RENFREWSHIRE has been at the centre of Scottish history for hundreds of years, and proudly associates itself with William Wallace, one of the country’s most highly-regarded national heroes, who is said to have been born in Elderslie in the 1270s and educated for a short period at by the monks of Paisley Abbey as a boy.

With a county steeped in so much history, there are bound to be a few ghosts of times gone by still lingering around certain parts.

Our sister title The Gazette has been delving into the region's spooky past.

So, with Hallowe’en around the corner, these are said to be Renfrewshire’s five most haunted places.

Do you dare to pass by them on the scariest night of the year? 

Lapwing Lodge/Coats Mill Sanatorium

Now a busy outdoors centre, Lapwing Lodge actually started life as Peesweep in the early 1900s when it was a sanatorium for Coats Mill workers. According to Lapwing Lodge, the corridor windows were left open for patients who were wheeled out of their rooms for fresh air now and then.

Now, though, according to the UKGhostNights site, it’s said the corridor and grounds still have many a lost spirit lingering around, with the White Lady taking charge as the most well-known. Apparently, she was the beloved sister of a woman who was murdered nearby. Now, however, she’s been doomed to forever walk the lodge’s front and back grounds.

As well as the White Lady, the Grey Lady is also said to still watch and ‘look after’ guests having been a nurse in the building when it was a sanatorium.

For the not-so-faint-hearted, an overnight ghost hunt will be taking place at the lodge on October 31.

Spearheaded by psychic Carol Mcgee, attendees will be split into two teams and explore the area and various rooms.

Voice recorders, and various other tools will be used to pick up sounds and voices - and the brave are being urged to bring their own torches. Call 07840 099207 for more information.

Renfrew Victory Baths

Soaked in history, many locals will be unaware the building is, perhaps, the most haunted in Renfrewshire, dating all the way back to the 1920s.

According to online supernatural depository, The Spooky Isles, for years, staff at the old-style baths have reported a number of incidents - including feeling uneasy, the sighting of apparitions, strange footsteps, and even whistling - causing them to reportedly refuse to visit certain parts of the building.

A young boy was believed to have been killed in a freak diving accident at the pool some eight decades previously, and it is said he’s never quite left the baths.

Similar to Lapwing Lodge, Victory Baths, too, is home to another White Lady. Although the tale around her demise is shrouded in mystery, witnesses of her presence have told of how she apparently roams aimlessly up and down the old tunnels built underneath.

Earlier this year, in March, brave ghost hunters headed to the baths where they had access to the main pool areas, the dance studio, upper gallery - and a very old and dark basement - to try and get to the bottom of the spooky goings-on.

Old Royal Alexandra Infirmary

Also known as the RAI, the building is believed to have been constructed some time in the 1700s.

Half of the building was developed into flats two decades ago, while the other half acted as a nursing home for a spell before closing in 2008.

According to ParanormalDatabase.com, a former member of staff at the home claimed her co-workers had experienced some not-so-human activity, including the sound of footsteps and whispering when no-one was there and beds moving and being pushed away.

Perhaps the most frightening of the claims is the sighting of a shadow figure apparently dragging a body bag along a corridor - enough to make anyone stay well away from the now vacant building which has fallen into a very sorry state.

The council is now under pressure from residents in the nearby flats to ramp up security at the old building’s site. According to the Building at Risk Register, the condition of the site has been labelled ‘poor’ and the ‘category of risk’ has been listed as ‘high’ following an inspection in 2014.

Old Dykebar Hospital

Dykebar Hospital opened in the early 1900s as the ‘Renfrew District Lunatic Asylum’. Around half a century later, it became part of the NHS and became known as Dykebar.

According to Archives Hub, the number of patients at the asylum always remained at over 300 with the able-bodied put to work in and around the building.

One unusual feature the old building has is plenty of wall space but very little windows.

This design was said to have been put into place intentionally in order to reduce the chances of patients from jumping out and escaping. However, it seems the barricading efforts worked a bit too well, as some of the patients are said to have never left.

Today, the old building has fallen into much disrepair and has been cordoned off and deemed unsafe.

Paisley Abbey

The abbey has long been seen as the heart of Paisley and is known to be a popular visitor attraction.

Originally constructed as a priory in the early 1100s, the land on which the abbey now stands became home to a small community of monks. The population of the town grew so fast that, in the mid 1240s, the building was eventually granted ‘abbey’ status.

After being burned down, it was eventually constructed into the abbey as it is today, via some much-needed restoration work which was carried out in the 1920s.

There have even been sightings of monks passing down the aisle.

For a building steeped in as much history as they abbey, is it any wonder tales have emerged of strange goings-on?