When thinking of a haunted location, a multi-storey car park is not what springs to mind for most. However, Bell Street Car Park in Dundee is reputedly one of the most haunted locations in the city.
During the mid-20th century, Dundee underwent a significant programme of reconstruction and regeneration. This included the demolition of many buildings to make way for new ones, reclaiming land from the river, and creating new road networks to guide both residents and visitors around the new city centre more easily.
Opening in August 1974, the Bell Street car park was able to accommodate 900 cars over its six storeys and was the first of several planned car parks for the city as part of the local council's acceptance that the car was an increasingly important part of day-to-day life for many people. The development was also seen as an investment to create jobs for Dundee.
The car park quickly became popular. The convenience of being able to park easily just a few minutes' walk from the city centre was a new convenience to many, and the cost of just 10 pence for the day made it an economical option.
Its unique design at the time, with circular ramps leading up to the top and back down again, and having no barriers to gain access due to operating on a pay and display system, soon made it a popular evening location for youth who enjoyed seeing how quickly they could get to the top of the car park in their cars.
However, it was not only the roar of exhausts from cars being raced up and down the ramps that caught the users' attention. At all hours, sounds of strange cries and wails were reported echoing through the open, concrete structure. This was unnerving enough for people returning to their cars, but reports of fleeting glimpses of shadow-like figures being seen at the lower level also soon started to be made.
With a growing reputation that the building was haunted, people became more cautious about parking there at certain times.
It raises the question: why would the property be haunted? Thoughts may turn to whether any workers died in tragic circumstances during construction, but the reason, it seems, lies in the land.
The Howff (or Houff) Burial Ground dates back to 1564 when Mary, Queen of Scots, was so horrified by the stench coming from the old burial grounds during a visit to Dundee, it was agreed for the former gardens of the Greyfriars Monastery, which had been destroyed in the Reformation, to be used as a new burial ground. The name 'the Howff,' meaning meeting place, originated from a tradition for tradespeople to hold meetings in cemeteries. By the early 19th century, the burial ground was overcrowded, and as a solution, additional soil was brought in to raise the ground level and allow more burials.
When Dundee was struck with cholera epidemics during the 19th century, the situation worsened with long, rectangular pits being dug below the footpaths into which the dead were unceremoniously placed in cheap coffins in marked burials. Action was needed, and land was secured in 1835 for a new burial ground, known as the New Howff. Despite this, it is estimated that over 14,000 burials took place at the Old Howff before it was officially closed in 1860.
Burials started at the new cemetery in 1836, and although it was closed by 1882, burials continued for around another 50 years due to existing family plots.
Both the Howff and the New Howff occupied prime land for the redevelopment of Dundee. While the Howff was protected, the Old Howff was not so lucky. The site was chosen as the ideal location for the new car park and, after permission was granted, work started to clear the site. Relatives of those buried there were invited to arrange for the removal of the remains of their loved ones if so desired, yet it appears only one family did so. The remains of an estimated 10,000 people were removed and placed in a mass burial in the Eastern Cemetery, which had opened in 1863. Burial vaults were in-filled after the bodies were removed, and some of the headstones remain to this day in the wall to the side of the car park. It is, however, thought that up to 30,000 people were buried on the site, suggesting up to 20,000 may remain.
It seems likely that the wails heard and figures witnessed relate back to the burials that were disturbed. Whether it is the spirits of those removed, or whose bodies remain in now unmarked graves is unknown. It could also be the spirits of their families, returning to the original burial ground of their loved ones.
In March 2024, the car park was closed to be repurposed as a green transport hub, with solar panels to line the top floor, multiple electric car charging points, and bike storage facilities. In July, it was reported that more bodies had been found and removed.
Jack the Ripper?
In an interesting side note to the reputed hauntings of Bell Street Car Park, the New Howff Cemetery has a connection with one of the most infamous murderers in British history, Jack the Ripper.
Although there are some thoughts that Martha Tabram, who was found having been stabbed multiple times on August 6, 1888, was killed by the same person, the first murder attributed to the Ripper occurred on August 31, 1888, when the mutilated body of Mary Ann Nichols was found in Whitechapel, London. Over the following months, there would be four other victims, all murdered in a similar fashion, and meanwhile, the police were taunted by notes about the murders, signed Jack the Ripper. The killings stopped in November 1888, and the murderer was never caught. Later murders were possibly linked, but not definitively attributed to the killer identifying as Jack the Ripper.
During this time, a couple named William Bury and Ellen Elliot lived in the area. They were poor, both working as servants for the same employer. After their marriage in March 1888, they moved into new accommodation, only for their landlady to evict them after witnessing acts of violence against Ellen by William. Ellen meanwhile benefited from an inheritance, which allowed them to move to Dundee in January 1889, with hopes that they would be able to re-establish themselves with a new life away from London.
While Ellen found employment in the city, William, it seemed, preferred to spend the money on alcohol. In February, he reported to police that his wife had committed suicide by hanging, yet when the police found her body it was discovered to have been strangled and mutilated before being put in a wooden trunk. William was charged with her murder and, after being found guilty, was hanged in April 1889.
Bury gained notoriety as being the last hanging in Dundee, yet there was also much speculation that he may in fact have been Jack the Ripper. He is said to have told the police that after discovering his wife's body, he was angry at what she had done and so stabbed her remains multiple times causing the mutilation and crammed her into the crate. He did not seek medical help out of fear he would be arrested for being Jack the Ripper. Chalk notes referring to the Ripper were also found at the property, and afterwards, a conversation was recalled when a potential employer asked them what they had been doing in Whitechapel given the Ripper murders, and while her husband appeared lost for words, Ellen had replied saying the Ripper is quiet now.
It is said that William was buried in the New Howff, forever connecting the cemetery to the tale of Jack the Ripper. However, this would be after the cemetery closed and when checking the records, his name does not appear. Newspaper accounts from the time mention his remains were buried in the prison where he was hanged, which would be more common at the time. Despite this, the story of the connection to the Howff continues. His gravestone is now stored at the nearby McManus Galleries and I am awaiting confirmation from them as to where it was removed from which should give a definite answer.
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