The Cardinals Error - Tonbridge, Kent

The Cardinals Error - Tonbridge, Kent

15th August 2009

Aim:
To investigate documented accounts of paranormal activity at this venue, and gather reputable evidence of the same.

Background:
For years The Cardinals Error has been referred to as one of the most haunted places in the Tonbridge area and has featured in many books on the subject including Haunted Inns of Kent by Roger Long, Haunted Kent by Janet Cameron and Ghosts of Kent by renowned investigator and writer Peter Underwood. These books each describe, amongst other things, the sad tale of a girl who killed herself after being jilted at the altar. In Haunted Places of Kent, Rupert Matthews elaborates on this tale and tells about:

“Nellie, the phantom of a poor farm girl who lived here some centuries back. She was made pregnant by a local man who promised her marriage and his fortune, before jilting her. Nellie dressed herself in her wedding finest and then drowned herself in the pond that lay behind the pub where a new housing estate was built in the 1970's. She is seen most often walking up to the pub from the old pond site, throwing the door open, slamming it shut and walking across the bar. She disappears through the door that leads to the private stairs, presumably to go up to her old bedroom"

These accounts are now years old and nothing further has been documented over recent years. The current occupiers have not come across Nellie, any other persons or odd goings on either during the day or after hours. But they were interested in an account from a recent customer who claimed she was spiritually aware and that she had seen and was aware of an old gentleman that frequents the area of the fireplace.

Ghost Connections do not normally undertake investigations at pubs as the inherent late start to proceedings (after the customers have eventually left) invariably shortens the time you have in which to investigate and brings with it a large amount of fatigue. However, in this instance, a chance meeting lead to an invitation to investigate a documented venue, which we could not turn down.

*Apparatus:* Camcorders: Samsung VP-D351 with night vision Sony DCR HC-24E with night vision and Sony HVL-IRM IR light Sony DCR-HC19 with night vision and Sony HVL- IRM IR light Sony DCR-DVD110E with night vision and Sony HVL- IRM IR light Digital Camera: Canon 400D Fuji Fine Pix S5000 Fuji Fine Pix S5500 Fuji Fine Pix S5500 Pentax K-100D Digital SLR Sony Erickson C905 camera phone Voice recorder: Olympus VN-2100PC Olympus DM20 HNSAT DVR958 Other: Tripods Torches Video tapes (MiniDV)


The Investigation
*Method:* Given the space available when investigating a pub it would not be possible to split into smaller groups. We intended to conduct full team vigils as well as conduct what has now become a customary séance. We have experimented with séances as, although not being a spiritually based group, we have found that this can help focus the team as well as increase the amount of responses we hear, which in turn gives us more chance to hopefully capture those responses on our equipment for later analysis. Investigation: As the last customer left we began to set out our equipment and get ready for a quick start. After a brief chat with the occupiers, John and Roz, we started as soon as they had retired to the upstairs accommodation.

Vigil resturant area

Dave's camcorder was placed filming the area of the fire place, Paddy the investigation area from the billiard table, and Ian's the same as seen from the bar. Dave, Kim and Paddy all had their voice
recorders running. We chose to sit at one table in front of the fire place. We noted the occasional flash of the alarm system motion sensor and the occasional beep from a fire sensor with a flat battery. Once settled we spent time with Dave, Ian and Paddy taking turns to speak aloud to inquire if anyone else may be with us. Reference was made to the age and previous uses of the building and the stories we were aware of. This form of questioning continued until we decided to end the session.

Walkabout

After a break we decided to be more mobile and investigate the ground floor on foot. We took Ian's camcorder, hand held, and took time to explore to construction of the pub to examine its historical content and pondered over the properties previous uses. Dave and Paddy's voice recorders were still running in the restaurant area whilst Kim's came along with us. We had hoped that by doing this we might generate a bit of interest from anyone else that may have been aware of us. Although not actively calling aloud for a contribution from anyone else who may have been there with us we were mindful and kept our eyes and ears open as we went.

Vigil bar area

After the walkabout we decided not to have a break and settled in the opposite side of the bar. Initially we simply sat in silence listening to the noises about us adjusting to these to better enable us to spot anything else more unusual that occurred. Dave and Paddy retrieved their camcorders and set these up on tripods to record this session, Ian remained using his by hand. Kim continued to use her voice recorder. After a brief period of silence Ian and Dave spent time calling aloud for a response.

Séance bar area

It was unfortunate that by the time we reached this session it was already well into the early hours of the morning and the fatigue was starting to set in. Despite this we felt we needed one more push to try to make our night here worthwhile. The four of us sat at a round table linking hands as Dave lead us into a séance. Numerous reference and requests were made for someone to make themselves known to us. Sadly this session did not last and it was not long before we had to give in to the tiredness and call an end to the investigation. We quietly packed our equipment and left so not to disturb our kind hosts.

Results

Vigil restaurant area

During this vigil some of the team commented on a heavy atmosphere that descended, at this time Paddy felt dizzy with a head ache and rather slow and ponderous, he also had a pain in the front of his abdomen on his right side, Ian also began to suffer from a head ache. Whilst calling for a response a shuffling noise was heard to be coming from by the front door and there was also a sense of movement and scratching from the other side of the bar. Some taps were heard from the table behind us including one large bang behind Ian heard by everyone but Ian. There were also taps from the area of the bar. Paddy was for some reason drawn to the area of the billiards table.

Walkabout

No results were forthcoming and nothing out of the ordinary occurred during this time.

Vigil bar area

There were little or no results from this part of the investigation apart from a loud bang heard from the rear corridor leading to the toilets.

Séance bar area

Again no results were forthcoming and nothing out of the ordinary occurred during this time.

Video footage and other recordings have been scrutinised and no unusual results were found, should anything come to light later this report will be updated.

A certain amount of other information was forthcoming to the team of a clairvoyant nature. As Ghost Connections conducts scientifically based investigations we do not publish such observations, however, this information is held on a separate database. Should you wish to discuss this information please email us.

Conclusions

Vigil restaurant area

The heavy atmosphere we encountered could not be explained and is simply a matter of personal perception. The whole team did feel this and Paddy and Ian did suffer from other effects but these were not long lasting or explainable, and could simply be coincidental. The shuffling heard from the area of the front door and the other bar could not be explained but we should not discount that the noise could have come from outside, also it was not repeated when the request was made. Neither were the taps and the loud bang heard from the adjacent table and bar area. Why at least some of these were not caught on our recording equipment we cannot explain. As none of these noises were recorded on our equipment we cannot analyse these further. We also cannot explain why Paddy was drawn to the area of the billiards table and he could give no reason for this.

Walkabout

With no results there are no conclusions that can be drawn from this part of the investigation.

Vigil bar area

Dave and Ian (with camcorder) investigated the rear corridor by the toilets but the cause of the loud noise could not be ascertained. Neither was it caught by our audio recordings whether on camcorder or voice recorder. At the time of writing this report the reason for this noise cannot be explained.

Séance bar area

Again with no results there are no conclusions that can be drawn from this part of the investigation.

Acknowledgements:

Haunted Places of Kent by Rupert Matthews produced by Countryside Books ISBN 1 85306 865 9.

Thanks

Many thanks to John and Roz for giving us a chance to spend a few hours at “The Error”. Always a nice place to pop into if your passing, but sadly our time spent here did not bring any results we can speak of.