January 2006 – 3 months after Caldicot Castle, I was ready to do another investigation. All of the questions that the last event had churned up were still in my head and I was determined to find the answers. Despite Derbyshire being a minimum of a 4-hour drive away from home and the event requiring us to be awake all night, I was attracted by the advert: “Victorian Investigation at the Gothic Mansion”. As I read down, it told how the team would be conducting a special investigation – no machines would be used, methods would vary from red-light transition to scrying to glass-tipping. There would also be 2 mediums showing different methods of clairvoyance as well as a paranormal investigator who described himself as “sensitive”. I crossed my fingers that Ian would be one of these mediums. Although I have no proof that he is genuine, he seems to approach everything logically and his website (www.aura-artz.co.uk) lists reports of every investigation he attends. Dad agreed to accompany me and we were soon booked to attend.
The day soon arrived and we journeyed to Derbyshire. Dad mentioned a number of times on the journey that he had a bad feeling about this place; he couldn’t put his finger on why, but he couldn’t shake his anxiety.
It was a very cold night; there was a thick covering of frost on the ground. The house was in the middle of a big valley; even in the dark it was breathtaking. There were turrets along the edge of the roof and a huge arch before the main entrance. Inside, the group were tucking into a buffet – we were the last to arrive! Jeff, the paranormal investigator, came outside to welcome us. He was a slim scruffy man I’d guess to be in his early thirties. He had a warm, friendly smile which I found very appealing. He ushered us into the warm hall and told us to get stuck into the buffet (we didn’t need telling twice!) We hadn’t long sat down when a hand rested on Dad’s shoulder – I looked up to see Ian stood behind him grinning. “Hello! It’s lovely to see you again!” I couldn’t stop smiling, this night was great! A nice leader, a medium I trusted - I couldn’t wait for the night to begin!!
Our first stop was in what looked to be another hall – it had a low stage at the front, there were rows of chairs facing forward and toys were stored at the back of the stage. The walls were adorned with Christmas decorations. Jeff soon introduced himself to the group – he would be the leader tonight; he described himself as a Pagan who is “sensitive”. He said he was able to see ghosts/spirits through a process called “scrying” (the dictionary describes the ability to “scry” as “To see or predict the future by means of a crystal ball”, however Jeff used what looked like a clay bowl). He then moved on to talking us through what would be happening that night – he hadn’t long started when we were aware of the smell of burning! A quick investigation revealed that one of the wall-lights had caught fire, presumably because of the tinsel decorations – a quick bit of fire extinguisher action put an end to that! However, it wasn’t long before another wall light followed suit! A number of people commented that this was odd – Christmas had come and gone so presumably these decorations had been there for some time – why were they only becoming a fire hazard tonight? I overheard a couple of people whispering to each other that they thought they could see a shadowy figure moving in and out of the dark on the stage – I was bursting with excitement and anxiety and impatience – I wanted to get going!!
Before the investigation would start, we were told we would be having a demonstration by the two mediums – Ian, who describes himself as a spiritualist medium and a psychic artist, and his associate Kay Phipps, a meek-looking lady I would guess to be in her fifties, who described herself as a spiritualist medium specialising in trance. I don’t recall the order in which they demonstrated their skills, but I’ll start with Kay.
I was uncertain about her “gift”. She didn’t look like the sort of lady who could stand in front of an audience and put on a show but the idea of being able to channel a spirit force and allowing it “use” your body, I found this a bit farfetched. She drank copious amounts of water before sitting down and closing her eyes. Her head drooped as she entered a trance state - she looked like she’d fallen asleep!! Ian explained that the process would use up a lot of energy and plasma-something-or-others & as such, she needed to ensure she was properly hydrated.
