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George & Abbotsford Hotel
Spirit Of The Borders
http://www.freewebs.com/spiritoftheborders/
Our investigation at the George and Abbotsford Hotel in Melrose started fairly quietly. We had planned the investigation the previous week, including who should be where, the rooms we were going to be investigating and what equipment we would be using etc. But as always with this work, things rarely go to plan! You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men.......
We had visited the Hotel the previous week to discuss the investigation with the owners and staff and to hear their accounts of the activity witnessed by them and previous guests. While we were their, we photographed the relevant areas and left with a pile of layout maps and a lot of planning ahead!
From our discussions we planned to investigate room 9, room 18, the Burn's room, the Scott room, the Waverley room, and the main bar area.
We arrived at 9pm and decided to set up base in the Burn's room as it was big enough to accommodate our team, all the equipment and the 5 owners and staff members who would be joining us though the night. It also has a huge table - ideal for the end of night Seance!
Our baseline tests were fairly routine, however in room 18 the team experienced high EMF activity over the bed on the left hand side of the room. This continued for several minutes until it ceased as quick as it had begun. Nothing unusual was recorded anywhere else at this stage.
We had brought several trigger objects with us, An early 20th century religious book, with a St Christopher on top was placed in the Burn's room in view of the laptop and night vision webcam. Because Nadia had sensed the spirit of a little girl in the hotel. children's books were set up as well as a small teddy in various rooms.
Our first vigils were to be in rooms 9 and 18, so we split into 2 groups and headed off. All was quiet in room 9 for the main part of the vigil and it was only towards the end that team felt significant temperature drops and witnessed orbs in the corner of the room. The room had a distinct feminine energy and Nadia kept visualising a woman in a dark green dress. The woman looked to be about early 40s, with dark brown hair worn neatly under a bonnet. She also had a brown shawl around her shoulders. Nadia did not see this woman 'in situ' but as an image in her mind and thought it might be relevant.
After a set time the team regrouped at the base and swapped rooms to start the next vigil. Nadia sensed the same woman in room 18 but no unusual activity was experienced or recorded. There was also nothing unusual to report in room 9 at this stage.
The second set of vigils were held in the main bar and the Scott room. During the bar vigil the team witnessed high EMF activity centred in the middle of the room and near to the windows. Eye witnesses had reported the chandelier swinging of it's own accord despite there being no one upstairs to cause vibrations. Interestingly, directly above the main bar is the Burn's room, the scene of many previous paranormal activity. One of our team members felt the date 1746 was important here, and Nadia was getting the name John repeatedly in her mind. She also sensed the energies of two children running around this area. The subsequent photos show a huge light anomaly in the bar area.This was captured on 3 photos in different positions. No unusual temperature drops were recorded. The group in the Scott room had nothing to report so we headed back to the base.
On regrouping, we entered the Burn's room to find the other half of the team experiencing some very exciting activity! Bud was using the EMF meter and the reading was going off the scale! The activity was centered to the left hand side of the room as you enter, and would occasionally stop as Bud moved around trying to eliminate a natural source. There had been no unusual EMF activity during the baseline tests. The activity seemed to be focused on two chairs at the top of the table and the subsequent photos showed a single blueish orb in various positions in the area concerned. An orb was also caught on night vision camcorder streaking past the two chairs. The activity continued for around 20 minutes before trailing off.
After a short break, the team split up again into small groups. The team had planned to swap positions for the next set of vigils, but a last minute suggestion from Bud was to prove to be the making of the investigation. He suggested doing a vigil in the basement. We hadn't planned this as although staff member Lisa had experienced activity down here, it was our understanding that it had been an isolated incident and we had plenty to do upstairs! However the team have always agreed to follow our instincts on investigations, so a small team was sent to the basement. The rest of the team split themselves into small groups and went to rooms 9, 18, and the Waverley room. And that's when things really started to get interesting!!
