Ghosts at Christmas (10 page)

Doxford House near Christmas time was always going to be an exciting venture and we are confident that it will no doubt reveal all its hidden secrets and ghosts to our research team over the coming years. Our next investigation was held a week or so after Christmas Day in early January 2009. The story of our not so ‘silent night’ follows.

It had been a few weeks or so since our first investigation at the magnificent Doxford House, and, for a house that had never been investigated prior to the Ghosts and Hauntings Overnight Surveillance Team going in, it certainly seemed to prove its worth. Drew and Fiona had visited Doxford House on a number of other occasions since the first investigation before Christmas 2008, not as investigators, but as cleaners. The house, although in rather good condition considering its circumstances, was rather messy, with reminders of the time when it was once home to a thousand students. They say the more time you spend in ‘haunted houses’ the more chance you have of witnessing paranormal
activity, and cleaning the house up and getting it into a safe condition for investigators would have been an ideal opportunity to do this.

I asked Drew and Fiona if they happened to encounter any paranormal or odd happenings during the few occasions they visited the house to clean it up, but nothing of an unusual nature had occurred during Drew and Fiona’s clean-up process. However, a good friend of Fiona’s, a lady called Pat (who also happens to own a very well known haunted establishment), was a woman who had worked at Doxford House as a caretaker/manager/cleaner. We were told that during the many years that she worked there, she experienced what she considered to be ‘hundreds of odd happenings’ and ‘saw all sorts of things’. Whether these experiences are subjective or objective we will never know, as the woman in question sadly died in August 2008. Being denied the chance to interview someone who could have been a ‘prized witness’ is of course a blow for the team as every piece of witness testimony, even the somewhat trivial data, can be of the utmost importance to us. Nevertheless, it is simply interesting to note that yet another of the frequenters of Doxford House reported strange things occurring and although we can’t document what it was she experienced, we can record the fact that she thought the house was haunted.

Early in January 2009 we commenced with our second investigation. Drew, Fiona, Ralph Keeton, Nikki Austwicke, Trevor Walker and Yvonne Moore visited the house on the afternoon of the investigation to make sure all was well for the evening to come. That evening, Drew told the rest of the GHOST team what had occurred:

Interestingly, it was here, on this top corridor, that I had a nerve-racking experience, an experience that I had never encountered before in all my years of frequenting haunted locales, and which literally chilled me to the bone – but more of that later.

The investigation started and hopes were high of getting something good documented. Along with myself, Drew, Fiona and Mark, and the usual guests Ryan Bartley, Jim and Paul Collins, ex-team member Paul Dixon joined us, as did Ralph Keeton, Nikki Austwicke and their guest Trevor Walker. The weather was very cold and, it must be stressed on this particular night the wind was howling to such a degree we all thought the house would be blown down. Due to the fact there were a few broken windows that still need repairing in the house, any draughts, temperature drops, or any other phenomena for that matter, had to be seriously considered before a decision on whether or not it may have had paranormal origin.

It was 10.30 p.m. and we got on with the pre-investigation responsibilities with our baseline tests being carried out, followed by the setting up of the lock-off video cameras, the trigger experiments and the placing of the motion sensors and beam barriers. The baselines proved rather straightforward due to the winds outside. The squeaky floorboards were traced throughout the house, and the EMF surveys provided the investigators with no readings whatsoever. We placed beam barriers on each flight of the grand stairwell, set a video camera recording on the lower section of the stairwell – in the hope of recording the infamous spectre of General Beckwith, and a number of trigger objects were placed around the premises. A cross was placed on the floor in the master
bedroom (we used this as a base room on our first investigation and, for whatever reason, it was not investigated, even though there are accounts of the General’s ghost being seen in this room), and a beautiful ornamental Ouija board was placed on the table in what we have now coined the ‘Ouija board room’. Finally, a child’s cuddly toy was placed on the fire extinguisher stand mounted to the wall in the passageway on the upper level of the house.

Prior to recording what happened on our night’s vigil, I will relate to you some odd activity that was reported by Ralph Keeton while the tour of the house was being carried out for those individuals who had not been there before. He told me that during the walk around he picked up on the name ‘Monica’. After saying the name out loud, the voice of a young girl was said to have been heard. A few knocks and taps were heard too that were thought to have had paranormal origin. Other odd activity was recorded by others, and not in the main house area.

During a break before the main event, we were downstairs at the back door near the car park in what was a newer section of the building. At 11 p.m. Drew noticed that the door to the disabled toilet and shower room was wide open and he was pretty sure that it had just been closed. He asked everyone if they had used the toilet in there and perhaps left the door open, to which they all replied ‘no’. Besides, there is another toilet just a few yards away that everyone preferred to use. In fact, I had just used it, and, upon coming out, I walked past the disabled toilet and shower room and remember distinctly that the door was indeed closed.

Drew and I stood in the corridor to discuss this most recent occurrence and during our talk we were disturbed by what sounded like a harrowing wail coming from along the long dark corridor. Whatever it was, it seemed to eminate from the original part of Doxford House, but we knew the house was empty. Although I am positive that it sounded nothing like wind there is still a possibility that it could have been. However, for
the rest of the night no other sounds were heard similar to the ‘wail’, even though the wind continued to blow until the early hours.

