Southern Paranormal - Investigations
Undisclosed Location, Southampton Investigation
Friday 28th January 2011
Attending Investigators - Amanda Horley, Brian Witt, Maria Street, Julie Harwood, Marie Holder, Mark Pettet, Sarah Pettet and Steve Boston .
Personal reports from investigators that attended
Amanda Horley
Although this Chapel and the attaching Hall were in Southampton, I wasn’t familiar with them, so was intrigued to be doing the investigation, especially as we rarely investigate Chapels.
I was in a team with Sarah, Mark, Steve, Brian and Guests Martin and Kim. We started our vigils in the Chapel, and I was immediately drawn to the area at the back by the main entrance. I sat quietly in one of the pews and very quickly felt the presence of a man who was not happy with us being there. The eighteenth century seemed appropriate for him, and I would say he was balding, but with wispy, curly hair at the sides and back. It felt like he had an official connection with the Chapel, but probably not as a minister, maybe a verger of someone with that type of job. He was agitated and unhappy with us being there and I heard shuffling a couple of times next to where I was sat. He made me feel very uncomfortable but in an effort to try and get more information about him I moved up to the main altar, and stood next to it. Brian, who had been standing nearby also moved up to the altar. It felt as if the man had followed us, but did not come beyond the altar rail. My being next to the altar seemed to be making him furious and it felt like he was shouting at me to ‘get out of his chapel’. It seemed to be a combination of us investigating, me having gone up past the altar rail, and me being a woman that was making him so upset. Strangely I found him less threatening in this part of the Chapel, and after a time I couldn’t sense him anymore.
Whilst we were standing near the altar, both Brian and I saw a shadow moving to one side of the chapel. We saw this on more than one occasion, but because of the angle I can’t be absolutely sure that
it wasn’t caused by passing traffic. After a time I went to the back of the chapel again to see if I could pick up on the man again, but I couldn’t feel anything.
Our second vigil was in the Hall, and although chilly, it was considerably warmer than the chapel had been. For me, the Hall was very quiet, and although there were a lot of taps and knocks they probably could be put down to everything settling down after the lights were turned off. Interestingly, although I sensed nothing within the Hall, when standing outside the front door it felt like the Hall and nearby houses would once have been part of a school.
Brian Witt
Hall (setup)
While looking around the hall before the vigils had started, Maria and myself were walking to the back right of the stage and the door opened and then closed. We repeated everything we had done to see if we had caused it but it did not happen again.
Chapel
While stood at the front of the Chapel, I was looking through between a pillar and the wall to my left. It looked as though someone walked past blocking the light from between gap. I could not be sure that it wasn’t a member of the group though.
Hall
Sadly no experiences at all.
Maria Street
This chapel, set back from the main road is in full use today so we were very fortunate to be allowed to investigate it along with the hall opposite. We all met up at 9pm and started to set up. I was in team 1 with Julie, Rachel, Simon, Marie and guest, Kath. We decided to start our vigil in the hall whilst the other team were in the chapel. We sat quietly and listened for any normal, electrical noises. The hum of the central heating kept us company for a little while but soon turned off, leaving complete silence. We called out and were treated to taps. We wanted to see if they were natural noises so we stopped. It was interesting to note that most of the noises did seem to be in response to us. We also heard loud thuds and Julie and Kath both saw a shaft of light moving slowly across the curtains. Moving traffic was ruled out so Simon went outside with a torch to try to replicate it, but to no avail. Names were also coming thick and fast. I got Abbott, Judas, Peter and Matthew. Almost immediately after getting the name of Matthew I then got the phrase ‘Beat the Bishop’ which seems really rude but a couple of days later Kath sent me the history of the place and it could be relevant. I also had the song of ‘Campdown Races’ in my head, then ‘I shot the sheriff’ I have no idea what they could mean.
We stopped for a welcome hot drink then our team carried on over to the chapel opposite. We all took a seat in the pews and were quiet for a while. It was so quiet that I actually remarked you could hear a pin drop. This soon came to an end when we started to call out. Taps and knocks could be heard in response to questions and when we asked for two knocks, we got them. This is quite rare so it was exciting to hear. Julie felt very uncomfortable by the entrance door so she and I walked over to it. We stayed for a while but soon came back to our pews. Kath felt we may be in the presence of somebody who disapproved of women vicars and it certainly did seem to be the case as we were treated to many a thud and knock, but only in response to calling out. Otherwise it was very quiet indeed. All too soon our night was over and I would love to go back another time, but am very grateful to have been allowed to investigate this time. Thank you so much to Kath for being so open-minded and for making it all possible.
