SouthWest London Paranormal conducted an investigation at Pevensey Courthouse in Pevensey village.  The quintessential place is close to Eastbourne, down by the South West coast of England.  It is known to have many paranormal activities that take place and the group was keen to visit and experience these happenings.

It was a bitterly cold night and despite being inside most of the time many of the group was shivering to the bone towards the end of the investigation.  Although it is a small building containing an upstairs main courtroom and adjoining robe room, there was a ground level with one cell which could be entered, a small courtyard and an alcove to the side which was utilised as a storage area.

The investigation went very well with plenty of activity to be had.   The team experienced knocking, many audible sounds that were unexplainable and checked out by the group at the time, 10 EVP’s (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) many of these you can clearly here unknown voices and sounds and  a large scale moving on it’s own accord. 

Jim (the residential medium) came up with lots of information – a nasty dictatorial man, a little girl, a kind gentleman who loved the place he worked in.  There were battlements, plague and even a witch.   He was also brave enough to visit the local graveyard at the back of the courthouse on his own and captured some unusual photos.

There were also members of the team, who were hit at the back of their legs, movement being felt around them, pinching and footsteps heard.

An Ouija board was used on three separate occasions; there was only a little movement from the glass, but nothing significant.  Table tipping was also conducted, but this resulted in no movement at all.  And dowsing rods were used upstairs in the robing room and in the cells and this produced excellent result with spirits coming through and communicating.

FOR A FULL REPORT ON THE NIGHTS INVESTIGATION PLEASE SEE BELOW.

Investigation Team:  Jim (Medium), Mac, Jane, Sue and Shelia
Equipment used:     Camera's, Camcorder, High Sensitive Dictaphones, Temperature Gauge, EMF Meter, Ouija Board, Dowsing Rods.
Area's Covered:        Main Court Room, Robing Room, Downstair Cells and Courtyard

Upon arriving in the quaint village of Pevensey the team was warmly greeted by the host Jane and Dan.  It was an extremely cold night with a stiff wind coming in from the nearby coast which made you glad to shelter indoors in the alleged haunted Courthouse and Jail.  This beautiful building has been well preserved and dedicatedly restored and looked after by the current museum staff.  The site itself is not large and the main court room is only approximately 30 ft long.  Adjacent to this was a very small robing room which is a tight squeeze for more then 6 people.
Down the stair underneath the courtroom are the 2 cells (one filled with artifacts) and a small courtyard/storage area.

From this investigation the team managed to pickup many EVP sounds which can be found below in the report.  The video tapes are still being analysed and any untoward occurences will be posted on the website shortly.

Whilst setting up our equipment in the main courtroom, Shelia was surveying the robing room and called out that the large scales within this room had began moving.  Our inital thoughts were the movement was perhaps contributed by the floor boards and our weight as we entered the room or walked around.  However, we did enter this room regularly and the scales did not always move as each person came in or out.  Following this discovery a dictaphone was left in the room throughout the nights investigation. 

Upon checking the tape afterwards strange sounds and tapping noises which could be heard and a wording sounding like "are" can be noticed.  The investigation team were not in this room during this time, however they were in the adjoining courtroom.  EVP6

Further sounds have also been picked up during the night, amongst them, breathing sounds, but there were not clear enough to include.  However, the next EVP sounds like someone is saying "Hello Mummy".  Once again the team were not in the robing room, but can be heard in the courtrrom.  EVP7  

THE ROPING ROOM - Vigil 1

Temperature on arrival:  6.4
EMF readings on arrival: 0

The vigil started with a séance with Jim calling out for any spirits to come forward, a tap was heard by Jim in response, but other members of the team did not hear it.  The temperature in the room did rise slightly to 6.7.  However, no further responses could be heard and the large scales that had previously moved were quite still.

