NGI

Investigation Content
The Golden Fleece (Nov)
Function Room
The Shambles
The Minster Suite
St. Catherines And Lady Pecketts
All Pages

The historic Golden Fleece is one of the oldest coaching inns in the ancient city of York. Early records show that the inn was about in 1503 and between this time and 1557 it was owned by the Merchant Adventurers.

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

Function Room

The function room - which also doubled as our base room - was stationed on the second floor, above the main bar area of The Fleece.

The room was a fairly large affair - roughly the size of two standard living rooms and was strewn with numerous small tables and chairs. A small bar occupied one corner of the room and a serving area where cups of tea and coffee could be made sat on the same wall.

In the far corner from the main entrance was a door which led into a small passageway and then a set of stairs that led down to the kitchen area behind the bar downstairs.

Group 1 Report : Jay Chris Various Guests

This was out first location of the night and as is usually the case for Jay - the quietest of the night.

Most of the proceedings were taken up by Chris who had been practicing his channelling of late and he attempted to open himself up to any spirits that may have been present.

He felt as though his stomach was being pressed hard and he was making some loud grunting noises before starting to convulse and jerk rather violently. At one point, Jay feared for his safety when a couple of times Chris' head came close to smacking against a table.

However, nothing came and spoke through Chris - so after a little recovery time for him - we attempted various methods of communication with the only results coming during a calling out session - although the noises we heard were found to be coming from other rooms and not something we could verify in being response to anything we were doing.

Group 2 Report : Bekki Carol Keith Lynn Linda Karin Emma

This location - along with the bar area - seemed pretty dead by the time we got to investigate and no activity was reported.

We did try a few methods of communication but very little - if any - responses.

Group 3 Report : Mark Claire Jackie Donna Kev Michelle

• Time: 20.52
• Temp: 14.2ºC
• EMF: Room Lights 1MG / Emergency lights 10+MG

The group were joined by the 2 mediums - Di and Kirsty - for this vigil.

They started in the function room all sat round the table in the centre.

Claire felt something in the corner of the room where the food was but couldnt decide what it was. Her head kept wanting to turn that way though causing her neck to ache.

Di was picking up on a man who would come in here, he was a former landlord or something and he would pace. She got the name Mr Crieg.

The group decided there was nothing much up there now and decided to go to the bar area as Di had picked up on a man before she came and when she got here who was down there in an alcove. Di picked up on a cold spot in one area which she felt was where the old man sat.

Di went and sat at the far end of the back bar on the far wall facing the door into the bar from the passage. Mark joined her and then the guests did. Claire stayed at the door area with Kirsty.

The group then moved into the front bar, which was where Kirsty thought they would get more activity. They were joined in here by Ally and Petes group.

They arranged themselves into 2 groups and each group did a glass divination. Claire , Kirsty and the 'new guests' formed one group and Di and the original groups guests formed the other. Di called out mainly for her group with Kev sometimes calling out. Kirsty, Claire and all the guests called out on the other board at various times. At one point the glass did moved towards the guest to Claire’s right, but this stopped and it didn’t move again. It was impossible to say how the glass had moved. After a while Di and Kirsty swapped groups but our group had no more movement from the glass. Throughout this Mark had been observing both groups.

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

The Shambles

On the 3rd floor of The Fleece, and overlooking the UKs most famous cobbled street, you can find The Shambles. Upon entering the room, the visitor is met with a short corridor leading to the master bedroom. On the right of the entrance is a door which leads into a large bathroom. Not surprisingly, a bath, toilet and sink can be found in here aswell as a small blocked up fireplace. Above the fireplace is a large mirror.

Through in the bedroom you can find a large four-poster bed, a wardrobe and various other smaller pieces of bedroom furnuture, including a small wooden table which was used during the investigation to conduct glass divination experiments.

Group 1 Report : Jay Chris Various Guests

Sadly, once more - Jays Toothache had gotten the better of him in this location and can't remember much from the actual investigation.

All he recalls was after his groups time proper in The Shambles when Claire and Bekki came into the room and made claims of seeing / sensing a black energy surrounding him and how Claire certainly seemed quite "threatened" by it at times.

