Clevedon Pier Investigation
Clevedon Pier Investigation - 28th February 2012
A small team arrived at about 18:45 and met with the pier manager who had kindly stayed behind to allow us to do a quick investigation of the toll house. After our initial set up period we began calling out on the ground floor of the toll house and at first did not get any response. However, after about ten minutes of calling out the team and the manager heard a loud and heavy thudding coming from the room above. The manager stated that this was the noise she heard quite often. Damien called out again and we were again to hear the thudding. We investigated this to see if it was being caused by passing cars or hot water pipes etc. but could not find a cause at the time. Maybe if this was looked into deeper a cause would have been found but given our time restraints this was not possible.
Due to the thumping from above the ground floor, Matt offered to go upstairs and listen while everyone else stayed downstairs. Damien then continued to call out and again the thumps were heard by everyone and Matt thought they sounded like they were coming from within the floor of the upstairs room. The remainder of the team then moved upstairs and joined Matt and continued to call out. At this point Damien asked if we could get a knock response. When he knocked on the table and asked any spirits or energies to reply by copying him, Matt and the pier manager heard a clear “copy” knock in response coming from one corner of the room. However when asked to repeat nothing happened.
The team then did a very detailed EMF sweep of the upstairs and found that some EMF was being given off in the corner of the room used as an office, but obviously due to computers, fax machines and other electronic equipment this was to be expected but may also go some way as to explaining any experiences felt in this specific area of the toll house.
The time was now about 19:30 and the team left the Toll house to investigate the pier itself. The manager locked up and went home and we are grateful to her for staying as late as she did to give us the opportunity to investigate the Toll house.
While walking down the pier towards the head both Damien and Matt thought they saw a bright white mist in the area located under the stairs of the cafe. It appeared to move from left to right and then disappear. Both Damien and Matt were under the impression that the reflection of car headlights from the junction outside the toll house has caused what they had seen but after experimenting with torches and waiting for passing cars the white “mist” could not be recreated at all. The team continued on to the pier head.
It was now around 20:00 and the team set up their equipment and began taking photographs. While Matt was on the upper level of the cafe building he reported seeing what looked like the black outline of a person standing on the benches at the edge of the pier heading back towards the toll house. Although he explained this away as his eyes playing tricks on him due to the darkness combined with the flash of his camera. The batteries in Matt’s camera then began to play up even though they were fully charged. This was probably due though to the cold air and condensation that must have been forming around any exposed surfaces of equipment and not a paranormal drainage of energy which has been experienced at other locations.
At around 20:30 the team gathered together and began to call out. The environment was very noisy with the tide coming in causing most of the noise and the wind picking up didn’t help either. After about fifteen minutes of calling out Damien and Matt were stood together and Trixie had moved off on her own when Matt and Damien both heard what sounded like big heavy loose fitting boots thudding up wooden steps. It was so loud and clear both Matt and Damien went to see who it was as the team were unaware of anyone currently being on the pier. Nobody could be found but it was then that Trixie noticed that behind a padlocked door there were wooden steps leading down to another lower level of the pier that could not be accessed. This was very strange and although it could have been the wind the noise was not heard again for the remainder of the investigation.
Matt then decided to walk back up the pier to the end where the toll house is located while Damien and Trixie stayed at the pier head. About half way back along the pier Matt began to feel uneasy as though someone was behind him. It was dark and he was alone and this obviously added to the feelings he was experiencing. It is also interesting that later in the night Damien did an EMF sweep of this area and picked up a slight electric field around the lamps that light the pier. In the area Matt felt uneasy the lamp in that location was even picking up a local radio station when we listened to the audible EMF meter.
Matt stayed at the toll house end of the pier for around twenty minutes calling out alone with no response and no more uneasy feelings. He decided to walk back down to the pier head to rejoin Damien and Trixie. On his way back he experienced what felt like footsteps walking behind him. He experimented a little and found that his own footsteps were causing this with the vibrations of him walking causing a kind of “echo” vibration effect along the pier. This is quite important as it could often be interpreted as someone following behind if you were not aware of it. It was now 21:30 and the team decided to take a break from the cold.
The team returned to the pier head at around 22:30 but unfortunately no activity was witnessed after that. They did however meet a local fisherman who had since arrived at the pier. The conversation with him was interesting and he said that it could be an eerie place alone at night. Oddly enough our first impressions of him were that he looked alot like the “ghost” fisherman in the recent media images surrounding Clevedon pier. In joking with him about this he even admitted himself that his first thoughts when he saw the pictures in the news were that it was a picture of him. Mystery solved? There is no way of knowing for sure. The team wrapped up the investigation at around midnight.
All in all it was an interesting location. The environment played a big part in any experiences we had and also compromised any evidence we may have gathered. There were a few EVPs of interest, one of a moan or sigh while none of the team were near the recorder and another of what seems like another voice replying to a question Trixie asks at the same time Damien speaks, but with the noise from the sea and wind these cannot be realistically analysed to any definite conclusion. This however does not matter as it was a location we were all grateful to have been given the chance to experience and the team has the pier manager to thank hugely for this.
The Team have also been included on an artical from The Weston Mercury about the Ghostly Tales at Clevedon Pier