“Are you nervous?”
This is the first question Julie Reid asks me as we make our way down the stairs to the basement of Haughton House.
The mansion house in Alford is steeped in history having been home to nuns, Catholic schoolboys and the wealthy Farquharson family over the past 200-odd years.
We pay it a visit to find out what – or who – remains within its hallowed halls…
Paranormal activity at Haughton House
Julie is one half of the Deeside Paranormal Investigators – a group who travel around the country to help people find answers to the strange happenings in their homes.
She and her partner, Ian Pennington, were first invited to explore Haughton House three years ago when Shona Cooper took over the on-site holiday park.
“The stories these walls could tell,” she said.
The due soon discovered there was something “magical” about the village of Alford – and its many, many spirits…
So, I was all the more intrigued when they asked me to join them on an investigation in the “spirit hotspot”.
‘Oh, hello’
As a person who tends to lean towards skepticism, I wouldn’t say it was nerves I was feeling as we made our way below ground.
I was more curious to see if there would be anything to find in the dark corners of the maze of rooms…
“We’ll go around the building first and work out where the hotspots are,” Ian said. “Then we go back with the equipment and cameras.”
Our tour of the basement is accompanied by the sound of creaking doors, keys turning in locks, cautious footsteps – and a bleeping rem pod.
“Oh hello, are you with us already,” Ian asks.
“There was a young boy here last time,” he adds. “This scared the daylights out of him.”
Meeting the spirits in ‘hotspot’ village
This Haughton House investigation is one of the investigator’s last with their medium, Zoe.
“When the spirits get close, I get really hot,” she shares. “I’ll start sweating and can feel pressure in my head.”
Sometimes her reactions can be more intense – and in one room Zoe starts to feel as though she is drowning.
The gifted medium claims to communicate with the spirits and ‘connects’ with a father and who she believes were a caretaker and runner for the house.
“The man is residual, he’s actually here,” she said. “He’s not coming and speaking with me right now.
“He feels he runs the show here and he’s quite proud of that.”
The son is more forthcoming – as displayed through his RemPod activity – and even starts answering some of the group’s questions through dousing rods.
Until his father swiftly shuts him down.
‘Hard to get your head around’
When we walk into the next room I see a large open storage space, yet Zoe can feel the “hustle and bustle” of its past occupants.
“I can see children sitting about doing arts and crafts,” she said. “It’s the energy they’ve left behind that I’m feeling and seeing.”
The further we walk into the building, Zoe has a stronger sense of the spirits who remain.
“There are lots of cats in here,” she adds. “I can feel them brush against my legs.”
I can’t help but look down and watch my step as we make our way out of the room.
A not-so-friendly welcome
One of the ghost stories associated with Haughton House involves a “playful” nun who greets visitors on the staircase.
However, Zoe says our welcome is not-so-friendly.
“In her opinion, she owns the building,” the medium said. “She feels very connected to this house.
“I’m scared of her – she doesn’t like me being here. I feel like she’s got a target on my back.”
As we make our way up the stairs to the next floor, Zoe tells me to hold on the bannister.
“The nun will push you,” she says.
I don’t need to be told twice.
The nun shares the upstairs with a group of young children who would have once called Haughton home.
“I feel the people who stay here will hear them running around,” Zoe adds. “I’m getting tired watching them.”
Learning from the spirits at Haughton House and beyond
Deeside Paranormal Investigators offer all of their services free of charge with the aim of helping people understand things they cannot explain.
They don’t presume everything is paranormal and will always try to explain any activity in the most rational way.
“There are a lot of people out there who don’t believe or are very skeptical about spirits because they don’t understand or they’re just scared of them,” Ian said.
“But doing these investigations has taught me a lot about life and how short it is.
“Make as much of life as you possibly can because there are a lot of spirits out there who have regrets.”
Whether you believe in the paranormal or not, I would say this is good advice to live by.
Conversation