The Royal Oak
Bookham, Surrey
24th November 2008

Introduction
Photographs
Team Reports
Team 1
Team 2
Team 3
Members Views

Introduction

Bookham Surrey was first recorded in the Domesday Book in 675 AD also known as Bocheham. Jane Austin spent time here in the 1700’s while writing her novels. The Royal Oak Public House was built in the 14th Century and still retains some of the original features.

MPI were delighted when we were invited to investigate this age old inn by Dwayne Kent the Landlord and his wife Hazel.
Thank you both for allowing us to investigate The Royal Oak and for your hospitality.

MPI Members investigating

Val Butler Group Leader
Ken Taylor Technician
Jim Arnold Deputy
Simon Patterson
Kelly Skiming
Emma Macdonald
Mandy Frith
Pat Rendell
Becky Ephgrave
Jacqi Ephgrave
Ruth Atkins
Gary Hayes
Jim Patterson
Mary-Lou Garrett
Sarah Hollands (Guest)

Our Hosts

Dwayne Kent - Landlord
Hazel Kent

Emma and Mandy had travelled to Manchester in the morning and had travelled from Manchester that evening to join with us.. We appreciate their dedication to the group in doing this long journey to investigate for the night, and fully understood how tired they must have been. After completing a couple of vigils they decided to call it a day and venture home to their beds. Well done both of you, you are true troopers of MPI.

Photographs

1/7 - Multiple Light Anomalies

Team Reports

Team 1
Val, Kelly, Ruth, Gary, Sarah, Jim P

Childs bedroom
Temperature 11-14 degrees EMF Reading 0. With the team feeling quite relaxed Gary and Val in turn called for spirit to come forward but there was no response. There seemed to be a presence in this room so the team decided to hold a séance of glass divination. The glass did not respond to the question asked but moved around the table giving the letters BRBUBSDQ. Val asked if the spirit was male and in response had the letters UDQCTIRE, Gary asked for the year and was given HNZ. Asked spirit was if there was a child playing and what age the glass moved to age 5 and then went around the table as if playing with us.
We asked the child if she was lonely and did she play with the little girl who lived here, glass moved to yes. Kelly and Jim feel really cold. The bed Val sat on shook but there were no other occurrences in this room.
Attic
Temperature fluctuating 4-6 degrees EMF Reading 0
There was an uneasy feeling here felt by us all, Gary asking for spirit to communicate with us, and then Val asked, no response. Val felt a cold draught on her left side, but being in the attic and very cold could not rule out the possibility of the night air coming through from outside. Jim felt he was being watched; Gary had a mental image of a French sailing vessel similar to Nelsons Victory with a French flag flying at the rear of the ship. Gary and Kelly both felt a cold draught over their hand when Gary was talking about the ship.
Small Bar and Toilets
Temperature 16 degrees EMF changing
While Val was conducting the EMF readings a very high reading of 10 was being given in front of the fireplace, an area of 2-3 feet long and one foot wide. Val also noticed a strong smell of a dog. There were no other EMF readings around until Val returned to the table at the far end and sat down. She had the feeling of the dog following her and placed the EMF at her feet under the table, and again the EMF scaled to 10 within the same dimensions as by the fireplace. Ruth felt a cold breeze come across the table. Val started to giggle, then Kelly and Ruth Gary feels OK although he seemed to us as if he was going to burst into laughter. Jim asked for spirit to come and join with us there was no response. Val threw a beer mat and asked for spirit to return it but nothing happened. Jim then said he felt kind of silly/funny followed again by Ruth Kelly and Val, all said they felt as though they were intoxicated which went as soon as they left the area. The temperature dropped to 14 degrees. Nothing unusual in the gent’s toilets although Kelly felt apprehensive.
Main Bar
Temperature 16-19 degrees EMF reading 0
We sat quietly in here for a while, Val and Gary asking for spirit to come and sit with us, no response. We decided to hold glass divination here and asked for a letter of first name the glass moved slowly to S2, we asked for the year and were given 1481 no further communication. We then tried table tipping and as soon as our hands were on the table it started to shake quite violently. We could feel the feet of the table scrape on the stone floor, Val asked spirit to lift the table and we all felt a pressure from underneath pushing upward. The more Val asked for spirit to push the table the more pressure we felt and still the table shook. After some 20 minutes all went quiet and no further communication came through
Dining Room and Cellar
Jacqi Mary-Lou Simon joined with the team Temperature 9 degrees EMF Reading 0
Gary feels as though this room was once a stable, Val feels merriment and like she wants to dance, semi intoxicated. Jacqi can see a white shadow in the corner of the dining room. We all held hands and Jacqi calls for spirit to join with us. She sees a lady at the far end door that won’t come any closer to us. Val and Jacqi take turns in asking for spirit to come forward, all members feel happy and merry in this area, no other occurrences here. In the cellar we all felt apprehensive the temperature was reading 11 degrees and the EMF 0. Val called to spirit but there was no response. No occurrences here.