Kay connected with three spirits during the demonstration – a Geordie man (the change in her voice from meek, well spoken middle-aged lady to Geordie man was quite incredible) and a middle eastern man (Ian explained that this was her “spirit guide”, who she channelled most frequently) – when asked how he could speak English if he was Arabic, it was explained that the spirit would use the language of the host (convenient?). It was during the connection with this spirit that questions were taken – the most interesting being about time – he explained that time was not important “on the other side” – it wasn’t tracked. Somebody also asked what it’s like – he explained that when he died his loved ones were on the other side to greet him. As in life, you have to work your way up through different levels dependent on how you lived your life and how you treat others in this new… “life”. I couldn’t quite grasp this concept and found it difficult to imagine. Again, I was becoming dubious of the authenticity of her skill. Kay refused to channel the third spirit, claiming it was too powerful and as such, she did not feel she’d be able to keep adequate control over the situation. She explained it was a man who would have been resident in Ilam at some point. I found her refusal odd and slightly unsettling – was she a good actress trying to unnerve the audience or did she truly channel these spirits?
Ian’s turn next. His approach was much like that of Colin Fry and John Edwards – he picked a member of the audience and told them what spirit he could see “attached” (for want of a better word) to them. He started with a lady in the opposite aisle, but despite his detailed description, she was unable to identify who the spirit may be.
This, in my opinion, was the one and only time Ian would be able to truly prove himself to me. Although he knew me from previous investigations, he knew nothing of my family and friends who had passed over. He looked in my direction: “the lady in the red top”. Both myself and the lady sat next to me were wearing red. I kept direct eye contact with Ian and he soon confirmed it was me he was talking about. My heart started racing. Ian started describing the spirit – an elderly lady who he felt would have been strict but fair. This, bloggers, is a good example of when not to jump to conclusions! Early indications would suggest that this was my grandmother, who had passed away some 5 years previously. “I feel this lady died from a heart attack” … my nan died from cancer, there was no way these could be linked. My Dad still looked very interested although he could not pinpoint this person. Ian’s next comment made my blood run cold. He asked whether Dad’s mother was still on this side. I confirmed. He said “I’m being told she’s awaiting results for an illness – I suggest, if you haven’t done so already, that you make sure everything is okay” – I was not aware of Nan being ill so I immediately was concerned. Dad gave her a quick ring after the demonstration and although she was awaiting test results, they were not for anything remotely life-threatening – I was so relieved and fascinated – how could Ian have known this!! Dad also asked if she had any idea who the lady could be – she thought it may be an aunt of hers, however she could not be certain. Very interesting!!
The next part of the investigation was a walk around Ilam Hall. I can’t really say it was remarkable – each room was filled with bunk beds and thin curtains hung at the windows. Ian picked up that the hall used to be a military hospital during the first world war. He could sense the pain of the soldiers. In one room, he told us of the ghost of a man who was screaming profanities and was quite obviously in a lot of pain. One lady in the group became very light-headed and nearly fainted on the stairway. There were only two rooms I felt extremely uncomfortable in - the cellar and the ladies toilets (this may be more to do with answering the call of nature potentially surrounded by ghosts/spirits!!). The ladies toilets, remarkably, was one of our destinations during the tour – Ian felt drawn to it but as soon as he stepped inside he almost bowled some members of the group over trying to get back out – he said inside was the spirit of a woman, a nurse maybe, who had a wheelchair that she had thrown at him! I have never seen Ian unnerved like that before!!
After a quick break, we were split into small groups. In my group there was myself, Dad, a lad around the same age as me (I was 19 at the time), his mother and two girls, again around my age. We were led by Jeff. We first investigated a number of the bedrooms to see if we could pick up on anything. This was very disappointing, however one of the girls did seem to pick up something using a dowsing crystal. Although I wasn’t feeling too nervous, the girls were afraid to enter most of the rooms. However, as an experiment, I stayed on my own in one room and didn’t last more than 2 minutes – the atmosphere was heavy, I felt like I was being watched, I also saw a curtain move, as if in the wind, despite the windows being tightly shut with no draught entering the room. We went on next to the cellar.
