A visit to Waverley Abbey, Surrey - Britain's first Cistercian Monastry

It was that time of year again, the cool spring air was gradually turning into summer, allowing us to explore the local area, which was still relatively new to us at that time.

Whilst looking for some suitable locations to visit within an hour’s travelling distance, I stumbled across a reference to the ruins of Waverley Abbey. At first glance, this location had an interesting history, relatively remote and seemed suitable for a visit.

So what part in history had the Abbey played?

A brief history of Waverley Abbey

The ruins that we see today date mainly from the 13^th Century, as following severe flooding in 1201, the Abbey and its accompanying buildings were largely re-built and the layout relatively unchanged since.

However, the Abbey abruptly came to the end of its life in 1536 following Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries, whereupon the buildings were subsequently robbed and its stones used in the construction of many nearby properties, including Waverley Abbey House and Looseley Park, just outside Guildford.

Significantly, it was notable for being the first monastery founded in Britain, by the Cistercian Religious Order, in 1128 and proved to be influential in medieval Christianity in Britain, to the extent that in a relatively short space of time, seven of the monks had been elected Abbots of their own house and four more went on to become heads of other religious establishments.

The Cisterians, also known as the ‘White Monks’ due to the colour of their robes that they wore over their habits, were founded in by Robert of Molesme, a Benedictine Abbot, in 1098, on a plot of marshland called Citeaux, to the south of Dijon, in Burgundy, France.

The Order hence took their name from Citeaux (Latin: Cistercium)

Decision taken

Whilst not being overly familiar with the location, other than I vaguely recalled that a scene from the movie 28 days Later had been filmed there a couple of years earlier.

So I really knew nothing about the Abbey other that it existed, whilst Laura had never heard of the place at all.

At the time, we were living nearby in the Surrey Hills and Farnham was just a short 40 minute or so drive westwards, so it didn't take long to set aside an afternoon to visit the ruins, setting aside a day to visit the following week, we just hoped for good weather.

The Abbey ruins, as we approached along the path alongside the lake at
Waverley Abbey House  

The Abbey

The drive took longer than perhaps it should have, but we soon found ourselves walking alongside the river path, snaking away towards the ruins of the Abbey, which we could see in the distance.

As we approached, we could see that the location was far larger than we imagined.

Whilst the ruins were fragmented, they were focused in several areas, spread across the entire site, which was now consisted of a large field of short grass.

Making our way through the entrance, onto the site, we decided to go straight across the field to the Refectory Undercroft, which we could see standing impressively, directly opposite from where we stood.

The Refectory looms ahead....

Walking across the grass, we very quickly found ourselves standing in from of the building. Entering the Undercroft, we looked up at what remained of the vaulted ceiling before splitting up and exploring the interior, where Laura spent some time examining the interior walls, whilst I took some photographs.

Taking a step back and looking on at what remained of the structure, you could only imagine how impressive the building was in its heyday - if that was the correct term that you could use for a monastic building of this nature.

 Contact – The Undercoft

Suddenly, my thoughts were broken by Laura, who alerted me that she had just picked up some information, unexpectedly.

At the end of the Undercroft, on the other side of the window to the left as we looked out, Laura had sensed a woman, peering into the Undercroft from the left side of the window.

The middle window, where Laura picked up a female, peering
in.

This seemed strange as it didn't really fit in with the location in its original context, as to where exactly did a female fit into such an exclusive and restrictive male domain as a monastery?

After taking some photographs of the window and discussing the situation, we decided to move on to another part of the site. Laura turned quickly and looked back towards the open grass area and was surprised to ‘see’ a brown horse standing on the grassed area in front of her.

Where's the horse?

Bizarrely, this coincided with myself 'seeing' a brief glimpse of a horse shape as I took pictures (nothing of the sort was captures in the photographs taken), which I just put down to a trick of the light.

Having heard Laura describe what she'd picked up, I made her aware of what I'd just experienced and we were able to verify that we'd both 'seen' the horse in the same spot.

Even as we discussed the sighting I was still trying to explain it away to myself.

The Abbey Grounds

As we walked from the Undercroft, across the open grass area towards the main part of the ruins, Laura reported that she felt that someone, perhaps a small child, was rubbing the top of her buttocks. She couldn't discern if this was being done as a playful act or something with a more sexual intent. Laura hoped that it was the former.

At this point we decided to separate to allow Laura to tour the location on her own, to see if she was able to focus and tap into the long history of the Abbey.

The execution?

After 30 minutes or so, which I spent taking more photographs, I spotted Laura across the field near the remains of the dormitory and made my way over to her.

