Southern Paranormal - Investigations
Wareham Town Hall Investigation
Saturday 8th October 2011
Attending Investigators - Julie Harwood, Maria Street, Steve Boston, Marie Holder, Robin Turton, Wendy Callaway, David Baxter and Laura Munday.
Hosts - Cllr Dan Critchley & Emma Critchley
History of Wareham
The town's strategic setting has made it an important settlement throughout its long history. Excavations at the nearby Bestwall site have produced evidence of transient early Mesolithic activity dating to around 9000 BCE. At the same site four large Neolithic pits containing worked flint and pottery fragments dating to 3700 BCE were found. Three greenstone axeheads discovered also probably date to this period. Flint working and potting continued throughout the Bronze Age. The first house discovered dates to the mid 15th century BCE.
Archaeological evidence exists of a small Roman settlement, though the current town was founded by the Saxons. The Roman name is unknown, but the town is referred to as Werham in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle entry of 784, from Old English wer (meaning 'fish trap, a weir') and hām ('homestead') or hamm ('enclosure hemmed in by water').
The town's oldest features are the town walls, ancient earth ramparts surrounding the town, likely built by Alfred the Great in the 9th century to defend the town from the Danes as part of his system of burh towns. The Danes had invaded Wareham in 876, only leaving after the payment of aransom. In 998 they attacked again, and in 1015 an invasion led by King Canute left the town in ruins. The town was a Saxon royal burial place, notably that of King Beorhtric (800 CE). Also in the town at the ancient minster church of Lady St. Mary is the coffin said to be that of Edward the Martyr, dating from 978. His remains had been hastily buried there and were later taken from Wareham to Shaftesbury Abbey in north Dorset (and now lie in Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey).
By the end of the Saxon period, Wareham had become one of the most important towns in the county, to the extent that it housed two mintsfor the issue of Royal money. The Burghal Hidage lists the town as 1,600 hides, the third largest in the realm. After the conquest of England, the Normans built a castle on the banks of the River Frome, at the site now known as Castle Close. The castle was the focus of much fighting between the forces of Stephen and Matilda during the period of civil war in the mid 12th century. The keep was destroyed at an unknown date in the 12th or 13th century, possibly under the terms of the Treaty of Wallingford and no visible trace remains. Up until this time Wareham had been an important port; however the growth of Poole and the gradual silting of the river caused a decline in trade and by the end of the 13th century most of the foreign trade had transferred to Poole. Local trade continued to be handled at the Quay until the construction of the railway in the 19th century.
During the English Civil War, Wareham changed hands several times between the Royalists and Parliamentarians and in August 1644 was the site of a fierce battle with 2,000Cromwellian soldiers besieging the town.
After the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685, Wareham was one of a number of towns in Dorset where Judge Jeffreys held the Bloody Assizes, with five rebels being hanged, drawn and quartered on the West Walls, an area known as 'Bloody Bank'. This may also have been the site of the execution of a hermit known as Peter de Pomfret who in 1213 had prophesied that before the next Ascension Day King John's rule would be over. The prophesy turned out to be incorrect, and the King decreed that Peter should be dragged through the streets of the town tied to a horse's tail and hanged together with his son.
In 1762, a fire destroyed two thirds of the town, which has been rebuilt in Georgian architecture with red brick and Purbeck limestone, following the earlier street pattern. The town is divided into four quarters by the two main roads, which cross at right-angles. The medieval almshouses escaped the fire, and some of the Georgian facades are in fact disguising earlier buildings which also survived.
With the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Wareham became a garrison town with up to 7,000 soldiers living and training locally. The camp was re-located to nearby Bovington in 1922. The town survived the Second World War largely intact, although five houses were destroyed when a bomb dropped by a German aeroplane fell near St Martin's Church in 1942.