Jane then picks up the Dowsing rods and begins to call out asking "If any spirits are here in the room".  The rods then cross indicating "Yes".
She continues by asking "How many spirits are here? One, two, three .." at this point the rods cross again.
Question:  "Have you been moving the scales in this room?"   The rods cross again very strongly this time.
Question:  "Are you a male?"     Answer:  "Yes"
Question:  "Did you die here?"   Answer:  "Yes"
Question:  "Are you able to do anything else?"   Answer:  "Yes"
Question:  "Did all three of you die here?"    Answer:  "Yes"
Question:  "Did you die as a punishment?"   The rods swung outwards indicating "No"
Question:  "Did you die before it became a courthouse?"   Answer:  "No"
Question:  "Did you die of natural causes?"    Answer:  "Yes"
Question:  "Could you show us where you are standing?"    The rods point toward a manikin in the corner dressed in a ladies gown.
Question:  "Are there any females in the room with us?"   The rods remain still.
Question:  "Have you been in the spirit world long?"    Answer:  "No"
Question:  "Did you pass into spirit last year?"   Answer:  "Yes"
Question:  "Did you work here?"   Answer:  "Yes"
Question:  "Did you die in your 60's?"    Answer:  "Yes"
Question:  "Were you over 65?"   Answer:  "No"
Question:  "Were you 62?"  Answer:  "Yes"
A knock was then heard by the team.
Question:  "Did you make that noise?"   Answer:  "Yes"
Question:  "Can you give us your name?"   Answer:  "No"
Question:  "Do any of you here mean us harm?"   Answer:  "Yes"
Question:  "Is it you that means us harm?"   Answer:  "No"
Question:  "Will you protect us whilst we are here?"   Answer:  "Yes"
Mac and Sheila complain that it has become very cold near them.  The temperature reading had gone down to 5.5
Question:  "Can the gentleman who means us harm come and talk to us?"    Answer:  "Yes"
Question:  "Do you not like us?"    Answer:  "Yes"
Question:  "Do you not like women?"    Answer:  "Yes"
Lots of little taps are then heard.  Mac ask the spirit if he could touch one of us, but no member of the team felt anything untoward.
Question:  "Perhaps you could show us which person you want to touch"  The rods then begin to point towards Sheila, again Sheila does not feeling anything.

The group return to the séance.  Jim points out that he is receiving mixed feelings in the room.  He has someone who would be constantly checking everything, also making sure things were in the place.  He can also pick up on someone who had been lazy and a couldn't care less attitude.  Some of team then notice a strange smell in the room, but where unable to pinpoint what type of smell it was.

Jane said she thought she heard a laugh.  Jim adds that he is getting a spirit coming through and he is saying "Oh bloody hell".  Sheila pointed out that the way Jim spoke those words it sounded like a west country accent.  He calls for the spirit lady that was there and informs the group that she has been here a long time.  Following this the team heard a noise that was coming from the courtroom.

They also notice again how the temperature within the room was going up and down.  Jim called out for the spirits to make a noise.  They then heard a knock, Jim requested for the spirits to knock again and they responded with another knock that could be heard.  He then asked to knock once for yes and two knocks for no - the team all heard the one knock.

The team continued to ask out to the spirits and it was at this point that Jim went into a trance.  Mac asks "Who are you?"  there is no response from Jim.  She continues "Did you die here?".  The spirit replies through Jim "Good heavens woman of course not."
"Did you work here?" 
With Jim voice now much deeper in tone he replies "Yes"
Mac resumes her questioning "You sound very posh, are you a judge?  Did you do something important here in this building?"
The spirit replies "It was my courthouse".
Question:  "What year were you here?  Was it in the 60's?"     Answer:  "No"
Question:  "What it in the 50's?"   Answer:  "Yes 53 I believe"
Question:  "So it was your courthouse in 1953?"   He replied sternly "No"
Mac said "I was just testing you - So it was in 1853"  He give out a deep sigh and said "Do I have to repeat myself, do I look like I come from 1953?"
Mac asks the gentleman for his name, but at this point Jim returned to himself and the spirit moved away.  He added that he thought the gentlemans name sounded like Atkins, but reiterated that he was not so good with picking up on spirits names.  The séance continues as the momentum is gathering, Jane notices that Jim has perhaps gone back into another trance as he starts to move towards the courtroom dragging what appears to be his left foot.  The group is still holding hands in a circle and reluctant to break it have to follow him.  Mac tries to find out who it is that was effecting Jim in this way.  As the room is very small it proving difficult to maintain hand contact and they managed to guide Jim back to his original place and bring him out of the trance.  He had no knowledge of what had occurred, but felt that perhaps it was the Judge.  The spirit was not happy, this was his place and we shouldn't be here, we were nobody's.

