SHADY LADIES

Melanie Henderson takes a look at Scotland's spooks - and finds that haunting is a predominantly female pastime.

Ten grey, eight white, one pink, two blue and…22 green. It could be the end of a night's stock-taking in Edinburgh's Jenner's at the end of the summer season. But we are not talking about left-over evening gowns, rather about the often alarming hues of the ladies themselves.

Believe it or not (note: the experts say you have to believe in order to see), it's a count-by-colour of Scotland's shadiest ladies - and that's only the ones who dwell in castles. They can have no idea that, this winter, grey is supposed to be the new black and can do little about altering their one-tone wardrobes, poor dears, far less the tinge of their unearthly auras. Ten are obliviously in fashion, but the high street isn't their hang-out anyway.

We have to rely on folklore, here-say and tall tales glorified by guide books as evidence for their (continued) existence. They are all painfully camera shy. But with vast, draughty buildings to hide in they can come out exactly when they want to - and choose just who they want to scare and when. Spooking isn't bad work, really, if you don't mind being murdered by your jealous husband, then bricked up for a few hundred years before you start.

That's a fairly standard demise among Scotland's feminine phantoms - and with such stories around it's not difficult to see why they're so celebrated as seldom-seen visitor attractions. The chance that one of them might glide gracefully across your path as you tour a palace or a stately home really puts the tingle into sight-seeing. Bleak corridors and empty alcoves are a whole lot more interesting when a pink lady is a possibility.

Women ghosts do tend to crop up more commonly than men in haunted Scotland, for many reasons, none of which is girl power.

Scotland's record for the persecution of witches is horrific, though not unique. Between 1563, when an Act of Parliament made witchcraft a capital crime, and 1735, when the act was repealed, at least 1,500 women were tortured and executed as witches. In 1590, when witch-hunting was at its height, King James V1 himself was directing trials at North Berwick. Added to all that there was widespread paranoia about anyone who ventured beyond the realms of behaviour that was seen as good and proper for a pious Christian woman - as a result there were deaths, incarcerations and endless other unpleasant events.

Bearing in mind the period of intense religious, political and social upheaval that took place in Scotland in the 17th century, it's little surprise to find that many of the leading apparitions owe their afterlives to this time. Moral judgement, revenge and supernatural justice reigned. This bred suspicion, fear and guilt, and strange sightings spread.

Logically, Scotland's castles and grand homes became the place to glimpse glowing or greying presences. Over the centuries, these strongholds witnessed more than their fair share of dastardly deeds. The Scottish nobility were often a wild and ruthless lot, and their treatment of their own families and servants - particularly their womenfolk - was as vicious as their dealings with their bitterest rivals.

Perhaps, though, Scottish ghosts have become a shortcut back to the turbulent past, where the best stories are always to be found. No one would want to have lived through such storms of change, yet temporary time travel is a power to the imagination. We can better imagine how the hard-done-by wife of earl so and so might have lived if we think she might still be waiting in the shadows.

At Glamis Castle in Angus - reputedly Scotland's most haunted castle - visitors often find themselves ushered in by one such dame. The grey lady who haunts the 17th century chapel has been seen by several reliable dignitaries, including the 16th Earl of Strathmore. When large parties are shown into the chapel, guides have reported that one place is always left vacant, as if there was already someone there.

Some are less reticent, as well as more vibrantly attired. Although no reason has been attached to the particular colours of ghosts, it seems the large number of green ladies is explained by green being an unlucky colour in medieval times, as well as the colour of fairies.

Ashintully Castle, north-east of Kirkmichael in Perthshire, is where "Green Jean" is said to reside. The story goes that she inherited the lands and the castle in her own right, but her uncle wanted the property, and in one of the castle chambers he murdered Jean, who was wearing a green dress, along with her servant, who he stuffed up the chimney.

There is another Green Jean in Perthshire. The green lady who haunts Newton Castle, Blairgowrie, is said to be Lady Jean Drummond of Newton, who had fallen in love with one of the Blairs of Ardblair. The families had feuded and Lady Jean seems to have pined away with a broken heart, drowning herself after she was betrothed to another man. However, an old ballad tells it differently. It claims Jean had consulted a local witch after her lover spurned her. She was given an enchanted green dress, which won him back, but she died shortly after marrying him.

Tales of young girls falling for the wrong man and being punished for their passions are common. At the Castle of Mey in Caithness, the daughter of the 5th Earl of Caithness is still said to roam, heartbroken. She fell in love with a ploughman and was locked in the attic by her father. She threw herself from one of the windows and survives only as a green spirit.

Green, of course, is also the colour of envy. Visit Fyvie Castle, in Aberdeenshire, and you might come across the verdant-tinged Lady Lilias Drummond, wife of Alexander Seton, first Earl of Dunfermline. Lilias died in May 1601, possibly starved to death by her husband. He married Lady Grizel Leslie only four months after Lilias' death and his first wife's ghost is said to have scratched her name on the stone window sill of the newlyweds' bedroom, the Drummond Room, on the night of October 27, soon after they were married. The writing can still be seen. (More)

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