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The hotel has been in Cheddar for over 150 years, and in that time a great many people have lived, worked and stayed there. It is certain there has been at least one death at the hotel, and there is anecdotal evidence that there have been several unexplained incidents that some people feel indicate that the hotel is haunted by the ghosts or spirits of men, women and children who were connected with the hotel at various times.
This section records some of the accounts that people have given of what has been seen and experienced by themselves and others at the hotel, together with information from reports made by a paranormal group who have recently undertaken investigations into what may be happening. In some cases, the names of the individuals have been omitted as they want to remain anonymous, but other people have been prepared to be associated with the accounts that they have given. Some of these accounts are a little unpleasant in their content, but they are what people claim to have experienced. As these accounts relate to psychic phenomena or paranormal activities, it is useful to have some relevant terms defined. It is usual for mediums and psychics to distinguish between ghosts, spirits, and imprints of residual energy, which can be defined as follows:
Ghosts
Psychics believe that there are numerous ghosts amongst us here on the earth because when these people passed away, they refused to “embrace the light of their holy father” for various reasons, such as they didn’t know that they were dead, or they may have committed crimes and such like and are afraid they will be sent to hell, so they did not “cross to the other side” but roam the earth instead. Ghosts can’t understand what mortals are doing in their "space" and why mortals don’t normally communicate with them. However, ghosts can communicate with those who are psychically sensitive to them.
Spirits
Psychics feel that spirits are of people who died and passed over to “embrace the light of their holy father”, but do not believe they have and hence are grounded in a place. They tend to be seen hovering and floating some distance above the ground, whereas earthbound ghosts are at ground level, or what formerly was ground level.
Imprints of residual energy
Imprints of residual energy are scenes from the past where such strong psychic energy exists that they are "imprinted" there to play over and over. No communication is possible with this residual energy.
In the specific context of the Cox’s Mill, what is it that people have been experiencing, that some may consider as a manifestation of a psychic phenomenon? It is useful to begin with an account of what was experienced by a woman staying with her husband at the hotel in March 2008. Her husband contacted the author of this book, as what his wife experienced at the hotel had a strong impact on her and he wanted someone to try and help make sense of what she had experienced. He outlined that she had felt and seen at least three separate ghosts and some residual energy during their stay. Having spoken with the man, the author initially contacted the hotel’s proprietor, David Presley. He confirmed that he understood that the couple had some strange experiences, and recommended that the author should speak with Marz Harvey, the hotel’s manager, who had the most dealings with the couple at the time.
Marz explained that he had been working at the hotel since the summer of 2007, and he began by recalling an incident from July of that year. A woman staying at the hotel came into the bar area in great distress, and told him she had seen a spectre in the hotel’s function room. This is the room with 3 large windows that overlooks the lake, situated at the end of the hall on the first floor. She said she saw a figure of a woman crouching by the fireplace in that room, with her arms outstretched, placing what looked like a baby’s body into the fireplace. Although the fire wasn’t lit, the guest said she could quite clearly see this dreadful apparition.
The manager then explained that when a couple staying at the hotel in March 2008 mentioned that the woman had seen a ghost in the bar and on the hotel’s balcony, he suggested that they go with him to the function room. He said that when they went to look over the weir, the woman “freaked” and said that she could see things that the two men were unable to see. He went on to say that the woman told him that she could also see the figure of a woman by the fireplace in the function room. He explained that the next day, the guest came down to the bar looking “ashen grey and tearful” as she had again seen the figure of the woman with a baby at the fireplace in the function room.
Having listened to what the manager and the woman’s husband had said, the author then contacted the woman to get her first hand account of what she had experienced. She began by explaining that since she was a girl, she has often (and at times, almost constantly) a sense of spirits and ghosts, in the form of unexplained feelings and visions. She is not someone who likes to publicise or make anything of this to others, as she expects other people would typically be sceptical and probably not believe her. Thus she tends to generally keep such things to herself. Her husband had remarked that normally she doesn’t speak to him or anyone else about such matters, and hence what had happened at the hotel was all the more unusual.
