Greenock is a picturesque town in the West of Scotland, overlooking the river Clyde and around 20 miles from Glasgow. While one would not immediately think of the paranormal and this industrial area as being linked, there have been some supposed spooky occurrences throughout the small town. CHRISTINE MILLER takes us on a haunted tour of Greenock.
Ravenscraig Hospital, Inverkip Road, Greenock PA16 9HA
Once a spectacularly ominous and imposing structure, Ravenscraig Hospital has (as has been the way with many of the old asylums) been recently demolished to make way for new housing.
While it was still standing however, Ravenscraig had long been known within the local area to be haunted.
The morgue area was considered to be by far the most plagued area for supernatural activity; on numerous occasions the red morgue door would bang loudly from the inside, as if someone was trying desperately to hold off the journey to their final destination.
Founded in 1876, various former members of staff throughout the years reported disembodied footsteps roaming through wards and corridors in the dead of night.
The question is, now these spirits have been left without their building, will they begin to inhabit the new houses being erected on the site? Perhaps time will tell.
The Greenock Poltergeist, Auchendarroch Street, Greenock PA15 2TX
In 1991, a young family were said to be terrorised by alleged poltergeist activity in their small council house in Auchendarroch Street in the town.
Beginning with small, almost forgettable events, the activity soon became so much that a priest from the Catholic church was drafted in in order to bless one of the young daughters after she had witnessed two angry apparitions violently fighting with one another in her bedroom.
Other increasing phenomenon included a scratching sound coming from within the walls of the house, to an unusual liquid which would soak anything it touched, only to completely disappear again within mere seconds.
A group of local spiritualists attempted to encourage whatever was causing these bizarre happenings to “get tae” (ie. local slang for “Get f**ked”). But around halfway through their cleansing ceremony the entire floor of the house appeared to violently shake and the scratching sound from within the walls grew to an enormous volume.
Thankfully with the help from a local reverend, who vouched for the family’s experiences to Inverclyde Council, the young family were relocated to a different property, and were never plagued by paranormal activity again. One has to wonder who lives in the address now, and whether of not they are aware of their home’s terrifying past…
Crow Mount, Dempster Street, Greenock PA15 4ED
Crow Mount was an ancient area which ran close to what is now The Mount Kirk in the town.
Once said to be where local witches met, one of the unfortunate group was sentenced to be hanged from one of the very trees she and her coven would have practised witchcraft under.
Just before the noose was put over her head, she put a curse on this very spot.
However, this woman’s spirit is not the only one said to still frequent the area. Archibald Weir, a resident of the area and fresh back from fighting in the Crimean War, was no doubt harbouring a number of mental battle scars and was also desperately down on his luck, having returned penniless.
Turning to petty thieving in order to make ends meet, Weir was caught red handed stealing a ceremonial drum that had been kept safe for over 300 years, as it had been used to march Scottish troops into battle alongside King James IV against the English at the Battle of Flodden.
It was rumoured that the spirits of Flodden’s dead drove the poor man to hang himself remarkedly close to the site where the unfortunate witch had met her identical fate, as payback for removal of their ceremonial drum.
It is said that on certain anniversaries, the drum can be heard around the area close by to the church, and the ghostly spectre of poor, desperate Archibald Weir has been seen wandering aimlessly before vanishing into the dark of night.
Fire Service Museum and Heritage Centre, Wallace Place, Greenock PA15 1JB
This Victorian building has been long believed to house the odd ghost or two, with various paranormal groups having carried out vigils here.
More than one tradesman has refused to go into certain rooms within the museum due to feelings of unease and cold spots which disappear as quickly as they appear.
One paranormal investigation member saw the figure of a gentleman with a handlebar moustache in his 40s, who appeared to be completely aware of the group’s presence.
Ghostly bangs in the night and items being thrown have also been reported by various paranormal teams when they investigated this creepy location.
Find out more about the Fire Service Museum and Heritage Centre.
Greenock Town Hall, Clyde Square, PA15 1LS
The Town Hall in Greenock has a resident male spirit which has been seen by numerous people, although frustratingly, he has never appeared on the building’s CCTV.
One incident happened whereby two workers saw the gentleman, dressed in old-fashioned attire, which they dated as being from the early 1800s, walk into the kitchen area of the building.
Bewildered as to who he could be, both of the men followed him, only to find that the man had literally vanished into thin air, having no way to exit the kitchen, save having to pass the men on their way into the kitchen, which they assured most definitely did not happen.
Naturally unnerved and shaken by this and desperate to seek and explanation for their experience, they checked the CCTV only to find no trace of the man whatsoever.
The only figures on the camera were the two men themselves, looking at each other in utter bewilderment.
Have you seen a ghost in Greenock? Tell us in the comments section below!
The poltergeist house was demolished , no other houses in the street were demolished
An interesting follow on from the supposed poltergeist activity from that building was that around maybe a year or so later an entire family were killed in a fire in the same building. I lived across the street from that property when the supposed activity was taking place, the tragedy occurred about six months after I left the street and i knew the family who were killed. Makes you wonder about the supposed evil entity and the tragedy that then occurred