The Wonderful Crown & Cushion

 

 

 

It was a night to remember 25^th October 2008

The Ghostvigils team went to the Crown & Cushion plus its associated Mead Hall

If you look this place up on the “Interweb” you won’t find anything untoward

The library contains no other information than the fact it is a lively traditional pub

Listing many original features and serving a range of reel Ales, and fine Wines

Dating back some 400 years, it’s also has listings in several good food books.

 

But… it does not appear in conjunction with the paranormal (not yet anyway)

 

So you may ask why this venue?

 

Well it should be in the paranormal books as well as the good food books

 

The Pub dates back nearly 400 years and attached is the Mead Hall

It was a small cottage before it became a pub, and has, as we have subsequently found, had a most intriguing history

It has been heavily extended but not lost any of its charm

It’s just of the M3 junction 4a

 

I visited this pub by accident one day, and was amazed at the old world charm.

It felt to me as if I had recognised the atmosphere, not from experience of other pubs

But from my experience of being inside a Haunted locations

An atmosphere most would not recognise, and pass up without a second thought

I am not a medium but I have been to many strange and wonderful places

In my adventures with Ghostvigils

 

When I got home, I looked up the number of the pub and asked to speak to the landlord

I was put through to William.

Best to explain here when I ring up some places I get a differing set of responses

Ranging from “words I suspect are not found in the bible” to “Your having a laugh mate”

to “Really that sounds interesting”.

The latter is not the most frequent you understand, never-the-less the one I wanted to hear

 

Fortunately In this case the reception was favourable and we agreed to meet up.

As this was the first time an experiment like this had occurred at this location,

or the fact we intended to run the Investigation near Halloween.

It was decided that the Ghostvigils team would investigate the Crown and Cushion

 

We also agreed to raise funds for a local hospice and run this event on a charity basis

The charity is the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice

A fine choice I thought.

 

Now to build a team of strange and wonderful people (mostly strange to tell the truth)

To carry out the investigation

And at 10 pm on the day the clocks go back we arrived to Investigate

It had not occurred to me why it was called the Crown and Cushion

Many pubs have the Crown in the name; maybe royalty visited them in the past, or just named it a celebration of a particular monarch

 

However it would become evident later that night, as to the name of the pub and the obscure reason for its name

 

We were sixteen in number, and would later separate into two large groups

Twelve Ghostvigils members and four representatives of the Pub and Brewery

It was explained, that although we do not take ourselves too seriously, we do things properly

If nothing happens, then so be it, however if anything does occur, it will be for real

 

Only the four “Representatives” were not experienced in Paranormal Investigations

 

We started off with a mass group séance in the Mead Hall,

I suppose at this point I had better describe this Mead Hall

 

It’s like a banqueting hall; all it needs is a few knights in shinning armour to complete the picture

“And yes on the balcony above the room was a suit of Armour Three in fact scattered around the room”

 

You just had to love this room; it is in fact two old converted barns from the 1600s. Relocated from the

Salisbury area and put here in sunny Hampshire

The Massive fire place and chimney at the far end of the hall was built of the bricks from just one old cottage from the same period

The fireplace is floor to ceiling, a good 12 feet wide at the base tapering to six feet wide at the top.

The windows although many, were small in keeping of the period of this property

A long table about 14 feet long was sited in the heart of the room with chairs all around for at least 20

Several booths were situated along the side of the Hall each by its own window and all in keeping with the intended look.

If you imagine a large hall with oak beams, probably originating from an old ship

With a high ceiling and all pertaining to show the magnificent splendour of yester-year

 

See the pictures on the web site http://www.ghostvigils.com/ , it’s easier  

 

Ok back to the group séance along the table’s length we took our seats

Each person placing their hands on the table, some were appearing to be a little pensive.

 

Our resident Medium’s calming voice slowly went through the Protection rituals, all listening intently

After another moments silence to gather out thoughts, we started to call out for spirit to come forward and make contact

With only a candle to light such a large room, “well and emergency exit green light as well”

It was quite dark, especially in the corners.

I was at one end of the table and could not make out the people at the other end of the table; let alone see the extremities of the room

I could see a little out of the windows to one side due to the distant car park night-light

 

As we called out for spirit to come forward, make a sound, touch one of us, show us a light

Just make them selves known in some way.

We did hear a tapping from the table; I put it down to the room settling, after the heating had been turned off.

A creaking noise coming from the huge ship like beams, which supported the roof, it was suggested

Like a rope rubbing against it, more shipping references possibly, or maybe a hangman’s rope, with a body swinging below.

I still put this down to the room settling and temperature changes

Ok a bit infuriating to some, but if I see a Ghost I will be the first the shout about it.

Cold breezes were reported in the middle of the table against a couple of people with bare arms and legs,

I too had bare arms, but did not feel anything.

 

It was suggested that there was a breeze from the fireplace, which seemed to make sense at the time

I did later inspected the fireplace and found no evidence of a breeze from this area,

 

After about 20 minutes and no other obvious activity, we changed tack and split into two groups

I will only report on the finding s of the group I was in, if the other group reports their findings I will attach that to this report.

