Tour Crathes Castle

Near Banchory, Grampian Region

This early 17th century castle was built for the Burnet Family and it took nearly 40 years before it was finally ready to be lived in. It is haunted by the ghost of a Green Lady, who particularly haunts the room known as the Green Lady's Room.

It is thought that the Green Lady could be the ghost of one of the Burnet Family's daughters, who in the early 1700's brought disgrace upon the family by giving birth to an illegitimate child, the father of whom was the local gillie. He was dismissed from his job and ordered away from the local area but there is more of a mystery surrounding the girl and her child because they simply vanished from the face of the earth, conveniently to protect the "good" name of the family.

In the middle of the 19th century, whilst modernisation work was being carried out at the castle, the skeleton of a woman and a young baby were found together under a hearthstone and this added weight to the feeling that mother and child had been murdered by their own family. It is known that in the 18th century the Burnet Family were absolutely terrified of ghosts, especially, one is forced to assume, when the ghosts were created by their own actions.

In the meantime the Green Lady is still a regular visitor to the castle although in these days she is heard more than she is seen. When she is seen she is normally observed holding her baby in her arms, mainly in the Green Lady Room, but also near the old fireplace where their pitiful remains were to be discovered 150 years after their disappearance. She is normally seen immediately prior to the death of a member of the Burnet Family or when there are grave troubles imminent.

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