Haunted Southampton Ltd presents A Paranormal Investigation of
St. Cross Hospital and Almshouse
By Kind permission of The Master and the Porter, And with Psychic Artist Kathy Bavister.
Contents: Introduction Initial Assessment Investigation night – Medium’s Walkround Investigation and Experiments Other Observations Conclusion
Introduction The Hospital of St Cross is an amazing institution that has been in existence for nearly nine hundred years. Legend has it that Henry of Blois, a grandson of William the Conqueror, was walking in the Itchen Meadows where he came across a young girl who was starving and begging for help for herself and her people – and further on happened upon ruins of a ‘religious’ house, so inspiring him to found a community for the poor. A man of wealth and influence – and being appointed a Bishop for Winchester at what nowadays seems an unseemly age of 28, he created the Hospital of St Cross between 1132 and 1136. Further along in time Cardinal Beaufort created the Order of Noble poverty, and expanded the site into the magnificent collection of buildings we can see today – bar a few small alterations. The Hospital supports 13 ‘Brothers’ – not at all monks but in the way of a friendly community or club, which is the same amount as it originally took in all those years ago. In fact it is as far as we can tell the only building of its type in the whole country that is still serving its original purpose.
The worn stone step into the Chapel – takes a long time to make a mark that deep in stone just by walking on it.
The Hospital entertains a regular Dowsing Group, and also encourages the Deceased to remain with the Hospital if they wish to do so beyond death, in the Funeral services they reverently hold. These facts, together with the occasional rumoured spooky episode, led to us making enquiries
regarding the possibility of conducting a paranormal investigation in February 2012. Having made enquiries at this kind of location before, and being politely but firmly rebuffed, we did not hold out much hope of being allowed to do so – so imagine our surprise when our suggestion was actually taken up with great enthusiasm. The serenity of the grounds and the beauty of the location have made a lasting impression upon all who have visited the Hospital – who would not want to remain here if they could. So with high hopes and a healthy dose of trepidation we arrived on the night of 30th April for the first ever Paranormal Investigation St Cross has hosted. Little did we know what to expect….
The beautiful Tower and Brethren’s Hall.
Initial Assessment Walking around the grounds of such a magnificent institution we felt dwarfed by the task ahead – Cathy the Porter held a huge bunch of keys that somehow she seemed to know exactly which one was needed every time we opened another door. The cottages and the Masters house were not going to be investigated so that at least made things a little easier. The most notable aspect of the site was the age of the buildings involved – the stone staircases were well worn and uneven so would present a constant hazard on the night, and the under croft area ceiling was very low in places, as were the steps of the spiral stairs that accessed the Tower and the cellar so presenting another hazard to those amongst us not vertically challenged. Windows and doors had gaps in them so causing a draft that could be misinterpreted if we did not make note. The Brethrens Hall is very large, so would probably feel cold on the night, and sound travels easily around the rooms as the walls and floors are all stone work. Rooms above the hall have no electricity supply, so any EMF readings there would be interesting, and the Balcony above the Brethrens Hall provides a wonderful observation area, but is dangerous at the front part as it is not supported, but is already roped off so people hopefully will take note. The Tower itself is a fantastic example of fifteenth century ingenuity, but again the doors let in a gentle draft. The Ambulatory is open to the elements, but again has no electricity supply. The entire site is surrounded by water in one form or another – streams, ponds and of course water meadows, so dampness will have to be taken into account when temperatures are considered. EMF readings around the site are all within normal limits, and there were no particularly unusual compass fluctuations. With the initial assessment complete and nothing unusual to report, we looked forward to the main event.
