The Tron Kirk Paranormal Investigation - Media Files
Use the links below to view some of our photos, view some video files and to listen to some of our EVP files captured at The Tron Kirk. Please listen to the EVP files before reading the report in order to maintain your own perception of what is being said. Some of the video clips include audio phenomena, please ensure that you have your speakers switched on.
Investigation Photographs>>>
EVP File 1- EVP File 2 - EVP File 3 - EVP File 4 - EVP File 5 - EVP File 6
Video File 1 - Video File 2 - Video File 3 -

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Date: 19/10/06
Outside Temp: 7.5 Degrees
Weather Conditions: Dry & Overcast
Moon Phase: Waning, 5% approx

Investigation Team
Mark Turner, Lisa Lundie, Paul Muir, David Wright, Helena Hansen

Equipment Used
Digital Night Vision Camcorders, Trifield Natural EM Meter, EMF Meters, Digital Cameras, Infrared Thermometers, Laser Thermometers, Two Way Radios, Infrared Motion Sensor Kit, Dowsing Rods, Infrared Booster Lights, Digital Voice Recorders including, Panasonic RR-DR60 Recorders, Analogue Voice Recorders, Parabolic Microphone, Low Frequency Microphones, Trigger Objects, Wireless Night Vision Camera, Laptop PC.

Brief History
Work began on building of the Tron Kirk in 1636, following demolition of the multi-storey buildings that had stood on the site, the top of Marlin's Wynd which ran down from the Royal Mile to the Cowgate. The church took nine years to build. An archaeological excavation beneath the church floor in 1974 revealed the remains of old shops and cellars from Marlin's Wynd, which dated from the 1500's and had lain undisturbed for centuries. The remains can still be viewed in the centre building with a walkway built around it for use in its current role as a tourist information centre. Unfortunately, Edinburgh City Council have now decided to sanction the conversion of this building into a restaurant.

The Investigation
Base EMF and temperature readings were taken around the building prior to the investigation.
Excavated Area – Marlin's Wynd
Base Temp – 13.5 Degrees
Time was short for this investigation and we did not waste any time in getting started. Our first vigil took place in the excavated area in the centre of the church. We decided to set up the communication board, we normally conduct experiments using the communication board towards the end of our investigations but decided this time to use it first while our team's energy levels were high. These experiments was filmed using night vision camcorders. We did not get many results using the glass as a communicator. There were some very slight movements, but none that could be described as definite. While asking out for some communication, we all heard various bangs and clicks which could not be explained emanating from one corner of the building. Although there was noise from the passing traffic outside the building, our conclusion was that these noises were much closer, louder and indeed seemed to occurring inside the building. After further investigation we were unable to locate the source of these noises. Several members of the team also felt cold spots during the board session. These cold spots did not appear to last long, rather they came and went very quickly and were not confirmed on our infrared thermometers both of which actually displayed a small rise in temperature of up to 2 degrees.
We decided to move on and try some other experiments in the same area. We left the communication board in place, sat a small battery upright next to the glass and covered them with a light sprinkling of sand from the ground as a trigger object experiment. It would be very easy to see if the glass or the battery had been moved because of the sand. After this was set up, the group moved to cover all corners of this small room so that we could attempt some EVP recording experiments. As we were getting set up, a large light anomaly was captured by our night vision camcorder. It began looking like an orb of light but as it moved it seemed to change shape and looked almost like a feather. The area was extremely dusty and it would be very difficult to rule out dust as an explanation for this (Video File 1).
We began with the EVP experiments. Mark and Dave were conducting the sound recordings using various voice recorders. On playing the files back, we did appear to have some loud responses to our questions, on asking for a name we had the reply "Peter" (EVP File 1), on asking the whether Peter died here we recorded the immediate reponse "yes" (EVP File2). On leaving this area we checked the temperature once again and found it had risen by almost 2 degrees. This seemed strange given that the area is open, body temperature would not account for this change.
EMF readings remained unchanged throughout the experiments in this area.

