Investigation on the 15th of April

stormkeeper

This hasn't been confirmed just yet, but I'm going to get this sorted out some time within the next few days. I'm just posting this up to see how many people would be able to attend an investigation on the 15th-16th of April?

I'm not doing polls this time around as it went all wrong the last time, so just reply to this if you're interested in coming along with us

Also, there's a limit of about 15 people for an investigation, and as far as I know, there are three definates coming along. Other people are being asked as well, meaning another 2-3 slots will be taken up. I'll update this post at a later stage to keep a count of the numbers.

GuanYin

Just out of curiosity, what goes on at these investigations. Do you meet the people before hand? Whats a typical intinary like. Sleeping arrangements etc?

stormkeeper

Oh yeah, location is Charleville Castle, once again.

stormkeeper

psi wrote:

Just out of curiosity, what goes on at these investigations.

Usually, we look around the area, and try the odd experiment and such, among other things, that I can't think of at the moment, lol.

Do you meet the people before hand?

Generally, we try to meet up with people before we go to the location, though for some of us coming from the likes of Cork, this may not be possible, so we generally meet up at the station to get to know each other a bit better. Some of us may travel from somewhere like Dubin in groups of 2 or 3. It would really depend on where you are coming from to be honest. If you're coming from Dublin (just as an example, apoligies if you're not from Dublin or nearby), and myself, Mark and one or two other people were with us, you can meet up with us at Heuston and we can talk and get to know each other on the train. It may be somewhat hard to arrange a meet for before that time, depending on what time we need to be there for.

That said, when we need to be there for is dependent on me. I do try to make sure the time is reasonable for people to make, though it may sometimes be early, depending on travel time and all that. I'll start working on more specific things as thime goes on, so I can give you a straight answer and not a mile-long amount of text!

Whats a typical intinary like.

Generally, in the beginning, we walk around the castle during the day so we have an idea where everything as it gets more dangerous trying it in the dark! The actual itinery will be relatively loose as there isn't any official way of doing things just yet. I'm aware this sounds terribly unprofessional, but I'll have something better up and running closer to the time, which may be subject to change.

Sleeping arrangements etc?

For the castle, we usually take up the Octagonal room as our base camp for the night, which has about 8 beds, though I can try to arrange more beds if needs be. As this is the first official investigation for the group, things are a little unorganised at the moment (mainly because I'm going to talk to Mark and Stephen about setting in a few guidelines and procedures and stuff). Eventually though, things will be easier to explain.

PS: I was thinking about you when I was looking at this thread, mere seconds after I posted it. Pretty funny, huh?

GuanYin

Sounds good, although if I'm honest I did expect a more erm methodical approach - I guess I was thinking along the lines of the movie poltergeist

Kennett wrote:

PS: I was thinking about you when I was looking at this thread, mere seconds after I posted it. Pretty funny, huh?

yes...ehh heh ehh "funny".... erm what were you thinking exactly.... thats the first time I've read the paranormal forum and felt anything approaching fear!:eek:

stormkeeper

psi wrote:

Sounds good, although if I'm honest I did expect a more erm methodical approach - I guess I was thinking along the lines of the movie poltergeist

I haven't seen that movie in ages... forgot what it was like, lol. And eventually, I'll have a more methological approach. Still plenty of time to adopt one

yes...ehh heh ehh "funny".... erm what were you thinking exactly.... thats the first time I've read the paranormal forum and felt anything approaching fear!:eek:

lol! I assure you, I'm not that bad!

Anyway, what I was thinking was that you'd prolly respond to or be interested in doing this... kind of got triggered when I was reading through an old thread. I just get these "flashes" of information that I recieve sometimes. Seriously though, I'm harmless... unless you want me to be something else?

I kid! I kid!

Dammit, now I can't stop laughing! Anyway, I promise you, I'm not that scary... I'm a loveable scamp once you get to know me. Actually, believe it or not, I'm actually pretty shy in some situations... let alone scary!

PS: I'm guessing you're female? If you're male, then that's a bit of a scary experience for both of us!

stevenmu

As I remember it, the intinary was something like:

Saturday Morning: Arrive at Charleville
Saturday Night : ???
Sunday : Go Home

It worked out quiet well having it so informal, but it would be nice to have a set plan of action going down this time. There'll always be some things we only think of down there, or some things that seem like a good idea untill we get there, but it'll be a lot better if we have a basic strategy or agenda to work around. Basically the last time, we wandered around in groups, taking photos, looking at things, listening for noises etc. All the tapes of static I recorded for EVP were a waste of time, I couldn't listen to them for more than 5 minutes without imagining voices, and any voices I did get seemed to be interference from some russian radio station.

