Episode 23 Haunted Objects Part 2

[00:00:00] - [Speaker 0]
Hello, everyone. My name is Graham Milne.

[00:00:02] - [Speaker 1]
My name's Karen Swanston.

[00:00:04] - [Speaker 0]
Welcome to Lights On, Still Scared. What have you got to do?

[00:00:55] - [Speaker 1]
Oh. Karen? I have a crystal ball.

[00:01:01] - [Speaker 0]
Look into the future. I hope it's a good future.

[00:01:07] - [Speaker 1]
Anyway, so this story actually come from my cousin.

[00:01:10] - [Speaker 0]
Oh. Very good.

[00:01:11] - [Speaker 1]
She's a font of all knowledge is my cousin. Guaranteed that if you want a spooky story, she's got one. Anyway, so this begins with her husband. He's a he's a... Works in construction.

[00:01:24] - [Speaker 0]
Right.

[00:01:25] - [Speaker 1]
So he was surveying this property. It's like an old bungalow. And apparently, it'd all been stripped. And they were told, well, if you find anything, then we're just gonna throw it.

[00:01:35] - [Speaker 0]
Right.

[00:01:36] - [Speaker 1]
So he's up in the loft like you do. He's surveying the property, and he comes across this crystal ball.

[00:01:44] - [Speaker 0]
Right. So

[00:01:46] - [Speaker 1]
a normal person, bless him, would have left that crystal ball alone, but he picks it up and thinks, I mean, missus will like that because she collected crystals, which she has done for a very long time.

[00:02:02] - [Speaker 0]
And they're very, very expensive.

[00:02:03] - [Speaker 1]
And they are very, very expensive. So, anyway, brings it back and she looks at it and she'll, no. Why would you do that? I don't want it. Anyway, he said, well, you know, you just put it in with it.

[00:02:18] - [Speaker 1]
It'll be fine. It's a lovely crystal ball. So so her immediate reaction was, why have you brought

[00:02:26] - [Speaker 0]
that home? Why why are bringing strange crystal balls from lofts We do. Into the house. Trouble's brewing.

[00:02:33] - [Speaker 1]
Anyway, so despite her reservations, she put it on the shelf with the rest of her crystals. Crystals.

[00:02:39] - [Speaker 0]
Fair Fair enough. Enough.

[00:02:39] - [Speaker 1]
And that's when the nightmares begin, literally.

[00:02:43] - [Speaker 0]
Okay.

[00:02:44] - [Speaker 1]
So after crystal balls come into the house, she experienced a reoccurring nightmare, which basically was along the lines of she would see a dark figure, which she believed to be a man.

[00:02:56] - [Speaker 0]
Right.

[00:02:57] - [Speaker 1]
It would appear to be standing by the side of her bed, and then it would lean over her and push her down quite heavily by the shoulders.

[00:03:05] - [Speaker 0]
Right.

[00:03:06] - [Speaker 1]
So she was unable to escape, and then she would wake up. And this constantly was going on for months and months and months and months. And it wasn't even isolated. As I said, she was getting about three or four times a week. Right.

[00:03:19] - [Speaker 1]
It was that bad. And it was always the same thing. So I did say to herself, well, know, the skeptics will say that's sleep paralysis. Yes. And it could be because she's anxious about this crystal ball coming in, you know, it could bring all that on and everything.

[00:03:34] - [Speaker 0]
So

[00:03:36] - [Speaker 1]
anyway, she said... It got to the stage where she said she didn't want it in the house.

[00:03:40] - [Speaker 0]
Right.

[00:03:40] - [Speaker 1]
So... And this tickled me a bit. So she decided to get rid of it. So she put on her gardening gloves because she said she didn't

[00:03:51] - [Speaker 0]
want the entity to touch her.

[00:03:55] - [Speaker 1]
And she rolled up the crystal ball with paper cause she didn't want the entity to to escape, which obviously paper and gloves.

[00:04:03] - [Speaker 0]
Well, of course, that's gonna stop it's gonna stop a supernatural outbreak of courses.

[00:04:07] - [Speaker 1]
Seed. Of course it is. And she kinda put it in the bin and she watched the bin and crush it. So... And she said, after that night, she had no more nightmares at all.

[00:04:20] - [Speaker 0]
Really? So it all stopped.

[00:04:22] - [Speaker 1]
That is... So that is... Yes. So the moral of the story is if you see a crystal ball in a loft, leave it alone, don't touch it, send it over at home.

[00:04:31] - [Speaker 0]
No. I mean, I wonder what was used... Well, obviously, you know what it was used for, but what... I don't know. Who'd lived there?

[00:04:37] - [Speaker 0]
That's interesting.

[00:04:38] - [Speaker 1]
Well, yes, that would be interesting to find out. We'll never find out because obviously the place is abolished now, but yes.

[00:04:46] - [Speaker 0]
Think I may have had some similar happen but very... On a one off occasion, and I did learn a lesson from it. I'm a big collect... I used to collect all sorts of stuff, you know, objects or bottles, just stuff that I find interesting old... I love collecting old things and I was up now looking around this derelict cottage years ago, you know, up in the North Of Scotland and there was no door in the place, just walked in and, you know, it was wrecked, was no floorboards, but there was old bottles kicking about in different rooms and I was like, oh, I'm gonna have one of them, they look great because, you know, nobody living there, the house is gonna get knocked down.

[00:05:22] - [Speaker 0]
Mhmm. And I picked it up and Carr said, don't take it, don't take that bottle because, you know, it's not yours. No. Take a bad vibe from the place, it's not yours. Okay.

[00:05:33] - [Speaker 0]
And I was all sour faced about this, oh, we'll leave that bottle there, what waste. I had the worst nightmare when I got home that night. I dreamt it was a black figure like a guy in the room and oh dear. And I

[00:05:45] - [Speaker 1]
thought it very similar then

[00:05:46] - [Speaker 0]
to what

[00:05:47] - [Speaker 1]
you've been experiencing. Scary.

[00:05:49] - [Speaker 0]
So I kinda was glad and I think it was something you do that, But I don't know, isn't it fascinating? I didn't go home and think about it. Don't think I went home and thought about it, the conversation, but that's what I experienced.