In room 9, the team experienced huge temperature fluctuations, and Nadia felt 3 distinct taps on her left knee in response for a request for communication. Orbs were caught on camera most notably in the same corner as on the previous vigil. However, it was the group in the basement that experienced the most activity. During their vigil, Bud Lisa and Sharon had felt the presence of a spirit and started to ask questions in the hope of eliciting some response. They started by asking questions such as 'Do you want to communicate with us' and were rewarded with a short bleep on the EMF meter. They asked more question such as 'are you a woman, did you live here' etc, and in response to certain questions the EMF meter would emit a short bleep. Prior to our visit the hotel had employed the services of a Medium Clairvoyant who picked up on several energies in the hotel. She had given names, so using this information, the group managed to decipher that the man's name was John and that he was looking for his wife Margaret and 2 children Amy and Charlotte who had both died accidental deaths whilst residing in the hotel in the 17th century. All responses were double checked by repeating the questions and using various other names to determine the accuracy of what they were experiencing. Our team were aware of the Mediums visit to the hotel but were given no details, not even the gender of the people that she had sensed.
The group joined the others in room 9 and again we tried the experiment. More questions were asked and we received more bleeps in response. Once again the team tried to 'trick' the spirit by asking different questions and we received no response to these at all.
The team headed for the Burn's room and prepared for the Seance. There were 11 of us in total but we managed to sit comfortably around the huge centre table set the camcorders on tripods and repositioned the laptop and webcams at the top of the table. We decide to use 2 EMF meters. Lisa held one and Nadia the other and they sat almost directly opposite each other. We decide to use the same techniques as earlier as they had been so successful. It wasn't long before we had a response via the EMF meter. Lisa and Brian felt that someone was standing between them and it was then that the meter started to bleep incessantly. As the meter was continually bleeping, we couldn't begin to ask questions as it wouldn't have been possible to decipher a response. As Nadia had sensed the spirit of a young girl in the area we started to ask some relevant questions and using the same techniques as before we found out that the little girl's name was Mary and that she was 6 years old. This was confirmed by asking Mary if she was 3,4,5 etc. No response was given until we asked if she was 6 and we received 6 short bleeps on the EMF meter. We repeated the question and heard another 6 bleeps. Through perserverance, we found out that Mary was Charlotte and Amy's cousin, and John and Margarets' neice. She responded positively when asked if she was frightened of the other Spirit in the room (the one that was still causing Lisa's EMF meter to bleep incessantly). We switched Lisa's EMF meter off at one point to see if a clearer connection could be made with Mary, as there were times during the Seance that she wouldn't come through for a minute or two and we were concerned that the other Spirit in the room may have been draining all the available energy and making it difficult for Mary to come through effectively, however when we made the switch, Mary came through even weaker than previously, and we thought that maybe she had needed the energy that the other was drawing and that she had been 'taking' some of it in order to communicate with us. When we switched the EMF meter back on we once again established a link with Mary after a few minutes. We continued our questions and managed to find out that Mary was searching for her Grandfather - also called John, and wanted to be taken up to room 19. After our longest Seance to date - nearly 3 hours!, we broke the circle and a small group of us headed up to room 19. We attempted to reestablish communication with Mary, but were getting no response in this room. After a few minutes we decide to try room 18 next door, where previous activity had been witnessed. Again we tried to communicate with Mary, and almost immediately we heard the now very familiar short bleeps on the EMF meter! We helped Mary connect with her Grandfather as best as we knew how, and after a few moments the EMF meter fell silent. Despite repeated questioning we had no more response from Mary.
After a very long, but incredibly exciting night, the team packed up and headed for home!
CONCLUSION
The team were delighted with the activity experienced at the George and Abbotsford Hotel. We caught many light anomalies in room 9, 18, The Burn's room, and in the main bar, including a 'twin orb' in room 9, where the spirit energies of the two little girls Amy and Charlotte were believed to be. Nadia felt someone tap her left knee three times in this room during one of the vigils.
Camcorder footage showed a couple of light anomolies in The Burn's room, and we recorded extremely interesting EMF activity in various parts of the hotel.
