Elizabeth Fort

I was recently invited to take part in an investigation of a site in Cork city called Elizabeth Fort.

Elizabeth Fort was built in the seventeenth century on high ground outside the original city walls. As the city grew, it gradually encompassed the fort. The fort has been used as a military barracks, a prison and a Garda (Police) station.

The fort was devastated by a fire in 1922 and the current building was rebuilt and used as a Garda station until 2013.

We began the investigation in the old Garda station on the ground floor. We moved to a small office upstairs and then from there into a conference room. We got a few K11 hits in this room and the activity seemed to revolve around an old Irish pound note (Punt) that we found behind a storage cupboard in this room. 

The activity on the K11 seemed to suggest that we should put the note back where we found it.

We took the note out of the room and down into the old WW2 air raid shelter just inside the gates.

Two of the team thought they saw the note move on its own, seeming to curl up briefly and then lay flat on the surface where it had been placed. We were unable to verify this.

We left this area and went out to the walls. There is a large open space at the top and as we sat here calling out, I thought I heard the name Charles in reply to our asking for a name. I have not yet listened to the audio from this area but I don't expect to find anything there and will probably have to put this down to my imagination. 

We went to another open space on the walls and got some strong K11 hits but were able to verify that these were caused by a large exterior light over part of the area.

We returned to the conference room in the former Garda station to replace the note there. The rest of the team wanted to explore a part of the attic and I said I would sit in the conference room alone until they came back. I was alone in the room for about ten minutes. During this time I did not hear a sound until the rest of the team made their way back towards the room. 

I spent this alone time calling out and asking questions. When the team came back they asked if I was okay and I replied that I was fine and had been sitting there happily talking to myself.

On review of the audio I heard some unexplained noises that seemed to be in some form of response to my questions. There are no clear answers but I could not account for the noises.

You can listen for yourself! 

First evp

Second evp

Third evp

We then began our final part of the investigation. The old pound note was replaced but for a while we didn't receive any response to our calling out. We retrieved the pound note again and as soon as we did the K11s lit up. One of the team mentioned finding some old papers in the attic and as she spoke the K11s lit up once more. 

We continued to get a reaction that seemed to be a response to our questions. 

I am looking forward to going through the audio from this room and if I find anything of interest I will post it here on this blog.

I would like to say thank you to Cork Supernatural Society for inviting me to join them and also to the caretakers of Elizabeth Fort including Gillian who looked after us so well.

The fort walls are open every day to the public and the views across the city can only be described as spectacular. If you are visiting Cork city I would highly recommend this FREE historical location!

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Private House Investigation

My team, Shadow Hunters and I, recently investigated a private residence. The home owners approached us with tales of cupboard doors being heard to open and then slam shut, footsteps on the stairs and in the kitchen and items of furniture being moved during the night.

I did a little research but unfortunately was unable to find out much other than that the building was very old - it has been refurbished and is currently in an excellent state of repair - and that it had previously been used as a public house.

As soon as we entered the premises we took temperature readings and checked for any wiring or electrical device which could be emitting high emf. Having satisfied ourselves that everything was within normal range, we settled in to commence our investigation.

I put the K11 on the coffee table and picked up my digital recorder. Suddenly the K11 lit up all the way to red. It fluctuated a few times hitting red and this went on for less then half a minute. We double checked, but everyone's phone was switched of and we couldn't hear anything from the quiet street outside. The K11 did not light up again during this investigation.

We began by calling out, asking if anybody would like to make contact with us. I heard a small sound like soot and clinker falling down a chimney but when I shone my torch at the fireplace I saw that it had long since been bricked up and plastered over and that a modern electric fire (turned off) was in its place.

We continued to hear sounds coming from near the old fireplace. Slight knocks or rapping could be heard. We switched on the lights and checked the area thoroughly but could not find any reason for these sounds.

One of the team sat on a stool which the home owner claims moves on its own every night after the family go to bed. We were able to observe that the temperature dropped a little around this person and when the person got up and moved to sit on the floor beside the fireplace, the temperature immediately began to drop in this area. However, the temperature around the stool returned to normal.

The difference in temperature was slight, approx 1 - 2 degrees Celsius. Throughout the night we noticed these differences in temperature but as they were so random we were unable to pinpoint the cause.

One of the team smelt smoke but we were unable to verify this.

Another team member noticed bright orange lights, quite small but very bright. At first she thought that there was a problem with the oven and that the light was flickering but then we all saw the lights and they seemed to move around the kitchen. They looked a little like glowing embers and sparks.

Temperature readings confirmed that wherever the sparks appeared, the temperature was a few degrees lower than the temperature either side and as the sparks moved around the kitchen so too did the strange temperature readings.

I became aware of a deep shadow beside my chair and mentioned this. One of the team thought that someone placed a hand on my shoulder but I did not feel anything.

I felt that an energy was between my chair and the chair beside me. Suddenly the person on the other chair began to complain of a pain in her back. I told her to walk around the room for a few minutes as I thought perhaps she had been sitting awkwardly.

Withing minutes she was bent over in pain and although she was laughing about it, we could all see that she was hurting. The pain wore off and she went to sit on the stool as she thought she could maybe sit straighter and that this would help. After a few minutes, she began to rub her back again and said she felt like someone was trying to push her off the stool.

During all of this we had felt cold spots around the room and people were beginning to complain that their legs and feet were cold. I felt toasty warm but now and again I felt a cool breeze against my legs.

We were able to track these breezes with the digital thermometer but were unable to explain them.

At one point, I felt that a baby or young child sat on my lap, wriggled to get comfortable and sat back with its head against my chest.

The lady with the back ache went back to walking around the kitchen and suddenly shrieked as she said something touched her hand. This happened once more but she left the kitchen area after she felt something poke her bottom! As this happened we saw an orange spark that seemed to go up her face.

We discussed this and we all thought that the energy we could feel seemed to be low down on the ground so we surmised that there were possibly children here. However, we have no evidence to back this up.

One of the team went to sit in the kitchen area with two soft toys. For the next half an hour temperature readings on the soft toys fluctuated as we saw sparks hovering over them. At one point the temperature in front of the toys shot up over six degrees and then returned to normal within a minute.

One of the team saw a child's hand print on one of the kitchen cupboards quite close to the floor. The owners assured us that no small children had been in their property for years.

All in all it was a good night and I am looking forward to going through the equipment to see if there is anything else to report.