SP Investigation Feedback.
Please note: Any private home investigation feedback shown here is given with the knowledge and permission of the client.
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Pittencrieff House 19th August 2011
Personal Feedback By,
Mary Cunningham SP Co-fonder/Team leader/Investigator.
SP Team in attendance:
Mary Cunningham,SP Co-founder/Team Leader/Investigator.
Jim Cunningham, SP Investigator.
Mark Smallman,SP Investigator.
Emma Clark, SP Case Manager/Investigator.
Sharon Granger,Shadows of Manitoba, Investigator.
Fonz Granger, Shadows of Manitoba, Investigator.
Callum Granger, SP Guest.
Equipment used:
Activity Reports:
Ground Floor:
1. Hearing noises of dishes clattering in an area which was once a kitchen,it is now the main museum for visitors to the house.
2. Manager hearing her name being called when nobody else was in the building.
3. A member of the public witnessed a dark figure/shadow viewing a period costume of dress/clothing in the museum at the front door just as we come into the room.
Middle Floor:
1. Reports from multiple witnesses describing the sound of someone walking across the wooden floor slowly with what sounds like a walking stick.
2. A window blind shooting up on its own accompanied by a sharp cold breeze passing through the witness.
3. The backrest of an office chair apparently shook quite vigouresly.
4. Members of staff feeling uneasy in certain areas of this room.
5. Items being moved.
Top Floor:
1. Reports of a strange black shadow type cat being seen streatching and layzing around.
Scottish Paranormal arrived at Pittencrieff House at around 5:30pm.It was a nice leisurely walk up to the house from the car park where we had met up with the rest of the group.As we approached the house we couldn`t fail to see the beauty of the location and why the house itself is so popular with the locals and visitors alike.
This 17th century mansion house is set in beautiful parkland commonly known as “The Glen”
In 1902, Andrew Carnegie purchased both Pittencrieff House and Estate from its then owner, Colonel James Maitland Hunt, ultimately with the intention to gift these to the people of Dunfermline. The official ceremony for the gifting of the park occurred the following year, and a trust fund in honour of the benefactory, known as Dunfermline Carnegie Trust, was founded for the general maintenance of the glen.
We walked up to the house and knocked on the front door where we were swiftly met by our client,Emmie is the one who kindly filled us in on reports of activity,some she experienced herself and some she relayed to us from her work colleagues and visitors to the house.Emmie loves working at the house,she has worked there for a number of years now and in no way feels threatened or frightened there.With a good healthy sense of curiosity, she welcomed Scottish Paranormal in to see what we could find.
Scottish Paranormal siezed the opportunity to invite Shadows of Manitoba`s Sharon and Fonz Granger from Canada to work along side us on this investigation.While they are visiting Scotland I could think of no other paranormal team we would rather work with more.With professional and maticulous evidence reviewing and not forgetting investigating skills, I felt very priviaged to work with them both,and at the same time, learn from them too.
Ground Floor Museum:
We Started in this area by setting up a camcorder on a tri-pod in a far off section of the room to the right.This enabled us to constantly monitor the whole room while covering the data logger, which automatically records the room temp which then can be viewed later as a graph on the laptop, also a digital recorder which was placed carefully on a table situated in front of the camera.There is a lot of valuable items in this room so we were fully aware that we had to be very careful and show some respect for the many items housed here.We left this room after about 10 minutes to concentrate fully on the next level up which was the middle room.
Findings: No evidence of reported activity was found on this occassion.
The Middle Room:
The middle room consisted of three different sections.The far side to the right as we entered was used as the office for members of staff,this small area contained computers and printers as you would most likely expect to find in an office.We were well aware of higher levels of EMF (Electro Magnetic Field) in this section during a normal working day which sees a lot of computers and electrictal items being used at the same time.We tested for any high levels of EMF in our initial base line test but, due to most of the electrical equipment being turned off during out of office hours,we didn`t record any unusually high levels at this time. However! in saying that, a normal working day where all electrical items are “switched on” could possibly explain why some members of staff feel uneasy in this area,high levels of EMF have been known to have the effect of feelings of being watched,nausia and in some extreme cases paranoia.
The middle section of the room had a number of valuable old paintings sitting on their sides on the floor in a row along the wall and also other pieces of work that staff have been working on sitting on tables.On one occassion, a member of staff was sitting at her desk near the window and all of a sudden the window blind shot up and she felt a rush of air pass through her giving her an unwelcomed scare.On inspecting the blind, we noticed that it`s the kind that you have to physically tug on it gently at the bottom to make it go up,maybe this mechanisim had been triggered by a strong breeze coming through the window…is it possible? I`d have to say yes it is.The section to the left in this room sported heavy wooden sliding doors which lead into a small room that has more shelving with numerous boxes of varied sizes on them and, also some interesting artifacts were kept in here too for safe keeping.
This middle floor was the most interesting one of all three levels.With numerous reports given to us by our client,experiences by staff of strange things happening there and a general feeling of unease by some,one of which I was told about,for example one woman in particular who would not step foot inside the sliding doors room because she felt so uneasy about it, she didn`t like it at all and said it felt strongly of negativity.I have found that this in itself can cause others who hear this to have bad feelings about this room too…once the seed has been firmly planted it is very difficult sometimes to view this room any other way,the power of suggestion becomes strong.
As for reports of noises heard by numerous staff members – the sound of someone walking along the wooden floor as if using a walking stick – we can`t explain this phenomena as yet so this is something that may need further investigation.
Findings: No evidence of reported activity was found on this occassion.
Top Floor:
The top floor is where boxes are shelved in rows and an old camera obscura sits on its own by a window.Reports of a cat had been reported to me by our client who had told me that when she entered this room she could see a black cat streatched out on top of the camera,she looked again but couldn`t see it anywhere.With so many valuable items in this place animals are not allowed in the building and, strict security is in operation so she thought this was strange as to why it was there.I had asked her if it could be possible that the cat could have wandered in from ouside as the house is situated within a public park,she said that it could be possible but very unlikely.
One of our SP team memebrs Mark Smallman, mentioned to me the day after the investigation that when he was heading home from Pittencrieff House his eyes had started to itch and swell.He tells me this usually only happens when he has been in contact with cats.I found this strange at first until I remembered that the SP team had to walk through a public park to get to the house.Maybe the pollen in the air as we left that night was higher than expected and had affected Marks eyes,this was a more logical explanation other than being around a phantom cat.
Findings: No evidence of reported activity was found on this occassion.
Personal Notes:
I enjoyed enormously my time at Pittencrieff House and,I would like to say a big thankyou to our client for the kind hospitality she has shown us during our visit.The house is a fantastic place and definately worthy of another investigation to continue our research.If you have never visited Pittencrieff House before, I strongly recommend that you put it on your “must see” list.
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Private home investigation,Scotland. 09/06/2011
Personal feedback by,
Mary Cunningham,SP Co-founder/Investigator.
Investigators in attendance:
Mary Cunningham.
Jim Cunningham.
Mark Smallman.
List of Equipment used:
2 Sony Camcorders
3 Digital voice recorders (Olympus)
2 Temperature Gauges
1 EMF meter (For base line readings only)
1 Fugifilm digital camera
1 Nikon digital camera.
1Target experiment (Sandpaper set on black card)
Base Line Test:
Performed by,
Jim,Mary and also with help from clients daughter.
First floor: Temp 18.00 EMF None.
Second floor: Temp 18.00 EMF None.
Third Floor: Temp 18.00 EMF None.
