Sally’s On The Road tour continues throughout 2011 and on the 14th of November she will star in the Alhambra Theatre in Dunfermline. Four days later, on the 18th of November Psychic Sally reaches Scotland’s capital city and stars at the Edinburgh Playhouse.

Yesterday it was announced that Psychic Sally: On the Road series 3 would start filming on Tuesday 29th of March. The Scottish events will not be part of the TV series as transmission begins on Sky Living in June this year.

Psychic Sally in Dunfermline’s Alhambra Theatre

Credit: Paul Campbell

This view of the Alhambra Theatre’s stage was taking during an open day while restoration work was carried out. The venue is said to cosy and intimate.

Psychic Sally in Edinburgh’s Playhouse Theatre

Credit: Lism

The Playhouse is at the top of Edinburgh’s Leith walk, near the many shops and popular restuarants and just around the corner from the famous Princess Street. The Playhouse is an old building which some people believe to be haunted.

In Pure Spirit

Are you a Sally Morgan fan? Will you be looking for tickets for Psychic Sally: On the Road comes to Scotland? If you’ve seen one of her live shows and were impressed or unimpressed then why not let us about your experiences in the comment section below?

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The castle was built in 1488 by Sir Robert Menzies and was then rebuilt some tween between 1502 when the castle took significant damage and 1571. Cromwell’s army used the castle in 1650, in 1715 the Jacobites captured it and in 1746 Bonnie Prince Charlie rested here on his way to Culloden.

Maharaja Dalip Singh, the last Maharajah of the Sikh Empire, lived in the castle between 1855 and 1858.

By 1918 the last of the Menzies (pronounced locally as Mingies) line who lived in the castle died and in 1857 the castle was purchased by the Menzies Clan Society and restoration work began

Hauntings

A number of paranormal investigators have recorded quite a volume of encounters in the castle. The following is just a selection of the more frequently mentioned locations.

There are reports of shouting being heard near the chief’s bedroom and one of the Victorian bedrooms is said to be a cold spot.

It is said that forms of three evil looking women, possibly witches, have been seen in the meat cellar. The wail of a cat has also been reported alongside paranormal incidents but the are many places for a real cat to prowl unnoticed in castle Menzies.

The corridor in front of the cellars is sometimes filled with strange smells. Crunching sounds are sometimes heard coming from it.

The so-called “Pink Room” is frequently involved with paranormal reports. People have heard foot steps, seen things by the windows and heard clanking sounds.

It is likely there has been both natural and unnatural death at the castle as it has been the sight of conflict.

In Pure Spirit

Have you been on a ghost tour or investigation at Castle Menzies in Scotland? Did you encounter or feel anything?

Let us know in the comment sections below.

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The phrase “Féile na Marbh” is Irish for Festival of the Dead.

In the past the festival itself could have lasted up to three days; beginning at the end of October. As a result Féile na Marbh can described as being both Samhain (Oidhche Shamhna in Scots Gaelic) and All Souls’ Day as well. There alternative historical theories; with some suggesting that Féile na Marbh concluded at the end of October after a three day festival.

It is widely accepted that bonfires are important for Féile na Marbh. One Irish custom begins with a ritual fire being lit atop of the Hill of Tlachtga. This signalled the lighting of fires across the country. Villagers would throw the bones of slaughtered catle into the flames. Hence the word “bonfire” from the origin “bone fire”. Villages would then re-light their homefires with flame taken from the main village bonfire; thus bonding the whole village together.

Féile na Marbh is considered a time when the curtain between worlds is weak. A time when the words of the living and the dead are close. The practise of turnip carving comes from a Celtic attempt to fighten spirits off.

The tradition of guising is still strong in Scotland. Children dress up as the dead (once again in the attempt to ward off the dead) and visit neighbours.

In Pure Spirit

Is Féile na Marbh a day or festival that’s important to you? How do you plan to mark it this year?

Traquair House is also the centre point to Traquair Fair. Returning in 2010, after an economic client enforced break in 2009, Traquair Fair is a popular weekend trip for families who appreciate craft, live music, alternative healing, outdoors food and the ale brewed at the House’s brewery.

