Balgonie Castle is said to be home to a dozen different spirits who, by rights, should have shuffled off this mortal coil many moons ago.
The castle, nestled in the pretty Fife countryside, is an intriguing place. That’s not least because the building is no longer open to the public.
Events such as the evening of paranormal investigation organised by Scottish Paranormal offer a rare opportunity to have a peek inside the historic site.
As the group’s lead researcher Ryan O’Neill (more from Ryan later) points out: “We’re the only ones allowed to do any kind of research here.”
Famous visitors and ghosts at Balgonie Castle
I make the journey through Fife to Balgonie Castle on a beautiful evening and arrive at the imposing stone tower and walled courtyard just as the light is beginning to fade.
The quiet of the countryside is punctuated by the soundtrack of birdsong and cattle lowing.
I’m excited to see inside the restored castle and family home of the Laird of Balgonie.
The site fell into disrepair and lay derelict for around 160 years. Current owners, the Morris family, took it on in 1985.
Since then former Laird Raymond Morris – and the current Laird of Balgonie, Stuart Morris – have undertaken substantial restorations to make the castle habitable again. Stuart and his wife now occupy the top two floors of the tower.
Balgonie Castle has hosted high-profile visitors over the centuries including James IV in 1496 and Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1565. Folk hero and outlaw Rob Roy MacGregor is said to have garrisoned the castle in 1716.
Is Balgonie one of ‘the scariest places on Earth’?
It’s no surprise then that the site is alive with stories of intrigue and tales of the paranormal. The castle has featured in TV shows such as The Scariest Places On Earth and Help! My House is Haunted.
But when I arrive, my hosts for the evening couldn’t have been more down to earth, or welcoming.
There was no sense of hocus-pocus or intention to spook or frighten people.
The Scottish Paranormal team is led by Ryan O’Neill and Gregor Stewart.
The team greeted the 30 or so guests before we were given a tour of the locations that we would investigate that evening.
Anyone interested in the paranormal may have come across Ryan in the TV series Spooked Scotland and Ireland. Or they may have read Gregor Stewart’s books on Supernatural St Andrews or Ghosts of Scotland.
Both have been fascinated by the unexplained since they were children.
Why do Gregor and Ryan hunt ghosts?
Gregor has a lifelong interest in the history of the places and people at the locations he visits.
His grandfather’s stories – coupled with his own strange experiences in and around St Andrews – sparked his interest in the paranormal.
Ryan is similar. He describes one particular incident in his own flat.
“My bedside light had clicked on by itself and I thought, that’s weird. So I jumped up in bed.
“I went into the living room and the TV – it was one of those old Phillips type, big, heavy things – was on its side and all the ornaments were on top of it.”
Thinking he had been burgled, Ryan checked all the windows and doors to find them locked and unopened.
A stool was upended in the kitchen and his kitten was hissing at something unseen behind him.
He was so spooked by the incident that he was halfway up the street from his flat before he realised that he had run out in his stocking feet.
“A medium came up from Edinburgh to have a look. They said that it was the ghost of a miner – they were all miners’ houses,” he explains.
“The miner didn’t know he was dead and was wondering why no one was paying him any attention!
“I think that was probably one of the catalysts for me to turn around and say: ‘I need to find out what’s going on here’.
“If you’ve experienced something like that then you want to find out.”
Who you gonna call?
Back at Balgonie Castle, the Morris family have reported various unexplained incidents since they moved into the castle.
These include sightings of the figure of a child, a floating head and a particularly dark presence in the chapel.
As the result of Scottish Paranormal’s investigations, and the close relationship they have built up with the family, the team have been appointed as the official investigators for Balgonie Castle.
With a bag of tricks that would put Dr Peter Venkman and his team of Ghostbusters to shame, Ryan, Greg and the team use different techniques to try to make contact with any spirits present at the sites they visit.
How does Frank’s Box help detect Balgonie Castle ghosts?
One piece of equipment that Ryan is particularly proud of is Frank’s Box.
Sorry, a what exactly?
“It’s basically a broken radio,” he says. “It was made by a guy in America called Frank Sumption.
“He made 180 of these boxes, but with the purpose of trying to communicate with something off-world.
“You can hear voices coming through it.
“He didn’t think it was ghosts, but he had lost his son and when he was tuning and sorting the boxes he heard a voice saying ‘my father built this’.”
Did Frank’s Box work?
According to Ryan, Sumption then decided the ghost hunters were right. Sumption started sending the boxes to different paranormal groups.
“We have box 153 upstairs,” says Ryan.
“I think it’s the only one in Scotland and definitely one of the only examples in the UK.”
It has also produced some interesting evidence at Balgonie Castle
Some of the team also use more traditional techniques to make contact with spirits.
In the Great Hall, our session is led by Louise Walker. She is a medium who is keen to help the group communicate using dowsing rods along with a smartphone voice app.
During this session, she and other members of the group reported a strong sense of the presence of a woman’s spirit in the room.
The presence sent a particular coldness moving across the room, and candle flames flickering, in response to Louise’s questions.
For me, stepping into the ancient chapel was the most anxiety-inducing part of the evening.
It’s thought to be even older than the rest of the house, and Gregor has been told that it was built on the site of an ancient Celtic or Pictish place of worship.
The thick stone walls and vaulted ceilings of the tiny church, coupled with Gregor’s descriptions of previous incidents in the chapel, affected me more than in other parts of the castle.
It didn’t put the fear of God in me – but definitely the fear of the unknown.
A malevolent presence in Balgonie Castle chapel
Gregor warns us not to sit on a chair close to the altar in the chapel.
“We have sat in it once and we won’t sit in it again, put it that way,” he says dryly. I don’t need told twice.
He points out that this is the room where the team have experienced encounters with a “not nice gentleman who doesn’t like females”.
At that point, a very odd noise permeates the chapel, turning a few heads.
“That’s the cows!” Gregor points out quickly, reassuring us the strange sound hasn’t, in fact, come from within the castle walls.
Did the Balgonie Castle ghost hunt make me believe?
Despite my trepidation, I felt an odd sense of calm once I was within the walls of the chapel.
Gregor led the session by demonstrating the use of an electromagnetic sensor. We each took turns holding it and some of the people in the group sensed contact with a little boy.
Gregor thought it might have been a boy who was drowned in the nearby river several generations earlier.
Throughout the night of investigation, I was relieved that I didn’t feel any sense of unease or discomfort. Although I was bone-achingly cold by the time I left at 2am.
The stories and history of Balgonie, and techniques used by the team, were fascinating.
I didn’t personally feel that I had made any connection with the spirit world that night, but many of the other visitors did.
That said, I won’t be volunteering to spend a night alone in the Balgonie Castle chapel any time soon!
Upcoming investigations where members of the public can join the Scottish Paranormal Team include an exploration of Bannockburn House on July 13 and a delve into the paranormal mysteries of Castle Menzies near Aberfeldy on August 31.
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