The team spent another interesting night at Castle Menzies on the 21st February.

We were delighted to meet Gary Knight, storyteller/tour guide. Details of his tours can be found here http://www.historyandhorrortours.com...

Some of the team were lucky enough to have been given an introductory lesson in dowsing by the curator and the ability of everyone to point to exactly the same area was amazing. This is something we plan to work on over the next few months.

The curator also passed on some information to us which we hadn't previously known. This tied in with some of the psychic impressions received and documented during our previous investigations. The story of the men being executed and killed in the shop, for example:

We were informed by 'spirit' that a group of men had raped and murdered a girl (possibly the Laird's daughter) in the stables (the stables no longer exist). The culprits (soldiers) were stabbed fatally in the back by the Laird or on his command and were taken into what is now the shop area to die. Each of the men was taken in one by one and the one following didn't know the fate of the man who had gone in before. They were then cut up and fed to the dogs. We were told that the shop didn't look like it does now as it didn't have the door to the outside and once had a window on the far wall.

We had initially thought the story to be too far fetched and even omitted the bits about dismemberment form the website.

However, we were told soon after that there is a hand-written document somewhere in the castle detailing a similar crime although the curator can't remember if it was the Laird's daughter or not who had been the victim. This information was not in the public domain. John also informed us that execution was done by means of being dirked (stabbed in the back) and this is again something we didn't know but is probably easy to find out about. After this we also discovered that the shop's original use was as a cellar/store room and had been a vaulted room like the other cellars on the ground floor. The main door to outside was a later addition in 1840 (however, these facts are in the guide book). Whether there was a window to the outside is not known at this point. There is nothing about the shop to suggest it was once a cellar. In fact it looks more like the entrance hall that it was converted into in Victorian times. The floor is not original.

During all of our visits to the castle we have encountered this group of nasty soldiers who inhabit the ground floor. The impression that they are Redcoats has been gained by more than one of us. The Redcoats did in fact take possession of the castle twice in 1715 and 1745.

The latest gory bit of information given to us by John at our last visit stunned us all. The lovely red-painted shop had originally been the meat store - the vaulted room next to the kitchen where meat was not only stored but where animals were slaughtered and cut up. There was a drain in the centre of the floor which accounts for some of the results obtained from dowsing. Not only were animlas cut up in here, so were we told , but also anyone who the Laird had done away with. No prisoners were kept in the castle at all. They may have been shackled temporarily outside but would have been executed quickly (without trial) and dismembered and fed to the dogs.

The little area in the guide book labelled 'lock-up' was most certainly not a jail cell but its use is actually unknown. It was possibly a well.

I stood opened mouthed listening to these facts and pointed out to John that this was the first time we had been told that the shop had been used for such purposes yet it had been spoken about over a year earlier. John says he knew that but was telling us now. He was asked if this sort of thing would have gone on as late as the18th century to which we were told it would have.

Room 15 is another little room that has never been liked. Tori calls it the

Automatic writing makes one vulnrable to obsession or possession by spirits !

Automatic writing is writing done in a dissociated or altered state of consciousness that is attributed to spirits of the dead or other discarnate beings.

It is believed by some that such spirits manipulate the writing utensil in order to communicate, especially since the writer is often unaware of what is being written, and the handwriting style is remarkably different from their own. most likely, however (logically speaking) the writer writes unconsciously, and messages are formed from the material in the subconscious mind or from a secondary personality, or are obtained through extrasensory perception (esp). In my experience I would have to say that the spirit manipulares the arm or hand of the person thus rendering them vulnrable. unless an experienced medium, who can sense the spirit do not offer them the use of your arm!!!!

Various forms of automatic writing go back to ancient times (the planchette for example). Automatic writting is the most common form of automatism (unconscious muscular movement often attributed to supernatural guidance). It has been know to occur involuntarily. Spiritualism made it popular as a deliberate means of attempting to communicate with the dead, and it replaced much slower methods of spelling out messages with pointers such as the planchette, or counting out letters of the alphabet through rappings.

Through automatic writing, mediums have claimed to produce messages from famous persons in history. in the 1850's Judge John Worth Edmonds, an American spiritualist, incited a spate of automatic writing with his alledged messages from Francis Bacon and Emanuel Swedenborg ; curiously, the later always misspelled his name 'Sweedenborg'. The material produced sounded nothing like the work of the famous man, but nonetheless inspired others to communicate with more famous deceased persons, including Christ himself. Literary-minded spirits of the dead alledgedly communicated entire books and novels and thousands of lines of poetry (for example 'patience worth'). Pens were a common tool, but other spiritualist methods included slate-writting and the use type writters.

While the late 19th-century pyschical researchers persued automatic writting in the terms of survival evidence, the budding field of psychology began to experiment with automatic writing as a way for the unconscious mind to express thoughts and feelings that could not be verbalized. Auotmatic writting continues to be used as a therapeutic tool in present times.

Automatic writing also enjoys continuing popular appeal and there is very little litrature or information available about the danger of it consodering it is on par with ouija and there is loads of stuff around warning you away from that.

WARNING!!!!!

Automatic writing makes one vulnrable to obsession or possession by spirits. and believe me once in they are exreamly difficult to get rid of. you may think they are your friends but they may just be looking for a way in. dont try this at home folks!

What makes this even more dangerous than the ouija board is that it is normally a solitary activity. The person doing the writing often forms some kind of relationship with whatever is doing the writing. Even more so as the 'spirit' may start off with kind words/praise and flattery and even predictions or giving evidence of an afterlife to the writer that will be accepted.

The second thing is that the communication given can be so easily understood - it will eventually read as proper sentences and give clear warnings/advice or whatever. No beating about the bush. No way a word or phrase could be misinterpreted.

The communication is more 'real' and personal and ultimately quite addictive.

As in the case of the ouija there is common pattern, the spirit will try to gove survival evidence and a relationship starts to building between the person and spirit then the spirit trys to

We are hopefully going to recruit 2 more investigators for 2009 and are looking for the right people to join us.

No expereince is necessary but only honest, reliable people need get in touch. Please bear in mind that this is a serious, time consuming and sometimes costly hobby. Paranormal Discovery follows a 'Code of Conduct' which all team members are expected to follow so anyone thinking about applying to us needs to ensure that they are happy with this. Details can be found here www.paranormaldiscovery.co.uk/aboutu...

We are especially keen to hear from anyone who has a background in history.

If you would like to be considered then please get in touch and we'll get back to you to arrange a date to meet you in person.