Tamworth, Staffordshire
30th July 2004
First of all we decided to take a walk around the Moat House to scan the areas with our EMF meters and to check the temperatures with the Infra-Red Thermometer before setting the equipment up.
21:35pm Steve, Nick, Dave and Karl are walking around the Gallery on the first floor taking temperature readings. (Function Room Temperature – 24.5 Degrees).
21:40pm There are open windows in the back of the kitchen which is next to the function room, so we are expecting some drafts around this area. (Kitchen Temperature - 22 Degrees).
21:57pm We decide to check upstairs, which incidentally is the very top floor of the Moat House. My EMF Meter picked up two anomalous readings, these we could not explain. After careful investigation it was ascertained that these strange readings from my EMF Meter were not caused by electrical cables, etc. (Upper Floor Temperature Readings - "Room 1" - 23 Degrees, "Room 2" - 22 Degrees" and Room 3" - 21 Degrees).
22:00pm We are heading to the Tower to see what we can pick up there using the EMF Meters and Infra-Red Thermometer.
22:03pm We have just entered the toilet area on the way to the tower, strange things have been reported to happen in this part on a number of occasions. (Toilet Area Temperature - 21 Degrees)
22:05pm We have just arrived in the tower. (Tower temperature - 22 Degrees)
22:00pm Steve is scanning the top part of the tower with his EMF Meter. Nothing is being picked up at the moment. (Tower temperature - Still 22 Degrees)
22:22pm We have gone to check out the Priest Hole, sadly we were unable to enter this area due to the new flooring blocking the door from opening. (Area Next To The Priest Hole - 23 Degrees) After setting up the equipment, TV Monitors, Camcorders etc, the investigation was ready to begin. The areas being recorded by camcorder and being displayed on the monitors are as follows: Monitor 1 - Viewing the full length of the Gallery. Monitor 2 – Viewing three members of the team, outside the Ladies and Gents Toilet's. Monitor 3 - In The Downstairs Kitchen, viewing the trigger object. We had also set up another camcorder in the Library, viewing another trigger object.
23:55pm Moat House Investigation Starts
00:06am An orb appeared on the right hand corner of the screen on the toilet area recording "Monitor 2". We split into two's and three's and went to investigate parts of the Moat House. Some of us stayed checking the three monitors along with a few members of the Moat House Staff.
00:43am One of our monitors has just gone off! Located in the Downstairs Kitchen, Nick and Karl had checked it out, and had noticed the screen on the back of the camcorder was flickering, Nick had also noticed the switch on the wall was turned off, this switch being the one that the camcorder was plugged into. No one had gone into the kitchen; members of the team were sitting watching the three monitors which were set up just outside the kitchen, so to our knowledge the switch activity and the camcorder's screen flickering was a mystery to us.
01:05am First Floor Gallery, Karl was almost taken over, seconds before this happened he had picked up on the name "William". There was a strange kind of energy in the room like a presence of a male and it felt like his hands were going through him. Nick was recording all of this, and what he had picked up amazed us. He had recorded a moving orb by my hands. When Karl was taken over for those few seconds he fell to the ground with Mark and Dave catching him and helping him back into the function room where he sat down to get his breath back. This happened in the other kitchen area which is on the first floor next to the gallery.
01:11am Two members of the Moat House staff, Ian and his partner Kat have just noticed an orb shoot across the screen of the monitor, the orb actually being spotted in the area that the camcorder was set up, not on the actual monitor itself. Nick had taken his camcorder up into the Gallery and positioned it in order to view the full length of the area. Karl had put his camcorder in the upper floor kitchen, viewing the area where he was taken over, plus viewing a trigger object that had been set up.
01:39am A light and an orb had been spotted on the monitor viewing the Gallery recording, but it may have been a Moth or even a Fly. We couldn't pin point what it was for definite.
01:44am (Gallery), The camera turned off.
01:47am (Gallery), The camera keeps changing focus.
01:48am (Gallery), A light went across the fireplace, this may have been a reflection of headlights outside, but no vehicle was heard outside at the time. (Gallery) We have just spotted on the left side of the screen what appeared to be an orb - there were in fact two sightings of orbs. The times recorded for these sightings were 02:25am and 02:30am but what we have to remember is that flies and moths etc. can sometimes be taken as orbs when recorded.
02:19am An orb had just been spotted on the Gallery Recording.
02:28am The Gallery camera has just turned off.