Julie Harwood
We were very fortunate to be allowed access to this never before investigated location and thank you to Kath for making this possible; your trust in our team is very much appreciated.
Our first vigil was in the Hall. I expected a very quiet vigil in here. I am not sure why I just did but was pleasantly surprised. Marie and I sat on the stage area. We could hear quite a few taps and knocks. I am 50/50 on this as some could have been from the heating / radiators cooling off but some were not consistent to heating noises and came from all different parts of the hall. Obviously we have to consider it was the building “settling” so to speak. Marie picked up some names and Maria was getting songs in her head. I got the impression of ill people or hospital and in some parts of the room Kath & I could smell a clinical / medical smell. Not quite as strong as tcp but along the lines of savlon. This was very evident in some areas and not others. We called Marie over and she could smell what we smelt. Back on the stage Marie and I could also hear knocks coming from behind us however we were not moving and there was no one else on the stage with us. It also became noticeably colder in the area we were sat. I also saw a large shadow right in front of my, moving across the curtains / window. We tried to replicate this and Simon went outside with a torch trying to see if cars headlights had caused it but we could not replicate it and sods law, there were no cars passing at the time so we could check.
Our second vigil was in the chapel. This was quite a quiet vigil for me although we did appear to get some knocks in answer to questions. To test we stayed quiet for long periods of time and no taps or knocks were heard. Then we started to ask questions and the taps started. The odd thing was that Maria and I were calling out in a very aggressive manner which is not the normal thing for us to do. I was also very nervous of the area by the door we entered by. I felt we were being watched from there and so Maria and I went and stood in the area. I did not feel too bad there but was constantly pacing in circles, something I do without realising straight away, if I am agitated.
Thank you very much for allowing us to visit. I would like to come back and follow up on our investigation.
Marie Holder
Introduction
I arrived at the location at 8.00pm and met up with some of the team. We made our way inside and started to set up. The vigils started at 10.00pm.
Vigil 1
There were lots of creaks and taps during this vigil but this could have been the heating cooling down as it went off 10 minutes into the vigil.
I got the names Doris Harrison and Stanley in my head and also the song White Cliffs of Dover, which was a first for me as I have never got a song in my head before on an investigation.
During the vigil, I was sat on the stage with Julie and we heard a few knocks that we couldn’t account for, a couple that were quite close to us and we weren’t moving at the time. It also got very cold.
I was watching the DVR during the vigil and there were quite a few light anomalies although most of them could have been attributed to dust.
Vigil 2
Unfortunately for me nothing much happened on this vigil. We asked some questions with a 1 tap for No 2 taps for Yes response. With one of the questions we got a 1 tap response which was quite interesting as we asked whether they agreed to women vicars.
Conclusion
The first vigil was the best one for me as there were some interesting noises and sensations experienced. If given the chance again I would very much like to return to this location.
Mark Pettet
Arriving at the Chapel hall car park on a very chilly and clear night I was hoping it would be an interesting evening. Unfortunately for me it wasn’t to be. After setting up cameras with Steve and Simon in the Chapel we headed back over to the Chapel hall for tea/coffee before heading back over to the Chapel. Once there a few photos were taken but I didn’t pick anything up, not even a speck of dust. Other members of the group were calling out but nothing was really heard. The only thing that was strange in here was when we entered we took the ambient temp which was about 6°C. When we had been sat down for a while I had a cold spot in front of me which was reading -0.9°C. Moving away from me the temperature increased. I didn’t experience anything else in the Chapel.
Our other vigil was in the Chapel hall but sadly this was extremely uneventful for me.
Sarah Pettet
Team 2 – Sarah, Amanda, Mark, Steve, Brian and guests (x2)
The Chapel was a stunning building just from the outside and certainly looked very atmospheric.
