The McOrvIlle - Pre-Investigation Vigil

Prior to starting the investigation proper - we decided for a change to spend a little time alone in each of the locations we were to be investigating to get a 'feel' for the location. Below is an account of these mini-vigils on a person by person basis.

Location 1 - Stables

The stables were in fact one big stable that had partitioned walls to give the impression that there were a number of them. Although brick walls gave a sense of seperation between each individual room - the roof area was completely open and noise would easily travel from one area to another.

The group spread themselves out into each of the four stables. From the back door of the pub, Claire was situated in Stable 1, Jay in 2, Hannah in 3 and Mark in 4

Stable 1: Claire

Claire stood in there facing the far wall just at the side of the door with her back to the pub. Occasionally venturing outside a few times to check noises and also standing inside the doorway facing the kitchens

1.17am Loud 'click' from outside the kitchen (there are fridges and other equipment in that area which was the likely cause)

1.19am An indistinct girl childs voice is heard which seemed to say something a few times. Although this 'voice' was definitely heard, Claire was not 100% it was a child's voice, it could have been something else which just sounded like it. No obvious source could be found for the noise which 'seemed floaty and to move from far away to near'. A bat was also recorded flapping around outside in this area making some noises.

1.21am A noise of what sounded like a pebble/small stone hitting concrete or a hard surface with force is heard near the kitchen area.

Standing outside Stable 1, Claire had the image in her head of a black and while border collie just outside the stabe door. She got the name 'Robert' repeated over in her head. (This would become stronger as she went to stable 2).

Stable 2: Jay

When entering the stable 2 Jay had a compulsion to sit down. Usually a "pacer", Jay thought that this was little strange of him though he didn't really notice the - importance? - of the urge at the time.
The urge got so bad, Jay felt he had to leave the stable a little early to walk around the car park area (so he wouldn't be overwhelmed with looking for somewhere to sit). He noticed that he was feeling very light headed.

Stable 3: Hannah

Hannah did not report anything out of the ordinary.

Stable 4: Mark

1.16am Mark started to feel a bit light headed, but put that down to the smell of what he thought was paint fumes that filled the stable. He did not report anything else out of the ordinary.

The group then switched places

Stable 2: Claire

1.25am Claire was suprised when she went in here as it was full of junk. This was the stable she had though looked fairly empty on the walkabout. Claire mentioned this to Jay who said it had been full of junk when he'd looked in earlier. Claire didnt experience anything to note in here. She stood still about 3ft into the room listening to what was presumably Jay walking about 'quietly' in the 'schoolyard' outside. Claire was cursing him for this because how was she meant to distinguish between his footsteps (even though they were quiet and not constant) and anything else which might be unusual. She was going to tell him this when as time was up, but instead saw him walk up from the opposite way, from stable 3 and 4 not the schoolyard. Claire asked him where he had just spent the last 5 mins and he said in a stable. Claire said I'd heard him walking about in the yard like he had been earlier. No one else had been putside in this area to my knowledge.

Stable 1: Mark

1.25am Mark hears 2 loud 'fizzing' noises that come from the direction of the pub. There is also a beeping sound that it repeated at regular intervals which he presumed was some sort of alarm system. As he stood in the darkness Mark felt a slight chest pain (left side) that lasts a few minutes.

Stable 3: Jay

Jay did not report anything out of the ordinary.

Stable 4: Hannah

Hannah did not report anything out of the ordinary.

The group then switched places.

Stable 1: Mark

1.30am Mark hears a slight tap followed by what sounds like a water drop. His hair on the top of his head stands up as if static electricity is present.

Stable 2: Hannah

Hannah did not report anything out of the ordinary.

The Car Park area/'schoolyard': Claire, Jay

Claire spent the last 5 mins of this location stood out towards the far fence but still in the yard (about 3 quarters of the way or slightly towards the left side (as taken from facing the far fence) there as Jay said it had made him feel dizzy and she had heard the footsteps. Claire reported lots of rustlings in the bushes and trees which she presumed was animals moving about and the breezes.

Group 2: (James, Julie, Carol)

The groups last location was the Stables. There were 4 stables, 1 in the front near the back entrance of the pub itself and 3 at the other side. In each stable location the group did 5 minutes in each. The 1st stable, the group stood in silence and torches were extinguished. Nothing was felt in this particular location, and after 5 mins the group moved on to the next stable. The 'only' notable thing that was sensed by the group was that, in stable 3 there was quite an odour of urine. Apart from that no other activity was felt by any of the group in these locations.