As I drew near, Laura became aware of me and immediately reported that she had seen a man and been given what she thought could potentially be a name - something that I noted to research later.

Laura advised that she wasn't sure if the man was related to the Horse that we'd seen earlier. Although she attempted to establish this, she just couldn't tell.

However, the vision of the man that she had seen was far from pleasant

Laura took time to carefully describe the scene to me.

The man was strung up grotesquely, entrails hanging of his lifeless, bloody body, in the area that was just outside what was now the remains of the tunnel.

Laura said that it was a distressing scene and one that she didn't wish to dwell upon.

This area was formally the Abbey’s cloisters, a covered walk, rather than the inside of the Abbey itself, so from a practical basis it would make sense that someone could have been executed here, as opposed to an area that would have been inside the Abbey itself.

At this point, time was getting on, so we both felt that it was an opportune moment to leave the site and make our way home.

Reflection

The location left us a lot to think about. Yet again we'd really just planned on a normal day out, but Laura, without even trying, appeared to tap into the fabric of the Abbey.

In the cold light of day, after reviewing our notes and audio, we were left with four areas of research from a paranormal perspective -

1. The woman peering through the window into the Refectory.

2. The brown horse

3. The ‘touching’ ghost ; and

4. The male victim, executed and strung out in the courtyard.

Our search began.......

1. The Peering lady.

This was a strange one at first glance, from an historical context, other than an interloper, she just didn't appear to fit in with the exclusive male domain that the Abbey was originally at an operating level.

Perhaps she was from a later period following the destruction of the Abbey following the Dissolution? This appeared to be a more likely explanation.

Whilst our expectations were low on finding any references to such a lady or ghost, we got stuck into the task.

Not surprisingly, our research threw up no answers. Whilst this is never unexpected in the work we undertake, it was still frustrating.

Tantalisingly though, we did find a similar experience that was posted online in Marq English' Spiral Investigations / MEV Productions series, where the group's sensitive had picked up a lady at the same spot, at the window in the Refectory.

We had the pleasure of meeting Marq a couple of years earlier at an event and, I also had the contact details of the medium featured in the video, so it was a relatively simple matter to get in touch with them both.

Following some correspondence, it was established that neither could recall anything about the experience other than that shown in the video, due to the passing of time. However, they also both commented on the unexpected situation with regards to a female spirit.

Returning our focus to more traditional areas of research, I eventually source an old book, published in 1872, that gave a relatively detailed summary of events at the Abbey that had occurred since it was established, which, unexpectedly, made references to several visits from prominent ladies over time, including a couple that were actually laid at rest in the chapel.

Whilst Laura never picked up a name relating to the female, it was possible that the presence that Laura sensed could relate to the period that the Abbey was active, no matter how unexpected at first this seemed.

2. The brown horse and 3. The ‘Touching’ Ghost

A bit left field we admit, but not unexpectedly we drew a blank. We could find no reference to a horse at the location, ghostly or not, although we had no doubt that the hoof prints of several brown horses had graced the hallowed grounds of the Abbey over time..

Likewise, there was no trace of a ‘touching’ spirit, although I did find reference to a young boy, around the age of 12 years, who was recovered unconscious, after falling into the adjoining River Wey and, who unexpectedly survived and recovered from his ordeal, much to the surprise of his rescuers.

4. The executed man

This was probably the most interesting of Laura’s experiences at the Abbey.

Again, I could find no historical reference to this event and indeed, some of the sources that I referred to specifically commented that, although many priests, abbots and lay brothers, including those religious houses linked to Waverley, were indeed executed during the Reformation (particularly by being hanged, drawn and quartered), history was strangely silent with regards to the fate of those at Waverley.

The area outside the cloisters, where Laura 'witnessed' an execution

However, all was not lost, I did manage to uncover a local legend of a haunting at the Abbey, by the ghost of a monk who was hung, drawn and quartered during the reformation and walks the ruins of the Abbey on moonlit nights.

Was this the execution that Laura had been able to tap into?

Afterthoughts?

Despite a very interesting visit to a location that appeared to offer so much areas of research, once the dust had settled we were left with several areas of research that, after spending much time and effort, whilst able to get ‘close’, were ultimately unable to confirm anything of what Laura had picked up.

Whilst this was disappointing, in reality this represented what typically could be expected when researching.

It’s not like what you see on TV and social media, despite what many would have you believe.

Orford Castle Update - a further discovery?

It is probably fair to say that, since our visit to Orford Castle back in August 2015, the location has persisted in keeping us busy over the ensuing days, weeks and months.

