Not far from the site known as Murder Bridge, another eerie crossing lies between Newtownards and Crawfordsburn, just a short distance from the Clandeboye Lodge Hotel. This otherwise quiet stretch of road has been the focus of several unsettling reports over the years. Witnesses have described seeing a solitary man dressed in black—his long cloak draped over dark clothing, trousers tucked into high boots—standing silently by the roadside before vanishing without a trace.

In a recent phone call with staff at the Clandeboye Estate, it was confirmed that their historical records—belonging to the Blackwood family, who have owned the estate since the 17th century—do indeed reference the execution of a highwayman at that very bridge. Once captured and found guilty of his crimes, he was hanged there as a warning to others.

Could it be that this brooding figure in black is the condemned highwayman himself, his restless spirit doomed to linger near the place of his death for all eternity?