None of the trigger objects were moved throughout the night.
http://www.freewebs.com/spiritoftheborders/
Our investigation at the George and Abbotsford Hotel in Melrose started fairly quietly. We had planned the investigation the previous week, including who should be where, the rooms we were going to be investigating and what equipment we would be using etc. But as always with this work, things rarely go to plan! You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men.......
We had visited the Hotel the previous week to discuss the investigation with the owners and staff and to hear their accounts of the activity witnessed by them and previous guests. While we were their, we photographed the relevant areas and left with a pile of layout maps and a lot of planning ahead!
From our discussions we planned to investigate room 9, room 18, the Burn's room, the Scott room, the Waverley room, and the main bar area.
We arrived at 9pm and decided to set up base in the Burn's room as it was big enough to accommodate our team, all the equipment and the 5 owners and staff members who would be joining us though the night. It also has a huge table - ideal for the end of night Seance!
Our baseline tests were fairly routine, however in room 18 the team experienced high EMF activity over the bed on the left hand side of the room. This continued for several minutes until it ceased as quick as it had begun. Nothing unusual was recorded anywhere else at this stage.
We had brought several trigger objects with us, An early 20th century religious book, with a St Christopher on top was placed in the Burn's room in view of the laptop and night vision webcam. Because Nadia had sensed the spirit of a little girl in the hotel. children's books were set up as well as a small teddy in various rooms.
Our first vigils were to be in rooms 9 and 18, so we split into 2 groups and headed off. All was quiet in room 9 for the main part of the vigil and it was only towards the end that team felt significant temperature drops and witnessed orbs in the corner of the room. The room had a distinct feminine energy and Nadia kept visualising a woman in a dark green dress. The woman looked to be about early 40s, with dark brown hair worn neatly under a bonnet. She also had a brown shawl around her shoulders. Nadia did not see this woman 'in situ' but as an image in her mind and thought it might be relevant.
After a set time the team regrouped at the base and swapped rooms to start the next vigil. Nadia sensed the same woman in room 18 but no unusual activity was experienced or recorded. There was also nothing unusual to report in room 9 at this stage.
The second set of vigils were held in the main bar and the Scott room. During the bar vigil the team witnessed high EMF activity centred in the middle of the room and near to the windows. Eye witnesses had reported the chandelier swinging of it's own accord despite there being no one upstairs to cause vibrations. Interestingly, directly above the main bar is the Burn's room, the scene of many previous paranormal activity. One of our team members felt the date 1746 was important here, and Nadia was getting the name John repeatedly in her mind. She also sensed the energies of two children running around this area. The subsequent photos show a huge light anomaly in the bar area.This was captured on 3 photos in different positions. No unusual temperature drops were recorded. The group in the Scott room had nothing to report so we headed back to the base.
On regrouping, we entered the Burn's room to find the other half of the team experiencing some very exciting activity! Bud was using the EMF meter and the reading was going off the scale! The activity was centered to the left hand side of the room as you enter, and would occasionally stop as Bud moved around trying to eliminate a natural source. There had been no unusual EMF activity during the baseline tests. The activity seemed to be focused on two chairs at the top of the table and the subsequent photos showed a single blueish orb in various positions in the area concerned. An orb was also caught on night vision camcorder streaking past the two chairs. The activity continued for around 20 minutes before trailing off.
After a short break, the team split up again into small groups. The team had planned to swap positions for the next set of vigils, but a last minute suggestion from Bud was to prove to be the making of the investigation. He suggested doing a vigil in the basement. We hadn't planned this as although staff member Lisa had experienced activity down here, it was our understanding that it had been an isolated incident and we had plenty to do upstairs! However the team have always agreed to follow our instincts on investigations, so a small team was sent to the basement. The rest of the team split themselves into small groups and went to rooms 9, 18, and the Waverley room. And that's when things really started to get interesting!!
