Dunstanburgh Castle 2007
Visited 1 June 2007
Dunstanburgh Castle will always have a special place in my heart, I fondly remember visiting the vast ruined fortress when I was only 10 or 11 years old and I came here for a field trip with my school. More recently I've visited the castle on several occasions after dark in the hope of witnessing the tragic ghost of The Earl of Lancaster carrying his severed head. I long to hear the sobbing of Margaret of Anjou carried on the breeze from the from of Lilburn Tower. Most of all I would love to catch a glimpse of the legendary Sir Guy, cursed to forever haunt Dunstanburgh as punishment for not being able to save a beautiful young lady from her death at the hands of the Army of the Dead.
It's because of my soft spot for Dunstanburgh Castle that I'm heading back for another investigation, this time leading a guest team of first time investigators. Perhaps this time Sir Guy will finally make the appearance that I long for.
It's because of my soft spot for Dunstanburgh Castle that I'm heading back for another investigation, this time leading a guest team of first time investigators. Perhaps this time Sir Guy will finally make the appearance that I long for.
This investigation has been a long time coming, I've been promising to take work mates; Karl Railton, Paul Bicker, and Rich Stokoe on a ghost hunt since I first starting working with them. It's been so long that Paul doesn't even work with us anymore! However, the night was finally here and at 9:10pm I was heading North on the A1 towards Gosforth which was where I was to meet the rest of the team. It had been a glorious sunny June day and the thunder storms that had been predicted all week were nowhere to be seen.
I arrived at the rendezvous point at 9:30pm and the rest of tonight's team were assembled and ready to roll out. Last minute additions were Amy, Rich's better half, and Karl had brought his cousin and uncle along. The Railton clan jumped into their car, a green Skoda Felicia, and Rich, Amy and Paul clambered into my Peugeot 206 and we drove North on the A1 towards our final destination.
The Railtons led the way and they were obviously excited about getting there as they were bobbing and weaving in and out of the traffic at tremendous speeds, I wasn't having too much trouble keeping up and we were making good time. As we neared Alnwick the haunting melody of The Exorcist theme reverberated through my speakers as day turned to night and a thick fog descended onto the roads of Northumberland. Laughter and talk of work had given way to nervous, hushed tones as my companions, nervously, peering out into the darkness as I told them the stories of Dunstanburgh and what I'd experienced on previous visits.
The green Skoda took an inexplicable right turn off the A1 towards Alnmouth, home of The Schooner Hotel, but I knew it was much quicker to carry on up the A1. "Carry on Northbound" came the familiar voice of John Cleese from the back seats of the car courtesy of Rich's GPS Sat Nav wonderphone, it's a shame that The Railton's didn't have Basil Fawlty guiding them or they'd still be on the A1 leading the way. We parted company for now but would meet up again soon.
I arrived at the rendezvous point at 9:30pm and the rest of tonight's team were assembled and ready to roll out. Last minute additions were Amy, Rich's better half, and Karl had brought his cousin and uncle along. The Railton clan jumped into their car, a green Skoda Felicia, and Rich, Amy and Paul clambered into my Peugeot 206 and we drove North on the A1 towards our final destination.
The Railtons led the way and they were obviously excited about getting there as they were bobbing and weaving in and out of the traffic at tremendous speeds, I wasn't having too much trouble keeping up and we were making good time. As we neared Alnwick the haunting melody of The Exorcist theme reverberated through my speakers as day turned to night and a thick fog descended onto the roads of Northumberland. Laughter and talk of work had given way to nervous, hushed tones as my companions, nervously, peering out into the darkness as I told them the stories of Dunstanburgh and what I'd experienced on previous visits.
The green Skoda took an inexplicable right turn off the A1 towards Alnmouth, home of The Schooner Hotel, but I knew it was much quicker to carry on up the A1. "Carry on Northbound" came the familiar voice of John Cleese from the back seats of the car courtesy of Rich's GPS Sat Nav wonderphone, it's a shame that The Railton's didn't have Basil Fawlty guiding them or they'd still be on the A1 leading the way. We parted company for now but would meet up again soon.
We approached the pub in Craster where would park up before our long walk to the castle, "Turn right.....oooooh you make me so horny" came a voice from the back seat. It wasn't Rich putting the willies up Amy, Rich had changed the voice on his TomTom from the wizened old head of John Cleese to ''Dirty Slut Voice' and she was guiding us the wrong way. I ignored her pleas to turn right and turned left and a few short minutes later we had pulled up and were gathering our belongings from the boot (that's 'trunk' to my American readers). There was no sign of the green Skoda so we decided to set off and let them catch us up.
