Newton Castle, Blairgowrie, Scotland

newton castle, scotland Dating from the 14th century, Newton Castle, Blairgowrie, is haunted by the ghost of a certain ‘Lady Jean’.

Hers is a well-known story. According to legend, she was said to be Lady Jean Drummond who fell desperately in love with the local Laird. Insensitively, he played her along for a while but was in fact more interested in another woman.

In order to win back the lairds affection, Lady Jean did all she could to make herself more attractive to him, dressing in the finest silks and satins and wearing shoes with fine silver buckles. She even went as far as to adorn her braided hair with pearls and precious stones. The improvement in her appearance however, was not enough to bring the callous Laird back to her and she took to spending her time singing sad songs of unrequited love sitting alone in the castle tower.

Finally, legend has it that she sought the advice of a local witch who told her that her fine clothes were no good and that she must dress in witchin’ claith o’ green’. To accomplish this, she would need to cut grass from the churchyard, take a branch of a rowan tree from the gallows-knowe and bind them with a plaited reed. Then she was to take them as darkness fell to the Corbie Stone by the Cobble pool and thence to sit there and wait. This she did but after waiting for a long time, Lady Jean heard the sound of laughter and she could feel a strange sensation, as if something was pulling at her clothes. She fell asleep, and awaking at dawn, she found herself all dressed all in green.

It would seem the story goes that the witches magic had worked, for the Lady Jean was soon married to her great love Lord Ronald, still wearing the ‘witchin’ claith’. Her new spouse was quite intoxicated with his bride in her wondrously strange green dress. The wedding ceremony had hardly taken place however when disaster struck..... Lord Ronald looked at his bride and saw that something was very wrong with her. He held her hand in his, but it felt deathly cold then, to his horror, the Lady Jean let out an unearthly scream following which she fell to the ground and died.

Her still, lifeless body was laid out on the bed where the wedded pair were to have consummated their marriage. Lady Jean was buried nearby and her gravestone is said according to legend to turn round thrice each Halloween. Apparently then the sound of her mournful singing comes wafting from the tower at Newton Castle.

Haunted Castles Scotland