A Haunted House at Cardross.
Great excitement is said to prevail in the village of Cardross at present, on account of an old house in the vicinity which is said to be haunted. Strange noises are heard at night there, loud knockings on the wall, moanings, and rustling of dresses, and the tramp of footsteps, but no trace has yet been found of the cause. The owner of the house is at present from home, and extensive repairs are being made; but the workmen are frightened from the place, and hardly any of the servants can be got to remain in the house. – Express.
Southern Reporter, 25th November 1858.
A Haunted House at Cardross.
Extraordinary spirit rapping.
For some time past the utmost excitment has prevailed in the village of Cardross, occasioned by the story of a ghost that is said to be enacting some extraordinary pranks at an old house called Drumhead, about a mile east of the village, and five miles from Dumbarton. The house was built in the year 1699, and belongs, with the estate on which it stands, to Mr Dunlop, a gentleman at present residing in London. The tenement is a plain structure of two storeys, consisting of a kitchen and several rooms on the ground floor, and a number of rooms above.
It was at one time the residence of the proprietors, and was elegantly furnished; the extensive policies around it still exhibit indications of having been once kept in excellent order, and an avenue, about a quarter of a mile in length, leading from the highway to the house, and skirted on each side by a plantation, now left to decay and overgrown with brambles and weeds, show that in former times the place was inhabited by wealth and fashion.
About the end of last June, Mr Dunlop commenced to build at Drumhead, and close to the old house, an extensive mansion for his residence, the architecture of which is in the castellated style, of a highly elegant appearance, built of a beautiful white hard freestone, for which a quarry was opened in the neighbourhood. The building is to be three storeys in height, and the workmen are now engaged in the last storey. The old house is to remain, and is to communicate with the new building by several doors to be made in the wall. An idea of the magnificence of the new erection may be formed from the fact that the wood work alone will cost upwards of £1000. Sixty men have been constantly employed at it, about 20 of whom are provided with lodgings in the ancient edifice.
We now come to the wonderful story of the ghost, which has played so important a part at the place since the workmen began their operations. We do not remember to have read or heard of anything of so strange and inexplicable a character since the time of the celebrated Stockwell ghost in the last century; and though few will in our day be wiling to admit the existence of any supernatural agency in the matter, we are convinced that the boasted philosophy of the nineteenth century will be puzzled to account for it. Having, like others who heard the rumours about the ghost, ridiculed the affair as an idle story, or at most as a series of mischievous tricks concocted by some individuals about the place to annoy the inhabitants, we paid a visit the other day to Drumhead to satisfy ourselves on the subject. A friend well known in the locality accompanied us, and in our walk to the house the first topic of every person whom we encountered was the ghost at Drumhead.
Arriving there we addressed ourselves to the architect, a respectable and enlightened gentleman, who for the time is living in a room of the old house, and who could tell us numerous experiences he had had of the ghostly visitor. His apartment is in the second storey, and he said that all he could tell us on the subject was that after going to bed at night he heard occasionally a strange knocking on the floor and other parts of the room, and when he gets up to look the sound ceases, and he sees nobody. He has sometimes heard low sounds proceeding at intervals from different quarters of the apartment resembling that produced by pronouncing the word “bhow” in a prolonged under tone; and it was impossible that any person could be in the room at the time but himself.
The other night he was awakened in bed, by a peculiar humming, as if some person were “booing” in a low and continuous voice close to his ear, and though he suddenly stretched forth his hand and jumped up, he neither felt nor saw any one. Thinking it might be an illusion produced by a ringing in his ear, he lay down on the opposite side, when the same mysterious droning was continued close to his other ear. After some minutes it ceased.
Two or three weeks ago, one dark night, when outside of the house, he saw a brilliant light suddenly appear at the distance apparently of about a hundred yards from him. To use his own words, “the light seemed equal in brilliance to the combined effect of half a dozen ordinary gas jets.” He called to some of the men inside, who came out and saw the light. They instantly ran to where it appeared, wen it was suddenly extinguished; and though they searched about they could find nobody.
We next spoke to the head quarryman who was leaving the house after dinner, and he took us inside to explain to us more particularly the way in which the sounds were heard. A number of other workmen were at the time at dinner, and they all bore equal testimony to what we had just heard, and to what was next described. The quarryman was the first, it appears, to whom the spirit revealed itself, and this was in the day time – an unusual hour for ghosts to appear – though it has never ventured since then beyond its spiritual domains after cock crowing, a rule which ghosts are believed always to observe.
It was shortly after the men were located in the place he first heard it, though it has been only during the last few weeks its visits have been frequent, and its doings more mysterious. He was sitting on a stool in his room, no one beside him, when he heard a rustling noise in the kitchen as if a number of people were jostling together and approaching the door of his appartment. When, as he thought, they were at the door, he suddenly opened it, and lo! the kitchen was empty.