Team 2
Jim A, Becky, Pat, Sarah

Dining Room and Cellar
Temperature 10 degrees EMF Reading 0
Pat and Becky felt uncomfortable in the cellar not right at all, Becky has a headache and Pat feels something’s not quite right with the right side wall. Becky has the smell of a hospital. Pat is feeling really sad; Becky placed her hand on the right side wall and feels as though someone is calling for help. Pat feels someone is wearing a bonnet. Becky then sees blood everywhere while touching the wall; it was dripping off the table. Upon leaving Sarah felt they were all followed up the stairs.
In the dining room we started with table tipping and had vibration straight away. Jim felt there was more than one spirit here. Jim kept on angrily clenching his fists and said “they didn’t get” when asked who he said “the press gang” The spirit didn’t like Sarah asking question said she was to nosey, asked if he did not like the women in the pub the reply was “no, only good for one thing”. Asked for the year he died, reply “don’t know not good with numbers” Jim then went on and told Pat “she hid me” Pat asked why he was hid reply was “”so they could not get me” Jim kept pointing to his nose meaning nosey. No further question was asked only that spirit left Jim. Becky asked Jim if he was still with them, Jim was not himself and Becki asked if someone else was with Jim. We asked Jim to give the team a name and all Jim said were “bloody women to nosey asking too many questions” Jim seemed to be irritated. We asked Jim why was he here, answer “to sup ale” We introduced ourselves to spirit and asked for his name, he said it was Bob, he became more bothered by our questions, did he die here, did he live here answer no sat in chair and didn’t wake up. Jim then came back to us and lent on Pat for a while.
Small Bar
Temperature 11 degrees EMF 0
No response to us calling for spirit we decided to try table tipping but had no response so tried glass divination. Pat led by asking for the glass to move, it slowly moved to where Jacqi was then turned toward Jim. Jacqi felt as though someone had poked her she asked whoever poked her to move the glass in the direction of where the spirit was, the glass moved across the table to the edge almost tipping off the table all the time going to Mary-Lou. All went quiet and no further communication came through.
Main Bar Temperature 19 degrees dropping to 15 degrees EMF Reading 0
Becky sensed a tall man standing behind the bar with a big belly and ginger beard height around six ft 4 inches tall. Sarah and Pat did not like the far end of the bar area and Becky would not go there at all. Jim called for spirits to come forward but there was no response. The team tried glass divination, and came across a nine year old boy who spelt out the letters CELBNFVF. Jim and Becky both had been given the name of Celia, Jim saw a light, then while sitting around the table Jim seemed to get very angry he felt like he wanted to smash the whole place up, but a short time passed and he was able to control himself again with a little help from the team. No further communication.
Childs Bedroom
Temperature 11 degrees EMF Reading 0
This room we felt was pleasant, we tried verbal communication with spirit but it seemed they did not want to talk with us. We then opted for glass divination as a means of communicating. We asked for a name and the glass went to the letters OVL, we asked if her name was Olivia and the answer was yes. A series of questions followed, Q what is your age A L3/4 Q do you want to leave here A No Q do you want to leave here A No Q do you play with the little girl who lives here A none Q do you feel lonely here A none although the glass moved slightly Jim does feel she is lonely. Jacqi senses a large hole or well and asked Olivia if that is how she died, although the glass moved slightly it did not give a definite answer. We tried to explain to Olivia what the glass and board did and then asked for her to talk to us. The glass moved in between P and Q we asked what did these letters mean but no further communication came through.

