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Below is a selection of our investigations - happy reading and... sleep well!

The Coach and Horses, Barton, North Lincolnshire

The East Riding Police Station

The Old Cottage, Anlaby, East Yorkshire

The night started at 8 pm on Saturday 7 October 2006 at a private residence in one of the oldest properties in Anlaby in East Yorkshire at the request of the owners who had experienced some minor poltergeist type activity such as toys moving on their own and footsteps being heard.  The night was chill and very still for October and the sky was crystal clear with the smell of autumn in the dampness of the atmosphere. By contrast, the house was warm and comfortable with normal and consistent temperatures.

The first vigil was in the long bedroom above the living room. This was a warm comfortable room with little activity. However, Tammy picked out name of Melissa for young girl who was either present or had left some residual energy of herself in the room.. A thin girl, neglected and forgotten about; sad and scrawny. She had dirty lank fair straight hair.  She was pale faced and had dirty bruised legs. Why was she there? Shirley felt that the girl had slept there amongst straw in years gone past. Steve felt that she may well have been a working girl on a farm or smallholding and her role was to lead a working horse across a field.

The main vigil took place, rather awkwardly in middle bedroom undergoing renovation. A locked off digital video camera had been placed there earlier while the room had been closed. This was to be the most active room for spirits in the entire house and the team were not relaxed because there was so much work dust around. After a while, Barry sensed elderly lady from around 1914 who was aged between 55 years to her early sixties. Several of the team were experiencing laboured breathing at this time. There were three men lost in the First World War and Barry believed that they were close to her.

She was ill with intense pain in her stomach, perhaps bowel cancer. There was a smell of moth balls. This lady hates what had been done to the house but for a very simple reason: This was her house and probably feels it still is, but there is not a streak of badness in her and there is nothing for the current day occupants to worry about. An iron bed stead and a rocking chair used to be in the corner (across from the door) where the camera was mounted on its tripod. The lady had some difficulty moving about and would use a stick and if noises could be heard, it was her stumbling around the room.

Barry also sensed a man, indeed a smartly turned out coachman who was wearing black shiny boots and white jodhpurs. He had a black tailed coat and possibly a wig. The man had left a carriage outside with two horses. The carriage was dark green with burgundy piping. Amusingly, the spirit man ignored Barry’s attempts to question him, the spirit demonstrated that he came into the room, jumped on the bed, jumped off and went outside to his carriage. The team were delighted when toward the end of the evening, the occupant of the house stated that there had been a coachman recorded as living in the address in one of the Victorian censuses – something the team had not known.

Stunningly, when the digital video tape from the locked off camera was reviewed the next day, several strong orbs were seen in this room in the seconds following the camera being left during the earlier vigils and were reproduced on CD for the owners to make their own minds up.

Investigated in April 2006, this converted Victorian house built in 1861 represents the local policing base in a pleasant location in the city. Pleasant on the outside, but not so comfortable for a small number of staff who were sensitive enough to realise that perhaps there was a reason for one or two unexplained happenings and an occasional general feeling of unease in an unpleasant atmosphere.

One would expect a house the size and age of the current station to have had many generations living there since it was built and it follows that there would be spirits around having been born there, lived there or even died there.  A fine house would have been a comfortable place to live in years gone by and perhaps those pleasant times have prompted spirits to dip in and out of their favourite abode. One spirit however did not dip in and out, but was a permanent fixture—a haunting; an angry young man as the team was about to find out. The team's thanks go to the officers at the station who were keen for us to visit for their permission to go ahead with the investigation.

The initial walk around revealed some interesting issues including an unpleasant oppressive atmosphere both in the ground floor locker room and in the ground floor hallway and stairs to the first floor. There was a clinical smell in the locker room that might even be explained by the chemicals being used during the cleaning process, but the smell did not linger anywhere else.  While the group were downstairs, a door was heard to bang shut somewhere in the building (which was not occupied by anyone but the LER team) and some strange vibrations in the main office (adjacent to the door to the hallway) which could not be easily explained through traffic noise or central heating. Tammy felt restless in the office and felt pacing up and down in the hallway outside the office.

