NGI

The Old Well Innis situated in Barnard Castle which is built on the site where an ancient Roman road fords the river Tees this is now spanned by a stone bridge.

... Head over to Haunted UK for a review of the general history and haunted history of the Old Well Inn. Alternatively, use the table of contents to view the reports for each location.

... Head over to Haunted UK for a review of the general history and haunted history of the Old Well Inn. Alternatively, use the table of contents to view the reports for each location.

The Front Bar

The Front Bar was a small room at the front of the inn overlooking the busy main street through Barnard Castle.

The room consisted of 6 small tables surrounded by soft, comfortable chairs, a fireplace and a bar. In the corner of the room stood a life size statue of a Railway Conductor - before becoming the Old Well Inn, the inn was known as the Railway Hotel.

There was an open doorway behind the bar that led to the bar area within the lounge for the staff to use. It was possible for sound to travel between the Front Bar and The Lounge.

Medium Walkaround With Chris

Chris picked up on two spirits in the front room. Firstly, there was a gentleman sitting in the corner of the room near the 'stable door' who was wearing a tweed jacket and smoking a pipe and named John. He seemed to be associated with The Old Well Inn through a 'gentleman's club' or a society that met in the club. Although he couldn't pinpoint an exact period, Chris claimed the man was from the back end of the 1800's.

There was a second man in the room went by the name of Arthur. Although Chris could only feel the presence of Arthur and not actually see him - he felt that he was a man in his 70's who was tall and thin with white hair. Again, Chris felt the man was from the 19th century and felt that perhaps at some point during that time that there had a been a shop operating from the premises and it was this shop that Arthur was associated.

Other than the two spirits, Chis could sense nothing else in the room although he did report that he could hear a clanking of metal.

Group 1 Report : Rachel Sean Maureen Dianne Dale

Upon entering the front bar, Maureen picked up on a couple of things. Firstly, she sensed a fight that had taken place in the front bar and somebody had been carried out of the bar unconscious and later died from their injuries. She also picked up on a barman with scraggy/fuzzy ginger hair who suffered from high blood pressure.

Dianne picked up on a similar spirit - possibly a manager who was fat and a very domineering person. Dianne also sensed that the room may have had a different layout previously and that the front door to the Inn may have been in a different location than where it currently was.

At 1:32am , Sean tripped over some glasses behind the bar which created a loud noise that may have been heard by other groups and may have been mistaken for some activity

Group 2 Report: Nikki Pam Helen Kay

We found the Front Bar to be extremely quiet and devoid of any activity.

The only piece of information that Pam picked up upon was that this area used to be a materials shop, selling various cottons and wools etc. and there was a lot of French names associated with the shop.

Pam also claimed to sense a body that was buried underneath the floor in front of the fireplace although she could give no further information.

Group 3 Report : Jay Sue Darrin James Maxine

The Front Bar was our groups first location of the night and after a short time unscrewing the light bulbs in the lights as there was no-way to turn them off - we settled down and began our investigation.

Sue sensed the image of a man with highly polished shoes. She also got the sense that he was perhaps a Policeman. The statue in the corner of the Railway Conductor was pointed out to her and she maybe thought she was picking up these images because of him.

Jay picked up on a strange noise that he could not explain or locate straight away, but after a couple of minutes investigation he determined was the ticking clock from the property next door (he's got good ears!!). He also experienced a couple of occasions where he got a strong waft of cigar smoke.

... Head over to Haunted UK for a review of the general history and haunted history of the Old Well Inn. Alternatively, use the table of contents to view the reports for each location.

The Lounge

The Lounge consisted of two rooms roughly sited in the middle of the inn itself.

The first room - the lounge itself - was roughly the same size as the front bar with a similar number of tables and chairs - the bar ran fully along one of the walls.

The second room was adjoining the lounge and contained half a dozen large round dining tables surrounded by six chairs.

Medium Walkaround With Chris

Due to the Lounge still being open to the customers and patrons of The Old Well Inn - Chris never got the opportunity to do his usual walkaround.

He did later speak of a spirit name Shamus - an Irish man by the sounds of it - who was present within the lounge and who was a bitter and twisted man. Chris also sensed that the man suffered from chest pains and he eventually died from a severe heart attack.

Group 1 Report : Rachel Sean Maureen Dianne Dale

Our entire time within The Lounge was spent conducting a Glass Seance where everybody sits around a table with their fingers on a glass in the center. A series of questions with yes-no answers are then asked to any spirits that may be present, with a Yes answer indicated by movement of the glass.

After a number of questions, the movement of the glass and a process of elimination, the follwing information was gleened :

A Male spirit who died in 1937 called Henry Rogers was present. He had no children but worked in the pub as a manager. He was in his 60's when he died and was born and bred in Barnard Castle.

He had liked to have a drink and was himself a witness to a fight in the Front Bar (see Front Bar vigil for our group) where a man had died. He claimed the fight had been over money and that the man who had died, had been the man with the genuine complaint.

Group 2 Report : Nikki Pam Helen Kay

Kay picked up on a man who was wearing a collar and tie who had a Jack Russell associated with him.

A little girl aged 6 ot 7, called Amy, was also picked up upon and Nicola reported that she was finding it hard to breath as though her windpipe was being pushed upon.

Halfway through our vigil, both Pam and Kay thought they heard a breathing noise within the room. It sounded only the once and no cause could be found to explaiin it.

Another little girl was sensed by Nicola and Pam came up with the name of Laura McHinley.

Just before we exited the Lounge both Pam and Nicola reported a coldness that had settled over them.

