THE ORANGE TREE – January 2009

Investigation Site

The Orange Tree Public House
16 King Street
Hereford

History of the Site

The Orange Tree is one of the oldest public houses still standing in Hereford, and was once known to the locals as the Apple Tree.

The building was built in the early seventeenth century and still has many of the original features that gave the structure it's character. There is an old wooden beam as well as a wooden panel that came from a local church, not to mention the traditional low ceilings and a beautiful fireplace.

Investigating Team

The members of the team present for this investigation:
Marlene
Sandra
Gill
Sue
Pete
Mary
Haunted Hereford Team

Paranormal Activity Eyewitness Reports

Although nobody really knows how long the building has been used as a public house, it is clear to see that the structure has stood for a great deal of time and is also located in a very historical area of the United Kingdom so it would not be considered a surprise that there would be "unexplained" happenings within the structure.

Amongst the activity that has been reported, many people have said they had heard unexplained footsteps coming from the upper floors even thought there was no one there. Another common report is the number of unexplained "cold spots" throughout the structure.

The most interesting and unusual reports are that people and staff have heard what can only be described as the sound of singing or people talking when the structure is empty. There have also been reports of the upstairs fire door opening by itself even when the door has been shut by the landlord!!!

Investigation Report

The SGPIT where invited to this investigation by the "Haunted Hereford team (Click here for their website), and they where really excited to go along. The team arrived at the Orange Tree Public house at around 11.30pm and where welcomed by Natalie and the rest of her team. Once all the introductions had been completed, the group found that they needed to split into 2 separate teams as the building was not large enough to accommodate all of the investigators. It was decided that the SGPIT and 2 members of Haunted Hereford (O.J. and Janita (a medium)) would stay at the Orange Tree, whilst the rest went to another location just 5 minutes down the road.

Once the team had gone inside and had a brief tour around the building, they started to setup the equipment. They placed a "Lock-off" camcorder in the cellar and the motion camera in the top half of the pub with another in the bottom half.

With all the equipment setup they headed down into the cellar and started the investigation from this area. Once inside, Mary said that she could feel the presence of someone near, and believed that it felt like a Monk. Sue started calling out for someone to come forward and the team could hear a slight tap that sounded like it was coming from the barrels. She called out again, but there didn't seem to be anything else. After spending a further 30 minutes in the cellar they did not get much else so decided to move on.

Moving back upstairs Janita said that she felt something near. It felt like there was a little girl in her teens in the room. Janita said she believed that the girl had been brought to the pub from a local fair and that her name was Jenny. She said that the girl had worked in the pub and that she was a happy spirit. Janita also confirmed that there were the spirits of Monks all through the Orange Tree which confirmed what Marry had said she felt in the cellar. Another thing that she picked up on was the sound of bells ringing and this was not surprising as there used to be a church located outside the pub.

Once all the equipment was installed and ready to go the team headed off together and made their way to the bar area for the first vigil of the evening. They all sat around the table and Sandra started to ask out for anything to come forward. Instantly, she noticed a small bright light coming from the corner of the room. Gill took a photo which did show an orb in the location.

The team decided to perform a séance using the ouija board. Mary, Pete, Sue and Janita placed their fingers on the glass and then Janita asked out for spirits to come forward. The glass started to move straight away and spelled out the name William and said that he had been an Inn keeper. The name Jenny also came up and this was meant to be the name of the teenager that Janita had felt earlier. The glass continued to move and went on to spell out the name Brenda, but they were unable to find out who she was. Another name that came up was Sam, and he is believed to be a sherpherd, but that was all they could get from him. Whilst the séance was taking place, the motion camera was detecting bright lights and orbs floating all around their heads.

Once the glass stopped moving, they decided to close the séance and have a tea break. During their break, Marlene and Gill believed that they had heard what could only be described as a woman moaning coming up from the cellar. It did not sound as if this was a welcoming moan, but one of unrest and distress.

The team then tried "table tipping", with Marlene, Sandra and O.J. being the first to try. At first there seemed to be no movement, but after a short wait, the table did start to slowly move very slightly and this built up until it shuddered at one stage. Mary and O.J. then believed that they had also heard the sound of moaning coming from the cellar. They were hoping to find out what or who was causing the sound but Janita was not sure. She said that it could have been Jenny, but that was confusing as she was said to be a happy spirit!!!!!!

The investigation at the Orange Tree was brought to a close at around 3.45am.

Conclusion

With the thought of teaming up with another paranormal investigation team, and also going to a completely new location, the team was full of high expectations, and all agreed that they were not disappointed from their vigil. The structure and atmosphere of the historic pub gave them a buzz when they entered and also the sence of the energies that where all around.

The cellar proved to be one of the most "active" areas in the Orange Tree, with all of the moans and the tapings that had been experienced earlier in the evening. The team are still to review the voice recordings that where taken when they had done their investigation in the cellar, as well as the footage hopefully captured on the camcorder that had been left down there all through the night, but hopefully there will be plenty of interesting findings.

Having Janita (the medium) with them during their time in the pub was a real bonus and proved to be interesting, with her being able to pick up on the name Jenny as well as the other spirits roaming around the structure.

All of the interaction experienced during the séance proved to be very exciting with all of the names coming forward and all of the lights that were captured moving around the team. All of the events made up to a really exciting night that was enjoyed by all the team.

***We would like to thank Natalie and "Haunted Hereford" for asking SGPIT along to this investigation with them, and would like to return this by inviting them along to a vigil in Bristol in the future.***

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