ROYAL OAK – July 2007
Investigation Site
The Royal Oak Public House
Wotton-Under-Edge
Glocester
History of the Site
This large hamlet pub with mock Tudor exterior was built in the 14th Century.
The current building has a lovely flag stoned drinking area, and is complimented with 4 separate dining area's. One of the lovely features inside this building is the 50 foot well that is covered by glass, and is available to reserve as a table for dining.
Investigating Team
The members of the team present for this investigation:
Marlene
Sandra
Gill
Michelle (Special guest)
Paranormal Activity Eyewitness Reports
The pub has been victim of several unexplained activities, but they all seem to be centred around the same things. Most people have reported noises from various locations around the pub, especially when it is quiet, and there has also been some reports on the sound of a piano playing, even though there has not been a piano in the pub for quite a few years.
Investigation Report
Due to the popularity of the pub, and the requirement of needing a pretty quiet environment, it was agreed that the investigation would begin after hours. so the team arrived at the pub at around 11pm and were met by the Landlord (Adam). Adam explained some of the happenings that had occurred and gave the team a tour around the pub, so that they could familiarise themselves.
Once the team had completed the tour, the team were left to perform their investigation, and started by performing some baseline tests around the pub with the EMF meter and the temperature sensor.
Cellar
TEMP: 001 degrees
EMFS: 0
Dart Room
TEMP: 21.6 degrees
EMFS: 9 - 10
Bar
TEMP: 21.7 degrees
EMFS: 0
Pool Room
TEMP: 22.9 degrees
EMFS: 0
Dinning Room 1
TEMP: 22.5 degrees
EMFS: 0
Dinning Room 2
TEMP: 22.6 degrees
EMFS: 0
Well area
TEMP: 22.8 degrees
EMFS: 0
Some of the motion sensors where then setup in one of the Dinning rooms.
One of the findings that had already started to interest the team, was when Sandra was performing the EMFS tests. She found that the reading in the Dart Room was considerably higher than the rest, and that this increased when she went near to the fire place. This was where the piano once stood, and is the location that people have reported hearing music. Because of these 2 facts, the team then decided to setup an additional test known as a "TRIGGER" test. This is done by using 2 old coins on a surface covered a light coating of flour. Then there is a night camera focused onto the coins to monitor any movements. Due to the test being sensitive to many of the elements, the team placed it in the Dart room and had the door locked, preventing any person(s) disturbing it.
Gill then went to the Bar area with the Dowsing Rods (this is two rods that are held in each hand, and respond to paranormal activity - generally when the user is calling out - if there is anything present, the rods start to react and move by themselves) and found that we were getting a good response.
The team then decided to go down to the cellar and as you can imagine, it was quite dark, cold and had a massive feeling of dampness, and initially it seemed that the night cameras where picking up many little orbs causing the team to get a little excited, but it actually turned out to be small flies that were also in the cellar. The investigation in the cellar went on for about 15 minutes, but failed to give any signs of paranormal activity, so the team made their way back upstairs and into the Pool Room.
Once the team had all gathered, they decided to let the room calm down and also clear their minds, so they all rested and sat in silence for 10 minutes, and then started to call out into the room. They asked for any spirits that were in the room to make a noise or come forward, but after an hour of doing this, they concluded that there was going to be nothing happening.
The team then entered the second Dinning room where they were met by Adam and two of his friends (who believe they have experienced seeing a ghost and have also experienced paranormal activity in their home by having items moved!!), and continued with their investigation. Sandra was using the night camera and found that she could detect some strange light source near the doorway, but they we unable to determine what it was.
The final room that the team investigated was the Dart room. They decided to perform a seance in the room with Sandra, Michelle, Gill and one of Adams friends. Although the team sat patiently and asked loads of questions, they found that the glass failed to move. At one stage the team asked if there was a boy in the room with the team, and they heard a loud noise in the corner right behind them which did cause them all to jump!. Once everyone had settled back down they thought that the table had been moved, but could not be 100% sure.
With all rooms visited, and equipment gathered, the team ended the investigation at around 3.30am.
Conclusion
The team felt that they had a couple of good experiences form this lovely old pub, and had found some unexplained instances, for example the EMF reading in the Dart room. The team were unable to determine the reason for the high readings, but Marline felt that it was linked to a lady by the name of Emily, and Gill also had the same feeling with a man called Eric (the team are going to research this further to see if there is any link between the building and the names).
After reviewing the motion camera's that were setup in the room with the "Trigger" test, the team where quite disappointed to find that there had been no activity.
Sandra was pleased with the unexplained lights that she was able to capture on her night camera, and Gill also felt happy with the results of the Rods in the bar.
The team Felt that they had done a really good just of trying to encourage the spirits to come forward and felt a little disappointed that they were not willing to cooperate, but Adam has already invited the team back to perform another investigation in a few months time.
***We would like to thank Adam for allowing us to perform the investigation at the Royal Oak***