Most Haunted team explores Aberdeenshire’s Leith Hall’s eerie past, including a hanging tree and a ghostly WWI soldier, with mixed investigative results, writes JOANNA HAGUE
Episode Title:Â Leith Hall
Location:Â Kennethmont, Aberdeenshire
Series:Â 3Â Episode Number:Â 4
Originally broadcast: 28 October 2003
Leith Hall, Most Haunted Review
Stunning as ever Yvette Fielding opens the episode. Up in Scotland stands Leith Hall.
James Leith built the hall in 1660, and it was passed through his family up until 1939, when the Lairds died within years of each other. The house is now in the hands of the National Trust, which lovingly takes care of it and maintains the history of the building. Along with a family home, the hall was used as a military hospital during the First World War.
Richard Felix, who is a historian, features in the episode and begins discussing the history of the building in more detail. He talks about some of the family ghosts that can be seen, including a man with a bandage on his head who resides on the stairs. He is said to have been killed in the building by being shot in the head.
The medium featured in this episode is Derek Acorah. While out in the gardens of the hall, Derek is explaining what he can pick up on. Yvette, in true form, is asking Derek several probing questions, trying to find out what else he can pick up on. We then go back to Richard Felix to find out if what Derek is picking up happened at the hall.
Derek picks up the hanging tree that stands on the grounds. Richard says that it was common for the Laird of the land to conduct and carry out punishments, such as hangings, and they usually occurred on the grounds of the property. Richard is certain that this tree is where these punishments took place.
When they are doing the walk around inside Leith Hall, Derek picks up on the residual energy that can often be seen at times in visitation. He then picks up on the man with the bandage on his head, begins to talk about having a headache, and begins holding his head. He says that the spirit is putting the condition on him.
While the rest of the team are in the hall, ever the adventurer Karl Beattie and Richard Felix venture out 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 marks Richard is sure he will be able to find. True to his word, Karl finds part of the tree where the bark is smooth and there is no moss growing in the grooves; this could indeed indicate that people were once hanged from that branch of the tree.
On the inside, we then catch up with Yvette, Derek, and Phil back on the staircase. Derek is again picking up at the hospital and offers that he can smell surgical spirit. There are several members of the team set in different locations around the hall; the girls are in the corridors where cold spots and dropping temperatures can be felt. The boys are in a different part, and they report seeing lights in the room with no explanation as to where they come from.
The bravest one of the evening, though, would be Kath, the makeup artist, who, against her better judgement, goes off to the grounds alone. She begins to freak out when she starts hearing noises all around her. I do suspect, though, that this is just the local wildlife coming out to see what is going on. It does, however, cause her to become frozen in fear, and she is definitely regretting her decision to go outside alone.
Drawing the episode to a close, Yvette recaps some of the things that have happened during the evening, including an automatic writing experiment that did not create any results other than some lines on the paper. While in the music room, there is a loud bang that can be heard on the door, and in true Most Haunted form, the fear quickly spreads through the group, but no explanation can be found for the noise.
We also see the events of the music room that were captured, when the crew can hear voices coming from behind the door, and in true fashion, Yvette tries to replicate the sound that she has heard. At this point, I did giggle. I do like Yvette’s noises. This is when Derek comes in, saying that they are annoying the spirits and maybe it is time to leave.
Leith Hall is a stunning place steeped in history. This episode does not have a lot of evidence captured, but it can never be guaranteed in any investigation. It is definitely full of history and worth a watch for the historical information that is provided by Richard Felix, as most of the hall still has the original furniture.
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