Undisclosed 14th Century Manor House – Kent

Investigation 2

Aim:
In the second of four planned investigations our aim was no different than before, to investigate the paranormal encounters that have been documented at this location, also to consider and examine other areas of the property, and the possibility of other so far unrecorded phenomena.

Background:

As before not a lot can be said of this location as we have been asked by the owners not to divulge it's identity. There are tales handed down of various sightings and because of the size of the place we were able to negotiate these four investigations to enable the whole site to be covered. Our first outing proved to be a little lacking, but with one highlight to the night, please read our first investigation report for more details. The venue was new to us just as we were to the venue and we ended the first night hoping that as we return over the next few weeks a growing familiarity would produce more results, we were not to be disappointed.

Apparatus:

Camcorders:

Samsung VP-D351 with night vision
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

Digital Camera:
Canon 400D
Fuji Fine Pix S5000
Fuji Fine Pix S5500
Fuji Fine Pix S5500
Pentax K-100D Digital SLR
Olympus C-370
Practica Digicam 3

Voice recorder:
Olympus VN-2100PC
Olympus DM20
HNSAT DVR958

Other:
Tripods
Torches
Video tapes (MiniDV)

Investigators:
Ian, Kim, Paddy, Dave and five guests (for part of the night).

Method:
We decided to take a different approach for this investigation and chose to employ some split vigils covering different areas simultaneously whilst remaining in contact by radio. This would give us the chance to split into two groups and swap locations saving any discussion for after all parties had spent time in both locations. It would then be possible to discuss and compare our experiences. We dispensed with the need for a walk around as we were now familiar with the venue. We were also to be joined by five guests for part of the night as some people connected with the venue wanted to experience what we do, so we decided to get the split vigils done before they arrived, we would then switch to become one large group for remainder of the night. We chose not to carry out any séance's this night and simply rely on the vigils, locations were to be decided on arrival. We had brought with us two Ouija boards which we intend to use at some point during the evening. Although we do not condone the use of these boards we felt that in the correct controlled setting these may prove to be an interesting experiment to conduct.

The Investigation

When ready we split into our first pairs, Dave and Ian headed off to one of the outbuildings whilst Paddy and Kim went up to one of the small rooms that is a source of some of the stories that are told, we shall refer to it as the “Pink Room”. We were to spend an hour in these locations then swap for a further hour and compare findings afterwards.

On the first floor of the outbuilding Dave and Ian found that the early indications were good. Ian had set his camcorder at the top of the staircase looking towards them and Dave set his on a window ledge facing the opposite direction, Dave also had his voice recorder running. Little time was wasted before Ian began speaking aloud asking for activity. It was as he was doing this that he stopped mid sentence staring at the staircase, he noticed that Dave was also looking in the same direction. They both agreed that they had independently seen the same thing at the same time, the outline of the head and shoulders of a small male child popping his head up from the staircase only to quickly duck back down again. They both agreed that it was as though someone was having a quick peek at who was up there. Astounded by this they continued asking for activity and reported feeling drafts and hearing creaking floor boards from the adjacent first floor room. Some of this creaking occurred more regularly than the random movement of the building. Ian did see a large flying or floating object move in a circuit of the room and disappear, Dave was not witness to this. Despite further encouragement being given nothing further was forthcoming. The Ouija board was tried for period of time but no movement was noticed.

During this time Paddy and Kim were upstairs in the main main house, in the pink room. This is one small room accessed by it's own small staircase. Paddy was filming on his camcorder whilst Kim's voice recorder was running. They too tried asking for activity and using a Ouija board but nothing of note occurred for them. After an hour the two teams got on the radios and agreed to swap over, Dave and Ian in the pink room and Paddy and Kim on the first floor of the outbuilding.

Dave and Ian settled into place, again both filming on camcorder, Dave from the corner of the room towards the door and Ian from the door into the room, Dave's voice recorder was also running again. Dave began asking for activity. Within seconds they both heard a couple of faint knocks, possibly footfalls followed by two definite louder knocks that seemed to come from right outside the bedroom door. This was a little unnerving as this was the only way in or out. A few minutes later Ian commented on having heard a faint woman's voice, and described it as a short innocent snigger or giggle coming from outside the room. Dave asked if anyone there would like to come in the room and join us but nothing else occurred. The Ouija board was not tried as Ian and Dave were rather occupied with other events that occurred.