The name is far older than the building itself. “Traquair” is believed to originate from the Celtic “tre” or “tret” which means hamlet or perhaps simply dwelling. The Quair burn joins the river Tweed just a few hundred yards from the historic house – and so the old Celtic tongue for the location could well have been “Tre-quair” hence Traquair.

Traquair Fair is always colourful. Whether it’s the tents belonging to those camping for the weekend, the bright colours of the performers costumes or sometimes the protective layer of umbrellas turned against the Scottish sky the fair is never bleak.

In 2010 an example of the colours on display at the Traquair Fair was the sky trumpets. This marvellous machine used its might ears to listen to wishes from the crowd. Who could resist its colourful charms?

Where the sky trumpets travelled down some of wider roads and paths at Traquair Fair some of the other performance artists made sure to visit the gardens and the off-the-beaten-track places to ensure colour and style seeped into every corner.

The Hula Dollies took their distinctive 1950s style fashion into the old walled garden and performed for free.

Crafts are always popular at Traquair Fair too. You might well encounter traders like the Scottish Fairy Door Company, garden suppliers with the latest composting technology or charities like the World Land Trust or the Scottish SPCA.
Needless to say, veggies will find plenty of food at the fair too.

In Pure Spirit

Have you ever been to Traquair Fair? We’d love to hear about your experiences and tips. Or if you’re planning on taking a stall to the Fair next year – let us know!

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The legend behind the Blue Stane of St Andrews suggests that the devil (or an angry giant, according to others) threw it there from Blebo Craigs. Why? The devil was angry at the presence of Saint Rule and threw the stone to try and hit him.

Some suggest that the blue mark on the stone is the devil’s fingerprint. The word “stane”, of course, is the Scottish inflection of “stone”.

St Rule (also known as Saint Regulus) was a monk who was told in a dream by an angel that the bones of Saint Andrew needed to be moved from their resting place Constantinople to the ends of the earth. St Rule obeyed, taking a tooth, some fingers, a kneecap and an arm bone of St Andrews all the way to the edge of the known world. The edge of the known world, at the time, was Scotland.

It is said that St Rule landed in Scotland at an East Coast settlement – a place which was to become known as St Andrews.

Getting to St Andrews

St Andrews has no airport. The nearest airports are Edinburgh Airport and the small Dundee Airport. Most visitors either catch the bus from Glasgow or Edinburgh (a trip which takes a few hours) or take the train from Edinburgh Waverley station (a trip which takes just over an hour).

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Have you passed Hope Park Church and wondered what the significance of the large stone was? Why not post links to any photographs you took of your trip?

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The couple took the strange photograph on the high street of Fort William.  Sophie Mager and Remy Ruckey told press that they didn’t see the ghost themselves; it only became visible to them in the photograph.

They add that it was only after the photograph was taken that they discovered from locals the spot was the location of an old hanging tree – chopped down in the 1970s to make way for a new library.

It was said at the time that cutting down the ancient tree would bring about “Buidseachd” (pronounced Bootchach) the Gaelic name for a curse.

Staff in the library now on the scene have reported hauntings; boos, paintings an pot plants throwing themselves in to the floor and the sound of dog snufflings even though there were no animals in the building. At one point library workers fled the building when an electric typewriter started to print its letters upside down.

In Pure Spirit

Do you think Mager and Puckey have managed to capture the ghost of the old Fort William hanging tree on camera? Or is this a genuine mistake? A con?

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Picture by Kate Chandler/The Scotsman

John Ritchie, author and historian, admitted the debate, “It is a crude carving, quite primitive, but I have never seen anything like it in my life. It has a whole series of symbols on it and the symbols are very interesting.

“The symbols at the bottom look like Viking sun compasses, while the dials at the top look a little bit like a Celtic cross but with notches carved on them.”

David Connolly, of Connolly Heritage Consultancy, told The Scotsman that; “It is a significant site because it was the Templar Preceptory for Scotland. I think from the condition, it may once have been set inside the church – which was once much bigger,”

“He could be a Templar, he could be a Hospitaller, he could just be a knight who wanted to be buried there – but the heraldry is like nothing anyone has seen before.”

