SPIRITFINDERS SCOTLAND
AWARD WINNING PARANORMAL INVESTIGATION TEAM
history
Inveraray, the seat of the Duke of Argyll, was for many centuries the principal county town of Argyll. From the mid 18th century the courts met in the Town House on Front Street, and the ground floor below the courtroom served as the county prison. There the prisoners:"walked in a grated piazza in front of their Cells, just in line of the principal street, and exposing the miserable appearance of their apartments and furniture to shock the feelings of every passer bye"
There were so many escapes from this building that at times the townspeople had to take turns in guarding it. Judges threatened to move the courts from Inveraray unless new premises were found and the old prison abandoned
A site for the new Courthouse and Prison was found and plans were drawn up in 1807 by the well known Edinburgh architect Robert Reid. These plans, which included separate prison blocks for men, women and debtors, had to be shelved owing to lack of funds.
Reid’s proposals were, however, later adapted by the architect James Gillespie Graham. He simplified the design of the courthouse and reduced the prison accommodation to one eight cell block. Work started on the new buildings in 1816 and was completed in 1820.
The Jail and Courthouse opened in 1820 and remained unchanged until 1843 when the Airing Yards were built. These were to provide a secure place where prisoners could be exercised in the open air.
In 1848 the New Prison, or Men's Prison, was completed. This was a model prison for its day with 12 individual cells, a water closet on every floor, accommodation for warders, a store room and indoor exercise gallery. It was also well heated and lit by gas, a far cry from the dark and damp original prison building.
The Jail finally closed on the 30th of August 1889. By this time, in comparison to the larger city prisons, the smaller county jails tended to be expensive and inefficient to run.
As a town Inveraray gradually declined in importance. It was difficult to reach and with the disappearance of the herring, it was no longer a significant fishing port. The Circuit Court met only twice in Inveraray after 1900, and moved to Oban in 1953. Despite local protests, the Sheriff Court was removed to Dunoon in 1954.
The rarely used courthouse and empty prisons gradually fell into disrepair. Fortunately their significance as the finest 19th century county courthouse and prison in Scotland was recognised. An extensive restoration was undertaken by the Scottish Office and in May 1989, almost a hundred years exactly after the last prisoners departed, Inveraray Jail opened to the public
investigating team
david
stewart
carol
ian
raymond
angela
jennifer
allan
karen
gregor
lauren
jennifer
jail staff rob / gemma
equipment used
3panasonic rr-dr60
2 olympus vn240
4 camcorders
3 digital cameras
pressure guege
2emf meters
dowsing rods
2digital thermometers
compos
two way radios
walk around with carol stirling 
We arrived at inveraray jail 8pm but did not begin our investigation till 9.35, we were joined by psychic medium carol Stirling one of Scotland’s top psychics ,we made our way up the main stair case at first carol did not pick up on anything just felt sick but as we headed up the stair she began to pick up on a spirit that moves up and down the stairs as we got to the top of the stairs carol said that a spirit would show their self often .
She also picked up on the the name Stewart on the top landing , then entered the court house built in 1820 we began taking digital stills prier to the vigil ,carol could not pick up on any activity in the court house but said the court house should have been a box shaped room rather than round after a short time carol said she could sense a man being tried in the dock ,and Stewart began using dowsing rods in the court house we set up some camcorders and began taking more digital stills to compare to the first sets of shots
Another medium with the group said she could feel someone standing behind her and touching her side ,we then decided to make our way out and across the court yard to the new prison time now 10pm as we entered the ground floor carol began to feel sick in the corridor ,one of the investigation team Raymond picked up some emf reading at the beginning of the bottom corridor the team then made their way up to the second floor and entered the restraining cell ,carol said there would be a lot of prisoners kept at the one time in this cell we then made or way into the cell that housed children as we entered the cell carol said she could pick up on the name Mary and that this lady was connected to some of the children ,and that most of these children would be put in prison for stealing mostly food carol said she could here the children crying for their mother
Mary she was also a prisoner ,we continued to the third floor and entered the second cell as we stood in the cell carol said there was lots of energy in the jail and could sense there was poltergeist activity in the jail .
