Latest / UK Column Radio / Gutsy Women- Exploring Fornethy With Natasha McCallum

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Gutsy Women- Exploring Fornethy With Natasha McCallum · UK Column Radio

0:06
Speaker 1: Afternoon to UK column viewers and listeners. Today is a
0:10
special day because I'm doing a special edition of Gutsy
0:15
Women today. I'm delighted to have a lady called Natasha
0:19
McCullum with me. And Natasha has done something really quite
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quite amazing and quite special, and that is that she's
0:28
taken a visit to for Nefie House in Scotland and
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she has done what was basically an urban exploring exercise
0:38
with some friends and this has led to a really
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incredible video which is now available online and we will
0:47
also make that video available to UK column viewers. But
0:52
of course what it shows for the first time is
0:55
what for Nephie House was like where these very young
0:59
girls were sent to in Scotland. So Natasha, welcome to
1:03
UK column and thank you very much for having the
1:06
courage to come and join me on Gutsy Women.
1:11
Speaker 2: You're very welcome.
1:13
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, this morning we had a little bit of
1:16
a chat and I ended up by saying to you,
1:18
let's meet up again and let's talk through for our
1:22
audience some of the things that you were talking about.
1:25
So good place to start is the beginning, isn't it.
1:28
So you for quite a long time, I think have
1:33
been getting out and about to explore derelict properties and buildings.
1:41
Tell us how you got started with that, and then
1:44
we'll move on to how you found for Nephie House.
1:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course, just really started since I was really young.
1:53
You know, have you ever seen an abandoned building you
1:56
would just spark some interest or what you know, what
2:00
is what's inside? Since I was a kid, really, I've
2:04
always had that and I think there was a local
2:08
abandoned building when I had moved here. We checked it out.
2:14
We also did some ghost hunting with some people as well,
2:19
and yeah, just visiting all these places, I just realized
2:23
that that's what I really enjoy. That was probably around
2:25
about four years ago now, and then I passed my
2:31
driving test and that was it for me really and
2:35
started off the Scotland's Abandoned Places group on Facebook. Me
2:40
and my friend started that up. We were exploring all
2:44
these places and seemed to sparked a lot of interest.
2:48
The groups seemed to do dine quite well, and ever
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since it just overtook my life and that's just what
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I do for a hobby. So yeah, just weekend we're
3:00
out exploring, trying to find different things, just trying to
3:06
find a history of it, get photographs, bring it back
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to lights because half of these places will be forgotten
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as well. So yeah, that's just a bit it really,
3:16
just bringing all these places back.
3:20
Speaker 1: So what was the first place that you went to visit?
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Speaker 2: The first ever place was probably what was it called?
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It was a big mansion based in Comnuch. Sorry I'm
3:37
not the fully the name of the mansion. It was
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a big mansion based in Comnuch and we explored that
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and that was the first place we ever explored. And
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we did my friends did some of the ghost hunting
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in there as well, so that seemed to draw a
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lot of attention. And yeah, that's one of the first
3:56
places really, and then since then we just went every
4:00
where else.
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Speaker 1: Well that says a lot, doesn't it. Because I watched
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some of the I've watched some of the videos online
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about urban explorers and go into some of them are
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quite creepy buildings, but the time they've got a little
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bit derelict. That can be I think that can be
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pretty testing, but that's right for sure, you've got the
4:24
courage to do it. So jump forward. Then, what what
4:29
made you want to go and have a look at
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Finefi House.
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Speaker 2: So some of the history on these places seem to
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I don't know what it is. I've never really been
4:42
able to explain it. But sometimes just a certain history
4:44
about a building it will make you want to go
4:46
in and photograph it and document it, and you know,
4:49
just a curiosity part of you want to go in
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the explorer side, you know, oh, what's this and you're
4:55
almost like, I don't know, you just never know you're
4:59
going to find some thing anyway. So for Nessie House
5:02
has been a topic in the exploring world for some
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years now, and it was always the place that we heard,
5:09
you know, there's no possible entry, it's full of alarms,
5:13
housekeeper whatever. And luckily we just patients is key. I
5:19
suppose we heard that a couple of other explorers had
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been in the building, we'd seen it posted online and
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me and my friends just seem to have thought it's
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a great opportunity. We risked the almost six hour drive,
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we went up there and luckily the building was still
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open and that's when we explored it. So yeah, it's
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just been a topic. As you know, in Scotland, I've
5:45
been one of the most terrific places anyway. So I
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don't know why, but part of that sparks interest in
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me to them want to go and like, wow, you know,
5:55
what is this place and just document it, take my photograph.
6:00
At the end of the day, it's still history, and
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then you show it to the public. And yeah, a
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lot of people haven't seen inside these places for many,
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many years. So yeah, just really the history of it
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as well.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, but this morning you said to me that actually
6:16
you didn't know an awful lot about No.
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Speaker 2: I never bare minimum yes, sorry, Yeah.
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Speaker 1: So this was one of the places that you went to.
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You'd heard some things, but you didn't.
