Location: 'The Captains Wife' pub, Sully, Penarth. Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous Date: 21 May 2004 Investigators Present: Anne, Kevin, Austin, Trudy & Kelly

Equipment Used:

• Sony DCR-TRV22E Camcorder
• Sony HVL-IRH2 Infra red light
• Sony TRV-58E Night vision Camcorder
• Samsung VP-W8OU 8mm Camcorder
• Olympus C-220 zoom 2.0 Mega pixel digital camera
• Olympus C-120 2.0 Mega pixel digital camera
• Sony DSC-S50 2.1 Mega pixel digital camera
• Infra red thermometer
• Analogue voice recorder
• Room Temperature monitor
• EMF Meter
• Motion Detectors
• Panasonic DV Tapes

Location History:

Sully Island and the immediate area has a long, slightly confused and bloody history.

The history is most recently centred around Sully house and the building which is now known as the pub 'The Captains Wife'.

The Island, Sully House and the Captains Wife pub was famous for it's involvement in the local smuggling trade. It is said a tunnel still exists between the Island and Sully House.

A local sea Captain, who plied a not altogether honest trade out of Sully, suddenly told everyone he was going away to live elsewhere. Abandoning his house he was never seen again.

Years later while being refurbished, the skeleton of a woman was discovered bricked up in the chimney of his house, which is why it became known as 'The Captains Wife'.

The area was not always known as Sully, Sully means South Lea or South Pasture and is relatively recent.

The area was known as Black Rock, Swanbridge.

Information Obtained from:

www.nusc.co.uk/pennant/pennaut03/pennantxt.htm.

Reported Experiences:

During the last few years many of the staff members have changed and unfortunately, apart from extensive local folklore and tales, no substancial information could be obtained.

Investigation Preparation:

Firstly the group drew a rough floor plan of the area to be investigated. Breaking down the area into 'lettered' sections, in order to make the investigation more organised and also ensuring the final report would be a more accurate account.

Each area was checked for temperature and EMF fluctuations. The temperature was noted to be fairly consistant throughout and there were no EMF readings. The temperature was higher than would be expected considering the time of night and the outside temperature.

This however was due to the fact the heating system had only just been turned off. Keeping this important factor in mind, the group needed to allow for a substancial drop in temperature over the next hour or so.

During these initial base line tests, one group member reported feeling uneasy in a stairwell which is situated at the rear of the upper restaurant area.

The group took note that some lights would remain on throughout the vigil, eg. Fire exit doors would have to remain lit for health and safety reasons. These had to be considered and noted with regards reflections and possible shadows.

Floor Plan of Area:

Investigation:

Initially the team split into two groups. A group of 3 consisting of Anne, Trudy and Austin went into Section A.

The remaining 2 Kelly and Kevin went up into the upper restaurant area.

Section A::

Two of the team members simultaniously reported seeing a shadow through the archway down into section C. Taking into account the other two group members were upstairs at the time, the shadow seen could not feasibly be attributed to them.

The shadows and 'suggestion' of movement was witnessed down in that area for some time by both members who had a clear view.

The three members all sat quietly and heard a knocking noise coming from directly above them.

Austin who was sitting away from Trudy and Anne reported feeling suddenly colder and experienced a draught around him. On investigation an air vent was found high up on the wall behind him.

Although nothing of interest was caught on camcorder in this area, there were later orbs found on photographs taken.

Upper Restaurant Area::

Although uncomfortable feelings were reported and both members heard tapping noises, which could have a logical explanation ie.Heating System cooling. Nothing else occured and no audio visual evidence was picked up at this point However later viewing of camcorder footage produced a flashing orb which had been filmed in this area.

The whole group met to discuss the next part of the investigation. There were no discussions of experiences at this point.

During this break more photographs were taken. Two of the digital camera's and one of the camcorders lost battery power. The Camcorder regained power but the two digital camera's were fitted with a new set of batteries.

The Group split again.

Anne, Kevin and Kelly.

Section A

Although again nothing seemed to be picked up on Audio/Visual equipment, Kelly reported feeling drained and unwell. At the suggestion of the remaining two members, Kelly left the section and went to sit quietly in the designated group meeting area.

It was later discovered after reviewing footage, two orbs were picked up on camcorder at the same time.

Section D

Trudy and Austin

This area was directly opposite the bar. Occasional creaking sounds were heard coming from behind the bar area. The kitchen was also situated behind the bar and the noises made by fridges/freezers etc. could be easily recognised and discounted.

The amount of electrical equipment behind the bar aside from kitchen appliances had to be taken into consideration and the possibility of noise being made by any one these could not be entirely ruled out.

Apart from the noises picked up around the bar area, there were also a few creaks, noises at the side of the group in section C.

The group met for further discussions and some group members decided to visit some area's alone.

Anne attempted to spend time alone in Section A, but even though nothing it seemed, apart from the knocking noises witnessed earlier, had been picked up in this area. Anne found the darkness too oppressive and could not remain there.

