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MORE SCOTTISH HAUNTINGS

St Andrews is also haunted by the spectre of a coach and four that has been seen flying down the Crail Road before disappearing into St Andrews Bay.


Crathes Castle, nr Banchory, Grampian
This early 17th century castle was built for the Burnet Family and it took nearly 40 years before it was finally ready to be lived in. It is haunted by the ghost of a Green Lady, who particularly haunts the room known as the Green Lady's Room.
It is thought that the Green Lady could be the ghost of one of the Burnet Family's daughters, who in the early 1700's brought disgrace upon the family by giving birth to an illegitimate child, the father of whom was the local gillie. He was dismissed from his job and ordered away from the local area but there is more of a mystery surrounding the girl and her child because they simply vanished from the face of the earth, conveniently to protect the "good" name of the family.
In the middle of the 19th century, whilst modernisation work was being carried out at the castle, the skeleton of a woman and a young baby were found together under a hearthstone and this added weight to the feeling that mother and child had been murdered by their own family. It is known that in the 18th century the Burnet Family were absolutely terrified of ghosts, especially, one is forced to assume, when the ghosts were created by their own actions.
In the meantime the Green Lady is still a regular visitor to the castle although in these days she is heard more than she is seen. When she is seen she is normally observed holding her baby in her arms, mainly in the Green Lady Room, but also near the old fireplace where their pitiful remains were to be discovered 150 years after their disappearance. She is normally seen immediately prior to the death of a member of the Burnet Family or when there are grave troubles imminent.



Ben Macdhui, Cairngorms, Grampian
Ben Macdhui, one of the six main peaks of the Cairngorms, stands 4,296 feet at it's highest point. The famous Scottish ghost "The Big Grey Man of Ben Macdhui" has been seen and heard by many people over the years. The apparition is said to be about ten feet tall and has long waving arms, and is said to make a terrible noise which sounds vaguely like Gaelic speech.
In 1891, whilst returning from the summit, Norman Collie, a student who was to become a professor at the University of London, heard footsteps following him in the mist. Realising that the footsteps were not of human agency Mr Collie started to run and did not stop until he had reached the Rothiemurchus Forest, when he realised, with great relief, that the mysterious footsteps were no longer following him.
In 1904, two brothers, named Welsh, were camping for a fortnight on Ben Macdhui collecting plants. During their first few nights near the summit they both heard the same mysterious footsteps following them but they never saw what was causing the sounds.
Mountaineer, Dr. A.M. Kellas, who was to later die on Mount Everest during the 1921-1922 expedition, was on the summit one June night with his brother when he saw a figure climbing out of Lairig Ghru Pass, walk round the cairn and disappear back into the Pass again. His brother, who was with him at the time, saw nothing and was unable to corroborate the report. The same figure was seen in 1914 by George Duncan as he drove at the base of Ben Macdhui along the Derry Road. A figure, dressed in a large black robe appeared to be angrily waving his arms in a menacing fashion.
In 1941, Wendy Wood, the Scottish naturalist, fled in terror from Lairig Ghru Pass. She had just entered the Pass when she heard a voice of "gigantic resonance" close beside her. The strange figure was also reported being seen and heard in 1942 and 1943.



Fyvie Castle, Fyvie, Grampian
Fyvie Castle is haunted by the ghost of a phantom trumpeter who first made his appearance there in the 18th century. The trumpeter was a man called Andrew Lammie and he fell in love with Agnes Smith, the local miller's daughter. Agnes' parents did not approve of Andrew Lammie.
Learning that Andrew and Agnes were meeting in secret the Laird, who himself wanted the girl as his mistress, had Andrew seized and sent in slavery to the West Indies. After several years Andrew managed to escape and return to Scotland to look for his beloved Agnes, only to discover that she had died a short while after he had been forcibly taken abroad. Andrew died of shock but before his death swore that the sound of a trumpet would foretell the death of every laird of Fyvie as a reminder of the terrible injustice he had suffered.
Shortly after Andrew's death the haunting of Fyvie began and for many years afterwards the trumpet would be heard in the dead of night before the death of the laird. On several occasions the shadowy figure of a tall man, dressed in rich tartan, was seen by the castle wall, a figure which always disappeared when approached.
Another ghost at Fyvie Castle is that of the Green Lady, who can still be seen from time to time. She emerges from a room, known as the Haunted Chamber, and glides noiselessly through the corridors and rooms before returning from whence she came, and disappears. No one knows who the Green Lady is.


