History & Haunting of : Leith Hall , Kennethmont, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is a building steeped in a dark and bloody history. There is, allegedly, a man with a bandage on his head. A young soldier. Strange smells. Children playing. And the sound of a lady filling the rooms with laughter, ghostly laughter. By Emma Smith It is a crowded house. A crowded, haunted house and Scotland’s spookiest castle Built in 1650, the castle in Kennethmont was a family home for nearly 300 years. In 1746, terrified Andrew Hay of Rannes hid there from murderous soldiers after the bloodbath Battle of Culloden. The Jacobite eventually fled to France and, in 1780, was finally given a pardon by King George. The document has survived and is still in the castle. During World War I, Leith Hall became a temporary hospital. It housed more than 500 patients, some horribly injured in the killing fields of France and Belgium. It is now in the care of the National Trust for Scotland, having been gifted by Henrietta Leith-Hay in 1945. She lived there until her death in 1963. Some of the accounts include the figure of a large man with a dirty white bandage over his head, a young man in a military uniform, strange smells of camphor and food in bedrooms, heavy footsteps, the sound of a lady laughing, sightings of children playing in a bedroom, sudden changes in temperature and feeling touched when nobody is there. Most Haunted, found evidence that a tree in the grounds had been used by lairds over the centuries to punish criminals and to perform hangings. It gives you goosebumps just looking at it .. (photo further down the page Dule tree) The first room I entered was the dining room, which had a large table laid out for a meal. It had a very strong smell, almost suffocating, and I couldn’t stay in there longer than a minute. Earlier in the day, tour guide Kirsty Howett had said: “I have always noticed this smell. I know it’s an old house but the smell is so strong – it catches in your throat. All the rooms have different smells but this is by far the strongest.” Christina Low, who has been managing the property for four years, said: “I haven’t had any sightings. “The weirdest thing that has happened so far was when a woman, who was here to discuss holding a crime writers’ event, refused to go into the dining room as she was convinced something bad had happened in there. She didn’t like it at all.” The ghosts of the family are said to have been spotted throughout the house over the centuries. The most well-known is that of John Leith III, who was killed on Christmas Day in 1763 in Aberdeen. The laird was shot in the head during a drunken brawl at Archie Campbell’s Tavern in Castlegate. In the music room, there is a picture of John Leith III and the door leads off a small corridor to his bedroom. While I was in there with the photographer, one of the lights on the chandelier went out. Perhaps someone wanted to make their presence known. Novelist Elizabeth Byrd, who wrote a book about Leith Hall called A Strange And Seeing Time, reported spotting the figure of a large moaning man on July 16, 1968. He had a dirty white bandage over his head and covering his eyes and wore dark green trousers and a shirt. He also had a dark beard and carried a short weapon. The writer said that it was not a ghost as it seemed solid, like a real man. She shouted at him to go away and he disappeared in the direction of a window behind a dressing table. After that night, the writer could no longer sleep in that room after seeing what is believed to be the figure of John Leith III. Byrd wrote about her experience and claimed that she felt watched, like there were others in the room with her. Out of all the rooms in Leith Hall, this is without a doubt the one that I did not want to spend much time in. The bed’s presence in the room made me feel claustrophobic and the room was not inviting. Other guests have reported having nightmares about a face bending over them and feeling hands at their throat or feeling smothered with a pillow. Author Alanna Knight, who wrote The Inspector Faro novels, was staying at the castle with her husband when they both woke up with a feeling of being smothered and they felt that there was someone else in the room. She described hearing the clinking of crystal, the rustling of silken dresses and footsteps. In the drawing room, The Flight Into Egypt painting has also attracted some weird sightings. Byrd was convinced she could see a massive bearded man. But when she pointed this out to other people, nobody else could see it. When I sat down, it was hard to relax as you could still hear creaking. In Most Haunted, the film crews had heard unexplained noises while they were staying overnight in the music room. It seems even the experts have been spooked by the mysterious castle. When it was time to leave, I couldn’t get out of there quick enough. At night, it doesn’t feel very welcoming. There was definitely something eerie about the castle. Every room had a different atmosphere and smell, especially the dining room. There were sudden drops in temperature and at times certain rooms, such as John Leith III’s bedroom, felt claustrophobic. There is no doubt that this castle has a spooky atmosphere – there have been too many accounts and stories. A ghost-hunting night would certainly prove popular for those who are brave enough – but it’s not something I would be in a hurry to do again. dailyrecord.co.uk/ Most Haunted S03E04 Leith Hall Video here >(2004 https://youtube/watch?v=f3GEF6SLLmY Leith Hall Fly over Video HERE > https://youtube/watch?v=m6RSxQ_w8PA Photo 1 by Royan https://flickr/photos/royanf/9019504191/ Photo 2 by aberdeenshire.gov.uk- Photo 3 Stables, Leith hall By Alan Findlay geograph.org.uk Photo 4 by cosmicThe shelter for the stones.megalithic.co.uk- Rather less obvious but even more impressive is a brick-built roofed structure built into the slope near the northern edge of the garden. This is home to a diverse collection of stone artefacts. These range from grindstones and boot scrapers to stack saddles, mustard grinders and a bannock toaster. But among the objects on show are two Pictish symbol stones that make a visit to Leith Hall worthwhile in their own right. The Percylieu Stone was found a few miles south of Leith Hall at Clatt, and is thought to date back to the 600s. It was dug up in about 1840, then trimmed to allow it to be used as a paving slab in a byre. Even more spectacular is the Wolf Stone, found at Leslie in Aberdeenshire in 1842, before being uses to help construct a wall. Despite this you can still clearly see the very unusual carving of a wolf on the stone, together with the more common mirror-and-comb symbols.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/ Photo5 by aberdeenshire.gov.uk
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 15:10:27 +0000
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