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Haunted places · Haunted castles

Glamis Castle – the Grey Lady, Earl Beardie and the Monster

When
since 17 July 1537 date from records made at the time
Where
Glamis Castle, Angus, Scotland, United Kingdom
Verdict
Legend

The Lyon family's Scottish seat is said to be one of Britain's most haunted castles, home to a lady burned at the stake and an earl who played cards with the Devil.

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56.62°, -3.00° · dimmed: other phenomena within 1,500 km

What happened

Glamis, ancestral seat of the Earls of Strathmore, was the childhood home of the Queen Mother and the birthplace of Princess Margaret – and it has gathered more ghost stories than almost any other Scottish castle. Its best-known apparition is the Grey (or White) Lady, identified with Janet Douglas, Lady Glamis. Accused of poisoning her husband and of witchcraft, she was burned at the stake in Edinburgh on 17 July 1537, after which King James V seized the castle. Guides say one seat in the castle chapel is always kept free for her. The second ghost is the 15th-century “Earl Beardie,” who swore on the Sabbath that he would play cards with the Devil himself if need be – a stranger accepted, and the earl is said to be gambling until doomsday; at night, some claim, one can hear dice rattling and oaths. Darkest of all is the tale of the “Monster of Glamis,” a deformed heir supposedly hidden in a bricked-up room. Guests once reportedly hung towels from every window and found, from outside, that several windows were missing one.

Witnesses

Family tradition and guides' stories; part of the monster lore comes from the composer Virginia Gabriel, who stayed at the castle in 1870.

Explanations and hypotheses

Janet Douglas's execution is historical fact, but historians regard her trial as political – James V relentlessly pursued the Douglas family, and witchcraft charges were a convenient weapon. “Earl Beardie” is identified variously with Alexander Lyon, 2nd Lord Glamis, or with Alexander Lindsay, 4th Earl of Crawford. The monster legend has no documentary support; a popular theory links it to a child of the family who died shortly after birth in 1821, but this is speculation. According to family relatives, the towels were simply removed by the hosts so that guests would not go snooping around the castle.

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

Sources

  1. Mike Dash, The Monster of Glamis (Smithsonian Magazine, 2012)
  2. Martin Coventry – Glamis (Goblinshead)

More: Wikipedia (pl) Wikipedia (en)