Because of the constraints of the rivers and marshland Wareham grew little during the 20th century, while nearby towns, such as Poole, grew rapidly.
www.wickepedia.org
The Town Hall photographed in 1868 (above left) and 1860(above right). Built in 1768, it replaced the medieval church of St Peter, which had become municipal buildings in the 17th century. It was replaced in 1870 by the present Town Hall and Corn Exchange (below)
The Investigation
Teams
Team 1
Maria – Team leader
Julie
Steve
Laura
Dan & Emma
Team 2
Wendy – Team Leader
David
Marie
Robin
Itinerary
8.00pm Meet outside location
8.15pm Meet Dan & Emma
8.30pm Set up
9.15pm Vigil 1
Team 1 – Ground Floor
Team 2 – 1st Floor
10.15pm Break
10.30pm Vigil 2
Team 1 – 1st Floor
Team 2 – Ground Floor
11.30pm Break
11.45pm Vigil 3
Team 1 – Ground Floor
Team 2 – 1st Floor
12.45am Break
1.00am Vigil 4
Team 1 – 1st Floor
Team 2 – Ground Floor
2.00am Pack up
2.30am Depart
Personal Reports
TEAM 1
Maria – Team leader
After some very exciting recent investigations, I couldn't wait to get my teeth into this one. We arrived in good time and met with our lovely hosts, Dan and Emma. They joined our Team, Team 1, (Julie, Steve, Laura and I) for the vigils and we started in the Corn Exchange. The first thing we noticed was during the baselines and the KII spiking down the far side of the hall but we could not pinpoint why it was happening, as it was intermittent and not regular. We settled down all around the hall and started to call out. We had placed our KII on the floor nearer the far end. We tried using it as a communication tool but the spikes were too sporadic and therefore inconclusive. It was however not the usual behaviour for them and we were all puzzled as to what was causing the spikes. We investigated it thoroughly but every theory we came up with was debunked in seconds. They carried on like this throughout the whole vigil but with no plausible explanation. We tried adding the other KII and the miligauss meter and they both behaved in the same way as the first one. Interestingly, at the far end of the hall, they seemed to go off at chest height and lessened as it reached the floor or the ceiling. It was very intriguing and we had no idea what was causing this. We tried an EVP experiment but sadly nothing seems to have shown on any audio. This was a puzzling vigil that raised more questions than it answered.
After a quick break we carried on to vigil 2, which we started upstairs in the council chambers. I felt this area had quite a genteel feel about it considering it was once a courtroom. About ten minutes in, Steve moved his position, but it wasn't consistent with where Julie and I thought he had been. We were certain he'd been sat in front of us the whole time, but it wasn't Steve.
I felt there was once a man here who was quite lenient towards offenders, not because he was letting them off for the sake of it but because he was sensitive to the reasons why they offended in the first place. Julie and I also heard movement to our right but could not ascertain what caused it. We also heard a noise to our right whilst Julie was calling out. I had the name of Michael in my head and wrote it down. Steve, Julie and I all heard movement by the door just as Laura felt a pain in her neck and I felt dizzy and saw the room darken. Julie was also feeling ill and we had the feeling that the ladies were not welcome in the chambers. I felt a huge shiver and my hackles went up. Julie, Laura and I decided to sit where Steve was and we all swapped places with him. Steve heard a footstep behind where we were sitting but we didn't hear it.
A few seconds later Laura and I heard and felt footsteps behind us and we thought Dan had moved along and was stood behind us. However he had stayed where he was and there was nobody there at all. Steve, who was filming at the time, could confirm that nobody had moved behind us at all. We sent Steve and Dan into the other room and invited Emma up to sit with us. We wondered what would happen with only women in the room. We called out and I started to feel compassion for whoever didn't want us in the room. We heard a loud knock behind us, which is audible on my voice recorder. We tried an EVP experiment but unfortunately nothing has shown up on audio.