Hallway: Temp 18.00 EMF None.
Ground floor: Temp 18.00 High EMF base line readings were picked up due to a gas boiler in a cupboard and also a large fish tank in the room itself.
Reported Activity:
Shadows seen.
Objects being moved around.
Temperature drops.
Cardboard box being thrown.
Footsteps.
Apparition of a man and also a young boy.
TV coming on and off by itself.
The House:
This house was built in the 1970s and it was all fields/farm land belonging to Sir John Clerk as part of his estate before housing was built. Basically they were built to house the demand of council tennants, the ever growing Penicuick population and incomers as its location was good for commuting to Edinburgh. A modern 4 bed roomed house on 3 levels, which has been extensively refurbished to our clients personal taste.
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Scottish Paranormal arrived at the location around 8pm.We were welcomed at the door by our client so I introduced the SP team then we all made our way inside for a chat to find out any updates about the case. Our client and his daughter told us of a few experiences they have had and we needed to concentrate fully on which areas to start setting up our equipment, also what was needed. In this case we only used some basic equipment,you can see the list above. For the target experiment you will notice we used a piece of sandpaper which was in keeping with reports of the type of objects being moved around,it sounds a strange thing to use I know but, if this was the kind of thing being reported to us that have been moved then it`s only logical to use these objects in an experiment. Our client had in fact been in the process of painting and decorating his home at the time and felt that if anything was going to be moved then this piece of sandpaper might. Mark set it up for us in one of the appropriate bedrooms and, also set up a camcorder on a tri-pod to monitor it throughout the investigation.
Once all our equipment was in place and running we all sat in the ground floor base room and chatted for a while,every half hour or so I would check on our equipment to make sure it was still running smoothly upstairs. On one occasion when I went upstairs to check the camcorder batteries and digital recorders, I asked our clients daughter if she would like to come with me. I was standing just over the threshold of the top floor bedroom and she was standing opposite me on the landing, describing the shadows she had seen at the house on a previous occasion, all of a sudden we both heard what we thought was a groan right beside us. I asked if it was her tummy or something but she said she thought it was mine…it wasn`t. I don`t know for sure what it was but we both did hear it at the same time and the two of us made an attempt to re-create the sound by moving around to see if maybe it was the floorboards,we found no noise coming from the floor which was covered with thick carpet. Having gone through the audio for that particular bedroom, unfortunately, this noise has not been picked up on the digital voice recorder I had carefully placed in the room earlier on the bedside table. I asked our client during our initial chat when we first arrived, if he would like to try asking out some relevant questions in this particular room, which he did and felt comfortable in doing so. After going through all the audio we had in place we can safely say that there were absolutely no responses that we could find to the questions he asked. I always find this somewhat disappointing because of the experiences we are told beforehand but,that is just the way things go most times on an investigation. Finding that ultimate piece of evidence is always the hardest thing to do but, because we did not find anything on the night does not necessarily mean that there definitely isn`t something there… maybe in this case it`s more of “Not this time around”
My personal notes:
Meeting our client and his daughter was a pleasure and the personal experiences they told me about I found fascinating to say the least. Some stories I heard referred to what a medium had told our client when he called her to visit him in his home. Some of what was said by the medium was researched fully by the client because of an actual name given relating to his property. We found it fitting to use that particular name when calling out. Although Scottish Paranormal do not use mediums,sensitives or psychics on our team anymore I always find it somewhat interesting that if indeed the research into any information given by the psychic/medium was found to be very accurate. In saying this though,Scottish Paranormal would never base any of our findings on mediumistic impressions alone,we need to keep it real and present the facts of our findings whatever they may be.
I would like to thank our client for giving Scottish Paranormal the opportunity to investigate all the claims of alleged activity reported to us. We will be very happy to keep in touch for any further updates on this case…this case remains open to further investigation.
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Covenanters Prison,Edinburgh 17th September 2010
Personal feedback by.
Mary Cunningham SP Co-founder/Investigator.
Investigators in attendance:
Mary
Jim
Mark
Equipment used:
2 Sony Camcorders (one using tri-pod)
3 Digital Voice Recorders (Olympus)
1 Fugi Digital Camera (for location shots only)
1 Nikon Camera (for location shots only)
Notebooks and pens.
The Black Mausoleum
The Covenanters were a powerful political force in Scotland in the 17th century, who signed a “National Covenant” in Greyfriars Kirkyard pledging to keep Scotland a Presbyterian country. However, 50 years later, they had been outlawed and had been heavily defeated by King Charles II’s forces. 1,200 of the Covenanters who survived the battle were imprisoned in the Covenanters Prison by Judge and Lord Advocate Sir George Mackenzie, known as Bluidy Mackenzie. Some of the Covenanters were executed by Mackenzie, their heads displayed around the prison walls. The rest were corralled in the yard and left without food or water, and hundreds died.
When Bluidy MacKensie died, he was buried in Greyfriars, not far from the Covanters Prison. His mausoleum was avoided, and carried a reputation of being haunted. One cold rainy night, a homeless man entered into the cemetery and was looking for a place to sleep. MacKensie’s tomb has a roof, and is very enclosed, but also has locked gates. Looking through the window in the gate, he could see something that looked like an entry in the back. He climbed over the fence, and found a way in. It was much more pleasant inside, but it was still cold. There is a grate in the floor of the mausoleum, and the man lifted it up to find stairs that went down. He descended into the bowels, and found large coffins. Hoping for a shroud or something similar for warmth, he started banging against the coffin trying to break it. When the 400-year-old corpse fell onto him, and he away screaming.
http://www.eden-designs.com/travel/edinburgh/covenanter.php
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We arrived at Greyfriars about 2:30pm and were greeted by Alison,Alison is one of the staff members who made arrangememnts for Scottish Paranormal to come to the Covenanters Prison for about 2 hours which was outwith their normal hours.Scottish Paranormal were privilaged to be left to roam around the Covenanters Prison by ourselves with the kind permission of our guide who is another part of the staff who works there voluntarily.If we needed any facts about the history of the place or we needed to ask any other questions, Bill our tour guide was right there.
Since this investigation would last only two hours at the most and it was outside,we didn`t need a full set-up of our equipment.Digital cameras,sony camcorders and two digital recorders were sufficient plus a notebook and pen for quickly jotting down anything should we experience something unusual.I personally didn`t experience anything unusual while performing my solo vigil .I did however hear a noise in the corner of the room to my right but with so much natural sounds around like dry wilted leaves being blown along the ground right outside and bagpipe music playing in the background,children`s voices being carried from a nearby school I thought no more about this,it could have been anything really.
Nothing had changed here since Scottish Paranormal`s last visit in 2007, with the history of the place it was still as interesting as ever it was.This time though we had more control of what we wanted to do here and we were also glad to have the place to ourselves for a change,not like back in 2007 when we were being followed around by the film crew for a “Tough Gig” tv show about the funny side of the paranormal with Arabella Weir.
Although this location was mostly outside,we did manage to find a spot to place two digital recorders… inside one of the small tombs with thick walls and an iron gate,this is the very place where in the past people have reported being attacked by some strange force which left them with scratches on their bodies,scratches that were not there before they went in.Myself,Jim and Mark arranged to each perform a solo vigil for about ten minutes.When it was my turn I had a few questions I really wanted to ask.I don`t hold up much hope for a definite reply.The digital recorders will get a thorough check for any strange audio that may be picked up.
I think the Covenanters Prison is facinating and would recommend a visit here,if only for the history of it.I enjoyed my time here (pardon the pun) and would love to go back at a later time when it`s more peaceful and quiet.
