
k Parapsychology Publications Casebook Gallery Media Links	Investigation at Letchworth Library (and Letchworth Museum), Letchworth, Hertfordshire APIS Investigation: Friday 12th / Saturday 13th September 2008 TEAM: Richard Court - Marq English - Michael Lewis Al Piddington - Margaret Rolph - Linda Rothwell Rob Rothwell - Dr Simon Sherwood - Martin Waldock John Wickham Team Leader: Damien O’Dell Gill Clements Letchworth Library Daniel Crutchfield Letchworth Library Minnie Letchworth Museum Roz Letchworth Museum Background This investigation was the first of a two part investigation at Letchworth Library and on this occasion we had the agreement of Letchworth Museum to conduct an investigation at the same time. This was the first time that APIS co-operated with no less than four other paranormal investigation societies. Our thanks go to the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena (ASSAP), represented by our special guest, Dr Simon Sherwood, who is a qualified parapsychologist. We also thank Cambridge Paranormal Research Society, represented by Martin Waldock. Additional thanks to Marq English and Al Piddington of Spiral Paranormal as well as Richard Court of Renegade Paranormal. Situation Letchworth Library is situated in the Broadway, Letchworth Garden City, in the Town Centre. Letchworth was the first Garden City and the brainchild of Ebenezer Howard. The library opened in 1939 and is located on what was formerly open farm land. Modus Operandi Before the ghost watch began APIS member and Dowser, Keith Paull, remotely dowsed a plan of the library. He passed his findings on to Team Leader Damien O’Dell, who sited the Team in accordance with the Dowser’s findings. Keith detected a strong green line (green energy lines are always associated with haunted sites) running through part of the building (on the ground floor only). He also detected three active paranormal areas. Of these the Lecture Hall was most affected. As an experiment Keith tried to gauge, on a scale of 1 to 10 what would be the likelihood of some paranormal event occurring at each of the designated positions during the investigation. There was a 9/10 chance of something on the energy line and in the Stack Room but only a 4/10 chance in the Junior Library. This information was acted on in conjunction with the diary of paranormal events logged by the library staff. The investigation enjoyed the benefit of a highly experienced psychic medium, Margaret Rolph, to gain a psychic impression of the phenomena. The team brought along a variety of electronic equipment. These included infra red video cameras and monitors, sound recorders, temperature/humidity gauges, digital cameras and EMF (electro-magnetic field) meters to measure any observable or audible anomalous phenomena. APIS undertakes investigations with an open mind, combining both psychic impressions and scientific approaches. Team members were not briefed on reported phenomena so as not to prejudice any experiences and information received during the investigation. Log sheets were left in designated areas of the library, to record sightings, sounds, feelings etc. that might be relevant to our observations. Timetable The Team arrived at 20.00 hours in order to set up equipment, familiarise ourselves with the layout of the building and to get some initial impressions. The investigation proper began at 21.00 hours and it was divided into 60 minute ‘watches’, with 30 minute refreshment breaks. The team of 12 was divided into 6 teams of 2 people, in order to cover the ‘most promising’ locations (as indicated by Keith’s dowsing in conjunction with reported activity by library staff past and present). The teams were Martin John and Marq, Al and Linda, Michael and Simon, Richard and Rob, Margaret and Damien. The investigation was concluded at 02.30 hours. Locations Museum Two locations were chosen in the Museum. The Archaeology Gallery upstairs and the reception area downstairs. Library Four locations were chosen in the Library. The Lecture Room upstairs and the Stack Room, the Children’s’ Library and the Large Print Area downstairs, were the focus of the vigil. Report from the Museum Martin from CPRS managed the short vigil in the Museum from 21.00 hours to midnight. No activity was recorded during the two watches at this location. Whilst our psychic medium paid a brief visit a strong energy was felt and Margaret sensed a male presence. The team noted that when Margaret left the energy seemed much lighter. The Archaeology Gallery is the area with reported activity. The figure of a woman, all in black, has been seen on several occasions by the cleaner. Interestingly, one of the exhibits in the Archaeology Gallery is a skeleton, which is female. Report from the Library The Team Leader, Damien, worked closely on this investigation with Margaret Rolph, who is a psychic medium. The pair began the vigil in the Stack Room and it was not long before Margaret was receiving psychic impressions. She visualised ‘a short, stout woman, from the earliest days of the library. On checking Margaret’s description with Gill Clements the description matched the lady who opened the library back in 1939/40. Communications were interrupted at an early stage, which is a common occurrence in haunted locations. Margaret had to take the battery out of her mobile phone because she was having so much trouble with it. My walkie/talkie ‘warbled’ as though someone was trying to contact me, but on checking with the other teams no-one had called me. As Margaret and Damien were chatting (21.45 hours) just outside the Stack Room the entrance door in front of them on their right unexpectedly opened and closed, seemingly of its own accord. As Damien returned to the log sheet in the Stack Room to record the incident it happened again. A minute or so afterwards both team members felt cold, Damien’s back felt chilled and Margaret’s hands and arms were also very cold. Damien checked the outer doors to the library to make sure that nobody could have got in to set off the automatic inner library doors, which are activated by a movement sensor. The outer doors were securely locked. On the second watch in the Stack Room the EMF meter ‘crashed’ and had to be reset. The Children’s Library produced some activity on the second watch, at 10.30pm close by the rear door that leads out to the church car park, a heavy roll of carpet (which had been leaning against the wall) fell with a loud thump as Richard was moving away. Damien later returned the carpet to its previous position and noted the weight of the carpet; it took quite a bit of force to move it. Perhaps the most interesting anomalous phenomenon was reserved for the library staff, who sat apart from the APIS team, in the Librarian’s Office. On several occasions, from about 23.00hours onwards they heard distinctive, quite loud, footsteps approaching their room. At one time the footsteps stopped right outside the door at another time the footsteps passed by, went next door and then there was the sound of books being moved and a thump on the wall Conclusions: We have statements from the Library staff as well as trained APIS investigators and highly experienced investigators from other respected societies. There was no conclusive proof on this occasion that the library may be haunted but there were enough unexplained events occurring to warrant further investigation. We would like to have spent more time in the Museum next door but in the short time that we were present there was nothing perceived, so nothing to report however the Archaeology Gallery certainly has ‘an atmosphere’ and had we stayed the entire night (we left at midnight) there might well have been something of interest to note. Our thanks, however to the Museum staff for supporting us with our investigation and we hope that any future investigations here may prove more productive. Parapsychologist Dr Simon Sherwood, who was our special guest at the first investigation, commented ‘It was good to see a number of different investigation groups co-operating towards a common goal rather than competing against each other.’ Report by: Damien O’Dell Founder/Chairman APIS 11 October 2008 © Damien O’Dell & APIS 2008