All the group felt uncomfortable in the locker room with Shirley Ann having a tightening of her chest, Linda S feeling oppressed and dizzy and Tammy felt pressure on her head and her stomach churned and she had a feeling of being watched. Tammy also had the sense of a man saying to her ‘get out’ — someone who was mad; how prophetic was that to be!

The rest of the house was pleasant and warm with a lovely atmosphere. Indeed in the room that is now the rest room/television room on the first floor, this was the main bedroom and at some stage a living room for a flat. A young woman’s spirit often visits there because she loved the house, her bedroom with the four poster bed and days spent in the park. Steve sensed an older man sat in a large leather armchair where Barry said the woman’s bed was and he was reading a broadsheet newspaper. He had silver hair and thick rimmed square glasses. Residual energy from two entirely different generations.

During the investigation, there were no major temperature variations recorded, no strange images were captured on camera nor on night vision camera.

One advantage of this location was the fact that there was virtually no noise from outside the premises from people of passing cars. This does help concentration.

The First Stairs Experience

The Office and the Staircase and Spirit 'AS'

The first vigil revealed a man in his 60s or 70s from the 1945 - 1950 era with a flat cap and blue overalls. An old lady with her hair in a bun was also seen.

After brief stays in other rooms in the house and a break, a second vigil in the office took place.

This was to be the vigil of the night. The group sat quietly with no lights on and Shirley had the sense of a spirit man watching us over the stair banister through the open office door. As the vigil went on, it was clear from both Barry and Shirley Ann that this spirit man was watching us intently and was a 'nasty piece of work'. He had been in and out of institutions all his life and had a thuggish violent disposition.

He hated the fact that there were police officers in his home, a sign of authority he hated. Had it been a hospital, doctors, nurses or anyone else with authority, he would have hated them all. He regularly kicked out at doors and constantly paced up and down. He suffered from headaches. He was wearing a dark blue suit and had black straggly hair and was very skinny. Steve got the name A S (withheld to protect existing family) and this house may have been his aunties house.

Shirley said that AS was annoyed at Steve because Steve was the leader of the investigation and his spirit existence  was nothing to do with the group. Barry had also connected with this man in his meditation and got into an argument about him and described him as wild and pacing like a caged animal. Steve had also connected and felt that the man was annoyed because of the way everyone used to look at him. Steve felt himself saying to the man it was because  he didn‘t take his tablets and kept repeating this. The spirit man became more and more agitated and disappeared for a spilt second and then came back with a knife in his hand, a large kitchen knife and he was clearly agitated.

The vigil was temporarily interrupted because Steve became very concerned about this knife development. Tammy thought that his man at some stage had stabbed someone in the back, not fatally, but was used to using knives.

Eventually, with heightened awareness, the vigil continued until the man began sobbing and ‘crying like a baby’. The man came to Shirley Ann and with some help, she was able to guide him ‘toward the light’. Amazingly, the oppressive and tense atmosphere palpably lifted and the hallway became a warmer and friendlier place once more.

The Parsonage Country House Hotel, Escrick, York

Warm clothing and torches are definitely recommended. Tammy saw a spirit gardener,  and this was significant because this gardener had been seen two weeks before during a daytime reconnoiter by three members and this had not been previously mentioned by the team. He was perhaps in his late 60’s or early 70’s. He was slightly stooped and wears a flat cap, dark green baggy trousers, possibly clipped at ankles (tucked in socks perhaps). He was the head gardener. There was a vegetable garden adjacent to the greenhouse. The era was possibly the 1940’s time. There was smoke coming out of chimney on greenhouse and there was a large compost heap at rear of greenhouse. A spirit "brown" large horse was seen on one of the rear paths and later it was said that a horse was buried in the garden that was the favourite animal of a previous owner!

Inside, the bedroom of concern revealed during the first vigil a young man either Jeffrey or a Master William, a heavy smoker. Psychic medium Shirley Ann Summerwill said a more powerful image of a housekeeper 'Gwen' - possible surname 'Dempsey' came forward and she would open the windows to waft the smoke away because Master William's papa didn't like the smell. Psychic medium Barry Chessman felt that a little girl had been knocked down on road outside. She had blond hair and there was a date of 1972 and the girl was 11 or 12 years old. 