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Mary Kings Close
Scottish Paranormal Charity Event
13th March 2010
Personal Feedback by,
Mary Cunningham, SP Co-founder/Investigator.
Investigators in Attendance:
Mary Cunningham SP Co-founder/Case Manager/Investigator
Jim Cunningham SP Co-founder/Investigator
Mark Smallman Investigator/Technical/Webmaster
Claire Doherty Investigator/first aider
Andy Kirkham SP Technical support.
Equipment used:
DVR system
7 IR cameras
3 laptops (Windows/Mac)
1 Windows desktop computer.
4 Temperature probes
1 EMF meter
3 Sony night vision camcorders
10 Clip boards for constant note taking.
2 Data loggers
2 Target experiments, one using wind-chimes with the data logger inside plastic dome, digital recorder plus old coins, the other one with miniatures of alcohol and data logger plus digital recorder.
1 Digital thermal laser gun
Various torches
3 Digital recorders.
Sound mixer/microphone.
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Mary Kings Close:
Hidden beneath the Royal Mile lies Edinburgh’s deepest secret: a warren of hidden ‘closes’ where real people lived, worked and died. For centuries they have lain forgotten and abandoned… http://www.realmarykingsclose.com/experience/video.htm
Scottish Paranormal arrived at Mary Kings Close at around 9:30pm Saturday 13th March and introduced ourselves to MKC staff and placed our equipment in a safe room until set-up time. During this time the group that we were assisting for the night were already down inside the close being given an informative tour before we started our investigation.
Once everyone came back from the tour Scottish Paranormal introduced themselves to the group and gave a brief talk about SP protocols to ensure their safety in the close and to also give a them a guideline on what to expect on this investigation, with that completed we made our way down into the close itself.
Base Room.
Walking into our base room which was the central point to the location and the best area to set up our control center,I handed out clip-boards and pens to everyone to make sure they took note of any experiences they may have. Everyone in the group was given a chance to use SP equipment if they wished under the guidance of either myself (Mary) or Jim Cunningham, one of our SP team members..
The Laiche Room.
Everyone was excited as we entered the Laiche room which is situated at the top of the close and is said to be one of the more desirable accommodations in the close, usually inhabited by the people who were of a higher status and better off money-wise. As this room was at the top it was almost free from the constant running stench of human faeces and urine amongst other nasty stuff thrown out of windows onto the street below by less fortunate residents, this was performed on a daily basis using an old wooden bucket. It does not surprise me in the least that there was so much disease lurking around here in the close, the plague being the major disease that unfortunately killed all the men women and children who were living in Mary Kings Close at that particular time and of whom died in total despair and pain.
With all the previous discussions of disease and dying during the previous tour remaining in everyones mind, the group tried to settled down by making themselves comfortable before beginning to call out and asking for some response to their questions. Calling out didn`t come easy to some members of the group as they had never done anything like this before and felt awkward about it but, with some guidance from myself this was soon overcome and then we were off. Not long after calling out some of the group reported the temperature dropping by about 2 degrees or more and also some footsteps were heard outside in the close which I myself heard, I was standing with my back to the door entrance and the close. I did go checkout to see if anyone was there making these footsteps but found nobody there. I thought this was strange as at least one other person heard and also saw a figure at the same time, we both turned around at the same time (although I didn`t see anything) we were expecting someone to walk into our room….strange indeed!
The Murder Room:
As soon as we went in here we were confronted with models recreating a murder scene, something of which has an interesting story behind it. Alexander Cant a prominent merchant was murdered by his wife and Mother in law in his townhouse (Blackhall) said to be the finest in Edinburgh in Craig`s Close.
In this room Rob-a group member- told us he was felling quite sick which seemed to be coming and going so I asked if he would rather leave to get some fresh air and have a break…he declined and wanted to continue on regardless. Other members of the group including myself felt quite at ease in here with nothing much to report.I asked for one of the sceptics in the group to do some calling out which one of them did,he wanted to find out for himself if there really was anything here with us and to prove to him that someone apart from all of us in this room was present. Nothing of any significance happened except that when Jim asked for a response to him knocking on the floor, I heard something behind me. I was sitting with my back to the opposite end of where the models were and heard distinctly a loud knocking noise come back. Only one other member of the group heard this along with me as she was sitting right beside me at the time. I went into the corridor where the base room was to ask who may have made the noise in response to Jims question but nobody had made a sound like the one we heard, it wasn`t the floorboards as someone suggested, it was a more distinct knocking on wood sound….another strange one.
The Cattle Shed:
This to me is one of the more tragic places in the close. As soon as we walk into the cowshed we can still after all these years smell a very pungent smell and the plague room isn`t much better being that it`s right next to it where we can look in because it has no door. A model of a mother sits on a hard filthy bed with a dying child in her arms while a young boy lays dying on the other bed from open sores caused by the plague. The dark cloaked figure of a doctor stands over him wearing a grotesque mask with a long beak where he would put a scented substance inside to mar the smell of the seeping rotting flesh. Not a very nice scene to say the least but it brings to us a small insight of what it must have been like for those poor souls.
I spent most of the time we had in the plague room with a few members of the group that were keen to experience this room for themselves while Jim stood in the cow shed with a few who didn`t want to come into the plague room with us because they didn`t like it.We got ourselves settled down after demonstrating the effects on the EMF meter and why the needle was going off scale.The overhead pipes and cables was causing this because they were running right along the center of the ceiling, this was only to be expected, a natural occurrence and therefore makes me aware that it may possibly have an affect on some of the group who might develop feelings of nausea ,the ceiling in the plague room is pretty low.
Although most members of the group found the smell horrible it didn`t stop them from continuing with the investigation and were willing to give it their best shot.Not long after we entered the plague room 2 members heard what they described as a loud breath right beside them,one was sitting on the bed where the model of the little boy was laying and the other member of the group was standing beside her.The breath seemed to come in between them both. I had previously placed a digital voice recorder on top of the bed frame (in between the two group members) so I`m hoping this will be picked up on it. Another incident happened as Jim was talking, 3 of us, me being one of them, heard what we thought was a childs voice. Rob suggested that it was someones mobile phone but no mobile phones were turned on for the duration of the investigation. I`m sure this voice has been captured on the camcorder that Claire was using when she also heard the voice. At the moment I am keeping an open mind until we can rule out all other possibilities for this voice. Sounds of footsteps from outside in the close were heard by Claire and a few others so I decided to leave the plague room and have a look around then stand quietly in the close by myself for a while…later I was joined by Claire using the camcorder but nothing futher happened that we could see or hear.
Annie`s Room:
As Annies room was so small we decided that it would be best if the group were to split up. Jim took some of the group members to test out placing their hand in the hole in the wall where it`s said a young boy was bricked up and left to die to see if they could feel anything, it`s alleged that the little boy will touch your hand. All who tried this felt nothing and having tried this on numerous occasions myself I have never felt anything…maybe I didn`t feel anything because personally I`m not sure if the boy was really bricked up here in the first place. The remainder of the group sat quietly in Annie`s room taking notes of any temperature changes and anything they might experience. Some drops in temperature were recorded with the temp probe but nothing to get excited about and it could be explained away by the presence of open fireplace close by in the room. A strange light on a small grey teddy bear which was sitting on top of the many toys that visitors leave behind was witnessed by Claire, although nobody else sitting in the room saw this. I have looked over the camcorder footage and I cannot see what Claire describes actually happening.
