As I'm writing this, it's Good Friday (25/3/16). My family and I, including my wife, (Co-Founder, Sal Pollard) and our two children, set of for a family day out. On the first spring bank holiday of the year we had decided to visit another location, but unfortunately it seemed like they we're closed. So I remembered suddenly another historical tourist attraction, not to far down the road from our home. It was open, so we set off for it. You see, when we're not rattling around old buildings in the middle of the night, searching for evidence of the paranormal, we like to spend our bank holidays rattling around them during the day too! The location we had settled on was our local Templar site, Cressing Temple.
Once we had decided to go, we couldn't help but do a search on the sites history, and to see if it was haunted, and indeed it was. Apparently there are 5 ghosts at the temple, after all this place is an ancient medieval, moated farmstead, and had spent majority of its life occupied by the religious order of the Knights Templar! In the days of its prime, it was the most important landholding of the Knights Templar in Essex. All of the said "hauntings" are most definitely residual hauntings, as they appear to be doing, or acting like they are stuck in a time loop. We are strong Believers in the "Stone Tape Theory". So what a coincidence! I was planning on posting about residual hauntings last week, and here I was presented with the perfect material and setting for this post.
The first of our 5 residual ghosts at the Temple was reported by a member of staff back in 1986, who reported a ghostly apparition of a bloodied roman soldier in one of the fields next to the ancient barns. He was reported as looking very disorientated, with a nasty wound to his head, and seemed to be searching for an escape route. Some years later, there was an archaeological dig near the gardens of the ancient barns, and they unearthed the decapitated skeleton of a man in his mid-30's. It's believed that the skeleton dates back to the Roman britain times,could this be the soldier in the field?
The next "Residual" of the temple, is that of the man-of-arms spirit, known as the Phantom Knight. Local Legends say that he is buried somewhere within the grounds of the Cressing Temple Estate. He has been reported a few times, roaming the local area upon the back of his horse, and has even been reported as far as the local carp fishing lake. In 2009, an interesting photograph, taken in the middle of the night on a lake near the temple by a local carp angler, appeared on the internet. It appears to contain a ghostly mist near the edge of the water, and looks like the Knight on horseback, the horse is quite visible, but you can only see the armored forearm and hand, and part of the leg of the Knight on top of the horse, and maybe his sword on the back upper leg of the horse? (I think this photograph is very impressive!)
Between the 1970's and 1980's, there were a few reported sightings of a 16th century Cavalier. The first witness was scared half to death (although reports of this sighting are sketchy) saw the apparition of the Cavalier in the farmhouse at Cressing Temple. In the 70's,he was seen again at the top of the stairs by the frightened young son of the Cressing Temple farm manager. The petrified boy described what he had seen as wearing big boots, blue trousers, and a big black hat. In the 80's, another farm manager and his family reported feeling sudden cold spots in the house, and mainly in the bathroom. their young, 3 years old son didn't like being near the stairs or bathroom, because he could see a strange man with long dark hair on the stairs. the Cavalier was also reported to of been seen in bedrooms and the library. During the civil war in 1677, Sir Thomas Davies bought the Cressing Temple estate. Later that year his eldest son Thomas Davies (Junior) committed suicide, by shooting himself. maybe the Cavalier apparition was in fact the spirit of young Thomas Davies, condemned to roam the grounds for eternity...
The ancient barns at Cressing Temple are said to be haunted by the ghost of a young olster boy, who was tragically killed when he was kicked in the head by horse, resulting in instant death. The final Resident ghost of the Temple is that of a man whose wife sadly died in a terrible fire on the Cressing Temple Estate, which engulfed the main house over one hundred years ago. His Spirit is said to appear in the oak room of the old farm house by banging on the oak panelling.
When my family and I walked around these stunning buildings, and awe inspiring Templar Temple. I could really feel the history of the place, and we experienced quite a few cold spots as we went from room to room. In the oldest of the two barns, believed to be the oldest complete Templar Barn in the world, we stumbled upon a display of the Bricks used throughout history at the Temple. One of which was dated back to the 1100's, when the temple was first built. I felt compelled to place my hand on it, and the feeling of energy, history and Craftsmanship I felt instantly was quite overwhelming.
Yes, I know, it was only a brick. But for those who strongly believe in "The Stone Tape Theory", I had just felt the energy of the person who had hand crafted that brick, and felt all the history that had been "recorded" within the material itself. The "White" brick, in the centre of the picture, was a rare type of brick that was only commissioned for a few years in the 1200's, and was only used for exquisite brick work, and was expensive. This brick was remarkably colder than the rest, yet it was stored in the same conditions and place as the rest. Perhaps this brick was made of a material that could absorb more energy? I'm guessing that they used chalk, which the ancient monks used for tunneling escape tunnels.
We believe that Emotions, feelings and events can get recorded into these natural materials. If you can get a small disc of plastic, coat it in a reflective, magnetic layer, then record the entire collection of books you own, or fill it with all the songs in your song library, then why is it not plausible you can store or record emotional events in a natural material that is capable of absorbing energy. They've already proved that water has memory, and can withhold information. So why not Stone, Bricks, Timber and earth etc.
On the next Blog, we will be staying on the Theme of "Residual", but Vehicles and Animals...
Happy Easter everyone, Take Care, and Look after Each Other,
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