Shetland Islands' 'Most Haunted House' Set Ablaze under Mysterious Circumstances

Windhouse on Yell.  (Image credit: CC BY-SA 3.0 Otter / Wikimedia)

Windhouse on Yell, said by many to be the Shetland Islands' "most haunted house," caught on fire last week.  Local authorities were notified of the blaze at 7:42 a.m. on Tuesday, May 29th. 

Windhouse has lay empty for decades and is little more than a skeletal brick structure, but the fire did damage a small area of the building before being put out.  Firefighters at the scene had doused the fire by 11 a.m., but continued to soak the area to prevent re-ignition.

The exact cause of the fire remains a mystery, and police are asking any residents with information to come forward.

"The police are keen to hear anyone who may have been at the building or have witnessed people in the vicinity during the evening of Monday 28 May into the early hours of Tuesday 29 May," said a statement from Inspector Martyn Brill of Lerwick police.

Windhouse was built in 1707 on the island of Yell in the Shetland Islands archipelago off of the northeast coast of Scotland.  Its haunted history includes everything from ghosts to trolls, and just last year, two human skeletons were found during renovations of the property.  The site has been long been believed to sit atop an ancient graveyard, and the skeletons could date back as far as the 13th or 14th century.