Orford Castle Keep , from the car park

Unlike previous locations that have proved to be of interest to us,

Laura had genuinely appeared to connect with the Keep and has continued to pick up new pieces of information, relating to both the building itself and those connected to it, to the extent that we’ve now both reached the point, after several months, where we are exhausted and just wish that we’d simply experienced a straight forward trip to the Castle back in August.

One of the more interesting aspects of this case is that Laura is receiving information relating to the very structure of the Keep itself, not just the individual linked to it. This could be down to the occult symbolism employed in its build, or perhaps the atmosphere of the Castle itself.

So whilst we now have a multitude of leads and notes to follow up upon, we thought it was time that we provide another update to where we are at, especially in respect to the body of the young woman that Laura sensed in the Well Room and even a further discovery, possibly relating to the structure of the building.

As you may recall, Laura picked up on at least two females during our visit in August, who we suspect could actually be one and the same person – the frightened female in the passage from the chapel to the Chaplain’s Room and, the body of the young woman apparently concealed in one of the side chambers in the Well Room, in the basement of the Keep.

A Doorway and a death.......

A couple of weeks following our original visit, Laura started to get information relating to a doorway providing an exit / entrance to the basement level of the Keep.

Laura was receiving visualisations of standing in front of a doorway / exit to the outside whilst standing in the basement of the keep.

At the same time, Laura was also receiving information as to how the girl's body came to be concealed in the well room - she had been thrown by two males from the keep, above the entrance, then her body taken directly from the outside, into the Well Room, where her body was concealed in one of the side chambers.

The following is an extract from Laura’s own notes from what she was picking up:

Man, dark suit type clothing. Female, mid brown hair, 20’s.

Arguing, upper floor, above main entrance hall.

She falls, 2 men take body well room.

When I questioned her further about the information that she was receiving, Laura advised that the men had taken the woman’s body to the Well Room in the basement, without going via the main entrance – they took the body in directly from the outside, from ground level.

Initially I dismissed this as, being familiar with the layout of the Castle, I knew that there were only two access points - the main stairs from the lower hall or via the trap door in the floor of the shop as you enter the Keep. 

Whilst I still had my doubts about the second access point to the Keep, the information regarding the concealment of the body was feasible - you were able to access the roof of the chapel (via the stairwell at the Upper Hall level), which was directly above the main entrance. 

However, the possibility of a direct exit to the basement level of the Keep seemed very remote, indeed, so we decided to keep an open mind and re-examine the structure of the building. 

The Basement Level

In addition to the two access points directly into this level, the Well Room itself also had three narrow windows, that had been widened slightly from their original construction at an unknown later date (1), with the light being directed down shafts into the basement to alleviate the gloom, but nothing else. 

The central window in the Well Room

Was it possible to get a body through one of these openings and drop it down to the basement below? We needed to find out. 

Using reference books and photographs that we'd taken previously, I attempted to establish the size of the openings. 

Whilst I accepted that it wasn't an exact science, after some careful consideration I came to the conclusion that it would indeed be possible, especially when taking into account the average size of people centuries ago and indeed young females. 

However, there was no way of being confident for sure without a visit 

As previously referred to above, Laura had also started to pick up information relating to a doorway or tunnel in the basement, to the outside, so how, if at all, did this fit into the scheme of things?

I discussed my theory as to how the young woman's body could have been placed in the basement, via the windows, but Laura wasn't entirely sure that this was correct. 

Unfortunately, she hadn't sensed how the body had entered the Well Room, simply just that it had and, what she had picked up relating to the doorway or tunnel in the basement could be entirely separate and not connected to the death of the young woman. 

Things were getting very complicated. The need for another visit had become even more pressing. 

Making plans

Around about this time, we were due to meet up with our friends, Aitch and Jason, who lived some distance away and, conveniently, Orford Castle involved the same drive for both parties. 

We therefore discussed the situation with Aitch and Jason and all decided that Orford would be a good location for us all to meet up. 

With the winter season approaching and opening times being reduced, we quickly agreed a date, in a couple of week’s time. 

The drive to the Castle proved uneventful. Thankfully, the weather was dry, unlike our previous visit, which would allow us to inspect the exterior of the building in less challenging conditions. 

Pulling into the car park, we found that we were the first to arrive.  

The search begins

Whilst we were waiting for Aitch and Jason, we decided to inspect the exterior of the Castle. This would allow us to also keep an eye out on the car park for our friend’s arrival. 

We walked around the outside of the Keep, trying to find any traces of a doorway. However, as I had suspected, there were none.