What is important is to explain activity and to try to find some rational explanation to it. A classic example of this was the activity complained about in the bedroom. A later experiment indicated that the billowing of the curtains could be explained by laws of physics and pressure. Because the windows were very slightly draughty, whenever a door close by was opened or closed, the curtains moved. There were very occasional noises from the pipes as one expects from all central heating - again the physics of expansion and contraction. On a windy night, the curtains would move slightly but importantly, when the girls did some experiments by moving about on the bed, the curtains moved again. The “chinking of china tableware” was less easy to explain but could simply be pervading from another room or a vivid imagination misinterpreting what was heard.

The front walkway outside that ran between the hotel and the church  revealed the residual energy of a line of schoolboys walking from the church, three abreast with white shirts and caps - hopefully captured and recorded during a summer long ago - for tonight it was only two degrees Celsius. A funeral procession was seen entering the churchyard of the church next door from the 1800s, led by two young women.

Shirley again picked up the elderly diminutive gardener. His spiritual frame reflected what it had been in life, fairly small. He was wearing a flat cap and was stood outside the greenhouse in a flat cap and baggy trousers and big boots. Steve said the spirit was felt to be displaying the symptoms of being quite ill, possibly with a heart condition and worrying that if anyone should find out - he would lose his job and suffer everything that went with unemployment in years gone by. A spiritual assistant from more modern times named Walter was also there.

A second bedroom was investigated because a sad feeling sometimes experienced. Steve felt the residual energy of a lady from the 1950s with a gaudy checked jacket and mad coiffured hair in the style of Margaret Thatcher, bright red lipstick and with a brown shiny handbag over her arm. This lady had come to the residence with a purpose of sorting out a personal issue—something to do with a relationship. She was a guest at the premises, but not in a hotel sense. And she was desperately unhappy. She showed Steve a pair of wrists, fortunately they were clear, but he believed she had considered suicide at one stage, but had not gone through with it. Her attempt to create or save a relationship failed and she walked away and had looked back but the other person simply ignored her—wasn’t interested in her one way or another. Her name was Marilyn (or Madeline). Barry thought that she may have been a pupil at the school in her early life and had returned as an adult when it was not a school. 

Linda S said her eyes had felt as if she had been crying for ages. The lady never returned to the Parsonage.

 A spirit maid Mary was felt in here by Barry She wore a white ‘pinny’ and a floppy white cap. Her character was rather a ‘scatty’ one and she has been seen both in the restaurant and walking outside toward the church. She may even have lived in one of the cottages between the Parsonage and the church. Mary does interact with spirit Gwen from the bedroom  (hence the leaning toward Gwen being a housekeeper). She was very busy, flying around the rooms cleaning as she went and to a high standard.  On a lighter note, the spirit cleaning lady, Mary was agitated as there was not enough time to do work. The new owners had added new buildings which she did not have time to clean. The negative and oppressive energies were ‘cleared’ by Barry and Shirley.

An experiment with the movement of a glass did not work.

Is the parsonage ’haunted’? ‘Haunted’ in our view has the element of permanence about it. A permanent presence, coming out when the energy and time is right, but being there all the time is unlikely at the Parsonage. Nevertheless, spirits at the Parsonage are benign friendly things, not interfering with anyone except to show themselves in their own way occasionally to draw attention to their presence - to simply say, “I’m here!” We thank the Hotel management and staff for putting up with us and for their kind and patient hospitality and hope that they found it as interesting as we did. Until the next time...

The Parsonage - a postscript

The parsonage investigation was carried in some detail in the April 2006 edition of the Hull Daily Mail's glossy Journal.

As a result of the article, I received a letter from a lady in Cottingham (East Riding of Yorkshire) on the 22 May 2006:

"My Family want me to write to you re your visit to Escrick which was in The Journal. In it you mentioned you saw the gardener. My father-in-law lived in the gardeners cottage which was near what is the Parsonage Country House Hotel now. He was about 5' 6" tall and always wore a cap for his work as a gardener growing all the vegetables and flowers for the various parts of St Margaret's School. He died in 1969 of a heart attack and was found near the greenhouse. He and his wife are buried just over the wall at Escrick church. His name was... George Peirson. Sincerely, Mrs M.P."

