Today I am bringing you one case which I think stands out when it comes to Paranormal investigation. The case of an ordinary family who through serendipity are brought to a place by fate. They see, hear and experience many things we would call Supernatural or Unexplained. Most teams would immediately shout ‘demon or demonic possession’ which in my opinion is very far from the truth. They miss the fact that hundreds of families go through this. Sometimes it’s connected to a home they move into. The land that homes on. Or an object brought home and displayed. There are so many reasons that activities can take place at a home or around a person. And I strongly believe this is a natural happening. Beneath all the noise and uproar we have ordinary everyday families seeing paranormal activity happen for generations. We need to normalise speaking about this. We have to make it easy for people to speak out on the events happening around them. Without being sprayed with holy water or marked as possessed.
Our case today takes place at the mouth of the River Nene that flows through the east of England. At 105 miles long, it is the tenth-longest River in the United Kingdom. The river rises from three sources in Northamptonshire and flows into the North Sea via The Wash. From the west, it flows through Northampton, Wellingborough, and Peterborough. Along the river there are several homes, Inns and farms that have their own local fame due to the ghosts and spirits that call them home.
Krissy and her family have lived in the home for close to three decades. They are aware of spirit and up until now the activity has been positive and in some cases a little mischievous. Items will go missing for no reason and suddenly turn up in other rooms or at other points in time.
I would like to read to you from an ongoing conversation we have had over the last few weeks. I asked Krissy if the activity had been consistent over the years.
Krissy: “We live on Petts Lane and Yeah this house has always been active, it was built in the 1830’s. I put the cameras in to monitor one of my children who has autism as he gets up way too early and I want to keep an eye on him and make sure he is safe! When I fitted the cameras I never thought I’d see something like this! I don’t feel anything negative in my home at all but I’ve never gone into or near my garage at night in all the years I have lived here. That garage gives me the heebie jeebies! The camera’s audio has picked up some sounds that are coming from the garage and they have creeped me out. I don’t like that noise. You can hear that it sounds like chatter.
I heard a loud bang outside earlier so I hit record as fast as I could and again it sounds like it picked up a noisy spirit but I also heard running water! Then it goes quiet again at the end but that sounds like water? I know I live right next to a riverbank and there was an old pump house here back in the day as we live on the coastal estuary. The voice I believe is being carried by the water. We’ve tried to debunk this audio and we have ruled out radio interference as the cause. There are no homes around us or workshops or anything that would have a cb or long wave radio. It’s not noise from the Port or the ships etc. And sometimes it sounds like it’s trying to say something, like people talking?
The audio was captured on a camera mounted on our garage watching over my drive. I live rurally next to a river bank so my nearest neighbours are far away. And I can promise you it is silent all day long here! The night this happened I was expecting my Tesco’s delivery so my dogs have been barking on and off recently. This is a newly installed camera system. So I kept thinking the dogs were barking that night at the Tesco man as he had pulled up but he hadn’t and they weren’t barking at him at all and this was what I recorded on the audio capture.
“I would say my house is very haunted anyway. But they are kind spirits and I’m respectful. I have seen many things when I have been out there on my drive and I’ve ran back into the house to be honest. I’ve lived here for over 24 years. So I’m not easily scared but this I do not like. If the audio captures were not bad enough, now the cameras have caught some strange dark mists in the house. Those mists were captured and I wanted your opinion of them. In one video where you see the dog there’s a hand that comes from an orb towards the end of the film. You can see it clearly at the end of the hall on the right side. That’s my bedroom and no one was here apart from me and my middle son who I was talking to in my kitchen at the time. We were nowhere near my room or the hall.
I asked Krissy what she meant when she said she has seen things when she is out on the drive and she said: “Once at the top of my drive I saw a dark hooded figure just standing there. It was a quick glimpse maybe 10 seconds long. I was staring at it and it just vanished.