Mr Chesney`s House:
This house on the close belonged to a Mr Andrew Chesney who apparently was the very last resident to leave Mary Kings Close.He didn`t want to go but with the dire situation regarding the plague he was forced to, he took with him his front door knocker and handle I`m told by Mary Kings Close manager Nigel, it was kind of sad I thought, no wonder Mr Chesney is said to be a mean bad tempered man, he did not think much of women either so I`m told. So it was with this in mind SP wanted some of the group to perform solo vigils in here but, none of the women in the group were brave enough to do it alone so they went in with others. With 3 women performing a vigil downstairs in Chesney`s house you would probably expect Andrew Chesney not to be too pleased about that.
The vigil begins by one of the women asking out if he was here with them, a long period of silence then 2 knocks can be faintly heard. Another long period of silence again but the women keep trying by asking again for a sign of somekind ,they then hear something like someone dropping something upstairs where Mark was sitting at the top of the stairs but after asking Mark if it was him he said no.This was picked on the camcorder which I will place on the forum for opinions.We are still looking at footage to try and come up with a logical explanation for but at the moment we haven`t found one…yet.
Scottish Paranormal would like to thank Amanda Irvine for inviting us along and also staff at Mary Kings Close for their kind help in making this investigation possible, it was for a very good cause and helped to raise money for DEC (Disasters Emergency Committee) Haiti.
The target of £1,000 was surpassed which we are very pleased about and also thank everyone who donated to this worthy cause.
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Private Location Scotland.
16th/23rd October 2009.
Personal feedback by.
Mary Cunningham SP Co-owner / Investigator.
Scottish Paranormal team in attendance:
Mary Cunningham
Jim Cunningham
Mark Smallman.
Equipment used:
DVR System
7 IR Cameras
1 Digital Temp Gauge
Target experiments: wind-chimes, doll, pram, toy truck, pencils, soft toys, cutlery.
2 Digital Cameras
2 Sony Night Vision Camcorders (tape/disc)
2 Olympus digital Voice recorders
Note-pads/pens
2 Desktop Computers
3 Laptops (Windows/Mac)
1 EMF meter.
1 Data Logger.
1 Sound mixer
2 External microphones.
1 Ipod.
Weather conditions:
Damp & Cold
16.00 Degrees F
Constant throughout.
Duration of investigation:
7 days/nights.During which the entire family was on holiday.
Reported activity:
1. Apparition of little girl seen on upstairs landing.(Witness, adult female family relation)
2. Apparition of a man seen in hallway at front door and in kitchen.(Witnesses, all 3 children of the house on different days-ages- boy 3yrs,girl 6yrs,boy 9yrs)
3. Apparition of a lady seen on bottom stairs landing.(Witness, female child 6yrs)
4. Apparition of a lady seen in pink bedroom. (female child (6yrs) also, oldest boy child now 9yrs)
5. Apparition of a little girl seen in blue bedroom and also shadows.(witness, oldest boy child 9yrs)
6. Apparition of a man seen in plum bedroom,(witness, relation to family-cousin- boy child 5yrs)
7. Poltergeist activity in plum bedroom (suitcase came off top of wardrobe and landed on floor at door 9 feet away) (witnesses,2 adult females of the family)
8. Poltergeist activity in kitchen (witness, lady of the household)
9. Figure of a man that allegedly walked through the kitchen table (Witness- female child 5yrs old
The house:
A full pre-investigation in depth interview with the client was conducted by Mary and Jim. The house itself was found to be over 100yrs old and previously owned by a family within the mining community which for this area of Scotland was very typical of that time, a very strong stone building with bay windows to the front. The house originally consisted of 3 bedrooms but was later re-furbished in 2004 when the clients purchased the flat downstairs and decided to join the 2 houses together making 1 big single family home. Extensive modernisation work had been in progress over a long period of time to make this possible.
First reports of alleged activity was reported to me regarding this property was late 2004 when the first born male child was 2yrs old.I have been in constant touch with the family in question over the years and have performed at least 3 previous investigations in this home. With continuing reports of activity we decided that 3 hour investigations were not long enough to research this case. We arranged with the client to come back into their home and continue our research more deeply over a 7 day/night period of time. This way we could spend more time focusing our attention on certain other areas of reported sightings and alleged poltergeist activity. Due to the sensitive nature of this case we will only allow a chosen amount information to become public ”with the kind permission of our client”
Friday 16th October Scottish Paranormal arrived on location at 2pm to start setting up our equipment. The IR cameras were set up in the appropriate positions according to our reports and target experiments consisting of a child`s toy pushchair with a doll was put in place along with a toy truck and we also set up wind chimes inside a glass dome. Once everything was in place we attempted to go online but there was a slight hitch as we had internet problems to deal with, this was only a slight hiccup at the start of the investigation and we overcame the problem early next day.
Saturday 17th Oct at 2pm we arrived to proceed with the live
streaming of the investigation.
Although Scottish Paranormal performed this investigation over 7 days/nights using up to date equipment I personally have not witnessed anything strange or untoward going on in the home and, I personally feel that the family are in no physical danger. Nothing of any significance was captured on our equipment as yet but in saying that, we are still reviewing the very last of our footage. I feel confident that this family will go on to live a normal life without the fears and worries they had before Scottish Paranormal was called in to help them out. We try to reassure the clients and also try to give them a logical explanation of what may be occurring in their home to the best of our knowledge and experience and, we also have no pre-judgement of any individuals in this case or any other case we take on.
Using our DVR cameras we were able to put this investigation online -with the kind permission from our clients- and recruit paranormal investigators from all over the world to help Scottish Paranormal with this online live investigation .During one of our investigation in particular we were lucky enough to have a Canadian team founder of PEIGHS paranormal group join us live via skype where we had audio and visual contact with her throughout.This meant that she could relay to us live what she was seeing on our live cams as we investigated the location in real time.On one occasion Rushell from PEIGHS and another team member from SP Mark Smallman, did actually witness at the same time what they both thought was a figure of a little girl aged about 8 or 9 years old dressed in Victorian clothing and described as having ringlets in her blondish coloured hair,this apparently took place on the upper floor landing just outside the blue room and also the plum room.On reviewing the cam footage of this episode it was decided that this sighting was merely due to heavy pixilation of the images coming through the cams which made it very difficult to see anything else that may have been there.I myself have reviewed this footage and I will agree that it`s inconclusive due to pixilation. Never the less it was an exciting time for us as we went over the footage together as a team and put our opinions forward with a lot of logical thinking behind it.
EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) Review:
So far Scottish Paranormal team member and Co-founder Jim Cunningham has spent a long time reviewing audio from our digital recorders that were used in this case for the duration of the investigation for any EVP`s that may have been captured. His findings were that of strange unfamiliar whispers that were picked up in the blue room and also on the upper floor landing.These will be put together and presented to our client along with a DVD of the investigation at no charge to the client.
My personal notes and opinions:
The 6yr old girl child of the family in question will not go upstairs on her own because she is too scared. I feel that if she is seeing things in the house it will undoubtedly make her feel this way, it`s understandable.
The oldest boy child feels scared in his room at night sometimes. I personally think that at some point all children feel this way which I consider to be normal.
The youngest boy child (3yrs old) dosen`t seem too scared by anything he sees and, he does tell his Mum about it at the time then runs and plays quite happily.