Investigation at Letchworth Library (and Letchworth Museum), Letchworth, Hertfordshire

APIS Investigation: Friday 12th / Saturday 13th September 2008

TEAM:   Richard Court - Marq English - Michael Lewis
               Al Piddington - Margaret Rolph - Linda Rothwell
              Rob Rothwell - Dr Simon Sherwood - Martin Waldock
               John Wickham

Team Leader: Damien O’Dell

Gill Clements Letchworth Library

Daniel Crutchfield Letchworth Library

Minnie Letchworth Museum

Roz Letchworth Museum

Background

This investigation was the first of a two part investigation at Letchworth Library and on this occasion we had the agreement of Letchworth Museum to conduct an investigation at the same time. This was the first time that APIS co-operated with no less than four other paranormal investigation societies. Our thanks go to the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena (ASSAP), represented by our special guest, Dr Simon Sherwood, who is a qualified parapsychologist. We also thank Cambridge Paranormal Research Society, represented by Martin Waldock. Additional thanks to Marq English and Al Piddington of Spiral Paranormal as well as Richard Court of Renegade Paranormal.

Situation

Letchworth Library is situated in the Broadway, Letchworth Garden City, in the Town Centre. Letchworth was the first Garden City and the brainchild of Ebenezer Howard. The library opened in 1939 and is located on what was formerly open farm land.

Modus Operandi

Before the ghost watch began APIS member and Dowser, Keith Paull, remotely dowsed a plan of the library. He passed his findings on to Team Leader Damien O’Dell, who sited the Team in accordance with the Dowser’s findings. Keith detected a strong green line (green energy lines are always associated with haunted sites) running through part of the building (on the ground floor only). He also detected three active paranormal areas. Of these the Lecture Hall was most affected. As an experiment Keith tried to gauge, on a scale of 1 to 10 what would be the likelihood of some paranormal event occurring at each of the designated positions during the investigation. There was a 9/10 chance of something on the energy line and in the Stack Room but only a 4/10 chance in the Junior Library. This information was acted on in conjunction with the diary of paranormal events logged by the library staff. The investigation enjoyed the benefit of a highly experienced psychic medium, Margaret Rolph, to gain a psychic impression of the phenomena. The team brought along a variety of electronic equipment. These included infra red video cameras and monitors, sound recorders, temperature/humidity gauges, digital cameras and EMF (electro-magnetic field) meters to measure any observable or audible anomalous phenomena. APIS undertakes investigations with an open mind, combining both psychic impressions and scientific approaches. Team members were not briefed on reported phenomena so as not to prejudice any experiences and information received during the investigation. Log sheets were left in designated areas of the library, to record sightings, sounds, feelings etc. that might be relevant to our observations.

