The Sauchie poltergeist case has been fully reported by George Owen (Can We Explain The Poltergeist?  New York: Garrett Publications, 129-169) and involved unusual events surrounding a young girl, Virginia Campbell, in Scotland during the early 1960s. The investigators at the time were the local minister, Rev. T.W. Lund and the local G.P, Dr W.H. Nisbet. Other reliable witnesses also gave accounts of their experiences including Dr William Logan and his wife, Mrs Sheila Logan, who was also a qualified doctor. Virginia’s teacher, Miss Margaret Stewart, also gave some interesting accounts of her experiences.

Virginia Campbell was 11 years old at the time of the strange experiences, which surrounded her. She was the youngest child of rather elderly parents, James and Annie. She had spent her early life in County Donegal, her father having worked a small farm close to Moville. Her upbringing had been extremely quiet and lonely, her other children having all grown up and left home. The only regular companions that Virginia had at Moville, other than her parents, were her pet dog, Toby and one friend, a little girl, Anna.In the autumn of 1960, Virginia and her mother went to stay with family members, Thomas and Isabella Campbell at their home in Sauchie, Scotland. They had two children, Margaret (age 9) and Derek (age 6). This was part of a long-term plan to move from Ireland and settle in Scotland. Virginia’s mother managed to get a local job at a well-know school, Dollar Academy.

Virginia attended Sauchie Primary School from October 1960. Her teacher, Miss Stewart found it rather difficult to establish communication with her, partly because of her extreme shyness and partly because of her unusual Irish accent. Essentially, Virginia was regarded as a quite normal young girl a little above normal intelligence but outwardly always placid and unemotional. She clearly missed her father very much.The unusual events surrounding Virginia began towards the end of November 1960. Owen in “Can We Explain The Poltergeist” gives a full account of these episodes?  On November 23rd, for example:“Virginia was kept home from school. At teatime Mr. And Mrs. Campbell were in the living room. Virginia was sitting in an armchair next to the sideboard. They saw the sideboard move out five inches from the wall and then move back again. Virginia was not touching it.

That evening when Virginia was in bed but not asleep loud knocks, audible all over the house, were heard by the family and several neighbours and by the Rev. Mr. Lund, who was called in about midnight. He found the knocking to come from the bed head in circumstances that proved it was not being struck or shaken by Virginia or by anyone else. Mr. Lund gripped the bed head and felt it vibrating during the knocking.Mr. Lund saw a large linen chest (twenty-seven inches long, seventeen inches high and fourteen inches wide, and full of bed linen) rock and raise itself slightly, travel a distance of eighteen inches over the linoleum and then move back.When at length it was suggested that Margaret go back into the double bed with Virginia there was a burst of violent peremptory knocking”.Over the course of the next few days, various unusual effects were reported both at the Campbell’s house and at Virginia’s school. Whilst in bed, Virginia’s pillow was found to rotate by up to 90 degrees on its own.

This was witnessed by Mr. Lund, Dr Logan and Dr. Nisbet. A strange rippling effect on the surface of the pillow was also seen.At school, the lid of Virginia’s desk was seen to lift on it’s own, despite attempts by Virginia to keep it shut. The teacher, Miss Stewart, noticed the desk rise from the floor unaided and then settle back down, a little out of its original position. On another occasion when Virginia was standing close to the desk of Miss Stewart, a blackboard pointer lying on top of the desk started to vibrate and moved on top of the desk until it reached the edge and fell off. Miss Stewart put her hand on the desk and felt it vibrating. The desk was then moving. The right-hand end travelled away so that the desk swung round.On 1 December 1960, Dr Nisbet and Dr Logan set up a movie camera and sound recording equipment in Virginia’s bedroom. She went to bed at 9pm and recordings were initially taken until about 10:30. There were many noises, ranging from barely perceptible tappings to agitated knocks.