We went for our next break, and then carried on in the downstairs corridor. This area had a horrible feel about it. It felt almost as if you were being watched. It made me feel quite uneasy. We heard a noise behind me a couple of times and I noticed the handle to the door was down and it could have been slowly working its way up. I pulled the handle up and waited to see if we could hear the same noise again. Just as Steve called out, the noise came again. I could hear a woman talking and it sounded like murmuring from the hall. I then realised there was nobody in the hall. The other team were upstairs. It seemed to be getting quite misty by the door in front of me. I couldn't make out any of the features. It was almost like I had condensation on my glasses. I had some men's names in this area. They were Harry, James, Stephen and Richard. I also had a picture of a soldier from another era. The uniform was white with red and gold trimmings. I have no idea which era or division this is from.
We decided to move back into the main hall and were surprised to find no reaction from the KII meter this time. We sat for a while and I got the song 'Smells like teen spirit' in my head. The rest of the vigil remained quiet for me and we finished our investigation by going back upstairs. We started in the Town Clerk's Office. This room remained quiet for me and after ten minutes we moved back into the Council Chambers. We sat quietly for a while then called out. Julie heard a 'tut' from behind us, but unfortunately I didn't hear it.
A little while later I felt my chair move, almost as if somebody was holding on to the back of it to get themselves up. It also creaked as it moved. Things were quiet for a little while then Julie got the name of Michael. This was very interesting, as I had got this name in here on our previous vigil. Laura revealed she had got it too. I asked if there was a Michael with us when Julie exclaimed that she had been wearing the sonic ear and heard the word 'No'. Steve called out for a while then Julie and I heard what sounded like wind howling. The night was certainly not windy in any way. There wasn't even a draught coming through the windows. We couldn't explain it. Dan and Emma were starting to feel cold so I asked out for the temperature to drop by one degree. Just after I said this I felt a cold breeze going over the top of my foot. We also heard a creaking sound but could not ascertain where this had come from. We (the girls) decided to sit up at the bench again whilst Steve came down into the chambers. Things remained quiet for us however.
This concluded our investigation at Wareham Town Hall and I would really like to thank our hosts, Dan and Emma for being so welcoming and open-minded.
Julie Harwood
This was the first time I had visited the Town Hall in Wareham, yet I must have passed it hundreds of times as Wareham is one of my favourite Dorset towns to visit. We were warmly greeted by our hosts Councillor Dan Critchley and his lovely wife Emma and it was nice to see how willing they were to get involved with what we were doing. Dan & Emma joined our team for the night consisting of Maria as our team leader, Steve, Laura & myself.
Our first vigil was in the Corn Exchange on the ground floor. This was also our kit room and while we were setting up I had an odd feeling of the room being a lot fuller than it actually was. We were only a small investigating group that night and yet the hall felt to me like it had more than double the people in it although obviously all I could see were our members and hosts We started our vigil taking baseline readings of the room and temperature readings. We found the emf fluctuated as expected near a wall heater on the far wall of the room however it also seemed to fluctuate over to the left hand corner of the room. As the casing on the wall was loosed it was obvious that it probably hid electrics of some kind so we make sure we noted this and placed the KII meter well away from it for the vigil. We actually placed it with and audio recorder in the middle of the floor where we were able to confirm there were no readings at the time the baseline tests were done.