Investigation Night – Medium’s Walkround. The night of 30th April was unfortunately one of the stormiest of the year so far – rain was lashing down and the strength of the wind made even the stones work shudder at times. However all this seemed to do was to enhance the atmosphere of the site – which in a way was not helpful as it might predispose those attending to attribute noises or movement to a paranormal source rather than to an environmental one. Before the guests arrived, I and Kathy Bavister – our medium for the night – toured St Cross so she could attune herself to the area and see is she could pick up anything. Initially in the Beer Cellar by the Kitchens Kathy felt, though generally the atmosphere was benign, that there may have been bodies stored down here, before funerals in the past. In the Kitchen she was aware of a lady servant – perhaps head cook or a head Maid with a white frilly cap, who felt antagonistic towards Cathy the Porter, but that it was not an active dislike, rather than the feeling of one who has had their nose put out because she was in her space so to speak. The corridor towards the Brethren’s Hall was full of ‘busy energy, but nothing particularly obvious made itself known at that time. The Bread room had a heavier, almost ceremonial feel, was colder (not physically) and Kathy felt that the Dowsing rods might go mad in here. There was a feeling of authority also – an older gentleman in robes was making himself known. The room above the Bread room next to the Gallery did not inspire much at that time to Kathy, but on the Gallery itself she sensed a kind of judgemental feeling – like a court was overseen from here. Also felt like important visitors might have spent time up here. The room at the back upstairs had a Spartan feeling and also felt like it might have been used for guests to stay in – or at least important visitors again.
The Brethren’s Hall – picture taken during the initial assessment of the site. The space has remained unchanged for hundreds of years.
The Brethren’s Hall itself was again busy, a meeting place for friends and also business, and also had a feeling like control – as if there was an overseer to what went on. There was a gentleman in purple-ish robes making himself obvious again – she felt it might be the same one as before. The Tower generally had a feeling of a self important individual – as if the person in control lived here – all the rooms were overlaid with ‘authority’, with servants that came and went but did not interact. Decisions were made and visitors received, but only one person lived in here. The grounds outside and the ambulatory were not an area that we lingered in I am afraid – the conditions being such that shelter was more important than spending time waiting for psychic impressions! We spent some time in the Chapel, though it would not be used as an official part of the investigation Cathy wanted to know what we picked up in here.
The main door to the Chapel.
Kathy immediately felt the presence of a man who was lurking near the vestry – that he was very often in the church and was quite mischievous in nature – that his name might be ‘Charlie’ and that he was known to
Cathy – who acknowledged this. We then realised that the light was on in the passage up on the first level of the windows – the Chapel is riddled with small passageways to enable workers to maintain the church. The door to the passage way was locked, and there was no switch that we could find down in the actual church itself. Cathy was unsure as to the last time that anyone went up there but was certain that it was not recently, and said that she would fetch the keys so she could go up there and find the switch to see how it was operated. I asked if James, our team member who is an electrician, would be able to accompany her – to which she agreed. Kathy also mentioned a special picture or drawing – unsure as to the significance – and the Porter was pleased to be able to show us a very old medieval painting that was mostly faded apart from a few bright details on the wall near the Organ. Other than this and a general feeling of worship and ceremony Kathy felt the place was very tranquil and meditative, so we returned to the Hub in order to greet our guests and get the investigation started.