There was also some occasional rippling of the bedclothes. There was also a considerable amount of hysterical talking by Virginia, in which she showed a lack of inhibition previously only seen during various trance states. At 11pm Rev. Lund, together with three other church ministers, arrived to carry out a service of intercession. There were some knockings during the service.A variety of noises were recorded between 11:30 and 12:15. Three examples were later re-recorded by the BBC and used in a regional broadcast program called “Scope”, which gave a brief review of the case. These noises, which can be heard by clicking on the relevant link, consisted of a series of loud peremptory knocks, a harsh rasping, sawing noise and a scream from Virginia when the lid of the linen box lifted up on its’ own accord.From that day onwards, the phenomena appear to have been less pronounced and troublesome. However, it is worth mentioning some of the effects, which have been described:Virginia placed a bowl of bulbs on Miss Stewart’s desk in the classroom. It moved across the top of the desk in a manner similar to the pointer described earlier.During a period when Virginia’s father was staying in the house, he reported that an apple had floated out of a fruit bowl and that his shaving brush had flown around the bathroom.During the first three months of 1961 there were some knockings on the bed at night and once the sound of someone walking across the bedroom floor. The girls often reported being poked on the body or legs while lying in bed. They were also nipped or pinched, and this also happened to a visitor to the house.George Owen, in his detailed report of this case, regards the witness testimonies as good. 

The physicians and the church ministers could be regarded as reliable witnesses, so too could Virginia’s teacher, Miss Stewart. Owen goes on to consider the possible “normal” causes for the described events, but finds that there is no satisfactory explanation. It is worth emphasising that the key witnesses regarded the responsible force as emanating from Virginia rather than with the operation of a discarnate entity. Regarding the supply of energy required for the manifestations, it is clear that this is within the physiological capacity of a healthy girl of eleven. However, it is quite conceivable that she provided no appreciable amount of energy – this may have come from the potential energy of some unknown force field in the space around her. Virginia’s contribution may, mechanically speaking, have been to trigger off the operation of this force field at certain points. Owen goes on to make comparisons with other historical cases and it is interesting to see such similar effects, often centring on young girls, in other cases.Summarising, Owen concludes that the Sauchie case must be regarded as establishing beyond all reasonable doubt the objective reality of some poltergeist phenomena. He further claims that the phenomena are closely linked with the presence of a young girl and that this child is pubescent and going through a period of very rapid physical development. There is however no evidence indicating the existence of a separate discarnate entity. The phenomena are consistent with production by forces emanating from the child or else resident in space and triggered off by some influence emanating from her.

Audio recording of Scotland's most famous poltergeist to be heard for first time in 60 years

Paranormal researcher Malcolm Robinson is to play the sounds of what he calls the most 'distressing and upsetting poltergeist event ever to have occurred on Scottish soil' at an event to promote his new book on the creepy goings-on.

Recently re-discovered recordings of the Sauchie Poltergeist are to be showcased by a world-leading expert for the first time in over 60 years.

Paranormal researcher Malcolm Robinson is to play the sounds of what he calls the most "distressing and upsetting poltergeist event ever to have occurred on Scottish soil" at an event to promote his new book on the creepy goings-on. Last played in a BBC radio broadcast in the 1960s, few have ever heard the noises captured by a local GP, Dr Logan, of a spirit that haunted an 11-year-old girl. Virginia Campbell was at the centre of several unusual disturbances that left respected community members – three GPs, several Church of Scotland ministers and her school teacher – dumbfounded by what they witnessed as they tried to help her.

In 1960, she had moved from Ireland with her mother to the Clackmannanshire town of Sauchie, where Virginia's aunt and uncle, Isabella and Thomas Campbell, lived. Everything had appeared normal until November 22 when the girl and her cousin - with whom she shared a room - began hearing strange noises as they lay in bed. The noises included a ball hitting a wall, a headboard banging and later scratching could be heard.

Strange occurrences continued with items going missing only to appear weeks later and furniture began to move with no-one near. The family sought the help of their local GP, Dr HW Nesbit, who lived in Tillicoultry. However, the doctor was unable to help other than prescribe some drugs to calm their nerves. They concluded that the house was haunted, and based on that, they turned to a local minister by the name of Reverend TW Lund.

The local minister confirmed that the noises were coming from inside the bed frame and the walls but could offer the family little support except prayers. The ghostly spirit appeared to follow terrified Virginia everywhere she went, including school, not content with being contained to the house.

According to witnesses, one day at school, Virginia’s teacher looked up from her own desk and saw Virginia struggling with her desk lid. Virginia had both elbows trying to force down her desk lid, which seemed to have a mind of its own. Her teacher, Margaret Stewart, happened to see her struggling with the desk. She asked what she was doing and told her to remove her hands. The lid flew open and it began flapping, hammering down three times. All her classmates began screaming at the sight, especially after one of the desks rose off the floor by three inches.

