GHOST arrived at the Black Horse pub to carry out an investigation of this wonderful old pub. The Black Horse pub is said to be one of the oldest, if not the oldest pub in the North east of England. There are a number of ghosts said to reside here at the pub including a girl and a Victorian gentleman. By the time the pub cleared out and by the time I interviewed some witnesses including the pub owners (who feature in the full report) it was getting rather late. By 01.00am the interviews had been carried out and baseline tests were underway. EMF sweeps were carried out around the bar and in the restaurant and no anomalies were detected. The rooms temperature was at a steady 21 degrees and all floors were looked at and checked, windows were closed and tested for draughts, and the interior doors were checked to see if they opened and closed on their own, they did not. The trigger objects had been set up around the premises, motion sensors were placed down in certain locations, and the team’s laptop was hooked up to the CCTV camera, which was focused along the main bar. When we were all happy with the baseline readings and experiments, we began the investigation. I conducted a solo in the beer garden, which is now the interior of the oldest house in Boldon, the old walls and a window can still be seen. Nothing happened.

At 02.00am Drew fetched me from the beer garden and told me that a séance would be held in the main bar area. The séance began in earnest with Fiona calling out to the ghosts or spirits of the Black Horse. The séance lasted about fifteen minutes in total and nothing paranormal was experienced.

Looking at my humidity and temperature-reading device after the séance I noticed that a temperature drop had been recorded on my maximum, minimum screens. I decided not to say anything at this time and asked the sitters if they had felt anything distinctly weird about the séance. The only response was that one sitter felt a slight draught, and the others said they actually became warmer.

I then informed the sitters that a temperature drop of 5 degrees had been recorded. The baseline testing showed no draughts coming from the doors or windows yet a draught had been felt and a significant drop in temperature was recorded. Perhaps some paranormal activity had just occurred?

At this point, the two guest barmaids, Jill and Janine departed, as they were due back at work the following day. Another séance was then attempted in the restaurant area of the pub, which of course would have been the old general dealers. Now this séance was rather interesting, as you will see. It began at 02.30am with Fiona leading the proceedings. I was filming the séance and Drew was in the bar area carrying out a solo vigil in the quiet. After a short while we all heard some knocks and taps emanating from within the bar area. Upon asking for more of the same, sure enough taps and knocks were heard. I then decided to view the CCTV via the laptop computer and during my stint observing I noticed a figure moving around behind the closed doors.

I immediately called out to Drew and asked him where he was at that time and he commented that he was behind the door! I ventured over to speak to him and closed the door behind me. As I did so both Drew and I heard the distinct sounds of two shuffling footsteps coming from behind the bar right where we were standing. Thinking it was Mick Watson, I called out to see where he was and as it turned out, he was situated near the séance circle at the back of the restaurant. We then enquired about the ice machine. Ice machine are a common problem for investigating pubs because when you are situated in a pitch black bar area – in total silence – you often hear the ice melting in the machine and it makes a noise like a cracking, or a clicking. A lot of alleged phenomena are put down to this simple explanation so we needed to rule this out. We did, the ice machine in the Black Horse is located in the cellar under the pub and was no way responsible for the noises Drew and I heard. For the record, Mick Watson also heard the noises too and also described them as footsteps. They were his first encounter of the ghosts of the Black Horse and by Jove he was please about it.

Another odd occurrence took place at this time. Drew, while video taping in night vision, said he saw a light anomaly shoot from one end of the bar to the other, at the same time his back went ice cold. I touched his back with my hand and believe me it was cold! The odd thing is, is that with my laser thermometer, his back measured 33 degrees – which is only a four degrees Celsius lower than natural body temperature (37 degrees Celsius). The séance then finished and rather than take a break, we decided to plough on with the investigation. Drew and I went into the back corridors to carry out some EVP experiments while the rest of the team investigated the bar areas.

Of course being able to spend the night in one of – if not the – oldest pubs in the north east of England seeking out its resident ghosts was a great privilege indeed and our thanks go to Sarah, Peter, and Mick for allowing this to happen. Further investigations would be required to determine the nature of any alleged ghosts that may reside here with no definite conclusions being drawn by G.H.O.S.T at this point in time and a second investigation may well be in the pipeline sometime soon.