Mary Queen of Scots | Her Death Mask

At the weekend myself, Simon Wilson of Spiritus Sanctus, Philip Williams of Red ridge x, Dave and Karen Barrett of Project paranormal joined up for an investigation at The Mary Queen of Scots house museum located in Jedburgh.

The museum opened in 1987 on Marys 400th anniversary of her death.

There is some debate if it was actually the fortified house she was actually taken too, but it is believed she did stay here, where she was very ill after riding for 30 miles to hermitage and back in one day.
This house belonged to the Kerrs and some believe it was actually nearby Ferniehirst Castle where she may have stayed.
The house displays memorabilia of Mary including jewellery, belongings, documents and paintings, and a watch which Mary lost in a bog and was found again 250 years later in a mole hill!

Mary was ordered to be executed by Queen Elizabeth by beheading.
It was common for a mask to be made from the severed head as soon as possible after death. The original appearance of the mask would be white and unembellished. This example, which was found by the late Dr Charles Hepburn of Glasgow, in Peterborough where Mary was first buried and has been hand-painted.

Four masks were purported to have been made only two of which are available including this one and another at Lennoxlove.
The Lennoxlove mask is however much smaller and the features quite different from this one, the museum’s site state that it is more likely to belong to one Hamilton lady.

THE DEATH MASK

Whether it is Marys or one Hamilton lady, it is still someones death mask and I wanted to see if it withheld any energy of any kind around it or around its casing.

The images below show the death mask and a heat source, We have demonstrated in three steps to show where this heat spot occurred.

Step one

Digital image and Thermal next to each other

im 1

Digital overlay on top of thermal

iage 2

Background taken out from digital to show exact spot.

ima 3.jpg

So why is this interesting?

This red area seemed to move about within the casing the mask was in, when we went to photograph this, this is where we captured it.

The human body

It is a known fact that one of the hottest parts of the body is indeed this area on a humans head.

This is showing a heat spot where a person’s head would have once been laid within, at the time she would died but when the cast was taken the body may have still been warm as such items was taken more or less straight away.

The images below show a 1 degree increase where the red area was flowing, doesn’t sound all that much but the case was generally warmer than the space beside it. 

The most interesting point here for me is where we captured it and the fact it moved around. 

The below images show a two degree drop from the space outside the casing to where the red spot is located within it.

At this particular time the lights had been off a while and it was cold in the building and it is possible that something could have been behind the mask, but that doesn’t explain it moving.

Could the case hold heat yes, but on the flip side to that cases for such items that could potentially hold such energy could also generate more heat espeically at the top of the head!!

Reads at 17 degrees at the centre (hottest point)

2 thoughts on “Mary Queen of Scots | Her Death Mask

  1. I liked your piece on Mary queen of Scotland. I wish someone could tell me more on her being alive ‘ or what kind of a person she was. i expect she might have been a little savage but that was expected of royalty of that time. Has anyone on Paranormal visits ever tried to make contact with Mary?.

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