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The Ground Floor
A few orbs were filmed and photographed in this area. There was nothing else noteworthy except for the noises heard by those in the kitchen and those upstairs in the pink room (see the report for the pink room).
Corridor in front of the cellars
- At one point during the night Mike descended the stairs and suddenly smelt an offensive odour at the bottom of the staircase near to room 6. This smell had not been noted earlier and was not smelt afterwards.
- A loud 'crunching' noise was heard as 3 of the team entered the corridor from the staircase. It seemed to be coming from behind Tori who was last to enter the area.
- The unexpected odour of 'curry' was smelt by 3 of the female team members as they left the ladies' toilets and entered the corridor. There was no explanation for this and this smell dissipated after a short time.
- Tapping was repeatedly heard from a window in the corridor to the West Wing. It was decided that this was movement of the window frame caused by the light wind outside.
- Sounds were heard from the direction of the staircase which sounded like singing/music and voices. There was also a noise in respons eto Katrina shouting 'hello'. Some of these sounds have been recorded but are very faint.
Glass divination was carried out in this area. The reason being that Tori felt that there would be more chance of communicating with different spirits here. The spirit contacted earlier in the pink room had dominated the glass divination session there and would not allow any other spirits through to communicate. Tori stated that this particular spirit did not visit the ground floor and was unaware of the team being there.
- Natalie and Tori had disliked this room on entering it earlier
- Several orbs were filmed and photographed around the women in the room
- A sigh/breath was recorded on audio during the glass divination. This sound was not recorded by either of the camcorders filming at the time.
The information gained during the glass divination is as follows:the shop is home to several evil spirits of soldiers who are grounded in there. They allegedly raped and murdered a young girl in the stables and were killed in revenge by a relative of hers, probably her father and clan chief. They were fatally stabbed one by one and taken into the kitchen to die. Their bodies were dismembered and then fed to the dogs. The spirit also commented that the shop has always been this size of room but that the doorway to the outside is not original. There was also a window on the back wall behind the counter at one time.
The First Floor
The team spent a considearble amount of time in this room during the course of the investigation. Here is a summary of the most significant events during these various time periods:
- Tori's camcorder switched off for no reason when placed on the fireplace to film into the room
- Tori heard movement by the large window
- Dull footsteps were heard by everyone but unable to pinpoint where they were coming from
- Natalie thought she could hear singing/moaning (the group down in the kitchen contacted the team upstairs by 2-way radio and both groups asked each other if either had been moving around or chatting loudly but both groups denied doing either at that moment)
- Whilst setting up for the glass divination session Mike thought that Bozzie had crossed the room and was standing next to him on his right side. However, Bozzie had not moved and was still across the room in front of the main doorway and nobody was next to Mike.
- There were several quiet voice-like sounds heard during the glass divination and these appeared to be coming from within the room. The sounds were thought to be in reply to certain questions and almost sounded like 'yes' and 'no' at times. Some of these noises were actually recorded on the voice recorder, although very faint.
- Several orbs were photographed in this area and also caught on film. Dust is always a possibility but it is strange how in one photo there are several then in the next almost none.
- Tori saw a human foot standing on the floor beside her whilst she was sitting in front of the fireplace. Her camcorder just so happened to be positioned so that it was filming that very spot and it would not focus properly during this time.
- A clanking noise was heard coming from next door in the Withdrawing Room after the spirit was asked to make a noise next door.
Next photo shows none
The glass divination seemed to be dominated by one spirit. It was ascertained that the spirit was a woman who had lived at the castle and had died during the Great War. She stated that she was in 2 of the portraits and was called Ann. She had reached old age when she died and was the lady of the house. She was with her husband and a little girl (the same girl that Tori had seen earlier). This lady was of very strong character and would not allow any other spirit through to communicate via the glass. She indicated that she was unhappy with the team being in her home and was especially angry with Katrina for organising the investigation. Tori attempted to explain that we meant no disrespect and would be leaving soon. The spirit lady replied that she was happy to receive visitors and was willing to speak to us via the glass for a while longer.
The Withdrawing Room
- Tori saw a short human figure standing by the standard lamp in this room during the walkround
- Tori sensed movement in front of the doorway into the pink room
- A quiet high-pitched noise was heard by everyone and sounded as if it came from the pink room. It was likened to a cat or a child's voice. The other group were downstairs at this time
- Another high-pitched noise was heard by Katrina and Mags. Katrina felt that it was similar to the first noise and Mags thought it sounded like an intake of breath
- Mags and Tori suddenly felt very cold although the room temperature had not altered any and was, in fact, quite warm at 17 degrees
- Tori saw a little girl sitting to her left on the floor under the window. She was between 8 and 12 years of age and was wearing an outfit with puffy sleeves. She was also wearing some kind of lace head-covering
- Mags felt after this that there was somebody sitting on the floor beside her to her right
- Katrina thought she saw a whitish human shape in front of the window much later on. This is now thought to have been the result of persistence of vision from seeing Tori's dark silhoutte against the lighter doorway which was illuminated from the pink room.
Mr Jack kindly let the team use his office as a base. This is where the team would meet between vigils and rest. The office is opposite the pink room.