Investigation and Experiments Many of our guests come along to these events because they have a genuine fascination with the Paranormal. Some come along because they are completely sceptical and either want to be proved wrong, or right! And still others believe they are sensitive and come to see what they can sense for themselves – like a test of their abilities. Whatever their reasons, we ask our guests to write down as much as they can remember during the course of the event, so we can produce a report to the owners in the future. I shall take this moment to explain a few of the terms we use. Vigil – a small group of people asking for spiritual communication – sometimes in a circle. They do not use séance equipment in this instance rather scientific data collectors or indicators. Asking out – the process by which people ask for spiritual interaction. K2 Meter – a form of electromagnetic detector that has lights indicating the strength of the field detected, Green being normal back ground levels, up to red which is very high levels. It is theorised that spirits use energy around them to manifest or affect their surroundings, and the most common energy available is electro magnetic – being that we use electricity to power most modern devices. Hygrometer – a device used to measure both temperature and humidity. Important because sudden temperature fluctuations are reported to accompany paranormal activity. Laser grid – a small green laser with a prism fitted to the end – when activated it can illuminate a very large area and can alert the user through the obscuring of points of light to any possible movement. The eye has developed to be alert to movement. Franks Box – a digital radio that has had the internal scanner altered so it does not stop at any channel – rather constantly scanning through the various stations as they broadcast. The theory is that Spirits operate at a far higher frequency than us, and are able to anticipate what words are being broadcast and highlight them to us as a real time example of electronic voice phenomena. Night vision camera – a video camera that is able to film in zero lux – i.e. no visible light. They use infra red technology to be able to pick up everything, and we also use infra red flares to help us see more. The
cameras also use tape to record rather than digital cards – so enabling us to prove there is no tampering – if we ever catch anything of note. Dowsing rods – a pair of copper or brass rods that are meant to respond in a positive or negative answer to simple questions asked. Thermal Imager – a specialist camera that records images in the form of heat produced rather than light. Useful in capturing cold spots or heat sources that have no reasonable explanation. After the Medium’s walkround we repeat the walk with the guests, so they can acquaint themselves with the buildings fire exits, toilets etc. They can also get a ‘feel’ for the building – especially if they believe they have some psychic abilities – it gives them a taste of where they would like to go. They then can go where ever they wish and use any of our equipment – and see what happens. As the night progresses however, some people get a little carried away and can forget to add details to the notes, such as time and location, so any experiment sheets filled out without these details will be included in the ‘Other Observations’ section of the report, as will any other information.
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Curtained Area – 23. 30 Equipment used – K2 Meter. The group involved spent about half an hour asking out for responses, and during this time, one member of the group started to itch all over, though did not appear to have a rash or reaction to any bites etc. Another member of the group was aware of feelings that there had possibly been plagues sufferers in here, though whether being treated or contained he did not know. Another group member also had the impression that a sufferer of Leprosy had spent time here. Other than that nil else occurred of note, so they ended the vigil and moved on.
Undercroft 0030 Equipment used – K2 Meter, Night vision Camera, Hygrometer, Digital Camera, Night vision goggles (guests own) Myself and two guests sat in the Undercroft for about 40 minutes – asking for interaction to happen between any spirit presences in the area. There was a lot of noise created by the fierce winds and rattling doors, but having said that there was what sounded like footsteps coming from under the door to the spiral staircase, and a couple of very definite taps in response to the questions ’Can you make that noise again’. One of the ways we can any noise is possibly paranormal in origin is to ask for a particular noise, tap etc to be repeated, and in this case this one was. There was also several moments when the K2 Meter seemed to flash when we asked it to, but then it also flashed randomly a couple of times as well, so we cannot be certain that was in response to any questions. Nothing unusual showed on the pictures, the night vision filming or the Goggles, however, and after 40 minutes we returned to the Hub.
2nd floor Tower Room – 01.30 On a lone vigil one of the team – Pat Collins, spent about 20 minutes asking for something to happen – noises, movement, and any physical interaction. The room had been set up by a local artist with a dress spread across a spinning wheel on one side of the room. Though it was very windy outside, at this point he could feel no drafts, and after about 20 minutes, just as he was starting to leave (which we find happens an awful lot on our investigations), whilst he was looking at it, the dress gently moved across the wheel and fell to the floor, and then the wheel started turning by itself. There was also a whistling noise that he heard coming from the direction of the spinning wheel. The wheel then stopped moving, and the noise ceased. It is possible that the noise was caused by the wheel itself as it moved, but Pat did not believe so. He replaced the dress carefully across the wheel, and left the room, planning to return later to see if there was any further movement.
The Spinning wheel with the dress – as you can see before it moved it was not hung on the side or thrown haphazardly across it – but placed carefully as part of the art project so it would not move accidentally.
