The Ghosts of Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle was built in the 12th century, but it is known that people lived on top of what we now call Castle Rock thousands of years earlier.
Over the centuries, paranormal activity of all kinds has been reported, along with several apparitions of specters and ghosts that have chilled the blood of residents, tourists and workers at Edinburgh Castle. Here are some of them.
The Ghost Piper
The ghost piper who wanders forever through the tunnels beneath the castle and the Royal Mile. The story begins when some caves were discovered inside the castle and people decided to investigate.
To find out where these mysterious tunnels led, they had the bright idea of sending a young piper into the depths of the city. The young piper went down into the tunnel with his bagpipes and began to play. The sound could be heard from the surface, and people followed it as he advanced step by step.
Loud and clear, the pipes sounded and the locals followed. Until, when he reached the height of Tron Kirk church, the sound suddenly stopped and the piper gave no sign of life. The authorities sent several teams to find him, without success.
In the end, the city council sealed the tunnels so that no one could ever enter them again. Even so, some of the townspeople have heard a kind of music beneath the Royal Mile.
If you listen closely, you too may hear the lament of his bagpipes, wandering forever beneath the most popular street in the city.
The Grey Lady, Janet Douglas
Another ghost told of at Edinburgh Castle is the Grey Lady, named Janet Douglas, Lady Glamis.
Janet Douglas was a Scottish noblewoman of the 16th century who got caught up in a family conflict and was accused of witchcraft and executed by King James V of Scotland.
When James V regained control of the country, Archibald Douglas fled Scotland and went into exile, and that is when the king decided to take reprisals against every member of the family.
First, Janet Douglas was asked to come to court, accused of communicating with her brother. But she refused. So in 1537 the family was besieged in Glamis Castle. There they were captured.
Janet was accused of witchcraft and of trying to poison the king. Lady Glamis, Janet Douglas, was finally condemned and burned at the stake on the esplanade of Edinburgh Castle on July 17, 1537, before the eyes of her young son.
Some time after her tragic death, several people saw the ghost of a grey lady walking and weeping around the castle. When she appears, you can also hear the sound of the workers' hammers building the pyre on which Lady Glamis was burned alive.
The Headless Young Drummer
Another of the most talked-about ghosts at the castle is the Headless Young Drummer, seen when the castle was in danger of invasion.
The legend says his small headless figure was seen playing an old Scottish song on the ramparts for the first time in 1650, just when Oliver Cromwell's troops were besieging the fortress.
No one knows for certain who this little drummer might have been. He is believed to appear when the castle is in danger, warning those around him, even though the fortress has not been besieged or seen any kind of conflict since the Jacobite Rising of 1745.