The 19th Century Grade II listed building which is Arundel Town Hall was built in 1836. It was purpose built as a Town Hall for the people of Arundel and is still a working town hall today. When the building was opened, its basement was used as a Jailhouse straight away and there are even documents dating back as far as 1890 that mention it. In fact there were some requests to modernize and clean up the cells after their first sixty years of use. With the Police Station next door and the court in town, it has been used on and off for many years as a jail. In fact between 1977 and 1986 it was used as the Arundel Museum, following which it was reclaimed by the Magistrates and reused as a jail again. Arundel Town Hall with its basement jailhouse is situated at the heard of Arundel with a near by castle overlooking the river Arun. Paranormal activity has been reported by a number of other investigation groups, including audible phenomena like bangs, knocks and taps, as well as the sound of a small child singing and a 'stony dragging noise'.

This was my fourth investigation with Farsight and the Arundel Jailhouse was probably the smallest location I had investigated to date. The Jailhouse consisted of a single room with a number of small cells and rooms alongside each wall, and the first impressions were that the logistics of the location meant there was little chance for the group to split up for vigils. This was indeed the agreed approach early on as we decided that with the exception of some lone vigils in the Condemned Man's Cell we would conduct the investigation in a single group within the main room and utilize the individual cells to help distribute the team throughout the location.

Shortly after arriving we were shown a photograph which had been taken by another group who had recently investigated the Jailhouse where it was suggested that an image of a man in shackles could be seen towards the end of the corridor adjacent to the Condemned Man's Cell. We were able to immediately rule out anything paranormal within the photograph as the supposed imaged captured was simply a common example of pareidolia, which is the phenomenon of seeing an image or pattern perceived as significant in something quite natural. In this case a combination of some white markings on wooden panelling at the end of the corridor together with the placement of an open cell door had conjured an image resembling a partial figure of a man crouching forward. Sometimes when looking at a picture the mind pieces together random fragments of an image to perceive a form or significant shape when in fact the images are completely random - like seeing a face in a wallpaper pattern. We had also become aware quite early on in the night of knocking sounds which appeared to be coming from the upper floors where the Town Hall was situated. We made several attempts to replicate the knocks by going up to the pavement outside the front entrance which was roughly above the three cells on the far wall of the Jailhouse. Although knocking sounds could be replicated we were never able to accurately replicate the exact tapping sounds we were hearing.

Before we began the vigils the first task was to setup the CCTV cameras throughout the location. Once this was complete the team were briefed on the format for the night and we then embarked on our first vigil. While Judith made her way to the Condemned Man's Cell for a solo vigil the rest of us sat on chairs in the centre of the room. With the lights out we asked for signs of activity and for something to make itself known to us. All remained relatively quiet although Cliff did mention sensing the presence of a jailor pacing up and down the room. This was also coinciding with slight spikes in the EMF meter, as the LED indicators did seem to light up every so often, mainly at random intervals during the vigil. This evidence was less credible however when considering that the other 3 EMF meters we placed alongside showed no readings at all. The knocking or tapping sounds from above continued during the first vigil, while Judith who was later joined by Ash also heard distinct tapping sounds while in the Condemned Man's Cell. It was suggested that these were coming from the storage area adjacent to one of the walls. At this point we were not able to find explanations for any of the tapping or knocking sounds we were hearing.

After a short break we then decided to split the group across the location placing one person in a cell or room alone to cover more ground and hopefully increase our chances of experiencing something. I took my place in cell one, with Liz and Simon in cell two and three respectively. Ash occupied the toilet area opposite my cell and Leanne stayed in the main room filming the vigil. This vigil was fairly short lived as for the most part there was nothing to report. It was decided to take a quick break as the video tape was about to run out while we were also waiting for Kev, the final member of our crew, who was due to arrive shortly.

