Waverley Abbey

WAVERLEY ABBEY

Waverley Abbey was built in 1128 by William Giffard, the Bishop of Winchester. The abbey was the first Cistercian abbey in England built along the River Wey in Surrey. Manual work was encouraged by the monks and they worked the land around them.

The abbey started with just 12 monks but by 1187 there were 70 monks and 120 lay brothers in residence.

In 1201 the abbey was flooded and this happened regularly which meant the abbey had to be rebuilt during the 13^th century. The monks would also provided shelter for pilgrims and travellers and an infirmary for the sick.

Henry VIII ordered the dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536 and the abbey was given to Sir William Fitzherbert, treasurer of the kings household, who dismantled the abbey and used the stone to build his house a few miles away.

The Abbey has also featured in the films Hot Fuzz and 28 Days Later.

We visited Waverley Abbey on Halloween 2014

We had investigated the abbey before on Halloween 2007 with no results so we decided we would try again.

Investigating was just Becky K and myself – Lorraine.

We arrived around midnight and set up the equipment, then we started the investigation in the vaulted undercroft or cellarium. We placed a few voice recorders around different parts of the undercroft and we took out our video cameras and started to call out.

For quite a while everything seemed peaceful and calm, and we seemed to get no response. After a short while Becky heard what she thought sounded like a ticking clock, which seemed to get louder then fade away. We decided that we would try saying the Lord ’s Prayer so Becky and myself recited the prayer and then we stood in silence. We heard and saw nothing, however the whole atmosphere seemed to have changed. I then asked if they were upset that King Henry VIII and dissolved their abbey and the atmosphere continued to feel like it had changed. We stood quietly and we started to hear noises as if somebody was walking through the bushes behind us, but we thought it could be animals.

We sat there just listening out and we kept hearing a rushing sound come from outside of the undercroft. We could not work out what it was but it stopped and then started again randomly. While we had been sitting in the undercroft, every now and again we would see a mist just in front of our torch light. Even though it was very warm for the time of year, we tested to see if it was our breath causing the mist. But we could not recreate the density of the mist we kept seeing. Moments before we noticed the mist and just afterwards Becky smelt burning, like a log fire. We were by the river so we thought that the mist could be coming from there. We then decided to set up a laser grid covering the whole of the undercroft to see if it happened again but it didn't. We continued to call out and then sit and listen for any response but we heard nothing. We decided to leave the laser grid set up with a camera rolling and we made our way over to the remains of the monks dormitory.

We stood in the dormitory and started to call out but we got no response. We remarked to each other how peaceful we found the place and how calm it felt. We continued to call out and still we seemed to get no response, so I decided to try and provoke a response and I said "I don't think I believe in god." As I said it, and just by coincidence the wind started to pick up, but when it stopped Becky and I felt as if the atmosphere had changed. There was now an oppressive feeling surrounding us and we started to feel a little bit uneasy. I carried on calling out for a response but there was none. After a few more minutes we felt like the atmosphere had changed and once again it felt calm. The tape in the video camera had come to an end so we made our way back to the undercroft.

We decided to pack up the equipment and then investigate the rest of the ruins on the way out. As we were packing up I heard a banging sound from inside where we were stood. We waited a while longer in the undercroft to see if we could hear it again but got nothing.

We started towards the remains of the church and we came to a bit that was like a tunnel.

We decided to stop inside the tunnel and started calling out. Almost straight away we heard a loud bang which seemed like it was coming from the other side of the wall. We asked for it to happen again and we heard a couple of fainter bangs coming from the opposite side of the tunnel. I also thought I heard what sounded like banging coming from on top of us. We decided to go to the other side of the wall to where we heard the banging, which was the chapter house. We were now stood in the part of the old church where the three stone window frames still remain. We called out and asked for a response but we got nothing.

We decided to call it a night and headed back to the car

We had left the voice recorder running as we were packing away our equipment ready to move on to the next part of the abbey. As we do we hear a faint knocking sound which was picked up on the recorder.

We are stood in the tunnel area in this clip.

We are calling out when we hear a knock coming from the wall beside us.

We are still in the tunnel area and we are just about to move on to the next part of the ruin, just after I say "Shell we move on" a knock can be heard. This time it was coming from the opposite side of the tunnel as the first knock. Also to us it sounded like a knock on wood, we checked and there was nothing made of wood near to us.

TOTALLY HAUNTED