OTTERBURN CASTLE LOCKDOWN - Saturday 28th October 2023
So !
Otter burn castle Halloween sleepover !
So the night started off with all greeting the guests in fancy dress some who had also arrived in some amazing outfits, we all meet in the main hall and Chris split us into 2 groups, Mike F, Ged and Chrissy Pooh,&
Big Al ,Cam ,and Katie .
So Mike Ged and guests main corridor 2nd floor .
Equipment used own senses.
Ged carried out the white light protection for those wanting to partake, we then sat/ stood in the corridor and called out , a few noises where heard and some guests got the feeling we were being watched but had no direct contact, we it was decided to spot the group in 2 Mike with 1 half Ged ten other.
GED’s group room 10,
Equipment used, K2, cat ball.
Ged started asking out and guest Billy was sat on the steps in the bedroom, Billy felt a child was around us, an at that a noise was heard behind him Guests asked questions and it was felt answered by the child ( no name given) a light anomaly was witnessed on a few occasions in the bathroom this was tried to be debunked but unable to find a cause not spiritual! Guest Shirley felt touch on her chin and guest Helen also felt a touch on her head guests were informed this had happened to LVI staff on pre event walk around.
Room 11,
Equipment used, K2 suitcase table,cat ball, own senses.
The guests moved into room 11 and some felt a presence in there.
Everyone started calling out and Ged suggested they try table tipping as one guests had stated they’d seen a dark shadow in the bathroom, the suitcase stand was used for the table tipping experiment, Helen 1 of the guests stated she felt very very uneasy, Shirley said she felt someone touching her and billy sat across the main bedroom stated he and his wife both saw a white mist at the end of the bed, the table rose a number of inches off the floor and moved slightly , both Billy and his wife noted the K 2 device had moved once placed on the floor a child yet again was felt and everyone believed the child had been following us around, once activity died don we moved to room 15 but guests felt very uneasy so it was decided a break should be had before returning with more equipment.
Room 15,
Equipment used Ghost talker ITC device, cat ball, REM bear,K2 .
On settling into room 15 guests split into the main bedroom and sitting rooms leaving the bathroom empty. Ged called out and received a few indications on the K2 Billy and Helen sat in the back room said they could see a showdown person manifesting by the window ( curtains drawn) they stated it was getting bigger and suddenly ran out of the room falling over other guests and decided after their experience to sit outside the bathroom, Guests Chantelle Christina and Steph sat in the back room and we were joined by Chris. On a few occasions tapping was heard on the wardrobe and suddenly everybody heard the sound of someone running down the hall corridor Chris ran into the corridor but no one was to be seen this put everyone on edge, Billy and Helen had activity in the bathroom with a K2 and Ged placed a cat ball in there also , the K2 meter in the main bedroom activated on numerous occasions, as activity died down it was decided to move to room 17.
Room 17
Equipment used K2 , REM bear, ITC device
Everyone sat in the main bedroom whilst asking out no activity was received after 15 mins so it was decided to break again before we moved into the main tower area.
Main tower area Room 7 ( old library).
Equipment used Estes devices, REM bear, ITC device, cat balls,K2.
We arrived at room 7 to join Mike F’s group who had set up cat balls in 2 areas of the room and stated they’d agreed yes and no with spirit and had been receiving interaction.
Ged started asking out and received indications to yes and no questions and it was determined it was a boy aged 12 no name given .Mikes grouop decided to move onto other rooms and guests asked to carry out an Estes experiment. Helen was very keen to try the technique as she had seen it and wanted to partake. Helen moved into the bathroom and stated she couldn’t hear the remaining guests at all. We asked if we had a boy or girl and Helen said a boy, when asked his age 12 how many of us in the room he said 8(correct) we asked how he’d died he said in the war , when asked the year he stated 73 so if it was 1873 or before we couldn’t determine. We asked if he was with his parents he said alone, then said Helen which freaked Helen out and she no longer wanted to continue. Shirley decided she would take over , and on asking her questions she stated Shirley Celtic, and the boy name was Albert , he was 12 yrs old had been shot and killed in a war, was alone replied buzz off on a few occasions when he didn’t want to answer the question asked. Albert stated he was lonely and when asked if he wanted to see his parents he stated yes, we asked if he could see the bright white light he stated No .. we asked him to keep trying and to trust us everything would be fine , Albert stated he could see the light and was moving towards it as prompted, Albert stated he was scared and asked if he could come back , Albert was told he’d be safe and had free will to return when he wanted, Albert stated he could see his mother but not father,Albert was asked to trust us and keep moving forward, Albert said he felt safe and loved and that he’d see us on the other side, and said goodbye no more contact was made as Shirley stated she wasn’t able to carry on, the REM bear activated a few times to back up questions and it was decided to move on again to room 5.
Room 5.
Equipment used .
K2 ITC device, REM bear, Crystal board ,
Guests took it in turns in room 5 once shown how the crystal board worked , Billy went first and received yes and no answers to his questions which were of a personal contact nature, Christina then used the board and received answers to her questions the board moving the crystal a totally different was than Billy to answer her questions.no K2 activity was picked up and it was decided to move to room 3.
Room 3.
Equipment used,
ITC device K2, REM bear, camera.cat balls. Suitcase stand.