The woman described that one afternoon whilst she and her husband were staying at the hotel, she was resting alone in the bedroom, as he was out for a while on his own. The couple were staying in room 8, which has a 4-poster bed and a balcony on the first floor of the hotel. She was having a cup of tea and relaxing when she became aware of a man at the window (the one opposite the entrance to Cox’s Cave). She described him as being smartly dressed, wearing a smoking jacket, waistcoat and knee britches, and smoking a pipe. He subsequently appeared on the balcony and fired a gun, and later she told her husband that this man resembled a hunter.
In the evening, the couple went out for a meal and upon their return to the hotel, sat in the bar to have a drink and chatted with the manager. Whilst there, the woman saw what she described as being a man’s shadow cross the bar room, and then observed the figure of a man sitting in the corner of the room. This was a different man from the one she had seen with the gun and pipe in the afternoon. She commented on what she had just seen, and the manager remarked that the hotel’s proprietor had also said that he had sometimes experienced strange feelings of a ghostly male presence in the bar.
The three of them had a discussion about unexplained feelings and strange visions in the hotel, and as a result of this conversation, the woman and her husband went up to the first floor of the hotel with the manager, and they went together into the function room at the end of the hall. There, she sensed the presence of a woman, and when she went to the window in the right corner of the room she felt particularly uneasy in that part of the room.
The manager took the couple through a fire exit to an area that overlooks the weir, and there the woman had a vision of a wooden footbridge crossing the waterway, although neither of the men was able to see this scene.
They came back into the function room, and near to the fireplace, she could feel the presence of a woman there with a dark cloth on her head, holding out her hands, and the overwhelming emotion was of this woman being broken-hearted. She knelt by the fireplace alongside the vision of the woman. As far as her husband was concerned, he could not understand why his wife was drawn to the fireplace, as he could not sense what she was experiencing. The three people then left the room, and returned to the bar.
As a result of her experience, the next day, after spending some time out and about in Cheddar, the couple returned to the hotel and the woman asked her husband to go with her into the function room, and to bring their digital camera with them. When the two of them entered the function room, she felt a presence was only partly there, but she began to feel uneasy again. Her husband took a total of 5 photographs in the room, and all of these were very clear and bright. She then used the camera to make a picture of the ceiling of the room, and as she was doing so, she felt something rush across the room towards the window, and saw what looked like a strobe of light traverse the room.
Whilst with her husband in the function room, the woman was drawn to the fireplace, as there she could see the ghost of the distressed woman again, looking directly at her with tears rolling down her face and, with her arms about 2 feet apart, she was placing a baby into the fireplace. She said that the baby did not seem fully developed, but was somewhat malformed. She felt as though the ghost was trying to show her what had happened, and the emotions overwhelmed her, and thus she had to leave the function room, as she could no longer bear to watch this dreadful sight. The woman went with her husband down to the bar, where the manager was struck by how she was “ashen and tearful”. When the woman later looked at the photographs that had been taken with the digital camera, there were two pictures which neither she nor her husband could recall taking that were very dark and showed vague shapes and lights. One showed part of the function room ceiling and the other seemed to have been taken from the hotel balcony.
The woman also said that when she was in the hotel’s restaurant and near to the kitchen area on the ground floor, she was struck by an uneasy and negative feeling there. When she was talking to a member of the hotel staff about what she had seen outside the hotel when at the fire exit the previous day, she asked what the hotel had previously been like. She felt that the artist’s sketch of the old mill that is printed on the menus and place mats in the restaurant was similar to the vision she had seen.
In addition to the account of this woman’s experiences during March 2008, Marz Harvey related to the author what had recently happened to a man, who the manager mentioned as being a rugby player. He was a member of a family group celebrating a 40th wedding anniversary at the hotel.
