26th June 2004

Saturday June 26th proved to be a very successful day for LPS. Not only I did we have fun investigating Nottingham and Naseby, but we also gained six new members. Despite the bad weather conditions we arrived in Nottingham and after a lengthy trip round Nottingham looking for parking spaces we arrived at the Salutation Inn. Gavin who was one of the bar staff, made us all feel very welcome and there were so many of us it was difficult to find us all table spaces! The meal was very enjoyable and affordable although the sausage looked more like a dog poo shape and the pea soup was similar to that in the Exorcist.

Our tour guide was dressed in a suit and top hat and was very theatrical in how he explained paranormal events. He led us around Nottingham and stopped at various points such as Nottingham Castle to talk about untimely deaths and a gay king who had met a nasty end with a red hot poker. There was also the story of the pain and hardship endured by a working girl in a brothel that had hid her baby in a hole in the wall. Over 250 years or so the baby had lain there mummified until discovered by council workmen recently. One local superstition in concerned a model boat that had not been cleaned for 150 years as it was thought to bring bad luck to the area if anyone cleaned it. Henceforth it was kept in a glass case. Oh how some of us wanted to walk into that particular pub with a feather duster and see the expression on local faces.

Then finally the moment we had been waiting for a chance to investigate the caves under the pub itself and find out about the ghost of the highway man who had scared an electrician almost to death by walking out of the wall and straight through the poor electrician himself. The cave was damp and dusty henceforth many orbs in pictures and you had to go down some deep steps to get there. Our guide told us all about the different ghosts who were supposed to inhabit the cave unfortunately nothing showed up on camera apart from said orbs and no one felt anything peculiar except for some of us feeling very hot and sweaty.

After Nottingham we made our way to the Civil War Battle Site of Naseby. Despite the pouring rain we made our way to the monument where we were surprised to find flowers left not only for the dead who had recently passed away, but also to those on both sides who died fighting for whatever cause they thought worth dying for. One even named a Colonel who had died fighting for the King. Unfortunately bad weather and a large amount of high growing plants made access to the field itself virtually impossible though we did try with some hysterical moments that raised a smile or two but no ghosts.

To view images see: Nottingham - Salutation Inn Album and Naseby Album