Before giving an excerpt from the St. Andrews book I would like firstly to relate something interesting about 3 illustrations in the book...
29 years ago I made three drawings of locations in St. Andrews, these were the only drawings I had done of the town. When I was taking photo's for the books at the end of September 2013 there were three locations in St. Andrews I wanted to put into the book which I couldn't take satisfactory photo's of. The entrance way of St. Andrews Castle was covered in scaffolding, the front of the haunted tower had been cordoned off with barriers and the gates to St. Mary's Quad in South Street were locked, preventing me from entering. I put the photo's I had taken of the town into the book and had an idea to also put the three drawings I had done all those years ago into the book also. I then realised these were the same locations I was unable to take photo's of - St. Andrews Castle, the haunted tower and St. Mary's Quad.
Excerpt from Ghosts of St. Andrews
The 'Trixie Spirit!'
Just around the corner from Hamilton Grand along the Scores, and a few doors along from the Scores Hotel, a beautifully furnished house overlooking the Bow Butts and the North Sea had been the residence of an elderly American woman. She was on vacation in St. Andrews for a few months in 1988 after her husband passed away.
Whilst here she began to notice some strange things beginning to happen, some of her personal effects would disappear and reappear days later from the living room, bathroom and her bedroom. The disturbances were slight and not at all obvious at first. She became increasingly aware of a strong presence in the living room in the mornings, just as she was relaxing over breakfast, an intense sense of something watching her.
I met her one evening in the Scores Hotel just before she was due to fly back to the States. “The rooms can become very cold, very quickly” she said “and when this happens, I know something is about to happen.” She continued, “when I became used to it I would mentally try and remember what I had lying around so I would know what might have disappeared.”
She was a strong headed and light hearted society woman from Dallas, and just took the incidences in her stride. She actually felt herself lucky and jovially said “a trip to your beautiful country wouldn’t be the same if I didn’t experience something!” Although she did joke about her “trixie spirit” as she called it, she got wise to its antics and with a slightly more serious tone to her voice, accompanied however still with a smile as if to reassure my concerns, she continued “It’s a little difficult to be too fond of it though, my ‘trixie spirit’, disposables are one thing, my keys and cards, now I keep those very close by.”
There is talk of poltergeist activity at a house in Gillespie Wynd with things disappearing and moving around. In all probability this is the place, it is in the right location and the activity sounds very similar. I have kept the exact house location quiet as the present occupants don’t wish to be disturbed by potential ‘ghost hunters’, but the spontaneous areas of cold are still present at times – even when the sun is shining through the large windows in the morning.