The Lord Nelson Pub
Kingskerswell
Investigated on February 12th and February 26th, 2007.

Every village has a local pub, and Kingskerswell, in Devon, is no exception. With a history that dates back over 150 years the building has seen quite a bit of history during its time and the workers there have many tales of supernatural occurances and sightings. What did Hidden Realms discover during their investigation there?

History
Sadly, the Lord Nelson pub has a history that is difficult to research. The group were able to find a list of previous occupants to the location which has allowed us to make some educated guesses as to it's past but because the original plans for the place are impossible to see things like original layout and previous guises are unable to be traced. However, as I say, the list of previous occupants does allow us to speculate as to some of the buildings past. Our researsh took us back to 1850 where it appears that the owners were listed via a survey since it only tells us a year that they were in there. It isn't until 1920 when we're told how long each person lived there. This has led us to think that perhaps it was at 1920 that the building was converted into a public house. Indeed, the photo shown on the left (taken in 1910) shows the location on the left and has no identifying marks that would suggest that it was a pub.

Layout

Ground Floor
First Floor

Stories

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 Whenever a live band is playing in the pub reports come in of activity going on in the front area of the Back Bar. Stories tell of knocks being heard on the wall and pint glasses being moved or thrown from tables in that area. The tankards hanging on the fireplace have been reported to move as well.
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 Keeping with the tankards, we were told that if removed they would have to be put back in their correct order, because otherwise they'd be moved or thrown.
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 A small table was originally set up in front of the fireplace in the Back Bar, but it had to be moved after many customers kept complaining that their pint glasses were being moved or thrown off of the table.
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 One story we were told was that at the end of the day the drinking glasses all had to be put back just right. Apparently one night they weren't and from upstairs you could hear them all being moved and falling to the floor.
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 Staff also speak of items frequently disappearing if they're placed in the back of the Bar Area by the wall.
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 The cupboard at the top of the stairs feels, according to one worker, very uncomfortable and whenever she's up there she feels that somebody doesn't want her up there.
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 After a Monday night a staff member was washing up when something made him look up to his left. He saw a small lady standing there looking like she was looking at or fiddling with something. After looking into the old plans for the place the landlord discovered that where she was standing there used to ba an old jug and bottle, where people would come and fill their bottles. It was remarked that this lady could have possibly been counting out change.
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 At the end of the day one staff member called Peter was coming out of the cellar when he saw, through the window, a man dressed in a tweed suit. He saw the figure pick up a piece of chalk and throw it at him. The chalk then bounced off of the bar and dropped into the waste paper bin.

Equipment We Used
The group used the following equipment during our investigation:

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During the first investigation, locked off nightshot cameras were placed looking into the Back Room, looking over the Bar Area, the Main Bar and looking at the Sports Area from the Boxing Ring. During the second investigation a camera was again placed in the Main Bar and another was placed in the Bar Area looking out over the Back Bar.
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During the first investigation the coin trigger object experiment was set up in the Spare Room and a camcorder was focussed onto it. During the second vigil the coin experiment was set up in the Cupboard.
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On the first vigil the talc on lino experiment was set up in the back area of the Main bar and had a camcorder focussed onto it. During the second night it was set up in the Back Bar.
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During the second night, due to a story that one of the workers related to us, we set up a small table in front of the fireplace in the Back Bar just away from the talc and placed a half-full pint glass on it. This was then drawn around.

Mediumship Evidence

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 During our day visit to the pub Kim picked up on a black and white dog that was running around the Back Bar area. When this was told to the landlord he told us that he used to have a collie dog and then preceeded to show us a photo of him. Also, during the vigil where Pete accompanied us he also picked up on the same dog.
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 Also during the day visit Kim was sat at the Back Bar when she suddenly smelled smoke and sensed a fire in the roof from quite a few years ago. The landlord did confirm that there had been a fire in the kitchen "and above" but that was quite recently. However, one of the staff did tell us that years ago, when the building had a thatched roof, there had been a fire up there that had spread to the adjoining houses.
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 Both Kim and Chris spoke of picking up on a tall man with a moustache with rolled up sleeves. They also felt that there were two men behind him. Kim said that they looked like that had stooped backs whilst Chris told of seeing them carrying something heavy. Both said that they felt that the man male was intimidating them, trying to attract their attention away from the two men in the background as if he didn't want them to see. It was felt by both that they were trying to hide something.
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 The name William made an appearence a few times. During the day visit Chris and Kim were picking up on a male figure when Chris got the name William Bancroft. Kim also picked up on a William during the second vigil and also sensed a wax seal design with the initial W with a B or P in ornate lettering. Could this have belonged to William Bancroft? After the investigation some research was done on this name and it transpired that an individual with this name did exist. In the 1901 census he is listed as being 39 and was a publician living in Plymouth. Could this person have had a tie to the Lord Nelson?

