Paranormal Discovery

 

Monday, 19th March 2007

Paranormal Discovery would like to begin by thanking the management at Dunecht Estates for answering our many queries and allowing this investigation to take place. 

Location

Dunnottar Castle is situated 2 miles south of Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire.  Set upon a large rock with sheer cliffs 160-feet high, it is certainly a spectacular location.  The castle itself is comprised of a number of different buildings from various time periods which have been erected on the 3-acre site.  The rock upon which it sits is only joined to the mainland by a narrow fin of land, and even this was carved away to make it inaccessible.  There were only two ways in or out of the castle, the first being what was the very heavily defended main gate set in between a cleft in the rock (the present visitors' entrance).  The second was via a path which led up the cliff on the north side of the rock to the equally well defended postern gate.

Fortifications have been built and rebuilt on this rock for the best part of 2000 years, possibly even longer, so it is not surprising that Dunnottar has a very turbulent history and as a result, numerous resident ghosts.

 

Timeline for Dunnottar Castle:

84AD   An early Pictish fortress on Dunnottar is taken over by the Romans (after their victory over the Caledonians at the battle of Mons Graupius, a few miles from Dunnottar)

Late 400s   St Ninian visits Dunnottar, founding chapel there

681AD   Seige of Din Foither (earlier name for Dunnottar) recorded in the Annals of Ulster

900AD  King Donald II dies defending Dunnottar against the Danish Vikings

934AD   King Aethelstan of Wessex attacks the castle during a raid into Scotland via land

1100s   William the Lion uses Dunnottar as an adminstrative centre

1276   Parish church founded on site of St Ninian's original chapel

1296  During Wars of Independence the castle is taken by Edward I of England after his defeat of John Balliol, King of Scotland

1297   William Wallace retakes Dunnottar, burning down the chapel with the entire English garrison taking refuge inside

1336   English again capture the castle, with Edward III of England rebuilding and fortifying it as a base for the northern campaign

1336   Scottish regent Andrew Moray recaptures the castle

Late 1300s   Rebuilding continued by William Keith who is responsible for the most prominent building - the tower house or keep - and also parts of the stone defences around the entrance

Early 1500s   New block added to the east of the keep

1531   Dunnottar is granted to the Earl Marischals of Scotland by James V.  The Earl Marishcals will eventually become the overseers of all ceremonial activities of the Scottish Court, including coronations, and will be responsible for the security of the Scottish Crown Jewels

1562   Mary Queen of Scots visits

1564   Mary Queen of Scots' second visit

1575   Stone gatehouse completed - present day entrance

1580   James VI stays at Dunnottar

1500s     New chapel built on site of the old one

1580-1650   The Marischals convert the castle into a more luxurious mansion, building ranges of buildings around a quadrangle courtyard

1639   The seventh Earl Marischal joins the Covenanters (a movement agains the Episcopal Church of Charles I) and rejects attempts by James Graham, first Marquess of Montrose, to convert him back to the royalist cause.  Montrose attacks Dunnottar and burns surrounding estates and towns.  Marischal holds fortress despite substantial structural devastation

1650   King Charles II visits

1651   Scottish Crown Jewels, the Honours of Scotland, are brought to Dunnottar for safekeeping during Cromwell's invasion of Scotland

1652   Cromwell's forces, under command of General George Monck, attack the castle in order to destroy the Crown Jewels.  Dunnottar is defended by the governor Sir George Ogilvy of Barras and only 70 men for 8 months, until the castle is eventually surrendered.  The Honours, however, have already been smuggled out of the castle by being lowered down the cliffs to a local woman pretending to collect seaweed.  The treasures are hidden under the floor of a church at nearby Kineff until the Restoration of the Monarchy.  George Ogilivy and his wife are imprisoned in the castle - George survives but his wife dies from her treatment

1685   Castle never recovers form the damage inflicted on it by Cromwell's cannons and now lies mostly derelict.  In May of this year 167 Covenanter prisoners (122 men, 45 women) are locked in the Whigs' Vault below one of the buildings in the quadrangle.  Some die of starvation and disease, others are killed trying to escape (two are caught and taken to the guardroom and tortured with burning matches) and some eventually pledge allegiance to the King and his religion.  The survivors are transported to the West Indies after two months, where most die from fever

1715   The tenth, and last, Earl Marischal is convicted of treason for his part in the Jacobite uprising.  His estates, including Dunnottar Castle, are forfeited to the governement and then sold to the York Building Company, who remove anything left of value, leaving the castle a neglected ruin

1925   A programme of restoration and repairs is begun

   

 

 

There have been many ghost sightings at Dunnottar:

A young girl dressed in green tartan has been seen in the bakery.  She goes to the doorway next to the brewery and disappears.

