Lady Isabella of Ballygally Castle’s tower

When

since c. 1625 traditional date – cannot be verified

Where

Ballygally Castle, Coast Road, Ballygally, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

Verdict

Legend

Her husband locked her in the tower for bearing a daughter instead of an heir. Lady Isabella fell from the window onto the rocks – and now knocks on hotel guests’ doors.

What happened

Ballygally Castle on the Antrim coast was built in 1625 by James Shaw, a Scottish settler from Greenock. Today it is a hotel, but the oldest part of the building – with its turret and thick walls – survives, and four of its rooms are guest bedrooms. Legend says Shaw’s wife, Isabella Brisbane, gave birth to a daughter rather than the longed-for son and heir. Her furious husband took the baby from her and locked her in the tower. Isabella tried to escape through the window – or, in other versions, was pushed – and fell onto the rocks below the castle. Ever since, her ghost is said to roam the corridors, knocking on bedroom doors and vanishing before guests can open them. The hotel lets visitors see the “Ghost Room” in the turret, sparsely furnished, with a portrait of Lady Isabella on the whitewashed wall. Staff tell of shadows moving across rooms and of guests who felt small hands tugging at their bedclothes – attributed to the ghosts of children. In 2025 an Irish Times reporter spent a night here on the eve of Halloween.

Witnesses

Hotel staff, including the housekeeper Maggie Wilson and the bar manager Mark Lappin, and guests and villagers of Ballygally – accounts gathered by The Irish Times (2025); psychics and paranormal investigation groups.

Explanations and hypotheses

No documents confirm how Isabella Shaw died – the story of her confinement in the tower and fall from the window is tradition, and its versions disagree on the child’s sex and on whether she jumped or was pushed. The bar manager, who has worked at the castle for years, admits he does not believe in ghosts, and villagers point out how small the tower windows are. Rankings of the UK’s “most haunted castle,” which Ballygally tends to top, measure the popularity of online searches, not the number of sightings. Lady Isabella’s ghost is nonetheless an important part of the hotel’s identity.

Legend A story handed down through generations – it can be neither confirmed nor disproved.

Sources

More: Wikipedia (en)