Physical Evidence

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 On our first investigation we had just walked through the entrance when a locals dog, which is usually quiet and placid, suddenly became distressed and restless. We were told that this was very unusual and had never happened before.
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 Soon after we arrived one of the staff showed us an old extractor fan that was on the wall. We were told that it had not worked in over 20 years but upon our arrival it suddenly kicked into life. The next day however it refused to work again.
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 Also, as the fan was working, the member of staff also told us that the electrical meter was running like crazy - something that had never happened before.
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 At the start of our second investigation we had put our equipment down in the kitchen and walked back out. Chris happened to look back and saw that the end of the monitor cable was suspended in the air like it was being examined by something. She then saw it slowly move down and curl under the table.
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 Soon after this Kim reported seeing a black shadow swiftly move through the Back Room and into the Kitchen. She dashed after it and took a photo with her digital camera.
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 Early on in the second investigation, just after the group had protected itself and was raising energy a scuffling noise was heard by Mike coming from the Main Bar. Although this sound was not captured by the camera in the Bar Area it had been captured by the camera in the Main Bar, suggesting that the origins of the scuff were from around there.
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 The camera that was monitoring the Main Bar picked up on these small pinpoints of light that appear for approximately a quarter of a second before blinking back out again. At least 5 of these were recorded during the night. Exactly what these were are currently a mystery.
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 Several orbs were captured on digital camera although the possibility that this could have been dust or airborne particles sadly cannot be ruled out.
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 The morning after our first investigation we received a phonecall from the landlord asking us if we had managed to capture anything. Whilst speaking he asked us if we had put an ashtray onto the floor of the bar. After we said we didn't he told us that an old ashtray that used to belong to his ex-wife (and had long since been lost) had appeared the next morning on the floor of the bar area.

Captured Phenomena

At the start of our second investigation Kim spotted a shadow moving swiftly from the Back Room into the Kitchen. She dashed over to the doorway and took a photo of the room. Upon review the photo that was taken shows an orb. Although Hidden Realms don't hold too much credence with orbs we felt that since this one was taken so soon after a sighting it was worth including.



This following photo, also taken by Kim in the Back Bar, is quite interesting because the orb featured almost looks like it's blurred or in motion. Orbs captured in motion are much more difficult to explain than static orbs because they can only appeared blurred if they're going faster than the cameras shutter speed. Since most digital cameras have a flash shutter speed of just 1/750th of a second the orb must have been moving at a phenomenal rate in order to appear blurred.



During the second investigation, as experiments and equipment were being set up a locked-off camera was left running in the Main Bar area. Mike, who was standing by it was talking to Chris about the nights plans when all of a sudden a scuffing noise was both heard by Mike and captured on camera. Chris was the only other team member nearby at the time (the rest being sat down on the opposite side of the pub) and nobody else heard the noise. Another locked-off camera in close proximity did not record the sound, so it appears that it happened right beside Mike at the time.

 

Afterthoughts
Sadly, the location did not offer much in the way of physical evidence, although a small number of things were captured that do give food for thought. The majority of results that were collected were from a mediumistic point of view and although very interesting (such as the corrolation of what Kim and Chris picked up on in the Cupboard and the name William Bancroft) it isn't a strong arguement in regards to whether or not the location is indeed haunted.

Although we cannot put a firm opinion onto the haunted nature of the location (since we only spent two nights there) based on what the mediums picked up on along with the many tales that we were told the general concensus within the group is that the pub is rich with residual energy and has spirit coming in visitation. We feel that there is nothing grounded or trapped there.

However, on a scientific level there is sadly nothing that was captured that can be considered tangible physical evidence. The vast majority of physical evidence recorded was purely anecdotal, and what little was captured, such as the orbs, could very easily be explained away. That being said, however, the scuffing sound captured on camcorder (of which the video is presented here) is much harder to simply dismiss. It's a quiet scuff but since it was captured on camera it must have been close to it. Because Mike also heard it it proves that it wasn't just a fault on the camera that created the noise. However, since we cannot see what is happening on the other side of the bar (where preparations were being made for the forthcoming investigation) it cannot be ruled out that the scuffing sound was made over there.

The group had a great time investigating the Lord Nelson and would like to give a huge thanks to the landlord for letting us spend the night there twice. He was very accomodating and friendly and made us feel very welcome. Thanks Trev!