Elliott O'Donnell - Scottish Ghost Stories

[dem bones]

Elliott O'Donnell - Scottish Ghost Stories (Jarrold, 1975: originally Kegan Paul, 1911)

Tim Hunt

The Death Bogle of the Crossroads, and the Inextinguishable Candle of the Old White House, Pitlochry
The Top attic in Pringles Mansion, Edinburgh
The Bounding Figure of —— — House, near Buckingham Terrace, Edinburgh
Jane of George Street, Edinburgh
The Sallow-faced Woman of no — Forrest Road, Edinburgh
The Phantom Regiment of Killiecrankie
"Pearlin' Jean of Allanbank
The Drummer of Cortachy
The Room Beyond. An Account of the Hauntings of Hennersley, near Ayr
—— — House, near Blythswood Square, Glasgow. The Haunted Bath.
The Choking Ghost of —— — House, near Sandyford Place, Glasgow
The Grey Piper and the Heavy Coach of Donaldgowerie House, Perth
The Floating Head of the Benrachett Inn, near the Perth Road, Dundee
The Hauntings of —— — House, in the Neighbourhood of the Great Western Road, Aberdeen
The White Lady of Rownam Avenue, near Stirling
The Ghost of the Hindoo Child, or the Hauntings of the White Dove Hotel, near St. Swithin's Street, Aberdeen
Glamis Castle

Tim Hunt

The Death Bogle of the Crossroads: Superb start. A hedge conceals a misty phantom with long spidery arms. O'Donnell watches aghast as it sets off in pursuit of two terrified farmers driving a hay wagon. Local legend has it that those the Death Bogle touches die within a year.

The Inextinguishable Candle of the Old White House, Pitlochry: Building a house on the site of an ancient burial ground is simply asking for trouble. So it proves to the Holkitt family who find it impossible to keep servants.

The Top attic in Pringles Mansion, Edinburgh: Yesterdays reading turned up The Bed of Terror, a delightful O'Donnell beast in the cellar (OK, guest room) ghost story. Today we investigate the magnificent multiple haunting of a sixteenth century mansion. Young Miss Letty Smith is allocated the room next to that which all the servants avoid. Problem is, she's a sleepwalker. A pair of glittery disembodied eyes in the dark, a chuckle from within a black oak chest, a spectral Burker in the wardrobe, and yet another poor, dead, hideous idiot writhing beneath the sheets ..... Story also references "the Egham case" of 1904, the outcome of which made authors think twice before identifying the exact location of an allegedly haunted property.

[dem bones]

The Bounding Figure of —— — House, near Buckingham Terrace, Edinburgh: Exact address withheld at the request of the Gordon family, who "have got into sad trouble with their landlord for leaving the house under the pretext it was haunted, and he has threatened to prosecute them for slander of title." On this evidence, O'Donnell's source for the story, Miss Torfrida Vincent, is a neglected mistress of supernatural suspense, teasing us with the flimsiest hints of ghost until .... well. If you like your ghosts bloody spectacular, this one should do the trick. ...

Jane of George Street, Edinburgh: Tastefully if unfashionably dressed ghost of Miss Vernelt haunts a costumers she once owned, silently beseeching current owner, Miss Bosworth, to sell it back. "The haunting, indeed, began before she died; and I frequently saw her — when I knew her material body to be under restraint." O'Donnell was big on bounding ghosts, elongated Mr. Tickle arms, and persons born or gone insane during this period of his career.

The Sallow-faced Woman of no — Forrest Road, Edinburgh: The Author begins by chastising those very 'middlish' middle class folk who seek to break into the ghost hunting business as a means of securing an introduction to Lord or Lady So-and-so. When no such introduction is forthcoming, they turn ratty and peddle nasty tales to the local paper, mostly about him being uncooperative. Lecture over, we join Lady Adela, armed with only candle and riding crop, as she braves the pitch dark, beetle-infested cellar, determined to the locate the source of that ghastly odour ...

[dem bones]

The Phantom Regiment of Killiecrankie: O'Donnell had this one from an adventuress who satisfied a long held fancy to spend a night in the wild by parking her bicycle and camping out at Killiecrankie. As title indicates, her sleep is disturbed by multiple marching phantoms, but pick of the ghosts is surely a long-haired Highland lass prowling the corpse-strewn battlefield, meticulously butchering injured redcoats and stealing their gold.

Pearlin' Jean of Allanbank: Ghost is that of an innocent French Sister of Charity who fell for a love cheat, Mr. Stuart, and died outside the church as he married another. Appropriately enough, Jean was crushed beneath the wheels of the departing wedding carriage. Mr. Stuart thereafter haunted by a ghost with bloodstained face, claw-like hands and rustling lace dress.