We started of by everybody getting comfortable before asking out,
Ged took a photo as the K2 device went off and the bear was activating, a Green streak was seen on the picture as well as orbs around the room. Table tipping was tried again in the bathroom but no direction contact information was forthcoming. It was then decided the end had caught up with us and guests decided some of them wanted to retire to their rooms,
We all got together and shared our thoughts of the night and how much activity we had experienced, over all a great night with great guests getting into the spirit of things full,of enthusiasm and happy with our interactions with some lovely spirits.
Otterburn Castle - Halloween Special 28th Oct 2023
Team Members: Chris, Cam, Ged, Alan, Katie and Michael F
Before the guests arrived, Chris, Cam and Ged had a walk around the castle and introduced ourselves to the spirits.
We started in Room 1. We spread out and Chris began a call-out. The rem-pod device was in the doorway of the bathroom and went off. Chris had walked past it but we double checked the distance and it could not have been Chris who had set it off. It didn’t go off again so we were unable to verify what caused it.
Cam could feel the head piece of her costume being touched on the left side of her head. As we called out more, the right side of her head piece was gently tugged.
Cam had also heard a female ‘crying’ 4 separate times.
Chris and Ged both heard footsteps coming from above. These were heard multiple times but we were the only people in the castle and the doors were locked.
Chris felt the urge to call out to spirit, addressing them with ‘My Dear’. This was very strange as it’s not something he would normally say. Just then, Chris was touched on the head.
We heard more taps and footsteps coming from above so we decided to head upstairs.
We entered every room in the castle and this was what happened before the guests arrived.
Room 15
This was a small room, set out very similar to all of the others.
Chris stood at the far side of the bed, Cam at the other side of the bed and Ged near the foot of the bed. We stood still and called out to spirit. The room felt very different as soon as we walked in and as soon as we called out, Cam heard ‘rustling’ behind Chris. It was really loud. We found that this was actually the underlay of the carpet. However, we were all stood still so who was walking around us? Just then, Chris heard what he can only describe as someone yapping their lips together. He said it sounded awful. As soon as he said this, we could all smell a disgusting smell of excrement. Who was this?
We got a few more noises but decided to move on to another room.
We headed through the corridors. When we stopped to open a door, as we were stood still, the footsteps behind us did not stop. Were we being followed?
We entered The Library Suite (Room 7).
We got comfortable and asked the spirit if they had called us up to that room. The room was above Room 1, where we were hearing the footsteps above.
We were met with taps and noises from near the bed and the bathroom.
The atmosphere changed and the room got darker. Chris was stood in the middle of the room and said he felt like an energy was closing in around him. There were 3 mirrors around him.
Ged stood where Chris was and he also felt the same. Just then, Cam could smell vomit. It was so strong, and then quickly changed to excrement. It lasted around a minute and then left. Was this the spirit who had made themselves known in Room 15? Had they followed us through the corridors?
We moved on and found ourselves in Room 17. This was where Cam and Katie would be sleeping.
They were met with a very strong smell of a male brut. It lasted a few minutes and quickly dispersed. We checked the room for plug-ins, air fresheners etc but there was nothing.
We ended up on the ground floor and as we were approaching Room 2, Cam could hear a man’s voice. It was very close to them so she placed a rem-pod on the leather chair in the corner of the corridor.
We went inside Room 2 and Ged told us he could see shadows walking past the mirror. This wasn’t us because we weren’t within proximity to cast a reflection.
Just then we all heard something. Chris left the room to quickly check there was no one there. There wasn’t. Cam said it sounded like a gruff raspy exhale. Ged demonstrated the noise he heard. We had all heard the same. Who was this male spirit?
We greeted the guests in our outfits and there were a few screams.
We decided to split straight away into our 2 groups as we had many guests with us and a lot of rooms to investigate.
Team - Cam, Alan and Katie
The Library Suite (Room 7) - no equipment (at first).
We decided to start on the tower side of the castle and took our guests to Room 7.
We all spread out in the room and made ourselves comfortable. We began our call out and were immediately met with taps from near the bathroom area.
As we continued with our questioning, the taps got louder and we then started hearing movement from around the bed.
The taps became responses to our questions and a few guests said they had been touched.
One of our guests, reported seeing a hooded figure standing looking in the large mirror. They only saw this when Cam had taken a photo of the guests.
We called out directly to the spirit and again were greeted with taps.
Another guest sensed a child. He wasn’t very old. Perhaps a little more than toddler age. They also picked up on the name ‘Arthur’.
We called out to Arthur, and a few of us in the room saw a dark shadow move from the middle of the room towards Alan. Just then, Alan said his leg had been patted.
Alan kept seeing the letters ‘CH’. We didn’t know if this was a spirit trying to tell us their name. We called out asking a few different names but couldn’t be sure,
Katie asked if any of the guests wanted to try mirror scrying, to see if we could communicate with the shadow figure seen in front of the mirror.
Our guest got comfortable and started mirror scrying. It wasn’t long before we started to see changes. We all saw the guests facial features change to that of an oriental male and they looked sad. We didn’t manage to find out who this person was.
We tried to introduce a cat ball, for the child to use for interaction. It didn’t go off once.
The Drawing Room
We moved to the drawing room. It was ‘lighter’ than the other rooms. Alan started the call-out and after around 5 minutes, we all heard a thud on the wooden floor.
Cam said she saw a shadow person peek out from the far side of the end of the fireplace wall. A guest had also seen this and Katie confirmed she had also seen this too.
