Welcome to The Possession Files - a three-part Halloween series investigating real historical accounts of alleged possession.

These aren’t tales of spinning heads or Hollywood demons, but stories drawn from documented cases where something darker and far harder to explain seemed to take hold.

In this opening episode, we travel to Romania to examine the extraordinary story of Elenore Zugun - one of the real-life cases said to have inspired the 1973 film The Exorcist.

Branded ‘The Devil’s Girl,’ Elenore became, between 1925 and 1927, the centre of one of Europe’s most unsettling and well-documented hauntings. Stones flew, objects moved, and witnesses swore unseen forces were at work. The case has fascinated me for decades, and it sets the tone for the episodes to follow.

As the series continues, The Possession Files will return to Scotland, exploring centuries-old records where possession was more than myth - from documented exorcisms to 16th-century cases that still echo through history.

The A9 is Scotland’s longest road, stretching through the heart of the Highlands. It’s a route travelled daily by thousands — but it also carries a darker reputation.

In this follow-up to my episode on the haunted A75, Dark Miles, I trace the length of the A9, uncovering ghost stories that cling to the road and the landscapes around it. From death omens in Pitlochry and the witch of Beinn a’ Ghlo, to phantom whistles in Glen Tilt and a modern woman in white near Drumossie Brae, the accounts are as varied as they are disturbing.

While the story follows the road north, I also take some detours into places I know well and love to walk — glens, mountains, and old haunts where folklore and personal memory blur. What emerges is not just a road of traffic and tarmac, but one that seems to carry echoes of history, oppression, and tragedy.

Blythswood Square sits at the heart of Glasgow’s Georgian New Town - elegant, symmetrical, and steeped in history. But behind the sandstone facades, the square holds a darker story.

In this episode, we explore a haunting said to be tied to one of Scotland’s most infamous court cases: the 1857 trial of Madeleine Smith. Her secret affair with Pierre L’Angelier ended in scandal and death, and although the verdict was “Not Proven,” the questions never truly faded. Nor, it seems, did the presence of those involved.

We look at ghost stories stretching across decades: strange smells, silent corridors, footsteps in locked rooms, and apparitions that appear to walk not just through buildings — but through time itself. Some of the tales link directly to Madeleine’s story. Others seem older, or completely separate, yet share the same unnerving details. A woman in white gliding past closed doors. A child’s scream. A figure in Victorian dress vanishing into a wall.

This is a square shaped as much by memory as by architecture. And whether you believe in ghosts or not, some places leave a mark that doesn’t easily fade.