The team then begin to build up the energy within the circle.  Jim smell something nice, Jane confirms she too can smell it and to her it smells like perfume.  Jim feels that there is a spirit close by and ask for it to push Jane backwards gently.  Jane then moves back, her feet are firmly on the ground and it is only her torso that moves.  He then asks the spirit to move her forwards and with this instruction Jane moves forward.  Following on from this Jim asks the spirit to move Jane backwards for a Yes answer and forwards for a No answer.
He then begins to ask some questions.
"Are you a female?"   Jane moves forwards in reply to "No"
Question:  "Are you the gentleman who we were talking to before, who had passed away last year?"   Answer:  "Yes"
Question:  "Did you work here?"   Answer:  "Yes"
Question:  "Did you look after this place?"    Answer:  "Yes"
Question:  "Did you enjoy working here?"   Answer:  "No"
Question:  "Can you tell me the year when you were born?"  Jim then goes through a number of years until Jane moved to 1936.
Question:  "Can you tell us what month you were born in?"  Again he goes through the months and gets the early part of August.
Jim then say that he can see shadows within the room, but he is getting nothing more from this man.  Sheila asks if there is a clock in the room as she can distinctly hear ticking as if from a clock.  The torches were switched on and a search was conducted, but no clock existed.

Mac asks for the scales to be moved.  Jane then noticed that Jim has gone into another trance and ask "Can you give us your name?" The spirit replies through Jim "I though you would be gone."
Question:  "Is your name Atkins?"   There was no response.
Question:  "How old are you?"   Answer:  "Hmm 64"
Question:  "Was that how old you were when you passed over?"   Answer: "Questions, questions, questions"
Following this reply Jim returned back, he said that he was also getting two younger men coming through.  The group continued for a short while with the séance asking for any spirit to make contact, but nothing further occurred.

THE COURTROOM - Vigil 2

Temperature on arrival:  7.5
EMF reading on arrival:  0.1 in the dock area.  0 everywhere else

The team gathered in the main courtroom for the next vigil.  The room has been laid out to represent a courtroom from around the 18th/19th century.  There are many artifacts and information that has been gathered throughout the years.  The dock area, magistrate benches and a glass cabinet containing a manikin of judge takes up the vast proportion of the room and in the remain space, by the main door entrance the team were able to conduct some table tipping on a small fold away table which they had brought. 

Table tipping in this location have previously gained very good results which Jane, our host had informed us.  However, despite calling out for any spirits to come and move the table, the group results were no movement at all.  There appeared to be some unusual noises heard coming from the far end of the room, but they were unable to pinpoint the source.  Mac mentioned that one of the sounds resembled someone walking around and then a deep sigh was heard.  EVP8 

Following on from the table tipping, the team decided to try the ouija board.  Jim called out for any spirits to come forward and move the glass, it did move very slowly, but with very little energy.  Jane asked if this was the same person that they had spoken to when using the dowsing rods in the Robing Room, but they received no further movement from the glass.  Jim said that he wants to keep looking over his shoulder and asks out if any spirits would like to come forward and move the glass.  He then begins to get strong chest pains and feels as if he is about to have a massive heart attack.  This feeling was from a male spirit and he appeared very strong in stature, he also had a lot anger coming from him.

The group around the ouija board could feel a draft coming across the board.  Jane asked out "Don't you want us here?"  Jim could then feel vibration coming from the board.  Mac concludes that the board looks like it is being used as a table tipping surface.  A sound was then heard by Jane and Sheila and caught on the dictophone. EVP 9

The group around the ouija board stopped the session and had a discussion on what should be investigated next.  Jim then noticed that the glass was back right in the middle of the pentagram within the centre of the board.  When the group had ended the session the glass was slightly off the pentagram.  Everyone confirmed that they had not touched the glass.  Further sounds were then heard and another voice was picked up on the dictophone.  It sounds like "All Quiet"  EVP10

Jim stands behind the Judge's bench and informs the team that a gentleman here has told him that he has no business to be standing there.  He does not like outsiders at all and is also not keen on women.  This gentleman would make sure everything was run precisely, he was a man of considerable authority.  When Jane and Mac join Jim up on the benches, he adds that this is no place for women to stand.  Jane begins to feel unease and feels as though someone is watching us from within the robe room.

