Paranormal Discovery

Built between 1569 and 1588 by John Strachan, Claypotts Castle is an impressive example of 16th century architecture and is unusual because it is both intact and little altered.  It was designed for protection against local attacks rather than a major siege and the z-plan style of the castle meant that defenders were able to fire their weapons across all angles of the building.

The Graham family bought Claypotts in 1601 and it was later inherited by John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount of Dundee (although he probably spent little time there).  The castle was the focus of tales of dark rituals and demonic orgies even before Graham's death and it was thought that he had met with the Devil there and had made a bargain with the Devil to make himself invincible in battle. Graham, known to his supporters as "Bonnie Dundee" and to his enemies as "Bluidy Clavers", was killed in battle at Killiecrankie in 1689. However,due to the pact with the Devil no ordinary bullet would have killed him so a loyalist soldier who had known that Graham would be impervious to bullets had removed one of the silver buttons from his uniform and had shot this at Graham with the desired result. The May 29th apparition, mentioned below,  is not the only strange sight to be seen at the castle. Every Halloween it is said that the castle glows with strange lights and sounds of a demonic orgy taking place can be heard emanating from the castle.

.After his death at the Battle of Killiecrankie, his lands were forfeited to the Crown in 1694.  Acquired through marriage by the Homes family in the nineteenth century, the castle was passed to the state in 1926 and is now maintained by Historic Scotland.

Claypotts Castle has been uninhabited since farm labourers were housed there in the nineteenth century, but it is said to have a 'white lady' who appears to be upset and is frantically waving a handkerchief from a high window every 29th May.  She is reputed to be the ghost of Marion Ogilvie who was having an affair with Cardinal Beaton who was murdered in St. Andrews on the same date, 1546.  However, if there is a ghostly figure at Claypotts it seems unlikely it would be this lady as the castle did not exist at the time and she lived at Melglund Castle.

This is one of the most famous bridge failures in the world and, to this day, is the worst structural engineering failure in Britain.  The Tay Bridge was designed by Thomas Bouch and was finished in February 1878.  At nearly two miles long it was, at the time, the longest bridge in the world.

On the stormy night of 28th December 1879, at 7.15pm, the central part of the bridge collapsed into the Firth of Tay below taking it with it a train carrying 75 people.  There were no survivors.  Only 60 bodies were ever found, with many being washed ashore on nearby beaches.  Some of the personal belongings of the passengers such as letters, a watch and a pair of gloves, can now be seen on display in Dundee's McManus Galleries.  The carriages were also recovered from the water, but these were unrepairable.  The engine, however, was salvaged and restored and was used for a few more years on the railway.

Bouch died a short time later said to be a 'broken man' and did not live to hear the findings of the official enquiry into the disaster.  It concluded that Bouch was to blame as he did not make adequate allowance for the strong winds that blew down the Tay.  The bridge had been badly designed, badly constructed and inadequately maintained.

Most of the iron girders from the first bridge were incorporated in the construction of the second, and present, bridge.  It is still possible to see the bases of the girders of the old bridge standing out of the water just east of the new one when the tide is low.

On the anniversary of the disaster a ghostly, brightly lit train has been seen once more rushing across the Tay Bridge before plummeting into the darkness beneath. 

RRS Discovery was built in Dundee in 1901 and was first designed for research.  It was the last three-masted ship to be built in Britain.  The ship was then used to carry munitions for Russians in the First World War, again for research after this, then as a training ship before finally coming to rest in Dundee in 1987.  There is now a custom built dock and visitor centre.

In 1901 the Discovery sailed to Antarctica with Captain Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton where it became icebound for 26 months.  An attempt by the expedition to reach the South Pole failed but the eventual rescue made Scott and the ship famous around the world.  Scott did eventually reach the South Pole, but died on the return journey during a blizzard in 1912.

There have been strange occurrences on board the Discovery and many visitors refuse to go in some of the rooms.  A bulb above Ernest Shackleton's bed also kept blowing and an electrician could find no earthly reason for this.  Some say Shackleton loved the ship so much that he never left.  Ghostly footsteps have been heard but who they belong to is a mystery - some say it is Shackleton but there are those who believe it is another sailor, Charles Bonner, who fell to his death from the crow's nest in 1901.  There has also been a report of a guest speaking with a sailor for much of the night, but nobody else could see who she was speaking to.  

The ship was built at the Royal Dockyard in Chatham in 1824 and was one of the most successful designs of the age.  The Unicorn is now the most completely original presereved wooden sailing ship in the world.  As there was a period of peace at the time when the ship was built, it was immediatley roofed over and kept in reserve.  She was used by the War Department some years later as a powder hulk before being selected for conversion to a Drill Ship for the Royal Naval Reserve in Dundee. She arrived in 1873 and during both world wars served as the Area Headquarters of the Senior Naval Officer, Dundee.  With several name changes over the years, she was finally renamed HMS Uncicorn in 1959.  She was berthed in Earl Grey Dock for almost a century after her arrival, but in 1961 plans were being made for this dock to be filled in to make way for the new Tay Road Bridge, and it was decided that the ship should be scrapped.  At the last moment, this decision was changed and in 1962 the Unicorn was moved to a new berth down river.