Group 3: (Bekki, Phil)

Bekki and Phil went continued to have a feeling of 'being followed' as they moved from the Cellar to the stables. On entering the first stall, they realized it was quite warm. Bekki felt the brick work and gave it a tap. As she did so, there was a returning tap, coming from the next stall along, so they ventured out and into that one. They again tapped on the wall and were astounded when a replying knock came from the next stable down. This followed them from the first to the fourth stable, before retreating back up. Phil and Bekki are sure that it was defiantly not an echo, because it was always one knock, whereas they were rapping on the wall a few times.

Bekki and Phil became again felt like they were being followed and as they stepped out of one of the stables, the door to the one before was standing wide open. Phil asked Bekki if she had shut the door, to which she confirmed that she had. On testing the door they found it was heavy and creaky, so they should have heard it, had anyone opened it or the wind had blown it, which they did not. They headed back towards the pub and as they turned around the corner there was a loud bang as if something had been thrown behind them, and being the really tough ghost-hunters they are, legged it to safety.

Bar Area

Group 1: (Jay, Claire, Mark, Hannah)

Claire is stood up near the end of the bar in the middle of the floor space, moving slightly towards the external door at the side at times. Jay immediately went straight to the darkest most out of the way corner of the bar and lay down. He felt comfortable here and, obviously, satisfying the urge to sit that was still with him and he could also let his mind wander. Hannah situated herself just to the left of the entrance and Mark sat down in the far right corner (from the entrance) where the whole team had been sat earlier in the evening.

Claire reports a faint black shadow on the wallpaper in the lit up entrance next to the ladies toilets, however she is 99.9% sure it was the lighting/shading on the wallpaper itself which gave this effect. She spoke to Mark about this effect after the vigil and he agreed with her.

Fleeting names which came to Claire whilst conducting this vigil were 'Mary' at the door to the ladies toilets end and 'Elizabeth' through the other side of the bar where the group had sat whilst waiting for the pub to empty on arrival. Claire thought at times it felt 'intimate' in the bar, but this could have been because at times the sound of Darren's breathing/gentle snoring could be heard from the corner.

Jay started to get images flash into his head of a intense 'sexual nature'. Also two growing feelings alongside it : "I don't want to be here .. " (not in a lazy mans / bored fashion - but, "I DON'T want to be here") .. and .. "I shouldn't be doing this". Whether the "I shouldn't be doing this" was linked to the imagery or the nights investigation - he is unsure. The "I don't want to be here" was described through the night by Jay as a slight uncomfortableness, just above my conscious threshold .. that seemed to grow as the night wore on.

At one point - the sexual imagery ended and Jay got a flight of fantasy imaganitive event appear in his mind. He imagined sitting where he was and then witnessing a strange 'ghostly' figure enter the bar from toilet passageway, walking through the bar and then sitting in a corner seat at the bottom end. All the group then went to talk to him.

Towards the end of this vigil Claire felt slight 'energy' in the corner just to the right of the main external entrance to the pub. She wasnt sure what it was but it definately felt as though 'something' was there. Jay came over and Claire asked him if he felt anything from that area. Jay said he didn't, but that just before he had had his 'vision' about the ghostly figure who sat down there which seemed to fit with the same timescale.

The whole vigil seemed to pass very quietly for both Hannah and Mark, with the only thing of note was that of a large moth that kept flying around the bar.

Group 2: (James, Julie, Carol)

The 1st location for the group was the Bar area. Carol sat at the top end of the bar near the fireplace, Julie sat in the middle and James sat at the bottom end of the bar near the cellar door.

The group did not call out on this vigil, but took the opportunity in the quiet atmosphere to listen, feel and sense in more depth than normal. This was in order to ascertain if there were any paranormal activity taking place in this particular location at a deeper level. It was also felt that by doing this vigil in total silence, it may give whatever paranormal energy there maybe, a chance to settle and come to the fore. Sadly nothing was felt by any of the group in this location.

Group 3: (Bekki, Phil)

As the group sat in the bar, both Bekki and Phil noticed something around the cellar door, as if something was morphing in and out of it. Bekki knocked over her torch making everyone jump and said “That was me” to alert everyone in the cellar to the fact that it hadn’t been anything paranormal. However when Claire came back upstairs from the cellar, she asked who had put their head round the door at that time, when Bekki had shouted. Both Bekki and Phil had not moved from their seats.

