'Spooked Scotland': Castle Menzies - Episode 9 Review

July 22, 2022 1:00 AM ‐ Television • Paranormal

This article is more than one year old.

Photo: © Discovery+

This week the Really channel aired the penultimate episode of 'Spooked Scotland'. In the episode we saw Gail Porter lead her paranormal team to a spectacular 16th century Scottish castle, but the aggressive haunting soon proves to be too much for her.

The Scottish television presenter was once again joined by psychic medium Chris Fleming, who tells us that Castle Menzies, which dates back to the 1500s, is "reported to be a hotbed for supernatural activity".

Gail adds "across the 25 rooms in this foreboding fortress lies a dark and gruesome history where red coat soldiers were strung up, killed and fed to the dogs." According to reports, guests are said to have been physically attacked and there are claims of an evil entity following a visitor home.

Gail and Chris enter the castle, which was once the headquarters for the clan Menzies, but very soon Gail starts to feel unsettled and hears heavy breathing behind her. She said, "I've only been in here two minutes and I'm instantly getting a bad feeling about this place."

Gail felt particularly uncomfortable in the area outside the old vaults, saying "I feel quite sad, but also I feel a little bit scared at the same time." She wondered if this negative experience was to do with the castle's dark history, she said "I can't help but wonder whether the savage murders that happened here is what I'm picking up on."

The duo moved on to another part of the castle, but Gail felt equally as unsettled there and eventually left. Outside Gail admitted she wasn't liking the atmosphere inside in the slightest. She said "I don't feel right in that place," adding "I don't want to go back in there. I'm not safe in there."

A worried Chris said, "in all the years I've been doing paranormal investigations with Gail, I've never seen her react so quickly to a location."

And that was it. Just ten minutes into the episode Gail actually left the investigation and didn't return in this episode. The team seem to be dropping like flies, as there was also no Evelyn Hollow in this episode, but luckily technical specialist Ryan O'Neill was still on hand to help Chris with the rest of the investigation. The pair continued the walk around and soon captured what they believed to be an aggressive voice of their audio recorder.

Chris then told us he's travelling six miles to explore a haunting in the near by Garth Castle that's also linked to the Menzies clan. However, the castle is actually almost exactly due west from Castle Menzies, in fact it's slightly north. Chris also tells us the castle was built in the 13th century, when in fact it was the 14th. The medium conducted a mini vigil here and was able to confirm a link to Castle Menzies before returning there.

Photo: © Discovery+

Ryan had rigged the castle with ghost hunting gadgets, including a REM-Pod, static cameras and various other devices. Then, once darkness fell outside he and Chris began their nightlong investigation in the attic space. Early in their vigil a type of electromagnetic field meter called a TriField meter that Ryan had placed on the floor started beeping, it was seemingly responding to the investigators.

Chris started using a ghost-hunting app, but the mood soon shifted and became oppressive, so Chris and Ryan headed back down stairs, but on the way Chris was affected by something and collapsed on a stairwell. Lying on the floor, Chris said "I'm okay now." Adding, "I'm really numb, my whole body's numb."

After he'd recovered from his experience, he said "there was no spinning, no dizzy, just all of a sudden I started to turn and I'm like I can't move my legs, I can't move my arms." He described the sensation as being like passing out, but without his eyes being closed.

Later the pair returned to the attic, but this time they were armed with a Jacob's ladder. The impressive device produces high voltage arcs of electricity which are visible between its two large conducting antennas. In a paranormal investigation, the device works like a massive electromagnetic pump, pushing energy out into its surroundings that hopefully spirits can use. Chris explains, "it charges the atmosphere with energy, in the hope that the spirit or entity will use it and not attach to one of us."

But it seemed this approach failed as the investigation ended with Chris performing a blessing on one of the crew members who had fallen victim to such an attachment. Chris said, "I'm doing all I can to protect Ally from this entity, but this is a powerful force and I need to shut this session down now." The episode ended with Chris conducting a cleansing ritual to encourage the entities to move on.

'Spooked Scotland' concludes next Friday at 9pm on Really. The series so far is available to stream on demand on Discovery+. Really is available on Sky 142, Virgin 128, BT 17, Freeview 17, Freesat 160.

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