Day 2: The Farringford - Farringford, built in 1783, was the home of Lord Alfred Tennyson, (1809-1892), English poet, one of the great representatives of the Victorian age. Lots of activity has been reported by guests and staff at Farringford and a suitable venue for our base camp for the weekend. An apparition, believed to be Lady Tennyson has been seen looking out of Room 8's window, while a young stable boy has been seen wandering around the reception area, looking for his long-lost master. A Monk has been seen around the window of Room 1 while famous actor Tom Conte stayed in Room 3 but checked out next morning complaining of a supernatural presence in his room. Pillows in Room 4 have been seen to indent on their own, as if someone has just laid down and Room 17 has a lot of 'orb' activity caught on camera.

Day 2 of the Isle of Wight event saw us investigating our base for the weekend - the Farringford Hotel. After a demonstration of clairvoyance from Ian Lawman the team embarked upon the first vigils of the night. I was again paired off with Ian to conduct a new experiment I had devised in the Lounge area on the ground floor. We were also joined by newspaper reporters from The Echo to witness our attempts at a first 'Reverse Séance' where we sat all members of the team in a circle but facing away from the centre. This was for 2 reasons primarily - to allow them to monitor the room around so as to increase our chances of observing any paranormal activity, as well as to monitor the psychological effects of not having the comfort of facing another member of the team during the séance. I had also setup an additional experiment new to Paranormal Tours by placing an upturned coin upon a table in the centre of the circle (behind the participants) over which a glass was placed to remove the possibility of external influences causing the coin to topple over. This would also be the focus for any instructed paranormal activity, as the team would ask any spirits present to attempt to knock the coin over.

The vigil began quietly with little activity as the winds picked up outside the room. The newspaper team left the group to head back after approximately 15 minutes, and at this point the group settled down for a serious attempt to make contact. The first experience we encountered was that the large wooden double doors leading into the room appeared to open slightly, and initially this was put down to the howling winds and back-draught this might cause in the building. I moved from my position to sit next to the door to monitor any possible draughts, which to be honest I was unable to detect. I also left the room to check for any ground floor doors or windows that might be open to identify possible objective causes for the movement. Upon returning to the room the doors again began to move open slightly, and again no draughts could be sensed either under the door or from around the frame. The team concentrated on requesting any spirit presence to open the doors further, as Ian sensed the energies of a small girl around the room. Again the doors moved slightly, but not enough to convince a reasonable sceptic that it was anything other than draughts. At this point both Kelly and myself sensed someone about to walk into the room, most likely a member of one of the other teams. The doors swung open maybe 30 degrees only to reveal an empty corridor outside. As I was now laid on the floor by the door hoping to detect any breezes this certainly came as something of a shock. I could only describe at that moment sensing somebody about to walk through the door, similar to the feeling you get when you are being watched. At this point Paul and some of the team on the other side of the room heard a shuffling noise and something which Paul described as resembling a bottle of sparkling drink being opened from the bar area. Immediate assumptions were that a staff member was in the bar next to the Lounge, so Paul and I left the room to investigate. What we found was a deserted reception area and the door to the bar had been locked, which was how we had left it earlier in the evening. This certainly raised a few eyebrows as to the source of the noises. The team continued to ask for the child to try and either knock the 50 pence piece over or open the doors again, but alas no more significant activity was recorded. This had certainly been an encouraging start to the night ahead.

My second vigil split a team off between Kelly and myself to investigate rooms 17 and 8 on the upper floors. I took my team to room 8 to begin with where we attempted another linked séance and asked out for signs of activity. The room for the most part remained perfectly still and silent, although the wind outside continually rattled the windows. We then switched rooms to investigate the top floor of the hotel and Room 17, a location identified earlier as the possible site of a suicide. I asked 2 of the females to lay on the bed while the rest of us asked out for someone or something to make their presence known. Again all remained still and quiet, and before we knew it the vigil had come to an abrupt and disappointing end.