Disappointing, but it only reflected what was known about the Castle.  

However, we also inspected the windows, with their accompanying shafts that led down into the basement and found that it would indeed be possible to pass a body of a petite person through the openings and drop it down to the Well Room below. 

Window to Well Room - outside view

Had we found the evidence to support what Laura had picked up relating to the death and subsequent movement of the young woman's body to one of the side chambers in the Well Room? 

It definitely didn't rule it out. 

However, Laura was still adamant that the windows were not the doorway or tunnel that she had visualised, although it was possible that it was the method that the men had adopted to move the girl's body down into the basement. 

Hopefully our inspection of the inside would reveal something. 

It was at this point that Aitch and Jason pulled into the car park, which provided a suitable break to proceedings. 

We returned to the car to greet our friends and, after exchanging pleasantries, made our way back up the path to visit the Keep itself. 

With no planned agenda, we initially visited the location of Laura's previous discovery, the petroglyph, or hand print (EH verifies Petroglyph) and, at this point separated, allowing Laura some time to inspect the various areas of the Castle on her own, to see if she could pick anything else up. 

The Upper Hall
Our first port of call was the Upper Hall, where Laura had stated that the man had the argument with the young woman had started.

If Laura was correct, I was looking for 'exit' where the woman was pushed, or fallen out of the Keep to the ground below, beneath the entrance to the Keep. The most obvious places to me were the windows, but these were not above the entrance.

However, just before you entered the Upper Hall, on the staircase, there were a set of french windows to an outside battlement. The windows were locked, so I could not inspect the battlement more closely, but I could see that the battlement was in fact the roof of the chapel, which was directly above the entrance to the Keep. Again, Laura's information appeared to be correct.


The Well Room

Laura examines the former entrance to
the garderobes, now blocked, where she'd
previously discovered the handprint

The rest of us, after touring the Keep, spent some time re-examining some of the side rooms, where eventually, more by accident than design, I finally found myself alone in the Well Room. 

I spent some time taking photographs of the basement and especially chamber where Laura had originally picked up upon on the body of the young woman.  

I found that the long shafts leading up to the windows were spread fairly evenly on the north side of the basement, two either side of the chambers and the third situated between the chambers, separating them.

It would have been a simple matter for one of the men to push the girl's body through one of the windows and down the shaft to his partner in crime below. 

Waiting down in the Well room, it would have been a relatively quick and easy task to drag the body a couple of feet to the rear of the adjacent chamber, to where Laura had sensed it had finally been concealed. 

A close up of the shaft leading up to a
window in the Well Room 

Satisfied, I now turned my attention to the small matter of the doorway that Laura had picked up previously. I spent some time carefully examining the exterior walls of the Well Room, but to no avail. 

No matter how hard I studied the walls of the circular basement, there was absolutely no trace of any former doorway to the outside world. 

Defeat?

Once again disappointed, but not entirely surprised by the lack of supporting evidence for a former doorway, I made my way back up the stone steps to the Lower Hall, where I rejoined the others who had been waiting for me. 

Spotting Laura, I went straight over to her and confirmed that my search for any traces of a former doorway or tunnel had drawn a blank. 

Laura acknowledged what I'd told her, but stubbornly insisted that there had been a doorway or tunnel to the outside in the basement level - it wasn't the windows, it was definitely an opening.  

She explained once again that she had visualised it, open in front of her, letting the bright sunlight into the dark interior of the Keep. 

By now, we had all completed our exploration of the Castle, so we decided to take our leave and find a suitable place locally to eat. 

Making our way out of the building and down the steps from the Keep, Laura decided to have a look in the gift shop in the reception area, so the rest of us assembled on the grassed area at the foot of the stairs and waited for Laura to exit, which she soon did. 

Looking back at Laura as she descended the stairs, I suddenly spotted something...... 

A Discovery?

Directly beneath the stairs I noticed a course of brickwork distinctly different to the surrounding stonework. Approximately five feet from the ground was a short row of bricks, horizontal, in the shape of an archway.

The mysterious course of brickwork beneath the entrance to the
Keep - did they indicate another entrance to the building, now
erased from history?

Was it possible that we finally had our doorway? I pointed the brickwork out to the others, who all confirmed that I wasn't seeing things. I wasn’t going mad. Not yet anyway. 

I took some pictures of the course work for further study and then we all made our way back to our cars. 

It was lunchtime. 

Clearly our visit had given us more than one type of food for thought. 

Further research

Over the following weeks, we put our efforts into researching the physical aspect of the Keep - both its build and subsequent modifications to its structure over the course of history. 