Group 2 Report : Bekki Carol Keith Lynn Linda Karin Emma

Prior to the investigation starting - Bekki had an experience in the shambles while looking around with Claire .. In Bekki's own words :

Myself and Claire arrived at the Fleece first and decided to have a look around before anyone else turned up. As soon as we entered the building I commented on the change in atmosphere from our previous visit. This time there seemed to be a hostile air to the premises and I found myself feeling anxious about what would happen as it seemed there was something active that night. We went into the Shambles bedroom, where the air seemed very heavy and as we both lay on the large four poster bed, we saw what looked like a black mist moving from a lamp towards the bed in which we were laid, this mist seemed to bring with it a sense of negative energy.

The bed began to vibrate gently and as I lay there I felt like something was sitting on the edge of the bed right next to me, I began to get a little scared as it seemed to be leering over me. I left the room for a bit, but later on after a few others arrived, I again returned to the room with Claire and I sat on the other bed, while she lay on the four poster.

Again this mist seemed to creep from the same area, then it began to move quite fast in a circular direction, Claire commented on how it seemed like there where a group of people or creatures walking around in a circle, I agreed as she went on to say that she could now feel the negativity from this mist.

I then made the mistake of saying “Yeah I can see it, and I can feel the negative energy, but its not affecting me over here” as I said that, two black shadows seemed to quickly leave the circle and flew across the room towards me, as they leered over me I had an utter sense of provocation and fear and I jumped up and fled the room in fear, leaving Claire alone. (She seems a lot braver than I am!)

However - her report for the location, she wrote :

Surprisingly after our earlier incident in this room, had been reluctant to return, but when I did was quite surprised to discover that the atmosphere seemed to have moved on and no more activity was reported here.

Group 3 Report : Mark Claire Jackie Donna Kev Michelle

• Time: 20.38
• Temp: Hallway 19.4ºC / Bedroom 15.1ºC
• EMF: None
• Note: The window will not close properly and is causing a cold draft

Pre Investigation

Claire - along with Bekki - spent some time in the Shambles before the investigation proper started. What follows is Claires account of what happened ..

When they went into the Shambles room Claire could smell a 'smell' she called 'gingerbread' but said it wasn’t gingerbread, that’s just the best way she can describe it. Bekki could smell it here and she thought at first it was from the kitchens but it wasn’t as Claire checked it out. Also this smell came and went several times in the night strongly. LLater, some of the guests in Claire’s group would smell it too. Bekki did a few times. No cause was found for this.

They sat on the four poster bed. Claire was at the side nearest the window with Bekki to her right. They switched all the lights off but the room was lit up slightly from the street lights coming through from the window behind the closed curtains.

Claire saw 'black' coming from the area to the right of the wardrobe and from the lamp at the side of it. The whole room darkened but the black was very dense from this area and spreading out towards the bed. Just before this Claire said to Bekki that her chest felt like it was 'black' inside and she felt as though she should be smelling burning/smoke but wasn’t.

The black energy was very strong and spread up the bed. Bekki was sensing it now and didn’t like it. She jumped up at one point and started coughing and wheezing saying it had started her asthma and had made her throat constrict. When she stood up Claire saw the purple on her and her wheezing subsided. She sat back down and Claire saw the energy all on her and the bed but then Claire saw coming in from the window area, a yellow energy. Claire could see this going towards Bekki and it was all on Claire around her face. Bekki was starting to panic a bit as she could feel the black energy creeping at her again. At this Claire noticed Claire’s right hand was glowing blue and her left had was glowing yellow with a slight greenish tinge but not a lime green, more the colour of 'yellow lemonade'.

Bekki felt this was getting to her again and stood up and put the lights on. She went and sat on the single bed at the other end of the room. She had wanted to leave the room but Claire asked her to say with the lights on. This concluded the first pre-investigation visit to the Shambles.

A bit later they returned. Claire sat on the double bed again where she had before and Bekki sat on the single bed.

