Paranormal Discovery

First of all Paranormal Discovery would like to thank Mr and Mrs Burnett for allowing us access to their lovely home.

Comely Bank is a 170 year old property situated in Albert Street, Tayport, Fife. This street was formerly known as Battenburg Terrace until the 1st World War when it was renamed Albert Street due to its German connotations.

The building is a lovely large family home and has seen a fair bit of structural alteration and renovation since it was built in Victorian times. At one point the house was divided into 2 dwellings so that the top 2 floors form one house (Comely Bank) and the lower floor forms an apartment below. A lot of renovation work appears to have been carried out in the 1930s (the year 1939 was found recently written on the bathroom wall during decoration work).

Unusually for places the team have investigated the owners of this property have a list of all previous owners of the house. During an initial phonecall and visit 3 of these names were disclosed to Katrina. Two of these are people already known to her and who are very much alive. The other name was not disclosed by Katrina to the rest of the team. Following this no further names were mentioned and the team asked not to be told any further information until after the investigation.

As mentioned this house is home to a family including 3 young boys. Activity started before the family had even moved in.

• A carpet fitter was in the upstairs bedroom when the door closed locking him in the room. There are no keys for the doors and yet it wouldn't open. The man had to be helped out of the window onto a ladder.
• A similar incident happened later on Bonfire Night a week after the family had moved in .The children and some friends were playing in what is now the dining room. Unfortunately this room still had bars at the window and so the  only way to get the children out was by kicking down the door.
• On several occasions the couple have been woken by loud bangs coming from the stairwell. Their bedroom is at the foot of the stairs and the noises sound to them as if someone is running or falling down the second half of the staircase. This usually happens at about 2am but has recently been noted at just after 11pm when the couple were still awake. This most recent episode was so loud that they thought one of the boys had fallen downstairs and rushed to see. Of course, nobody was there. The stairway is carpeted yet the noises sound like bangs on a hard surface.
• The noises on the stairs have often been accompanied by very loud bangs on the glass panel of the internal front door. The owners stated that it sounds like whatever is making the noise is on the inside (this happens at night when the outer door is locked).
• The internal door is often found ajar in the morning when it had been clicked shut the night before.
• The younger boys' bedroom is colder than any other room in the house. A lot of money has been spent on carpet and insulating this room to no avail. The owners can't find a reason for it being as cold as it is.
• Mrs Burnett recently became quite uneasy one night when alone in the living room. She felt compelled to close the curtains due to a strong sensation of being watched through the window which looks out onto the balcony terrace outside. She never closes the curtains at night in this room as no other houses face into this room.
• Mr Burnett often thinks he has glimpsed a figure standing near the foot of the stairs when he is about to leave the lounge to go to bed. 

Friday, 22nd August 2008, 9pm-2am

Investigators Present: Katrina, Natalie, Tori, Gordon, Mandy (researcher)

Weather: damp, mild, light mist

Moon: waning

This was a unique investigation for the team and a great deal of flexibilty had to be given on this occasion. It was decided that the team should concentrate more on psychic impressions and any spirit communication that came through rather than try to gain any hard scientific data. The reasons for this were that the family were still at home which limited what we could do. Our recordings were compromised from the very start by household noise but we were expecting this. Video cameras and voice recorders were set up nonetheless in the hope of capturing some evidence, however, we knew that if any unexplainable sounds were recorded then they would not be valid as evidence. This all sounds rather pessimistic but we should mention that the investigation actually went really well and was enjoyed by all present. Nobody felt disappointed and the spirit presence in the house was actually very strong with everyone of us experiencing something.

This room had not been liked by any of the team during the initial visit and we wondered if part of this was due to the darkness of the room. There were bars at the window and a wall in front of this. However, the feelings persisted once on investigation despite the bars having been removed from the window and the area in front of the window having now been cleared.  The room appeared to have been last used as a bedroom but the owners had recently found evidence that there had once been a kitchen sink in the room under the window. It is currently used for storage. The room had an oppressive feel to it and Tori was adamant that this room required to be cleansed. She felt that someone had stayed in this room who either had mental health issues or had been dabbling in the occult which had left negative energy in this area.

22.20 The small hallway and stairwell outside this room proved to be active during our visit as well. Both Tori and Natalie felt a male presence following the team downstairs and by the doorway of the basement room. At one point Gordon was taking emf reading down the staircase when Natalie indicated that she felt the male spirit was halfway down the stairs. At this moment Gordon had turned around and the emf meter showed a high reading in that very spot. We know that the meter is set to pick up household electricity and we could see that most of the readings were associated with internal wiring down the length of the stairwell. We also know that sudden movement can cause false readings but Gordon has used the device many times before and he did not move in such a way to cause any false alarm. The high reading was picked up in the middle of the staircase in the air above the middle of the step. It never reoccurred although the other readings from the wiring were consistent until the lights were switched off. 

