Site of the Battle of Sedgemoor Investigation
Site of the Battle of Sedgemoor Investigation - 9th July 2011
This was our first outside investigation so we were a little unsure as to how to go about investigating it. That said it was an interesting experience and gave us valuable insight which we can take forward and use in future outdoor investigations.
The small team consisting of Damien and Matt arrived at approximately 21:30 and were lucky to find clear skies and calm weather. Before it became too dark, they decided to ascertain where the appropriate areas to carry out investigation work would be. After walking around the entire site they arrived back at the start point at about 22:15 just as the night was beginning to get dark, although the moon was offering some light.
They then began the investigation process by walking from place to place where the main events of the battle had taken place, and spending a small amount of time in these areas. Unfortunately no activity presented itself and the atmosphere had a calm feel to it.
They then returned to the location of the monument, which is said to mark the spot of the heaviest fighting during the battle. In contrast to the other areas it had a strange, almost daunting atmosphere. There was clearly a cold feeling in this area, but strangely, around the monument itself, there was a very cold “box” about 7ft X 7ft encasing the actual monument, which seemed to be in line with the stone stools placed around each corner of the centre stone. This was very odd as there was such a clear distinction between temperatures that the team could literally place their hands in and out of the “box” and feel the change. The ambient temperature was 11.8˚C and the surface temperature of monument, which was built of stone, was 12.8˚C.
While inside the fencing which encloses the monument both team members felt sudden, abrupt, falls in temperature, which would then alleviate just as suddenly.
It was now 00:30 and the moon had set, making the area very dark. The team left a trigger object at the monument and began to walk to another area. As they left the area the temperature appeared to return to normal once they had moved about 20ft away from the monument.
On arrival at the field where the group medium had picked up confusing emotions on a previous daytime visit, and where historical evidence backed up those feelings, they began calling out, but unfortunately got no responses. After spending about thirty minutes in this location with no activity they left the field and stood just outside of the entrance gate listening with sound amplifiers and calling out for a further fifteen minutes. At this time Matt reported hearing what sounded like a large animal walking along the track way towards them and which sounded very close, within 20-30ft, although when they turned their torches on there appeared to be nothing there. There is no way of knowing if this was paranormal as there was also a large amount of wildlife present on the night.
They then walked back along the track to the monument, returning at about 01:30. Again the feeling of walking into a wall of cold air as they got to within about 20ft, followed by the wall of very cold air encasing the monument was still present. The ambient temperature by now was 10.8˚C and the stone surface of the monument was 11˚C. The trigger object had not been disturbed.
They stood in this area again calling out and again getting sudden dramatic temperature drops, many of which seemed to be in response to direct requests for the temperature to change. Although other requests for different types of activity only seemed to create sudden drops in temperature, apart from when Damien asked “Did they think you were scared?” Immediately in response to this Matt reported hearing a huge sigh in his sound amplifier. At this point Damien held out his hand and asked for it to be touched. Immediately he felt his hand become “freezing” and the laser thermometer showed a skin surface temperature drop from 14˚C down to 4˚C within seconds. He then asked further for the cold to move up his arm which it immediately did, he then said it felt like someone was gently gripping his forearm. Matt then tried the same experiment to which the same results occurred although the gripping of the forearm became quite painful and felt like someone exerting pinpoint pressure with their thumb into his arm. He immediately withdrew his arm at which point he reported his whole body go “icy cold” and he began shivering.
The team continued for a short while after this still getting the same drastic temperature changes when calling out, although no other type of response occurred. They then left a voice recorder running which was placed on the monument while they took a break. It was now 02:00.
After the break they decided to return to the location of the monument as that is where they felt they were most likely to get activity. No cold air and a calm atmosphere faced them when they returned. Unfortunately they found the voice recorder had switched itself off after a small amount of time recording although when switched back on the battery was found to still have power. They began calling out again and started to get similar results with temperature drops as before but no other activity. They decided to call it a night at 03:00.
On reviewing the evidence after the investigation many strange noises were picked up on the voice recorders. Although much of this can be dismissed as animal noises a few stood out dramatically. These ranged from distant shouts, loud grunts, and what appeared to be the noise of a horse. Although it must be stated, no horses were present in any surrounding fields on the night. Most notably the recorders captured the sound of the sigh that Matt reported hearing in response to the question asked by Damien on the night.
The team wishes to thank the land owner for permission to access his fields, and also his wealth of knowledge about the battle which he shared with us. We hope to return here again next year with a larger team so we can split into groups and cover a larger area.