The Red Lion Inn, Pontefract Team: Lynne, Merca, Yvette, Dee, Neil, Chris
The team and guests split into 2 groups.
Chris’ team began their vigil in the attic rooms. The team split to cover the three attic rooms. After sitting quietly for around 10mins orbs and light unexplained light anomalies were picked up on the camcorder. After asking out Danni felt the presence of a child. Using the K2 meter she asked a series of questions which resulted in the K2 meter lights flashing in “Yes” “no” sequences in response to questions ask. Whilst this was happening several orbs were picked up on camera. As the room was dusty and to try to confirm the orbs seen were not dust Lynne asked for the spirit to show the lights again… almost immediately a large orb was seen around Craig’s feet. A further bright light was seen to pass from the side of Craig’s face and float around his torso finally disappearing around his knee. We turned on lights to see if there was a spider around but could not see one or any web. However on closure inspection of the film footage we could not rule out that this bright light could have simply been a spider. We cannot offer an explanation for the other orbs caught on camera or the response that Danni got from the K2 meter. The spirit seemed to be that of a boy named Thomas but we could not establish how old he was or why he was there… This spirit seemed to follow us around as the group had similar responses in different areas.
The team then moved to the second floor rooms where contact was made using the Ouija board with one of the guest relatives. Luke and Craig went to another room to do a vigil. Unknown to them the group with the Ouija asked the spirit to go to them and blow out the candle. Seconds later the spirit was asked “is the candle out now” “yes” was the response. The time was noted as 1.05am. When Luke and Craig returned we asked if the candle had been blown out. They said they did it themselves. On checking the camera footage the time was 1.05 am exactly. It seems the spirit was correct in saying that the candle was out. Was the timing of this just incredible coincidence? Our guest was also told to stop smoking by the spirit!
In room 10 the spirit of Ian aged 46 claimed to have died in 1875 of an illness confirmed that there he had seen other spirits. The surname Umber was given. Also a Jess Malriller age 36 also died in 1857. Ken age 6 with blonde hair who had 5 brother and sisters and Bill who died in the battle of Somme. The spirit on the board named Bill also said he was an RAF engineer. No records existed of this position in WW1. Census information was looked at and none of these names could be verified in the Pontefract area around the dates given. The search will continue.
Group 2 had an extremely interesting night. Activity seems to attach itself to them all night. Again the name Ian Umber was spelled out. This was in room 10 and also later in the attic room. Emf meters were showing readings of 5 & 6. When baseline testing was carried out readings were no more than 2 anywhere. During a Ouija divination in the attic room a spirit came through dominating the rest of the night. He claimed have carried out abortions and the word belladonna was spelled out. One further questioning all started to get a little confusing with conflicting answers and some quite emotive words and answers being spelled. As this website is available for all ages to view it was decided that this part of the investigation be omitted from the report.
The spirit board claimed the doors were nailed shut in 1926 and reopened in 1988 which conflicts with information given about the building. It was evident that the rooms had been used in the 60’s and 70’s as some of the décor is common to that era.
During this vigil Merca and Neil picked up on a hanging. The spirit seemed to dislike Neil and claimed to have known him in a past life. This type of information is very difficult to verify. The name spelled out was Konner, 43 years old and died in 1835. Again no census information or records could be found for this name.
In conclusion there was quite a mixture of activity in the Red Lion. Many orbs were pictured (to be posted shortly) knock, bangs, lots of spiritual activity picked up by our mediums and the night concluded with some very interesting communication via the Ouija board. We intend to visit again in 2009 to investigate further.