[00:06:00] - [Speaker 1]
Mhmm. You know, strange. Well, leave those crystal balls alone and leave them in the loft.

[00:06:05] - [Speaker 0]
Leave, yes, leave everything alone. I'm gonna talk about something kind of similar in a way to last episode, the mummy's head.

[00:06:13] - [Speaker 1]
Oh, lots of mummies going around.

[00:06:15] - [Speaker 0]
Lots of mummies today. Agin Country Park in Mintlaw. Mintlaw is a village north of Aberdeen, and it was... I used to work there, you see, not in the park itself, but connected to the park as a storage unit for Aberdeen Shark Council where they kept farming objects and all sorts of weird things. And, of course, people believe that objects may or may not be cursed or have some energy attached to it from the people who use them or all sorts of theories on that.

[00:06:44] - [Speaker 0]
My friend Annie worked there, I used to visit, and she said she thought it was haunted and maybe she should speak to the people who work there, and they all said similar things. What they said at the very beginning was was the previous boss there had the building exercised because there was weird stuff happening and it was scary. There were things like bins being overturned for example and all the litter stacked up and, you know, piles like a sand castle and I remember one person came in and was all all the papers crossed up here, was all piled up lovely and nice in the corner of the room and he went towards it and it all just collapsed at the right moment, so that was terrifying. The clock would fall off the wall.

[00:07:23] - [Speaker 1]
Mhmm.

[00:07:24] - [Speaker 0]
Things were moving around everywhere. There was a small gray figure seen looking in through the fire doors and it was those fire doors with glass panels.

[00:07:32] - [Speaker 1]
Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[00:07:33] - [Speaker 0]
A friend would see this and it would just shoot away and they'd go, you know, running hearing after it and it'd gone. It was really, really creepy and it had been like that a lot. Now the cleaner, believe it or not, was psychic and she used to work there in Adam Park and she said, well, there was something there and there was something at Adam Park and

[00:07:51] - [Speaker 1]
she thought

[00:07:51] - [Speaker 0]
it was the same thing because she would just feel it and she said when she felt it or felt its presence, it was accompanied by a smell

[00:08:00] - [Speaker 1]
Oh. Of rotten neeps.

[00:08:02] - [Speaker 0]
Oh. Now a neep is a turnip by the way, in case you wondered.

[00:08:06] - [Speaker 1]
This should be the smell. In England they're Swedes.

[00:08:08] - [Speaker 0]
Swedes, incorrect. That's Swedes. And in Sweden. A Swedish... Oh, Wait a That's a plea.

[00:08:15] - [Speaker 1]
But... Yeah. A different Swede.

[00:08:16] - [Speaker 0]
A different Swede indeed. But, yeah, it's a it's a very, very strange story. But what I found most intriguing was that the the psychic cleaner said that all that energy, all that creepiness was coming from one particular area and it just found out it was some sort of... I think it was a freezer but a refrigerated area where they had a mummy's head. Oh.

[00:08:46] - [Speaker 0]
And she said the energy from that was coming out in waves, you could feel it and this was what was there. But other people also claimed to have seen guys wearing uniforms like from the nineteen twenties, maybe something to do with the implements there, but it was also right next to the old railway line.

[00:09:03] - [Speaker 1]
So it could be several things.

[00:09:05] - [Speaker 0]
Several things, not a good feeling. Interesting place, by the way. So you've got a haunted mummy's head potentially, the exorcism that took place, a haunted farming museum

[00:09:16] - [Speaker 1]
Mhmm.

[00:09:16] - [Speaker 0]
And just down from there, you've got a sort of like a mini museum, if you like, connected to the monastery or the the rune monastery of Old Deer and phantom monks.

[00:09:31] - [Speaker 1]
Oh, not monks.

[00:09:32] - [Speaker 0]
They are. They were they The monks. And the road and all sorts. Would you believe it? But there you go.

[00:09:37] - [Speaker 0]
That's that's it's a mummy's head, spooky story, not very well known story, but I did speak to everyone who was involved, all the different archaeologists, all the, you know, the people who... Curators, they all said exactly same thing, we believe this building to be haunted. So there you go. That was coming from skeptics.

[00:09:55] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. Well, there

[00:09:56] - [Speaker 0]
you go. What have you got

[00:09:58] - [Speaker 1]
for If I was to say a famous Dolly

[00:10:01] - [Speaker 0]
Yes. Would you say it was Robert? I would say it was Robert.

[00:10:06] - [Speaker 1]
Robert the doll. Robert the

[00:10:07] - [Speaker 0]
doll. You're rude to do.

[00:10:09] - [Speaker 1]
Very famous. And you don't wanna be rude to Robert. No. No.

[00:10:12] - [Speaker 0]
There's another thing one must approach with caution if

[00:10:15] - [Speaker 1]
the stories are true. Indeed. Yes. So Robert is now displayed at the Fort East Martello Museum in Key West, Florida. Right.

[00:10:24] - [Speaker 1]
Belong to Robert Eugenie Otto, known as Jean. Okay. Robert is approximately forty inches tall, dressed in a sailor style outfit and holding his horse stuffed lion associated with many accounts from the German maker Stiff.

[00:10:43] - [Speaker 0]
Oh, Stiff? Stiff. Yes. The teddy bear maker.

[00:10:45] - [Speaker 1]
Yes. Dates back to early nineteen hundreds.

[00:10:48] - [Speaker 0]
Worth a lot of money.

[00:10:50] - [Speaker 1]
And whilst they were mass produced, Robert, as I said, was 40

[00:10:54] - [Speaker 0]
Mhmm.

[00:10:55] - [Speaker 1]
Which the size is unusual, so it's most likely he was a display doll.

[00:11:01] - [Speaker 0]
Ah, okay. Yeah. Not not general for sale type.

[00:11:05] - [Speaker 1]
Indeed. And the story combines documented ownership history with data, recollections, folklore, visitors tradition, and media retellings. So this story has gone from quite a lot of source there. So Jeans received Robert when he was a child, believe it was a gift for his fifth birthday.

[00:11:27] - [Speaker 0]
Right.

