Uncanny UK editor Richard Holland nears the end of his suggested chart of the most haunted places in Britain.
4. GLAMIS CASTLE: Glamis, Angus
So famous is Glamis for its ghosts, the current custodians have got fed up with its haunted reputation and are trying to play it down. The legend of the Monster of Glamis, probably an unfortunate deformed child who was kept hidden away due to the shame of the ancestral owners, the Earls of Strathmore, is the best-known but there are no ghost stories associated with it.
Nevertheless, there are ghosts aplenty, including the Grey Lady, thought to be Janet, Lady Glamis, who was burnt as a witch in 1537; a negro servant who has been seen on a particular seat inside the castle; ‘Jack the Runner’, who races through the park; a man with a long coat fastened at the neck; a tall man in medieval armour; and a woman without a tongue who runs through the grounds pointing to her bleeding mouth.
Legend has it that Glamis is also haunted by the wayward Earl Beardie who can be heard playing dice with the Devil. The ‘huge, bearded man’ who terrified the children of Lady Granville by leaning over their beds at night is also thought to have been the well-named Beardie.
Over the years a great deal of ghostly activity distinct from the traditional ghosts has been reported, including shadowy apparitions on the stairs and a door that wouldn’t stay shut even when furniture was piled up against it.
[Source: Gazetteer of Scottish & Irish Ghosts by Peter Underwood; ‘My Top Ten Haunted Castles’ by Janet Bord, Paranormal Magazine, issue 35]