There wasn't really any sleeping arrangements as such, we kind of just arrived back in the octagon room about 5/6 in the morning, sat down and passed out. (which reminds me, item 1 on the plan of action for next time is to bring up some wood and coal before it gets dark )

I guess we should try and have a meet-up before hand, maybe one of 6th's patented Greet&Grubs for whoever'll be close ebough to make it ?

Ziycon

I'd be interested in going, but i'm not 100% sure if i can yet as i have a major college project due the end of April!

tj-music.com

PM me once its a deffo. I would be interested!

stormkeeper

stevenmu wrote:

I guess we should try and have a meet-up before hand, maybe one of 6th's patented Greet&Grubs for whoever'll be close ebough to make it ?

Right away, I'm going to have to say I wouldn't be able to make this sadly...

Reaphoenix

Would love to go but must sort a few things out first....will let you know.

stormkeeper

Reaphoenix wrote:

Would love to go but must sort a few things out first....will let you know.

Sounds cool

Zillah

stevenmu wrote:

Saturday Morning: Arrive at Charleville
Saturday Night : ???
Sunday : Go Home

All the tapes of static I recorded for EVP were a waste of time, I couldn't listen to them for more than 5 minutes without imagining voices, and any voices I did get seemed to be interference from some russian radio station.

I thought you had been recording nothing, as opposed to an empty radio frequency?

stevenmu

Zillah wrote:

I thought you had been recording nothing, as opposed to an empty radio frequency?

No, I'd tuned the radio to static and recorded that. I'd thought that was the proper wy to do it, damned hollywood. I've found out since that recording nothing is the better way of doing it. It'd be a lot easier to check too, after I digitise it all I can just look for activity in the waveforms.

GuanYin

afair recording nothing is the M.O. with EVP.

Zillah

Howso do you digitise it? Or is it as simple as leaving it playing into a microphone over night...?

GuanYin

Zillah wrote:

Howso do you digitise it? Or is it as simple as leaving it playing into a microphone over night...?

I think so.

afaik it's basically done using dictaphones or casette tape recorders. You leave it running. I imagine you can just port it to a PC via a soundcard and lead.

Of course you can get digital dictaphones now.

stevenmu

Exactly, I just ran a line from the headphone socket on the recorder to the line in on the sound card. I expected it to loose some quality, but it didn't seem to loose any that I could notice.

stormkeeper

Right, I've officially got this reserved now, so it's definately on the 15th. I'm going to update the first post with numbers that I've listed as confirmed. If you want to go, you can just post in here, or PM me. If you are not going with someone who hasn't been at an investigation already or you haven't been to the castle, then I'll need you to email or PM me your contact details of an email address and mobile number, as well as your real name. As much as I'd like to call up and ask if I'm speaking to IrishBabe06, I want to be able to keep a straight face while doing it

Nah seriously, I doubt I'd actually have that sort of problem, for many reasons. Anyway, if it turns out that you will not be able to make it, I'd appriciate it if you'd be abe to inform me as soon as possible, so I can keep a list of final numbers. I'll be adding in details on this investigation as time goes on...

If you're coming along, I look forward to seeing you... if I've met you before, I look forward to seeing you again

6th

Wow was i slow to post on this topic - especially seeing as myself and andy sat down and came up with it lol!

Obviously I am in, but here's a bit more info for those who are interested.

1) There will more than likely be a charge for staying in the castle, some people where surprised by this last time but think about it, pretty much free run of an amazing castle! It may be about €30- €40 depending. This will have to be discussed with the castle owners.

2) its 99% that this will be filmed, not for TV, but for documentary reasons on request of the investigation organizers. So if anyone has a problem with being on camera just let us know.

3) Once I have an idea of who's going I will, as Stevenmu said, organize a Greet&Grub™ somewhere in Dublin before the end of March.

There are a lot more details to be hammered out but details will be posted here and on andys site or my site.


Cheers,


6th

stormkeeper

dublin6th wrote:

1) There will more than likely be a charge for staying in the castle, some people where surprised by this last time but think about it, pretty much free run of an amazing castle! It may be about €30- €40 depending. This will have to be discussed with the castle owners.

Just to confirm, I've checked what the prices are and I was told it'd be either 40 or 60 Euro... I need to check my email to see what each option entails and if that includes the 10 Euro "extended actvities fee". If it does, then people at the castle before will be able to do the investigation for 10 Euro less. I can't check my email currently because I can't access gmail from class

stormkeeper

Okay, I'm a little unsure of the prices at the moment, as a 10% reduction was mentioned, meaning that €40 would be €36, and €60 would be €54, so I need to query this a little later on, after I get some feedback from Mark, in case I may have overlooked something that was in plain sight, which I sometimes have a tendancy to do!

Either way, the 15th is a definate.