I should add my family history and some strange coincidences about this house. I was born here. It was my 1st home when I was a baby. I didn’t know this as my parents moved out of the property when I was 2. My Mum hated it here and said I was a problem baby, I was always screaming and never settled. So about 20 years in fact myself and my ex husband were looking for a house that was rural as we had several dogs and we both hated living in town. So when we saw this place advertised, we came and saw it. It was extremely dilapidated and run down but we put an offer in and it was accepted. I wanted to tell my Mum and Dad the news and ask my Dad’s advice as he was an electrical engineer who had done up a lot of houses. So on Sunday lunch at my Mums I showed them the details. My Mum laughed hysterically and looked at my Dad and showed him where we were moving to. She then said “you silly cow you were born there that was your 1st house”!
So the lady I bought it from Mrs Moore was the lady my parents sold it to. She was reluctant to sell it to me as she said it had given her nothing but bad luck and we are a nice family. I just dismissed her. I said ‘it’s fine I was obviously meant to come back’. So she sold it to us. In the 1st year alone I saw that shadow thing and I hated it. I’ve also seen legs form in my glass double doors. I was pregnant with my son and I was alone. My now ex-husband worked nights so it was just me and my 3 dogs. When it was night time the dogs were going haywire! So I would let them bark out but there was nothing there. One night I came back in and went back to bed. Then there were very loud bangs on the old back door and the dogs started up again. I let them out again and nothing, that went on until 5 am.
Random stuff disappears only to reappear months later. It’s also freezing cold all the time. There was so much activity our doors would unscrew themselves often! The handles and hinges would also unscrew. I might add the door was sealed shut and we hadn’t ever used it and it is extremely hard to get to as the old extension was falling down. You’d have to climb over the rubble to get to the door to take it apart. My relationship broke down. I have suffered extremely bad luck here. I miscarried in that hallway and my parents died within 5 months of each other. Mrs Moore was right, her son was killed on his bike at the top of the lane. My partner has said this house is cursed. He hates it and just wants to get out.
My youngest child has had night terrors as did my eldest son. We constantly hear noises coming from everywhere. The one thing I don’t like is the chopping that my son hears when he’s in his bedroom that comes from the old cold store. The weird thing is I don’t want to leave from here. It’s like I’m its keeper. I said once to my partner, ‘I’m like the gatekeeper from ghostbusters, I’m not scared’! I just want to know why this happens and maybe even free it? My son drew what he saw climbing up his bedroom wall once, it was a horrible black thing in the corner. That’s where all the orbs appear from.
My Nanny Prothero talked to me once when we were in an old church. I had my hand over my ears and she said..”can you hear that?! Obviously I couldn’t hear what she said so she took my hands away from my ears and said can you hear that? I said yes what is all that singing! She said ‘ah so you can hear them like me’.
It’s like this house can be a bit of a portal sometimes. I honestly believe my family do come back here from their graves from time to time and check in. So that’s why I’ve never felt like I should run away and never look back! I know I’ve got a spiritual back up. It’s just this one thing that isn’t nice, that is mainly experienced outside but if I don’t do my sage and protections etc it creeps back in.
You can tell everyone all about this house and me it’s more my partner I’m concerned about bless him. It does affect people who aren’t born to this land more I think. It’s a hard thing to explain but I have 2 ex partners I believe for that reason. My husband was a very lovely caring man but he changed so much when we came here. He became extremely depressed, irritable and a shadow of the man he was. Now he’s not here, he’s lovely again. In my 2nd relationship he became physically abusive and I asked him to leave. I have seen it drain the fun out of my current partner but it was the 1st thing I spoke to him about! So he knows and is prepared but he will admit it’s very hard living here. And we have no luck with anything. It’s like the house is constantly battling him.
I honestly believe that! We both have good hearts and obviously are very open to it all. He is open too which I think helps him here. He’s said many times “I’ve never known a place like it!! ” I do feel for him. To be honest I think there is something in that garage. I think it’s that dark nasty one trying to tell me something. It’s the water noise as well that gets to me, there have been a lot of deaths in this river! And this house was the only one for miles around with it being built in 1830. It was the only bit of above ground water for miles around when I looked at old maps.
I know my relatives who have died have visited. My Dad did always say if there’s anything to this afterlife I will come back and prove it to you Krissy! He never was a believer. But I know he’s got my back! Plus my partner has seen him and it made him jump! My Dad was a prankster in life and he wouldn’t hurt my boys. Not like this other thing. The amount of orbs I see on my camera now, I do wonder if my family are on patrol looking out for us lol. Thanks for listening Deb, It really does help just sharing it all.
