John Murray – The Real Person Behind Aberdeen’s “Theatre Ghost”

If you’ve ever visited His Majesty’s Theatre in Aberdeen, Scotland, you may have been told about their resident ghost, Jake.

Supposedly, he was a stagehand, working on the fly system (the ropes and pulleys used to hoist up lights, scenery etc). In 1942, he was lowering some horses from the stage to the basement of the theatre, when something went wrong and he was hit in the head by a crank handle. Depending on who tells the story, this either just killed him or entirely decapitated him.

As for the haunting side of things, again, these vary depending on the storyteller. Some versions talk about people actually seeing a headless man wearing a long brown coat and speaking in a very deep voice. Others mention feeling cold spots or hearing footsteps behind them. However, most backstage tales I’ve heard simply involved “Jake” helping to find things. If you lost something in your dressing room, it was common to blame it on Jake, ask out loud for the item back, then leave the room. When you returned and invariably saw the missing thing, you thanked Jake – whether or not you believed he had been the one who moved it in the first place! (And yes, this happened to me – with a pair of tights.)

But it recently occurred to me that I had no idea if Jake was an actual person or simply a story shared by local performers and theatregoers. So I decided to do some investigating! Yes, there was a real stagehand who died, so who was he?

Photo credit: Colin Smith / His Majesty's / CC BY-SA 2.0 

John Murray was born on 29 October 1874 in Nigg, Kincardine, to George Murray and Jane Wilson.

George and Jane were married on 4 June 1872 in Methlick, Aberdeenshire, when they were both 20 years old. At that time, Jane was a domestic servant and George worked on a farm, but he soon joined the police force in Aberdeen city.

According to the 1911 census, the couple had eight children in total – with five surviving to adulthood. George Jr died of pertussis (whooping cough) in 1881 at 11 months old. I haven’t found the remaining two children yet. John was their first born.

* Isabella had married James McAndrew in 1915. At the time of the 1921 census, he was a patient in hospital.

John married Jane Stewart Mathieson at the Cafe Royal on Broad Street on 21 June 1901. He was a 26-year-old vanman, she was a 25-year-old printer’s assistant, living at 32 Union Terrace. They had five children, who all survived to adulthood.

John started working at His Majesty’s Theatre at some time in the early 1920s, ending up as head fly-man, in charge of winches and hoists to move sets and large props backstage.

John’s parents died in the 1930s – Jane in 1931 and George in 1938. John was the informant for both death certificates. His son, Lindsay, was a member of the 1st Battalion Scots Guards during the war and was killed in Tunisia on 29 April 1943, aged 31.

On Christmas Day in 1943, John was killed instantaneously at the theatre, aged 69. He was in charge of the winch operating a hoist to lower circus horses from the stage to the basement, when an accident occurred and he received fatal head injuries. The official cause of death was “compound fracture of skull and destruction of brain”.

John had worked for HMT for nearly twenty years:

“Throughout that time, he took a keen interest in all the stage productions which visited Aberdeen. From a record which he kept and carried about with him, Mr Murray was able to recall details of every show which appeared at His Majesty’s since he joined its staff.”

In February 1944, the Sheriff Court investigated the accident:

“In returning a formal verdict at the close of the evidence, the Sheriff said the accident was due to the sudden release of the brake after the lift had left the stage level. Owing to the rapid descent of the lift, the crank handle on the right hand side broke, and that on the left was straightened. The deceased was struck on the head by one or other of the handles. The evidence did not disclose what was the cause of the sudden release of the brake. The lift and braking mechanism were in good condition and adequate for their purpose.”

So, the basic facts of the story are actually true! John was a fly man for HMT and died due to a severe head injury. However, not decapitated and the accident was in 1943, not 1942. Also, I haven’t seen any mention of his nickname being used – even in the “in remembrance” notice posted in the newspaper by his family on the anniversary of his death. That's not unexpected though. 

As for the ghost portion, the first mention I can find in a newspaper is 1986, but people are quoted as saying there have been stories since the 1950s. “Jake” has been the subject of a short film, the main character of the 2004 Student Show (when it was moved to the Music Hall, while HMT was being renovated, so imagined Jake moving too), and had a chapter in the 2006 book on HMT’s centennial.

There was a series of articles to celebrate HMT’s 80th birthday in 1986 and one mentioned the ghost, although “nobody knows exactly who he is”. Interestingly, the daughter of the original manager of the theatre wrote a letter to the newspaper insisting that the ghost was him – Harry Adair Nelson. She said she’d seen him several times.

Whoever or whatever “Jake” the theatre ghost may be, John Murray was a hardworking family man, with a true love of the theatre. His wife, Jane, died in 1962 – she never remarried after his death.

And as a final detail, I think I may be the first person to find a photo of him.

Photo credit: Aberdeen Evening Express (27 December 1943)