Cawdor Castle

Cawdor Castle, made famous by Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” though the historical Macbeth never actually lived there, has been the seat of the Thanes and later Earls of Cawdor since the late 14th century. Built around a fortified tower constructed in 1372, the castle evolved over centuries into a magnificent residence combining medieval architecture with later additions, all surrounded by beautiful gardens and ancient woodlands in the Scottish Highlands. According to tradition, the castle’s location was determined when the 3rd Thane of Cawdor was told in a dream to load a donkey with gold and build where it rested—the animal settled beside a hawthorn tree, which still grows in the castle’s basement vault. But beneath its romantic legends lies one of Scotland’s most horrific ghost stories.

The castle’s most disturbing haunting involves a young woman who fell in love with a man her father deemed unsuitable—some accounts say he was from a rival clan, others that he was a commoner. When the young lovers attempted to elope, they were caught, and the father’s punishment was brutal and final. He had his daughter imprisoned in a small chamber, and then ordered masons to wall up the doorway with her still inside, entombing her alive. Her lover was forced to listen to her screams and pleas for mercy before being banished or killed. The daughter’s anguished cries are said to have echoed through the castle for days before falling silent.

Her ghost manifests most strongly in the castle’s tower rooms, where witnesses report hearing desperate scratching sounds on walls, as if someone is trying to claw their way out. The phantom scent of fear and decay occasionally permeates certain chambers, and visitors report sudden overwhelming feelings of claustrophobia and panic in specific locations. Some have reported seeing the ghostly figure of a young woman in medieval dress, her hands bloodied from scratching at stone, her face twisted in terror and despair. The apparition appears and then fades into the wall, as if being pulled back into her eternal prison. Additional paranormal activity includes phantom footsteps, doors that lock themselves from the inside, and a general atmosphere of tragedy in the older sections of the castle. Cawdor Castle remains a popular tourist destination and family home, with the current owners acknowledging the haunted history that adds to the castle’s already considerable historical significance.