Scotland's castles and grand homes became the place to glimpse glowing or greying presences. Over the centuries, these strongholds witnessed more than their fair share of dastardly deeds. The Scottish nobility were often a wild and ruthless lot, and their treatment of their own families and servants - particularly their womenfolk - was as vicious as their dealings with their bitterest rivals.

Perhaps, though, Scottish ghosts have become a shortcut back to the turbulent past, where the best stories are always to be found. No one would want to have lived through such storms of change, yet temporary time travel is a power to the imagination. We can better imagine how the hard-done-by wife of earl so and so might have lived if we think she might still be waiting in the shadows.

At Glamis Castle in Angus - reputedly Scotland's most haunted castle - visitors often find themselves ushered in by one such dame. The grey lady who haunts the 17<sup>th century chapel has been seen by several reliable dignitaries, including the 16th Earl of Strathmore. When large parties are shown into the chapel, guides have reported that one place is always left vacant, as if there was already someone there.

Some are less reticent, as well as more vibrantly attired. Although no reason has been attached to the particular colours of ghosts, it seems the large number of green ladies is explained by green being an unlucky colour in medieval times, as well as the colour of fairies.

Ashintully Castle, north-east of Kirkmichael in Perthshire, is where "Green Jean" is said to reside. The story goes that she inherited the lands and the castle in her own right, but her uncle wanted the property, and in one of the castle chambers he murdered Jean, who was wearing a green dress, along with her servant, who he stuffed up the chimney.

There is another Green Jean in Perthshire. The green lady who haunts Newton Castle, Blairgowrie, is said to be Lady Jean Drummond of Newton, who had fallen in love with one of the Blairs of Ardblair. The families had feuded and Lady Jean seems to have pined away with a broken heart, drowning herself after she was betrothed to another man. However, an old ballad tells it differently. It claims Jean had consulted a local witch after her lover spurned her. She was given an enchanted green dress, which won him back, but she died shortly after marrying him.

Tales of young girls falling for the wrong man and being punished for their passions are common. At the Castle of Mey in Caithness, the daughter of the 5th Earl of Caithness is still said to roam, heartbroken. She fell in love with a ploughman and was locked in the attic by her father. She threw herself from one of the windows and survives only as a green spirit.

Green, of course, is also the colour of envy. Visit Fyvie Castle, in Aberdeenshire, and you might come across the verdant-tinged Lady Lilias Drummond, wife of Alexander Seton, first Earl of Dunfermline. Lilias died in May 1601, possibly starved to death by her husband. He married Lady Grizel Leslie only four months after Lilias' death and his first wife's ghost is said to have scratched her name on the stone window sill of the newlyweds' bedroom, the Drummond Room, on the night of October 27, soon after they were married. The writing can still be seen.

The pink lady who haunts Stirling Castle may be Mary Queen of Scots (who has also been seen at Craignethan, Loch Leven and Hermitage castles). But she could just as well be the ghost of a woman searching for her husband who was killed when the castle was captured by Edward 1. Stirling also has a green lady, said to be the servant who saved Mary when her bedclothes caught fire. Not all the colourful ladies have such good intentions. Though fewer than their innocuous affiliates, certain ghosts are seen as decidedly wicked women. Among them is white lady Christian Nimmo, who roams Corstorphine Castle, west of Edinburgh. She is said to have murdered her lover in 1679 during an argument, for which she was tried and sentenced to death. At Castle Levan, south-west of Gourock, you might bump into Lady Montgomery, who also favours white gowns. She was supposedly starved to death by her husband for mistreating local tenants and farmers. Presumably, the husband got off scot-free for his noble act.

Much more usual among well-to-do husbands were crimes of fired by lust and jealousy. One such took place at Meggernie Castle, eight miles north of Killin in the southern Highlands, and gives rise to perhaps the goriest of female spirits. One of the Menzies lords of the 17th or 18th century is supposed to have murdered his wife in a fit of anger, cutting her in half with a mind to dispose of the body. It is said he stored the top half in the attic thinking to get rid of it later, and the poor woman's upper body can still be seen wandering the top floors of the building. The bloodied lower half is said to haunt the ground floors, as well as the family burial ground, where it was reportedly laid to rest. There is hard evidence to support this particular spook - in the 19th century, the upper bones of a woman were discovered in the building.