The Drummer of Cortachy: Some centuries back, Lord Airlie took such a dislike to a drummer boy that he stuffed the lad inside his own drum and threw it from the tower. The ghost beats a tattoo whenever a family death is imminent. Small mercies. At least, unlike the O'Donnell's resident phantom percussionist, this one has a head.

[andydecker]

Feb 11, 2021 15:32:51 GMT dem bones said:

The Drummer of Cortachy: Some centuries back, Lord Airlie took such a dislike to a drummer boy that he stuffed the lad inside his own drum and threw it from the tower.

Absolutly love this story. Sound like something out of 11th Pan Book of Horror Stories. Mean-spirited and horrible. I always thought writers like McNeilly went out of their way to depict their Scottish lords of the castle as barking lunatics. Seems they played it down instead.

[Dr Strange]

Feb 12, 2021 13:42:01 GMT andydecker said:

Feb 11, 2021 15:32:51 GMT dem bones said:

The Drummer of Cortachy: Some centuries back, Lord Airlie took such a dislike to a drummer boy that he stuffed the lad inside his own drum and threw it from the tower.

Absolutly love this story. Sound like something out of 11th Pan Book of Horror Stories. Mean-spirited and horrible. I always thought writers like McNeilly went out of their way to depict their Scottish lords of the castle as barking lunatics. Seems they played it down instead.

I suspect that a lot of this can be put down to them being in a state of semi-permanent drunkenness and/or hungover on the locally produced "water of life". Imagine waking up with a stinking whisky hangover in a cold, draughty castle - and then someone starts drumming (or worse, playing the bagpipes).

[Shrink Proof]

Feb 12, 2021 14:25:50 GMT Dr Strange said:

I suspect that a lot of this can be put down to them being in a state of semi-permanent drunkenness and/or hungover on the locally produced "water of life". Imagine waking up with a stinking whisky hangover in a cold, draughty castle - and then someone starts drumming (or worse, playing the bagpipes).

And then learning that the only food to be had is porridge made with salt water...

[dem bones]

Feb 12, 2021 14:25:50 GMT Dr Strange said:

Feb 12, 2021 13:42:01 GMT andydecker said:

Absolutly love this story. Sound like something out of 11th Pan Book of Horror Stories. Mean-spirited and horrible. I always thought writers like McNeilly went out of their way to depict their Scottish lords of the castle as barking lunatics. Seems they played it down instead.

I suspect that a lot of this can be put down to them being in a state of semi-permanent drunkenness and/or hungover on the locally produced "water of life". Imagine waking up with a stinking whisky hangover in a cold, draughty castle - and then someone starts drumming (or worse, playing the bagpipes).

Drummer boy interlude. From Beatrice Knollys - Modern Family Skeletons: (Harmsworth, July 1898).

A. S. Hartrick[/color

In this article it is my intention to be the biographer of a few ancient and well-born ghosts only, as space will not permit me to condescend to mere one-generation ghosts, pedigreeless spirits.

A. was an Airlie who killed a poor drummer, whose spirit plays a drum at Cortachy Castle, Kirriemuir, Scotland, whenever any member of the Ogilvy family is going to die. The origin of this tradition is that the drummer, for some reason or other, in his lifetime so enraged a former Lord Airlie that he had him thrust into his own drum and flung from the window of a tower of Cortachy Castle, though the drummer threatened to haunt the family ever after if his life were taken.

He has seemingly kept his word, for in 1849, before the decease of a Lord Airlie, and again in 1884, before the death of a Lady Airlie, the beat of the drum was on each occasion distinctly heard by different guests of the family. One of these guests was a lady staying in the castle, who was so ignorant of the tradition that, having heard the beating of a drum while dressing for dinner, she innocently asked her host — Lord Airlie — at the table who his drummer was. The question made the peer turn quite white, for the sound had preceded the loss of his first wife, and it was only a few months after this ominous dinner party that the second wife died.

[dem bones]

The Room Beyond. An Account of the Hauntings of Hennersley, near Ayr: The section of the house where Alicia was murdered by an intruder has been demolished and a white garden planted on the site. The ghost comforts her elderly sisters as they potter about the flowerbeds. Gentle, incongruous in this company. Narrated by a little girl.

—— — House, near Blythswood Square, Glasgow. The Haunted Bath: Captain Smythe takes instant dislike to the 'grim' bathroom on sight. Before moving in, he has a new tub fitted, walls and ceiling repainted , yet still the place gives him the shudders. When his wife insists he spruce up, someone dead, ghastly and bloated awaits beneath the soapsuds ...

The Choking Ghost of —— — House, near Sandyford Place, Glasgow : How comedian Hely Browne learned of his brother's murder via a spectral dramatic reconstruction in a Glasgow hotel room. It begins when he stumbles against a phantom noose dangling from a beam ....

