Friday 17 July 2009

School Investigation...

As mentioned on the W.M.G.C. web site - June 2009 update - group members have recently carried out a (long overdue) follow up investigation at a secondary school in the Midlands area.......

While the bulk of the visit passed uneventfully, there was a very brief 'flurry of potential activity' at the very end of the event. At a point when group members were clearing away their kit, etc, 4 people reported having heard strange sounds in the sites main, ground floor corridor. Two of the members reported a muffled, high-pitched 'Woooo' type sound, while the others heard 'shush-type' noises. One of the latter says that they caught the sound twice, in quick succession, while the other says their experience involved a solitary sound.......

Our previous visit to the propery concerned was conducted on Friday the 28th of March 2008, with four members of the group in attendance. As always, our aims and investigative process for the visit concerned a general, brief investigation of the site, mainly focussing on sections of the building noted as being of particular relevance / importance regarding the paranormal history of the site.

Our visit began with a tour of the property concerned with caretaker, Brian, who filled us in on the alleged paranormal history of the site.

Of particular interest were two buildings - separate from the main site, a cross a courtyard / playground - whose windows had been reported to open of their own accord during the night. Brian had apparently witnessed one of the windows opening by itself on security footage in the past. The sites were not open to group members during our stay (due to the building security system), but both places were viewable from the main building.

A staff member had also reported a sensation of being ‘touched’ in one of the class rooms – identified as room B23.

A set of double doors – situated between the main, ground floor corridor and reception area – were also specifically mentioned. These doors had allegedly swung open of their own volition one night, the act being caught on security footage. Of interest in this instance is the fact that the doors were said to have been bolted at the time and – according to Brian – a shadow, akin to the upper part of a female figure, could be seen on the floor at the bottom of the left hand door. (If facing towards the reception area).

It was mentioned that this incident had been caught on the security cam mounted on the ceiling of the main corridor. However, upon checking, it was found that the area outlined in the shadow aspect of the story could not be physically picked up by the overhead cam because a section of corridor wall obscured the view? Upon checking, Steve was told that the cams had been positioned differently at that point in time. Unfortunately, the footage concerned has subsequently been mis-placed.

Brian and friends had previously mounted their own ghost watch inside the property, but only reported having heard ‘noises’ in the building. Teachers at the site have susbsequently carried out the same process since our fitst visit to the school with, seemingly, exactly the same results reported.

After Brian had left the building for the night, group members instantly closed the corridor double doors – not locking them, but pulling them closed, together – and, upon returning a few minutes later, found that they were now open again, the gap being a distance of a foot or so. The doors were closed once more.

A view from approx. half way along the corridor revealed that a reflection in one of the glass panels of the doors concerned was seen to be apparently moving forwards and backwards slightly. Evidently, this indicated that the door itself was moving – something which was put down to air currents within the building.

During our more recent visit of June 12th (09), group members were luck enough to witness the aforementioned doors opening - very slightly - on their own. It has to be stressed that, on the instances concerned, such movement was evidently, naturally occuring..... a combination of drafts inside the building and the way in which the doors themselves are hung. As mentioned in our write up, however, we have to stress that '....in comparison to the past, staff experiences - the movement of the doors on the night of the investigation was naturally occuring a maximum of 5 to 6 inches..... As a result, we cannot objectively draw accurate comparisons with the 'complete' opening of the doors, as reported at other times....'

Upon standing near the double doors at one point on the night of our first visit, Steve Chew reported having heard what sounded like a sequence of footsteps, seemingly quite close by.
Vigil One – 10.10pm to 10.40pm

*Corridor doors bolted.
*Chiming childrens ball situated in centre of corridor floor, just in front of main stairs / double doors.
*Motion detectors placed just in front of double doors.
*Video camera situated facing the double doors from the reception side.

Steve and Julia situated in room B23. Nick and John in playroom / old hall.

During this period: John identifies a noise heard outside the windows of the playroom as a plastic cup blowing around the playground / car park. A blind on the windows of the playroom are seen to be blowing some distance into the room and John reports that at least 2 of the windows have been left open. (John shuts windows).

Double doors between the old hall area and the reception area are heard bumping – frequently quite loudly - throughout the duration of the session.

At 10.25pm, Julia hears a clang sound from the corridor outside room B23. She had been sitting near the door at the time, with Steve – who heard nothing - on opposite side of the room.

Approx. 3 minutes from the end of the session, Steve reports having suddenly gone cold. A tingling, instantaneous cold.

Post vigil, while standing near the double doors talking, we hear a ‘click’ sound from somewhere and Julia says she may have just seen something pass the outside of a door at the very end of the corridor. (Says that she doesn’t know if it was just a reflection or not). Investigation reveals nothing of interest.

Vigil Two – 11.20pm to 11.50pm

Situation set up as previous session.

John and Nick in room B23 and Steve and Julia in playroom / old hall.

During this time: Door to B23 heard to bump at 11.21pm

Steve and Julia report having heard little – if any – noise coming from the double doors between old hall area and reception.

12.10 am:

Nick visits double doors area of corridor (alone) in order to experiment with audio recordings. Reports numerous ‘noises’ – bumps, doors creaking, etc – coming from the building around him.

Joined by rest of group, an experimental ‘bating’ session takes place for a few minutes – Steve and Julia asking questions to the surrounding area - with no obvious response.

12.30am:

Group decide to spend some time situated in 1st floor corridor of building.

12.55am:

Entire group return to ground floor and – after a visit to the boiler room - position themselves in gym area.

Approx. 1.45am group pack up equipment and leave the property.

Comments:

A feature which was overwhelmingly obvious about (at least) the main block of the building was the fact that it was exceptionally ‘noisy’ throughout the duration of our stay. Rather than any paranormal cause for such noises, it was quite evident that (at least the bulk of) these sounds were created by air currents flowing through the property and manipulating various doors, etc. It was noticed that some doors were constantly being affected by the drafts – i.e. the double doors between old hall and reception, which clearly stopped moving after the hall windows were closed. (the difference between noise in this area reported during vigil one and two, for example). The door situated at the top of the main staircase – which had been pointed out to us as of interest by Brian – was frequently heard creaking, etc.

While the above could not explain away such incidents as opening windows in new and unattached sections of the property, it could certainly account for most (if not all) of the selection of audible occurrences. It has to be said that – due to the double corridor doors being seen to move in what appears to have been an air current – the incident caught on security footage could well have been easily explained if not for the particular detail concerning the doors being bolted?

Findings:

While some of the effects caught on footage taken during the night are open to conjecture, one recording session near the double corridor doors revealed a host of noises - most muted and distant. (Two ‘big sounds’ detected, however).

13.28 minutes into the recording Steve and Nick can be heard talking very loudly, but there is also a noise akin to a child saying something, which relates as quieter than the groups voices, but still audible.

At 39.41 minutes – while the group are all situated in the gym area, the camera switches off. There was still plenty of charge on the camera, as the batteries - with a run time of around 112 min. - were fully charged. At this point on the recording, there seems to be a lot of muted noise occurring and a very loud click - reminiscent of someone clicking their fingers very close to the camera.

Regards,

The W.M. Ghost Club

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