We started calling out and we all noticed that the KII meter had started to spike. Steve explained to our hosts the theory behind us using the KII meter and we continued calling out in hope to get more of a reaction. The KII continued to spike seemingly in response and when we called out asking that the meter not be affected for 2 minutes, the KII meter showed no readings for that 2 minutes and then continued to spike while we were asking questions. Now we don't take this seemingly positive reaction as anything abnormal until we have tried to cover all possible causes and so we set about trying to find what these were. We were able to rule out taxi ranks (as their radios can affect the KII) as even as there is one in the town it was not close enough to the building to affect the meter. Steve actually picked the meter up and that's when it got even more confusing at the reading seemed to move with the KII meter as Steve carried it around. He then returned to the spot on the floor where it had been and there was no longer any reading there. It was like something had moved. Carrying the meter Steve was able to measure quite accurately at one point the field in which the meter was being affected and it was between the floor and about 3-4ft off the ground straight up, but it was never consistently in the same place, it kept moving and at times it was like Steve had to chase whatever was causing the reading around. As Laura pointed out, it was almost like the height and behaviour of a child! We stressed to our hosts at this time how rare it is for us to get the meters to trigger without obvious cause and I have to say in the years I have been using a KII meter, the only place I have seen it behave like this was at Marwell Hall when the team were able to follow a seemingly moving source of interference down the main stair case. As much as we wanted to explain it we just couldn't. Not only was it moving it seemed to be spiking (or not spiking as the case may be) on demand. We then got another KII meter from the team kit to as well as a Gauss emf meter so we could swap the KII meters to confirm the first one did not have a fault but also to confirm the readings on all devices. The new KII reacted exactly the same way and the Gauss meter also triggered in the same small space as the KII meter, confirming a definite reading. By the end of this vigil we were unable to debunk the readings and give them a natural explanation.
Our second vigil was on the 1st floor and so we headed for the council chambers. Baseline tests were done and we found no abnormal readings. We settled in to the room. Maria and I sat on the far side, Dan, Emma and Laura sat on the side nearest the door and Steve sat on the judges chair at the top of the room. The whole room felt and looked like a court room so immediately you felt you were either on trial or watching someone on trial. That was a feeling to be expected. The room however also felt completely unwelcoming to women and you could see and hear the women in the team getting a little nervous and uncomfortable apart from Maria at first who seemed to have a connection to a lenient judge who took pity on some criminals. Steve also reported seeing Laura's voice recorder move which was placed on the judges bench less than a foot in front of him and yet we could all see he was far enough away from it not to knock it. We also heard movement by the door but could not see anything when we looked. Laura had a pain in her neck and shoulder area and was this was getting more uncomfortable for her. Maria also started to feel dizzy and Emma did report she did not feel right. Laura, Maria and I decided to swap places with Steve. While up there Steve, Dan and Emma heard a loud noise come from a curtained area behind us. Strangely enough I don't believe Maria, Laura or myself heard it even though we were sat directly where the noise came from though we did feel like someone was behind us the whole time. Seconds later Laura and Maria were convinced Dan had walked up behind them but when they looked Dan was nowhere near where they thought he was. We tried a little experiment at this point and called Emma up to sit with us and asked Steve and Dan just to leave the room for a few moments. Maria could still feel a great sense of compassion and understanding. I have to say I just felt a little uneasy as I was sure someone was stood behind us. We called out and all four of us clearly heard a knocking sound which we confirmed was not Dan and Steve outside the room. We had a voice recorder recording at this point so cross fingers it will have caught it as it was fairly loud.
Our third vigil was back down on the ground floor and so we decided to spend a little time sat in the corridor where the toilets, kitchen and store cupboards were. This area oddly only seemed to affect myself and Maria as we felt constantly watched in there. I was staring at the door to the hall way constantly convinced someone was going to walk in and Maria could hear the sound of women talking which she put down to the other team until she realised they were not on the ground floor anymore but were upstairs. I felt uneasy here but you could really see how much Maria hated the area and that is not like Maria at all. The only other feeling I had in this area was a feeling of being incarcerated away from the world. I felt like I was locked in the area and could not get out. After a short while we made our way back in to the corn exchange and decided to carry on trying to debunk our EMF readings. This has to be one of the oddest things but the entire area had no abnormal emf readings at all. We could not quite believe or understand this so we took reading after reading after reading in every part of the hall and not just the parts that had had readings earlier. There was nothing. We changed EMF meters in case the one we were using had a fault and we got out the gauss meter again but there was nothing! This makes it even harder to explain the earlier vigils happenings!
