The best Glasgow ghost stories rounded up for Halloween

Some are well-known, like the terrifying story of the Gorbals Vampire, which dominated national news headlines in the 50s, and others less so.

The city has its fair share of spooky spots, from predictables ones like the towering Necropolis, to haunted houses, pubs and streets.

Glasgow guisers in the 50s were fairly terrifying (Image: Newsquest)

Which witchy story or ghostly tale do you think is Glasgow’s best? We want to hear from you – either email ann.fotheringham@glasgowtimes.co.uk or write to Ann Fotheringham, Glasgow Times, 125 Fullarton Drive, Glasgow G32 8FG.

One of the city’s best has to be the Gorbals Vampire, a strange figure once spotted flitting through the gravestones of the Southern Necropolis.

Rumours flew that it was the Gorbals Vampire, a seven-foot tall monster with iron teeth, which had killed and eaten two young boys.

Illustration of the Gorbals Vampire hunters (Image: Glasgow City Archives)

Far from cowering in their homes, however, gangs of youngsters, armed with stakes and knives and accompanied by angry dogs, pitched up at the South Side cemetery in the hope of catching the strange creature, and it made headlines around the country.

Glasgow’s Mitchell Library has some of the newspaper articles which covered the story at the time, and images of the Gorbals Vampire, in its occult collection.

Theatres are always good sources for ghost stories and the Arches, a former arts venue under Argyle Street in the old railway arches, has an exceptionally creepy example.  Around 2009, many staff reported seeing a little girl dressed in old-fashioned clothes wandering the hallways. Rumour has it she was so lifelike that some employees even approached her to ask if she was lost – only for her to vanish in front of their eyes…

The Arches, former arts venue, and scene of many a spooky sighting (Image: Newsquest)

Talking of spooky thespians, if you have ever been to the Pavilion Theatre on Renfield Street, you may have heard the sinister story of a dancer who died there many decades ago, after her dress caught fire.

Audience members and staff in the upper stalls have reported the scent of perfume, and the occasional glimpse of a ghostly woman dancing through the shadows...

Others claim to have seen a large, grinning man wandering through the auditorium and backstage, bearing great resemblance to comedian Tommy Morgan who had his ashes scattered in the auditorium.

Some Times Past readers may remember the spine-chilling story, from 1979, of an elderly couple in Partick who claimed to have been so terrified by a whole family of ghosts in their that they had to move out of the flat.

Located close to an old Quaker burial ground, their home was rumoured to be haunted by a doctor, his wife and three children who had died in mysterious circumstances. The building sat close to the Quaker Burial Ground on Keith Street (which is still there, and sometimes referred to by locals as the Quaker Lawn) – where legend has it mysterious voices can be heard coming from one of the graves….

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More recently, in 2005, two women claimed to have seen a spooky figure in a former convent in Dowanhill.

Cleaners Ellen Brady and Nan McDonald were thoroughly spooked by the ghostly goings, which might have been down to a French nun called Sister Campion, one of the Notre Dame order who lived in the 110-year-old building before it was turned into offices.

A French nun was rumoured to haunt the old convent building in Dowanhill.... (Image: Newsquest)

Then, there is the story from the Western Infirmary – now demolished – rumoured to be haunted by the ghost of an artist, suffering from chronic migraines, who threw himself down the stairs of the hospital after surgeons refused to operate on him. Staff at the West End hospital claimed to have seen his ghost standing outside the hospital's operating theatres…

Which one is your favourite? Perhaps you have a better ghost story to share? Get in touch as we would love to share the best with our readers.