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This is another site where we were unable to carry out a pre-investigation. When we arrived I could see why: this is a small site. Very small! Easily the smallest internal investigation we’ve been to. Consisting of a small courtroom on the 1st floor (and when I say ‘small’, I mean living room small) with adjoining cupboard sized robing room. The ground floor is made up of what is left of the prison cells. I really had no idea of what to expect about this place. I had heard of it before, but had no idea of its history or supposed haunting. I will admit that as we pulled up outside, its size did concern me a little. And this wasn’t helped by the knowledge there are no toilets inside! I am happy to report that by the end of the evening, I emerged quite exhilarated. So read on. We were met by Jane & Dan: two of the volunteers that keep the place running. Both were extremely welcoming and had brought along a kettle and some tea to keep us going; very thoughtful. They are both obviously well versed in the history of the place, but purposely did not tell us a thing (until the end of the investigation). As I crossed the threshold, I immediately picked up on the presence of children – happy, playful children. Now this did surprise me, and certainly wasn’t something I expected. This was a courthouse, after all. This became all the more apparent to me as we set up and were given a tour of a place. Children, long since passed, were present here. Jane & Dan elected to leave us to our own devices, and sat outside in their car. Not sure I’d be able to do that, particularly on the cold, rainy night it was. Still, I guess they had a radio and some heat. Two things the courthouse doesn’t have (in the winter, at least)! We began our vigil in the courthouse. We sat there in the dark, asking questions aloud, addressing anything that may reside there. This went on for quite some time, with nothing really happening. Although it was apparent that something wasn’t right with the layout of the room – it had definitely been altered. The noise from the road immediately outside did become annoying – something that Jane had warned us about. I could pick up on the children, but no names, history, nothing. We decided to move downstairs to the cells. To do this, you have to exit by an external staircase and open an external door downstairs – this is the only way into the cells. Jane & Dan met us at this point, asking us how we were getting on. With nothing to report other than the children, they left us alone again. There are two cells left. The one on the left converted into a mini exhibit, with various artefacts behind a glass wall. The cell on the right was empty, with a single stone slab/bed and an old piece of wood leaning against the (marked with the names and graffiti of previous occupants of the cells) its main contents. The cells had also recently been painted, so the smell of paint was quite apparent (there is no roof over the first part of the walkway in front of the cells, so ventilation is ample). Despite this, as we stood in the cell, reading the text etched into the wood – the smell of alcohol/rum, body odour and fish would waft in and out. Not very pleasant and not originating from any of us – we’re clean souls! I could not pick up on anything other than the children, even from the piece of wood. So, after a while we moved back upstairs with Jane and Dan, into the relative warm for a hot cup of tea and a break. Jane explained to us that the ghost of an ex-jailor supposedly haunted the site too. But I had not picked up on this yet. We began another vigil in the courtroom after our break, with Jane and Dan joining us. Clare had left at this point, and I honestly was not expecting much to happen. I was wrong. After a few minutes, my attention was drawn to a young girl crouching beneath a display cabinet in the robing room! In the dark, all I could make out was her long hair and the fact that she was wearing a dark dress. But wow! There she was! As I approached her she vanished. She seemed around strangers, especially men? But she was happy and playful too. So nice to pick up on a happy soul for once. I was now quite stoked, and saw her again crouching behind the clerks’ bench in the courtroom. No name, but Jane was delighted to tell us that two children haunted the courtroom. Ellie-May and her brother William. Both of whom had allegedly succumbed to the plague. I only saw Ellie-May, but she was becoming more relaxed with us as the evening went on. I am certain this is because of Jane. Ellie-May had become quite attached to her, I’m sure. Electing to show herself only when Jane was present. The atmosphere of the room had changed. Due to Ellie-May, I’m quite convinced. She was a girl of around no more than 10 years old, long hair, long dress and of height I’d guess to just over my waist (I’m 6’1”). She had mischievous nature that would become apparent. I sat there waiting for her to appear again. As we all asked various questions to her. The reason she was initially wary of me was because I reminded her of ‘the man’. This ‘man’ was the jailor, whom Ellie-May and her brother liked to tease. Apparently he was ‘easy to tease and such fun to confuse’. The jailor was not a nice person in life, and had not changed in death. Ellie-May and her brother would bang the bars of the cells downstairs to taunt him, and then hide. He would come looking for them, enraged. He would not find them though. They had died at different times – far apart from each other. For some reason because of this they could not directly interact, although the children and the jailor were well aware of each other. After a few mins, Ellie-May decided to leave. I asked her why and was told “Because the man is coming”. Then nothing. We thought it a good idea to go back to the cells! Before this though, Jane explained that the children’s mother apparently also appeared at the door to the courthouse, although never entering it. As she said this, the door flashed! At least it did for me, nobody else noticed. Still, it was enough to get my adrenalin pumping again. We moved downstairs. Jane and Dan remained with us