The man remarked that there was a “nice old lady” in the hotel. This comment came as a surprise, as there was no one fitting that description in the hotel. Therefore the man was asked who he meant, and he went on to say that this was a ghost of an old woman who had spoken to him and shaken his hand. She had said that her name was Phyllis Sutcliffe, and that although she had died in Devon, she had come back to the hotel as she had fond memories of the place from when she had stayed there recovering from an illness. The man explained that the ghost of Phyllis Sutcliffe had shown him a vision of a room in the hotel, with chairs and a sofa arranged within it. He said it was a sizeable room at the bottom of a flight of stairs, and as he had not seen this room when he came down the stairs to the ground floor, he asked where the room might be. The manager suggested this might be the function room on the first floor, as that is at the bottom of some stairs that connect to the second floor. So the man went with the manager to look at the function room, and expressed the view that it may well have been the room he saw in the vision. They then went back down to the bar and looked at a copy of an earlier edition of this book that was kept in the bar. The man looked at the picture of the function room from the 1930s, when it was the guest lounge, and confirmed that this was indeed the room that the ghost had shown him.
With all these accounts of ghosts and spirits being in the hotel, Marz Harvey decided that it might be helpful to have a paranormal group conduct an investigation. He contacted the South West Paranormal Group (SWPG), a group of people with a fascination for the paranormal. Established in March 2000, they are a non-profit organisation funded solely by their members, and over the years they have visited many locations that have paranormal activity across the United Kingdom. The members of the SWPG, who have a range of occupations, are committed to investigating, documenting, and sometimes removing, paranormal phenomena. From time to time the Group invites members of the public to attend locations, as they feel that in many cases this helps to inform the public of what they do and how a paranormal investigation is conducted. All of the investigators within the Group have experienced backgrounds within the paranormal and have trained for many years. Thus, they rely on and trust each other to give an honest opinion. Some of the investigators within the Group have various psychic abilities, and so they can give not only a scientific report of their findings but also a psychic report.
Initially, two members of the group (Nicholas Wright and Paul Moss) visited the hotel on Monday 7th April 2008 and met with David Presley and Marz Harvey. Some of the experiences that guests had related were outlined, and the two men were shown the function room and the lakeside bedroom (room 8). It was agreed that the Group would conduct an investigation during the night of Friday 11th April.
On 11th April, five members of the South West Paranormal Group checked into the hotel at about 7 p.m. ready to conduct their investigation. They were Nicholas Wright, his wife Emma Wright, Paul Moss, Jennifer Spicer and the Group’s medium, Sharon Younger. Whilst they were preparing to begin their investigation, two guests at the hotel, Wendy Banister and her daughter Danielle, asked if they could also take part, and thus these 7 people undertook an investigation. Owing to the manager being unable to remain at the hotel later in the night, the investigation had to be confined to the first floor of the hotel, as the bar, restaurant and barrel cellar were secured and hence not available to the investigators.
The information gained at the pre-investigation meeting was not shared with the rest of the investigating team or anyone else. The reason for this is that it is the Group’s policy to investigate first and then 'look-up' information later. For that same reason, they did not read the earlier edition of this book, although initially it was considered as being useful to provide some historic background. All the investigators had at all times a Dictaphone and a watch, so that should something significant happen, either psychic or physical, this could be recorded immediately with a time for subsequent cross-referencing. Also, for safety reasons, the members of the Group were able to keep in touch using walkie-talkie radios.
The South West Paranormal Group investigates claims into the supernatural, mostly concerning ghosts and hauntings, and also in locations where unexplained activity has occurred. Their aim is to disprove rather than prove paranormal activity, though this is not to say that they do not believe in the supernatural. However, in many instances so-called paranormal phenomena can be explained due to natural occurrences and common sense. Thus, if they encounter any phenomena that cannot be explained or reproduced, it is considered as possible paranormal activity. The Group try to prove or disprove the existence of life after death, through factual and spiritual evidence. They approach every investigation with an open mind and a scientific attitude, to enable them to search for the truth.
Most of the SWPG’s investigations are carried out at night, as the 'world at large' is generally quieter, allowing better perception of the surroundings, and this was why they were at the Cox’s Mill at night. The Group use a number of tools, ranging from the obvious video cameras, 35mm and digital cameras, night vision, and infra red thermometers and detectors, to less hi-tech solutions such as talcum powder and masking tape. In addition, of course, they use their senses - all six of them!
In order not to influence anything about her perceptions, Sharon was not told that their destination was the Cox’s Mill; she had simply been collected from her home and came to Cheddar with the others. Strangely, though, Sharon had sent text messages to Emma and Paul on 9th and 10th April, explaining that the name Cliff or Clifton had come to her, together with a feeling of plenty of water being nearby, and she was also aware of a maid named Emily. At that time she couldn’t work out why she was receiving these names and images.
