Inveraray Jail Report 27th May 2005

Background and History 

The Jail is situated in Inveraray Town, Argyll.  This 19th century prison tells the story of life behind bars during the 1800's.  Guides dressed in the uniforms of prisoners and warders, along with model figures and exhibitions, bring the past alive.

 

Before the days of prisons, hot irons, ear nailing and public whippings were every day punishments, which can be seen in the exhibitions.  You can sit in the courtroom, built between 1816 and 1820 and experience some of the trials held there.  There are two airing yards, built in 1843, where prisoners were allowed an hours exercise each day.  

 

 

The prison block, 1820, has 8 small cells and a tiny washroom.

 

It housed over 20 men, women and children at any given time.  The heating and ventilation was poor and there was nowhere for the prisoners to exercise or work. 

 

The new jail block, 1848 is much larger and was built due to the damp, cold and severely overcrowded old jail. The new prison was a model prison of its day.  It had good heating and ventilation systems and plenty of water closets and a washroom, along with an exercise gallery if the weather was bad.

 

Conditions outside

Damp and humid

 

Equipment

Digital cameras

35 mm Analogue cameras

Digital video recorders with night vision

EVP recorders

EMF meters

Digital thermometer

Torches

Trigger objects

 

 

INVESTIGATION

 

We began with a walk round at 10.20pm, accompanied by Rob Irons, the prison warder.

 

 

We recorded baseline temperatures and EMF readings in the old jail block.  We also checked for draughts.  The temperatures in all the cells varied between 10.5 o c and

16.3 o c.  These were recorded in cells 8 and 2.  The rest of the cells were around 14 o c.  Cell 5 had a small draught coming from the window.  EMF readings in all areas registered at 0.1 mG.

 

 

We then moved to the new jail block and recorded baseline temperatures and EMF readings. Temperatures varied from 10.8 o c to 11.8 o c, the warmest temperatures were recorded on the second floor.

 

 

 

 

 

Rob left us to set up our equipment and spent the night in the kitchen area of the main building.

 

 

OLD JAIL

 

We took temperature and EMF readings again in each cell.  We then spent approximately 10 minutes in each cell, recording on the night vision video camera.  Nothing of significance was caught.  We also took photographs in each cell.

 

 

We left the video camera recording in the corridor of the old jail for 30 minutes whilst we spent some time in the new jail. 

 

 

 

When we returned to the old jail, we spent some time in each cell again and noticed that the temperature dropped rapidly in cell no 9 (of the OLD jail).  Within 10 minutes it had dropped from 16.8 o c to 9.0 o c.

 

 

We decided to leave an EVP recorder running and hung a small bell by the front entrance (as a trigger object), along with infra red motion detectors in the doorway of the cell.

 

NEW JAIL

 

Whilst in the old jail we had left a camcorder running in the rogue’s gallery area on the third floor and an infra red motion detector, along with EVP recorder.  We took temperature and EMF readings in each cell.   We noticed that temperatures had actually risen by around 1 o c in most of the cells.  We filmed in a number of cells and took photographs. 

 

 

 

We then set up the camcorder to film the corridor on the second floor and also left an EVP recorder running.  Whilst setting up our equipment we heard a loud band coming from the old jail and went to investigate, thinking that our video camera had fallen over.  It was still standing and the EVP recorder had picked up two loud bangs.

 

 

COURTROOM

 

We sat in the courtoom from 2.30am-3.05am, filming and taking photographs.  One area, as shown below 

 

dropped rapidly in temperature in the space of half an hour.

 

We sat in the second row of seats from the top. Temperature was recorded at 16 o c, but due to feeling a cold spot down one of our arms, we decided to record the temperature at 5 minute intervals. 

 

 

We discovered it dropped to 10 o c.

 

At this point we heard a loud bang from the direction of the new jail and decided to investigate, fearing again, that our camera had fallen over.  When we checked our equipment we found it to be intact.  We decided to check with Rob, who had been in the kitchen the whole time.  If someone had been in the grounds we would have heard footsteps on the gravel. 

 

We returned to the courtroom at 3.25am and filmed the area of where the cold spot had been. On checking the temperature, we found it had returned to 16.3 o c.  We monitored it at 5 minute intervals again and by 3.45am the temperature had dropped right down to 6.4 o c, sometimes falling a degree at a time.  There were no draughts to explain this sudden drop in temperature.  We decided to walk around and see what happened.  The cold spot actually followed us around the courtroom; temperatures recorded a drop of almost

1 o c each time we checked.

 

 

We sat back down in the last row, of the second block of seats and checked temperatures.  The temperature had returned to 16.01 o c.

 

We decided to end the investigation as daylight was fast upon us at 4am.

 

CONCLUSION

 

On checking the EVP recordings, we heard two loud bangs at 10 minute intervals, recorded in cell 9 of the old jail.  There are no other noises recorded so we are unable to account for the loud bangs.

 

The rapid drops in temperature in cell 9 of the old jail and in the court room are difficult to explain through natural effects.  We checked thoroughly for draughts and also checked that the digital thermometer was working normally.  These rapid drops in temperature, coupled with the fact that the temperature returned to 16 o c when we moved, could well have been due to a spiritual presence, sitting on the seat beside us. Unfortunately the EMF meter did not pick up any energy fluctuations here, to reinforce our evidence. 

 

Our infra red motion detectors were not triggered and the night vision recordings did not show anything out of the ordinary.

 

The photograph taken in the New Jail with the red light anomaly was taken using an analogue camera.  We have had the negative checked for any development defects but there was none. It was taken in complete darkness with no reflecting surfaces so we are unable to account for the red light.

 

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the staff of Inveraray Jail, in particular Jim Linley for allowing us to spend the night in the premises and Rob Irons for his help and for agreeing to be on the premises whilst we carried out our investigation.

 

Inveraray Jail is a fascinating place with an interesting history. 

 

Visit www.inverarayjail.co.uk  for more information.

 

 

© Spectre 2004