Undisclosed 14th Century Manor House – Kent

Investigation 5

Aim:
We are continuing our long term study of this site with the hope of verifying reports of paranormal
phenomena.

Background:
At the owners request we cannot identify the location, but this place has tales of paranormal encounters over the years. Our previous visits have proved to be interesting and we are very much enjoying the opportunity to continue or study. Our previous reports can be read by clicking here.

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
Olympus C-370
Practica Digicam 3

Voice recorder:
Olympus VN-2100PC
HNSAT DVR958

Other:
Tripods
Torches
Video tapes (MiniDV)

Investigators:
Ian, Paddy and Dave.

Method:
We were one down on this occasion as Kim was unable to join us. As it was just the lads this time we decided to keep things simple and deploy ourselves, along with our camcorders, voice recorders and still cameras in the now infamous outbuilding as this is where the majority of the activity has been witnessed by us to date. We were to adopt our usual techniques of asking for anything present to show itself and attempt to record anything unusual that happened.

The Investigation

As they were setting up, and before any equipment was running, Ian thought he heard a voice of a young woman or child greet them, he could not make out the exact word over Dave and Paddy at the time, but felt that it was something like “hello again”.

We noted that some doors were open and some window panes were broken so there would be an amount of air movement to consider, it was also very cold and very very dark, much darker than we had become accustomed to upstairs. Dave began to call out to introduce ourselves and ask if anyone else present could identify themselves. There were knocks heard to be coming from upstairs, which was annoying as when we were upstairs they were heard to come from downstairs. The atmosphere was definitely changing and we all had an uncomfortable feeling about us, the place was becoming very heavy and we did not feel very welcome. The shadows seem to get darker and we were beginning to give the impression of movement, especially around the area of the stairs. Dave and Paddy both commented and discussed what they both thought was a dark shadow or mass on the stairs in front of them that appeared to descend the stairs, this was followed by Dave hearing a noise from the room to his left, the door to which is at the foot of the stairs. Shortly afterwards Ian and Paddy, both commented at the same time about a shadow they had witnessed simultaneously in the doorway to this room, this shocked them as they had not mentioned it to each other at all, but they saw the same thing at the same time. The three of them concentrated on this shadow in the doorway, along with it came a lot of coldness that moved around the teams legs, where there had been no draught before. Pinpricks of light were seen around the under stairs area and by Paddy’s camcorder as well as in the adjacent room to the north.

By this point waves of coldness and shivers were breaking over the team some affected more than others, but all were at least once or twice. At one point Ian had gone very quiet and had been for some time, being concerned Paddy asked Ian if he was ok but got no response. He asked again by which point Ian replied saying he was fine, but had seemed to phase out for a bit, almost as though he didn’t feel as though he was with them in the room, he also complained of a sense of pins and needles on the left hand side of his neck.

We agreed that the room/building was not welcoming and there was a definite feeling about the place, one that was very unpleasant and had not been experienced by us before.

Paddy and Ian commented on the unusual feeling of foreboding that almost made them scared, it is worth noting the team have been to many venues of the years and never have any of us ever felt truly scared, tonight was the first. The team agreed that the place felt very unpleasant and were also in agreement that, for some reason, they did not feel alone. The culmination of noises, movement and what we thought our senses were telling us all pointed to this. After a while we had to have a break and discuss what had been happening and for some refreshment as we were all feeling the strain and intensity of the hour we had spent here.

As we left Ian left a trigger object on the floor in front of his camcorders vision, a tennis ball, in a secure crack on the floor so it would roll naturally and asked if anyone who remained there after we left could move the ball.

After a period of intense discussion about our first session we returned refreshed and raring to get on with more, hoping that the atmosphere we had left was still there. We changed our tapes in the camcorders and settled into place again. After 30 minutes the sound of car doors and voices alerted us that the occupants of the neighbouring premise had returned home and we paused the investigation to establish for sure that this was who it was.

We returned to our seats and Dave and Ian called aloud to try to stir some reaction but nothing was forthcoming, so we decided to have another break.

We did attempt a further session after this break but there no further events of note.

Whilst back in the main house collecting our kit we were surprised by one occurrence we were not expecting. The loud echo of a door latch being played with. This sounded as though it came from within the house and we knew we were the only ones in the building, so we walked testing the doors and latches to try to replicate the sound and establish what it could have been. We did find a couple of doors that could have been responsible for the sound but were unable to confirm anything definite. We did, however, all hear this sound quite clearly at the same time.

After this brief spell of interest we continued to pack and left the venue

Results

The shadowy mass seen by Dave and Paddy on the stairs was checked at the time thinking could be some discolouration in stonework giving the illusion of a figure, nothing like this could be seen.

The noise heard by Dave and the movement seen by Ian and Paddy in the doorway shortly after could not be explained. Although when we later reviewed the camcorder footage a bat could be seen flying in our vicinity, this might account for some of the noise and movement we sensed.

It is interesting that Dave and Paddy saw the movement on the stairs together and that Ian and Paddy saw the same sort of movement simultaneously in the doorway. Whenever anything occurs that is witnessed by more than one person there is a greater possibility that what you witnessed together did actually happen, as it is less likely that two people could be mistaken at the same time by the same environmental conditions.

The heavy atmosphere could be part of an individuals apprehension or anticipation, but for three experienced investigators to all be feeling this way in a familiar place we have spent many nights in seems odd. We cannot explain why we felt this way on this occasion, neither can we explain why it was that Ian “phased” out for a brief moment, we are assured that he did not fall asleep as the video footage proves.

Not a lot else occurred this night, or so we thought.

On later inspection of our video footage we found what may be EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena). During the first session there are two examples of this caught on Ian's camcorder footage. These occurrences have been corroborated as they were also captured on Dave's voice recorder. They are both during pauses in our discussion. Both are male voices and both are very clear in what they say, we can only assure you that these words are not spoken by us and they were certainly not heard at the time, else there would have been a reaction from the team. These voices have been analysed and we are satisfied that it is not Dave, Ian or Paddy. We will not tell you what we think these voices are saying, we would rather you hear them for yourself. These clips have been forwarded to other sources for examination and the results will be posted on this report when we receive them. Please click on the video accompanying this report to hear this voice and tell us what you think they say by emailing us.