Sorbie Tower Investigation – 14th February 2009

Present – Mostly Ghostly Team, Steve and Chris Hanna

On Saturday 14th February 2009, the team carried out an investigation at Sorbie Tower near the village of Sorbie in Wigtownshire in Dumfries and Galloway.

Sorbie Tower was built by Patrick Hannay around 1450 and became the ancestral home of the Hannay clan until the 18th century. The Hannay clan were very powerful and owned lands around Sorbie from the 12th century onwards. The tower in its heyday was a violent place with constant disturbance involving rival clans.

The site is also well known for its spiritual activity. The apparition of a woman dressed in a long grey dress has been witnessed by several people. She has appeared regularly both coming out of the woods to the driveway at the front and standing in the road watching people coming towards her. She is described as being tall and elegant but becomes grim and grey as you get closer. Her identity is unknown. Intrigued by this fascinating story we decided to investigate, wondering if perhaps the famous Grey Lady would make an appearance. We arrived at our location at around 7pm and met up with tower warden Steve Hanna and his wife Chris at a small shed on the tower grounds. John and Mary introduced themselves as Kathleen and Derek had met Steve on an earlier familiarisation visit. Shortly after arriving, we unpacked our equipment on the table set up in the shed. Steve and Chris who were to accompany us throughout the night, suggested showing us around the tower before the investigation officially began. We set off torches in hand into the darkness. The weather that night was relatively mild and calm with only a slight breeze which was a pleasant surprise given the time of year. Had it been blowing a gale any strange noises would have been difficult to pick up. We still had to be careful though as some of the ground around the tower was quite rough and the original cobbled approaches were slippery under foot when wet.

Sorbie Tower by daylight – impressive stronghold of the Clan Hannay

As we got closer to the tower we were impressed by the sight of it against the starlit background and were able to appreciate how grand it would have looked at its height. Steve gave us a brief history of each of the areas as he showed us round, and again we wondered about how it would have seemed in years gone by. We then returned to our base in the shed to gather our equipment and start the investigation.

The equipment we were using on this occasion consisted of: a digital camera, analogue dictaphones, camcorder and several trigger objects which we hoped might look familiar to spirits from the time period when the tower was occupied. These comprised of a candelabra, wooden spoon, beer tankard, and some paper we had tried to artificially age, rolled up and tied it with a ribbon in an attempt to make it look like a message from the right era.

Some of the trigger objects used to encourage spirit activity

We returned to the Great Hall area of the tower and set up some trigger objects in previously decided spots. The candles were placed in the more draught proof areas of the hall. Steve had placed some candles in certain areas of the tower during the walk round giving a sort of cosy and welcoming glow to the area. Once we were happy with things in the vicinity of the Great Hall we moved to the kitchen area and set up some trigger objects in sheltered areas there. As said previously we hoped that the trigger objects we were using would look like things easily recognisable as things widely used by someone from an earlier time. Chris (Steve’s wife) told us of the story whereby if someone walks round the tower three times in an anti-clockwise direction, the Grey Lady was supposed to make an appearance. Derek decided to give this a try. As he walked round the tower, Chris and Mary looked out of a former window shining their torches in the hope of spotting this elusive spirit. John and Kathleen were about to start filming from another window when John noticed the battery was flat. This was unusual as the battery had been on charge until we left for Sorbie. Just as unusually it was suddenly fully charged again and worked perfectly well for the rest of the evening. Draw your own conclusions….

After the camcorder started working again, we joined Derek downstairs where he informed us that at the corner of the tower nearest to the entrance, he had a feeling of someone or something else there in almost exactly the same spot on each of the three times he walked round the tower. We decided to hold a vigil outside the tower.

We started by asking any spirits present to make themselves known to us. Several members of the team especially Chris felt a change in temperature. At the entrance to the tower she told us she had noticed a sudden drop in temperature and began to feel extremely cold. The wood behind us was very eerie in the dark and we did hear a rustling in the woods but this could have been nothing more unusual than some animal moving around. We moved to the corner where Derek had sensed something earlier. Chris now told us that she felt something warm on her face. When we all returned to the area by the entrance door Chris felt very uncomfortable with her back to the woods, and wanted to leave this spot as soon as possible. Not long after this we took our first break.

During the first break Steve and John were standing outside the hut and Steve was explaining to John a bit about the history of the tower. As they were both looking up at the tower a red light was seen by both Steve and John. The red light was seen through one of the ground floor windows. It was seen long enough for both Steve and John to notice the movement; the red light appeared to be moving from side to side not dissimilar to someone carrying it.

After the first break as everyone was making there way back to the tower, John looked up and saw the red light again, almost touching the tower, but this time at the very top. The light was not moving on this occasion, appearing to be quite stationary. By the time that John spoke to Steve the light had disappeared, so only John saw the red light a second time.

