Investigation Tips
Welcome to Anomalous Phenomena Investigations International (API)
Researching a location's history
For many teams just capturing
paranormal activity and learning a minimal amount of a location's
history is enough. However, other teams, like API, prefer to do a
more in-depth study of a location, its history and the people who
used to inhabit it. Without the many years of stored up energy and
emotions from previous inhabitants a location would just be an empty
shell of cold wood and stone. It is those who used to live, love,
laugh, cry and daydream in a building that give it a sense of still
being alive and active with shades of the past.
Although researching a location's history might at first seem
daunting with just a few tips you'll soon be adding flesh to the
bones of your locations.
There are lots of stories on the internet about haunted locations
but these alone cannot give you the most accurate history of a
place. Over the years stories change and become embellished, often
becoming very different from the original telling of the story. To
gain a more accurate description of a location and its former
inhabitants you need to search primary resources. The first place to
look is the main County Archives for the area, as well as the larger
libraries.
Census records are a prime source for determining who lived or
worked at a location during the years of 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871,
1881, 1891 and 1901. The 1911 census has not yet been released for
public viewing. Most census records can be accessed through a
pay-per-view or subscription service. Ancestry UK is one of those
services. However, some census records are available for free
online, as well as at some libraries. FreeCen is run by a group of
people who are slowly but surely transcribing every UK census and
then offering it free to search and view online. Another free site
which offers the 1881 census is Family Search Org, run by the LDS
church. Although many of their vital records are questionable the
census records are very good. For years in-between the census
enumerations check tax rolls and electoral rolls.
Chances are there will be an old burial ground or churchyard not too
far from your location. It is always a good idea to see if the
people who once inhabited your location are buried locally.
Gravestones often provide vital information, such as birth and death
dates as well as familial relationships. You also gain important
clues from reading the other gravestones. You might notice that a
particular year had a rather large number of deaths in comparison
with other years. This could indicate either an epidemic of some
sort, like cholera, or a disaster of some sort, like a mine cave-in,
fire, flood, etc... This kind of information gives you a fuller view
of life in general for the people who lived and worked in or near
your location. You might also consider looking into the possibility
that the person you are seeking information about left a will.
Generally wills went into final probate within a year of the will
writer's death, unless there were contestations to be dealt with
through the courts.
Check all of the outside walls of a location. There's a good chance
that somewhere a date of construction will be carved into a wall,
under an eave or on a cornerstone or keystone. Always ask if the
owner or manager of a location happens to have the old deeds to the
place. These offer a wealth of information and sometimes include the
original building and floor plans. There are some good sites out
there which offer advice about researching old buildings. One of
these is Researching Historic Buildings in the British Isles. There
is also the BBC Family History Page. If you know the name of the
house that you are investigating you might find it through a search
of the DiCamillo Companion - Houses Database.
Old Business and City Directories also offer information of use. Not
only can you find a basic idea of how long a building has stood in
its spot, you can also trace the name changes of streets over the
years, or even changes of name in your location if it was a building
used mostly for business purposes. The Historical Directories site,
hosted by the University of Leicester, is one of the best resources
on the internet, and it is absolutely free to search and view.
Old newspapers, which can be found at most major county libraries,
also offer a lot of useful information. If you suspect that a crime
was committed in the past at your location, or that it suffered from
fire, etc... it is very likely that the event has been recorded in a
newspaper or some type of annual register.
You might wish to verify the birth, marriage or death dates based on
information gathered during your investigations. There are a number
of very good sites for locating this information. One very
inexpensive site is Find My Past, which offers a wealth of records
to search through. For those teams operating on a tighter budget I
recommend FreeBMD, which allows you to search for births, marriages
and deaths recorded after Sept. 1837. For vital events that occurred
BEFORE Sept. 1837 you will need to search through old parish
registers, which could be a bit more difficult to locate. Generally
it helps to know where the subject in question was born, married or
died, and which church they belonged to at the time of the vital
event. Over the past few years a volunteer group has been
transcribing old parish registers and making them available for free
on the internet. The records are far from complete as this will be a
long-term project that could take many years to finish. It is still
worth having a search through their site, called FreeReg. If you are
unfamiliar with where to locate a particular parish register you
might wish to try looking through Britannia Parish Churches. Another
site which you might find of use is GENUKI Church Database. To help
you further understand parish registers and the information they
contain make sure to visit Parish Registers. Also available for free
download is the Parish Locator Program.
Local residents of an area are also a wonderful source for
information as long as you bear in mind that not everything you are
told will be completely accurate. This doesn't mean that people are
deliberately trying to mislead you, as this is not the case. It
simply means that memories can be very selective or a story is being
re-told that has been around for a very long time, often with a
number of changes and embellishments through the passing years. By
all means use the stories you collect from interested local
residents, but also make sure to double check it if possible. We've
met many local people who were warm, friendly and very happy to
share their memories and stories of a place.
There is a wealth of information available out there that will help
you to fill in the history of your location. You just have to be
willing to look for it. For more research ideas be sure to visit our
Research Resources page, found on the main menu of this site.
Article written by Cindy Nunn
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