Old School Rooms Write Up

OLD SCHOOL ROOMS, HAWORTH. 30/05/15

It was a warm night in May that I pulled up at the Old School Rooms location. The birds sang in the graveyard which the place was next to and I also saw the Bronte Parsonage which is a tourist attraction. The Bronte sisters taught at the school rooms and it was a joy to have secured it for an investigation. Si was already there with Jane and friend Felicity who had conducted base line readings and found a certain area of side wall to give off a high emf. In all probability this was natural. Apparently there was a locked door which had rattled upon approach but when Jane and Felicity had backed up and tried to make it happen again, they couldn't. We had a long set up on this occasion as we were waiting for a new couple of first time investigators but they got tied up and missed the evening. As we waited I ran an ESP test upon the assembled bunch and noted that 6 out of 25 was the highest correct answers, which meant there ESP powers were that of a mere mortal. 

I had Jane and Felicity separate and use a pendulum to find out an answer to the question 'how many spirits are here' and keep the answer to themselves. I ring my singing bowl to add expectation of evp's.,

I started protection for us all and Si said he felt a tugging on the leg of his shorts. Gill reported feeling giddy and also that she didn't 'feel' protected. Kevin said he felt wobbly. 

Our first action was for Si to knock out in the hope of a response. Then I suggested a breeze would be good. 

Si decided to walk to the back of the room and whistled in hope of a response. Nothing was heard BUT upon review of my audio recording, a whistle was heard in response about ten seconds after so an echo is ruled out. This is our first time getting a whistle back. 

Si whistles again but nothing is heard or caught. 

The k2 now rises to have 3 lights light up. This would suggest a natural raise perhaps, but we didn't do anything, so that's a good sign. 

Si continues to explain our equipment for any spirit listening. 

Si asks for a knock again. 

Chris "if you need energy, we invite you to borrow ours" 

Si "show yourself as a light"

Si and Gill hear 2 thuds. 

Si make a knocking noise or move the marbles outside" 

Chris "tug on our trousers of you like"

"If there's more than one of you, maybe work together"

Si "can you run up and down this floor perhaps?"

The church clock rings out the hour. 

Gill reports 2 knocks next to her. 

We consider that the Singapore Theory could be at play. 

Si "if you recognise that clock noise, can you knock once for yes?" 

Gill "I heard one very faint"

Si are you male? Once for yes, twice for no"

Andrea has a tune on her head. It's Ring-a-Ring-a Roses. 

The k2 on the stage bounces between 1 and 2 lights. 

We keep asking out for a while trying to gently coerce any spirit. Gill has the feeling of children about. 

I asked if the pendulum answers were higher than one and both Jane and Felicity  say yes. 

Jane writes her number secretly in my pad incase we manage to have the board agree later. Since children are hinted at, I put two marbles on the wooden floor. Kevin has a look through the keyhole of the closed off door and says the door moved. 

Gill stays down one end of the hall while we set up a Yes No table. A spirit wastes no time in moving our table.

The glass makes a circling pattern and we take this to be energy building. 

Kevin "move the glass to the middle when you are ready"

Andrea says she had a lain up her arm like an electric shock. 

I have to tell the spirit to try and keep the glass on the table. 

Kevin "knock on the torch to tell us how many spirits are present" 

Andrea gets a shock up the other arm which she has changed to. 

The glass knocks against the torch six times. 

Then the glass moves all the way off the table and we catch it. 

Si decides we need to be up on the stage for some reason. He isn't wrong. 

I grab my camera, still on the tripod as the table and crew, now up on the stage, basically chase the table as it jiggles around with ease. Normally there's a build up but since that isn't the case, I struggle to get things in place for filming. We have CCTV cameras set up to cover all general areas but I need to point my non nightvision camera right at this table and try torch light it with the other hand. 

The table loses all but Si's touch and yet the table is pulling away from him under his fingers. It leans away from his grasp and falls over. Si picks it up and instantly it's trying to escape his grasp and comes towards me as I try get a light shot which is in focus. 

"Are you joking me?" I say incredulously. 

Gill says, from way down the far end "bring the table to me"

It bucks away and then goes dead. 

Si "it's stopped"

Si now has only one hand on with his finger tips and then says "it's going again" 

The table continues to slide away from him as everyone else stares at it. 

I ask for the rest to put their hands on. 

