Your Stories

Rochester investigation - 2006

"The evening began at 6pm in the pouring rain at Rochester Cathedral where I met the lovely Katherine May who compiled "Hauntings", an anthology of real-life ghost stories which includes my tale of Arthur Beresford Pite. Many of these 25 stories are moving; some are downright chilling.

"From the cathedral we joined a tour of haunted locations throughout Rochester and spent an hour an a half taking in several locations of hauntings including the castle. It was here that things started to get a bit strange.

"The minute we entered the grounds I said to my husband "I'm sensing a woman was killed here". Five minutes later I got a terrible pain in my chest. I must have looked a bit shaken as he asked me if I was OK? "No" I replied, "I feel as though I've just been shot in the heart".

"It was at that point the tour guide regaled a fascinating story.In 1264 the Castle was surrounded and under attack by the then Earl of Leicester, Simon de Montford. The Castle was being defended by a Crusader by the name of Ralph de Capo who was the intended husband of Lady Blanche. In the attacking force was one, Guilbert de Clare, who was a rejected suitor of Lady Blanche. Around Good Friday the battle swayed in favour of the defenders of the Castle and the Earl of Leicester retreated. As a consequence, Ralph de Capo left the Castle with some of his men and gave chase. Guilbert de Clare circled around behind de Capo and entered the Castle dressed in a suit of armour resembling that worn by de Capo. His only intention was to confront the Lady Blanche. He eventually caught up with her on the battlements by the round tower. As Lady Blanche struggled to push de Clare away, her plight was spotted by de Capo. He was an excellent bowman and to save his intended, he fired an arrow which hit de Clare but glanced off his armour and went straight through the heart of Lady Blanche killing her instantly.

"Her ghost, dressed in a white robe and still with the arrow through her heart is said to walk the battlements near the round tower on the anniversary of the event at Easter. I had just unwittingly felt her pain on the anniversary of her death!

"Following the tour we adjourned to Dot Café to meet up with the other authors and sign copies of the book. Afterwards we listened to and some readings from it. I'd just sat down with my second cup of coffee when I was collared by the woman who owned the café.

"The staff had reported 'something' in the kitchen upstairs which sighed; touched them on the back and occasionally they also smelt cigarette smoke. They didn't like being up there on their own, could I take a look? Coffee abandoned I made my way upstairs with the woman and her son.

"After a look around I felt that the spirit was a harmless male who had lived in the café many years ago when it was his house. He lingered in the kitchen area as it had been his bedroom and he interacted with the staff because he liked the company and meant them no harm. Once they knew this they were happy for him to remain there but had been curious to know who the ghost was."

Dover investigation - May 2006

St. James' Church was founded in Saxon times and was used by the Barons of the Cinque Ports until 1851. The church was almost completely destroyed by the German long-range guns during the Second World War but the ruins were kept as a reminder of Dover's suffering during those years. Here is an account of Jeane's investigation:

"At St James Church ruins in Dover, I took a quick walk around and also held a piece of stone which I found on the ground to see what I could pick up from it.  The local newspaper sent a photographer along and when he arrived and unpacked his equipment and one of the first questions he asked me was if I ever have any trouble with cameras during paranormal investigations? I said it often happened and asked him why? He showed me a photo his camera had apparently taken by itself whilst on his way there. It showed a streak of yellow light across a darker background. It wasn't from anything inside his camera bag and there was no obvious explanation!

"On moving along the chapel aisle I detected the presence of a woman called Agnes who appeared to be around because she was mourning the loss of someone buried there, it was quite emotional in that spot, very sad and I could have easily cried. When we left I picked a daisy and left it in the area where I had sensed her.

"Further along I felt as though there had been some kind of dual fought, a man called Richard with a connection to the Cinque Ports had been involved and I felt like laughing because they had set down their weapons and got into a fist fight almost like a pub brawl / punch up!

"In the corner I found the lovely energy of two Victorian children running in and out playing games and hiding. They were dressed in drab dark clothes the little girl wearing a bonnet and the boy a cap. The energy next to it by the archway was not so nice. Someone had been killed there, stabbed twice, once in the back and once in the thigh. He died from loss of blood to the thigh wound and I felt a searing pain in my leg and as someone pointed out, seemed to be walking with a limp for a minute or two.

"Next we moved on to the White Horse Inn next door, to see if I could find another spirit - ‘George’ as the locals refer to him. He is believed to be the ghost of a previous Landlord. There were also stories that the place had been used as a temporary morgue or for carrying out autopsies. I had a quick wander around and got the name “Edward” not “George” whom I’d been looking for. He seemed most annoyed that I wanted George and kept repeating “I’m Edward”. I felt like he was keeping an eye on things.

"Chatting to the current Landlady later, she revealed that there had been some poltergeist activity with things being moved around but like me didn’t feel it was in any way malicious, more playful. I sensed a few bodies had been laid out for a wake but didn’t get a feeling that there had been any autopsies carried out there.

"A few of us went out to the patio and were amazed when we spotted lights which seemed to be moving. A couple of people noticed it in their camera monitors. At first I wondered if they were street lights but they went from one side to the other as we watched. I also managed to capture some orbs in one shot. I felt the spirits were around and amused at what we were doing!"

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