[00:11:28] - [Speaker 1]
And reportedly become so intensely attached to the doll, Robert was treated less like an ordinary toy and more like a companion. So obviously Eugene's real name or Gene's real name was Robert.

[00:11:42] - [Speaker 0]
Okay.

[00:11:42] - [Speaker 1]
So he gave the doll his name. Mhmm. And then after that he was he said, he's Robert, I'm Gene.

[00:11:50] - [Speaker 0]
It's a very formal name for a doll, isn't it?

[00:11:52] - [Speaker 1]
It is. Yes. So family stories say Gene regularly spoke to Robert in his room and later retellings claimed members of the household sometimes heard what sounded like a conversation rather than a child simply talking to his doll or talking to himself. According to the legend, witnesses sometimes believed they could hear two distinctive voices. Mhmm.

[00:12:18] - [Speaker 0]
Do you know the date roughly of this phenomena? No. I've just been curious. I'm just curious. I'm assuming it must be reasonably.

[00:12:27] - [Speaker 1]
Oh, so... Well, if they say early nineteen hundreds, I suppose it would be that in his fifth birthday as well.

[00:12:33] - [Speaker 0]
I suppose. Yeah. Yeah. That's true. That's true.

[00:12:35] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. So we were looking at early nineteen hundreds then, So I according to legend, witnesses sometimes believed they heard two distinctive voices, Gene's voice and another different voice apparently answering him. So they actually heard Conversation. A conversation going on. Yes.

[00:12:54] - [Speaker 1]
And one of the most famous parts of the childhood story is that objects were reportedly broken or damaged. Rooms were sometimes said to have been disturbed. Furniture was allegedly found upturned or moved. Another unexplained childhood mishaps were blamed on the doll. When in question Gene would repeatedly said to have answered Robert did it.

[00:13:18] - [Speaker 0]
It's a great way of getting over things. It would be. It was them. And he

[00:13:21] - [Speaker 1]
said, no, wouldn't be, it was the doll. Later stories also claim neighbors or passersby some would see Robert positioned in the window of the home and believed his position changed when nobody appeared to be in the room with him. These accounts are difficult to verify and should be treated as part of the folklore. Yeah. A bit creepy.

[00:13:44] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. So Robert remained important in Jean's life into adulthood. Gene eventually returned to Key West's family home known as the Artist's House. Robert remained there with him. The doll therefore did not disappear within childhood, so he still continued to have this relationship with the doll

[00:14:06] - [Speaker 0]
As an adult.

[00:14:07] - [Speaker 1]
As an adult.

[00:14:08] - [Speaker 0]
That's actually quite disturbing.

[00:14:10] - [Speaker 1]
That's a bit... That's a bit weird.

[00:14:11] - [Speaker 0]
Kind of weird, obsession y, kind of, you know, dead of night kind of

[00:14:16] - [Speaker 1]
Indeed.

[00:14:16] - [Speaker 0]
Vibes going on there.

[00:14:18] - [Speaker 1]
Jean died in 1974. The artist's house later came into the possession of Myrtle Retta, while Robert remained at the property. So he still stayed in the property even though it's been sold and passed on, so...

[00:14:32] - [Speaker 0]
Do you know, you buy a new house and that's sitting in a cheap bed, you know, you're alright, I think I'll get my own stuff in, you know.

[00:14:39] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah, so lots of unusual activities did not disappear from the legend after Jean's death, so it still continues. So tenants reportedly heard footsteps associated with the area where Robert had been and was kept. So... Right. Okay.

[00:14:55] - [Speaker 1]
So there's there's a version here. Actually, there's a few versions of this story. According to the Key West Art and Historical Society, a plumber working at the artist's house heard giggling, and when he investigated, he believed Robert had moved

[00:15:09] - [Speaker 0]
Right.

[00:15:10] - [Speaker 1]
Across the room.

[00:15:11] - [Speaker 0]
Okay.

[00:15:12] - [Speaker 1]
Now there's another version which actually happened when was alive. In this account, a plumber was working in the house when Jean was away. Right. He reportedly heard children laughing despite believing no one was present. Robert was said to have changed position.

[00:15:29] - [Speaker 1]
So some retelling adds that the objects previously sitting in Robert's lap consequently been found elsewhere in the room as though they had been thrown.

[00:15:39] - [Speaker 0]
Okay. That's interesting.

[00:15:41] - [Speaker 1]
It is. Yes.

[00:15:42] - [Speaker 0]
But could that be a spirit moving that that's not Robert rather than Robert wondering about

[00:15:46] - [Speaker 1]
stuff, you know,

[00:15:47] - [Speaker 0]
an animal object or whatever?

[00:15:49] - [Speaker 1]
It could well be. Now Yes? If you've got Discovery Channel, there is a programme about Robert the Doll.

[00:15:55] - [Speaker 0]
I don't have Discovery Channel.

[00:15:56] - [Speaker 1]
No. It's...

[00:15:56] - [Speaker 0]
But I'm listening intently now. That's all I have to do.

[00:16:00] - [Speaker 1]
So I watched it the other week. Yes. And the the story of the plumber is... Yeah. I mean, they've obviously done it to dramatic effect.

[00:16:08] - [Speaker 0]
Yes, indeed.

[00:16:09] - [Speaker 1]
But this one is the reconstruction. The plumber is actually at the museum where he is now. Mhmm. And the plumber heard giggling, and then Robert suddenly appears to have crept up behind him.

[00:16:21] - [Speaker 0]
Really? So

[00:16:22] - [Speaker 1]
she was just like...

[00:16:24] - [Speaker 0]
Tapped him on his knee or something.

[00:16:25] - [Speaker 1]
He just suddenly was there.

[00:16:27] - [Speaker 0]
Alright. How

[00:16:29] - [Speaker 1]
did he get out his... He's in a glass case. Yeah. You think how does he get out? So that's all with a pinch of salt, basically.

[00:16:37] - [Speaker 1]
Anyway, Myrtle later moved away from the artist's house and took Robert with her. And she reportedly claimed that Robert continued to move around her new home as well. And in 1994, she donated Robert to the museum and reportedly warned museum staff that she believed the doll was haunted.

[00:16:57] - [Speaker 0]
She kept him long, you know?