Kitchen 0200 Equipment used – K2 Meter, Laser grid, Frank’s Box and Dowsing Rods. Using Dowsing rods the group had the energy of a girl called Verity, aged about 28. She apparently suffered greatly from bad treatment from a man. One of the group, Debbie, then said she briefly saw the image of a woman in a white hat stood next to her, and another guest, Rob, saw a dark shape then move quickly across the kitchen, crossing the laser grid as it did so. Nothing else happened, and after another 15 minutes the group ended the experiment.
Main Corridor – 02.30 Equipment used – as before (same group performing the experiment.) After a few minutes of sitting quietly and asking out the group heard the latches of the door move, but put it down to the windy conditions. After a while longer however, they became aware of the fact that though the wind was gusting outside, the door latch (into the Brethrens Hall) was in fact not moving at all. So they asked out for any spirits in the room to
rattle the door latch again – and to their surprise they were. They then asked for the door to be knocked three times, to see if they could get a proper response not attributable to the environment, and again they were rewarded by three definite knocks. As they continued to observe for a few more minutes, the door was seen to actually open at least three times, which is not easily done because of the latch involved. After another 20 minutes or so however, the phenomena stopped, so they ended the experiment.
1st Floor Tower Room – 02.30 No Equipment used at this time. I spent about 40 minutes in this room with one of the guests – Terri – just asking out and letting the room ‘talk’ to us. With this experiment the idea is to just remain as quiet as possible, unless we hear anything, in which case we would ask for any phenomena to be repeated.
View of the first Tower room, taken during the initial assessment
After a few minutes, we both had the feeling that we were being watched creep up on us very quickly – there was nothing to suggest that this was occurring, just a prickly sensation on the back of our necks and heads. On asking for a response we got a few taps, but as the weather was rough it was difficult to say whether this was because of the wind. Terri regards herself as being ‘a little sensitive’ as in she feels that she can sometimes sense if there are any spirits near, but unfortunately she did not feel as if we were sharing the room with anything, even though the feeling of
being observed was for a time quite intense. However, the feeling suddenly dissipated after about 20 minutes, so we ended the vigil.
2nd floor Tower Room – 02.30 Returning to the Spinning wheel, Pat found that the dress was as he had left it before – but as he was there it again slid off the wheel as it turned. Encouraged by this reaction – he replaced it, and returned again ten minutes later with another member of the group – Emma – to see if there was any more movement. Low and behold – the dress had fallen off the spinning wheel again. This repeated action was extremely unusual – especially as this kind of event had not occurred before – the Porter Cathy was great friends with the artist and as far as she was aware this had never happened while she had been working in the room – and she had spent a lot of time in here. They returned to the room about twenty minutes later however, and the dress remained where it was and the wheel had not moved, nor did it for the rest of the night, despite the fact that the weather did not get any better and the winds still howled through the Tower as they had done before.
Seating area – 0330 Equipment used – K2 Meter, Thermal Imager, Voice recorder, Digital Camera. After asking out for a few minutes, one of the group, Kira, experienced temperature changes, feeling initially hot, then cold. It must be said that the weather outside we inclement and temperature fluctuations might well occur when the wind dropped, or the rain eased off for a moment. She also began to experience chest flutterings, or palpitations – unusual in a young person, but not unheard of, so she may not have been experiencing anything paranormal. After a further ten minutes, another of the group, Kay, had a sudden headache, which continued until she left the area. Andrea had a sudden lowering of the temperature around her legs, but again that could be attributed to the general weather conditions. However, as they observed the K2 meter, it started to react, the lights flickering up to red, and as they called out, trying to encourage any spirits in the room to come close to the Meter to make it flash, there appeared to be small lights ‘sparkling’ around the K2, something not seen before. This occurred for two or three minutes, and then stopped. After
ten more minutes and nothing else unusual occurring, they ended the experiment.