Paddy and Kim were having an equally interesting time in the outbuilding. A brief immediate attempt with the Ouija board provided nothing so they reverted to the usual, calling aloud for some activity. They too noted the drafts and creaking but felt there was a little more too it than that. More positive movement was heard as well as what they could only describe as footsteps that sounded like young bare feet on the wooden floor boards, three even four at a time, sometimes walking, sometimes running. There was also the sound of shuffling and of the movement of clothing or cloth, but there was none present. Some of these noises were coming from the adjacent room where Dave and Ian had heard creaking or movement earlier. Kim and Paddy were using torches to try to see what could cause such noises and could find no explanation and the noises continued whether there was torchlight or not. Kim also noted the sound of something falling to the floor but despite their best efforts to find the object in the vicinity nothing could be found, and also commented on the feeling of vibrations through her chair similar to those you would feel when someone was walking on the boards in an adjacent room. Kim also noted a figure appear above the floor level on the staircase as Paddy took a photograph.

Back in the pink room Ian and Dave were startled by a loud slam heard downstairs in the house and the sound of heavy footfalls up and down the ground floor. They immediately called the other two on the radio to see if they had returned, but Kim and Paddy hadn't. As Dave and Ian left the room to see who had entered the building the footsteps left with the door slamming behind them. Paddy and Kim were called back as this needed checking, we were not of the opinion that this was in any way paranormal so for securities sake needed to investigate. Enquiries were made and we discovered it was the gardener who lives on site but not within the building itself. This brought a rather abrupt end to what was proving to be a very interesting couple of hours.

After a brief break our five guests joined us and we took them to the first floor of the outbuilding, as that seemed to be the centre of the activity this night. All nine of us sat around whilst Dave, Ian and Paddy filmed on their camcorders, Kim and Dave's voice recorders were running. Ian explained to them what we were to do and our findings so far, then proceeded to call aloud for some renewed activity based on what had occurred earlier, even going so far as to ask for the young boy we had seen and heard to come and make an appearance. Whilst we did this there was the distinct sound of keys jangling. This seemed to be coming from the area behind some of our guests so Ian got up to investigate but nothing could be found to explain this. Ian continued calling out and his requests were met with repeated thuds from downstairs, Kim described it as like someone stepping on the bottom step of the staircase, there was also the occasional click heard that seemed to be in response to our questions. Paddy noted seeing a bright green pinprick of floating light moving just below where Ian's camcorder was. With Ian continuing to call out there was a rather loud metallic noise heard coming from downstairs, this was heard by the team and some of the guests and Paddy left to go and investigate, he returned and could find nothing downstairs of a metallic nature that could have caused such a sound.. After this there was a lacklustre period so we decided to end the session.

It was here that two of our guests left, so the team decided to take in some air and took our three remaining guests and headed to an outside area we had visited on the last investigation. This area had last time proven interesting to Kim and Paddy, sadly this time nothing was forthcoming, but we at least hoped that it went some way to help to sober up our last three guests!

After returning to the house for a break it was decided to call it a night as it would not be feasible to continue, as our guests had been consuming alcohol all the time and despite still being very interested in what we were doing were by now impeding the progress of the investigation. This was politely pointed out to them and graciously they decided to leave us to it for the remainder of the night.

Back down to four again we decided to congregate on the main staircase of the house, this would have been a hive of activity so hopes were high given the results so far this evening, that we might be able to witness something.

We settled in various positions around the staircase and landing area with Paddy, Dave and Ian's camcorders going, and Dave and Kim's voice recorders were also running. We did no calling aloud as we had done before this evening, we simply sat and soaked up the peace of the place and kept our senses alert to what was around us. It was then that the ground floor hallway light suddenly came on. Paddy commented that he had spotted that it was on a Passive IR sensor, so it must have picked up one of us. We decided this was not possible as we were all upstairs and something else must have triggered it. We broke from our vigil to investigate this by checking the range of the IR sensor before we would set it off, then the height from the floor that would be needed to set it off, then we went about dragging and rolling items across the floor to see if that would trigger it. Movement alone would not trigger it as if you stood still in it's range it would go off and not come back on again. By throwing Paddy's shoe and then by rolling a metal tin warmed by a cigarette lighter we determined that a substantial mass of heat, such as a person, was needed to activate it, This would need to be researched later.

This was the last part of this nights investigation as it was well into the morning and fatigue was setting in so we decided to end the investigation.

