(Investigated in 2009 and 2010)
On the
A brief history
The Manor has undergone several renovations; the last major rebuild into the manor house which now stands, was constructed in 1242.
Rollestone Manor has seven bedrooms which have all been named after some of the many owners.
Investigation
The team arrived at Rollestone Manor and met up with the guests for the evening. We gathered in the dining room initially and after a psychic protection exercise, we commenced the evening with a séance. All was silent for a while and then some of us heard a scratch, like fingernails on wood.
We eventually made contact with a spirit lady who told us that she was religious. She was happy to be a resident spirit in the house. She told us that she was unsure about our presence in the house. We had been told that a female guest in a room had been told to ‘Get Out!’ We asked if it was she who had demanded the guest to leave and she told us that it was her.
All was quiet for a while and then we heard some glasses chinking nearby. It did not seem that any of us had moved which may have caused the glasses to make a chinking sound.
There were eighteen of us altogether so we split into three groups.
Lady Harriet's Room
Lady Harriet Holland, a
We assembled inside this room and looked out of the window. We could see the dark silhouette of the church in the distance, slightly masked by trees. It looked very eerie. We sat around in silence and asked for any spirits present to make themselves known to us. We felt the atmosphere change and the room seemed to become slightly colder. As I looked out of the window towards the church, I felt the presence of religion within the room. I asked if the lady with whom we had spoken to downstairs in the dining room, was with us. Although I did not receive any positive affirmation, I really felt that this was so.
A little while ago, a guest had booked into this room for a week and was woken up for three consecutive nights by the apparition of a lady who simply told her to “Get out!” Following the third night, the guest took the spectre’s advice and left Rollestone Manor. We all wished that this lady would appear to us and ask us to leave but sadly, she didn’t.
Dave had a strange feeling in this room, which he could not explain. We had six soldier guests with the team and three of them had entered this room and had bolted out twice. They entered the room a third time and one of them got tapped on the head by unseen hands.
Sir Nathaniel's Room
A founder member of the Royal Academy of Arts, Nathanial Dance Holland was a portrait artist. However, upon his marriage to Lady Harriet he stopped painting and followed a career in politics.
Earlier in the evening Christina and a small group were getting acquainted with the layout of the manor and as they entered this room, the radio switched itself on, making them jump. We asked if any spirits connected with the room could switch the radio on for us but it didn’t. The radio was silent for all the other vigils conducted in this room thereafter.
However, while in this room, we heard a loud banging in the hallway, just outside the room. We quickly opened the door to inspect the hallway and there was nobody there. We sat quietly and conducted a vigil and two people within the group felt that their hands were touched.
The Cardigan Room
The Earl of Cardigan inherited The Manor from his aunt, Lady Harriet Holland.
We gathered in this room and sat quietly, ‘asking out’ occasionally. The atmosphere felt charged in this room and I felt a gentleman standing right beside me. It was not an unwelcoming presence but I did feel that he was an authoritarian person and he made me slightly nervous.
We conducted a séance in this room but unfortunately the gentleman that I could feel did not take part. However, we did make contact with a group member’s relative who took the opportunity to say ‘hello’ to his grandson.
Apart from this, we did hear a bang come from within this room but try as we might, we could not persuade any spirit that may be with us to bang again so the initial bang may have a rational explanation.
However, when Dave and Richard were in this room, they heard a considerable bang that definitely came from the room. But again, they could not convince a spirit to bang to order. However, they stopped ‘calling out’ and suddenly the toilet seat was banged down vigorously within the bathroom. They both jumped and went to the bathroom and lifted the toilet seat and let it fall. Dave and Richard both agreed that this was the exact sound that they had heard.
The Colonel's Room
Colonel George Smith was connected to the military for most of his life. He bought Rollestone Manor and farmed the estate.
Sitting in the dark in this room, we could see the light shining under the gap at the bottom of the door. Suddenly, something moved past the door from the outside, as if somebody had walked by. We got up and opened the door and looked out into the hallway and nobody was there. We reacted so quickly, we would have seen a person further down the hall if they had walked past. There were no footsteps when the ‘thing’ travelled past the door.