I realise that kids can be cruel to each other sometimes by telling ghostly stories and the like but, I do not think this is the case here. For a start, the children who are telling the stories are genuinely afraid at the time and not pretending in any way as far as I can see, plus!…. the male parent has witnessed the distress of the girl child first hand and he was concerned, for normal he dosen`t believe in ghosts or anything such thing like that really, a pretty level headed man in my opinion. The mother has also witnessed her daughter in a very distressed state when the child ran to her telling her that there was a man in the kitchen and he walked through the kitchen table as the girl was sitting drawing with her crayons, the Mother was upstairs at the time. I`m not surprised this child is the most distressed one of all the children as she is the one who also claims to have seen an apparition of a lady on the first stair landing too.
I intend to continue giving this family our full support and help in the future.
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Tay Rail Bridge 28th Dec 2008
Personal Feedback by,
Mary Cunningham,Scottish Paranormal Co-Founder/Investigator.
Scottish Paranormal team in attendance:
Ryan O`Neill
Mary Cunningham
Jim Cunningham
Mark Smallman.
At 7:15 p.m. on the stormy night of 28 December 1879, the central spans of the Tay bridge collapsed into the Firth of Tay at Dundee. A train including six carriages and 75 people fell into the cold water below. At the time, a gale estimated at force 10 to 11 was blowing down the Tay estuary at right angles to the bridge. The collapse of the bridge, only opened 19 months and passed safe by the Board of Trade, sent shock waves through the Victorian engineering profession and was reported widely in the newspapers of the time. The disaster is still the most famous bridge disasters in the British Isles.
We arrived around 7pm for this anniversary investigation of the Tay Rail Bridge Disaster. It was very cold on the night as expected this time of year but fairly calm with very slight drizzly rain, however, this didn`t deter us from going anyway. I loved the fact that we had the chance to actually investigate this on the anniversary and a team of wild horses wouldn`t have kept me away even though I do have a stinking cold.
Making my way down the dark concrete stairs leading to the shore line was a wee bit scary (not spooky) scary as I couldn`t see a thing in front of me with the small torch I had with me. Anyway!…I managed to get as close as I could for a better view of the bridge and remained there for the duration of the investigation, my camcorder still turned on I waited for the exact time it was said that the train had been seen to cross over the bridge. I was hoping that we would maybe capture something but, deep down I knew we probably wouldn`t… that was my sceptical side coming out in me I suppose and telling me the stories were just figments of some peoples imagination.
While myself and Ryan were waiting at the bottom of the bridge, Jim and Mark remained at the top near the roadside. They were also using camcorders and a digital voice recorder. I have been through all of my footage I took and can report that I didn`t pick anything up out of the ordinary on it. At one point Ryan had said to me that he thought he could hear the sound of an old train but again, I didn`t pick anything up on my camcorder which was a shame as later on after we joined Jim and Mark at the top of the embankment Jim started to tell me that he heard what sounded like an old fashioned train noise even before Ryan told him what he heard. I on the otherhand heard nothing at the time and I have gone over and over my camcorder footage of the precise time Ryan said he heard it…still no sound of an old train unfortunately.
There is still a lot of footage to go through and there is also the digital recorder too so, it will be interesting to find out if anything was picked up. I`m sure we will find out soon and let you know. I must admit I did enjoy this investigation and trying to find a logical explanation for all the reports of activity during the anniversary, most activity I can put down to natural occurrences like seagulls sounding like voices in the breeze. I can understand how some may think it`s voices but listening closely and with logical thinking there is no doubt in my mind that it is only the seagulls. As for the reports of actually seeing a ghost train?…well! I`ll let you all make your own mind up on that one.
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Blairadam Forest 11th October 2008
Personal feedback by,
Mary Cunningham,Scottish Paranormal Co-Founder/ Team Investigator.
Scottish Paranormal team in attendance:
Ryan O`Neill
Mary Cunningham
Jim Cunningham
We arrived at Blairadam early Saturday afternoon at around 12:30pm.The weather wasn`t too bad, dry sunny spells but quite breezy.The RCPS Scotland team members in attendance were, Ryan, Mary and Jim. RCPS Scotland were given the chance to investigate the claims regarding a photograph with what appeared to be an apparition in it, the photo had been sent into a local newspaper – you can see this photo below – and details of this were obtained by Ryan before hand so we decided to go check it out.
We took a good look around us when we arrived and figured out where the “exact spot” was where the suspicious figure was standing according to the photograph and performed some comparisons using Jim as the subject, checking out height and distance. With this done, we then went ahead and placed a voice recorder down to see if we could maybe catch any EVP`s…this however, proved very difficult on our return home as there was a lot of natural noises picked up when it was played back (as expected) eg: snapping twigs as we walked, people out walking their dogs and chatting, a jogger running, distant sounds of shouting, and of course the wind in the trees were all picked up making it impossible to hear anything else. The forest pathway is a great favourite with members of the public and, stray dogs according to one passer by.I myself found Blairadam forest to be a very beautiful tranquil place and can see why people would want to go there.
I used my camcorder throughout the investigation but, again we were faced with natural noise pollution so nothing to report there really either. I find these types of investigations fascinating and definitely thought it was worth while going. I didn`t really expect to find anything but, we did give it our best shot and…I`m glad I went.
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Ledard Farm,Kinlochard
August 21st 2009
Personal feedback by,
Mary Cunningham Scottish Paranormal Co-founder/Investigator.
Scottish Paranormal team in attendance:
Ryan O`Neill
Mary Cunningham
Jim Cunningham
Mark Smallman.
Scottish Paranormal continued research today at Ledard Farm after our previous visit there left us with a few unanswered questions. We were kindly given permission by our client Mr Gregor Wood to come back and concentrate fully on the MacGregor barn. On our last visit we had some minor movement of a long bench inside the barn area and also some small bottles of alcohol we used in our target experiment. We were keen to go back and set up our target experiment again but this time, we decided to try using glasses of water sitting on the bench in hope that we could actually see the bench vibrate. These experiments were then closely monitored for any sign of movement throughout the investigation. Unfortunately no movement was detected on either experiment at this time.
The MacGregor Barn.
After setting up all of our equipment and performed all our necessary checks we were then ready to start the investigation, everything was in full working order so we were set to proceed. Keeping in mind what Gregor had told us about a certain person “Walter Johnston” Ryan our SP founder tried some calling out to him, by using Walters name we hoped for some responses. Walter apparently had been known to be a wee bit of a character in his time on the farm and could always be seen to be up to something or other so, who better to start off this investigation with. As soon as Ryan started to call out to Walter the cameras began playing up by flashing brightly on and off and at one point totally knocked out our camera on the monitor, was this coincidence?…faulty equipment? or just the sunshine coming and going through the window. We did however perform a few on the spot checks just in case by testing the camera cables but we could find nothing wrong with them so I think on looking at other camcorder footage maybe the latter is what was making them flash so bad, the weather had been sunny one minute and dull the next all day so this could possibly be the reason for it. We continued on with our investigation to see if anything else would happen.
Although nothing happened regarding any movements of the target experiments we did hear a loud click at one point which I thought came from over beside the long bench to the right as we come in but later put this down to the flooring. There were also some natural sounds of dogs barking which is only to be expected on a working farm. We were still having issues with the IR cameras and this was continuously happening throughout the investigation which became a tad annoying at times as it interfered so much with the quality of our IR camera pictures on the laptops.
This location still intrigues me for the pure history of it and, to think I actually got the chance to stand in the very same place as Rob Roy MacGregor did so many years before when he called gatherings of the clans there. Not until you know the history of the place, that when you go there you can let your imagination wander back to that time and imagine what it must have been like, so many people in one room with the same ideas and passions and a willingness to fight and die for what they believed in. Walter Johnstone is in fine company….
