VISIT ONE
On Saturday 25th June 2011, Twilight Shadows Paranormal and Phoenix of Wessex conducted a paranormal investigation at an amazing location in Wiltshire.
Loretta and I arrived at the location and met Jacky, Dave, Chris and Sharon. Due to the nature of this building, we had to keep numbers down to a minimum. We were informed that we could not identify the building due to its use. The reason why I have called it the ‘Rattling-bog’ house will become clear later in the report.
Jacky and Dave had entered the building before our arrival and they told us that something strange had already happened. Loretta and I entered the building and we both felt an immense energy. The building consisted of three rooms but we were only given access to two rooms. The other room had to remain locked as its interior and contents are secret. This left us one room upstairs and a room downstairs, both large rooms.
We decided to split into two groups. Loretta, Chris and I went downstairs to investigate the bottom room and Jacky, Dave and Sharon stayed in the upstairs room.
While we were downstairs, we all felt comfortable with our surroundings and we did not really feel anything of a paranormal nature at all.
Jacky, Dave and Sharon made spiritual contact upstairs and when we swapped rooms and they went downstairs, they also experienced spiritual activity down there.
My team was luckier upstairs. We could feel spiritual entities around us and we conducted a successful séance and table tipping. I was surprised by the force of the energy moving the table. We asked specific questions and got positive results from both a female and male entity.
After a while, Jacky, Dave and Sharon joined us and we decided that we would stay together for the rest of the investigation. Jacky told us that her team had made contact with a female spirit who had lived there. She told them that she had been seen and heard by people. They also had made contact with a rather scholarly male. This was exciting; they had been much more successful than us.
We stood in the room ‘asking out’ and suddenly some stones were thrown. They were all thrown singly. Chris asked “Can you throw two stones at one time?” Chris said “A man visits here but he also visits other places”.
Dave heard a footstep and then I heard another just behind me. There was a knocking sound, followed by another stone which was thrown quite hard. We had all jumped a bit at this. Another stone was thrown near to us but not directly at us. We couldn’t work out where the stones were coming from as they were not from inside the room. As two stones had been thrown we were wondering if it was in response to Chris’s request but they were not thrown together.
There seemed to be energy coming from the secret room. The door may have been locked but that did not stop the energy from penetrating through the thick wood of the door. Another stone was thrown nearby. Jacky ‘called out.’ It had been quite cold inside the room but I actually felt as I was getting warmer. Chris and Dave both had a tingly sensation travelling down their necks, they described it like electricity. Jacky ‘called out’ again. We all heard a firm footstep. I had previously felt that the floor had been shaking and now Dave said that he felt as if the floor was vibrating.
Another stone was thrown and then another. Dave was standing in front of a door and we heard it knock which made him jump. Dave said that he could still feel the floor vibrating. There was nothing that we could find which may have caused this.
Jacky ‘called out’ again. One of the doors made a noise. Chris said that he was tingling again and that something was following him around. Chris ‘called out’ and asked for more stones to be thrown. He also asked for singing and chanting. Chris saw a light at the bottom of the door. We turned our Camcorders off for a moment. The lights were still intermittently there.
We decided to sit around a table and conduct a séance. Almost immediately, Chris said that he could feel the temperature dropping. Dave agreed. Jacky heard a voice. Jacky ‘called out’ and asked if any spirit people were present, would they please tap on the top of the table or move the table. We all heard two definitive taps. We soon realised that we were talking to a female spirit. Jacky asked if this was the female that they had made contact with in the downstairs room. There was no response.
Suddenly, the table started to tap of its own accord in a very strange manner. The only way that I can describe it, is it sounded like a gentle thrumming. Jacky asked for the table to be lifted. She also asked the ‘Professor’ that they had made contact with earlier to join us, along with the spirit with which my group had been conversing. Chris then ‘called out’ and the table started moving and continued to move while he kept talking. We all introduced ourselves. Jacky and Chris asked for the table to lift and it did. The force of the table was very strong. We tried to press it down and even with all of our collective strength pushing down on it, the table stayed up at one end until the spirits were asked to lower the table, which they did rather gracefully. Chris felt that the energy lifting the table was a man or perhaps several men. He asked if they had been present when we had been talking to them previously and there were two sharp knocks on the table.
