g stewart author

In many countries there is a belief that, contrary to expectations, a cemetery only has one ghost within the grounds. The guardian of the graveyard. The role of the guardian is to oversee the cemetery and ensure all is well. To a certain extent it makes sense, while many people perceive cemeteries as spooky places, the vast majority of reported ghost sightings take place elsewhere, most commonly in locations connected with a significant incident in the life of the person.

There are various methods to try to identify the grave of the guardian, but in one ancient cemetery that I visited regularly in my youth, the guardian is far more visible (or at least it is based on the story I was told at the time). At the highest point of the cemetery, a statue of an angel holding a cross marks one of the graves. This in itself is not an unusual design of tombstone to have, I have seen them in many cemeteries, but there is something very different about this particular monument. A close examination reveals that the hand on the cross appears to have moved at some point. The stories I have heard vary from an angel being seen moving around the cemetery, to a body being found in the cemetery close to this grave, strangled to death. If you look at the photo below, you can clearly see below the hand the outline as though the hand was once in a lower position with the little finger lower on the cross. Could the story of the guardian be true, or is there a more simple explanation, such as a mistake made by the stonemason that was later rectified (one finger too many?).

I am not revealing the location of this cemetery out of respect to the family, as this could be nothing more than a tale to terrify children. It is however still a tale I find curious, and one of my planned projects is to research the history of this cemetery and, in particular, this grave.

The research for ‘Haunted Kirkcaldy’ has been taking up all of my time recently so things like the blog had to take a back seat for a while! I have found some great information for the book though and am really happy with the way it is coming together.

As part of the research, I have started to build a fairly extensive collection of old folklore and ghost story books from Scotland and got some strange looks while on a recent holiday from everyone sitting round the pool with their Kindles while I sat there with a dusty old 60 year old ghost story book!! As well as coming up with some great information for the ‘Haunted Kirkcaldy’ book, I have a number of references for the mythology book I am also planning. One character seems to crop up on a fairly regular basis in these tales, none other than the Devil himself! I find the number of times the Devil is mentioned quite interesting, Scotland is, in world terms, a relatively small country yet the Devil seems to have spent a lot of time here! There is no doubt that the country has a long, mysterious past. This past was sometimes violent, with invasions from the Romans, the Vikings and the English, to name a few, leading to many bloody battles. There has also been many internal wars, as the separate kingdoms that once made up Scotland fought for supremacy and control over all of the lands. All of these conflicts have without a doubt helped forge the country as it is today with it’s proud people but it also got me thinking, is this dark past the reason many believe that the Devil was a regular visitor throughout it’s history?

Needless to say, I am now gathering a collection of stories relating to the Devil in Scotland, and the ideas for yet another book are forming.     

Tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people visit the small coastal town of St Andrews every year and, for many, there is one thing on their mind….golf! St Andrews is indeed the home of golf with probably the most famous course in the world, but visitors soon discover there is so much more to the town.

The original settlement dates back to several hundred years before the relics of St Andrew are said to have arrived in the town, brought by St Regulus in the year 877, and religion was a significant factor in the growth and development of the town. It also however led to a long, dark past due to opposing religious opinions. Today St Andrews still lays claim to a 12th century cathedral that, for many centuries was the largest building in Scotland. St Andrews castle was built as a residence for the bishop of the cathedral and visitors can now visit the notorious bottle dungeon and the unique mine and countermine. The town also has the third oldest university in the English speaking world, founded in 1413 and, going back to golf, the Royal and Ancient clubhouse overlooking the first tee and 18th hole of the Old Course.

St Andrews Cathedral

With such a long past, it’s not surprising that there are many ghost stories associated with the town. One of the best known is the White Lady, who has been seen in and around the cathedral. Reports of sightings of the white lady go back more than 200 years and she is always said to be dressed in a long white dress, with a white veil and gloves. Witnesses started to report seeing the phantom close to a small, square tower on a regular basis and children used to dare each other to put their hands through the bars of one of the gates to the cathedral close to the tower, where it was said you would feel the cold touch of the white ladies hands take hold of your own and, if you let her get hold, she would pull you in. This led many to believe the story was nothing more than a tale to scare children to stop them playing around the cathedral after dark, however, in 1868, work was carried out to the tower and the stonemasons made a frightening discovery. Within a sealed vault lay 6-10 bodies (the number varies from report to report) but within the bodies was one particularly well preserved corpse of a lady, still wearing fragments of the white cloth from her dress and gloves. The identity of the lady in white or the other bodies have not been confirmed. Some speculate that they were plague victims, locked up in the tower to prevent the disease spreading while others think that they must have been people of stature to be able to be buried within the walls of the cathedral. The question also remains as to why only the lady in white haunts the area and not the others sealed within the tower.

The Haunted Tower

Whoever she is, sightings of the white lady have persisted, with the most recent documented sighting being in the 1970s when the spirit was spotted by some of the university students and no doubt, the sightings will continue.