Beer Cellar – 0430 Equipment used – digital camera, digital voice recorder, K2 meter. I, Kathy Bavister and another guest spent about half an hour asking out for interaction for any spirits in the room. The area seemed generally quiet, and there was little reaction from the K2 Meter during the time we were in there. Kathy felt that generally any energy down there at that point was residual – as in left behind by the presence of spirits in the past, and nothing was in the room with us. There was one nerve wracking moment that occurred when in the dark Kathy managed to kick one of the barrels, knocking it off the stand it was on – the noise was amazing but not paranormal in origin – unfortunately. After replacing the barrel, we did hear a couple of taps – but on requesting the noise to be repeated, nothing further occurred and we ended the session.
Two of our guests in the Beer Cellar during the course of the night.
Tower Stairwell – 05.00 Equipment used – K2 meter, Dowsing rods A group of five guests went back down into the stairwell where they had had an interesting experience earlier in the night (see other observations). They started by asking out, and heard something similar to what they
had before – the sound of feet moving, though this time in the Undercroft. They spent about ten minutes in total silence to see if they could pinpoint the area the noise was coming from, but were unable to – as the shuffling had stopped.
The stair well at the bottom of the spiral staircase that caused so much consternation.
They did not hear any further sounds like feet, but after a few minutes more they all heard a very distinct groan – loud, as if annoyed or angry. I met them charging back up the stairs as I was going down to see what they were up to – and they all said the same thing, that they had heard a very loud voice groaning and they all had felt the need to remove themselves from the vicinity very quickly. Unfortunately no one had a recording device on at the time, but they all gave separate accounts that matched and on checking it was found that there was no one else in the Under croft at the time. The wind had been making the doors vibrate a little earlier on in the night, but they had all heard that at various times during the course of the night and said that the noise they heard was completely different.
Other Observations. The Chapel Light Returning to the beginning of the Evening, James returned to the Chapel with Katherine, and together they unlocked the door to the maintenance passages in the walls. Going up the narrow stairs to the first level they found an old fashioned switch that had to be physically pushed up or down in order to turn the light on or off. They turned it off, and returned down to the Chapel and left, locking both the door to the passages and the Church behind them. However, when the group returned for a quiet vigil in the church – the light was back on again. The doors had been locked – no one had access to the keys except Cathy the Porter – so how did the light get turned on?
In the Top Tower Room. Using a digital voice recorder I undertook a lone vigil to attempt to gain something in EVP form. Recording EVP sessions is almost an art form – the background noise must be at a minimum and ideally there should be no interruptions. There are several sites where you can upload your EVP recordings for analysis, or lots of free programs that you yourself can use to listen back and digitally enhance the recording In this instance I went through a pre filled sheet of questions to see if I could get any responses, but unfortunately I had none. Oh well….next.
Stairwell Vigil Pete Collins and a group of guests spent some time at the bottom of the Tower stairs, in an area that is behind a door backing on to the Under croft. After a few minutes of asking out – they were surprised to see and hear the door rattle – in fact several guests were quite apprehensive. It seemed to occur when there was not any obvious wind, and on checking they discovered that there was no one in the Undercroft at that time. After about ten minutes more of asking out there was no further response – and they decided to leave and go back for a break – but as they started to go up the spiral staircase there were footsteps heard coming down the stairs above them. But on waiting to see who was coming down, after a few minutes they realised that the footsteps had stopped, and that no one had appeared. On further investigation they
realised that no one was on the stairs above them, and no one was in the Tower rooms, or the Brethrens Hall. So who had been coming down the stairs? And where had they gone?
Pete looking distinctly uncomfortable on the stairs!
In the Undercroft. No note made of equipment used. Obviously in a vigil being undertaken – though I am unsure of the whereabouts of the vigil or the time taken. The questions asked and responses were as follows: Q. – What year were you born? A. – 1789 Q. - How old are you? A. – 75 years Q. – Were you married? A. – No Q. – Did you have a lover? A. – Yes
Q. - How old was your lover? A. – 30 Years. I am unsure as to the relevance of this line of questioning, but the Rods apparently were moving very strongly.
