If Borley Rectory has a reputation as England’s most haunted house of all time, Ballechin House holds a similar distinction in Scotland. Like its English counterpart, the original house was demolished decades ago, yet the legends about the site go on to this day.
Located near Grandtully, Perthshire, the house was built in 1806 on the site of a much older manor house, occupied by the Steuart family since the fifteenth century. Its early years appear to have been free of paranormal phenomena, but in 1834 Ballechin was inherited by a Major Robert Steuart, who spent his later years living in the house with numerous dogs. During his military service in India, Major Steuart, who seems to have been somewhat eccentric, had come to believe in reincarnation and the transmigration of souls. He reportedly claimed that after his death, he would return in the form of a dog. Following the Major’s death in 1876, the house was inherited by his nephew John Skinner, who reportedly shot all fourteen of his uncle’s surviving dogs.
It seems that the Major and his slain dogs did not rest in peace, however. The first odd phenomena were reported not long afterwards. These began with an inexplicable smell of dogs, frequently noticed both by the occupants and by visitors to the house. This quickly progressed to reports of invisible furry bodies brushing against people’s legs, and sensations of being nudged or pawed by invisible canines. Then voices began to be heard, incomprehensible but angry sounding. The governess left in a hurry, complaining of invisible canine phantoms. A priest who stayed at the house in 1892 reported strange noises, angry voices and slamming doors. A group of nuns who rented a cottage in the grounds also reported supernatural disturbances.
After John Skinner died in an accident, the house was rented out to a family in 1896. They left after a few weeks, complaining that the house was haunted. Their experiences included the noises and angry voices as well as the sound of a person with a limp walking around the house. Interestingly, Major Steuart sustained a permanent leg injury during his Indian service and reportedly walked with a limp. The apparition of a woman in a silk dress was also allegedly sighted by various members of the family. It has been suggested that this particular spectre might be that of Major Steuart’s former housekeeper, with whom he was rumoured to be having an affair according to local gossip, and who died the year before the Major himself. There were also reports of poltergeist-like activity, including bedclothes being snatched off beds in the middle of the night. The family were sufficiently unnerved that they were prepared to forfeit more than nine months’ rent in order to leave the house.
In 1897 the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) rented Ballechin and conducted an investigation between February and May of that year. They recorded numerous strange phenomena, including the sound of dogs moving around the rooms and the apparition of a black spaniel. Uncannily, Major Steuart is supposed to have said that he wanted to be reincarnated as a black spaniel. The apparition of a nun was also allegedly sighted in a nearby glen, where investigators were supposedly directed in a Ouija board session held at the house (Major Steuart’s sister had been a nun, though whether there was any connection is unclear). The story was published in 1899 by two of the investigators, and serialised in The Times. This exposure sealed Ballechin’s reputation as the ‘most haunted house in Scotland’.
Rumours about the house continued to grow, with the tales likely becoming increasingly embellished as they were passed around. These supposedly included the apparition of a disembodied hand grasping a crucifix, an unearthly scream that was said to echo through the house at midnight, and a spectral, Quasimodo-like hunchback. By 1932 the house was uninhabited, and remained so for three decades. Then, in 1963, much of the building was gutted by a fire. The greater part of the building was subsequently demolished, apart from one wing which had been the former servants’ quarters, and an outbuilding.
Reports of paranormal activity at the site continued, however. Jack Richardson, the priest and popular author, visited the site in the 1970s and reported an eerie clinging sensation in the old cellars, as though something were grasping his neck. Richardson interviewed the then-tenant of the remaining wing, a gentleman named Alasdair, who claimed that the old cellars were the most haunted part of the site, although he declined to say whether he himself had actually seen any apparitions. Other witnesses claimed to have seen the spectre of a black dog on the site.
In 2009, the remaining wing was extended, with the new part of the building being constructed over the site of the previously demolished main house. The resulting building, renamed Old Ballechin, was recently up for sale. It remains to be seen whether the new occupants report any supernatural happenings and open a new chapter in the history of what was once known as Scotland’s most haunted house.
