Old Royal Oak

Old Royal Oak - Burton on Trent

23 January 2005

The Market Place in Burton on Trent is the starting and ending place for both the Town Centre and the Washlands Ghost Walks, but also located there is the Old Royal Oak. Inside this fascinating public house are the remnants of the old town lock up where many a villain would have spent time in the cold dark cells. With no windows to provide any light and the only source of fresh air via a small pipe in the ceilings of the cells one can only imagine the feelings of fear and solitude the inmates must have felt during their stay.

People present –

ESSIVE members, Chris, Eleanor, Karl, Mark, Vicky and Kev

From the Old Royal Oak, Cindy, Gordon, Lucy and Adam.

Weather - Dry and cold with light wind.

Base-line readings - EMF readings were as expected, with high readings around the bar where a large quantity of electrical equipment is situated. The temperature averaged around 20 degrees with no readable ion measurements other than a small-localised area near the bar.

Cellar Base line reading, one anomaly in ion readings around a gas pipe, EMF normal and the temperature averaged 8 degrees in one side and 6 degrees in the other. Karl had a distinct feeling that he was not alone in the oldest part of the cellar.

Dowsing Session 1

	Question	Dowser 1	Dowser 2	Dowser 3	Dowser 4
1	Are there any spirits present?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
2	Is there more than one spirit present?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
3	Were you here as a free person?	Yes	No	N/A	Yes
4	Are you male?	Yes	Yes	No	No
5	Do you remember this place as a pub?	N/A	No	Yes	Yes
6	Are you earth bound?	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
7	Are you responsible for any of the activity here?	N/A	Yes	No	Yes
8	Was there a tunnel that passed by here?	Yes	Yes	N/A	Yes
9	Is it still used?	N/A	No	N/A	Yes
10	Are you mentioned on the ghost walk?	No	N/A	No	Yes

Séance 1

Starting temperature was 19 degrees on the floor around and under and between 20 and 21 degrees on top of the table. The sitters round the table were Eleanor, Cindy, Gordon, Lucy and Adam.

Contact was made with a lady called Sarah who claimed to be known by Cindy and when Cindy pushed for confirmation the spirit withdrew claiming to be insulted. There was also a man called Robert who said he was a cellar man during his life and is sometimes seen sitting in the corner of the cellar, he admitted he occasionally turns off the gas on the beer. Constable Richard Roe also made his presence known, he would do no more than confirm his name, choosing to sit in an empty chair and watch the proceedings. When Kev sat in the chair he said that it was extremely cold and he had a strange feeling of being unwelcome. The temperature dropped by 6.5 degrees at one end of the table and 5 degrees at the other.

Upon ending the séance the temperature rose to 18 degrees within a few minutes. One sitter had his watch pulled and several sitters were touched. Karl & Chris kept hearing noises at the far end of the room, however on investigation there was nobody to be found. While the séance was being held Mark went to sit alone in the cellar where he asked questions but heard nothing but he did report seeing strange light anomalies.

Dowsing Session 2

Chris had his camera switched on before the second dowsing session and 30 seconds after question 10 it turned itself off. After the second dowsing session, Adam the bar man left to go home.

	Question	Dowser 1	Dowser 2	Dowser 3	Dowser 4
1	Are there any spirits present?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
2	Is there more than one spirit present?	No	No	No	Yes
3	Are you female?	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
4	Is there anything here that has never lived?	Yes	N/A	Yes	No
5	Were you seen elsewhere in Burton?	Yes	N/A	N/A	No
6	Did you die here?	N/A	Yes	Yes	Yes
7	Did you die of natural causes?	N/A	No	N/A	No
8	Are you active in the cellar?	Yes	N/A	Yes	No
9	Did you work here?	Yes	N/A	Yes	No
10	Are you happy we are here?	N/A	N/A	N/A	Yes

Cellar Vigil

The group, with the exception of Cindy, relocated to the cellar, and even though the temperature in the cellar is kept constant, the apparent changes and sensation of coldness were quite dramatic from one part of the body to another. A few minutes into the vigil Cindy joined us and several people reported seeing a darkness at the bottom of the stairs as she descended them. Everyone saw dark shadows in all places of the room especially in the centre of the circle. Two or three times in the session everyone appeared to have moved forward even though we were all certain we had not moved. Cindy then started to tremble, after a few minutes the person either side of her reported that she was shaking violently. We were able to confirm for definite that we were in fact moving when Mark called out thinking someone or something had hit him on the forehead only to find when a torch was switched on that he had hit his head on a light fitting that had been around 2 feet in front of him at the start. At one point it seemed as if all of us were wearing monk’s habits, as everyone could clearly see a circle of monks. By this time Cindy was not only shaking violently but was becoming rather distressed so the session was closed and we went back upstairs to the bar.

Séance 2

Starting temperature was 17 degrees on the floor around and under and 18 degrees on top of the table, no EMF or ION readings were noted. The sitters round the table were Eleanor, Vicky, Cindy, Gordon and Lucy.

Within minutes the temperature dropped to 12 degrees at one end of the table and 13.5 at the other. Vicky said she had something pushing down on her right arm and Cindy began to shake again. Constable Richard Roe sat in a chair that was placed near one end of the table but still refused to communicate. Cindy seemed to be shaking even more uncontrollably and this led to her asking to leave the circle, Kev managed to replace Cindy without breaking the circle however, shortly after he joined Cindy insisted that the circle was closed, as she was becoming quite distressed. Upon closing the séance the temperature slowly rose back to 17 degrees. After closing the séance Eleanor informed Cindy that the spirit of a man who had died of a drug overdose had made his presence known, which is why Cindy had been shaking so violently.

This brought a very interesting night to an end for which we would like to thank the occupants of the Royal Oak for accommodating us and joining in with the events of the evening.