Christie Hill, Glencunie, Grampian
After the 1745 Rebellion Scotland became virtually an occupied country. The King's Army maintained garrisons, attempted to totally disarm the Highlanders and even tried to enforce the ban on the wearing of the kilt.
Sergeant Arthur Davies, of General Guise's Regiment of Foot, a well-liked man, both by his own men and many of the local Highlanders, was in charge of a party of eight men stationed at Dubrach, near Inverey. He enjoyed wandering the hills by himself, fishing and hunting. Although personally well-liked he still took many risks. The local Highlanders were extremely poor and his show of comparative wealth must have made him a tempting target. Beside wearing silver shoe and knee buckles, two dozen silver buttons on his waistcoat and a silver watch and fob, he carried a leather purse, usually full of silver and in another purse of green silk he carried fifteen and a half guineas in gold, his life savings. The purse of gold he often rattled in a good-natured manner to amuse the local children. It was only a matter of time before somebody was bound to rob him.
On 28th September, 1749, Sergeant Davies left his lodgings at Dubrach in the early hours of the morning and stalked the hills for the last time. During the afternoon he met, and spoke with, the Corporal in charge of a patrol near the Waters of Benow, but did not return to his lodgings that night. A search party was sent from Dubrach the following day and by the fourth day the searchers had been joined by a company of soldiers from Glenshee, but after a week of unsuccessful searching without a single clue to his whereabouts the party was called off. Sergeant Davies was not to be seen alive again.


Dubrach Farm, where Davies was quartered, was the home of Michael Farquarson. Two miles away, at Glencunie, stood a shiel, or shepherd's hut, belonging to Farquarson. It was here, in June, 1750, that the ghost of Sergeant Davies appeared.
One of the shepherds, Alexander McPherson, a middle-aged man who had managed to stay out of trouble with the Army, was lying in bed when he saw the apparition. At first he thought that it was a living man, one of the Farquarson boys. As if not wanting to disturb the other sleepers the figure retreated to the door of the hut, beckoning McPherson to follow him. Out in the open, the figure turned and revealed himself as Sergeant Davies. He charged the startled shepherd with the task of finding and burying his remains and told him where he would find the skeleton hidden - on the Hill of Christie near the spot where he had been murdered. McPherson was to take Donald Farquarson with him to help.
McPherson asked the English sergeant who had committed to crime but the ghost refused to tell him. McPherson was later to testify in court that the directions the ghost gave for finding the remains of the body were so accurate that they found the spot immediately. However, McPherson did not tell Donald Farquarson immediately and travelled to the spot alone on the first visit.
The body lay under a bank on the hill between Glenchristie and Glencunie, more than two miles from Dubrach Farm. The mouse-coloured hair, tied with black silk ribbon and fragments of cloth made identification not too difficult. However, the silver buttons, gold rings, watch and purses of money were missing.
McPherson did not bury the body, nor did he report his find to the authorities. Instead he spoke with a man called John Growar, who warned him not to mention a thing to the authorities but to seek advice from the Laird, John Shaw of Daldownie, who was also the local magistrate. McPherson took the problem to John Shaw who agreed with Growar that it would be better if the Army were not informed. Naturally, under these circumstances, the body could not be buried in a churchyard, but as Davies had not indicated where he wished his body to be buried, Shaw advised McPherson to bury the body in the hills.
At this point Alexander McPherson decided to "leave well alone" and tried not to become any more involved. After a week, the ghost of Arthur Davies came back to the hut urging McPherson to carry out the burial. Once again the ghost was asked to name his murderer. This time, without hesitation, Davies named two men - Duncan Clark and Alexander Bain MacDonald.