[00:16:58] - [Speaker 1]
She kept him long enough. I'd be like, yes.

[00:17:00] - [Speaker 0]
I'm out of here.

[00:17:01] - [Speaker 1]
So Robert's reputation developed further after he went on display. Visitors have reported camera and electronic problems

[00:17:10] - [Speaker 0]
Mhmm.

[00:17:11] - [Speaker 1]
Feelings of unease and later runs of bad luck, which they associated with their behaviour around the doll. And the museum has received apology letters from people who believe they've offended Robert. So apparently Robert has quite a bit of rules around him.

[00:17:29] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah, he sounds a tad and tad.

[00:17:31] - [Speaker 1]
He does a bit, yes. A set of traditions have developed around how visitors should behave around Robert. These are best described as visitors' etiquette rather than implying that every item is a formal regulation. So the museum basically said these aren't rules. These are what they reckon that Robert has given.

[00:17:53] - [Speaker 1]
So first thing, you introduce yourself to Robert. Hello, Robert. How'd you do? Ask Robert permission before taking his photograph. If something goes wrong with the photograph, some versions of the tradition say you apologize and ask again.

[00:18:11] - [Speaker 1]
Do not mock insult or deliberately disrespect him. Do not make rude gestures towards him or deliberately provoke him. If you believe you have offended Robert, apologize before leaving. Always goodbye. If misfortune follows, the judiciary says she must write Robert an apology letter asking him for forgiveness.

[00:18:34] - [Speaker 0]
I know. I don't think I wanna do that.

[00:18:38] - [Speaker 1]
No. So many people have come to believe that later misfortune was a result of ignoring or breaking Robert's traditional rules. Visitors have attributed to Robert car accidents, breakdowns, mechanical problem Mhmm. Illness or injury injury

[00:18:55] - [Speaker 0]
Right. Right.

[00:18:55] - [Speaker 1]
Relationship difficulties or breaks up Mhmm. Financial or employment problems, travel disruption, electronic equipment malfunctioning, and a general run of unusual bad luck.

[00:19:09] - [Speaker 0]
All normal stuff then, really.

[00:19:11] - [Speaker 1]
All the normal stuff, but they're blaming poor Robert. Robert.

[00:19:13] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah. He's sitting there, why me? What have

[00:19:15] - [Speaker 1]
I done? So some visitors come sufficiently convinced of a connection that they have written directly to Robert at the museum, and the letters often apologise for taking photographs without permission, mocking him or behaving disrespectfully.

[00:19:29] - [Speaker 0]
Mhmm.

[00:19:30] - [Speaker 1]
And some ask him to forgive them and make their luck stop. So, yeah, I mean,

[00:19:37] - [Speaker 0]
yeah. Yeah. Because, I mean, there's been a couple of movies made, hasn't there,

[00:19:43] - [Speaker 1]
There's I been movies about dollies.

[00:19:46] - [Speaker 0]
And in fact, I do think there is one. I specifically learned about Robert the Doll, but there's certainly ones that have obviously inspired by Robert the Doll. But there's so many Dollies, doll movies. There have been for a long time. It's hard to tell which...

[00:20:00] - [Speaker 1]
What's what's wrong. Indeed. And who's to say it's Robert? It could be the stuffed lion that's doing

[00:20:05] - [Speaker 0]
everything. He's a devious looking kid. Indeed.

[00:20:09] - [Speaker 1]
Don't disrespect.

[00:20:10] - [Speaker 0]
I'm sorry. I'm gonna write an apology letter. No. But it's very strange and it's one of these things like Annabelle that's, you know, had a reputation, has become this huge huge, like an industry around a doll essentially and so, you know.

[00:20:24] - [Speaker 1]
And also, if it's mass produced, is there more Robert the Dolls out there that are like him?

[00:20:29] - [Speaker 0]
Crikey. Than Cahutzu's paintings. Indeed. What a world we live in.

[00:20:36] - [Speaker 1]
Indeed. Crazy, crazy world.

[00:20:39] - [Speaker 0]
Well, I got a story for you now and it's it's about Ouija board. Now, I know Ouija boards potentially are made me haunted according to or at least a, you know, a portal to spooky things, but this one's quite interesting because it was made also into an object. Oh. Yeah. So that's the tenuous link, and this story was told me personally by a chap called Stanley Robertson who passed away probably around ten years ago.

[00:21:08] - [Speaker 0]
He was an author and a traveller and he wrote fantastic books about the traveller way of life in the North East Of Scotland, including a book called Ghosts and Ghoulies, Nyakum's Windows, Fishhuses part one and two, a good guy. I met him a couple of times. He did, he came over and actually did some work with us, me and some students back in the day, and he was telling us lot of stories at the time, and the students were actually students were actually doing a project on ghosts and folklore, and he came and told us a few stories and sang a few songs. It's very interesting. So this is his story essentially, so I'm not taking any claim for it.

[00:21:47] - [Speaker 0]
It was his story, and he basically said, and I'm quoting from him here, a ghostly experience is not necessarily a frightening one. The thing is that they've never really left us but are just in a different dimension. Sometimes our two worlds cross over. The old traveling people used to say there's a time in the deed ceilings of the night when heaven and earth passed by close, and this is when ghostly encounters would happen, and that time's 03:00 in the morning. And it is strange how many spooky stories seem to round about that time.

[00:22:21] - [Speaker 1]
Yes. Because they do say there's a valve and then out there's a a valve between this world and that world around between three and four for some reason. Thin at that point. Indeed.

[00:22:32] - [Speaker 0]
Some ghosts are sad, some are happy, and some don't want to leave, but the thing you must worry about is demons because that has nothing to do with them. Now he's a very religious man, so he Okay. He, you know, was quite heavy in the demons thing. He's a Mormon, which was really odd. He used to say, like, you know, a lot of people at the church, and he was very religious, don't really get why he claimed to be a natural cyclist, he he kind of had this jewel thing going on here, but he said I don't have anything to do with Ouija boards personally, he says, because he believed they were tapping into something that was real and he had a really bad experience, and was while he was on North Sound Radio, which is a local radio station for the Aberdeen region, I think it's so long ago, and they were having a phone in and this man phoned up out of blue and said what kind of psychic are you?' and I said 'I am a natural psychic' and he said that is the best one to be, and they had a bit of a laugh about it.