The Outbuilding
The figure seen on the staircase of the outbuilding is very interesting as this must be the first time that a possible sighting was witness by all of us, individually, at different times. It is very unfortunate that this “image” was not captured on video but the moment was, this confirms that there was no conferring and the same thing was seen by others without being suggested to them before hand. This is in no way evidence but does go some way to show that there was something happening in that location that was noticed by all of us at some point or another. The large flying object Ian saw in the outbuilding was later confirmed by his video footage to be a bat.

The movement sensed by all the team in the outbuilding is of interest. Although a lot of the creaks, groans, and air movement is consistent with the type and age of building, there were other more regular noises heard by the team that cannot be necessarily be given this explanation. The sound of footsteps, walking and running, and the sound of clothing are pretty distinctive and these are not noises you would normally associate with a building, these cannot be explained but unfortunately were not captured on our equipment.

The sound of an object dropping to the floor cannot be explained, especially as there was no object found, neither can the feeling of vibrations through the floor boards similar to those caused by walking on them, as no one was at the time.

The metallic sound heard by the team and their guests in the group session in the outbuilding was not caught on any audio, but there was a similar noise recorded during Ian and Dave's first session here. There was nothing in the building of a metallic nature that could cause this noise. It is odd as in the footage they appear not to have heard it as they have no reaction to it.

The sound of jangling keys was later explained by Dave's camcorder footage, and was found to be a noise caused by our guests.

However, When reviewing Kim's voice recorder something was found that was recorded whilst in this location, a very quick but un-mistakeable word, “whisper”. This was recorded during Kim and Paddy's vigil in the outbuilding.

The Pink Room.
This room also proved very interesting. Again there were noises and taps that can be associated with the buildings movement, but there were some that could not. A single tap or knock is random and could have been caused by anything, however, a multiple repeated sound could show signs of an intelligence at work, especially when it seems to be footsteps up a stairs to your location followed by two knocks at the door of the room you are in. This incident was very convincing and was caught on the audio of both Dave and Ian's camcorders, it is also a fact that there was no one else in the building at the time. The voice Ian thought he heard was not caught on our equipment.

There was no movement of any sort on the Ouija Boards, although this may have proven to be an interesting experiment on the night it is not something that we shall consider doing again.

The stairs and hallway.
The triggering of the passive infra-red (PIR) sensor in the hallway was remarkable, given that this was extensively investigated and the cause could not be identified. We tried different means of setting it off, also to see what couldn't set it off, and confirmed the range it had.

We have done some research and found that a PIR detector is a motion detector that senses the heat emitted by a “living body”. The sensor is passive because, instead of emitting a beam of light or microwave energy that must be interrupted by a passing person in order to “sense” that person, the PIR is simply sensitive to the infrared energy emitted by every living thing. When an intruder walks into the detector’s field of vision, the detector “sees” a sharp increase in infrared energy.

A PIR sensor light is designed to turn on when a person approaches, but will not react to a person standing still. A moving person exhibits a sudden change in infrared energy, but a slower change is emitted by a motionless body. Slower changes are also caused by gradual fluctuations in the temperature of the environment. If the light were sensitive to these slower changes, it would react to the room it is in cooling off at night, instead of the motion of a “living body”.

A PIR light may be more sensitive on cold days than on warm days. This is because the difference in temperature between the ambient air and the human body is greater on cold days, making the rise in temperature easier for the sensor to detect. This has drawbacks, though; if the sensor is too sensitive, it will pick up things you don’t want it to such as the movement of users outside the room. The higher in temperature, the sensor’s field of view will decrease, and it will take more time to pick up infrared emissions. If the temperature becomes lower, the opposite occurs: the field of view widens, and the sensor will pick up infrared sources that are smaller and farther away.

This information explains our attempts to trigger the sensor by other means and also explains why we couldn't. That being said we can only conclude that a larger body of infrared energy must have passed the sensor whilst we were sitting up on the stairs and landing, although nothing was heard at the time. Sadly both the camcorders had run out of tape and did not record this moment neither were they set on the downstairs hallway anyway. We shall have to explore this area of the building more, on our next visit.

All recorded occurrences can be seen or heard on the included investigation video.

There was a limited amount of information forthcoming of a clairvoyant nature, but this cannot be validated. As Ghost Connections conducts scientifically based investigations we do not publish such observations, however, this information is held on a separate database.