Connolly believes the stone may have been carved in the 13th or 14th century.

However, the historian Michael Turnbull was more sceptical. He told the newspaper that he did not think the find was significant; “There were certainly Templars there but this might be a fake,” he said.

The stone was discovered by Crispin Phillips as he worked to renovate a house beside The Old Parish Church. He was repairing an old wall which was beginning to fall into the graveyard when he unearthed the stone among the foundations.

The plan is to compete the rebuilding of the 17th-century graveyard wall but to leave an opening or arch to allow scholars to further examine the stone.

Treasure in Temple

The remains of an abbey founded by the Templars can be found in Temple. The building was placed on lands granted to the Templars by King David I of Scotland in 1127.

The Templars were famously rich knights. Many believe it was their wealth that led to their downfall as some of the royalty of Europe and the Catholic Church turned against them. The Templars are also credited with the early invention of international banking as they used credit notes to allow the easy transfer of wealth between people and support the vast sums of gold they had hidden elsewhere.

It is believed that some of this gold was hidden in Scotland. An old Temple legend suggests that some of this treasure is buried in the village. The only clue is an old rhyme, “Twixt the oak and the elm tree/You will find buried the millions free.”

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Do you think the stone is significant? A fake or perhaps another clue in the great Templar mystery?

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Ruxton was once called Bukhtyar Rustomji Ratanji Hakim. He was born in Bombay, India, on the 21st of March 1899 and was a Parsi – according to tradition therefore descended from a group of Iranian Zoroastrians who emigrated to Western India more than 1,000 years ago.

Dr Buktyar Rustomi moved to England in 1930, changed his name to Buck Ruxton and began practising as a doctor in from his home.

Life seems to be going well for Ruxton. He had three children with his wife Isabella and mingled with the elite of the society.

However, Buck was intensely jealous and possibly mad. He became sure that Isabella had taken a lover and was having an affair. In a fit of rage he committed a murder – he strangled Isabella with his bare hands. Unfortunately for Buck there was a witness, the building’s maid, one Mary Jane Rogerson.

The evil doctor killed Mary Jane to stop her speaking. Being a trained and calculating surgeon Buck Ruxton cut up the bodies of Isabella and Mary Jane Rogerson using a bath to contain the blood. A bath that would later become evidence in his trial and scattered their body parts over a wide area.

The parts of Mary Jane Rogerson were found buried in a churchyard in Overton, a small village near Morecambe, and Isabella Ruxton were found 100 miles north of Lancaster in a stream near the Scottish town of Moffat.

Buck Ruxton had made some mistakes. In his mad dash from Palatine Hall to Scotland he had nearly hit a cyclist with his car. The cyclist had name a note of his registration plates. The newspaper he used to wrap some of the parts in was a special edition; sold only in Morecambe and Lancaster and had headlines that featured the Morecambe Carnival.

He was caught and brought to trial. The trial caught the attention of the public; not just for the horrible deaths at Palatine Hall but fore the forensic techniques used to expose the doctor; early fingerprinting was used, x-ray technology was used and even forensic entomology.

Buck Ruxton was hanged in Manchester, in Strangeways prison, on the 12th of May 1936.

Palatine Hall, the house on Dalton Square, was abandoned for many years after the murders. It was refitted in 1980 and is now a commercial building.

During the trial the public adapted the song “Red Sails in the Sunset”

Red stains on the carpet,
Red stains on the knife
Oh Dr Buck Ruxton
You murdered your wife.
Then Mary she saw you
You thought she would tell
So Dr Buck Ruxton
You killed her as well.

Hauntings

No one would live in Palatine Hall or the house after the twin murders. Today no one sleeps in the building.

Some locals and paranormal experts suggest the building is haunted. Likely ghosts include Isabella and Mary Jane Rogerson who both died in Palatine Hall.

Some investigators, on Twitter, have talked about orbs being photographed in the square and of the possibility of EVP from the building.

In Pure Spirit

Have you been to Palatine Hall, number 2 or anywhere in Dalton Square? What was your experience like?