This room was very warm due to the log fire being lit and was very homely. Pauline stayed in here for the duration of the investigation watching tv and the team used this room as base.  Despite its homely appearance this room did appear to be active and strange phenomena were noted just minutes after arriving at the house.

21.05 Just as Gordon sat down on one of the sofas Katrina saw a dark shadow-like line move behind the couch. Not wanting to alram Pauline who was present and had just let the team in, she didn't say anything until later when a similar thing was seen again. This line was quite thick and the first thing Katrina thought was that a cat had nipped behind the couch and that she had seen its tail. Then she realised that the couch was flush against the wall and nothing could have gone behind it.  Pauline was asked if there were any animals in the house to be told that the family cat had sadly died just a few weeks before.

22.00 Similarly a little while later while the team were collecting equipment, Natalie whispered to Katrina that she had seen a black line moving behind the arm of the other couch and in front of the door which was open. This prompted Katrina to ask Tori if she thought the team were being watched to which she agreed and pointed behind herself into the open doorway saying that a spirit male was standing there watching what we were doing. This was in the same place as Natalie had seen the movement seconds earlier.

22.35 Mandy who was standing in the living room and heard what she described as the sound of a hand slapping the wall by the staircase out in the hall.

22.40 This is the most paranormally active location in the house. Video cameras were set in opposite directions to film both  the stairwell to the first turn and the front door. A voice recorder was also set to record and left on the stairs.

The internal door was clicked shut and the area checked for draughts and loose floorboards which may have caused the door to click open if walked on. None were found.

The team decided to hold a quiet vigil on the top landing. This area had been disliked earleir when all but Katrina had suddenly felt very breathless for no apparent reason in this area. It should be pointed out though that Katrina had quietly enterd the bedroom, with Pauline's permission at this time to take temperature readings, and didn't know how the others were feeling till she came ot of the room.

22.55 The investigators sat down facing the stairwell. There is a large window over the half landing. Gordon was filming and Katrina and Mandy taking notes.  A spirit man was soon noted by Tori and Natalie who sense him standing on the landing. Mandy also thinks she saw the outline of a figure. The temperature throughout the house was fairly consistent at 21 degrees Celsius and this area was equally warm. However, as the spirit man was sensed to be coming nearer and up the last set of steps, the temperature was noted to have dropped from 21.5 degrees to 19 degrees. Not a big drop in temperature but it is worth noting that as soon as it was thought that he had moved away again then the temperature increased again to 21 degrees. Coincidence? Temperatures were being taken on 2 different thermometers.

23.30 Nothing much was happening but Tori and Natalie were both now aware of a female spirit sitting very close. She was said to be quite young and afraid and it was if she was sitting behind Tori to keep herself hidden. Tori decided to call out to the spirits to see if any activity could be recorded. She suddenly felt intensely cold  as did Mandy and Natalie. Tori's left arm had actually come out in goosebumps as we witnessed ourselves and she felt her elbow being lightly touched. Temperature was taken around the women and ther was no change at 21 degrees. Tori had been sitting in front of the younger boys' bedroom door at this time.

The team were discussing the spirits being sensed when suddenly Tori felt as if she had been nudged forward by the girl. She felt as if it were a little push for her to go towards the man to sort him out.

Bottom Landing -

Just a short time was spent here.  Several photos were taken some showing orbs which are expected and usually explainable.

Natalie was sitting on the stairs near the bottom of the staircase when she was sure she could hear breathing in her left ear with nothing to account for it. Both spirits  were again sensed and distance was being maintained by the female from the male. Tori indicated that the girl was crouched down beside her in front of the master bedroom door. Katrina asked if the male was behind her in front of the dining room door as she had suddenly felt intense pressure over her back. Mandy also felt a slight brush on her cheek at this time. Tori stated that he had indeed just moved forward and closer to Katrina. Asking out for sounds or lights etc did not gain any response.  

Divination was attempted in this room. The room was noted to have a different feel to it than the area just outside.

Automatic writing via planchette was tried by the group and although lots of movement was managed there was nothing legible written although aftere repeated tries what appeared to be attempts at forming letters did happen. Communication via  glass was then tried by which point Tori and Natalie both picked up on the spirit of a little girl in the room by the table at the window side. She was though to be about 9 years of age.What seemed to be plausible answers were given to start with but this was followed by contradictory messages.

A voice recorder was set to record during the whole session and time was set aside at the end to ask various questions to see if we could capture a response by way of an EVP (electronic voice phenomena).

