Ghostly goings-on at Jedburgh Castle Jail
Wednesday, May 7 2008
Spirits have been restless at Jedburgh Castle Jail and Museum over the past few weeks when some spooky events took place.
First the famous spirit medium Derek Acorah demonstrated his psychic ability and nerve by spending the evening in the jail with a group of willing volunteers to raise funds for the Anthony Nolan Trust. This event took place on Friday 25 April and was a great success.
At the same time the management team at Jedburgh Jail was approached by researchers for Living TV’s ‘Most Haunted’ programme and, with great secrecy, filming took place on Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 April. The jail was closed to the public for a day and staff were sworn to secrecy.
The team, led by presenter Yvette Fielding, attempted to find evidence of ghosts and paranormal activity and they found plenty to interest them at the jail. A number of unexplained phenomena were recorded; including stone throwing, heavy breathing and furniture that mysteriously moved around the cells. Yvette was joined by leading parapsychologist Dr Ciaran O’Keefe and historian Lesley Smith.
Some of the film crew reported that the cells and the top floor of the jail were some of the scariest places they’d visited for a long time. It was on the top floor that the team’s camera equipment shut down of its own accord and would not start working again – in almost exactly the same spot that one of the team’s researchers had paid an earlier visit to the jail and his camera failed too. A restless spirit or just coincidence?
The film will be aired some time after September 2008 and by all accounts it will be a hair raising show.
The jail’s curator, Shona Sinclair, said: “We were pleased to welcome the Most Haunted team to the Jail. They were very professional and respectful of the fact that the building is an important historic monument as well as a site of possible paranormal activity. In recent years, there has been interest in the more gruesome aspects of the site’s history. This has been matched by a steady increase in visitor numbers and I hope that the Most Haunted visit will help to sustain this trend.”
Unified Solutions.