Nothing else we considered which could be possibly paranormal happened in this room.
Mrs Smith's Room
Mrs. Smith married Colonel George Smith and lived at the Rollestone Manor for more than forty years. She had previously been a midwife and she obviously loved children. Not only did her own children live there, but so did her nieces, nephews and many foster children. She later decided to open Rollestone Manor as a Bed and Breakfast which it remains to this day.
My group did not investigate this room until much later when some of our team had left to go home. We all assembled in this room and conducted a séance. We tried to contact the spirits of Rollestone Manor but another spirit was making his presence known and wanted to communicate with the paratroopers who were team guests. This spirit was incredibly strong which was remarkable, as he had lost his life only three months ago. He conversed with the paratroopers and conveyed information that the civilians in the group would not have known or understood. It was extremely moving.
The church can also be viewed from the window of this room. We stood and looked out of the window. We saw something pass by the window. It wasn’t a person but more of a shadow. We could not say that this was definitely paranormal in origin but it made us all jump. It did not happen again.
The Heathcote Room
The Reverend Samuel Heathcote purchased Rollestone Manor from Lord Cardigan and he and his family resided there for approximately 50 years.
One of the guests stood beside the wardrobe in this room, crouched down and said that he had an awful feeling that somebody was crouched down right beside him. There was a very frightening atmosphere in this room and we were all aware that our hearts were racing. We were glad to leave this room.
The Seymour Room
Rollestone Manor was once owned by Lady Jane Seymour's family. Although the house has been refurbished extensively over time, it is said that Lady Jane Seymour used to gaze out of the window, looking towards the church.
We sat in this room for a very long time and at one point we heard a few knocks. This happened several times but they did not seem to be responding to questions as such. Nothing else occurred in this room.
Twilight Shadows Paranormal would like to thank Mark and Steve from Rollestone Manor for their hospitality, we really enjoyed our visit. Thank you to Christina from Twilight Shadows Paranormal for organising this investigation.
Written by: Maria Williams
Christina’s report
First we held a séance in the back dining room and had some communication but there was not much energy. The spirit was very keen to talk to all the boys who were our guests on this night!
We split into three groups, each starting in different rooms. I will break it down by room and order now.
The Cardigan Room
One group heard a toilet seat slam shut in this room and another group had quite a personal experience, where someone they knew tried contacting them through the glass and table.
The Seymour Room
No one picked up much in here. Three groups went in and heard knocking but not much else. Later in the evening three of the boys entered this room and felt someone touch them and breathe on their ear!
Sir Nathanial’s Room
This is the room where the radio switched itself on. I took the group of boys in here with my friend. In the corner where the window is, the floor level raises slightly. While standing here, I felt someone touch my hand. Other members of the group then moved there and felt the same, calling it a ‘cobweb’ feeling.
Lady Harriet’s Room
One group felt as though someone was forcing them out. They used a pendulum and the movements suggested that the spirit wanted them to leave. I felt OK when I was in this room. However, we started discussing witches and the atmosphere seemed to change a lot as though something did not agree with what we were talking about!
Mrs Smith’s Room
Eventually a few people left to go home and there were only two groups left. I still had my group of six lads and one girl. The other group upstairs consisted of the team leader and three others, plus our sceptic and Richard who were roaming the house. I decided my group should go to the oldest part, which I believe is Mrs. Smith’s room. We ‘called out.’ We left my two-way radio on the side (the team leader in the other group having the other one) and began talking about the previous owner who is buried in the church. I asked if she knew if she was dead and the atmosphere changed. It became very cold.
We then discussed whether the spirits would have spoken an older version of the English language prompting one of the boys to call out "come hither with me". Suddenly the two-way radio called. I answered but there was no reply. I radioed my colleague and asked her if she had called me and she replied “No.” A voice then came though saying "Where art" in a deep voice. This shocked me and I asked my colleague again on the radio what she said; and she said she had not spoken. The other group did not know we had been talking in Old English. We then heard deep sighs and breaths from the two-way radio and it would bleep every time, as though coming from the other radio. However the last sigh we had came from our radio with no sign-off noise or call tone! We all felt that this was extremely creepy and it gives me shivers again when I think about it!
