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The Old White Horse in Bingley, West Yorkshire, UK, is a
16th century coaching inn, although an inn of some kind has stood on the site since the 14th century. The original one
was founded by the Knight Templars.
It is strategically placed between the Ireland Bridge, which
crosses the River Aire, and the Parish Church. It stands on Old Main Street, which in the 16th century used to belong
to Queen Elizabeth 1, who leased the inn for 16 pennies a year. It was at one time used as the town courthouse and still
has the cells in the basement.
The steps at the front of the building are famous for being
used by John Wesley for his preaching and at the rear of the property the ghost of a piper has been seen, who visits in thanks
to the people who saved him from the vagrancy laws by offering him shelter.
The investigation took place at the request of Kevin, the
landlord, who wanted to shed some light on the strange occurences that have been happening to him and members of his staff,
since he moved in nearly two years ago. I asked Kevin and one of his employees, Eddie, to write down some of the things
that had happened to them and this is what they came up with.
Kevin has experienced: two taps on his leg when no one else
was near him; heard knocking on the kitchen window, but when he checked, there was no one there and no footprints in the snow;
heard a door banging downstairs in the bar area most nights, but there is no door; heard footsteps across the bedroom floor,
from downstairs, when there was no one upstairs; when in bed he has heard footstep coming towards him, confirmed by the dog
who also looked, but nobody came through the doorway; a glass fall off the till, also witnessed by two other people; heard
a glass smash in the kitchen but when checking found it intact on the floor; saw a lady, stood by the sink in the kitchen,
who disappeared when Kevin looked away; Kevin couldn't find the dog lead one day, the phone gave one ring and when
he went to answer it, the lead was by the phone; a house key was handed in by a customer who had found it on a bench.
It was placed by the till. The next day the same key was handed in again! Since this event, there have been another
four keys handed in, the last one the day before our visit, from an area of the bar not used by any customers and cleaned
prior to the event. There have been no enquiries whatsoever from the owners of these keys.
Also, five pence pieces keep being found all over the pub,
(see report), with too much regularity for it to be accidental loss. Kevin also finds large pieces of mortar in the
beer cellar regularly, but cannot find the source of it. Quite often pool balls are heard dropping when there is no
one in the Pool Room, (see report). Even Jess, the dog, seems to be experiencing something, staring transfixed and also
reacting as though things are happening.
Eddie has also experienced and witnessed several things.
A ladies' toilet flushing twice when nobody was in there, a feeling of nausea and strength draining whilst stood at the corner
of the bar near the kitchen, (also experienced by Kevin), the sighting of a young girl near the fireplace in the bar, walking
about upstairs when the pub is empty, items being moved from one floor to another, the smell of bacon coming from the cell
area. During a week covering for holidays he experienced, computer (twice), tills and coolers all breaking down.
The green nozzle on the Coke tap disappearing at night, only to be there the following morning. He also had his jumper
pulled twice whilst in the stable block.
The evening had a promising start when, after a period
gaining protection, we commenced a seance in the main bar area. After only a few minutes the motion sensors that had
been placed across the Pool Room entrance sounded, as though the beam had been broken. David was taking stills
photographs at the time and on checking, found the one shown below contained a small orb.
| Outside the pool room |
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| A small orb on the right |
This seemed to herald things to come in the Pool Room.
The locked-off camera in there did pick up the sound of the motion detector going off and I can clearly be heard speaking
in the background, asking for a sound to show spirit presence. Loud knock on wood, just before. However, throughout
the tape, random footsteps can be heard, as well as several clicks. As the tape progresses so the footsteps become more
regular, as does the clicking and it really sounds as though someone is having a game of pool, which fits in nicely with reports
from the landlord and his staff. There is one very loud bang, which sounds as though someone has made a power shot and
I am at the moment tryng to get this incident transferred to the website. During the whole of this time there is no
movement whatsoever of the triger objects. When reviewing though, there had been a temperature increase during the event
from 21.5 to 23.0 degrees C.
Meanwhile in the bar, we were not getting any response to
our questions, clearly that was taking place in the Pool Room, although we didn't know it at the time. A name change
was picked up, from the Old Black Horse and also that there had been a royal connection and court of justice. We
decided to change our attention to the upstairs landing where Jack Collins had captured his afternoon photograph.
This turned out to be an area where most physical effects
were reported by various members of the group. Lila, Julie and David all laid down on the floor and had feelings
of tightness in their chests, as though someone was sitting on them. A heavy head with pressure at the temples and an
extreme soreness in throat were also reported, almost as though being strangled. Lila
actually said she felt as though she was being dragged by the feet into one of the bedrooms. As you can see by the photo
below, we did seems to have someone with us. And just to herald our exit, two very loud bangs were heard behind us as
we were coming down the sairs. What a surprise!!
While we were taking a break, Julie and David decided to
go into the courtyard to take some photographs. It was then that Julie saw a dark, tall, thin man come out of the stable
block, walk behind a car and disappear. At first she assumed it was one of the group, but the remainder of us were all
together in the bar area. It is not unheard of for a ghost to be seen in this area. It was in this place earlier,
that I had heard the sound of wheels on cobblestones, starting and stopping, but I didn't have anyone to verify this.
Our next visit was to the Coach House area, which is to be
found to the right of the archway. It was like walking into a refridgerator. Although it is an old building with
no heating, it was unnaturally cold and even people that were not usually affected by the cold were complaining how bitter
it was. Some of the group decided to go on to the balcony area to investigate and it was felt that there was more than
one spirit present. Some were convinced they could see moving shadows and unexplainable lights opposite. See photo
below.
On the video footage you can actually see static and flashing
lights and although checks were made to see if any light may be coming in from outside, there were no holes of any kind, found.
While this was happening, Donna, Kevin's partner, complained of sudden, unexplained nausea and had to leave the building for
a short time. One of the group complained of being pinched and the temperature continued to drop.
It was because of this that we decided to go back into the
main building. However, WE COULD NOT GET OUT of the Coach House.
Fortunately, Kevin could get out of another exit into the
courtyard and come round the building to let us out. It seems that somehow(?), the hasp had been pushed over the lock
making it impossible to open from the inside. Given that we were all together and that Kevin and Donna had just returned,
the event was unexplainable. On our way out a five pence piece was found by the door. Funny that!
Dawn was upon us at this point, so it was decided to make
some future visits to complete the investigation, as we had not covered even a third of the building.
Just as a little extra - later that same day I had to make
a trip to the local supermarket. As I opened up the passenger door to put the groceries inside on the seat I noticed
something. A FIVE PENCE PIECE.
Pat Adams-Wright for WYPG
to be continued......
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