[00:23:35] - [Speaker 0]
But then someone phoned in and said he'd bought this beautiful table which he'd cleaned up and painted with runic signs, which he said was very beautiful. He went on to say that he shared a flat with his girlfriend, another lad called Gordon, and they stayed in a place called King Street, which I know very well, it's in Aberdeen, and the only thing is he says that he enjoyed playing this table because of these symbols. So him and his girlfriend Gordon used to sit there and, you know, ask at things Mhmm. Use it as a kind of Ouija board, and every night they would play with it, and they have little parties and friends over, and it was a thing. It was a very beautiful thing, a party.

[00:24:12] - [Speaker 0]
One night Gordon was asleep, and the last day she was playing the table when suddenly what they described as a puff of smoke came off the table, and she claimed that the figure of what looked like a witch type person appeared, claimed she'd been summoned by the dabbling on the board. She disappeared, but despite the scare, they kept tinkering with it, and this thing would occasionally appear when this happened. And alas, he was very terrified, but Gordon remained unaware of all of this happening. One night, the lad claimed that the figure was in the room, and when they arrived home, the figure told him to get a machete. So he kept in the room and go into Gordon and demanded that they bring Gordon's head to the witch.

[00:24:58] - [Speaker 0]
They basically... Said to this apparition psychically telling them to chop their flatmate's head off.

[00:25:06] - [Speaker 1]
Oh, no.

[00:25:06] - [Speaker 0]
I know. And it was really horrible and creepy. So they freaked out, dragged Gordon from his bed, took him outside and basically stayed there and doubled no more with the board and I spoke to Stanley about it, he said, well, it's a very dangerous thing. People don't want to believe how dangerous dangerous it is. He said he must destroy it.

[00:25:30] - [Speaker 0]
He must destroy this Ouija board type thing, and he refused to do it. But he begged him, he says it's only way to do it. So what they did was, believe it or not, sanded it down. Seriously. Anyway, Stanley says, I told him I was having a book launch at Washington, so if he wanted to see me, I would be there.

[00:25:50] - [Speaker 0]
Anyhow, a heap of people attended, and when I looked over, there was a guy in a Gothic looking lass, and I knew right away it was them. So when they came and saw me, they came across, and I noticed the guy had a briefcase, and I asked him if he'd gotten rid of that Ouija board, and he told me that he'd sanded it and took off the symbols and was now using it as a guard table. I said, you still have a gateway? He told me that they still fill a presence. It does...

[00:26:13] - [Speaker 0]
But she does not appear. He then opened the briefcase and took out photo of the board, which really was very beautiful. Have to say it was a piece of classical art, but as soon as I saw it, I felt myself going down through it and insisted it must be destroyed. He said that he did not have the heart to do it. He said he would put it away somewhere so it would never be seen again.

[00:26:33] - [Speaker 0]
So you see folks tapping into these things are really dangerous, and that was a quote from Stanley Robertson.

[00:26:39] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah.

[00:26:40] - [Speaker 0]
Now whether that story was exaggerated in the do not know. Genuinely Hatton does, he told me, but that was the story. Yeah. The guys responsible, the couple in Gordon, I don't know if I know them, I maybe do know them, there was a shop on King Street in Aberdeen which sold esoteric objects, shall we say, of all kinds, kind of like the witchcraft shop you can

[00:27:07] - [Speaker 1]
get around

[00:27:08] - [Speaker 0]
there or the wicking shop, whatever you want to call it, and I wonder if the chat was him. I do not really want to say it, maybe isn't, but certainly that was the story that was told to me.

[00:27:17] - [Speaker 1]
Have you ever dabbled in the Ouija book?

[00:27:20] - [Speaker 0]
I dabbled only once and it wasn't me, I dabbled because I was asked to stand in and look after a group of investigators who and the public doing an event at the toll booth in Aberdeen.

[00:27:35] - [Speaker 1]
Oh, okay.

[00:27:35] - [Speaker 0]
And they asked if they could use the board, not my permission,

[00:27:40] - [Speaker 1]
was not

[00:27:40] - [Speaker 0]
me, I was just merely there and it was given, so they did a little and this psychic that was running it claimed that there was a wicked jailer in the cell who was causing all sorts of mischief and he was, you know, focused on the women, which tends to happen,

[00:27:57] - [Speaker 1]
this poor woman fainted. Dear.

[00:27:59] - [Speaker 0]
They're all knocking off the ground and they carted down the I know, so that was a bit of a disaster but again it's that whole thing, this is happening because and it gets everybody up to how you do and you start freaking out and, you know, whether that was true or not, that's what you picked up. Yeah. I know a lot of people have done it. I could write off that. Maybe maybe we should have an episode sometime.

[00:28:19] - [Speaker 0]
I've got some cracking stories about people who've used

[00:28:22] - [Speaker 1]
Ouija Ouija

[00:28:24] - [Speaker 0]
Really? Perhaps

[00:28:25] - [Speaker 1]
that. Yep.

[00:28:26] - [Speaker 0]
Bad experiences. But have you?

[00:28:30] - [Speaker 1]
Once. But I think it was like mucking about kind of thing because I think, you know, I think my mate was playing foot sees underneath the table and he's gonna, it's not me. Oh, yes,

[00:28:41] - [Speaker 0]
it is you. Yeah.

[00:28:42] - [Speaker 1]
So, yeah. So it's just mucking about kind of thing but, yeah. It's one of those things that you think, should I be dealing with or not?

[00:28:49] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah. Oh, dear. A lot of people like to use it. I've been I've been in, you know, the company of various sort of like researchers, whatever, and a few people like to use it. I still got a weird kind of like slightly anxious paranoia about it.

[00:29:05] - [Speaker 0]
It's pretty ridiculous because people go, it's just a toy, it's a toy, it's got no... But I don't know. I mean, who can tell? I know, all I know is that I could give you five examples of people who have had really bad experiences. A lot of people, nothing, you know.

[00:29:19] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah. Maybe it's something do with how our brains work and

[00:29:21] - [Speaker 1]
so on. It does.