I wanted to interject at this point as I have a strong feeling about the house and what it was built from. Intuition tells me that some of the timbers in the home could be from one or more of the old ships that would wreck or wash up here. People in coastal areas all around the world use the timbers of old ships in their homes and buildings. They are often used as lintels for windows and doors or for ceiling joists. I know many old homes that have floors and doors made from old ships, small glass windows from the cabins or have an old beam as a fire mantle. Let’s be honest when scuttlers were involved not a matchstick would be left on the beach. Every part would have been vital, picked up and whisked away. Krissy mentioned to me that her partner does not like the attic in the home. And I think this could be a possible reason why?
I don’t know about you guys but it seems to me that Krissy is meant to be in this home, I also feel like she is its guardian in some way. I think it has something to do with her bloodline. Her grandmother heard the voices, as did Krissy and her boys. She is out there on the coast line like a literal lighthouse, shining for any spirit, entity or energy to see. Hundreds of people have died in the wash, in the River and out at sea. It’s an area with a long history of ghostly horsemen, hooded monks, and sailors long dead and gone. People report hearing voices crying out for help, maidens singing like sirens to bring in boats on stormy nights. I would imagine there are lots of local families who have their own stories to tell along the coast and further into the farmlands and woodlands upstream.
I am going to use my online sources to scour old maps, archives and history articles to see what I can find out about that section of the coast. I think finding out if there are any wrecks in the area, or people who have perished there due to tide and time or at their own hand. There could be many souls looking for a place to share their truth with the living. Or we could be looking at something to do with the land. The house itself as we know is very old but what was on the land before that home was built? Was it Priory land or owned by the Church or other Sects secret or not? All of this information needs to be collected before we will know any answers.
Kerry allowed me to share several of the captures with a number of investigators. They listened to the audio captures and studied the videos and have given their expert opinions on what they see, feel and sense. The evidence analysts did not know where the house is situated other than the county. They know nothing about the family other than it is a Mum, two sons and her partner. I did not give them background context, historical history or the names of any family member, or ex tenants at the address. This was only revealed to them, after they had handed in their analysis of the audio and video footage. Like me you will all be amazed at just how close some people were to the truth.
As many of you listening at home will want to see the footage and hear the audio I have added a link to the video’s with all that information included and a link to a website where you can read the transcript of this conversation. I am really keen to hear what you guys think. And to see if we have any EVP captures or captures on camera I may have missed. I would also be interested in any psychic messages, automatic writing or intuitive thoughts. Here are some of the cases and information we have collected so far.
Chad K – On the audio clip you sent over I see something is trying to manifest on the left side of the screen. Then something almost body-like flashes on the screen but ‘I’m not sure what it is as it goes past so quickly. I’m inclined to say all of the activity has something to do with the river. I think some of the audio sounds like something trying to speak underwater? It sounds like someone is saying “help me”? Then it goes into more like the sound of drowning noises, do they walk or live near the river? I also hear a very clear high pitched “I’m drowning” I have a strong feeling to ask “Has the boy seen anything physical“?
Sam – I’ve watched all the clips and also the original which shows far more. I can see what looks to me like something transparent is at times in front of certain books on the book shelf. Then I see something dropping to the floor or what could be a see through foot placed behind the drawers in line with the books. There are at least seven shadows and see through shapes shooting from the area where the seethrough thing is. I also see something that is seethrough by the glass doors, a white vertical panel that is separate to the shape in front of the bookshelf.
Susie – I watched all the videos and I see several dark shadows, orbs and a hand that appears on the door. The hand looks tiny to me. The audio sounds like chattering. I would say it’s also different voices. I hear two, possibly three. I think the sounds are elemental and to do with water. Water has memory and holds onto it. It’s something I have done a number of talks about over the years. I am really interested in this case and will look forward to updates.
Now let’s look at a possible shipwreck that may be possibly connected. https://www.lincsonline.co.uk/spalding/news/weekend-web-the-boat-with-a-tragic-back-story-1-8195752/
Significant loss of life happened at the mouth of the Nene on August 22 1893, when nine people drowned in a boating accident at Sutton Bridge. A group of anglers from Sheffield had hired a small sailing boat at Sutton Bridge to take them on a pleasure cruise which included some fishing and a trip to forage samphire on the marshes.