After 2 minutes Claires breathing deepened in her chest (not abdomen). She felt that her chest was exposed and all black inside, like her ribs had been broken apart to show her lungs. it was not a horrible feeling, just 'factual'. Claire saw the 'blackness' come in from the same area (right side of wardrobe/lamp) again. Bekki suddenly said that all around Claires bed it was pitch black, like a dense black energy. Bekki said she was glad she was sat on the single bed as she felt fine with it sat over there. As she was saying this Claire saw 2 distinct shadow figures at the foot of the bed move to the right and about 2 seconds later Bekki said it had come back over to where she was and she jumped up and ran out of the room saying it was ‘evil’ and she couldn’t stay there any longer. Claire had not mentioned what she had seen until Bekki said that the energy had come over to her.

Claire remained as she could still feel and see the energy but she put a lamp on at the side of the bed as it was very oppressive in the dark and she felt the energy was building stronger and stronger in that environment. Claire had to make herself sit still and not move away from the 'creeping , thickening blackness' but she sensed that this was a safe environment for it to be in as there were other things about which were aware of it and wouldn’t let things go to far. She felt this very strongly.

Claire then heard a loud 'click' come from the corner of the room near where Bekki had been sat from the kettle area. She asked mentally for it to be done again and a faint smaller 'click' was heard but then nothing.

Claire felt 'disorientated' at one point; she felt as though she'd been having some kind of conversation, or she was aware of a conversation going on in the doorway (the door was shut) to the passage which runs along the side of the bathroom. Claire said it felt odd because she almost 'forgot it', she suddenly 'realised' that a woman was talking to others (Claire wasn’t sure who, just know it was a 'stern woman' who was talking to at least one other person ). She couldn’t remember all of what she said except for ''she’s been messing with Jack'' which Claire felt meant she (Claire) had been messing with Jack. Claire felt indignant which verged towards slight anger at this and she said out loud as well as mentally that she had no idea who Jack was and she hadn’t been 'messing about' with anyone and asked for them to come and explain this more. She felt like she'd been accused of something she'd not done. She didn’t sense or experience any reply to her question.

Claire sat on the bed near to the window with 2 guests on the bed and the others on the other bed and about the room. Claire saw the room darken and saw the black energy come again. Donna said she felt a tingle on her which was odd for her. The guests swapped places and Jackie was sat on the bed and Claire could see the energy on her. Jackie said her right hand was warm and so was her back. She said her back had been cold because she could feel the draught from the window. Claire felt he energy was very strong on her but also the other energy had come in too.

Michelle came and sat in that area to see if she could feel anything. Claire saw the energy on her Michelle said her right hand went warm and her back also. Donna came and sat at the other side of the foot ot the bed to her. Claire could see the energy slightly overlapping onto her at times and Donna felt warm spots on her hands and back, which she too thought was odd as she had felt the cold draught from the window too, even more than her friend as she had sat nearer it.

Mark and Kevin came and sat there to see if they could sense anything but they didnt.

Whilst people had experienced this it seemed to be at the foot of the bed the energy was the strongest.

All the women except Claire felt this at different times and they said when the sensation was there and when it wasn’t. The 3 women said they had never experienced anything like this before, all 3 were slightly sceptical and were surprised at the sensations.

Claire and Mark called out for audibles but no noise to note was heard.

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

The Minster Suite

On the top floor of The Fleece you can find The Minster Suite which looks out over the Shambles - a cobbled street within York.

On first entering the suite - you come across a small living area complete with fireplace, small couch and a wooden box like table which we would use for glass divinations. There was a large window in this room that had earlier been noted let a bit of a breeze into the room.

Along a small corridor could be found the master bedroom which contained a four-poster bed, a wardrobe and other small pieces of furniture.

Group 1 Report : Jay Chris Various Guests

Due to Jay sufferring from the Toothache From Hell and being high on pain-killing drugs - he doesn't remember much happening in this location as he excused himself for a large part of it.

However, it seemed the others got a little activity - especially when Chris conducted a Human Pendulum with the guests.

Oh - Memory alert. Jay does remember - before he slipped away - a number of strange shadows that were moving around in the part of the Minister Suite that contained the bed. He could find no source for the shadows or any explanation - although he would not claim they were anything paranormal in nature. They might have just been caused by the drugs!!

