The Castle Inn Investigation
The Castle Inn - 29th May 2011
The team arrived on site at approximately 21:00hrs. We discussed our plans for the evening, what equipment we were going to use, where we going to set it up, and what trigger objects etc we would use.
Before the vigil began, we sat down with the landlady and were given a brief history on the reported activity that has taken place. We had previously agreed that members of staff/family and the landlady herself, were to join us on our investigation. After explaining to them what we do and how we do things, we began the vigil at just before 23:00hrs.
One group headed to the cellar, and the other group headed to the bar area. The bar area appeared to be very quiet with nothing noticeable happening. Several people did report seeing small pin like lights towards the pool room area of the bar. Whilst in the cellar, the other group experienced drops in temperature but no response on calling out.
We regrouped in the pool area, where we remained, and began calling out. Apart from some people in the group seeing lights and the occasional shadow, this area appeared to be fairly quiet. After a quick break, we once again divided into two groups. Of which one returned once again to the cellar, and the other went upstairs to cover the landing area.
In the cellar, temperature drops were noticed for a second time, with one particular area dropping several degrees, a change recorded on our digital thermometer. The atmosphere changed and a few of the group began to feel very uncomfortable and nervous. Whilst tapping and scratching noises were heard on the wall that backs on to the pool area of the bar.
The group upstairs settled into the lounge area. One of our own team members reported hearing a female voice, either coughing or sneezing. Apart from this, the upstairs area seemed to be very quiet.
After switching areas, one group settled in to the one of the upstairs bedrooms. It had been reported that a child can be heard running up and down the stairs and along the landing. We set up two teddy bear trigger objects before the vigil started, one half way up the stairs, and another right at the top. As this group came upstairs, we noticed that one of the teddy bears had moved. As we cannot be sure of the whereabouts of the staff/family members at all times, we cannot say for sure if this was of significance. Once entering the bedroom, the landlady noticed straight away two ornaments that had moved from a bedside cabinet to the middle of the floor. Again, as we cannot account for everyone’s movements and did not have cameras set up here, we cannot be sure if this was paranormal or not. Once settled into the room, the group became aware of random lights on the landing, some of which appeared to be orange in colour and blurry shadows.
The group downstairs were back in the cellar area. This time, tapping sounds were being heard on a regular basis. These seemed to be in time and in response to our team members asking for noises to be made. One of our own team members experienced what felt like being touched on her hand, and then this travelled up her arm, she also felt like her hair was being played with. A member of the pub staff also reported sensing and seeing a black mass, that she said seemed to be moving around the room.
We finished the night with all of us returning to the cellar area for one last time, as this seemed to be where the most activity was occurring. One of our team began calling out again, and once again, began to feel like her hair was being pulled, and after looking we all agreed that her hair was indeed ruffled and stood up on end as it was being affected by static. Again, several people felt very uneasy and uncomfortable in certain areas of the cellar. One of the staff members informed us that she had in fact been pushed from behind twice.
We decided to end our vigil at about 3.30hrs after spending plenty of time in all three of the main areas of activity.
After reviewing our video camera footage and listening to our voice recordings, we discovered that we had captured several orbs on video in the main bar area, and we were excited to discover a couple of EVP’s. We all agreed that one of them is clearly a male voice responding to a question from one of the team members, you can clearly hear ‘no’ being said. The second one is very clearly a girl saying ‘mummy’.
A big thank you to the owners and staff of the Castle Inn, and as ever to all the APT members for their professionalism.