Although the ship did not see active battle, with the only person dying on board being a caretaker who fell down a set of stairs, there have been a number of reports of ghostly footsteps and other strange sounds.  Poltergeist activity has also been experienced with display cases being moved across the deck and small objects being thrown at investigators.

The car park was built in the 1960s on the site of a large cemetery and, presumably, on top of the 10,000 bodies that were interred there.  It was opened in 1836 due to the Howff cemetery being full and was closed to burials in 1882.  When the burial ground was demolished, Bell Street and the surrounding area was over run with rats that had been disturbed by the builders.  Only a tiny section of the graveyard survives - there are a few of the original tombstones built into the West wall.

Over the years there have been many stories of strange sounds, such as muffled cries, sobs and wailing that echo around the car park.

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Opened in 1828, Logie Works was once the largest mill in Angus.  Along with many other mills it was situated in Brook Street and was named by locals as the Coffin Mill due to the shape of its courtyard.  It has recently been converted into flats. 

The mill is well known in Dundee for being haunted every night by a girl who walks across a bridge that spans between two of the factory buildings (the bridge still exists today).  The reason for the girl's ghostly appearance is not certain - some say that the factory manager threw the girl off the bridge in a fit of rage when she told him she was pregnant.  Another story is that the girl was dragged into a machine and killed (although this was an extremely common occurrence in the mills, the average life expectancy of workers in the 1800s being 24).   

This mall was opened in 1978 and is built on the site of an old shopping street called Wellgate which ran between the residential Hilltown to the North and the main Dundee shopping street named Murraygate to the South.  None of the old tenements and shops remain, nor do the original steps which were at the foot of the Hilltown.  New steps have been constructed on the site of the old ones and only one Victorian street lamp at the top of these steps was saved. 

Correctly, Wellgate should be spelled 'gait' as this means way - the Wellgate was the way or walk to the well.  This well was called Our Lady's and was situated to the North of the Wellgate (today the Ladywell Tavern is located near to the site).  It was, at one time, the main source of water for Dundee's city centre, but by the 1800s was heavily polluted as it was next to an abbattoir.  In the seventeenth century there was a Wellgate Port, erected for security and also to act as a barrier to those living on Rotten Row (present day Hilltown).

In the new shopping centre there have been sightings of a lady ghost who is said to cause the creaking sounds that have been heard at night in the building, but sceptics say this is just the noise of the building cooling down.

The facts: Grizzel/Grissel Jaffray was the last woman to be "wirried" (strangled) and burned as a witch in Dundee on the 11th Novemeber, 1669.  Aberdonian by birth, she moved to Dundee, married James Butchart, a respectable businessman, a maltman, and led an ordinary life. However, both her and her husband found themselves imprisoned in Dundee's tollbooth awaiting trial for the crime of witchcraft having fallen foul of  Dundee’s three ministers, Henry Scrymgour, John Guthrie and William Rait.  She has no known descendants and the minutes of her trial are missing from the archives.  The deatails of the accusations made against her are not known.  However, it is safe to say that Jaffray would have been found guilty of having renounced her baptism and of making a pact with the Devil.  It is not known if she was persuaded to confess or whether she was found guilty on the evidence of others.  After denouncing several others as witches she was executed in the Seagate in Dundee.  Her husband escaped death and was later admitted to the poorhouse.

The Myth: according to local legend Jaffray and Butchart had an only son, who had become a sea captain.  He supposedly knew nothing about the imprisonment and imminent execution of his mother as he sailed back home to Dundee on the very same day she was to be burned in the Seagate.  There are two different versions to the story.  One suggests that as the ship enters the port the crew see the crowds gathered in the Seagate and learn what is happening and to whom.  The second version tells how the son saw who was being burnt at the stake with his own eyes.  Both tales end with the ship being about turned and heading back to sea with the son never returning to Dundee.

 Many standing stones & stone circles are scattered around the countryside of Angus.  However, nestled beside some of Dundee's busiest roads is evidence of a distant era.

Situated off the Dundee-Perth dual carriageway on the road to Denhead of Grey sits an impressive standing stone known as The Devil's Stone (or the Paddock Stone or the Grey Stane on old maps).  This artefact is actually located within the grounds of the Swallow Hotel beside its conference centre.  Permission is needed to view the stone but is readily given.  

Legend has it that the devil threw this large boulder from Fife in a fit of rage towards Invergowrie church in an attempt to destroy it.  Another version of the story says that the devil hurled the stone at a group of clergymen including Curitan (St. Boniface) who were sailing up the river Tay towards Invergowrie.  Their mission was to convert the local Pictish people to Christianity.  This was supposed to be the second stone thrown by the devil, the first also having missed its target and landing in the Tay.