Typically, though, the most famous Scottish ghosts are all men. In fact, even the most renowned Scottish witch was a man. From 1649-50, Major Thomas Weir commanded the City Guard of Edinburgh, having been a leading Presbyterian light in Lanarkshire. But underneath his respectable "Angelical Thomas" cloak were dreadful deeds and the darkest character. He eventually confessed to a catalogue of sins including an incestuous relationship with his sister, womanising, bestiality and black magic.
He and his sister Jean were arrested and condemned to death. Weir was burnt alive, but before his ashes were cold his base spirit was back in Edinburgh's West Bow, in Anderson's Close or the "Stinking Close" as it came to be known. His black thornwood staff, carved with heads of satyr-like beasts, began taking walks of its own and a black coach was seen arriving and leaving in the area. For more than 100 years, no one would consider inhabiting his house - the first tenants were scared off by a calf-like creature in their bedroom. Back at Glamis, Alexander Lindsay the 4th Earl of Crawford - or "Earl Beardie" - can still be heard cursing through a game of cards in a walled-up chamber. He is said to have engaged in a poker game with the devil, after being accused of cheating in a previous game by Patrick, the first Lord Glamis. Earl Beardie is the best-known of several other Glamis spirits, including a little black boy (supposed to have died from hypothermia after being scolded and forgotten), a tongueless, handless woman (supposed to have unearthed a family scandal) and a "monster" (supposed to be the ghost of a deformed child born to the Glamis line).
Meanwhile, dirty deeds are still being done by Black Andrew Munro at Balnagown Castle, north-east of Alness. He was hanged from one of the castle windows for his dark doings, mostly with women. True to character, he appears mostly to the fairer sex.

A black coach carrying the corpse of James Carnegie, the 2nd Earl of Southesk who died in 1669, has been seen repeatedly at Kinnaird Castle, west of Montrose. Carnegie is said to have studied in Padua, where he learnt much about black magic and managed to lose his shadow. It is thought the devil came to collect his own when he died. Scotland's spirits are not limited to human realms - at Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfries and Galloway, a yellow monkey or similar creature has appeared time and again to guests, while there is said to be a canine ghost at Edinburgh Castle. Then, almost inevitably, there are the drummers and pipers. The most famous of these can be heard at Cortachy Castle, north of Kirriemuir, built by the Ogilvie Earls of Airlie. A ghostly drummer is said to signal the death knell for members of the Ogilvy family - reported incidents preceded the deaths of the 7th Earl's first and second wives. The drummer is thought to be a spirit from the Leslie family, who was either slain or thrown from the battlements.

At Gight Castle, East of Fyvie the sound of ghostly bagpipes has been heard ever since a piper was ordered to explore a tunnel under the castle and never returned. However, if you want to take pot luck with your ghost-hunting, the best place to go is the west coast of Sutherland. The area between Lochinvar and Cape Wrath has seen everything from encounters with dead sailors to face-to-face exchanges with mermaids. Sandwood Bay, now in the hands of the John Muir Trust, boasts far more spectres than it does people. Sandwood Cottage is one of the loneliest cottages in the country and both cottage and beach are said to be extremely haunted. But perhaps it's all to do with solitude and too much of the fiery Highland spirit. Never mind the grey ladies, sceptics might say - spend a night alone with the Glenmorangie and you'll be seeing purple by morning.</sup>

ARDBLAIR CASTLE

Murder and the case of Green Jean

Blairgowrie, Perthshire; is probably best known to-day as the centre of the soft fruit district in Scotland -- indeed the local guide book claims it as the "Raspberry Capital of the World"! In the century before the raspberry crop brought prosperity the town had grown out of two little communities united in using the water of the Erict for flax and jute mills. Blairgowrie can boast two castles, both still occupied, and sharing a ghost. Newton Castle is now the home of the Chief of the Clan Macpherson, but it was originally a Drummond stronghold, built in the middle of the 16th century. Ardblair Castle goes back much further, built by Alexander de Blair in the days of William the Lion. Needless to say the two families couldn't agree.

In the mid 16th century two Drummond men, father and son, were ambushed and murdered by the Blairs, which didn't help Lady Jean's cause at all when she fell in love with a Blair! A union with such a murderous family was out of the question. Nor was the Blair family in favour of the match, for Patrick Blair had been beheaded for his part in the murder. Heartbroken, Lady Jean wandered out into the marshes . . . and never returned. Her ghost, however, dressed in green silk, divides her time between the two castles.