Vigil in the Beer Cellar. Equipment used – Thermal Imager, K2 meter, digital camera During the course of this vigil, noises were heard coming from the kitchen area. On investigation however, it was concluded that the source was members of the group entering the Hub area for a break – though talking quietly their voices and footsteps echoed down the stone corridor, and probably were distorted by the distance involved. There were a few tapping noise, but they appeared random generated – possibly by rain water dripping onto the window shutters. The participants however were not keen on spending much time in this space – they found it oppressive and uncomfortable – in complete contrast to the peaceful atmosphere that I and Kathy found in here twice.
More notes were as follows – The name Jo came up in another vigil, in which apparently one of the guests had a laughing fit for no apparent reason. The group said that they got the feeling that someone was playing games with them. As the vigil went on however, there was the feeling that the atmosphere changed from fun, warm and comfy to suddenly feel eerie. They then found that the rods were giving responses to questions that were completely different from previously – as in the responses were immediate – less hesitant and seemingly ‘stronger’ in their actions. The year 1364 was indicated, and that a 12 year old was involved in whatever situation they were referring to, and the word ‘Brother’ seemed significant. Unfortunately there was little other information on this sheet, so the relevance of the information is lost I’m afraid.
Conclusion. St. Cross Hospital is an incredible piece of history – living history - as it has the unique position of still serving its community 876 years after it was first envisioned by its founder. The buildings are lovingly maintained and the serenity and calm the environment provides those who spend their last years within its walls is truly enviable. Looking through the reports that our guests filled in, I find no mention of anything negative being uncovered – and though some of the phenomena that presented itself during the night was a little alarming, I feel that rather than being aggressive or negative, the mood was one of growing interest. The phenomena seemed to gain pace as the night progressed, and despite the less than ideal conditions, the guests became more and more intrigued as the dawn approached. Some of the events occurring in the night included moving objects (the spinning wheel, the doors rattling on demand and opening), feelings that seemed to have no obvious source (palpitations, laughter for no reason, being watched), audible phenomena (the footsteps and groaning noises): there was quite a range of different happenings – but for me the crowning glory was the light that was on in the Chapel when we had made sure it was off. There was no way that that could have been turned on by anyone present at the time. Catherine the Porter has a theory. That time somehow slips and intermingles with earlier or later time lines, and that what we sometimes assume is ghostly activity is in fact the citizens of times past going about their ordinary business – that when we see them we know that these are old images, only when they see us they get very frightened and react badly. Possible? Who knows – we do not perhaps understand enough to say whether it is or not. Is that what is happening? I cannot say, though I do not discount the potential the idea has. Someone from the past might be curious about what that strange button is on the wall that was not there before, and fiddle with it – so causing the light in our time to go on without any reasonable explanation. Mind you – I do not know the comings and goings of the Brothers, late or otherwise, like Catherine. Maybe she does have the right of it – but whatever is going on here, there certainly seems to have been several occurrences that I cannot explain. Is St. Cross haunted? I cannot say for sure – we leave our guests to make up their own minds. I for one will be returning to check on that light, and
see if I can hear the footsteps on the spiral staircase – it seems that we have asked more questions than we have answered.
Haunted Southampton’s intrepid investigators exploring the Brethren’s Hall.
Acknowledgments. We would like to thank Catherine Sekker, the Porter, for spending the night with us and allowing us the chance to investigate this wonderful location. Thanks also go to ‘The Master’, again for enabling this investigation to take place. The Hospital of St Cross has been one of our most intriguing nights, and we would love to return in the future to carry on probing into its slumbering past. Thanks go to the team for their usual enthusiastic participation, and to Kathy Bavister for being our Psychic guide for the night.
The biggest thank you however, as always, goes to the guests that make our investigations worthwhile – without you this evening would not have taken place. Thank you all!