The team decided to hold a séance and begin to call out to any spirits that are present.  Jim enters into another trance and from nowhere he shouts "Out" in a voice that is total different from his own and to the dismay of the group.  Mac asks "Why do you want us to leave"  and Jim replies "You have no respect".  Sue tells the group that she feels like someone has just pinched her, Jane also had the same experience. 
Mac asks the spirit "Was that you?"  and "Who are you?"  Jim than stoops over alittle and starts to cry, by the actions he had taken, Mac asks "If they were now talking to a little girl".  Jim nods in agreement.

Jane tries to get her to talk by asking her not to be frighten and to give us her name.
Question:  "Would you like to play a game or perhaps you want some sweets"    Answer:  "Hmm"
Question:  "Are you frightened of someone here, are you frightened of the man here?"   Jim nods his head and then starts to look around the room.
Question:  "Are you looking for something, have you lost something?"     Answer:  "Yes"
At this point Jim returns from his trance and tells everyone that the little girl could not find her dolly and she was also looking for someone as well.

Following this the team decided to split up.  Jim, Jane and Sue go downstairs to the cells.  Mac, Sheila, Jane and Dan (the host) remain in the main courtroom.

In the courtroom Mac, Sheila and Jane begin the ouija board.  Mac calls out to any spirit to move the glass.  The glass then begins to move around the board randomly.  Jane calls out to the little girl that Jim had connected to, she is aware of this girl and knows her name as Ellie May.
Question:  "Ellie May was that you connecting with Jim just now?, can you please move to the yes, and can you bring William with you?". A tapping is heard, but no movement from the glass.
Question:  "Ellie May are you scared?  Can you come towards this little light?"  The glass moves slowly towards the light of the dictophone.
Question:  "Ellie May is William with you?  Can you go towarrds the light again?"
There is no further movement from the glass.  During this time Jane tells Mac and Sheila that she is aware of the man that they had picked up earlier.  He is known to be quite nasty and does not like women at all.  The man is known to be the jailer, who was very strict and treated this place as his own.

Jane calls out to the jailer to make his presence known to the group again.  She believes that he has been fooling around with us by acting like he was someone else.  He is also known to tell people to get out and they have heard him shout out many times before. 

CELL 2 - Vigil 3

Temperature on arrival:  6.3
EMF reading on arrival:  0.1 on the left hand side of the cell.

When the team first arrived at the location a dictophone was placed in this cell to run throughout the investigation.  Despite this place being in what appeared to be a sleepy little village, it was situated on a very busy road.  Due to the cells being on ground level and had an open small courtyard the dictophone was unable to pick up any substantial EVP's.  There were however, the sound of footsteps, at times really quite loud that were picked up, but we cannot say that this was paranormal or not, as it could have been the team walking around upstairs.   It was noted that these footsteps did seem very lound and close to where the dictophone was. 

Jane, Jim, and Sue on the camera went down the stairs to do a vigil of the cells and courtyard.  Jane entered cell 2 alone whilst Jim stood outside with Sue and began to call out.  Within a few seconds a noise was heard but they were unable to identify where it was coming from.  Jane began to get a splitting headache and decided to lie down on the cell bed.

Sue calls out and she hears a metalic noise coming from around the corner where there is a storage area.  There is a metal cupboard standing in the corner which could have attributed to the noise heard if banged upon, but after asking again to repeat the noise, nothing further was heard to confirm it.

Jim joined Jane in the cell area where further noises were being heard.  Jane decided to leave after feeling as though something had touched her leg.  Jime was not getting a happy feeling.  He was picking up on a spirit who was very angry and Jim felt as though he had the feeling of wanting to throw something.  He continued by saying that the man had died in here and the sad part was, he had been committed of a crime he had no part in, but no one would listen to him.

Jim then began to connect with a female spirit, he asked her if she was the lady from upstairs which he had picked up on.  However, he did feel that there was something different about her.  He was getting the letter A and chest pains and asked her "Did you deserve to be locked up in this cell?"