Known as the Green Lady, she is also rumoured to have had dealings with the fairy folk, putting herself in their power by begging their help and accepting a Wedding Dress woven by them, but once having had dealings with them, this mortal life no longer held any enchantment for her. Whatever version is believed, it is a sad wistful ghost who haunts the castles, inspiring pity more than fear. In the 18th century the two families were still at odds. One of the Drummonds' most prominent members, George, a Hanoverian and supporter of the Union of Parliaments, is actually accused of informing on the Earl of Mar when he conspired to bring about the 1715 Uprising. A grateful government appointed him Lord Provost of Edinburgh and in this post, held six times by him, George Drummond became well known as a benefactor to the city, founding the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

Ardblair Castle, meanwhile, had passed by marriage to the Oliphants of Gask, a family renowned as Jacobites. To-day the castle houses many relics of those turbulent times. When the family moved from Gask the 'flitting' included a table inscribed 'Charles, Prince of Wales, breakfasted at this table in the long drawingroom at Gask, 11th September 1745'. Other precious belongings of the Young Pretender are the shoes he wore when dressed as Betty Burke; gloves, spurs, bonnet and garter; and his crucifix. Laurence Oliphant had been Aide-de-Camp to Bonnie Prince Charlie so when his daughter was born he named her Caroline, after the Prince. Caroline discovered she had a talent for writing poetry and ballads, and under the pseudonym "Mrs Bogan of Bogan" she published many pieces well known to-day -- 'The Auld Hoose'; 'The Rowan Tree'; 'The Laird o' Cockpen'; and 'The Hundred Pipers'.

But being brought up as an ardent Jacobite her longings were expressed in such songs as 'Charlie is my Darling' and 'Will ye no come back again?' The Blair-Oliphant family still live at Blair Castle, cherishing possessions of their famous forbears, and undisturbed by the Green Lady who harms no-one as she searches through the rooms or sits quietly by the window, watching.

ARDVRECK CASTLE

Groom was devil in disguise

Perched on a rocky promontory jutting into Loch Assynt are the ruins of Ardvreck Castle. The desolate scenery is a fit setting for a stronghold with a history of treachery, betrayal and intrigue with the devil. From its beginnings in the last decade of the sixteenth century it was reputed to have evil associations. The land had come to the Macleods through marriage with the Macneil heiress. Macleod had long envied his relatives of Dunvegan Castle and wanted nothing more than to own a castle at least as grand.

The devil saw his opportunity and offered to provide means to build the castle; but at a price--the soul of Macleod. Stiff bargainingfollowed but Macleod was wily enough to hold out for immortality to enjoy his castle. That was too much for the devil and negotations might have been broken off had not Macleod's daughter appeared on the scene. The devil resumed his bargaining -- this time offering to build the castle in return for the maiden's hand in marriage. Her father hastily sealed the bargain. The wedding took place. The castle was built. All seemed well -- until the young bride learned just who her bridegroom was. The Devil in disguise! In terror she cast herself out the window onto the rocks beneath, and her ghost wanders the ruins to this day, weeping bitterly.

So the Macleods of Assynt got their castle -- but little joy did it bring them. Legend tells of a wicked old crone who lived in the castle and caused much unhappiness in the area through her malicious "claiking" tongue. She was reputed to be a 'familiar' of the devil, but went too far in her slanderous gossiping one day, and was challenged by her victim's brother -- a young man who had studied the occult and the black arts. Their confrontation ended with the appearance of the devil himself who completely vindicated the young man's sister -- but the area was left desolate for years. No crops would grow and no fish lived in the loch.
Ardvreck's best known tale is one which persisted in the Highlands for centuries, and was told and retold as a story of treachery and betrayal so contemptible that it is said that from that terrible day the family fortunes declined. It happened in 1650. Montrose had landed in the North and had mustered a force in support of his king. Defeated, however, and deserted by his foreignmercenaries, he became a fugitive. It is from here that versions of what occurred differ, probably to remain a mystery forever.