I cannot thank our client enough for giving us -Scottish Paranormal- the opportunity to come back to this fantastic location to continue our research in the hope of finding some answers but, why did the miniature bottles of alcohol and the long bench seem to move of their own accord on a previous visit? Maybe we will never know but one thing is for sure, we will go on trying to find out because that is what we do.
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Yester Castle
Personal Feedback by :
Mary Cunningham SP Investigator.
Scottish Paranormal team in attendance:
Ryan O`Neill
Mary Cunningham
Rachel Atkinson
Mike Bradley
We arrived on location at Yester Castle at 8pm.After ensuring that we followed and respected the country code we closed any and all gates at the back of us, then made our way to the Castle.Darkness was upon us so, with torches in hand we trudged through the thick trees and bushes with stinging nettles. It wasn`t the easiest of locations to get to but with a little extra care we arrived safely.
I was surprised when we suddenly came upon the Castle through the trees. I was expecting to see a clearing of some kind leading up to the Castle itself like most Castles I`ve visited but it wasn`t the case here.I had never been to Yester Castle before so when I saw it for the first time I was amazed at how hidden it was amongst the trees and very spooky looking.Before we began the investigation we took some photos which you see here.
The Dungeon :
This Dungeon was quite big with lots of stones and boulders laying around on the ground which we all were made fully aware of and had to be careful in the dark. One or two bats were also flying around our heads at times although it didn`t really bother me at the time as I was so eager to start my base line tests. Temperature readings fluctuated between 8.05 and dropped to around 6.05 the nearer I got to the entrance to the tunnel. No EMF was picked up. In the circumstances I felt quite relaxed in here and not scared at all.I did however experience a small stone being thrown my way, none of the Team were close me at the time and, I swung my camera around to have a look but I couldn`t be sure which stone it was that had been thrown as there were so many laying around in the first place. I did hear it hit the ground beside me to my left and I did mentioned something to Mike at the time who was to my right using Ryan`s camcorder but he was too far away for to hear me say something I think, so not wanting to disturb Rachel`s calling out I took note of it. Looking back on my film footage I have picked this up on my camcorder.
The Tunnel :
The Tunnel was very narrow and the stairs leading down into it were not the best, I had to be very careful going down as the stairs were sort of crumbly and uneven. Again there were lots of big stones and boulders down at the bottom of the tunnel and made it very awkward to get a good footing. I made my way to the very bottom of the tunnel to where I couldn`t go any further because it had been blocked off, bricked up. I tried to make myself comfortable with my back against the wall and we all set about taking some EVP, temp readings and EMF in total silence and darkness. Mike filmed us. The Temp was reading as low as 1.09 at one point and raised up to around 4.23 on my thermometer. This was a tunnel that had no source of draughts that I could find so, it was interesting that standing at the top entrance looking down I could feel cold breezes on my face, Ryan too. The Temp was fluctuating rapidly up and down as I pointed my digital thermometer down into it, Ryan was asking out for anything to come up the stairs towards us and make itself known at the same time so, this was interesting to witness.
I really enjoyed our night at the Castle and this one I wouldn`t mind going back to and investigate it further.
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Ruthven Barracks 28th April 2007
Personal Feedback by,
Mary Cunningham SP Investigator.
Scottish Paranormal team in attendance:
Ryan O`Neill
Mary Cunningham
Jim Cunningham
Andie Byrne
Scott Drinkel
Emma Clark
Approaching Ruthven Barracks from the main road it looked amazing in the sunshine perched upon a small hill. I just had to get my camera out straight away to capture the scene. I know that the Barracks looked fantastic in the sunshine but, I can imagine it would take on a whole different look in the dark, a more eerie look and feel to it I suppose, just like most places of this kind I would expect.
After taking some photos I then made my way up the steep hill to the Barracks.When I first entered I thought how small it really was, to me it did anyway. Standing in the middle of what used to be the drill square looking around at the barracks I did get the feel of how cramped it must have been with 10 men sharing a small room,60 men in each barracks to be exact.The men also did their own cooking and washing clothes which made me smile a wee bit at the thought of it.
EVP equipment was set up in certain sections and I performed a short lone vigil, as did the others in the team, areas that were picked out before hand by Ryan. I didn`t feel at any time uncomfortable sitting by myself quietly filming and asking out if anyone was present with me in the room. I asked if they could maybe say something into the camcorder mic. I have double checked the footage from the camcorder I used but, unfortunately there isn`t anything on it in response to me calling out except for a bird way up high in the ruins who seemed quite happy just sitting there watching me…maybe next time I`ll get lucky and manage to capture something better, you never know.
I`ll look forward to the next time….whenever that may be.
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Mary Kings Close. July 14/15th 2006
Personal feedback by:
Mary Cunningham Scottish Paranormal Co-founder/Investigator
Scottish Paranormal team in attendance:
Full team.
As I arrived at the Close on schedule I just knew it was going to be a good night from the start but, I didn`t want to say that to the team for fear of jinxing it. Sometimes you can sense these things beforehand. No way am I a Sensitive or a Medium or anything like that but I just had that feeling…you know? I surely wasn`t disappointed by the end of the Investigation.
Baseline Tests and Safety checks.
I made my way around the entire Close with Mike, conducting the usual Base Line Tests and Safety checks first before we got down to some serious investigating once again. After we completed these tests we made our way back to the team who were waiting for us and keen to get started.
Area 1 Room 4. Laiche House.
On entering this room, the first thing I noticed was the smell, a horrible musty smell as you would expect. I took some Temp readings which fluctuated up and down a bit. No unusual EMF was picked up. I set up the night vision camcorder and pushed record. Myself, Ryan and Rachel settled ourselves down and sat quietly for about 5 minutes then tried some calling out. After about 5 minutes I could hear muffled voices but I couldn`t make out what they were saying, the voices reminded me of the type you would hear in a pub from a distance. Rachel got up and crossed over to the other side of the room where the camcorder was to make sure it was ok. Just before this I wasn`t feeling to good and the sweat was pouring down my brow and I felt a pressure in my head as if a metal band was being tightened around me ,maybe this was caused by anxiety I don`t know but anyway!… I quickly recovered from that which I was pleased about. As Rachel was standing to my right by the camera she said she could feel heat to her right, a few seconds after she said that… all 3 of us heard something. I`m not too sure what it was but we may have with any luck captured it on the camcorder. I`ll look forward to looking at the film footage later.
Area 2. Cow shed, Plague room.
When I entered the cow shed I could smell a horrible dirty smell, you would think after all these years there wouldn`t be a smell but there was. I didn`t feel uncomfortable in here actually, only the usual natural EMF readings were picked up in all the same places as in the base line test, temp was steady and no cold spots were picked up. I then moved on into the Plague room which is just right next to the cow shed, you can stand in the cow shed and look through into the Plague room because it has no doors.
In the Plague room again a strange smell, a very small room. Myself Ryan and Rachel settled ourselves down and Rachel tried some calling out. On a few occasions I was getting a strong smell of what I can only describe as a strong chemical burning smell which I put down to the material in a “prop” bucket which was sitting right next to me, it had fake nasty vomit type stuff in it, I think it was made of resin material. This bucket was used for visual effect when visitors came to see the plague room.
Ryan used the voice recorder to see what he could pick up and I couldn`t wait to see if he had anything on there.I felt relaxed in this room.
Area 3. Mr Chesney`s House .