All notes that the people made during the night were collected at the end of the investigation and sealed, so that they could not be tampered with. These were later examined together with video footage recorded at the time, and then 4 members of the SWPG separately wrote reports about what they had experienced at the hotel. The following information has been extracted from the reports made by Paul, Sharon, Nick and Emma, including quotes of phrases used in these reports, to give an accurate record of what happened on the night of 11th April.
The members of the SWPG were shown to the function room and bedrooms, to unpack and set up their equipment. Something that was immediately obvious to everyone was the temperature in the function room, which was 10 to 15 degrees Celsius lower than any other part of the hotel. This is mainly due to the proximity of the room to the lake and waterfall, with the River Yeo running beside and partially under the hotel, and also that the windows in the room could not be completely closed.
It had been decided that Nick and Paul would occupy room 8, and Emma, Jenny and Sharon would be in room 9. The team had the use of another room, but the men wanted to stay in room 8 as during the pre-investigation visit, when they had entered that room, they experienced an uneasy feeling of being watched and both felt “not welcome” in the room and unusually cold. This was particularly strange, as Nick is not usually sensitive to anything (Paul refers to Nick as being “as sensitive as a brick”) and never experiences such feelings. Also, when they had spoken with Marz and David, they were told that several guests had experienced strange feelings in that room.
The SWPG team wanted to set up several infra red cameras in the function room, the corridors and bedroom 8, connected to a digital video recorder. Nick went to check some of the equipment whilst the others were setting up in the function room.
The Group were using a K2 meter to measure electromagnetic field (EMF) strength, and the meter seemed to react “in a chaotic manner”, “with no regular pattern”, when it was switched on in the function room. The source of the energy could not be located, as it did not seem to emanate from either the floor or the ceiling, and the only visible areas with power were the electrical plug sockets on the walls and the wall lights, but these areas did not give off a particularly high reading.
The Fireplace in the Function Room
Sharon was drawn to the fireplace in the function room whilst setting up equipment, and she noted in her report “as soon as I entered the room, I was instantly aware of a lady, who seemed to be standing by the fireplace”. Sharon felt that “the woman was trying to tell me something but at that time I had no clues as to why”. Sharon explained that she saw the “woman holding something by the fire”. The woman was dressed all in black, and Sharon described her as being from Victorian times and wearing a long dress.
Sharon walked over to the fireplace “and could clearly see the face of a man” appearing in the wood panelling that surrounds the fireplace. Emma could not see anything unusual, but when Sharon asked him, Paul “also saw this face and pointed to where Sharon had said she had seen this”. Paul wondered if this could just be simply making images from shapes, but felt it was strange as once he had taken his focus away from this area he could no longer see it.
The group members took a break from preparing for the investigation, and went into Cheddar for some fresh air and dinner. Upon their return, the two hotel guests, Wendy and Danielle, asked if they could join in with the investigation. The team went back to the function room in order to finish setting up their equipment, and Emma briefly demonstrated some of the equipment to the two women.
Sharon “could sense the woman she had seen earlier stood by the fireplace”. The woman told Sharon that her name was Mary, and she “had an image of Mary throwing something into the fireplace”. Sharon explained that Mary seemed to be in her 30s and “had caught her husband James having an affair with a local woman called Elizabeth”. She “was so distressed by her husband’s adultery” that she had “murdered their son because he reminded her of her husband”. Sharon reported that she “had a strong feeling that Mary had murdered their child by throwing the baby into a fire”.
Electromagnetic Fluctuations and Light Anomalies
The K2 EMF meter had begun to light up whilst Sharon was speaking, “seemingly on request” as it appeared to be responding to “random questioning”. When Wendy was holding the meter in the middle of the function room with all the lights turned off, the meter was still showing very high EMF readings. The SWPG members had no explanation as to why this could be happening, although Paul noted that the limestone present in the Cheddar cliffs “has unusual properties in regard to EMF”.