We called out to the spirit. Cam said she could see it was a small child, a little boy. She then walked over to the fireplace and pointed out the child’s height. He was either very shy or hiding because he should not have been in the room.
We asked a few more questions, asking if they were a chimney sweep or if they worked in the castle to keep the fireplaces stocked with wood. We didn’t get a response. Alan asked if Cam knew the boy’s age and Cam said he looked around the age of 8. Alan confirmed he was seeing what looked like a number 6, 8 or 3. He couldn’t quite make it out but the shape was there.
After around 15-20 minutes we decided to go for a break.
Alan and Katie stayed in the room and had their own personal experience of the little boy.
Room 2
After a quick break, we headed to Room 2.
We spread out in the room, with some sitting on seats, the bed and the floor.
A rem-pod was placed in the bathroom and a proximity bear on the bedside unit.
As soon as we started calling out, the rem-pod in the bathroom went off. The proximity bear was going off at the same time. We decided to switch off the proximity bear for a short time.
As we were calling out, the rem-pod went off a further 2 times.
We all heard what sounded like footsteps approaching the other side of the door and then noises from the door as if someone was trying to come in. Alan was standing nearest to the door and showed everyone it wasn’t him as he was about a foot in front of the door. He opened the door but there was no one there.
We were hearing taps and thuds in response to our questions but we couldn’t work out where they were coming from. Those at one end of the room said they sounded like from the other side, and vice versa.
We decided to try again with the proximity bear and placed it in the middle of the floor.
The bear did light up a few times on request but we were unable to work out just who it was we were talking to.
We saw what looked like a dark mass move across the room, towards the bathroom. A couple of guests said the bathroom door had moved. We called out but didn’t get anything, but we could hear footsteps.
Room 4
Cam took 5 guests into Room 4. This room was smaller than some of the others.
We called out and tried using the proximity bear but we got absolutely nothing. We did however all hear a slight whistling noise. Cam checked outside and it wasn’t coming from outside the room. It wasn’t coming from the pipes either. It was very weird.
After around 20 minutes in this room and no activity to report, we decided to meet back up with Alan, Katie and the other guests.
Room 1
We headed to Room 1. With just the 6 of us we spread out in the room.
2 guests were sitting on the bed and the others in the chairs opposite. The 2 guests on the bed reported being touched.
All of a sudden the unpleasant smell returned and one of the guests on the bed said they felt sick. The smell went but the guest who was feeling unwell starting yapping their mouth, just like what Chris had reported at the beginning of the night. We started to ask if spirit passed over due to illness. We started getting responses in the form of taps, thuds and the bear was going off. We were trying to work out what types of illnesses would have most likely been the cause of the symptoms and asked if it was Cholera. Responses again. Also, earlier when we were in Room 7 and Alan could see the letters ‘CH’, we thought this was the name of a spirit. Was this spirit trying to tell us about their illness? It’s possible.
The room fell very dark and the atmosphere changed. We got more responses but decided to move on after the guests got a little scared when the door opened on its own.
Room 9
This was a large family room, with 2 separate rooms which were linked. Half of the group stayed on one side of the room and carried out table tipping and a ouija board session.
The other guests decided to try their own calling out using teddy bear trigger objects which were already in the room. They also used a K2 device and the proximity bear.
Alan and Katie were getting great activity table tipping so Cam stayed with the other guests and worked with them as they used one of their apps, necrophonic.
Cam asked if any of the guests would like to try asking some questions. One of the guests ran with this and we were told via the app that there were 3 spirits. We then asked how many were in the room in total. We were told 9. There were 6 of us so that would have been correct.
Alan asked if any of the male guests would like to join the ouija board as spirit wanted to only communicate with males. The guests weren’t keen but we decided to all move into the same room to help with the energy. Once they got going on the board, I asked if any guests who didn’t feel comfortable being in the same room as the ouija board work, wanted to go to another room.
Rooms 11, 12, 14 and 15
We worked our way through the remaining rooms on that level. In Room 11, we got responses when using the necrophonic app. We heard a distressed female shouting out for help. Just then we heard a male voice. We asked if they could tell us their names. We heard ‘Eric’ and ‘Camille’.
None of the guests realised that ‘Camille’ is Cam’s actual name. It is also a very unusual name and one which she has never heard on a spirit tool before.
Cam asked out to the male spirit. Just then we heard a lot of movement from the bathroom. There was no one in the bathroom.
Cam asked if the male spirit who was holding the female spirit against her will would leave her alone. The word ‘No’ came through.
Cam then called out to the female spirit and said the male could no longer hurt or control her. We heard a female whimper and then it fell silent.
We moved through the other rooms and tried to use other equipment. We placed the rem-pod in doorways and corridors, we also used the thermal sensor and asked spirits to come forward. The rooms were very quiet, almost still.
During us being in the other rooms, one of the guests had gone to do a lone vigil in Room 15. After around 15-20 minutes we decided to check on him. We thought he had fallen asleep so we decided to not disturb him and moved on. The guest wasn’t asleep, they were making great communication with spirit using the proximity bear.
Room 1
We met back up with Alan, Katie and the other guests from our group and decided to call out in Room 1. We were met with strange noises. These were loud creaks. Guests reported being touched on the legs when lying on the bed. Other guests had their faces stroked.
It fell silent quite quickly after that so we headed back to base.
Some guests continued to investigate while team members decided to bed down.
Another fantastic location and some amazing costumes for our Halloween Special. Can't wait for the next one.