Temperature readings were taken in this room to see if it was indeed cooler than elsewhere although it did feel colder. The ambient temperature was 3 degrees colder than in the other rooms. This temperature was consistent throughout the room. It was not cooler by the large window for example. A minimum/ maximum thermometer was left in the room for the duration of the investigation. This was as much as we could do as the younger boys were asleep in this room.  Tori did feel that there was an atmosphere in this room and may have been worthy of investigation but it wasn't possible at this time. The minimum/maximum thermometer showed a variation of 2 degrees during the time we were there which we assume is fairly normal given that the door had been opened and closed several times.

Pre-investigative: impressions after the  initial visit to the property by Tori

The house has had a fair bit of history to it. The 2 times that stand out to me are the victorian times and around the 1930s. I know that ther had been alterations around this time.

The phenomena being experienced at night, I feel is due to a replay of something bad that has happened. Somebody had fought to get out of the house. I feel that this is a young woman spirit. I also feel that she was most likely a servant of some sortand was of the Victorian era. The panic I am picking up on is similar to the emotion a fire would cause but I don't feel it was a  fire she was feeing from. I feel it is much more human in origin. I feel that this young woman is trying to get away from someone. I feel the initial "M" is linked to her. I feel she may be in her mid to late teens.

I feel that the other things being experienced, eg locking of doors, cold spots etc are due to the male spirit. his name is either William or George (both names have come through but I feel it is most likely William). A surname initial "P" may be of importance too. I am also getting the name Randle on automatic writing but I don't know what to make of it as I am doubtful of the accuracy of automatic writing. I feel he has been part of a family who owned the house. Again Victorian era. I should use words like domestic abuse, overly strict and authoritative. Also people knew but didn't get involved as it wasn't their business.

I am also getting a lot about children coming through. I don't feel there are any children spirits active in the property although I am not ruling it out as yet. I do feel that the feamle spirit wants to protect the children.

I don't feel that there is any direct threat to the family. I am much more concerned for the female spirit there.

The 1930s time is coming through as  a time of parties and socialising. I feel that the house in an active place around then with music and laughter. I wouldn't be surprised if on occasssion this music and laughter was heard.

Investigation Impressions

The only thing I have to correct from my initial impressions is that there are no children spirits are active. I do now feel that ther are children active in the house. A little girl was picked up on as well. Natalie who as far as she knew thought that I had only picked up on a male and female spirit got the same impression at the same time as me of a little girl.

I feel there is more to be discovered here about the story of the spirits in the house. This is a really interesting location and I still feel that it is a promising location for a more extensive investigation.

Nothing tangible was caught during the investigation. The trigger objects didn't move and nothing of interest was caught on video. If any any Evps or strange noises had been recorded on audio then it was impossible to tell due to background noise from the tv but this was expected.

Some points of interest were the sudden high emf reading on the lower stairwell which occurred at the exact moment and in the exact spot as Natalie had sensed a male spirit following the team. We are not saying that this 'spirit' had somehow caused a change in the emf fileds around it but it is worth noting. Exposure to high emf levels has been proven to affect parts of the brain causing sensations of being watched, hallucinations etc. The feelings of being watched and followed carried on throughout the night, however, without any further high readings.

The temperature drop at the top of the stairs is another interesting event. Again this happened in conjunction with the impression of a spirit coming closer.

As said before much of our report contains spirit impressions rather than facts and figures. This investiagtion, however, was a success in that it showed the team how much of what one team member and another picked up psychically was similar.

Feelings of being watched and followed as we set up our equipment started as soon as we entered the house. The male spirit was first to make himself known followed by the timid female spirit who was thought to be absolutely petrified of this man. She appeared to be keeping close to Tori for the duration of the investigation as she felt safer by doing so. From these feelings it was obvious that the replay of events on the stircase is not residual and that those involved are active and sentient beings. The female is thought to be 'grounded' at the house and unable to move on. We are unsure about the male. The young female is thought to have been abused by the male in her lifetime and that he still feels ownership over her.  Her name begins with "M" and is a short name like Meg or Molly. This  game of  "Cat and Mouse" seems to continue with regularity and left the team feeling saddened. It is necessary to stress the fact that there doesn't appear to be any threat to the family residing in the house. These spirits are caught up in their own agenda.

Following the investigation Katrina decide to research some of the previous owners to see if any death of a young woman had occurred on the stairs as a result of a fall as this might explain the noises at night. Some names of owners and the causes of death were found but these were all natural causes of people in their middle/old ages. However, as yet no names of servants or their fates have been discovered.

If possible the team would like to return as many other parts of the house look promising with regards to paranormal activity. The living room and the bedroom are examples of this. The living room especially might be seen in a different light once empty of people. A return visit would also allow for cleansing of the basement room if permitted and offer a chance to perhaps help the trapped young girl's spirit to move on.