Jane "I think it wants to go towards the doorway where the steps off stage lead to where Gill is"

The table is bucking much more gentle now. 

Then the table tips right over again. 

Si "that is unbelievable". I've not seen movement as quick and energised in a long while and Si is clearly impressed too. I myself, join the table and ask Si to film and hold torch. 

Chris "can you drag the table again please?"

Si "oh please do it worth it me on it" 

I feel nothing. 

There are three people on at this stage. A square table with me on one side, felicity next to me at 90 degrees and then Jane opposite me. 

Chris "can you do it again? I'd like to feel it too. Why have you gone quiet?"

Then, it tips away from me towards Jane. 

I then ask it to use the YES NO words in response to questioning. 

"Is this good fun?"

"Are you doing this in your own?"

"It's great what you did so far" 

"Sorry if you've worn yourself out" 

I ask Andrea to replace me. Si comes back and adds just one hand. 

Chris "can you please twist the table on the spot?" We hear a creak of wood and the table instead, tips to Andrea. 

Kevin "can you get this table up,on two legs and have these spinning around it?"

Chris "why don't you do Ring a Ring a roses?"

Boom-the table twitches and then turns with all feet on the floor. 

Si "I want to try something. Can you levitate this table?"

The table goes on to one leg. 

Chris "can you try and hit it from underneath or something?"

The table twists on all four legs 90 degrees and then back 90 degrees to how it started. 

I say that we need to actively use a CCTV cam to capture this. 

Kevin rigs up his nightvision cam. 

I leave my camera to add more energy and it weaves and wobbles progressively more violent. 

The table goes crazy and tips. 

I rack my brains for ideas wanting to monopolise on the strength of this energy. 

I lift the table out of the way and we all move our attentions to a large thick brown circular table which was already there on stage. 

I've only once seen a table of this weight tip and that was a much higher one at Cavendish Court. 

This one has a much lower centre of gravity plus it's four legs are spread out longer to make it stable. 

But it's all we've got to hand that's obvious. 

Immediately the table rocks left and right, left and right on its uneven legs. 

The table catches us by surprise as it slides about 2 feet. 

Then it revolves of the spot causing us to turn with it. 

I call for Gill To grab a CCTV static as quickly as possible. 

The table slides forwards and then backwards. 

Chris "Can you lift THIS table up onto two legs?"

It does so straight away. 

Chris "How fast can you go?"

The table lifts up to two feet and slams back down. 

Two of the legs of the table lift about one foot off the floor and is only slightly creaking when at 45 degrees. 

*There's no sound of us pressing down pre lifting.*

It's up and down onto two legs again and again, plus sliding across the stage. 

I actually have to call for it to stop as it's too much for me to take in. I have to remain sceptical if I can. 

I have to know how similar it looks if we DO work together and basically FAKE it. 

So I say "let's try and FAKE TIP it"

We all push down and it's obvious that our fingers are applying pressure rather than resting fingers on top.

Secondly there's a very noticeable creak of wood as pressure is applied to the outer rim of the table top. 

When Si and myself push down, the table creaks but won't tip up. When the others try and push down their end, the same noise is heard I mistakenly and even that way, it will not raise up two legs. 

So we fail to even FAKE tip it because of its leg placement and design. 

The only way for us to tip it any way at this stage is to noticeably put our fingers under the top section and give it an old fashioned lift. 

This rules our physical manipulation out. Totally. 

Same rules apply for the slide action. It's so heavy that it wouldn't slide if we all worked together and tried to apply a sideways force via our hands. Our fingers would slip before the table would slide. 

Upon lifting it naturally as we just demonstrated, the table top is seen to shift a few degrees before the central column and legs finally are made to follow the tip. 

But when the spirit did it, the table moved as a whole item. 

As we chat about how it's impossible for us to make it happen so easily, the spirit lifts the table and surprises us again. the creaking of wood, once again reduced drastically. 

The table becomes violent by comparison to our rubbish attempts. 

When it's stopped again, I ask if it can do old fashioned spirit rapping. 

"Can you give us two large knocks on this table please?"

"Is there a spirit with us?" 

Jane asks me to swap places with her. 

"Can you try knocking on this table please?"

The table slides towards Kevin and his camera. 

Gill "back the other way please "

"Take the table towards that door off stage please"

The table lifts towards door and then slams down hard. 

I remind everyone to have their contact be light as I'm concentrating on the creak aspect. 

