I thought I would post a brief overview of our first Experiment session to keep everyone up to date with things as we move forward with our project. A more detailed report will come later, with more information added to the upcoming Metetherial Project Journals.

Location

Our chosen location for the experiments is to be at Bradwell Abbey in Milton Keynes. Although a known haunted location, this wasn’t our reasoning for selecting this particular location. In fact it just appeared to be the best location for our requirements and as RSVP UK have a good relationship with the location it was the best choice.

The Team

Our team for this experiment was as follows:-
Ashley
Graham
Gary
Matt
Dawn
Ann
David

Experiment Purpose

On this occasion the purpose of the experiment was to establish the group, the location for our experiments and to gain an understanding of how we were going to progress. On this occasion we didn’t want to many controls in place and to take things easy in order to understand how this may all work.

Experiment Monitoring Setup

We setup in one of the ground floor rooms of the main house at Bradwell. This room had two large-sized circular tables in it, which are perfect for the experiment. The group members all sat around the table. On the table were placed various crystals, chosen by Ann. We also had an luminous ball, an object that we would be able to see moving in the dark. Also on the table was a small ball, which lit up when it was moved, placed in a glass bowl. The hope here was that movement of the ball may signify possible communication. We also had an audio recorder running throughout the experiment, which as it recorded a member of the group listened to. The Data Logger (more about that in the future) was placed towards the center of the table recording data for temperature, Electromagnetic Field (EMF), Humidity, atmospheric Pressure and Magnetic Field. We also had the Stimson TDC (based on the TDC design from the Scole Experiment, but adapted and built by Gary Stimson) running throughout the experiment. The output of which was recorded by a second audio recorder, but also listened to by two members of the group. A video camera recorded the entire experiment from a fixed position, but ran in standard mode without any infra-red illumination. There was also a digital camera on the table and a roll of 35mm film.

Experiment

As this was our first experiment the beginning was not straight forward to be honest, but still we got there. We began with a little spiritual protection and by opening the chakras. This simply seemed to be fitting for what we wanted to achieve. Then we spent a little quiet time before attempting to connect with spirits that were associated with the Scole Spirit Team.

After a little while Ann became aware of a presence next to her, which she was unsure of. This prompted us to introduce ourselves. This placed Ann more at ease. From here on out temperature variations were felt y most of the group. Generally this was around the legs, hands and arms. However the Data Logger didn’t record any significant temperature changes.

After a slight break we changed positions around the table and I personally sat off the table behind Gary, leaving six at the table, which to me seemed more balanced from an energy point of view. Gary began this part of the evening by trying to speak directly to Arthur Ellison (investigated the Scole Experiment as a member of the Society for Psychical Research). However rather than simply saying ‘hello’, Gary explained the TDC device he had built-in order to try to make a familiar connection, so to speak.

It wasn’t long after this that we believed that we began to receive raps, taps and more feelings of a presence within the group. At some point during this possible attempt at communication the ball in the glass bowl must have been influenced as it lit up! We quickly checked that no one in the group had knocked the table, which they hadn’t. Understanding this as probable communication we began to ask questions of our visitor, advising them to light up the ball as a positive response to a question. Over the next few minutes we seemed to receive a few positive answers for the questions we asked. Gary even removed the ball from the bowl to check it illuminated only when moved and then remain off afterwards, which it did. This test also ruled out two possibilities that the ball was either faulty or the battery was failing. The ball was replaced in the bowl and after that communication stopped. Although there were still a few raps and taps around the room.

We decided around this point that it would be an excellent time to bring our first experiment to an end, so we closed off the circle safely and broke away from the table.

However it was at this point as the lights went on, some of the group switched on their mobile phones and Gary switched off the TDC, that the Data Logger recorded a spike to 10mg EMF. As I mentioned at the beginning on this occasion there were few controls in place, so although we can’t explain the spike in EMF we are not ruling out any number of events that may have occurred at that time. We did test the switching of a mobile phone on right next to the Data Logger, but that made no difference to the EMF. Neither did the lights. This will be something we will have to test going forward.

Discussion

This was our first attempt at this kind of experiment where we would utilise what maybe seen as spiritual approaches alongside the scientific, but by also using the Scole Experiment as a guide for approach too. All in all we believe it to be a successful evening where we have managed to gain a better understanding of how this may work moving forward, what additional elements we may need to include, other processes that need to be in place and of course the controls to help us ascertain true phenomena.

The possible communication through the ball was found quite interesting to us all. In fact its prominent to mention that in order to have the ball light up, the table needs to be significantly hit or moved, in either the action would be accompanied by a recognisable sound too. It would certainly be quite hard to achieve this without a member of the group noticing. Another possible reason for the ball lighting up could be the vibrations from the near by railway, but on occasions when trains went past and could be easily heard, there was no reaction from the ball. The final part of the puzzle which we thought about after the experiment was that in actual fact, no one saw the ball moving! If this is truly the case then perhaps it was manipulated by energy in someway or perhaps a force we don’t understand. This has also triggered some further research and experimentation, so watch this space.

This was an excellent beginning to our experiments, but we have a long way to go yet before we are even close to what was achieved at Scole. Equally from a scientific perspective we have many things to consider, monitor and data to record in order to find those all important patterns.

“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.”

– Nikola Tesla