Thursday 4 February 2010

Fast Food Ghosts????

From The Archives:

Mini / Preliminary Investigation Report: Fast Food Restaurant (?) – The West Midlands Region.

Note* The W.M.G.C. were specifically asked not to divulge the precise name and location of the site concerned. Suffice to say, the business involved is part of an international franchise. It should also be pointed out that there are a number of other, allegedly haunted sites within a very short distance of the property concerned.

This visit to the site was purposefully kept brief and served as a preliminary investigation, primarily aimed at a general assessment of the premises.

Date: Sunday 27th to Monday 28th August 2006

Duration Of Visit: Approx. 3.5 hrs

Investigators Present: Steve Chew, Frazer Smith and Len Jackson. Also – Restaurant Manager and three guests.

Site / Haunting History

While the building concerned was only constructed in recent years, there have been numerous reports of poltergeist-like effects at the site. Such happenings include: stall doors banging of their own accord in the toilets and glasses and other objects falling or flying from shelves seemingly of their own volition. ‘Scuffling’ noises have been heard from various parts of the building, including the Kitchen Area, Office Corridor and the walk in Freezers. The sound of something apparently ‘banging on the inside of the door’ of the latter mentioned has also been reported. Taps have switched themselves off while staff have been using them and noises – including footsteps – heard from portions of the building known to be empty. There has only been one, potential reported ‘sighting’ of anything on the premises and this was a fleeting glimpse of something which resembled a woman with blonde hair.

Locally / historically speaking: The area now occupied by the restaurant was formerly an industrial area, lying on the periphery of an immense factory site. It is known that a woman was found dead – under somewhat dubious circumstances – not too far distant, only a few years ago.

Investigation:

12.45 am – While group is still acquainting themselves with the premises, Steve hears a noise in the Kitchen area, seemingly originating from the Freezer end of the room. The noise was described as the sort of sound made by a cardboard box full of cutlery being moved.

Around the same time, Len gets an impression of someone walking past the window of the building, but, upon investigating, can see nothing. He moves away from the window and experiences the same effect a second time. Still there is no one there. It was noticed throughout the night that a number of vehicles passed within close proximity to the building, though no one on foot was ever seen.

Session One: 12.51 am to 1.21 am

*Camera 1 was set up in Kitchen area – directly opposite / facing the Office Corridor. On the work surface, directly in front of the camera, was placed two crucifixes (utilised as trigger objects) with an audio alarm attached to both.

*Camera 2 was set up in the Ladies Toilet area, facing the end two stalls – furthest from the door – in the row.

1.07 am – the restaurant telephone rings and the manager answers it, but reports that there is no one on the other end. A couple of minutes later, it rings again and it is, apparently, an acquaintance calling.

1.15 am – Steve, Frazer and one of the guests hear what they describe as a loud, female whisper. (All seated in Middle / Right of Main Dining Area). Frazer and Steve seem to think that the noise originated in the Kitchen area, while the guest assumed that it had possibly been Len – at the other end of the room - making notes with a hand held cassette machine. Len had previously been taking notes in this manner during the session, but had ceased to do so some 10 minutes earlier.

Other click / knock noises heard during the vigil, but these were deemed to be structural / native in origin (i.e. the wood of an empty chair creaking next to an investigator, etc).

1.46 am – Steve, Frazer and Len talking in Kitchen area. Former mentioned standing near Freezer end of room, with latter two in centre section of room. All hear loud, rippling ‘farting’-type noise, seemingly coming from work / ice machine area. Noise heard twice in reasonably quick succession – a minute or so apart – with the second sound being slightly different to the first. Steve likened the noise to someone getting up from a creaky leather seat – which was an accurate comparison.

Around the same time, Steve also heard a ‘clump’ noise from the Freezer area of the Kitchen.

Session Two: 1.52 am to 2.22 am

2.00 am – Steve and Frazer react to a very loud noise in the Kitchen, seemingly originating from the region of the work / ice machine area. Noise described as very loud and sounding like a ‘stack of objects’ being moved or shaken. Steve tries to replicate the sound with items / equipment around the area, but cannot. It is noted that many of these sounds seem to originate in the region of the ice machine – such equipment being notoriously noisy at the best of times and frequently turning out sounds identical to those heard by group members. The sound was heard twice in fairly quick succession, the first time being much quieter than the second.

2.33 am – entire group seated, talking casually in the Main Dining Area. A ‘hissing’ noise from the Kitchen attracts everyone’s attention and the Manager investigates to find that the sliding lid of the ice machine is open. (He has closed this by the time anyone else gets into the area, unfortunately). W.M.G.C. members were last out of this room – having been examining the machine – and it is known for certain that the lid was closed when they vacated the area.

Other sounds were noted during this period, but the bulk of these were assessed as, most likely, noises native to the building.

Session Three: 2.43 am to 3.13 am

2.47 am – A ‘scuffling’ sound is heard in the Kitchen area by Len. Noise appeared to originate in the room, off to the right of where Len was sitting. (Beyond the region occupied by the ice machine).

2.58 am – Loud noise from same area as previously. Tom hears a ‘crack-like’ sound, but Len says it was more like a ‘sneeze’ (?)

3.30 am – Visit finishes and we vacate the premises.

Temperatures:

The temperature inside the building dropped by one degree during the visit.

Recordings:

Camera One: Session One:

There are a lot of sounds that could be regarded as ‘native to the building’ - knocks, bangs and switching sounds…..most of which probably originate with the freezers, machines cooling down etc. During the recording there were, at three different points, the sound of something or someone messing around very close to the camera. Two of the instances are very striking; seemingly not the ice machine, nor anything automated.

Camera Two: Session One:

1.03 am - a loud ‘crack’ sound was picked up – seemingly close to the camera. This could have been a sound which was noted by an investigator seated in the Main Dining Area around the same time(?)

1.20 am – Camera picks up four fairly loud ‘knocks’. The sounds are quite clear, but not necessarily inside the toilet area itself.

General Notes:

It couldn’t help but be noticed that an the equipment within the building – freezers, air conditioning, etc – caused a substantial amount of noise under normal / daily working conditions. From this, it is assumed that any noises noticed by staff members as potentially paranormal in nature – i.e. scuffling sounds, footsteps and such – would have to be of a reasonable magnitude to be noticed. (This, of course, taking into consideration the fact that the staff members are probably well accustomed to such sounds and would possibly be able to differentiate between these and other, ‘unnaturally occurring’ noises?).

Regards,

The W.M.G.C.

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