Edit: Okay, essentially what is going on is this:

"Contribution is 40 euros min. but prefer the model where we share bdinner in big kitchen - this we expect 60 euro"

Also, I'm not completely sure where the 10% reduction comes in just yet, but I'll find out soon enough. Ideally, I'd go for the 60 Euro model as well, as it means that you get a good, healthy meal (as opposed to the junk food we'd end up getting) and we can all have a chat and stuff as well. Once I get a clarification on the 10% reduction, I'll post it here. Next time, I'm going to have to work out a better system for announcements, so I get as much information as possible out for display...

monkeyfudge

The 15th is Easter Weekend by the way.

But I'll put my name forward for another trip too. Want to try and find someone else willing to come along to help shoot the documentary. It will be a lot easier to get something decent out of it this time as I know what to expect of the place.

Also.. there is a benefit gig for Charleville Castle this Friday at Crawdady.

Is anyone planning on attending? It might be another good opportunity to meet up beforehand.

stormkeeper

We're looking at changing it to the 8th or the 22nd instead, though I dunno how many are up for that date. I need to get confirmation off Dudley for the 8th, who I mailed an hour ago. I'll get a response tomorrow, with luck.

Zillah

monkeyfudge wrote:

The 15th is Easter Weekend by the way.

But I'll put my name forward for another trip too. Want to try and find someone else willing to come along to help shoot the documentary. It will be a lot easier to get something decent out of it this time as I know what to expect of the place.

Also.. there is a benefit gig for Charleville Castle this Friday at Crawdady.

Is anyone planning on attending? It might be another good opportunity to meet up beforehand.

I wasn't planning on going but this might have just tipped the balance.

I am a TV production student after all...

So, whats going on with this?

6th

Actually on thinking about it further maybe the original date is perfect! I mean most people have the friday and monday off so its not really losing a weekend. I say we try keep it as is, as long as thats ok with the Castle?

Andy?

stormkeeper

Zillah wrote:

So, whats going on with this?

Waiting for a response, re the 8th of March. Other than that, I can't do anything but keep people informed of developments and work on a few little things here and there.

stormkeeper

dublin6th wrote:

Actually on thinking about it further maybe the original date is perfect! I mean most people have the friday and monday off so its not really losing a weekend. I say we try keep it as is, as long as thats ok with the Castle?

Andy?

lol! Damn you Mark, I just wrote a response!

Anyway, I definately have a confirmation of the 15th of March off Dudley, it's the one on the 8th that I've yet to get confirm. I'll send off an email to cancel the question shall I?

Edit: I think my concept of time is seriously out of whack at the moment, go figure. Anyway, I'll be alright in a few days...

6th

Kennett wrote:

Waiting for a response, re the 8th of March. Other than that, I can't do anything but keep people informed of developments and work on a few little things here and there.

I really hope you mean APRIL!!!!

Anyway Like is aid I'm up for the 15th .... OF APRIL!!!!!

stormkeeper

lol, well I got a confirmation for the 8th (of March ) being okay, but I'll stick with the 15th. Apologies for the confusion.

stormkeeper

dublin6th wrote:

I really hope you mean APRIL!!!!

Anyway Like is aid I'm up for the 15th .... OF APRIL!!!!!

I think I did mean April, hang on. I wasn't in my right mind fully when I typed up the email. According to the email, I just asked for the "8th", so I can see why it would be misunderstood as March!

Anyway, the original date should still be alright as I never actually said the 8th, of April or otherwise, was a definate.


All I can say is, oops! :v:

Edit: Funny how I thought March before I read the email from Dudley. It's said that we're most psychic while we're still trying to wake up!

Zillah

Kennett wrote:

Waiting for a response, re the 8th of March. Other than that, I can't do anything but keep people informed of developments and work on a few little things here and there.

No I meant the documentary.

6th

Zillah wrote:

No I meant the documentary.

Contact MonkeyFudge and see if he'd like to avail of your services. We want the "Doc" crew to be able to float between the group with little fuss and be able to film and conduct mini interviews throughout the night.

6th

monkeyfudge

Shouldn't be any problem at all Zillah. I'd be glad to have the help.

Anyone planning on going to the Charleville fundraiser this evening?

6th

monkeyfudge wrote:

Anyone planning on going to the Charleville fundraiser this evening?

Wish I could make it but its my wifes birthday tomorrow and its a family dinner tonight for me. I hope it gets the attention it deserves though.

stormkeeper

Sadly, I can't go myself, due to lack of funds and the fact that a flight over there would cost a small fortune... lol

Edit: I also hope it gets some good numbers and attention.

Ziycon

myself a 'Rochey' (on the forums but hassnt been on in a while) will go if its the 15th!

Wots the story with wen we arrive and depart, like days? is it we arrive on sat morning and stay over and leave sunday mornin?

stormkeeper

Ziycon wrote:

Wots the story with wen we arrive and depart, like days? is it we arrive on sat morning and stay over and leave sunday mornin?

