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| copyright E. Stead |
Friday 28th September
It was decided that the first evening would be spent taking
a short time in a few locations, just to get a feel of the building and our surroundings, then later in the evening do an
investigation in one of the apartments.
The whole group congregated in the Minstrel's Hall to begin
the investigation. As the room had been used as a Tea Room during the day and had a roaring log fire, it began, being
fairly warm. However, as we began to take photographs and ask out for spirit presence to show some signs, it began to
cool significantly. Numerous photographs were taken and the atmosphere seemed charged with electricity and both the
divining rods and crystals seemed to indicate signs of spirit presence. See photographs below.
What is impressive about the photograph with the pentagonal
light anomaly is not just it's unusual shape, but also the fact that on the same photograph there are also round orbs too.
If the shape had been a fault on the camera one would assume that the same fault would occur all over the same photo.
| Picture taken from Minstrel's Hall |
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| Investigator David seems to have company |
| A pentagonal light anomaly |
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| copyright E. Stead |
We moved swiftly on to the chapel, a wonderful little room
situated between the Minstrel's Gallery and the Great Hall. It was here that Angela said, as she was sitting on one
of the bench pews, that she could feel somone sitting in the seat behind her. As she turned to look, the photograph
below was taken and as you can see, there was a small orb showing. It was discovered later that this had been the location
of the death of a young girl, who had been abused and violated by her captors.
Emma also had a chilling experience as we were leaving the
room, when she heard what she thought was the slamming of a cupboard, coming from beneath the window. Such was her haste
in which to leave, she nearly knocked me off my feet to do it! When we checked later in the light, there was in
fact no cupboard or anything else that could have caused a noise of that description.
| The Chapel |
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| The presence of a small orb |
The Great Hall was next on our visit, and this is the place
where the photograph was taken showing the image of a young girl, seated in one of the large chairs at the rear of the room.
We were not quite that lucky, but as we wandered around picking out the cold spots and taking numerous photographs we were
rewarded with the results shown below.
| The Great Hall |
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| An impressive single orb |
| The Great Hall - Courtyard entrance |
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The first investigation proper took place in the Dairy apartment.
As we began our period of protection some 'twinkly' light anomalies were caught in the background by the video camera, followed
shortly after by a light travelling down Rachaels' arm.
We began a glass divination session after using divining
rods and crystals to detect whether or not there were spirits present. The glass became very animated in it's movement
as we picked up the spirit of a lady who claimed to have lived in the castle between 1852 and 1855. This is when a light
was picked up moving away from Julie. While we tried to find out why she lived there we suggested that it might be because
she worked there. The reacton of the glass showed her displeasure and it turned out she was actually a family member.
A heavy breath was heard by several members of the group, but nothing was caught on tape. Apparently, someone had taken
her life, although they had been punished for it and a record of it is somewhere in the Earls' Grey history, (as yet unsubstantiated).
She is believed to have had two children, although names were not forthcoming.
The second spirit was very brief in her visit, a female who
had worked in the laundry in the 1880's and had died of some kind of infection.
We then placed our hands on the table with the glass in the
middle to see if we could encourage the glass to move on it's own. However, the table began dithering and moving slightly
instead. Everyone felt a cold breeze moving across the table. It was then that I was touched very lightly
on the face and Lila felt as though she was being pricked by a pin. Shortly after this the table began shaking and both
Angela and I saw a shadow, but nothing was picked up on tape.
As the glass was replaced by a candle, the cool breeze did
make the flame flicker and an orb was caught by the video camera.
At the same time, a locked off camera in the Landseer apartment
picked up some anomalies. There were three clicks and some knocking noises in an otherwise silent room. The most
significant anomaly was about half way through the tape when a flickering light appeared on both the coffee table and the
wall behind the couch. It wasn't there at the beginning or end, and there was no light source that could have caused
it.
Saturday 29th September
Given the fact that Chillingham Castle is famous for it's
massed burial pits and hanging trees, it was decided to spend a good deal of time in the woods. The screaming of a fox
did give everyone a fright on the way to the hanging tree, but otherwise the walk was uneventful.
When the group arrived at the tree, it was decided to join
hands around it, to see if spirits could be tempted to make themselves known. Several people reported hearing breathing
close to their ears. I was monitoring progress by walkie-talkie from one of the apartments and as I was speaking
to Emma there was a strange growling noise, heard by both of us. Seeing as one was in send mode and the other in receive
it shouldn't have been possible for both of us to hear it!!
Towards the end of the asking out session a wind blew
up from nowhere and it had been a lovely still night. When looking back through the photos that were taken the one below
shows a strange mist.
| On the visit to the woods |
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| A strange mist appears |
We moved to the Courtyard apartment to carry on the
investigations, and began with some table tipping. the first sign of spirit presence was a cold breeze blowing across
the top of the table and then a strange coldness moving in between Emma and myself. As Emma began to complain about
feeling pins and needles, the table suddenly tilted. Her hair began to stand on end and she began to complain of a nagging
backache. The photo below was taken at that time.
| Emma complains of backache |
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| An orb appears on the spot |
Through a question and answer session the spirit revealed
herself to be Lady Mary Berkley, whom we had come across on a previous occasion. As then, I was affected by 'cobwebs'
and the batteries from cameras began draining very quickly, although not many photos had been taken. When asked if she
could show herself as a light a small light anomaly ran down Rachaels' arm. It was then we were joined by another group,
and although the table did several violent tilts, communication seemed to be at an end.
We were joined briefly by a male spirit, but no information
was forthcoming.
Glass divination was the next means used for communication
and although the glass began jumping and moving, the information gained was personal to four of the group present.
Later, during an asking out session, it appeared that Mary
had returned, turning the room very cold and touching me very gently on the ear lobe. A very faint orb was found
on my cardigan from a photo taken at the time. Flashing lights were also seen by both Emma and Rachael, above a mirror
in the apartment.
Sunday 30th September
Sunday night was to be dedicated, as far as possible, for
use as a 'recce' for future investigations, covering all the main areas in the castle, on the ground floor, ths time using
the video camera, as well as stills.
We all met in the Guard Room, the room adjoining the
dungeon. Every time we take photos here we are rewarded, and this time was no exception. See photo below.
While we were here, several people again decided to spend
a short time in the dungeon. The general opinion was that the place did not have a good feel to it and indeed,
made me sick to my stomach. It was decided that at a future date we would dedicate a great deal more time to this room.
A very bright light anomaly was caught on video, coming from
the Minstrel's Gallery and an unexplained blurring as though the camera was trying to focus on something that couldn't be
seen.
In the chapel, twinkling lights were caught above Angela's
head and Dave's throat was being adversely affected as though he was being choked and which went away the minute he left the
room. Batteries were draining in everyone's cameras, stills as well as video.
Shown below are the rest of the stills photos worthy of inclusion,
including Dave's favourite of the blue orb above my head in the Great Hall, from the final walk through and the last
vigil in our apartment when we were all convinced we had heard and seen something over by the window.
| The Great Hall - final night |
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| Asking out for spirit |
| A Visitor in the Landseer Apartment? |
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| Convinced we had heard and seen something |
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| Darren has company in the Great Hall |
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| copyright E Stead |
There will be other photographs added at a later date
and rotated to show a good cross-section.
This investigation was very different from previous ones
due to the very nature of its purpose. However, it by no means diluted the worthiness of it's results. A
wonderful time was had by all who attended and the information gained will be well used on future occasions.
By Pat Adams-Wright for WYPG
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