Transactions. 13 
the eyes of the law, the sad occurrence 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 his anger at the 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 the neighbourhood, the skeleton being, it is 
said, sent to Miss Craik. With the prevailing opinion 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. The weight of the 
authority (if I am justified in using such a phrase in this connec 
tion) is, however, almost exclusively in favour of the tradition 
that the apparition was that of Dunn. 
Between Kirkbean and Prestonmill there is a considerable 
stretch 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 those 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 Jed him through 
the ‘“ Howlet’s Close,” as the domains of the white lady were 
called. In passing through this they were much alarmed by 
seeing something running beside the head of the horse. 
Naturally enough this was supposed to be the ghost, and their 