Vigil one– The Chapel
We took readings but there was nothing significant. We settled ourselves down to investigate. The Chapel was just as stunning inside as it was out, though at first I felt that it was all wrong and there were bits there that shouldn’t be and that certain aspects of the Chapel were the wrong way round. I began to take photos. Just before my camera goes off it throws out a red-eye light and when this happened just before I took my fourth picture I was sure I saw a figure stood right in front of me – but this was not one of the team as they were all in various areas behind me. Unfortunately, nothing came out on the photo. We tried calling out at various time during the whole vigil.
Amanda initially sat at the back of the Chapel but felt uncomfortable and also like she wanted to move to the altar. Brian and I both went up to the altar area with Amanda. I sat in the choir seats to begin with. Amanda had a sense of a priest/vicar with her who did not want her at the altar. I started to smell burning but like a building burning. We ruled out the incense burners above the altar. I moved down towards the end of the choristers seats and stood for a while. I had the sense of a man (of the cloth) not the same as Amanda described, however, he appeared to be mildly curious in what we were doing but did not want to come any closer. I did not feel this was the same man as I had briefly glimpsed either.
Steve then thought he saw something in the pews on the left of the altar, like someone in kneeling in prayer. We took a look and were trying to see what it could have been, but were unable to replicate it and Steve was not sure if it was a trick of the light. I began to speak to the guests to explain how and why we were trying to debunk things rather than accepting them to be paranormal, when I got the smell of burning again. I was describing this to the guests when we heard a noise come from the far side of the Chapel where none of the team were. I called out but we heard nothing further. Steve joined us and I went back to the burning smell conversation, no sooner had we started then Steve and I heard a voice in the same direction we heard the noise earlier. We tried calling out again, and sitting in different areas but we did not get anything more.
Vigil 2-The Chapel Hall
There were no significant readings and we settled down relatively quickly. The room was very dusty so I took no significant pictures. We called out in here, but had no responses. The room felt very settled and calm. We even switched the lights on about 15 minutes before the end to see if we could get anything to happen, but it was still a calm room.
Summary
The vigil in the Chapel was very interesting and I would have liked to either spend more time in here or gone back on another vigil. The Chapel hall on the other hand was very quiet and had no real atmosphere to it.
Steve Boston
I have often driven past this Chapel and thought what in intriguing building it looked, so I was very keen to be part of the small team that had a chance to investigate it. It was also a privilege to get the chance to investigate a Chapel as this is not usually the type location that we get a chance to investigate.
On arrival I met with the other team members and after a quick walk around I set about installing two IR Cameras in the Chapel. Simon also installed a number of smaller wireless IR cameras in the building, whilst Brian covered the Chapel Hall with his set up.
Vigil 1 – The Chapel
Vigil Start – 22.10 hours
The Chapel itself was a very cold building. The average ambient temperature was around 6° C. I carried out a sweep with the K2 meter but picked up no ambient EMF. We did have two DVR set ups running in the building but there was no interference picked up.
The Chapel itself when dark was naturally a creepy place to be so it was important not to allow your imagination run away. The start of the investigation was quiet. At one point approximately twenty minutes in I thought I saw a figure in the pews off to my right. It looked to be knelt down as if in prayer. It was not a vivid image in anyway. It may have been my eyes naturally looking to create human shapes out of shadows so I cannot say 100% that I saw something.
At various points during the vigil both Sarah and Amanda picked up on the slight smell of burning. Whilst we were talking about fire the K2 meter activated up to the red, this occurred twice. It was then discovered that two of the hosts had mobile phones on silent. We did test if their proximity to the K2 would have caused the activation, it did not. However the simple fact those phones were on and in the area of the K2 we have to dismiss this evidence. Shortly after this both Sarah and I thought we heard someone murmuring at the back of the Chapel building, I picked this up very faintly on my voice recorder but I can’t clean it up enough to make out the voice.
The vigil was drawn to a close at 23.05 hours; the temperature was still around 6°C. Mark P was taking temperature readings throughout the vigil and at one point he recorded a dip in the ambient temperature to -0.9°C. This is a very unusual temperature change.
Vigil 2 – Chapel Hall
Vigil Start – 23.37 hours.
The Chapel hall is a newer building opposite the Chapel. The ambient temperature in this building was 13.6°C.
We had a very quiet investigation in the Chapel hall with nothing at all happening and nothing being picked up on.
The vigil was drawn to a close at 00.30 hours, we had a slight temperature drop of 1°C over the hour but this was natural due to the time of night and the cooling of the building.