Michael’s Group
Room 10
Cat ball, spirit talker
Michael and his group positioned themselves around the room and placed a cat ball in the middle of the bed and we started calling out. After a short while we started to get taps from the wardrobe in the corner of the room. We asked spirit to move into the middle of the room and use the cat ball to communicate with us. Unfortunately the ball never lit up.
We continued to call out but we only received small taps on the wardrobe.
One of the guests using the spirit talker app, which was unusually quiet got the name Sophie through and so we started to call out using that name. The taps became louder but we were unable to get definite answers to our questions.
We decided to place a cat ball on top of the wardrobe and James also sat on the floor next to the wardrobe.
Again we started calling out to Sophie and the cat ball then lit on response. We were able to find out that Sophie use to live in the property. We tried to find out her age but we were unable to pin this down.
Michael explained he felt this was a child spirit and the group felt that Sophie was playing hide and seek using the wardrobe.
James explained he was feeling chills on his head and that Sophie was standing behind him.
Michael placed a second cat ball on the floor behind James and asked Sophie to use this ball as a no answer and the ball on the wardrobe as yes.
We then were able to find out that this was Sophie’s bedroom that she use to play in. Her mother worked at the property also and the room was a place that she felt safe. There was also movement felt on the bed as calling out to Sophie and the feeling in the room was a happy feeling.
Before we knew it we had been in the room for two hours so we decided to take a break and move onto another room. We thanked Sophie for speaking with us and left the room.
Michael’s group
Room 11
Touch sensitive bear, K2
We settled into the room and Michael placed the bear on the mantle piece. As soon as we started to call out we had instant response on the bear.
This was accompanied by loud taps heard from the bathroom where a guest Kelly was stood. The energy moved from the bear and onto the K2 which started to spike up to red.
We had been joined by a spirit who had followed Kelly to Otterburn and had been following her around the building. The spirit was male and related to Kelly.
Kelly asked if the spirit was her Dad and we got a spike on the K2. Kelly however didn’t feel this was her dads energy and when questioning further we were able to debunk that spirit was disingenuous as unable to confirm details about her relationship with her Dad.
We decided to leave sprit in this room and move on
Michaels Group
Room 14
Spirit talker app, cat ball
We settled into the room and set a cat ball on the floor. We instantly received activity. Using the spirit talker app and the cat ball we found out we were speaking to Jean. She was 70 years old when she passed. Her and her husband Ronald use to visit the castle a lot and always stayed in this room until Ronald had a stroke and they were unable to come anymore.
This room had such great memories for the couple that they continued to come visit.
There was a really warm comforting feeling to the room however after a while Jeans energy moved on so we thanked her for sharing her story and left the room.
Michael’s group
Room 16
Touch sensitive bear
We settled into the room and spent a short time getting a feel for the room, its natural noises and creaks and we debunked the noises from the guests in the room next door.
Once settled we placed the bear in the centre of the room and started to call out.
There was no activity on the bear however we could hear tapping from the dressing table and wardrobe but again we could not get any definite answers to our questions.
There was a lot of footsteps heard in the corridor leading to the room and in an effort to debunk we continued to check there was no one outside however no one was ever seen.
Michael asked spirit to make their presence bigger and join us in the room. At this point there was a loud running sound heard. We put this down to the group in the other room however Chris came in to see if the noise had been made by us.
Once Chris left the room Eric who was sat in the door way explained that he felt a cold chill on the bottom part of his body which stayed for around 5 mins.
We asked if spirit was putting its impression onto him and we had three loud taps on the dresser. After this the room went quiet and we thanked spirit for joining us and left the room.
Michael’s group
Room 1
Touch sensitive bear, spirit talker app and seance
We placed the bear at the foot of the bed and started to call out. There was tapping noises around the room which we debunked to the central heating system however after around 15 mins we started to get responses onto the bear. The bear was not directly answering our questions however randomly lit the best on the left side.
Michael explained that he felt the spirit had an authoritarian feel and may not respond well to being told what to do. We change our questioning style and took a softer approach complementing spirit more
We started to get positive responses on the bear.
Using the bear we found out that the spirit use to own or was a custodian of the building, this space was used as an office with a large desk in front of the window. Spirit used the spirit talker app to say he preferred contact using a seance so we gathered the group together and set this experiment up.
We found out that the spirit was an extremely proud man, had no children but the building was his pride and joy.
He had many workers and ran a tight ship. We asked the sprit if he had made other groups feel unwell, which he confirmed and why he did this. Spirit felt that we should be looking up at him and not consistently asking him to complete taps or light up teddy’s in his building.
Michaels group
Library
Teddy bear, table tipping and spirit talker app
The group wanted to try a table tipping exercise so we set the experiment away. There was lots of loud taps around the room however no movement on the table. However the guests joined together on the table was helping build up energy in the room and we started to see the bear light up.
The spirit talker app gave us a name Iris. We were able to find out that iris was a 6 year old girl who use to study/read in this room with her brother Fred 10 years old. We continued to call out to Iris and Fred and started to talk about different books we loved and why. We started to see more activity on the bear in response to our questions and were give n two further names from the spirit talker app Hannah and Zachary.
Michael asked spirit to confirm in taps how many names had been given to us in this room and we heard 4 distinctive knocks.
We decided to end our investigation at this point.
What an amazing and beautiful venue that feels like it has so much more to give. My group were brilliant, had loads of great energy and we didn’t stop laughing all night.