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Speaker 2: Have No, we never knew the full extent of it
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at all. We knew, you know, there was a bit
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of the bad history as in, like you know, the
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abuse and the women, like the most horrific abuse you
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can imagine, but I had no idea about the sheer
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depth of the history. So yeah, I just went in
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there clearly half and half like I just had no idea.
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So yeah, I can't really explain it. So we just
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knew part of it, yeah, and then it was until
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afterwards then we found out the full extent of it.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, So just describe it a bit. They it's off
7:05
the beaten track. You go down the track, it's quite
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heavily wooded. Describe, just describe, you know, in your own words,
7:14
what it was like approaching and getting into the building.
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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, so we parked the car up, we passed
7:22
the big gate. We're walking up the road. What looks
7:26
like an old driven road. It's all overgrown now you
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can tell cars havn't been up that road for a
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long time. Just walking up that road alone with the
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sound and trees just gives you a very very secluded feel.
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It's very remote. It's just I can't explain it's just
7:45
really sad, and like, I don't know how to explain it.
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Speaker 3: It's just a really sad feel to it made more
7:55
than anything just because we knew a little bit about it,
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not one hundred percent, you know, just that sad feeling.
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Speaker 2: And the first words I did say you can hear
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in the video was is like, where would these girls
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even run to? Because even just driving it alone, you know,
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you realize how secluded it is and how middle of nowhere.
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So that was just the part of it. It was
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just sadness. I can't explain it. Just your sadness knowing
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that those girls had nowhere to run. That was the
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first part of the feeling walking up that road. And
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then as you approached the building, the building was just
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very run down, looking quite an easie feel to it.
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So what we did was we call it scoping out
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the building. That's where you walk around seeing if it's
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any entry points. We knows that the cars those were strange,
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like why they would be sat there, I don't know
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after all these years. We walked around the building. Round
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the back there was like a fire exit door, but
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we noticed that all the boards had been ripped off.
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So me and my friends just utterly froze and just
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couldn't abilly that there was a way in and that
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we could see this. So yeah, and then we just
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went on in very tieing adrenaline and just couldn't believe it.
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Very sneakly, you don't know who's in neat places as
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well in front of you, So yeah, and we just
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went in and I started recording as well, and I
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was just absolutely shocked to what I had seen, really
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and what I had felt.
9:25
Speaker 1: In there and the house itself. Most people and the
9:29
photographs that we've used are of a sort of stone
9:33
built Scottish like a mini castle. In some ways, that
9:37
was right, the house was built. But what I realized
9:41
from your video was that the the FORI that I
9:46
realized that for NEI house was actually much more than that.
9:50
It had a lot built onto it, built onto the
9:53
side of it.
9:54
Speaker 2: It's like amazed. It is like amazing there. All the
9:59
rooms look the same, everything looks the same, the corridors
10:02
look the same. And that's why we got lost that
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you'd seen in the video. We're like, where have we been?
10:07
You know, everything just looks the same in there. So
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you can imagine how modifying it was for the girls
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to be in there, because it is pretty much it
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feels like amaze. The corridors are very narrow, and even
10:22
the deck or as well in there, like although there's
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a lot of decay and everything now and all the
10:28
papers and stuff, like all the mold and everything started
10:31
to take over the actual building. The walls just seemed
10:34
very blank, like there was there's nothing. There's no happiness,
10:38
there's no joy. It's just very dull. It's not a
10:42
happy place at all.
10:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, we saw well from your video. We could see
10:48
that there were some murals on the walls there were
10:52
some things that have been but there was one which
10:56
was like a farmer. Correctly, it was little trees, as
10:59
I little fir trees have been drawn on the wall.
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Speaker 2: Sorry to interrupt, so that what you could see on
11:08
the wall, it showed you the trees with a little
11:10
walkway which looks like a path. Yes, yes, so we
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think that's actually to do with you know, a lot
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of the ladies describe how there was a big walk
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that they had to do. Okay, some of them would
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be complaining that it was a very long walk and
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they were uncomfortable, et cetera. Well, we reckon that that
11:29
could be the walk that they've drawn in that wall.
11:32
I could be wrong, but there's nothing else on the
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wall the blank.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, and then the announces that on some of the
11:42
blinds there were some sort of children's more style drawings
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or decoration or something.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. So that's when the most disturbing feel came across.
11:56
So as we were exploring, we came across a room
11:59
in particular which was just almost like a big white
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page and I'm talking about from the floor to ceiling.
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And then if the cage has been tied shut with
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almost looks like a piece of wire, and then if
12:17
you look through the cage the cage gap, you can
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see the blinds on the window and actually has children's
12:26
pattern on the blinds. There would be nothing but a
12:33
couple of the girls had called it the drying room,
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meaning was it for laundry. But then I'm thinking, with
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what I'd seen with my own eyes and with what
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i'd felt in there was, this feels more than just
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a laundry room. Why would a laundry room need such
12:52
a big page like that, Why would need to lock
12:54
away laundry? Why would any room like that have children
13:00
pattern on the blind It just doesn't set.
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Speaker 1: Right with me when I saw that. I'm going to
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say to you, I have seen rooms like that before
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in military property, back in my service days, and they
13:18
were they were drawing rooms. And one of the clues
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to this is that there was metal cages over the
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radiators themselves. And the reason for this is for the
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drawing room, you have the radiator as hot as possible,
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so therefore people could get hurt if they came up
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against it, and the cages are there because it stops
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anybody going in and picking clothes or taking other people's clothes.