The most widely held belief was that Montrose sought sanctuary at Ardvreck and was welcomed and offered protection. But Neil Macleod was tempted by the reward and sent word to General Leslie where Montrose could be found. Montrose was taken and ignominiously led off. his feet tied under the horse's belly, to imprisonment and execution at Edinburgh. Macleod's reward was £20,000 and 400 bols of meal -- and writers ever since have taken delight in recounting that 'the meal was sour'

The vile act of treachery is commemorated in verse:
A traitor sold him to his foes,
o deed of deathless shame.'
The accusation has always been hotly denied by the Macleods, and recent research has cast doubt upon the motives of his loudest accuser, who, within the next twenty years raided the castle and harried Macleod until he was driven from Ardvreck, and the Mackenzies took possession. The ghost of a tall man, dressed in grey, has been seen among the ruins on several occasions. He seems a friendly fellow and willingly enters into conversation with any brave enough to approach him --provided they speak the Gaelic!

ASHINTULLY CASTLE

Phantom tinker and hunchback

ASHINTULLY, near Kirkmichael in North Pertshire, is the home of the Spalding family who originally took up residence in the late 16th century when Andrew Spalding married into the Wemyss family who owned the land round about. Andrew was not at all popular with his neighbours, for in 1587 a gang of them, thirty in all, descended on Ashintully and kept him prisoner. Whatever he had done to bring their fury on his head must have been serious in their eyes for Andrew was subjected to humiliation and torture. On his release he appealed to the king who declared the aggressors rebels, and pardon was withheld until 1598. Gratitude for the king's support was sadly lacking however, for Andrew's successor David was deeply involved in the Gowrie Conspiracy, supporting the Ruthvens.
The castle can boast of three ghosts. Green Jean" was really tempting fate one evening when she decided to don a green dress, for green is unlucky for humans, they say, being the fairy colour. But as owner of the castle Jean was used to having her own way, much to the resentment of her uncle who didn't believe in women inheriting property. That night he decided to get rid of her. He entered the bedroom where her maid was dressing her hair. Of course he had to dispose of the witness too! The maid's body was stuffed up the bedroom chimney and Jean, her throat cut, was dragged away to be buried. But she refused to remain at rest, and, still dressed in her green gown, is often seen wandering around the family burial ground, or in the castle corridors.
The other two ghosts are men seeking vengeance. "Crooked Davie" was a hunchback employed as a messenger by the family, not out of charity, but because he was noted in the district for being fleet of foot. On one particular day a great banquet was planned, and as the servants usually ate well from the left-overs and enjoyed festivities of their own "down-stairs", Davy was determined to be there, for he was courting one of the maids. Even when his master despatched him to Edinburgh with a message Davy was not all that much dismayed for he knew he could be there and back on time if he made an extra special effort. He had never run faster, but when he arrived back at Ashintully he was exhausted. As he waited before the fire in the hall for his master, he fell asleep. Spalding, coming past and seeing him, immediately jumped to the conclusion he had been disobeyed.
Without giving Davy a chance to explain he slew him . . . and only after his death did Spalding find the papers sticking out of Davie's pocket were the ANSWER to his message. Davie's companion in haunting the grounds of Ashintully is the ghost of a tinker hanged for trespassing. Before he was hanged the tinker (said to be a Robertson) put a curse on the family, and he still wanders the grounds with Davy, shrieking out his curse.

BALDOON CASTLE

Murdered on her wedding night

BALDOON CASTLE: "There never was trouble brewing in Scotland but that a Dalrymple or a Campbell was at the bottom of it!" -- so Charles II is reputed to have said. The Dalrymple family home in Wigtownshire was Carscreugh Castle now in ruins. From the family home one day in the middle of the 17th century a bridal procession set off -- with a most reluctant bride. Janet Dalrymple was madly in love with Archibald, third -- and penniless -- son of Lord Rutherford.
The parental foot had been set down very firmly however on any romantic notions the young couple may have had a union with David, eldest son of Sir David Dunbar of Baldoon was all arranged for Janet.
No one knows exactly what occurred in the bridal chamber that night, for ever after the bridegroom refused to talk about it. All sorts of rumours were bandied around. One claims the bride in her grief went insane and attacked her unwanted husband. Another says no it was Archibald, who~ madly jealous, somehow or other concealed himself in the room until the newly-weds were alone, then sprang out and attacked the groom. Yet again it is the groom himself who is said to have stabbed his reluctant bride . . . whatever the case, Janet ended up mortally wounded.
The paths of the two families who had been so eager to unite took widely different paths after that. The Dalrymples became better known by the title they received shortly after -- Earls of Stair. As the Master of Stair John Dairymple eventually became Secretary of State for Scotland and was responsible for the Massacre of Glencoe. The Dunbars of Baldoon turned their energies to the improving of agriculture that was beginning to take effect in the last quarter of the 17th century. In his way Sir David Dunbar was a pioneer of the enclosed land for grazing and the importation of cattle--albeit illicit--from Ireland. Sir David recovered enough from his first unhappy matrimonial venture to wed a daughter of the 7th Earl of Eglinton.
What that lady thought of the ghost of her husband's first wife haunting the castle is not known. But legend lives on in more than tradition for the tale so captured the imagination of Sir Walter Scott that he wove "The Bride of Lammermuir" round the tragic heroine. Janet's ghostly figure clad in her blood-splattered white bridal gown, is often seen at Baldoon especially on the anniversary of her dreadful experience.

