Old photograph of Ballechin House in Strathtay near Grandtully and Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland. Ballechin House was a Georgian estate home built in 1806, on the site of an old manor house which had been owned by the Steuart family since the 15th century. In 1834 Major Robert Steuart, born 1806, died 1876, inherited the house and rented it to tenants whilst he served in the Indian Army. During his time in India, Steuart came to believe in reincarnation and transmigration. He returned to the house in 1850 and lived there with numerous dogs: he is reported to have stated that he would return in the form of a dog. Major Steuart was unmarried, but local gossip linked his name with that of his much younger housekeeper who died there in 1873. After the Major's death, the house was inherited by his nephew John Skinner who assumed the name Steuart. Fearing that his uncle would reincarnate in the form of one of his dogs, the new owner reportedly shot them all. From this story came the legend that Robert Steuart was forced to haunt the house as a disembodied spirit. The first reported haunting at the house took place in 1876; the witness was a maid in the house. Ballechin House was uninhabited by 1932, and most of the house was demolished in 1963, after a fire, leaving only the former servants quarters and outbuildings.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
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