Most Haunted’s Yvette Fielding reveals the moment crew were ‘cut to the bone’ by spirit that made her QUIT ghost hunts

FOR 22 years Yvette Fielding has braved the most haunted sites in the UK – sending chills down the spines of viewers.

But one harrowing experience stands above the rest and was so terrifying that the paranormal veteran vowed to give up the ghost and stop hunting spirits entirely.

While that decision was short-lived, the memory of what she and her team experienced in Edinburgh Vaults is etched in her mind.

It was a moment that went beyond eerie noises and unsettling sensations to an act of brutal violence that left the hunters – including Yvette’s husband Karl – physically scarred.

In an exclusive interview with The Sun on behalf of Ring, Yvette, 56, said: “It was absolutely terrifying to actually watch members of your team getting hurt.

“If you talk to anybody that’s been to Edinburgh Vaults, there’s a room where there’s a stone circle and members of the public will go on a tour down there, and they’ll come out and have scratches on their face or bruises or little burns on them.

“And that’s why we went to investigate Edinburgh Vaults, because we thought, well, what’s going on here? And sure enough, three members of the team got scratched, but one of them so badly, down his leg, the cut was so deep you could see the bone.

“He had to be rushed off to Accident and Emergency to get it stitched up. And that’s where I actually resigned live on air.

“I went into shock. I was so frightened. But we were broadcasting across America on the Discovery Channel and across the UK at the same time, and I’m trying to keep it together.

“I just keep bursting into tears, and I actually said live on air, that’s it, I resign. I’m not dealing with any of this, because it’s too frightening.”

The Vaults date back to 1785 and began as a gambling and boozing den of sorts underneath the city.

Rumours have circulated over the years that serial killer William Burke and William Hare stashed bodies there, though this hasn’t been proved.

Yvette and her colleagues have had their fair share of sceptics over the years.

They don’t shy away from acknowledging there are plenty of hoaxes out there, but love nothing more than inviting non-believers onto hunts so they can experience it for themselves.

“I love watching people, watching the cogs turn in people’s heads and they’re trying to work out how something has moved on its own,” said Yvette.

“They’re there trying to find the wires or they think, oh, they possibly faked it.

“And then when they realise, no, actually, we haven’t and it’s all real, then they absolutely, yeah, a bit of brown trouser moment goes on there, which is quite good.”

A lot of naysayers cite the many Hollywood movies and their cliché tropes as another reason hunts are phony.

But these big budget scaries often use a real life case as inspiration, which prompts Yvette to steer clear of watching them.

“There are a lot of things, especially now with tech, things can very easily be faked on camera, so much stuff,” said Yvette.

“But because it’s so good, people go, well, it must be faked. And it’s like, ‘no, it’s bloody well not’.

“A lot of the horror movies that we see now are based on real cases and that’s what’s frightening. Obviously, Hollywood exaggerates and, you know, they’ve got women crawling across the floor in a white nightie, that sort of thing.

“But, you know, you look at The Exorcist, that was a real case. It was a little boy rather than a little girl. The Exorcism of Emily Rose is based on a young woman who actually died because allegedly she was possessed.

“And the church and her parents were taken to court for abuse. Anneliese Michel. My God, what a harrowing story that is.

“So Hollywood take these original cases and then make them into these big Hollywood horror movies that I have never watched. I can’t, because then if I’m doing a Ouija board in an attic where someone’s been murdered, I will imagine that woman in a white nightie crawling across the ceiling, you know.”

HUNTING WITH O’GRADY

One person who certainly was a big believer is Yvette’s late close friend Paul O’Grady, who died in 2023 aged 67.

The TV favourite loved teaming up with Yvette for spooky adventures and there used to be plenty of laughter too, to ease the tension.

On one occasion the duo were summoning spirits with a Ouija board in Venice when they were interrupted by cops.

They were sailing close to the island of Poveglia where plague victims were once unceremoniously disposed of in the water.

Yvette said: “Well, didn’t we both feel a bit embarrassed sitting there with a Ouija board table? And then we just explained that we’re doing a show about ghosts. And they sort of like rolled their eyes and laughed and then turned around and off they went.

“But yeah, myself and Paul had the most incredible experiences together. You know, we did it. We’ve done it all, Ouija boards, table tipping, seances, investigating together, holding onto each other for dear life, you know.

“It was great because every Halloween he’d ring me or he’d text me, ‘what are you doing? Where are you going? I want to come with’, yeah. You know, he was really into it.”

SPOOKY SENSATIONS

Yvette is now using her expertise to help homeowners establish whether or not they’re experiencing supernatural goings on after a raft of Ring doorbell owners spotted spooky happenings on their devices.

While some are what you’d expect from a cheeky apparition, others are a bit more sinister and extreme.

She said: “Oh blimey, there’s so many. Hearing your doorbell ring or somebody knocking at the door and you go to open it and there’s nobody there. This might happen three times in the day and you’re like, what’s going on?

“The next thing will be objects will just disappear like your keys or you’ll be there getting ready in your bathroom and you’ll be needing a hairbrush or whatever you think, where the hell’s that gone? And then they’ll turn up in the most ridiculous place, like your hairbrush might turn up in the cutlery drawer downstairs in the kitchen.

“Then it’s noises, so you might suddenly start hearing footsteps on your staircase or voices, whispering, talking.

“And then the next thing is, will be objects moving, but heavy objects, so like chairs will suddenly appear in different rooms where they’re not supposed to be or you’ll hear furniture being dragged around and you’ll think, oh my god, what’s going on? And you’ll go into that particular room where you’ve heard the noise from and nothing’s out of place.

“Or in some really horrible cases, the furniture will be piled up, normally at one end of the room or in a pyramid, which is really bizarre. What else happens? All sorts of strange things. You’ll feel like you’re being watched in your own home.

“Doors will slam, that sort of thing. So it’s really quite scary. When you are in that situation and you see this believing and you think, this is not my imagination, I know these things are moving on their own.

“I know I’m hearing a little girl’s voice. I know I can hear footsteps running up and down the stairs and objects are being moved in my house. Then you know that you’ve got somebody else with you.”

Regardless of the terror she’s experienced, Yvette has vowed to hunt on and even joked that she’ll return to her own show as a ghost when she eventually pops her clogs.