The Erasmus Darwin House - Lichfield

Saturday 20 November 2004

Weather – Dry and cold with a little breeze.

When we first arrived at the location Peter a resident of the property, his son Ian and grandson greeted us. On first impression, the property looked just like a giant dolls house that a Victorian child may play with. The house felt so inviting that it was difficult at that time for us to think that there could be any kind of paranormal activity in the house.

19:45 Tour of House

The study room gave Karl a dizziness & slight nausea other members felt an energy; Karl felt a presence by the lift & on the first corner of the stairs. The surgery also had an energy that was felt by several members of the team. The bedroom gave 1.3 ions in the corner by the door, Karl felt a presence over his right shoulder & then an ion reading of 1.3 was taken which slowly faded. EMF was normal but a reading of 3.5 was taken which also slowly disappeared. The lunar room has a picture of Reverend Chancellor Thomas James Law, when photos were taken of the picture faces are seen. We took digital picture and caught this on at least 3 cameras and we even had time to show the residents before the son and his partner left they could clearly see the face we where taking about.

20:15 Break for tea/coffee.

21:00 Baseline readings

Out on the landing 1^st floor there is an old analogue clock and Kev found that the clock was giving an EMF reading of between 0.5 and 3.0 we did try to find the source of this and there was a power cable nearby but not close enough to give such a high and varied reading, no ion readings were noted.

The EMF & ion meters were picking up readings on the stairs & in the entrance hall as though something was walking around following the team, lots of pictures were taken with strange anomalies on them.

Ground floor ion up to 1.4 & 3.5 EMF and yet more anomalies caught on camera. On entering the surgery Vicky instantly felt at home yet uneasy as if she was being chastised for not being in uniform (she is a nurse and was obviously off duty) the whole room smelt very clinical to Vicky just as a surgery would with in the doctors treatment room (not the reception)

The cellar gave slight EMF but no ion at all but banging was heard coming from the ground floor as well as coughing, with the lift being activated. This turned out the be the lady of the house coming down to bid us all goodnight.

Temperature in all rooms on the second floor levelled out between 13 - 14 degrees.

The ground floor measures 10-11 degrees in the 2 rooms at the front of the building and 9 degrees in the hall way and 12-13.5 degrees in the study dropping to around 10 degrees around the fire.

22:15 Compiled Dowsing Questions

22:57   The bell in the reception rang out, when all members of the team were accounted for in two separate rooms.

23:10   Dowsing Session

Mark (sitting on the fire side of the window) with Vicky, Kevin (sitting on the other side of the fireplace) with Paul & Eleanor (sitting at a desk between the door and the window) with Sue.

Instrumental Trans-Communication – This was carried out by connecting a video camera to a television and setting the channel on the television to the AV. Then with the camera attached to a tripod  approximately 5 feet it in front of the television and pointing towards it so that it was effectively taking a picture of itself. The next step was to zoom the camera into the edge of the pulsing white blob and record for around three minutes. The blob leaves a residual cloud which is where images are to be found on playback.

00:43   Silhouettes Experiment Started

This was left in a closed off room and the recorder was set to record for four hours. If anyone or anything passed between the light and the frame a shadow would be cast and captured by the camera.

The results have yet to be thoroughly checked and the results if we get any will be posted on our website.

01:03   Séance Started in Study

During the séance we picked upon the names of Robert (a patient) and Edward (the master). There was also a maid called Alice who would not come in the room because Edward was there and she wasn’t allowed to seen in his presence and a small boy aged about 10 years called James who had died when he had an accident and fell from the first floor landing only to catch a skipping rope around his neck. Vicky felt a very sharp pain in her left ankle that Eleanor explained it to be from a young maid to the house who had broken her ankle in an accident after sliding down the banister the maids name came across to a couple of the team as Alice. Most of the team suffered chest pains as Eleanor picked up on a man who died of a heart attack. Quite a few taps & footsteps were heard. Everyone smelt the smell of tobacco. Paul saw someone walk passed the door just as Mark & Karl saw a shadow. We could all hear a conversion with 3 people outside the room and when we asked for a sign we even got some bangs and taps in response to our questions. At one point, even with the lights out in the room and only one in the hallway, the room became very light and then faded to dark again all within about 6 minutes. We were unable to determine any natural cause for this.

The team has yet to try to research the names that were picked up, our findings will be posted on the web site as and when they are available.

Finish 02:02

Temperatures had returned to their original readings by  02:27

03:00   Vigil in Cellars

Cellar vigil was a very calming experience with the exception of something being thrown at Karl’s feet, witnessed by Mark, although nothing was really felt or heard.