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So when I saw that, I immediately thought, that's a drawing room.
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I have to say. At the same time, I got
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an uncomfortable feeling that you had the children's thing on
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the block in there, and why.
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Speaker 2: It's just a bit weird, doesn't it. And I think
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another lady had said that she was locked in somewhere
14:13
in the building. I don't know. I can't remember exactly
14:15
what she says. I've always had lots of ladies come
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forward to me. She did say she was locked in
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somewhere in the building. And it's like, well, if they
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lock you in there, what's to say that they don't
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lock you in there? I'm not assuming it's just what
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we saw, what we felt. And then the blind, like
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the blind is just it could mean nothing because the
14:34
end of the day is a children's school, But why
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would that be in the drawing room? Who knows was
14:39
their girls locked in there? I guess we'll never ever know.
14:43
It could be innocent, but.
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Speaker 1: Yes, and so you've described it like a maze, and
14:51
that's how it seemed to me, because I got these
14:53
corridors in some parts of it, you know, look the same,
14:57
and on that ground floor, if my memory is right,
15:02
that's where you could walk into the kitchen area that
15:05
had got the ferns and things growing in it.
15:08
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, it was strange because although it looked we
15:13
thought it was a kitchen area going by all the sinks.
15:16
But I don't know if you remember when I walked
15:19
through the door, it was like the medical sign on
15:22
the door.
15:22
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, that.
15:24
Speaker 2: Leads into that room. So I noticed on the bottom
15:27
floor all the corridors are almost like a square, but
15:32
a lot of the rooms all lead into that one.
15:35
They all lead into that kitchen whatever area that it is.
15:40
So yeah, it was. It was very strange. But it
15:43
was weird to see a medical sign on the door
15:45
although it looked like a kitchen. Yeah, and why would
15:49
the medical room be as large as that, I don't know.
15:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was strange. Were there a lot of lock
15:57
doors on that on the bottom corridor that you went.
16:02
Speaker 2: Yes, so on as you see me in the video,
16:05
there was two doors locked. There was a lot of
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doors we didn't try as well due to the time
16:11
and everything. You know, we always had adrenaline. We weren't
16:14
thinking clearly, so I wasn't able to try a lot
16:17
of the doors. But at least two doors were he
16:21
locked one hundred percent? Yes, two doors that I tried
16:24
were one hundred percent he locked.
16:26
Speaker 1: Yeah. And again do I remember correctly that there was
16:31
there was some form of gym area on the ground floor.
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Speaker 2: Yes, so that was very very barricaded closed, like no
16:40
one could get in there unless the fourth entry. There
16:42
was like big wooden parts on the door, and then
16:45
also there was even a big block of wood that
16:48
they've even put against the wall and the door, so
16:51
no one can go in there. And I was like, well,
16:54
that's a bit bizarre for just that one room in particular.
16:58
So I found out from some of the lead that
17:00
that was actually the shower area really right, Yes, which
17:07
I think because that I heard that the fire exit
17:11
which was access to that room was open for a while,
17:14
and I think people were able to get into the
17:16
shower area. I have seen some photos of that from people,
17:20
So I don't know if maybe they've got all this
17:22
is a way and and they've barricaded that door to
17:24
stop from getting into the rest of the building, but
17:28
it's definitely I think it's a showers shower area, as
17:31
a lot of the ladies described in there.
17:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Natasha, I just just reinforced it. When you
17:37
went into the building, you you really didn't know much
17:40
about it, but the feedback that you've had since you've
17:45
been in has meant we'll come onto that. We'll save
17:48
that for the end. But that's me a lot about
17:52
for Neshy, very quickly, very much so.
17:56
Speaker 2: I just when I first spoke to you, I was speechless,
17:59
like I still am struggling for words. Yes, I've found
18:04
out a hell of a lot. I had no idea
18:06
that this was as big as it is. I'm just
18:09
an explorer going into abandoned buildings. What do I know? Yeah,
18:14
A bit true though, So yes, I've learned so much
18:18
since doing this. So yeah, a lot of ladies have
18:22
came forward as well as sharing their stories with me,
18:24
So I do appreciate that as well.
18:27
Speaker 1: When I've lost track of my nights now night before last,
18:30
I think is right that I was talking to some
18:32
of the Finetti women and they had coursed seen your video,
18:38
and I said to them, does the video bring back memories?
18:42
And instantly they said, oh yes. And what was really
18:48
interesting is that it brought back different memories for each
18:51
of them, but it also brought back key things that
18:56
they all seem to remember. And one of the features
19:00
the house that the group that I was talking to
19:02
remembered very much was the spiral staircase that you and
19:10
so tell us about that You've you've done the tour
19:13
of the ground floor area. You hadn't been able to
19:16
get into all of the rooms, but then you come
19:19
to the staircase.
