Haunted Southampton Ltd presents

A Paranormal Investigation of

St. Cross Hospital

and Almshouse

By Kind permission of

The Master and the Porter,

And with Psychic Artist Kathy Bavister.

Contents:

Introduction

Initial Assessment

Investigation night – Medium’s Walkround

Investigation and Experiments

Other Observations

Conclusion

Introduction

The Hospital of St Cross is an amazing institution that has been in

existence for nearly nine hundred years. Legend has it that Henry of Blois,

a grandson of William the Conqueror, was walking in the Itchen Meadows

where he came across a young girl who was starving and begging for help

for herself and her people – and further on happened upon ruins of a

‘religious’ house, so inspiring him to found a community for the poor. A

man of wealth and influence – and being appointed a Bishop for

Winchester at what nowadays seems an unseemly age of 28, he created

the Hospital of St Cross between 1132 and 1136.

Further along in time Cardinal Beaufort created the Order of Noble

poverty, and expanded the site into the magnificent collection of

buildings we can see today – bar a few small alterations.

The Hospital supports 13 ‘Brothers’ – not at all monks but in the way of a

friendly community or club, which is the same amount as it originally

took in all those years ago. In fact it is as far as we can tell the only

building of its type in the whole country that is still serving its original

purpose.

The worn stone step into the Chapel – takes a long time to make a mark that deep in

stone just by walking on it.

The Hospital entertains a regular Dowsing Group, and also encourages

the Deceased to remain with the Hospital if they wish to do so beyond

death, in the Funeral services they reverently hold. These facts, together

with the occasional rumoured spooky episode, led to us making enquiries

regarding the possibility of conducting a paranormal investigation in

February 2012.

Having made enquiries at this kind of location before, and being politely

but firmly rebuffed, we did not hold out much hope of being allowed to

do so – so imagine our surprise when our suggestion was actually taken

up with great enthusiasm.

The serenity of the grounds and the beauty of the location have made a

lasting impression upon all who have visited the Hospital – who would

not want to remain here if they could. So with high hopes and a healthy

dose of trepidation we arrived on the night of 30th

April for the first ever

Paranormal Investigation St Cross has hosted. Little did we know what to

expect….

The beautiful Tower and Brethren’s Hall.

Initial Assessment

Walking around the grounds of such a magnificent institution we felt

dwarfed by the task ahead – Cathy the Porter held a huge bunch of keys

that somehow she seemed to know exactly which one was needed every

time we opened another door. The cottages and the Masters house were

not going to be investigated so that at least made things a little easier.

The most notable aspect of the site was the age of the buildings involved

– the stone staircases were well worn and uneven so would present a

constant hazard on the night, and the under croft area ceiling was very

low in places, as were the steps of the spiral stairs that accessed the

Tower and the cellar so presenting another hazard to those amongst us

not vertically challenged. Windows and doors had gaps in them so

causing a draft that could be misinterpreted if we did not make note.

The Brethrens Hall is very large, so would probably feel cold on the night,

and sound travels easily around the rooms as the walls and floors are all

stone work. Rooms above the hall have no electricity supply, so any EMF

readings there would be interesting, and the Balcony above the Brethrens

Hall provides a wonderful observation area, but is dangerous at the front

part as it is not supported, but is already roped off so people hopefully

will take note. The Tower itself is a fantastic example of fifteenth century

ingenuity, but again the doors let in a gentle draft. The Ambulatory is

open to the elements, but again has no electricity supply.

The entire site is surrounded by water in one form or another – streams,

ponds and of course water meadows, so dampness will have to be taken

into account when temperatures are considered. EMF readings around the

site are all within normal limits, and there were no particularly unusual

compass fluctuations.

With the initial assessment complete and nothing unusual to report, we

looked forward to the main event.

Investigation Night – Medium’s Walkround.

The night of 30th

April was unfortunately one of the stormiest of the year

so far – rain was lashing down and the strength of the wind made even

the stones work shudder at times. However all this seemed to do was to

enhance the atmosphere of the site – which in a way was not helpful as it

might predispose those attending to attribute noises or movement to a

paranormal source rather than to an environmental one.

