We arrived at the location at 23:45hrs to start the Investigation at midnight, from Abbey Ghost Hunters where Mark, Angie, Tracey, Jazz, Andy and Mike, we where joined by Adam the owner and Chris and Claire from the radio station.
History: It originally Started out as Great House Farm, it was long known as the Fleece Inn until 1997. The buildings date from around 1610, and its long history has left it with much character. A fight in the early 19th century ended in murder, and a bloodstained hand-print on the stairs believed to be Leathery Coits that could not be erased until part of the old staircase was burnt in the 1970s. It has many ghosts a serving girl murdered being pushed down the stairs breaking her neck, a pregnant prostitute murdered with an axe and its most famous is a ghostly headless coachman, Leathery Coit, who would ride full tilt down Westgate, in a carriage pulled by a similarly headless horse.
Midnight: Prior to arrival As we were leaving home Angie tells me she feels the place we are going too was once used as a court as she sensed a legal man there very briefly and was unable to get any more information on this. Angie instantly got drawn to where the pool table was and stood between it and the fireplace with her back to the fire, she picks up two people in the area, one of which is Alice, no surname yet but begins with P, she feels she is from the 1800's (There was an Alice Pollard who was landlady in 1822). There is also a Mary and a William here too his surname starts with W (One landlord was called William Wooler 1823-1829), As Angie stands with her back to the fireplace she says this part of the building is original and that it was a farmhouse originally. (The Fleece was originally a farmhouse called The Great House). Chris also picked up on someone called William but prefers to be called Will, he was a farmer, Angie said it was a different William to that she had got as he was a Landlord whilst the one Chris has sensed was a farmer something to do with sheep and she points top a chair by the fireplace. Chris had visited here previously he had picked up on a Will a farmer who sheared sheep, and he too had picked him up in the exact same spot, the chair by the fireplace. Angie then says she feels the room we are in was also used as a kitchen, then her Tracey and Jazz can all smell fresh baked bread, (Adam tells us there is photo on the wall that shows the fireplace being used to cook in). Angie then senses a young female present she was pregnant and attacked by an axe! Angie then says there are stairs missing, they have been taken away, (Adam tells us the stairs have gone, but says no more due to the famous ghost story of leathery coit on those stairs). Angie then tells us there is also another girl present she now senses two young girls in here both murdered and one was pregnant. She then says she feels one was used as a prostitute the pregnant girl and she is the one murdered by an axe. (There is a story that a young lady who was a prostitute was murdered here by an axe). Just then Tracey, Jazz and Chris all heard what sounded like two women's voices!. Angie asks Adam does he experience stuff behind the bar she sees someone pass by behind the bar, Adam tells us there is the story of the Grey Lady behind the bar and he has experienced seeing people pass by the toilets after he has locked up. Angie says she feels the corridor to the toilets was not part of the original building and there may have been an outbuilding there. (This was part of the outside at one time). She then sees someone pass into the kitchen area.
0:40hrs We moved into the Dining area and Angie talks to Chris for part of a radio interview, as they do Jazz who is stood behind Angie says he feels as though he has been beaten up around the face and he is feeling a bad pain in his side. Angie feels this is to do with the other young girl the servant (we found out later on this is a true story as you will read further on in the night when we enter the Function room). Just then Adam, Chris, Tracey and Jazz all heard all a strange sound come from the kitchen so most went to investigate except Mark, Jazz and Mike who remained in the Dining room. As they entered the Kitchen Angie could see a small girl aged roughly about 8 years run through the kitchen and then upstairs, so they followed her.
0:50hrs Upstairs. The team followed the young girl and Angie and Chris see her run down the hallway to the far end bedroom, also at the same time Mark, Jazz and Mike all heard someone running across the upstairs and went to investigate meeting the rest of the team on the stairs. So we continued to follow her, Angie gets her name as Jesse, Angie says the little girl walks through walls as the building has changed since her time here. The team all stood in the room calling out to her when there was a loud bang from downstairs. Mark and Jazz went to investigate at 0:55hrs. Chris asked out for more banging in the room when Mark calls on the two way radio to say it is the door leading to the toilets, he also asks did anyone say the name Mary as he heard someone call out that name and thought it may have been the team in the room above. The team had not asked for a Mary and clearly shows on the camcorder tapes that it could not have been one of them, also whilst Mark and Jazz passed through the Dining Room Jazz saw someone peering in but it was too quick to see who or what. (Adam had said he now closes the curtains in the same spot after closing as he sees the same). The team hear a whoa sound from behind Mike, Chris looks at Mike who is last in line in the bedroom and says is that Jazz behind you, Mike says no he is with Mark suddenly the whole team are surprised as they all thought they could see Jazz stood behind Mike but he had left with Mark to check out the banging sounds downstairs. Nothing else happened in the bedroom so they decided to rejoin Mark and Jazz. We met on the corridor leading the bedroom when we saw a figure move swiftly down another corridor towards the office, so we followed it. As we entered the office Angie says William's surname was Wooler he is William Wooler and gets the date 1823. (As stated earlier above William Wooler was Landlord 1823-1829) she then gets the name James with the figure we seen come in here but he has gone as quick as he appeared. We could then hear the door downstairs banging again so we went to investigate again as we had earlier, and there does not appear to be any good reason for this door to do so.