We were all in shock and decided now with the other team leader who was now with us to conduct a séance in this room. We used the table and a candle dish from the dining room. We immediately got activity with the glass going mad spinning round the table. We called out and started asking who they were but the names we called out related to the house and we got no answer. The glass kept being pushed towards the boys who were still with us. I then asked if they had come with one of the boys and the glass movement indicated that they had. I then asked the spirit pushing the glass to go to the boys which they knew. The spirit picked out two of the boys and they seemed to both know who it was likely to be. The boys involved stood outside the séance so the information we gained was not influenced by them.
The spirit was a friend of some of the soldiers who had been killed in an ambush two months ago in
Maria and I then closed the séance and thanked any spirits who communicated with us during our investigation. Everyone loved their evening here and we felt that the spirits who are reside at Rollestone Manor are obviously very happy because we did not feel threatened (except for the radio experience)!
Written by: Christina Faircloth
Visit 2
Sheri who manages Rollestone Manor with her partner Mark had organised a ‘paranormal event’ so we had guests joining us for this paranormal investigation.
We started our investigation downstairs and we set up three séances, one in the drawing room (my team), one in the front restaurant (Christina’s team) and one in the breakfast room (Melody’s team).
Drawing Room
After a while we were aware of a female spirit who was in a
hurry to make contact. This lady was not connected to the house at all but
wanted to deliver a message to team member Sharon.
Another female spirit followed the first lady and she had a message for one of Sheri’s guests. This was quite an emotional message and very sweet.
A male came through who was connected to the house. He was rather vague and the only information we could decipher were the initials O.J.
A female spirit entered the circle. She said that she was “from the house” and she tried to give us a message but like the previous gentleman spirit, we could not understand the gist of her communicative efforts.
We then received two more messages from two different spirits which were not connected to the house but were for the guests present on our investigation.
Front restaurant
Christina managed to contact some children in her séance. They asked any spirits present in the room to do something to the light. They also had a message for a male guest. They received a message from a male spirit who stated that he used to work there but he was unhappy with his job.
Breakfast room
Melody’s team contacted a female spirit. This lady was not ever a resident of the house but had previously worked there and claimed that she had died there. She presented as an elderly spirit and was not connected to anyone in the room.
Suddenly the emergency light switched off between the front restaurant and the breakfast room. Sheri and Christina’s team requested that it would switch back on but this did not happen. Every time the light was switched on, it would switch off again, seemingly by request. Christina called me and I observed this for a while. Sheri said that this has never happened. I asked her if the other emergency lights were also doing this. Sheri checked and they were all going off. We wondered if there was an electrical fault with the lights. Since our visit, I have received an email from Sheri. She said “We haven’t had any problems with the emergency lights since.”
We decided to check out the rest of the house in our individual teams.
Lady Harriet’s Room
We were eager to spend some time in here as this is the room where a previous female guest was told to “Get out!” Sheri told us that recently a Colonel and his wife had stayed in this room and had experienced the light turning itself on and off in the bathroom. Also, during the night the Colonel was pushed out of bed and a short while later, his wife was pulled by the legs from the bottom of the bed.
We assembled in this room. I was immediately aware of the female spirit who really does not like me. She seems to feel that we cannot get along due to our differing religious views. She is a staunch Christian lady and presents herself to me in clothes that I imagine a Victorian governess to wear. She has good posture and is ram-rod straight as she walks towards me. Her hair is greying and she wears it up from her face and into a bun. She has a serious and intimidating presence.
We decided that we would try table-tipping in this room. The table quickly started to move. Something made a knocking noise behind us. Matt had previously ‘opened up’ his charkas and appeared to be considerably affected by spirit. I suggested that he ‘closed down’ again.
We continued with table-tipping. The table tipped backwards and forwards, getting stronger and stronger. I felt something touch my bottom. One of our guests asked if the spirit which had joined us was a man. The table stopped moving. She asked if the spirit was Lady Harriet. The table abruptly stopped again. After a while the table started to move again and seemed to walk across the room. It returned to the spot where it originally stood before we moved it.