Not too far away lies another ancient site.  The ancient Balgarthno stone circle is situated in Myrekirk Park and is sometimes known as the Farm of Corn.  Viewed from above the circle is perfectly round and measures 6.1 metres in diameter.  It originally consisted of 9 standing stones but sadly only one remains standing.  Excavation carried out in the 19th century found a jet ring which is now housed in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.  Previous attempts at dousing have revealed 12 lay lines from the circle's centre which are similar to the layout of a clock face.

 Sadly the stone circle has been uncared for for years and has sufferd years of vandalism.  A fence has recently been erected around this site to protect it and the grassland around it has been tidied up which makes it easier to see the site for what it is.

Another standing stone can be found in Camperdown Park just minutes away.  It is situated near the west gate and is actually on the golf course.  There is local belief that a cave or underground house is situated near this large stone, which measures just over 1 metre in height.       

Balgarthno Stone Circle

The last man to be hung in Dundee on 24th April 1889 was William Bury, age 29 years.  

Some people believe that he is the infamous serial killer, Jack the Ripper.

Two of Scotland Yard's detectives were sent to Dundee to speak to Bury before his execution.  They are rumoured to have said to James Berry, the executioner, " We are quite satisfied that you have hanged Jack the Ripper. There will be no more Whitechapel murders".

 Various authors contemplate this possibility and Euan MacPherson's book " The Trial of Jack the Ripper " explores the possibility in depth

Here is the story in short:

William Bury left Whitechapel with his wife, Ellen, having told her of a fictitious job offer in Dundee.

He killed his wife shortly after by strangling her and ripping her with a knife (she was disemboweled and her genitals mutilated some time after death).  Her corpse was put into a large packing crate and kept for several days.  Bury even played cards on top of the case with a friend.  Ellen's death was discovered when Bury went into a local police station and told the officer that Ellen had committed suicide.  He stated that she had hung herself and later admitted plunging a knife into her corpse due to panic.  Various facts lead to the conclusion that Bury was in fact Jack the Ripper:

• He had previous experience as a horse meat butcher,
• He had suffered a tragic childhood, was a thief, a liar and had a fear/hatred of women and is said to fit the FBI's profile of Jack the Ripper,
• He had lived in Whitechapel and frequented the brothels there (where he had met his wife, Ellen),
• The following phrases were found in chalk at 113 Princes Street where he had killed Ellen, "Jack the Ripper is at the back of this door" and " Jack the Ripper is in this seller".
• The way that Ellen met her end is identical to the Ripper's victims,
• He had fled Whitechapel and is known to have preyed on women there.  In February 1888 he attacked Annie Millwood, slashing her legs and genitals with a knife.  In March of this year he attacked the elderly Ada Wilson in her home, stabbed her twice in the neck and stole her belongings.  These 2 women survived. He was also witnessed by his landlady in the April trying to cut his wife's throat, then in December 1888 he strangled Rose Mylett and dumped her body in the street,
• There were no further Ripper killings in Whitechapel following Bury's execution.

"I was tempit at Pitempton,

 Draiglet at Baldragon,

  Stricken at Strikemartin,

  And killed at Martinstane".

The above rhyme is supposed to be the final words of the last dragon killed in Scotland.  Dundonians will recognise some of the place names which exist to this day.  A farmer from Pitempton sent his eldest daughter to a nearby well but she never returned home.  He then sent each of his 8 other daughters in turn but none returned.  He set off to find them but instead found their remains beside an enormous dragon.  Martin, the lover of one of the girls, plus some locals chased the dragon and it fled to Baldragon and was then chased to Strathmartine where it was struck by Martin (hence the name).  The dragon was finally killed at Martinstane at Balkello, which is near Bridgefoot, Angus.  There is a fenced off standing stone in the field where the dragon is supposed to have died.  It dates from 400-850 AD and is illustrated on one side with a serpent/dragon, 2 horsemen and a beast of  Pictish origin.  

According to legend, Dundee had its own family of cannibals who lived sometime in the 15th century on the outskirts of Dundee.  The victims of this family were poor, lonely travellers who would be ambushed, killed and eaten.  The authorities soon became suspicious due to the number of mysterious disappearances and sent armed men to investigate.  The family of cannibals were executed but mercy was shown to the infant girl who was taken to Dundee to be brought up by a good family.  As the little girl grew she started to show some disturbing behaviour.  She would bite the fingers of other children and then suck their blood.  Locals feared that she had acquired a taste for human flesh early in life and that she had somehow been infected with cannibalism. There was no hope of saving this poor child and the only solution was to execute her.  The Dundee authorities were not heartless, however, and could not execute such a young person.....they waited till she was eighteen then burned her alive in the Seagate!