Now this place has to be for me the most scary, so many reports about this room being active made it all the more interesting. Ryan, Rachel and myself made our way in and Rachel used the night vision Camcorder (Hand held) as we sat on the floor to begin our vigil. Being with Rachel and Ryan in here I didn`t feel scared at all, but to go in there by myself well! …that’s a different story as Rachel can confirm. At first not much of anything was happening so were speaking quietly to each other while sitting down on the floor. Rachel at this point had turned off the camcorder to save the battery, all of a sudden we all heard a loud noise right at the back of Rachel coming from a dark corner ,it was like a mans breath but I`m not too sure of this as I didn`t hear it as clearly as Rachel and Ryan did, I only know I did hear something. Ryan and Rachel jumped up and I grabbed the camcorder from Rachel and pushed record. It was quite exciting and I had hoped to get something on camcorder.
Lastly I come to my solo vigil in the plague room…..
Going through the film footage of my time spent in the plague room I did come across a few things which I didn`t hear at the time so that was interesting. I felt quite comfortable in this room and not scared at all. I did write down at the end of this vigil that nothing happened of any real significance and, any noises I heard I put down as natural, floorboards creaking and so on. Now to conduct a solo vigil in Mr Chesney`s house would be a whole other ballgame and, one I`m sure I`ll be conducting sometime in the future.
All in all it was a fantastic night and I`m sure the rest of the team will agree with me.
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Lathones Inn Jan 12th 2007
Personal Feedback by,
Mary Cunningham SP Investigator.
Equipment used:
EMF Meter,Digital Thermometer,Sony Hi8 Night Vision Camcorder,
(FinePix S5600 Digital Camera, before and after Investigation only)
Joint Team members in attendedance:
Mary Cunningham/Scottish Paranormal
Fiona Williamson/Scottish Paranormal
Natalie/Pararanormal Discovery Dundee
Treen/Paranormal Discovery Dundee.
We arrived at the Inn on a dreadful cold windy night. I was looking forward
to this investigation as I do with every investigation, again I was wondering
what the night had in store for us this time. As we sat in the car waiting for Paranormal Discovery to arrive, the wind was fierce and shook the car. This was my first time working along side of another Paranormal group in our area and I was pleasantly surprised how well we all worked together as a team.
Room 14.
Our small group of 4 started off in this room which was claimed by a person that stayed in here that they saw someone standing behind them while looking in the mirror, as they turned around see, there was nobody there. Apparently a white mist has been seen too which was said to appear above the bed. This was a very small room. We spent 45 minutes in this area and apart from the howling wind outside I couldn`t hear anything unusual after calling out a few times. I did however see a few light flashes witch I put down to one of the other team members using a camera. I did feel a certain something in this room but couldn`t quite put my finger on it, just a slight uneasy feeling. Fiona didn`t like this room at all and felt she would never want to actually spend a night in it.
Main Room Bar area.(Converted Stables)
Moving into this area to spend another 45minutes, I felt absolutely nothing but cold in this room.The wind was still blowing a gale outside which made things really difficult for us to hear anything else. I was told by Treen when I was standing at the fireplace that people had apparently witnessed the companion set at the side of the fire move quite considerably by its own accord from one end of the fireplace to the other…whether I believe this or not? Hmmmm…I don`t know to tell you the truth. I think I`d rather see it for myself but unfortunately I wasn`t lucky enough tonight. There was a lot of noises in here which could be easily explained away as being the wind, a lot of banging and weird creaking sounds were heard by us all. Fiona picked up absolutely nothing in this room while we were there. Nothing unusual was witnessed after some calling out.
Room 15
This room as soon as I walked in was filled with the smell which I thought smelled like incense but, I did notice that there was a small fire in that room which may have been lit earlier so probably the smell came from that. This was another small room and to be honest I felt quite good in here almost to the point I could fall asleep easily, quite a cosy wee room. We tried some calling out but, again we got nothing. I suppose that’s the way things go sometimes and we just may have to come back another time. No EMF was picked up by me at anytime in any of the area`s we went into. No major changes in temperatures either.
All in all although nothing much happened here tonight it was still a fantastic location and worthy of another investigation, preferably when the weather is a little better. I`d like to thank all at Paranormal Discovery Dundee for giving us the opportunity to work along side them, it was an experience….cheers guys.
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The Osnaburg Bar
Friday 15th April 2009
Personal feedback by,
Mary Cunningham SP Co-founder/Investigator.
Investigators in Attendance:
Ryan O`Neill
Mary Cunningham
Jim Cunningham
Mark Smallman
Scottish Paranormal had returned to the Osnaburg Bar in Forfar after performing an investigation there last year February 2008. We decided that another visit was in order since Scottish Paranormal have taken the step forward in using only our equipment and logical thinking on investigations. We had received a good deal of information from our last visit so we wanted to go back and try again and maybe come up with something else.
We arrived at The Osnaburg Bar around 11:40pm so we needed to wait until the bar staff ushered the last customers out the door before we could go in. I was hoping it would be a good night as I remembered last time we were there we had some activity happen regarding a door opening and closing allegedly on its own. On further investigation it was decided that a former member of the team may have opened the door but could not remember doing it, this event we have since thrown out because of this. When we came back for this investigation we checked the doors in question again and pinpointed that it was in fact one of the toilet doors that made the very same sound that we picked up on the camcorder. The camcorder however, had not been in a position to see if anyone had come out of the toilet at the time, as we tested the door I am convinced the noise from it is the exact same spring type noise, the kind that keeps the door in the closed position for fire safety regulations.
Main Bar Area.
We started off in the main bar area of the pub and Mark was informing us that his camera batteries were acting up which he found strange because the batteries were fully charged before he left his house, we took a note of this. About 5 or 10 minutes after start off we all heard a loud noise coming from the lounge area, as we went through to find out what it was we discovered it was only the coffee machine so Pam turned it off completely. We went back through to the main bar where Ryan continued to call out and waited for any responses back to his questions. Using the name “Harry” …although I didn`t hear anything myself, Ryan, Pam and Derek heard a couple of knocks from around the back of the bar. Ryan then moved closer with an analogue voice recorder and asked a few more questions but again, I heard no response. I was quite happy to record the investigation with my camcorder but unfortunately, I didn`t manage to pick up the earlier two knocking noises, I think I was too far away being at the opposite end of the bar from where Ryan was. I then gave Ryan my camcorder in order that I could continue to call out while standing closer to the middle of the bar using the analogue voice recorder. I asked out loud if Harry was here in the bar and also let it be known to him that the bottle of Whiskey sitting on the bar was for him, we were informed earlier by Pam that this was his favourite tipple.I had placed the Whiskey -which Derek had kindly loaned to us- on the bar earlier where apparently Harry was known to sit beside on his favourite stool when he was alive and frequented to pub. Mark was monitoring the bottle of Glenmorangie Whiskey with the thermal laser gun as I asked the questions, we got some natural changes but no major fluctuations of temperature were detected on the Whiskey bottle or, on the other target experiments I set up in the other side of the room….. we decided to move on to the next room.
The Lounge Area.
The lounge area we used as our base room like we did last time and I chose to sit beside the laptop in the corner while using my camcorder. Jim sat over by the bar to my right on a stool taking any notes, Mark was sitting in the mid section of the lounge and he was using his camcorder, pointing it straight in front of him to monitor any movement that might occur in the small corridor where it was reported that a dark shadow had been seen passing by the lounge doors. Pam had also seen part of a dark shadowy figure on a different occasion heading towards the double lounge doors. Ryan started to call out and he was using an analogue voice recorder again. Pam sat quietly across from me as we listened for any responses to Ryan`s questions. We could hear people passing by outside at one point but they quickly went away leaving us in silence once again. After spending about 10 to 15 minutes in the lounge we decided to move on.