Now it was time to head off into the cold, dark night and begin our second attempt at contacting the ghosts of Doxford House. We split up into our teams and headed off to our respective vigil locations. My group, which consisted of Ralph, Nikki, Trevor, Paul and myself, investigated the ‘Ouija board room’ on the bottom floor, while Fiona’s group, which consisted of Yvonne, Mark Winter and of course Fiona, staked out the middle floor. Drew’s group, consisting of Ryan, Paul Dixon and Jim, investigated the top level of the building. It was 11.20 p.m.

Upon entering the ‘Ouija board room’ I asked Ralph and Trevor if they were picking anything up on a spiritual level, to which they replied ‘not at the minute’. No sooner had we walked into the room and closed the door it sprang open. This, of course, happened in our first investigation and, oddly enough, it was when my group was investigating the room, and it was also in the presence of Ralph Keeton. It was I who closed the door tightly on the first investigation but this time it was Ralph, who also claimed to have shut it properly. Although it was windy outside we don’t think that enough wind or resulting draughts could have been responsible for the opening of this door simply because a) the door was closed tight, and b) this door was nowhere near any broken windows, besides, all other doors in the vicinity were also tightly closed, isolating this door. If the draught had came in from inside the Ouija board room it could hardly have pulled the door open, as it would have been blowing against the way the door opens, anyway, no windows were broken and no draughts were reported in this particular room. If, however, it was by some chance the wind, then this still doesn’t explain how the door opened of its own volition on our first investigation on 1 December 2008, when no wind at all was blowing outside. Both Ralph and I feel that this door could be one to watch in future investigations, as there seems to be a pattern emerging with it.
Lots of famous haunted buildings have certain areas and certain reported phenomena associated within those areas, such as a door at Washington Old Hall in Tyne and Wear. It is said that the door to the Panelled Room is always found open after it has been closed, and visa-versa. One wonders if the former residents of Doxford House, or even perhaps those that have worked there, experienced this particular door opening on its own.

The only other odd occurrences (apart from knocks and taps that could have been explained away naturally due to the wind, and other experiences which were largely subjective) was hearing a sigh or a breath coming from the door area. Ralph, Nikki and Trevor all heard this. But the most interesting phenomena documented in this vigil were the sound of heavy thumps coming from the master bedroom upstairs – where the General had often been seen – and which sounded incredibly like heavy footfalls. In fact, the thumps were so heavy that the light fittings on the ceiling in our room rattled and clinked violently. After hearing these thumps, I located and then spoke to the team that was investigating this level in order to determine where exactly they were at the time the thumps were heard. As I was talking to Fiona, Yvonne and Mark (while they were actually standing on the stairs and in my view), Paul Collins and Ralph continued to hear the heavy thumping and rattling around the ceiling area which came from the room above. This verified to all in my group that there was no one in that room at the time of the thumps being heard on the second occasion. Therefore we can safely presume the first set of thumps were anomalous too.

Fiona’s group experienced a little odd phenomenon too. They first ventured into the newer section of the building, where they proceeded to call out to the atmosphere in the hope of making contact with someone, but to no avail. Mark claims to have seen something through a glass window (but what it was he could not say), so they ventured into the area where it was seen, and continued to call out. The door next to where they were standing was then said to have rattled and banged upon their command,
although the investigators did suspect it could have been the wind, since there was a broken window in this particular room. At the end of their vigil they all heard a sigh or breath which, oddly, seemed to have occurred at the same time as Ralph, Nikki and Trevor heard a sigh while in the Ouija room. Drew’s group experienced nothing that could be classed as remotely paranormal, as all knocks, bumps and draughts were sensibly ruled out.

On our way to our break, I decided to leave my EVP machine recording in the main foyer area and subsequently left it on the mantelpiece situated under the grand stairwell. The recording lasted for thirty minutes and there was nothing on it. On our way to our second location I picked up the EVP recorder and continued to my next location, which was the top floor. Drew’s team investigated the middle floor while Fiona’s stayed on the bottom level of the house.

I mentioned earlier that I had had a nerve-racking experience that chilled me to the bone, and it was in this vigil location that it occurred. We got settled in to the investigation and began to call out. I took some digital stills and made some EVP recordings, but
to no avail, so I joined the rest of the group that were standing along the passageway. Suddenly, after Ralph had called out, we all heard two thumps or bangs. They seemed to come from the top of the stairwell area, but upon examining the area we found nothing out of place. It was duly noted that the wind seemed to have calmed down considerably at this time as we could not hear it from inside the premises, nor could we see the large tree that stands at the front of the house swaying all was calm. After asking for the banging to recommence, we all heard it again and it was most fascinating to say the least.

The shock came thirty minutes into the vigil when I decided to venture forth down the passageway with EVP machine in hand after a male grunt was heard coming from that area. As I was preparing my EVP machine for this experiment, everyone present except me then heard a male voice cry ‘Ouch’ as if someone was being hurt. I duly noted down these incidences and headed off to make my recordings.

I had taken only three or four steps and was parallel with the door to room 1, which stood across from room 29. Suddenly, from nowhere, came a feeling that someone was running a hand across my face. At the same time I heard a noise that I can only describe as a ‘sizzling static’ followed by two distinct footfalls right in front of me. I thought to myself ‘something is coming toward me’ and before I even had a chance to register this thought, I was overcome with an ice-cold sensation inside my body, accompanied by a feeling of absolute terror. This feeling lasted for only a brief second or so before it dissipated, leaving me shocked, shaken and surprised. As crazy as it sounds, I think that something, I don’t know what, went through me!