BALNAGOWAN CASTLE

Black Andrew strikes terror…

BALNAGOWAN CASTLE, near Tam, is an ancient seat of the Ross family. They take their title and surname from the County where their forbears held lands even before their Chief brought his men to fight for Alexander II in 1215. and whose idea of showing loyalty was to present the king with the heads of his enemies! The king showed his pleasure at the gift laid before him by creating the Chief of Clan Ross a knight and bestowing on him an Earldom!

Their influence centered round the Ross and Cromarty area and one of their prized possessions was the sacred shirt of St. Duthac who had been horn in Tam. Wearing the shirt, reputed to have magical properties. the Earls of Ross were safe in battle. When Edward I was rampaging his victorious way over Scotland in 1306 one of the places he made for was Kildrummy Castle where Bruce's wife, sisters and daughter were sheltering under the protection of his brother. At the approach of the enemy the ladies escaped and sought sanctuary in St. Duthac's chapel but were betrayed by the Earl of Ross and led away to captivity. No doubt a seven year spell in the Tower of London had made him wary of offending Edward yet again! Eight years later, however, he was leading his men firmly for Bruce at Bannockburn, and after the victory a marriage was arranged between his son Hugh and the king's sister. In spite of wearing his magic shirt Earl Hugh died at Halidon Hill.

In 1372 the chiefship of Clan Ross passed to Hugh Ross of Balnagowan and stayed with that branch of the family for 350 years. The reputation of some of the chiefs was vicious at times. One, Alexander, was notorious for keeping the countryside .in terror and running his version of a protection racket in the area. It was more expedient to hand over rent money to Alexander's men than to pay it to the lawful landlord!

Continual complaints to the Privy Council brought no reaction -- until tax money began to find its way to the same recipient! Then the authorities sat up and took notice. Alexander was declared a rebel, rounded up and imprisoned in Tantallon Castle where he died in 1592. Son George followed his father's example, setting the whole countryside by the ears, kidnapping, murdering, rampaging and aiding outlaws. He too was declared a rebel. The females of the family were no better, for his sister was accused of witchcraft but was acquitted by an intimidated jury!

In the early 18th century when the chiefship passed to Ross of Pitcalnie, Balnagowan was so burdened with debt it had to be sold. The family who bought it were a Lowland family -- also called Ross! A cadet branch of the Balnagowan Rosses who emigrated to America seem to have redeemed their reputation. Colonel George Ross was a noted patriot and friend of George Washington, and tradition maintains it was Colonel George who asked Betsy Ross. his nephew's widow, to make a flag for the new country on a verge of declaring its Independence and the Stars and Stripes was the result.

The ghost who haunts Balnagowan is a malevolent one. He takes delight in clumping about disturbing guests, especially female ones, for he is Black Andrew, who had an evil reputation when he was living in the mid 16th century. Andrew Munro's speciality was tormenting women --and as he was the laird he could demand what he wanted. If he said they were to gather in the harvest stark naked -- then stark naked they had to work.

The Laird of Balnagowan wasn't prepared to put up with this --Black Andrew's reputation would soon be as evil as his own! So the offending Andrew was rounded up, taken to Balnagowan, a rope put round his neck, and flung out the window where he dangled till he died. But Black Andrew has never been cured of his lusting after a pretty face -- as many a lady visitor can testify when they have seen him leering at them in the Red Corridor of the Castle.

