
k Parapsychology Publications Casebook Gallery Media Links	Watford Library APIS Investigation: Wednesday 10 October 2007* Prelude In September 2007 APIS was contacted by Watford Library to help in the investigation a variety of alleged paranormal phenomena reported by many members of staff who were currently working or who had worked in the building. Our initial research showed that these reports dated back over a period of more than thirty years . APIS was privileged to be chosen to organise and manage the resulting vigil, the first and probably the only time that Hertfordshire County Council would ever sanction such an investigation. A team of thirteen trained paranormal investigators, including Damien O’Dell as team leader and Michael Lewis as deputy, carried out this research project. Equipment Digital stills and night shot video cameras. Infra red CCTV. Digital voice recorders. EMF meters. Temperature/humidity gauges. Vibration detector. Laptop computer. Ghost Watch Observation Notes Before we had even set up our equipment the phenomena started. At 20.35 hours three team members witnessed poltergeist phenomena. A book, entitled Paranormal Sources, flew off a display of books, about the paranormal, from a tabletop next to the reception counter on the ground floor. This was seen simultaneously by Steve, Sharon and Duncan, from different locations close to the incident. The book landed several feet away, face down. Interestingly it landed open on a page featuring stories about poltergeists! The Librarian’s Office was another source of interesting anomalous phenomena. Kevin thought that this was the most haunted room in the entire building. At 22.30 hours he experienced a temperature drop and saw the outline of a small boy and heard the sound of children giggling and running in and out of the room. Kevin received the impression that the children’s names were Patrick and Emmy. He also heard the sounds of a chair rattling, a man’s footsteps and the sound of a ruler or book being slammed on the desk, which was picked up on his voice recorder. We were later told by the librarians that pictures on the walls were often found askew but they had tried to explain it away as being caused by vibration from passing traffic. This seems unlikely given that the windows in question are not in close proximity to the road. The more psychically inclined members of the team, such as Sharon, Mick and Kevin, received plenty of information. Kevin, for example, had a vivid impression of ‘Tom’, a cleaner, who suffered from vertigo, laying spread eagled on the Stack, after his death from a heart attack. In the downstairs Workroom that the APIS team used as its base Mick experienced a temperature drop and the very strong energy of a girl around him. He was given the name of Anne, who was aged about eight to ten years old with long fair hair and wearing a brown, knee length smock with full sleeves from the late 19th or early twentieth century. At 23.15 hours Sharon was in the first floor Exhibition Hall, known as the Local Studies Room, when she saw ‘the solid shadow of a male walk across the doorway leading to the Lecture Hall’. She also heard a bang from the passageway, like a door slamming, which was corroborated by Roisin and two other team members, but on checking the passageway was found to be empty. The four investigators could not account for the sudden noise. Auditory phenomena was witnessed again at 0.3.10 hours in the Reference Library Store (commonly referred to as ‘the Stack’, a windowless and rather atmospheric room) by Damien, Mick and Steve. This took the form of rapping noises which seemed to come from the walls and which moved around the entire room. Knocks were also heard in response to questions that we put to whatever was making these unexplained noises. The vigil finished at 04.30 hours. Conclusion Undoubtedly the most interesting APIS investigation of 2007 with both physical and auditory phenomena witnessed by almost all of the thirteen strong team in a variety of locations scattered around this large building. Strong impressions were received by our more psychic friends and team-mates. The phenomena were consistent with ‘the three active paranormal energy areas’ as marked on the plan of the library, in advance of the ghost watch, by our dowser, Keith Paull (who did not take part on the night of the actual vigil). Special thanks go to the library staff, Vanessa Lacey and her colleague, who stayed up with us all night and Vanessa still managed to turn up for work first thing the next day! Watford Library and Hertfordshire County Council are to be congratulated for granting APIS access which has been rarely granted by public bodies in the past. In the words of our deputy team leader Michael Lewis, who has been investigating haunted sites for 43 years, ‘The library is one of the best locations I have been to.’ There is indeed something strange at work in Watford Library… A bound copy of the complete investigation report is available to buy, it includes full colour illustrations, library employee witness statements, six pages of the APIS team report, dowsing plan of the library and newspaper article. Cost is £3 (including postage and packing).

