OK, SO you know Scotland: cold place, lots of ghosts. But did you know that Scotland is also under siege from haunted transport? Who knows, perhaps JK Rowling took inspiration from the multitude of spooky buses and trains when she was writing her Harry Potter books? There are certainly enough spectral vehicles rattling around the country!
So here's your countdown on just where to see (or avoid) a collision with a form of transport that isn't there.
Ships that go bump in the nightOoh ar me hearties, welcome aboard this trip round the ghost coast! Haunted ships can be found all across Scotland, but possibly the most frequently felt phantom lives (in a manner of speaking) on board the
RRS Discovery. This ship sailed to Antarctica in 1901 with Captain Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton and is now on permanent display in Dundee.
The <em>RRS Discovery</em> was trapped in ice in the Antarctic before finally returning home. You can visit it at <a href="http://www.rrsdiscovery.com/" target="_blank"> Discovery Point Antarctic Museum</a>.
There are some who say that Shackleton loved his ship so much he never disembarked.
A surprising number of visitors refuse to go into some of the rooms onboard and some years ago a tour guide brought in electricians to find out why the bulb over Shackleton's bunk kept blowing. No earthly reason was found.
The ghostly footsteps continue, with opinion split as to whether the ghost is Shackleton or another sailor, Charles Bonner, who fell to his death from the crow's nest in 1901.
Debbie Burton from the Discovery Point admits there have been some strange goings-on aboard ship.
"Earlier this year a guest at one of the dinner functions said they saw someone," says Burton. "She said she conversed with him all evening." But rather eerily no-one else could see whom she was talking to…
Spooky ships were witnessed in Little Loch Broom, near Ullapool, in 1822. Whilst their menfolk were attending a church service some distance away, the women and children experienced a mass visitation. To their horror the loch appeared covered in ships. The women fled to the moor, stopping to bury their valuables, as soldiers appeared to row to shore. Then they disappeared, never to be seen again. This episode has been
explained as an example of mass second–sight. Weird.
Cars that are driven over the edgeIf you're looking for a handy excuse to explain to the insurance company the reason you crashed the car, you could always try telling them you were following a vehicle that disappeared through a wall - leaving you crashing behind. It probably wouldn't get you very far, although there are some drivers out there who would nod in recognition - as ghostly cars have been blamed for accidents along the A7 near Stow in Midlothian.
The Isle of Skye has a phantom vintage car – thought to be a 1934 Austin. Numerous sightings of this car have been reported, including one by a local policeman.
Wildlife author Seton Gordon wrote of his experience in
The Scots Magazine in 1959, describing how he and his wife were driving down a single-track road when they saw the lights of an oncoming vehicle and pulled into a passing place to allow the car to proceed. It never arrived, nor could they see any roads it may have driven down.
Just in case you can't make it as far as Skye to find your haunted vehicle, then you could keep your eyes peeled and your horn at the ready for a ghostly car on the A87 near Glenshiel, or a phantom bus in East Lothian on the B1348.
Tracking terrifying trainsIt was a dark and misty night. Well, no it was actually a clear August night in 1989 when Brian Maddison and his wife drove along the A84. As they reached the caravan site at Balquhidder, in Stirlingshire, the sight of a steam train rushing up the old railway line transfixed them. Impossible, considering the line was closed in 1965.
Similar ghostly experiences happen in Dunphail in Moray. The old Highland Line has been closed for years, indeed the track has been dismantled. This doesn't stop a ghostly train passing through where the station used to be. It has been seen by a number of people whilst others have felt themselves blown back as though from the rush of air as a train passes at speed. Toot! Toot!
On the anniversary of the Tay Bridge disaster, the tragic journey is said to be re-enacted from beyond the grave. Every year on 28 December the train once more rushes over a ghostly bridge before plunging into the cold waters of the River Tay below.
Is there a haunted biplane flying in and out of clouds somewhere over Montrose?
Montrose Aerodrome was used during both world wars. There were many lives lost during these years and the airfield is said to be haunted by the souls of many downed pilots. A ghostly biplane has been seen in the air above on a number of occasions.
"There are all sorts of stories about ghostly aircraft," says Forbes Inglis, who works at the Montrose Aerodrome Museum. "During the Second World War a pilot tried to land twice, only succeeding on his third attempt. He came out shouting about a biplane that was in his way, but no-one else had seen it."
Sir Peter Masefield, the former chairman of British Airports Authority, added weight to this story when he wrote about a strange trip he once took in his private plane. He claimed that in the 1960s he gave a lift to an Irishman. Masefield wrote that as he flew over Montrose Aerodrome an old biplane materialised before him, stalled and went into a tailspin. As the plane hit the ground the strange hitchhiker let out a scream. When Mansfield landed he turned round only to find his plane empty. Did he give a lift to Desmond Arthur, an Irishman who died in a 1918 plane accident and who is said to haunt the airfield?
Masefield wrote this as a Christmas story and has since refused to be drawn on whether or not it was true.
We may never know, but next time you fly over Montrose Airfield, don't look down!
If you enjoyed reading this, you may want to read:
The strange disappearance of the Flannan lighthousemen