There were two families and an engaged couple on board the boat that day. The weather was windy and there were some rain showers, but the boat was in the capable hands of the local river pilot Edwin Burton and his son Bernard. The party set off before lunch and sailed down the river to the lighthouses that guide shipping down the channel into the river mouth.
Everything went well and the happy sailors set off back to the bay when the boat was caught by a sudden squall and apparently capsized, throwing all its occupants into the river. Some children collecting samphire near the lighthouse saw people in the water shouting for help and they ran as fast as they could and raised the alarm. Despite the efforts from many of the locals in the community there was only one survivor named Mrs Smith. Edwin Burton (41) and Bernard (12) were buried in the same grave in Sutton Bridge the following Friday. The victims from Sheffield were buried in their home cities.
The boat they set sail in appears to have had its own spooky mysterious past. It had been bought by Edwin Burton in King’s Lynn after the boat had been found drifting at sea with the corpses of three sailors on board. Where the boat had come from and the identity of the sailors was never established.
In fact there are still the remains of another small wooden boat that had been wrecked in the area. The rusted remains sit on the salt marsh of The Breast Sand to the west of the island in the Wash between The River Nene and the River Great Ouse outfalls.
The river gave its name to a boat named Nene of Wisbech, one of whose crew was drowned in the river in 1830. A very quick search led me to information that may be good going forward as I found so many people had perished in the water around the area.
Four men’s lives were lost when The barque Nene Valley sailed from Gravesend on the 27th
June 1854, bound for Portland Bay and Port Fairy, with nine passengers and a general cargo onboard. In October of that year the vessel ran aground when they mistook their bearing due to a fog bank hiding the shore line.
But the reports of deaths on the river or the river’s mouth continue into the present day.
Another soul was lost to the river on 11th and 12th January 1978, the North Sea storm surge caused extensive coastal flooding. Higher water levels were reached than during the devastating North Sea flood of 1953. Flooding affected both banks of the river at Wisbech. A 70-year-old woman drowned in her flooded home in Wisbech after the Nene burst its banks forcing 1000 people to evacuate their homes.
The death of an Oundle man whose body was found in a river was so badly decomposed that pathologists couldn’t explain his death, an inquest has heard. Lindsay Prior, 45, known commonly as Bert, disappeared from the house where he lodged on January 21st 2016 .
An extensive police search followed to try to find him, but his body was not found until the morning of March 25 in the River Nene at Water Newton – some 10 miles away.
On the 13th October 2021 The body of a Cambridgeshires woman was found in River Nene. Lina Petkiene, 42, from Peterborough was found deceased in the river at North Bank on Sunday, April 3, 2022. Ms Petkiene was last seen leaving her home in Aldermans Drive, Peterborough before 7pm on March 21, 2022, when she had “told others she was going shopping and then to Nene Park.”
The body of a man said to be in his 80s was found in a lock on the River Nene Navigation through The Lakes Business Park, near the River Nene, at around midday on Saturday, November 25th 2022.
A paddle boarder in his 40s died after he got into difficulty on the River Nene in Peterborough in August 2022.
In May 2023 in the area known as Whittlesey a man’s body was recovered from the River Nene at North Bank Road.
Officers searching for missing man David Stacey 71 have discovered the body of a man. The body was discovered on Wednesday, December 20th 2023 in the River Nene.
An inquest was opened into the death of Raymond Dean, 77, who died at North Bank, Whittlesey after he entered the River Nene.
Very recently on the 17th January another soul lost their lives in the River Nene and I am unsure if it is connected. Detectives have been working at pace to establish the circumstances of her death and following formal identification and she has now been named. Katherine Corrie, aged 49, of Northampton, also known as Katy, was found in the River Nene near Mill Lane in Kislingbury shortly before 8am on Sunday, February 11th 2024
Sadly as I dug deeper into this case I realised over the last three centuries the body count for the River Nene, The Nene Washes and out at sea number into the hundreds. So many people have lost their lives there. I can only go back as far as records allow, but I would imagine if we searched back to the earliest time we could, the Nene has taken many men, women and children.
Deborah Hatswell - BBR Investigations 