Scottish Ghost Stories

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Towards the end of the 18th Century, the vaults became home to numerous taverns, merchants, and anybody who wanted to fly under the radar of law enforcement.

Every Saturday at sunrise, the Stoor Worm would wake, open his cavernous mouth and yawn nine times. He would then demand a meal of seven virgins for as the old tales record: "although he was a venomous beast, he had a dainty taste." One particularly well known story is of the 'factor of Kildalton castle'. Legend has it that a laird who lived in the castle had an employee with a very distinct appearance. The employee was called away from the castle many times, however it is claimed that whilst he was absent he was seen wandering in the castle. One day his discontented eye fixed upon one wife’s relatives, a young woman named Grizel Leslie. She was more than welcoming of his Lordships advances and, very soon, the two were enjoying a passionate affair. But history remains mute about his activities until in 1305, betrayed by one of his own countrymen, he was captured and taken to London. Thus, with one act of union, peace and prosperity could be maintained while Edwards ambition to unite the two countries could be satisfied.

Selkies 

The tragedy appears to have left an indelible stain on the psychic fabric of Leith Hall and his ghost has been both sensed and seen at several locations. The whole valley echoed to the anguished screams of the injured and dying. As the first rays of dawn illuminated the grisly scene, the snow was red with Macdonald blood, and thirty-eight members of the clan lay butchered. Vestiges of Scotland's stormy past are to be found all over the country and nowhere is it more apparent than in the haunted, ruined castles of Scotland. Once inside you find yourself almost overwhelmed by the vastness of the stone walls that soar six storeys above you. It is said that a lady dressed in green roams the castle's ramparts. Dunstaffnage Castle owners, Clan Campbell, are said to know whether good or bad fortune is coming their way based on sightings of the lady in Green. If she is smiling good fortune is on its way, however ifshe is crying the Clan know that trouble lies ahead. 2. Ardrossan Castle

But in 1970, the house became a hotel and the new proprietors set about overturning the restrictive clause. The burial place of Seath Mor Sgor Fhiaclach, a 14th-century chief of the Clan Shaw, lies in a secluded area of the Forest of Rothiemurchus. In life Shaw was renowned as a warrior and in death it would seem little has changed. Travellers who have had the misfortune to pass through the burial glade have spoken of a gigantic figure challenging them to a battle. If they accept, no harm comes to them and the figure disappears, but it is said that if they show fear and flee they are never seen again. It nestles in quiet seclusion, almost lost amidst tranquil countryside, and to delve into its rambling ruins is to walk in the footsteps of Kings and Queens, not to mention a rich array of historical and legendary figures from Scotland’s past. Taking his words literally, the locals stormed the castle, wrapped de Soulis in lead, and plunged him head first into a boiling cauldron. However, while she was still dangling from the window, the Earl drew out his sword and slashed off his daughter’s hands.I was advised to look for the “small cairn, moss-grown and deep in the heather, little more than a hundred yards below the ruined cottage at Torness (the only building on the west side of the road), higher up the river and a little above the Falls of Lussa.”

Nothing was done to avenge their deaths until Iain Lorn, the Keppoch Bard, nagged MacDonald of Glengarry and Sir James MacDonald of Sleat to punish the criminals. Shortly afterwards the accession was settled in favour of John Balliol who was duly inaugurated at Scone.Its keeper had even achieved a modicum of fame as the tallest man in Scotland, although there is some debate as to his exact stature - six feet seven according to one account, seven feet six according to another! It is, of course, inevitable that some of those who have crossed the threshold of this delightful white-walled house, have chosen not to leave, and at least two ghosts are known to haunt it. By the time he arrived at Abbey Craig, his army had swollen to over 40,000 men, and Wallace himself had become the ultimate cliché of patriotic resistance – a living legend. Its soaring baronial walls are crowned by five majestic towers; each, so tradition claims, a monument to the five families – Preston, Meldrum, Seton, Gordon and Leith – who, over the centuries, helped create this spellbinding stronghold of rambling corridors and splendid rooms.

One of the earliest owners of Hermitage Castle was Sir William Douglas "the Knight of Liddesdale" who wrested it from the clutches of its then occupant, the Englishman Sir Ralph de Neville in 1338. William Ewart Gladstone was also a visitor and in the grounds there is still a small round building known as 'Gladstone's Tearoom' in commemoration of his time here. From the gentle farmlands of the Central Lowlands to wild Empty lands of Europe's last great wilderness in the country's Northwest, Scotland's abandoned castles stand as sullen witnesses to centuries of conflict and bloodshed, and the ghosts that wander their timeworn corridors and historic rooms are perpetual reminders of a violent and stormy past.The new owners hadn’t been told of any unusual activity and were surprised when one of their guests told them in the morning that the “Ghost had been active last night”. The guests, a young couple, had been staying in one of the rooms in the older part of the house. When they went to bed they had left their mobile phones sat on the bedside cabinets, but at some point during the night they were awoken by one of the phones skipping through all the different ringtones. The only way they could stop the phone was by pulling out the battery. But as soon as they stopped one phone, the other phone started to do the exact same thing and it didn’t stop until they pulled out the battery. Legend has it the cave is named after a piper who travelled into its depths to see how far underground he could go, once deep inside the cave he bumped into a female ogre who killed him after he failed to please her with a tune from his pipes. 12. 1934 Austin, Sligachan Wallace was a national hero as he moved on to capture Dundee and drive the English forces further and further south until, by October 1297, not one English soldier remained in Scotland.