Mearns “Ghost.”
Stonehaven Retirement Recalls Mystery.
Mr Alexander Andrew, Stonehaven, has retired after forty-four years’ service with the firm of Messrs Wm. Ritchie and Co., Glenury Royal Distillery. […] Mr Thomson [manager of the distillery] referred to Mr Andrew’s long and valued service, and the respect in which he was held by everyone, and wished him and Mrs Andrew many happy days in retirement.
Mr Andrew’s retirement recalls his personal experience of the “Ghost of Logie Farmhouse” of fifty years ago, when he was engaged for two consecutive harvests in work at Logie Farm. The house, situated two miles north of Stonehaven, is a conspicuous landmark to mariners at sea.
Uncanny sounds caused consternation not only to Mr Andrew, who slept in an attic on the second floor, and the inhabitants of th ehouse, but to the neighbouring district. It was the talk for miles around, and many and varied were the reasons given for the weird noises in the still hours of the night.
Describing one particular night, Mr Andrew said that after he and the household retired a terrific rumbling was heard. The sound coming from the room above the kitchen, resembled the noise of a bag of coals being emptied out on the floor. Going downstairs he was met by one of the farmer’s daughters, who was thoroughly alarmed. An examination of the room could give no clue to the unnatural sound.
Frequently similar, inexplicable noises were heard, and the household came to the conclusion that the sounds originated under the hearthstone. The farmer would not admit or deny that he heard the noises. On the night of the Tay Bridge disaster the uncanny sounds were said to have been more eerie than ever.
Two brawny haorsemen who undertook to lift the hearthstone took fright and ran from the room. A relative of the family, who was deaf to all normal sounds in her visits to the farmhouse, never failed to hear the mysterious noises, and Fridays seemed to be special occasions.
With others who at one time or another had been employed on the farm, a traction engine attendant in the employment of the late Mr John Barclay, Kinneff, reaffirmed all that has been said about the disturbances.
Strange to relate, the succeeding tenant and his household were never disturbed by the sounds which seemed to surprise the people of the countryside for miles around, who had come to accept the “ghost” story as a reality.
Aberdeen Press and Journal, 6th December 1928.