Thanks
First of all, the team would like to thank Nick White, the owner of Lathones Inn, for allowing us to investigate his property. We would also like to thank Morag, the Inn's manager, for giving us access to the building on the night and for sparing time to talk with us about the Inn's history and paranormal activity.
Overview
Lathones Inn lies approximately 5 miles from St Andrews in the East Neuk of Fife. This quaint hotel is reputed to be St Andrews' oldest coaching inn, being some 400 years old. The oldest part of the building is the former stables (now a function room) and the front house dates back to the 17th century. There is a marriage lintel dated 1718 above the fireplace which was to commemorate the marriage of former owners Iona Kirk and Ewan Lindsay who ran the establishment as a Drovers' inn. Legend has it that the lintel cracked at the moment Iona died in 1736, leaving her husband heartbroken who died shortly afterwards.
One of the 'regulars' of the inn in times gone by was Wee Mad MacGregor, a highwayman who 'worked' in the area between St Andrews and Lundin Links. He was an unfortunate soul being under 5 feet tall and drooled from the corner of his mouth due to one side of his body being disfigured causing his face to droop!
In more modern times the inn was frequented by local coal miners who even had their own golf course at the inn. Coal was mined for 100 years in the area unil the 1920s.
Paranormal Activity
Such an old building deserves to have a ghost or two. There have been many recent strange events at the inn reported by guests and staff. The inn's website makes interesting reading for those interested in its ghostly happenings which include doors and windows opening and closing by themselves, fire tools swinging and also moving fom one side of the fireplace to the other, a baby crying in the upstairs office, a grey swirling mist appearing above beds and lets not forget the Grey Lady and her horse who are reputed to reside in the old stables.
Investigation Details
Friday, 12th January 2007
Outside Conditions
Weather: stormy
Moon: third quarter
Investigators Present
Paranormal Discovery team: Katrina, Natalie, Eric, Marty, Laura, Mike, Tori
Scottish Paranormal Team: Ryan, Jim, Mary, Fiona
Investigation Report
One stormy night . . . .
This joint investigation with Scottish Paranormal took place in three separate areas of the Inn, namely rooms 14 and 15 and the old stables which is currently used as a function room. Rooms 14 and 15 are situated in a separate building near the roadside and the stables are part of the main building which includes the reception area.
There was one team in each area at a time, with each team rotating round each area in turn, until 12.30am when Scottish Paranormal had to leave for the night. After this, vigils were carried out again in the two bedrooms and the stable area was left empty. In the stables a voice recorder was left running for much of the night and another in the reception area and trigger objects were set up with a locked off camcorder covering them. After 3am the whole team gathered in the stable area for a final vigil.
The team members in each area and any notable occurrences are as follows:
Room 14
21.25-22.10: Katrina, Natalie, Mary, Fiona
Temperature: 11C. EMF: none
Noises heard by doorway - radiator noted to be nearby. Fiona had feeling of unease and later picked up on spirit of a gentleman called 'John' who she said had taken his life because of guilt about the death of a little girl- he blamed himself for the death even though it was not his fault. She said that John had been classed as a bit slow when alive. Part of John's surname was given by Fiona as 'ing'. She felt that his second name would have been Singleton or another name with 'ing' in it. He had lived in the area, but Fiona was not sure if he was connected to the Inn. Following this Fiona then said she felt a bit sick. Later a light anomaly was filmed moving from behind Fiona's head, down past her shoulder and around the left-hand-side of her body while she sat on the bed. Fiona also mentioned that there had been at least one instance of someone looking in the mirror above the fireplace, seeing something in it and upon turning round it not being there.
22.20-23.05: Marty, Eric, Mike
Temperature: 17C min, 19C max.
Orbs seen by all members of team (at different times) and sounds heard next to door. Also scratch heard at door and movement of door handle.
23.20- 00.05: Laura, Tori, Jim, Ryan
Temperature: 16.5C
Noise heard at door by all team members. Flashes of light seen by two of the team in the door area. Three of the team felt that there was a strange atmosphere, as if something was going to happen.
01.30-02.20: Katrina, Natalie, Tori, Laura
Temperature: 12.5C
Flashes or 'pinpricks' of light are seen by doorway by all team members (but at different times) with naked eye during first 15 minutes of vigil. Tori and Laura felt uncomfortable in this room.
02.30-03.00: Marty, Eric, Mike
Temperature: 19C
Orb in the shape of a goat's eye seen at the door by Marty upon entering the room. An orb filmed by Mike and Eric at the same time on separate camcorders from different angles.