Otter burn castle Halloween sleepover !
So the night started off with all greeting the guests in fancy dress some who had also arrived in some amazing outfits, we all meet in the main hall and Chris split us into 2 groups, Mike F, Ged and Chrissy Pooh,&
Big Al ,Cam ,and Katie .
So Mike Ged and guests main corridor 2nd floor .
Equipment used own senses.
Ged carried out the white light protection for those wanting to partake, we then sat/ stood in the corridor and called out , a few noises where heard and some guests got the feeling we were being watched but had no direct contact, we it was decided to spot the group in 2 Mike with 1 half Ged ten other.
GED’s group room 10,
Equipment used, K2, cat ball.
Ged started asking out and guest Billy was sat on the steps in the bedroom, Billy felt a child was around us, an at that a noise was heard behind him Guests asked questions and it was felt answered by the child ( no name given) a light anomaly was witnessed on a few occasions in the bathroom this was tried to be debunked but unable to find a cause not spiritual! Guest Shirley felt touch on her chin and guest Helen also felt a touch on her head guests were informed this had happened to LVI staff on pre event walk around.
Room 11,
Equipment used, K2 suitcase table,cat ball, own senses.
The guests moved into room 11 and some felt a presence in there.
Everyone started calling out and Ged suggested they try table tipping as one guests had stated they’d seen a dark shadow in the bathroom, the suitcase stand was used for the table tipping experiment, Helen 1 of the guests stated she felt very very uneasy, Shirley said she felt someone touching her and billy sat across the main bedroom stated he and his wife both saw a white mist at the end of the bed, the table rose a number of inches off the floor and moved slightly , both Billy and his wife noted the K 2 device had moved once placed on the floor a child yet again was felt and everyone believed the child had been following us around, once activity died don we moved to room 15 but guests felt very uneasy so it was decided a break should be had before returning with more equipment.
Room 15,
Equipment used Ghost talker ITC device, cat ball, REM bear,K2 .
On settling into room 15 guests split into the main bedroom and sitting rooms leaving the bathroom empty. Ged called out and received a few indications on the K2 Billy and Helen sat in the back room said they could see a showdown person manifesting by the window ( curtains drawn) they stated it was getting bigger and suddenly ran out of the room falling over other guests and decided after their experience to sit outside the bathroom, Guests Chantelle Christina and Steph sat in the back room and we were joined by Chris. On a few occasions tapping was heard on the wardrobe and suddenly everybody heard the sound of someone running down the hall corridor Chris ran into the corridor but no one was to be seen this put everyone on edge, Billy and Helen had activity in the bathroom with a K2 and Ged placed a cat ball in there also , the K2 meter in the main bedroom activated on numerous occasions, as activity died down it was decided to move to room 17.
Room 17
Equipment used K2 , REM bear, ITC device
Everyone sat in the main bedroom whilst asking out no activity was received after 15 mins so it was decided to break again before we moved into the main tower area.
Main tower area Room 7 ( old library).
Equipment used Estes devices, REM bear, ITC device, cat balls,K2.
We arrived at room 7 to join Mike F’s group who had set up cat balls in 2 areas of the room and stated they’d agreed yes and no with spirit and had been receiving interaction.
Ged started asking out and received indications to yes and no questions and it was determined it was a boy aged 12 no name given .Mikes grouop decided to move onto other rooms and guests asked to carry out an Estes experiment. Helen was very keen to try the technique as she had seen it and wanted to partake. Helen moved into the bathroom and stated she couldn’t hear the remaining guests at all. We asked if we had a boy or girl and Helen said a boy, when asked his age 12 how many of us in the room he said 8(correct) we asked how he’d died he said in the war , when asked the year he stated 73 so if it was 1873 or before we couldn’t determine. We asked if he was with his parents he said alone, then said Helen which freaked Helen out and she no longer wanted to continue. Shirley decided she would take over , and on asking her questions she stated Shirley Celtic, and the boy name was Albert , he was 12 yrs old had been shot and killed in a war, was alone replied buzz off on a few occasions when he didn’t want to answer the question asked. Albert stated he was lonely and when asked if he wanted to see his parents he stated yes, we asked if he could see the bright white light he stated No .. we asked him to keep trying and to trust us everything would be fine , Albert stated he could see the light and was moving towards it as prompted, Albert stated he was scared and asked if he could come back , Albert was told he’d be safe and had free will to return when he wanted, Albert stated he could see his mother but not father,Albert was asked to trust us and keep moving forward, Albert said he felt safe and loved and that he’d see us on the other side, and said goodbye no more contact was made as Shirley stated she wasn’t able to carry on, the REM bear activated a few times to back up questions and it was decided to move on again to room 5.
Room 5.
Equipment used .
K2 ITC device, REM bear, Crystal board ,
Guests took it in turns in room 5 once shown how the crystal board worked , Billy went first and received yes and no answers to his questions which were of a personal contact nature, Christina then used the board and received answers to her questions the board moving the crystal a totally different was than Billy to answer her questions.no K2 activity was picked up and it was decided to move to room 3.
Room 3.
Equipment used,
ITC device K2, REM bear, camera.cat balls. Suitcase stand.
