themaltings

INVESTIGATION DATE: 11/07/2009

INVESTIGATORS: Fiona, Drew and Ralph

Location:

The Maltings is a Brewery/Public House, opened by the Jarrow Brewing Co. who have acquired the old Chameleon premises with the pub above on the first floor. Right next door to the Co-Op funeral parlour

The brewery was established at The Robin Hood Public House, Primrose, Jarrow in 2002 by owners Jess and Alison McConnell. The brewery at first supplied two pubs, The Robin Hood, and The Albion Inn, Bill Quay, also owned by Jess and Alison. Beers produced include "Jobling's Swinging Gibbett" which will appear in the investigation's conclusion.

The team ( minus Paul and Mark ), arrived at the location at around 11:30pm, and ascended the impressive wood panelled staircase up to the main bar where we were greeted by Graham (the supervisor) and James ( the barman).

The bar itself has a friendly and cosy atmosphere, and once it had emptied of late night drinkers the customary staff interviews were filmed. We were told a little of the buildings history and the odd reports of strange experiences witnessed by staff both past and present. One story consisted of two glasses moving on their own near the main bar, a trigger object experiment was set up in the same place with a lock off camera in case the phenomena repeated itself. Oddly enough while we were unpacking our equipment, the glasses did indeed move about an inch towards each other! Unfortunately the camera had not been recording at this time, but Ralph had photographed the glasses and his pictures clearly show the position before the movement occurred. With this incident documented for our investigation evidence, Ralph and Fiona were given a tour of this beautiful building while Drew stayed behind and finished unpacking for the night ahead.

The tour started downstairs in the main brewery, with its large containers and smells of fermenting beer, this area is also quite big and noisy and may have proved difficult to investigate, but Fiona stated that she would give it a try anyway. Next was the small cellar area, a cold and damp room with an uncomfortable atmosphere with a small trap door entrance which would be difficult to negotiate if you had to leave in a hurry!

Lastly were the main stairs and main bar. The stairs are situated at the front of the building , decorated with pictures and newspaper articles from days gone by, this area has a welcoming feel to it . The main bar is a very large room with a piano in one corner and a square bar with its real ale pumps situated near the main door. In one corner is the “Gents” toilet that has alleged paranormal activity connected to it. Around the perimeter are seats and tables separated by a partition.

With the tour finished Graham and James vacated the building and the investigation could begin.

What follows is a list of possible paranormal activity that the team felt and witnessed from 1:00am to 5:15 am.

. The team decided to hold joint vigils in each area first, whilst discussing this, Drew saw a man in a white coat sitting in a chair in the area surrounding the bar, the person turned towards the wall then vanished. Ralph revealed that he had told Fiona at the beginning of the night that he had seen two spirits, one entering the main door to the bar and one leaving through the main door, one of them was wearing a “white” coat. We had been told that the building was once a butchers and a dairy; did Drew see a past employee?

. The team then descended to the small cellar, after ten minutes of “calling out” to any spirits, a strange light anomaly was captured on Fiona’s camera which seemed to be drawn to a certain piece of equipment,( K2 METER) that was situated in the centre of the room.

. On returning to the main bar all of the team felt tight chested with racing heart beats and dizziness. Ralph sensed a male spirit that did not like women. We had been told earlier that a butcher had allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in stairs area leading up from the brewery, could this be what is known as “Thought Transference”?, were we all experiencing the butchers feelings before he died?. Fiona felt unwell for the remainder of the investigation.

. During the “solo” vigils, Fiona investigated the brewery and cellar areas, but has we suspected the brewery was indeed too noisy. So she decided to sit on the stairs near the small cellar but with no results. Drew investigated the main bar and Ralph investigated the main foyer and stairs.

During Drew’s vigil, various bumps were heard and an “icy” chill ran through his body near the piano. At one point he heard a loud noise coming from behind the bar, the fridge unit was on but the noise from that was discounted. On inspecting the area Drew found a “pump sign” on the floor and replaced it, what was unusual about this incident was the fact that the sign had somehow jettisoned itself from the front of the bar to the back! Ralph radioed Drew and stated that at the same time the noise was heard, the doors to the brewery began to shake.

. The team gathered in the bar area to discuss the vigils, Fiona jumped at one point and stated that she had seen a man’s face appear then disappear in the corner of the room ( the same part of the bar that Drew had seen a man sitting), on inspection the area was quiet.

. A séance was held using the K2 meter (a device that it is alleged permits spirit entities to communicate by manipulating a row of lights).During this session various noises were heard and a general feeling of unease permeated the area.

.The “Gents” toilets, were investigated, but with no paranormal activity recorded.

.By 5:00am, The team had investigated all areas of interest, has we relaxed with a cup of tea discussing the night’s events, The subject of the hanged man was brought up in the conversation and instantly there was a noise heard coming from where the piano is situated, it sounded like a guttural moan as if someone could not get their breath, the team looked at each other in disbelief. Ralph said that “if it was the hanged man that was trying to communicate with us, then he would do something else”, at this exact moment another sound was heard coming from the bar area, on closer inspection the team discovered the “pump sign” had displaced itself again! What is more unnerving is the name of the beer the sign is advertising “JOBLING’S SWINGING GIBBETT”! The sign has a drawing of a hanging man on the front just above the lettering.

Could it have been the hanged man trying to give us a message? That unfortunately we may never know but it is surely worth bearing in mind.

All in all a most enjoyable investigation with some truly memorable moments.

G.H.O.S.T would like to thank Graham and James for their hospitality and Jess and Alison McConnell for the opportunity to investigate such a beautiful old building.

If you ever pop in to The Maltings, be sure to try a pint of “Swinging Gibbett”.