Private Residence - Late 19th Century House, Kent

Aim:
To investigate and draw conclusions on the possibility of paranormal activity at this location.

Background:
This property has never been investigated before. Sharon, the owner of this property, requested that Ghost Connections UK conduct an overnight investigation in order to find evidence of any paranormal activity. This was because of the feelings and sensations felt by family members and friends within the house, as well as experiences that have occurred.

This property as well as neighbouring houses was built in the late 19th century for railway workers. It is resembles the typical style of a Victorian brick three bed room, end of terrace property, with lounge, dining room and kitchen on the ground floor with a bathroom to the rear of the kitchen, as well as three bedrooms on the first floor. The house has been in Sharon’s family since it was first constructed and they are now in their fourth generation. The house is presently empty and being refurbished, which is the reason for the timing of our investigation.

A family member had reported seeing an apparition in the middle bedroom. A niece was physically pushed from the sofa in the lounge and a few friends and relatives have always commented on the uneasy feeling they have when in the lounge, some not wishing to enter. In fact the room has become known within Sharon's family as “The Haunted Room“!

A letter between two family members was given to GCUK which made interesting reading and provided good background for the investigating team. The letter recounts the thoughts of an uncle to a niece about her experiences in this room and tries to explain the unnerving feelings she had within the lounge.

"I believe Grandad (WJ) was a mild and gentle man and he is not the reason for the hostility unless, of course he thinks any female presence is Grandma (SJ), which of course is another story!”

“Grandma (SJ) spent her last days in this room”.

“She was a bit of a tyrant, full of complaints“.

And:

“Possibly she is the presence you feel, which would be in character. It should have been of interest to know that (another relative) thought it was“.

It is said that Grandma’s (SJ‘s) bed was along the right hand side wall when you enter. This is where the sofa used to be placed and where the aforementioned niece was “pushed” from the sofa. For this reason it was decided to centre the investigation in the lounge.

Apparatus:
Sony DCR-HC19E Camcorder.
Samsung VP-D351 camcorder.
Sony HVL-IRM infrared emitter.
Nikon Coolpix 3100 digital camera.
Olympus Camedia C-160 digital camera.
Sanyo TRC-670M micro cassette recorder with remote microphone.
USB2 Data logger.

Co-Investigators:
Ian Batchelor
Patrick Noble
Sharon (owner)

Method:
Given the size of the property and that the brief given was to investigate the one room, no plan was constructed. The entire investigation was intended to take place within the lounge. Once on site it was decided to carry out a number of vigils to be recorded using the Samsung camcorder whilst simultaneously trying to capture EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) by recording on magnetic tape using the Sanyo Dictaphone.

The only deviation being a vigil held in the main (front) bedroom. Where the Sony camcorder was used whilst the Sanyo Dictaphone was left recording in the lounge.

Observations:
No baseline readings were taken because the rewiring caused EMF (Electro Magnetic Frequency) interference. The central heating was also on causing regular noises. The thermostatic control was set to maintain a temperature of 21 degrees Celsius within the house, which remained constant throughout the investigation. The outside temperature was 1.9 degrees Celsius. No draughts were detected apart from an air vent found on floor level in the dining room.

The Investigation:
9.00pm - Arrive property and discus plan for the evening.
Begin setting up, Samsung camcorder on tripod in lounge, chairs, EVP etc followed by a walk around the whole property taking pictures.
Whilst in main (front) bedroom Paddy felt someone behind him but no one had been.
At foot of the stair case Ian hears a noise from the main (front) bedroom, Ian investigates but nothing is seen or heard.
Break.
10.10pm - Start of first vigil in lounge. EVP recording started. Ian calls for spirit as does Sharon, references are made to both WJ and SJ. No apparent responses and no EVP recorded.
Break.
11.30pm - Equipment repositioned in lounge and chairs moved to other end, trying an alternative layout for the second vigil. Samsung camcorder used again and EVP recording restarted. Ian and Sharon try calling again with references to WJ and SJ,again no responses and no EVP.
Break.
12.55am - Third vigil conducted in main (front) bedroom using Sony Camcorder. EVP left recording in lounge. Ian calls for spirit again referring to known individuals. No apparent responses at the time.
1.40am - Vigil ends and team decided to end investigation due to tiredness and work responsibilities the following day.

Whilst packing away equipment Sharon witnesses a light bulb fall from the dining room ceilings central bulb holder, which lands two meters across the dining room floor (there is no lamp shade). The bulb surprisingly does not break. Paddy and Ian examine this and find that there is no tension spring within the bulb holder which might explain this. However, it is a bayonet fitting so even without a spring one would still need to push upwards and twist the bulb to remove it. Gravity alone could not have caused the bulb to come out of the holder, also had this been the case the bulb would have fell directly down instead of landing across the room? An incident once occurred when Sharon entered the house and found a broken light bulb directly under this light fitting, this was during the daytime when the electricity had not been on at all because the property was empty. This happened several weeks before any work had been started on the property.

1.50am - Investigation ends.

No results were apparent during the investigation, although the incident with the light bulb was interesting. On reviewing the video footage of the third vigil in the bedroom there are a large number of bangs and knocks heard throughout the first half of the vigil. There is also a cough but all the team are in shot and it does not appear to be one of them? These noises are ignored by the team so they must have been either accepted at the time as noise from the neighbours or central heating or simply not heard them at all? At the same time similar knocks and bangs can be heard on the audio tape that was left running in the lounge, there is even what sounds like a breath or a groan? It should be noted that having discussed this, the team does not recall hearing these noises on the night, and those that were heard were attributed to noise from the attached neighbouring property. One unexplained occurrence was that the rear bedroom door, that had been open all night, was found closed at the end of the investigation. No one had entered the room or closed the door. So why was it now closed?

Conclusions:
Throughout the investigation the atmosphere within this house was warm, welcoming and at no time did any of the team feel uncomfortable. Tried and tested means were used to capture or provoke what can be described as potential “paranormal” responses but in this instance nothing that occurred could be identified as paranormal.

Despite the use of the information supplied and the accounts we had been given, our efforts on the night did not enable us to answer Sharon’s question being “Is there someone still in that house?” At best I feel that our results are inconclusive.

Thanks to:
Many thanks to Sharon for contacting Ghost Connections UK and asking that we carry out this investigation.