Another “haunted” house in Aberdeen.
Sound of footsteps in empty room.
At the beginning of last year there was a good deal of excitement in the Ferryhill district of Aberdeen over the mysterious noises in a house in Gordon Street; noises and knocking which ceased as suddenly as they began.
A reasonable time having elapsed, Aberdeen has again an alleged haunted house, this time at 34 Shuttle Lane, where strange footsteps have been so persistent that the occupants of the lower floor of a two-storey tenement, the upper flat being vacant, have been very much alarmed and have called in neighbours, who also have given their testimony as to the footsteps heard in the empty room overhead.
Even the police have been on the scene, but on their appearance the sound of the footsteps ceased, and they believe someone has been playing a prank on the occupants of the house.
The footsteps began to be heard on the night of the unemployed disturbance in Aberdeen.
Last night a “Daily Journal” reporter visited the house early in the evening and stayed until after midnight, but he heard nothing unusual, and came to the conclusion that the visit of the police on the previous night had scared the “ghost” away.
Aberdeen Press and Journal, 5th October 1921.
City of Haunted Houses.
Aberdeen’s second mystery.
Aberdeen threatens to become famous as a city of haunted houses. The first was discovered a few months ago, and now a second “mystery” is being investigated. This time it is at the opposite side of the town from where mysterious noises were last heard, and the manifestations are very similar, with persistent tappings on the ceiling.
Neighbours and the police have been called in to a house at 34 Shuttle Lane, tenanted by Mr and Mrs Lamont, but they have been unable to discover the cause of the noises. Sceptical visitors suggested rats are the cause, but the occupants of the house are positive that this is not the explanation.
Belfast Weekly Telegraph, 22nd October 1921.
Search for ghost in Aberdeen.
Hose turned on would-be investigators.
Extraordinary scenes were witnessed in Shuttle Lane, Aberdeen, when over 500 people assembled near a house which the occupier, Mr Lamont, had declared to be haunted. Weird sounds which had been heard in the house during the past three weeks led the occupier to believe that it was being visited by “spooks” or other psychic agencies in the same way as the Gordon Street house was disturbed about eighteen months ago.
The members of the household were terrorised, while the mysterious happenings infected others residing in the lane, many of whom sat up all night fearing that the supposed ghost would visit them should they go to sleep. The police had been called in to aid the inhabitants in fighting the “unknown.”
Wide publicity had been given to the mysterious happenings, with the result that a huge crowd of curious onlookers visited the scene at night. Shuttle Lane for fully an hour was packed, and the police had to be called out to clear the thoroughfare.
After the departure of the police the crowd reassembled, and exciting and amusing scenes followed. a band of young men and women entered the lobby of the house and commenced tapping on the walls. In order to clear the house Mr Lamont had to use a hosepipe, while one of the women in the house damped the ardour of the crowd with sundry buckets of water.
When two Spiritualists who had offered to investigate arrived on the scene with their friends they were cordially cheered by the onlookeres. While the investigators were making their preliminary arrangements the onlookers contented themselves by testing the solidity of the walls with rappings and tappings. The psychic investigators, with their two companions, proceeded upstairs, escorted by the light from numerous electric torches, and, having made themselves as comfortable as their surroundings would allow, prepared to spend a few hours’ vigil. No lights were shown, strict silence was observed below-stairs, but in spite of these precautions the spook did not appear.
Meanwhile independent investigators into things spiritual had arrived, and one of these, armed with a theory, made an attempt to lay the ghost. However, as the crowd outside was by this time too impatient to permit of the theory being fully tested, it was decided to adjourn for an hour.
At 11.30 p.m. the investigators reassembled, and it was decided that the seance be continued by three – the Spiritualist, the theorist, and an independent witness. The three sat in the “haunted” room till one o’clock in the morning, but nothing unusual was heard, and the seance was adjourned.
Dundee Courier, 6th October 1921.
Aberdeen “ghost” still at large.
Footsteps heard in “haunted” chamber.
Excitement heard in “haunted” chamber.
Excitement over the weird noises proceeding from a disused room in a Shuttle Lane tenement has not yet subsided. The footsteps that have terrified the Lamont family and their neighbours during the past week have again been heard.
Some neighbours state that an empty bottle was thrown from the window of the “haunted” chamber. Thinking a practical joker had entered, they rushed up the narrow stairway, to be confronted by – nothing. Puzzled, they returned to the street, and almost immediately afterwards the distinct, deliberate footfalls, with the faint, peculiar creak of leather, recommenced.
A number of theories have been formulated, and the general consensus of opinion seems to be – “Rats.”
Dundee Courier, 7th October 1921.
Shuttle Lane was a ‘slum clearance’ area between East North Street and Frederick Street.
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