 

Our group decided to try a Glass séance at the back op the Mead Hall by the huge fireplace

All sat round the table, and after again going through the protection routines, we placed our fingers lightly on the edge of the glass.

Slowly we began to call out for any spirit in the area to come forward and talk to us by moving the glass in any direction to show presence.

As we asked out for the second time the glass slowly moved to my left, only a few inches, but enough.

It never fails to amuse me to see the surprise on people’s faces, when they see this for the first time

As we started to ask questions, the glass would move if the answer was yes and stay still in the answer is no.

 

We discovered this was a young female under 25 anyway, she was related to this part of the building

But not here, to her she was living in a in the late 1600s in a Barn/house near Salisbury.

She and her family were in a fire; she had survived the fire but died from the affects.

It seems she was pregnant at the time and after the fire she was held in a secret room

 

All through this vigil the Landlord and his companions had stayed silent 

We gleamed from their expressions that we were on the right lines

We had nearly all the pieces he knew, but the bonus here, was the secret room, not only did it exist but it still exists today.

If you get a chance to visit this place, try and find the secret room

 

We thanked the spirit and closed the séance

 

Coffee time, much needed by all

 

After the Break the first group went into the main pub area there was a very different story there and key to the investigation of this location

 

Our group in the meantime decided to try an Ouija board nearer the centre of the room

Seven of a our group and a soppy dog squeezed round the table in a side booth

An Ouija board was placed upon the table and a Planchette was placed upon that

Once again we went through our protection routines and then called out for spirit to come forward

To speak to us, to spell out any message they had for us.

The Planchette moved and spelled out several things, but not that made any sense. We seemed to be

Communicating to several spirits at the same time, a Man, a soldier perhaps, a Women who lived here

The dog did not flinch at all, well not at first; just sat there lapping up the fuss and attention

Each time we tried to make contact we got a series of conflicting answers and confusion

 

This building as it is now is wrong; there is apparent spirit activity here, but from a mix of time periods.

This place was separate buildings in the past and from different locations.

Also there seems to be something of paranormal interest from this land but not this building

 

We eventually stopped, and closed the séance, let the other group try there luck.

 

Break time again and then we would try to solve the puzzle of the main bar the old original part

.

The other group were buzzing when they joined us, of course they would not say anything, we had to find out for ourselves.

 

The main bar

 

We set up a table and decided to do a Glass séance, as this was so successful earlier on

It was in the back of our minds that the other group had got quite a lot from this location.

However we did not know what or where they had concentrated their efforts

Our area of choice was by the fireplace in the old part of the pub

 

After the protection routine and all were comfortable we began

 

Five people lightly touched the glass while the other watched closely

We asked out for any spirit in the area, to come forward and talk to us

Each person in turn introduced himself or herself, as we asked out again

The atmosphere changed and I recognised the feeling that I experienced the first time

I entered this place.

It’s like a feeling, a sense that someone was with me a tingling sensation, or a shiver down my spine

Soon enough the glass started to move, all now believed we were not alone.

The anticipation was electric as we asked for the spirit to move one direction for a yes answer and another opposite direction for a no answer.

We asked if the spirit understood, the glass moved straight away to yes

Over the next twenty five minutes we asked questions and received cognisant and definitive answers

Building a story that we find amazing

The spirit was female and was from the late 1600s. She was French or of French descent and live here when it was a house not a pub as it is today.

Here initials were “A C” we did not get the whole name

She was single but had a lover in the military

The name Thomas was involved, she died in water and it was not an accident. Her lover was involved but may not of committed the act himself.

The landlord at this point asked some questions which clearly came from a position of prior knowledge

Asking about the Captain, and the surname of Blood

The glass shot to yes, denoting that we were on the right track

 

It transpired that this was the notorious Captain Thomas Blood, who was the only man to steel the crown jewels, and was taken to the tower of

London for treason but pardoned by Charles the Second

The lady was one of his lovers but he was already married, she wanted to tell his wife about the affair and he had her killed.

She told us that she was pushed into the water.

 

The landlord then told us of the legend of the pub.

It is called the Crown a Cushion, because of this storey

Her name was something like “Cushine” but she is meant to of drowned by accident or suicide

No murder was ever mentioned in the pubs history

The story of Captain Blood is well documented, and far from being a hero, he was a conman and a rogue

Who, probably escaped execution for political considerations, relating to the current unrest with Holland

King Charles 11 not wanting to be distracted with other matters during such a difficult time.

 

Now the interesting bit and conclusion of the event

 

The first group to investigate this area also got exactly the same story, including the murder

We did not speak to each other about our respective vigils until the end of the night

 

The Murder was unknown before this night and no other historical information seems available

 

There are two main stories relating to the location, both of which we uncovered to some degree

Neither is published and No one at Ghostvigils had any prior knowledge before the vigils started

 

In the end we had a very interesting night.

The Mead Hall has a lot going on and a specialist team needs to investigate this venue for a period of time to try and uncover the confusions that reside here

 

Ghostvigils ran this event for charity and on first count have raised £270, the final figure will be announced later.

 

Pete Sugden http://www.ghostvigils.com/