Front of House

Back of House

     The location is a late Georgian house located in a village in the middle of Essex - a county in the Southeast of England. The house is now owned by Essex County Council and is used as administration offices. However, up until just after the beginning of the second world war, the house was owned by an affluent family of local solicitors and landowners.
     The investigation took place on the evening of Saturday, July 29th, 2006, commencing at 21.00 hours (BST) and lasted approximately three hours. The outside temperature was 19 degrees centigrade and the moon was in the fourth night of its waxing phase.
     OUTSIDE: The first area to be investigated was the gardens. Both Sally and Ron felt that the lawn to the immediate rear of the house was the most active. Sally picked up on the names "Jack" and "Maggie" and felt very strongly that these two spirits were linked together in a very negative way - that "Jack" had caused "Maggie" great suffering in life. What was even more disconcerting was that this suffering appeared to still be going on even though they are both in Spirit.
     Sally saw a man chasing children while we were taking photos on the lawn at the rear of the house. She felt Jack's presence and asked him to show himself. A faint Orb appeared (1st photo below).

     When asked to make it stronger, a bigger, brighter one materialized (middle photo above). She felt heavy breathing on her face and, once again, asked if this was "Jack", more Orbs appeared. Ron got a very strong impression of the presence of children - six in total - which could explain the large number of small, mobile Orbs in this particular area (last picture above). Their mobility suggests a playfulness.
     CELLAR: Both Sally and Ron went down to the cellar while Joe stayed on the ground floor of the entrance to the house. All three could hear bangs and knocks and both Sally and Ron could hear the sound of footsteps reverberating around the cellar. Sally felt something touch her shoulder and they both encountered an area which was a very palpable "cold spot". All this was accompanied by an Orb which appeared at the door at the top of the steps leading down into the cellar.
     ATTIC: All three of us went up to the attic and straight away we encountered a strong cold spot which was very evident to all of us. In fact, a feeling of cold seemed to pervade the entire area. This, in itself, was strange as it was a warm night and, being at the top of the house, the attic should have been significantly warmer. Ron took a sequence of photographs which shows very clearly the manifestation of a female form in Victorian dress seemingly bent in prayer. Sally got the vivid impression that once again, this could be "Maggie". Is she asking for deliverance from her tormentor which not even Death seems able to protect her from?

STAIRS: While all three of us were on the stairs, there were a large number of knocks and bangs. Ron picked up on a very strong vibration of a voice saying, "Don't want you here!" By now, Ron, too, had begun to pick up on the negative vibrations surrounding the spirits of "Jack" and "Maggie". We all agreed that the unwelcoming voice could well have been that of Jack who was not at all happy to have this place encroached upon during what he considered to be his time.
     While on the stairs, all three of us could also hear laughing and whispering. We all felt strongly that this was once again those playful spirits of children. Finally, the whispering of the children subsided and Sally picked up on the more anguished whispering adult. Once again Sally got the distinct impression that this was "Maggie" as she sounded so scared. A strong impression was gained that this vicious circle of negativity from beyond the grave was caused by "Jack" and his desire to torment "Maggie" and Maggie's reticence to leave as she wanted to protect the children from Jack's malign influence.
     ROOM 7: At the top of the main staircase is a room with a loft hatch in the ceiling that leads up to the attic which, by this time, we had already investigated. On a number of occasions in the past, various individuals with a gift for clairvoyance, Sally included, have experienced a feeling of choking as if by hanging in this area. On coming straight out of this room, Joe felt compelled to take a photograph over the banister and got a strange light anomaly which did, indeed, have an appearance of a rope. Could this be a residual energy of a tragic suicide or murder that took place at this house or a previous tragedy on the same site at some time in the past?

     As yet, we can find no details of such an event, but large English houses set in villages where most of the inhabitants were in the employment of the house owner, have always been very adept at keeping their more macabre secrets.