Location 3 - The Cellar

Mark felt giddy as he descended the stairs and passed the electric box on the side of the wall. He went and sat on a beer keg with Hannah on another keg to his left.

Jay again had the urge to sit down again. He just leaned, head first and quietly, on one of the barrels until later he discovered some kegs on which to sit. Jay said that this urge to sit was overwhelming and that he had nothing else on his mind other than this urge. The "I don't want to be here", grew in intensity.

Claire felt drawn the the bottom of the stairs so she went and sat there. She immediatly felt what she described as like a 'venus fly trap' when it shuts. She huddled over and felt like she had difficulty in breathing a couple of times (this may have been due to her hunched position). She felt that she was a small boy of about 9, thin with mousey straight thin hair. She felt she wasn't in the cellar anymore, but to her right she could see a brick lined 'tunnel' with rotted old wooden rail type things. She also saw damp stone with green slime on it. A couple of times she felt like she was underwater in a flooded tunnel/manmade pond/sewer. She wondered if it was connected with mining (but it definitely not coal mining). The area where Claire experienced this was right next to the electric box.

Mark experienced slight chest pains yet again and a shuffling noise was heard that did not appear to be caused by any of the machinery was heard to his right.

Claire heard a loud bang from the top of the stairs so turned to look, then heard Bekki say ''its ok its only me'' and saw someones head poking round the doorway looking down. She couldn't make out who it was but presumed it was Bekki or someone with her. Only after when Claire went up the stairs and asked her what it was did she say that it was her I'd heard (even though she'd said something slightly different to the wording Claire had heard, she could see how what she had said had been interpreted in the way it did). Bekki said that no one had looked down the doorway to the cellar at that time.

Group 2: (James, Julie, Carol)

The next location was the Cellar. Again the group sat in various areas of the cellar. As this location was very small and cramped it was difficult to investigate this location in great detail. Sadly the noises from the beer pumps, and lights on the machines flickering on and off, were a bit of a distraction it has to said. Apart from that, nothing untoward happened in this location.

Group 3: (Bekki, Phil)

Immediately upon entering the cellar, both Bekki and Phil felt uneasy. They turned off the torches to try and get our eyes adjusted to the dark, but this didn’t happen, no matter how much they tried.

While they stood close to the door, Bekki became aware of something moving around behind the barrels in front of them. Bekki detected a male entity, but was unable to see him clearly, Phil began to walk around behind the barrels and Bekki followed him. As they did so, they both became aware of someone or something following them. They heard noises but due to it been a working cellar couldn’t rule out machinery.

As the group stood in the cellar, they became aware of a feeling of something on the stairs; Phil moved closer to it and detected an icy cold spot. As he neared it, Bekki noticed a strong white orb shaped light, float across his back, between us, and up the stairs, for a split second she thought it was his torch light, but then realized he didn’t have one and that hers was red not white.

It may have been a combination of it being a small area, something that doesn’t usually bother either Bekki or Phil, and the fact that it is an awkward room to exit in a hurry, that built up their fear, but after only seven and a half minutes, Bekki headed for the stairs declaring that “I have to get out of here”, Phil followed close behind, as well as what felt like something following us up the stairs. It was Bekki's opinion that there had definitely been some kind of presence down there, whether it had intended to scare Bekki don’t know, but it did scare them both.

Break

During the Break, Mark decided to set up his night vision camera up in the area of the main bar near the cellar door as this is the area that Bekki thought she had seen a 'shadow' earlier, Claire had seen something poke it's head round the corner and was an place that a few others in the group felt drawn too.

Mark persuaded Phil to accompany him back down into the cellar after his scary experience in there earlier to see if it would make any difference to his opinion of the place if he went down with someone who did not share his 'feelings'.

Mark didn't feel anything unusual but Phil was still a bit shaken up by his earlier experience. Mark set up a digital thermometer on a keg and it showed that the cellar was 23ºC. Clicks were heard coming from the corner that were almost certainly caused by one of the many pieces of machinery situated there. Mark 'called out' for signs of spirit but nothing was forthcoming. Phil complained that his ears were ringing and a scraping noise was heard from the direction of the barrel run. Phil exited the cellar to rejoin his group and Mark was again joined by Claire, Jay and Hannah, as well Bekki from the Group 2.