Imagine my delight and surprise having this letter from this lady who took the trouble to write. I replied with some more detailed information about our encounters with the gardener that are printed here and she wrote back saying that she and her family found the information, 'more than interesting' and enclosed some photographs to compare. I am grateful to her and her family for permission to reproduce the photographs.

The pictures below show:

1 What Shirley Ann drew on the night of the investigation of the gardener;
2 A picture of George Peirson supplied by his daughter-in-law some months later;
3 A close up of Georges face, again supplied by his daughter-in-law... you decide; there are so many similarities, I am convinced this is independent evidence of what we saw that night.

A Local Library

This magnificent old building was investigated by the team in January 2006. Now no longer used as a library, the atmosphere of the library still pervades this lovely setting used today as offices for a local authority in Hull. We were called in because of a few unexplained noises and things coming off shelves. Very close to a busy main road, it was easy perhaps to dismiss the books falling from shelves because of traffic vibration  and noises because of movement and settling within this building.

Nevertheless, with an open mind we set about investigating. Because of the large interior of the main office, and its connection with a large number of windows the temperatures varied and the draughts were rife! Outside it was about 5 degrees Celsius and damp, the interior was between 11.4 and 14.4 degrees Celsius. On arrival we were greeted at the door by a spirit man, perhaps dressed before the time of the library named Robert Jack.

Psychic Barry saw a spirit man who had worked there who was dressed in a dapper style, red bow tie, hair combed back and a moustache. He told Barry that it was him the staff had heard walking along a balcony. One of the guest investigators remembered a dapper man who had worked there about 30 years ago when she had used the library with her son.

Tammy recognised the spirit presence of an old tramp, 'Harry' who used to visit the library, simply to keep warm. He was in his 70, long white beard and had a long brown Mackintosh. 

During early vigils, there were many noises and flashes of lights, but these were declared as traffic influences - something important to remember, try to find natural explanations to the unexplained.

Shirley and Steve both felt something physically brush past their legs and Shirley saw a spirit black and white farmers dog wandering through the room. Perhaps something from the years before the library was built.

A young spirit boy Andrew was sensed as being present, perhaps 7 to 10 years of age and from the 1960s. He was looking into the vigils with some curiosity. He was seen to be running about and may have explained some of the unexplained draughts experienced at odd times and in random places.

Later during this vigil, going back to the spirit lady sensed earlier with a long dress, several members of the group heard the sound, as clear as a bell of an old wooden trolley being pushed just yards from where they were sat!

Finally a young spirit girl by the name of either Alison, Ally or Alice with hair in long blonde ringlets was sensed. She had often come to the library while her mother worked. She had first been seen peeping over the balcony by Shirley, but later joined the group as it did an experiment with a glass. Communication was attempted with a glass on a large table, but the results were inconclusive. The girl was wearing a pink gingham dress and carried a rag doll with a hand painted face.

Other spirits were sensed, an old farmer (who presumably went with the dog) and the vision of an old decrepit farm house with an old range in the middle of the main office from a previous life or location before the library was there. Lucy confirmed the vision of crowds of people whizzing around in fast motion, perhaps the residual energy of thousands of library goers throughout the years. There were some unexplained noises, rap and 'cracks' internally to the fabric of the building that could not be labeled as 'settling'.

The trigger objects, Victorian pennies did not move and there were no anomalies captured on camera.

A fascinating investigation which determined that the library was not haunted, but certainly visited on regular occasions by those spirits that worked at and visited the library in its 100 years history. The mysteries: the woman pushing the trolley which we heard so clearly and the man dressed before the time of the library who invited us in for the nights work as if he was expecting us. Great place.

Back to School

We preserve the anonymity of this school that we investigated in the Hull and East Riding area in late November 2005.

The school is built around an old house - well preserved to this day and is a bustling hub of successful scholarly activity. The children are encouraged to investigate the school's past, and more importantly the past of a former famous resident. Our investigation concentrated on a tiny part of the school, an old building dating back into the 19th Century. After the briefing and health and safety talk, the initial walk around to baseline test and familiarise investigators threw up some interesting matters.

On a walk upstairs in the warmth on the grand staircase, several members noted that they had experienced a rush of air go past them. A cold spot was found at the bottom of the stairs. This had no obvious source or cause.

