Wymering Manor, Portsmouth, Hampshire 11/02/06

Duration: 17.00-07.30

Members: 11
Guests: 2

Weather: Icy & damp

It was a lovely sunny winters day in February and this afternoon of the 11th of Feb. 2006 saw the SPRG team descend upon a chilly Portsmouth and on to Cosham, home of Wymering Manor.

Wymering Manor is the oldest timber framed building still standing in Portsmouth, deeds of the building date back to Roman times. The Manor is a youth hostel. It is known to be haunted, hence the reason why so many groups see fit to visit.......of course we had to go.

Dave arrived first followed by Clint S with all of our gear. This was prime opportunity to get some early photos of the outside of the building, then the rest of the gang arrived, time to unload and set up base camp. Whilst the group were setting up some odd happenings occurred.
The first occurred at the start in room 5, when Clint S had the feeling he was being followed on the upper staircase balcony. Craig then investigated a strange noise that was emanating from a window in the property , he then jolted the window to see if this was the reason for the noise. However the window was a good fit and didn't budge an inch
Craig & Clint S remained still for a few minutes in hope of the noise recurring but nothing happened, but then when they carried on with the setting up tasks the noise began again. It was checked again, but there was no clear explanation for the noise could be made. So the guys noted what happened for the first group who were scheduled to be in the room for first vigil number one. However after the investigation contact was made with Dave Scanlan, (the landlord) who informed us that a Wisteria creeper climbs the exterior of the window, which is probably the most likely explanation for the tapping noise. Another room of huge interest was "the music room" Dave Scanlan had informed us that he often heard what he described as Piano noises emanating from the room at times. We heard no piano noises but we were not too disappointed, as a series of distinct "clicks" in the otherwise empty music room were picked up on one of our Dictaphones. These occurred at random intervals. Then truly a great find, at approx 3:14am in the empty music room a nervous "voice" is picked up saying "hello". Very interesting indeed, check back soon for the clip and see what you think. In conclusion to these events there is nothing above the music room so the "noises" aren't influenced by human activity.

Around this time the group were conducted a séance in the main reception area. We had our infa red trigger beams set up over the staircase, an area of which is known to be very active indeed. At the time of the séance the beam was broken signalling the alarm noise.....what set this off? did we have a presence descending the staircase? There was certainly no explanation for this.

Things seemed to go rather quiet around the place after the séance, and as morning broke and everybody had their naps it was time for coffee and to pack things up. It seemed that the previous nights group may have drained the energy from the building, as they had a very successful night, we had one or two happenings, but a return visit to this wonderful building wouldn't be out of the question.

Many thanks to Dave Scanlon for his tremendous hospitality, and of course thanks to whatever gave us a fright here and there.

sprg 2007