Parsonage Woods

Parsonage woods

7th June 2008

On Saturday 7th June Phoenix paranormal, Wessex Paranormal and Twilight Shadows Paranormal once again joined forces for a trip to Parsonage Woods Castle Coombe on a beautiful, sunny and warm June evening.

Parsonage woods are known to be very haunted by locals and the beautiful, tranquil woodlands by day turn to a scary, oppressive place by night. The locals warn you not to venture into the woodland alone after dark as disembodied voices and screams are said to emanate all around you but do not seem to come from anywhere but everywhere.

The start of our investigation saw us meet up at the main car park and the team consisted of Myself, Sharon, Dave W, Dave H, Chris, Maria and Loretta. Once we had all made sure we had everything we needed we started off towards the quaint little village of Castle Coombe. We strolled through the village taking in all the beautiful cottages and pubs and stopped at Market cross to get our bearings. Loretta had purchased a map with parsonage woods mapped on it which was very welcome because this is our second and twilight's third attempt at locating the woods. The last time I went it was pouring with rain and very muddy which forced us to abandon our attempts to find the woods.

To reach the woods we have to cross this little foot bridge and negotiate quite a steep track into the main part of the woods. sort of 5 or 10 mins in we noticed a track that doubled back on itself but it wasn't a well trodden path. After a bit of debating we decided to go with our instincts and follow this hidden track. It lead us up to a wooden style which we climbed over and straight away to me the woods felt different. We still weren't sure if we were on the right track but the atmosphere had certainly changed for me.

It was still light so we could still clearly see around us and we made the most of this fact to get our bearings and learn the pathway for when it got dark. Half way along the path Sharon and I had slowed down while talking and was taking a few pictures while the rest of the team went on in front. I was suddenly conscious that to the left of me someone or something had come close to us. I also thought I heard something creeping in the undergrowth. We both took pictures and stood there very still to see if we could see what it was that had made the noises but we could not. We decided to join the rest of the team who were waiting just around the corner. We followed the path right to the end of the track which lead out to this steep rocky path that lead back down to the village near the museum. We stood here for a while. While we were talking I thought that Chris was stood to the right of me because I could see him out of the corner of my eye but then I heard him talking behind me. I turned my sight towards where I thought he was stood and there was no one there. This happened again a few minutes later. After a bit of a diversion where us girlies went to see a field full of beautiful horses we decided to get back on track (so to speak) and join the men.

Its now that I learned that Chris and Dave W had both picked up on a female presence with the name of Margaret. Dave W was incredibly pleased with this as he is still developing his medium-ship skills. We decided to walk back along the path but at this point Chris realised he had a missed call from Pete, a good friend of his who I have worked with in the past in another paranormal team. Pete is a very gifted medium. It turns out he was on the way to join us so we about turned and went down the very rocky and steep track down to the road next to the museum to find Pete and his partner Nettie. This track I must say was very oppressive in some places too. Once we had all met up and said our hello's we climbed back on the track and set upon our quest once more to try to find the ghosts of Parsonage woods.

Pete almost immediately picked up on a female spirit with the name Margaret and that she had been murdered here in the woods, He then went on to say the murderer, a male still hounded her in death at this spot and that is why the place felt so threatening. Maybe it was the murderer I saw standing next to me out of the corner of my eye? Watching and listening to what we were doing. Also during this investigation a female voice was heard by some of the team but I did not hear it myself

We made our way out of the woods, stopping to marvel at the beautiful moon and then made our way back through the rest of the woods to the village. We noticed that once over the style the atmosphere changed back to tranquil and peaceful again. Sharon managed to capture a very strange mist while on our way back that none of us could recreate. No one was smoking at the time the picture was taken.

Once back in the carpark we stayed chatting for a while and then decided to make our way home.

I would like to thank my friends of Wessex and Twilight shadows for making this investigation such a wonderful evening. I would also like to thank Pete and Nettie for making the effort to join us and inject even more humour into the whole evening.