The infra red camera that was set up in the function room “recorded lots of dust and moisture particles”, and it seems that humidity can also increase the likelihood of an electromagnetic field. Paul noted that “once the area was unoccupied and the dust settled” then the camera captured “several light anomalies” although these findings were felt to be inconclusive as they “may be just dust particles or insects”. The K2 meter was left switched on and placed on a table in that room, facing the infra red camera, but the video footage showed that “the K2 meter did not indicate any electromagnetic readings”.
The Hallway
There was “no evidence of light, temperature or electromagnetic fluctuations” in the hallway.
Children
Sharon said that she was made aware of many spirit children within the hotel. She said that she was sensing the names Jonathan, Edward, Thomas and a little girl called Sarah Jane. She “felt that these children were happy to stay in the hotel” though she could not “gain any more information on which these children may have been”. Emma reported that Sharon told her that Sarah Jane “was wearing a dress which came just below the knees and a white pinafore”, and that “her hair was light coloured and had been tied back in a ponytail in the middle of her head” in a style that “resembled the Victorian era”.
Bedroom 8
When Sharon went into room 8, she felt that a woman had fallen “down into the water, and because she couldn’t swim, she drowned.” She got the impression that this may have been Mary after she had killed the baby, by placing it into the fireplace in this room. She could also sense a sad old woman named Elizabeth, sitting in a rocking chair.
After the investigation, the Group decided to conduct some vigils in the bedrooms. At about 1.50 a.m. Nick and Paul settled down in room 8 to conduct electronic voice phenomena sessions. However, there was no real activity to report from this initial task. Nick then went out onto the balcony, and mentioned that he was “feeling uncomfortable”.
While Paul was sat on the bed, taking some EMF readings, with Nick on the balcony and no one else in the room, he “felt a violent shove of the bed from behind” where he was sitting. He was genuinely taken aback and scared by this, and his immediate reaction was one of alarm. As Nick noted, as he could clearly see Paul through the window, “all of a sudden Paul stood up and went out of the room with a look of panic on his face”. Nick came in and followed Paul out of the door, and they went to see the women in room 9, to let them know what had happened. Emma saw that when Paul came into room 9, he was “looking rather upset” as the “four poster bed had shaken violently while he was sitting on it”.
The two men returned to room 8, and continued with their vigil, calling on spirits or energies to show themselves or “make some kind of banging noises”. This proved inconclusive, as although they experienced some sounds and cold breezes, there was noise from the waterfall and road beside the hotel.
At 2.40 a.m., Nick and Paul setup and locked off a digital video camera that has night vision capabilities, on top of the television in the corner of the bedroom, facing towards the bed. As the room was bitterly cold, the men got into the bed, and for a while continued to ask any spirits to manifest themselves. After some time Nick fell into a light sleep, and Paul also catnapped.
Both men reported hearing a woman’s voice saying a word that Nick interpreted as school and Paul “heard a similar sounding word”. They hoped this had been caught on the video tape. Nick then “found it hard to get back to sleep” and both men “had a very strange night in room 8”. Throughout the night, Paul felt he had been touched on his neck, face and ear several times. Nick assured Paul that he hadn’t touched him at all, and this was validated when they looked at the video tape later.
When the video footage was subsequently examined, the camera had picked up the audible voice, which seemed to be a female calling Paul, something which Paul commented was “spooky”. The camera had recorded what appeared to be a shadow of an appendage touching Paul’s ear. There were also some light anomalies (referred to as orbs because of their generally spherical shape), one of which had a hole in the centre. This type of light anomaly is thought to be a partial manifestation of a spirit by some paranormal investigators. The movement of one of the orbs was strange; it seemed to coincide with the shadowy appendage, and it moved across the bed above the two men.
Bedroom 9
Sharon felt that room 9 “was once a nursery of some kind”, and she was aware that the little girl spirit named Sarah Jane had followed the women into the room. Emma, Jenny and Sharon called a halt to their vigil in room 9 shortly after Paul and Nick had been there over the bed shaking incident.
The members of the SWPG packed up their equipment and left the hotel on Saturday 12th April. Later, arrangements were made to conduct a second investigation, which would include the ground floor areas of the building, on the night of Saturday 17th May 2008.
