(UK Paranormal) Mike Driscoll Wendy Driscoll Ray Matthews (A.S.S.A.P) Richard Randall Colin Randall Joanne Darwood Mrs S.Hamilton

Digital Video Cameras (NightShot) Digital Still Cameras Dictaphones EMF Meter Trigger Objects Thermometer

Visited  1st February 2003
We arrived at the venue at 10:30 pm and after introductions where made we checked our equipment and set up in a back room of the bar/restaurant area and made a first walk through of the premises to take some preliminary photographs and baseline tests to ascertain any areas of E.M.F. activity creaking floorboards and the location of power lines and points. Once completed we consulted with the A.S.S.A.P. team to get some idea of how they worked and what there plans for the night were, so that we could decide on our own course of action for the night. Colin and his team elected to start the night with a vigil in the cellars and UK Paranormal decided to set up a controlled experiment in the conference room. A wooden cross was placed on a piece of paper at one end of the room on an old school type table. An outline was drawn around the cross and the video camera set on a tripod to record the session ensuring that the whole of the cross and the paper as well as a good area around the table so that any interference would be obvious. A Dictaphone was set to record half way down the room and the room sealed. Several photographs were also taken at this time during the setting up of the experiment. UK Paranormal then returned to the bar area so that the stairs could be watched during the time allotted for the controlled experiment.
At the end of the hour Colin from A.S.S.A.P. joined as we returned to the conference room to see if there had been any movement of the cross. To our surprise it seemed that the cross had indeed moved a small amount. It appeared that it had rotated about 2mm around its center the bottom of the cross moving to the right. However when the video was reviewed we were unable to make any movement at all during the recording. This could be down to the small amount of movement or it could be that it moved slowly over the entire period of the experiment making it impossible to see. We collected the cross and video camera and followed Colin up to room 4 where he had left some old coins as a control on the chair where the alleged ghost of the young woman is supposed to sit. Again we were surprised to see a small amount of movement had occurred. Unfortunately this experiment hadn't been covered with video, but the room had been locked at all times and the key was in view of the UK Paranormal team constantly.
Because of the small success in room 4 we concluded that a further, video monitored, experiment would be appropriate. So once again using the cross as we had in the conference room, and this time with coins added around the edges of the paper, we set up on the chair with the video camera covering as much of the room as possible and left locking the door on the way out. Once again a Dictaphone was left recording in the room and several photos were taken. We retired once again to the bar area and Colin returned to the rest of his team in the cellar.
30 mins later the A.S.S.A.P. team came up from the cellar and informed us that they had encountered several presences in the underground chambers, after some discussion Mike and Ray along with Colin from A.S.S.A.P. returned to the cellar so that we could gain our own impressions as to weather there was any presence down there. We took along the E.M.F. meter in case we found any thing anomalous. The cellar is divided into 3 areas. At the bottom of the stairs is the first room which holds most of the machinery to left is a small antechamber which is used to house the various wines and through a door to the right of the stairs is the chilled area for storing the beer kegs and barrels. Turning 180 degrees from the bottom of the stairs at the back of the room is another door which leads into the vaulted part of the cellars where A.S.S.A.P. had held most of there vigil during the earlier part of the night.
We made a cursory inspection of the first room and found nothing of interest, however as we moved into the anti chamber containing the wine Mike reported that he felt a change in the atmosphere, Ray and Colin felt no change. Nothing showed on the E.M.F meter. After checking in the chilled area of the cellar we made our way to the vaulted area at the rear of the cellars. Upon entry Mike noticed that all the stools that had been used to by The A.S.S.A.P. members where laying down on the dirt floor in a circle with all but one facing inwards. Mike asked Colin if that was how they where left, Colin responded that when he left the room all the stools where standing and he had in fact left a cigarette lighter on one of the stools to see if it would move. A closer inspection revealed that the lighter was now beside the stool and not in front of it as it should have been had it fallen off as the stool feel over. Judging by the marks in the dust on the floor it also became apparent the stools had been placed in there new positions rather than being knocked violently over. The rest of the people present were called into the cellar to see if we could come up with a cause for the stools movement, and to check if any of then had returned to the cellar before we had found them, no-one had. After trying to knock the stools over by causing vibrations we tried to physically push them over by bumping into them with our knees ect. We found that to knock one of the over took an almost direct hit as they where very stable. The stools where placed in there upright positions once more and the whole team left the room and returned upstairs where Mike placed his E.M.F. meter on a table in the bar.
The teams returned to room 4 to check on the experiment. Nothing had moved
The video camera was removed from the room and taken to the cellar where the whole group had gathered to see if there had been a recurrence of the stools moving, unfortunately they had not. The video camera was set to record the stools and the cellar once again closed with two Dictaphones recording. During the set up of the video and Dictaphones many digital stills where taken on two separate cameras. The resulting pics showed many orbs which can be explained by the amount of people moving around kicking up dust from the dirt floor, interestingly enough these are the only orbs that where captured all night in the cellar.
We returned once more to the bar area and waited for 1 hour before returning to the cellar to check on the stools once more, again no change. So the three representatives of UK Paranormal decided to carry out a short vigil in room 4. after being told by Colin that he left the key in the door as there was nothing happening in the room we went up to the third and to the door of room 4 where we found no key. Remembering a discussion earlier in the night about leaving the key underneath a cabinet outside the room when no one was in there, (this was decided against at the time), Mike thought to check to see if Colin had left the key there this time. He didn't find the key, however he did find his E.M.F. meter which he had left previously on a table in the bar. After asking all the people present we could find no logical way for the meter to have made its way from the bar to its new location outside room 4.
Vigil in room 4 was held without incident and the video retrieved from the cellar where once again no movement of the stools was evident. At this point we had covered all we could in one night so packed our gear away and left the venue
A review of the video taken on the night has shown no anomalies, and although the E.V.P. recordings did have some sounds on them which are we are reviewing at the moment it is our opinion that all the sounds recorded will be explained in a logical manor in due course. We did get recordings of anomalous footsteps in the conference room but as the hotel had other guests that night we have dismiss them at this point. There is one other E.V.P. we are having a problem trying to find a logical explanation for; this has been provided for you to listen to below. It sounds like someone walking across and or dragging something across a stone floor, the problem we have this one is that the floor of the room it was recorded in, (the cellar), has a dirt floor. The room outside does have a concrete floor, however the door was shut at the time and the sounds are to clear to have come through a door. I would like to mention that all through the night we never saw or met any of the other guests in any part of the hotel.

Mike Driscoll.