For around fifty minutes, the top front bedroom and landing at the Black Horse became the focus of KASE’s investigation. Several team members reported dark shapes, rustling, chills and sensations of touch in the same small area. Downstairs, a whistle caught the attention of three people in the bar. Reviewing the recordings afterwards gave us more to examine.
We investigated the Black Horse in Pluckley, Kent, on 27 June 2026. This was our first structured visit to the pub, intended to open a longer-term case file. Here is what happened, what the records show and what we would want to test on a return.
Coming next: the full clip will be released on 24 October 2026. The Black Horse episode of The KASE Files follows on 27 October, with our supporting venue interview on 31 October.
Quick Case Overview
Location: The Black Horse, The Street, Pluckley, Kent.
Type of site: Historic working pub, restaurant and accommodation.
Investigation date: Saturday 27 June into Sunday 28 June 2026.
Investigation window: The official start was 9pm, with sessions continuing into the early hours. Final environmental readings were logged at 2.51am.
Team approach: Dan led the investigation and Lucy coordinated the environmental readings. Alice was our venue contact and a venue witness.
Aim: Establish a baseline for a longer-term case file, document reported activity and identify specific questions to test on a return visit.
Main areas of interest: The top front bedroom and scarecrow landing, the bar and the restaurant.
A Historic Pub in the Heart of Pluckley
The Black Horse stands on The Street in the centre of Pluckley. Its exposed beams, fireplaces and upper rooms make an atmospheric setting, but they also give investigators plenty of practical details to consider.
Historic England lists the Black Horse Inn at Grade II and describes a timber-framed building from the sixteenth century or earlier, later given a brick frontage. The interior retains exposed beams and an inglenook fireplace.
Pluckley’s ghost stories provide the wider setting. Our Pluckley entry in the Haunted Directory explores that history. This case concerns the indoor investigation at the Black Horse, which was a separate visit from our fieldwork around the village.
Why We Investigated
We planned this visit as the foundation of a longer-term Black Horse case file. Recording baseline conditions, staff accounts and our own observations would give future visits something concrete to compare with. The pub’s reputation provided context, but our assessment depended on what we could document and check during this investigation.
Conditions On The Night
The building was very warm. Initial ambient readings ranged from 26.4°C in the restaurant to 28.1°C in the attic, with relative humidity between 56% and 60%. The outdoor weather field on the baseline sheet was left blank, so we cannot give a verified on-site account of wind, rain or cloud cover.
Environmental Baseline
Top front bedroom, 9.25pm: air 27.3°C, floor 28.7°C, wall 28.3°C and humidity 59%.
Doll bedroom: initial air 27.8°C, floor 27.8°C, wall 28.2°C and humidity 56%.
Dining room: initial air 27.9°C, floor 28.1°C, wall 28.3°C and humidity 56%.
Attic room: air 28.1°C, floor 28°C, wall 28.2°C and humidity 57%.
Restaurant: initial air 26.4°C, floor 23.6°C, wall 24.9°C and humidity 60%.
Initial reading times were not completed for every room. The available EMF entries for the two bedrooms, dining room and restaurant were 1 mG. No K2 colour spike or hot/cold spot was entered on the environmental sheets; the attic EMF field was blank.
Later Environmental Readings
At 2.51am, the top front bedroom measured 26°C and 61% humidity, compared with 27.3°C and 59% at 9.25pm. Its floor and wall readings were then 25.2°C and 24.8°C. The restaurant measured 27°C and 67% humidity, compared with its initial 26.4°C and 60%; floor and wall readings were 21.2°C and 23.1°C. Both rooms still recorded 1 mG.
These readings show changes across the night, but they were not taken at the exact moments of the upstairs chills. No corresponding environmental hotspot was logged, so the reported sensations remain personal experiences rather than measured cold spots.
Possible Sources Of Contamination
Sound and movement: the pub was still open early in the evening. Bar conversations, kitchen activity, staff, the resident area and investigators on other floors could contribute sounds.
Reflections and camera effects: mirrors were recorded in the top front bedroom and dining room. Reviewers also noted insects, dust and a large moth.
Building layout: uneven floors and a bedroom door that was difficult to secure mattered when assessing movement upstairs.
Recording limitations: differences in camera timing complicated comparisons with live reports. Infrared lights switching off near battery limits were treated as normal equipment behaviour.
How We Ran The Investigation
We took environmental readings, placed static cameras in the restaurant, bar and upper bedrooms, and logged personal experiences. Sessions included quiet observation, EVP work, cat balls and an Estes session. Reports from before the official 9pm start were kept separate from the investigation sessions.
Equipment And Documentation
Static video cameras and infrared lighting.
K2/EMF checks, ambient and surface temperature readings, and humidity measurements.
Cat balls, EVP work and an Estes session; Spirit Talker was also used during the evening.
A completed activity log, environmental baseline record and subsequent footage-review notes.
We distinguish what someone experienced from what a recording shows and from how we interpret it. A device output or an apparently relevant response does not, by itself, establish a paranormal cause.