Carol said there was a decomposing smell in this part of the jail and started to take a headache ,we then decided to move on to the next cell on entering carol said there had been a lot of torture carried out in the jail at some point over the years ,she picked up on the name David as we all were in the cell we all heard a sigh ,carol said the spirit with the name David was a victim of heavy abuse this soul was in his thirties we then entered the last cell time 10.15 on entering this cell there was a very unpleasant feeling in there
We then carried on up to the gallery know as rouges gallery carol said there was a active spirit that would hide from people we then entered a area used as storage carol could sense a spirit bending down in the corner crying then the energy disappeared as we left the gallery carol began to feel sick again.
We then made our way to the guard room were carol said people would watch boats from the window in there time now 11.30 we then headed to the old jail and entered the last cell on the left hand side of the ground floor ,carol could sense people crying and a deep depression ,carol said the crying was heard throughout the building .
As we made our way into cell 4 carol did not stay long in this cell as she did not like any of the feelings in there as we made our way up the stairs carol picked up on a nurse and baby and as we got to the top of the stair carol gave a smile and said I thought about this with the nurse and baby .carol said that there would be lots of people would spend their whole life in there she also said that there was lots of residual energy in the jail buildings
report
The team began the first vigil in the court house the temp now 20.3c most probley the amount of people in the location at the one time ,before we started we began taking some digital pictures so we could compare to others taken later on we picked up a lot of light anomalies in the shots taken at this early stage of the investigation one of the jail staff gemma who was tapped on the shoulder picked up on the name Elizabeth as did a second medium that was involved with the investigation they also indicated that they could feel someone at their side just behind them touching them ,everyone was sitting down and there could not have been anyone there at the time of the occurrence as we took turns of calling out and asking for knocks and lights we did get some reaction with knocks and some sound as if someone walking about behind us ,one of the voice recorders lost all power in the court house
The pressure reading was 10005 the pressure had dropped 2 Millie bars which was a lot
The time was now 12.30 the temp in the court house now fluctuating between 18.3c and 19.1c. The temp had dropped to 17.4c during the vigil .
We then put the lights back on and began taking more digital pictures and got more light anomalies on stills ,after a short time we decided to split into two groups the first group went to the new jail and carried on up to the second floor we all bar one person Raymond went into a cell near the end of the corridor as we called out for responses we got light anomalies coming in the cell door and across from one end to the other one of the group mediums picked up on the name James as we were in the cell and the two investigators were out side Raymond and David we seen a shadow come from the stair access then one of the group mediums said there were two men near by. David went back into the cell and we kept calling out for responses we what sounded like a clink of metal like a key then we could here voices as if it was on a radio and it sounded as if the other team was coming up the stairs to us but on asking them through the radio contact they said they were still in the old jail at this time ,the staff member that was with us was shocked at what had just happened the medium with this group said that the lady Elizabeth died by burning was with them in the cell and that she was connected to another three woman who may have passed by drowning ,they also said that outside of the jail near the banks that there had been hangings taken place in the 1600s time now 2am .
The name that was picked up by one of the mediums was confirmed by rob the jail staff member he said that there was a governor with the name Thomson that worked at the jail , his first name was Malcolm Thomson and his wife was Janet ,we carried on up to the gallery known as rouges gallery as we entered the gallery and began calling out for responses the medium ,David ,and gemma picked up on three men moving about there and through to the exercise area we also could here some noises in this location the medium thought she seen something at the end of the corridor a shadow of a head near the stairs.
Team two
Went to the old jail for a vigil they entered cell 1 carol started getting touched on the top of her head ,Stewart asked for a response he Jennifer ,Lauren hear a sigh coming from
Carols direction carol indicated that it was not her that made the sigh as they stood quiet they could here footsteps in the corridor on the ground floor and up on the top floor
They also heard auditory voices and soon carol and Jennifer became unwell ,they then decided that they should leave the area for a break ,after the break Stewart ,Karen, Greg
Lauren, Jennifer went back in to the old jail but Greg became very agitated he said he can not sit down he then had to leave the jail again Jennifer became unwell so they all decided to leave once more after another short break they all went back into the jail were the name Duncan and the name Helen ,Helen had been pushed down the stairs this spirit impressed this on carol she said that she was pushed down the stairs by another female prisoner the group then returned to the base along with the other team by this time it was 4.30 and decided to call it a night and end the investigation , inveraray jail does have a lot of activity going on in the blocks and we would advise investigation teams to be careful when conducting vigils there.
End of report ……
spirit finders Scotland would like to thank inveraray owners and the staff
For allowing them to conduct the investigation at the jail.
