The Pied Bull Hotel is situated within the walls of the historic Roman City of Chester. Reputed to be the oldest licensed house in Chester. The pub dates from 1155 and today the interior reflects its distinctive heritage. The pub also houses an original handmade staircase dating from 1533. Serving traditional pub fayre throughout the day, the Pied Bull is popular with locals and tourists alike. There is a facsimile of an old notice board outside the venerable Pied Bull Inn (right), a former coaching inn, showing the miles to various distant locations: London 198, Worcester 85, Ludlow 68, Bristol 180 and Bath 185 miles. The Pied Bull was the subject of an investigation by the TV show Whines and Spirits, which is presented by Most Haunted's Karl Beattie and Stuart Torevell. Ghosts are said to haunt the 12 rooms, and the pub's cellar is said to be spookiest place, with staff refusing to even venture down there!

Group members attending this investigation Andrea, Kate, Mike, Lorraine and Jim The Investigation Night vision cameras had been set up throughout the Inn to hopefully catch any paranormal activity that might occur during the night's investigation.

With all the lights switched off the group started the investigation. We began the investigation in bedroom 9 on the second floor, bedroom 9 was a very large room with dark wooden panels on the walls, and a large open fireplace, and it was an ideal room to perform a seance. The group called out for any spirit or spirits in the room to make contact with us while we performed the seance, within minutes tapping sounds could be heard in the corner of the room and then noises started to emanate from around the entrance to the room, everyone thought that someone was coming in through the door but no one appeared, one of the group jumped up quickly and checked the landing area, but it was completely empty. The groups medium picked up on a women who gave her name as Charity, a small plump woman with dark hair and flushed cheeks, she later gave her Surname as Grimsditch. This lady had worked at the Pied Bull alongside her husband Richard who apparently was the Landlord of the Inn around the 1570's. She was also responsible for the paranormal activity that had been experienced in bedroom 8 by many people staying at the Inn over the years.

The K2 meter was used and when we asked Charity to come up to the table and affect the meter it lit up the lights, when we asked for her to stop the meter stopped lighting up, we would ask for her to start affecting it again and it immediately lit up again, it appeared that we were being given answers to the questions ask of her. The group then moved down into the cellar, the visual anomalies seen included a green spec of light that flashed across the cellar wall on two occasions and an orange light that flashed on and off very quickly in an alcove, yet on inspection there was no bulb or source to explain what had caused the orange flash. Again the medium entered the cellar and told the group that a former Landlord by the name of John Davies was haunting the area of the cellar he had allegedly fallen down the stairs while holding a knife that he had been using to cut sacking.

The knife had penetrated his left side and he had passed away at the bottom of the stairs. The date given was approximately the early part of the 17th century, either 1608 or 1609. The group moved to the bar area to do table tipping and perform a seance. Apart from a slight vibration and slight movement the table tipping wasn't successful however another spirit by the name of Edward Davies came through during another seance. Edward was a man that looked after the horses when the building was a working Coaching Inn, he had died in a fire that had ravaged the Inn and he gave the date of 1784 as the date of the fire, apparently he had been responsible for the fire when he took a lighted candle to bed and it had set fire to the straw bedding in the room.

Another spirit came through and said he was also a Landlord at the Inn in the 1790's in fact he was the first Landlord after the fire, and the Surname he gave was John Dennil he ran the Inn with his wife and the name that came through for his wife was Charlotte and a second Christian name that came through for her by another group member was Rosalie. The group decided to finish the investigation with the Ouija Board to see if any of the spirits that had made contact with us throughout the night wanted to continue to make contact with us before we left.

Allegedly the spirit of John Davies from the cellar came through again on the board and claimed that he had been stabbed on the stairs and it was no accident. A date of 28th August 1784 was given for the date of the fire. John Dennil claimed that it took two years for the building to be repaired and refurbished before it was re-opened. It was also claimed that there was yet another fire at the Pied Bull in1919 which had started in the attic room, and the Inn had closed for a further twelve months while repair work had been carried out. We finally asked 'How many spirits are grounded and actually haunt the Pied Bull?' The answer that came back using the Planchette was 'Four spirits are grounded' which included one woman, who we assumed was Charity who walks the bedroom areas on the upper floors, and all the other spirits only return in visitation.

