The Salutation Inn 28-10-2005

When the (K)nights of Fear were given their first opportunity to work away from the gaol we jumped at the chance. We were invited by a group we had had the pleasure to have served at Derby Gaol on 16 September 2005.

Although the Salutation Inn is a public house its greatest attraction is the caves which lie below and it was down there that we spent the night. At the start of our night the Salutation was still in full swing with music blaring out, but in the caves below it was absolutely silent. The first hour was spent getting used to our surroundings with the lights on and also a short talk on paranormal aspects by the (K)nights of Fear. By this time the public house had cleared and it was time to bring in the equipment.

The night started with an unusual dowsing session where our guests used their pendulums for an ESP type experiment where the dowsers had to ascertain if a card drawn from a pack showed either clockwise, anticlockwise, left to right, forwards and backwards or no movement at all. The initial results proved quite interesting but as the session continued the accuracy diminished.

The group then moved into the lowest chamber where a glass divination session was conducted. Unlike the session we had held at the gaol with this party however, on this occasion the glass actually moved. It was during this session that the whole party noticed a phenomenon that would haunt us for the rest of the night. Some of the questions asked were being answered by audible knocks which on later investigation appeared to be emanating from solid rock.

As we were experiencing these strange sounds we decided to conduct a séance in the same location in complete darkness. During this session, the group were aware of several spirits which seemed to be surrounding the circle. Some members were also aware of something stood directly in front of them and questions were still being answered by the audible raps. At the close of the session the group noticed that we had all moved several feet.

After a short break we split into three smaller groups to cover separate areas to help us try and pinpoint where the rapping’s were coming from during vigil conditions. Strangely, the quietest area proved to be by the stairs which would have been the only place where one would anticipate the sound could have echoed from naturally. The loudest place was the main chamber in which we had been working for most of the night although the third group could hear the rapping’s in an adjacent area.

After an attempt at table tipping which proved fruitless we tried the rocking spirit board during which we were introduced to three separate spirits. A young girl who is known to the Salutation Inn as Rosie and regularly seen at the location, a young boy and a man who were both associated with the caves.

As we were commencing a second séance the landlord came down and pointed out the time so we closed the session and collected the equipment together. It was during this time that the landlord, who had spent the whole night in the pub above pointed out that not only had he heard the rapping noises which seemed to emanate from the caves but on several occasions, had heard what sounded like someone with a large bunch of keys walking up the stairs from the cellar.

Derby Gaol 08-10-2005

This was the smallest group we have worked with consisting of just five people. Three young ladies from Liverpool and a young couple from Stoke. As on the previous night, Derby Gaol’s resident Spiritualist Medium Pat, was once again on hand to provide the second part of the evenings entertainment (The first of course being the mini ghost walk around the local area).

After Pat had concluded her session the (K)nights of Fear began to guide the group through the remainder of the night. As there was only a small party present we decided to start the evening with an attempt at table tipping in what would have once been a third cell but is now classed as part of the day room, but sadly we were unable to obtain any results. Next we used a series of pre-prepared questions with dowsing pendulums to allow the guests to dowse in five separate areas of the prison. As we are intending to use the same questions with future groups to compare results we are unwilling to publish them on this website. However, if you have attended one of our nights of fear we will only be too pleased to keep you up to date with future results should you email us and requst us to do so.

A glass divination session was then conducted in the Condemned Cell. At first things were a little slow to start but then the father of one of the guests started to communicate with the group via the glass. The guest in question found it difficult to believe that their father had come through as they had been trying for many years through Mediums without any success. We do have our own thoughts on why the father took this opportunity to communicate and should the person involved like to contact us we will be only too happy to discuss it further as we do not believe in leaving any loose ends. Another of the guests started feeling a little sick and the session was closed. As she exited the cell she collapsed and had to be helped to a chair. On numerous occasions during séance conditions visitors report feeling sick bringing the session to an early closure. On this occasion however, on coming round this visitor was physically sick and was taken outside for some fresh air. We shoud point out that after a few minutes break the guest was perfectly fine and able to continue the rest of the night without any ill effect. Also, during the session she appeared perfectly clam and had show no signs of stress.

