Investigation of a haunted home in Tiptree, Essex 19.03.05

Tiptree – 19.03.05 – A Private home investigation
Another medium and I took separate groups around the house and had no interaction until the vigils were completed for the entire house.
Compare our findings…

The results of the automatic writing experiment were inconclusive on paper…but check out the photo of the boy standing next to Norma trying to guide her hand!

N.B- We haven’t supplied the owner’s address details for their privacy!

My Account:

We started downstairs in the reception room on the left side of the house, as the other medium took his group upstairs.
I sat at the dining table with Norma, as I tuned in she prepared to do some automatic writing.

Our group included Kay, the co-owner of the property, who was also filming.

Almost immediately I became aware of a young lady named Lucy, aged between 18-20, she was slim, and was thin of face but with rosy cheeks. Her appearance was possibly Edwardian or slightly earlier going on her dress.

She showed me she was a member of the household staff, but didn’t live on site; she lived nearby and came in each day. She carried a pile of freshly washed linen as she came in from the direction of the leaded doors to the garden. She was trying to show me that these doors weren’t the original way in and that something of the house structure had changed between the reception room and the kitchen, possibly a doorway or a serving hatch.

As I was communicating with her, a small boy aged 4 or 5 named Peter Collier (or Collins?) came in and stood by her side. I could see both of them very clearly; he was very smartly dressed, wearing a little blue suit with breeches and a round white collar. (Tim took photos at this point – and you can see two orbs moving close to each other at differing heights)

He is unrelated to Lucy, and wasn’t alive in her time frame either, but as he comes to visit she takes care of him while he is there. He told me his daddy was an owner of the house and that his father was to do with transport (he showed me horse drawn carriages and coaches). He showed me his father’s appearance, a short portly chap, well dressed. Peter adored his father.

He showed me how he messes about with the TV and cd players, this activity was confirmed by Kay the owner.

He mentioned someone names Jess, then showed me images of the house all lit up and ready for a social function in the late 17th or early 18th century, lamps blazing and smart black horse drawn carriages pulling up outside the house and people coming in wearing their finery.

I became aware of a young man named James who drove a carriage for the household and was employed here, and loved his job when he ferried persons to and from functions or parties at the house.
He was a ladies man and would while away the time waiting for his charges by..Well, you can imagine the household girls spent a lot of time with him in quiet corners!
He showed me he was an East ender but had connections to Chelsea, and showed me lots of men’s shoes, brogues mainly. A cheeky and lovely friendly energy, he comes to visit the property often, especially the kitchen as he enjoyed his time there immensely!

There was also a small black dog with a shiny coat playing around the dining table as we sat – it licked the back of my hand at one point!

As we left the room I paused at the window to the front of the house, and was aware of the residual energies of a lady named Catherine Elizabeth who would stand looking out of the window for a man to come home.
She was wearing a long pale coloured gown with puff sleeves and had her hair pinned up in curls. She was quite pretty and would have been mistress of the house at some point in its history.

In the Hall, I was immediately aware of a fight (fists) between 2 men, energies felt like father and suitor arguing, possibly over Catherine, they were dressed of the same period.

The kitchen was very active, with the spirit of James joining us again.
There were many layers of residual energy in this, the busiest room of the house over the ages.
I was aware of a middle aged Spanish woman who had a terrible temper – she didn’t work here long though (and no wonder!)
An active spirit introduced herself as Lizzie, she was standing in front of the dresser and leaning on the table with her fists, showing me that the current table position matched the old table position in her day.
She was quite a heavy set lady, red of face, and wore a white cotton gathered cap with lace trim at the edge.
her dress was well worn, dark in colour (with bits of flour!) with a full skirt and long apron. her sleeves were rolled up as high as they could go.

She told me she worked here many years and was very proud of her kitchen and didn’t stand any nonsense, but she was kind as well as fierce! She showed me how she kneaded bread and said she worked until she was too old to carry out her duties anymore. Her hands were quite gnarled and arthritic by the time she was an old woman. She also had shoulder and neck problems.

She (graciously) and eventually allowed other information to come through while we were in the kitchen, although I was mainly picking up on the residual energies of people who had lived or worked in the house.
I was picking up on a man named Charles who was most likely an owner of the property or in a position of authority in the household pecking order in the late 19th to possibly early 20th century, he considered himself an “important man” and wasn’t too polite to his staff.