BARNBOUGLE CASTLE

The hound of Barnbougle

BARNBOUGLE CASTLE: Just off the busy A90 road from Edinburgh to the Forth Road Bridge. and in the shadow of the Rail Bridge. is Dalmeny.The West Lothian coast-line between Cramond and South Queensferry is a paradise for sea-birds, and the level coast with woodlands coming down almost to the water's edge attracts those who prefer a quiet secluded stroll rather than a rock clamber.

On the shore stands Barnbougle Castle, and with it are connected the stories of two families -- the Mowbrays and the Roseberys. For 300 years the estate has belonged to the Roseberys who now live at Dalmeny House, built by the fourth Earl in 1815. Barnbougle, the original house just a quarter of a mile away, came into the family's possession in the 1660s when Sir Archibald Primrose bought it for his son who was created 1st Earl of Rosebery in 1703.

It seems to have been a bad buy, for the 12th century castle was cold, damp and draughty, which put rather a strain on the marital relationships in the 150 years the family occupied it. The 2nd Earl didn't help matters, preferring to squander his money on his profligate ways rather than on his castle home, which naturally deteriorated. His son spent all his married life incognito on the Continent, discovering only at his wife's death that there was good reason for her reluctance to return to Britain --- she had married him bigamously! He didn't survive her very long, leaving his younger brother to succeed to the Earldom.

It was in this period too that the Countess of Rosebery's sister was lured away while she was visiting Barnbougle. Lord Lovat of Fraser determined to make her his second wife. She spurned his advances, only to fall victim to his hoax message purporting to come from her mother. She found herself in Lord Lovat's presence in what he said was 'a house of evil repute', and to save her reputation, she married him -- and lived to regret it.

The third Earl was just as reluctant to spend money on his castle as was his father and as he lived to be an octogenarian it was a very dilapidated inheritance he passed on to his son. The new Countess felt she had suffered the hardships and inconveniences of Barnbougle long enough, and a year later she ran off with another man. Within three years her ex-husband was bringing his new bride to his equally new home -- Dalmeny House.

His grandson who succeeded him became Prime Minister of the Liberal Government in 1894 when Gladstone resigned. By,this time Barnbougle was a dangerous ruin but instead of having it demolished Lord Rosebery had it renovated and used it as a quiet retreat to study and prepare his speeches. Before coming into the possession of the Roseberys Barnbougle had been the ancient seat of the Mowbrays. The family were deeply involved in the Crusades, serving as Knights Templar, and when that Order degenerated, turned their energies to smuggling, Barnbougle being ideally situated for such a pursuit!

Hound Point which juts out as a headland into the Firth, brings the two coast lines of Fife and West Lothian within two miles of each other. It takes its name from the legend of Sir Roger de Mowbray who went off to fight in the Crusades. As he was leaving his faithful hound looked so mournful and wailed its sorrow so loudly that Sir Roger took it along. After sundry adventures the knight fell in battle. On the night he died a hound was heard to bay all night long on the shore near Barnbougle -- and since then just before a Laird of Barnbougle dies, a hound appears ·on the shore and 'a ghostly baying is heard, a legend which is immortalised in an old ballad:

CORTACHY CASTLE

The drummer of death

Visitors to Kirriemuir in search of the I birthplace of 1. M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan, will find themselves not only at the gateway to some of the lovely glens of Angus but also in the heart of Ogilvy country.

When Princess Alexandra married the Honourable Angus Ogilvy in 1963 she was allying herself with a family that can trace its ancestry back a thousand years and more to Pictish times. After Scotland became a united country Ogilvy ancestors emerged as the first Earls of Angus. Their name and lands came into the family as a reward from a grateful William the Lion when the then outlawed Earl of Angus came to his aid when the king was attacked while hunting in the area. From then the Ogilvys were always staunch supporters of the monarchy.

During the next three or four centuries advantageous marriages increased their land in the district, but increased power and influence brought equally powerful enemies. Constant feuding created a need for strongholds and in the glens Airlie House was developed into a castle planning permission granted by James I. In the next century Forter Castle was built by an Ogilvy involved in helping Mary Queen of Scots to escape from Lochleven.