Team 3
Emma, Simon, Jacqi, Mandy, Mary-Lou

Attic
Temperature 6.3-11.4 EMF Reading 0
Emma calls for spirit to come forward to try and communicate and after a couple of minutes gats pushed forward into the group. Jim calls out with no response. Becky Jacqi and Mandy are feeling really cold, Becky is feeling really frightened as she senses someone is behind her. Emma feels someone place a hand on her shoulder, all member hear tapping and footsteps all around them.
Main Bar
Temperature 17 degrees EMF Reading 0
Each member take turns in asking for spirit in several parts of the bar area all with no response. We then tried the Ouija and although the planchette moved slightly there were no significant communications. The team then divided to join with team 1 and 2.

Members Views

We were warmly welcomed by our host Dwayne and then showed the way to the hub for the night’s investigation. Ken our technician along with the help of Gary set up infra red camera’s connected to DVD recorders in the child’s bedroom and in the attic, and placed locked off cameras in the small and main bars.

Val
I found the investigation very interesting and the main highlight of my evening was in the main bar when we tried table tipping. Never before have I experienced such activity as this.

Becky
My first experience started very early on in the night in the hub area before we had even started the evening vigils where I felt what was like a fingers tapping me on my lower back/hip on the right hand side.
My second experience of the night was on a vigil in the attic; I felt extremely uncomfortable and was shaking from cold. I constantly felt there was something behind me and heard shuffling noises getting closer. Twice I felt what was like sheets of ice go up my back. I felt like something was going to jump on me from behind. I really didn’t like it up there.
On our vigil in the dining area, Jim was taken over by ‘Bob’ this was the first time I had seen a person be used to channel a conversation with a sprit, though at first very scary we all managed to coax the spirit into talking to us and it was a great experience.
I had an encounter in the main bar area, we were all looking at the opposite end of the room when I suddenly turned round to see a man standing at the bar, he must have been 6ft 4”, with his arms folded resting on a large belly, he had a big bushy ginger/red beard. Within a second he was gone.

Ruth
When myself and the other girls first arrived at the Royal Oak and before we entered into the pub the front door flew open, a couple of members went outside and got some orbs above the door. I didn’t go into the attic but I went into the little girls bedroom with my group there was a lot of activity on the board this was very exciting to see. I also went back to the same room with Jim he came across a small child with an adult very exciting too .I did not feel much downstairs apart from having the giggles and Val finding the dog. The best part of the night for me was the table moving. That was great .Thank you

Jacqi
When we arrived at the pub we were standing in the bar when the main door opened on its own. It had a heavy latch on it that has to be lifted up which it did but there was no one on the other side of the door. It was witnessed from the outside by Kelly.
When we first went into the loft it was very claustrophobic but I think that was to do with the amount of people up there at the time. When we went up in our group we had quite a lot of activity. I did not feel anything to bad but some of our group were prodded and pushed from behind. It did become quite oppressive in there and the temperature dropped quite considerably.
In the cellar my eye was drawn to the left hand corner of the cellar and I could make out a crouched shadow which I did not like at all.
In the main bar I personally did not get much coming through at all. We tried the Ouija board but nothing was happening.
In the dining area I got the feeling of a woman standing by the back door and waiting to be invited in. She was scared to just come forward but after much prompting and invitation by the group to join us the feeling disappeared.
In the small bar the group put a glass on the table to see if there was any activity. After inviting the spirit to join us the glass started to move towards myself and then went onto Mary-Lou and almost came off the table. We asked the spirit to move the glass back onto the table and it did once but we had to move it ourselves a couple of times so it did not break.
In the little girls bedroom we had a lot of activity with the Ouija board and found out it was a little girl called Olivier who liked to play with the little girl who lived in the pub at present. I had a feeling of overall despair like a blackness descending on me while the vigil was in progress but it left when we stopped. On the whole it was a very interesting evening.

Pat
My evening started in the attic at first I felt quite comfortable but the longer I spent there the colder I got. I felt as though something was behind me or watching me to the point of feeling very uncomfortable. When I had left the attic every time I walked past the stairs I had the feeling of being watched.
In the child’s bedroom again I felt quite ok although cold. We believed to have made contact with a little girl, throughout this vigil I felt relaxed and calm.
In the cellar I thought I would be alright but as I turned to the right there was a smaller room, I stood in this room and was drawn to the corner of the wall, I did not like this at all, I felt very sad and then I had a lady come to mind, she was standing in the wall I can describe her similar to the Quality Street lady on the tin, she wore a large bonnet and had a long dress. The whole of the cellar did not feel right on the way out I had a very bad feeling of someone following me.
Dining Room. I enjoyed the whole experience in this room especially as it was the first time I had a conversation with a spirit named Bob.
Main Bar. I certainly needed a change of underwear in here, it started when the séance was taking place, the table started shaking and I could feel something was building up from underneath and the atmosphere in the bar changed. The whole experience was amazing as I have never witnessed anything like this before. This was a brilliant vigil for me.
Small Bar. Apart from feeling cold in this bar I could not pick up on anything unusual.
I enjoyed this investigation.

