John Slater's Watch House special report

6:41pm Monday 30th April 2007

Background: The Watch House is believed to be the oldest building in Stretford. Although it's on the bank of the canal it was built before the canal was constructed. The building was built in 1610 (or 1763) as a Watch Cottage for river levels It has had a chequered history with a variety of uses. It was originally 2 cottages that have knocked through. It also has been a saddle manufacturers, a Coffin Store and maybe an undertakers.

Part of its use was for stables for the horses that pulled the barges on the canal. It is currently a member's only club for the cruising club.

The present manager David has had many unusual events such as: cold spots, objects breaking, and disappearing. He doesn't like going upstairs even during the day and feels queasy with shivers going up and down his spine.

Paraquest was contacted by letter by Dave explaining what has been happening and asked if we could do an investigation.

The investigation: Six members of the Paraquest Team went to investigate and to try and capture some evidence of Paranormal Activity. Some strange things did indeed happen on the night.

One part of the building, the stairs seemed to defy being photographed by one of the team members.

When photographing from the bottom of the stairs upward the camera just went blank when the shutter was pressed. If he went up the stairs to photograph downward it worked.

Other rooms were photographed with no problem. On questioning Dave he explained that the stairs had been moved to run the other way when the cottages were joined together.

On a camcorder an Orb was captured moving from the ground upwards very quickly. It is often said that orbs are the remains of deceased, the energy that cannot be destroyed.

Two other female members of the team had sensations of oppression and tightness around the top of their heads when they were in one of the bedrooms upstairs.

On another occasion one team member was sitting quietly upstairs in the dark and had an uncontrollable urge to sway from side to side.

She had the sensation that somebody had been hanged in the building. This was captured on camera. Some members had the sensation of cold at the top of their thighs.

The future: All told there is more question than answer.

There are some parts of the story not yet revealed and Paraquest would like to hear from any members of the public who know of any stories to let them know to see if anything can be corroborated.

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