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Hauntings at Ballechin House in Tayside, Scotland, came to public attention in the late 1890s, but they had been reported there for several decades before.

In 1806 Ballechin House was built by the Stuart family, and in 1834 Robert Stuart inherited the house from his father and rented it out to tenants while he was posted to India with the army. He returned in 1850 after achieving the rank of Major.

From his years in India, the Major had come to believe in reincarnation and transmigration, the ability of the soul to inhabit a nonhuman body. He vowed that when he died he would return to Ballechin in the body of his favourite black spaniel – he preferred the company of dogs to humans. Although he never married, he did enjoy the company of a young housekeeper called Sarah, who died mysteriously – it was said in his bed – at the age of 27, in 1873. Major Stuart died a few years later and was buried beside her at Logierait churchyard.

In his 1853 will the Major left Ballechin House to his nephew, John Stuart, who, fearful that the Major might be reincarnated as one of his dogs, cruelly shot all the Major’s hounds, starting with the black spaniel. This later would lead to the theory that the Major was forced to remain a disembodied spirit, haunting the house in protest. John Stuart was a devout Roman Catholic; his aunt, the Major’s sister Isabella, had become a nun and, after her death in 1880, was said to make ghostly appearances to visitors.

Almost immediately after the Major’s death in 1876 strange happenings were reported. One day in the Major’s study, Mrs Stuart noticed a strong smell of dogs in the room. She opened the window to let some air in and felt a nudge on her leg, as if an invisible dog had rubbed itself against her. This was followed a few days later by knocking sounds and the sound of gunfire and voices quarrelling. There were also sounds of someone limping around the master bedroom. Soon Ballechin House got a reputation for being haunted, and governesses and servants would flee the house in fear.

The Stuarts managed to live in the house for more than twenty years, but the children were so frightened that John Stuart was forced to build a new wing for the children to live in outside the haunted area. A Jesuit priest and family friend, Father Hayden, who often stayed at Ballechin, heard the haunted sounds, including screams, on many occasions. In January 1895, John Stuart was in the Major’s old study talking to his agent when three loud knocks were heard. This may have been an omen because a few hours later John Stuart died in London after being run over by a cab.

After John’s death the house was rented to a family for a year, but they left after a few weeks complaining of being terrorized by poltergeist activity, such as thumps and bumps, strange noises, apparitions and unseen hands moving objects.

In 1896 the Marquis of Bute, an avid ghost researcher, rented Ballechin House and asked two psychic researchers to help him carry out investigations. Almost immediately after moving in the researchers reported hearing loud clanging noises, muffled voices and gunfire.

Other guests invited to stay at the house reported supernatural activity. Several of the group conducted sessions with a Ouija board. During one session a person with the name of Ishbel came through and asked the investigators to go to a nearby pond. On doing so, the investigators clearly saw the figure of a nun, thought to be the Major’s sister, Isabella, wearing a black habit and walking through a snowy wood before suddenly vanishing.

From 1932 the house remained empty, and it was demolished in the 1960s. An account of the investigations that took place there at the turn of the century was published in 1899 with the title The Alleged Haunting of B House. The Stuart family disliked publicity so much that they asked for all names to be changed or excluded from the story. As a result the hauntings had to be reported as alleged and could never be credited as genuine.