The people who would be involved in the investigation began to assemble at the hotel during the afternoon of Saturday 17th May. Nick Wright, Paul Moss and Sharon Younger of the SWPG arrived and were joined by the author and the couple who had stayed in the hotel on holiday during March and experienced paranormal activity. Prior to the arrival of the group, the author met with the couple in the hotel bar and during the conversation the woman said that shortly after arriving at the hotel, she saw the ghostly figure of a huntsman, by the stairs leading down from the first floor, who was wearing a red riding jacket and holding a glass as though taking a tipple.
While the SWPG team were preparing to unload their equipment and bring it into the hotel, a member of the public who lived in Bristol, a man by the name of Matt, introduced himself and it was agreed that he could join the investigation. The seven people completed the unloading of the equipment and then everyone gathered in the function room. It was agreed that the investigation would begin at about 10 p.m.
Whilst Nick and Paul began to set up some of the equipment, Sharon looked at the wood panelling adjacent to the fireplace in the function room, but she could not see a face in the wall as she had been able to when she was at the hotel previously. The author and Sharon then sat together in the function room, and Sharon said that she could see a man named Tom, who was dressed in long white socks or stockings that came up to his knees and were met by a type of long pants or mid-length trousers. This sounded like someone wearing knee britches.
The author went into room 8 (the lakeside bedroom) to have a private conversation with Sharon concerning what she had experienced when she was last in the hotel, and how she experiences these things. She said that although she had seen the spirit of the woman Mary by the fireplace in the function room on 11th April, she had the impression that Mary had placed the baby into the fireplace in the lakeside bedroom.
Sharon then said that as she was sitting talking, she was aware of a huntsman standing in the bedroom, wearing a red riding jacket. The author explained that the woman guest had told him that she too had seen such a man earlier that afternoon.
Sharon explained that prior to coming to the hotel, during the week she had sensed the names of three women, their names being Elizabeth, Eleanor and Beatrice. She had sent the names in a text message to Paul’s mobile phone.
The conversation turned to the subject of the little girl spirit that Sharon had sensed when she was in the hotel in April. She had said that the girl’s name was Sarah Jane and that she was wearing a pinafore over a dress. The author showed Sharon several pictures of Victorian style dresses with pinafores, and she picked one out as most resembling what she had seen.
Whilst in room 8, Sharon said that another little girl spirit, named Lucy, was present. She felt that the girl was about 5 years of age, and had died of a serious illness.
Two of the SWPG’s associate members, Tony and Claire Bracey, arrived to help with the investigation. Shortly after 10 p.m., all 9 people assembled in the function room, and Nick and Tony went down to the restaurant to complete setting up the camera equipment.
Bedroom 19
Once all the equipment was ready, the investigation got under way. The hotel manager, Marz, said to the group that it might be of interest to investigate room 19. This is a single bedroom on the second floor of the hotel, and it is rented to a man on a long term let. The man was hoping that the group would be able to investigate this room, as he had some unexplained experiences there. Thus all the people except for Paul and Nick went with the man into the room, and Sharon stood in one corner near the wash basin, with Tony and Claire nearby, whilst the couple, Matt, the author and the man stood on the other side of the bed.
As she stood in room 19, Sharon felt the presence of “somebody on a motorbike”, and she thought it was a man. Although she was not sure of any names, she thought his name began with the letter J, possibly “a Jim or a John”. She thought that the man “may have passed over with depression”. She was experiencing a tight feeling in her neck, “as though he hanged himself or something like that” in this room. She felt that the man was “in his mid-twenties, maybe going on towards the end of his twenties.”
In addition, the woman noticed the presence of a female spirit in the room, and she discussed this with the man who rents the room. The man also spoke to the author, to relate his previous experience in the room. He explained that he had seen something in the corner of the room near where Sharon had stood. He said he had been in bed one night, woke up and saw, near where the sink is, four people “all in biker gear”. He said there were two females and two males, and when he got up and went to talk to them, he could see that one of the women was “disfigured down her face”. He felt that these people were speaking a foreign language, as he could not understand what they were saying, and they had died in a motorcycle accident.
