Wymering Manor is the oldest house in Portsmouth and is claimed to have a staggering amount of recorded ghosts and spirit energies. The manor has been in the hands of the Youth Hostel Association since 1960, however the land where the manor stands has had an establishment placed there for over 2000 years. King Edward the Confessor owned the land on which the house now stands in 1042 before it passed over to King Harald Godwinson. King Harald died at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 against William I - Duke of Normandy, also known as William the Conqueror. The Manor is recorded in the Doomsday Book as "5 teams, 4 villeins, 4 bondmen with 1/2 teams, 4 slaves, a fishery and woods with room for 5 hogs". There have been many private owners of the Manor, three of which had it for long periods, Le Botiller Family from 1283-1388, the Wayte Family from 1391-1561 and the Bruning Family from 1562-1707. Fifteen more owners occupied the house until the Y.H.A. in 1960. Over the years there have been various type of paranormal activity recorded, from apparition appearances to whispers in the ear.

This was my 2nd investigation at what is known as the oldest house in Portsmouth, and unlike my previous visit this night was to prove to be one of my more significant investigations to date. The night started with a bang as I took a team to investigate Room 7, a location notorious at the manor for housing the spirit of a Catholic Priest or Monk. It appeared that we were having a clear and concise conversation with this religious figure, who responded on cue to every question with what I can only describe as an obvious tap on the floor, the sound of which we were unable to replicate. In can only describe this sound as seemingly appearing to emanate not from the room itself, but from the atmosphere of the room. I could clearly feel the vibrations as I was sat cross-legged on the floor, but the sound appeared to be coming from 'within' the floor rather than a knocking on top of the floor. We must have had at least a dozen taps responding to our questions, all of the them exactly the same, and one of the other team members who joined me on the floor also felt the vibrations and could not describe the source. We could tell exactly where on the floor it was coming from, and it was not in an area where anyone was situated. Pat, one of the investigators, was sitting in the armchair asking the questions, and feeling distinctly uncomfortable throughout the whole experience. Even my fellow helper Paul, who like me is equally sceptical when it comes to this sort of phenomena, was forced to admit that it was shockingly genuine. He even managed to capture the whole episode on video, although the camera was placed in such a location that it is not possible to clearly hear these knocks, although our reaction makes compulsive viewing View Here.

As this wasn't enough for the evening I then joined another team investigating the Lounge, where we undertook an automatic writing experiment with the aid of a planchette. Here they appeared to connect with the energy of a maid who went by the name Megan (the letters M, E and G appeared on the paper), while this was a name previously connected with a similar energy in a previous investigation. The most incredible thing about this experiment was the accuracy of the supposed writing being produced on the paper, especially considering that up to 7 people participated at any one time. We received a perfect figure 8 after asking for the number of people sat around the table (which was correct) while what made it more compelling for the team was to see the word' Yes' written legibly on the paper when we were asking for a Yes/No response to one of our questions. Naturally none of this is 'proof' of paranormal activity, as it is impossible to discount conscious or unconscious movement of the board by one or more members of the team, however I attempted to control the environment and the questioning as tightly as possible and I must admit that the responses certainly made for compelling viewing again.

My third vigil in Room 4 was relatively fruitless in comparison, however the night ended on a high as we attempted a glass divination experiment in the kitchen. And it was not so much the movement they received from the glass that intrigued me, where again it was suggested that Megan was making contact, but the most significant activity took place even before we had begun. We were sat around the table preparing for the vigil, aided only by the light of the torch, when I glanced at the glass placed perfectly in the middle of the table. To my immediate surprise I could have sworn that the glass was slowly rotating on the spot, seemingly on its own. My first inclination was that this could simply be described as a trick of the light or it was otherwise a product of sleep deprivation, however I then turned to Mel who was sitting to my left and she appeared to be somewhat in shock, staring at the glass. I asked her what she had seen, and she replied in amazement suggesting that she had too seen the glass rotating on its own, first in one direction and then in another. This for me went some way to confirming that maybe I had not imagined what I believed I had seen, however as is always the case we did not have a camera running to capture the event, while none of the other team members had been looking at the glass during this time. Nevertheless it certainly was an in intriguing and potentially one of the most significant instances of supposed paranormal activity I had witnessed to date.

The night was equally as interesting for many of the other investigating teams throughout the night, with Phil regaling us with the experience of seeing what he could only describe as a pair of legs standing at the top of the stairs, while Tracy during another vigil had drifted off to sleep only to be awoken by what she could only describe as a man's voice confessing to the murder of his wife. This occurred during an attempt by the rest of the team to connect with a man who they felt had committed a murder, and compelling evidence though it was it does not necessarily discount the possibility of Tracy experiencing what is known as Hypnopompic Auditory Phenomena, which is the belief that you are hearing sounds while waking up, often the result of drifting between the dream state and the waking state. It is felt that the sounds and images of a dream can appear to manifest during the waking state, suggesting to the recipient that they are experiencing something paranormal. The night had concluded, and it was in my personal opinion potentially one of the most paranormally significant investigation to date. Naturally there was nothing to conclusively prove the existence of paranormal activity, however there was certainly enough evidence to suggest the possibility.