Jacky asked if the table could be lifted up completely, levitating in the air with no legs on the floor. We have always wanted this to happen but so far we have only ever experienced three legs lifting. Dave saw a person shaped dark shadow and the table moved with considerable force. Jacky was asking “Please, all four legs off of the floor” but only three legs were lifted with the table balancing on one leg.
The table suddenly started to move in a different way. As it knocked, it made a rhythmic sound which resembled either a chant or Native American Indian drumming. It was extremely eerie. The table continued to move and then all of a sudden the rhythmic sound stopped. Chris said that he was filled with overwhelming sadness as if a spirit wanted to cry through him. He felt energy all around his neck and shoulders. Dave said that his eyes felt blurry. We all became aware of a smell like incense but it petered out quite quickly.
Chris asked “Raise the table off of its legs again.” The table started rising, three of its legs leaving the floor. Chris smirked and said “I’ve just had an idea, can you multi-task?” He said “Can you move the glass around and around and tip the table up at the same time?” It did this but as the side of the table got higher, it was clear that the glass would fall.
Loretta saw movement behind Chris. Dave said that he had a strange feeling behind him. Chris asked for some more chanting and immediately the table responded with a different beat. We were astounded.
Dave said that he could hear the ‘Rattling Bog.’ We all looked strangely at Dave and then he started chanting “The man is in the egg, the egg is in the nest, the nest is on the branch, the branch is on the tree of the Rattling Bog.” There was silence for a while and then we all burst out laughing at Dave’s excitement with his chant. We asked the spirits if the words were correct. The answer was no, but similar. We were all laughing as Dave felt compelled to get the rhyme correct and he continued to chant. The energy in the room was electric and the beat on the table started again.
Chris said “If we provided you with some humour tonight, even with Dave’s ranting, please lift the table up.” The table lifted up strongly which indicated to us that they found Dave’s antics as funny as we did. Chris suggested that Dave tried for Eurovision which made us all cry with laughter as Dave was still going with his funny rhyme. Loretta said “On a serious note, the Medieval Baebes released a song which sounds quite similar.”
It’s called the Maypole song:
In the woods there grew a tree
A fine, fine tree was he
On that tree there was a limb
And on that limb there was a branch
On that branch there was a nest
And in that nest there was an egg
In that egg there was a bird
And from that bird a feather came
Of that feather was a bed
On that bed there was a girl
And on that girl there was a man
From that man there was a seed
And from that seed there was a boy
From that boy there was a man
And for that man there was a grave
From that grave there grew a tree……………………..
There is no sign of a ‘Rattling Bog’ though.
Since the investigation we have discovered that there is a song called ‘The Rattlin Bog:’
O-ro the rattlin' bog, the bog down in the valley-o
O-ro the rattlin' bog, the bog down in the valley-o
And in that bog there was a tree, a rare tree, a rattlin' tree
With the tree in the bog
And the bog down in the valley-o.
Now on that tree there was a limb, a rare limb, a rattlin' limb
With the limb on the tree and the tree in the bog
And the bog down in the valley-o.
Now on that limb there was a branch, a rare branch, a rattlin' branch
With the branch on the limb and the limb on the tree and the tree in the bog
And the bog down in the valley-o.
(Repeat, adding a line each time)
Now on that branch there was a twig, a rare twig, a rattlin' twig.....
Now on that twig there was a nest, a rare nest, a rattlin' nest.....
Now in that nest there was an egg , a rare egg, a rattlin' egg.....
Now in that egg there was a bird, a rare bird, a rattlin' bird.....
Now on that bird there was a feather, a rare feather, a rattlin' feather .....
Now on that feather there was a flea, a rare flea, a rattlin' flea .....
So perhaps between these two songs, Dave may have discovered a song spirit.
When we had eventually stopped laughing at Dave, Chris asked the spirits if they were making the drumming/chanting sound in relation to our group’s spiritual belief system and the answer was “Yes.”
