Is This The Ghost of 91Èȱ¬ Scotland?
More on the story about the ghost that supposedly haunts the basement beneath my office. Today an eye-witness came forward. Janie Murphy, a producer in our Topical & Events department, described to me how she was alone and working late in the production office directly above mine. The door was open and, as she turned her head away from her computer screen, she saw a strange figure walking up the stairs towards her. Janie described this ghost as a woman wearing a heavy long-sleeved dress with a stiff collar and with her hair tied back in a bun.
"I just told her I was trying to finish my work", says Janie, "and she went away".
Now, if it was me, I don't think I would have been quite so calm, but Janie tells me this is not the first time she has seen strange things. She also says she's reluctant to visit the basement area of the building because it gives her "a bad feeling".
The description of the ghost seems uncannily similar to the photographs outside my office, which form part of an exhibition telling the history of Queen Margaret College and the Medical School which occupied this building in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It's a fascinating story in itself, regardless of any supernatural element. The college was a female-only institution and was one of the first to allow women to study medicine. It was held in such high esteem that Queen Victoria came to visit although she didn't leave the comfort of her horse-drawn carriage. In the glass cases you can see illustrations of the event and it's eerie how little the building has changed since that time.
This colourful history should provide an excellent starting point for psychic investigator, Innes Smith, who read about the various ghost-sightings in this diary and has arranged to come in for a look. He's even sent me some posters which I have to pin up around the building. I'm afraid I still don't believe in ghosts but I'll be interested to hear what Innes has to say. Meanwhile, I think I'll avoid working late in the next few weeks. Just in case.
