Transactions. 1 3 



the eyes of the law, the sad occun-ence was considered a case of 

 suicide ; but popular belief took an opposite view, and attri- 

 buted it to the murderous act of one of Miss Craik's brothers, who 

 had discovered the attachment between his sister and Dunn, and 

 in liis anger at tiie discovery, had taken the young man's life. 

 It is said that Miss Craik was of the latter opinion, and that she 

 left Arbigland and went to reside in England, never returning 

 to the place so full to her of tragedy. The remains of Dunn 

 were interred on the Borron Hill, and years afterwards dis- 

 interred by a man in tlie neighbourhood, the skeleton being, it is 

 said, sent to Miss Craik. With the prevailing opiiiion regarding 

 this ghastly tale, it is little wonder that the apparition of the 

 unfortunate man was said to frequent the lonely spot where he 

 met his death. It was hardly to be expected, however, that a 

 haunted place like this should be deserted by the white ladies so 

 familiar in ghost stories, and whose affection for Kirkbean seems 

 somewhat remarkable, and one of my informants speaks of a 

 white lady who was said to appear here also. Tlie weight of the 

 authority (if I am justified in using such a phrase in this connec 

 tion) is, liowever, almost exclusively in favour of the tradition 

 that the apparition was that of Dunn. 



Between Kirkbean and Prestonmill there is a considerable 

 stretcli of road without a dwelling-house, the greater part being 

 skirted by a wood on one side. About half-way between the 

 two villages a small plantation exists on the opposite side to the 

 larger wood. Here, too, the road forms a hollow, and surely no 

 situation could have been more congenial to the tastes of such 

 unearthly beings as tiiose we are now considering. This was, in 

 truth, the haunt of a ghost whose existence few at one time ever 

 doubted ; and he was, indeed, a brave man who ventured to walk 

 alone on a dark night into the domains of the white lady, who 

 was said not only to walk on the tops of the trees in the 

 adjoining wood, but also sometimes to accompany passengers on 

 the highway. There is in connection with the belief in this 

 ghost an amusing tale, which has the additional merit of being 

 true. One night a parishioner, accompanied by some of his 

 relatives, was driving homewards, and his route led him through 

 the " Howlet's Close,'" as the domains of tlie white lady were 

 called. In passing through this they were much alarmed by 

 seeing something running beside the head of the horse. 

 Naturally enougli this was supposed to be the ghost, and their 



