Notes from Team one

Thermometers were set-up at both ends of the Public house trigger objects were set up on the stage and a recorder was set up on the stage to record any EVP'S (Electronic Voice Phenomena). A night vision camera was set-up on the stage to record team members sat at a near by table. The camera would keep going out of focus for no apparent reason while recording the team. Mick showed Domonic and girlfriend the equipment we used and what it was used for. Mick also took various random picture around the pub while Brenda and Richard investigated the psychic energies. The upstairs pub was playing havoc with any equipment requiring batteries. While Richard was filming the side of the stage near the speakers both he and Brenda thought they saw something move in this area. Richard went of to film the back of the stage, while Richard was filming Brenda saw something move halfway between a chair and a chair ( a orb was seen on video footage in this area at that time). Richard called Brenda to the back of the stage because he said he saw something moving, both Richard and Brenda thought they saw something moving though the gap of and underneath the door leading to the dressing room. There was a distinct cold spot at the back of the stage and a slight difference in temperature. Brenda and Richard entered the dressing room to investigate both thought they saw someone walk across the room from the flat to the stage area. On investigating the flat they felt a strange atmosphere in the bedroom area. Back in the main bar area orbs were witnessed every one then entered the dressing room area. While in the dressing room area Brenda picked up on a man with light brown or tan trousers with bracers work shoes/ boots cream shirt and Cap, he walked from the flat to the stage area. This man has also been witnessed by staff members. Brenda also picked up on a girl who had lost the lower parts of her legs and was in great distress and suffering from shock. Back in the flat Richard and Brenda picked up on lots of spirit energies including the same girl which was a lot stronger. In the dressing room Brenda described what the room looked like in the past with dark wallpaper red and brown with a lighter beige pattern and upturned gas mantles. She also felt there was a bar across the corner of the stage to flat. She also picked up on a man rolling barrels from the flat towards the front stage, in the past behind the bar barrels had been lined up with tap directly into them. Brenda visited the ladies where she witnessed a sickly sweet smell and a oppressive feeling . She also witnessed exceptionally cold area in front of the fire exit leading to the flat. While discussing the flat the team all agreed on a very strong feeling of depression in the bedroom and lots of fluctuations of temperatures in the flat and dressing room. While having a break around midnight Mick tried to take a picture of Gaz near the stage on the first attempt the batteries died the second attempt with new batteries also died, a few minutes later using the same batteries else ware Mick successfully took a picture of Gaz.

Séance in the bedroom

While sitting in a circle for the Séance Brenda asked for any spirits present to give us a sign that they were there. We all sat quietly for a while, Mike and Brenda saw something behind Mick at that point Mick’s mobile started ringing after the séance Mick checked to see who had called but the last person who called was his brother on dec 28th no other calls had been received. When every one was quite there was a bang in the living room followed by further quieter bangs. Camera kept going out of focus again especially when Brenda was in trance. Richard picked up on a young woman, Mike and Brenda thought she might be a teenager. When we joined hands and started building up the energy Mick started getting static in his hair, Mike and Brenda saw a light and shadow behind Dawn who was sat in front of them. Brenda Channelled a young girl who was very distressed and in pain called Ann Marie, She also picked up on a name Thomas Riley which she believed was the girls fathers name. There were also orbs recorded during the séance, Mike felt at some time the building had been damaged.

Down Stairs

Mick went down to the small room and gents toilets while filming and recorded a door banging when no one was around. In the downstairs bar area Brenda picked up on a man and woman, the women had dyed black hair and a chest condition pleurisy or pneumonia before she died. Richard saw movement towards the end of the bar near the entrance. Brenda went down stairs and saw movement in the small room. When we checked the trigger objects a glass fell to the ground on it own. Both trigger objects had moved these were two coin on a piece of paper which had been drawn around, one coin on each piece of paper had moved approx 2mm. Nothing was found on the EVP recording.

List of Experiences handed to us by Chris's Wife at the end of the Investigation.
1 Hand driers in gents toilets going off on it own
2 Fan assisted ovens in flat switching it self on and off
3 Foot steps often heard in area from side of stage into dressing room
4 People touched by something in area between mixing desk and dressing room 3 people experienced this.
5 A figure in pale trousers and brown shoes as been seen by at least 3 people in different areas upstairs and down only from the knees down though.
6 A figure seen walking into the display cabinet at the bottom of venue-we don't know if there's a old stair case behind the cabinet that leads down stairs.
7 2year old Alicia talking about 'boardwalk May' stood at side of stage on flat side. This happens on numerous occasions
8 Figure seen on stage during a performance two weeks ago sat on drum riser.
9 Doors opening and closing on there own
10 Strong smell of cigar smoke on two occasions back stage
11 Very oppressive atmosphere occasionally
12 Staff talking about ghostly happening one night after a show a glass smashed in kitchen behind bar.
13 Cook downstairs got so used to something touching her in the kitchen she had a name for him.
14 Downstairs bar owner saw figure in cellar walking towards loading door.