Going back in time there was also a residual imprint of a man whose middle names also included Charles, and his name also had “Wood” or “Edward” as part of it. He wore a tall black hat with a wide brim, he had a heavy moustache and thin legs and a little pot belly. He also had lots of children (not all legitimate or acknowledged!), his love of women was apparent in the energies he left behind, and he had a lot of pain in his left leg too. Lots of back pain, and a couple of wooden teeth!

There was a residual imprint of a girl named Jenny too, but I didn’t receive any more info about who she was.

A really amusing character named Joseph entered, very active, demanding to know who we were. He was well spoken but very camp which is unusual for someone of his era (late 19th to early 20th century) and was a butler or head of housekeeping. Very protective of the owner back then (male).
There wasn’t really anything going on in the utility room or drawing rooms, just energy imprints of people acting very formally in the drawing room and not really enjoying themselves.

Upstairs, the first bedroom on the left was quite active, the little boy from downstairs Peter was telling me this was his room and I was aware it was a nursery for other children over the ages too. We sat on the floor and beds and held hands for a mini séance.

During the séance Peter showed me he had breathing problems during his life and that he was only aged around 7 or 8 based on his appearance when he passed.
The name Emily also came up as linked to Peter in his lifetime, possibly a sibling.

I was also aware of the energy of a governess or nanny who Peter avoids because she was fond of smacking. Peter makes the room temp change to extremes of hot and cold too.

We moved on to the bedroom (first on the right) currently used as aa room for one of the household children. I was immediately aware of the lovely energy created by a birth in the room at some point in the past.
Births create a portal of energy in the room and I was made aware that the child’s grandfather uses the room as a point of entry when he visits from Spirit. Electrical equipment goes on the blink a lot due to the room’s energy and that of Spirit.
Lots of residual energy, I was shown that the room was flooded or water came through the ceiling at some point past, as someone got drenched in this room. Also I saw the replay of a man leaving the room via the window in a hurry when he heard someone’s footsteps on the landing! He was wearing a cloak so this was some many years ago!

On the landing I sensed that a sick person had slipped and fallen on the stairs, causing an injury to the lower back. The energy felt like that of the man with the tall hat and wooden teeth from earlier in the investigation.
He fell because he was in a hurry to meet someone downstairs, a guest who he had forgotten was going to call on him. Also that an elderly lady had trouble hobbling up and own in the 1920s or 1930s with the initial J.
The residual imprint of someone male in modern times leaning out of the landing window and yelling at someone approaching the house to go away, lots of anger!

In the second bedroom on the left, there was a very notable depressive energy, which emanated from a lady who had been very unhappy in her marriage and chose to sleep in this room to escape her husband and his advances. Her name was Jane and she was Scottish, the feeling was that she had been made to marry this man and move here as some kind of business alliance between her father and the man she married.

There was also the residual energy or a more recent occupant of the room who was a daughter of the household, but not much more information was received other than she spent a lot of time looking out of the window at the fields that were at that time all that could be seen.
Also the spirit of a lovely small black and white cat came into the room, definitely from some point in the past 50 years of the household history.

The energies in the master bedroom (3rd on left) were quite oppressive at first, I was aware of 2 layers of residual energy here.
The first was that of a dominant male, 5’6” to 5’8” in height, longish dark hair with a wave, preparing to go out to a social function with his wife, he was wearing evening dress, and he had a top hat to wear, he was fiddling with his cravat and admiring himself. His wife was utterly miserable and felt like the woman from the 2nd bedroom on the left I had felt earlier, but this man didn’t care she was unhappy, he was domineering and not a nice person at all.

The second layer was entirely different, much more positive and happy, but with a similar theme. This scenario showed me the little pot bellied man from the kitchen, (the gent whose middle name was Charles!). He was also preparing to go out for the evening in smart clothing, but he was older here than I’d seen him downstairs, and hiss hair was long and straggly looking in its ponytail. His wife was with him, also being helped into her finer clothing and happy to be accompanying him, she loved him.

There was also the residual energy of a man here who visits from time to time in a right temper because he can’t see his things around him from his lifetime. He doesn’t understand time has moved on and so he gets confused when he comes back. If he had been there in person I could have explained it to him! But it was just the residual energy of his visits I felt.

There was also the residual adrenalin energy from sometime in the mid 20th century of a married woman having an extra-marital affair in this room – and who’d had to hide someone in the cupboards until the husband was out of the way! (Needless to say it wasn’t the current owners before they lynch me! Ha ha!)

The household bathrooms had no energy present at all, possibly as they were more modern additions to the house.

The last room we investigated was the far right bedroom, all I felt was Peter playing in there and he showed me he moves things sometimes. He has the full run of the house and still treats it at his own when he comes to visit!