It has, within the last few weeks, revealed itself in various ways. The same person was sitting one evening in his room beside the fire, when a hollow knocking commenced on the floor, directly at his feet. Noone was in the room but himself, and the apartment is on the ground floor, and no subterrancean passage being known to exist beneath it, he could do nothing to clear up the mystery, but sat with his eyes fixed on the spot listening to the sounds till they ceased.
One night while in bed, and no light in the room, he heard a peculiar sound, like some person drawing his hand along the room towards the mantelpiece, and shortly after he heard a crash on the hearth as if the hand had swept from the mantelpiece a number of tobacco pipes which were lying on it. He hastily got up and struck a light, but the pipes were lying untouched.
Another night he was awakened by a similar knocking on the floor, and, as he said, feeling annoyed, but not frightened, he sat up on his bed, and shouted “In God’s name whoever you are, begone!” and the sounds instantly ceased. His companion in bed, who had been asleep, was awakened by his exclamation.
On another occasion he and his companion were sitting in their apartment together, when they heard a sudden bang against a cupboard door in the room, like a person pushing his shoulder violently against it. His companion, with an expression which we should think not likely to offend an evil spirit, at least, commanded the unseen influence to desist, which it obligingly did.
A young woman, who resides in the house, stated that she and number of young men and young women were one night in the same room when they heard a sudden knocking on the wall of the passage leadingfrom the kitchen. She and another young woman took the lighted candle and approached the wall, and stood listening to the knocking for some time. She then put her hand on the wall, when the sounds instantly ceased. The wall was a thin wooden partition covered with paper, and she felt it vibrating quite perceptibly. They tore off part of the paper to see if the cause might not be the mud getting through the crevices, and applied the candle to the place, but the light burned steadily. They returned to the fireplace, and then the most mysterious part of the affair then ensued.
The faces and teeth of the whole party presented a livid blueish appearance, strikingly observable; and what was no less strange, the two girls felt a numbness, as if they had sustained a sudden paralytic shock, extend itself from their shoulders along their arms. Of course, we suggested that this might all be the result of fear upon the imagination, but our informant, who certainly did not look like one to be easily frightened, stoutly maintained that not one of the party was the least alarmed; they all rather enjoyed the thing, and joked over it.
It would take long to tell all the pranks of this mysterious visitant. The common indication of its presence is by knocking on the floor and other parts of the several apartments. Sometimes all the bells are set a ringing. One night a doleful screaming was heard near one of the windows. A workman went out another night to the smithy near the house to fetch some coals, and when in act of lifting them a hollow, indistinct sound proceeded from a corner where no one could be hid. The workman, with the utmost coolness, addressed the unseen presence, who has become a sort of “familiar” about the place, with “Hoot, toot, gudeman, I’m only takin’ my ain.”
The two men whom we first addressed spoke of the affair in a manner which showed they utterly disbelieved in any supernatural agency being at work, and yet they were wholly unable to account for the mystery. All whom we saw were equally puzzled, but appeared to regard the affair with a degree of jocularity. One quoted in our hearing part of Hamlet’s address to the ghost –
“Who and what art thou? Bring’st with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell? Be they intents wicked or charitable?” &c.
Others, however possess less stoicism. A number have left the house and taken up their abode in the village. The other night a joiner who happened to be at the house late heard the unearthly sounds, and was so terrified that he had to be accompanied home by some of the men. An old off-house attached to the tenement was taken down lately, for the purpose of building a portion of the new mansion, and since that the mysterious noises have been more frequent and violent. Whether the shade of some former occupant considers itself aggrieved by the changes thus going on we cannot pretend to say, but as “There are more things in heaven and earth Than are dreamt of in our philosophy,” the subject of the Drumhead ghost is sufficiently mysterious to puzzle the wisest in Cardross, and possibly it might prove a by no means easy explanation to some of our more learned savans.
Elgin Courant, and Morayshire Advertiser, 26th November 1858.
The Cardross Ghost!
The mystery of the ghost at an old house called Drumhead, which has kept the village and neighbourhood of Cardross in a state of great excitement for several weeks past, (as noticed in our last) has at length been removed. To such an extent had the rumours prevailed of the inexplicable sounds heard at night by the inhabitants of the house, and numbers having left it to reside in teh village out of terror, that, in order to restore peace to the district, the constable stationed there determined to investigate into the cause of the affair.
On Saturday night, between eleven and twelve o’clock, he proceeded to Drumhead, with other three young men belonging to Cardross to assist him in his researches, the result of which was, as might have been expected, that the whole mystery was the work of some of the workmen lodging in the house, who had concocted the trick for the purpose of alarming the other inhabitants.
