Haunted Kirkcaldy E-Book

Gregor Stewart

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 146

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

Compiled by paranormal investigator Gregor Stewart, this new book contains a chilling range of spooky tales from around Kirkcaldy. From haunted public houses, which have left both customers and staff terrified, to the ruins of the ancient Ravenscraig Castle, which still attract a mysterious visitor many years after their death, this collection of ghostly goings-on, phantom footsteps and playful poltergeists is sure to appeal to everyone interested in the paranormal and the history of Fife's largest town. Richly illustrated with over fifty images, Haunted Kirkcaldy is guaranteed to make your blood run cold.

Leseprobe

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

IT would be nearly impossible to write a book of this nature without a lot of assistance from other people and resources, and I would like to personally thank the following for their help.

To Fife Council, who proved to be an invaluable source of information, with their libraries in Kirkcaldy and Cupar providing great resources for the research, as well as their archaeologist, Douglas Spiers, who was able to provide historical data.

To Mr and Mrs Bell of the Kingswood Hotel near Kinghorn, for their help in piecing together the details of the grey lady that haunts the hotel and the roadside outside. Their verification of the reports of haunting and personal input was of great assistance and I wish you all the best with the hotel and restaurant.

To Leonard Low, author and historian specialising in the darker side of history. It was various discussions with Leonard that inspired me to finally focus my attention on writing about the paranormal. His advice on where to locate information, along with a number of leads he provided, have, without a doubt, assisted in bringing this book together.

To Cheryl: no amount of reading books, articles and accounts of hauntings can be a substitute for real-life experiences. Thank you for sharing your story and I wish you continued happiness and peace.

To the Kirkcaldy Old Kirk Trust, who provided invaluable information relating to the Old Kirk’s past.

To Ryan from Haunted Scotland, who was good enough to allow me to use evidence his organisation has obtained during their investigations. This allowed me to bring some of the stories up to date with information recently gained to add to the older accounts. I hope to work with you again in the future.

And, of course, thank you to my family. To my parents for never discouraging my interest in the supernatural and to my wife and children for their continuous support, even when I’m dragging them around old ruined castles in the rain!

And to all of the other friends and family members who offered their help and encouragement, thank you all.

CONTENTS

Title

Acknowledgements

Introduction

one

Ravenscraig Castle

two

Haunted Hospitals

three

The Castles and Caves of Wemyss

four

Haunted Homes

five

The Town Centre, Pubs and Hotels

six

Balwearie Castle

seven

Testimony of the Dead

eight

Death of a King

nine

Pistols at Dawn

ten

Further Afield

A Note on the Text

Bibliography

About the Author

Copyright

INTRODUCTION

SOME SAY THE DEIL’S DEAD

Some say the deil’s dead,

The deil’s dead, the deil’s dead,

Some say the deil’s dead,

And buried in Kirkcaldy.

Some say he’s risen again,

Risen again, risen again,

Some say he’s risen again,

And danced the Highland Laddie.

A Jacobite rhyme

WITH the above Jacobean poem (published in the book Popular Rhymes, Fireside Tales and Amusements of Scotland by William and Robert Chambers (1842)) citing that the Devil is dead and lies in Kirkcaldy, it would be fair to assume that the town has a long and dark past, which would inevitably lead to numerous reports of hauntings. However, while the town certainly does have a long past, it rarely features in tales of ghostly goings-on. That is not to say there are no haunted locations: you just have to dig a bit deeper to find them.

The town of Kirkcaldy, which sits on the east coast of Scotland in the county of Fife, approximately 20 miles south from the more famous town of St Andrews and 11 miles north of Edinburgh (which sits on the opposite side of the Firth of Forth), dates back to the eleventh century when the lands were gifted by King Malcolm III of Scotland to the monks of Dunfermline Abbey. The area was rich in coal, so it did not take long for the monks to establish a settlement and, by the mid-thirteenth century, a parish church had been constructed. The coal mining caused Kirkcaldy to start growing as a community, and this was accelerated by the establishment of a harbour in a natural cove that provided shelter for ships and boats from the harsh North Sea. By the sixteenth century, up to 100 ships were based in the port, making it one of the major import and export centres in Scotland.

Rather than expand inland, the town grew along the coast, slowly incorporating smaller communities such as Dysart, Pathhead and Linktown. It is likely the town grew in this way for a number of reasons. Unlike most towns in Scotland at the time, Kirkcaldy was not surrounded by a protective wall, which meant there were no restrictions on the development of the town. The sea offered protection from attack to one side of the town and also offered the potential to develop the salt pans for the production of salt which, along with the ports of Kirkcaldy and Dysart, offered the main source of income and would have meant workers were keen to live along the coast rather than inland.