as we held another vigil in the cells. Once again, the smell of rum wafting around us. But still I could not pick up on the jailor himself. As the jailor was apparently a rather unpleasant chap, we began taunting him, trying to provoke a response. After a while, I was beginning to give up hope when I noticed a male figure, with long hair walking up the stairs to the courtroom! I only caught a glimpse, but I definitely saw someone. So up the stairs to the courthouse we went. Once inside again, I mentioned to Jane that the rum smell was from the Jailor and that he had been a drunkard in life. She confirmed this. It became clear to me now. As odd as this may sound, the reason I could not pick up on the jailor was because he was drunk! I was unable to ‘get a lock on him’ as it were. I could now feel him, but he was not very forthcoming with information. No name, no history, no apparition. Still, we did ask questions and I did get some kind of responses. Tammy accused the jailor of being a bully, picking on small children. To this, the word ‘whore!’ filled my head - hardly a flattering term for poor Tammy. When the subject of Ellie-May and William was raised, ‘those brats should not here’. Perhaps a reference to the fact they were from a different point in time? Pretty much everything else I got was just drunken gibberish. But it was made clear to me that it was the jailor who did not let the children’s mother enter the courtroom. At least, she could not enter if he was present. No idea why he could interact with the mother and not the children, as the mother did not appear. Perhaps the two adults are aware they’ve died whereas the children are not? After a while, the jailor shut up. But I was still aware of his presence. Most odd, until it occurred to me that he had passed out! I was picking up on a drunken spirit that had passed out, or at least believed itself to have passed out. I know how odd that sounds, but I’m only presenting this as I saw it. Eventually, the jailor vanished completely. Jane explained to us a bit about him, and how the cell downstairs that we had been in was once used as a temporary morgue. I did find this surprising that I had not picked up on this, but it did make sense to me that it may have once been used as such. After a few minutes, I was very aware (as were Jane and Dan) of Ellie-May’s welcoming reappearance. We asked why they (the children) were here, to which I was told that the two of them had been brought there by their mother ‘to hide’, and that their mother then did not return for quite some time. Tammy asked if they knew they were dead, something that Ellie-May found very amusing! ‘Dead? I’m ignorant to that!’ She did not know that she and her brother had died. Jane explained to us that the two children had died of the plague, but no one knew why they were there at the courthouse. Tammy supposed later that the children had died and their little bodies brought there, perhaps when it was a morgue, before being buried in the plague pit? This now seems quite likely to me and does make the situation quite heart breaking. At some point, we all heard the sound of a child coughing too. We changed the subject form death and asked about William. Ellie-May told me William was asleep and found it quite odd that we should be asking her that at this hour! She also said that she called her little brother ‘Toad’. The name, George, had occurred to Tammy, so we asked Ellie-May about him. She responded that ‘George throws stones at people in the castle’ and I got the impression that if she was stood before me, she would be raising her eyes. I can only assume that the castle in question is Pevensey Castle, just up the road. Ellie-May did make it clear to me that the two children did now see and speak to their mother. Jane mentioned that the three of them often argued here! We asked Ellie-May why, if her brother was asleep, was she still up. I received a curt ‘Why are you still up?!’ I had to smile at his. She then made it clear she was retiring for the night. More questions were asked of her and she simply responded that it was ‘rude to keep talking when I have told you I am going to sleep. Now good night!’. And that was the last I received from her that night. We decided to call it a night at this stage, so Jane told us about the history of the courthouse, and how it was once also a library. The layout of the courtroom had indeed been changed, and that many people picked up on the two playful children. She also explained that the jailor was quite unpleasant, and often referred to women as ‘whores’, apparently quite happy to pinch their bottoms, too. He could also be quite violent, with people having a chocking sensation as though they were being held by the neck, in the cell downstairs. People have also passed out in there, having to be dragged out. Am glad he was relatively incapacitated on our visit. The cells also used to extend father into the property, and below ground (now concreted over). There is a private residence at the back of the courtroom which was once the jailor’s house. No word on whether the occupants ever experienced any phenomenon there. None of our trigger objects had moved, although Tammy had set out 5 of them, and we could only find 4. And we looked everywhere for the fifth, so the object (a cross) and the sheet of paper it was on had vanished. I think that a young spirit girl went to sleep with a smile on her face that night! This was ultimately a very rewarding and eventful investigation. Ellie-May is a delightful child, with a wicked sense of humour. She is very well spoken and obviously intelligent. So she must be from a wealthy a family. Was annoying not to get much from the jailor. We absolutely intend to return here at some point once the cells have been finished being painted, and spend some time locked in the cell with the mortuary slab/bed. My sincere thanks to Jane and Dan for taking their time out to open up the place and stay out in the cold and wet on a Saturday night! They were both very welcoming and very informative. An investigation that began so slow and uneventful turned into something great!
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