[00:29:22] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah. Who knows? What would be worth are we are we are we look at in the future?

[00:29:27] - [Speaker 1]
Indeed. Think that could be a good one. Indeed. Right. Talking of toys.

[00:29:32] - [Speaker 0]
Why?

[00:29:34] - [Speaker 1]
I'm gonna do a little bit of an experiment. Excuse me whilst I come wave on microphone. Okay. Say hello to my dear friend.

[00:29:45] - [Speaker 0]
Is this? Oh, god. Please tell me it ain't Robert.

[00:29:48] - [Speaker 1]
It's not Robert. I'm gonna... I've got a couple here. Anyway, I'm gonna hand you over. I I know that we're on audio, so I'm gonna put pictures of them on Facebook.

[00:29:59] - [Speaker 1]
So, yeah, I'll give you that one.

[00:30:00] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah. Where do I put her?

[00:30:03] - [Speaker 1]
Just like, have a feel. See whether you feel anything from her or...

[00:30:09] - [Speaker 0]
I've got a shiver on my back.

[00:30:11] - [Speaker 1]
Why did you sniff? I don't know. Because

[00:30:16] - [Speaker 0]
She's very pretty.

[00:30:18] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. Okay. That's one. Another one here.

[00:30:22] - [Speaker 0]
So just leave her here?

[00:30:23] - [Speaker 1]
Yes. Just leave her there.

[00:30:25] - [Speaker 0]
Alright.

[00:30:25] - [Speaker 1]
Oh. Oh. There's that one. Same thing.

[00:30:28] - [Speaker 0]
Okay.

[00:30:28] - [Speaker 1]
Have a feel.

[00:30:31] - [Speaker 0]
When I touched the first doll

[00:30:33] - [Speaker 1]
Mhmm.

[00:30:33] - [Speaker 0]
Which is the crocheted one, I got a right old shibby up Did you? Spine. A bit. Other one, not so.

[00:30:41] - [Speaker 1]
Okay. Alright. Number three.

[00:30:43] - [Speaker 0]
What's the 3?

[00:30:44] - [Speaker 1]
31.

[00:30:45] - [Speaker 0]
Oh, my word. Are you ready for her? Yeah. Because she's coming. There you go.

[00:30:50] - [Speaker 0]
Okay. Oh, this feels a bit strange, isn't it? Yeah. I'm getting a vibe from number

[00:30:58] - [Speaker 1]
3. Indeed. Number 3.

[00:31:01] - [Speaker 0]
Number 3.

[00:31:01] - [Speaker 1]
Number Definitely. Okay. Number three.

[00:31:04] - [Speaker 0]
Is the winner.

[00:31:05] - [Speaker 1]
Alright. She's mine. Okay. She's called Loopy Lou.

[00:31:09] - [Speaker 0]
That's nice. Hello. I'll be very respectful here by the way you notice. Indeed. So

[00:31:15] - [Speaker 1]
Loopy Lou was actually made by my great grandmother.

[00:31:18] - [Speaker 0]
Right.

[00:31:19] - [Speaker 1]
Whilst she was actually... She was quite ill while she was making her. So she was on the verge of coming to her, to a natural end. She's been looked after by my grandmother who wasn't the most... Didn't have...

[00:31:32] - [Speaker 1]
Let's just say she didn't have the best

[00:31:35] - [Speaker 0]
bedtime man. Bring him.

[00:31:37] - [Speaker 1]
Indeed. So my great grandmother, as she was knitting loopy loo, said to her, I hope when you're old, you suffer as much as what I do.

[00:31:47] - [Speaker 0]
Right.

[00:31:48] - [Speaker 1]
So that kinda like... Okay. So obviously, we were made... She was made for me. She had a sister called Floppy.

[00:31:56] - [Speaker 0]
Right.

[00:31:56] - [Speaker 1]
Don't know what happened to Floppy. Anyway, so she used to sit on my bed. Yeah. And she was occasionally hijacked by my sisters and it was hers, but no, she wasn't.

[00:32:05] - [Speaker 0]
Right.

[00:32:06] - [Speaker 1]
And then I suppose I moved out, forgot about old Loopy Lou here.

[00:32:10] - [Speaker 0]
Right. So I

[00:32:11] - [Speaker 1]
was like in my mid twenties, she suddenly appeared. My mom said, oh, look what we found in the attic.

[00:32:17] - [Speaker 0]
Okay. Okay. Good.

[00:32:19] - [Speaker 1]
So... But as soon as she would come back down from that attic, my grandmother started having falls. Now this could be a huge coincidence, but she started like breaking her legs, breaking her hips, you know, she had so

[00:32:30] - [Speaker 0]
much Yeah. Yeah. Her, I would

[00:32:32] - [Speaker 1]
call her the Terminator. So... And every time she's

[00:32:36] - [Speaker 0]
done that, my mum used to say, what's loopy loo doing now? That was that slightly disconcerting, I have to say.

[00:32:45] - [Speaker 1]
So she got the blame.

[00:32:47] - [Speaker 0]
She got the blame.

[00:32:47] - [Speaker 1]
And my mum often used to say, oh, I'm sure it's that loopy loo. So I'm not saying she's haunted, but I think she has got a vibe about her. Yeah. There's certainly a feel with her that you just think, don't mess with her.

[00:33:01] - [Speaker 0]
No, ain't messing. No.

[00:33:03] - [Speaker 1]
Hello, Graham.

[00:33:04] - [Speaker 0]
Hello, loopy loo.

[00:33:06] - [Speaker 1]
But it's interesting that you actually thought that as well.

[00:33:09] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah. That was strange. It was a real rustle up the old neck. Yeah. She was...

[00:33:12] - [Speaker 0]
Maybe... I don't know. Yeah. I mean, she's

[00:33:15] - [Speaker 1]
well past her. Well, mean, she's well... What she? I got her when I was what?

[00:33:19] - [Speaker 0]
Three? So she's well into her fifties now. She's looking surprisingly chipper. She is, isn't she? Yeah.

[00:33:28] - [Speaker 0]
And she got some boobs, she got some undies on. Where is she? Would you keep her in the... You obviously keep her the house. Do you keep her, like, on display or do

[00:33:34] - [Speaker 1]
No. Normally, she's under the bed. Okay.