After Kev had arrived we quickly moved onto the third vigil of the night. Again some of the team members split off into the individual cells and rooms while Liz, Cliff and I sat in the middle of the main room observing. It was interesting that from this point forward the knocking and tapping sounds seemed to have subsided, and the possibility of these being related to activity in the buildings nearby or on the roads and pavements above was given some credence as we had just moved passed the closing time for pubs and restaurants in the surrounding area. There was certainly less activity above ground as people had already made their way home. I decided to call out to ask whether the supposed Jailor was with us and if so if he could visit each of the cells and rooms and try to affect the team members there. Interestingly this was followed shortly by Judith in cell one saying she was feeling cold, then by Simon in cell two getting an EMF reading on the LED indicator, and finally Ash in the Room opposite (which we called the Chapel because it slightly resembled one) saying he felt very uneasy. To my mind this was simply a shared group psychological experience rather than anything paranormal, manifesting the exact things which I had asked the supposed spirit to do. Each of the experiences were slight and personal in nature with the exception of the EMF meter, and we had been getting strange readings from that device all night. At this point I decided to switch places with Simon in cell two, who moved along to cell three. With Kev remaining alone in the Condemned Man's Cell the rest of the group assembled in the centre of the room. Just as I was looking down at the EMF meter in front of me I heard Simon call out as to whether Ash had walked behind Leanne at the opposite side of the room. Leanne was sat directly opposite me filming the vigil, and I had noticed that the digital viewfinder on her camera was casting a light on the wall. Ash explained that he was not walking behind Leanne after which Simon exclaimed that he had briefly seen a white shape move along the opposite wall from right to left before disappearing quickly. We proceeded to try and rule out the possibility that this was a shadow cast by Leanne moving the camera slightly and in truth it was not possible to replicate anything other than shadows. We certainly could not replicate a white shape moving from behind her chair. The real frustration of this was that shortly before Simon said he witnessed this I had been looking directly at the same spot on the wall, only for my gaze to move downwards to the EMF meter I was holding. And as only Simon witnessed this in a room of people I was left wondering whether this was either a trick of the light or a trick of his mind. Nevertheless he seemed genuine in his description of the experience, and no evidence to back up his claim does not mean that he did not witness the image he believes he saw. Our CCTV camera in that room was also trained on the wall where the cells were rather than the wall opposite, so it is not likely we would have captured this on film either. One other point of note was that the battery on Judith's camera, which was supposed to hold a six hour charge, had also been drained in a few short minutes.

The final vigil of the night saw us all return to the chairs in the centre of the room. At this point we started to notice quite significant recurring spikes in the EMF LED, although yet again the other EMF meters were showing no readings. This time, unlike previously, the spikes were taking the readings into the red. They were also timed in durations perfectly spaced apart, and it was at this point I wondered if something electronic in the room was causing this. We had earlier asked everyone to confirm that their mobile phones were turned off to discount this being the cause of a phone trying to connect to the network provider. The reading followed such a distinct repetitive pattern that I decided to move the chair with the EMF meter on it to different parts of the room to see if I could use the spikes to zero in on the cause. After quite a few chair moves I eventually settled on an area where many of the team bags and coats had been left, at which point Ash again checked his mobile phone. It was not a surprise when he noticed that the phone was actually still turned on and was trying to connect to the network provider. He had turned the phone back on after the second vigil so that Kev could contact him when he arrived, and although he believed he had turned it back off it seems now that this was not the case. When he turned the phone off the EMF meter stopped displaying any readings. It may not have felt like it at the time but discounting the EMF readings we had been getting from this single meter was actually a success, as by eliminating phenomena which is not paranormal in origin helps us focus in on those things from the night which we could not readily explain.

Out investigation at Arundel Jailhouse had come to an end, and although considering the size of the location and my relatively low expectations for the event I have to say that there were a number of occurrences during the night which we were not able to explain away. What remains now is the review of the CCTV footage to see if by chance we had captured something which we had missed during the night.