Recorded accounts from Scotland’s castles, coastlines, and forgotten places.
Accounts are arranged in order of record. Additional entries are added as further accounts are documented.
RECORDED ACCOUNT
Accounts relating to Duart Castle, sixteenth century onward.
Visitors to the seaward window of the keep, overlooking Lady's Rock where Catherine Campbell was left to drown in 1520, have consistently reported unnatural, localised cold air. These subtle phenomena occur whether the tide covers the infamous rock or leaves it exposed.
View the Duart account →
RECORDED ACCOUNT
Accounts relating to Crathes Castle, nineteenth century.
Century-spanning reports describe a young woman in a green dress holding an infant by a specific upper-floor fireplace. During nineteenth-century renovations, the corresponding hearthstone was lifted, revealing the interred skeletal remains of a woman and a child directly beneath the standing location described in the accounts. No identification of the remains has been established, and sightings of the figure continue precisely as they did before the discovery.
View the Crathes account →
RECORDED ACCOUNT
Accounts relating to Crichton Castle, c.1454.
Traditional accounts describe a horseman emerging from the sixteenth-century stables and passing directly through the sealed masonry of the original entrance to the main tower. These sightings are consistently stated to occur on the exact anniversary of the death of Sir William Crichton, a fifteenth-century chancellor. The precise date of his death is absent from all known historical records.
View the Crichton account →
RECORDED ACCOUNT
Accounts relating to Dirleton Castle, c.1649.
Historical transcripts preserve the 1649 confession of a local widow detained within the castle's pit prison, detailing a visitation by a woman who had already been executed as a witch in a neighbouring parish. Contemporaneous reports from the same summer describe a massive, unexplained shadow manifesting outside the eastern wall. Modern-era electrical malfunctions are frequently reported within the surviving pit prison, which remains structurally connected to the great hall above.
View the Dirleton account →
RECORDED ACCOUNT
Accounts relating to Castle Sinclair Girnigoe, c.1577.
Independent visitor reports describe anomalous dry, scraping acoustics localized entirely to the seaside vaults, an area historically recorded as the site of a fatal seven-year confinement via dehydration. A separate, documented structural void within the kitchen vaulting remains architecturally inexplicable, echoing the confirmed presence of a laird's lug elsewhere in the ruin. No comprehensive explanation for the auditory phenomena or the secondary void space has been formalized.
View the Girnigoe account →
RECORDED ACCOUNT
Accounts relating to Hermitage Castle, c.1342.
An enduring local tradition persists that the castle is slowly subsiding beneath the weight of historical atrocities committed in its unexcavated lower vaults. Visitors independently report the faint, intermittent sounds of distress emanating from the lowest accessible dungeon floor. A separate category of reports describes indistinct stationary figures observed in upper, ruined windows; these figures are consistently reported to be looking downwards towards the subterranean levels rather than outwards towards the valley.
View the Hermitage account →
RECORDED ACCOUNT
Accounts relating to Dunrobin Castle, c.1969
During the castle's tenure as a school, several students reported the sound of continuous crying emanating from a sealed room in the north tower. An investigation of the space found it empty but recorded an isolated area of extreme cold. Staff records contain no reference to these events.
View the Dunrobin account →
RECORDED ACCOUNT
Accounts relating to Craigmillar Castle, c.1935.
Reports gathered from nearby residential areas describe a figure in a dark blue hooded cloak moving toward the castle ruins. Subsequent accounts from within the castle's inner chamber detail a distinct temperature drop and the specific sensation of being observed by a long-standing presence, accompanied by subtle involuntary sounds of movement from the room's darkest corner. No formal connection has been established between the exterior figure and the interior phenomena.
View the Craigmillar account →
RECORDED ACCOUNT
Accounts relating to Kilchurn Castle, c.1769.