Bedroom 8
All the people except for Nick and Paul assembled in room 8, and Sharon asked for any spirit to make their presence felt or heard. Everyone was sat in total darkness, but despite repeated requests by Sharon and the other people for any spirits to show themselves, nothing of any significance occurred, although on occasion there were some “tapping noises” from near the wardrobe. There were also “clicking noises which seemed to be coming from an arm chair” near the fireplace behind where Sharon was sat, but this was inconclusive, and after about half an hour it was clear that there were no more than just “minimal responses” to the questions.
The Function Room
While Nick and Paul were downstairs, the other 7 people went into the function room, and whilst there something extraordinary occurred. As soon as the vigil in the function room started, both Sharon and the woman guest became aware of a female spirit called Mary that Sharon had sensed during the previous investigation at the hotel. Sharon reported that “Mary seemed to have a very strong energy and I had the feeling that she was trying to get our attention”. Sharon began to feel concerned for the woman, as she felt that because the woman’s “aura was wide open” this allowed “negative spirits to cling on to her”. The woman had told Sharon that “she had been having psychic attacks and did not know what to do to control them”. Sharon gave the woman some advice on “how to control her ability”, but recognising “how open she was, I was concerned that she may be vulnerable to a psychic attack”. As Sharon was watching the woman, she “noticed her face starting to change, and I knew things were not right” as the woman “immediately started to cry uncontrollably”. The author can confirm that the woman’s demeanour had dramatically changed from how it had been just moments before. She was sobbing and moaning, her breathing was heavy and she seemed quite clearly in distress.
Sharon explained that her “first reaction was that it was a psychic attack from Mary”. She stood up and said to Mary “if she wants my help she would have to leave” the woman alone and almost immediately the woman “began to feel better although she had no explanation of what had happened”. The woman was very shaken and taken aback by this experience. After what had happened, Sharon took the woman into room 8 and “onto the balcony for a breather” and Sharon “also conducted a protection circle around her”. While they were talking, Sharon “could still sense that Mary was with us”. She “had the feeling that Mary was attempting to try and take over” the woman again, and so for the woman’s safety, Sharon thought that “the only way to stop Mary was to send her to a better place, which I did while I was on my own” with the woman. Sharon felt “it was time I sent Mary on her way. I feel that she is now at peace on the other side”.
The Restaurant
Following the incident in the function room, the group moved downstairs and sat together around one of the larger tables in the restaurant. Sharon sensed two male spirits, named John and William, as well as the girl spirit called Lucy. The woman guest could also sense Lucy’s presence, who she felt was about 6 years old and in a playful mood. Although unaware of what had taken place on the balcony, the author noticed how much calmer and comfortable the woman seemed in comparison with when she had been in a distressed state in the function room a short time earlier. Paul joined Sharon and the others at the table and Sharon decided to “conduct some table tipping”. The woman and Sharon “began calling out” and they “asked Lucy to try and move the table”. Sharon reported that “the table began to move slightly at first and then the movements began to get stronger”. Paul “thought that someone may have been moving the table” and so he “examined the table several times just to see that no one was moving it”. Paul “could find no explanation for the movement of the table”. A cigarette lighter was placed in the middle of the table, and Sharon “asked for Lucy to try and move it”; apparently “the lighter did move”. Shortly after this, “Claire began to feel emotional”, and Sharon “thought that this feeling was somehow connected to Lucy”. After a short break, Nick, the hotel manager Marz and the author joined the others around the table, to resume their session. However, Sharon “felt that Lucy had a dislike for someone in the group”, and “suddenly Marz complained of feeling dizzy”, so he decided to leave the restaurant. Paul went with Marz, and soon realised that Marz was “getting worse” as he kept “saying he was giddy and felt as though the room was spinning”. It was possible that Marz was feeling unwell after having some alcoholic drinks, but Sharon was concerned that Marz “was under some kind of psychic attack from Lucy” and so she “conducted another protection circle”. Marz was very shaken, but recovered after he had sat for some time.