In room 9, the team experienced huge temperature fluctuations, and Nadia felt 3 distinct taps on her left knee in response for a request for communication. Orbs were caught on camera most notably in the same corner as on the previous vigil. However, it was the group in the basement that experienced the most activity. During their vigil, Bud Lisa and Sharon had felt the presence of a spirit and started to ask questions in the hope of eliciting some response. They started by asking questions such as 'Do you want to communicate with us' and were rewarded with a short bleep on the EMF meter. They asked more question such as 'are you a woman, did you live here' etc, and in response to certain questions the EMF meter would emit a short bleep. Prior to our visit the hotel had employed the services of a Medium Clairvoyant who picked up on several energies in the hotel. She had given names, so using this information, the group managed to decipher that the man's name was John and that he was looking for his wife Margaret and 2 children Amy and Charlotte who had both died accidental deaths whilst residing in the hotel in the 17th century. All responses were double checked by repeating the questions and using various other names to determine the accuracy of what they were experiencing. Our team were aware of the Mediums visit to the hotel but were given no details, not even the gender of the people that she had sensed.
The group joined the others in room 9 and again we tried the experiment. More questions were asked and we received more bleeps in response. Once again the team tried to 'trick' the spirit by asking different questions and we received no response to these at all.
The team headed for the Burn's room and prepared for the Seance. There were 11 of us in total but we managed to sit comfortably around the huge centre table set the camcorders on tripods and repositioned the laptop and webcams at the top of the table. We decide to use 2 EMF meters. Lisa held one and Nadia the other and they sat almost directly opposite each other. We decide to use the same techniques as earlier as they had been so successful. It wasn't long before we had a response via the EMF meter. Lisa and Brian felt that someone was standing between them and it was then that the meter started to bleep incessantly. As the meter was continually bleeping, we couldn't begin to ask questions as it wouldn't have been possible to decipher a response. As Nadia had sensed the spirit of a young girl in the area we started to ask some relevant questions and using the same techniques as before we found out that the little girl's name was Mary and that she was 6 years old. This was confirmed by asking Mary if she was 3,4,5 etc. No response was given until we asked if she was 6 and we received 6 short bleeps on the EMF meter. We repeated the question and heard another 6 bleeps. Through perserverance, we found out that Mary was Charlotte and Amy's cousin, and John and Margarets' neice. She responded positively when asked if she was frightened of the other Spirit in the room (the one that was still causing Lisa's EMF meter to bleep incessantly). We switched Lisa's EMF meter off at one point to see if a clearer connection could be made with Mary, as there were times during the Seance that she wouldn't come through for a minute or two and we were concerned that the other Spirit in the room may have been draining all the available energy and making it difficult for Mary to come through effectively, however when we made the switch, Mary came through even weaker than previously, and we thought that maybe she had needed the energy that the other was drawing and that she had been 'taking' some of it in order to communicate with us. When we switched the EMF meter back on we once again established a link with Mary after a few minutes. We continued our questions and managed to find out that Mary was searching for her Grandfather - also called John, and wanted to be taken up to room 19. After our longest Seance to date - nearly 3 hours!, we broke the circle and a small group of us headed up to room 19. We attempted to reestablish communication with Mary, but were getting no response in this room. After a few minutes we decide to try room 18 next door, where previous activity had been witnessed. Again we tried to communicate with Mary, and almost immediately we heard the now very familiar short bleeps on the EMF meter! We helped Mary connect with her Grandfather as best as we knew how, and after a few moments the EMF meter fell silent. Despite repeated questioning we had no more response from Mary.
After a very long, but incredibly exciting night, the team packed up and headed for home!
CONCLUSION
The team were delighted with the activity experienced at the George and Abbotsford Hotel. We caught many light anomalies in room 9, 18, The Burn's room, and in the main bar, including a 'twin orb' in room 9, where the spirit energies of the two little girls Amy and Charlotte were believed to be. Nadia felt someone tap her left knee three times in this room during one of the vigils.
Camcorder footage showed a couple of light anomolies in The Burn's room, and we recorded extremely interesting EMF activity in various parts of the hotel.
None of the trigger objects were moved throughout the night.
