The Paranormal Database

Sir William MacEwen

Location: Glasgow - Western Infirmary (hospital)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The ghost of MacEwen is thought to have returned after he deliberately failed to perform surgery that could have saved a man's life. In 1975 two nurses spotted a patient in a blue gown, one of whom recognised him as a man who had died a couple of days previous. The man suddenly vanished.

Little Girl

Location: Glasgow - Arches, below Glasgow's Central Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: January 2009
Further Comments: Reported in a national newspaper, the Alien Wars show is home to a phantom little girl dressed in old style clothing. While actors from the show are said to be afraid of the ghost, the phantom herself is reputedly frightened off by the show's special effects.

Reston Mather

Location: Glasgow - Auchinlea Park - Provan Hall and Blochairn House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Reston Mather, one of the last owners of the property, is thought still to haunt Blochairn House. Provan Hall is home to a phantom woman and a young boy, who are said to have been killed in the upper part of the building.

Woman with a Lantern

Location: Glasgow - Barlinnie Prison
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The area outside the surgery wing and the bricked up entrance to the old execution block are home to a phantom woman dressed in Victorian clothing, holding a lantern.

Bathtime Murder

Location: Glasgow - Blythswood Square, private house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A family living here reported being witness to a ghostly murder - a beautiful woman drowning a man in the bath. The family moved out soon after.

Sounds of Children

Location: Glasgow - Cathedral House Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The sounds of children have been reported coming from the top floor of this hotel. Other people have claimed to feel something invisible brush against them. In a newspaper interview in 2022, it was stated that Suzi Quatro had reported seeing a ghost here to the manager.

Man with Roman Nose

Location: Glasgow - Cathedral Street, and private house in the area
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-mid-twentieth century
Further Comments: The ghostly figure of a man was said to follow owners or guests out of the house and to the nearby cathedral if they, or a loved one, were going to shortly die.

Opening Doors

Location: Glasgow - Central Hotel
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1976-1982
Further Comments: A former worker at the hotel reported that they would walk around during the early hours of the morning closing all the fire doors on the fourth floor, which would then reopen and close themselves a few moments later.

Old Lady

Location: Glasgow - Commercial property, St Vincent Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2008
Further Comments: A witness who spotted an elderly woman staring at herself in a mirror in the men's toilets found humour in the situation until he told a colleague about the incident. Realising that the woman was wearing old fashioned clothing, that no one of that age worked in the building, and that security would not let anyone off the street in, the witness returned to the toilet and found it empty. Workers nearby had not seen anyone leave.

Auld Wives Lifts

Location: Glasgow - Craigmaddie Muir
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: These three stones are said to have been carried here by a trio of married women who wanted to know who could carry the heaviest weight. They are set out so two of the stones carry the third, and another legend states that if one visits the site and does not climb through the hole, then they will die before having children.

The Gurning Man

Location: Glasgow - Crosshill area
Type: Other
Date / Time: 1976-1979
Further Comments: A story popular on the internet says that over a four year period several women were said to have encountered a strange looking man who made animalistic sounds. The figure appeared in both homes and along streets, quickly vanishing without trace.

Suicide

Location: Glasgow - Dalmarnock Road Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1972
Further Comments: A man in his 30s wearing black trousers and a blue coat was seen to leap over the bridge by one witness, only to vanish into thin air.

Falling Man

Location: Glasgow - Edinburgh Road, Cranhill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: November 2016
Further Comments: While walking towards a shop, one witness watched a man stumble across the road holding his throat before falling against a fence. As the witness approached, the figure vanished.

Deil's Kirkyard

Location: Glasgow - Former marshland (no longer present, replaced by yachting pond, Camphill Park)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1830
Further Comments: The site where the fallen from the Battle of Langside were buried, a woman staying nearby watched as the dead rose and marched down the nearby road. The woman ran to her minister, who is said to have exorcised the ghosts so they never appeared again.

An old postcard showing George Square in Glasgow.

Two Men Walking

Location: Glasgow - George Street
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Seen in the early hours of the morning, these two shades out for a walk wore eighteenth century clothing.

Lady in Green

Location: Glasgow - Gothic villa close to Springburn Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown - twentieth century?
Further Comments: A woman wearing a long green dress was once said to wander the property with her dog.

Inmates and Staff

Location: Irvine - Former Ravenspark Asylum (hospital)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Ghost hunters claim that the former asylum is haunted by several former patients and at least one warden. Footsteps, banging doors and whispers have all been reported on site.

Castle

Location: Kilsyth - Likely to be near the grounds of Auchinvole farm
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: A passenger in a vehicle briefly spotted a castle while passing through the area. After looking away and then realising that there should be no castle in the area, they looked again - the building had gone.

Dark Man in Hat

Location: Kirk of Shotts - Canthill Road, near the watch tower
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth / early twenty-first century
Further Comments: A scared female driver reported that she had hit a man who walked out of the mist along this road - he had bounced over the car, and she watched him land on his feet on the other side. When she climbed out to see if he was okay, the figure vanished. Several other people claim to have encountered the ghost, though they have been on foot at the time.

First Fatality

Location: Kirkfieldbank - Outside Linnmill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1912 onwards
Further Comments: Occupants of the building have reported hearing a car door being slammed shut, though nothing is ever visible. The first fatal Scottish car accident occurred just outside this property when a woman was run over.

Mrs McNeil

Location: Lanark - Applebank Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghost of this woman arrived at the hotel (formally an inn) at the same time a stone lintel was brought to the building from McNeil's former home. Bottles are said to have exploded, glasses have flown from the shelves, and people passing by the building late at night have heard banging noises from within.

Blue Lady

Location: Lanark - Cartland Bridge Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This old woman has a veil covering her face. Another ghost, that of a young child, has also been seen.

Grey Abbott

Location: Lanark - Clydesdale Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This religious figure can be found in the building's cellar; the public house was placed on the site of an old monastery.

Water or Ghost..?

Location: Lanark - New Lanark Mill Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: May 2010
Further Comments: A blurred object which appeared on CCTV camera was touted as evidence of the building's ghost, although in all likelihood the distortion was a drop of water (or insect).

Woman in Nightdress

Location: Lanark - Private residence, Gallowhill area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: May 1994
Further Comments: A woman wearing a modern nightdress was spotted by a visitor to this property. The woman walked bending slightly forward and disappeared into a wall.