Room 15 21.30-22.20: Marty, Eric, Mike Temperature: 16C min, 17C max Orbs seen near door by Eric and Mike. Torch went out at one point and later on Eric's camcorder switched itself off for no apparent reason. 22.20-23.10: Laura, Jim, Ryan, Tori Temperature: 15.5C min, 17.5C max. Orbs witnessed by Tori (with naked eye and on camcorder) in various areas of room. All team members at end of vigil report feeling cold, but temperature unchanged. 23.10-00.00: Katrina, Natalie, Fiona, Mary Temperature: 18C No activity noted. EMF reading of 4 picked up near the stereo which had been left on. 02.30-03.00: Katrina, Natalie, Tori, Laura Temperature: 18.5C Temperature dropped to 14.7C at 02.45. Orbs seen coming out of mirror on wall by door by Laura on camcorder. No EMF readings picked up. Stables 21.30-22.10: Laura, Tori, Ryan, Jim Temperature: 11.5C at fireplace, 14.5C at bar Door closed shut on its own. Orbs seen by Tori. Scratching heard outside by Ryan. Both Ryan and Tori reported feeling out of breath at the same time for no apparent reason. Flashes were seen by Jim at bar on camcorder and Tori saw movement by bar. Red light was seen by Jim in middle of room. Sound of footsteps on gravel chips outside heard by Tori, but nobody visible outside. 22.20-23.00: Katrina, Natalie, Fiona, Mary Temperature: 8C at fireplace, 9.6C at bar Various banging noises heard by group. Scratching heard at outside door by Natalie and Fiona. Several loud squeaks heard by everyone present coming from the window area. A different tapping noise was also heard fom the window area which made fiona jump up out of her seat. This noise sounded diffferent to the previously mentioned squeaks which are thought to have been caused by the wind or a branch scratching the window pane outside. 23.10-00.00 : Mike, Eric, Marty Temperature: 14C min, 19C max Orb spotted on both Martin and Eric's camcorders. Tapping noise heard near bar by Mike and Martin - EMF reading detected in same area. Orb filmed coming from fireplace directly towards Eric's camcorder after Mike had asked out for any spirit present to show him/herself. Review of Findings We had commenced our investigation ever hopeful of capturing evidence of paranormal activity at the inn. We had anticipated an increase in activity due to the disturbances that may have been caused by the current refurbishment and building work in progress. Explanations can be offered for some of the flashes of light witnessed during the night. The inn is situated by a road and it is possible that some of the flashes of light seen could have been car headlights although this was not proven. Also the red light seen by one of the team in the stable area could have been coming from either someone's nightvision camera or laser thermometer or more likely from the led light on the ceiling noticed in one of our photographs taken in that area. Several flashes of light and orbs were seen throughout the night by various team members both with the naked eye and through camcorders. Various photos were taken showing orbs and several moving light anomalies were captured on video. However, we realise that the debate continues about the origin of orbs and suchlike. Video clips are available to view on our forum and membership is free. These clips have been added due to the interesting movement and speed of some of the orbs seen. We offer no explanation as to what they are and leave it up to each viewer to decide what they think these anomalies could be. Audio Voice recorders were used by both teams during the investigation. Scottish Paranormal left a machine recording during the first half of the investigation in the stables, Paranormal Discovery continued recording in the same room for the second half of the night. Various different noises were heard on the digital voice recording such as scrapes, taps and even what was thought to be furniture moving on the cobbled floor of the stable area, but it was very difficult to identify possible explanations for these noises due to the high winds that continued for most of the night. As a note of interest, the voice recorder left in the reception area did not record anything despite the display showing that it was recording when Katrina left the room. The recording device left in the stable area was secured inside an anti-static sleeve to reduce the chance of interference giving a false positive result. Trigger Objects The decision to set up our trigger objects in the function room/stables was based on the information we had on previous activity at the inn. Again, Scottish Paranormal set up their experiment first in this area, ensuring that the object was filmed by a locked off camera and had a voice recorder situated alongside. Paranormal Discovery continued with this later by placing some objects in front of the fireplace. Objects (old coins, old keys and a horse's bit) were chosen which may have had some relevance to some of the spirits thought to visit the area. The room was locked while we continued with vigils elsewhere and the objects were filmed for the duration of the experiment. On return some excitement was shown as we initially though that one of the items had moved slightly. However, on examination of photos taken before and after, it is evident that no movement had taken place. Although an outline had been drawn around the objects, a slight marigin had been unavoidable due to the shape of the items. It was this space between the item and its outline which in caused us to wrongly assume that it had in fact moved. Other As with other investigations, the true extent of any activity is often not realised by the team until afterwards when reviewing video footage etc. However, on this occasion Mike took home a reminder of Lathones Inn. Two scratches had appeared sometime overnight on his forehead and neck. Mike was unaware of being scratched or of scratching himself. The one on his neck was quite deep and it is not known how this could have happened without Mike being aware of it. The scratches were not there when the investigation started. Summary All members involved in the investigation enjoyed it but felt that it had been a relatively uneventful night, with only orbs/lights seen and the odd sound heard. However, upon examining the investigation report notes for each vigil, it is apparent that all groups experienced more activity in room 14 (in particular, flashes of light and noises by the doorway) and more team members felt uncomfortable in this room than in the other two areas. It is this consistency which is of interest, especially as the separate teams did not confer between vigils or have access to each other's report notes. 