The Cellar.
I didn`t hold up much hope on capturing anything in the cellar as it was just far too noisy because of the machinery in there gurgling away loudly and continuously, this was the major reason why we didn`t place any audio devices down in this particular area, there simply wouldn`t be any point in it but we did set up an IR camera to monitor the area for any movement. However!…at the opposite end of the cellar it was a little quieter so we tried some calling out while using the analogue recorder for about 10 minutes. Nothing much to note down except Ryan kept thinking he could see something at the far end of the cellar where we had just come from, I think he put it down to his eyes trying to adjust and playing tricks on him. I myself didn`t feel much happening in this area at all but, with me standing so close to electric machinery that was giving off relatively high EMF (Electro Magnetic Field) readings I could feel a slight headache and nausea coming on which is only natural. I don`t recall any of others in the group complaining of feeling unwell while in the cellar.
Notes:
I`m not sure if this is connected or not but thought it worth mentioning. Last year while I was sorting through the film footage with Bryan Boyle in it, I came across what I thought was an English woman`s voice saying something (can`t make it out though) after Bryan says “ Something is trying to come through me and it`s “gutteral” he then says “it`s like…it`s like….hang on!” then we hear the womans voice come in. During this time last year after we all got home I asked Emma, who had been using the camcorder at the time, what this voice could have been, was it hers? and she thought it was coming from outside, if this was the case then why didn`t any the rest of us hear this? nobody in the room responds to it or comments on it for the sake of the digital recorders which we normally do to aid us when listening back for any evp`s.
I thought how funny it was to capture a voice this time around too that sounds like an English womans voice again, in the exact same area as before. Now I`m not saying this is paranormal but, it does seem strange to me. When you watch the complimentary video of Bryan I put together for you, look out for that part and decide for yourselves, it`s not far into the video when it happens.
I think this is a fantastic location and will remember it for a long time to come as being one of the best investigations we have been on. I`d like to thank Derek and Pam for making us so welcome…cheers guys!
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St Bridget`s Kirk,Dalgety Bay, Fife.
18th September 2009
Personal feedback by.
Mary Cunningham SP Co-founder/Investigator.
St Bridgets Kirk
Scottish Paranormal team in attendance:
Mary Cunningham
Jim Cunningham
Mark Smallman
The extensive remains of St Bridget’s Church stand just above the shoreline at the head of Dalgety Bay, an inlet in the north shore of the Firth of Forth. They also stand at the very eastern edge of the settlement of Dalgety Bay.
The origins of St Bridget’s Church date back the better part of 850 years. “The Church at Dalgetty with its appurtenances” was first mentioned in a Papal document dated 11 March 1178. The church (possibly a rebuild of the church mentioned in 1178) was consecrated in 1244 by David de Bernham, the Bishop of St. Andrews and dedicated to St Bridget. This was presumably the Saint Brigit or Brigid of Kildare in Ireland, who lived from 451 to 525.
When originally built, St Bridget’s would have been at the heart of the small community of Dalgety. The church continued in use through the Reformation, and there are signs of the galleries that would once have helped the church accommodate the local population during the typically Presbyterian services of the day.
By 1830 the village of Dalgety had disappeared and the main coast road had moved inland to the line of today’s A921. By this time St Bridget’s was structurally unsound, and no longer in the right place to serve the needs of a population pulled north by the coal mining industry. The church was therefore unroofed, and a replacement built half a mile north. St Bridget’s was simply allowed to become overgrown and ruinous, until eventually passing into the care of Historic Scotland, who have restored it to the fascinating building you can see today.
Investigators in Attendance:
Mary Cunningham
Jim Cunningham
Mark Smallman.
Scottish Paranormal arrived around 4pm give or take a few minutes and had to park the car way back up the road because of no parking facilities near St Bridgets, we took a leisurely long walk along the country lane that led us to the Kirk itself. Although it wasn`t a warm sunny day it was still a refreshing walk and I enjoyed it greatly but, I`m so glad we didn`t have to carry heavy equipment with us. Sony camcorders and digital cameras were all we needed for this one really, trying for any evp was too difficult as the location was contaminated with natural sounds of animals and birds etc etc…We did however find a little enclosed area right inside the ruined Kirk itself that we could use but, after only 15 minutes recording time we were disturbed by a young couple out for a stroll and a bit of a chitchat. I abandoned my attempt at any evp as it was useless and just not the right conditions to work in regarding any audio work. As soon as I retrieved my digital recorder and turned it off the couple left…typical ha! ha!… I didn`t bother to reset it again.
Myself, Jim and Mark continued to explore the ruins and grounds of St Bridget`s Church and soaked up the atmosphere a little, standing right on the edge of the cemetery grounds we could look across the River Forth and brace ourselves against the strong breeze blowing against us, a bit chilly but I didn`t really care much as I have been at a lot colder places in the past. We all went ahead and gathered as much photos and film footage as we could before we finished this daytime recce.I found this place to be very interesting and a great location to visit if only for the history of it, a truly beautiful tranquil place. I would expect it to take on a very different atmosphere if it were visited late at night though. Imagination and the movies are to blame for that and I think therefore we become apprehensive and nervous even before we set foot in the place.
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The Ragged School Edinburgh…21st April 2007
Personal Feedback by,
Mary Cunningham SP Investigator.
THE RAGGED SCHOOL
Orignally sited next to the Camera Obscura Outlook Tower in Ramsay Lane.
Established in 1847 by Dr. Thomas Guthrie, a preacher and reformer, this boarding school housed 45 of the old town’s most destitute children.They were educated, fed and lived here.
The boys were also taught how to make shoes and clothes whilst the girls were trained to be ‘thrifty wives for working men’
Scottish Paranormal Team in attendance:
Ryan O`Neill
Mary Cunningham
Jim Cunningham
Ewan Irvine
Andrea Byrne
Scott Drinkel
Emma Clark
Heather
Fiona Williamson.
Equipment used:
Full set-up.
Arriving at the old school in early afternoon we were ushered inside by one of the staff members there. My expectations were high and I wasn`t disappointed.The school was fantastic and had that certain feel to it. Steeped in history and, if only walls could talk I`m sure they could tell me a thing or two of what went on there. Not being a Sensitive or Medium myself I relied on what Fiona and Heather would pick up,if anything, again I wasn`t disappointed.
Throughout my whole time spent there at the school I can honestly say that my mind did wander sometimes when hearing about the things that may have went on there, punishments using a cane and getting put in cupboards were picked up on by our Team Mediums. I did at one point find myself having trouble taking down the Mediums notes for our records.I could so relate to some of the children that had been in that school as I myself had been in a similar situation a long long time ago, not an orphan but, experienced first hand what it was like to be in a place like that with other kids in the same circumstances as me. Seeing that little old battered pram that belonged to a child at one time sitting in the middle of the room almost made me cry and, it did bring some memories flooding back to me, some happy and some not so happy.
I really did enjoy the day there at the school and setting up our equipment but, I felt we didn`t have enough time in the place to really get into it deeper. I hope that sometime in the not so distant future Scottish Paranormal will revisit this place when we can stay longer and maybe have some “quiet” to continue our research and bring a little piece of History to all our Forum members.
A big thank you to the staff at the school for letting us come in, see you again soon.