[00:33:37] - [Speaker 0]
Well, it's weird because the first doll I felt a bit strange about as well. Don't know if it was wee tingly bit bit up. It was a real... Yeah.

[00:33:44] - [Speaker 1]
I mean, could be because they were sitting together. I mean, I've both got those dolls randomly off Este. Really?

[00:33:52] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah. Just for the sake of like Yes. Good.

[00:33:54] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. So I just thought, you know what, experiment. See see what you actually felt the three.

[00:34:01] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. But yeah, but I mean, there's some creepy dolls on there. There's some dolls that are actually meant to be haunted.

[00:34:07] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah. I did I did... I mean, I've had a wee break coming out just curiosity and you see some some of these photographs online of these dolls and I'm like, what? Don't want that in me me house.

[00:34:18] - [Speaker 1]
Well, was about to say, you know, perhaps we should get one and do an experiment, but you can stay here because I've got loopy loo.

[00:34:25] - [Speaker 0]
Very good.

[00:34:25] - [Speaker 1]
She should live with you. So that's Lupi Lowe. You know, she could be a bit... So

[00:34:31] - [Speaker 0]
these are just merely...

[00:34:32] - [Speaker 1]
These are just merely...

[00:34:34] - [Speaker 0]
Merely merely...

[00:34:35] - [Speaker 1]
Ordinary dollies.

[00:34:36] - [Speaker 0]
Barely ordinary dollies. Those are like good old... Oh, hats come off.

[00:34:40] - [Speaker 1]
Oh, dear. Oh, the snifter.

[00:34:42] - [Speaker 0]
Oh, my dear. Help. I hope she isn't too because she's... I've just dropped the hat off the top.

[00:34:46] - [Speaker 1]
Oh, dear. Dropped the hat off the top and then you sniffed her. So...

[00:34:52] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah. I shouldn't have done that really. I was just curious curious to see to some... A mustiness around her like a like a final book. Anyway.

[00:35:06] - [Speaker 0]
If I wake up dead tomorrow, I'm gonna say it.

[00:35:09] - [Speaker 1]
No. Don't say that. No.

[00:35:12] - [Speaker 0]
Well, won't wake up dead, will I? But you know what I mean. I'm not blaming Loopy Lou,

[00:35:16] - [Speaker 1]
I'm blaming the other one and she could go back. Want my mum back.

[00:35:20] - [Speaker 0]
Robert, I blaming know. But it's interesting. It's interesting how... Now, if you told me in advance of... Because I didn't know anything about this.

[00:35:35] - [Speaker 0]
If Carmen told me in advance that there was dolls here and one was very haunted, perhaps my reaction might have been slightly different. Maybe I would have said, oh, it's definitely because it's all, you know, can be suggestive, can it? But that was very, very interesting. I... I'm quite sensitive, I think, to things.

[00:35:55] - [Speaker 0]
So occasionally, I do go into buildings and such like, kinda feel for things sometimes, you know, I get that good or bad feel. Some people don't, but I tell you what, it's fabulous if you're ever looking for a flat. Well, you know which ones to avoid.

[00:36:09] - [Speaker 1]
You know which ones to say, nah. I'm not coming here. Yeah.

[00:36:14] - [Speaker 0]
So what have you got for us? Have you got a spooky story or if you want me to do a wee story here?

[00:36:19] - [Speaker 1]
Have you got a little one there?

[00:36:20] - [Speaker 0]
I got one called the Loch Leven necklace. Oh. The Loch Leven is in Perth of Fife or heavens above. I passed it yesterday in the past. It's beautiful.

[00:36:32] - [Speaker 0]
It's not far from Edinburgh. That'll keep me right.

[00:36:35] - [Speaker 1]
Fife then.

[00:36:36] - [Speaker 0]
We'll do. Fife. Yeah. Yes. Anyway, this is a story, believe it or not, that predates the mummy story, the mummy's It head took place in 1920 and it appeared in a book called Edinburgh Revisited written by somebody called James Bones.

[00:36:53] - [Speaker 0]
No. Which is the most ironic name for a writer ever, I have to say, who also was actually it's not James Bones at all, it's James Bone because he wrote another book which I've got and it's called the Embra Perambulator.

[00:37:11] - [Speaker 1]
Oh.

[00:37:12] - [Speaker 0]
And it's a really cool book actually because it does have some good stories of Embra and some rather nice etchings, but anyway, this was the story that was in it and it's a cursed artifact. So he describes how an articulated green beaded necklace once sent as a gift caused much disruption to the unwitting recipient. The artifact was thought to be around 3,000 years old and found near Heliopolis. Oh. I know.

[00:37:37] - [Speaker 0]
And arrived some months before the beginning of the great war. The item was described as forgotten about till 1920 when it was rediscovered in a drawer at the home of the recipient who was a lady. The late... Neither the lady in question nor her location at Enbrel was mentioned, but on the account, the recipient allegedly threw the necklace into the bin along with some torn letters. So one can only assume that her lover, boyfriend, potential lover, centre the object.

[00:38:13] - [Speaker 0]
If it's around the war or after the war, did something happen to the guy? Did they split up? Was the guy killed? She ripped up the letters, threw it away. I mean, it's a very old and ancient object.

[00:38:24] - [Speaker 0]
It's obviously worth a lot of money. So why she took this course of action was never really clear. However, we can draw our own conclusions. So later that night, around 10:30, while preparing for bed, she felt another hand placed upon hers as it rested on the back of a chair. Soon afterwards, she then began to wear of a continuous rustling coming from within the basket Oh.

[00:38:47] - [Speaker 0]
Where she threw this thing. Suspecting the culprit to be a mouse, she cautiously inspected the contents but found nothing. She did however have a change of heart and retrieving the necklace put it aside for safekeeping. Not long after her brother described as a well known Edinburgh doctor arrived and was told of the occurrences and being a practical sort he then volunteered to have it next to him on the pillow while he slept. Not a good idea because according to later on he was woken by a light thud on his pillow as if a hand had made a vigorous grab for it.