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This is the second time In Pure Spirit has written about Inverarary Jail and hauntings. In May of this year we had a copy of a ghostly blur caught on camera in front of “Cell X” in the Scottish jail.

We were also able to report that Ghost Finders Scotland had good samples of Electronic Voice Phenomenon and that Spectre, the paranormal researchers, ad recorded a dramatic temperature drop in cell 9 of the old jail building.

What we also now is that in May – around May the 12th – Most Haunted were visiting the jail and filming in. We learn this from the Inverary Jail Twitter account which now sadly seems to be out of action.

This their tweet;

“’Most Haunted’ team great fun and stirred up quite a response from our ‘inmates’!”

If you want to follow InverararyJail then sign into Twitter and visit @InveraryJail. At the time of posting they only have 21 followers so they could o with some more contacts. While you’re there then follow @inpurespirit too as we tweet additional information and updates.

So what might the Most Haunted crew have found?

We know that in July the jail started a blog. There might be some clues from there – the discovery of Burke and Hare’s life and death masks along with a genuine hangman’s noose were found in an old store room, for example.

There’s nothing to suggest that either Burke or Hare ever had anything to do with Inverary Jail. After murdering at least 16 people, selling their bodies on to medical science, they were caught and Burke was hanged. Hare turned Kings Evidence and is thought to have died a penniless beggar in the States. Burke’s body was skinned and dissected.

The blog also suggests the jail’s kitchen is a sport of paranormal activity. According to Gavin Dick, Inveraray Jail’s manager, people have reported the sensation of someone cowering behind the kitchen door.

We also know that the jail and courthouse, established on the shores of Loch Fyne back in 1820, was used to house men, women and children. Yvette Fielding, in particular, tends to be especially sensitive when the possible spirits of children are around and so watching her closely may be a good idea.

From prisoner records we also know that the jail held many insane prisoners over the years – people like Janet MacDonald who spent 168 days in Inverary in 1844 after both Dundee and Edinburgh lunatic asylums reviewed to take her.

There are also prisoners like Donald Campbell who we know was admitted to Inveraray Jail in November 1835 where he was declared a lunatic and died a year later in April 1836.

Archibald MacLellan is an even more interesting character. He was admitted to Inveraray Jail in June 1826 after he killed his own child with a stool. There were witnesses to the crime and they all agreed that the stress of trying to manage a family of 10 children had ruined his mind. In jail he was considered to be of fair character. The Prison Register states that he reached “now quite sound but has not been able to find caution.” Surely such a figure would be a perfect candidate to linger on?

This post is scheduled to go live a few hours before the Inverary Jail Most Haunted episode. Let us know how accurate you think we’ve been.

In Pure Spirit

The Jail is open to visitors and is a living museum and does run ghost hunting nights.

Are you a fan or foe of Most Haunted? Let us know… especially interested to hear guesses as to what Most Haunted Live: The 8 Faces of Evil might feature.

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A Scottish city is set to burn a 16th century witch and is giving people the chance to meet the gaoler before hand.

The re-enactment will be held on Saturday the 18th of July at 11am, 12 noon, 2pm and 3pm at The Tolbooth Museum, Castle Street, Aberdeen.

The council’s press release notes that burnings were rare in Aberdeen except in 1597 when King James the VI encouraged a witch hunt. That year 20 people were executed for witchcraft.

The witches of Aberdeen often ‘confessed’ to dealings with the Devil and Castlegate and Fittie turned out to be the best two places to sign a demonic deal.

The council, in typical council style, also point out that it cost on average £3 for Aberdeen to burn a convicted witch but this price did not include the barriers often needed to hold back the crowds who flocked to watch the executions.

Aberdeen City Council assistant keeper (research) Chris Croly said: ‘It was a very dangerous time, suspicions were rife in Aberdeen and no one knew who would be accused of being a witch next. Even if someone was arrested on suspicion of the charge and found not guilty they would still be branded and banished from Aberdeen”.

In Pure Spirit

What do you think? A good tourist offering from Aberdeen, historical insight or a bad example?

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