Night scare for three young men.
Objects jump across bedroom.
Is there a poltergeist in a St Andrews house? Three young men are asking this question after an alarming experience early yesterday. The house is a small two-storey building adjoining Rusack’s Marine Hotel, and the three young men are Ian Dunn (25), 114 Marchmont Road; George Pitbladdo (18), 15 Gladstone Terrace; and Bob Macdonald (18), 9 Rankin Avenue – all of Edinburgh. They have spent the last 12 weeks as the resident orchestra in the hotel, under the title “Ian Dunn and his Trio”. They went to bed after midnight on Thursday and it was then, they say, the mysterious happenings occurred.
A belt, a book and a salt cellar travelled from one side of the room to the other. They were followed by two scarves. The young men switched on the light and kept it burning till morning. Last night Ian Dunn told a “Courier” reporter, “We were awakened by two thuds, and when we switched on the light a book which George had been reading and a salt cellar which was lying on a table beside his bed had crashed against the wall close to my bed. We just could not explin how it happened. Eventually we switched out the light, and 10 seconds later there was another thud. This time it was a thick leather belt belonging to Bob. It had crashed against the wall, also close to my bed, and the buckle had become detached from the leather. Two scarves had also mysteriously travelled from one side of the room to the other.”
George Pitbladdo said, “It was an eerie business, and I don’t know how the things got from one side of the room to the other. They all seemed to be aimed at Ian’s bed.” Bob Macdonald said, “I can’t understand about the belt, for the buckle could not be detached unless it was forcibly pulled out. The whole thing is a mystery to us.”
The under-manager at the hotel said, “The three boys called me at 3 a.m. and they pointed out that the belt, the scarves, the salt cellar and the book had travelled from one side of the room to the other. They were certainly lying together on the floor near Ian Dunn’s bed.” The three musicians turned in last night with this parting shot, “If there is the slightest disturbance tonight the lights go on and they won’t be put off till morning.”
Dundee Courier, 13th September 1958.
Mystery “thing” smashes glasses.
Ian (left) and Bob examine broken glass which littered the bedroom.
Ian Dunn, 25-year-old Edinburgh musician, of 114 Marchmont Road, left St Andrews yesterday with a tin box in which were broken pieces of glass and crockery. They are souvenirs of three disturbed nights in a St Andrews bedroom, which he shared with two other Edinburgh musicians – George Pitbladdo (18), 15 Gladstone Terrace, and Bob McDonald (18), 9 Rankin Avenue. The trio ended a 12-week engagement in Rusack’s Marine Hotel on Saturday night. On Thursday and Friday they had disturbed nights through the activities of a mysterious “thing” which broke glasses and crockery against the wall. Their bedroom was on the ground floor of a two-storey house in Pilmuir Links, adjoining the hotel.
Besides breaking glass and crockery, their visitor moved articles of apparel. Ian Dunn, last of the trio to leave yesterday said: “The whole business has been most mysterious, I just can’t account for it. The people here are a bit sceptical, but I assure you these things happened and we don’t know what made them. We had arranged a farewell party for Saturday night, and we carried on as arranged. We had about nine friends in. Some of them were keen to try a stay in the bedroom but we kept clear of it as much as possible. Finally Bob McDonald went in with two other men and immediately a cup and a dish on the mantelpiece crashed and broke against the door. An ink bottle was also knocked off the mantelpiece.”
The bedroom is not likely to be used again this season, as the orchestra is not being renewed, and the hotel itself ends its season next month.
Dundee Courier, 15th September 1958.