We sat down here in silence. Nothing much happening. Jeff said he could see the spirit of a man, who looked like he may have worked down here – a butler or a servant, perhaps. He could see us and thought we were trying to play a joke on him as he looked quite uncertain and bemused. Every now and then we could hear a sound similar to that you make if you purse your lips and blow, as if you were about to play a trumpet – we were unsure whether this may be from the pipes/central heating, but none of the other groups heard this sound! I was very glad to get out of there!!!
Our next stop was a classroom. In the middle there was a table with a glass in the centre. Here we bid goodbye to Jeff and instead were joined by another medium called Pedro, who, with his ultraviolet torch, was providing the only light in the room. He told us he was picking up a spirit man; a very angry man who didn’t like women – he was circling the table. Every now and then group members were reporting feeling cold then warm almost straightaway. My reaction to this room was agitation. Soon, Pedro gathered us all to try glass tipping. Only one group member didn’t get involved, she instead stood back and recorded the experiment. We kept still, with our fingers on the glass for a long time with no reaction. Pedro suggested we try speaking to the spirit man to encourage him to use our energy to move the glass. “Are you here? We mean you no harm” – that sort of drivvle ensued for a further 2-3 minutes. My agitation was growing until I couldn’t take it any longer: “For f***s sake, what the hell are you playing at!?” Within 10-20 seconds, the glass started moving, slowly at first, then very erratically – my finger could not keep up with the glass and several times, as with other members of the team, I was unable to reach the other end of the table. I was worried that the glass would be thrown off the end of the table but after 30 seconds or so, the glass came to a halt. I wish I could get hold of the recording the lady made – there was absolutely no way anybody could have faked that experiment! I was speechless, completely taken aback! Every ounce of scepticism left my body. For a few minutes afterwards I was a gibbering wreck “Did you see that? Can you believe-! How did that-!?” I couldn’t even form a sentence!! Group members suggested that I had annoyed the man, hence why he reacted. Pedro reminded us that the man was still in the room; a few minutes later it became a lot darker. A few members of the group tried an automatic writing experiment (this is where you hold a pen onto paper, clear your mind, and let the spirit control your hand. I’ve only seen this done once, on an event after this one, I found it fascinating, however Ian had doubts about the authenticity of the experiment). However, with no luck and the atmosphere growing more and more tense, we opted to join the other groups back in the hall where we had the demonstrations at the beginning of the night.
Plenty of people were talking about how they had picked up on the spirits/ghosts of medical staff, injured soldiers etc etc – one group even claimed to have heard horses and a carriage on the gravel outside the house, but no other group had had any luck with the glass tipping.
My logical explanation for the glass moving is perhaps somehow there was a release of energy from us all that resulted in the glass moving – this is nowhere near a good argument and may not even slightly make sense but how else do you explain a glass throwing itself furiously from one end of a table to the other?? I’ve heard of people getting information from these exercises, such as when used with a Ouija board, but there was no sense to the movement of the glass hence why I don’t believe it was staged.
Now, the piece de resistance – the red light séance – Jeff explained that spirits were more visible in red light and could use it to form a “mask” when channelling – farfetched? Read on!
