The Ostrich Inn 11/03/06

WEATHER: Cold & Damp

DURATION: 20.30-05.15

MEMBERS: 10

GUESTS: 0

We considered ourselves very lucky indeed to be allowed in to investigate this famous Inn, of course a certain group from Living TV had been there seen it done it, however it was our turn. The property has a very disturbing history. The building dates back to 1106! Making it the third oldest inn/pub in the country. The present pub dating from the 15th century stands on the site of an earlier Inn, and none other than King John is said to have partaken in an ale or two on his way to sign the Magna Carta in 1215. However the Ostrich Inn has a more sombre tale related to the hideous murder of wealthy guests, lots of wealthy guests actually! During the Middle ages a couple called the Jarmans owned the Inn. When a wealthy guest arrived at the Inn they were shown to a special room, in which the Jarmans insisted it was the best room in the inn. But the bed concealed a trap door connected to the kitchen below. When the guest had dropped off to sleep, one of the Jarmans would pull a secret lever in the kitchen below and the occupant in bed would drop through the trap door into a boiling vat of oil....nice.

Their murderous deeds came to and end when the horse of a guest named Thomas Cole was found wandering the village. Despite the Jarmans denying al knowledge, the body of Thomas Cole was found, and the Jarmans were arrested. The Jarmans were both hanged for these atrocities, and admitted murdering well over 60 people. The local stream Coln brook is believed to have been named after 'Cole in the brook'.

We arrived around 5.20 and took some exterior shots of this fascinating building, it was at this point when we encountered a passer by who asked us what we do, and he seemed generally interested. He then gave us some very interesting information about the area and the building. Ten minutes later he would re-appear, as we entered the main bar area and present us with a tea towel, "a present form Colnbrook to Horsham" he said, this definitely put us in high "spirits" before our investigation. After meeting the staff who seemed somewhat very excited to see us, we lugged our gear upstairs and then ordered some food in which we consumed in the eerie Elizabethan Room, this was to become our base camp for the night.

The Elizabethan room.

The staff were very kind to light the big open fire for us, we would need it as we noticed the temperature had considerably dropped since arriving, odd as we were upstairs and heat usually rises doesn't it? The new staff didn't know a thing about the building as they had recently moved here. After hearing these events, they were now a tad edgy. We sealed off our base the Elizabethan room, which looked into the Jacobean room with Shutters that come down from the ceiling, they are known to move and slam by themselves.

Before we knew it, was that time, opening prayer to protect us. And away we go. Vigil one was in the Elizabethan room, this was observed by Clint S, Clint D, April, Adel and Ange, next door in the Jacobean room it was Liz, Hayley, Franco, Craig & Garry. Unfortunately the Jacobean room is directly above the main bar area, this pub is extremely busy so the guys in here could only here very loud chatting and banter, and constant stair climbing as the ladies toilets here are halfway up the stairs. It wouldn't be very quiet until closing time unfortunately. However in the Elizabethan room, it was much quieter, straight away Ange felt extremely unwell, she thought she might be sick at one point. She described that it felt very "busy" in the room, and she got the impression of lots of people in there. Well the room was a dining hall at one time, it now serves as a function or conference suit. It was then April developed a severe pain behind her eye, and Clint D became very breathless, and felt nauseas also. Some very interesting temperature fluctuations also came about, and for some reason one corner of the room became very cold indeed, near Clint S, who had mentioned he felt a strong draught across his leg. Odd that the window temperatures were higher, than this "cold" corner of the room. April then caught a very interesting and very fast moving anomaly on film, when we have a still shot of this, we'll put it on the site.

After a break and conversation with very nervous staff. It was time to prep the séance which we would hold in the Jacoben room as the pub was now closed, so we would have it nice and quiet. As always we like to do our séances at the stroke of midnight. As per norm we have four stationary cameras pointing toward the table, to catch whatever may occur from all angles. It seemed fairly quiet at first, then a huge draft seemed to come from a specific corner of the room, and this could clearly be seen on our candles as they dramatically flickered to the direction in which this draft was coming from. Then two simultaneous snaps or cracks were heard, two of our four cameras just stopped working, at the exact same time! Interesting. That spooked us a bit I can say. Ange seemed to feel that somebody was present, but they we'rent coming forward, could this be Jarman? During the séance some members said that they had seen "shadows" from under the thin strip of light under the closed door as if someone walked by, this happened a number of times. No footsteps could be heard. The next vigil was conducted in Jarmans room, this was the room where many a soul spent their last nights before being murdered. It's now the pub office, unfortunately nothing was picked up in here, a light kept coming out from directly outside, and the humming of the pipes and generators, if anything it was very cold, but it was the early hours, so that would probably explain that. Our sensitives couldn't really feel anything here at the moment.

A close up of an orb caught on camera by the exact area where the draft seemed to be coming from in the séance.   

As we progressed into the early hours we ventured downstairs to the main bar area, kitchens, and pantry areas which are known to be very haunted indeed. The kitchen area didn't really provide us with anything this time round, however it just didn't feel right in there. We spent some time around the area in which the bodies fell into the vat, which ironically now is the deep fat fryers! It just felt very oppressive in here. We then found the pantry which, is very tiny. This is where the bodies were stored in barrels before being rolled into the river. Many staff members, do not feel comfortable going in here. Clint S, Clint D, Ange and April, conducted a mini vigil in here as it was so tiny, again Ange began to feel unwell, and dizzy. Several photos that were taken in here, did not expose at all! Interesting, there seemed to be a feeling of movement in there though. Not nice. The group gathered in the main bar area, and separated to either ends of the ground floor. Not a lot here except for Clint S catching a very interesting orb on film, that seemed to change shape as it moved, from an almost feather shape to a ball shape and then disappear. Once again as soon as footage is obtained we'll do our best to show you. Things began to slow down now and so did we, time for sleep and for our drivers stop get some much needed rest, so we snuggled down in front of the now mildly warm fireplace in the bar area and got some rest.

  At this time we would like to thank all the staff at the Ostrich Inn, for giving us the run of the building all night and for being so interested and welcoming to us all. Perhaps they'll join in next time. We look forward to returning here, where hopefully we will see Mr or Mrs Jarman next time round.

Many thanks the SPRG team.

sprg 2007