Before the guests arrived, I and Kathy Bavister – our medium for the night

– toured St Cross so she could attune herself to the area and see is she

could pick up anything.

Initially in the Beer Cellar by the Kitchens Kathy felt, though generally the

atmosphere was benign, that there may have been bodies stored down

here, before funerals in the past. In the Kitchen she was aware of a lady

servant – perhaps head cook or a head Maid with a white frilly cap, who

felt antagonistic towards Cathy the Porter, but that it was not an active

dislike, rather than the feeling of one who has had their nose put out

because she was in her space so to speak.

The corridor towards the Brethren’s Hall was full of ‘busy energy, but

nothing particularly obvious made itself known at that time. The Bread

room had a heavier, almost ceremonial feel, was colder (not physically)

and Kathy felt that the Dowsing rods might go mad in here. There was a

feeling of authority also – an older gentleman in robes was making

himself known. The room above the Bread room next to the Gallery did

not inspire much at that time to Kathy, but on the Gallery itself she

sensed a kind of judgemental feeling – like a court was overseen from

here. Also felt like important visitors might have spent time up here. The

room at the back upstairs had a Spartan feeling and also felt like it might

have been used for guests to stay in – or at least important visitors again.

The Brethren’s Hall – picture taken

during the initial assessment of the

site.

The space has remained unchanged

for hundreds of years.

The Brethren’s Hall itself was again busy, a meeting place for friends and

also business, and also had a feeling like control – as if there was an

overseer to what went on. There was a gentleman in purple-ish robes

making himself obvious again – she felt it might be the same one as

before.

The Tower generally had a feeling of a self important individual – as if

the person in control lived here – all the rooms were overlaid with

‘authority’, with servants that came and went but did not interact.

Decisions were made and visitors received, but only one person lived in

here.

The grounds outside and the ambulatory were not an area that we

lingered in I am afraid – the conditions being such that shelter was more

important than spending time waiting for psychic impressions! We spent

some time in the Chapel, though it would not be used as an official part

of the investigation Cathy wanted to know what we picked up in here.

The main door to the Chapel.

Kathy immediately felt the presence of a man who was lurking near the

vestry – that he was very often in the church and was quite mischievous

in nature – that his name might be ‘Charlie’ and that he was known to

Cathy – who acknowledged this. We then realised that the light was on in

the passage up on the first level of the windows – the Chapel is riddled

with small passageways to enable workers to maintain the church. The

door to the passage way was locked, and there was no switch that we

could find down in the actual church itself. Cathy was unsure as to the

last time that anyone went up there but was certain that it was not

recently, and said that she would fetch the keys so she could go up there

and find the switch to see how it was operated. I asked if James, our team

member who is an electrician, would be able to accompany her – to which

she agreed.

Kathy also mentioned a special picture or drawing – unsure as to the

significance – and the Porter was pleased to be able to show us a very old

medieval painting that was mostly faded apart from a few bright details

on the wall near the Organ. Other than this and a general feeling of

worship and ceremony Kathy felt the place was very tranquil and

meditative, so we returned to the Hub in order to greet our guests and

get the investigation started.

Investigation and Experiments

Many of our guests come along to these events because they have a

genuine fascination with the Paranormal. Some come along because they

are completely sceptical and either want to be proved wrong, or right!

And still others believe they are sensitive and come to see what they can

sense for themselves – like a test of their abilities. Whatever their reasons,

we ask our guests to write down as much as they can remember during

the course of the event, so we can produce a report to the owners in the

future.

I shall take this moment to explain a few of the terms we use.

Vigil – a small group of people asking for spiritual communication –

sometimes in a circle. They do not use séance equipment in this instance

rather scientific data collectors or indicators.

Asking out – the process by which people ask for spiritual interaction.

K2 Meter – a form of electromagnetic detector that has lights indicating

the strength of the field detected, Green being normal back ground levels,

up to red which is very high levels. It is theorised that spirits use energy

around them to manifest or affect their surroundings, and the most

common energy available is electro magnetic – being that we use

electricity to power most modern devices.