Shirley described a spirit woman who was causing that rush of air as she swept up the stairs; a governess of some kind, not simply a servant but someone with authority. A tight whalebone corset was a feature of this spirit’s dress. The name Emma was strong. She was perhaps a Governess, not a servant and not a former guest either.

Lucy determined that there were ‘bubbles’ of EMF activity as noted on the meter as well as temperature changes of up to 3 degrees Celsius with the space of a couple of metres. The ‘bubbles’ of readings followed them around as if in fact they were indeed being followed, but by what or who?

There was also a spirit lad called Lewis in the room. Lewis had died in an accident involving water but not at the school. He was wearing a coat with a hood on, colloquially called a parka type coat. Lewis was about 14 years of age. If people in the school today can hear banging on doors, it’s because Lewis, in his frustration to be noticed is banging doors and locker doors and goes in a circuit around the school. He is nothing at all to be worried about - he is not angry or disruptive, he just wants to be noticed. Almost certainly he is a former pupil.

There was a sense of a spirit who had been a formidable woman in life striding down the corridor with some determination toward the room in which everyone was sat. It later transpired that this was a Miss Brown, almost certainly a former teacher, and this was corroborated later from further evidence from two young spirit children. Miss Brown was short, stout and had tightly tied back blonde/greying hair and a hat.

Shirley, who was sat in the doorway of another room on the first floor said there were two bright and cheerful  little spirit girls who had chided Shirley by saying that “Miss Brown would be very cross“ [that Shirley was blocking the doorway]. The girls were dressed in long grey pinafore dresses and were named Elizabeth and Sarah The girls scampered along the corridor toward the grand staircase but had come from the direction of another corridor. 

Barry noted that there was a large spirit dog on the staircase, an Alsatian or German Shepherd. It was said that nearby, somewhere in the grounds is a pet cemetery that is now cordoned off and no longer accessible reputed to contain the bodies of the generations of pets kept by previous owners of this house.

Although it had not been the intention to do a vigil in the more modern part of the building, the link to the staff room to the old building and the activity already experienced coupled to the extremely cold staff room seem a compelling reason to do a vigil. The time was late and this started about 0130 hours and was to last an hour. In this vigil, the strength of the group was important and during this vigil, hands were held to form a circle. The first event was a guest investigators hand were being held up. This was being done by a sprit boy called Michael who was a fun child and about 14 or younger. It was thought that he was a good spirited child although mischievous.  He was looking for his brother Richard. The spirit boy left the room and the atmosphere suddenly changed. There was a spirit man and woman in the room, Neither probably knew of the others existence - they were not together. The man was possibly a teacher or head teacher going back to the 1950s. He was in a long gown, had grey hair and a grey moustache. This was someone who had been  an intelligent man if not somewhat eccentric. The spirit woman did not show herself. 

Conclusion

There is a spirit lady on the first floor who spent many years there incarcerated because of a debilitating illness. This lady was important and the head of the household. A servant still polishes the master’s silver in the servant quarters.

As one would expect, there are children spirits. Lewis tries to make himself noticed with innocuous knocks on doors, but doesn’t have much luck; a good lad who just wants someone to know he’s there. Now he’s been recognised by the LER group, his activities may be curtailed and noises will become less frequent. Elizabeth and Sarah run around quite happily and they are very much aware of spirit teacher Miss Brown who is certainly keeping her beady eye on them.

The master’s spirit dog patrols the corridors and staircase. An  eccentric spirit  teacher from the post war years makes his presence known in the staff room, where else?

Is the school haunted? In the strictest sense of our understanding of the word, probably not all the time. Spirits dip in and out as they would visit relatives or places they enjoyed and valued in life. Is the presence of spirits disruptive? Almost certainly not and using an old property with a history and well known characters comes with the territory of hosting the occasional tourist spirit.

A Night Club, part 1

The investigation into the first set of premises is a double one. The first part investigation concerns an disused night club and office premises in Hull.

To put this into context it is important to realise that the club is situated on the ground and lower ground floors of five grand terraced Georgian houses which were knocked through to form the club. The dance floor is built on the former gardens at the back of the row of houses. From the front the magnificence of the houses is still clear and obvious to this day. The upper floors remain largely untouched.