After several weeks of ­unexplained events, a group of ministers intervened in Virginia’s room and the activity was said to diminish. Later, Virginia was moved to another house in Dollar in a desperate bid to alleviate matters. The phenomena followed her and she returned to the house in Sauchie. The family are understood to have left the area after this. Malcolm told the Scottish Daily Express he tried to contact a girl he believed could have been Virginia Campbell, but they refused to speak to him about the haunting experience.

In his lecture, he says he will present all the facts, and for the first time in 61 years, the audience will hear sounds of the poltergeist, as recorded by the local doctor at the time. The presentation will occur at Sauchie Hall, in the town's Mar Place, at 7.30 pm on Saturday, November 20. Entry is £5.

Source: https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/weird-news/audio-recording-scotlands-most-famous-25457352

EVP Recordings Comments

The witness, an elderly lady, lived alone in the house and had recently heard some strange noises in her bedroom. She eventually told her daughter who agreed to stay with her for a couple of nights to keep her company. The daughter then set up a cam-corder using an external power supply on a tripod. The camera was positioned in the hall to look into her mothers bedroom at an angle facing a built in cupboard. It was from the cupboard that the noises emanated. The old lady is partially deaf and had attributed the noises to various causes, birds in the attic etc. At around 02:30am the daughter heard odd bumps, thumps, and metallic noises from the bedroom, her mother could hear nothing. The daughter panicked and rushed into the bedroom shouting to her mother to get up and out of the house, (complete with suitable curses). The old lady refuses to re-enter the house she has endured this sort of phenomenon for around five years now and told no one for fear of ridicule.

The odd thing is, subjectively the daughter and latterly her husband, although hearing noises in the house, did not hear the types of sounds caught on tape (more in a moment) All the noises emanated from within the house, not any dividing walls, there are only two houses in the block. The bedroom cupboard backs onto the kitchen, the wall is quite plain and uncluttered, no central heating boilers etc. Billy and I (Billy Devlin) spent a night in the house with the ladies son in law and one of his mates. The two of us set up in the bedroom, camera, audio-tape, and temperature indicators, the whole bag of rattles, in fact I almost fell asleep. Not a bloody sausage, niet, nada, nix, nil, not a sound.

Thanks Brian. The main issue to come out of the above case, was the recording of E.V.P. better know as Electronic Voice Phenomena. Apparently the daughters video camera had managed to record some of those strange sounds that were coming out of the house. Brian despatched a copy of this tape onto Professor Robert Morris of the Department of Psychology at Edinburgh University. As yet, Brian hasnt heard back from him, its been a good few weeks now and Brian is none too pleased at the lack of response.

Brian sent me a copy of this recording and a few nights ago I went to bed, put the headphones on, turned the lights off, and began to listen to these strange and unusual sounds. A minute later (and heres the embossing bit) I had to switch the audio tape off. Why !! Because I was s**t scared, honestly !! The sounds 

I heard in my darkened bedroom were weird to say the least. Its hard to say what they sounded like, but at a push Id say that it was like being outside a birds aviary with a laughing screeching, singing woman there as well. Thats the best I can do in regards to trying to tell you what these sounds resembled. I listened to it again in the cold light of day, and even then the sounds were scary and weird, (I must be getting hopeless at this thing as I get older !!). I sent a copy of this tape to Tony Eccles of MARA, (The Manchester Arial Research, Association. Tonys group have dealt with similar cases of this nature and I await to see what they make of this tape. Of course these sounds may have perfectly plausible and rational explanations. Maybe the video tape wasnt properly wiped on the recording, but then again the daughter clearly heard these sounds coming from the bedroom, sounds that she didnt like and urgently wanted her mother to get out of the house. Anyway, Im sure there are more things to happen with this case, so as the famous saying goes, Stay Tuned Folks

This is a fairly recent case of poltergeist activity in a small village called Sauchie in Clackmannanshire in the early 1960s.

It revolves around an 11 year old girl who came over to Scotland from Ireland with her family. Strange occurrences began in her presence including knocking noises and objects moving which led to her doctor being called. When strange things continued even after medication, the child was sent to a relatives house. Unfortunately for her and her family the supernatural activity followed her, indicating that a poltergeist had attached itself to the small girl.

It also followed her to school, though with less intensity. The teachers and pupils witnessed the sounds and the objects moving and at one stage the girls desk rose from the floor with her behind it