Leighbeer Tunnel ,Shaugh Prior ,Devon

Subject: Leighbeer Tunnel ,Shaugh Prior ,Devon Fri Sep 26, 2008 6:10 pm

Location:

Leighbeer Tunnel, Shaugh Prior, on the edge of Dartmoor.

Date: 24th September 2008

Time: 02:30pm

Duration of investigation: 1 hour

Investigators:

Ian Wilce (Lead Investigator UK)

General history of the Tunnel:

Leighbeer Tunnel was part of a railway which
linked Plymouth to Tavistock via Yelverton. Work on building the new railway
began during August 1856. Mr Brampton the original engineer died suddenly in
1857 and was replaced by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.The official opening of the
South Devon & Tavistock Railway took place on June 21st 1859. Stations were
provided at Bickleigh, Horrabridge and Tavistock, all of which opened to
traffic on June 22nd 1859. Marsh Mills Station was opened in 1861. The line was
closed to passengers in the 1962 and totally closed in 1966. Most of the route
from Marsh Mills to Yelverton, including Leighbeer tunnel, is a cycle/walking
path.

These are some of the theories about the hauntings in the tunnel

A little boy near a small side tunnel
A small man with a tall hat muttering „It´s not finished!“ and „They haven´t
got it right!“. The medium from into the night says, that it´s the spirit
of Brunel, who is inspecting the tunnel, not being satisfied with the
work.
The spirit of a man, who fell of a train, lost his arm and died of bloodloss
The spirit of a soldier named Henry Ellicott or Endacott, who came home from
war and found his fiancee married to someone else. He was so sad, that he
committed suicide. The medium from Into the Night reports, that she send
him to the light, because he was lost and missed his mother dearly.
The spirit of a young girl, who´s not communicating
The spirit of a sprightly old man named Arthur Pearson or Peterson, who
appears to be in a ragged state, with long uncombed hair, claiming money
that is still owed to him.
The image of a young girl hanging near the arch of the entrance, described as
1900´s type of apperance
The most impresive report is that of a bullyish, broad man, accompanied by a
big, nasty looking dog, which is hard to hold back by it´s owner. This man
is supposed to be a former foreman during the building works of the
tunnel. He doesn´t like people being there and asks them to leave or go
back to work. He makes clear, what he would like to do to the female
members of the team, obviously not very nice things. When he´s there, the
atmospere is thick and oppressive, almost choking. He appers to be mostly
near the bend of the tunnel.This man also hold other spirits back from
communicating. He also semms to push people hard.
There are several reports, not only from investigators, of people being pushed,
even that hard, that they fell off their bikes and of footsteps being
heard.

Preliminary report:

I started out at Shaugh Prior as the tunnel is not accessable from the road at the point where the tunnel starts, it's about a 15 min walk from the main road to the tunnel , on the public footpath which runs from Marsh mills to Shaugh Prior which covers about 15 miles there is no lighting , so this is really only a way that is used during the day so an evening investigation is ideal.

The tunnel is about a half a mile long and bends in the middle when you are standing in the middle it is not possible to see the ends of the tunnel , by taking about 10 paces to the left you can then see the left entrance and 10 paces the other way then you can see the other entrance.

There is quite a bit of water dripping from the ceiling so it makes it a bit difficult to make out whether the noises in there are caused by the dripping water or footsteps

In the tunnel itself there are small light units but they are not giving off much light just enough so that you can see the ground and a bit of the ceiling , these lights are placed at 30 yard intervals , these lights have been installed because there have been so many reports of people being pushed off their bikes or just being pushed that authorities thought people were hiding in there and jumping out on people , but as soon as the lights were installed and running these incidents carried on .

Basic readings:

EMF:

Light units positioned in the tunnel were giving off 0,6 milligauss otherwise there were no other sources of EMF present

Temp:

I had a constant temp of 12 degrees and no change whatsoever and a light easterly wind which meant that some wind was entering the tunnel but that didn't make much of a difference .