We moved the table again to a different part of the room. Initially the table did a spinning movement and then walked over to the door. We opened the door prior to the table reaching the door-way and the table walked out and settled on the hallway outside. I took this to mean that the spirit wanted us to leave this room, so we left.
Another group that held a séance in this room said that a door opened and shut by itself.
Sir Nathaniel’s Room
This room was very quiet and nothing which could be deemed as paranormal was identified.
The Cardigan Room
Nothing of a paranormal nature occurred in this room with my group but two male guests attempted scrying from Christina’s group and the dressing-table shook slightly as they looked at their own reflections.
The Colonel’s Room
Nothing of a paranormal essence happened in this room.
Mrs. Smith’s Room
While in this room, Christina switched on the radio and then asked any spirits present, to switch channels. The radio frequency seemed to alter but did not switch to another channel. Christina asked if the bathroom light could be switched on. She said “Please switch on the light by the mirror, you know how to do it, you’ve done it before!” She then exclaimed loudly and said “The radio light is flashing!” Everyone in Christina’s team felt the temperature of the room plummet and described it as “Freezing!”
My team did not experience anything in this room.
The Heathcote Room
During my team’s séance in this room, we were discussing religion. Some of the guests were giving their opinions on certain religions and the atmosphere seemed to change and everyone suddenly felt very cold. Apart from this, nothing happened.
The Seymour Room
This room had a very comfortable ambiance. We sat around and ‘called out.’ Two of my team members said that they saw small flashes of light on the far wall with their eyes and not camera. I saw a small flashing light on the right side of the wall. We decided to use some divining rods and they kept pointing over to the window. I asked the rods if they would point to where a spirit person was standing. The rods pointed over to the corner of the room. I did feel that there was a spirit in the room with us (which is why I asked the divining rods to point) but I felt that it was trying to hide from us.
Cellar Room
We did not investigate this room upon our previous visit as a chef was living in it. Prior to our visit, Sheri and her friend had tried some glass divination in this room and made contact with a male spirit. We descended into this room and I must say that it had a very pleasant ambiance. Sheri told me that she thinks that this room was originally the kitchen of the manor house.
We tried table tipping in this room and the table vibrated
slightly but did not really move as such.
When Melody’s team were holding a séance in there, Melody was sitting on the bed and felt the bed shudder.
Matt conducted a lone vigil in this room and heard some definite knocks and movement. He was eventually forced to leave the room as he felt that a spirit was getting far too near to his aura than was comfortable.
Twilight Shadows Paranormal would like to thank Sheri and Mark for their hospitality and for allowing us to investigate Rollestone Manor again.
Written by: Maria Williams
During the first séance I was contacted by an elderly great aunt who died many years ago. She told me to "Forget West!" My understanding of this relates to my ex-husband as his surname is West!
In the Cardigan Room, while the group were chatting about religion, I suddenly found myself surrounded by a cold atmosphere. Loretta could feel it too. It then moved towards Mandy who felt coldness on her hands.
In the Seymour Room, I stood by the window throughout the vigil. I felt as if something was behind me or perhaps outside. Maria passed me the divining rods and they both swung behind me pointing towards the window.
A group of us, including Mandy, Maria and Loretta went downstairs to the bedroom used by a previous chef. We sat in the dark for a bit and nothing seemed like it was going to happen. Maria then left us to go to another room with four of the team. This left Mandy, Loretta and I. I sat on a chair by the bed, Loretta sat in the chair across the room and Mandy sat on the bed. The atmosphere changed and I become very nervous and fidgety. Mandy said that she felt uneasy. I felt like someone was standing right beside me. I felt that it was a male presence and the only way I could describe it was that it felt like my stairs did before the house was cleared! I got more uneasy and then suddenly was poked very hard on the arm. I shot out of the chair pretty quickly! I then stood beside an empty bookcase which then seemed to creak for no apparent reason!
Once Maria and the others came back the atmosphere changed and I felt nothing, but the feeling of having to leave was very over powering during our own vigil!
Written by: Sharon Jefferies
