Cardinal Beaton was a man of many properties, during his lifetime. Many of these were acquired due to his position in the church. However, these were dangerous times to be lining your pocket with your parishioners’ silver. After all, the Reformation was a powder keg waiting to explode in Scotland. His own actions were to [...]
The Declaration of Arbroath was signed on the 6th of April 1320. Robert the Bruce and a retinue of earls and knights met at Arbroath Abbey to sign the historic document. Not only was this most likely the most important document ever to be signed in Scotland but the ramifications of its ideals were to [...]
Perhaps nowhere in the world has as many tales of hauntings as Scotland's Haunted Highlands. The Landscape and Scotland's Haunted Highlands There is a haunting quality to the Highlands of Scotland which conjure up images of kilted clansmen appearing out of the mist. The ruins of abandoned cottages are remnants of a way of life [...]
The martyrdom of George Wishart at St Andrews on the 1st of March 1546 has a déjà vu feel to it. Only eighteen years prior to this, Patrick Hamilton had a similar fate at the hands of a Catholic Beaton in the town, once said to hold the relics of Scotland’s Patron Saint. George Wishart [...]
Murder! Massacre! Betrayal! Treason! Glencoe is one of the most spectacular areas of unspoiled wilderness in Scotland. There is a haunting quality about the moor-clad mountains that stand as sentinels over the eight-mile long glen which runs from east to west along the northern border of Argyll. And there are those who say that the [...]
Few places in the world can claim to have as many restless spirits as haunted Saint Andrews Cathedral. From Medieval times, Scotland has celebrated the Feast Day of its Patron Saint, Saint Andrew, on the 30th November. According to legend, some of Saint Andrew’s bones were carried across the ocean by a Greek monk named [...]
Isobel Gowdie was a difficult assignment for us. Spooky Scotland has taken us to many haunted destinations. However, it seems that we pass through Auldearn on a regular occurrence to get to many other spooky sites: Cawdor Castle, Rait Castle, the Clava Cairns and Culloden Moor to name a few. On the surface, Auldearn appears [...]
Of all the buildings associated with ghosts, in my mind, a distillery is one of the least likely to be haunted but this is not the case with the Glenrothes Distillery: it is said to be haunted by the ghost of one Biawa ‘Byeway' Makalanga. How Byeway found himself in the small Moray village of [...]
Perhaps one of the most magical places on Earth, Spooky Scotland investigates haunted Skye. The mention of Skye conjures up images of rugged landscapes, picturesque villages and medieval castles. It is a land overflowing with myths and legends, with tales of faeries and giants and lochs which are home to ferocious Kelpies. It is a [...]
Drummossie Moor, otherwise known as Culloden Moor, is a cold, desolate place. A relentless cold wind tugs at the flags which delineate the battle lines on the site of the last pitched battle to be fought on British soil. It is a cold wind which seeps deep into your bones. Or is it the wind [...]