Curiously, although the apparition had appeared on the first occasion dressed in full blue uniform, on the second visit he appeared without any clothes on at all, a fact that was to be later to be confirmed by Isobel McHardie, the tenant of the hut and for whom McPherson directly worked. She was to later state in court that she awoke to see a naked man coming into the hut. At that point she pulled the bedclothes over her head and saw nothing more.
The following day McPherson spoke with Donald Farquarson, who agreed to help bury the remains, mainly to avoid any personal contact with the ghost of Sergeant Davies. The bones were buried at the spot where they had been originally found. However, the Sergeant's hat, marked with his initials "A.R.D.", and gun were overlooked and in due course these were discovered. Lengthy investigations resulted in Duncan Clark and Alexander Bain MacDonald being arrested and charged with the murder of Sergeant Davies in September, 1753, but they were not brought to trial at the Tollbooth, Edinburgh, until 10th June, 1754, exactly four years after the ghost of Sergeant Davies had first manifested itself to Alexander McPherson.
Apart from McPherson's evidence the prosecution produced much circumstantial evidence. All the local population knew the identity of the murderers although individually they would never have informed on the two men. Clark's wife was seen on numerous occasions after the disappearance of Sergeant Davies, wearing his gold ring. Clark himself, a very poor man until that time, suddenly became inexplicably rich. There were also two eye-witnesses to the murder. Angus and Donald Cameron had been in the hills on the day of the murder and had seen Duncan Clark and another man, both carrying guns. They also saw a soldier on the hills and were to observe Duncan Clark and the other man approach the soldier and appear to talk to him. Two shots were heard, the soldier fell and his attackers bent over the body of their victim.
The jury of Edinburgh tradesmen listened to the case for 21 hours and spent another 14 hours in deliberation and then, in spite of the overwhelming evidence, where even the defence counsel were firmly convinced of their clients' guilt, they returned a verdict of "Not Guilty". The astonishing reason for their decision was that the ghost had spoken to Alexander McPherson in Gaelic, a language Arthur Davies probably did not know in life. A truly astonishing decision, if nothing else it proved the difficulty of getting a conviction from a Scots jury for the murder of an English soldier.
However, the ghost of Sergeant Davies had not failed in his stated purpose because he had never expressed a desire for his murderers to be brought to justice, in fact when he had first appeared to Alexander McPherson he had refused to name them. His sole desire had been to get his remains buried. In that he had succeeded.


Muchalls Castle, Stonehaven, Grampian
Muchalls Castle, built in 1619, is said to be haunted by the ghost of a girl dressed in green, although some reports have clearly stated that she has been seen wearing yellow. Whatever the colour of her attire one thing is certain, she has frequently visited the castle and has been seen over the years right up to modern times.


The story of the haunting concerns an underground passageway that leads from the castle to the sea. In olden days the passageway was used by smugglers and the daughter of the house had a boyfriend on one of the ships that ventured to and from the Continent in pursuit of their illegal activities. One day, having sighted her boyfriend's vessel out to sea, she rushed to the underground passageway to be there to meet him when he rowed into the sea-cave. However, she fell into the water and was washed out to sea by the strong tide and her body was discovered the following day.
A weekend guest at Muchalls Castle in 1906 was passing one of the bedrooms when he saw through the open door the figure of a young girl dressed in a yellowish frock, touching up her hair in front of a mirror. Assuming that she was a fellow guest at the castle he said that he thought she would be down for dinner in a few minutes, only to be told that he was the only visitor. The same girl was seen again in the 1970's by another visitor, standing in front of a mirror, adding the final touches to her hairstyle. Almost certainly she was re-enacting her last preparations before rushing down to the underground passageway to meet her returning boyfriend on that fateful day so many years ago.


