The Newlands Case - Page 2

A HAUNTED SHOP AND TEA ROOM IN BICESTER

We could not explain this incident, as we were all located on the top floor of the building at the time. Were the alleged ghosts of the Newlands letting us know they were present. We will never know, but this was a very odd thing to happen!
We then decided to start our investigation on the ground floor stairwell area knowing there were high EMF readings in the vicinity running across the floor to the front door.

On our first vigil we experienced no apparent activity in response to our questions asked, and this seemed to be the trend for the next 2-3 hours. At this point, we all decided to take a break and leaving Matt alone in the shop as he had requested to do so in order to try and psychically pick up on any of the sprits that may have been present.

A short while later we returned to the shop, and Matt begun to tell us that he had sensed the presence of a lady in her 20s or 30s from the mid 1970s. Matt said that he felt very strongly that the reason some members of staff had been stopped on the stairs, was that this lady was trying to prevent people from going upstairs to protect them from the spirit of a man situated on the second floor level. Matt said he was not to be trusted.

We decided to start a vigil on the first floor of the shop, positioning ourselves in different places in the room. We put a K2 meter close to the mirrored cabinets and began to call out.

Sheena was sure she heard a groan, but this has not been corroborated by any audio evidence. I asked if any sprits could give us a clear sign of their presence, and almost immediately we all heard a massive crash as if a door slammed shut down stairs. The sound clearly came from within the shop itself. I was stood by the stairwell and thought it may have been the front door but I knew the door was locked from the inside. This made us all jump and we did capture the sound on our digital voice recorders.

Audio File 1

We all went down stairs to try and find out what was going on, and checked the front door which was locked. We also checked the back door which seemed locked also. Sheena unlocked the door to check the toilet door in the courtyard, but that was closed shut although not locked. We tried to debunk the sound by slamming each door in turn and standing upstairs to see if we could identify the sound by recreating it.

Each of us stood upstairs in turn so we could get each one of the teams’ interpretations on the sound. We all came to the same conclusion that the sound was not made by any of the internal doors slamming shut. The sound we heard was louder and if it had been the front door, we would have clearly heard the bell above the door ring. We are still unable to account for this noise, and believe the cause to possibly be paranormal.

After a short break, I told the team about the history of the property and the ghost stories associated with the shop. I also told them the names of the ghosts that are said to haunt the shop. Anne, Lester, and a lady thought to have been her daughter Margaret.

We carried on with our vigil of the first floor, moving to a different part of the room. Sheena sat on the floor close to one of the back windows as we asked a series of questions linked to the names and history of the shop. It was then we seemed to get hits or fluctuations on the K2 meter in direct response to these questions: The questions asked at the time were “Anne are you with us”? , “Do you have a husband called Lester”? “Can you give us a clear sign that you are with us”
(Video footage here)

Following on from this we decided to spilt up and cover all 3 floors separately. Matt was on the stairwell of the ground floor. Sheena went to the top floor and I stayed on the first floor, close to the mirrored cabinets. I began to call out asking if all 3 spirits that are alleged to haunt the property could come forward and visit each of us in turn.

Matt called out saying he had K2 hits and I also had a K2 spikes. Sheena reported nothing on the top floor. Could this have been radio interference from a passing lorry, or low flying aircraft?

At one point, I had the feeling that someone was standing close to me, but the feeling was gone as fast as it had come about.

Matt carried on having K2 reactions to the questions I asked, and it seemed from these questions and answers that we were indeed communicating with the lady Matt had earlier identified on the stairs.

(Video footage here)

Matt was unable to give us a name for this lady or why she remained in the shop or how she died.
After a short break we made our way to the top floor and set up voices recorders and K2’s ready for our next vigil.
We began calling out asking for the spirits to come forward and give us a clear sign that they were with us.

We immediately began to get hits on the K2 meter (place footage here) in response to clear questions asked (The spirit of a lady called Margaret came through to us, and I asked how old she was. I started at aged 10 and had no definitive response on the K2 meter until I reached the age of 20 when it spiked. I then asked if she had died in the house, and the K2 spiked again. We continued to ask questions, and it transpired that Margaret died aged 20 from smallpox and may have been Anne and Lester’s daughter. We are unable to confirm this information 100%, but are in the process of checking the local parish records to shed any light on this data.

I asked Margaret to do anything else other than move the lights on the K2, at this moment the small table behind it began to wobble, and we could see that it was indeed moving. (Place footage here)

I asked if the spirit was able to throw something or move an object for us. At this moment a box that was on the window sill flew off and landed on the small table that was in front of the window. I was the only person to see this, but both Sheena & Matt heard this happen. My reaction is clearly one of shock and amazement as can be seen on the DVR footage. (Place footage here)

Sadly we did not catch the box flying off the window sill only my reaction to the experience, and that of the rest of the team.

We experienced K2 spikes again by the long mirror close to the stairwell which we felt began to shake!
(Place footage here)

Strangely activity began occurring all at once, and everything seemed to happen to us at the same time. We carried out a short glass divination session, and table tipping exercise using the small table that had wobbled previously, but received limited and inconclusive results.

After a while things seemed to quiet down and we took a break leaving the DVR recording. We later attempted a few more vigils on the top floor, but it seemed that we had already exhausted the best out of this area, and therefore tried the other floors, were we obtained K2 spikes on the stairwell again, apparently caused by the lady mentioned by Matt earlier in the day. It transpired through a series of question and answer sessions using just the K2 meter that she passed away in this house and refuses to now leave.

We eventually called it a day and packed away the DVR cameras and equipment and awaited the return of our clients.

Investigation Summary:

Is the Newlands haunted?

We had some strange experiences during the investigation, which we are unable to debunk completely. These included the K2 responses to direct questions asked by the team and the box that I had witnessed flying of the window sill and landing on the table.

The table and mirror wobbling on its own may have been caused by natural vibration or traffic outside.

We were unable to locate the source of the loud crashing noise we all heard, and in my opinion I feel the Newlands does have some paranormal activity occurring there which may warrant further Investigation.
An overnight investigation would be a good chance for the GPS team to see just what is going on at this lovely little shop and tea-room.