We started of by everybody getting comfortable before asking out,
Ged took a photo as the K2 device went off and the bear was activating, a Green streak was seen on the picture as well as orbs around the room. Table tipping was tried again in the bathroom but no direction contact information was forthcoming. It was then decided the end had caught up with us and guests decided some of them wanted to retire to their rooms,
We all got together and shared our thoughts of the night and how much activity we had experienced, over all a great night with great guests getting into the spirit of things full,of enthusiasm and happy with our interactions with some lovely spirits.
Otterburn Castle - Halloween Special 28th Oct 2023
Team Members: Chris, Cam, Ged, Alan, Katie and Michael F
Before the guests arrived, Chris, Cam and Ged had a walk around the castle and introduced ourselves to the spirits.
We started in Room 1. We spread out and Chris began a call-out. The rem-pod device was in the doorway of the bathroom and went off. Chris had walked past it but we double checked the distance and it could not have been Chris who had set it off. It didn’t go off again so we were unable to verify what caused it.
Cam could feel the head piece of her costume being touched on the left side of her head. As we called out more, the right side of her head piece was gently tugged.
Cam had also heard a female ‘crying’ 4 separate times.
Chris and Ged both heard footsteps coming from above. These were heard multiple times but we were the only people in the castle and the doors were locked.
Chris felt the urge to call out to spirit, addressing them with ‘My Dear’. This was very strange as it’s not something he would normally say. Just then, Chris was touched on the head.
We heard more taps and footsteps coming from above so we decided to head upstairs.
We entered every room in the castle and this was what happened before the guests arrived.
Room 15
This was a small room, set out very similar to all of the others.
Chris stood at the far side of the bed, Cam at the other side of the bed and Ged near the foot of the bed. We stood still and called out to spirit. The room felt very different as soon as we walked in and as soon as we called out, Cam heard ‘rustling’ behind Chris. It was really loud. We found that this was actually the underlay of the carpet. However, we were all stood still so who was walking around us? Just then, Chris heard what he can only describe as someone yapping their lips together. He said it sounded awful. As soon as he said this, we could all smell a disgusting smell of excrement. Who was this?
We got a few more noises but decided to move on to another room.
We headed through the corridors. When we stopped to open a door, as we were stood still, the footsteps behind us did not stop. Were we being followed?
We entered The Library Suite (Room 7).
We got comfortable and asked the spirit if they had called us up to that room. The room was above Room 1, where we were hearing the footsteps above.
We were met with taps and noises from near the bed and the bathroom.
The atmosphere changed and the room got darker. Chris was stood in the middle of the room and said he felt like an energy was closing in around him. There were 3 mirrors around him.
Ged stood where Chris was and he also felt the same. Just then, Cam could smell vomit. It was so strong, and then quickly changed to excrement. It lasted around a minute and then left. Was this the spirit who had made themselves known in Room 15? Had they followed us through the corridors?
We moved on and found ourselves in Room 17. This was where Cam and Katie would be sleeping.
They were met with a very strong smell of a male brut. It lasted a few minutes and quickly dispersed. We checked the room for plug-ins, air fresheners etc but there was nothing.
We ended up on the ground floor and as we were approaching Room 2, Cam could hear a man’s voice. It was very close to them so she placed a rem-pod on the leather chair in the corner of the corridor.
We went inside Room 2 and Ged told us he could see shadows walking past the mirror. This wasn’t us because we weren’t within proximity to cast a reflection.
Just then we all heard something. Chris left the room to quickly check there was no one there. There wasn’t. Cam said it sounded like a gruff raspy exhale. Ged demonstrated the noise he heard. We had all heard the same. Who was this male spirit?
Time to greet the guests.
We greeted the guests in our outfits and there were a few screams.
We decided to split straight away into our 2 groups as we had many guests with us and a lot of rooms to investigate.
Team - Cam, Alan and Katie
The Library Suite (Room 7) - no equipment (at first).
We decided to start on the tower side of the castle and took our guests to Room 7.
We all spread out in the room and made ourselves comfortable. We began our call out and were immediately met with taps from near the bathroom area.
As we continued with our questioning, the taps got louder and we then started hearing movement from around the bed.
The taps became responses to our questions and a few guests said they had been touched.
One of our guests, reported seeing a hooded figure standing looking in the large mirror. They only saw this when Cam had taken a photo of the guests.
We called out directly to the spirit and again were greeted with taps.
Another guest sensed a child. He wasn’t very old. Perhaps a little more than toddler age. They also picked up on the name ‘Arthur’.
We called out to Arthur, and a few of us in the room saw a dark shadow move from the middle of the room towards Alan. Just then, Alan said his leg had been patted.
Alan kept seeing the letters ‘CH’. We didn’t know if this was a spirit trying to tell us their name. We called out asking a few different names but couldn’t be sure,
Katie asked if any of the guests wanted to try mirror scrying, to see if we could communicate with the shadow figure seen in front of the mirror.
Our guest got comfortable and started mirror scrying. It wasn’t long before we started to see changes. We all saw the guests facial features change to that of an oriental male and they looked sad. We didn’t manage to find out who this person was.
We tried to introduce a cat ball, for the child to use for interaction. It didn’t go off once.
The Drawing Room
We moved to the drawing room. It was ‘lighter’ than the other rooms. Alan started the call-out and after around 5 minutes, we all heard a thud on the wooden floor.
Cam said she saw a shadow person peek out from the far side of the end of the fireplace wall. A guest had also seen this and Katie confirmed she had also seen this too.
We called out to the spirit. Cam said she could see it was a small child, a little boy. She then walked over to the fireplace and pointed out the child’s height. He was either very shy or hiding because he should not have been in the room.