 Jim decideds to use the dowsing rods to try and communicate with any spirits.  Sue calls out for a lady by the name of Betty, a name she had researched on.  The dowsing roads cross indicating yes. 
Question:  "Betty were you locked up because you were suppose to have thrown beer on the landlord?"   Answer:  "Yes"
Question:  "Are you quite old?"    The rods move slight and the answer is unsure.
Question:  "It is correct that when they decided you had done no wrong and agreed to release you, you would not leave until the judge himself came down and personnally let you go?"     Answer:  "Yes"
Question:  "Was you husband always drinking?"     Answer:   "Yes"
Question:  "Are you grounded here?"     The rods move outward indicating No
Question:  "Why won't you leave is it because you can leave and have the freedom?"    Answer:  "Yes"
Question:  "Does he still come down to see you?     Answer:  "Yes"
Question:  "Is he the angry on which Jim had picked up on upstairs?"    Answer:  "Yes"

After thanking Betty they decided to end the vigil and rejoin the group upstairs.  As Jim was leaving the cell he felt unable to move forward as it seemed he was constantly being pulled back.  After a few minutes it passed and he felt able to walk out, not wanting to return back again any time soon.

MAIN COURTROOM AGAIN - Vigil 4

For the last vigil of the night the team decided to do the ouija board again prior to Mac, Sheila and Jane being in contact with the little girl Ellie May.  Mac calls out to her and asks her to copy her when she makes a knocking noise.  After a few seconds we all hear a knock, they thank her for responding and ask her to do it again.   See EVP 1 two knocks are recorded, then another EVP 2 sounds like the voice.  Is it the voice of a little girl

Now the little girl Ellie May seemed to be playing with the group by moving around the room.   Mac counts down from ten to play hide and seek. Jim says that he can see her hiding behind the table.  Mac counts again and Jim can now see her hiding behind the judge’s bench, and then a whine is heard. EVP 3

The group started to sing the song Ring a Ring of Roses.  They asked her to make a noise if she liked the song, but it had all gone quite with no responses heard.  Mac asked Jim if he could still see her, but he confirmed that he was unable to. (Maybe it was the group singing that had frighten her away!)

Jim then tells the group that there is another woman around, following this another sound is picked up on the dictophone. EVP 4 

Sue shouts out and moves quickly, making the rest of the team jump.  Something had hit her in the back of the legs, a bit like a dead leg.  Another EVP is picked up.  You can hear members of the team talking, then what sounds like a completely different voice right at the end of the tape which sounds like a growl. EVP 5

Mac calls out again, Sheila says she can hear and feel creaking near her and she is not moving. Jim believes that Ellie May has returned and is hiding again.  Mac then says that hears a footstep.  Jim says that he can hear a battle going on and it was very loud.  He continues that this battle would have gone on way-back-when, perhaps around the time of the roundheads.  There was also a feeling of remains being found at some point.

Jim He said someone was brought in here, two people, one who was completely crazy and someone else. He was also getting a feeling of witchcraft. He pointed out that it was obvious that this place was were people were tried and perhaps convicted, but he was picking up on a witch who had passed through this courthouse.  Now whether she had been convicted or not he was uncertain, but she had put a curse upon the place. There was also a feeling of death around and wondered if people had been affected by plague at some point.  

The team decided to end the investigation at Pevensey Courthouse at 2.30am.  After packing up the equipment they ventured into the nearby church graveyard.  However, it had turned bitterly cold and after walking around for no more then 10 minutes the team needed to retreat back to their cars for some warmth.  Jim had come down to the graveyard earlier in the evening and taken some photo's.  These can be found below.

CONCLUSION

SouthWest London Paranormal would like to thank the staff at Pevensey Courthouse for making us welcome and for telling them some of the facts behind what we found.

*    Jim was spot on with the man he kept on picking up on declaring  it was his courthouse. However, he was not a judge, he was the jailer.

*    The young girl that he picked up on, as did Mac has also been picked up many times before.  Jim was again spot on with her details.

Jane also told the group that the plague had indeed been there. There were plague graves in the graveyard behind the courthouse.

Overall it was a good investigation and SouthWest London Paranormal came away with some good and matching evidence that was confirmed by our host, whom they wish to thank again.