The mediums could not be with us on this investigation.

Soon to be converted to luxury apartments, this disused night club and offices was first investigated on a general assessment visit by the team in January 2005. A second investigation took place in late September 2005 just before the conversion will take place. A report on the second investigation appears after this one.

One of the interesting challenges was the size of the premises and the four floors to be investigated. The very top floor wasn't accessible so that narrowed down our options. There were two main facets that the owner wanted us to tell him about. One was a mysterious young woman seen by a number of employees at various times and the fact that during an excavation some years ago, bones were found buried in the basement, human bones!

A light was mysteriously switched off by an unknown method on demand from the team and strong feeling of a presence was felt in certain parts of the building. Rapid temperature drops by a much as 6 degrees Celsius in a couple of minutes were experienced in the club with no obvious explanation. Oddly, the darkest, quietest and most scary to look at - the cellar, gave no indication that it had any presence at all.

Will our spiritualists will be able to answer questions on the next investigation? Read on!

A Night Club, part 2

The club had become slightly more dilapidated because thieves had broken in and had stolen copper pipes which carried running water. A couple of highly decorated ceilings were badly damaged and the musty smell of damp met you at strategic points in the club. The amazing plaster decor was untouched throughout the rest of the club and added to the mystery and the atmosphere, particularly when the lights went off.

Our first point of call was to revisit the dance floor, a place of discomfort. Mediums Barry and Shirley Ann recognised a very shy and timid little girl spirit peeking round a corner at the very place where she had been seen up to 25 years ago. We were delighted to have with us on this investigation Peter, a former employee at the premises who had seen the spirit girl about 10 - 11 years of age complete with candle all those years ago. 

A more modern blonde haired young woman spirit was also around, but she was making herself scarce and she never surfaced again that night.

Upstairs in the house number 25, early indications were positive. Shirley Ann drew the picture of a woman who lived at number 25, she had been reasonably wealthy and had a 'woman who did' for her. Her drawing is shown below. Investigator Mike had his sleeve tugged.

Barry realised that part of the dance floor was built over a former garden path because he felt the presence of a woman spirit still walking on it!

After the initial walk around, during the first silent vigil, there was movement spotted behind the bar which was lit by just a couple of lights. A clear rapid tapping was heard by some of those sat on the dance floor. This was from the spirit of a man who was walking by and who had stopped to observe us. He was walking the path of what would have been the back of the houses in the gardens. 

The spirit man was tapping his stick on the floor (hence the tapping sound) and he walked off. The man is said to be a doctor and perhaps named ‘Michaelson’ and had tight trousers and a light coloured to hat. He had a big nose and his bearing was slightly bent – hence the use of the stick?

Whilst sat on the mezzanine floor, investigator Tammy witnessed something very interesting (in her own words) ”I saw in my head a man from the past wearing dark trousers and a cream or white waistcoat with a small pocket at the top for a pocket watch. He had graying hair and a beard and moustache. A jolly man, large belly but not tall, maybe about 5' 6". He was sat in a tall backed chair in a living room with period furniture around - a big fireplace with an impressive fire surround. He was puffing away heavily on a cigar and seemed quite content with his lot! I also saw his long garden with children playing, and a maid coming to the back door wearing a white apron to call them in.” 

Was this residual energy left over from the last century or even before or perhaps a replay of what was once 'normal life'?

In the basement, the spirit of the girl seemed to follow us down and a vigil in the pitch black (literally) took place.

The little spirit girl proved to be very shy and reluctant to come forward and after much coaxing and singing of nursery rhymes (for those who could remember some) this helped Barry to determine that her surname was Munroe or Monroe and that she had died of diphtheria.

Investigator Steve felt the residual energy of a man shovelling coal with a long handled shovel. It was only afterward, former employee Peter pointed out that the original coal chutes from the street still existed as did some of the coal bunkers and servants would indeed have had to shovel coal regularly to keep these enormous houses warm.

As if someone had turned a switch, at 3 am, the atmosphere tangibly lifted, the club became benign and serene and there was no sign of a spirit or any activity at all. The club and former houses were still and quiet apart from the occasional singing drunk somewhere outside who was oblivious to the tired but satisfied group of people with a club all to themselves just a few yards away.

