"THE GHOSTS OF EDINBURGH CASTLE" > Page 1, 2
One reported sighting was of a spectre in a leather apron - a ghost that has been seen before at the same location. Wiseman, a skeptic who has in the past attempted to expose the myths of several British hauntings, admitted his surprise at the results. "The events that have been taking place over the last 10 days are much more extreme than we expected," he said.
| Almost immediately she reported hearing breathing from a corner of the room, which was getting louder. She thought she saw a flash or some sort of light in the corner, but didn't want to look back. |
One of the most interesting overnight experiments involved enclosing a young woman in one of the dark South Bridge vaults, alone - an experience that brought her to tears. The volunteer was placed in the room with a video camera so she could record what she saw, heard or felt. "Almost immediately," Wiseman said, "she reported hearing breathing from a corner of the room, which was getting louder. She thought she saw a flash or some sort of light in the corner, but didn't want to look back."
The only hard evidence were a few digital photographs that featured such anomalies as dense spots of light and strange fogging. Two photos showed a green glob that no one could explain.
Conclusions
Wiseman has been careful not to jump to any particular conclusions about these supposedly haunted areas. Many of the experiences could be chalked up to common psychological reactions to the unnerving environment. But perhaps not all. "I must stress that these are only initial results," said Wiseman, who admits to being afraid of the dark, "but already they are looking quite interesting. I'm closer now to being a lot more curious. Something is going on, but I won't be a believer until we get something on film."
What Wiseman finds most intriguing is the fact that most of the volunteers' experiences took place in the very rooms that had the reputations for being haunted, even though they had no knowledge of that. The question is: Why? "It could be something quite trivial such as being damper or colder, and we are taking physical measurements to gauge air temperature, air movement and magnetic fields," Wiseman said. "Whatever the explanation, it means there is something going on because otherwise we would expect the distribution to have been more random."
Fran Hollinrake, someone who has been looking into the hauntings for a much longer time - she runs walking tours through many of these same dark chambers - wasn't as surprised by the findings. "People from all over the world are seeing the same things," she said. "So there must be something in it."
Although
the scientific results from Wiseman's study are thus far inconclusive, what is
most encouraging perhaps is that scientists are beginning to give these
paranormal possibilities the attention they deserve. 
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