At around 3.30 a.m. it was decided to bring the investigation to an end. A number of people went outside the hotel, alongside the road, to get some fresh air. Whilst outside, Sharon was talking to Nick and Paul, when they “both said that they had seen the spirit of a little girl on the opposite side of the road”, near to the corner of the fencing along past the base of Jacob’s Ladder. The two men “both seemed really taken aback by this experience”, although Nick was somewhat sceptical and wondered if what he had seen was just a light reflection. When the author asked Paul to describe what he had seen, Paul said that the girl seemed to be wearing a pinafore over a dress and a band in her hair. When he subsequently looked at the selection of pictures that the author had of Victorian dresses with pinafores, Paul selected the same one that Sharon had done previously as resembling what he thought he had seen.
Around 9 a.m. the author spoke with the couple regarding what they had experienced, and the woman explained that throughout the rest of the night, the spirit of the little girl Lucy had wanted to play with her, after she had “followed the woman into their room”.
Regarding the female spirit Mary, Sharon reported that “Mary had been grounded at the hotel and I felt sadness in her passing”. She thought that perhaps “this was one of the reasons why some of the people had become emotional. I felt that Mary tried to communicate through” the woman “to get help. I felt as though Mary had been stuck in this place for a long time.”
According to the various accounts the hotel is indeed haunted, and people have encountered the following ghosts:
• Phyllis Sutcliffe
• Four motorcyclists
• A woman in room 19
• A man who sits in the bar
• Mary, who killed her baby
• A man who hanged himself
• Elizabeth, sitting in her rocking chair
• A huntsman wearing a red riding jacket
• Kathleen Franklin, who drowned in the lake
• A smartly dressed man, Tom, who fired a gun
• Two other men, one named John, the other William
• Five children, by the names of Jonathan, Edward, Thomas, Lucy and Sarah Jane.
The human mind can be said to be like a parachute, in that it works best when it is open. Thus, it is important to keep an open mind in order to have the best chance of discovering the truth. Apart from people’s accounts of what they have experienced, is there any evidence to support the idea that any of these 20 ghosts are of people associated with the hotel?
Clearly, if there is a ghost of Kathleen Franklin at the hotel, she is known to have died by drowning and her body was recovered from the upper pond in the River Yeo. The coroner’s inquest into her death, which was conducted in the Cliff Hotel on Saturday 29th December 1934, recorded an open verdict.
The other names and identities are difficult to relate to actual recorded events, but the central copy of death registrations held by the General Register Office contains some details that seem to be relevant:
The ghost of the "nice old lady" told a man staying at the hotel that her name was Phyllis Sutcliffe and that she had died in Devon but returned to the hotel due to her having fond memories of the place. On Sunday 22nd May 1988, at the age of 79, Mrs. Phyllis Nora Sutcliffe died in Torbay Hospital in Torquay, Devon as a result of a stroke. Phyllis, who along with her husband William had formerly been confectioners, had been visiting Devon from her home town of Blackburn, Lancashire.
Is it just a coincidence that a woman with the distinctly northern English name of Phyllis Sutcliffe died in Devon in 1988 and in 2008 a guest at the hotel claimed to have spoken to a ghost who said she was Phyllis Sutcliffe and had died in that county? A sceptic would no doubt propose that the man knew of this lady’s demise in Torquay, and simply made up a story, but one is bound to question why someone would do that.
It would be true to state that there is no proof that these 20 ghosts (if that is what they are) are of any actual people associated with the hotel who have died. However, what is certainly remarkable is that at least three women on separate occasions have claimed to be able to see the ghost of Mary reaching out to place her baby into the fireplace in the function room In addition, two women have independently said that they could sense a man dressed in knee britches as well as the presence of a huntsman wearing a red riding jacket. If there were nothing for these people to experience, i.e. if the hotel were not haunted, then these things would be very difficult to explain. Thus whilst the exact nature of what is present at the hotel is unclear, it seems fair to state that this is probably the most haunted hotel in Cheddar.
Why might there be so many ghosts at the hotel, if that is what people have experienced? One theory is that if a murder occurs, which is an overwhelmingly negative activity, then naturally the atmosphere at the place of the crime will become infused with powerful negative energy that will attract other lost souls. In the case of the hotel, Mary apparently killed her first born baby and her spirit has exhibited a great deal of negative energy, which would, the theory goes, make the hotel a natural habitat for the supernatural.
Author Mark Bailey Friend of SWPG
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