They spoke to present caretaker, Dessie Farrell, who told them what he knew about the history and the stories... which he said, in his experience were true.
On one occasion Dessie was stopped by a woman who regularly takes her dogs for walks in the early mornings along the coastal path. To get to the path she had to walk past the house.
That morning, Dessie says, " The lady came over to me. She appeared quite worried. She asked me, 'What was the nurse doing here Dessie? Is there something wrong?' I admit I was very confused. I asked her what she was talking about. She said, ' When I went to let the dogs out of my car I saw a nurse come out from the side door of the building; you know, the old main door! I thought that she must have been here to see you.' She went white when she realised what she had just said."
Is there a story behind this apparition of a nurse? According to Dessie there is. The late husband of the woman, a Mr Crawford, who inherited the house was injured in a motorbike accident on the road that leads down to the house. The man was brought to the house and a nurse was brought in to look after him. He eventually died as a result of the injuries sustained in the accident. But the nurse who had looked after him is reported to have said as she was leaving the house, from the same door that the apparition was seen leaving, 'I will be back to this house'.
Dessie reported that there was a series of other strange happenings inside the house.
He said, "We have things happening all the time in the house itself." The most recent happening, he said, being less than three days before the researchers turned up, was when he was disturbed by the echo of a light fitting crashing to the floor. (He admits that when he first took up the job as caretaker, when something like this happened in a building his first reaction would have been that there was a break-in, but not anymore and certainly not in Crawfordsburn house!) He lay on his bed waiting to see if he could hear any human sounds . . footsteps, drunken voices; but he heard none. He had to get up, somewhat reluctantly and cautiously, to investigate what was had happened. When he got to the front of the house he found that an old light fitting had smashed to the floor.
He said, "It may sound to the reader as if the fitting had either been pulled down by an intruder or had snapped, worn down by time. But this could not be the case.
Firstly, the argument that an intruder could have pulled the fitting down is unlikely. The ceiling is unreachable, even with a standard ladder. Indeed during repairs in the house Dessie said that the contractors had to bring in an industrial ladder to reach the ceiling.
Secondly, the argument that the fitting had simply fallen from the ceiling as a result of the fitting being worn down with time was also unlikely. On examination, one of the researchers found that the links had not been worn down or broken.
Dessie related to the researchers that at times when he had been showing people around the building, figures have been seen standing in corners, solid doors have been slammed shut without even a slight draft and there had been a distinctive feeling of being watched. On other occasions objects disappeared and reappeared. On one ominous day, he recalled that he was taking a couple around the building. They had gone into the room where the light fitting had smashed to the floor to admire an ornate fireplace. As they stood in the room the lady became startled and glanced behind her back. Dessie recalled, "She shivered. She immediately said that she thought she had felt a cold hand on her shoulder. And as she turned she thought she seen a figure. I flashed the torch in the general direction that she had pointed but we could see nothing but there was a nervous feeling, as if we were being watched. Then the door, out to the old main door, slammed shut and we were left in complete darkness".
While Dessie was showing the researchers around the house he noticed that a trolley that had been parked in the hall the night before had been moved into a room further up the hall.
On another day he arrived at the house to change shifts with his colleague to find him in a bad way. The man told Dessie how his dog had become apprehensive when they had entered the staff dining room and how he'd thought he had seen a figure standing in one corner and so had flashed the light in the general area. As he did an old ink holder was hurled across the room. The black ink mark can still be seen on the wall. The man left the room immediately; and resigned soon after.
So what is the history of the house? Does its history lend itself to haunting?
For the tragedy and misfortune, that the house witnessed and which its former residents experienced, we only have to look to back on the last 100 years. Crawfordsburn House was built in 1836 by the Wilson family. The house is recorded as Crawfordsburn demesne in both the North Down Spectator and the Newtownards Chronicle. The Wilson family were one of North Down's largest grandees, that included families like the Dufferins, Hamiltons and Wards. The Wilson's owned large tracks of land in the North Down: they built both Helen's Bay and Carnalea Golf courses. The Wilson name now graces golf balls and other golfing accessories. Beside Crawfordsburn House is the old Wilson home: the dark stoned Crawfordsbum Castle. The castle was converted into stables after the house was built in 1836, and has since fallen into disrepair. The house passed from the Wilson family to another prominent North Down family, the Crawfords, at the beginning of the 20th century, when a daughter married into the Crawfords. It was soon after this marriage that unexplained things began to happen to the family. The Wilson-Crawford marriage ended in separation. Mrs Wilson-Crawford moved to France but within days of arriving had dropped dead. On her death her husband sold part of the house and some of the land to the Department of Health. Not long after the sale Mrs Wilson-Crawford's ex-husband died as a result of a motorcycling accident, that occurred on the road leading to the house. The couple having no heirs, the house and land was passed onto the Department of Health. The house was given a new lease of life in 1950 when the Department of Health converted the house into a TB hospital for children. They also built in the 1960's two outhouses: one was a morgue; the other was a chapel of rest.
With a decline in TB, the house was converted into an old people's home during the 1970's. It remained an old people's home up until 1986 when it was closed down. Since then the house has been empty. It has been put up for sale several times, but been sold only twice. The first time, the developers had planned to modernise the building and make it into a hotel. The developers' plans got no further. According to the present caretaker, one of the developers' wife went down with a serious illness after the proposals were publicised; another developer was not so fortunate and died soon after.
The house was once more put on the market. The house has recently been sold for L2.5 million. The new owners intend to convert the building into flats... they have already sold six.... and nothing has yet happened to the new owners. It is likely that any sceptic reading this, may be thinking that it's all coincidental. That there is nothing in it.
When one of the researchers contacted Adrian Mencarelli about the building he was dismissive of the stories. He said: All these stories are hearsay. There seems no proof of anything happening at all. He added, " In my opinion it is more likely to be unruly youths messing about in the building than anything else. And why go looking for zebras when there are no hoof prints?" Mr Mencarelli was unaware that there were caretakers who lived 24 hours a day in the house. He was unaware that since the old people's home was closed down in 1986 there had been 17 caretakers in under 11 years. He also did not know that the house was strangely free of mice, rats and pests; there was also very little dust for the 'zebras', to leave their hoof prints in.
Please note: This story is re-produced "tongue in cheek". Apart from a multitude of factual inaccuracies, the sharp reader might have noticed the anomally that the lady at the beginning of the story said to be the wife of the deceased motor cyclist, had by the end of the story been said to pre-decease her husband, whose ghost she had seen. Perhaps Dessie, too saw a ghost ??!!"