maritime museum2

Investigation Report

Scottish Maritime Museum, Irvine 2nd Investigation - 26th January 2008

(Linthouse Engine Shop)

In attendance were:-

Ian McCallum - WOSPR Founder

Alison McCallum - WOSPR Co-Founder

Susan Cocozza - Investigator

Tommy Miller - Investigator

Vince Cocozza - Investigator

History of the Linthouse Engine Shop

The Linthouse Engine Shop was built in 1872 based on the designs of Naval Architect John Frederick Spencer. The original building was added to with various extensions during the next hundred years or so until it was finally dismantled brick-by-brick in 1988. It was then transported from Govan, Glasgow down to Irvine, Ayrshire and rebuilt brick-by-brick in 1991.

The total floor surface area is approximately 3716 square metres (40,000 square feet).

Investigative Report

We arrived for a second investigation at the Maritime Museum in less than ideal weather as there had been high winds all day. Our main aim of this investigation was to see if we could corroborate some of the feelings that we have on our previous investigation with some hard evidence (video, audio, etc).

After arriving and making ourselves known to Stuart the security guard, we lost no time in unpacking the equipment and started getting set up for the night’s investigation. This investigation was going to be different in several ways to the last one that we did here as we’d be staying longer and using a lot more equipment. In fact we were planning on using 2 DVR systems and 6 CCTV cameras, compared to 1 DVR system and only 2 CCTV cameras the previous investigation..

Whilst myself, Tommy and Vince set up the various pieces of equipment, Alison and Susan set about recording various baseline measurements – namely ambient temperature, EMF and relative humidity. We record these statistics so that we can eliminate and environmental variable from the equation – we always look for the non-paranormal before anything else.

During the initial baseline tests, Susan reported hearing something like a musical tune near to the figureheads. This was interesting as she’d previously reported something similar during the previous investigation roughly in the same area.

The equipment set up too longer than I’d hoped, but to be honest I’d underestimated the time we’d need for setting up each CCTV camera. The six camera locations were as follows:-

Pointing at the lifeboat bow area
Looking down towards the offices area
Towards the front door area.
The Irvine Boat builders area (wireless)
Bottom on the lathe/machine area looking towards the figureheads and beyond
Other side of lifeboat looking towards the cabin

Due to the distances covered by some of the CCTV cameras, we had to use longer extension cables for two of the cameras and one of the cameras was fitted with a 2.4GHz wireless converter.

After Alison and Susan returned from doing the baseline tests, it was time to get the investigation underway. Alison would lead the first half of the investigation, then swap over with me so that I could lead the second half. This being the case, I took my turn at watching the DVR systems setup at our base.

Whilst at the DVR system looking at the bright LCD monitor, my eyes were drawn to both the left and right of me. This was a psychological effect that made me think there was movement on both sides of me. The contrast of the bright LCD monitor and the darkness being the contributing factor in all of this.

Alison’s Narrative

With the constant noise of sails and rigging rattling in the wind we moved past the figureheads, stopping off at the Irvine Boat Builders display, we decided where to go next. We moved nearer to the small fibreglass boat where Susan reported feeling dizzy and thought she had saw something. After sometime with no more obvious occurrences, we moved on again.

Moving back round to the figureheads area and onto the Machine Pits, this area felt colder than other areas – even though it didn’t register on the environmental meter. I felt as if someone was watching us at this point.

We now moved onto the Ship Models area where Ian rejoined us and Tommy took on the DVR responsibilities.

As I joined the investigation at this point, things turn more interesting… Susan reports someone standing behind her and after a few seconds she feels as if someone has pulled on the back of her jacket. No-one was near Susan at this time, the nearest person being me but at a distance of 2-3 feet away (1 metre). I was being filmed by Alison at this point and we have no visual record of Susan having her jacket tugged. Shortly after this incident, Vince was commenting on the light/dark aspects of the building that we were investigating, namely she darkness inside and the street lights pouring in their light from outside. Always “on the ball”, Vince alludes to the psychological effects this maybe having upon us. Not long after this, something like a ship’s bell or clanking metals can be heard in the background on the camcorder – even though at the time we heard nothing.

Time was moving on, so did we – this time near to the figureheads. Poor Vince had a sudden headache caused in his opinion by turning too quickly. Susan thought she heard a voice that sounded like it came over a Tannoy™, Vince also thought he heard voices from outside. This may well have been as we were near some residential properties.

After a short time here we moved back to the base to get some more equipment. At this point Susan took over at the DVR systems. Vince, Tommy and myself wandered over to the customer services area, then further on. I realised that I’d caught a comic relief moment on video, namely three grown men standing outside a ladies toilet in the dark with NightShot camcorders! At the office area, Alison told us that she was taking over the DVR systems now and that Susan would be joining us momentarily.

At one of the exhibits (a wooden cabin), we waited for Susan to join us. My two-way radio had died on me due to the low temperatures affecting the batteries. After finally getting the radio to briefly work again, Alison told me that I’d got the wrong date on the DVR system – 2009, instead of 2008. Shortly after this radio message, I thought I heard a female voice in the distance, but upon reflection I now believe it was just the high winds outside.

We moved towards where we thought the sound may have come from, namely towards the figureheads area. When we arrived hear, we thought we heard a slight “beeping” noise in the distance, also there was a faint smell of burning too. Moving towards the Irvine Boat Builders display, we stood and observed for a brief time before retiring for a longish coffee break due to the all encompassing cold.

Once the break was concluded we returned to the investigation at hand. Alison was back on DVR duties and we headed back to the Irvine Boat Builders display to try some EVP work despite the earlier high winds. After a few minutes in one of the rooms we decided to move through to the next room as we didn’t seem to be having any results. After a short while, we noticed that there had been a temperature drop of 1.4°C within the space of 3½ minutes. This may well have been due to the prevailing weather conditions and wind chill factor can’t be ruled out.

We left this area and made our way back to the base to speak with Alison. She reported hearing whispers in a female voice behind her position at the base, but she also said this could have been the wind too.

Time for one final sweep of the place before we called it a night. Returning to the area where Susan said she felt touched earlier, I brought along the digital voice recorder with me. I thought I’d seen movement on my left hand side, but it was just the reflection of my legs in a plastic display case! We walked slowly back past the base area after not much happening.

Standing at the Canoe area, I had a vague sense of someone standing behind me. Tommy and Susan also felt this, but nothing was captured on tape. I also thought I heard a voice, but again nothing was recorded. A short but uneventful EVP session followed. With very little happening and the temperature dropping, it was time to finish up for the night and end the investigation.

Results:

Baseline test results were as follows: - Maximum temperature of 12.1°C at the start of the investigation falling to a low of 7.8°C. The relative humidity ranged between a maximum of 88% and a low of 66%. There was a reading of 0mG throughout most areas of the investigation, except at the Irvine Boat Builders area (2mG), Small fibreglass boat (3mG) and finally the Machine Pits (5mG).

No video anomalies were detected.

Only one anomalous sound was captured during the investigation. Due to the high winds outside, we were unable to run any prolonged EVP experiments. This sound reminded me of a ship's bell or metal clanking together, but it may have been something ordinary caused by the wind, even though we felt no wind or draughts inside there were some getting into the building somewhere (probably up in the high roofline) as we heard sails and rigging blowing about all night.

Anomalous Sound

Anomalous Sound Amplified

Conclusion… With no video evidence and one anomalous sound, this location is far from haunted.. All of us had personal experiences, but without hard evidence we have to put these down to environmental and psychological factors.

Investigation Video