One of Ireland’s most experienced paranormal teams journeyed to one of England’s most haunted pubs for a special December investigation with paranormal TV presenter Barri Ghai and his GPS team. ANN MASSEY tells us more!
Irish Paranormal Investigations (IPI) arrived in the seaside town of Littlehampton on a stormy winter’s day and headed for one of the most haunted locations in West Sussex.
We joined Barri Ghai, star of TV’s ‘Help my House is Haunted’ and GPS at The Dolphin Hotel, featured in Episode 9 of the Zak Bagans produced series.
The Dolphin Hotel
This stalwart of Littlehampton first opened its doors in the late eighteenth century following a family feud which saw the original Dolphin just across the street renamed ‘The White Hart.’ The Dolphin Hotel, situated on the corner of Surrey Street has survived three major fires, the last being in 1928.
Notable clientele have included poet Lord Byron, who stayed here in the early nineteenth century. Thanks to a tunnel in the pub cellar, the inn was popular with local smugglers who used the area for stashing their haul until it could be moved on.
The cellar had an additional nineteenth century use as the town morgue when disease took hold and there was nowhere to store the surplus decaying corpses.
Ghosts of the Dolphin Hotel
Spirits said to be roaming the bar, cellar and guest rooms of the hostelry, include the malevolent spectre of William who was allegedly hanged for raping and killing his own niece.
The niece herself is said to haunt the female bathroom of the premises, forlorn and sensed standing behind women who visit.
The most well-known haunting of the Dolphin is that of a child ghost known as ‘Dolly.’ She is supposedly a young girl named Ada Parish who resided in the public house and died of diphtheria in the nursery. Her grave is close by in a churchyard and is cared for by local historian Mark Green.
Other spirits include women and children and a lady in white, with activity predominantly in room seven. Poltergeist activity and an evil entity referred to as ‘The Imp’ are also reported.
Previous Paranormal Investigations
The hotel is owned by paranormal investigator Ellie Boiling, landlady for the past eighteen years since she formed a close attachment to the premises while working there.
As well as Barri Ghai and the cast of ‘Help my House is Haunted’ carrying out their televised investigation, the Dolphin has also played host to psychics Ian Lawman and Derek Acorah.
Investigation time!
As we prepared for our first session of the night, we were advised by Ellie that previous occupants of an upstairs room had used an Oujia board and there was an indication something may have been released as a result.
More than the usual spirits in the bar!
Our first session with two members of GPS saw us in the bar area. The first thing we were very aware of was how much sound carried as other sessions began above and below us. Once we had taken time to acclimatise however, it was evident there were two very different sides to the bar!
While one end was perfectly fine, the lower end close to the cellar had a much darker and oppressive atmosphere. Rapid and unexplained temperature drops occurred and rapping on a door or table behind us took place in direct response to questions.
An EDI Meter placed on the bar to measure activity, EMF and temperature changes was triggered despite no one being in the vicinity and our efforts to duplicate by jumping on the floor produced zero response. Behind the bar we found our K2 responding intelligently to questions and an overwhelming sensation of large figure looming over the bar.
Child ghosts and creepy dolls
Session two saw us in the guest rooms upstairs and the infamous room seven. While there was some minor activity in the other rooms with K2 and REM Pod activations, it was room seven that proved most interesting.
The room was the former nursery and continues to house creepy vintage dolls and a rocking horse as trigger objects.
The controversial SLS camera was brought into play and quickly some of the ‘evidence’ it was capturing was soon debunked by the experienced group.
A customised K2 Teddy Bear was used and began to flash prominently during questioning, peaking when placed on the rocking horse and asking ‘Dolly’ if she wanted to play.
Bodies in the Cellar
We already knew that the cellar had been a makeshift mortuary, however for the final session of the night we were led to a bricked up well which had seen attempts with a jack hammer to bring it down to no avail.
We were informed by Ellie that there were alleged the bones bricked up in that very space, as informed by a psychic medium!
As is usual in the final early hours of the morning session of any paranormal investigation, energy was reduced and activity muted. We did our best to change that with a shout out EVP session and use of the SLS camera, which although questionable, did produce a result in the cool room that led us in the direction of a previously undiscovered room with a staircase to nowhere.
IPI headed out into the Littlehampton morning having experienced a great night with Barri Ghai and the GPS team. Ellie is quirky but passionate about her pub and her love for the paranormal so anyone paying a visit will not be disappointed!
The night at the Dolphin Hotel was over way too soon and IPI look forward to the opportunity to investigate with Barri and GPS again very soon!
Find out more about Irish Paranormal Investigations and Barri Ghai and GPS at http://www.barrighai.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/Irishparanormalinvestigations
So glad you enjoyed your visit to historic Littlehampton and the infamous dolphin hotel.
You are lovely people and a highly professional team we loved having you here.
Doesn’t sound like the best place to visit at first, but Ann’s article has given us the desire to check it out!