Ground-Floor And Early Reports
Before the official start, Laura reported a presence behind her during the meal and the hairs rising at the back of her neck. The report records Lucy’s Spirit Talker producing “It creeps behind you” and “Stranger” at the same moment. At 8.31pm, Sue reported a light kick on the inside of her foot at the Ghost Corner table. These were personal reports in a working pub, with the app output documented separately from any explanation.
During the investigation, Jake reported the hairs rising at the back of his neck by the restaurant fireplace at 10.29pm. Around 11pm, Dan reported a brief sharp head pain in the séance room, similar to an earlier sensation near the restaurant doorway. Neither sensation was established as having a paranormal cause.
The Upstairs Bedroom and Landing
The most concentrated run of personal reports began at 11.35pm. Laura and Jake described seeing dark, mist-like movement near the scarecrow on the landing. Five minutes later, Dan reported a dark shape interrupting the light around the bedroom door, followed by chills along his left arm and leg.
At 11.50pm, Laura heard the scarecrow’s straw rustle and reported a touch on her back. At 12.11am, Dan and Lucy also heard rustling from the scarecrow. Dan described a brief shape between himself and Jake, although he could not identify it clearly.
By 12.26am, Lucy had reported four separate chills along her right leg in the area where Dan had earlier felt them. Laura also described dark mist moving across the ceiling.
The concentration of reports in one area gives us a useful focus for another visit. These remain the team’s personal experiences. The environmental record did not show a corresponding temperature or EMF anomaly, so we cannot turn those reported chills into a measured cold spot.
Whistles in the Bar and Sounds on the Recordings
At 12.15am, Graham, Rick and Alice, our venue contact, heard a whistle in the bar. Whistle-like sounds were also noted during the footage review, alongside murmurs, thuds and other voice-like sounds.
Working out their source was more difficult. People were present in different areas, and the recordings included kitchen and staff movement. Differences in camera timing also made it difficult to match every sound confidently with the live accounts.
The whistle reports are worth revisiting in a quieter session after closing, with synchronised audio and cameras. The present recordings do not let us identify every sound or reliably exclude the people in the building as its source.
The Bedroom Door That Closed
One event had useful recorded context. At 2.05am, a camera in the doll bedroom recorded the sound of the adjoining bedroom door closing, roughly two minutes after the team had gone downstairs. The door had been wedged with a chair. It was later found closed, with the chair displaced.
That sounds striking on its own, but the floor was uneven and the door had been difficult to secure. Our review identified gravity and the unlevel floor as the most likely explanation. A return visit would allow a controlled check of the door’s balance, the chair’s position and any pressure changes.
We also noted infrared lighting switching off near expected battery limits. That was recorded as normal equipment behaviour.
What the Footage Review Added
Reviewing the static cameras produced several moments to examine more closely. Some had straightforward possibilities: the bar cameras recorded numerous insects, dust and a large moth, and one dark orb-like movement was considered likely to be a fly close to the lens.
There is also footage from this investigation that we have not been able to explain. We will release the full clip on 24 October, so viewers can see the material we are discussing. The podcast episode follows on 27 October.
Elsewhere, light changes and voice-like sounds needed to be considered against reflections, staff movement, the kitchen and the other investigators. The restaurant Estes session recorded the team’s impressions but did not produce a separate confirmed event.
Our Assessment and What We Would Test Next
The strongest reason to return is the cluster of experiences around the top front bedroom and landing. Several people reported events in the same area over a short period, giving us a specific place and set of conditions to investigate again.
The night did not establish a paranormal cause. Some events had plausible ordinary explanations; others remained unresolved. Our account draws on the completed activity log, environmental record and footage-review notes. Some original handwritten notes were unavailable for review, so we have kept the account to material supported by the records we could examine.
For a return investigation, our priorities are:
Track where everyone is: record team positions and staff movements alongside synchronised cameras and audio.
Monitor the landing: keep a clear view of the scarecrow and adjoining doorway while checking ordinary sources of movement and rustling.
Test the door: examine the slope, the door’s resting position and how securely the chair holds it.
Repeat the bar audio session: compare the reported whistles under quieter conditions after closing.
This first visit gives us specific questions to take back to the Black Horse. We are interested in what another controlled investigation might show.
Follow the Black Horse Case
The full clip arrives on 24 October 2026, followed by The KASE Files episode on 27 October and the venue interview on 31 October. This case study will bring the investigation, recordings and venue’s perspective together as those releases become available.
For more of our work, explore the Haunted Directory. If you are concerned about unexplained activity in your own home, KASE offers confidential support and free investigations across Kent and the South East, including travel.
Sources And Supporting Material
Internal Investigation Material
The Black Horse, Pluckley Investigation Report, covering 27–28 June 2026.
The completed paranormal activity log.
The baseline environmental log, coordinated by Lucy.
The Black Horse footage-review notes.
Some original handwritten notes were unavailable for review. The additional pub-log PDFs were blank templates, so they were not treated as completed incident records.
Published Sources And Related Case Studies
Historic England: Black Horse Inn, list entry 1335888, for the building’s listed status and architectural history.
Compare our approach with the Derby Gaol case study and our March 2026 return to Slough Fort.