By now it was 10:30pm and it was still fairly light, however the fog was getting thicker by the minute. As we crossed the field Paul stopped to get his digital video camera out of his bag, I decided to get my camera out and take a few photos. I tried to turn my camera on but nothing happened even though I'd replaced the batteries before I set off, just as I opened my mouth to tell the others, Paul reported that his video camera wouldn't turn on either. Less than a minute later, and dozens of attempts, my camera finally turned on and displayed a full battery. Simultaneously Paul's video camera sprang to life and we carried on towards the castle.
As we got ever closer to the castle I looked behind us and caught a glimpse of three dark figures gliding through the field behind us, I told the others and we all stopped and turned around. If it was the rest of our team why didn't they have their torches on? Suddenly three red dots appeared on the forehead of one of the black human like shapes and I almost expected The Predator to appear and tear him limb from limb! The other black shadows started to become bathed in light as they all turned on torches and the three red dots turned to a bright light, it was the Railton family.
Our team was now back together and we could set about doing what we came here for - Investigating Dunstanburgh Castle.
The fog was really thick now and the closer we got the the castle the less of it we could see. We stopped a hundred meters or so away from the castle as Paul had brought some professional photography equipment in the hope of capturing a moody photo of Dunstanburgh to hang on his wall at home. As we stood around chatting I saw something move in the corner of my eye just to the left of the castle, I turned towards it and could swear I saw a dog or a large black cat moving swiftly through the field. I turned to tell the others, then turned back and it was gone. This echoes a sighting by one of our usual team, Tom, in his first visit to the castle in 2004 (read the report here) and several other sightings over the years of large dog shaped shadows moving near the castle. There were some sheep in the field but there was no way that what I saw could have been a sheep.
Our team was now back together and we could set about doing what we came here for - Investigating Dunstanburgh Castle.
The fog was really thick now and the closer we got the the castle the less of it we could see. We stopped a hundred meters or so away from the castle as Paul had brought some professional photography equipment in the hope of capturing a moody photo of Dunstanburgh to hang on his wall at home. As we stood around chatting I saw something move in the corner of my eye just to the left of the castle, I turned towards it and could swear I saw a dog or a large black cat moving swiftly through the field. I turned to tell the others, then turned back and it was gone. This echoes a sighting by one of our usual team, Tom, in his first visit to the castle in 2004 (read the report here) and several other sightings over the years of large dog shaped shadows moving near the castle. There were some sheep in the field but there was no way that what I saw could have been a sheep.
We finally agreed to press on entered through the huge stone archway into the castle courtyard. It was now 11pm and starting to get rapidly darker, and an awfully lot foggier too. My hoody was soaked through due to the moisture in the air and the photos being taken contained 'orbs' due to the fog.
With it being the first time here for all of the group other than myself, the others spent a short while exploring the amazing ruins of the castle. I showed Paul the steep, spiral staircase up the tower of the best preserved part of the castle, "you go first" was his nervous reply. We climbed the stairs until we were right at the top of the castle. On a clear day you can see for miles around from up here, but we could see nothing except thick fog. The others quickly realised where we were and joined us. Going back down the stairs I suddenly felt really bad cramp in both legs, Paul complained of exactly the same thing. Amy put this down to how steep the stairs were.
With it being the first time here for all of the group other than myself, the others spent a short while exploring the amazing ruins of the castle. I showed Paul the steep, spiral staircase up the tower of the best preserved part of the castle, "you go first" was his nervous reply. We climbed the stairs until we were right at the top of the castle. On a clear day you can see for miles around from up here, but we could see nothing except thick fog. The others quickly realised where we were and joined us. Going back down the stairs I suddenly felt really bad cramp in both legs, Paul complained of exactly the same thing. Amy put this down to how steep the stairs were.
Twenty five minutes had passed when Richard came to tell me that he was bored and wanted to leave as Amy had to be up early for work the next day. Paranormal investigation is a lot like fishing, it's all about patience. You could spend an entire day fishing and maybe after six or seven hours and numerous change of tactics and locations you'll catch a fish - ghost hunting is a waiting game. I've spent hour after hour in supposed haunted locations without seeing anything. We had a large team tonight and I think we'd have stood a much better chance of experiencing something if we split up into groups, or went off on our own, but with it being everyone's first ghost hunt, people were understandably reluctant to do this. I'd have loved to spend a few hours here but we all decided to call it a night and head off for the long walk back to the cars.
Conclusion
It was a fairly uneventful evening this evening, and to be honest I was in two minds as to whether it was worth my while writing this report. However, everyone had a good time and we did have a few unusual happenings. Simultaneous power problems with cameras, simultaneous cramp, and most unusually of all none of Rich's photos were on his camera. He took a lot of photos and everything seemed fine at the time but there is no trace of them on his camera even though everything else is fine.