It was a time of raids and counter-raids -- the chief enemies being the Lindsays, the Crawfords and the Campbells. Religion made a good excuse for waging fierce attacks, and when James, 7th Lord Ogilvy, rode off in support of his king in the Civil War and was created 1st Earl of Airlie by an appreciative monarch, back home in Scotland staunch Protestants demanded he should sign the National Covenant. His refusal was all the excuse his arch enemy Argyll needed. He rallied his kinsmen. One group was sent to destroy Forter Castle while he himself marched to pillage Airlie.

The legend of his cruel and callous treatment of the ladies of the castle is commemorated in the ballad "The Bonnie Hoose o' Airlie".

With their strongholds of Airlie, Forter and Craig in ruins, Cortachy Castle, bought about 1623, now became Ogilvy's chief seat. Airlie had his revenge a few years later when he joined forces with Montrose and opportunity came to destroy Argyll's Castle Gloom.

It was to Cortachy a defeated Charles II fled after Dunbar hoping to find support mustered by Airlie. The castle was deserted but a weary King stayed overnight in a room still referred to as the "King's Room". A prized possession of the family is the Prayer Book he left behind. Ogilvy fortunes ebbed and flowed with the Stuarts. After the restoration Cortachy was enlarged, but support of the losing side in both the '15 and '45 ended in the Ogilvy of the day being exiled and honours and title attainted.

Eventually pardon was granted and twenty-two years later the family returned to Cortachy, although the title wasn't restored until 1826. Airlie Castle was rebuilt and is used by the Dowager Countess of Airle while Cortachy is the principal seat of the Earl. Airlie Castle is open by appointment and both Airlie and Cortachy are open under the Scotland's Gardens Scheme.

Cortachy Castle is said to be haunted by a drummer who beats out his summons whenever a member of the Ogilvy family nears death. The drummer met his death by being flung from a window in the castle tower
-- a punishment, some say, for philandering with the Earl's wife. Others claim he intrigued with an attacking enemy and allowed them to approach without beating out his warning to the inmates of the castle.

CRATHES CASTLE

Haunted by killer -- or victim ?

CRATHES CASTLE: One of the most popular castles in the care of the National Trust for Scotland is Crathes in the Grampian Region. Built in the second half 8f the sixteenth century by the Burnetts of Leys its grounds are equally as famous, being more a series of gardens divided by yew hedges planted about 1702.
The ancient Barony of Leys was granted to Alexander de Burnard by Robert the Bruce in 1323 as a token of appreciation of his support, and with it came the post of King's forester. But the king had committed one of these 'faux pas' which could lead to one party being highly offended, for the post was also given to the Irvines of Drum nearby! The matter was settled amicably enough however, for while the Irvines continued to display the official arms of the King's forester -- a silver shield with three holly leaves, the Burnetts, as they came to be known, have incorporated in their Arms a horn. The actual jewelled ivory horn they received from the king is perhaps the most famous of the family heirlooms and has pride of place over the fireplace in the Great Hall.

Their first home was built on an island in the loch of Leys and legend associates the building of Crathes with a tragedy that occurred in their original stronghold. The old laird had died, leaving a wife and an heir, Alexander, who was still a child. The widow Lady Agnes, was a managing domineering woman who had ambitious plans, as the years went past, for her son's marriage with one of the noble families of Scotland.

She wasn't at all pleased when romance blossomed between young Alexander and a relative, a pretty girl called Bertha, who had been left in her care for a few months. Her chance came when Alexander was called away on business that took him some time. As the days and weeks passed the servants noticed his beloved Bertha was pining away. Alexander returned home too late -- his sweetheart had died that day.

All solicitous his mother came to comfort him as he stood by the bier. Alexander stretched out his hand to a nearby goblet of wine. As quick as lightning his mother snatched it from his hand and flung it out of the window, into the loch below. Alexander never said a word -- but, horrified, he knew his mother had poisoned his beloved. The months went past until one day Bertha's father arrived to claim the daughter he had left in their care. As they tried to explain her death a chill came overthe room. Lady Agnes shrieked and pointed, screaming "She comes, she comes" . . . then fell to the floor, dead.

The unhappy memories made Alexander set in motion plans to build a new castle and Crathes was the outcome. But once a year, so they say, on the anniversary of Bertha's death a ghostly figure crosses the country from the site of the old castle of Leys to Crathes. Opinions differ however, as to whether it is the murdered Bertha or her murderer Lady Agnes.

