THE GHOSTS OF ORKNEY. . .
When it comes to ghost stories, Orkney has its fair share. Forty years ago, I would have dismissed such a thing as nonsense, but in 1988, I got a job at the Orkney Museum. Tankerness House, the building which holds the Orkney Museum, dates from the early 16th century and was the home of the Baikie family for centuries.
I had heard about ghosts who wandered the museum and were heard by most of the staff, and the Baikie family in the past.
Sure enough, it didn’t take long for me to hear the ghostly footsteps too. They have been heard throughout the building at times when the museum was closed, and only one or two staff members were there. There are usually five footsteps, heading from the Baikie Library into the Drawing Room. They have been heard in other places, but these five heavy steps, always the same and unmistakably human, are the most frequent.
I have heard them many times, on my own and with another member of staff present when the museum was closed. It is like a recording stuck on a loop. The only sighting was by the former caretakers of the house, who had a tiny bedroom off the Library. They were woken one night by a grey shape at the foot of the bed, which then disappeared.
St Magnus Cathedral has its fair share of ghosts, as you’d expect from a building of that age. A former custodian saw a man in a tweed suit standing in front of a memorial stone, but within seconds he had gone.
An earlier custodian had been checking the upper levels, when they were open to the public (now only open for booked tours) and was on his way back down. He heard the sound of footsteps heading up the tower, so he moved into a small alcove to allow the person to pass. The footsteps got louder and louder, until they went right past him, but there was no one to be seen.
An even earlier custodian had been up the tower in the company of the bellringer and
was just heading back downstairs. When they opened the door and stepped into the ground floor, they saw an amazing sight.
The cathedral was softly lit by candlelight, and the whole interior was brightly painted, just as it would have been in the Middle Ages. After a moment or two this vision faded, and they found themselves back in the 20th century.
Skaill House, near Skara Brae, has the reputation of being very haunted.
The earliest part of the house was built in 1620, but the name “Skaill” suggests that it was built on the site of a Viking Age drinking hall belonging to someone important. Building work in the 1990s found that it was built over an early Christian graveyard, with bodies going under the present house. Here, smells are added to the list of phenomena, as cigarette smoke is often encountered, just for a second or two before completely disappearing. This comes from the bedroom of a former laird’s wife. The list of hauntings here are too numerous to mention.
Mathi’s Glen in South Ronaldsay is said to be haunted by an old man and an old woman, while a bridge just west of the Scapa Distillery is said to be haunted by a man; I have heard it said that he was a murder victim.
Another murderous haunting comes from the farm of Clumley in Sandwick.
Two servants had fallen out over a girl who worked at the farm. Things came to a head one night when they were threshing sheaves in the barn. An angry row ended with one man striking the other with his flail, killing his rival instantly.
The murderer hid the body under some straw before taking it by horse to Yesnaby, where he threw it over the cliffs. On his return journey the horse jumped a dyke, but caught its back hooves on the wall, knocking some stones off the top.
The horse fell, killing both itself and the rider. It is said that no matter how often that dyke was repaired, the stones were always back on the ground the following morning — the ghost of a white horse is believed to be the culprit, knocking down the top stones of the dyke . . .