Steve was certain in that intense moment that he could hear close beside him another piper playing.
A psychic investigation and historical research have convinced Steve that he has been touched by the spirit of James Reid, whose story is a shocking and tragic one. Enlisted in Lord Ogilvy's 1st Battalion, he was captured at Carlisle then imprisoned in York for a year before being tried for treason.
An educated, articulate man Reid defended himself against three judges. He claimed he was a piper, not a soldier. The judges sneered that his' pipes were his weapons' and that 'his music inspired men to war'. His eloquence may well have been regarded as insolence, and he was condemned to death. This ruling appears unique in history. Reid was the only man to be executed for simply playing music.
In November 1746 he was hanged drawn and quartered. His body butchered, dissected and mutilated. His body parts may well have been displayed on Walmgate Bar opposite St Lawrence church where Steve first practised his pipes.
Steve believes it is this cruel humiliating and degrading treatment that has tormented his spirit, but through their mutual love for the music they connected. Steve aims to tell the story to understand the suffering and thereby bring a kind of peace to the soul of James Reid forever.
from steveroughley2000@yahoo.co.uk website: www.celticweddingpiper.co.uk
Hearing the bedroom door open, the girls both sat up at once. They could see a figure in a long, hooded gown walking around the end of the bed. Gladys assumed that the figure was her mother looking for the matches to light the lamps, and spoke, "The matches are on the dressing table mother." Without responding the figure continued walking towards the window, stood and looked out for a moment then turned and left the room. The girls were both confused, Gladys climbed out of bed, grabbed the matches and went into her parents' bedroom, which was across the landing on the same floor.
Her father Alfred sat up in bed, surprised and asked her what she wanted. "What did mother want? I've brought her the matches." was Gladys' reply.
Alfred shook his head and told her that Mary had not left her bed since they had both retired nearly an hour before.
Over the years Gladys became used to the spectral visitor and often was aware of its presence, and she once recalled to me hearing the rocking chair in the corner of her bedroom move in the small hours. The robes which she had mistaken as her mother's dressing gown she came to believe could have been those of a monk as the apparition often lingered at the bedroom window gazing at the church opposite.