They Kept Seeing a Shadow Man at Work

Four employees at a Scottish newspaper office had reported seeing a dark figure moving through the building. Nobody knew who he was, and whenever someone went looking for him, there was nobody there.

The sightings were frightening enough, but things became even stranger in March 2012 when two employees moved an old filing cabinet. Behind it, they found a pair of doors that nobody even knew existed. The doors opened into two rooms that had been hidden away for years.

And according to the people who worked there, the strange activity suddenly got much worse.

The Office Already Had a Reputation

The building stood at 117–119 Castle Street in Forfar, Scotland. It was more than a century old and had previously served as a post office before becoming home to the Forfar Dispatch newspaper in late 2007.

Employees began reporting unusual experiences not long after moving in. They heard footsteps in empty rooms, noticed sudden cold spots, and sometimes felt as though somebody was watching them.

The archive area toward the back of the building was especially uncomfortable. Staff didn’t like spending time there alone, and several had seen what looked like a person moving through the rooms. At least four employees independently described seeing a dark, human-shaped figure on the first floor.

One moment, somebody would be standing there. The next, the figure would be gone.

The employees tried carrying on with their jobs, but the building was becoming an increasingly unpleasant place to work.

The Filing Cabinet Was Hiding Something

In March 2012, two employees moved a filing cabinet that had been standing against a wall. Behind it were double doors leading to two adjoining rooms. Nobody working there had realized the rooms existed.

The discovery was exciting at first. It was an unexpected piece of the building’s history, hidden right inside a workplace everyone thought they knew.

But staff soon noticed that the strange activity seemed to be increasing, especially around the newly opened rooms. There was another problem upstairs in Room 39, which employees used to store old newspaper files.

The door had no proper handle, and once it closed, opening it again was difficult. Two employees had accidentally let it shut, and the room remained locked for more than two weeks.

When staff finally got inside, they found files and boxes scattered across the floor. Nobody remembered leaving the room that way, and the employees were becoming nervous about going upstairs.

On another occasion, two staff members were halfway up the staircase when the heavy door at the bottom suddenly slammed shut behind them. Frightened, they left through the fire escape. The newspaper decided it was time to bring in some outside help.

The Ghost Club Arrived

On June 9, 2012, investigators from the Ghost Club came to spend the evening inside the building. The team was led by Derek Green, who had years of experience investigating reportedly haunted places. Twelve people took part in the investigation, including newspaper employees Sarah McLean and Trudy Lindsay.

They started by walking through the offices, checking the upstairs rooms and deciding where to spend their time. Several investigators immediately felt uncomfortable in certain areas. One reported hearing a sharp hissing sound near the stairs, while another described seeing a dark shape moving in one of the rooms.

But the most frightening experiences were still ahead.

Something Pushed Them Away From the Room

During the investigation, Derek Green heard shuffling noises coming from downstairs. He went to check the recently discovered storage rooms.

As he approached the doorway, he suddenly stopped. Green said he felt a firm hand pressing against his chest, as though somebody was physically preventing him from entering. Another investigator, Andy Glanville, later reported a similar experience in the same place.

Andy described feeling pressure across his entire chest when he tried to approach the doorway. It was strong enough to make him stop.

He decided to take pictures of the room, but his camera began behaving strangely. The flash went off several times without producing a picture. During one of those flashes, Andy thought he caught sight of a man standing inside.

He couldn’t be certain what he’d seen, and the camera eventually took two pictures. But he wasn’t finished with the room yet.

A Voice Came From Inside

Andy stood near the doorway and began talking into the darkness. He asked whoever might be inside to give him a sign.

According to his account, a low humming sound came from somewhere inside the room. The noise frightened another investigator, Lynn Robertson, who quickly backed away toward the stairs.

Andy tried again, asking for the sound to be repeated. He heard another low humming noise, similar to the first but at a slightly different pitch.

He continued talking until the uncomfortable feeling suddenly disappeared. For a moment, he felt as though whatever had been inside the room had left.

Almost immediately, one of the newspaper employees standing nearby reacted to something behind him. She had seen a man looking around the doorway of another small room.

Sarah and Trudy later told Andy that they had both seen the figure. They described him seeming to dive out of the cupboard beside them. The shadowy man that employees had been reporting for months appeared to be making another visit.

The Chair Suddenly Moved

Later that evening, investigators gathered inside the small room to try communicating with whatever might be there. Andy, Derek, Lynn, and several others sat in a circle. Some reported feeling cold air around their necks, while others described the uncomfortable feeling that somebody was standing over them.

One investigator believed he could sense a tall, thin man wearing dark clothing. Others reported hearing hissing noises that made them increasingly uneasy.

At one point, Joan Green became so uncomfortable that the group stopped and took a break. When they returned for another session, something happened that startled everyone sitting in the room. Andy was seated with the others when his chair suddenly moved forward several inches.

He said the entire chair shifted at once, with all four legs moving together. It didn’t feel as though somebody had kicked it, and he hadn’t felt the sudden jolt he would have expected from being pushed.

The others reportedly saw it happen.