19:21
Speaker 2: Yes, we went up the stairs and a lot of
19:25
the rooms were open up there, but that's where the
19:28
alarm must have been triggered, because you see me creeping
19:31
at the top of the stairs. You know, the alarms
19:34
got triggered. But a lot of those rooms were open,
19:38
But a lot of the floors are all starting to
19:40
crumble now, So yeah, most of them were empty up there,
19:47
and a lot of the floors are just very very unsafe.
19:52
I don't really remember much about up the stairs because
19:56
I'm still trying to remember all is well and trying
19:58
to remember war to my video was and what was
20:01
upstairs and what was not if that makes sense, But
20:05
I remember if the I think the office area was
20:09
up stairs? Was it? I think it was the main
20:12
office where I'd found the letters and stuff, where the
20:15
main looked like the main staff probably work. I think,
20:21
and that's when I came across the big fireplaces and
20:24
whatnot in most of these rooms, and I think they'd
20:27
said that that's where a lot of the staff were
20:30
at that time.
20:31
Speaker 1: And those rooms that you went into that got the
20:35
big fireplaces, most of those were wooden paneled, and I thought, yes,
20:42
these must have been the original rooms in the very
20:46
old part of the house when when the two sisters
20:51
were there. So those to me looked absolutely original. And
20:55
also I think they had quite expensive flows because they
20:59
were parking wood flows with a pattern on them. You
21:02
might not have noticed it, but watching you can see
21:05
that under the dust there's a flow, which in its
21:08
day I think would have been really really expensive. I
21:12
guess that that was the old part of for ne
21:14
Effie House. For those rooms, Yep, you.
21:17
Speaker 2: Can tell that they were very fancy back in the day,
21:20
especially with the wooden remind you of been in court
21:23
or something, you know, like that that kind of look,
21:26
or like parliament or something. It's like the wooden walls
21:30
and stuff. So yeah, but no, that's pretty much what
21:33
I could describe from that. Anyway, It's a shame because
21:36
it's decayed a lot, so a lot of the features
21:38
and a lot of the looks of the building will
21:40
be kind of gone now, but it's nice to be
21:43
able to still see some parts of that in the video.
21:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, and perhaps we should just highlight for viewers and
21:52
listeners here that, of course, when you go into buildings
21:55
like this, you have got to be careful of the
21:58
structure of the building because if flows are unsafe, you
22:02
could hurt yourself. So I'm just going to say that
22:05
in case we have people who are thinking, I'd like
22:08
to go and do that, but you have got to
22:11
be aware of the fact the buildings in a state
22:14
of decay, so staircases all flows could could actually be
22:18
a danger.
22:19
Speaker 2: Yes, because I'd went up the concrete stairs onto I
22:24
think it well, I'm not sure if it was the
22:26
top floor, and I could hear the flow underneath me
22:32
almost falling through. I could hear it breaking beneath my feet.
22:37
And that's at the part of the video where I
22:40
don't even show in the rooms. I'm just like whizzing
22:42
around trying looking almost as if I'm looking for something.
22:46
I don't know what I'm looking for here, And yeah,
22:49
the floors were literally going beneath my feet and I
22:52
had to say your guys that this is too dodgy
22:55
up Yeah, I can't investigate up here anymore because it's
22:58
too dodgy. Yeah. I had to just come down. It
23:02
was just so dangerous. And a lot of the floors
23:06
have like a woods like wood on them, so you
23:09
can't actually see the floor underneath, if that makes sense,
23:12
So you can't actually see the crew damage. Yeah.
23:16
Speaker 1: So Natasha, you you while you were upstairs, you went
23:20
in this particular room where you discovered some paperwork. Yeah,
23:25
it's a little bit about what you actually found.
23:28
Speaker 2: Yeah. So went to the big room and I'm very
23:31
known for digging in to like hay almost to find
23:38
a needle as they call it. I'm always into my
23:40
little trinkets and little things. So the first thing I
23:43
did was going the cupboard and like, oh, what's in there?
23:45
Because I did see some paperwork because normally like to
23:48
take pictures of like oh, books and things like you know,
23:51
anything like that, And I just came across things like
23:56
The thing that shocked me was the piece of paper
24:00
it said for Nephi and it would describe what for
24:03
Nephie is what you'll be doing on your stay here,
24:08
what you should bring with you on your stay. And
24:11
that absolutely broke my heart because half of these girls
24:14
obviously didn't know, you know, what they were going to
24:18
go through, so they were obviously given that piece of
24:22
paper before they arrived. That made me really really sad.
24:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I can tell you that talking to the ladies,
24:31
they recognized that Piper. One of them actually said, I
24:35
remember that paper arriving. I'm sure she said, I remember
24:38
that Piper arriving at home. And that was key. That
24:44
was a sort of key initial letter that obviously the
24:49
Famili's got when when one of the girls the girls
24:53
were going to go to for Nehi, and of course
24:56
it was describing it as an education establishment.
25:00
Speaker 2: Yep. I thought that was probably my biggest find in
25:03
there was that little piece of paper just because just
25:08
be what you've heard, and you know, it just breaks
25:12
my heart because it looks like a little piece of
25:14
paper of joy when in fact it's not.
25:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's absolutely true. And then there was there
25:20
was some other documents there. I think it was a
25:23
book about absence from boys stores.