Austin tried to take over the lone vigil in Section A and his camcorder battery drained a few moments after entering the room, so he also was unable to remain there for any length of time.

Kevin sat alone in the upper stairwell of the restaurant area. He felt absolutely fine sitting there by himself, he noted it was quite light on the stairs because a window was letting in light from a nearby street lamp. Eventually another group member came to find him and it wasn't until viewing his camcorder footage later, an orb was seen at the bottom of the stairs.

Upper Restaurant Area - The whole Group

We all sat quietly for a while but nothing was picked up. However many photographs were taken in this area and were later looked at in detail.

The most interesting photograph is of an orb 'hovering' over a table at the bottom end of the upper restaurant near the gallery rail.

Section A

The whole group did a vigil in this area to finish off the investigation. This area was chosen simply because, as stated previously it was by far the darkest and most oppressive.

The group by this time were all exhausted and the sound of a door opening followed by a shape being seen down in the bar area, temporarily caused some excitment within the group. Who all very quickly realised it was the landlord entering the premises.

Conclusion:

Knocking in Section A Even though the upstairs part of the restaurant is not directly above Section A and the other group members later reported having sat quietly at this time.

The possibility of them having moved around at some point and the vibrations caused can not be entirely ruled out. Further investigation to discount this possibility would be warranted.

Draught Section A Due to the height of the air vent and the direction of cool air from it. It seems implausible at first, that this would have caused the draught that Austin felt. We need also to note the team had already been in this area for some time and the seafront location of the venue, would have caused Austin to feel the draught from the beginning, if it had indeed been caused by the vent.

Again this would need to be tested.

A flashing orb was caught on camcorder in the upper restaurant area, although not noted at the time.

Interestingly, this was the same location that orbs were picked up later, when the whole group were in this area. Most notably a photograph of an orb seen hovering over one of the tables near the gallery rail.

The tapping noises heard upstairs in the upper restaurant area, could be attributed to environmental causes. Because this happened quite early on in the evening, it may have been something as simple as the heating system cooling down.

Again the group would need to check out the feasibility of this being a likely cause.

There was unexplained draining of batteries during the investigation. It was later discovered that this had also happened to a few members of the team during the baseline tests. This was not known until a group discussion meeting after the investigation had been completed.

One member feels drained and unwell in section A . At the same time in this location two orbs were picked up on camcorder.

After viewing the footage from these 'orbs'. One zig-zagged all over the place and the possibility of that being an insect would be a more likely explanation.

The other moves slowly across the screen and cannot be so easily explained.

Noises from the bar area can be readily explained away by the vast array of equipment, both there and in the kitchen situated just behind.

The creaking noises at the side of the group, is not so easily explained. If these noises had occured immediately, they could possibly have been caused by the wooden floor settling after the groups movements.

This occured some time after the group were settled there.

Even though Section A had been expected to have the most activity by the whole group. The fact this section was enclosed and by far the darkest probably played a big part in these expectations. The upper restaurant area produced the most notable results.

A number of orbs were caught on film in this area, both flashing whilst moving across and hovering over a table.

Interestingly they all caught in the same part of the upper restaurant.

Group expectations had been high and the fact tiredness had also set in, initially caused the group to think the noise of a door opening, was a paranormal occurance. The figure then seen standing near the bar area confirmed the obvious, Bryn the owner of the Captains Wife had returned and had entered the building.

The group always allow for tiredness and realise high expectations can lead to false results, if not looked at logically and immediately discounted.

Thankfully the group examine in detail every occurance, no matter how small and even recreate the situation whenever possible.

Psychology report:

The group entered into this investigation with high expectations, due to the colorful history and location of the venue. Even though the group had these expectations, not a great deal was picked up through Audio/Visual equipment or in reported feelings. This would suggest that the group in the main does not allow their expectations to cloud their judgement and affect their responses to any degree.

One thing that was noted was the unusual occurances of a few group members getting headaches in section A. Some members of the group put this down to possible paranormal causes. However it is also worth noting, this was not only the darkest room but also the smallest and most enclosed. The darkness causes the eye's to strain in order to see the area and this in itself can cause headaches.

This effect of darkness is something the group will investigate further. Also at the time of these reports the group members were also getting tired, which can cause physical symptoms such as headaches.

It is also notable although nothing, apart from knocking and draught, were picked up in this area. A group member who attempted to enter this area alone could not do so, feeling the area was too oppressive. This suggests the mere fact that one area is darker than another can cause fear. Even though there had been little evidence to support any paranormal events.

During the last vigil all group members were tired and a little disapointed at the lack of occurances. They heard the door down in the bar area open and saw a figure standing there.

Where as they would have normally immediately realised what this was. The whole group reacted with excitement, hoping it may have been something paranormal, because something of this nature had been expected throughout the investigation.