The conclusion Another excellent night's investigation and a lot of good information and plenty of names for our Historian to research.

During the night we had experienced a number of unexplained occurrences especially in bedroom 9 and in the cellar with all the light anomalies we had witnessed.

The Pied Bull is definitely haunted. We would like to thank the Landlord and staff at The Pied Bull the opportunity of investigating one of the most haunted Inns in Chester and we all look forward to returning in the future.

The Black Cat Superstitions Black cats are considered very unlucky in the European and European-American traditions. Among Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavian people, it is said that one sets out on a journey and a black cat crosses the road ahead, one's only safe course of action is to turn back and return home. Tales of shape-shifting black cats and black cats who are in communication with the Devil are also a feature of European folk-belief. Concomitant with these negative feelings about black cats is the notion that they are particularly favoured as witches' familiars -- hence their almost universal use on Halloween decorations. In bright contrast to this image of the "evil" black cat, there is a "good" black cat -- the antinomian lucky black cat of the African-American sporting and gambling world. This black cat does double-duty as a representative of the black arts (including the granting of invisibility and the return of lost love) and as a bringer of money luck. Some Black Cat superstitions:  If a black cat crosses your path it is lucky, because the evil has passed by and not harmed you.  To own a black cat is lucky. 'It is lucky to keep or touch some fur of a black cat.  To wear black cat charms and brooches is lucky.  It is unlucky to meet a black cat that turns away from you.  To chase a black cat away or turn it out of the house is unlucky.

In the 15th century when witch-hunting was at its height, the massacre of thousands of women and cats was excused as a way to cast out evil spirits. A common belief among many pagan religions was that witches took the form of cats at sundown. It has been recorded that in the year 1718 a William Montgomery of Cathiness alleged that hundreds of cats gathered outside his house nightly, and spoke in human language. He claimed that he killed two of them and awoke the next morning to the news that two of the area's old women were mysteriously found dead in their beds. By the 17th century, the cat once again gained favour by virtually saving Europe from the ravages of the great plague by controlling the rat population. In 1822 the first anti-cruelty law to protect animals was passed in Britain. It was said that every cat should be given two names; a country rhyme states 'One for a secret, one for a riddle, name puss twice and befuddle the devil'.

This saying was based on the belief that one person could gain power and ascendancy over another simply by knowing his or her real name; by giving the household cat two names, one for common use and one secret and never revealed to outsiders, the pet which had the run of the household could be protected from becoming a tool of evil or of outside infiltration. Just think of a black cat slinking through the shadows in the dead-of-night, only the chilling glare of green eyes giving him away - spooky or what! In the 15th century when witch-hunting was at its height, the massacre of thousands of women and cats was excused as a way to cast out evil spirits.

A common belief among many pagan religions was that witches took the form of cats at sundown. It has been recorded that in the year 1718 a William Montgomery of Cathiness alleged that hundreds of cats gathered outside his house nightly, and spoke in human language. He claimed that he killed two of them and awoke the next morning to the news that two of the area's old women were mysteriously found dead in their beds. By the 17th century, the cat once again gained favour by virtually saving Europe from the ravages of the great plague by controlling the rat population. In 1822 the first anti-cruelty law to protect animals was passed in Britain.

It was said that every cat should be given two names; a country rhyme states 'One for a secret, one for a riddle, name puss twice and befuddle the devil'. This saying was based on the belief that one person could gain power and ascendancy over another simply by knowing his or her real name; by giving the household cat two names, one for common use and one secret and never revealed to outsiders, the pet which had the run of the household could be protected from becoming a tool of evil or of outside infiltration. Just think of a black cat slinking through the shadows in the dead-of-night, only the chilling glare of green eyes giving him away.

Spooky or what?!?