“I get the heebie-jeebies but I’ve never once felt so threatened to the point I want to run.”
It’s a Tuesday afternoon and I’m standing in Elgin’s Moray Playhouse with owner and cinema-lover, Steven Bieszke.
It’s not a place I’d usually visit during a work day, but I’m here on a very specific (and spooky) job.
Steven has had his fair-share of paranormal experiences during his time at the helm of the cinema, he tells me.
From a spirit tapping him on the shoulder and whispering in his ear, to seeing apparitions walk through walls – he has always wanted to bring a paranormal investigator in to have a look for themselves.
Lynda Dean – also known as the Whyte Witch – is a well-known face around Elgin due to her business Elgin Ghost Tours.Â
When she’s not doing ghost tours, Lynda does spirit work and paranormal investigations to help people with ghosts that may be troubling their homes.
Cinema staff and construction workers felt they were being watched, and some workers who put down tools even found that they had moved.
The Press and Journal joined Steven and Lynda to visit the haunted rooms, including –Â
- The foyer where Steven says a ghost tapped him on the shoulder and spoke to him.
- A ‘head-achey’ staff room that Lynda says carries a lot of negative energy.
- The large number of ghosts in Cinema 2 which includes a ghost of a young girl behind the screen and a man who likes to people-watch.
- Cinema 3 where, when we used dowsing rods to communicate with spirits, Steven thought he communicated with his late father.
- The child ghosts from Cinema 1 who like to play jokes with movie watchers, as well as the old cinema manager who appeared to Lynda last year.
As we walked to the top floor of the building, cinema owner Steven mentioned it was “always upstairs” where most of the paranormal activity happens.
The upstairs of the Moray Playhouse includes two screens – Cinema Two and Cinema Three – as well as the foyer and staff room.
One experience Steven mentioned was when he was finishing work one night and a shadow emerged from one door, turned the corner and walked right through the staff room door.
Ghost speaks to Moray Playhouse owner
“Another time, I was in on a Wednesday morning opening up,” Steven added.
“I turned the key, opened the door and as clear as day and right over my shoulder, a voice whispered: ‘are you ready?'”
Entering the staff room, some members of the group could immediately feel a shift of energy in the air.
Lynda picked up on this feeling and began to explain: “This is a headache-y room.
“Someone was in here that was grumpy, unhappy or a frequent headache sufferer.
“This is not a staff room I would spend more than thirty minutes in.”
After Lynda said this, cinema owner Steven’s interest is piqued.
He explained that years ago, before his time as cinema owner, the staff room was used as a place for staff to resolve issues and clear the air with each other instead of arguing in front of customers.
Moray Playhouse’s most haunted screen has a ‘number of spirits’
Moving onto Cinema Two, it was clear Lynda could tell there was more paranormal activity within the room.
She looked around and said: “It’s like there’s four or five people in the room and they’re all speaking amongst themselves.
“I can hear the voices but I’m not sure what they’re saying.”
When Lynda asked for a sign from one of the spirits, a loud knock could be heard from the back of the cinema.
Eventually establishing a connection with one of the spirits, Lynda said there was a ghost of a man passed away in the 1960s.
“He’s not sure if he wants to be visible or not because he likes to stay in the dark,” Lynda explained.
“He says this is the darkest corner of this room. He likes to hide in the dark and people-watch while watching the new films.
“He likes the blonde ladies so if you get a blonde woman sitting in front of him she might complain that someone’s fiddling with her hair.”
Lynda finds child ghost behind Moray Playhouse screen
Throughout speaking to the spirits, Lynda could sense there was someone behind the screen.
Steven then took us behind the screen of Cinema Two and Lynda said there was a young girl from the 1950s.
Lynda said it seemed like the girl used to come to the cinema since one of her parents worked there.
Using her pendulum, she was able to find out the girl was playing hide and seek but ended up hiding behind the screen when the movie started.
Lynda explained that the majority of the spirits come back to places where they’ve had good memories – so it was very likely that was the reason the girl was there.
Revisiting Cinema Three nearly ten years after major reports of hauntings
Previously, Cinema Three had a large amount of paranormal activity during its installation.
Despite this, Lynda and other members of the group said they could hardly feel any spiritual activity in the room.
As she gave me and Steven a shot of the dowsing rods, I was sceptical to how they would work.
They started moving uncontrollably and even hit me in the arm. I wasn’t sure what that meant – though eventually Lynda said a spirit was trying to reach out to me.
I was more surprised to learn that the description of the person sounded familiar to someone I knew.
Meanwhile, Steven had his chance to try the rods out and asked them to move further apart if it was one of his parents trying to communicate.
Suddenly, they moved far apart.
When he asked it to close if it was his mother, the rods moved even farther out.
“Definitely my dad,” Steven said.
Ghost children like to ‘play pranks’ on customers during horror movies
Lynda saw a ghost at Cinema One last year when she was dressed up as Michael Myers for the premiere of Halloween: Genesis.
She hid behind the Charlie Chaplin statue in preparation to scare unsuspecting cinema-goers.
“While I’m waiting for everyone to be seated, there are people walking up and down the aisle but they didn’t actually come through the door,” Lynda added.
“I was there as a scarer, but when I was waiting for the movie to start, I had a gentleman tap me on the shoulder.
“I looked around and he said ‘you’re not supposed to be here’ but I told him I’m working.
“From photos that the library has put up since then, I’ve been able to identify him as the manager of the cinema in 1952.”
As well as this, there has been a number of reports from customers of being tapped on the shoulder by ghosts during horror films.
Lynda said these were ghost children, and further emphasised to us that none of the ghosts in the cinema were harmful.
After all the ghost stories I had heard about Moray Playhouse, our visit led me to think there really could be another side.
Next time I visit, I’ll just be more wary of the people-watching ghost in Cinema Two…
Conversation