Had there been a direct, exterior entrance to the basement of the Keep? If there had, when was it built and when and why had it been bricked up? 

Despite our extensive search, we could find absolutely nothing, it seemed that there was no mention of the doorway documented in the reference works that we had relating to the Castle. 

Disappointingly, our research had drawn a blank. 

Deciding to take a different tack, we examined what we had established from our research. 

What did we know?

The staircase to the Keep entrance today is relatively modern in the context of the location as a whole, with most scholars suggesting a Napoleonic date, 1799 to 1815.

It is thought that the original stairs followed a similar line to the same entrance we see today, albeit modified, but with a break between the staircase and doorway, where a drawbridge was installed to afford greater protection to the Keep’s inhabitants in times of danger (2).

If this was correct, this would mean that, as the possible doorway we found was directly below the entrance, that if it existed, it could have been concealed by the staircase and hidden from general view. 

Things were getting Interesting. 

Going with the possibility that the door had actually existed, where exactly was it in relation to the interior of the basement? 

As we've mentioned previously, the basement was and still is, split into two areas, the Well Room and the dungeon. 

The Well Room was on the opposite side of the Keep to where our possible door was, on the eastern side of the building, which explained why I couldn't find any trace of a doorway in that area, despite an extensive search. 

Looking at the general floor plans, the suggested doorway would appear to be linked to the dungeon area, but where to exactly? 

The position of the possible doorway, indicated by the 'X' in
the lower diagram

Pulling out our copy of Orford Castle (R. Allen Brown 1964), which helpfully included clear copies of the floor plan of the Keep and, comparing it with the photographs that we'd taken on site, we could see that the doorway would have been at the narrowest part of the basement walls, where the cistern to the dungeon was located - even more interesting. 

I have been privileged in the past to clamber down through the trapdoor and down the ladder to explore the dungeon area several years ago, but, unfortunately, I took no photographs and my memory of the Prison was sketchy as to the details. 

With only the plans to go by, we could see that the dungeon consisted of two parts - the main cell and a separate chamber for the toilet. This was where, in the 12^th Century, in the early days of the Castle, the Wild Man of Orford was held, until he made good his escape after several months of captivity (3). Allegedly.

Looking at the floor plan to the basement more closely, I could see that on the opposite side of the wall to where we calculated the door was, there was an indentation shown on the plan. Was this another indication of the former doorway?

Only time will tell,







Summing up....

Unfortunately, despite spending a considerable time searching, we have not, to date, been able to locate any photographs of this area that would reveal any evidence for the doorway from an internal perspective, so, after exhausting our research, we can only summarise as follows: 

• Laura received information relating to the death of a young woman and the concealment of her body. 

• By visiting the Castle we were able to validate that Laura's information relating to this was plausible, dispute our initial scepticism that the layout of the Keep allowed the event to happen as she described. 

• Laura received information via visualisation that there was a doorway or tunnel directly to the outside from the basement level. 

• We have been unable to find any documented evidence of such a doorway ever existing. 

• A site visit revealed the possible traces of a doorway, located directly beneath the main entrance to the Keep. 

• When the Castle was fully operation 900 years ago, this doorway could have been concealed by the tower that was originally used to access the Keep. 

• The doorway would have been located at the thinnest part of the basement walls, which was only a couple of feet thick at this point 

Where are we now?

Needless to say, we cannot progress on this lead any further at this point. We have made enquiries to English Heritage, but sadly, to date, they remain silent on the matter. 

Whilst we are not proposing that we have found a former unrecorded entrance to the Keep, our research once again has not revealed anything that would enable us to dismiss what Laura has sensed psychically. 

If we are eventually able to establish that Laura is indeed correct, then the discovery of a former entrance would again be a remarkable discovery, following on from Laura's rediscovery of the hand print back in August 2015. 

For now, our research continues, with Laura continuing to pick up information related to the Castle. Information relating to people that we've found had lived, as well as events that had occurred in the Keep. Perhaps one day, once we have made sense of it all, we will write further about our research connected to Orford Castle, but it will be a very long article. 

To close this chapter, all we can do is ask you to read what we've written about our experiences and hope that you have found it a worthwhile read. 

We would welcome any correspondence relating to Orford Castle Keep, especially that relating to the build and structure of the Keep itself and look forward to learning more about this historic Castle. 