Walkway At Back Corner
Base Temp – 14 Degrees
After a short break, the group moved to the back end of the church to attempt more experiments. There had been no EMF readings during the base readings, however, when two team members were passing the area to set up a camcorder, they had picked up readings of up to 7 Milligauss. The meter continued to rise and fall for quite some time and then stopped altogether. On further investigation, we could not locate a source for this electromagnetic field. The fluctuations still occurred when the meter was held still, suggesting a fluctuating or moving electromagentic field. We thought this would be a good spot to attempt our next set of experiments. The team sat in a circle and we commenced recording using various sound recorders. Again, this session was filmed using night vision camcorders. We asked for communication and again we seemed to be getting responses to the many questions that we asked. although very few clear words could be heard on playback. Interestingly, similar to our previous findings during our investigations, the responses were picked up directly after each question was asked, at no point did any of the apparent voices speak over the top of our questions, included in our questions we asked if they were happy with us being there, this was followed by the reponse "Yes I'm happy to help you" (EVP File 3), immediately after asking for a name we recorded "I'm McCarthy" (EVP File 4). The EMF meter began to give varied during this vigil, again when held still. The readings measured between 3 and 5.5 milligauss. No visible activity could be seen through the camcorder during the vigil, but on analysis some small light anomalies were picked up, again this could be attributed to dust (Video File 2). Cold spots were again felt during this part of the investigation but these were not confirmed by our infrared thermometers which both gave constant readings matching our base readings. These cold spots could have been down to the natural air movement in such a big room. We also managed to locate a vent that was hidden behind a nearby notice board.

Walkway At Back Door
Base Temp – 14 Degrees
For the next part of the investoigation the team moved to the area next to the back door of the church and as before, this was filmed using our night vision camcorders. We began by asking for some communication and for some physical sign of a presence. Several members of the team reported seeing lights on the walls and ceiling of the church. As we all concentrated on the roof of the church and a very large white light appeared. It moved very slowly towards the apex and seemed to stop for several seconds before blinking out. We attempted to find an explanation for this and conitnued to observe the areas where the lights were seen for quite some time, the lights did not appear again. Although there was a very noisy road outside, we could not find a way that vehicle headlights could reach that height within the church. It also has to be noted that if the traffic outside caused the lights, they would have been appearing every few seconds with the volume of traffic that passed. Unfortunately it was just before seeing this strange movement of light that the camcorder tape had finished and so this activity was not captured on film!!!! We found this indeed to be very strange, the lights occurred literally seconds after we stopped filming. This is something that has happened to us on previous investigations, phenomena being witnessed as soon as we have stopped recording. One consolation was that every team member that was present at the investigation witnessed the lights at some point. Again during this vigil we attempted to get some voice responses by running our sound recorders and asking questions. Although some apparent responses were picked up, on play back they seemed to be far too distorted to make out any clear words, but as before these recponses came directly after our questions. Temperature readings and EMF readings remained constant throughout this part of the investigation.

Excavated Area – Marlin's Wynd
Base Temp - 13.5 Degrees
For the next part of the investigation, the team moved back to the excavated street. Camcorder tapes were replaced and we positioned ourselves next to the cobbled pathway of Marlin's Wynd to run our sound recorders and night vision camcorders in the hope of picking up some unexplainable activity. Although many responses were recorded after our questions, they again appeared to be quite distorted and difficult to make out, on asking for a name we recorded the response "I can't do that" (EVP File 5), this recording was followed by the words "Your dad's name's Turner" (EVP File 6). Our camcorder recorded flashing lights coming from one corner of the church, these lights were also witnessed by one of our team members with the naked eye as they happened. Interestingly, these lights were witnessed in the same corner of the church as the inexplicable clicking noises earlier in the investigation (Video File 3). No other notable occurences happened during the rest of this vigil. All temperature and EMF readings remained constant.

Summary
The Tron Kirk is a very atmospheric building that has been the subject of many past suspected paranormal occurences. Although time was short on this investigation we had numerous notable experiences. Visual activity was witnessed by the naked eye in the form of flashing lights on more than one occasion and light anomalies were picked up on our night vision camcorders, although we believe that the camcorder light anomalies can be attributed to dust along with many of the photographic anomalies. Audible activity was heard by most of our team in the form of clicks and bangs and many apparent voice responses to our questions were picked up on our sound recorders. Having experienced these extremely distorted reponses on our sound recorders consistently during the investigation, we believe that the height of the roof and the general acoustics of the buidling were responsible for the unusually high amount of distorted sound files. The traffic noise outside the buidling we believe also contributed to this distortion. The Tron Kirk is situated on the Royal Mile in one of the busiest parts of Edinburgh and traffic noise could not be avoided at any time of the day or night.

The Ghost Finders team would like to register our extreme dissappointment at Edinburgh City Council's decision to sanction the conversion of this building into a restaurant. The atmosphere in the building felt quite flat during our investigation compared to the reported past paranormal activity, but this could be the calm before the storm as the developers are about to move in.......

We would like to thank Charlotte Golledge & Jan Andrew Henderson for being so kind as to allow us access to investigate such a fantastic and historic building.