Cackling laughter and distant blood curdling screams drift eerily through the darkness as nervous-looking visitors arrive at Spirits of Scone.
“Do you do requests?” I casually ask a ghoulish piper who is playing haunting tunes beside the ticket check-point queue.
“Aye, Get Back!” he warns before breaking into a manic laugh and disappearing off into the ghostly gloom.
Foreboding
Like all the best horror films, there’s an eerie yet good humoured sense of foreboding in the air.
With senses heightened, fears grow that shadows might conceal something horrific, while noises from the undergrowth raise the possibility of a lurking presence.
Standing in a queue for a few minutes as tickets are checked, a poetic pre-recorded message declares: “Stay on the path don’t get lost on the route, the ground is uneven underfoot. Keep your distance from others and the spirits too. Don’t touch our ghoulies and they won’t touch you!”
Meanwhile, friendly yet straight-faced stewards offer their own advice.
“Say goodbye to your friends on social media!” one man advises two teenage girls glued to their phones.
“It’s just like Enchanted Forest!” assures another with a cackle as arrivals admire the colourful illuminations on the trees – but are those shadowy figures lurking in the undergrowth beyond?
Waymarked route
Setting off past a ‘blood’-splattered ‘this way’ sign and a colourful ghostly graveyard which includes a tombstone inscribed with the ominous message ‘RIP: This grave is reserved for YOU!’, it doesn’t take long for my teenage daughter and I to have our first ghostly ‘encounter’.
As we creep along the path, a ghostly girl in a long white dress glides from the darkness and eye-balls us at close range without making a sound, before moving on to spook her next ‘victims’.
Faceless Chewbacca-like creatures jump unexpectedly from the deep ferns.
Others, more unsettlingly, stand ominously still in the gloom – daring us to pass.
A zombie-like figure, meanwhile, staggers down the middle of the path towards us – screaming in our face.
They key is to laugh – or in my daughter’s case, play them at their own game and stare back.
But for a family walking in front of us, the Freaky Forest has already become too much as they insist we go ahead of them…
Encounter with witch
Reaching the Gingerbread House, an old crone asks my daughter: “Did you get a sweetie?”
When my daughter says “no”, the sinister witch mutters in reply: “That’s a shame it would have made you sleepy…!”
Psycho Path
Dazzled by bright lights on the smoke-filled Psycho Path, it’s a walk of faith as meat cleaver wielding maniacs lurch towards us, their giant shadows eerily elongated by the brightness.
Before long, however, we reach the most memorable part of our two previous visits to Spirits of Scone in 2018 and 2019 – the Zombie Maze!
Maze of terror
Asked to wait a few seconds by another friendly steward who quips: “We haven’t heard you scream yet – but we will!”, we set off down the rabbit warren of darkened passages into the maze.
With limited visibility and the sounds of screams all around us, we encounter a range of bloodied, sinister and psychopathic characters lurking around just about every corner.
For the faint-hearted there’s a ‘Coward’s Way Out’.
But we persevere and make it to the end with relieved smiles on our faces.
Deranged doctors!
From there it’s on to one of the most visually stunning parts of this year’s Spirits of Scone – the Hospital of Horrors.
Passing a giant sheet with bloodied writing which declares ‘The Doctor will see you next!”, it’s the stuff of nightmares as maniacal doctors and bloodied deranged patients stagger towards us from behind silhouetted ‘cubicles’.
The quality of the horror make-up is gruesomely realistic and the Create Events actors playing the roles appear to relish their parts – if, of course, they are acting!
Beauty of Scone Palace
Reaching the end of the one-hour outdoor route through the ancient gardens of historic Scone Palace, visitors are greeted by the stunning illuminations of the palace itself bathed in red and green.
Here, there’s outdoor musical entertainment and a selection of hot and tasty food available, along with marshmallow sticks for toasting over a firepit.
Spirits of Scone ticket details
Organisers advise that the event is not suitable for children under eight or those of a nervous disposition.
Teenagers under the age of 16, meanwhile, must be accompanied by an adult.
That’s sound advice. But the best advice is to get into the spirit of the event and enjoy! After all, what can be scarier than British politics right now?
Spirits of Scone runs until Halloween. For ticket information go to www.scone-palace.co.uk/event/spirits-of-scone
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