The Crooked House, Himley.

 Location: The Crooked House, Himley

Date: 26th October 2007

Team members Present: Joanne, Lynnette, Gemma, Julie, Jane, Scott and Pam.

Team Guest: Tina

We arrived just before midnight and due to the fact that all the regular customers had left we were able to get started straight away. We began by familiarising ourselves with the surroundings as due to the subsidence of the building this would be very disorientating in the dark, it was bad enough with the lights on...

The group started by doing the base readings and setting up trigger objects, we decided that the first area we would hold a vigil would be in one of the bars. We started a circle with two observers on the outside of the circle monitoring temperature and filming. Once the circle had started a number of people within it all felt as though they had an obstruction in the back of their throat that was making it very difficult to swallow with some people actually gagging. There were wild temperature fluctuations with the temperature going up and down with a variance of four degrees Celsius in under a minute. Mumbling sounds were heard by numerous people in the room and all felt it was two men, one team member definitely heard “?? Must go" but he does not know what the first word was. Another member felt they were arguing over a game of dominoes and that one of them accused the other of cheating. She picked up the names Paul and Matthew and felt that they were both definitely Irish. Whilst in the circle a couple of people felt as though they has been touched with one team member saying that her arm was being held. The names Timmy or Tommy were picked up on as was the repeated phrase " Hello Flo". The entrance to the room was very active and people kept seeing shadows here, one team member kept seeing someone in white peering round the door and standing just out of vision but that her skirt hemline kept appearing by the door. A white figure was also seen walking in front of the window and also peering though the window from the other bar. We were calling out whilst in the circle asking the spirits present to let them selves be known to us when a black mist was seen by most to travel up the bar and back down and a very load noise was heard. It was soon after this that we felt the room had gone flat and as this session had caused great excitement in the group, we all decided that we needed to have a short break once the circle was closed down. Before going back to the base room we did try and discover what could have made the noise and smoke but nothing could be found.

We moved to the second bar for the next vigil and spread ourselves out round the room. Two team members sat in the corner felt very, very cold and one of them monitored the temperature. It started out at 30.9 degrees then dropped to 15.7 degrees, this then went back up to 20.1 degrees before dropping again to 15.7 degrees the temperature was not stable at any time during this vigil and these readings were taken in a ten minutes space of time. Mumbling was heard again by a lot of people in the group and a lady could be heard calling out from far off by one person. A shape was seen moving across the mirror in this room, there seemed to be lots of noises in this room that had no real explanation and we felt that we were being drawn into another area. We decided to end this vigil and have a short break. Whilst the group were in the base room three-team members checked on the trigger objects and when passing through the area they all heard very distinct knocks on the floor and we thought this area should be the next site for a vigil. After the break we gathered the group in the one area in this bar and tried again to call out. One team member was taken ill and had to leave the room, we started to get responsive knocks on the floor and surrounding areas. We asked:

Are you female give one knock for yes and two knocks for no??

We heard two knocks

Are you male? Yes

Did you die here? No

Did you die near here? Yes

Did you die in a mine? Yes

Was it an accident at the mine? Yes

Were you the only person killed? No

At this point a team member says she thinks five people died .So we ask

Did five people die in the accident? Yes

How many died in the accident? Five knocks in response

Was it a cave in? Yes

Then we get the impression that someone else has joined us in the room and a couple of team members pick up on two females a little girl who died and someone else. The two-team members see the little girl falling from a great height.

We ask the following questions:

Are you male? No

Are you female? Yes

Did you die in an accident here? No

Did you look after a child here? YES Loudly

Was the child a little girl? Yes

Did she die here? Yes

Was it an accident? Again a loud knock for yes

Did you drop her? NO

Then a team member gets the impression that she fell out of an upstairs window trying to get her bear.

Did she fall? Yes

 Out of a window? Yes

Do you blame yourself? Yes

 

We then feel as tough this spirit leaves us and we all get the impression that this spirit is full of remorse and sorrow about what happened and stays here to look after the little girl.

During these two sessions of questioning many names were picked up and it is felt that the male names were that of the miners who died, Timothy Burns, Nance/Nance, Jenny and Francis, Frank, Michael, Francis again, Steve or Steven, Polly/Dolly, James, Mrs Smith and Annie, John and Francis again, James again, Robert, Edward, frank again,

It was felt by one person that Frank was the spirit who was initially contacting us and that he was aged about 18.

After another fascinating vigil we had a short break to enable us to all fill out the report sheets.

The cellar was the next area to be investigated. We felt due to the layout it would be best to place everyone in the one area and to try calling out again. We started receiving knocks again on the concrete floor, but they sound like they are coming from underneath it and they travel round the room. We ask

 Is anyone here with us? Yes

Are you a man? Yes

Are you a young man? Yes

Are you a teenager? Yes

Did you die near here? Yes

Are you the same man we were talking to upstairs”? Yes

You died in a accident”? Yes

At this point a member of the group tells us that they have had very bad pain in their legs since coming down to the cellar but especially in there left leg.

Were your legs trapped? Yes

Did your left leg hurt more? No

Were both legs trapped? Yes

Did they find your body? Yes

How many spirits are here? 3

Is your name Edward? Yes

Did you have a wife? N/R

Did you live at home? Yes

Was your father in the accident with you? Yes

Did they find your father? Yes

Were your brothers in the accident with you? Yes

Did they find your father and your brother? Yes

Are there other spirits that you see at this location? Yes

Do you see the little girl? No

Do you see the lady? No

Are the people who died in the accident with you? No

At this point we had to draw the investigation to a close. Light anomalies were caught on the video cameras during this session and also some audible noises were heard. The name Thomas was picked up in here, also the name James of a young Boy. Upon leaving the cellar the last person coming up the stairs had the distinct feeling of being followed then audibly heard footsteps following her up the stairs?

During the evening a number of things happened round the toilet areas, which were not picked up on till the reports were looked at. When two team members were in the ladies they distinctly heard the men’s toilet door slam, when they came out the door was ajar, it had not been when they went in. The door also didn't slam unless you gave it a good push. People heard whispers in the corridor; a couple of group members picked up on children in this area. One group member also turned round in here and saw a figure in white following her up the corridor and disappear into the bar area, was this the figure people had been seeing all night??

Also in the second bar area we had a leaflet land on the floor footage is being analysed at the moment to see if we caught it on any of the video footage. A dog was also picked up on by a couple of people on the night.

Overall this investigation was fantastic, we had a lot more activity than we had originally envisaged and it was a wonderful evening. We left at about 7 am and we hope to return again very soon.

We would like to thank Laura for allowing us to investigate.