Our fourth vigil was back upstairs and so we spent a short time in the clerks office. This area felt very peaceful and relaxed to me though as one point I did think I saw someone outside of the door however this was out of the corner of my eye and so it could have just been a small change in light and can not be viewed as anything out of the ordinary. On the whole the team seemed quite relaxed and jovial in here. After about 15 minutes we headed back in to the council chambers. Its odd as the feeling I had earlier did not feel quite a strong in here now but the minute we sat down I heard a loud “Tut” sound from behind me. In my mind it was almost like someone disapprovingly saying “oh god they are back”. Not long after Maria felt her chair move like someone had shoved it but there was no one sat behind us. I suddenly then thought of the name Michael and write it down. Maria and Laura said they had names when they were in the room earlier and had also written them down. Oddly when we compared we all had the name Michael! I decided to wear the ear amplifier while Steve and Maria called out and when the question was asked “ Is there a Michael with us” I clearly heard the word no. I checked none of the team had spoken and they all confirmed that they had been quiet. Maria the felt a very cold breeze just as we heard what sounded like wind howling. The odd thing was that it could not have been a stiller, warmer night considering it was October. The one thing that slightly worried me in this room on this occasion was when Laura felt like she was being strangle / choked. Her voice went all gruff and she clearly had trouble breathing. She constantly had her hands at her neck like she was trying to loosen something. This is not normal behaviour for Laura who is actually a very sceptical member of the team. This concluded our vigil in this area and we headed down stairs to pack up.
In conclusion – We had a really interesting night at Wareham Town Hall. Just like with many investigations one team has an exceptionally quiet night where as the other team has experiences they can not readily explain and on this occasion the team I was on were left a little perplexed on a couple of matters. The ground floor seemed to be where the tech side of our investigations was prevalent where as on the first floor personal experiences were had over anything technical. I would love to return to the town hall, may be in an even smaller team. I would love to further investigate the random EMF readings as they don't make any sense to be there one minute and not an hour later. Thank you again to Dan & Emma for being our hosts and also to Rod Curtis for making our visit possible. Remember Emma, as we said on the night you (and of course Dan if he wants to) are welcome to join us anytime.
Steve Boston
Foreword
This was a first visit to the Town Hall for the team and it's always good to investigate a place for the first time. Having worked in Dorset for the past 11 years I was well aware of the location but had never been inside nor did I know any of its history.
On arrival we met with our hosts for the night and David and I had a brief walk around with them whilst deciding where to set up our technical kit. Following this we got four cameras set up and managed to cover every floor in the building.
We grabbed a quick break and it was time to start.
Vigil 1 –Team 1 – Corn Exchange Room (Ground Floor) 2115-2215 approx
We had our hosts for the night with us on team one as they were keen to see how we investigate. We carried out baseline readings and found that on the far external wall of the building we were getting high readings on the KII Meter, we established this could be down to the clock tower mechanism that ran up the corner of one of the walls. We took base line temperature readings which were consistent for the time of year and the room. We then placed an audio recorder and a K2 Meter in the centre of the room, well away from the area near the clock mechanism.
We began calling out and asking for responses, not long into the vigil the KII Meter lit up to the second green, held it then went to the yellow, held it then dropped to the green where it stayed for a short time. I explained to our hosts the theory behind EMF and possible spirit activity.
The KII kept behaving like this so I went over and picked it up. I found the area of interference to be around 1.5ft wide and 4' high. Outside of this area it went back to the standard “0mgs” baseline reading. It was at this time that the reading began to move about in one half of the room. Unfortunately the half of the room it was present in was closer to the clock mechanism than I would have liked so the evidence became contaminated with what we knew to be natural back ground EMF.
We unpacked a second KII to corroborate that the one we had was not faulty or low on battery power as this can produce false readings. The second KII also began picking up on this small pocket of EMF, now if we start going down the lines of the size of the area in paranormal terms it was childlike.