Subconscious movement is pretty much ruled out because the accompanying noise is simply not heard. 

We decide to put one hand on each only to make it harder for us but of course this could be harder for spirit too. But we have to test the parameters. 

Gill starts asking for one person at a time to go two handed. 

We ask for movement a few times but all seems quiet. 

"I'm not surprised you need a rest"

Si "it's gone"

We sit at the largest of solid tables on pews holding hands. 

Chris "is this one too heavy?"

A noise is heard but it's disputed which direction it came from. 

Si "shhh, can you walk around again for us?"

Si "if I knock can you knock back?"

Chris "can you knock louder?" 

Si "could you copy me?" Si and Kevin hear three knocks. Gill and I hear none. 

Si "copy me and be loud" Si knocks. 

"Try again" Si knocks. 

Chris "I heard something but I'm conscious that we have turned the heating on so the radiators could be responsible."

Si asks us to settle in our seats. 

"Could you make some noise in any way please?" Possible  knocks are heard. 

Jane "can you do that again?"

I feel an electrical charge in my hand which is holding Jane's. I ask Jane if she felt anything odd but she didn't. 

As Gill and Jane talk about a spirit say on a particular pew, Si and his hand is pulling out of mine and he's leaning towards Andrea. 

Si "I'm getting pulled"

Chris "can you pull him the other way?"

Si then goes the other way towards me. 

Si "I'm doing my best to stay still"

Chris "you've got to call this one Si, it's personal experience"

Chris "can you push Si forwards into the table please?"

"Can you feel anything?" 

Si "yes my hands are going forwards"

Chris "the only real back up to this is if it does it to another person"

Si "it's gone"

I ask for someone else to be affected but nobody feels it. 

Si then begins to get pulled again after a few minutes. 

Kevin asks for the large table to be moved but it doesn't. 

We decide to try holding fingers up for the CCTV camera and not letting the board participants see what I've chosen. Gill and I know. 

I ring my singing bowl again. 

We begin ouija. 

R-R-R 9-0

R-R-R 90 spins round and round 90. 

Jane "why 90?"

Jane "can you tell us what that means please?" 90.........O,P

O-P-I-N.   YES..then it just roams about. 

Chris "is it worth calibrating the board Si?"

Si "move to 'J'" it does. "Move to number 4" it does.

"Are you the person who gave us RRR90?" YES

"Does that mean something of note to you?" YES

Obviously the thought of READING, WRITING and ARITHMETIC is in the air because of the school connotation. 

(Probably the worst example of a teaching abbreviation imaginable) 

Si "I don't want to put words in your mouth so I need you to explain what it's significants is". RRR90

Si "what did the three R's mean?" H-O-P-E (but then it continues.. ) NOPPPPPPP the glass draws a line left to right to left to right and then tips over. 

Jane "are you OK?" The glass spins and then tips over. 

We stand it up and it spins and tips over. 

Gill "are you a male? Spins and tops over. 

We stand it up and it goes left to right to left to right. 

Gill "stay off Si, do you want to talk to the ladies?" ( the glass doesn't move until Si puts his finger on) 

Si "there's something angry here Chris"

Chris "did the spirit say that?" 

Si "no but I felt angry earlier on".

Gill "it won't move without Si on it but it's like it doesn't want Si on it"

The glass spins and spins. Then tips. 

The conversation turns to identifying who the spirit doesn't want on the glass. (We need to explore this occurrence because it seems ludicrous when you think about it but on the other hand it does occur quite often.) 

Gill "take the glass to who you don't want on the glass" the spirit says Gill and confirms that it's Gill again. 

The glass saunters around the board aimlessly. 

Gilł "do you want something in the glass?" YES. The glass moves all over and won't settle. 

Si "it's just spelling nonsensical stuff"

Kevin "do you want to ask us a question?" G-O   A-W-A-X

Gill "you're not very good at spelling are you?"

"Why do you want us to go away?"

Chris "We will leave later tonight" N-O-W

Si "are you angry?" YES

Chris "what are you angry about?. Please spell it out"  O-U-R  H-O-M-E

"Sorry, who am I speaking to?" NO COMMENT 

Jane "Is this your home?" YES

"How long have you been here for?" 90

Chris "you say it's your home but hasn't it always been a school?" 90 90 90

P-I-P-I-P-I-P-I

Chris "sorry we don't know what that means and we don't want you to waste energy on things we don't understand"

Gill "take to the glass to YES if you're a Man or No if you're a female" glass goes and falls off edge of the table. 

