Earl St Vincent Ramsgate

 submitted by Angela Holmes and Beccy Hirst.

The Earl St. Vincent was named after John Jervis, Earl St. Vincent (1735-1823), a former Admiral of the Fleet.

Around 120 years ago King Street in Ramsgate had 13 pubs, this being one of them. It has been recorded as being a Public House since 1814 and has been extended over the years.

After arriving at the premises about 10.30pm, our host Dale closed the pub for business at 11.30pm and retired to the flat above. We would like to extend our thanks to Dale for allowing the Investigation and putting his trust in us.

Following a circle of protection led by Michelle, we began our Investigation.

TEAM ONE                                                      TEAM TWO

Angela, Chas, Dan, Gail & Barb           Denise, Michelle, Bex & Katy

TEAM ONE - UPSTAIRS BAR - 1145PM.

During the day leading up to the Investigation, Angela had been picking up on the name of Nancy.

Team one moved to the area of the little rooms nearest the back door to the garden. Angela picked up Nancy again and sensed an Irish connection.

Chas picked up on a Jim Johnson and also a Fred Johnson (possibly the father to Jim).

Angela saw a large wheeled cart, the kind that is pushed by hand. Chas agreed that they were builders and that Nancy  was connected in some way. They used to live nearby. The date of 1859 was given.

Barb, Gail and Dan all felt a cold draught go across them. This could have come through the french doors, but on testing them later in the evening it was found that the seal to the doors was a very tight fit.

Angela got the feeling of being hugged tightly and Dan felt a similar sensation.

Chas felt someone sit between himself and Angela, with Angela feeling a sharp pain in her elbow. Dan felt pain in his wrist.

Chas moved to the small recess with the fireplace, with the rest of the team following him. He felt the hairs on his neck tingle and the rest of the team felt very light headed. Angela go the sensation of going backwards off the stool she was sitting on, even though she was sitting upright.

Both Chas and Angela could feel the presence of someone standing by the fire. Chas picked up on a little girl called Judith. He felt she could be linked in some way to Jim, Fred and Nancy, but he was not sure how.

Angela was still feeling the pain in her elbow and Chas believed that Judith had burnt her arm on the fireplace. As she stood there, Chas also picked up on a cat named Jemima, it could have belonged to the family,

Barb smelt burning and sensed maybe a fire had broken out once. She called out and Angela felt something on her left side. Gail measured the temperature in this area and it was colder around Angela's shoulder.

Barb felt a weight on her lap, Chas explained that the cat had moved away from Angela, onto Barb's lap.

Dan had the urge to stand up, so we suggested he do so in the hope of something happening, unfortunately nothing did so he sat back down.

Most of us became drawn to the area far left of the bar, we thought we could see either a large shadow or someone standing on something. We all felt that it was someone who used to drink here.

Barb wanted to go back into the room by the back door/garden. Angela decided to walk around the bar, she did this twice and felt that someone was behind her.

Chas felt that the spirit Jimmy had followed Angela, whilst Fred had followed Barb into the other room.

TEAM TWO – Cellar – 11.45pm

The name of ‘Spikey’ was given immediately to Michelle, followed by a tiny light travelling across the floor in front of Denise.

Katy had the sensation of being crushed and pushed down across the chest. Michelle and Katy both felt their hair being touched and Katy had her neck tickled, and Michelle, her ears.

Michelle became aware of a man who liked a drink and was swaying. Katy and Michelle sensed someone behind them.

Denise pointed the EMF meter to that area and it went off registering 1 on the meter.

Katy started to feel itchy and asked if his passing was an accident or on purpose. This we felt was the man by the name of ‘Spikey’, whom it was felt  died of an aneurysm. Michelle felt he was a tally, lanky man, a Drayman and Katy felt  he had passed in 1945, aged 56. It was sensed that his work was too much for him . Market Street and Byron Avenue were given as possible connections. The man was wearing a checkered cap and a scarf. He suffered lower back pain, which made walking difficult.

 Michelle was stroked under her chin and Denise  sensed a terrier type dog.

Katy complained of a sharp pain in her head. At this point Denise  heard a shuffling noise and the group began to feel uncomfortable and wanted to leave the cellar. We all heard a clicking sound coming from the rear of the archway. Michelle and Denise heard a faint sound of a dog barking.

Bex felt as if something was pressing against her throat, making her feel very sick.

We all heard a loud bang, but Katy put this down to people outside walking across the wooden trap door that led to the cellar.

Michelle was given the phrase ‘Harbour Lights’ and Denise sensed an ‘old hag’ with scruffy hair and a hunch back.

Bex felt a shove between her shoulder blades.

Denise could see an old man sitting in the archway, against the corner of the wall. He was wearing a dark jacket, a hat and was smoking (not sure if it was a cigarette or pipe). He had a hooked nose.

