Waikino Hotel Public Investigation

29 October 2022

We hosted our first public investigation event at this beautiful historical location for Halloween and had some wonderful, enthusiastic attendees.  It was a fantastic night with the staff going all out in decorating the pub and creating some outstanding Halloween themed cocktails. You can read the history on this location and it's alleged hauntings on our Haunted NZ pages.

The Investigation

After dinner, a presentation on the history of the hotel and a short tutorial on how to use the equipment, we began the investigation by splitting the attendee's into 2 groups. One group investigated the hotel and pub while the other simultaneously investigated the house we were staying in at the rear of the hotel (also allegedly haunted). Each group was led by a member of The Quantum Foundation. Our Case Manager took one team with our Lead Investigator having flown in from Oamaru, taking the other. Each team were given equipment to use throughout the course of the evening's investigation. Each team had multiple opportunities to investigate both buildings. We also managed to capture some phenomena which is always a bonus!

While 2 attendee's were investigating a room upstairs, they noticed a hanging light fitting swinging. They did not have a camera on them so one of them ran to get one. By the time she got back to the room the light fitting was still slightly moving so she managed to capture this on video camera.  The light fitting was not able to be touched and while trucks do thunder past the hotel, there was no traffic passing at the time. Other rooms were checked but the light fittings were all still.  It was interesting to note that at the exact time this occurred, another attendee in a different room upstairs asked for confirmation that someone was with them by swinging the light fitting!

Window Halloween decorations	The amasing cocktail menu !	More decorations

In another room, one reknown for activity, 2 attendees were holding an EVP session.  They asked for anyone present to knock and they both heard a knock in real time in response. Upon reviewing the recording, the knock is clearly audible as is one of them exclaiming "Did you hear that?" and the other confirming they did. We also discovered that they had indeed captured a faint female voice in response to their questioning. They did not hear this in real time but it was interesting to note that directly after this response, one of them exclaimed they were feeling very uneasy. They continued to say they did not like this and wanted to leave the room right now. They then ended the EVP session.

Whilst investigating the kitchen area downstairs, another known 'hotspot' for activity, the team headed by our Lead Investigator caught a large spike in EMF. The area had been checked for EMF frequently and none had been detected. This whole area has been renovated with new equipment and electrical wiring so there was no reason to detect EMF as no equipment was on except the walk in Chiller. This had been previously checked several times and no EMF output was detected and nor were they near it when the spike occurred. No explanation could be found for this occurrence.

Downstairs laser grid	Experimenting - Table tipping	Experimenting - Estes method

A funny thing happened - at 2am while holding a call out session in the kitchen an attendee asked for any spirits to make contact and the phone started ringing immediately! They all nervously laughed and refused to answer it. It later came to light that this was the security company checking in because the alarms had not been activated. Gave some of them quite the start though!

Personal Experiences

There were a few personal experiences had by attendees. A couple of people advised they felt very uneasy at various times throughout the evening. Another reported that they felt someone behind them and thinking it was a member of their group, turned around to speak to them only to discover there was no one there. The feeling of being followed around however did not diminish for some time. Another reported that they heard someone speak to them from behind, and turned around to answer them to find no one there. And yet another attendee was in a room and saw a shadow from under the door, walk past. As they were holding an EVP session she opened up the door to advise them of this only to find the landing empty.

Please note: While our organisation finds personal experiences of interest, it is our view that personal experiences alone do not constitude proof or evidence of paranormal phenomena. 

Investigation Status: Ongoing