[00:39:20] - [Speaker 0]
There then followed a series of tapping noises which traveled across the ceiling. Despite this, he insisted him keep the necklace with him. On the second night, woke with a start to find the bed shaking violently from side to side before it stopped abruptly. And again he described the feeling of being touched by a phantom hand, which left him with a strange sensation of pins and needles running from head to chest. Some days later, he was alerted to the sound of sobbing coming from the nearby window, which according to testimony lasted thirty to sixty seconds.

[00:39:53] - [Speaker 0]
Anyway, it's all very perplexing as was described, so he then decided to pass the necklace between a group of acquaintances to ascertain if it was haunted. God, some friends, some people have it. One of my mates says, I've got this potentially haunted thing here. Do you mind looking after it? I know what I'd be seeing, but anyway, he's a good guy and he took it.

[00:40:13] - [Speaker 0]
The phenomena was repeated in every instance, and as expected, some did, feel it, whilst actually a few experienced nothing, but most did. One of the recipients who shared a bedroom with her 11 year old daughter described placing a necklace in a nearby chair. She was walking sometime later by a series of sharp tappings, described again as traveling up the walls across the ceilings, and then blue flashes of light came through her bedroom like wildfire. Anyway, the original owner of hearing these various reports erred on the side of caution and on it the necklace's return, according to the story, it was disposed of in nearby Loch Leven, which if the story is true, is still its home to this day? But where it came from and who was attached, who knows?

[00:41:02] - [Speaker 1]
Who knows indeed.

[00:41:03] - [Speaker 0]
But a haunted object nevertheless. Indeed.

[00:41:08] - [Speaker 1]
Alright. So my final one. I mean, there's a question here. Can clothes absorb emotional energy?

[00:41:17] - [Speaker 0]
Potentially. Potentially. According to lots of theories.

[00:41:21] - [Speaker 1]
Indeed. Potentially. So my next story is all about haunted clothes, basically. This first story is about an Edwardian dress. So this is one of Britain's most best known stories involving alleged haunted clothing.

[00:41:38] - [Speaker 1]
Mhmm. It centers around Edwardian dress, affectionately known as Gladys. The dress was left outside the Bridgeport Museum and later added to the museum's collection. Mhmm. And over time, staff and visitors began reporting unusual experiences while standing by the dress.

[00:41:56] - [Speaker 1]
Visitors have described goosebumps, feeling watched, a female presence standing nearby, and sudden feelings of sadness and unease.

[00:42:06] - [Speaker 0]
Right.

[00:42:07] - [Speaker 1]
One cleaner reportedly disliked working alone in the gallery because she always felt someone was watching her.

[00:42:13] - [Speaker 0]
Right.

[00:42:14] - [Speaker 1]
The museum itself has never claimed that the dress is haunted, although it acknowledges that reports have been made by visitors.

[00:42:21] - [Speaker 0]
Mhmm.

[00:42:23] - [Speaker 1]
So that's an interesting one, a spooky dress.

[00:42:26] - [Speaker 0]
I'm I'm kinda not surprised that somebody left it there as a Tunisian. Yeah. Probably. That was what was going on in

[00:42:33] - [Speaker 1]
there. I've been that in my wardrobe. Exactly. Oh, and there's another story of a floating jacket. Keanu Reeves, the actor

[00:42:41] - [Speaker 0]
Right.

[00:42:42] - [Speaker 1]
Spoken publicly about strange experience he had from his childhood. Mhmm. While living in New York, he and his nanny both witnessed what appeared to be an empty jacket floating through the room. Okay. He only describes it of having no head, no body, and no arms.

[00:42:59] - [Speaker 1]
Just a jacket drifting through the air before disappearing. So was it an actual jacket or was it just

[00:43:06] - [Speaker 0]
A bit of a ghost.

[00:43:06] - [Speaker 1]
A ghost jacket. The nanny's reaction convinced him that he'd not imagined the experience. And even today, simply describes it's one of those things he can't explain. That's that's a bit weird, that one.

[00:43:19] - [Speaker 0]
Did you know there was a phantom, sorry, jacket in Edinburgh Castle? Is that? Oh. Apparently so in the in the in the restaurant. Now, know it's been done up quite recently, but somebody told me a few years ago that they had a case there with a drummer's jacket and apparently, according to witnesses, several people saw the arm of the jacket moving up and down as if it was making a drumming motion.

[00:43:41] - [Speaker 1]
Oh.

[00:43:41] - [Speaker 0]
But of course it was in a glass case, there was no way that wind or anything could affect it outside. But yeah, apparently so.

[00:43:47] - [Speaker 1]
So yeah, so that actually leads me on to the next one. Like lots of military uniforms apparently have lots of things associated with it. Apparently many people have said stand in a few uniforms, there's a feeling of sadness, unease, and again, watching them.

[00:44:06] - [Speaker 0]
Mhmm. And a

[00:44:07] - [Speaker 1]
sense of someone standing behind them, apparently, that's... They seem to think that military uniforms retain the most energy.

[00:44:15] - [Speaker 0]
Mhmm. You can get that. I suppose the fear of battle or the heightened emotions if you believe that they can impregnate as it were an object.

[00:44:27] - [Speaker 1]
So, yes, that's haunted clothing, and they go on about Victoria mourning clothing as well, suppose, if you think that that was... They were worn after people

[00:44:39] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah.

[00:44:39] - [Speaker 1]
Had died.

[00:44:40] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah. They were in for a Nordic amount of time.

[00:44:42] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. I think it was a year, wasn't it? You

[00:44:45] - [Speaker 0]
got slightly less... Was it a slightly lighter shade of black? Was it kind of grating? It's insane.

[00:44:51] - [Speaker 1]
Going down to smoky grey.

[00:44:53] - [Speaker 0]
Smoky grey eventually, yes. You get get to white with Tiger 95.

[00:44:57] - [Speaker 1]
Indeed. So that's very, very interesting. It is.

[00:45:01] - [Speaker 0]
Good stuff indeed. Well, thank you. We are gonna be seeing you next time on Lights On, Still Scared folks. So for now, please take care. Happy listening.

[00:45:13] - [Speaker 1]
Thank you for listening. Hope you enjoyed that episode. Stay with us next time. Until then, keep the lights on. Stay scared.