Watford Library

APIS Investigation: Wednesday 10 October 2007*

Prelude

In September 2007 APIS was contacted by Watford Library to help in the investigation a variety of alleged paranormal phenomena reported by many members of staff who were currently working or who had worked in the building. Our initial research showed that these reports dated back over a period of more than thirty years . APIS was privileged to be chosen to organise and manage the resulting vigil, the first and probably the only time that Hertfordshire County Council would ever sanction such an investigation. A team of thirteen trained paranormal investigators, including Damien O’Dell as team leader and Michael Lewis as deputy, carried out this research project.

Equipment

Digital stills and night shot video cameras. Infra red CCTV. Digital voice recorders. EMF meters. Temperature/humidity gauges. Vibration detector. Laptop computer.

Ghost Watch Observation Notes Enquiry Desk

Before we had even set up our equipment the phenomena started. At 20.35 hours three team members witnessed poltergeist phenomena. A book, entitled Paranormal Sources, flew off a display of books, about the paranormal, from a tabletop next to the reception counter on the ground floor. This was seen simultaneously by Steve, Sharon and Duncan, from different locations close to the incident. The book landed several feet away, face down. Interestingly it landed open on a page featuring stories about poltergeists!

The Librarian’s Office was another source of interesting anomalous phenomena. Kevin thought that this was the most haunted room in the entire building. At 22.30 hours he experienced a temperature drop and saw the outline of a small boy and heard the sound of children giggling and running in and out of the room. Kevin received the impression that the children’s names were Patrick and Emmy. He also heard the sounds of a chair rattling, a man’s footsteps and the sound of a ruler or book being slammed on the desk, which was picked up on his voice recorder. We were later told by the librarians that pictures on the walls were often found askew but they had tried to explain it away as being caused by vibration from passing traffic. This seems unlikely given that the windows in question are not in close proximity to the road.

Stack The more psychically inclined members of the team, such as Sharon, Mick and Kevin, received plenty of information. Kevin, for example, had a vivid impression of ‘Tom’, a cleaner, who suffered from vertigo, laying spread eagled on the Stack, after his death from a heart attack. In the downstairs Workroom that the APIS team used as its base Mick experienced a temperature drop and the very strong energy of a girl around him. He was given the name of Anne, who was aged about eight to ten years old with long fair hair and wearing a brown, knee length smock with full sleeves from the late 19th or early twentieth century. At 23.15 hours Sharon was in the first floor Exhibition Hall, known as the Local Studies Room, when she saw ‘the solid shadow of a male walk across the doorway leading to the Lecture Hall’. She also heard a bang from the passageway, like a door slamming, which was corroborated by Roisin and two other team members, but on checking the passageway was found to be empty. The four investigators could not account for the sudden noise.

Auditory phenomena was witnessed again at 0.3.10 hours in the Reference Library Store (commonly referred to as ‘the Stack’, a windowless and rather atmospheric room) by Damien, Mick and Steve. This took the form of rapping noises which seemed to come from the walls and which moved around the entire room. Knocks were also heard in response to questions that we put to whatever was making these unexplained noises. The vigil finished at 04.30 hours.

Conclusion

Undoubtedly the most interesting APIS investigation of 2007 with both physical and auditory phenomena witnessed by almost all of the thirteen strong team in a variety of locations scattered around this large building. Strong impressions were received by our more psychic friends and team-mates. The phenomena were consistent with ‘the three active paranormal energy areas’ as marked on the plan of the library, in advance of the ghost watch, by our dowser, Keith Paull (who did not take part on the night of the actual vigil). Special thanks go to the library staff, Vanessa Lacey and her colleague, who stayed up with us all night and Vanessa still managed to turn up for work first thing the next day! Watford Library and Hertfordshire County Council are to be congratulated for granting APIS access which has been rarely granted by public bodies in the past. In the words of our deputy team leader Michael Lewis, who has been investigating haunted sites for 43 years, ‘The library is one of the best locations I have been to.’ There is indeed something strange at work in Watford Library…

A bound copy of the complete investigation report is available to buy, it includes full colour illustrations, library employee witness statements, six pages of the APIS team report, dowsing plan of the library and newspaper article. Cost is £3 (including postage and packing).