On Saturday 30th September 2017, Twilight Shadows Paranormal conducted a paranormal investigation at the Red House Museum in Dorset. The museum is a beautiful Grade 11 listed, Georgian building. It was constructed in 1764 as the parish workhouse. We were all hopeful that there would be some spirits from that time who would like to make contact with us. While we were having a guided walk around the building, a huge white feather was lying on top of a cabinet. The staff had perceived that we had placed it there but it was nothing to do with us. The staff were very interested in the appearance of the white feather.
KITCHEN
We started our investigation in the kitchen. There was a beautiful inglenook fireplace with a kettle and a cauldron hanging inside. We were sitting around a table which immediately started to knock even though we had not yet requested any spiritual activity. We were all standing perfectly still and we could hear footsteps. I 'called out' and the table knocked and then vibrated. Everyone complained of having a dry mouth and I realised that my mouth was dry too. We felt that we had a female spirit with us and this was confirmed. We wondered if we were in the female section of the workhouse.
Ben heard a strange noise which was also heard by the others who were near him. I heard a knock. Tracy 'called out.' We all felt a strange kind of pressure and our hands started to lift off of the table. We captured an EVP at this point which sounded like a choking sound. Approximately two minutes later, Jacky was calling out and over her voice, a strange voice was captured which says, “Oi.” Jacky asked for a tap on the table and there was a tap. The floor knocked loudly and there was a thud on the table.
Daniel said that he could smell something. He then said that he had a metallic taste in his mouth and I did as well. Tracy wondered if people from the workhouse did not receive enough to drink and we were experiencing symptoms relating to this. I felt as if someone was standing right behind me. I checked and nobody was there. I felt 'something' touch my head and I was aware that there was a tug on my trousers. Tracy said that she felt cold up to her waist. We wondered if children were kept with their mothers inside the workhouse. We heard a tap and the table vibrated.
I heard something in the corner behind us. One of our team guests had their ear pinched and we could hear walking around upstairs. Daniel smelt tobacco. I had the metallic taste in my mouth again. We could still hear someone walking around upstairs. Daniel went to check and there was nobody up there. When he came back down, he said that he could still smell tobacco. The metallic taste in my mouth was getting stronger. We heard a creaking noise, which sounded like two footsteps in the room. The table moved and there was a tap. Matt said that something brushed past his arm.
Sophie said that she had been itching since we started the investigation, which prompted other members of the team to say that they had been itching too. They all said that they were itching 'all over.'
We heard a noise outside the room. Matt was sitting near the door and he said that he had heard a few noises out there. Daniel sent two people into the adjoining archeology room to conduct a short vigil.
The rest of the team were still in the kitchen. I heard a noise behind me. We all felt that there were several spirits trying to communicate with us and that one male dominant spirit was blocking them. We wondered if was the Workhouse Master.
I kept seeing movement. The temperature started to increase and the thermometer's digital display stopped at 666. When we noticed this and commented, there was a tap in the room. A couple of team members began to feel nauseous. I had been feeling slightly sick. Nicky said that she 'felt funny.' The temperature began to rise which we could tell, as we were all feeling hot.
We heard a series of knocks which sounded like a drum-roll. I tapped (in a pattern) onto a surface and something copied me. Tracy and Tracey heard tapping by them. I thought that I could hear the sound of 'someone' sleeping and then there was a little noise by the cauldron in the fire-place. It was a squeaking noise and as we looked, we were all surprised to see that the cauldron was swinging. We looked for a rational cause for this but we could not find one. Nobody had touched it and there were no draughts. We asked if we could use it as a pendulum. We asked questions and a spirit seemed to answer our questions by swinging or stopping movement. We asked if the cauldron could swing again. It started off slowly but moved with a strong, deliberate force. It appeared to react to our voices and swing faster as we spoke to each other. Nobody was touching the table but it was moving, causing the Geophone sensor to flash. Tracy and Tracey said that they were cold from the bottom of their legs up to their waist (Tracy had experienced this earlier). This lasted for approximately 15 minutes and then they both said that they were completely warm again. The kettle moved and we heard knocking.
PORTRAIT ROOM
We heard banging coming from the Portrait Room and we decided to conduct a vigil in there. We'd been told that horses were once kept here. This was the room in which the large white feather appeared. It was still lying on the cabinet. Somebody said that the table had moved in this room. We tried for a considerable time to prompt spiritual activity and eventually Tracy said that she'd heard a tap beside her. We all heard a knock. Tracey said that she felt that she was being pulled back. After she said this, we all felt a similar sensation. We heard a clacking type of sound in the room and Matt said that he heard a footstep right beside him. There were lots of tapping sounds around Tracey. We were leaning on a table and it started shaking.
We all jumped as we heard what sounded like a huge table being dragged across the room directly upstairs. Nobody was upstairs and we were all accounted for. Dave and Daniel ran upstairs to see what had caused the noise but nothing had moved. Back downstairs, we were making contact with a spirit. The table was trying to tip and it was continually tapping. Tracy 'called out' and we heard a metallic sounding tap in the room. We felt like we were being pulled again. We thought that we had a child with us and when we asked, we heard a tap as a response. We heard footsteps on the stairs and scratching on the table. Jacky 'called out' and she caught some strange light anomalies on her camera. We could hear lots of footsteps.
STONE AGE ROOM
I 'called out.' The Ovilus emitted the sound, 'Oi' and the word, 'Creature.' This was interesting as we'd previously captured an 'Oi' as an EVP. We discussed that this used to be the Infirmary when the building was a workhouse. As we were talking, there was a huge thud and the sound of movement behind us. The Ovilus said, 'Cheat and Wrench.' We were chatting among ourselves and there was a loud tapping as if to get our attention. Jacky said that she could hear footsteps outside the room and we all listened and we could hear them too. They sounded like a woman's footsteps.
THE HUB
We had been told that ladies don't like it in this room. The ladies in the team felt fine. This was the room that we'd heard the loud dragging noise from. We sat for a considerable time in here but we did not experience anything of a paranormal nature in this room.
BACK IN THE KITCHEN
Jacky 'called out.' We noted that the cauldron was still and Jacky asked if it could be moved and we were all really surprised when it did. Apart from the cauldron moving (which eventually stopped), the energy seemed to have dissipated so as it was very late, we decided to end our investigation. On behalf of the Twilight Shadows Paranormal team, I would like to thank Tracy and Daniel for organising this amazing paranormal investigation.
Written by: Maria Williams