Jacky said “I’m starting to get spooked by this.” The chanting/drumming sound on the table got louder and louder. I could hear a very strange noise which I could not describe. Chris asked “Is there more than one of you making this sound on the table?” The answer was “Yes.” It felt as if ‘they’ were raising a cone of power with the drumming.
Jacky said that she saw a movement at the end of the room which looked like a small animal. Chris asked the spirits if Jacky had seen this and we received an affirmative response. Loretta said that she was getting shivers around her neck.
Dave exclaimed “Did you feel that?” There was a really loud knock under the table. Chris asked if ‘they’ could do it again and there were three very loud knocks.
Suddenly Jacky said “I can smell poo” to which Chris replied “Are you sure it’s not you?” because poor Jacky was now quite freaked out. Dave and Chris both jumped and they both shouted simultaneously “Did you hear that?” There was a loud knock and rattling on the locked door to the secret room. We eventually settled and we all felt that the spirits with us were good humoured.
The table started to rise and balance on one leg. We asked again if it would completely levitate but I guess we were asking for too much. It did feel that it was trying though.
We all heard a gentle whispering nearby. Jacky said “Are you whispering to see if you can freak me out even more?” We started to chat amongst ourselves. Somehow, we got onto the subject of Aleister Crowley who was High Priest of the Golden Dawn. Although not directly, there is a slight connection to him and the building we were in. I was chatting about how I knew a lady who used his tarot cards ‘the Book of Thoth’ when Jacky indicated to me to change the subject quickly. Although I didn’t hear it, when his name was mentioned, there was a loud hissing noise behind Dave and Loretta.
As it was almost morning, we decided to finish this investigation. Thank you Jacky for arranging this paranormal evening. What can I say? AMAZING!
Written by: Maria Williams
VISIT TWO
On Saturday, 13th April 2013, Twilight Shadows Paranormal returned for a second visit to the Rattling Bog House in Wiltshire.
UPSTAIRS
We split into two teams and my team started upstairs in the large hall. We decided to conduct a séance and immediately we heard little taps and knocks. However, we quickly realised that these noises had a natural cause. There was a crack in one of the small panes of glass and the wind was causing the window pane to make tapping noises.
We resumed our séance. I reminded any spirits (who were there with us) of our previous visit there and asked if they would join us again. The feeling in the room felt different to our previous visit. We were told, ‘Go.’ I questioned this spirit and discovered that we were talking to a female. I asked if we’d met her before and she said, ‘You do.’ We introduced ourselves.
We asked the following questions:
Are you in this building with us?
Yes.
In this room?
Yes.
Have you got a history with this building?
Yes. Happy.
How old were you when you died?
42.
What’s your name?
Frances Gore.
Why are you attached to this building?
Died. Food.
How did you die?
Accident.
After this, our communication with Frances ceased. We asked for any other spirit to communicate with us. A male spirit soon made his presence known. We explained to him that we had been talking to Frances Gore and we asked if they had known each other. We were told that they did know each other. We did not obtain a name for this spirit.
We were told:
Frances. Skeleton.
When did Frances die?
1600.
How did she die?
Died of the Pox.
Did Frances die of Small Pox? Or a sexual disease? What did she die from?
Pregnant. Nun. She did not have a man-friend.
Was she raped?
We lost communication at this point. We decided to use the spirit box. Andrew asked:
Is there anybody here with us? Please could you speak to us through this black box on the table?
(I asked), If you want us to go, just tell us.
A voice very clearly said, ‘Stay.’
To confirm, would you like us to go or to stay?
Stay.
Do you like the black box that we are using or does it annoy you?
Like it.
What is your name?
Michael.
I started to get really cold and I was just going to tell the group when a voice (via the spirit box said), ‘Cold.’ The static detector started to give a positive reading. The voice said, ‘Mirror.’ There were no mirrors in the room. I could feel energy coming from the door which we sat by, during our previous visit. I was just about to tell the others when the voice said, ‘Door.’ This was followed by, ‘Wine’ and ‘Up.’ I told the spirit that there is an upstairs and a downstairs to this building and asked where he was. He told us, ‘Up.’ All was quiet for a while and I asked the spirit to say something. He said, ‘Anointed.’