25:27
Speaker 2: Non teaching staff absence book. Did see anything in it,
25:31
it seemed pretty much Blank also found an old boiler
25:36
room documents from the old boiler room. And then the
25:42
rest of the pieces of paper were just like parts
25:46
of papers, but I couldn't really understand what they were,
25:49
couldn't really make it like what they read. But there
25:52
was a lot of invelopes, like gold envelopes as well
25:55
in there. To me, it just looked like old you know.
26:02
Speaker 1: And so because of the number of locked doors, it's
26:05
quite possible that there may still be quite a lot
26:09
of other significant paperwork documents.
26:13
Speaker 2: I feel there's there's more there. I just yeah, I
26:16
just do feel there's there's something there somewhere, and I
26:20
don't know where, but I believe there probably is. Yeah,
26:24
mm hmm.
26:24
Speaker 1: Okay. So so you had a good look around downstairs,
26:29
and you went upstairs, and then you came back down again,
26:34
and then eventually you'd you're outside a little bit more.
26:38
And there was some more pictures of these abandoned cars
26:41
in the outbuilding. And I said to you this morning,
26:45
I find this quite strange that. I mean, for most people,
26:48
a car is quite a significant purchase, isn't it. You
26:52
save money to buy a car, and you spend quite
26:55
a lot on the car. So why would somebody, why
26:58
would the staff for NEETSI college be leaving cars just
27:04
to slowly rot. I know, when when the place was
27:10
closed down, why were all the cars left? I find
27:13
this really strange.
27:15
Speaker 2: I know that's what we think as well. It's just
27:18
really strange because one of them even have like a
27:20
big cover over it to protect it as well. One
27:24
of the cars has a cover over it, you know,
27:26
as if it's there to protect it. Yes, yeah, the
27:31
car just seemed a bit strange to me because I'm like,
27:33
why would they still be there? And as you say,
27:37
you know cars, you know, you would imagine they'd maybe
27:39
sell them on or something. It's just a bit bizarre
27:42
why they are there. Yeah, just a waste.
27:46
Speaker 1: Yeah. And the other very poignant thing outside was that
27:49
you had the sort of overground play areas where there
27:52
was swings, and I found that very I found the
27:58
video emotional. I've come to the women. I know a
28:02
reasonable amount about what went on. I don't know everything
28:06
that went on, but it was all pretty dark and nasty,
28:10
especially for very very young girls. Then you see you
28:15
see the climbing climbing frame and the swings all rusted
28:18
and abandoned, and an over ground and yes, it's got
28:23
a very a very emotional feel about it.
28:27
Speaker 2: It broke my heart. And as you see me walk
28:31
up to the swings again, you hear me say how
28:33
sad I just did that? Fully broke my heart to
28:38
know that all those girls played there, and the memories
28:41
and everything that they would have had there and the
28:43
playpark seem to have really really got to my heart.
28:47
I think it was the most sad, the most heartbreaking part,
28:50
like you know, including the kids sleep from just the
28:54
fact that that was meant to be their play area,
28:57
you know, and know what some them it went through.
29:01
It just yeah, maybe just really really really sad documenting
29:05
the swings in the playpart, just that part alone, it
29:09
was I found that to be the most emotional part.
29:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, when you were upstairs just with you know, you're
29:18
back in the house. You're upstairs and an alarm went off,
29:21
didn't it, And that that obviously made you all think
29:25
and you you eventually came downstairs and outside. But the
29:29
net result of that alarm going off was the police
29:32
turned up tell us about what happened.
29:37
Speaker 2: So the alarm went off, but I was staying put.
29:40
I wasn't for going anywhere anyway. I just felt like
29:45
you know, I need to capture more and more and more.
29:48
As you hear me saying to my friends, it's the
29:49
only opportunity anybody's ever going to have to be in
29:52
here so that you document it anyway. And I knew
29:56
that because we didn't break in, we haven't seeved of
30:00
stole anything. I knew that if the police rocked up
30:03
here anyway, that we're going to be okay. So just
30:06
with our becks, you come and counter with the police
30:09
sometimes and you do get familiar with the laws and stuff.
30:16
So yeah, once we finally left the place we did leave,
30:20
we went to go to the car they bought me
30:22
the roads. We were approached by two police officers and
30:26
they were just kind of asking us what we were
30:27
doing in there. Just kind of tell them what you
30:30
do my hobby photographs, you know, about the building. And
30:37
then the kind of police officer just kind of joking laughing.
30:42
It was like all the bad news for you guys,
30:44
because the housekeeper has deflated your tires, Like, oh great.
30:49
The police were fantastic. They actually helped us blow the
30:52
tires up and everything. We showed them my our becks
30:57
page exploding with Natasha, showed them what do my explanation
31:02
why I was in there, and yeah, they were just
31:05
pretty much happy. Really. The police of what they do
31:08
is is they'll go back to the building to see,
31:12
you know, any evidence of like if you've broken or
31:16
if you've stolen anything, you know, and if they really
31:19
want to, they can search. That's to make sure you
31:21
don't have any tools or anything on you breaking in
31:25
or if you've stolen anything. But yeah, they never did
31:30
any of that though. They were pretty lovely, lovely police
31:32
officers and they were actually quite interested in the history
31:35
by themselves, so they were so yeah, we were fine,
31:40
and we were let go and we got were dust
31:42
caps back for the tires. They blew up our tires
31:45
and off we went.
31:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's really brilliant. I still see this video
31:51
in my head. That's the effect that it's made on me.
31:54
And several times I was thinking to myself, my goodness,
31:58
this is a creepy place. How any form of security
32:03
person could I know that You've told me you don't
32:06
think the security man is there full time. From previous
32:13
information I've had, I've heard that that at one stage
32:17
at least somebody was living on site. And I'm thinking,
32:20
my goodness, what a creepy where. Well I know it's
32:24
pretty dilapidated, isn't it, But to be around that building
32:28
at night would be unbelievably creepy.
32:30
Speaker 2: It wasn't even a bit. Then there are he was
32:33
sleeping in a secret part of the building that we
32:35
don't know about.
32:36
Speaker 1: Well, there was the big couches, I suppose. But the
32:40
other thing is I'm puzzled as to what's happening with
32:44
the building because at one stage people were told that
32:47
a gentleman had bought it who was going to attempt
32:50
some form of renovation. And I know in one of
32:53
the rooms that you went in, there was quite a
32:55
lot of wood, lengths of wood on the floor, as
32:59
if somebody.
33:01
Speaker 2: So it looks like they've been stripping it out. Yeah,
33:04
do things in piles almost I don't know what they're doing,
33:07
but normally go into a building and you can tell
33:10
that if somebody has been trying to do something. But
33:14
as you said, there was pieces of wood piled up
33:17
and things, so it looks like somebody has tried to
33:20
do something at one point. But another thing I noticed
33:24
was the fireplace. I know this is completely off topic
33:28
of what you just mentioned, before we forget was the
33:30
paperwork also that was on top of the fireplace as well.
33:34
And then I don't know if you notice, when i'd
33:35
filmed the fireplace, it looks like a lot of papers
33:38
were burned in there. I don't know if you notice
33:41
the fireplace, it looks like a lot of old papers
33:43
have been burned. You can actually see some old, old
33:46
newspapers that have actually turned brown. I believe of that old.
33:50
So I just thought i'd put that bit of information
33:52
in there. I don't know if that's any interest to you,
33:54
but yeah, we noticed it was a lot of papers
33:57
being burned in the.
33:58
Speaker 1: Fire I have a look at that that again in
34:00
the video, just before we move on from from the building.
34:04
The other thing which I thought was yeah, it was
34:08
a poignant thing. In one of the rooms, there were
34:10
two big black and white photographs on the wall and
34:14
that was the that was the a picture of one
34:20
maybe there was two photographs of the same lady. But
34:23
I think they were originally sisters of the original sisters
34:27
that lived in that house.
34:30
Speaker 2: Wow, Yeah, we wondered who they were. I didn't know
34:33
who they were.
34:34
Speaker 1: I can't tell you now because I can't remember which
34:39
which of the sister. Which sister it was, but which
34:43
lady it was? But I know that the Finetti women
34:47
recognized that really quickly and said, oh, that's one of
34:50
the original women who lived in the house. So yeah,
34:54
that that was another interesting thing. So you did your
34:59
urban explore of the building, and you processed your video
35:03
and got it up, and then things started to happen.
35:08
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, what happened was we left the building. After
35:12
we left the police whatever, we started to drive home
35:16
and my friend was driving. So while she was driving,
35:21
I was saying to her that I wondered what the
35:24
full extent of this building was, especially with the tell
35:28
what we thought was a sell it might not be.
35:31
It just seemed a bit bizarre. So I started doing
35:33
my proper research. Part of me didn't want to know
35:37
the full history of the building due to being I
35:43
can abuse survivor myself, so I wasn't really I didn't
35:48
think I was going to be mentally able to deal
35:51
with hearing about the full on history of this building,
35:54
and that's why I didn't do research. So in the car,
35:58
that's when I was doing my research, and my friend
36:00
turned around to me and she says, Natasha, you will
36:02
not sleep at night and if you keep reading that,
36:05
and I says, I know, And that's when I was
36:08
absolutely horrified. That's when I'd seen the Ladies script ead
36:13
you know, online and what they were. I could not
36:15
believe it. I got in my when I got to
36:18
my own car, all I did on my way home
36:21
was I just cried, and I just I just could
36:23
not believe that we had just got in there, and
36:26
then finding out the true extent of what these ladies
36:28
went through, I just cried. Even the morning after, I
36:32
hadn't really processed it, and I just cried. But then
36:36
as I woke up my phone, Oh what it was.
36:39
I posted the post of the building. I never posted
36:43
the video just yet it was the building, so I
36:47
posted just the photographs. And that's when the next morning
36:50
I'd woke up and all these Ladies survivors had been
36:56
messaging me and sanking me and couldn't believe that I
36:59
had been in there, uh and hearing their stories. Yes,
37:03
I cried more, but at the end of the day
37:05
then turned into a positivity. I then realized, well, me
37:09
being in here, yeah, it might have mentally distartd me
37:12
a bit, but just the positivity now of helping these women,
37:17
And that's all I'm focused on now, is just I
37:19
can't believe that we got in there and we've actually
37:22
helped a lot of women, a lot more than we know.