A careful search was made by the constable and his assistants in the kitchen, and a room leading from it, but nothing was found to explain the mystery. At last they opened a door in a dark passage leading from the kitchen to the room, and which concealed a recess beneath a staircase conducting to the second storey, and in a few minutes the mystery of the ghost was exploded. They found in the recess an old copper boiler, which had lain there apparently as lumber for years. A large square board was lying on the ground like a trap-door, to some vault beneath. On raising it, however, no opening was found below; but the machinery by which the spirit -rapping had been applied was revealed.
The manner in which it was contrived displayed much ingenuity, while the out-of-the-way corner in which it was concealed rendered it easy to put it in operation with little chance of detection. It consisted of a strong species of dried grass, capable of much resistance, which was conveyed beneath the floor to some distant apartment of the house. To this was attached two wands and the leg of a pair of tongs, so ingeniously constructed that by pulling the line the leg of the tongs was made to strike or rub against the copper boiler so as to produce a variety of sounds. The wands and iron could be removed, and nothing would remain but the end of the line, which no one would readily notice.
The apparatus was properly arranged for action when it was discovered; but its contrivers had not had an opportunity of using it, and henceforth the mysterious voice was doomed to silence. The noises heard throughout the different rooms would very easily be produced by the deep booming sound of the boiler when struck, proceeding from a secret recess, and which, modified undoubtedly by the imagination, might be conceived as if heard issuing from the walls, the floor, and other parts of the premises.
Besides, it seems that one of the parties possesses the power of the ventriloquisst, so that what will not admit of explanation on the former principle will in this way.
The discovery of the whole plot has exasperated the ghost party to such a degree that the constable believes there is some danger of a serious breach of the peace. A number of them went to Geilstone, a short way from the village, and demanded the employer of one of the young men who assisted the constable to give him up, that they might punish him for the part he took in the discovery. These parties are chiefly masons, and unless judicious measures are taken by the police, the inhabitants of Cardross are afraid of a serious disturbance.
Elgin Courant, and Morayshire Advertiser, 3rd December 1858.
A Ghost Mystery Revealed.
For some time past great excitement has prevailed at a house called Drumhead, at present undergoing repair, situate in the village of Cardross, about five miles from Dumbarton. Strange noises were heard at night, apparitions appeared at the “witching hour,” followed by loud knockings, moanings, rustling of dresses, trampling of feet, &c. The owner of the property is at present from home, and at least 60 workmen were engaged in making extensive alterations and repairs upon the premises, many of whom were frightened from the place, and hardly any of the servants could be got to remain in the house during the night.
The excitement had reached such a height that the constable of the district deemed it necessary to investigate the cause. Accordingly, on Saturday night, between eleven and twelve o’clock, the constable proceeded to Drumhead, along with three young men, and the result of their researches was the discovery that the whole affair was the work of the workmen lodging in the house, who had concocted the trick for the purpose of alarming the other inhabitants. They found in a recess an old copper boiler which had lain there apparently as lumber for years. A large square board was lying on the ground, which looked like a trap door to a vault. On removing this the whole mystery was revealed. The manner in which the machinery for “producing the ghost” had been contrived displayed much ingenuity, while the out-of-the-way corner in which it was concealed rendered it easy to put it in operation with little chance of detection.
It consisted of a strong species of dried grass, capable of much resistance, which was conveyed beneath the floor to some distant apartment of the house. To this were attached two wands and the leg of a pair of tongs, so ingeniously constructed that by pulling the line the leg of the tongs was made to strike or rub against the copper boiler so as to produce a variety of sounds. The wands and iron could be removed, and nothing would remain but the end of the line, which no one could readily notic.
The apparatus was properly arranged for action when it was discovered; but its contrivers had not had an opportunity of using it, and henceforth the mysterious voice was doomed to silence. The noises heard throughout the different rooms would very easily be produced by the deep booming sound of the boiler when struck, proceeding from a secret recess, and which, modified undoubtedly by the imagination, might be conceived as if heard issuing from the walls, the floor, and other parts of the premises. One of the parties concerned in “getting up the ghost” possesses some power as a ventriloquist.
A bluish appearance said to have been produced on the faces and teeth of several young men and women sitting by the fire is believed to have been caused by some one in the secret having flung a chemical compound into the flames. None of the concoctors of the affair have divulged anything as to their mode of procedure.
The discovery is said to have exasperated the ghost party to such a degree that a breach of the peace is dreaded. Several threatening intimations have been sent to the constable, and on Monday a numbero f the parties, who are principally masons, went to Cardross and threatened violence to the village inn, unless an effigy which had been deposited there was given up to them. They also went to Gailstone a short way from the village, and demanded that one of the young men who had assisted the constable should be given up to them, in order that they might punish him for the part he had taken in the discovery.
Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 27th November 1858.