Haunted Essex

Having lived in Essex most of my life, I decided to do a little bit of research into alleged haunted areas of Essex. I first of all started by scanning internet sites such as the Paranormal Database, to try and locate area's close to home. I found that Danbury Common near Chelmsford has got reports of the Ghosts of Roman soldiers being spotted there. Mersea Island is also supposed to be Haunted by Roman soldiers. Colchester Castle's Dungeon has got a report of A man who was scared half to death when he attempted to stay a night there. Legend has it that a prisoner fell to his death trying to climb a rope to get to his dinner which was placed on a higher ledge by the guard. His ghost is said to remain. Anyway, After I had gathered a list of a few places to visit, Myself and My friend Paul decided to set off on a mini investigation. First we payed a night time visit to Hadleigh Castle near Southend. While Paul waited in the car I took my night vision digital video camera and touch and scalled the hill upto the castle ruins. The weather was wet and miserable and very windy. I took into consideration that this being an outside investigation that there would be noises that I couldn't explain and with the rain falling all around me, I was right so I didn't jump to Paranormal conclusions. I felt very alone in the ruins of the castle and with the weather putting a very big damper on things, I decided to return to the car and we made our way home. On the next night we visited Mersea Island in the search for Roman ghosts. We drove around the Island for a while as a few of the witness statements that I had read involved drivers seeing the apparitions as they were driving across the strood onto or off the island. After having no luck on the Drive around we stopped the car in a layby and I got out for another little walk in the dark. As a safety precaution I wore I high vis vest (I was investigating ghosts, not trying to become one). I walked a short distance in the dark in one direction and then decided to go across the strood. So I went trapsing off along the pavement again. The weather was Bad again (tipical for Essex) and the wind was blowing a gale and the rain was just starting up again. Nothing paranormal was encountered so I turned back. Next day we paid a daytime visit to Hadleigh Castle and had a proper good look around. There is not as much left as would have hoped and the main tower was wrapped in plastic and scaffolding due to resteration work. So all in all I was quite dissappointed. I had found no paranormal evidence, But it doesn't stop there. I plan to visit a few more places this weekend and I am considering camping a whole night at Hadleigh Castle and on Mersea island a bit closer to the summer when it gets warmer. Nothing was found to be paranormal on the Digital stills photoes or Digital video that I recorded in both locations.