The area in which the woodlands are situated are known to have been inhabited by the Beaker people and Early Bronze Age. There are some Bronze Age barrows on the perimeter of the woodland.
We started off the investigation with laughter assisted by Vikki who when trying to hop over a huge puddle, collapsed and sat down in the middle. I think that these funny situations which make us laugh during investigations and vigils do well to prevent us from taking ourselves too seriously. We made our way to our location.
It was raining but the woodland was beautiful. We headed for a clearing and stayed there for a while. There have been sightings of a shadowy figure in this area but as long as we stayed there, we did not have any ghostly visitors. Matt went off on his own to see if he could experience anything. He later reported that he could hear tiny bells ringing. There was nothing in the area that would sound like small bells and nobody was wearing anything that would jingle. Later on in the investigation, Matt heard the bells again.
We eventually decided to move on. Vikki found a log to sit on and felt that someone was with her. This spirit was trying to influence Vikki and she felt compelled to get up from the log and walk but she knew it would not be from her own free will. The rest of the team caught up with Vikki so she was able to dispel the feeling.
We wondered around the woodlands. Shelly found an area in which she did not feel comfortable. She took the rest of the team there. Shelly said that it felt 'nasty'. As we followed her we all agreed that this small part of the woodland felt oppressive.
We went for a walk around the woods. We met a sweet, little toad who was enjoying the rain and we think we found a badger set. As everyone was exploring I saw a shadow figure really close to me, dash from one tree to the other. I quickly looked behind me. Although the figure did not look like anyone from the team, I just had to check. They were all a little way behind me, still looking at the badger set. I just stood there in disbelief. Although it was raining, the night was very still and there was no wind. Suddenly as I looked at the tree at which the shadow ran towards, all the branches at arm level just separated as if someone had pulled them apart and passed through. The invisible person must then have let the branches go again as they all suddenly snapped back into place. There was absolutely nobody there and no animal of any sort. The branches were just a couple of feet away from me. This was exciting.
Vikki heard a growl right beside her, again nobody or no animal there. She also thought she could see a figure further in the woods. By the time the rest of us looked, the figure had gone.
After this nothing much happened and the atmosphere which had previously felt charged now felt normal. We decided to finish the investigation and we were in high spirits as the whole experience had been so enjoyable.
Written by: Maria Williams