Sources:
1. P.16 Orford Castle - R. Allen Brown, 1964
2. P.17 Orford Castle - R. Allen Brown, 1964
3. Chronicon Anglicanum - Ralph of Coggeshall, 1200


Laura and Mark


Part one of this feature can be viewed at: Orford Castle - Part One

Part two of this feature can be viewed at: Orford Castle - Part Two

A Demonstration of the Ghostbox (part 2)

The ghostbox recording that we posted back in September appeared to be popular, so we thought that we’d now post the second session that we uploaded to YouTube at the time.

At this point in our recording sessions, we were getting a lot of unpleasant abuse coming through aimed at Laura, from one ‘voice’ in particular – a gentleman with a Scottish accent.

We therefore carefully considered the situation and decided to end our recording sessions there and then.

Writing this in the cold light of day, over two years later and, over a 100 miles from where we physically made the recordings, we accept that to many, this appears to be a strange reason to stop.

However, after some reflection, I guess that it was a case of discretion being better than valour.

Conclusion?

To this very day, we still have no views either way for or against the ghostbox, but we can assure you that what we’ve posted here and on YouTube is representative of what we experienced and it is a device that we believe is deserving of further attention, despite the controversy surrounding it.

Some people just like to hear the sound of their own voices, it makes them feel important.

The present day

At the moment, the ghostbox sits, neatly packed in its original box a couple of inches to my right as I put this blog together. The technology has now moved on and you can even download apps and software to your mobile phone and computer that will perform the same function.

The question remains will we ever put batteries in it and start using it to record again?

Only time will tell.......

L&M

Orford Castle – an update and unexpected response from English Heritage relating to Laura’s discovery

A couple of months have passed since our visit to Orford Castle back in August, which have proved eventful on many levels.

Our visit appears to have left its mark upon Laura, with more information coming to her on a regular basis, even though we haven’t been anywhere near the castle since.

This stream of information subsequently led to a further visit over the weekend, which we will write about in another post in the near future, but there have been far more interesting developments in respect of Laura’s discovery at the Castle back in August, which we briefly touched upon in our blog about our visit at the time (click here).

To recap, this is what we wrote:

“Whilst she was in the chamber, Laura suddenly felt that she had to go to a particular location in the Keep to find ‘something’. The feeling was very intense and conveyed a matter of urgency in the task – she needed to find ‘it’.

Leaving the Well Room, Laura returned to the Lower Hall and found herself entering one of the side chambers. Travelling to the end of the short passage, she looked up and immediately spotted her goal.”

The petroglyph, outlined in red.

Laura’s ‘goal’, we can now reveal, was what we interpreted as a ‘hand print’ (a petroglyph), carved into the stonework of the garderobe in the lower hall.

The print fitted Laura’s right hand perfectly, an exact copy, as if Laura’s hand had been the blueprint, at the risk of stretching the point too far.

As Laura pressed hard into the handprint, a secret door
to a hidden room slowly opened....

Sadly, no matter how hard we pushed into the handprint, no secret chamber was revealed.........

As we have previously stated, we didn’t wish to publicise the find at the time as we could find no reference to it anywhere, in any of the reference works about the Castle or even online and, we were very conscious that our interpretation could have been mistaken, although we were very confident in what Laura found.

We subsequently entered into correspondence with English Heritage about Laura’s find, who, having referred the matter to their team in East Anglia, advised that they were very excited about Laura’s discovery and, confirmed that it was indeed a hand print.

Needless to say, we have not revealed to English Heritage how Laura came to discover the hand print, other than she just did, but, in private correspondence, English Heritage also informed us of other features in the Castle that were not currently in the public domain. These are of great interest to us and possibly links into our ongoing research.

Taking a step back for a moment, I guess what we’ve described here is how Laura, via some unknown means (we’ll stop short of using the term psychic), has discovered a previously unrecorded feature of a 900 year old Castle, that has been validated by English Heritage.

Food for thought.

As we mentioned at the start of our update, our research into the Castle is ongoing and, we may possibly have a further ‘discovery’ made by Laura to discuss, although we will need to have additional discussions with English Heritage first before we will reveal further details.

To be updated...

Laura and Mark.


Part one of this feature can be viewed at: Orford Castle - Part One
Part three of this feature can be viewed at: Orford Castle - Part Three 

Hellfire Caves - How our journey began

Hellfire Caves, in Buckinghamshire, features strongly in the world of the paranormal, perhaps not surprising in view of its’ name.

The entrance to the caves

Whilst Laura and I have been there on a couple of occasions, it was our first visit to the location that perhaps sticks in the memory the most, as not only was it the first time that we’d been there, it was also one of the first locations that we went to when we first started working together.