04:08   Séance in Surgery

This took place in the room that it is thought was used as a surgery by Erasmus Darwin. EMF readings were normal and a temperature of 10 degrees around the table & 13 on the table were recorded. We set up as normal with a fold away table that we have used for many previous séances and five chairs from the location. A crystal ball, silver bracelet and a stand with a pendulum in a bowl making a bell were placed on the table along with two digital audio recorders.

The order of sitters in a clockwise direction was: - Eleanor, Mark, Vicky, Kev & Paul, Sue replaced Eleanor about 1/2 way through the sitting.

After a while we could all feel that the room was dropping in temperature and Eleanor could feel a spirit in the room. As we where trying to contact them we felt the table twitch slightly which was confirmed by all the sitters, this happened twice more within a short time. We where asking if there was a doctor and if so, would he like to let us know he was with us when Eleanor and Kev felt a sharp prick in the back of their necks, like a needle had been pushed into the base of their skull. Vicky who is a nurse informed the group that this was how they used to prepare people for operations; the needle paralysed you therefore enabling them to operate. Paul felt a strong sensation of anger & wanted to stand & leave the room. The temperature rose by 3 degrees under the table & by 4-5 degrees on the table within 10 minutes of starting the séance. There was a sudden drop in temperature to 9.5 under the table & 13.5 in places on top of it. The temperature fluctuations varied by up to 5 degrees around the sitters. The pendulum was also moving a lot but not making contact with the bowl. Sue had to replace Eleanor while she dashed off to the toilet due to the fact that her nose had started to bleed for no apparent reason and didn’t return to the room for a further 5 minutes. From this point on Karl, Chris & Eleanor remained outside the circle.

It was not long before the sitters felt the table once more move very slowly towards Paul and then back again. We asked if there was a spirit trying to contact us by moving the table and to please move it again for us and the table started once more to move but this time towards Mark. We were uncertain of what to do next, as this was all new to the whole group and we had not asked for the table to be moved, so we asked if there was any one person in the room that they would like to communicate with and if so move the table towards them. The table then moved very sharply towards Vicky who is a trained Nurse. Vicky was nearly pinned against a cabinet in the room so we asked that if the spirit wanted to talk to her to move the table away from her and once more it did so, very quickly and distinctly. We then asked if the spirit was a male and the table didn’t move, so we asked if it was a female and it moved. The group then began to ask questions that were answered ‘Yes’ by the table being moved or ‘No’ by no movement. Further questioning showed there was a woman in labour communicating with the sitters. When questioned, it turned out that the lady had a still born baby and she herself had died whilst giving birth. The sitters proceeded to guide the spirit of the lady towards her baby & the light so she could find peace. The table then stopped moving suggesting there was no longer any contact being made.

This has to be one of the teams best séance's to date, with everyone agreeing it was nothing less than amazing with fantastic results none of which had been anticipated. The temperature once again returned to normal only minutes after the closing of the circle.

On trying to re-create the movement of the table it was found to be near impossible as most of the time whilst in motion, only the tips of the sitters thumbs were in contact with the surface of the table. All the way through with the table moving as much as it was the pendulum only rang the bell twice. Whilst trying to reproduce the movement it was constantly ringing.

Conclusion

To conclude, our experiences at this absolutely fantastic location cannot really be put into words. Little did we know how full & fascinating the investigation would actually be. From the photographs taken to the noises both recorded & heard where no natural explanation has yet been found, down to a table being used for a séance, which was moving with a just cause when asked questions which deemed a yes or no answer. When watched back the video footage provided yet more paranormal occurrences in the form of orbs flying from under chairs and E.V.P. which, gave an audible yes/no corresponding with the movement of the table after some of the questions.

We release that the video footage we have captured is far from conclusive as only part of the table can be seen and there is no camera filming under the table. When we started the second séance the last thing we expected was for the table to move. Therefore we had only set cameras up to record possible EVP and light anomalies and not the table moving. 

Individual comments from some of the team members: -

Paul Wilkinson - The next few lines portray probably the most unique thing that could have ever happened to me and the team and something that I will never forget. As you read this report on the séance titled séance two I can only hope that you take in to concatenation that before this investigation I was a very open minded sceptic that had always battled to find a natural reason for every thing that happened on an investigation but after you have read this I am sure that you as I will not only be dumfound with what happened but in amazement that we could live in a world that could hold such wonders as of yet still to discover and it is the answer and the search for such a discovery that drives myself and like minded people to strive to find the one thing that could prove beyond all doubt that we are not the only beings in this world that can think rational and understand the need for commutation .

Vicky Greaves - I personally felt really quite helpless and although happy that we had reunited her with her child it was one medical situation I was not trained to deal with, but to finish off I must say the pure peace and serenity that enveloped the room at the end has left me with the idea that there is nothing worth warring about as it will all come right in the end.