Everyone present then started to walk anti-clockwise three times around the tower as according to legend the Grey Lady would appear. Each time a certain corner of the tower was past, Derek again felt a sense of something. After everyone had walked around the tower three times a vigil was held.

VIGIL OUTSIDE TOWER
Steve once again spoke about the legend of the Grey Lady and invited her to appear. Everyone agreed that one end of the tower was colder than the others. Kathleen invited any spirits present to make them known. John also invited any spirits to make themselves known. We then spent some time looking at the different types of stones that were used to build the tower. Kathleen took a few photographs, one of which had a strange mist in the bottom corner. The team then decided to hold a vigil at the corner of the tower where Derek had felt something.

VIGIL AT CORNER OF TOWER During this vigil, Mary felt a draught and Steve heard sound of a whistle/wind blowing. Chris felt a breeze and then felt something warm on her face. Mary then got a cold draught on her hands and everybody remarked it wasn’t so warm in this area. Everyone then went inside the tower. Kathleen was talking pictures and had to hold her breath as it was so cold her breath was showing up on the photographs. This made us think that the strange mist described above was also caused by someone’s breath. KITCHEN VIGIL A vigil was held in what was once the kitchen. Earlier a wooden spoon and a beer tankard with some paper we had artificially aged and rolled up were placed in this area. During the vigil any spirits present were invited to move or touch these objects. Unfortunately if there were any spirits with us they did not take up the offer. GREAT HALL VIGIL We had placed candles and a candelabra in the windows of the Great Hall and these objects proved significant during the vigil. Kathleen invited any spirits present to make themselves known and perhaps try to blow out a candle. It was very quiet. The candles appeared to be very still. Steve invited any spirits present to make an appearance and the candles start flickering. Steve invited the spirits of Patrick Hannay, Robert Hannay and Major General Stewart to make an appearance and the candles started flickering rapidly. John invited any spirits present to blow out a candle - one candle flickered whilst the others were very still.

A strange mist appeared on some of our photographs, which we later discovered to be breath!

We then made our way downstairs to the entrance door and noticed that the door was open. Everybody thought this was out of the ordinary since all those present could remember the door being closed. Just as we were thinking that we had something paranormal on our hands, Derek remembered that Steve and him had gone outside so Steve could point out a finish to the stonework that was the same outside the door as in the kitchen area, and now that they both thought about it they had not closed the door when they came back in.

On leaving the tower, and because there had been a certain amount of unease felt around the entrance area, Kathleen decided to leave a Dictaphone running. She placed it in one of the holes behind the door where a spar used for reinforcing the door when under attack was located. We then decided to have a well earned break.

After our second break we returned to the entrance door of the tower where Kathleen checked the Dictaphone she had left running earlier and discovered that it had switched itself off. On playing the tape back, the machine appeared to slow down and then give off a high pitched noise. After replacing that Dictaphone with a second one we then headed to the Motte area.

MOTTE VIGIL
A number of years ago, an archaeological dig took place at the motte and it was discovered that it dated back to around 900A.D. when a wooden fortress was built. Prior to 1450 an ancient tower stood here.

When we arrived at the motte area it was extremely cold and looked distinctly eerie in the bright moonlight. We began our vigil with Steve asking if there were any spirits present and asking if anybody spoke Latin. Apart from a rustling sound that came from the area of the woods and can probably be attributed to animal movement e.g. a badger, rabbit or deer, there was no obvious paranormal activity. So we moved back to the tower and checked the second Dictaphone that we had left just inside the door which seemed to be working fine.

SECOND KITCHEN VIGIL
We then made our way to the kitchen area to carry out a second vigil there. The trigger objects were checked and everything was as it had been left. We again asked if there were any spirits present to try and make themselves known to us. The room was very quiet apart from the sound of dripping water. This can be explained by the high amounts of condensation on the walls of the tower because of the ever-changing temperature.

We then moved to an area that might once have been used as a dungeon not far from the kitchen area, although there is no concrete evidence of this, and carried out a short vigil. We got no response.

SECOND GREAT HALL VIGIL
The team then went back up to the Great Hall. We again checked all the trigger objects, but as before nothing had been disturbed. Another vigil was held in the hall with Steve again trying to contact the spirits. But again there was sadly no response.

Everyone then went back down to the entrance door to check the Dictaphone. It appeared to have recorded a full side without incident. It was then decided to hold a vigil at the door. Just as we were about to start this vigil Chris said that she was no longer happy with the situation.

We then decided to finish the investigation. It was now midnight and as we were packing up all our equipment we all agreed that Sorbie Tower was a very interesting location and was well worth a return visit. Thank you to Steve and Chris Hanna for the history of the tower and all their help during the investigation.

N.B. Since our investigation, we have spoken to a member of staff from the Bladnoch Hotel, who told us that she and some of her friends witnessed a red light when visiting the tower – her description matched John and Steve’s account. The source of the mysterious light is as yet unknown.