St.Blasie Chapel

St.Blaise Chapel - West Malling, Kent		24th April 2009

	Photograph by Hywel Williams

Aim: To spend a night investigating by various means the ruins of the chapel of St. Blaise as a site of possible paranormal activity, and to attempt to record any such activity by any means at our disposal. Background: The land here was gifted to The Hospital of the New Work (Newark) of St. Mary, Strood on the 20 August 1193, probably as thanks for the safe return of King Richard I. At some time between this date and 1539 the brethren (likely of Rochester Priory) built a chapel dedicated to St. Blaise. Not much is concretely known about the chapel, how much it was used, or when it fell into disuse, but it is fairly safe to assume that if it wasn't already disused by 1539 then it probably became so shortly afterwards when the land was taken from church hands into private ownership. To the best of our knowledge no previous reports of paranormal activity have originated from this site. All that remains above ground today are outline traces of stonework, one building corner, and earthworks. The site was added to a list of sites in immediate danger by English Heritage in 2009. It lies in a copse in the middle of a field, next to Blaise farm, and the associated quarry.

The Investigation
Apparatus: Camcorders: Samsung VP-D351 with night vision and Sony HVL-IRM IR light Sony DCR HC-24E with night vision and Sony HVL-IRM IR light Sony DCR-HC19 with night vision and Sony HVL- IRM IR light Sony DCR-DVD110E with night vision and Sony HVL- IRM IR light Digital Camera: Canon 400D DSLR Fuji Fine Pix S5000 Fuji Fine Pix S5500 x 2 Pentax K-100D DSLR Sony Ericsson C905 camera phone Voice recorder: Olympus VN-2100PC Olympus DM20 HNSAT DVR958 Other: Tripods Torches Video tapes (MiniDV) DVD-RW's Investigators: Ian, Kim, Paddy, and Dave. *Investigation:* All activities captured on Video, Audio or Stills photography, or a combination of all three. Notebooks used to capture any information not voiced at the time First session – vigil in chapel interior Seated vigil with calling out and questioning Duration of experiment approx. 1 hour Second Session – séance on chapel perimeter Seated séance with calling out and questioning Duration of experiment approx. 1hr
Results
During vigil held inside the chapel site, Dave thought he saw someone walk past a gap in the foliage on the outside of the perimeter fence. We swiftly circumnavigated the site on foot at this time. No-one was found to be there. Nothing was recorded to support or deny this. Séance produced to discernable results
Conclusions
The figure seen by Dave may or may not have been paranormal in nature. It is fair to conclude that no persons other than ourselves was present at the time. It is possible that this was a case of misidentification due to low light conditions and had a perfectly natural cause. It is equally possible that a phenomenon of paranormal nature was observed. Without any conclusive evidence to study, we cannot speculate any further and leave this as unexplained. A general lack of observed phenomenon on this occasion makes detailed conclusions difficult to draw. It is possible that the site has no paranormal activity based on our observations at the time of study. Further study may provide more information on which to speculate. Should any more information come to light under study of the media taken, this report will be updated to include it.

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