Pretty much... that's how it works, though you dont have to arrive early in the morning... I'm going to have to put a hold on any more people, till I see how many spaces we have... anyone who has expressed an interest, please now confirm you want to go in the next thread I'm making*!


*Gimme a few to make it, yeah?

6th

One of the things i want to try this time around is automatic writing. I will be making up at least one of these below to try it like the glass tipping.



Anyone any other suggestions?

Just coz people cant go doesnt mean we can do things on their behalf!

6th

stevenmu

I think we also really, really need to get our hands on a few of these






I'm going to have a go at throwing something to that effect together. The way I see it is if I can build a pretty reliable people detector, and then it triggers when not pointed at a person, that's a good indication of something paranormal going on. That's just an idea off the top of my head though, it'll probably turn out to be much harder to do than I think it is.

(also, it wouldn't look anywhere near that cool)

stormkeeper

I think the closest match to a PK meter is an EMF meter, though that doesn't look as cool... lol

PS: Do you have an MSN, Yahoo, Google or AIM ID at all?

6th

stevenmu wrote:

I think we also really, really need to get our hands on a few of these






I'm going to have a go at throwing something to that effect together. The way I see it is if I can build a pretty reliable people detector, and then it triggers when not pointed at a person, that's a good indication of something paranormal going on. That's just an idea off the top of my head though, it'll probably turn out to be much harder to do than I think it is.

(also, it wouldn't look anywhere near that cool)

Jesus Steven - what do you do? Am starting to worry that I know very little about your field of expertise ... are you a crazy scientist? - joke

6th

stormkeeper

I'm just crazy

6th

Ok the great book I am reading at the moent is written by a very experienced and practicle investigator, here is his list of equipment for an investigation:

Notebook and writting utensils
Flashlight
Batteries
Watch
Compass
Electromagnetic field meter
still camera
video camera
tape recorder
Infrared Meter
Dowsing rods
Thermometer
Walkie-Talkies
Mobile phone
Powder and black plastic
Night vision scope
Audio enhancer
Electrostatic generator
strobe light
first aid kit
Drinks (non-alcoholis) and snacks


he gives info on each in the book but does anyone think he's missing anything?

6th

stevenmu

dublin6th wrote:

... are you a crazy scientist?

Not yet, but I can always dream ...

stormkeeper

Hmm...

Notebook and writting utensils - I've plenty, but I may get a new notebook!
Flashlight - Gonna replace
Batteries
Watch - Need to get
Compass - Have one, but may need to get a new one
Electromagnetic field meter - Need a new one...
still camera - I have an APS and Digital
video camera
tape recorder
Infrared Meter
Dowsing rods
Thermometer - I want to get a non-contact thermometer
Walkie-Talkies - Had some, but need to buy replacements or find the original ones
Mobile phone - Who doesn't have this?
Powder and black plastic
Night vision scope
Audio enhancer
Electrostatic generator
strobe light
first aid kit - Back in Ireland
Drinks (non-alcoholis) and snacks - We can go to the shops for these!


I also have a tape measure, two ultrasonic distance measurers and a multimeter. I dunno what's here and what's back in Ireland though. I need a case for all this stuff though, I think... so I don't lose it. I might go back home early to rummage around for the missing stuff so it saves me money!

Edit: I do recall that glowsticks are dead handy for light sources, especially when your torch batteries die... you can get versions that give off from anything up to 30 minutes to 12 hours of light!

Ziycon

i got a video camcorder, digital camera, torch, notebook & pens, tape recorder!

PS he did leave one things out, warm clothes!:D

6th

Ziycon wrote:

i got a video camcorder, digital camera, torch, notebook & pens, tape recorder!

PS he did leave one things out, warm clothes!:D

er .. actually did we not say .... Charleville is a nudiest camp and we have to respect their views ..... kidding! (obviously)

A lighter and warm clothes are added to my list. Ziycon are you a definate? I will be organising drinks before the trip so some people can put faces to names.

6th

Ziycon

Im pretty sure myself and Rochey will be going unless sumting major comes up!

stormkeeper

You won't be seeing me till the actual day of the investigation... I prolly will not be able to make it out for the drinks night.

stormkeeper

Just so you know, I've booked my flight so it's all official!


Anyway, regarding the powder, wouldn't flour work just as well? Also, regarding the audio ennhancer, I have a little toy that claims to be able to pick up conversations from 100 or feet away, whichh I'm going to attempt to hook up to my MD recorder, so it has increased sensitivity and may be able to pick up more sound that way. I'll naturally have to field test it beforehand, but I'll keep you posted with regards to the results. I'm half-tempted to go and see what bargain electronics I can find to constructa device that may or may not help.... it prolly won't be available for this investigation either way...