The office provided the team with a few surprises:
- A noise was heard out in the hallway between the 2 rooms. Tori thought it sounded like a cough and others that it sounded liike the tick of a grandfather clock or a tap
- During light-hearted converstion a sound which was interpreted as an angry voice was heard coming from behind Tori in front of the window
- Discussion turned to the spirit contacted in the pink room and how she would not have approved of what the team was doing at the castle. Unbeknown to those present, the voice recorder had been turned on accidentally and this conversation was recorded. To everyone's surprise a whispery voice saying 'no' is audible and appears to be in response to Natalie's comment.
The Second Floor
On the way upstairs to this floor Natalie and Tori both thought they heard a child's voice from below. A short time was spent in Room 16 (Bonnie Prince Charlie's room) and Tori commented on a floral,soapy smell which not everyone present could smell. One of the paired bedrooms (room 15) was not liked by those who entered it. It was described as having an uncomfortable, oppressive feel to it. This particular room had a very low ceiling.
Natalie stated during the tour of the buildng that she felt sick in this particular room. Trigger objects were set up on top of a glass case in the display room while the team was elsewhere. One group was on the ground floor and the other upstairs on the third floor. A cassette recorder was set and the camcorder positioned to film the top of the display case. A loud 'grunt' was recorded on video but not on the audio tape. This sound was recorded just as the team were approaching through the green room. The team members can be heard talking as they approach but the 'grunt' recorded seems to be very close to the microphone in comparison to the voices of the investigators.
TheThird Floor
op roomDuring the preliminary tour of the castle it was noted that there was a large colony of bats living in the rafters of the topmost floor. Little time was spent there as a result.
While the team was in the area footsteps were heard and thought to be coming from the srea of the stairs in the photo. It was decided that this may have been due to one of the team walking and one of the floorboard moving. This may have caused vibration and a noise at the far end of the room. Some of the floorboards were noted to be loose and creaky.
Various taps and 3 disitinct bangs were heard whilst some of the team were in this area. Orbs were again filmed and photographed.
Victorian bedroom
The trigger objects were laid out on top of the wash-stand with a cassette recorder and camcorder left running. The objects were set up in this room at the beginning of the investigation while the team was downstairs. The windows were noted to be open.
- Nobody liked this room
- Whilst setting up the locked-off camera Katrina felt the sensation of cobwebs across her face which persisted for a couple of minutes
- Mike felt as if he was being pushed into the room after climbing the stairs and arriving at the doorway
- Several orbs were filmed in this room both during the vigil and when the room was empty
- Tori and Mags both felt uncomfortable in this room when they first visited it
- During the vigil Mags felt very cold and uncomfortable and her right arm was noted to be cold to the touch. A photo was taken and showed a large orb situated over her right shoulder.
Audio/Video
- This was recorded in the office during break. Natalie is talking about how the spirit contacted in the pink room does not agree with what the team is doing at the castle. There is a very faint voice towards the end of the clip which was not heard at the time.
- This was recorded in the pink room during glass divination. Katrina asks if the spirit lady is angry with her. This is followed by a very faint voice in reply.
- This was recorded from the Withdrawing room but the sound recorded is thought to have come from the pink room. It is very faint but audible and sounds like a cat's miaow.
- This clip was recorded in the shop during glass divination. There is an eerie breath or sigh audible when Tori is speaking.
Review
The team did not enter the castle with much knowledge of which areas had proven to be paranormally active in the past. However, it soon became clear that the pink room, especially, would yield results.
Trigger Objects: these did not move in either of the rooms where they were set up.
Temperature: no inexplicable variations in temperature were noted during the investigation and the castle remained quite warm over night.
EMF: no unusual readings were noted.
Smell: certain odours manifested during the investigation. One of the team's rules is that nobody is allowed to wear any perfumed product during investigations. Tori smelt a strong floral smell in room 16 so the cause could not be any of the investigators. However, the window was noted to be open so it could have drifted in from outside or be residue from cleaning materials. Other strange smells were recorded during the night which had not been noticeable earlier. These smells then disappeared soon after. There were no obvoius causes for these odours, both of which were noted on the ground floor.
Audio: rational explanations can be found for many of the phenomena encountered during the investigation. For example, noises from the staircase could have been due to the acoustics of the building and the voices of other team members travelling from the top floor. Some of theses sounds can also perhaps be attributed to the light wind outside as several of the windows were noted to be open. This was considered at one point when voices and footsteps were heard by both groups and nobody was to blame when the groups checked with each other.
All of the audible phenomena seemed to be concentrated in certain areas i.e the pink room, nearby office, stairwell and display room.
During glass divination in the pink room a sound which was thought to be a voice was heard several times and although faint was heard by everyone present. This 'voice' was recorded on a digital voice recorder. Each time it was heard it appeared to be in response to a question asked.
Video:
The many orbs photographed and caught on film could be attributed to dust and other airborne particles, especailly in the rooms housing the bats.
However, what is strange is the presence of orbs in the more active areas and the absence of any in other rooms, for example, the green room. Surely, if this was due to dust etc then these dust orbs would be visible in all rooms not a certain few. Why would the green room be any less dusty than the pink room? All of the orbs photographed and captured on video in the shop appear to be around the female members of the team.
Divination :
We have since learnt that the information gained during the divination in the shop area has similarities to a real event recorded in a hand-written document in the castle. This piece of history is not in the public domain and the curator himself stated that there is no way we could have found this out.
