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WOLVERHAMPTON PARANORMAL RESEARCH GROUP
THE LEOPARD INN
INVESTIGATION REPORT
Location:
21, Market Place,
Burslem,
Stoke on Trent,
Staffordshire,
ST6 3AA
Date: May 1st 2009
Team:
Philip MaidenChris Maiden
Bindi Michelle
WendyTracey
Mandy ThomasCorrine West
Stephen TranterGary Smith
Gary Jones
Anthony Round
Equipment: TO BE ADDED!!!!!!!!!
Background History:
Sometimes known as the 'Savoy of the Midlands' the Leopard Inn in Burslem certainly holds a lot of hidden secrets. Local historian Fred Hughes uncovers the past that makes this 18th Century public house so intriguing. The Leopard Inn is one of Stoke-on-Trent's hidden gems. A listed building in Burslem, it is steeped in history and the recent discovery of tunnels has brought it centre-stage again. The owner Neil Crisp has also re-opened part of the hotel which closed down in the 1950s. There are over 50 rooms which he hopes to bring back to their former glory.
The Leopard Inn is famous as the place where Josiah Wedgwood and James Brindley met to discuss building the Trent and Mersey Canal in 1765. Local historian Fred Hughes said the meeting between Mr Wedgwood and Mr Brindley was "very important to the development of the Industrial Revolution". He said: "History was made here in this pub and there's no doubt about that."
Serving since at least 1765
In his own words, Fred Hughes sheds more light on the history of The Leopard Inn:
"For those who like to know these things, the Leopard Hotel in Burslem has been a public house in continuous use since at least 1765. This information comes directly from the pen of the great potter Josiah Wedgwood whose correspondence mentions he'd dined here with the canal engineer James Brindley in March of that year. A framed facsimile of his letter currently graces the wall of the room the celebrated duo used.
(Taken from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/stoke/content/articles/2007/05/25/leopard_ history_feature.shtml).
Baseline Test Results
To be confirmed
The Investigation
The group travelled to the Leopard Inn on the evening of May 1st 2009. We arrived at 9.30pm, and after liaising with the staff at the pub, it was concluded that the disused corridor was deemed unsafe and was therefore out of bounds for the team. Although disheartened, the investigation got underway with Phil and Corrine setting up both the hub equipment, and also a motion sensor to pick up any movement along the out of bounds corridor. At 11.20pm the sensor signalled movement, however we swiftly discovered that the culprit was not a spirit but a rather disgruntled pigeon!
At 11.30pm, the teams split into groups so that they could investigate various sections of the pub:
Cellar:Corrine, Gary Jones & Bindi
Function Room:Tracey, Gary Smith & Mandy Groups swapped
Stairs by hub:Wendy, Michelle & Anthony after 15 mins each
Roaming:Chris, Phil & Steve
Tracey, Gary and I remained in the hub at first and captured a large number of orbs on camcorder, although due to the vast amount of dust in the atmosphere, these may be discredited. After a period of no registered activity, the three of us moved to the small room outside the hub and witnessed huge fluctuations of temperature. We also captured orbs inside room 52 at 11.40pm.
At 11.50pm the EMF meter started to pick up a reading until it was constant and so it was set to electric to discount any interference. There were still readings being taken but at a much lower rate than previously.
The teams returned to the hub at 11.55pm and our group went down to the cellar. Although there were slight temperature fluctuations, there were no other abnormalities for the next 30 minutes.
At 12.40am, Gary Smith reportedly heard a mans voice in the main tunnel followed by three knocks, although this was not heard by either me or Tracey. Shortly afterwards, all the teams again returned to the hub to compare findings.
Our team moved to the function room at 1.05am where orbs were captured on both camcorder and digital camera. Again, these may have been caused by dust. Once the pub was closed to the public, it was agreed that the team could explore the abandoned corridor. As we progressed down the corridor, it became apparent that due to the amount of dust and pigeons, most of what we had witnessed might be discredited due to these factors.
The team finally left the pub at 2.00am. Founder member, Philip Maiden, concluded the investigation with the following statement:
the building was great a fantastic place to investigate, unfortunately due to the fact the rooms were over run with pigeons any activity has to be discounted, the team worked well together as usual, but as restrictions were put in place from the start we had limited investigation time.