The penultimate vigil of the weekend took place in Tennison's Study where I had earlier setup a remote viewing experiment. I had asked the hotel manager if she could locate an object of significance which might relate to the study, and hide this for me in an area which could not be seen by the investigators. The object she chose was an original feather quill, and she had placed it in a space behind some books on the bookshelf. The first part of each vigil in the Study involved sitting the teams down with a pen and paper and asking them to concentrate and try to focus on what they thought the object was. Incredibly enough the only person to write the correct wording of the object (quill) was Lyn, my mother, who had joined us for the second nights investigation. John Crowdey, one of our other mediums, suggested it was a pen, as did Andy our event leader for the weekend, who also stated that he felt it was placed somewhere within the bookshelf. Medium Ian Lawman, who did not take part in the experiment, later revealed that he had said the word 'books' to Kerry when she asked where he thought it had been placed.

After the short interlude for the remote viewing exercise Sue, one of our more sensitive team members, had instead scribed some notes on her paper (automatic writing) believing that Lord Tennison (or some dominant male presence) was not happy with us investigating this room - particularly the women. The first message of many which came through was as follows: "If you think my boy that these fellow beings are fooled you are mistaken. Games are for children. This is my home and I have displeasure. Will not play games I am serious". This gave me the idea of getting the team to recite out loud one of Tennison's poems, taking it in turns to read a verse. We found one of his works in a frame on the sideboard, so this was handed round one by one for each of us to read a few lines. I then asked for the team to join me in a circle sitting on the carpet while Sue remained sat at the desk, pen in hand, awaiting the next musings of our supposed discontented host. I began to ask questions out loud, referring to Lord Tennison as 'Alfred' and also relaying information I was made aware of by my mother that my Great Grandfather has served him for many years as his personal valet. The response from Sue was swift: "Disrespect is ugly. My home is my sanctuary. Do not meddle in practises you are not versed in. My advice to you is gospel truth. Where is the ball?".

Sue was sensing that this energy was unhappy with the females being present in the room, so to counter this I asked Liz to ask if 'Alfred' was present to try and provoke a response. The response we received, although not necessarily of paranormal origin, was certainly one which shook our nerves. At almost the exact moment Liz asked for a sign if he was still present, a large flash of forked lightning came streaming out of the sky visible to each of us looking towards the smaller of the main windows upon the wall. This was followed almost immediately by a loud clap of thunder, suffice to say a few of the team almost had heart failures! Meanwhile Sue had been scribing some more, and revealed the next message: "Insolent girl you should not be here. Only my family call me by my christian name. Show some respect and leave. Gone home". Now, prior to this final message the main door to the Study had been persistently opening and closing, and we all attributed this to the howling winds outside and the draughts moving through the corridors in the hotel. It was of interest however that even though the winds remained as fervent as ever outside, from this point forwards the door remained perfectly still. The words 'gone home' had suggested that if any presence had been with us, it was longer around. The atmosphere in the room appeared to lift, and the vigil came to an all too sudden end. Whether or not we had actually made contact with Lord Tennison, or any other spirit for that matter, we will never know. What cannot be questioned is that this was one of the most enjoyable vigils I had ever taken part in.

For our final vigil of this long weekend I again split the teams into 2, and took my group to Room 1 where earlier the mediums had sensed a dark and negative energy. Kelly took the other half of the group to investigate Room 3. The vigil began with Anita, who had sensed the energy of a boy following her around at Dimbola the previous night, suggesting that she felt a dark male presence observing us. She continued to describe a man of religious context, but someone who had used his position in the community for personal financial gain, as if he was for the most part a rogue. She described the negativity and shadowy nature of this energy as I asked for Kevin to sit in the en-suite bathroom while I propped the door open with a bottle of water. I then preceded to ask aloud for any spirits present to show their capabilities and close the door on Kevin. Anita started to appear troubled by the supposed energy drawing close as her physical and mental state appeared to somewhat deteriorate. Suffice to say that we had no physical activity in the room, and as Kelly's team came in for the switch over Anita rushed into the toilet to be sick. It was an interesting, and at times unsettling experience, but for the most part nothing conclusively paranormal in nature. Thankfully Anita recovered enough to carry on and things were much more pleasant as we settled down in room 3. As I laid upon one of the single beds I began to look forward to the end of a long night. All remained quite as our vigil, and weekend investigation came to an end.