Visitors to the remaining ground floor of the east tower report a recurrent, patient auditory disturbance resembling a child's voice originating from the inaccessible room above them, alongside distinct footsteps crossing the upper floor. Separate reports detail the smell of pipe tobacco localized entirely to the lower rooms. No official record or inventory has been found to verify what was stored in the upper rooms of the east tower prior to it being split by lightning and abandoned.
View the Kilchurn account →
RECORDED ACCOUNT
Accounts relating to Urquhart Castle, c.1893.
Multiple unverified local histories suggest the presence of two sealed subterranean chambers beneath the ruins, purportedly containing vast wealth alongside an outbreak of plague. There is no official documentation of these chambers being discovered during any subsequent modern excavation. Separate reports document unexplained rhythmic auditory disturbances emerging from the dungeon floor, alongside occasional visual disruptions observed in the deepest waters of the surrounding loch.
View the Urquhart account →
RECORDED ACCOUNT
Accounts relating to Dunnottar Castle, c.1685.
Various independent occurrences have been recorded across the site, including an unresponsive woman in green within the brewery footprint, a motionless soldier positioned at the gate facing the sea, and audible cries emerging from precisely within the sealed Whigs' Vault at night. Those reporting these anomalies consistently lack prior knowledge of the site's history. No unified connection or underlying explanation for these separate disruptions has been established.
View the Dunnottar account →
RECORDED ACCOUNT
Accounts relating to Eilean Donan Castle, c.1932.
Following the completion of the castle's restoration, staff members have repeatedly recorded the sound of measured footsteps originating from the exhibition room after the building has been secured. These auditory events are frequently accompanied by independent accounts of an unidentified figure observed on the upper floors whose attire cannot be attributed to a specific era. No historical record has been found to establish a direct connection between these localized phenomena and the site's past.
View the Eilean Donan account →
RECORDED ACCOUNT
Accounts relating to Dunstaffnage Castle, c.1887.
Visitors traversing the castle's ramparts have reported encountering an unresponsive figure dressed in green. Observations note the figure remains completely stationary, exhibiting an expression characterized consistently as 'waiting'. The identity of the individual is unverified, and her appearance correlates with no recorded historical events.
View the Dunstaffnage account →
RECORDED ACCOUNT
Account relating to Castle Stalker, November 1701
Accounts relating to Castle Stalker, c.1701. An observer staying on the shore across from the island fortress documented the appearance of a stationary, spherical light above the tower. The light persisted without movement or variation before vanishing. Local tradition associates the light with deaths in the Stewart lineage, though there is no physical explanation for the illumination itself.
View the Stalker account →
RECORDED ACCOUNT
Account relating to Slains Castle, September 1773
Accounts relating to Slains Castle, c.1773. During a visit to the castle, a guest lodged in a specifically appointed room experienced phenomena they were unwilling to describe in published journals. Subsequent correspondence referenced an abrupt drop in temperature and an unidentified presence. The guest's account was not corroborated by others present in the castle.
View the Slains account →
RECORDED ACCOUNT
Collected accounts relating to Caerlaverock Castle, 1545-“1640
Accounts relating to Caerlaverock Castle, c.1545. Following the sudden departure of a servant from the Maxwell household, instances of significantly lowered temperatures were noted in specific corridors. A figure was observed in the upper window of the east tower on multiple occasions. The identity of the figure is not documented.
View the Caerlaverock account →
RECORDED ACCOUNT
Account relating to Tantallon Castle, November 1743
Accounts relating to Tantallon Castle, c.1743. A soldier sheltering in the abandoned ruins reported the sounds of measured footsteps moving through the structure at night. The footsteps were described as ascending a tower that was no longer standing. No other individuals were present in the castle, and no further documentation of the event exists.
View the Tantallon account →
RECORDED ACCOUNT
Accounts relating to Alloa Tower, 1800
Accounts relating to Alloa Tower, c.1800. Following a fire which destroyed the adjoining house, only the tower remained standing. In the years that followed, reports describe a light seen within the grounds at night. The light was observed moving between the ruins, though no source was identified. Contemporary records do not account for it, and no explanation has been recorded.
View the Alloa account →