Looking to prove these readings even further we took out a Gauss EMF Meter, this kind uses sound and a needle. It sounds a little like a Geiger Counter when it activates... tick-tick-tick-tick going all the way up to a high pitched screech when you get a very high reading. This also activated in this small area of EMF that kept moving.
We were unable to bottom this out as something natural so we have to put it on the unexplained list at this time.
We spent the majority of this hour trying to debunk the EMF readings and it was soon time for a break.
Vigil 2 – Team 1 – Main Council Chambers (1st Floor) 2230-23330approx
For our second vigil we headed to the first floor and set up in the main council chambers. We carried out baseline readings and found nothing unusual.
We began calling out and I went to sit up in the main chair – this was once a court room so would have been the magistrates or judges area.
The women in the team started to feel like they were not welcome and began to feel uneasy. I had Laura's Voice Recorder in front of me on a small table, I am 90% sure I saw it move very slightly in a spinning motion. I cannot say for certain but it did make me jump and I declared it to the team straight away. I also felt the floor move near my chair as if someone had walked behind me.
We had a few personal experiences here but nothing concrete, the vigil was at an end and it was time for a break.
Vigil 3 – Team 1 –Hall Way & Corn Exchange (Ground Floor) 2345-0045approx
Back on the ground floor now we headed to the rear hall way near the Corn Exchange. We set up and took baselines, all was normal.
We spaced ourselves out around the hallway on chairs and started calling out. This was a very quiet vigil for me personally it had nothing to note. We then headed back to the Corn Exchange.
We looked to replicate the earlier EMF readings but couldn't get it to react as it had before. We spent more time trying to debunk the EMF reading s from the first vigil with no luck. The hour was up and the vigil drew to a close.
Vigil 4 – Team 1 – Council Office, Council Chamber (1st Floor) 0100-0200approx
We set up in the Council Office for the start of this vigil. The Council Chambers were the room next door. We took baselines which were normal. Audio recording was a little hard in here as we had the tech base in this room and the fan on the DVR was making background noise.
The vigil in this room was quiet so for the final part of the evening we went back to the Council Chambers.
Once again the women had an uneasy feel in here. Laura, Maria and Julie all came up with the name Michael. Maria started asking if a Michael was with us, at this point Julie had the Sonic Ear Amplifier on and she heard a clear 'NO' however the digital voice recorders failed to pick this up.
Laura also began to feel as if she was being strangled by something, so much so she choked and her voice even changed tone. This is very out of character for her and I have never seen her personally affected in this way.
Once again it was down to personal experiences only with nothing being recorded by the tech kit.
The hour was soon up and the night drew to a close.
After Thoughts
Tech review is almost complete for this venue and has not turned up any evidence. The amounts of personal experiences were interesting when coupled together with the KII readings from the Corn Exchange. It would be good to visit the Hall again to see if we could replicate the results we had on the night.
TEAM 2
Wendy Callaway – Team Leader
We arrived at Wareham Town Hall at 20.00 on Saturday 8 October 2011. It was a clear evening and there was a lot of noise outside of the building due to its central location.
Layout of Venue
The building consisted of one large room downstairs (The Corn Exchange), along with a small corridor containing the toilets and kitchen area. There was also a museum on ground level, which was locked for the evening.
Up a long stone staircase there was a short corridor with some toilets off to the left and a small office (Town Clerk's Office) off to the right. At the end of the corridor there was a large room (Council Chamber) with rows of seats to the right, and a large meeting table plus a higher seated area behind a raised bench to the left.
Our Team
I was team leader for the evening and Robin, Marie and David were with me.
Equipment
We had the following equipment available to us during the evening:-
2 KII's
2 voice recorders
2 temp guns
Set up
We had a number of cameras set up throughout the building by Steve.
