Scottish Ghosts ~ Green Ladies

The second ghost at Ashintully Castle (above) is that of 'Crooked Davie', who haunts the drive to the castle. Davie was employed by the Spaldings as a messenger and despite his deformed back, was fast on his feet. On one occasion, he was sent to Edinburgh with a very important message. Davie had a sweetheart at Ashintully, one of the maids, so he was even more keen than usual to hurry back. In fact, he made it to Edinburgh and back within the same day.  Returning to Ashintully, he was so exhausted he fell asleep by the fire in the great hall as he waited Spalding's return. When the laird did arrive home, he spotted David fast asleep with papers hanging out of his pocket. In a rage, thinking he had not yet set out for Edinburgh, he slew him on the spot. It turned out the papers were, in fact, the answer to Spalding's letter. The specter of 'Crooked Davie' is said to wander along the lanes around Ashintully, seeking revenge on the Spalding family.
     A third phantom associated with the castle is that of a tinker, supposedly with the name of Robertson. He arrived on the grounds one day and the laird had him hanged on the Dule Tree for trespassing. Before he died, the tinker cursed the family, saying the Spaldings of Ashintully would die out. His spirit is still seen on occasion.
     Still in Perthshire, in the holiday resort of Pitlochry, stands the massive pile of the Atholl Palace Hotel. The hotel is a huge baronial edifice located at the south-eastern side of the town. One of the hotel's towers is the haunt of a Green Lady who has scared residents here since Victorian times. To prevent guests' being disturbed by the ghost, which was happening on a regular basis, the room was eventually converted into a staff bedroom. Undaunted, the Green Lady continued to make appearances. Hotel guests in adjoining rooms began to report sightings where previously none had been recorded. The hotel even went to the length of calling in a local minister to have the spirit exorcised, but many say the Green Lady is still around.
     Muchalls Castle was built between Aberdeen and Stonehaven by Alexander Burnett of Leys, who had just completed Crathes Castle. Muchalls was to be his second home, his residence by the sea. It was his son, Sir Thomas, who completed the building in 1627. Both Muchalls and Crathes have the honour of being haunted by Green Ladies, but different ones.
     Muchalls has a ecret stairway within the castle and a legend of a smugglers' tunnel from the building to the Gin Shore. The Green Lady who haunts the castle has been described as young in appearance. She has manifested a number of times over the last century, one of the more recent sightings being in the 1970s. On that occasion, a castle guest entered the dining room on the upper floor and obtained a glimpse of the lady facing the wall. However, within seconds, the apparition in her lime-coulored dress disappeared. According to tradition, this phantom is thought to be of a young girl who drowned at the castle end of the smugglers' tunnel.

Another Banffshire castle is Ballindalloch (above), a very fine example of Scots baronial architecture. The main tower dates from around 1546 and has been the seat of the Grants and Macpherson-Grants since 1499. The castle, which is open to the public during the summer months, boasts at least three phantoms, one of them a Green Lady; the second, also female; and the third, General James Grant. The latter died in 1806 and was buried, as was his wish, near the Mains, but it is said his apparition still rides about the estate on a white charger every night. He then returns to Ballindalloch, where he has been seen walking the dungeon passage at the foot of the original tower. Here is located the castle wine cellar, originally the prison, the heavy door of which is still secured by an enormous lock. Beneath the cellar is supposed to be a pit-prison, the only opening being in the ceiling, but this space filled up in the great flood of 1829, which left four feet of silt and gravel on the castle holm.
     The Green Lady of Ballindalloch supposedly haunts the dining-room, though she makes few appearances. The dining-room was originally the great hall of the oldest part of the castle. Directly over it is the Pink Tower, a bedroom, which both Lady Macpherson-Grant and Mrs Russell regard independently as the most haunted room in the building. However, standing there myself, I was unable to sense any unnatural atmosphere.
     The other female spirit at Ballindalloch is seen on the Bridge of Avon. It is believed she was a daughter of the house whose lover spurned her advances. Nevertheless, she is said to cross the bridge every evening from Ballindalloch to Bridge of Avon post office with a letter to send him. When the old bridge was bypassed by the present river crossing, the workmen engaged in the construction claimed to have witnessed her on several occasions.