[Swampirella]

I should have posted this when the thread started; you can get a digital copy of Scottish Ghost Stories at Project Gutenberg:

www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20034

[ripper]

Feb 14, 2021 12:29:02 GMT Swampirella said:

I should have posted this when the thread started; you can get a digital copy of Scottish Ghost Stories at Project Gutenberg:

www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20034

I think that is where I first read Scottish Ghost Stories. It is one of my favourite of EOD's collections. It can be argued that some of his accounts might be a tad embellished, but, my goodness, the guy produced some entertaining tales.

[Swampirella]

Feb 15, 2021 12:40:02 GMT ripper said:

Feb 14, 2021 12:29:02 GMT Swampirella said:

I should have posted this when the thread started; you can get a digital copy of Scottish Ghost Stories at Project Gutenberg:

www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20034

I think that is where I first read Scottish Ghost Stories. It is one of my favourite of EOD's collections. It can be argued that some of his accounts might be a tad embellished, but, my goodness, the guy produced some entertaining tales.

In many cases, I would say more than "a tad"! But I love him anyhow & am glad to have most of his collections on my shelf.

[dem bones]

The O'Donnell's I've read to date seem mostly to have been greatest hits selections compiled by Harry Ludlam, but this from early in his career has been the most consistently brilliant.

The Grey Piper and the Heavy Coach of Donaldgowerie House, Perth: The evil-eyed bagpipe fiend appears to each Whittingen daughter in turn. Mary meets with a freak fatal accident involving a croquet peg. Ruth dies on the operating table. The phantom saves the very worst for Martha, as she fusses over her baby nephew ... One of O'Donnell's nasty ones. As revived by Bryan A. Netherwood in his excellent Medley Macabre. Should have been a Not At Night

The Floating Head of the Benrachett Inn, near the Perth Road, Dundee: Newly arrived in town and with night upon them, Mr. and Mrs. Murphy accept the last available room at a inn. We would say 'Don't look in that cupboard' but truth is that what's in there comes looking for them. Title has already spoiled surprise so we might as well add that it is rotting and vile and disgusting and reeks something scandalous.

[dem bones]

The Hauntings of —— — House, in the Neighbourhood of the Great Western Road, Aberdeen: As related to the author by Mr Scarfe who, on learning of it's reputation, begged the landlord's permission to spend a night at this notoriously haunted house. Ghost is that of Anne Webb, a highly strung servant who took ill at an accusation of theft. Conventional Victorian ghost business.

The White Lady of Rownam Avenue, near Stirling: Account given to O'Donnell by a man who claimed several experiences with ghosts, this one during his youth, when, one night, he hid in a hollowed out tree to catch a glimpse of the white lady in the winding sheet. Ghost believed to be that of Sir E.C.'s wife. 'Auld dour crab,' as he was known, pursued a zero tolerance policy toward trespassers and poor people, but would he go so far as to murder his wife?

The Ghost of the Hindoo Child, or the Hauntings of the White Dove Hotel, near St. Swithin's Street, Aberdeen: Experience of Mrs. Malcolmson during her nursing days at St. K—— —' s Hospital. Celebrity patient Miss Vining, actress, receives a visitor who does her chances of full recovery no good whatsoever.

[ripper]

Many of EOD's accounts do seem to have the format of short stories, and he's uncannily lucky in getting so many spectacular eyewitness testimonies; I'm sure that the SPR were green with envy--quite a lack of 'Death Bogles', inextinguishable candles and the like in their Journal and Proceedings!

[dem bones]

Feb 16, 2021 12:45:26 GMT ripper said:

Many of EOD's accounts do seem to have the format of short stories, and he's uncannily lucky in getting so many spectacular eyewitness testimonies; I'm sure that the SPR were green with envy--quite a lack of 'Death Bogles', inextinguishable candles and the like in their Journal and Proceedings!

Tim Hunt

Glamis Castle: Final story is blessed with no less than four independent eyewitness accounts of four different aspects of the castle's haunting, grim family secret and what have you, including - courtesy of "a lady named Bond" - what is surely the most detailed description of the monster on record. Much as I like Tim Hunt's artwork throughout, the abomination as depicted by him - see above and cover - is a looker in comparison.

Then there is "Miss Macginney" and her report on a fight to the death between two chaps in full armour. Conflict brought to bloody conclusion when one party smashes battleaxe through opponents head splitting helmet, brains, etc., before both vanish in the ether. The third witness, "elderly gentleman," chimes in with a Foaflore involving that which pursued his mum's friend down a flight of stairs, and, whatever it was, we can rule out a barrel. Finally, 'Mr. Vance' deadpans an improbable supernatural episode involving a skeleton hand and a creepy gardener.

What a marvellous read!