Bear in mind, it was 5am and we were all tired – maybe our eyes played tricks on us, maybe we were the victims of some good actors, but I find this incredible:
The seats that had earlier been in neat rows facing the stage had been placed in a large circle. On the back wall was a lamp with a red bulb. The whole room looked very eerie. Several people refused to get involved in the séance, saying they had a bad feeling about it. I was more than keen to get involved so settled between my dad and Duncan, the guy who had been part of my team, and grabbed their hands to form a chain. Silence fell as the group concentrated on channelling energy – we were told to think about following a circle clockwise – this would channel our energy around the group. Pretty soon Jeff said “it’s ok, relax, let it happen” – ‘odd’, I thought, so I followed his gaze to a large woman sat approximately 5 people to my left, a sort of 9 o clock to my 6 o clock, if that makes sense! As I watched her, she seemed to physically change! Before long, group members were gasping and saying “A girl! She looks like a young girl!” Several people were describing what they could see, all of which I agreed with! Whether this was a trick of the light or reality is questionable but it was truly fascinating. Jeff tried talking to the spirit that was masking the lady’s body but it soon withdrew its energy. The woman hunched over slowly and her breathing became heavy and raspy. She seemed to be changing into an old, sick man in front of my eyes. I’m glad I noticed this before people started saying what they could see as this went a small way to convince me that what I was seeing was real. Jeff asked the spirit to identify itself. “Harold” the lady said in a deep breathless voice. She repeated “Harold” a couple more times before taking in a large breath then returning to normal. She didn’t seem able to recollect what had just happened but seemed quite unnerved by what people were telling her – when offered the opportunity to change seats with a middle-aged gentleman on the other side of the hall, she took it!
We continued to concentrate on channelling – a couple of times I felt the temperature change and was sure I could see moving shadows at the back of the room. Although slightly anxious, I wanted more proof that this was real!! Suddenly I could hear heavy breathing coming from my left – the man who had swapped with the large woman looked like he was asleep, his chin was resting on his chest. Suddenly he started to hunch over and his breathing became quicker. He had a very tight grip on the hands of the two people next to him, who looked slightly concerned. My anxiety grew as Jeff left the circle to attend to the man. The man’s wife started calling his name in a very worried tone. Jeff tried to “reach” the man, explaining that this was a powerful spirit that, as somebody with no experience, he had no chance of controlling! The man then started shouting loudly. I, at this point, was ready to leg it! Jeff explained that if the circle and therefore the channel of energy was broken, this could have bad consequences so I stayed. The shouting got louder; I thought he was shouting “Aaah” but later, others thought it was “Ilam”, the name of the hall, although my Dad got concerned that he thought it was his name (Ryland) being shouted. The shouting every now and then broke down into sobs, but each shout after got louder and stronger. I was very scared, gripping my father and Duncan’s hands very, very tightly. Suddenly, the man rose to his feet and tried to walk forward into the middle of the circle. Tears were streaming down my face – I have never been so scared in my life!! Jeff continued calling the man’s name and the people holding his hands, although looking very scared, did not let go. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the man seemed to go lifeless; he was helped back to his seat, where he rubbed his throat, shook his head and looked at the group, bemused. When told what had just happened, he told us that he did not remember a thing. We decided not to try channelling anymore and left Ilam Hall.
Even sat outside in the car, I was still shaking. If that was real, and I have no reason to believe otherwise, it brought a whole set of new questions to my mind!! Were they just tricks of the light? Was the man & his so-called wife just good actors? I do wonder whether it was set up; after all, Jeff noticed them before anyone else, however he’s been investigating a long time & I guess he’d know the signs…
Even today, thinking about Ilam, I get a chill up my spine. Fright Nights are organising another visit there in January and as much as I would love to attend to convince myself that it wasn’t an act, that they won’t do the same thing again, I can’t bring myself to visit that horrible place again. The atmosphere was scary, the experiences were scary & it took me a long time before I was ready to do another hunt. I’ve only done one since, which although not scary, gave me a lot of food for thought. I’ve got an investigation planned for January in Newport so I can only hope I get good results from that too!!
Anyone thinking of visiting Ilam? Good luck, you’ll need it!!
Wow... I've just done a bit of a price-up on the kit I need for TWR. The kit I possess currently is the bare minimum for small animal work (e.g. cages, transport boxes, nursing kit, mite treatment) but I don't have anything for the larger mammals and birds - fox, badger, deer, swan etc. So I looked on a supplier website to get some prices, and get this:
; it is my intention to organise a charity rock gig for 2008 (May-ish) to get some much-needed money to get the essentials just before I finish my course and launch the service. Of course there will be other fundraising schemes but this will hopefully be the big one! So exciting!!! 