Haunted Mansion- Tha Fat Ghost on the Fireplace

Tale of the Fat Ghost on the Fireplace

IMAGE BY FLICKR/RHARKNESS

Name: Baird McArthur

Born:  1779

Died: 1828

            An old playwright named Bill once crafted a piece which told of a Scottish Lord who murdered his king in order to gain the throne. This nobleman was said to have no heirs, but as was often the case he did indeed have a son by a local peasant woman. For centuries these descendents tried to lay claim to the Scottish crown with no success. The dispossessed nobles had a family tradition that whosoever gained the cast iron fireplace which resided in Cawdor Castle would also gain the kingship. Assuming this meant controlling the castle itself, they had for centuries tried war, intrigue, commerce and any other conceivable plot to take the fortress. All failed.

            Eventually, with the family destitute, the sole remaining male heir, Baird MacArthur, made a desperate move. He decided to steal the fireplace and thus literally fulfill the tradition. He bribed a government inspector to declare the brickwork unsafe and needing repairs. Baird then arrived with hired workmen to disassemble the hearth and remove the box so repairs could begin. Just before work commenced, Brian, Thane of Cawdor recognized Baird and uttered the fateful phrase, “By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.” A green fireball erupted from the beneath the mantle and immolated the Thane. The nearby drapes also caught fire and quickly turned the house to an inferno. Baird, overcome with the lust for power, heaved his large frame atop the fireplace. Among the castle’s burning ruin he laughed and declared himself “Baird the First- Thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland”. He died a horrible choking death.

            When George and Mary Gracey purchased the fireplace and moved it to their new ballroom in New Orleans, Baird followed. He had sworn that never again would another have possession of it. There he sits today, King of his own spectral realm.