Undisclosed Church near Ashford Kent

Ghost Connections found this church hidden in the countryside outside of Ashford in Kent to be open one evening and decided to visit for an evenings investigation.

Aim:

To investigate reports of paranormal activity at this church.

Background:

There are no known reports of any paranormal activity at this location but it does lie at the crossroads of some ancient trackways across the hills. It is believed the church was built, like many, on an ancient pagan site and given its location on a hillside away from the centre of its parish this is entirely possible.

Digital Cameras:
Canon EOS550D SLR
Canon EOS1000D SLR
Fuji Fine Pix F47fd
Fuji Fine Pix S5500
Fuji Fine Pix S1600
Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ-38

Voice recorder:
HNSAT DVR958
Olympus DM-7
Olympus LS-11
Olympus VN-2100PC
Olympus VN-6500PC voice recorder

Other:
Maplin 610LC Laser Temperature Recorder
Metex Laser Area Size Recorder
Trifield Natural Electro Magnetic Meter
Tripods, Torches, Video tapes (MiniDV),

Team:

Kim
Dean
Paddy
Dave

Method:

Using visual and scientific methods combined with spiritual information investigate the background to alleged paranormal phenomena at this venue.

Investigation:

The location is remote and with a reasonable sized parking area we wondered if we would be disturbed by other visitors during our time here like similar other locations.

To our surprise we weren't and very few vehicles passed during the time of our investigation.

The weather was calm and skies mainly clear with a full moon which served to light the interior well.

Later in the evening a series of questions were asked to initiate verbal responses or Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP).

Before the investigation got underway we had a curious incident. On approaching the church up the path Paddy was struck on the head by something unseen. Causing no injury this did cause a little concern and heighten our awareness.

Entering the church we took our places in the pews in the nave and seldom moved from here as the view of the entire church could be had from this location.

Various noises were heard during the investigation,

Faint noises came from an area at the west end, by the north door and by the altar area.

Deeper and singular noises came from behind Dave whilst recording Paddy recounting his experience to the camera.

Kim experienced a noise in the pew next to her as if someone sitting down and felt the vibration through the pew. Kim felt as though her head was touched around the same time as though someone were interfering with the clip holding her hair up.

Noises similar to footfalls were heard in the centre aisle.

Dark shapes were seen moving around the area of the chancel and pulpit areas.

Dean's voice recorder, with freshly charged batteries, slowly deteriorated very early in the evening until it ran out of power and turned off.

Dave saw moving light illuminations on the the splay of a south window. Kim also saw similar movements of light in the area of this same window but on the nave wall.

It was identified that the church was fitted with electric operated water or oil radiators and these were certainly warm to the touch and the church was warm indicating that the heating was either on low or had previously been on in the evening. These may well, and in one case by the door certainly were, responsible for the faint noises heard.

The deeper noise behind Dave is obvious on the footage and its source was not identified and nor was it repeated at any point. We cannot explain this one.

The interference with Kim's hair and the noise that sounded as though someone was sitting next to her are difficult to explain. Kim was mainly on view in the footage at the time and it can be seen that the touching was not caused by a bat in this instance. Tied in with the noises of someone seating themselves and the vibration through the pew consistent with the noise are of most interest. There was no obvious other means to explain these.

The footfalls in the aisle occurred when others were speaking in the team and are not very distinct on the footage and hence difficult to review. The area was in the cull view of the camcorder and nothing can be seen that would cause them.

The movement of clouds in the sky over the full moon may be responsible for the patches of moving darkness seen and there were no other sensations to corroborate them being paranormal. We cannot say for sure that they were caused by this means but is a possible explanation along with the establish suggestion that eyes can play tricks with shadows and objects in the darkness or low light conditions.

Dean changed his batteries for another pair charged similarly before the investigation. These lasted the rest of the investigation and we cannot offer an explanation as to why these would last a couple of hours whereas the previous pair would only last approximately 20 minutes.

The moving illuminations were thought, in one case, to have been caused by Dave's camcorder movement but testing showed this was not the case. It has been confused before so was a worthwhile test. Similar to the shadows this could also have been caused by natural phenomena although the one seen by Kim on the south wall cannot have been the moon as only the south side has windows that are visible from the nave and this cannot cause illumination on the inside of the same wall. There were no reflective surfaces on the north side to reflect such light either. The very few passing cars were not causing light to enter the church at the right angles either.

An interesting night and one site we will surely return to.