History of the Stewarts | Castles and Buildings
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Ballechin - Haunted house
In 1834 Major Robert Steuart (1806-1876) inherited the house which had been built in 1806 and was itself built on the site of an older house owned by the Steuarts since 15th century. He rented Ballechin to tenants whilst he served in the Indian Army. During his time in India, Steuart came to believe in reincarnation and transmigration. He returned to the house in 1850 and lived there with numerous dogs: he is reported to have stated that he would return in the form of a dog, a black spaniel. This appears not have happened since there were no reports of black dog.
After the Major´s death, the house was inherited by his nephew John Skinner who assumed the name Steuart. Apparently fearing that his uncle would reincarnate in the form of one of his dogs, the new owner reportedly shot them all. From this story came the legend that Robert Steuart was forced to haunt the house as a disembodied spirit. The first reported haunting at the house took place in 1876; the witness was a maid in the house. However the majority of the reports seem to have come from a family who were tenants in the late 1890s, the Heavens.
In 1896 ‘Miss X’ (Ada Goodrich Freer ) and Lord Bute investigated these claims. The 3rd Marquis of Bute had become interested in the paranormal and the work of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR). He developed a friendship and correspondence with founder of the society Frederick William Henry Myers and prominent society member Ada Goodrich Freer. So he and Miss Freer decided to investigate the haunting at Ballechin House. They recorded their observations in their book The Alleged Haunting of B--- House published in 1900. During their investigation the Marquis read aloud from the Office for the Dead, a prayer cycle for the souls of the deceased, in various haunted spots throughout the house.
Mr MacPhail, a barrister, who had joined the ghost hunt commented that ‘with the frequent occurrence of the words Requiem eternam &c., might be as irritating to Intelligences which desired to communicate, as would be the effect of saying merely ‘keep still’ or ‘be quiet’ to persons who wished to set forth their wrongs. But this curious hypothesis would be insufficient to account for a sensation of absolute enmity.’ Throughout the course of their visit various examples of ‘audile phenomena’ were recorded and published in the appendix of their book. ‘Miss X’ and Lord Bute offered no conclusions based on their investigations instead stating ‘The editors offer no conclusions. This volume has been put together, as the house at B____ was taken, not for the establishment of theories but for the record of facts.’
However others who were there at the same time stated that they didn´t see or hear anything except noises at night. In fact a long article in the Times headed ‘On the trail of a Ghost’ J Callender Ross, one of the guests, made a sustained attack on the SPR and by implication on Miss Freer.
“The only mystery in the matter seems to be the mode in which an ordinary dwelling was endowed with so evil a reputation. I was assured in London that it had had this reputation for 20 to 30 years……Yet the factor on the estate concurs with the lawyer and minister in denying that the house had any reputation for being haunted before the advent of the Heaven family. The minister said that ‘Some of the members of the H family had indulged in practical jokes and boasted of them’ ……It was represented to him (Lord Bute) that he was taking ‘the most haunted house in Scotland’, a house with an old and established reputation for mysteries if not supernatural disturbances. What he has got is a house with no reputation whatever of that kind, with no history, with nothing germane to his purpose beyond a cloud of baseless rumours produced during the last twelve months.”
Unfortunately for Ada Goodrich Freer (Lord Bute died in 1900, the year of publication) the Society for Psychical Research quickly discredited the reports and findings from Ballechin House. After accusations of fraud were levelled at Freer, Myers and the Society turned their back on the whole affair.
Ballechin House was uninhabited by 1932, and most of the house was demolished in 1963, after a fire, leaving only the former servants quarters and outbuildings.
After the Major´s death, the house was inherited by his nephew John Skinner who assumed the name Steuart. Apparently fearing that his uncle would reincarnate in the form of one of his dogs, the new owner reportedly shot them all. From this story came the legend that Robert Steuart was forced to haunt the house as a disembodied spirit. The first reported haunting at the house took place in 1876; the witness was a maid in the house. However the majority of the reports seem to have come from a family who were tenants in the late 1890s, the Heavens.
In 1896 ‘Miss X’ (Ada Goodrich Freer ) and Lord Bute investigated these claims. The 3rd Marquis of Bute had become interested in the paranormal and the work of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR). He developed a friendship and correspondence with founder of the society Frederick William Henry Myers and prominent society member Ada Goodrich Freer. So he and Miss Freer decided to investigate the haunting at Ballechin House. They recorded their observations in their book The Alleged Haunting of B--- House published in 1900. During their investigation the Marquis read aloud from the Office for the Dead, a prayer cycle for the souls of the deceased, in various haunted spots throughout the house.
Mr MacPhail, a barrister, who had joined the ghost hunt commented that ‘with the frequent occurrence of the words Requiem eternam &c., might be as irritating to Intelligences which desired to communicate, as would be the effect of saying merely ‘keep still’ or ‘be quiet’ to persons who wished to set forth their wrongs. But this curious hypothesis would be insufficient to account for a sensation of absolute enmity.’ Throughout the course of their visit various examples of ‘audile phenomena’ were recorded and published in the appendix of their book. ‘Miss X’ and Lord Bute offered no conclusions based on their investigations instead stating ‘The editors offer no conclusions. This volume has been put together, as the house at B____ was taken, not for the establishment of theories but for the record of facts.’
However others who were there at the same time stated that they didn´t see or hear anything except noises at night. In fact a long article in the Times headed ‘On the trail of a Ghost’ J Callender Ross, one of the guests, made a sustained attack on the SPR and by implication on Miss Freer.
“The only mystery in the matter seems to be the mode in which an ordinary dwelling was endowed with so evil a reputation. I was assured in London that it had had this reputation for 20 to 30 years……Yet the factor on the estate concurs with the lawyer and minister in denying that the house had any reputation for being haunted before the advent of the Heaven family. The minister said that ‘Some of the members of the H family had indulged in practical jokes and boasted of them’ ……It was represented to him (Lord Bute) that he was taking ‘the most haunted house in Scotland’, a house with an old and established reputation for mysteries if not supernatural disturbances. What he has got is a house with no reputation whatever of that kind, with no history, with nothing germane to his purpose beyond a cloud of baseless rumours produced during the last twelve months.”
Unfortunately for Ada Goodrich Freer (Lord Bute died in 1900, the year of publication) the Society for Psychical Research quickly discredited the reports and findings from Ballechin House. After accusations of fraud were levelled at Freer, Myers and the Society turned their back on the whole affair.
Ballechin House was uninhabited by 1932, and most of the house was demolished in 1963, after a fire, leaving only the former servants quarters and outbuildings.