After an uneventful journey to Buckinghamshire in the early Sunday morning traffic, we found ourselves stood in the weak winter sunshine, in a garden centre car park a couple of hundred yards from the entrance to the infamous Hellfire caves.

Excavated by hand in the 1750’s by the workforce of Sir Francis Dashwood, who undertook the project to provide work for unemployed farm labourers following a succession of poor harvests, the caves subsequently became host to the ‘Hellfire Club’ following the destruction by fire of the club’s original headquarters at Medmenham Abbey.

It’s here, at their second location, that the Hellfire Club became synonymous with, eventually lending its name to the man-made cave complex.

Crossing the road, Laura and I headed up the short, steep hill past the small primary school, leading to the entrance to the caves.

Finding the entrance guarded by an automated turnstile, we entered the small café and tried to attract the attention of the uninterested staff so that we could purchase some tokens for entry into the cave.

Five minutes later we found ourselves in the entrance passage to the cave, the tired white paint clearly in need of some refreshment before the summer season arrived.

The cave system

Entering the Cave 

As we walked along the narrow passage, pausing only to take some photographs, Laura turned to me and asked me if I felt anything.

I told her that, as usual, I didn’t feel a thing and I asked the same question of her, to which she gave the same negative reply.

After a couple of hundred yards or so, we found ourselves at the ‘Circle feature’ - two passages hewn out of the chalk, forming a huge central pillar.

We took the left hand side passage and soon rejoined the right hand side passage, around the other side of the pillar.

It was at this point Laura started to appear disorientated and started to proceed along the adjoining passage, back to the point where we had originally entered the Circle. I told her that she was merely going back to where we had started, to which she replied, rather than directly acknowledging that fact, that we hadn’t been there before and needed to make sure that we had not missed anything out.

Having taken some more photographs, Laura paused and asked me to lead on. Nothing unusual I accept, but I got the impression that there was a reason for this request.

Moving along the passages, pausing only to take photographs in Franklin’s Cave, we moved down to the Banqueting Hall.

It is here that things started to become very interesting from my point of view.

The Banqueting Hall

Entering the large, domed cave, we went our separate ways to take photographs. Laura went to look at the wax models on the right hand side, whilst I went to the far left to take some wide angled shots.

Whilst there, we were joined by some other visitors, the first ones that we had encountered during our visit. After a couple of minutes Laura walked over to where I was standing, totally ignoring me. If I hadn’t have stepped back as she passed she would have walked into me. She appeared very focused, as if she had something on her mind.

As I watched her, I realised that something was up and she could be picking up on something. I thought about taking some photographs of her at that point but held back, as I didn’t want the flash to disturb her.

Laura pacing back and forth

I watched her pace back and forth, retracing her steps and repeating this action. At this point I decided to risk taking a photograph and managed to capture her, deep in thought as she repeated her steps.

Laura finally paused and looked up at the ceiling, then to the floor to her left. Initially I thought that she was watching the occasional drips of water falling from the roof of the cave high above us, falling down onto the gravelled floor.

Laura then seemed to snap out of herself, looked at me and told me that ‘there was a pool of blood right there” gestating with a sweeping movement of her right arm and stepping around an imaginary pool of blood.

I took a couple of pictures, just in case the camera could capture what I couldn’t see, more out of hope than any real belief.

Laura later told me that she can’t recall telling me this or indeed even speaking to me until we left the Banqueting Hall.

I asked Laura if she was feeling ok and, if she wanted to leave the Hall and continue on our journey, to which she gave a simple “yes” in reply. We made our way to the lower passage and left the Banqueting Hall, passing the two other remaining visitors.

As we left Laura explained to me what she had experienced, a male, looking up, something falling from the ceiling and getting hit on the head, leaving a pool of blood where he fell.

The remaining system

After 50 yards or so we reached the Triangle cave.

Initially, it looked as if we had reached a T-junction, but it quickly became clear where we were in the scheme of things. We turned right to find the next side passage, Laura pausing at the entry point to the adjoining tunnel, to take another picture with her camera.

We proceeded along the passage, passing the point where the right hand side of the Triangle joined up again to form a single passageway. Laura looked left along the passage and, as we continued to walk, calmly told me that she had observed a spirit of a little boy, ten foot or so along the adjoining passage.

At this point we were again joined by some others, so I asked Laura if we could go back at the earliest available opportunity and take some photographs of where she had seen the spirit. Laura readily agreed.

We arrived at the Miner’s Cave, taking some more photographs as we waited for the other visitors to snake past.