We set up the following trigger objects:-
Corn Exchange – on top of heater to the far right of the room – wedding ring, wedding favours, sparkly necklace and 2 sparkly rings
Clerk's Office – we use a desktop globe that belonged to the venue and put it on top of a filing cabinet at the back of the room
Council Chamber – we placed some coins and keys on the press desk in this room, which was directly opposite the entrance door
Vigils
21.00 – 22.00 - Vigil 1 – upstairs
Temp – 19°C
KII – none
We started our first vigil in the Council Chamber. For the first half an hour Marie and I sat in the front row by the press table, Robin sat at the far end of the conference table and David sat in the judge's / mayor's chair.
During this sector we took it in turns to call out, using various tactics, from being friendly and approachable, to trying to cause a reaction by disrespecting the nature of the room – for example David sat with his feet on the bench and asked if he was upsetting anyone.
21.15 – Marie moved to where David had sat, I moved to the other end of the large conference table and David moved to the chairs in the far corner of the room. Again we tried calling out. At one point when Robin called out it sounded like someone moved behind me, but I think this could just have been the floor settling after us moving around. Whilst sitting in the large chair Marie said she felt like she had pressure on her shoulders and neck, this eased after a few minutes.
21.30 – We decided to split the team up and Marie and Robin moved in to the Clerk's office, whilst David and I stayed in the Council Chambers sat at the conference table.
21.42 – David and I heard a large crack at the back of the room, this was not heard by Marie and Robin next door. We were unable to establish what this noise was.
During this vigil nobody had any experiences, we all felt that the room was almost sterile, with no atmosphere and almost like there was no history.
22.30 – 23.30 - Vigil 2 – downstairs
Temp – 20°C
KII – none
Our second vigil began in the Corn Exchange. We started off with Robin, David and I sat on chairs down the left hand side of the room. Marie was sat in a chair to the right of the door as you walked in.
After a few minutes I moved across the other side of the room and we continued to call out.
22.40 – We heard a loud thump upstairs. We called up but were told no-one had dropped anything or moved. Later we were talking to Dan (one of our guests) and he said it was probably the weights of the clock moving about.
We had a KII meter in the middle of the room during this vigil and it kept flickering up by one light. We think that this was caused by outside interference as there were a lot of taxi's, etc going past.
23.10 – We moved in to the corridor where the toilets and kitchen were situated. This was very dark and very quiet compared to the other rooms as it was at the back of the building. We tried calling out again in here, but had no responses.
23.20 – Finally we moved in to the foyer at the bottom of the stairs and did a silent vigil for the remaining 10 minutes.
During this vigil we had no experiences at all, again the room felt quite sterile.
23.45 – 00.45 - Vigil 3 – upstairs
Temp – 17.5°C
KII – none
For our third vigil we were again up in the Council Chambers. Robin took the chair this time and tried a more aggressive approach to get a reaction, but we did not hear, feel or see anything.
00.15 – David and I moved in to the Clerk's Office, whilst Marie and Robin stayed in the Council Chambers.
During this vigil we felt exactly the same as the first time. The room was darker as it was now much later and there was less noise outside.
01.00 – 02.00 - Vigil 4 – downstairs
Temp – 20°C
KII – none
Our final vigil took place in the Corn Exchange. We set up a small square table and tried some glass divination. At this point we decided to try a different approach to get a reaction if there were any spirits in the room with us. We sat and chatted about the paranormal, why we did the investigations, some of our personal experiences and beliefs. This moved on to general chat, but during this time we did not have any experiences.
Summary
Our team did not have any personal experiences during the evening. All of the rooms had the same feeling to us, which was one of neutrality – no negative or positive feelings came from any of the team.
Whilst Wareham Town Hall is an interesting building we were unable to find any signs to indicate paranormal activity at this time in venue.
David Baxter
I was in Team 2 with Wendy as Team Leader also with us was Robin and Marie.
Our first vigil was in the Council Chambers where we split up into two Teams: one at the bench and another at the other end of the room.
