Date Nov 25th 2006
Time 11.30pm to 3.40am
Weather Clear
Temp
Moon Waxing 2nd quarter

We arrived and set up in the function room, a separate converted stable block in the car park away from the main pub.

There was a definite male presence, and again I picked up on the separate presence of an old man with one leg who had been there in 2005 when we last visited. Chris also felt strange in one corner of the building – we soon established that someone had been kicked to death by a horse or large animal on the spot, a few hundred years ago.

We had to wait a long time until the pub was clear of drinkers and staff so the team split up and set about getting base line readings upstairs in the living quarters and setting up audio equipment in the most active rooms.

While the team did this, I did a lone vigil in the function room building and wasn’t very brave! I kept the camcorder running for almost 4 minutes, but after seeing a big orb on the camcorder night shot LCD screen, then hearing and feeling a loud thump under my chair and feeling someone twirling my hair, all within less than a minute.. I chickened out and put the lights back on until the others returned J

When we were finally able to begin one half of the team went into the cellar – this was Steve, Clive, Chris and the guests who worked in the pub. They felt there was a presence – Chris especially picked up on the residual energy of groups of people huddled together down in the cellar during World War 2. He also felt that the one legged man from the function room was there too.

Meanwhile I took the other half of the team, Lisa, Lynsey and two guests into the bar areas where we discovered Davey the happy drunk who was in the same spot as last time we visited the pub! The smell associated with him was very pungent, and all of us could smell it in varying intensities. He spoke with me about Jack the unpleasant entity and asked me if I would “get rid of him” as he bullied and controlled the other spirit visitors who come back from time to time. He was joined by his mother who told me she had come back many times for Davey but he always refused to go into the light – I tried to persuade Davey to leave with her but he was happy there and didn’t want to go. He liked to sit and watch the ladies in our time; this made him happy J Lynsey reported he placed a hand on her knee!

Glass Divination and Séance –
Everyone took part in this with John and Steve filming on camcorders.

We began with glass divination experiments on two tables simultaneously.

The first person to make herself known, although scared of Jack, was Emily, a young woman who had her mother with her. I felt she was familiar and asked if she had been present the last time we were there – she confirmed this.

I asked her repeatedly to move the glass on either table, but she wouldn’t. Emily was very interested in Chris however… his accent reminded her of a man she had a crush on in her life who had “come down on the coach” but they had never got together. She was too frightened to have a conversation, but she did keep touching Chris’ arm and shoulder. He felt this too.

Jack was desperately trying to control proceedings, and although there were between 6 and 10 spirit in the room none would speak up when Jack was there. He was a bully and took it upon himself to shout obscenities at me and get in my face calling me names… and prowled around the outside of the circles making icy blasts of air behind people. Lynsey reported feeling “icy cold” to her back for a few minutes while this was going on.

My plan was to tire Jack by drawing his attention and allowing him to pick on me and no-one else in order to tackle him after the séance and move him on…which worked. He failed to materialise fully but he was able to cause some nasty abdominal pain to me, which I controlled and at no time was I in danger from him.

As he retreated, footsteps were heard by Lisa and John in the far left corner where John was standing filming. John reported he felt the steps around him.

Seconds later a weird scuttling noise was heard by everyone present coming from the far left corner, we all agreed it sounded like it came from the exterior wall but oddly on the outside. No persons could be seen on the street outside and no noise of passers by.

A second later, I detected a friendly male presence in that same corner who quickly stepped forward and introduced himself as named Methuselah Head. Lynsey reported being tickled and poked in the back – Methuselah was right behind her at the time. At the same time both Chris and I experienced cold breezes across our hands.

When I asked Methuselah to move the glass to indicate if he was a landlord of the pub during his lifetime, the glass moved ever so slightly. His energy felt very friendly and happy, and respectful too. He allowed me to see him, and I could see he was a Victorian gentleman, very smartly dressed in a 3 piece suit and fob watch, but would often wear his waistcoat open and would tuck his thumbs into his braces. He was kind, with what could be a Yorkshire accent and stood no nonsense, however he had a twinkle in his eye and a good dry sense of humour in his lifetime. He indicated he was there at the pub from the mid 1890s to just before WW1 – he expressed his hatred of “the Germans” as he lost someone close during the war, possibly at the Somme. He didn’t say so but I felt it was a younger brother or nephew he lost in the war.

We had a break then went straight on to a séance.

Almost immediately the video footage showed a tiny orb behind Clive’s chair – it may not come out on the web copy as it was so small.
I overheard a conversation between some ladies about what we were doing – so I said I could hear the ladies and asked them to introduce themselves. After a moment of stunned silence, a very straight laced lady came forward and showed me her surname by showing me a nun! After the initial thought of “what would a nun be doing in a pub?” I twigged it was her name she was showing me as I could now see her and she clearly wasn’t in a nuns habit and was quite advanced in years! J

Mrs Sarah Nunn introduced herself in full, and two of her daughters, Sarah and Eliza. I could see all three of them and Sarah and Eliza looked just like their mother.

She told me, “I don’t go in for parlour games” when I asked her to do something to show everyone present that she was there… but she did show me she is noisy in the kitchen area quite often. She also stated that she doesn’t like the way place is run in these modern times – especially the clientele today. She ran the place in the mid 1800s and “ran a very respectable inn”, first with her husband, then after he died, with the help of her daughters. She said she had 6 children, but only two were present at that moment with her.

Sarah and Eliza took over the pub when their mother was too frail to work any more – the two girls also sold intricate carved furniture from the pub, part of the room we were in had been given over to a mini showroom or display of sorts – this was furniture from France e.g. chairs, sideboards and armoires. Entrepreneurs ahead of their time!

Two generations of the Nunn family pretty much lived out their lives here I felt.

A cold breeze was felt on tops of hands for several people, this continued for 2 minutes or so, then suddenly a very bright flashy orb appeared within the circle when John William was mentioned, and icy cold was reported around the circle when I asked for a definitive sign of a presence. This is consistent with many séances we have held where temperature drops precede a burst of energy or activity.

At this point Lisa told me she had picked up on the name Jane – this was interesting as later research showed that a Jane Nunn was housekeeper at the inn in the 1890s – at the same time as a John William Challans who was listed as innkeeper of the pub. This was directly after Sarah and her daughters ran the place.

I ended the séance and closed the circle when Jack made another appearance, as I wanted to get on and get him moved on, never to return.

Everyone except me and John went outside to investigate the plague pit while I did the clearance. Jack was moved to a different plane of existence without too much of a fight as he was weakened from having used so much energy picking on me earlier J

He did try to get into my body and stop me from speaking at one point, and John was a bit alarmed as he said afterwards I “glared as if I was going to punch him” – then seconds later as I pushed Jack away, John suddenly felt an irrational anger and wanted to swear at me and walk out. Again it passed as soon as I started speaking the words of the clearance blessing again.

While all this was going on, the rest of the team and guests were outside across the car park in a grassy area which covers a medieval plague burial pit. Chris reported a high EMF reading in the centre of the burial pit area, but nowhere else in the vicinity. The photos taken at the time show orbs and mist – and the mist forms an eerie almost animal like intense face at knee height behind Chris as he walked across the pit.

Jack won’t be back there again.. I’ve made sure he can’t return, but the friendly spirits are welcome to visit there any time…

(c) Rachel Keene and Haunted Realms 2006