We asked a few more questions, asking if they were a chimney sweep or if they worked in the castle to keep the fireplaces stocked with wood. We didn’t get a response. Alan asked if Cam knew the boy’s age and Cam said he looked around the age of 8. Alan confirmed he was seeing what looked like a number 6, 8 or 3. He couldn’t quite make it out but the shape was there.
After around 15-20 minutes we decided to go for a break.
Alan and Katie stayed in the room and had their own personal experience of the little boy.
Room 2
After a quick break, we headed to Room 2.
We spread out in the room, with some sitting on seats, the bed and the floor.
A rem-pod was placed in the bathroom and a proximity bear on the bedside unit.
As soon as we started calling out, the rem-pod in the bathroom went off. The proximity bear was going off at the same time. We decided to switch off the proximity bear for a short time.
As we were calling out, the rem-pod went off a further 2 times.
We all heard what sounded like footsteps approaching the other side of the door and then noises from the door as if someone was trying to come in. Alan was standing nearest to the door and showed everyone it wasn’t him as he was about a foot in front of the door. He opened the door but there was no one there.
We were hearing taps and thuds in response to our questions but we couldn’t work out where they were coming from. Those at one end of the room said they sounded like from the other side, and vice versa.
We decided to try again with the proximity bear and placed it in the middle of the floor.
The bear did light up a few times on request but we were unable to work out just who it was we were talking to.
We saw what looked like a dark mass move across the room, towards the bathroom. A couple of guests said the bathroom door had moved. We called out but didn’t get anything, but we could hear footsteps.
Room 4
Cam took 5 guests into Room 4. This room was smaller than some of the others.
We called out and tried using the proximity bear but we got absolutely nothing. We did however all hear a slight whistling noise. Cam checked outside and it wasn’t coming from outside the room. It wasn’t coming from the pipes either. It was very weird.
After around 20 minutes in this room and no activity to report, we decided to meet back up with Alan, Katie and the other guests.
Room 1
We headed to Room 1. With just the 6 of us we spread out in the room.
2 guests were sitting on the bed and the others in the chairs opposite. The 2 guests on the bed reported being touched.
All of a sudden the unpleasant smell returned and one of the guests on the bed said they felt sick. The smell went but the guest who was feeling unwell starting yapping their mouth, just like what Chris had reported at the beginning of the night. We started to ask if spirit passed over due to illness. We started getting responses in the form of taps, thuds and the bear was going off. We were trying to work out what types of illnesses would have most likely been the cause of the symptoms and asked if it was Cholera. Responses again. Also, earlier when we were in Room 7 and Alan could see the letters ‘CH’, we thought this was the name of a spirit. Was this spirit trying to tell us about their illness? It’s possible.
The room fell very dark and the atmosphere changed. We got more responses but decided to move on after the guests got a little scared when the door opened on its own.
Room 9
This was a large family room, with 2 separate rooms which were linked. Half of the group stayed on one side of the room and carried out table tipping and a ouija board session.
The other guests decided to try their own calling out using teddy bear trigger objects which were already in the room. They also used a K2 device and the proximity bear.
Alan and Katie were getting great activity table tipping so Cam stayed with the other guests and worked with them as they used one of their apps, necrophonic.
Cam asked if any of the guests would like to try asking some questions. One of the guests ran with this and we were told via the app that there were 3 spirits. We then asked how many were in the room in total. We were told 9. There were 6 of us so that would have been correct.
Alan asked if any of the male guests would like to join the ouija board as spirit wanted to only communicate with males. The guests weren’t keen but we decided to all move into the same room to help with the energy. Once they got going on the board, I asked if any guests who didn’t feel comfortable being in the same room as the ouija board work, wanted to go to another room.
Rooms 11, 12, 14 and 15
We worked our way through the remaining rooms on that level. In Room 11, we got responses when using the necrophonic app. We heard a distressed female shouting out for help. Just then we heard a male voice. We asked if they could tell us their names. We heard ‘Eric’ and ‘Camille’.
None of the guests realised that ‘Camille’ is Cam’s actual name. It is also a very unusual name and one which she has never heard on a spirit tool before.
Cam asked out to the male spirit. Just then we heard a lot of movement from the bathroom. There was no one in the bathroom.
Cam asked if the male spirit who was holding the female spirit against her will would leave her alone. The word ‘No’ came through.
Cam then called out to the female spirit and said the male could no longer hurt or control her. We heard a female whimper and then it fell silent.
We moved through the other rooms and tried to use other equipment. We placed the rem-pod in doorways and corridors, we also used the thermal sensor and asked spirits to come forward. The rooms were very quiet, almost still.
During us being in the other rooms, one of the guests had gone to do a lone vigil in Room 15. After around 15-20 minutes we decided to check on him. We thought he had fallen asleep so we decided to not disturb him and moved on. The guest wasn’t asleep, they were making great communication with spirit using the proximity bear.
Room 1
We met back up with Alan, Katie and the other guests from our group and decided to call out in Room 1. We were met with strange noises. These were loud creaks. Guests reported being touched on the legs when lying on the bed. Other guests had their faces stroked.
It fell silent quite quickly after that so we headed back to base.
Some guests continued to investigate while team members decided to bed down.
Another fantastic location and some amazing costumes for our Halloween Special. Can't wait for the next one.
