Hopetoun House Investigation - Media Files
Use the links below to view some of our photos, video files (Windows Media Player) and to listen to some of our EVP files captured in Hopetoun House

Investigation Photographs
EVP file1
Video file1

Date 29/01/05
Investigation Team
Mark Turner, Lisa Lundie, Joanne Lundie, Andrew McLean, David Wright, Paul Muir, John Lundie, Thomas, Lorna, David Muir

Equipment used
5 Digital Night Vision Camcorders, 2 Analogue Camcorders, 4 EMF meters, 5 Digital still Cameras, Infrared Thermometers, laser thermometer, Two Way Radios, Infrared Motion Sensor, Dowsing Rods, Pendulum, Infrared lights, Digital Voice Recorders, Analogue Voice recorders, Communication Board.

Hopetoun House - Brief History
Hopetoun has been the ancestral home of the Hope family for over 300 years. John Hope (1650-1682), purchased the lands of Abercorn with a view to building a fine house. After his death, his widow, Lady Margaret Hamilton continued the plans and commissioned the building of Hopetoun. The original building was designed by Sir William Bruce and later alterations and improvements were made by William Adam. Charles, 9 th Earl and 3 rd Marquess (1912-1987) and his son Adrian, the present Marquess, were responsible for the formation of the Hopetoun House Preservation Trust in 1974. The Trust was created to own and manage the house and landscape so that Hopetoun could be preserved as a national monument.

The Investigation
On our arrival at Hopetoun House we were greeted by members of the mangement team who gave us a tour and information on past, unexplained occurrences. We were then shown to the area that used to be the horse hospital. This hall would be used as our base for the night.

The Restaurant (Formerly Stables)
The restaurant is allegedly a very active area. One woman, who used to work in the kitchens, regularly reported seeing a man in the restaurant. Assuming that he was a member of staff, she said hello to him, only to be ignored. One day, by chance, she was working in another part of the building, when she saw an old photograph of the coach driver from the early 1900’s, and was shocked to recognise the man she had been seeing.
We began by taking temperature readings and EMF readings. We did get one or two cold spots in the restaurant area, but no unusual EMF readings were picked up. There were many digital still photographs taken in this area, many showing bright orbs. However, there were some even more bizarre things caught on camera. We caught what looks like a string of large, bright pink orbs in one picture. Another shows a large black shape, which we have been unable to explain. The word ‘NO’ appears on one of the windows, but on every other picture of the same window, nothing is visible. One of our team members was also experiencing sharp movement on the compass that he was carrying, Magnetic North would suddenly change and point in a different direction which would suggest a changing electromagnetic field around this area.

As there seemed to be so much activity in this room, we decided to try a séance, during which we heard footsteps and three members of our team, saw a dark shape moving behind a screen at the other end of the room. The dark shape was seen to be looking out from behind the screen, the team members that witnessed it described it as a head shape and shoulder sticking out from the back of the screen, it then moved in and out from behind the screen as if watching us, there was a space in the middle of the screen and another team member then witnessed the light being broken as if someone passed by. We quickly rushed to investigate but could find no explanation, there were no other people in this part of the building.

The Old Stables
At the far end of the restaurant, lies the old stables. The stables are still intact and are now only used for storage. The room is extremely cold and dark. We decided this would be perfect for locking off some camcorders and other equipment. We locked off three camcorders, a voice recorder and a motion sensor. When we looked at the footage, there was a loud click caught on one camcorder. There was also an even louder bang, which was caught on two camcorders and the voice recorder. The motion sensor did not go off when this happened. Unfortunately, the third camcorder only lasted ten minutes before the battery drained.

Later in the investigation we spent some time doing a vigil in this area. There were many strange temperature readings picked up. The temperature in the stables was between 1 and 3 degrees, but every so often our infra red thermometer would give us bizarre readings of around 90 degrees. When we played the voice recorders back, a conversation can be heard between two members of the team discussing this matter, when another unexplainable voice can be clearly heard saying the words ‘forgive me’ (Click EVP File 1 at the top of the page to hear this file).

Horse Hospital
We spent some time in the area that was previously used as the horse hospital. We took temperature and EMF readings, neither of which showed anything out of the ordinary. We attempted a filmed séance and took many still digital photos. We did manage to catch some orbs in the still photos, but nothing showed up in the camcorder footage or on the voice recorders.

Staff Toilets
A figure has been seen in the staff toilets in the main part of the building. Allegedly, a young chef was in the toilets when the lights went out. As the emergency lights came on, he turned to see a figure reflected in the mirror behind him. There is a doorway within the room that seems to be jammed or painted shut. According to the caretaker of the building, no one knows what lies behind this door. Unfortunately, we were only able to get access to this area for a very short time. The still photos and camcorder footage that we managed to take did not show anything significant.

Hopetoun House is a fantastic location that has been the subject of many reported ghost sightings. Our investigation lasted 8 hours, covering only one section of the buildings. We would certainly like to return at some point in the future to carry out more investigation.

We would like to say thank you to the staff at Hopetoun House for the chance to investigate this fantastic location, for their warm welcome and excellent hospitality.