I walked through the full length of the tunnel and conducted an EVP ( Electric voice phenomina) , I did not get any results with the first one so I carried on walking through to the other end of the tunnel to see what the other end was like, there I conducted another EVP where I thought that I had heard a bang after asking a couple of questions which included asking if he is the person who is pushing people of their bikes, after hearing the results of the EVP I was able to hear a definate bang .

EVP Bang after the question

I took some random pictures of the tunnel but it was a bit difficult because of the light conditions so just took some pictures of the entrance instead to give an idea of what the tunnel looks like .

I then went straight to the middle of the tunnel to conduct another EVP and now it started to get interesting , I asked a few questions again “ who he or she is , and whether he has fun pushing people off their bikes” and so on but I didn´t seem to get any results so leaving the recording device running I tried to take a few pictures and then i heard a voice , now this voice was loud enough so that I was able to hear it with my own ears .

At this point I took steps to the left and to the right until I was able to see both entrances so that I could be certain that nobody had entered the tunnel and there were no people in the tunnel or anywhere near it and at this point one of the side lights was being blocked out which means somebody had to in there blocking it out , so I decided to make my way to the light always keeping my eyes on it as I got about 20 yards away from the light whatever was blocking it moved to the left and the light was visible again, but the direction in which it moved would have meant that it must move into a solid wall which was an interesting thought .

EVP Background

I carried on asking questions and took the chance to provoke a little , but I didn´t seem to get any answers , so I made my way back to the entrance leaving the recording device running at the same time , afterwards I listened to the results and then I realised that I had got a couple of good reactions in the tunnel.

EV Whisper
EVP Weezing sound

So to come to a conclusion I think that this needs further investigating and I am convinced that we will get some more good results next time .

Guest

Hi
this sounds like a very intresting place Ian....looking at the pic it would be a good investigation....would we need to get clearance to do it?
looks as if gps is getting some go events at the mo
im in if it goes a head
phil

Subject: Re: Leighbeer Tunnel ,Shaugh Prior ,Devon Sat Sep 27, 2008 5:34 pm

Hi Phil

No we don't need any permission for this one it's on a public footpath and cycle path , and the good thing is because it's in the middle of no where it's a place that is not used or visited at night so we will definatly be on our own.

greets
Ian

Guest

Hi Ian
well this is a must then a good chance for the team to do a very intense ivestigation there..
We would have all the time we need if thats the case and a follow up investiagtion if the fist one shows good resutles would be great
ive read your report 3 times now and by all account by the list of spirits...that seem to have been reported we should stand a good chance of getting somthing really intresting. maybe early next year....?....or you may want to wait for better weather? ...summer?...09?
Like i said im in for this one.
phil

Guest

Excellent report Ian, Very Happy

I shall add this preliminary report to the website and include the very interesting and creepy EVP's....

After you and the S.West team complete your first investigation there, I would like to make arrangements to come and visit with a select small team to accompany you again. (Obviously depends on the success of the first)

Nice work mate, and I can't wait to see the results the full investigation.

Cool

Guest

HI IAN
On the whiper evp and ive lisened to it over and over and im 100% sure somone or somthing is saying " go away im scared"
you can lisen to it but im sure of this..or am i wrong?
phil

Subject: Re: Leighbeer Tunnel ,Shaugh Prior ,Devon Mon Sep 29, 2008 6:53 pm

Hi Phil

well the first bit with "go away" i would say your right , but the second part sounds as though it´s not very nice simon pointed this out and i agree with him it sounds like "go away you wan.er and the letter that is missing is a k .

simon had a look when this word started to be used and is was around the forties which matches with one of the spirits that is supossed to roam the tunnels and thats a second world war soldier who took his own life there after coming home from war and finding that girlfriend had married another man .

greets
ian

Guest

i liked the sound of this one straight away, n ur right about the EVP, like Phil i would be interested in attending this investigation if it goes ahead. sounds as tho its regardless if its eve or day, if this is the case cldnt we do it early eve n go on to do another investigation later in the eve, it wldnt be impossible i wouldnt have thought, especially as there seems to be quite abit of activity around the county.

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