THE RED ROOM OF BORTHWICK CASTLE

Borthwick Castle's Red Room spooked so many visitors that in the 1980's an Edinburgh priest was called by the owners to exorcise the lingering spirits of, among many others, Maria Stuart. The famous Queen of Scots was frequently seen wandering the stony spiral staircases of the castle where she once sought a refuge and she also walked through the walls of the Red Room where she once had slept. Mary was disguised as a boy... or she had the crew cut of a woman who was soon to be beheaded.

A young servant girl returned frequently to the Red Room where she was put to the sword. The girl bore an illegitimate Borthwick son and had to be killed together with her baby, because of potential threats to the title. A Borthwick chancellor used the niches of the Red Room for his safes. When the Borthwicks discovered he was embezzling money from them, they burned him to death...

THE GHOSTS OF CULLODEN

April 16, 1746... The Battle of Culloden is the final clash between the Jacobites - most of them Highland Scots - and the British. The Jacobites supported the claim of "Bonnie Prince Charlie" to the throne. The so-called "Young Pretender" was defeated, left Britain and went to Rome. The aftermath of the battle was very brutal and the civil penalties also were severe: the Highlanders' clan system was attacked by new laws, and the highland dress was forbidden.

There still are many ghosts at Culloden Moor: anniversary ghosts, for example, who return on the 16 April and make themselves heard by their battle cries or the clash of steel on steel. Bonnie Prince Charlie is still grieving his defeat at nearby Culloden House. There doesn't grow any heather over the graves of the Jacobites and there are no birds singing at the battlefield since, on the eve of the battle, a huge black bird was seen and heard by the Jacobite Commander Lord George Murray. This Great Scree of Culloden Moor is reported to bring bad luck. And then there is this tall Highlander ghost with a drawn weary face, who - when you meet him - will quietly whisper: "Defeated..."

THE NOT SO DISTANT DRUMS OF CORTACHY

The Count of Ogilvy stuffed a drummer boy into his own drum and threw him from the highest turret of Cortachy Castle, because the boy could be having an affair with his wife, the Countess of Airlie. Just before he died, the drummer boy placed a curse on the Ogilvy Clan: from that moment of, the mysterious and haunting sounds of a drum would be heard,

Christmas, 1844... Miss Dalrymple is a guest at Cortachy Castle. While dressing for dinner, she hears the drumming. Six months later, Lady Airlie commits suicide. Five years later, an Englisman hears the drumming as well. Lord Ogilvy isn't at home, because he had to attend the 9th Eearl of Airlie, who had become very ill... The Earl passes away the next day...

THE PHANTOM PIPER

On stormy nights a ghostly bagpipe can be heard near Culzean Castle. The Phantom Piper likes to blend his haunting music with the wind and the waves that are shattered on the cliffs. Some say it is the spirit of a piper who vanished while he was exploring the caves below the castle.

MORE HAUNTED SCOTLAND:
http://www.trifter.com/Europe/United-Kingdom/Eight-Haunted-Castles-to-Visit-in-Scotland.420129