Emma
I was really looking forward to going to The Royal Oak unfortunately I could not stay the entire night due to personal circumstances but I did run the team for the first 3 vigils.
In the loft Jim called out and there was not much response and then I heard something behind me and I felt a shove between my shoulders, it made me jump and I’m not sure if it was me jumping or the shove that caused me to fly forwards onto another team members lap! It took me a short time to recompose myself after that.
In the child’s bedroom I was a little apprehensive about his room due to the amount of activity we were picking up on the monitors. We did glass divination and got quite a bit of response which was good, I had a feeling of being watched a lot of the time we were in this room.
The main bar area was a quiet area for me. We attempted glass divination but only had very small movement. I felt at ease in this area.
I was disappointed that I could not stay for the entirety, thanks to the owners for allowing us to investigate their home and workplace.

Jim A
I was in team 2 and in the loft I had the feeling there was someone moving around us, but the only contact I had was a feeling of someone or something touching my arm but it could have been anything.
We covered the cellar and dining room, I felt drawn again to one part of the cellar, but allowed the team to cover this area.
In the dining room we sat around the table and I felt the presence of a male spirit, as a medium I allowed him to take part in channelling, I don’t remember it all, but I felt he was around 45/50 I remember my mouth felt like I had not cleaned my teeth for months. I remember saying that I was from the 1500s, I was dressed in a long coat, and hat and liked my ale. He told us that “she hid him, they come for him, but she hid him”, I didn’t find out who he meant, I understand there was more took place, but I’m unsure as to what.
Main bar, I felt the presence of two spirits here, as we sat at the table I was aware of someone coming close to me and I didn’t like him, he was not a nice person, and as he closed in on me, I felt very angry, and at this point I felt that I wanted to throw the table across the room, I pushed myself away, knocking the chair over, I moved to the other end of the bar, and my guide took over, this was a great feeling.
I was able to sit down again, and then I saw the glass move on the table, spelling out some letters, I believe this was a young child.
In the small bar I did not feel anything we tried using a glass divination and I saw the glass move towards Mary-Lou, there were no other occurrences here.

Simon
I didn't personally experience anything on the vigils. The only thing for me that was interesting was at the end of the night when Jim p and Kelly were up in the loft shortly after I turned of the light all three of us heard what sounded like something been thrown onto the floor I then turned the light back on and we had finished for the night. Overall the night was good

Jim P
I had a good night it was very interesting when we were in the bar I did a Ouija séance and we managed to get some information like 1871, Tudors, and other letters that didn't make sense, after taking the glass of the table we touched fingers and the table started to shake and started to move round that was very good. At the end of the night I went back into the loft with Kelly to hold a small vigil shortly, after simon turned out the light we were asking out for something or someone to make themselves known straight away something was thrown I don’t where it came from but it landed on the floor by us and even simon heard it. Avery good night for me and I cannot wait for the next one.

Gary
The Royal Oak in Bookham is always a fantastic place to investigate and once again, it lived up to its expectations. Although I didn't experience anything directly to me, there were three events that were very interesting to me. The first was when my group was investigating the small bar.. it seemed as though we were chasing a spirit of a dog with our EMF meter. The second was the picture Jacqui took in the cupboard... It is interesting in the fact that there is no logical explanation as to how the figure appears (no reflection, no movement etc) and the third and last event was the little girls bedroom. It was interesting how this room was very active on the video camera with light anomalies.
Although I didn't experience very much, it was still a very good investigation.

Mandy
I was only there a short time, but I did enjoy the time that I did. I went up to the loft first where we just sat and listened for a little while then after that started to call out, I did feel fine in the loft, but did hear footsteps coming from the end of the loft, and a few shuffling noises.
In the girls bedroom I participated in performing glass divination which to start with was quite active, but after a while settled down we did find out that there was a little girl there, named Olivia.
In the main bar we tried lots of things, calling out, glass divination, performing a séance but it was very quiet and we got no activity, in all three areas I felt at ease, thank you again for inviting me and I enjoyed it a lot.