1:15hrs We made our way downstairs except for Mike, Angie, Claire and Adam who went to the lounge area upstairs. Angie spoke to Adam but this was of a private matter and will not be placed here. The rest of the team made their way through the dining room towards the Karaoke room when we heard a noise coming from the Function Room and a smell of lemons, all except Mark who could not smell it but went with the team to see. We went into the function room and as we entered each team member started to get sensations. Tracey was feeling very sad and anxious like she was about to be punished, Mark also felt the sadness and felt a choking sensation, Andy, Jazz and Chris all feel tight chested and Chris senses he is about to be struck by someone angry, we noticed another staircase we felt connected to these feelings that led to the toilets, so went back down the stairs we had come up as the others had a locked door at the bottom, we then went through the door towards the toilets and stood by the door that leads up the stairs. As we stood there Chris got a sharp pain in his neck and sensed someone had broke their neck, Jazz was feeling like he was being told to get out, and Tracey had once again become emotional and anxious. Angie then rejoined us. (Adam was then able to confirm for us that this was the staircase the young serving girl is believed to have been beaten and then thrown down the stairs resulting in a broken neck). This is what Angie had been talking about earlier in the Dining Room when Jazz had felt he had been beaten. Some members of the team where now becoming too emotional and we left the area for a quick break. (Adam had remembered a picture that had been taken down that had some names on the team had come up with, so he showed Angie and Mark. It had the names Elizabeth on and William Wooler with the date 1823).
01:30hrs We stopped for a break.
01:58hrs We went back into the Function Room as we made our way up the stairs Angie saw Jesse again run through the room and both her and Andy heard her giggle. As we entered the room Mark and Chris got the same sensations of the pain in the neck again, Angie then saw a lady dressed in black in the corner but could not get anything else to do with her. As Andy stepped into the middle of the room he got the sharp pain in his neck. Angie tells us that when we passed through the Dining Room after the break, she could see a figure outside through the window, Chris tells us Adam had said he now closes the curtains in the same spot after closing as he sees the same, it also turns out to be the same window Jazz had saw someone when he and Mark had come downstairs to check out the banging sounds. Angie says she also had sensed a Coach and Horses striding towards the building and up to the doors, she says she sees it over and over again, as a residual playback. (In 1925 two witnesses saw a headless coachman and his coach in the same spot). Then Chris talks to Angie and Mark for the radio recording, and Angie explains why everyone had strange feelings in this room, it was because of what happened her a tragedy that has left its imprint on the building, referring to the young servant girl. It seemed nothing else was happening here, so we went to another part of the building.
02:20hrs. We entered a room that Angie, Claire and Mike had stayed in earlier with Adam whilst the rest of us first went to the Function Room. This was the lounge, as we went in Angie asked us all to sit down and be very still for a moment allowing ourselves to soak in the atmosphere. Angie asks how everyone feels and Chris and Mark feel relaxed, Jazz feels he is being told to get out again. Angie says when she was in here earlier she had said to Adam she would feel she was being watched if sitting where Mark and Chris are, (and Adam had said he felt like that often in here), as there is a doorway directly behind them, Mark points out that would be a natural feeling if sat on your own with an open door behind you. But then Angie and Andy see someone behind Mark and Chris, a shadow moved from the doorway into the bedroom next door. We all got up and went into the bedroom this was one we had not gone in earlier. We entered the room and as we did Angie says Pollard she gets the name Pollard, it is the surname of a man Angie can sense in here now called James (This was Alice's surname the landlady in 1822, but in 1806 the Landlord was a J Pollard, sadly we cannot find his name just his initial which is J so he may well be called James) . Chris started calling out to James asking him to knock or bang for us, we then started to hear a banging sound each time he called out, so Mark, Jazz and Mike went to investigate whilst the rest of the team stayed in the room. Chris continued to call out whilst we tried to see where exactly the noise was coming from, eventually we tracked down the source which was an extractor fan on the wall outside the window in the hallway, which conveniently knocked each time Chris called out. The three stayed outside in the hallway whilst the rest of the team continued to try with James just so we could rule out most noises and bangs. Back inside the room Angie heard a voice call out for Eddie and she knocked on the wall asking him to respond, each time she did the team in the room could hear a knocking reply on the wall, but the team outside heard nothing. Then Angie says he is drunk very drunk and at the same time both Chris and Tracey become light headed and feel intoxicated. After a short while the team had to leave the room as the feelings of being drunk where starting to take their toll on Chris who staggered out the room as if blind drunk. They took five minutes then went back in to see if the feelings had gone, within minutes they both got the sensations again but then Chris started to feel sick and they had to leave the room again. Chris got an impression of a man who looked almost like a Judge and the surname of Marriot or something similar who was a travelling Justice of the Peace, and had been here in official capacity. Again this ties in with what Angie had sensed before leaving home.
03:15hrs We went back into the hallway to have a little chat about what was happening when we saw a shadow move down the Hallway towards the office again, so we followed it. Sadly once in there no one sensed anything although we waited for 15 minutes. But as nothing happened we left the room at 03:30 hrs.
03:30hrs Sadly the Investigation had come to an end and we all left.
FINAL THOUGHT: The Fleece Inn was a great place for an Investigation, but as it was booked for part of the radio show we only had three hours to investigate although we did manage an extra half hour. The team where once again kept in the dark as to the location and it's tales so what they had come up with was very interesting to say the least. On a personal note I found the place one I would most definitely return to.
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