02:33am The Gallery camera has just turned off again, please note this is not a fault with the camera or the power supply.
02:40am An orb had just been spotted on the Gallery Recording. There was also a shadow on the work surface in the downstairs kitchen. We knew for sure there was no one in the kitchen at this time as we purposely kept the kitchen clear throughout the whole investigation.
02:42am Another orb had just been spotted on the Gallery Recording. Mark and Karl had taken some staff members upstairs into the top floor of the Moat House to see if we could pick up any form of paranormal activity. We had been up there for about 18 minutes and during this time we had picked up so many orbs on digital camera it was just amazing! To Mark and Karl this had to be paranormal. In fact we had picked up about 3 to 5 orbs on one photo, where on others there was about 15 to 20 orbs. We didn't hear anything out of the ordinary while up in the top floors of the Moat House.
03:00am While looking at the monitor a flash had been reported in the Gallery and a shadow had also been seen moving across the top left corner of the screen in the Gallery.
03:25am An orb has just been spotted by table 14 in the Gallery. During the time when the orb was spotted by table 14, by some members of staff and a member of the team keeping an eye on the monitors downstairs, the rest of the team including myself went upstairs to conduct a séance. We all sat round a table, while Sarah and Nick sat outside the circle filming the event. The séance started at 03:29am. During the séance Karl had one of the most disturbing experiences of his life. Mark and Mick started things off; seconds after a few of us were experiencing some strange feelings, Karl being one of them. Not long after Karl had been taken over again and the energy of this spirit was really strong. He could not keep it from entering him and before he knew it he was face down on the table. He felt so drained it was horrid; other members said they had felt sick and had headaches. What Karl was told shocked Him. Members had said He had slammed his hand down onto the table as if the spirit was really angry. They’d asked him that if it was William to tap his hand once for yes and twice for no. Again he slammed his hand down onto the table making some of the members jump, He was also shaking violently. It is weird to be told all of this, as Karl had no recollection whatsoever. He just remembered waking up face down on the table feeling so drained receiving a glass of water from another team member. That certainly is one experience he wont forget easily. (These were the recordings made during the séance.)
03:32am An orb was spotted circling the séance in the Gallery.
03:35am The camera focusing table 14 had turned itself off.
03:47am An orb in the Gallery flew past one of the members sitting at the séance.
03:55am A bang was heard in the downstairs kitchen just after the camera had been turned off by one of the crew. Earlier on in the night, Steve, Mark, Karl and some staff members headed for the upstairs ladies toilets where paranormal activity had been reported there in the past. No time was recorded when we entered the ladies toilets, but Mark set his camcorder on the surface next to the sink. Steve was holding his camcorder, but nothing much happened during the 15 to 20 minutes we were there, But then something had touched Steve and made him jump. It was not Karl, Mark or any other member as we were facing towards Steve as this happened.
Investigation Outlook
We had ended the Moat House investigation close to 05:00am. My view of the investigation was that it was a really active night, and I think we are all in agreement. When the bang was heard in the kitchen just after the camera turned itself off, that to me was very interesting. I had gone into the kitchen when packing up our equipment and noticed half a tomato and a metal can opener on the floor near the camcorder, but was this the bang that the members had heard just after the camera had turned itself off. What made this quite heavy object fall to the ground we do not know, but a member told me earlier on in the night that in the past a knife has been thrown at a member of staff for no apparent reason. If this was a spirit doing this, then was it the same spirit who had thrown or dropped the metal opener onto the floor along with the half of tomato? As soon as I had spotted this Nick was called into the kitchen to check it out. Nick was just as puzzled as I was, because if those objects were on the floor before we would have easily noticed them, and no one had been in the kitchen to cause a disturbance. So it still remains a mystery. It is impossible to determine my favourite part of the investigation as the whole night was amazing! In fact we all really enjoyed the event and we cannot wait until we go there again in the very near future. So many things happened and none of us went home disappointed.
The digital camera’s and camcorders had picked up so many orbs, which is fantastic evidence. But we all realise when using this equipment flies, moths and even dust can be regarded as orbs, but we are certain that these were paranormal, due to the high detail of each that had been caught. In fact one of the orbs even had what looked like to be a face in it.
We cannot wait to go back there again, but Steve and the rest of the Spirits Of The Night Team including myself would like to say a huge thank you to the staff and owners of the Moat House for letting us conduct a paranormal investigation there. We also want to say thank you to the staff members who offered to help keep an eye on the monitors during the investigation, it was really appreciated.