He could see a horse standing tethered about two feet in front of the car…

Welcome to part two of our ‘Return to Carnsalloch’ blog series which focuses on a number of recent visits to Carnsalloch House, a very eerie derelict mansion situated near Kirkton village. Last time, we left you at the point where John had just returned to the car and in his mind’s eye could ‘see’ a man standing at the top of the staircase…

John gave a good description of the gentleman; he wore a shirt and waistcoat and had a round face with just a touch of grey hair remaining. He didn’t seem to be aware of our presence, that was until Kathleen asked out and immediately, the man looked round as if responding to her voice. Kathleen and James invited the gentleman to share his name. The man looked down at his feet; John could only see him down to about ‘waist level’ and described him in the absence of a jacket and tie as ‘casual’ in appearance. When Kathleen addressed him as ‘Sir’, the man turned round again. We asked if he was a member of the Johnstone family and at this point, John detected a ‘wee smile’. The man appeared to have moved to John’s right with only his arm visible and about half of his body. He then reported seeing two ladies ‘rush’ past the gentleman on the stairs so Kathleen spoke out to them. John sensed the name ‘Sarah’ a couple of times and then ‘Horncastle’ which we believed to be her surname.

John thought the man was ‘shouting on somebody’ and asked him to make a sign; the man disappeared and started coming down the stairs. John reflected on our last visit and looked intently at the main door as if expecting someone to appear. One of the women was also making her way downstairs; John’s view was restricted to what looked like a corner area, about halfway up and bending to the right. The staircase he could ‘see’ seemed different to the main staircase in Carnsalloch House. For the benefit of readers, we’re not as familiar with the upper levels of Carnsalloch as they are very hazardous; we don’t know how stable the floors are and copious amounts of fetid bird waste cover every conceivable surface - not something you’d want to inhale! Unable to get the full picture, John felt a bit frustrated and asked to see another ‘view’ of the house. Kathleen asked John what the women were wearing; he described long, drab, possibly purple coats, straight in appearance with a collar, tied at the top like a cape – were these women related?

During our short break, a car drove up, stopped in the driveway, drove past us then away back down to the fishing area; which was a little unnerving. James moved his own car so it was sitting adjacent to the door of Carnsalloch pointing towards where the first caravan used to be. Things took a strange and unexpected twist; John told James and Kathleen that he could see a horse standing tethered about two feet in front of the car with a saddle on its back and stirrups - John didn’t like this at all. Kathleen felt slightly bemused and surprised by this development. The horse was brown with ‘bits of white’ near its back, quite large in size and was looking round towards the car. John felt we were ‘too close’ to the horse. Kathleen asked John if he would prefer to leave, however he bravely persevered. The horse was tied to a wooden post and another two posts were visible close-by, presumably for the purpose of tethering animals. John said the horse was looking at us. Kathleen addressed the horse then asked if the owner was there – it felt pretty weird speaking out to an animal like this, but as things are possibly different in the spirit world, she wondered if the horse might be able to understand and/or respond. There’s a lot of trial and error with paranormal investigations and sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and go for it! It’s important to point out that John described the horse standing in daylight, whereas in our time we were in darkness.

At this point, the car came back up from the fishing car park, stopping briefly with its headlights on before driving away from Carnsalloch. The horse disappeared, perhaps due to the car distracting us. We shared a laugh out loud moment after the bizarre encounter, it was like a release. After John’s various experiences, he needed a well-earned break from the environment so we headed for home.

Spurred us on by the experiences of the previous evening, we decided to return the next night, parking up where John had witnessed the horse. Interestingly, after all that had gone before it, apart from feeling a tad nervous, John reported nothing out of the ordinary and all was quiet. It would be January before we returned to Carnsalloch again and in the interim period communication would take place with a spirit person giving the name of ‘Bryant Kirk’. Through John, Bryant told us he had been a groom at Carnsalloch and what made this encounter even stranger was that it occurred at the home of another team member! Look out for details in a future blog…

Are you familiar with the names ‘Sarah Horncastle‘ or ‘Bryant Kirk‘? Do you know of others who lived or worked on the estate? Can you provide any details on the ghosts and history of Carnsalloch House or would you like to share a personal theory on what is happening to John? If so, we would be delighted to hear from you. Mostly Ghostly welcome your views and encourage you to contact the team through our website or by phoning 07791 047835 or 07912 145865. You can also follow us on Twitter.

See also: Strange Happenings at Carnsalloch House, Mostly Investigation Planning, Carnsalloch House Visit & Return to Carnsalloch Part 1