No orbs were captured this time on video and the trigger objects, two Victorian pennies didn't move.

Is the club and houses which form it haunted? We have little doubt they are. There was residual energy of former lives and the timid shy spirit of a little girl who carries a candle for comfort. We don't know if she is grounded there to say she is a permanent presence would be a guess, but despite her shyness, she couldn't bring herself to come fully into our midst.

A Hairdressers Tale

We were invited in by the owner who was concerned about a number of aspects but mainly including a glass shelf 'flying out' onto the floor twice but not smashing on either occasion, lights unexpectedly turning themselves on and off, doors closed after being wedged open, workmen feeling someone was watching them whilst they were making alterations and footsteps from empty rooms!

Electricians had failed to find fault with the electrical systems, no rational explanation had been found for the throwing of the shelves – they were secure and not under pressure in their fitting.

 An initial visit for preparation purposes revealed strong paranormal 'feelings' on the part of three investigators - we knew we were not to be disappointed.

The investigation in March 2005 saw medium Shirley Ann feel the presence of a strong dominant woman spirit in residual energy who was looking after her grown up son who had, in today's terms had learning difficulties.  Indeed a man spirit who was only capable of sweeping floors was also present and indeed may well have been the dominant woman's son.

A first name was revealed for the man who swept the floors. Upset or argument got to this man – he didn’t like it, he would run away from trouble or want to stop it in a non-violent way. He may have had a speech impediment - in any case he was certainly curious. Interestingly although the residual energy of this man was in the shop - it was uncertain whether or not he had actually passed away.

A member of the investigation team did recognise the description of a woman who used to work in the shop in the 60s when it was a leather or curtain shop.

The spirit of anther old lady sits in the front room on the first floor in a chair in the corner and often looks out of the window. The spirit was said to be laughing at the team as they sat in the room on their vigil. Some investigators felt breathing problems, the medium confirmed that the spirit had such difficulties in life. Spirit lights were seen around the trigger object on one of the beauty therapy beds and again captured on night vision digital video camera.

During a vigil and séance in the boardroom upstairs one of the mediums visualised a zig-zag wooden staircase that would have been at the end of the building (long gone and replaced by a modern spiral staircase) – hearing heavy work boot type footsteps coming up these stairs and the fact that the old lady from front room in wheelchair would enter this room in her lifetime. Also man with silver handled walking stick and with sideburns walked up and down the room. Flashing spirit lights were captured on digital night vision video camera moving across the board room table.

There were many unexplained noises and several feelings by most members during this very successful investigation.

A Light Display

The investigation concerns a lighting shop in Grimsby.

This investigation was one of high expectation with the owner reporting substantial poltergeist activity. Our investigation however captured very little but gave some explanation why the owner may have been experiencing activity and regrettably because of confidentiality, we are unable to reveal that here.

We understand other investigations by other paranormal groups did capture activity, whilst another, like us did not.

There was however a spirit woman present on the ground floor of the shop and she was sweeping the floor and cleaning her cottage. She was not responsible for poltergeist activity and we obtained her name and the fact that she came from the 1830s. She was a sad lady, her 12 year old  son who she had in later life had gone to sea and she never saw him again in life on earth.

The woman lived in one of three cottages that occupied the site in the 1830s. Her husband was also a seaman. The name and this woman's story gives the owner of the premises much to investigate in the history records

The residual presence of a young spirit blond girl was felt on the first floor. She rushed about and was linked to the owner of the premises. This young girl may have been responsible for some poltergeist activity, but this was unclear. 

Elsewhere on the first floor, a man called 'Jack' occasionally made his presence felt. He was about 5’6” tall with white hair and a moustache. He had a bent back and was touching the mediums hand as if to gently tempt her to move away. He was not responsible for the poltergeist activity.

None of the spirits who had revealed themselves are grounded (or permanently present) at the premises. Trigger objects did not move and nothing was captured on any of the digital cameras.

A Drink George?

Our investigation concerns a public house in Hull. We are grateful to Dave and Nicky, Licensees at the time for allowing us to name their premises, hence a little more detail is revealed.

