Aim:
To stake out two Neolithic sites during the course of one night to try
to record scientifically evidence of the alleged paranormal activity that
has been reported over the years.
Background - Kits Coty:
Kit's Coty House or Kit's Coty is the name of the remains of a Neolithic
chambered long barrow on Blue Bell Hill near Aylesford in Kent. It is
one of the Medway megaliths. Although badly damaged by ploughing and later
vandalism the impressive entrance to the tomb still survives. It consists
of three sarsen orthostats supporting a horizontal capstone with a total
height of almost 3m. This would have been at one end of a 70m earthen
long barrow oriented east-west. The mound and ditches are now all but
gone and only the stones remain. William Stukeley visited the site in
1772 and was able to sketch the site whilst it was still largely intact.
Stukeley's 1722 prospect of Kit's Coty House with its remnant long barrow
still just visible and labelled 'The Grave'
Before this, Samuel Pepys also saw it and wrote:
"Three great stones standing upright and a great round one lying
on them, of great bigness, although not so big as those on Salisbury Plain.
But certainly it is a thing of great antiquity, and I am mightily glad
to see it."
In 1854, it was investigated by Thomas Wright who found 'rude pottery'
beneath the stones and further Neolithic shards were recovered from the
surrounding field in 1936. Trenching 1956 located the silted-up ditch
surrounding the southern side of the monument and further stones which
had been pushed into the ditch when the monument was partially demolished.
An excavation in advance of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link which runs nearby
found the remains of a Neolithic longhouse. In 1885, Kit's Coty was one
of the first sites in Britain to become a Scheduled Ancient Monument and
the iron railings that surround it were added a few years later. As only
the megalithic portion of the barrow was fenced in by the railings, the
long earth barrow has been continually ploughed away since, with uncovered
stones dumped in woodland nearby by the farmer and the mound itself, still
visible in the mid-twentieth century, now gone.
Some call it simply Kit's Coty, because 'coty' means the same as 'house'.
The story explaining the name tells us that Kit refers to Catigern, son
of King Vortigern, who together with his brother Vortimer fought Hengist
and his brother Horsa here around 455. Hengist and Horsa were challenging
their father, King Vortigern, at a place called Aegelesthrep. Both Horsa
and Catigern were killed. We don't know who won, but Catigern was supposedly
buried here. You can imagine a stand-off between two bloodied armies on
either side of the river, the ford having been the contested object.
To top things off, I should say that the place is reputedly haunted.
Ghostly re-enactments of a battle, may be this battle are said to be heard
at one time or another. Another tradition is that at full moon you may
place a personal object on the capstone, walk around the dolmen three
times, after which the object will have disappeared. No guarantees, though.
Background - The Whitehorse Stone:
The Whitehorse Stone is 2.9m long, 1.65m high and about 0.6m thick and
stands just off the Pilgrim's Way. Close by it are nine smaller stones
that stretch to the west for about 10m. There is no evidence of a covering
barrow and it has been suggested that these much smaller stones were moved
from the neighbouring field by local farmers. Its identification as a
chambered long barrow like the other Medway megaliths is therefore uncertain
although its shape certainly resembles a chamber wall stone. In local
tradition it is also the burial place of the Saxon leader Horsa (see above).
The standing stone is also considered by some visitors to resemble a horse's
head. Both these links have been suggested as the source of the name.
A connection with the white horse on Kent's "Invicta" coat of
arms has also been invoked.
Kits Coty has been investigated before by other groups who are known
to have had remarkable results, but it has never been investigated by
Ghost Connections before. We were not aware that the Whitehorse Stone
had ever been investigated before and we are also unaware of any reported
paranormal activity. With many old stories about the area of Kits Coty
and Blue Bell Hill in general we were looking forward to spending the
night at these two locations.
Apparatus:
Cameras
Nikon Coolpix 3100
Fuji Finepix 4900
Kodak Easyshare cx7310
Sony DCSV1
Fuji Finepix S5000
Fuji Finepix S5500
Practica Digicam 3
Camcorder
Sony DCR- HC30E
Samsung VP-D351 with night vision (x2)
Sony DCR-HC19
Sony Hi-8
EVP
Sharp PA- VR10E
EMF
Gauss EMF Meter
OTHER
Data Logger EL-USB2
IR Emitter Sony HVL-IRM (x2)
Tripods
Torches
Tapes (VHS/Hi-8/MiniDV)
Co-Investigators:
Ian, Kim, Dave, Sarah, Paddy and Rachel
Method:
This was to be investigation of two venues in one night. First we would
be investigating Kits Coty House and the surrounding area including the
footpath and the adjacent field before moving on to The Whitehorse Stone.
The entire night was to be flexible and we could spend our time between
the two sites as and when we wished, but we were to start the night at
Kits Coty House. Although there was a lot of noise pollution in the area
from the motorways we were to try some EVP, as witnesses have previously
told tales of hearing the noise of battle, horses and swords clashing.
the rest of our time was to be spent simply being quiet and observing,
with possibly a spiritual experiment to see if we could stir up any activity.
Then we were to move on to The Whitehorse Stone and do much the same thing.
Obviously recording using camcorder and still photography as always.
The Investigation:
After arriving and meeting the others at a local pub we drove up to the
Old Chatham Road. We arrived about 10.00pm and walked down the footpath
to Kits Coty. This is an unnerving walk because it is so dark and eerie
in the tunnel of overhanging trees that line the path. This was even more
so when, as we approached the field where the stones are we heard voices.
Unfortunately this was not paranormal and came from a group of lads who
were hanging around the stones drinking. Our plans scuppered we decided
to walk off into the middle of the field and try to soak up a bit of the
battlefield atmosphere. We tried to start the investigation but ended
up sitting in the field talking and still feeling a little unsettled as
we knew others were nearby and they were drinking! Needless to say we
had a good discussion about all matters paranormal, kept an eye on our
neighbours and tried to create a few more fake pictures using flying torches
and interesting camera settings. This was all good fun and sort of constructive
but not why we were there. It seemed that the presence of the lads had
certainly thrown us a bit. When we did settle a bit more we started seeing
a torchlight moving from across another part of the field. We assumed
that our "experiments" with flying lights may have caught someone’s
attention, needless to say the purpose of us being there had somewhat
been lost, and despite the lads having gone, at about 12.30 am we decided
to move on to The Whitehorse Stone.
Once at the White Horse Stone we encountered another problem, campers,
right next to the stone! This closed of our other avenue of investigation
for the night, which was slowly going down hill. Dave's thought was that
it was possible that the encampment was set up by the followers of Odin.
These people have done a lot of work over the years to preserve and clean
up the area of The Whitehorse Stone, although there was nothing on their
site to say why they may have been there. They appear to hold a summer
camp nearest 21 June each year to celebrate their festival of Balder.
Please see the links below for more information.
http://www.odinic-rite.org/
http://www.odinic-rite.org/oryear.htm
http://www.odinic-rite.org/Guardians/index.html
However, this was not helping our nights investigation much as it seemed
that wherever we went we came up against obstacles, it can happen on outdoor
investigations as there is only so much you can plan for, and you need
to expect the unexpected. By the time 1.30 am had come around we were
all a bit demoralised and although we could have returned to Kits Coty
House the majority of us were feeling a bit flat and disappointed so we
decided to call it and all head off home for an early night.
We shall be making a return to Blue Bell Hill in the next few months
in an attempt to carry out this investigation as planned. Please keep
an eye out for our results.
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