad headache, so we decided to move on back to the “cold” room and conduct a séance… We were all nicely set up in the “cold” room, stood in a circle, and Russ was just adjusting the tripod, so that he could film the séance taking place. Tracy asked for everyone in the room to imagine a white bright light covering all in the circle and protection was asked for…. Graham then led the séance and after calling out, a couple of the group heard foot falls in the room next door. ….. Russ then called out that the camera had just switched its self off, usually indicating a flat battery, but on switching it back on, discovered that that was indeed not the case, as batter power was now showing that it had 4hours left! Both Russ and the group are at a loss to explain why that might happen. By now it was getting late and we decided to call an end for tonight, but just before we left the Student Reporter said he had put his hand on the wardrobe door to look inside and all the hairs on his hand stood on end….. We called the other group down from their vigil and the investigation was drawn to a close for our first investigation of the Red Lion……We have arranged a second investigation, which will take place shortly.
Copyright © 2005, Dawn Stead
Private Dwelling, West Yorkshire :
Overview of Dwelling: I received a request from the lady of the house, Mrs J. who asked us to investigate some odd happenings at this dwelling. The house is a large 4 bed detached house, built in the 1930's, and was once originally a house for the pit manager…... The incident’s witnessed by the residents have been happening over the last fifteen years or so and have gotten more frequent over the last few years, things like strange smells, electrical appliances switching them selves on, and various items being in one place one minute and in a different location the next!.... There is also a room in the house which, no matter how long you leave the radiator on, never seems to get any warmer...... (The master bedroom)… Mrs J. also told me that one night about 3 or 4 months ago she felt something sitting on the end of her bed; she felt the weight of whatever it was pressing on the mattress….And also at another time, (whilst she was in the bedroom, she heard breathing (laboured) which carried on for about 2 to 3 minutes…. Mrs J told me that the house had stood empty for a few years, due to the previous occupants passing away and leaving the house to their family, who had put the house up for sale, but had not managed to sell it due to the work that needed doing to the property, Mrs J told me that they had to have extensive building work done on the house to make it habitable, and also extra living space was added on at this time also.
Equipment Used On the Investigation :
IIR Camcorder EMF Meter Thermometer Motion Detector ...And the obligatory case full of other gadgets, torches, matches, spare batteries, first aid kit, masking tape, compass (basic EMF meter!) etc.,…
Walk Through Before the Investigation: The Team walked around the building with Mrs J. and noted the areas of previous activity that had been observed over time, & also completing our base line tests… The purpose was to locate the possible areas of activity to concentrate on. Taking approximately 60min observation in the main bedroom (where the cold spot was), on the ground floor corridor area (where the strange smell was). And then later, in the main lounge area where items have been moved….
Main Bedroom: It was decided to set up a static cam on a tripod in the room for approximately one hour, after doing temperature readings (16.9 degrees C) and EMF readings (slight movement in the reading at the foot of the bed) in the bedroom, the camera was able to cover the whole room including the door to the bedroom leading to the landing area.…..We also set up a motion detector on the landing area at the top of the stairs case.
Downstairs Corridor: The Laptop computer with an IR Cam was set up in this location for approximately one hour’s duration, also EMF readings (normal) and temperature (15.6 DC) were taken, and we also decided to place the motion detector here too….
Lounge Area: Here we decided to have a vigil, with 3 of the group sitting with an IR Cam to pick up on any light anomalies etc. Temp (23.6) EMF reading-normal.
Conclusion: On Saturday 21st January 2006, saw Haunted Yorkshire (paranormal research group) attend an investigation in an ex mining village on the outskirts of XXXXXXXX, West Yorkshire. We had our walk through with the IR cam round the whole house also going into rooms that we were not investigating this evening. Then when the walk through was completed , the first room to be set up was the main bedroom, so we put the IR cam on a tripod and let it roll for no longer than one hour…..before going down stairs, we set up the motion detector at the top of the stairs pointing slightly down the corridor. We had just nicely got downstairs, when the motion detector decided to actuate, for no apparent reason! The only people in the building were all down stairs, in the lounge. (The motion detector was not near a draught and no windows were open). When the camera had completed it’s one hours filming in the main bedroom, it was brought down stairs, a new tape was placed in the camera and again we placed it on the tripod. It was situated in the corner of the room pointing towards us sat on sofas. At approximately 22.15 one of the team said they saw what looked like a small bright light near the TV set (which was switched off) so we all kept our eyes peeled and about 5 minutes later both myself and another person saw what looked like a quick bright flash which was gone in a second, I don’t know whether our eyes were playing tricks with us in the darkness, but it was odd all the same. Again we had one hours filming one IR cam, and will go through the footage with a fine tooth comb over the next week or two. Apart for those incidents above, no more incidents happened, and we finished the investigation at approximately midnight. This is a location where I can say we may well be returning to in the not too distant future to try to capture anomalies in other areas of the house….
