STANSHAWES COURT HOTEL – August 2009
Investigation Site
Stanshawes Court Hotel
Yate
Bristol
History of the Site
The structure that stands and is well known in the area as Stanshawes Court was originally built as a large Victorian house for a Mr N Hooper in 1874, but the history of the name "STANSHAWES", is nearly as old. When the property and estate become the ownership of Richard II, he decided to name it after his favourite servants daughter (Isabella Stanshawe).
The estate has played a large role in both the great wars during the 20th Century. In the first, the grounds where used as a camp for the German prisoners of war, and then in the second, it was used as a hostel for all of the workforce that had to be drafted in to work in the local factory (Newmans) where they where making various ammunition for the army. The structure was then used as a storage area from that date, right up until 1962 when it was purchased by Mr T Parker and remodelled into the Stanshawes Court Hotel.
During the time of it's existence, there have been many owners of the house and estate, and the current owner of the house (Kevin Langmaid) is now trying to restore it back to its original beauty as a family run hotel.
Investigating Team
The members of the team present for this investigation:
Marlene
Sandra
Gill
Mary
Barry
Stacey
Michelle
Andy
Haunted Hereford Team
Paranormal Activity Eyewitness Reports
This building has stood for many years, with many people passing through its doors, but as a whole, has not been really known for its haunting or strange happenings.
Some of the previous owners have has small experiences, and do believe that the there is a chance it is haunted by 2 of the previous owners, Mr Hooper and Mr Parker.
Investigation Report
The team decided to meet at the hotel at around 10.30, as they were aware they would need to wait for closing time, so decided to go into the bar area again and have a drink whilst they waited for the Haunted Hereford team to arrive.
Whilst the team where sat there, they noticed that Gill had been staring up at the staircase and had started to go a shade of white. The team asked what was wrong, and she explained that she had just seen someone or something walk along the landing that looked like a figure of a man dressed in a suite belonging to the fifties. When the team asked her what he had looked like she explained that she was not able to see any facial features, and that he had not been walking like any normal person. Gill was convinced that she had just witnessed her first 'spirit form' and was really excited about the rest of the investigation.
The Haunted Hereford team joined the team at around 11.30 and they all got straight on with setting up the equipment for the investigation. There was a 'Motion' camera placed at the base of the stairs with the other setup in the hall upstairs. A 'Lock-off' camera was located in the cellar bar and the second was situated around the main bar area. The next step was for the group to perform their "Protection" ritual before they could get on with their investigation.
The group then split into 2 teams. Sandra, Gill, Mary and Stacy went down into the cellar bar along with the Haunted Hereford team, whilst Marlene, Danny and Barry went upstairs in the hall. The second team began by just asking out loud for a "man in spirit" to come forward, as they where in the area that Gill had spotted the shape earlier, and also watching the activity on the 'Motion' camera. They noticed what seemed to be a bright light coming from the back room, and also a large drop in the temperature. With this activity, they asked for the spirit to make any kind of noise and this was answered by a slight thud from the back of the hall, but this was the only activity that occurred for about an hour, so as they were about to move on they asked out once more and heard what they thought was a real loud moan coming from the same area.
During this time the first group where performing a séance down in the cellar bar area and were using a glass as the main point. They also decided to ask out for the "man in spirit" to come forward and found the glass started to move very rapid, so then they asked for a lady to come forward and this made the movement of the glass to slow down. They then asked for the man to come forward again which caused the glass to fly off the table and smash. The group managed to capture all of this on a video camera.
All the members then regrouped and decided to have a break and discuss their experiences. Once they were ready to start again, Gill and Sandra went to the area that Gill had seen the apparition and tried to call the energy forward, whilst the rest of the group looked on. After a short time, they caught the sight of some bright lights and a large orb that travelled over the top of Gill and Sandra.
Some of the Haunted Hereford team went back down into the cellar bar area to see if they were able to get any more response by performing "Table tipping". At first, the table would not budge, but as they continued to call out into the room they noticed that the table did move (but only very slightly) across the floor, which again proved positive.
Again, whilst the team where down in the cellar, Marlene used her crystal in the area upstairs and once again when she asked out if there was any spirit in the area with them, the crystal started to move, but when she then asked why the spirit was there, she found that it instantly stopped. There was no further movement.
Conclusion
The Stanshawes Court Hotel is a lovely old and traditional building with so much to offer. It has a beautiful and lively atmosphere and still gives you the feeling of what it used to be like in the early days of its history.
With the sight of the figure that Gill at noticed from the first moment they arrived, the teams knew that they where in for what would be a great investigation.
Looking back on the motion camera's and also video evidence the team found that they had managed to pick up some of the light anomies that had presented themselves during the night. They could also see that the lights where reacting to some of the questions.
The activity in the cellar with the glass flying from the table and smashing was found to be really exciting and interesting, and they have yet to review what was captured by the Haunted Hereford's camcorder, as there is hope that they managed to capture the whole séance. All in all both teams believed that the investigation in the hotel had been one full of activity and excitement, with a great deal of paranormal happenings, and would love to possibly perform another in this location again to see if they would be able to discover more about what or who is actually there.
***We would like to thank Kevin, Michelle and Andy for letting the S.G.P.I.T. perform their vigil at their beautiful hotel. The team would also like to thank Haunted Hereford for joining them, and look forward to performing together soon.***