The Paranormal Database

Burning Windows

Location: Inchiquin (County Clare) - Inchiquin castle
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: The windows of this ruined castle were said to glow with blue fire when observed from a distance - when approached, the illusion would vanish.

Lady of Ardvreck

Location: Inchnadamph (Highland) - Ardvreck Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This lady, famed for her meddling and interfering, has found it difficult to give up her former position and remains earthbound. It is unclear whether she is the same entity as the tall, lean ghost observed from a distance, or if this figure is male. A legend says that the construction of the castle was assisted by the Devil.

An old postcard showing Inveraray Castle.

Harp Player

Location: Inveraray (Argyll and Bute) - Inveraray Castle
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Executed in 1644, this ghostly musician now returns and plucks his strings around the time of a Duke of Argyll's death. He is also heard in the library throwing books around, though none are ever moved.

A magic lantern slide of Inveraray Cross.

Battleground

Location: Inveraray (Argyll and Bute) - Skies around Inveraray Castle
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 10 July 1758
Further Comments: A total of five witnesses in two different places watched a battle over the skies of the castle, between the Highlander regiment and garrisoned French troops. This mirrored real events in America, where 300 Highlanders were killed assaulting a fort.

Servants

Location: Inverbervie (Aberdeenshire) - Hallgreen Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Two teenage serving girls still frequent the building, though it has been a good many years since their deaths. A strange man in a long cloak is also reported to haunt the castle.

Outside Inverness Castle, Scotland.

King Duncan

Location: Inverness (Highland) - Area outside Inverness Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: King Duncan's ghost is said to walk outside this castle, along the banks of the River Ness.

Big Angus

Location: Inverness (Highland) - Castle Stuart
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 13 July 2002
Further Comments: A couple staying in the castle were woken up at night by their wardrobe door which opened and closed by itself several times while the small lights attached to the bed rattled and shook. The castle is reportedly haunted by Big Angus, who was found dead in the courtyard - it is not known whether he jumped or was pushed from the high tower window overlooking the yard.

Sir John Ogilvie

Location: Inverquharity (Angus) - Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This castle's ruin is blamed on Sir John's terrifying ghost that walks the area. Sir John raped and murdered two girls, and then hanged their head of the household. After committing such a heinous crime, the village priest prayed for vengeance, and Sir John dropped dead while hunting.

An illustration of Brodick Castle from the book The Antiquities of Arran.

Grey Lady

Location: Isle of Arran (Ayrshire) - Brodick Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The grey lady is thought to have died from the plague in 1700 - she was locked in the basement to ensure no one else contracted the disease. A man in a green jacket is also reported to haunt the library, while an albino deer appeared twice in the twentieth century, both times coinciding with the death of the head of the Hamilton Family.

Prisoner

Location: Isle of Canna (Highland) - Coroghon Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Isolated and ruined, the area is still home to a phantom female prisoner, once held in the castle by the laird.

White Haired Woman

Location: Isle of Coll (Argyll and Bute) - Old Breacacha Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre twentieth century
Further Comments: The Glaistig which lived in the castle would help make ready the property for visitors, although had a reputation for mistreating strangers on the site. Visitors who left their rooms at night would be unable to find their way back to bed.

Ewen of the Small Head

Location: Isle of Mull (Argyll and Bute) - Duart Castle
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Prior to a death in the MacLean family
Further Comments: This decapitated figure on horseback is seen as a member of the family who killed him lies dying.

Green Lady

Location: Jedburgh (Borders) - Ferniehirst Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This jade coloured figure has been observed in the large house.

Hooded Gatecrasher

Location: Jedburgh (Borders) - Jedburgh Castle (original building no longer standing, replaced by Jedburgh Castle Jail))
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: October 1285
Further Comments: While in the middle of his wedding celebrations an unknown hooded figure appeared - as the dozens of guests and entertainers stopped and looked at him, it grew apparent his face was that of a skull. The figure then vanished, leaving many startled people behind. Some people maintain the building is still haunted, though little supports this. A very similar tale is told of Jedburgh Abbey.

An old illustration of a cat.

The Cat

Location: Jonesborough (County Armagh) - Moyry Castle
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Twelve men left to guard this castle accidentally shot and killed the local wizard. The wizard's familiar was a large black cat which took revenge by killing the castle's domesticated animals, leaving them without fresh food.

An old postcard showing Roxburgh Castle.

James II

Location: Kelso (Borders) - Roxburgh Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: James II was killed storming the castle, and it is reportedly his ghost on horseback that still charges around the area.

Moving Floorboards

Location: Kendal (Cumbria) - Sizergh Castle
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: While not happening in living memory, it is claimed one room here had its floorboards removed and scattered by unseen hands on several consecutive nights. Sobs of a phantom woman have also been heard, and Catherine Parr is said to haunt the Queen's Room.

An old postcard of Kenilworth Castle.

Lost Girl

Location: Kenilworth (Warwickshire) - Kenilworth castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: The gatehouse is haunted by a little girl who asks for her daddy, a man dressed in black killed in a sword fight, and an old lady who breaks the same candle, time after time. A phantom little boy is reported in the stables, as are ghostly chickens and horses.

Footfalls

Location: Kenmore (Perth and Kinross) - Taymouth Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The sound of phantom footsteps can be heard around the castle. A piece of folklore from the nineteenth century says that the pipers from Taymouth Castle had their instruments provided by the fairies.

Changeling

Location: Kerrera (Argyll and Bute) - Gylen Castle
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A fairy changeling took up residence in Gylen Castle, escaping into the sea when identified by an Irish visitor.

An old postcard of Kidwelly Castle, Wales.

Gwenllian

Location: Kidwelly (Dyfed) - Area surrounding the castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The female warrior Gwenllian lost her head in battle against the Norman at the site, and her headed ghost rode the area for many years afterwards. The haunting stopped when her head and body were located and buried together, though more recently there have been reports of a medieval soldier...

Shuffling Footsteps

Location: Kielder (Northumberland) - Kielder Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2003
Further Comments: Two overnight German tourists fled the castle and drove away after the temperature dropped suddenly and they found themselves surrounded by non-descript voices and shuffling feet. Other ghosts reported here include a serving girl who may have been murdered by a footman, and a hunter whose rifle backfired.

White Lady

Location: Kilbryde (Stirling) - Kilbryde castle and chapel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown - late nineteenth century?
Further Comments: A gamekeeper who spotted a woman's face at the window of the empty castle quickly gathered assistance to discover who the intruder was. The men found nothing, and so the white lady was blamed for the sighting. The ghostly lady was also seen by others at the chapel; an old blacksmith tried to speak to her, causing the phantom to disappear.

A phantom lady in white.

Bloodied Woman

Location: Kilbryde (Stirling) - Kilbryde Castle and Glen
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Fifteenth or sixteenth century
Further Comments: A young lady of the Cromlix family fell in love with Sir Malise Graham (known as the Black Knight of Kilbryde), who returned the feelings by murdering her and hiding the body. The woman's ghost returned, dressed in white and covered in blood, beckoning any witness who spotted her to approach. Most ran away, until one man did as the ghost requested. The woman then led the man to a nearby glen where he discovered a woman's body; the ghost returned no more.

An old postcard showing Kilchurn Castle.

Voice Pleading for Help

Location: Kilchurn (Argyll and Bute) - Kilchurn Castle, Loch Awe
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century, and 10 April 2010
Further Comments: A pathetic little voice has been heard begging for assistance on this site. In 2010 visitors to the castle heard people walking above them across the floorboards in the turret, although when they reached the top, they were alone.