Bex could hear a noise over her right shoulder and Katy saw a flash of light. At that moment Denise heard another noise.

By this time we were feeling even more uncomfortable, as we all heard a ‘chink’ sounding like a small stone being thrown against a one of the metal barrels.

Michelle’s torch had been placed in this area and as we heard the sound the torch light began to fade and then went dead.

Michelle received the words ‘It’s ok, you are perfectly safe, we get it all the time’. We thanked the messenger and began to feel more comfortable. With this Michelle’s torch became brighter and then faded again.

We all heard another click from the archway and heard a groan.

Michelle was made aware of ‘Beds and an Air Raid Shelter’.

Denise saw another light move across the floor and Michelle sensed a man who used to play the Pub piano.

At this point we all heard a sigh and felt it was this  man (nice looking and stocky), and that he was trying to ‘form’ himself.

We finished our investigation and returned to the Bar. As we did so Michelle’s torch gained full power.

12.30 AM – Break

TEAM ONE – CELLAR – 1AM

Temperature measured at 17.8c. the atmosphere in the cellar was very oppressive and hostile, almost suffocating.

Chas asked out and immediately picked up the name O’Brien, a man who fell through a trapdoor. He is a hostile character, a large man in stature and resents our presence.

Barb sensed a figure standing beside the support pillar.

Chas and Dan sensed a chill behind them, strangely there is a new door behind them which was not part of the original construction.

Chas asked out again and Barb felt the hackle on her neck rise.

The team moved on to the centre area, beneath the cellar flap.

Angela and Chas felt the man was pushed in some way, Angela sensing a dray cart with wooden barrels, also a shire horse.

Gail felt her head being touched. At this point, Chas had to leave the cellar rather abruptly and went upstairs. Gail also felt sick and had to leave too. The rest of the team followed out of the cellar.

Chas had a few minutes to compose himself, explaining that he had to leave quickly as he felt threatened. He felt someone was trying to jump on his back and throttle him.

Team One then returned to the cellar, to reassure O’Brien that we meant him no harm. His mood changed and he told Chas he was sorry and wanted to shake hands with him. He also told Chas he was once a Drayman. Unfortunately his horse had startled and reared up. The cellar trap door was open and O’Brien fell head first through to the cellar and broke his neck. His friend and work colleague who was with him, not realizing how  bad he was injured called down and said in very impolite terms ‘ to get up because they still had deliveries to make’.

This was probably the reason for all his anger and hostility, who could blame him?

Chas also picked up the name Hamish and the year 1943. Hamish asked the group very politely to leave him for a while.

Team two – upstairs bar 1am

Up in the Bar area Denise picked up on ‘Martin, Martin, walk, don’t run’ along with impressions of an Air Raid Warden.

Bex could smell candle wax and Denise could feel a chill around her legs.

The group sat in the area around the fireplace where Michelle could sense that ‘a lot of deals’ were made.

We were aware of a ‘click’ coming from the Bar area.

Denise was given the name of Sam (male) wearing a long white apron that was tied around the front.

It was felt that there was possible bomb damage to the property during WW2 and that the Air Raid Warden had died.

Bex had her hair stroked as Denise asked out for  Martin or Sam to speak to us.

Michelle’s legs now turned icy cold.

 At this point we were disturbed by Chas who had been in the cellar with the other group and had hurriedly left the cellar and entered the Bar area. Denise and Michelle gave Chas some Reiki Healing and assured him that there was no spirit presence with him.

When Group One returned to the Cellar, our group resumed our investigation in the back room area of the Bar.

Denise felt very cold and Michelle was made aware of a WW2 Wedding Party. A male spoke to her of his ‘soul’s journey’.

Denise saw a light between Michelle and Katy and was made award of a lady sitting next to Katy, wearing a small hat and a long dark coat, possibly from the WW2 era. Michelle felt she was the Pub’s Cleaning Lady  and was given the name of Anne Murray.

Denise now began to feel very warm (and no she wasn’t having a hot flush).

Michelle had a sensation of somebody passing with ‘gut rot’, a man, possibly a farm labourer. He was wearing a light shirt with rolled up sleeves, baggy trousers with braces and had greased back hair. Part of his front tooth was missing. It was believed he was a smoker and was of the 1950’s.

Denise was shown a man using an old fashioned hand-drill, making holes in the wall. There was a strong connection to pigeon lofts with this man and the pigeons being crated onto boats.

Michelle hear someone say ‘Where’s my money’? This person ended up in an Almshouse and she was given the date of 1914.

END OF INVESTIGATION 2AM

Both teams returned to the main Bar area, where following a closing circle, led by Denise, the Investigation ended.