Hygrometer – a device used to measure both temperature and humidity.

Important because sudden temperature fluctuations are reported to

accompany paranormal activity.

Laser grid – a small green laser with a prism fitted to the end – when

activated it can illuminate a very large area and can alert the user

through the obscuring of points of light to any possible movement. The

eye has developed to be alert to movement.

Franks Box – a digital radio that has had the internal scanner altered so it

does not stop at any channel – rather constantly scanning through the

various stations as they broadcast. The theory is that Spirits operate at a

far higher frequency than us, and are able to anticipate what words are

being broadcast and highlight them to us as a real time example of

electronic voice phenomena.

Night vision camera – a video camera that is able to film in zero lux – i.e.

no visible light. They use infra red technology to be able to pick up

everything, and we also use infra red flares to help us see more. The

cameras also use tape to record rather than digital cards – so enabling us

to prove there is no tampering – if we ever catch anything of note.

Dowsing rods – a pair of copper or brass rods that are meant to respond

in a positive or negative answer to simple questions asked.

Thermal Imager – a specialist camera that records images in the form of

heat produced rather than light. Useful in capturing cold spots or heat

sources that have no reasonable explanation.

After the Medium’s walkround we repeat the walk with the guests, so

they can acquaint themselves with the buildings fire exits, toilets etc.

They can also get a ‘feel’ for the building – especially if they believe they

have some psychic abilities – it gives them a taste of where they would

like to go. They then can go where ever they wish and use any of our

equipment – and see what happens.

As the night progresses however, some people get a little carried away

and can forget to add details to the notes, such as time and location, so

any experiment sheets filled out without these details will be included in

the ‘Other Observations’ section of the report, as will any other

information.

****************************************************************************

Curtained Area – 23. 30

Equipment used – K2 Meter.

The group involved spent about half an hour asking out for responses,

and during this time, one member of the group started to itch all over,

though did not appear to have a rash or reaction to any bites etc. Another

member of the group was aware of feelings that there had possibly been

plagues sufferers in here, though whether being treated or contained he

did not know. Another group member also had the impression that a

sufferer of Leprosy had spent time here. Other than that nil else occurred

of note, so they ended the vigil and moved on.

Undercroft 0030

Equipment used – K2 Meter, Night vision Camera, Hygrometer, Digital

Camera, Night vision goggles (guests own)

Myself and two guests sat in the Undercroft for about 40 minutes –

asking for interaction to happen between any spirit presences in the area.

There was a lot of noise created by the fierce winds and rattling doors,

but having said that there was what sounded like footsteps coming from

under the door to the spiral staircase, and a couple of very definite taps

in response to the questions ’Can you make that noise again’. One of the

ways we can any noise is possibly paranormal in origin is to ask for a

particular noise, tap etc to be repeated, and in this case this one was.

There was also several moments when the K2 Meter seemed to flash when

we asked it to, but then it also flashed randomly a couple of times as well,

so we cannot be certain that was in response to any questions. Nothing

unusual showed on the pictures, the night vision filming or the Goggles,

however, and after 40 minutes we returned to the Hub.

2nd floor Tower Room – 01.30

On a lone vigil one of the team – Pat Collins, spent about 20 minutes

asking for something to happen – noises, movement, and any physical

interaction. The room had been set up by a local artist with a dress

spread across a spinning wheel on one side of the room. Though it was

very windy outside, at this point he could feel no drafts, and after about

20 minutes, just as he was starting to leave (which we find happens an

awful lot on our investigations), whilst he was looking at it, the dress

gently moved across the wheel and fell to the floor, and then the wheel

started turning by itself. There was also a whistling noise that he heard

coming from the direction of the spinning wheel. The wheel then stopped

moving, and the noise ceased. It is possible that the noise was caused by

the wheel itself as it moved, but Pat did not believe so. He replaced the

dress carefully across the wheel, and left the room, planning to return

later to see if there was any further movement.

The Spinning wheel with the dress – as you can see before it moved it was not hung on

the side or thrown haphazardly across it – but placed carefully as part of the art project

so it would not move accidentally.