Group 2 Report : Bekki Carol Keith Lynn Linda Karin Emma

In this location Bekki felt the presence of a man; she had previously felt him prior to the investigation and felt he was perhaps American. We tried some calling out, and then decided to try out some pendulum work. A couple of the guests started to use the pendulums and where getting some good responses, At one point we had seven pendulums going at once, four of these where moving in synchronicity. Although we found out very little, this seemed to be a very enjoyable experience for some of the guests.

We attempted an Ouija board and a name that was personal to Bekki was spelt out, so she stepped back from the board in case she was somehow influencing it, and we got nothing else, we tried again and Carols name was spelt out. Bekki was not sure what information the Ouija board actually displayed afterwards so it can be included in this report.

Group 3 Report : Mark Claire Jackie Donna Kev Michelle

• Time: 20.47
• Temp: Living Area 14.0ºC / Bedroom 13.1ºC
• EMF: Room Lights 3MG / Dimmer Switch 4MG
• Note: The window will not close properly and is causing a cold draft. Loose floorboard in doorway to bedroom.

The guests went in the bedroom and bathroom and spent the first 5-10 minutess taking photos and getting used to the room etc.

Mark was sat on the floor near the door filming in the sitting area and Claire sat on the left side of the settee.

After 5 minutes Claire felt a slight energy to her left. She felt that sitting in the area where she sensed the energy would make her more sensitive to it so she moved the table and sat in the corner between the wall and the settee on the floor. The guests to come in and spaced themselves out in this area. Claire felt a cold draught on her right leg and Jackie sat on the settee felt a draught on her left leg. A reason for the cold draughts just in this area wasn’t found.

Claire sensed nothing whilst sat in this corner and neither did anyone else. Claire called out whilst sat here but nothing of note was experienced.

A ouija board was attempted with no results. Claire sat on the bed in the bedroom, the others remained in the sitting area. Kevin attempts communication using a pendulum.

Here are the results:

• Are you male? - No
• Are you female? - Yes
• Are you younger than 25? - Yes
• Are you aged between 1-10? - No
• Are you aged between 10-20? - No
• Are you aged between 20-25? - Yes
• (The females age is then found to be 24)
• Did you die in this building? - No
• Did you work in this building? - Yes
• Do you like this room? – Yes

Kevin then tried to determine her name by going through the alphabet.

The letters 'G', 'O' and 'N' are spelled out.

Claire rejoins the group and uses her pendulum as Kevin continues with his to compare results.

The pendulums are asked to show the sign for 'yes' and 'no'. Although both pendulums are swinging in different directions, they both seem to change direction on command.

The questioning continued :

• Are you a female spirit? - Yes (Both)
• Does your name start with a 'G'? - Yes (Both)
• Are you aware of us here with you - Yes (Both)
• Is there more than one spirit here? - Yes (Both)
• Do you live here, is this your home? - Yes (Both)
• Are you 36? - Yes (Claire) / No (Kev)
• Are you 42? - No (Claire) / No (Kev)
• Are you 24? - Yes (Claire) / Yes (Kev)
• Did you work here? - Yes (Both)
• Is your name GON? - Yes (Both)
• Is your Name Susan? - No (Both)
• Do you know John? - Yes (Both)
• Is John with you now? - Yes (Both)

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

St. Catherines And Lady Pecketts

We decided to join the two rooms at the back of The Fleece into one even though they were on two different floors. The reason for this was because Lady Pecketts room was quite small in comparision to the other rooms in The Fleece and it would have been awkward and difficult to fit everybody inside comfortably.

St Catherines room, with its uneven floors which made you think you'd stepped into a room from Alice in Wonderland, contained two single beds, a wonky wardrobe, a few smaller pieces of furniture and an adjoining bathroom with the usual accompaniment.

Lady Pecketts room was furnished the same albeit the room was maybe half the size of St Catherines and with no wonky floor.

Group 1 Report : Jay Chris Various Guests

We spent most of our time in St Catherines and once more Chris attempted a little bit of Channelling with the same results as he experienced in the Function Room earlier - strange grunts and noises and jerking backwards and forwards.