37:25
So that's just the story of that. And a lot
37:28
of them were really wanting this video, so I had
37:32
start all day and uploaded it all and I made
37:35
that video for those ladies, and that's when I put
37:37
that video up.
37:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, you did, You did a fantastic job. My impression, Okay,
37:46
there was only a fewer than of the vanity ladies
37:49
watching it, but my impression was that it brought to
37:55
light thing to things which it brought to light, things
37:59
which they've all tried to sort of seal off and
38:05
very nasty memories and things you don't you don't want
38:08
to remember, you don't want to think about the fact
38:11
that you brought it to the surface. I think has
38:16
it meant that at least some of them have now
38:19
got to a new place in dealing with what happened
38:22
to them.
38:23
Speaker 2: And I only told me that she was actually able
38:26
to sleep that night, that she was actually able to
38:30
get the first night sleep in a long time. Yeah,
38:34
that's very amazing.
38:36
Speaker 1: And that's pretty incredible.
38:39
Speaker 2: Yes.
38:40
Speaker 1: And the other thing that's that's happened is that suddenly
38:44
there seems to be a resurgence of interest by the
38:47
excuse me, by the media up in Scotland, and I'm
38:52
hearing that well, I think the TV and some newspapers
38:57
are now getting interested again in the for Nethie's story
39:01
and what's actually happening, so that that'll be quite interesting
39:05
to see how that goes. I think the key thing
39:08
is that you your video has absolutely brought this thing
39:13
to light through members of the public because it's one
39:17
thing that you hear a narrative from from adults and
39:22
their adults talking about what happened to them when they
39:25
were little girls. But this is also difficult for the
39:30
average member of the public to to really understand. A
39:34
lot of people in the public find it really difficult
39:37
to believe, to believe that the abuse actually goes on.
39:41
But when you see the building and then your mind says, yeah,
39:48
this is the building that those little girls were in.
39:51
I think you said six miles to the nearest village
39:55
it was.
39:56
Speaker 2: It was a premeditated just because of the location on it.
40:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I can imagine at night it would be
40:03
definitely quiet there. It would be particularly spooky. You look
40:07
out the window and you're surrounded by trees, maybe not
40:11
as many as there are close to it today, but
40:13
even so, the.
40:15
Speaker 2: Most dick is dense forest. It's like the most it's
40:20
the most it's like the most north. It's like in
40:24
the Highlands. It's like the worst terrain that you could
40:27
get in Scotland. No one, no one can run from there.
40:30
It's yeah, you know, it's no man's land. I can't
40:34
explain it's I'm sorry, I'm so speechless sometime track of
40:40
words out because it's I'm still going through all in
40:43
my mind as well, and it's hard to describe how
40:46
it really really is out there. Just the ruralness as well.
40:50
It's very very, very unsettling, and even during the day
40:53
it's very very freaky and scary and very unsettling, never
40:57
mind for little children.
40:58
Speaker 1: So yeah, but all of these emotions, Natasha are things
41:03
that the video brings to a head, and I think
41:06
it will absolutely help members of the public understand just
41:12
how think how bad things were for the for these
41:15
very little girls who were isolated in this place. So
41:21
your video, I think is is going to make a
41:23
huge difference, not only to the FORTHI survivors themselves, but
41:27
I think it's going to make a huge difference to
41:31
particularly the political circles, because there's been a lot of
41:35
support by members of the Scottish Parliament for the fore ladies,
41:40
and the last big committee meeting they had was unanimous
41:44
in saying to the Scottish Government, the Scottish government has
41:48
got to deal with FANFI and give the for NEI
41:53
survivors proper recognition and redress. And I think now that
41:59
members of the Scottish Parliament and the public can actually
42:02
see what the building was like and get a feel
42:06
for it. I think that your your video is going
42:10
to make a huge difference in helping to bring the
42:13
whole thing to to yeah, some positive closure.
42:19
Speaker 2: That's amazing. It's it's actually truly amazing. Although I don't
42:25
know how it accidentally happened like that, but it was.
42:30
I'm still shook and it's been how many days.
42:33
Speaker 1: And I am yeah, maybe it was. It was meant
42:36
to happen, Natasha, it was.
42:39
Speaker 2: And all the ladies that have came forward thanking me
42:43
all the comments and messages, even some of them want
42:46
to meet me, personally, I can't. I just yes, I
42:52
am just so overjoyed for these women and I just
42:55
hope that they get some sort of justice and they
42:59
answers they're looking for, because I believe that the video
43:03
have helped these ladies in many many ways, whether it's
43:05
bringing back a memory, whether it's just confirming something, or
43:11
you know, it helps them in so many ways. So
43:16
it just makes me very, very very happy, and I'm
43:18
glad that it's a huge positivity that's been brought out
43:22
of this. So exploring with Natafa, you know, it seemed
43:27
to have done a really good thing.
43:29
Speaker 1: I just yeah, really, Natasha, we should also give some
43:34
recognition for the other two people who went into the
43:37
building with you.
