Reading time: 4 minutes
The Most Haunted team investigates the spooky past of Leith Hall in Aberdeenshire, including a hanging tree and a ghostly First World War soldier, with mixed research results, writes JOANNA HAGUE
Episode title: Leith Hall
Place: Kennethmont, Aberdeenshire
Series: 3 Episode number: 4
Originally broadcast: October 28, 2003
Leith Hall, Most Haunting Review
Stunning as ever, Yvette Fielding opens the episode. Leith Hall is located in Scotland.
James Leith built the hall in 1660 and it remained in the hands of his family until 1939, when the Lairds died within a few years of each other. The house is now owned by the National Trust, who lovingly cares for it and preserves the history of the building. Together with a family home, the hall was used as a military hospital during the First World War.
Richard Felix, a historian, stars in the episode and begins to discuss the history of the building in more detail. He talks about some family ghosts that can be seen, including a man with a bandage around his head who resides on the stairs. He is said to have died in the building from a shot to the head.
The medium in this episode is Derek Acorah. While in the Hall gardens, Derek explains what he can pick up. In true form, Yvette asks Derek several probing questions, trying to figure out what else he might notice. We then go back to Richard Felix to find out if what Derek picks up happened in the hall.
Derek picks up the hanging tree on the property. Richard says that it was common for the lord of the land to carry out and carry out punishments, such as hangings, and that these usually took place within the grounds of the estate. Richard is certain that this tree is the place where these punishments took place.
As they walk around Leith Hall, Derek picks up on the residual energy that can sometimes be seen when visiting. He then picks up the man with the bandage on his head, starts talking about a headache and starts holding his head. He says the spirit imposes the condition on him.
While the rest of the team is in the hall, adventurer Karl Beattie and Richard Felix venture into the dark grounds and make their way to the hanging tree. Before you know it, Karl is up the tree and searching along a branch, looking for the rope markers. Richard is sure he will be able to find it. True to his word, Karl finds a part of the tree where the bark is smooth and no moss grows in the grooves; this could indeed indicate that people were once hanged from that branch of the tree.
Inside we meet Yvette, Derek and Phil again on the stairs. Derek comes back to the hospital and offers that he can smell surgical spirit. There are different members of the team in different locations around the hall; the girls find themselves in the corridors where cold spots and falling temperatures can be felt. The boys find themselves in another part and report seeing lights in the room with no explanation as to where they come from.
The bravest of the evening, however, would be Kath, the make-up artist, who, against her better judgment, goes to the site alone. She starts to panic when she hears noises all around her. However, I suspect this is just the local wildlife coming to see what’s going on. However, it does cause her to freeze in fear, and she absolutely regrets her decision to go out alone.
To end the episode, Yvette recaps some of the things that happened during the evening, including an automated writing experiment that yielded no results whatsoever, aside from a few lines on the paper. While in the music room, there is a loud bang on the door, and in true Most Haunted form, fear quickly spreads through the group, but no explanation for the sound can be found.
We also see the events captured in the music room, when the crew can hear voices from behind the door, and in true fashion, Yvette tries to replicate the sound she heard. At this point I was giggling. I love Yvette’s sounds. This is when Derek comes in and says they are annoying the ghosts and it might be time to leave.
Leith Hall is a beautiful place full of history. Not much evidence has been gathered for this episode, but this cannot be guaranteed in any investigation. It is absolutely full of history and worth seeing for the historical information provided by Richard Felix as most of the hall still has the original furnishings.
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