Thanet GhostWatch Property Investigation Report
Sandwich Guildhall
Summary, Conclusions and Sceptical
Analysis
Summary
The following were sensed during this investigation:
Malcolm.
Thomas.
William.
John.
Tom, an errand boy, aged 9 -13.
Gregory (surname).
A well-dressed male, aged 47.
A well-to-do female in a long dress.
Clarkson (probably a surname).
Jonathan Bellings, (surname may not be correct but something very
similar) a smuggler.
Unknown male (we named the Witch Hunter).
Unknown male (dragging his left leg).
Robert.
Peter - a sergeant (or possibly Town Sergeant) associated with the
building in 1829.
Quentin, possibly with the surname of Richardson.
Although other presences were detected, they were too weak to deem
any useful information.
Conclusions
From a Believer's perspective, the evidence
gathered overwhelmingly confirmed there was paranormal activity.
Of the presences detected, most appeared to be benevolent with only
a couple coming across as slightly unpleasant. It was generally felt
that during the normal day-to-day life of the building, apart from
a few unexplained noises, these presences would rarely make themselves
known unless a specific person was sensitive to such things.
Overall Scientific Conclusions
by Bryn
Nothing was recorded or monitored that couldn't be given a "natural"
explanation for. Although we did not scientifically individually test
these assumptions, "natural" causes seem the most likely.
The detection of infrasound was an interesting element, unfortunately
there was no way of assessing the "volume" of the readings
but its presence alone could point towards this being a significant
environmental factor in a perceived "spooky" location.
Sceptical Analysis
by Bob
Ignoring what was sensed, as sceptics do, we are still left with a
variety of interesting occurrences (but not necessarily paranormal)
such as:
The various light anomalies
that were captured on photo and video - for a Believer this would
seem to indicate paranormal activity but looking at this from a sceptical
perspective - dust, small insects or other airborne particulates could
equally have been responsible.
The sounds from the Jury Room,
as heard by Bryn, are difficult to quantify as no one was actually
in the room at the time to distinguish the exact location from which
these sounds emanated.
From Bryn's description they don't seem fall into the category of
"building noise" although we understand that the weights
from the Guildhall clock run through this room in a wooden boxing
so it is possible their movement may have been responsible for the
sounds. At the time, Bryn was unaware of this but agrees this could
have been a potential source.
Following this event, a voice recorder was later placed in this room
and a series of different sounds did appear to have been captured.
Unfortunately later analysis of the recording (after it had been cleaned-up)
revealed all had "natural" origins.
The motion detectors activating
on the stairs for no apparent reason was intriguing. As already mentioned
in the reports, these detectors functioned correctly until towards
the end of the investigation when their batteries began failing.
A possible explanation for some of the activations, following some
testing, was discovered to be the IR illumination from video cameras
but this only appeared to be when directly targeted on the motion
detectors and not reflections. However, this does not account for
all the activations, a fair percentage occurred when no video cameras
or persons were close to or present in that area.
These stairs are an area of the building which would benefit from
further monitoring and investigation in order to ascertain whether
there were any local IR sources we were unaware of.
Perhaps the most impressive
series of events were what appeared to be equipment responses to direct
requests. On the face of it, a 80% hit-rate but unfortunately other
events overtook this and, at this point, the requests had only number
five.
This is an area that needs more experimentation with a higher number
of requests for equipment responses in order to obtain a more realistic
hit-rate percentage.
All in all, there did not appear
to be any irrefutable evidence of paranormal activity on the night
but with the various areas of inconclusive results I feel this is
a location which definitely warrants further investigation.
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