INTRODUCTION
Landguard Fort in Suffolk
has a long history. There has been a fort on this site for over 400 years. The building we see today contains
parts built in the mid-18th century, the 1870's and also has early 20th century additions. Landguard was used to
protect Harwich Haven from enemy ships. A visitor today can see a vast array of rooms that played a part in the life
of the Fort, from the casemates that housed enormous guns, the magazine rooms where gunpowder and shells were kept, as well
as the officers' quarters and 20th century washrooms. There are long, winding passageways, the inner and outer parade
grounds and the Bastions, which give excellent views of the Port of Felixstowe.
Any building with a long history usually
has a few ghost stories attached to it and this is the case with Landguard. A Portuguese woman who threw herself over
the ramparts, is supposedly heard crying and also whisperings in Portuguese have been noticed. Mediums have picked up
the spirits of a few men who may have met their deaths from accident or murder, suicide and in one case, from dying horribly
of a tropical disease. The spirit of a long dead Musketeer is said to walk along one of the Bastions and mild poltergeist
activity has also been recently reported.
Landguard Fort is open to the public (check their website for details) and is well
worth a visit, not just because of the ghostly goings-on, but because it is a place of historical importance in the story
of England's defence.
THE INVESTIGATION
The team
arrived at 2.00pm and were given an excellent guided tour of the Fort. Places of historical interest were pointed out,
as well as areas that had been reported as centres of apparent paranormal activity.
At 5.00pm a remote camera linked
to a DVD recorder, along with a dictaphone were set up in the Chapel Bastion and left running. The team then had a silent
walkabout using a dictaphone, digital camera and camcorder.
In the early part of the evening, various areas were visited. Photo-
graphs and calling out sessions were carried out in one of the bathrooms and in
the Guard Room and Cell.
At 9.25pm a camera was set up along one of the magazine passages where a suicide may have happened.
A mist had reportedly been seen in this area by a former visitor. An MP3 recorder was also left at this location.
Following this,
at 9.35pm, the team did a short vigil upstairs in the Plotting Room. Camcorders and a dictaphone were used and when
the vigil ended, a trigger object was set up (£2 coin) with a camera locked on it. (This was found not to have
moved at all at the end of the evening, unfortunately). While doing this vigil in the Plotting Room, two team members
heard a wind-like sound from the adjoining Radar Room. This could not be accounted for as the weather was very still,
with clear skies for most of the night and no wind.
At 10.35pm the team visited the Holland Bastion, where a Musketeer reputedly walks
along the line of the original fort.
A couple of team members then did a vigil in the shop, where they heard a couple
of taps.
At midnight the camera and DVD recorder were collected from the Chapel Bastion and set up in one of the bathrooms,
along with a dictaphone. The team then returned to the Chapel Bastion to take photographs and to hold a half-hour vigil.
Questions were asked, both in English and Portuguese, in the hope of receiving some E.V.P. (electronic voice phenomena) recordings.
Vigils were then
undertaken in the magazine passage and the cell area. At 2.40am two team members explored the left-hand magazine passage,
while another two took the right-hand passage. One team member did not like this particular area of the Fort and found
it very eerie.
Two vigils were then done at 3.15am, with half of the team in the Chapel Bastion and the other half in one
of the bathrooms. Each vigil lasted twenty minutes and then the teams swapped locations.
The night finished with some team
members returning to the magazine passages for some more filming, one member doing a lone vigil.
The equipment was then retrieved
and packed away and the team finally left at around 6.00am. The time had gone very quickly and only a few areas had
been explored fully. The Fort would certainly warrant another visit.
The next part of the investigation was to
analyse all of the visual and sound recordings that were taken during the night.
THE FINDINGS
The recordings are being reviewed at the moment. A further report will follow
shortly.
CONCLUSION
Investigating
Landguard Fort was a big challenge for the team, as it was the largest site they had visited to date. However, the team
thoroughly enjoyed the experience and the night was well-organised by Wayne, the group leader, with camera experiments and
vigils going on all through the night.
Our sincerest thanks go to Dave, Richard and all at Landguard Fort for allowing
us to visit and for making the evening informative and enjoyable.