The George Hotel in the Land of Green Ginger was a fascinating experience both for the team and the occupants. The owners reported much activity, all fairly benign and not threatening in any way. However the team found a shock on the first floor drinking area, something none of them including the mediums had experienced before.

The early stages found unsettling activity in a first floor kitchen area, several members felt uneasy and one felt positively faint.

Medium Barry drew what he had imagined was a strong presence in the premises. Mr (M)ABBOT wore a long cloak, a tall top hat (taller than would be imagined compared to today’s top hats for example) and carried a black cane with a silver top with the initials ‘MR’ thereon. The character’s presence at the George would receive independent verification later, hitherto undisclosed to the group.

In the Function Room. Shirley Ann stated that she believed that within the last 10 years and probably around six, someone had possibly 'messed around' with an Ouija board or possibly a séance. A spirit had arrived when the window of opportunity had presented itself and had not gone back. Whoever had done this had not used safe practices and had not closed the session down.

Shirley Ann had sensed and found a Jack MORTIMER in spirit. He was wearing a grey Judges (style) wig, black stockings with trousers to below knee with buckles at each side. He was wearing a black cape. MORTIMER was walking towards stables at rear of building (no longer there of course), but he walks the whole area not just The George.

I specially thank Pat for her superb notes for the commentary on the vigil.

A vigil took place in the function room at the location of the disastrous Ouija Board activity.  There was a sense of great sadness and depravation. Barry had the feeling of a face ‘disturbed’ down the right hand side and a sense of hatred. The entity was a male and a specific date in 1885 was significant. The name 'J' (the name is deleted top save any embarrassment to descendents still in the city.) was sensed by Shirley and Barry agreed that he had had the name in his mind for about five minutes.

‘J’ did not like being looked at. ‘J’ was frightened and claustrophobic; he was being put in a box. Barry asked the owners if they had ever heard any scratching, like nails on wood. Barry felt that 'J' had been buried alive because of how he was - a very disabled, possibly mute young man. It was done on purpose because he was an embarrassment [to his family].

He had been buried, perhaps while his family thought he was dead, but he wasn’t. The box was plain with a hinged lid of three roughly planed planks. There were gaps between the planks and because ‘J’ couldn’t communicate, he could see what was happening but couldn’t warn anyone. He would have scratched the underside of the coffin lid.

Barry spelled the surname 'S' and the fact that he had a relative, 'M', possibly his mother or even a sister. The burial took place on sacred ground, near a wall, chapel bells in the background. The boy ‘J’ would be 17 or 18 years old perhaps.

Barry suggested that ‘J’s’ right leg would be deformed and had like a twisted right ankle, that he couldn’t use it properly. At the end of the vigil, Barry felt that the boy ‘J’ had gone toward the light and in fact there were others there to help him.

On a lighter note, Barry then saw the old man with the top hat who doffed it to him as if to say, ‘job done’. Following the vigil, the atmosphere on the first floor had changed; it had become lighter. The kitchen was completely different in the same way.

If ever there was a warning about the inappropriate use of such experiments such as Ouija boards by anyone other than highly competent people then this is it.

Paranormal Investigations - some safety advice

LER does not endorse or recommend individuals conducting paranormal investigations of their own. This is not because we want to keep the fun to ourselves – far from it. We don’t recommend it purely from a safety point of view. If you are interested in becoming a ghost-hunter, we strongly recommend that you find a group such as LER and get involved that way.

Going out on your own is potentially dangerous and frightening. No one can enforce rules but please, act responsibly.

Here are our strongest recommendations:

• ·        Use your common sense.

• ·        Never go ghost hunting alone

• ·        Make sure your location is safe, and make sure someone knows where you are.

• ·        Never trespass.

• ·        Take a mobile phone.

• ·         Visit your location in the daytime to assess potential hazards.

• ·        Wear suitable clothing.

• ·        If you become frightened or agitated, leave immediately.

• ·        If you become unsettled or disturbed after an investigation, eat comfort food, watch a happy film or a favourite comedy show. Talk it over with a sceptical friend

Seance or séance (‘seiúns) n 1 a meeting at which spiritualists attempt to receive messages from the spirits of the dead. 2 a meeting of a society. [C19 from French, literally: a sitting. From Old French seoir to sit, from Latin sédere] - Collins English Dictionary Millennium Edition