Milngavie and Bearsden Herald, Friday 24th August 1934.
“Ghost” Absent for Two Years.
Weird Occurrences in Knightswood House.
(From the “Evening Times.”)
The occupants of Knightswood’s “haunted house” – a residence at the corner of Alderman Road and Anniesland Road tenanted by Mr. A.L. Polk and his family – are more troubled just now by reporters and sightseers than ghosts. “We are fed up with people chasing around here wanting to know about the ghosts,” Mrs. Polk told a “Times” man the other day. “The whole thing has been very much exaggerated. The truth is that nothing mysterious has happened in the house for over two years. We have come to the conclusion that the ‘ghost’ has ‘snuffed it’.”
The “haunted house” is nearly a hundred years old – the 99 years’ lease expires in a year or two. Since the Polk family took up tenancy ten years ago, mysterious manifestations have occurred, such as
Doors opening and closing without apparent cause;
Mysterious footsteps;
Noises of furniture being moved, though none was moved;
Ringing of bells from upstairs rooms;
A “haunted” bed.
Regarding the last-named “manifestation,” the bed was said to have risen from the floor and bumped back into its place, much to the alarm of its occupants. “That is an exaggeration,” Mrs. Polk said, “the bed merely trembled, and that could happen without any supernatural cause. We are not in the least superstitious, and we don’t believe that these occurrences have any supernatural explanation. This old house is built over ancient underground workings, and slight subsidences from time to time probably account for all the mysterious happenings. That could certainly cause doors to open and close and noises that might be mistaken for footsteps.
The one thing that Mrs. Polk cannot explain is a weird experience that befell herself. Going into one of the rooms one day she suddenly felt a light but firm pressure on her shoulder. It was exactly, she said, like a hand on her shoulder. She could feel the pressure quite distinctly. “One of these days,” Mrs. Polk added with a laugh, “people will come along and find the chimneys of this old house sticking out of the ground. Then they will know that subsidences were the cause of it all the time.”