Gill repeats this question when the glass is out back in the centre and the glass does the same action. 

Si repeats the question this time and the glass, once again drifts off the edge. 

Chris "including you, how many spirits are here?" 9 

Si felt a draft on his hand at this point. O-P-O-P-O-P

Si then says "it's gonna go off the edge again" as it makes its way to the edge. But it stops dead. 

"Oh you don't like being predicted do you?" NO

Chris "can you tell me who I have to thank for that table movement earlier? Was it you?" YES

Gill "but you would say that wouldn't you" YES

Chris "could you provide us with a name for you, even if it's made up, so we can address you respectfully?" 

M-I-L-LO-N

Si "Did you happen to see the number of fingers which Chris held up earlier?" 

The glass moves to 8 9 0 7 6 then 1 2 3 4 5. Was the spirit just identifying the numbers? 

Gill asks for the answer. The spirit goes to 7. 

I give it time to change the answer, hoping that this would subconsciously put the notion forward to the team with fingers on the glass that it's a wrong answer. 

The spirit says 7 is its final answer. 

This is correct. I had two fingers on one hand and five in the other. No one but Gill and I knew that and we were not in contact with the glass. I would say that this is of slight interest as a one off but over our investigations I'd say this experiment  has been correctly done five times. I would also have to add that the incorrect answer has been given three times. This is an on going experiment. 

Our next questions draw a blank and so we move once again to the heavy round brown table which impressed us earlier. 

Si simply says "go on then" the table rocks from small vibrations to a medium rattle. Then it spins and spins taking the participants with it. 

Chris "how fast can you change direction?" 

The change takes little over a second. There's no squeaking of fingers on the surface to show human interference. This alone is impressive. Ideomotor effect has NO place in this moment. 

I simply say "ok, surprise me" the table becomes something akin to a bucking bronco. 

I say to Kevin "just get the best shot you can"

Chris "if we stand still, can you jump the table off all legs?" 

"If you levitate this table, we're finished"

It doesn't manage. 

I ask instead for the table to spins on the spot under our hands but ask for the team to stay put. 

Andrea and Kevin even try and inspire it by singing Ring a ring of roses but we get nothing. 

Suddenly we all get really cold. A cold air which I breathe in and it fills my lungs with a breathe which I'd describe as 'a lungful of fresh air'. 

The table tipping ends. 

We try a pew instead of a table. This is something which I'm interested in. Why not use a chair instead? Does it have to be wood? Well, no it doesn't. Plastic planchette so work so why wouldn't a plastic chair. When I got into this field I simply started with the information which others informed me worked and listened to why they worked. 

They told me that the wood soaked up our energies better because it was made of a natural substance. 

I made it my mission to test this theory. As I say, plastic works too so that's the end of that belief. 

Si's 'special' emf meter which has sat on a table at the back all night suddenly flashes red for ages. 

This has no residing on any meter during base line readings and so is doubly interesting now. 

This meter rarely goes off and so our excitement is peaked when it does. 

We next try to use a waist high wooden trolley on wheels as a planchette of sorts down on the hall floor. We gather around it and put our fingers on lightly. Rather than the trolley move, Si is once again pulled backwards away from it. Si puts his hands on again and we see his top half pull back. The best back up plan for this would be for some,one else to witness this oddity. We are very lucky as Gill now has the same thing happen. What does it mean? I have no idea but it's to be logged and remembered. 

That was pretty much a wrap then. 

A bewildering night of evidence which I did my best to share online. I found it fascinating that it didn't get more likes. I asked a trusted investigator from another team to give me his unbiased opinion on how I could have bettered the video . I've taken these factors on board and intend to capture it better next time. But at the end of the day, if you are not there in person on the night, you will always have reservations about what you are seeing. 

The thing I take away forever fork this evening is the fact that I am the person who judges others videos and photos and this time the boot was on the other foot. Here we were presenting evidence and few people seemed to get too excited. 

But for me, I managed to rule out human interference, the ideomotor effect and reading the evidence in a biased way seeing just what I wanted to see. I saw the rules of physics challenged and broken through sight and sound. 

I was almost speechless as I had no counter argument to make, and that doesn't happen often. 

C WHITEHOUSE 2015  

Sent from my iPad