The Haunted Cathedral House Hotel in GlasgowThe hotel in Glasgow has been the subject of many past ghostly sightings and activity and overlooks Glasgow Cathedral and the Necropolis.
Built in 1877, Cathedral House Hotel used to be used as a hostel for inmates released from nearby Duke Street Prison. The jail held female prisoners from throughout Scotland, a lot of them Suffragettes and political activists, who had been imprisoned for their protests at living conditions.
Duke Street Prison used to be notorious for its horrible living conditions, and it housed some of Scotland's worst criminals.
The prison was closed in 1955 after several protests, and it was demolished in 1958 to make way for the Ladywell housing scheme, constructed from 1961 - 1964. The only remaining structure of Duke Street Prison is some of the boundary walls.
The last woman to be executed in Scotland, Susan Newell, was hanged at the prison in October 1923, after being found guilty of strangling a paperboy.
It is believed that the spirits of prisoners like Newell are nonetheless haunting the old prison hotel.
Cathedral House Hotel additionally has close links to the Necropolis, a grand Victorian cemetery positioned across from the hotel. Some of the rooms overlook the eerie graveyard, and it has its fair proportion of ghost stories too.
Many folks have reported paranormal sightings and experiences in the hotel. Paranormal activity at the hotel has included a ghost which passes visitors on the stairwell, two youngsters being sighted, and giggling kids heard on the top floor.
One of the most common sightings is a ghostly presence which brushes up against people on the stairs of Cathedral House. There have also been several stories of two ghostly kids being heard on the top floor of the hotel, and pieces of furniture were seen moving around on their very own.
One legend says that some of the condemned prisoners used to be watching out from the condemned cell from which they could see only a tree. On the tree, sparrows flitted about and chirped away. He confided to his wardens (or confessor?) that he so regretted what he had done with his life and how that had led him to this place that he would be prepared to trade it all to try once more - even if it was just to be 'wane ae they wee sparras'. Quite touching, but there again there were the cynics who said it was a case of 'impending execution concentrating the mind wonderfully'!
During the Cathedral House Hotel's lengthy historical past, it has seen many people enter through its doors. Unfortunately, not all those visitors have left alive. Some of the best-known and tragic deaths to have taken place inside the hotel have resulted in supposed hauntings.
It is told that a newly released female prisoner from the Duke Street Prison was reunited with her two small children at the Cathedral House Hotel. The woman who must have been suffering some form of psychological break became distraught, believing that her kids would be taken away from her once again. Sadly, her way of coping with this anxiety was to drown both of her children in one of the hotel's bathtubs. Since their tragic deaths, many have reportedly encountered the ghosts of these young children, particularly in the upstairs bedrooms where their deaths took place. They have been seen and heard, laughing, and playing by many of us passing through the haunted hotel.
Another kid with more mysterious origins supposedly haunts the lower parts of the hotel. This is the spirit of a mischievous little boy who is the most frequently encountered ghost at the Cathedral House Hotel. He generally resides in the main stairwell connecting the lower bar area to the hotel rooms upstairs. Many people apparently have seen him in that area and reported feeling the sensation of being touched by an unseen force. He has even been reportedly seen running through the downstairs bar area before disappearing right through a wall.
