NGI

We were fortunate to receive an invite to investigate the Greenbank – a guest house in central Darlington – on a cold and wet Sunday night in September. We started off with only 3 groups on the investigation but changed the groups around during the break (and went to 4 groups and not all got to visit each location) hence why you may wonder what’s  going on in respect of this report!

Greenbank Guest House – Darlington

Date: Sunday 6th September

Time: 22.00 - 4.00

External Weather: Rainy and humid at the start of investigation. Rain had stopped by 23.30 but still remained damp.

NGI - Jay, Claire, Dell, Bekki and lets not forget, Mark!

Guests - Tillie, John, 2 Owners, Owners Friend and Paddy the Dog making various guest appearances

Walkabout

During the group walkabout Claire, Jay, Bekki, Mark and Tillie made their way up the second floor family room area. They decide to enter Room 17 (Lady Emma Hamilton) but Bekki could not open the door. Claire decided to have a go at turning the key in the lock but it still wouldn't budge. Bekki decided to have another go and the key did turn. She managed to open the door although she said it did 'put up some resistance as if something was pushing on the door from inside'. Claire thought the door may have been being wedged against the carpet but this was checked and found not to be the case.

Various other members had a go at locking, unlocking and opening the door. They managed it every time without too much problem but did report that both the door and lock were a bit stiff.

Mark set up a camera at the foot of the second flight of stairs where people had reported seeing fleeting figures.

Pre-Investigation – Claire

When Claire first entered the bar area in the 1st side of the room with the pool table she felt a dull thud in her lower abdomen. This happened every time she re entered that room until starting the vigils. After that she didn’t experience it again.

When stood outside room 18 with Bekki trying the door (and Jay and Tillie) when Bekki said she couldn’t open it Claire had ago, and the key wouldn’t move for her either way at all, no matter how much she jiggled or how much force she used. Bekki then tried it again and it opened immediately, however it only opened a little then it seemed to be 'stuck'. Bekki said it felt as if someone was holding it shut from the other side, from Claires observations it did appear that Bekki was putting force on it and it was not budging apart from a few inches. Then it opened easily, and on checking there was no reason to be found for why it hadn’t done this before, there was no carpet sticking up or anything it could have caught on, however the 'hinge' did come under suspicion, but Claire’s not aware of the conclusion of that as she left the others to their 'sussing' and went further into the room. The door was retried by other as well as Bekki and opened easily.

When Claire came out of looking at the 'attic' hole she had a strong urge to look under the bed, which she did, which was unusual for her as you could see under the bed anyway. She wanted to check to make sure there wasn't anyone under there???

At one point Claire heard the door 'click shut' and Jay did too. He said he saw the handle move. As far as Claires concerned this was because the door was heavy, and had not been shut properly to start with. Not saying it was because she doesn’t know, but this could easily be recreated, and was what she presumed it was when she heard it. It didn’t make the handle more loads though, but not sure how much it did more when Jay saw it.

When Claire entered room 17 she felt as though there was a 'thick' atmosphere initially, and was excited about this location as she felt the group would maybe get something there.

When Claire came back up to room 18 on her own, whilst everyone else was on the ground floor she did feel a little apprehensive, which surprised her, as she'd just been gabbing off about how the place was lovely and could have lived there happily! She put this down to the fact it was darkened corridors, she wasn’t to sure how to get back down and she was on my own 2 floors above everyone else, and had previously got lost looking for the stairs with Tillie earlier. Not unusual circumstances but a new location and one she hadn’t got her bearings in then.