As there was a possibility that some of our guests may have been a little stressed by the events so far we settled them down fo a while before carrying out a séance in the Debtors Cell. Even before the session started another of the guests complained of feeling very cold and was shaking uncontrolably. The séance started and the guest slowly regained their composure. For the guests things were relativly quiet and remained so for about thirty minutes. Yet another guest then felt a face directly in front of them and absolutly terrified requested the séance to be closed. Although the séance was closed within seconds the guest was extreamly distressed and in an attempt to eliviate their fears they were taken back into the cell to carry out a short vigil with two of the (K)nights of Fear in an attempt to make peace. During this session everything felt calm within the cell. As we had only a small group with us however, we had taken the opportunity to place CCTV in the cell which showed an amazing amount of activity. Sadly we are unable to use video clips on this site but once we have some clips available will advise you of where they are available on the web.

We then moved into the Museum where a spirit board session was conducted. This time the forth member of the group had their own personnal experience as their grandfather started to communicate via the board. What was even more interesting though was that during the glass divination session (K)nights of Fear member Paul was inspired to try some automatic drawing which after the closure of the sessions in the Museum was shown to the group. Paul was told that what he had drawn earlier had a strong resemblance to the guest’s grandfather.

After a break where a couple of minor ESP experiments were tried, a final séance was conducted in the Condemned Cell. Every attempt was made to protect the guests from any psychic attacks but at one point were were forced to move the circle around the cell slightly. Sadly this left the guest who had experienced the face in front of them directly by one of the cell doors and they almost immedietly experienced exactly the same thing again, once again forcing the closure of the séance.

We all returned to the dayroom for a short debrief before heading for home. We should of course point out that no guests were physically harmed during the night, but we will be only to happy to talk to any of them in private should they wish to do so.

Derby Gaol 07-10-2005

For the (K)nights of Fear this was a particularly strange night as it was the first time we would have the opportunity to have the Gaols resident Medium on duty as well as ourselves. Patricia (The Medium) gave the group, who mainly hailed from Nottinghamshire an introduction to dowsing using both pendulums and dowsing rods before conducting a séance in each of the two cells.

Pat of course was a tough act to follow and as the group had already participated in a couple of séances we decided to continue the night’s events with a bit of glass divination. After a little bit of coaxing we managed to attract a little bit movement from the glass but all in all it seemed quite sedate. However we did seem to contact one of the guest’s grandfathers who came through to say hello and that he was watching over his grandmother. We followed with an attempt at table tipping in the museum with no success and then a spirit board which seemed to confuse the spirits trying to make contact as although the planchette moved it was only slightly and very slowly. Then we held a séance of our own in the Debtors Cell, and although there was a little activity once again the spirits seemed rather subdued, however there was a lot of hilarity from the guests for unknown reasons.

After the séance we introduced the Rocking Spirit Board, firstly in the museum and then in the main corridor between the bar and the dayroom. In the former location the answers sometimes made sense whilst at others seemed a little confused. However, when the board was moved to the second location three different sets of names and initials were spelt out which something specific to one of the attendees. On this occasion though, it was a message for one of the (K)nights of Fear who happened to be supervising the session whilst not taking an active part.

Before the night’s event was drawn to a close a further séance was held in the Condemned Cell and as in the previous session thinks were remarkably quiet. It seems strange that this night was probably the total opposite of other nights where the best results obtained have been during the séances.

Derby Gaol 30-09-2005.

Our guests at Derby Gaol this week were a party of 25 from Yorkshire. Normally with larger groups we split them up and hold two separate seances in the cells whilst the other group try their hands at dowsing in the grounds. Unfortunatly as the party had set out on their ghost walk the heavens had opened and the party had to complete their walk in the rain.

Because of this we deceided to hold a séance in the corridor outside the cells with all the visitors participating. As this was the first time we had ever tried this we were unsure what if anything would happen and although the poltergeist activity was hardly noticable, many of the guests were well aware of activity within the circle. There was a multitude of both foul and floral smells of which the latter reminded one of the guests of her grandmother and at the time she was also aware of someone touching her face.

Although the group experienced a little movement of tables, glasses and planchettes during the relevant sessions, we were unable to obtain any tangiable answers to questions, but there may be an explanation for this. During our seances in the past, we have noticed an increase in activity whilst the participants were relaxed and conversing normally. It would appear that with a large group, where only a handfull are activly participating at any one time means the most relaxed area with people conversing normally is the dayroom. Perhaps the spirits are as interested in listening to what we are we doing as we are interested in learning about them. This is an issue we will address with future groups as after all, do we really want to hear from the spirits all the gossip about the previous visitors?