A while ago I was invited to take part in a paranormal investigation with Jason from Ashford Astro, it was originally scheduled to run through from October 30th through to October 31st. Unfortunately the event was postponed and was now going to take place on Saturday 12th November. This struck me as a good thing because the event wouldn’t be marred by the whole issue of All Hallows Eve.
over the following two weeks Jason mentioned that he had a total of five places to offer, I was definitely wanting to go so I asked him to book one for me, Lukey showed some interest and after giving it a bit of thought he decided he was in. Huzzah! Luke and I set off from foggy Folkestone at 16:00 heading for Jason's where we would trade up from the Ford KA to a Jag, and at 17:00 we set off to a place called Sible Hedingham in Essex, no I’ve never heard of it either!
Jason had mentioned that he expected the run to take about two hours, en route we chatted about our various experiences and what we could expect from the evening. Jason also gave us an insight into one of the chaps that would be there. The fella in question was going to be the medium for the evening, I have to be honest and say that I did develop some preconceived ideas about John, The image I had in my head was that of a Derek Acorah type who was probably a bit mad, I’m happy to say that was not the case. Jason's estimate for our travel time was spot on and we arrived at the venue just a tad before 19:00.
The venue was brilliant, the building dates from the 16th century and contained many original features. we were introduced to the other guests and John gave us a run down of how the event would progress and split us into teams. My initial thoughts of John were shattered as soon as I met him, he is a warm and welcoming chap who had none of the stereotypical attitude of certain media hungry mediums. He joked about himself and what he does, although he takes what he does very seriously. During the meet and greet and general chatting to get to know each other better I found myself being constantly drawn to a fireplace. The main fireplace was very impressive and a second, slightly smaller one, backed onto it from a room opposite. This room was used as the pubs restaurant, The fireplace was large, about five feet wide and three feet high. What was odd about was the fact that the whole thing was giving me that all to familiar urge to clamber in to see where it went. I’ve been near fireplaces that were much larger and never got that feeling before which is why I found it so odd. Earlier John had asked us all to mention anything that we felt or saw so I made him aware of the way the fireplace was affecting me. He said he’d tell me a bit more about it later in the evening. After a cuppa we were taken in to the restaurant where we were prepared for the event and we set off on the first investigation of the night.
We headed upstairs to the lounge, we investigated this area for about 25 minutes, one chap said that he thought he heard someone breathing in one corner of the room so many photos were taken. Although there was little in the way of actual activity a few people did say that they felt like they were being touched or pushed, oddly a lot of this seemed to be centred on the girly types, one person became very overwhelmed to the point that she was feeling ill and rather exhausted so the first investigation was bought to a close for a cuppa.
During the break we were all sitting chatting when the K2 meter started going mental so we started an impromptu EVP session, although the lights on the meter danced back and forth they were so intermittent as to be random, a few times the meter appeared to be responding to questions, but not often enough to be able to make a definite decision.
The second investigation took us to a bedroom that featured a large walk in wardrobe that had originally been used as small room and it still had the original doors. They were made from a very dark wood that might be oak, but I don’t know my oak from my willow. a few minutes into the investigation I put my hands on one of the doors, after a few seconds I had to move away from the doors, in fact the vibe I got from the doors was so overwhelming I had to leave the room. Once out of the room I calmed myself down and regained control of my emotions. Shortly after leaving the room John bought one of the lasses out of the room,he asked me to tell him what I had experienced. I told him that it felt as though a wave of every possible negative emotion had washed over me, hatred, anger, and bitter rage and it seemed as though it was all wrapped up in unbridled misogyny. John said that I had felt exactly what he expected.
We soon moved from the first bedroom to a second bedroom, no sooner had we all gathered in there someone said that they thought they heard a door close and went to have a look. It transpired that it was a cat flap being operated by one of the house cats. It was at this point I realised that the people I was with were not the sort that would hear something and straight away claim supernatural activity, go take a look and come back with some out landish tale of doors closing on there own, but were prepared to be honest and open. Sadly the second room yielded no activity of any sort so we left and returned down stairs for a break and a cuppa.
After this break we split into our arranged groups, the group I was in headed down to the cellar, unfortunately we experienced absolutely nothing, however the lack of feeling in both the cellar rooms was very noticeable. As a group we agreed that there was nothing of merit happening in the cellar we would head back upstairs to what was referred to as the hub.
After the first set of group investigations John asked for a volunteer to spend ten minutes in a part of the building known as the barn and then take a walk around the churchyard, I was up for that so I said I’d go. Into the barn I went where I spent my allotted ten minutes talking to myself, again no activity save for the ringing of a church bell and the hooting of an owl. Satisfied that the barn was a let down I headed for the church. Walking round the church was an odd experience. I expected to feel something simply because I was in a graveyard at stupid o’clock in the morning on my own. However I felt totally at ease, not even a little uneasy because of where I was, I must admit I found that a bit odd.
I returned to the pub where I sat watching a monitor that was showing the feeds from four IR cameras and chatted with the chap who was the tech for the event, I look forward to seeing the findings as there was some intriguing stuff.
One more investigation that also yielded very little. The other teams had slightly more eventful investigations towards the end of the evening, Jason reported that a plastic cap from a beer keg was thrown across one of the rooms in the cellar and that some plaster fell from the wall in the other, normally that would sound fairly mundane but Jason’s a sound minded chap and I’m sure that there was more to it than plaster just falling. Luke had some experiences in the barn, he told us that his group saw lights and were getting knocks on request.
After a while the event was bought to a close and Jason, Luke and myself headed home. I’m slightly less sceptical than before and I would certainly do more of these events, Luke tells me that he feels the same way.
I got home at around 08:30 on Sunday morning and went to bed, when I woke up I reviewed the audio recordings from my digital recorders, there’s nothing particularly unusual on the recordings except for the one from the very first investigation of the lounge, at about 13 minutes in there is what sounds very much like a growl or snarl, there were no animals in the room.
So there you have it, my experiences from my first, and hopefully not last, paranormal investigation. I met some cool folk and was made to feel very welcome.
In closing I send huge thank you to Jason for taking Luke and I along and also to the other folks who were there for the warm welcome and making us feel part of the team. Finally to the residents of the venue for allowing us into their home.
Blessed be.