I sat for awhile in what would have been the Judges Chair trying to get some kind of reaction. Me and the others picked up nothing as we all thought the room felt 'very light' with nothing paranormal what so ever within it. We ended up swapping places with both Wendy and Marie in the Judges Chair to again see if we could get any reaction because two woman were sitting there instead of men - Marie was saying that she was getting 'a pain in her side' like she did at the Moot Hall Investigation when she was picking up something there. Robin then also had a go in the Judges Chair but again nothing happened.
After the break, Team 2 was downstairs in the Corn Exchange. The only thing that happened to us there was that the KII Meter went off a few times but we put it down to maybe cars (taxis) outside, we found after the Investigation that the other Team also had the same result with the KII but no cars were outside at the time. Could it be paranormal? Maybe, maybe not.
The rest of the night for Team 2 was very slow as we all did the Council Chambers and the Corn Exchange once again. We also tried at the bottom of the stairs and near the toilets with again nothing happening to us.
Robin Turton
Vigil 1 - Council chamber,
We carried out vigils of the council chamber and the clerk's office. Nothing was seen, heard or felt by any of the team.
Vigil 2 - Ground floor.
EMF was clear. We investigated the Corn Exchange and the toilet corridor nothing of any significance was seen, heard or felt.
Vigil 3 - Council chamber
We changed the type of investigation by spending more time provoking and using the information that the building was once a court, but as before nothing was seen heard or felt.
Vigil 4 - Corn exchange.
We started the investigation as per normal then we tried glass divination. We then changed the style of the investigation. We carried out a conversation without specifically calling out but as before nothing of any significance was seen heard or felt.
Marie Holder
Introduction
We arrived at the location at around 7.30 and met up with other team members. We then walked round to the entrance and met up with David, our host, and his wife Emma.
Vigil 1 – Council Chambers and Town Clerks office
This building certainly looked as though it showed promise in terms of possible paranormal activity as it had an old character about it. We started off in the Council Chambers and tried calling out. There were a number of taps and creaks but, unfortunately, all accounted for. I was sat next to Wendy to begin with, in the public seating area and I felt nothing in this area at all so I decided to move to the top table and sit in the 'big' chair. After a while I started to feel a pain in my neck and shoulders as if I was being grabbed by the throat, similar to the sensation I felt on another investigation. Apart from this nothing else was experienced.
Town Clerks office
Robin and I decided to try investigating next door in the Town Clerks office. We tried calling out but got no responses. Wendy called us to see whether we had heard a loud crack that they'd heard in their room but we said we didn't hear anything.
Vigil 2 – The Corn Exchange
I sat on the right hand side of the door as you come in and the rest of the team spread themselves out around the room. We tried calling out but again got no responses. The KII meter was situated in the middle of the room and at one point during the vigil it spiked, David mentioned that it could have been caused by a taxi as we were in the middle of town.
We then decided to move in the corridor at the back of the building where the kitchenette and toilets are located. This area was very dark and because of this it did get a little unnerving at times but as I had not felt anything in any other part of the building I did not feel unnerved for very long.
Vigil 3 – Council Chambers and Town Clerks Office
For this vigil we decided to split up again with Robin and I staying in the chambers and Wendy and David going into the Town Clerks office.
I decided to sit in the Judge's/Mayor's chair again as it seemed to provoke a slight response last time. We tried calling out in different ways from being polite and friendly to being disrespectful to try and get a response, unfortunately no response was forthcoming.
Vigil 4 – The Corn Exhange
We decided to try a glass divination on this vigil. We therefore set up a small table with a glass and placed our fingers upon it. We asked for the glass to be moved but unfortunately on this occasion it didn't. We then decided to ignore whatever was around us and 'talk' about the paranormal and our different beliefs, are conversation then went onto a more general nature but nothing was experienced on this vigil.
Conclusion
I had high hopes for this building as I have investigated similar municipal buildings in the past with interesting results. On this occasion however, it was very quiet and nothing was picked up on at all in our team.