The long landing corridor was very interesting – as we were chatting on the smaller landing by the stairs I looked down there and saw a brief residual snapshot of what looked like a party – people in 18th or 19th century undies running between rooms giggling and – well, having fun … so there was at least one big party in those times where things were a bit saucy to say the least !

Al in all, a fabulous house full of interesting and on the whole pleasant energies!

_____________________________

The other medium’s Account:

The other medium initially took part of the team with Steve the host to the upstairs bedrooms. Here is his account of the night’s investigations..

“In the main master bedroom, I detected an old man wearing a dark brown leather apron, and large buckle belt lurking in the shadows being too intimidated by the presence of the investigators.

He was described as white haired but balding with a sad look in his eyes. He stated his name was Sam, or Samuel Elliot and that he worked as a farrier in the 19th century. He seemed a kindly man, and definitely had relatives of his visiting the same house!

During this room vigil, Tim took a number of photos which confirmed that a presence was there. From there the group went to the front bedroom where a vivid presence of a lady in her late 50‘s to early 60‘s was detected. She claimed her name was Emily, and that she worked all her life as a cleaner in ‘the big house‘ nearby. She wore a long black dress which was worn and bleached through age and cleaning. She seemed to be connected to Sam, and was felt to be his Victorian descendent. Emily’s face was hard and etched, showing years of poverty and unhappiness with her life. She was a very strict lady, and didn’t take kindly to stuff lying around as in her day these items were luxuries. I discovered afterwards that this presence had been seen by members of the family living there.

We then moved to a small box room. There was absolutely nothing felt or seen here. The teenage children of the owners reported that this was the ‘quiet room‘ where nothing had been seen or felt previously. It seemed to be a room ‘out of bounds‘ to paranormal activity.
From here, we returned downstairs whilst Rachel took her group upstairs. In the kitchen we proceeded to hold a séance around the kitchen table.

It was during this that Tim took some more amazing photos of spiritual activity which can be seen on the web gallery with fantastic clarity of presences.

Here in the kitchen I felt decades of layers through time, a place where everyone and everything came to this great room to eat, drink, and be merry. In essence, almost a portal through time.

The first lady that came to me was a large woman with a very cheery disposition. She wore white coloured kitchen apparel, including a large ‘puffy‘ type hat, and a white apron.
She had the most amazing smile! Her mouth was unusually large, and it projected a huge cheerful smile. Did she like this place or what! This was the centre of her universe, and that universe unfolded to us with warmth and feeling.
She kept drawing me to look and admire her fitted oak kitchen dresser. This obviously very old piece had been specially built to fit into the kitchen space, and it was truly beautiful. She told me it was built for her, and if anyone should move it out of the house there would be major trouble.

I (after the séance) examined the unit. I could tell by its design and construction built during the late quarter of the 18th century, a period within which this lady’s clothing would have matched.
She refused to tell me who she was at first, telling me (in a joking manner) not to be so stupid.
Eventually she gave me her name as Eliza – for Elizabeth. I also picked up the surname of Sturgeon or similar.

She then moved over to a very interesting character who gave his name as Josiah. He was smartly dressed in a fancy brass buttoned military style tunic with a high collar. He wore on his head a tricorn hat and a wig. The wig looked slightly dishevelled, and his tunic was untidy, but he was quite proud nevertheless.

He (like Emily upstairs) was employed at the ‘big house‘ as a liveryman. His job was assistant to a coach driver, and that meant jumping off and on the coach to open the carriage doors for his employers. He was a tall slim man whom I saw in his late 40‘s. He had a very sharp but broken nose, and a
grey complexion with some untidy stubble present. He was quite a ladies man, and a person who would use every opportunity to make his work life as easy as possible. Slightly questionable moralities, but a decent enough man to meet.
He told me that he loved visiting the kitchen here, and I presumed that he may have been a friend or distant relation to Eliza. After this, he faded away, and Eliza returned to bid farewell.
At this moment I detected the ‘shielded‘ presence of a young girl dressed in heavy winter clothing. She preferred not to speak but left.
At this point a very weird thing happened… I picked up the spirit of a large old scruffy light brown or tan coated dog that meandered into the room with a friendly wag of his tail. As I remarked on this presence, the family German Shepherd starting barking unusually loudly in the garden. This made everyone jump! I discovered afterwards that this dog may have been the previous family dog who fitted this description.

After this, I wound the group down and shared our experiences with Rachel’s group with surprising similarities. It was a great investigation by the group with a lot of photographic information.