Witchcraft and superstitious record in the south-western district of ScotlandWood, J. Maxwell (John Maxwell)
History
Witchcraft and superstitious record in the south-western district of Scotland
Wood, J. Maxwell (John Maxwell)
Folklore -- Scotland; Witchcraft -- Scotland
The district of Dalry has furnished us with tales of witch and fairy lore.
Of ghost tradition there are also authentic details, of which the most
important concerns the old mansion-house of Glenlee. The following details
are extracts from a paper on the subject contributed to the _Gallovidian_
(Winter, 1900):--
"In the north of Kirkcudbrightshire, in the beautiful district of the
Glenkens, on the banks of the Ken, nearly opposite to the village of Dalry
but on the other side of the river, stands the fine mansion-house of
Glenlee Park, at one time the residence of Lord Glenlee, one of the Judges
of the Court of Session. Silent and solitary, and untenanted for years now
except by a caretaker, this eligible residence has the reputation of being
haunted by a lady who walks about dressed in grey silk.
A lady, who is still alive, tells how the grey lady appeared to her one
evening as she was sitting in front of her dressing-glass waiting on her
maid to come and do up her hair. While looking into the mirror she became
aware of someone or something behind her, and then saw a lady enter by the
door of her room, pass across the floor, and disappear through a door
which communicated with a dressing-room. As the house was full of company
at the time she wondered whether some of the strangers had mistaken the
way to her room; but she waited in vain for her return, and just as she
was thinking of going to explore the mystery it occurred to her that there
had been no sound of doors opening or of footfalls on the floor, nor was
there any sound in the direction in which the lady had disappeared, and
finally it struck her that the lady was not dressed like anyone in the
house.
On another occasion the same lady was sitting up with her husband, who was
seriously ill, and during the night a kind of rap was heard on the door,
or about the door, which roused her to go and see what it was. Upon
opening the door a face stared at her, but spoke not, and passed silently
along the dimly-lighted corridor out of sight.
A guest at Glenlee, before going off to some entertainment one evening ran
up to his bedroom for something or other, and to his surprise there was a
lady standing at his dressing-table putting some finishing touches to her
toilette. He at once withdrew, thinking that some of the ladies in the
hurry of the moment had gone into the wrong bedroom. When he came down
again they were all upon the point of departure, and called to him to come
along--but before getting into the carriage he said,
'You have forgotten one of the ladies.'
'Oh, no!' they said, 'everyone is here, and but for your lingering we
should have been off.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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