Timetable

The Team arrived at 20.00 hours in order to set up equipment, familiarise ourselves with the layout of the building and to get some initial impressions. The investigation proper began at 21.00 hours and it was divided into 60 minute ‘watches’, with 30 minute refreshment breaks. The team of 12 was divided into 6 teams of 2 people, in order to cover the ‘most promising’ locations (as indicated by Keith’s dowsing in conjunction with reported activity by library staff past and present). The teams were Martin John and Marq, Al and Linda, Michael and Simon, Richard and Rob, Margaret and Damien.
The investigation was concluded at 02.30 hours.

Locations

Museum

Two locations were chosen in the Museum. The Archaeology Gallery upstairs and the reception area downstairs.

Library

Four locations were chosen in the Library. The Lecture Room upstairs and the Stack Room, the Children’s’ Library and the Large Print Area downstairs, were the focus of the vigil.

Report from the Museum

Martin from CPRS managed the short vigil in the Museum from 21.00 hours to midnight. No activity was recorded during the two watches at this location. Whilst our psychic medium paid a brief visit a strong energy was felt and Margaret sensed a male presence. The team noted that when Margaret left the energy seemed much lighter. The Archaeology Gallery is the area with reported activity. The figure of a woman, all in black, has been seen on several occasions by the cleaner. Interestingly, one of the exhibits in the Archaeology Gallery is a skeleton, which is female.

Report from the Library

The Team Leader, Damien, worked closely on this investigation with Margaret Rolph, who is a psychic medium. The pair began the vigil in the Stack Room and it was not long before Margaret was receiving psychic impressions. She visualised ‘a short, stout woman, from the earliest days of the library. On checking Margaret’s description with Gill Clements the description matched the lady who opened the library back in 1939/40. Communications were interrupted at an early stage, which is a common occurrence in haunted locations. Margaret had to take the battery out of her mobile phone because she was having so much trouble with it. My walkie/talkie ‘warbled’ as though someone was trying to contact me, but on checking with the other teams no-one had called me. As Margaret and Damien were chatting (21.45 hours) just outside the Stack Room the entrance door in front of them on their right unexpectedly opened and closed, seemingly of its own accord. As Damien returned to the log sheet in the Stack Room to record the incident it happened again. A minute or so afterwards both team members felt cold, Damien’s back felt chilled and Margaret’s hands and arms were also very cold. Damien checked the outer doors to the library to make sure that nobody could have got in to set off the automatic inner library doors, which are activated by a movement sensor. The outer doors were securely locked. On the second watch in the Stack Room the EMF meter ‘crashed’ and had to be reset.

The Children’s Library produced some activity on the second watch, at 10.30pm close by the rear door that leads out to the church car park, a heavy roll of carpet (which had been leaning against the wall) fell with a loud thump as Richard was moving away. Damien later returned the carpet to its previous position and noted the weight of the carpet; it took quite a bit of force to move it.

library Perhaps the most interesting anomalous phenomenon was reserved for the library staff, who sat apart from the APIS team, in the Librarian’s Office. On several occasions, from about 23.00hours onwards they heard distinctive, quite loud, footsteps approaching their room. At one time the footsteps stopped right outside the door at another time the footsteps passed by, went next door and then there was the sound of books being moved and a thump on the wall

Conclusions:

We have statements from the Library staff as well as trained APIS investigators and highly experienced investigators from other respected societies. There was no conclusive proof on this occasion that the library may be haunted but there were enough unexplained events occurring to warrant further investigation.
   We would like to have spent more time in the Museum next door but in the short time that we were present there was nothing perceived, so nothing to report however the Archaeology Gallery certainly has ‘an atmosphere’ and had we stayed the entire night (we left at midnight) there might well have been something of interest to note. Our thanks, however to the Museum staff for supporting us with our investigation and we hope that any future investigations here may prove more productive.
   Parapsychologist Dr Simon Sherwood, who was our special guest at the first investigation, commented ‘It was good to see a number of different investigation groups co-operating towards a common goal rather than competing against each other.’

Report by: Damien O’Dell

Founder/Chairman APIS
11 October 2008