Glasgow's spookiest stories revealed for Hallowe'en

The most well-known ones include the Gorbals vampire, a giant monster with iron teeth, said to terrorise the Southern Necropolis, and theatre apparitions such as the spectre of a dancer who horrifyingly burned to death in the Pavilion.

There are many, many more, however, tucked away in the darkest corners of the city and its oldest buildings.

(Image: Newsquest)

As a venue, the Britannia Panopticon on Trongate regularly hosts events about ghosts and ghosthunting, but it has some apparitions of its own too.

The list of strange figures spotted flitting around the building includes a soldier, in military dress, appearing and disappearing on the upper balconies. (For a recent event, the resident Panopticon ghost joined music hall impresario EA Pickard (aka Hunter Reid) for the occasion.)

The resident Panopticon ghost.... (Image: Newsquest)

The Saracen Head pub on the Gallowgate called in the ghostbusters back in the early 2000s,

(Image: Newsquest)

This ‘pub museum’ used to display the skull of a woman believed to be Maggie Wall, the last witch to be burned at the stake during Scotland’s witch trials in the 17th century.

(Image: Newsquest)

However unlikely that might be (no records of a woman called Maggie Wall have been discovered), the pub has had plenty of famous punters –Samuel Johnson, economist Adam Smith, Dorothy and William Wordsworth and Robert Burns are all said to have visited (while they were alive).

The paranormal investigators turned up to look into claims that a former licensee, known as “Big Angus” was haunting the premises. (Investigator Phil Dolan is pictured with a painting of Angus.)

The Pearce Institute in Govan has reported a number of ghostly goings-on over the years and a tap that mysteriously turns itself on, the ghost of a woman walking across the entrance foyer, and the sound of an organ playing by itself are some of the creepiest.

The Pearce Institute in Govan, c1910 (Image: Newsquest)

In the early 2000s, our newspaper talked to a member of staff, Liz McCaffrey, who said she had experienced strange goings-on first hand.

Judging by the number of spooky sightings and strange voices in Glasgow’s Subway stations over the years, ghosts appear to walk the platforms and haunt the trains with impressive persistence.

One of the most terrifying tales concerns a stretch of track between West Street and Shields Road, where a ghoulish figure, half-boy, half-animal, has been spotted chewing on something horrible.

The demon child has been sighted on several occasions, but the last reports seem to have been in the 1950s, so perhaps he has moved on…

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This same section of track is associated with another hideous story, about an apparition called The Clatter.

This weird, mist-like figure appears as a little ball of light, then expands suddenly and noisily – hence the name - to engulf a whole area or anyone standing nearby.

The Subway is full of ghosts.... (Image: Newsquest)

Those who reported seeing The Clatter apparently witnessed terrified faces in the mist as it spread, and links were made to the medieval plague pits which lay beneath the Subway excavations, but the story seems to have been lost in the mists of time…

Ladies haunt some of the stations, notably the weeping and sighing Grey Lady at Shields Road, thought to be the ghost of a woman who fell on to the tracks in 1922, and Hillhead’s Beautiful Lady, who sways across the platform in a stunning 1930s evening gown, singing and laughing. As ghosts go, she sounds like one of the happier ones, although whether or not you’d like to bump into her on a dark night remains to be seen.

The ghost of blind beggar Robert Cobble, a local eccentric who sadly died outside West Street station in the 1900s, has been spotted there on occasion, shivering and blue from the cold; while the dreadful apparition of a man, dressed in Victorian clothing and hanging from a noose, has been spotted near St George’s Cross station.

Other Subway spooks include a ghostly cat and a poltergeist at St Enoch’s. So, with all that paranormal activity going on, are you sure the person sitting next to you on your morning commute is real?

Have you seen a Glasgow ghost?

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.