Kirkcaldy also became a major producer of linen and, in the nineteenth century, linoleum began to be produced as a floor cloth. The popularity of linoleum soon grew worldwide and Kirkcaldy was ideally placed to take advantage of this with the jute mills at nearby Dundee and an already established port that was exporting goods as far away as the Mediterranean. A local textile manufacturer, Michael Nairn, saw the potential in linoleum, but was unable to start production straight away as the method to manufacture it had been protected under a patent. Unperturbed, and knowing that the patent only offered protection for a fixed number of years, he expanded his business considerably in 1847, constructing a large, new factory to produce painted floor cloths that was designed to be ready to produce linoleum as soon as the patent expired in the late nineteenth century. Kirkcaldy soon established itself as the main centre worldwide for the production of linoleum with Nairn’s being the largest single producer.

While the production of linoleum brought employment and wealth to the town, it also brought something else which many people still associate with Kirkcaldy: a stench! It is said that, at the height of production, the unpleasant smell that was produced during the process could be smelled for miles around. This aspect of Kirkcaldy is also incorporated into poetry, with ‘The Boy in the Train’ by M.C. Smith telling the tale of a young boy who, increasingly excited about a trip to visit his grandmother in Kirkcaldy, anxiously asks when they will arrive. It finishes with the following lines:

I’ll soon be ringin’ ma Gran’ma’s bell,

She’ll cry, ‘Come ben, my laddie’,

For I ken mysel’ by the queer-like smell

That the next stop’s Kirkcaddy!

Unfortunately, the popularity of linoleum started to decline in the mid-twentieth century and, as a result of the reduced demand, along with the increasing prices of raw materials, most of the factories closed and have since been demolished. The main economy of Kirkcaldy is now based on the service industry and the town has in more recent years expanded considerably, inland this time, to become the largest town in Fife.

A linoleum factory.

Landscape of Kirkcaldy

Being sandwiched between St Andrews and Edinburgh, both of which have an abundance of documented tales of the supernatural, it would be reasonable to expect Kirkcaldy and the surrounding area to also have its fair share of stories and locations. An Internet search, or a search through bookstores and libraries, however, soon reveals a total lack of written information and it would seem that the ghost stories for this area have not been previously compiled. While that made the research for this book challenging, I also saw it as an excellent opportunity to bring the stories together and to start to make some connections between them, possibly for the first time. I have provided details of the sources for the information used wherever possible, however, some of the stories have been passed down through word of mouth from generation to generation with no written accounts, and I considered them too good to miss out.

Gregor Stewart, 2014

1

RAVENSCRAIG CASTLE

RAVENSCRAIG Castle is without a doubt the hidden gem of Kirkcaldy. Positioned in an elevated position just a short distance from Kirkcaldy’s town centre, many people pass it without even noticing due to a relatively modern development of flatted dwellings that was constructed between the castle and the road, blocking Ravenscraig from view from road users. As a result the castle does not achieve the same number of visitors that other local historic buildings attract, and visitors to Kirkcaldy miss out on the impressive site and architectural importance of the castle. Although now ruinous, it is the most complete castle with open public access in Kirkcaldy and the surrounding area. The castle is accessed via a path from Ravenscraig Park and, as soon as the twin keep towers joined by a curtain wall first come into view, it is easy to see how formidable the castle’s defences once were. The design of these defences is very significant and gives an insight into the passion the original owner had for heavy artillery, a passion that would ironically lead to him never seeing the completed castle.

Postcard showing Ravenscraig Park.

The approach to Ravenscraig Castle.

The castle was constructed for King James II of Scotland (1437–60) from plans he had prepared himself. The king was well respected as an expert in artillery and his desire was to construct a castle capable of withstanding any attack from the latest heavy guns of the time. The rocky outcrop was chosen as the site for the castle as it offered natural protection on three sides by 100ft-tall sea cliffs. The side facing the land, deemed most susceptible to attack, was heavily fortified with walls standing some 14–15ft thick and large ‘D’-shaped towers designed to deflect cannonballs. This castle would be the first in Britain that was capable of withstanding artillery fire.

King James played an active role in the siege of Roxburgh Castle in the Scottish Borders, one of the few strongholds still held by the English following the Wars of Independence. Keen to utilise his knowledge of artillery, the king had brought a number of his own cannon to aid in the battle and, on 3 August 1460, just a few months after work started on the construction of Ravenscraig Castle, one of his cannon (known as ‘The Lion’) exploded while being fired, causing him extensive leg injuries. Despite efforts to save him, the blood loss was too heavy and the king died a short while later. The tragedy was recorded by the Scottish chronicler Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie in his book The History of Scotland: From 21st February 1436 to March 1565, and states that the king ‘did stand near hand the gunners, when the artillery was discharged, his thigh bone was dung [or broken] in two with a piece of misfired gun, that brake in shooting; by which he was stricken to the ground and died hastily’.

