The most romantic day of the year – St. Valentine’s Day – is just around the corner: will you be snuggled up by the fire wih a glass of chilled bubbly or do you fancy something a little more spine-tingling? If so, Mostly Ghostly are inviting a group of hardy souls to experience an unforgettable journey on Scotland’s Ghost Road! The A75, which snakes through Dumfries & Galloway, is believed by many to be Scotland’s most haunted thoroughfare with the majority of activity focused on two infamous locations. Boasting numerous weird and wonderful sightings, the Kinmount Straight near Annan and old A75 at Dornock and Eastriggs are both major hotspots on the paranormal road-map.
After years of research on this spooky stretch, Mostly Ghostly Investigations, Dumfries & Galloway’s award winning paranormal team, created their landmark Haunted Highways Tour, the first of it’s kind in Britain to focus on an allegedly haunted road. Working in partnership with Stacey’s coaches of Carlisle, the team entertain guests with a collection of curious and terrifying tales covering phantom hitchhikers, shape-shifting creatures and spectral near-misses.
Giving her views on the tour, team founder Kathleen Cronie said: “We are delighted with the enthusiasm shown for our storytelling coach trip, which showcases unique and unusual aspects of our region. The tour has sparked lots of positive feedback from the public and we’ve been blown away by the level of new stories that have come our way”.
Kathleen went on to say: “A few months ago, we launched a team Facebook Page and were inundated with responses to our A75 posts. In a short time, we’ve probably doubled our existing collection of eye-witness accounts. One lady was driving home from Dumfries about 2am and witnessed an old man standing by a large stone at Kinmount. He was wearing a hat of some kind and a Tweed suit which appeared to be tied with twine. She looked back in the mirror – he had vanished into thin air… Others report feeling unnerved and want to get past that point of the road as quickly as possible. *Susan told us about an oppressive sensation on the stretch between Dumfries and Gretna on the main A75. At times, she feels ‘almost trapped’ along with the daunting sense of being followed. Susan is so keen to avoid this that she now takes the Lockerbie route to Carlisle.
As for the team, their ongoing research has led to a range of strange experiences they are yet to find an explanation for. Team member, Mary Wood was overwhelmed by a sense of something terrible having happened close to old Kelhead Quarry. Just moments before she’d been in good spirits when her mood suddenly changed. Colleague, John Hill also got a shock whilst investigating the area with Kathleen and team member James McKie. He felt a burning sensation in his stomach and saw a mysterious lady in white manifest by the roadside. John was horrified when the lady began to walk out onto the busy main road. Although John is convinced she was an echo of the past, the woman looked real enough. Kathleen added “To witness a seemingly solid figure walk onto a road with traffic speeding in both directions is enough to give anyone a jolt.”
The team aims to provide an eerily memorable night for those brave enough to join them; for a touch of romance with an abundance of road ghosts, climb aboard the Haunted Highways coach this Valentine’s night!
• Contact Info www.mostlyghostly.org – https://twitter.com/MostlyGhostly_
• Haunted Highways Tour takes place Saturday 14th February at 7:30pm
• Pics of John Hill and Kinmount Straight attached. Photo credits: James Carnochan
• Tickets available from Midsteeple Box Office and Carlisle Tourist Info Centre
• Pick-up points: Old Lonsdale Cinema, Carlisle at 6pm, Gretna Inn, Gretna at 6:15, Dumfries Whitesands at 7:10pm. Tour begins 7:30pm.
• Creators of Dumfries Ghost Walk, Haunted Theatre Tour and Legends & Lore at Lochmaben Castle
• Dumfries & Galloway Life People of the Year Awards 2012 & 2014 – Tourism Champion
