Hauntings

The Woman and the Marine at Beech Hill

Beech Hill Country House, near Derry

Reports undated

Beech Hill lies about three miles from Derry. Spirited Isle says the present house dates to 1729 and that the land has a long and violent past: after the Plantation it passed to the Skipton family, Alexander Skipton was murdered by the O'Cahans in 1624, Skipton Hall was razed in 1641 and a successor was burned in the Siege of Derry in 1689. In 1942 US Marines were billeted in Quonset huts on the grounds to guard the American naval base on the Foyle, until 1944. It is now a hotel.

The most commonly reported presence is a woman moving through the older parts of the house late at night. Guests and staff describe footsteps in empty hallways, the sense of someone standing behind them and a figure in period clothes near the staircases. Her identity is unknown; some connect her with the Skipton family, others with the wartime era. The page calls the accounts remarkably consistent.

The grounds also have a reputation. A figure in an old-fashioned military uniform has been reported near the wooded paths, standing motionless before vanishing, sometimes close to where the huts stood. There are also reports of muffled voices, metallic sounds and echoes from below ground in places where wartime structures were built and later abandoned. The page notes that none of it has been explained and that it has no named witness.

Evidence
Single witness account
Access
Open, admission charged
Location
54.981, -7.263 (Parish-level only, treat as an area)

Sources: Spirited Isle, "Beech Hill Country House" [other]

View on the map →

Comments

Loading…