Ghost of Hailes Castle

Hailes Castle, built by Hugo de Gourlay, is situated on the south bank of the River Tyne in East Lothian, Scotland. It is one of the few castles in Scotland that have masonry dating back to the 13th century.

 

The castle was bestowed upon the Hepburns after Adam de Hepburn saved the Earl of Dunbar from a savage horse attack and was rewarded with the castle. The Hepburns would later become the Earls of Bothwell.

The Hepburns added to the castle by elevating the height of the North Tower and the West Tower, which contains a pit prison.

In 1544, Hailes Castle was attacked by the English during the Rough Wooing. They eventually seized Hailes Castle four years later while trying to force seven-year-old Mary Queen of Scots to wed Henry VIII's son. Mary Queen of Scots visited Hailes Castle almost 20 years later, just before marrying James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell.

Oliver Cromwell rendered the castle indefensible using cannon fire soon after the Battle of Dunbar in 1650.

But the Hailes Castle still seems to have a ghostly resident ...

The castle has two pit prisons. One of the pit prisons is haunted by the ghost of a man who was having an affair with the wife of the castle laird. The man was caught and thrown into the prison pit and left to starve to death, but his spirit remains.