A ghostly dog has also been seen.  A Deerhound to be exact.  It has been witnessed near the tunnel.

The ghost of a tall Scandinavian looking man has also been seen at the castle.  He is seen going into the guardroom at the front of the castle.

As well as apparitions, Dunnottar is home to other paranormal activity.  The noise of voices as if from a meeting have been heard coming from Benholm's Lodging.  However, when investigated nobody is found to be in the building.

 

 

Investigators present

Katrina, Natalie, Eric, Laura & Tori

Weather

Light snow showers, windy

After the long walk to the castle, we stopped for a few minutes near the entrance to look at the small rooms there.  There was a particular area that Tori did not feel comfortable in and we were to find out later that this was the old guardroom.

Due to the icy cold wind, we decided to seek shelter under a covered part of the castle so that we could warm up and decide where we would investigate first.  We somehow ended up in the brewery but initially we did not know which room this was.  Tori felt drawn to the next room and sat in there alone for a few minutes.  She informed us that she had seen a blue mist in the corner to the left of the doorway as you enter.  We later found out that this room is the bakery and is said to be haunted by the ghost of a sad girl dressed in green. We then decided to start our investigation in this room following a quick tour of the castle.

On our return to the bakery, we decided to sit for a while to just watch and listen.  We commenced audio recording and asked a few questions in the hope of obtaining some EVP material.  During this time Eric kept hearing what he thought sounded like music in another room and bangs from above him in the corner by the oven wall.  We all heard voices of women talking and assumed that they were visitors coming down stairs and that it had been them we had heard.  However, several bangs were heard again this time by Nat and Eric.  Nat decided to run upstairs to see who was up there.  She returned to say that nobody was noticed upstairs or in any of the rooms on our level.  She had looked in every room.  She had even looked out over the courtyard but saw no-one to account for the bumps from above.  It is worth pointing out that we could not hear Nat's footsteps when she was walking about upstairs.

Again we listened and we heard more noises from above which sound like footsteps.  Tori decided to run upstairs this time and again nobody was  seen in the area.  Tori was wearing heavy boots and stamped hard on the floor above. Everyone downstairs heard the noise Tori made and it sounded very similar to the noises we had heard earlier.

Several tapping noises were recorded on the digital voice recorder and these are in time with the team members commenting on the noises from above.  However, the noises recorded sound different in that they sound more like stones being knocked together rather than the dull footsteps.

Whilst sitting in the corner where she had seen the mist earlier, Tori sensed sadness and fear.

The voice recorder was left running and placed in front of the oven while we went to have a look around the Whig's vault and an additional cell below the vault.

After a while we decided to visit the Whig's Vault again and the voice recorder was retrieved from the bakery.  Whilst there we thought we would again try to capture some EVP.  Several questions were asked in the hope of recording some 'spirit' voices.  Just as Laura asked out, "are you male," a deep grunting noise like a male voice was heard from near the entrance to the vault.  Tori asked Eric if he made the noise but he said he had not. 

Eric decided to sit in the brewery for a while filming.  He focused on the bakery area and sat watching for any one passing by.  He managed to record some strange shadows which moved across the back of the room.  He can't explain what may have caused them as no-one was seen in the area at the time they were recorded.  The only two light sources in the bakery and brewery are from the bakery window and through the brewery door to the outside.  The only possible explanation is that someone must have walked past the door or window to cast a shadow inside.  However, nobody was seen and the path outside is close to the building with a fence shielding a sheer drop on the other side.  Anyone passing would be clearly seen.  The rest of the team had remained in the Whig's vault during this time.

View of brewery door (centre)

Interesting shadows were filmed in the bakery and are still unexplained and some noises were recorded when the voice recorder was left unmanned in the same room.  Although interesting, none of these can be classed as 'evidence'.  Any piece of 'evidence' collected could well have been compromised by the fact that visitors were wandering around, by the high winds gusting through the castle, by any wildlife present in or around the castle and due to the acoustics and echo caused by the building itself.

However, due to time constraints and the bad weather, we did not spend as much time as we would have liked in other areas of the castle, some of which are reputed to be haunted.  We hope to revisit when the weather is warmer to complete our investigation of  Dunnottar Castle.