Group 3 Report : Jay Sue Darrin James Maxine

We sat in silence within the Lounge for a few minutes allowing the room to settle before proceeding with a Glass Seance.

There was no significant movement of the glass but everybody reported feeling a vibration within the glass and at times a juddering movement.

Whilst performing the seance, there was a loud clash of glasses from behind the bar. Jay investigated and could find no obvious source of the noise (it was later discovered that Sean in Group 1 had tripped over a crate whilst in the Front Bar).

... Head over to Haunted UK for a review of the general history and haunted history of the Old Well Inn. Alternatively, use the table of contents to view the reports for each location.

The Conservatory

The conservatory consisted of 2 small rooms at the back of the inn and overlooking a small beer garden. The first room was separated from The Lounge by 2 glass doors amd contained 3 small tables and numerous chairs.

The second room contained a large oval dining table which would seat approximately 15 people. There were also extra chairs situated around the room.

Medium Walkaround With Chris

Chris got the sense of The Hunt coming from the Conservatory area of the The Old Well Inn. He could sense riding clothes - boots and jodhpurs - and felt that perhaps a riding club had been associated at some point with the Inn. He could also sense the presence of numerous dogs in and around the conservatory - a few names were impressed upon him : John, Craig and Reg.

While Chris was telling us about the hunters who would associate here he stopped dead in his tracks and began to laugh. When pressed he just shuck his head and claimed a court jester had just skipped passed the entrance of the conservatory. The Old Well Inn backs onto Barnard Castle itself and so maybe once upon a time there were buildings here that were associated more with the castle.

Chris also picked up - for the first time this night - the presence of a stocky woman whose name was Irene or Eileen. She was old with grey silvery hair and was not strictly associated with the Inn but with one of the staff who worked there and she would visit at times. Chris would come across Irene/Eileen a couple of times that night. We asked the staff members who were present if she was familiar but nobody could give a positive answer.

Group 1 Report : Rachel Sean Maureen Dianne Dale

We felt that the area of the Conservatory was quiet.

Dianne did pick up on a woman called Dolly, Dorothy or Doreen - she couldn't be any more accurate than that. She sensed this - not in spirit - but more as a flash back. The lady had her hair tied up in a bun and was wearing a high collared lilac dress which fell to the floor.

Maureen could sense running water underneath where she was sat witin the conservatory.

Group 2 Report : Nikki Pam Helen Kay

We found the conservatory area to be quiet of any activity, however, we did do a table tipping experiment and gained some positive results.

Other than that, Nicola kept hearing the sound that dried flowers make when they rustle together from within the room with the large dining table.

Group 3 Report : Jay Sue Darrin James Maxine

Jay picked up a cold spot and a draft within the main conservatory are and Darrin and Sue confirmed the cold spots independently.

A little late, Jay thought he could hear breathing, Darrin then confirmed it, then Sue and finally the other two members of our group. After a short while investigating, we determined that the sound was actually coming from another room and was in fact another group performing a glass seance.

Sue reported a tapping noise in response to a request she made while calling out. When we asked for an acknowledgement that the tapping was made by spirit, James then reported hearing a noise near to where he was sat.

Whilst in the room, Sue reported a pain in her left side shoulder for whole time she was sat in the conservatory.

... Head over to Haunted UK for a review of the general history and haunted history of the Old Well Inn. Alternatively, use the table of contents to view the reports for each location.

The Restaurant

Accessed by a short corridor and up half a dozen stairs, The Restaurant consisted of 8 small dining tables.A set of stairs in the corner led up to some of the guest rooms within the inn, whilst a large, unattained window overlooked the busy street outdoors.

Walkaround With Chris

Upon entering the Restaurant, Chris immediately felt that this area would have previously been blocked off from the rest of the Inn and picked up the sense of a residential area. To that end, he picked up the presence of a spirit - a woman, in her 60's who was a very friendly woman and would help people as much as possible. Her name was Madeline or Maddy and Chris felt she lived at the back end of the 18th Century - he got the year 1789 come to him.

He felt that what he was feeling with Maddy was residual energy - she wasn't actually there at the time - but Chris felt she would often come to visit. He seemed to think she was very well known in the village of her time and was known for doing something outside on the street to help people rather than here in the Restaurant (or residential area of her time).

Chris could also see a black and white dog bounding around in this area.

Group 1 Report : Rachel Sean Maureen Dianne Dale

Almost immediatley upon entering the Restaurant area, we heard a bang from the adjoining kitchen area. Upon investigation, we determined that it came possible from the central heating system.

Maureen picked up on the spirit of an old man, with wispy hair and carrying a staff who was a very selfish man who regretted the way he had lived his life. She picked up on cobbled streets horse drawn carriages.

Both Maureen and Rachel reported seeing a flashing light on the wall of the restaurant that was about the size of a football. No cars were driving past outside at the time of this incident.

Maureen had earlier reported something in the corner of the room where she had been sitting and feeling cold shivers and she now again sensed the same thing. She pulled out her pendulum and used it in the corner but got no results there nor in any other part of the room.

Group 2 Report : Nikki Pam Helen Kay

Pam feels as though she wants to cover herself up although she feels warm enough in the room.

There is a lady present in the room and she isn't too happy - her husband had come back from a battle and killed her and her son. There are, Pam claimed, bones under the floor of the kitchen area.

A small boy - perhaps the woman's son? - is running all over the this area of the building and hides in the toilet.

Pam said the building was a lot longer and wider than it currently is.

Group 3 Report : Jay Sue Darrin James Maxine

Unfortunately, we were unable to conduct a thorough investigation in the Restaurant area due to the time of night.

The local nightclubs where just emptying and a lot of people were passing by outside the large, un-curtained window.