Michael’s Group
Room 10
Cat ball, spirit talker
Michael and his group positioned themselves around the room and placed a cat ball in the middle of the bed and we started calling out. After a short while we started to get taps from the wardrobe in the corner of the room. We asked spirit to move into the middle of the room and use the cat ball to communicate with us. Unfortunately the ball never lit up.
We continued to call out but we only received small taps on the wardrobe.
One of the guests using the spirit talker app, which was unusually quiet got the name Sophie through and so we started to call out using that name. The taps became louder but we were unable to get definite answers to our questions.
We decided to place a cat ball on top of the wardrobe and James also sat on the floor next to the wardrobe.
Again we started calling out to Sophie and the cat ball then lit on response. We were able to find out that Sophie use to live in the property. We tried to find out her age but we were unable to pin this down.
Michael explained he felt this was a child spirit and the group felt that Sophie was playing hide and seek using the wardrobe.
James explained he was feeling chills on his head and that Sophie was standing behind him.
Michael placed a second cat ball on the floor behind James and asked Sophie to use this ball as a no answer and the ball on the wardrobe as yes.
We then were able to find out that this was Sophie’s bedroom that she use to play in. Her mother worked at the property also and the room was a place that she felt safe. There was also movement felt on the bed as calling out to Sophie and the feeling in the room was a happy feeling.
Before we knew it we had been in the room for two hours so we decided to take a break and move onto another room. We thanked Sophie for speaking with us and left the room.
Michael’s group
Room 11
Touch sensitive bear, K2
We settled into the room and Michael placed the bear on the mantle piece. As soon as we started to call out we had instant response on the bear.
This was accompanied by loud taps heard from the bathroom where a guest Kelly was stood. The energy moved from the bear and onto the K2 which started to spike up to red.
We had been joined by a spirit who had followed Kelly to Otterburn and had been following her around the building. The spirit was male and related to Kelly.
Kelly asked if the spirit was her Dad and we got a spike on the K2. Kelly however didn’t feel this was her dads energy and when questioning further we were able to debunk that spirit was disingenuous as unable to confirm details about her relationship with her Dad.
We decided to leave sprit in this room and move on
Michaels Group
Room 14
Spirit talker app, cat ball
We settled into the room and set a cat ball on the floor. We instantly received activity. Using the spirit talker app and the cat ball we found out we were speaking to Jean. She was 70 years old when she passed. Her and her husband Ronald use to visit the castle a lot and always stayed in this room until Ronald had a stroke and they were unable to come anymore.
This room had such great memories for the couple that they continued to come visit.
There was a really warm comforting feeling to the room however after a while Jeans energy moved on so we thanked her for sharing her story and left the room.
Michael’s group
Room 16
Touch sensitive bear
We settled into the room and spent a short time getting a feel for the room, its natural noises and creaks and we debunked the noises from the guests in the room next door.
Once settled we placed the bear in the centre of the room and started to call out.
There was no activity on the bear however we could hear tapping from the dressing table and wardrobe but again we could not get any definite answers to our questions.
There was a lot of footsteps heard in the corridor leading to the room and in an effort to debunk we continued to check there was no one outside however no one was ever seen.
Michael asked spirit to make their presence bigger and join us in the room. At this point there was a loud running sound heard. We put this down to the group in the other room however Chris came in to see if the noise had been made by us.
Once Chris left the room Eric who was sat in the door way explained that he felt a cold chill on the bottom part of his body which stayed for around 5 mins.
We asked if spirit was putting its impression onto him and we had three loud taps on the dresser. After this the room went quiet and we thanked spirit for joining us and left the room.
Michael’s group
Room 1
Touch sensitive bear, spirit talker app and seance
We placed the bear at the foot of the bed and started to call out. There was tapping noises around the room which we debunked to the central heating system however after around 15 mins we started to get responses onto the bear. The bear was not directly answering our questions however randomly lit the best on the left side.
Michael explained that he felt the spirit had an authoritarian feel and may not respond well to being told what to do. We change our questioning style and took a softer approach complementing spirit more
We started to get positive responses on the bear.
Using the bear we found out that the spirit use to own or was a custodian of the building, this space was used as an office with a large desk in front of the window. Spirit used the spirit talker app to say he preferred contact using a seance so we gathered the group together and set this experiment up.
We found out that the spirit was an extremely proud man, had no children but the building was his pride and joy.
He had many workers and ran a tight ship. We asked the sprit if he had made other groups feel unwell, which he confirmed and why he did this. Spirit felt that we should be looking up at him and not consistently asking him to complete taps or light up teddy’s in his building.
Michaels group
Library
Teddy bear, table tipping and spirit talker app
The group wanted to try a table tipping exercise so we set the experiment away. There was lots of loud taps around the room however no movement on the table. However the guests joined together on the table was helping build up energy in the room and we started to see the bear light up.
The spirit talker app gave us a name Iris. We were able to find out that iris was a 6 year old girl who use to study/read in this room with her brother Fred 10 years old. We continued to call out to Iris and Fred and started to talk about different books we loved and why. We started to see more activity on the bear in response to our questions and were give n two further names from the spirit talker app Hannah and Zachary.
Michael asked spirit to confirm in taps how many names had been given to us in this room and we heard 4 distinctive knocks.
We decided to end our investigation at this point.
What an amazing and beautiful venue that feels like it has so much more to give. My group were brilliant, had loads of great energy and we didn’t stop laughing all night.