DOWNSTAIRS
As we walked downstairs, I heard footsteps behind Andrew. He was last to come down and there was nobody behind him but the sound of footsteps following him were very clear. We decided to use the writing planchette. We wanted to see if the spirits would write anything. Matt said, “There’s something here.” Matt said that he could hear something scratching behind him. We were all quiet and we could hear it too. It sounded quite high up on the wood panelling.
We introduced ourselves and explained that the groups had swapped over. We wondered if we would meet different spirits down here. Although we had investigated downstairs during our first visit, we had not been permitted access to the room that we were now in. This was exciting.
We heard footsteps in the room with us and I saw a shadow figure move across the wall. I asked the planchette to move. It was the first time for us to use this method of communication. It started to move and we could all feel that it was writing something. When it had finished writing, we asked that it would do this again as we wanted to be sure of the name it had given us. The planchette started to write again and we could see that it had written ‘Robert’ twice. The atmosphere in the room was intense and we could really feel that we weren’t alone. The planchette started to draw. It drew a symbol which was obviously associated with the building. Although we cannot reveal what question we asked Robert next, the answer was, ‘Yes’ and the next answer was ‘Five.’ He told us that he had died during the month of May.
There were four loud knocks on the door (we were later told that this made sense).A strange noise came from the room behind the door. Suddenly the planchette wrote 1348. I asked, “Where did you come from Robert?” The planchette wrote, ‘Bath.’ I explained why we were there and why we try to make contact with the spirit world. There was a bang very close to us in the room, followed by sighing.
WHOLE TEAM SÉANCE DOWNSTAIRS
Pete told us that their group had been given the name Robert. This was great because we had been given Robert too. Tony recognised the drawings from the planchette and explained them to us. We talked about a child that Pete had communicated with who had died in the large chimney. Tony said that the child had been a chimney sweep.
We heard noises outside the open door. We knew that no physical person was out there and we were all accounted for. Tony said, “I know nobody’s out there but somebody IS out there. I’ve just seen a black figure move across the door. Several of us had seen this earlier.
We sat around a huge table. The table started knocking before we had even asked anything. We all took turns in asking who the spirit was. We did not receive a reply. We could all feel the energy building and the table started moving. Suddenly, Chris said, “They did not want to leave.” The spirit appeared to be very secretive. A sound started to come from the table. It sounded like the strumming of fingers. The was an impatient feeling in the atmosphere. Jacky thought she saw someone in the adjoining room. She jumped. She realised that it was just Matt’s shadow and we all laughed. The laughter must have lifted the energy in the room because the table which was massive, started to lift. The spirit seemed to like us laughing as the door suddenly opened. Pete confirmed this and said that ‘he’ was watching.. Chris asked that all the other spirits of the building join us too and the table started to lift higher. Immediately, as the table lifted, it started to go towards one end and then the other. Pete said that the spirits were happy that we were there.
The top of the table became icy cold. Jacky and I felt that the bottom of the table was also cold as our knees were freezing. Suddenly, there was a strange sound under the table. Pete said, “What’s he doing under there?” We all laughed and wondered if he was going to touch our legs. We heard a footstep in the room, very close to us. Pete said, “We’ve got another spirit now.” We all heard a groaning noise and the table was shoved with considerable strength. The door opened a bit more. Tony said that he kept seeing a shadow go past the door and every time he saw it, the door creaked. Jacky asked, “Do something spectacular” and immediately there was a strange noise in the room, the table shifted with force, there was a cold blast of air, Matt saw a shadow figure, Pete and Tony saw a grey figure and I saw something tall move across the back of the room.
After this, the energies dipped and we decided to end the investigation. All but three of the group stood up to leave the table and with just three of us still sitting, the table was shoved hard to the right. This shocked us all.
We later discovered that our trigger object which had been in the locked room upstairs, had moved.
On behalf of the team, I would like to thank Jacky and Dave for organising this interesting and most enjoyable investigation.
Written by: Maria Williams