Kitchen 0200

Equipment used – K2 Meter, Laser grid, Frank’s Box and Dowsing Rods.

Using Dowsing rods the group had the energy of a girl called Verity, aged

about 28. She apparently suffered greatly from bad treatment from a man.

One of the group, Debbie, then said she briefly saw the image of a woman

in a white hat stood next to her, and another guest, Rob, saw a dark

shape then move quickly across the kitchen, crossing the laser grid as it

did so. Nothing else happened, and after another 15 minutes the group

ended the experiment.

Main Corridor – 02.30

Equipment used – as before (same group performing the experiment.)

After a few minutes of sitting quietly and asking out the group heard the

latches of the door move, but put it down to the windy conditions. After

a while longer however, they became aware of the fact that though the

wind was gusting outside, the door latch (into the Brethrens Hall) was in

fact not moving at all. So they asked out for any spirits in the room to

rattle the door latch again – and to their surprise they were. They then

asked for the door to be knocked three times, to see if they could get a

proper response not attributable to the environment, and again they were

rewarded by three definite knocks. As they continued to observe for a

few more minutes, the door was seen to actually open at least three times,

which is not easily done because of the latch involved. After another 20

minutes or so however, the phenomena stopped, so they ended the

experiment.

1st Floor Tower Room – 02.30

No Equipment used at this time.

I spent about 40 minutes in this room with one of the guests – Terri – just

asking out and letting the room ‘talk’ to us. With this experiment the idea

is to just remain as quiet as possible, unless we hear anything, in which

case we would ask for any phenomena to be repeated.

View of the first Tower room, taken during the initial assessment

After a few minutes, we both had the feeling that we were being watched

creep up on us very quickly – there was nothing to suggest that this was

occurring, just a prickly sensation on the back of our necks and heads.

On asking for a response we got a few taps, but as the weather was rough

it was difficult to say whether this was because of the wind. Terri regards

herself as being ‘a little sensitive’ as in she feels that she can sometimes

sense if there are any spirits near, but unfortunately she did not feel as if

we were sharing the room with anything, even though the feeling of

being observed was for a time quite intense. However, the feeling

suddenly dissipated after about 20 minutes, so we ended the vigil.

2nd floor Tower Room – 02.30

Returning to the Spinning wheel, Pat found that the dress was as he had

left it before – but as he was there it again slid off the wheel as it turned.

Encouraged by this reaction – he replaced it, and returned again ten

minutes later with another member of the group – Emma – to see if there

was any more movement. Low and behold – the dress had fallen off the

spinning wheel again. This repeated action was extremely unusual –

especially as this kind of event had not occurred before – the Porter

Cathy was great friends with the artist and as far as she was aware this

had never happened while she had been working in the room – and she

had spent a lot of time in here. They returned to the room about twenty

minutes later however, and the dress remained where it was and the

wheel had not moved, nor did it for the rest of the night, despite the fact

that the weather did not get any better and the winds still howled

through the Tower as they had done before.

Seating area – 0330

Equipment used – K2 Meter, Thermal Imager, Voice recorder, Digital

Camera.

After asking out for a few minutes, one of the group, Kira, experienced

temperature changes, feeling initially hot, then cold. It must be said that

the weather outside we inclement and temperature fluctuations might

well occur when the wind dropped, or the rain eased off for a moment.

She also began to experience chest flutterings, or palpitations – unusual

in a young person, but not unheard of, so she may not have been

experiencing anything paranormal. After a further ten minutes, another

of the group, Kay, had a sudden headache, which continued until she left

the area. Andrea had a sudden lowering of the temperature around her

legs, but again that could be attributed to the general weather conditions.

However, as they observed the K2 meter, it started to react, the lights

flickering up to red, and as they called out, trying to encourage any

spirits in the room to come close to the Meter to make it flash, there

appeared to be small lights ‘sparkling’ around the K2, something not seen

before. This occurred for two or three minutes, and then stopped. After

ten more minutes and nothing else unusual occurring, they ended the

experiment.

Beer Cellar – 0430

Equipment used – digital camera, digital voice recorder, K2 meter.

