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| FALSTAFF'S EXPERIENCE |
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| copyright K Norman |
| The front of Shrieve House |
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| copyright P Spencer |
The investigation took place on March 22nd, 2008, and I have
to say it must have been one of the coldest nights of the year. We were joined on the investigation by Ian, our historian,
Emma and Paul and three members of Life and Spirit, Jane, Alison and Karen.
The building itself is joined on to Shrieve House, (technically it's the barn), one
of Stratford's most historic buildings. It is situated in the town centre, (although access is blocked by a huge
door), at the end of a cobbled courtyard. Most of the exhibits run along the first floor and include : The Tenement,
The Haunted Chamber, The Plague Cottage, The Witches Glade, The Civil War and The Falstaffs Tavern.
Most of the group took advantage of the guided tour provided by Janet, the co-owner,
and whilst this was taking place baseline readings were taken by the technical crew. I stayed in the hub at the end
of the cobbled courtyard, not wishing to be influenced by anything said during the tour. However, I did have a strange
experience whilst on my own. The bench I was sitting on began to vibrate quite dramatically and as the others arrived
back I asked them to sit on it to see if they could feel the same. None of them did, although the same phenomena was
repeated later...elsewhere.
After reconvening and placing protection we began our investigation in the first room
at the top of the stairs. For ease of desciption I have divided the upstairs into three rooms, rather than exhibit areas,
as many are shared.
We began by sitting in a group, just asking the spirit present
to show themselves in which ever way they felt comfortable. We had a light in response, so asked for another just for
confirmation. See clip below.
Falstaffs Experience Part 1 - March 2008
This
is the first room on the first floor. The first light appears to the left, the second from above my head,
right to left.
| A moving orb outside the entrance to Room 1 |
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| notice the unexplained shadow copyright K Norman |
Falstaffs Experience Part 2
Again in room one. The light anomaly
travels up the front of my coat then off to the left.
As I asked for a light the L&S EMF meter began acting
very oddly, jumping to the top of the scale. So it continued as each question was asked, and this happened for
some considerable time. We thought it might be a good idea to see if we could use the EMF meter as a way of answering
our questions, as this had been tried sucessfully on another occasion. Using this method we concluded that the spirit
present was a male, although it was too difficult to differentiate between the readings for any other information to be gleaned.
It is interesting to note that our own EMF meter became devoid of power in minutes, even though they were new batteries!
The same information was reinforced when we used the thermometer in the same way. We asked if the presence was a man
to try and increase the temperature in the room to 10 degrees if possible. It increased from 6.5 degrees c to 10.1 in
a matter of seconds, so bodies warming the room was discounted. I used the dictaphone to try and record a voice, but
no EVP was forthcoming.
It was then that Andrew felt a swirling breeze around his head, I was touched on the
hair, followed by two lights, one going down towards Emma and the other coming right up in front of me. Alison
then said she could feel the floor vibrating under her backside, as the bench had done earlier. Chris complained
of feeling very jumpy, then a breeze passed him and a light appeared to my left. I then asked if the spirit would like
to touch anyone in the room, very gently. Alison reported feeling a very hot spot on her chin and there was a difference,
showing 17 degrees on her cheek and 22.3 on her chin.
| An orb showing itself in Room 2 |
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| copyright J McIllquham |
Room 2 was active from the word go. As we were organising
ourselves a light appeared above the witches shoes on the shelf behind me and then as I began speaking another light right
in front of me. Julie, using the crystal, informed us it was moving with great speed. Then she jumped when she
realised that no one was behind her, but she had heard some movement!
A man presented himself, and although the picture flash was brief, it was easy to remember.
He was strange looking man with white shaggy hair and a full white beard, and his teeth could have used a little work.
My first impression was that he was a sailor. The noticable thing was a large hoop earing in his left ear.
I did comment that I thought this strange, as we couldn't be further away from the sea. Whilst I was giving his description,
David called from the other room that we had had a light. Click on the link below, and please note there is no sound
on this clip because it is shown in slow motion.
Click here to see light response in the tavern
It was then that Chris commented that Emma had had to leave the room a little earlier,
being affected by wobbly legs and feeling sick, which sounded a lot like sea-sickness. Spooky. (Later when
we mentioned this phenomena to the owner John, he said that it was indeed possible that we could have had a link to the sea,
as that part of the building had been refurbished with ship's timbers - something that could not have been researched!!).
I asked for confirmation of the information I had been given by the giving of a noise. I
thought I'd a low moan coming from behind me. However, no one else heard it and nothing was picked up on either dictaphone
or camera. We did get a report at this point, that Alison was also experiencing wobbly legs and feeling sick.
We decided to try and gather more information by using the glass and table. We had very
little response whilst using the glass, apart from a small light across Emma's hood, so decoded fairly quickly to move to
the glass. Immeadiately we heard tapping from under the table, a strong breeze across our hands and another light
crossed Emma's hood. From the movement's given the following information was given. The sailor's name was Thomas
Bell and he had worked on ships at sea, but also on a river boat. He used to come to the tavern because he liked to
drink and not for any other purpose. In fact he seemed very upset at the suggestion that he used to meet ladies here!!
We had several tips of the table towards me and even after I asked it to tip in another
direction it still continued, so, after several movements to different locations I left the circle and we had a change of
personnel.
Then something very stange happened. After the glass was put back on the table,
the table began tipping. No one's hands were directly touching it, only fingers placed very lightly on the glass.
Our resident sceptic David is of the opinion that the floor was uneven. But, even if that were the case, surely once
the lowest point had been found the first time, it would require pressure on the other side of the table to make it rock,
yet there only fingers on the glass!! That was follwed by touching of hair, very strong breezes and Julie and Chris
both reported that the top of the glass felt wet. It was also noticable at this point that the table began to rock backwards
and forwards like the rocking of a ship.
More information gathered about Thomas Bell here was that he made a living as a merchant
moving goods from Bristol docks to inland areas, and we think was killed in a pub brawl after being stabbed, but
some of the answers were ambiguous.
Falstaffs Experience Part 3
This is room 2, the 'Superstitions Room'.
The light travels from middle right screen. Because of the speed of the light the footage has been slowed, hence the
lack of sound..
Room 3 is the Tavern area of the building and seems to be
guarded by a large dark entity unwilling to share information, but happy just to lurk. It gives the area quite an oppressive
feeling, and it's very odd how no one other than Andrew was willing to stand with their back to the entrance.
What this spirit is capable of doing is filling the area
at the top of th exit steps with the most awful smell. Sick was the unanimous decision. I personally couldn't
smell anything, but decided if we could use this to our advantage. We asked for noise or light but seemed
to be getting no response. However, from the video that was pointing down the stairs we were getting lights. Everytime
someone mentioned the smell, a light had preceded it. Of course this was not known at the time, only when all the tapes
were checked. It was finally decided the area would be investigated in smaller groups later, but no further information
was forthcoming.
The night had certainly been one to remember for many reasons and it is hoped that we
will return for another investigation some time in the near future.
| The Hub. This place HAD heating and an orb or two |
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| Copyright A Hargreaves |
Pat Adams-Wright for WYPG
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