When a cameraman returned to St Columb’s Hall in Derry/Londonderry to record some additional footage, he felt something repeatedly tugging at his coat. He assumed a workman was playing a trick on him.
But when he spoke to the workmen, they told him they had experienced the same thing. Local guide David Douglas heard the account through a heritage project he was working on at the building. He did not witness the incident himself.
It is one of the stories David shares while discussing the darker history of Derry/Londonderry, where he runs Derrie Danders Walking and Audio Tours.
The murdered pedlar of Stumpies Brae
One of David’s favourite local legends concerns Stumpies Brae, a few miles outside the city. It is a story he remembers from childhood.
According to the tale, a couple murdered a tall travelling pedlar for his money. They planned to put his body into his own suitcase, but found he was too tall to fit.
The murderers cut off his legs at the knees. When the pedlar was said to return as a ghost, his shortened legs gave him the name Stumpie.
“One of my favourite stories is the Legend of Stumpies Brae,” David says. It is part of the wider folklore he brings to visitors, alongside accounts linked directly to the streets of Derry.
Pump Street, London Street and the Guildhall
David singles out the area around Pump Street and London Street as a focus for paranormal investigators. He suggests its reputation may be connected with the city’s violent history, including the Siege of Derry in 1688–89.
He also believes many residents may not know that a ghost story is associated with the Guildhall, the city’s civic landmark.
“Perhaps most locals don’t know there is a ghost associated with the Guildhall,” he says. He does not give away the full story in his interview.
The accounts are not restricted to old buildings. David recalls a guest who recognised a story he told about a haunted bar because the visitor had experienced something at the same location.
For a guide familiar with these tales over many years, that personal connection made the account especially memorable.
Why David Douglas began Derrie Danders
David founded Derrie Danders Walking Tours in October 2018. He saw room for guided walks offering detailed, historically accurate and politically neutral accounts of Derry/Londonderry.
“I think my approach is one of authenticity and depth of research,” he says. He wanted darker-history tours to be grounded in documented events as well as the ghost stories people tell.
Derry’s Halloween festival encouraged him to develop this side of the business. But as the festival grew busier, evening walks became less practical and, in his view, less safe.
He now tends to offer darker-history tours earlier in the day during Halloween, while retaining options throughout the year.
Walking tours and audio tours
During the COVID lockdown in 2020, audio-tour publisher VoiceMap approached David about recording tours of the city. The business became Derrie Danders Walking and Audio Tours.
The guided walks let visitors ask questions, discuss particular interests and explore the history with David. Audio tours offer a different experience: they are cheaper, can be started at a chosen time and let people move at their own pace.
One of the recorded options is a walk through the walled city’s dark and haunted history. Other routes cover different parts of Derry/Londonderry and its wider past.
Find guided walks and current dates at Derrie Danders, or explore David Douglas’s audio tours on VoiceMap. You can also search for visitor experiences in our Events Guide.
