The Ghost That Haunted Itself by Jan-Andrew Henderson

Author:Jan-Andrew Henderson [Jan-Andrew Henderson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mainstream Publishing
Published: 2012-02-23T00:00:00+00:00

The Exorcist

But as the ceremony drew to a close a shadow glided across the Greyfriars Kirk’s window – although the doors were locked and no one was inside.

‘So what is that figure lurking in a window?’

EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS, 15 NOVEMBER 1999

At the time, Mr Grant said, ‘I hoped I had exorcised all the spirits but it appears one had been hiding.’

‘Exorcist minister dies trying to contact dead’

THE EXPRESS, 29 JANUARY 2000

On 25 September 1999, a male visitor on a City of the Dead tour spotted something white flitting between the tombs in Greyfriars. It appeared to be following the tour party. Kate Kavanagh, who was taking the tour, did not see anything and suggested it might be a fox or even a child playing a prank, but the gentleman found the sight distressing enough to leave the group and graveyard immediately. After that the tour resembled a wagon train. Those at the back looked nervously behind and the whole party seemed ready to form a defensive circle at a moment’s notice.

Two days later, Ben Scott was in full storytelling flow when an Australian male in his mid-twenties plunged to the floor of the Black Mausoleum. The unconscious antipodean woke up five minutes later, profoundly embarrassed and declining to give his name, though he did insist that he had never fainted before in his life. Young Australian males, apparently, didn’t do that kind of thing.

On 10 October several of Kate’s party again saw ‘something white’ moving between the graves. Again, this unidentified stalker seemed to unduly frighten those members who spotted it, and three of them left the graveyard. Kate stared after them in consternation. ‘Am I missing something here?’ she demanded of the agitated group.

On 13 October an English visitor was overcome with nausea in the Black Mausoleum. Swaying slightly, she reached out to the woman next to her for support. As her hand touched the stranger’s shoulder the second woman looked at Ben Scott with sudden panic. ‘My legs are frozen,’ she said in an astonished voice, then proved herself partially wrong by taking several steps forward before collapsing in the doorway.

The Mackenzie Poltergeist had come to the attention of the press by this time and local newspapers invited a well-known spiritualist minister, the Reverend Colin Grant, to come and give his opinion of the graveyard disturbances. Ben Scott was also invited.

A small, strange-looking group gathered in the graveyard on a chilly afternoon in November – Ben Scott, Colin Grant and his wife, a reporter named Claire Gardner and a press photographer. Colin Grant, a stout, friendly man with a down-to-earth manner, shook Ben’s hand and asked where the trouble seemed to be. Ben hadn’t really thought of the poltergeist as trouble before, but it occurred to him that Colin Grant saw this as a rescue mission rather than a publicity stunt. ‘Come with me,’ Ben said.

The photographer had wandered off to take shots of the most impressive tombs and Mrs Grant had wisely opted to stay in the car, so only Claire and Colin accompanied their guide to the Covenanters’ Prison.

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