We spoke to the the guests with us who both claimed that they were not sensitive to anything spiritual in any way but with a little encouragement - they both tried to open up.

One of the ladies mentioned how she kept seeing a cap worn by an officer in the RAF but laughed the incident off has she had once been in the services herself - but upon more encouragement from Jay - she tried to refocus on the image but got nothing else.

Jay then informed her about the story of the RAF Officer who was alledged to have fallen out of one of the windows in the Fleece while drunk and dying and it is said, still roams the old pub.

At this news - she was gobsmacked - and attempted to try and get any more information but sadly got nothing more - could he have made a fleeting visit to the room and had made brief contact with somebody who was also part of the service?

Group 2 Report : Bekki Carol Keith Lynn Linda Karin Emma

The two mediums Diane and Kirsty joined us for this location, we started in St Catherine’s room, we settled and allowed ourselves to become accustomed to the dark, as we did one of the mediums said there was a female presence in the room, This lady seemed to be quite well to do and wore a red dress, with her hair up and seemed to be in her late 30’s or early 40’s, the feeling was that this lady was waiting for a man to return from a ship, perhaps her loved one. This presence seemed to be centred around Keith and one of the mediums confirmed that the spirit seemed to like him; the temperature was checked in the area and was noted to have fluctuated from 61.2 to 65.0 in less than a few seconds.

As we called out we heard what sounded like a tap on the wardrobe in the corner of the room, Keith was reporting getting hotter and hotter and his temperature seemed to indicate this too. We were given the date 1648, which seemed linked to this lady, but after a while we seemed to be getting little else and decided to move up into Lady Pecketts.

Although there were some feelings of hostility felt around the bathroom area, and I felt that someone wasn’t happy with us being there, little else occurred hear and we moved onto our 2nd location.

Group 3 Report : Mark Claire Jackie Donna Kev Michelle

St Catherine's Room:

• Time: 20.36
• Temp: Bedroom 18ºC / Bathroom 23.7ºC
• EMF: Vent above toilet door 10+MG / Emergency lights 10+MG

Lady Peckett's Room:

• Time: 20.45
• Temp: Bedroom 15.5ºC / Bathroom 16.9ºC
• EMF: Room Lights 3MG / Bathroom Lights 10+MG

The group decided to remain together rather than splitting for the 2 locations. They sat in Lady Catherines first. Mark and the guests positioned themselves on the beds and chairs in the room, Claire sat on the toilet in the bathroom. Nothing unusual was experienced in this 10 minitues.

They all stood in the centre of the room in a circle and sent the twitch around whilst Claire called out but nothing was experienced. All but Claire tried table tipping but no movement was achieved although the hairs on Marks arms stood up at one point for no reason he could find.

They group moved into Lady Pecketts.

Kevin sat on the bed facing the window with his pendulum and Mark used Claire’s pendulum and sat facing opposite him on the other bed.

Both pendulums swung in synch at first but then Marks gave different answers for yes and no when questions were asked whilst Kevs stayed constant so whilst Mark still did the pendulum the group went with Kevs pendulum for the replies.

Claire was recording this on her voice recorder, however it did not record so not all the details of this are able to be included. Various questions were asked however, the culmination of which seemed to be that it was apparently the energy of a young airman which was moving the pendulum.

Claire didnt feel any energy in the room and felt that the pendulum would move whichever way it felt the 'asker' wanted it to move so she gave Kevin some specific questions to ask.

Claire asked him to ask it if there was a Susan in the room :

It said yes.

Was the surname Parker? It said yes.

Claire asked a question along the lines of 'did you die here?' Each time the pendulum swung strongly for yes.

Claire made this up off the top of her head, however she did it in a way that made it seem that she knew something about this information and the room which the others did not. Claire told everyone what she'd done immediately after.

Claire explained that she didn’t think there was any external energy moving the pendulum and was interested to what replies would be gained from the way she asked the questions. She explained to Kevin that she knew he was genuine and was not insinuating otherwise, just that she felt that the pendulum would swing the way the user wanted it to and it did.