I, Kathy Bavister and another guest spent about half an hour asking out

for interaction for any spirits in the room. The area seemed generally

quiet, and there was little reaction from the K2 Meter during the time we

were in there. Kathy felt that generally any energy down there at that

point was residual – as in left behind by the presence of spirits in the

past, and nothing was in the room with us. There was one nerve wracking

moment that occurred when in the dark Kathy managed to kick one of the

barrels, knocking it off the stand it was on – the noise was amazing but

not paranormal in origin – unfortunately. After replacing the barrel, we

did hear a couple of taps – but on requesting the noise to be repeated,

nothing further occurred and we ended the session.

Two of our guests in the Beer Cellar during the course of the night.

Tower Stairwell – 05.00

Equipment used – K2 meter, Dowsing rods

A group of five guests went back down into the stairwell where they had

had an interesting experience earlier in the night (see other observations).

They started by asking out, and heard something similar to what they

had before – the sound of feet moving, though this time in the Undercroft.

They spent about ten minutes in total silence to see if they could

pinpoint the area the noise was coming from, but were unable to – as the

shuffling had stopped.

The stair well at the bottom of the spiral staircase that caused so much consternation.

They did not hear any further sounds like feet, but after a few minutes

more they all heard a very distinct groan – loud, as if annoyed or angry. I

met them charging back up the stairs as I was going down to see what

they were up to – and they all said the same thing, that they had heard a

very loud voice groaning and they all had felt the need to remove

themselves from the vicinity very quickly. Unfortunately no one had a

recording device on at the time, but they all gave separate accounts that

matched and on checking it was found that there was no one else in the

Under croft at the time. The wind had been making the doors vibrate a

little earlier on in the night, but they had all heard that at various times

during the course of the night and said that the noise they heard was

completely different.

Other Observations.

The Chapel Light

Returning to the beginning of the Evening, James returned to the Chapel

with Katherine, and together they unlocked the door to the maintenance

passages in the walls. Going up the narrow stairs to the first level they

found an old fashioned switch that had to be physically pushed up or

down in order to turn the light on or off. They turned it off, and returned

down to the Chapel and left, locking both the door to the passages and

the Church behind them. However, when the group returned for a quiet

vigil in the church – the light was back on again. The doors had been

locked – no one had access to the keys except Cathy the Porter – so how

did the light get turned on?

In the Top Tower Room.

Using a digital voice recorder I undertook a lone vigil to attempt to gain

something in EVP form. Recording EVP sessions is almost an art form –

the background noise must be at a minimum and ideally there should be

no interruptions. There are several sites where you can upload your EVP

recordings for analysis, or lots of free programs that you yourself can

use to listen back and digitally enhance the recording

In this instance I went through a pre filled sheet of questions to see if I

could get any responses, but unfortunately I had none. Oh well….next.

Stairwell Vigil

Pete Collins and a group of guests spent some time at the bottom of the

Tower stairs, in an area that is behind a door backing on to the Under

croft. After a few minutes of asking out – they were surprised to see and

hear the door rattle – in fact several guests were quite apprehensive. It

seemed to occur when there was not any obvious wind, and on checking

they discovered that there was no one in the Undercroft at that time.

After about ten minutes more of asking out there was no further

response – and they decided to leave and go back for a break – but as

they started to go up the spiral staircase there were footsteps heard

coming down the stairs above them. But on waiting to see who was

coming down, after a few minutes they realised that the footsteps had

stopped, and that no one had appeared. On further investigation they

realised that no one was on the stairs above them, and no one was in the

Tower rooms, or the Brethrens Hall. So who had been coming down the

stairs? And where had they gone?

Pete looking distinctly uncomfortable on the stairs!

In the Undercroft.

No note made of equipment used.

Obviously in a vigil being undertaken – though I am unsure of the

whereabouts of the vigil or the time taken. The questions asked and

responses were as follows:

Q. – What year were you born?

A. – 1789

Q. - How old are you?

A. – 75 years

Q. – Were you married?

A. – No

Q. – Did you have a lover?

A. – Yes

Q. - How old was your lover?

A. – 30 Years.

I am unsure as to the relevance of this line of questioning, but the Rods

apparently were moving very strongly.