Notes from Team two
Upon arriving and on first walkthrough Mike experienced a
great deal of energy in the area behind the speakers to the right of main room
upstairs, and around the rear of the stage area, Again a great deal of energy was felt in
the first dressing room. The walkthrough then progressed to lower bar area
and cellar, the activity downstairs was spread out considerably but seemed
to have most energy to the bottom left corner of seating area in lower bar
and also in the small room down near the gents toilets, The small room
contained a chair and a small toy horse and had a distinctive energy Mike also
got the feeling that the room had been a through way to the now bar area
previously. Incidentally the small room backed onto the corner of the lower
bar where most activity took place.
We, as a team, started our investigation downstairs in the bar area where we set up two Chinese coins on some paper and drew around their outlines to get a starting
position, so we could measure any movement at the end of the evening, These coins
were placed on the back service area of the downstairs bar and not touched again until the end of the evening. (When the coins were checked at the end of the evening one of them had moved about 2mm to the left).
We also set up a thermometer on the bar area to record the overall temperature of
the room .The first reading was taken a little after 10.00pm and was at 13.6 degrees,
we then checked this temperature periodically. The temperature noted at 11.00pm was 12.7 degrees and at the end of the night it was 12.5 degrees.
The team explored the area individually. Mike investigated the small room at the back near the gents toilets, where he experienced a flash of light in the small room and
the closing of the gent’s toilet door, Mike returned to the team to ask if anyone had
just passed through a door and no one had. The next anomaly the team encountered
was at around 10.25 pm when there was a temperature drop of 4 degrees in the
left hand side of the kitchen area. EMF readings were taken of this area although
no vast changes were measured.
Shortly after the temperature change in kitchen area the whole team
experienced a sound of a door moving and also a sound similar to wet
footsteps coming from the area around the barrel room and kitchen entrance. Although
on further investigation no Emf readings or temperature change could be noted.
We contacted the 1st team (upstairs) to make sure that the noises we heard had not been made by any of them, they confirmed that no one had entered that area.
Photos were taken by both Steve and Gaz showing orbs around the bar
area and the seating area to the bottom left of the lower bar.
At 11.15pm Mike picked up on a man sat in the corner area to the lower left ,
the man was average height and dressed in cream or beige shirt. We
used an infra red thermometer to measure a fall in temperature over the next 1-2
minutes, while the ‘spirit’ was present the temperature in the that area dropped from the room temperature of 13 degrees down to 0 degrees and then rose again. Throughout this period of time the room temperature remained the same at 12.7 degrees.
After noting this temperature change the team went down to the small room by the gent’s toilet. Whilst in this room they measured the temperature and found that in the chair itself the temperature was 8 degrees lower than in the rest of the room.

At 11.45pm there was another presence in the corner of the main room. This time it was
a man and a woman. The woman had shoulder length dark hair and was sat
hunched over, with her back to the corner of the room, Meanwhile Steve
measured a drop of temperature of 12 degrees from 12.7 degrees to 0-
degrees. Just before we were joined by John the two rows of small glasses on the bar shook briefly although no one was near them.
Throughout the evening video footage and photographs were taken which will be
examined fully and reports and images of anomalies will be both documented
and provided.

A brief History of the Premises

The Boardwalk, pub situated in Sheffield City Centre has  a reputation of attracting some excellent bands. There has been a ‘Black Swan’ pub in Snig Hill since the 1700's but started off at No.1 and moved up the road to its present location.
 
Transcript of the entry of "professions and trades"
for SHEFFIELD in Baines's Directory and Gazetteer Directory of 1822.
List of Streets, &c. in Sheffield, in 1700,
Crich John, victualler, Black Swan Inn, Snighill
 
Transcript of the entry of "professions and trades"
for SHEFFIELD in Pigot's Directory of 1834.
Miscellany of trades
Inns,
Black Swan, Samuel Crich, 2 Snig hill
 
Durind WWII  Sheffield had 130 air raid alerts .
On 12 December 1940 was the 'Sheffield blitz'. The bombs dropped for NINE HOURS!!!! in 16 air raids. a third Sheffield  city centre was destroyed in that one night.
During the night there were 30,000 incendiary bombs, 50 parachute mines and 1,200 high explosive bombs dropped on the city. Afterwards it was impossible to travel through the city centre as most main roads were blocked with huge piles of smouldering rubble.
Fourteen trams were destroyed. The Black Swan also took a serious hit, the pub suffered damage, but continued to trade as a single storey pub.
Soon after the pub was completely rebuilt with a concert room. It became a mecca for local bands in the 60s. During the seventies and early eighties, it was THE place to be. It used to be called the BLACK SWAN and, indeed, had an 8 foot statue of a swan in flight outside its front doors that was placed there after its rebuild. In the  early eighties the pubs name was changed to The Complete Angler, but under pressure to change it back, the management gave in and renamed it 'The Mucky Duck' (This is what it was always known as in Sheffield, as this is slang for Black Swan).
In 1996 or 7, Herbie Armstrong and his partners reopened the pub as a modern music venue known as "the Boardwalk". Herbie was a relatively well known musician, who appeared in  the charts in the 70s with the song "Please let me stay", and played guitar with Van Morrison. His friend  was the guy who wrote "Under The Boardwalk", and that's why they used the name for the venue.

There is a book you should still be able to get hold of called "Then and now, the Sheffield Blitz, Operation Crucible" by Alistair Lofthouse, ISBN 190158709-6. It's full of anecdotes about the blitz with photos of the damage with a photo of each place as it is today. There's also a map at the end showing where many of the bombs landed. If you go to the Local Studies Library, they also have a captured German Luftwaffe target map used by the bombers showing the areas they were aiming for. It's interesting to compare the target map with the one of where the bombs actually landed! There is a book called 1939 - 1945 Sheffield at war. It was published in 1948
That  shows  pictures of places hit by bombs in sheffield and it also contains a map of where all the known bombs landed. It is 78 pages long so and full of  stories so you can imagine the damage that was caused.