Arrival

Clapham Woods is well known for having activity to do with witchcraft and various other dark arts.  It is not a safe place to be (apparently) on certain nights of the year, and so we were very careful not to draw attention to ourselves. Because of the expanse of the area, we didn't do an initial walk around.  I have been to the woods previously with a few friends to do a walk about with the dogs, during the daytime, and so there was a certain area which I very much wanted to go back to on this investigation - The open field with the big dips in it!

 

As we walked towards our first point on investigation, I became very aware of someone walking behind us.  I was last in the line, and perhaps this was purely because of this, but I was more and more aware that this was quite a tall, slim man.  I did feel that he had something to do with the church and felt more that he was there to protect me more than any type of uneasy feeling.  I did feel that he had died of un-natural causes and only within the past 20 years (at the most).  Just as we arrived at the Oak Tree, I asked another member of the group to take a photo over my shoulder, as he was standing there.  I asked him to smile for the camera and the orb we got was very big!  See the gallery to view this photograph.

 

Oak Tree

I was not aware of much activity in a paranormal sense at this spot.  My gentleman left me at the oak tree as he would not come into the close area of it.  He did, however, join me again for the rest of the evening once we had left this area!  There were certain things I picked up about rituals which had taken place around the tree.  I am aware that certain groups even today do rituals in this area, but this would go way way back in time as well. 

 

I could sense the area had been close to a type of settlement, with men, women and children all quite scantily clad in cloth.  I was also very aware of a type of clay mud, whether they used this with the wood to help make their homes, I am not too sure.  I didn't feel that the area would have been so surrounded by trees at the time as well.

 

Coming more forwards in time, I felt that this tree had been used to hang people, probably around the 1700's or even more recently.  Another member of the group also suggested this and we both agreed on the same branch as well.  (So perhaps more recently as well?)

 

With the more modern rituals over the past 50 to 100 years I feel as if there is an area to the left of the tree and behind which is more of the preparation area - so to speak - before embarking upon the area beneath the tree itself.

 

Open Field

This was the area I was very much more interested in visiting on this evening.  Me and another couple of members had decided to head towards one of the dips, when the majority of the rest of the group decided to join us.  The second you walked into the dip you could feel people watching you. I became very aware of this being a burial place.  The feel of bones and flesh beneath the feet.  I did feel like this was a burial pit and various people had been thrown down there, this could easily have been a plague pit, but I am just assuming that from the feelings I was given. 

 

As I looked up to my left I could see a lady and a young girl of around 6 years old at the top.  The young girl had on a white dress and the young lady was around 23 years old with a slim dress.  She was very slim in figure.  The young girl was dancing around and full of energy. Somebody else within the group also sense this young person.  Someone else also noticed a gentleman who came down the side of the pit towards me and stood behind me. 

 

I never once felt ill at ease down there, just great sorrow. Once again there were no lights or noises to report.  s we walked away from the dip across the field, one person reported the feeling of being chased across the field by a number of people.  When we turned to look back I saw something I have never seen before, or since.  There was a white light which shone up from where we had just been standing straight up into the sky. Everyone who was present saw this amasing light.

 

Wooded pathway

On our way to the field with the dips in it, I and one other became aware of a strange presence. It was in the same spot as I had seen a small dwarf type figure run behind a log when I had been out during the daytime previously.  It was not me who stopped here, but another in group who said they could feel something strange which made them leave the area quickly.  Upon returning to the area we were both aware of small people darting around behind the trees. These are what I would assume to be called wood nymphs, or fairies.  I was almost as if they ran straight through you and then back behind trees.  All very fast!

 

Wooded area

As we headed to an area of trees near to the churchyard I became aware of a young gentleman of about 22 following behind us.  At one certain point in the pathway one of the group stopped and felt that they could feel a man had been buried in a shallow pit nearby. We went into the trees to try and find any clues, but there was nothing to report.  We returned to the path, and a short while further on, I wanted to stop and search another area.  As I went into the trees and just about to reach the point I was interested in, there was a loud stomp on the ground right beside me.  I have to say this made me jump and run back to the path extremely quickly.  I felt threatened straight away - something very unusual for me on investigations.  Another member of the group entered the trees in the same place, without being told what had happened and she too experienced the same thing.  I asked one of the men of the group to then go in and I followed.  As we got to the same point, although there was not the same thud, another member of the group was sure they saw a dark shadow of an adult running away behind the trees.  Was there something there which doesn't want to be found out??

 

Church

There was not a lot to report in the churchyard of a paranormal sense.  Another medium within the group was getting a feeling of being lead by the had to a certain a place.  I instructed her to follow and go with it.  She went back around the church and to a tree.  She said it was an elderly lady who's grave had been lost in the undergrowth beneath the tree.  When I pulled out a lot of the ivy and shrubs from under there, there was her grave!  And she also said the same name as was the initial written on the gravestone - I do hope she is a little happier that we have uncovered her stone once again.

 

Conclusion

This was a very interesting investigation. Some good orbs were caught on camera, some strange feelings felt.  The most interesting points to note was the light which shone from the ground to the sky where we had been conducting a light séance in the dip in the field; and the thud heard in the woods whenever a female approached a certain point.

Would love to re-visit to see if we get the same paranormal events occur.