Ghosts of Eilean Donan Castle

Eilean Donan is simply stunning and the most photographed castle in Scotland, but it has a violent past. It was constructed in the 13th century to protect the lands of Kintail against Viking Raiders. Its lovely setting on the lochs added to its defenses but also led to the castle's demise. It has hosted Kings, supported Jacobite sympathizers, and been destroyed and rebuilt again, and now serves as a home and significant tourist attraction. The castle is also still home to a few ghosts.

 

The ghost of Lady Mary is said to haunt one of the bed chambers. But a more frightening spirit also roams the castle and the castle gift shop.

As Richard tells the story ...

Alexander II built one of Scotland's most picturesque strongholds, Eilean Donan Castle. It stands on an island at the meeting point of Lochs Duich, Alsh, and Long, its ghostly image rippling in the silent waters, reflecting past eras of grandeur and mystery. Robert the Bruce sheltered here in 1306. Randolph, Earl of Moray, had 50 men executed here in 1331 and displayed their heads on spikes. During the 1719 Jacobite uprising, William Mackenzie, 5th Earl of Seaforth, garrisoned the castle with Spanish troops (provided by a Catholic nation sympathetic to the Stuart cause).

Three English frigates, led by the warship Worcester, unleashed a bombardment of artillery against the defenders that battered them into submission and left the castle little more than a smoldering ruin. It was rebuilt in 1932 by the MacRae family and is now a clan war memorial and museum. The ghost of one of the Spanish troops who died in the bombardment is said to wander the castle, carrying his head under his arm!

- Richard Jones