Once we were sure that the passageway was now devoid of any other human life other than our own, we quietly made our way back along the passage to the Triangle Cave, to the point where Laura had seen the little boy.

As we reached the side passage, we spotted, to our dismay, more visitors making their way down the passage from the surface. I could only think that the staff in the canteen must have undertaken a quick customer service course and were now dishing out tokens to the cave like there was no tomorrow.

Laura, at the spot where she saw the small boy 

Unable to wait no longer, Laura made her way up the side passage whilst I stood stationary watching, camera in hand. As Laura reached the point where she had seen the boy, Laura gently touched the wall, a pillar, with her right hand, just as two other visitors passed her from the other direction.

I allowed them to pass me where I was standing and walked up the passage to where Laura was waiting, where I asked her if she had seen the spirit at the point where she had touched the wall. She confirmed that indeed that was the spot. I then asked her if the spirit was still there, but sadly Laura replied that he was not. I asked Laura to stand next to the pillar, where she had observed the boy, so that I could take a couple of shots.

We then made our way back down the passages, through the Miner’s Cave and River Styx, to the final cave, the Inner Temple, which passed without event.

We found the Inner Temple to be caged off and containing some wax models of presumably Hellfire Club members, complete with baboon that looked as if it had seen better days.

Laura departs....

I turned to Laura and suggested that we should return to the surface.

Laura turned around and bizarrely sped off along the passageway leaving me standing, puzzled at her quick escape. Quickly gathering my thoughts, I thought that I’d better give chase and proceeded back along the tunnel, Laura quickly disappearing off into the distant gloom.

Laura disappears into the darkness

As I raced along the passage, I thought it most strange that Laura was now moving so fast, especially as we were at the steepest point of the tunnels and we had previously walked at a leisurely pace, throughout our journey through the cave up until this point.

In the distance I could see the light of the Miner’s Cave and watch as Laura pushed her way through the crowd of visitor looking at the wax work displays and into the darkness where I could no longer see her.

My pace had now developed into a speedy trot as I tried to gain ground.

As I passed through the Miner’s Cave I could see Laura ahead in the dimly lit passage leading to the Banqueting Hall, bumping against the side of the narrow passage as she went.

This seemed to slow her down and I called out to her, which slowed her down even further. Catching up with her, Laura looked really confused. Unlike the earlier episode in the Banqueting Hall when she appeared to be deep within herself, she appeared to be her normal self, but just a bit confused.

She turned to me and said we need to go there, indicating what appeared to be a small recess, but clearly what looked to be a solid wall from where I was standing.

I convinced her that there was no passageway there, which she sort of accepted despite her confusion and we made our way up the passage to the Banqueting Hall.

This I found interesting as there is a long standing tradition of a long lost tunnel within the cave system. I noted the spot.

As we continued our walk, Laura asked me if I had felt unbalanced as I walked along the passages from the Inner Temple.

I replied that not really, although I advised that the gravel flooring appeared to be much deeper in the deepest part of the tunnels, which gave the impression of walking along a beach in places and may have given the impression of ‘unbalance’.

Making our way along the final yards to the Banqueting Hall, Laura explained to me what she had experienced deep down in the bowls of the cave, the feeling of being attacked and ‘clumped’ hard on the head, the need to exit the caves as fast as she could.

Although I asked several questions regarding her experience to try and make sense of things Laura wasn’t really able to add to this, so I let the situation be.

Back at the Banqueting Hall, Laura proceeded to again tell me exactly what she had already told me about her vision of the dying man when we were in the Hall for the first time.

I pointed out to her that she had already mentioned this to me earlier, but was met with a blank look.

She advised that she had no recollection of saying anything to me whatsoever last time we were there.

Laura looks up

We paused to take some more shots of the Hall, including one where I managed to capture Laura unaware, staring high up at an unreachable point on the ceiling where I can only assume that whatever she had saw fall first time around had originated.

The rest of our visit was taken up taking photographs before we decided to make our way back to the surface and make good our departure.

Summary

Looking back, what transpired that day was not what we were at all expecting but, as it turned out, set the scene for how we would operate, allowing us to develop the protocol that we follow today.

Up until Hellfire Caves, before we started working together, the process that I would follow would be to record investigations, both audio and visual, with the hope of recording paranormal phenomena that I could sit down and analyse, whilst Laura would do something similar but also rely on her senses, which she hadn’t really pushed much at that point.

Working together has required us both to change how we previously had approached investigations, but it is something that has worked very well for us and, whilst we are not going to make any rash claims that it has enabled us to produce any evidence of paranormal phenomena, it has provided a lot for us to think about all the same.

L&M