THE OLD LODGE - November 09

Investigation Site

The Old Lodge Inn
Minchinhampton Common
Stroud

History of the Site

After the Norman Conquest in 1213, the wooded land well known as Minchinhampton Common was confiscated and given to L'Abbaye aux Dames in Caen. It is not clear, but it is believed that the land was only reclaimed by English land owners in 1656, when the Sheppard family purchased the land and property. It has changed hands many times since this date and is now the location of not only the Inn, but also a golf course.

The Inn itself is believed to have been built around 400 years ago and is located in a very envied position on the common, where guests are able to soak up many of the magnificent views offered, making it a very relaxing experience.

Investigating Team

The members of the team present for this investigation:
Marlene
Sandra
GIll
Danny
Mary

Paranormal Activity Eyewitness Reports

Although the location is not well known for paranormal activity, there has been reports of the years. Staff, and also customers have mentioned feeling as if there was another person around them, or that they where being watched. There have also been reports of unexplained noises being heard throughout the structure. Some of the staff have reported items being moved and one member of staff is also meant to have seen an unknown figure in the dining room.

Investigation Report

The team arrived at the Inn at around 10.30pm and made their way into a lovely room decorated with wood panels and a lovely old traditional fireplace. There was also a head of both a Boar and Deer mounted on the wall which added to the lovely traditional feel. The team decided to make this their base camp for the duration of the investigation.

As with most of the investigation locations this year, the team waited for the Lodge to empty of customers, so the team started to place some of their equipment in certain areas with 1 of the motion cameras located in the "Base" room, and another in the entrance hall. Whilst they were doing this, Mary believed that she caught sight of a man dressed in black in one of the big mirrors on the wall. The team confirmed that it had not been any of them that had caused the image and also confirmed that the location had been empty of anyone else, so this made the team excited that this was going to be an very interesting investigation. Once all customers had left the Inn, the team performed a few baseline tests.

Base Room
TEMP: 19.4 degrees
EMFS: 0

Dining Room
TEMP: 17.6 degrees
EMFS: 0

Entrance to Lodge
TEMP: 19.3 degrees
EMFS: 0

With all the tests completed, they then went on to setup more of the equipment. A "Locked off" camera was placed in the small dining room whilst another motion camera was put into the larger Dining room area. During the time that the team where setting up the additional tools for their investigation, Gill remained in the base room and reported hearing a knocking or tapping on the window as well as a thub coming from above. The team checked to see if there was anything around that could have caused either of these, but again nothing was found.

The team made their way to the Dining area where they were to perform the first seance, and again Mary thought she saw a black shadow behind Gill, but again the team where not sure how this was possible. During the seance, the name Albert came through, also the team experienced a vibrating sensation on the table, and then the feeling that it was starting to tip slightly. Gill heard what she believed to be a female voice which seemed to be coming from the hall, but when she took a picture, there was nothing there to support the noise.

During the seance in the Dining room, Marlene thought that she could start to smell pipe tobacco coming from her right, she asked Mary to lean over and she too could smell the tobacco, they also noticed that the temperature in this area of the room had also dropped dramatically. Danny also started to experience a tickling sensation on the side of his face, and Marlene then started to get the feeling that someone was stood next to her. The name Charles Irwin came up and when the team called out the name, the camera went fuzzy which happened twice. The team want to investigate what the link is between the name and the Lodge.

They all made their way back to the "Base" room for a small break and whilst in there, Mary asked for anyone to come and sit beside her, she felt the sofa seat next to her go down as if someone had taken her up on this offer which was very interesting. They then checked the motion camera and they found that a few orbs had been captured. Sandra heard a whistling sound coming from the entrance hall so the team checked the motion camera in this location and again discovered that a few orbs and a bright light had been captured during the evening.

Marlene sat in the entrance hall on her own for a short while and heard the sound of 2 footsteps coming from the Dining room and also a knocking noise coming from the doorway, so Danny decided he would investigate to see if he could see a cause, but again this turned up with nothing, the team did think that possibly the wind outside may have been a factor to some of the noises. The investigation was brought to a close at around 3.30am.

Conclusion

The team where really excited to be performing the investigation at The Lodge Inn due to it being located in quite a remote location, and had stood for around 400 years.

The man that Mary had seen in the mirror, along with the shadows and the pipe smoke, not to mention the various noises that where heard by all members of the team really encouraged them and ensured that the investigation was full of excitement. The team are planning to investigate the 2 names that came through during the Seance to see if there was any link.

On one of the photos, the team discovered what looked like a green orb, this was very interesting as they had never experienced this as orbs are normally white in colour.

The team still have many pictures and lots of video footage to go through, but are hopeful that they will find more interesting facts.

***We would like to thank Craig and all his friendly staff for allowing the team to perform a vigil in this lovely Lodge, and truly recommend a visit for its great atmosphere and fantastic menu.***

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