People's Palace

The People’s Palace, built to serve Glasgow’s working-class East End community, has documented the lives of ordinary Glaswegians since 1898 - and some of those lives appear to continue beyond death. Staff members report encountering apparitions in working-class Victorian and Edwardian clothing, appearing as solid and real as living visitors until they suddenly vanish. These ghostly figures seem drawn to exhibits depicting the tenement life and industrial heritage that defined Glasgow’s working people.

The most frequently reported phenomenon involves the sounds of daily life from Glasgow’s past echoing through the galleries after closing. Security guards describe hearing children’s laughter, women singing while working, and men’s voices discussing the day’s labor - all emanating from empty exhibition spaces. The exhibits relating to the Glasgow rent strikes and labor movements of the early 20th century seem particularly active, with witnesses reporting feelings of intense determination and defiance in these areas, as if the fighting spirit of those protesters still inhabits the space.

In the museum’s storage areas and Winter Gardens conservatory attached to the building, staff experience distinct paranormal phenomena. Curators working with artifacts from Glasgow’s industrial past - factory equipment, household items from demolished tenements, and personal effects of working families - report experiencing vivid emotional impressions and occasionally seeing brief glimpses of the objects’ former owners. Some employees describe feeling an overwhelming sense of community and solidarity when working alone in the museum, as if surrounded by the supportive presence of the Glasgow working people whose stories the museum preserves.