43:38
Speaker 2: So of course I was going to say that my
43:42
friend Adam and Vicki. They were alongside of me. They
43:45
weren't sure, as you could tell. They were kind of
43:48
looking up to me. Blessed them. One of them is
43:50
just new to our vexing, so she is, so yeah,
43:54
they were They put all trust in me, shall I say,
43:58
and bless them and they are partly a huge part
44:03
of this as much as I am great.
44:06
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, well, Natasha, you've taken us through the story
44:12
of how you got into that building. You very kindly
44:15
said to us that we can we can use your
44:18
video footage. Yes, so I'll say now that we're going
44:23
to move on and let the UK column audience see
44:26
your video and they can experience for an Ephie House
44:29
house for themselves. Before we we bring that video up,
44:35
I want to say to you, you're absolutely a gutsy woman,
44:39
because I can imagine that there's a lot of people,
44:43
men and women who would not have wanted to go
44:45
near that building for the just the sheer look of
44:48
it and the feel of it inside, and.
44:51
Speaker 2: People that have run and they've run away, and.
44:55
Speaker 1: And you were you were ahead of the crowd or
44:58
you were you were all separated at various points, and
45:02
I thought, I'm goingness you go around the corner into
45:04
a new corridor. That's quite a spooky experience. So you
45:08
definitely get the label of a very gutsy woman. So
45:12
I'm going to thank you for.
45:13
Speaker 2: Being You're very welcome.
45:17
Speaker 1: All right, before we've before we finally end, Natasha, would
45:22
you like to tell the audience how they can find
45:24
your your own website to see a little bit more
45:28
about what you've been doing with urban exploring Where should
45:31
they go?
45:33
Speaker 2: It's exploring with Natasha. You can find me on Facebook, TikTok,
45:40
and YouTube as well, so that's the three platforms that
45:44
I'm on. If you want, you can go on there
45:47
and have a look at all the places that we
45:50
have visited so far. So yeah, exploring with Natasha.
45:55
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, that's that's really excellent. Thank you.
45:58
Speaker 2: I don't know who else is when we contact me.
46:01
It's so weird, like I'm just I don't know, I'm
46:04
just constantly waiting on this phone going something just to start.
46:09
Speaker 1: Well, I'll side to you that if you get contacted
46:11
by any of the bigger newspapers or whatever, you've just
46:15
had a really good practice run talking about what you did.
46:20
Speaker 2: I was just in the newspaper the last week, and
46:23
in my local newspaper. I'm always in the papers for
46:26
my fines all the time, so I am yeah for
46:30
good reason exploring. Natasha discovered this, the Tasha discovered that.
46:35
But want to know what my name is now discover
46:37
and uncover because I've just went into that building and
46:40
discovered it and then uncovered it. So I'm so happy.
46:44
I'm always in the papers all the time for things
46:46
that I do. So I went to the big rubber
46:50
factory and the Freeese and it seemed to have sparked
46:53
a lot of interest for the locals. Yeah, I made
46:57
the Free's courier andree fin gality, what's going on. I've
47:02
been in the Daily Record. I've been in all of them,
47:10
have been in all of the papers for all different
47:12
things since I've been doing this.
47:16
Speaker 1: Find so you've obviously found you cooling, I says.
47:21
Speaker 2: To my mama says, it's funny. I says, I've always known.
47:24
I always knew in my heart that I would find
47:25
something amazing it's going to shake the nation or you know.
47:30
But I didn't mean to manifest this. I did not
47:33
mean to do this at all. I just did this
47:35
purely by accidents. That's why I'm to start here still speechless.
47:39
I don't even know what to say. But my worry
47:43
was as well that because my mom is like, You've
47:45
innocently just went on in there, and I'm thinking, I know,
47:48
moment it's crazy, and I'm saying, but I hope people don't,
47:51
you know, like you know, you get the other side
47:53
of it where people can start to be negative about it.
47:57
And can accuse you of things or I was, and
48:00
I were quite wary about that because I get it
48:02
all the time. But nah, so far it's been okay.
48:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, you don't take any notice of people who are
48:11
You're doing great.
48:12
Speaker 2: I'm probably one of the worst. I'm probably one of
48:15
the most hated bechers in Scotland, probably because of how
48:19
well that I do do. I get a lot of eating,
48:21
a lot of jealousy, especially from a lot of the
48:23
air bexers believe it or not, other are bexers. So
48:27
but no, I'm just so glad that it's so it's
48:29
so positive. I just kind of believe it. It was
48:32
been a survivor myself through kind of similar kinds of
48:36
abuse as well. I think I just always wanted to
48:40
do something for people that were went through abuse. You know,
48:44
I'm thinking a little voice like mine's not going to
48:46
do anything. But little did I know that I would
48:49
have went in here and helped possibly thousands of survivors
48:53
of abuse. So I think it's just a bit bizarre.
48:57
Speaker 1: You've had a difference, and I think the key to
49:01
solving the abuse, the issue of abuse is it needs
49:07
a lot of people to do a little.
49:08
Speaker 2: Bit It just means so much to me. I just
49:11
can't get over it. So thank you so much anyway,
49:13
and for having.
49:14
Speaker 1: Me and No, it's been great. Thank you very much
49:18
for joining us.