- A former prison where executions were staged and women
and children died in poverty during the 19th century is to be studied by
expert investigators in a bid to explain "odd goings on".
-
- The ten-strong team from Glamorgan Paranormal Investigations
will set up cameras and sound-recording equipment in the cells of Jedburgh
Castle Jail, a Howard reform prison before its conversion into a museum.
-
- It will be the first time the Wales-based group has conducted
research in Scotland, and the overnight investigation later this month
follows claims from several visitors that they experienced strange presences
and saw unusual shapes of light while in the jail.
-
- The Jedburgh prison was used mainly to hold debtors,
although many criminals were hanged on the site before the jail was built.
There are a number of ghost stories associated with the property, and a
long-dead piper is said to play on the battlements during the hours of
darkness.
-
- Anne Piper, the member of the Glamorgan team who suggested
the Jedburgh property for their latest investigation, was quick to stress
they would not be trying to prove the prison was haunted. She said the
aim of the group was to collate evidence, visual, radio or sensory, from
around the country.
-
- So far they had carried out six investigations and reports
on each would be published on the groupís website.
-
- She said: "From our studies, we hope to ascertain
whether any apparently unexplainable events are paranormal or have in fact
got a logical, if not immediately apparent, explanation."
-
- The group members come from various backgrounds and have
their own areas of expertise in various technological and research fields.
Although some of the team believe in the existence of spirit life, they
also accept many "ghostly" happenings can be given a rational
explanation.
-
- Ms Piper added: "There was certainly a special kind
of atmosphere about the place when I visited the Jedburgh jail. The fact
that women and children suffered and died in pretty unique conditions is
more likely to mean there will be unusual activity. I had a strange sense
of being watched and I took a number of orb pictures, that is, circles
of light."
-
- The group has researched a diverse range of properties,
including a reconstructed medieval village, public houses, woodland areas
and castles in south and west Wales.
-
- Shona Sinclair, of the Borders museum service, welcomed
the study: "A number of Jedburgh residents have referred to the story
of the piper. It will be interesting to see if they come up with any theories
or evidence and I look forward to reading their report."
-
- ©2004 Scotsman.com http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1067992004
|
