Ghosts of Craigievar Castle

Craigievar Castle, the pink "fairytale" castle in Aberdeenshire, was built in 1626 by William Forbes, an Aberdonian merchant and ancestor to the Forbes baronets of Craigievar. He purchased the partially built structure from the Mortimer family in 1610 and completed its construction by 1626.

By the early 1800s, the castle had fallen into some disrepair. John Forbes had considered demolishing the tower, but after being told it was one of the finest of its age and style in the country, he decided to restore it.

In 1963, the castle was sold to the National Trust for Scotland and is now open to the public, though it is known to still be home to a few ghostly inhabitants.

Among these, the most frequently encountered ghost is known as the Naked Gordon Ghost. According to legend, a young member of the rival Gordon Clan was discovered in bed, naked, with one of Sir John Forbes' daughters. Sir John chased the man with a sword, and the man leaped, or was forced out, a high window in the Blue Room, on the 5th floor of the tower, falling to his death on the granite slabs below.

The window was later boarded up with a large panel behind the bed, but this has not kept the man's ghost, believed to be searching for clothing, away. Male visitors have reported their clothes being tugged by an unseen hand while in the tower, as if the spirit is trying to find clothes to cover himself. Footsteps have also been heard climbing the tower stairs, believed to echo the man's final moments.

Another otherworldly resident is known as the Fiddler. Centuries ago, a fiddler reportedly fell into the old well beneath the kitchen and drowned. His ghost is said to haunt the castle, and witnesses have described hearing unexplained violin music echoing through the halls. Guests and staff have reported this music, even after searching for its source. According to some stories, the Fiddler only plays for those with the Forbes surname.

Finally, other visitors have mentioned children's apparitions or ghostly cocktail parties with Scottish music and voices, adding to the castle's rich collection of spectral tales.