The painted ceilings in three of the bedrooms are famous. The chamber of the Nine Nobles depicts Hector, Alexander and Julius Caesar; Joshua, David and Judas Maccabeus; King Arthur, Charlemange and Godfrey de Bouillon each supported by a rhyme or proverb and ending with

"Gude redar tell me or you pass
Whilk of these myn maist valiant was?"

The Green Lady's room is the haunt of another ghost. She is most frequently seen crossing the room carrying a baby, only to disappear at the fireplace. She first made her appearance early in the eighteenth century and legend states she was a young girl living at the castle in the care of the laird. She became pregnant by one of the servants who was ultimately dismissed. The girl and her baby disappeared and rumour said she had eloped with the servant. Then the hauntings began . . . and when workmen were engaged on alterations in the room skeletons were found under the hearthstone . .

DUNROBIN CASTLE

The curse of an earl

DUNROBIN CASTLE: The fairy-tale-like castle facing the North Sea a mile or so north of Golspie in Sutherland is Dunrobin Castle. The Sutherland family can trace their ancestry back to Freskin of Moravia, and one of his descendants, Hugh, migrated to Sutherland in the days of William the Lion, with the 1st Earl of Sutherland being created in 1235.

The oldest part of the castle dates from about 1275 but it was from the strong additions made at the end of the fourteenth century by Robert the 6th Earl that the castle takes its name. He had married the daughter of the infamous Wolf of Bedenoch in 1389 and had to have a fitting and impressive home to offer her.

The ninth Earl inherited a mental weakness and was considered not capable of fulfilling his duties, so was placed in the care of his sister, Lady Elizabeth, until he died. There followed a wrangle over who should
inherit -- his sister or Alexander, a half-bother. Lady Elizabeth won --but it wasn't a desision Alexander was prepared to accept. Local skirmishes took place all over Sutherland until Alexander was killed in one of them and his head borne back on a spear to be displayed on a turret at Dunrobin!

Lady Elizabeth had married a Gordon and insisted on keeping her married name so for the next few generations the Sutherland Earls were Gordons! Some of the would-be competitors for the Earldom who had resented a woman succeeding weren't content to let matters rest, however. When her grandson succeeded Lady Elizabeth, the 'Good Earl John', as he was called, was in exile for taking part in Huntly's Rebellion, but returned to his home in 1567. With his wife and young son he accepted an invitation to dine at Helmsdale Castle. Young Alexander went out hunting and returned to Helmsdale to find his mother dead and his father dying. With his last breath Earl John warned his son not to drink the wine that Lady Isobel Sinclair was offering. At one fell swoop she had planned to be rid of all who stood between the earldom and her son -- but her son, who had also been Out hunting, returned and helped himself to a glass of the poisoned wine!

The Sutherlands were always strong supporters of the Government in the Uprisings. Dunrobin was captured by Bonnie Prince Charlie's supporters in 1746 but the Earl escaped to turn the tables on them and recapture the castle. To Dunrobin belongs the distinction of being the last castle to be taken in war.

Again the Earldom passed to a female, perhaps the best known Sutherland of all, for the Countess Elizabeth was only a year old when she inherited. Again there was the inevitable dispute, but the House of Lords decided in her favour. Most of her early life was spent out of Scotland, her husband being appointed as Ambassador to France. One of the tales told of her recounts her exploits smuggling in clothes to Marie Antoinette in prison.

She and her husband, who was ultimately created 'Duke of Sutherland' were the instigators, with the best of intentions as is now acknowledged, of what became known as the infamous Sutherland Clearances.
In its time the castle has been used as a Naval Hospital during the First World Wax, then later as a boys' boarding school.

The ghost who haunts Dunrobin was a daughter of the fourteenth Earl. In the 1600's Margaret fell in love with someone considered not at all suitable, and strongly resisted her father's attempts to marry her off to the favoured suitor. Foiled in an attempt to elope, Margaret was locked up in the attic. Her maid was allowed to tend her however, and she offered to act as a go-between. On a set night she arranged for Margaret's lover to be at the foot of the wall with horses at the ready, while she smuggled in a rope for the get-away. But the Earl had always suspected that his daughter might try something like this and had set his
own servant to spy.

Just as Margaret was climbing out the window her father burst into the room. Terrified, Margaret lost her grip and plunged to her death. Her lover put a curse on the Earl and Margaret still haunts the upper corridors of the castle, sobbing and wailing for her lost love and her life' brought to such an untimely end.