Balnagowan Castle, nr Ballchraggan, Highland
Ancient Balnagowan Castle is haunted by at least two ghosts, that of a murdered Scottish princess and the wicked Black Andrew. There are also said to be several skeletons confined within the walls of the castle although their location is not known. It is believed that one of the skeletons is that of the princess.
Over a period of time there have been several authenticated reports of footsteps having been heard walking along the Red Corridor. These are thought to be those of Black Andrew, who in life was Andrew Monroe, a smaller 16th century laird who had a reputation for murder and rape for miles around. It is said that he forced his village women to work naked in the fields at harvest time. Always "one for the women", his footsteps only echo down the corridor when a new lady visitor is spending a night at the castle.
Eventually the chief of the Clan Ross decided to stop the antics of Black Andrew by throwing him from a window in the Monument Room at the top of the tower with a rope fastened round his neck. He is said to have died outside one of the bedroom windows that leads off the Red Corridor. A portrait of Black Andrew hangs in the Red Corridor showing him to be a hairy old man with large malevolent eyes.
The ghost of the murdered princess was once seen by Lady Jane Conyngham, who at that time was alone in the castle. Whilst eating dinner Lady Jane heard the rustling sound of a dress. Turning, she saw a female figure, with copper-gold hair and green eyes, dressed in grey, coming from the corner of the room. She appeared to be very gentle and friendly. Lady Jane followed her from the drawing-room, where the ghostly princess disappeared.



Cape Wrath, Highland
The ghost of a man described as being 6' 6" in height, bearded and wearing a long dark-coloured coat, knee-length boots and tricorn hat, has been seen many times outside a ruined cottage near the lighthouse at Cape Wrath at the extreme north-west corner of Scotland. He was seen especially between 1949 and 1953 and is thought to be one of the crew of a Polish ship that was driven ashore at this point 300 years ago.
An old shepherd once slept in the cottage overnight and was continuously disturbed by the sound of footsteps. After thoroughly searching the ruined building he could find no cause for the sounds but decided rapidly that he would never sleep there again.


Skibo Castle, nr Clashmore, Highland
On one occasion many years ago, Skibo Castle was left in the sole charge of a manservant who one night persuaded his former sweetheart to visit him at the castle.
When the girl failed to return home that evening an intensive search was made, including at the castle in spite of the protests of the manservant. She was never found and shortly afterwards the servant left the district.
Soon afterwards people living in the castle were startled by screams that were heard coming from the castle corridors and by the sight of a young woman who always appeared to be in a state of terror. Many years later some repairs were being made to the castle, during which a young woman's bones were found in the very spot where the apparition usually disappeared. The remains were buried elsewhere and the apparitions ceased.


Culloden Moor, nr Inverness, Highland
Culloden Moor was the scene of the last battle fought on British soil and the fate of the House of Stuart was settled there on 16th April, 1746, when 9,000 troops, under the command of the Duke of Cumberland, supported by 14,500 Protestant Highlanders, wiped out a force of 4,500 Catholic Highlanders loyal to Bonnie Prince Charlie. Before the commencement of battle the Young Pretender had declared "no quarter given" and so it was not surprising that the wounded were slaughtered by the Protestant Clansmen as they lay dying on the field of battle. Only twelve British soldiers were to be killed in the action, which lasted little more than an hour. The dead rebel Highlanders were buried on the site and all that marks the spot now is a giant cairn of stones. It is from this cairn that visitors have reported many strange happenings.
On occasions the dim form of a battle-weary Highlander has been seen at dusk close to the cairn and this dark-haired warrior, said to wear the red Stuart tartan, has also be seen lying on the stones of the cairn, as if resting.
For a considerable time after the battle, locals were able to witness a repetition of the engagement time and again, as the two phantom armies refought the battle that had cost so much in blood. Many years after the battle, people walking across the Moor found themselves in the very midst of the smoke and noise of the fighting, the various clans being clearly recognised by their respective tartans.



Linlithgow, Lothian
A ghostly old man, dressed in a long blue robe and carrying a pikestaff, appeared to King James IV of Scotland in 1513 whilst the monarch was at worship at St Michael's Parish Church in Linlithgow. He warned the King, in the presence of some of the King's advisors, that he should not proceed south to attack the English, for if he did so he would certainly be defeated and die.

The King did not listen however and his army marched south and met the English at Flodden Field, where the King was killed and his army was defeated.

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