Ruin of the tower. Note the thickness of the wall and ‘D’-shaped design.

Following his death, the king’s widow, Mary of Guelders, was determined to see his vision for Ravenscraig Castle completed as a tribute to him and so she continued to fund the construction while she lived in the west tower, known as the Queen’s Tower. When she died in December 1463, however, the castle remained incomplete and ownership was passed to their son, King James III, who did not seem to share the same desire to see his father’s work finished. In 1470, James III passed ownership of the still-incomplete castle, along with all of its lands, to William Sinclair in exchange for the rights to the earldom of the Orkney Islands.

The Sinclair family continued the construction work at the castle, and eventually it was completed, although not entirely to the king’s original design. The castle remained in the ownership of the Sinclair family and played an important role in protecting merchant ships in the Firth of Forth against pirate attacks, which were common at that time due to the Forth being home of the main docks for importing and exporting goods between Scotland and Europe.

In the 1650s, the castle suffered considerable damage at the hands of Oliver Cromwell’s army as they marched north to try to take the Highlands of Scotland. After this it seems the castle was never restored and instead became a source of stones to build the cottages and houses that now stand nearby. In the late nineteenth century, the linoleum magnate Sir Michael Nairn bought the castle and its grounds and opened the entire site up as a park for the local community before gifting it to Kirkcaldy in 1929. The castle is currently owned by Historic Scotland and is open during daylight hours. Due to the low visitor numbers, the castle is not staffed and so there is very limited access within the castle building due to safety concerns.

For many years, local legend has it that a lady dressed in a long, flowing white dress has been seen wandering silently through the grounds of the castle. Given the history of the castle, this was believed for a long time to be the spirit of Mary of Guelders, still walking within the home that meant so much to both her husband and herself in life. However, an incident in the early 1980s in a hospital that sat on the ground next to the castle brought this belief into question.

Ravenscraig Castle from the shore.

Inside Ravenscraig Castle courtyard.

Postcard of Cottage Hospital.

The cottage hospital was built on the estate beside the castle, also by Michael Nairn, for the people of Kirkcaldy. Opened in November 1890, initially the hospital offered only ten beds, but it was later extended in 1895 and again in 1914 to create more bed space. The extensions were built in a circular manner, possibly to reflect the D-shaped towers of Ravenscraig, which gave the hospital a unique appearance. The ever-growing population continued to put pressure on the facilities and with no more land to extend the hospital, a new hospital was built elsewhere in the town and the Cottage Hospital was eventually closed and fell into a state of disrepair.

Shortly before its demolition in 1984, it is reported that a group of children were exploring the derelict building when they saw a lady, wearing a long white dress, gliding along one of the long corridors. The children fled but when they told people what they had witnessed, the similarity to the figure that had been seen in the castle grounds was noted. It is unlikely that the spirit of Mary of Guelders would walk the corridors of the hospital, a building that was constructed over 400 years after her death, and so the possible identity of this figure was once again questioned. It is known that both long-term patients and visitors to the hospital used to enjoy visiting the castle and its grounds, as they offered a peaceful place where they could relax and enjoy the fresh sea air. Is it possible then that the lady is actually a spirit attached to the hospital rather than the castle, who roams both the hospital building and also the castle, the place she escaped to for solitude?

Local paranormal research groups have carried out a number of investigations at the castle and have produced some interesting electronic voice phenomena results, indicating that there may be two spirits present in the castle. Their recordings include a male-sounding voice, telling them in no uncertain terms to leave, and also a female voice, that seems to be calling out for help, and this could be the spirit that is still witnessed wandering within the grounds.

2

HAUNTED HOSPITALS

THE OLD Kirkcaldy Memorial Hospital is not the only one in the area to have tales of strange happenings. In the countryside, approximately 1.5 miles to the north of Kirkcaldy, sits an unusual cluster of buildings, comprising of a large, two-storey stone-built Victorian villa and a number of newer, single-storey brick buildings to the rear. In recent years, these buildings, all in a very poor state of repair, have attracted a lot of attention from paranormal groups who have been keen to investigate them after persistent rumours that they are haunted.

Information on the buildings is limited but, according to Historic Scotland, the Victorian building, originally known as Crosbie House, was constructed in the mid-nineteenth century and then enlarged towards the end of the same century. It was converted into a hospital in 1902, known as Kirkcaldy District Infectious Diseases Hospital, and the single-storey buildings behind it were added over the following decade to create additional wards and facilities, including a morgue. The original Victorian building was also converted before being used as accommodation for the staff that worked there.

Remains of the Victorian Villa at Kirkcaldy Infectious Disease Hospital.

The hospital ward buildings.

It is not clear exactly when the hospital closed, although town records show that a proposal to construct a new Kirkcaldy Burgh Infectious Diseases Hospital was approved in 1927