Copyright © 2005, Dawn Stead
Report: Hair Salon, nr Wakefield Overview On Tuesday 17th January.
I went to the salon to interview the proprietor about some strange incidents which have been occurring over the last couple of years or so. Although the building is relatively new (several years old, there were previously properties where the shop stands now) The proprietor told me that incidents had started happening more or less from when she took the salon over, and that herself and three other staff members had all experienced strange things, mostly while there were at least two staff members together, and on one occasion whilst a customer was present. Incidents like raps, and knocking sounds emanating from what is the back room/ staff room.
On one occasion, a Monday morning approximately 9am, the staff was opening up the shop, for the days trading, when it became apparent that the hairpiece stand and shampoo bottles were all on the floor scattered about. On the last days trading, (Saturday), everything was in order when the shop was shut up for the weekend. Also, the burglar alarm which covers the inside of the shop and the backroom’s has actuated at times with no apparent reason for it to.
The smell of smoke has been smelt in the corridor which leads up to the loo and cold spot has been felt there also, (bearing in mind this salon is a no smoking area, is quite puzzling to say the least!). Also there were no staff members or customers in the shop that said they even smoked, when the proprietor asked them. In the staff room, where most activity has been reported, knocks have been witnessed whilst staff have been sat there, (also cold a spot).
On another occasion a member of staff was sat next to the fridge, when she heard quite clearly a knocking sound on the fridge which she was sat next to…. One night the proprietor was startled when she was informed by a neighbouring shop that all her lights were on. On entering her locked up shop to investigate, she also found that in the staff room, the hot water tap was on full blast, and had filled the room with steam (this was about 7.30pm to 8pm one night).
The proprietor has told me that occurrences happen quite often, approximately every couple of weeks, or so, and that from her first taking the shop over, that occurrences are happening more often these days.
Investigation Team Team members present were Dawn, Russ, Karen, External Factors:: The salon is situated at side of busy main road and quite a few pedestrians passed by during our stay.
There was a flat upstairs, which is occupied. Floor Plan Through front door, into main salon area, off to the right hand corner of the far side of the salon is the doorway to the staff room, which has a back door leading to the yard. From the front door of the salon to the left hand side of the salon is a small passageway leading to the loo area. Investigation Thursday the 19th January 2006, at approximately 8pm saw the investigation at the salon start. All three of us took it in turn to walk the shop floor going into the corridor that leads to the loo; from there we went into the staff room. No one particularly felt anything untoward anywhere in the salon. Karen reported that her neck had started to ache on getting into the staff room. Prior to the investigation starting, I took several photos with my digital camera, as well as checking the temperature of the room (21 degrees) and some baseline EMF readings, all readings showed nothing unusual. The first plan was to set up the laptop computer with an infrared web cam attached which would cover the corridor.
Then we decided to have a vigil, for a while in the staff room, in complete darkness, with the IR camera filming all the time. Karen sat in a chair next to the fridge (as it was reported that raps and knocks had been heard at that location). (The whole of the salon had been one big room at one time but partition walls had been added to create a staffroom and hallway to the loo area. All the walls that had been added were made from plasterboard, and were not load bearing). Several times during the evening, we heard various noises, which were all accounted for. Still no one was feeling anything in particular, but Karen still reported her neck was aching. After the three of us had spent some time in the staffroom (in darkness) we decided to decamp from there but we set up the IR cam on a tripod to cover the room (in a locked off room situation), which we left filming for about an hour.
After we had finished filming in the corridor and staff room, it as decided to end the investigation, unfortunately (as sometimes happens) nothing of a paranormal nature occurred on this occasion.
Copyright © 2005, Dawn Stead