Vigil in the Beer Cellar.

Equipment used – Thermal Imager, K2 meter, digital camera

During the course of this vigil, noises were heard coming from the

kitchen area. On investigation however, it was concluded that the source

was members of the group entering the Hub area for a break – though

talking quietly their voices and footsteps echoed down the stone corridor,

and probably were distorted by the distance involved. There were a few

tapping noise, but they appeared random generated – possibly by rain

water dripping onto the window shutters. The participants however were

not keen on spending much time in this space – they found it oppressive

and uncomfortable – in complete contrast to the peaceful atmosphere

that I and Kathy found in here twice.

More notes were as follows –

The name Jo came up in another vigil, in which apparently one of the

guests had a laughing fit for no apparent reason. The group said that

they got the feeling that someone was playing games with them.

As the vigil went on however, there was the feeling that the atmosphere

changed from fun, warm and comfy to suddenly feel eerie. They then

found that the rods were giving responses to questions that were

completely different from previously – as in the responses were

immediate – less hesitant and seemingly ‘stronger’ in their actions. The

year 1364 was indicated, and that a 12 year old was involved in whatever

situation they were referring to, and the word ‘Brother’ seemed

significant. Unfortunately there was little other information on this sheet,

so the relevance of the information is lost I’m afraid.

Conclusion.

St. Cross Hospital is an incredible piece of history – living history - as it

has the unique position of still serving its community 876 years after it

was first envisioned by its founder. The buildings are lovingly

maintained and the serenity and calm the environment provides those

who spend their last years within its walls is truly enviable.

Looking through the reports that our guests filled in, I find no mention of

anything negative being uncovered – and though some of the phenomena

that presented itself during the night was a little alarming, I feel that

rather than being aggressive or negative, the mood was one of growing

interest. The phenomena seemed to gain pace as the night progressed,

and despite the less than ideal conditions, the guests became more and

more intrigued as the dawn approached.

Some of the events occurring in the night included moving objects (the

spinning wheel, the doors rattling on demand and opening), feelings that

seemed to have no obvious source (palpitations, laughter for no reason,

being watched), audible phenomena (the footsteps and groaning noises):

there was quite a range of different happenings – but for me the

crowning glory was the light that was on in the Chapel when we had

made sure it was off. There was no way that that could have been turned

on by anyone present at the time.

Catherine the Porter has a theory. That time somehow slips and

intermingles with earlier or later time lines, and that what we sometimes

assume is ghostly activity is in fact the citizens of times past going about

their ordinary business – that when we see them we know that these are

old images, only when they see us they get very frightened and react

badly. Possible? Who knows – we do not perhaps understand enough to

say whether it is or not. Is that what is happening? I cannot say, though I

do not discount the potential the idea has. Someone from the past might

be curious about what that strange button is on the wall that was not

there before, and fiddle with it – so causing the light in our time to go on

without any reasonable explanation.

Mind you – I do not know the comings and goings of the Brothers, late or

otherwise, like Catherine. Maybe she does have the right of it – but

whatever is going on here, there certainly seems to have been several

occurrences that I cannot explain.

Is St. Cross haunted? I cannot say for sure – we leave our guests to make

up their own minds. I for one will be returning to check on that light, and

see if I can hear the footsteps on the spiral staircase – it seems that we

have asked more questions than we have answered.

Haunted Southampton’s intrepid investigators exploring the Brethren’s Hall.

Acknowledgments.

We would like to thank Catherine Sekker, the Porter,

for spending the night with us and allowing us the

chance to investigate this wonderful location. Thanks

also go to ‘The Master’, again for enabling this

investigation to take place. The Hospital of St Cross

has been one of our most intriguing nights, and we

would love to return in the future to carry on probing

into its slumbering past.

Thanks go to the team for their usual enthusiastic

participation, and to Kathy Bavister for being our

Psychic guide for the night.

The biggest thank you however, as always, goes to the

guests that make our investigations worthwhile –

without you this evening would not have taken place.

Thank you all!