Marketing Scotland's Glamis Castle As Family Friendly
news.stv.tv - Glamis Castle, believed to be the most haunted in Scotland, is to turn away ghost-hunters in a bid to rebuild its "image", it emerged on Monday.
Marketing chiefs at the castle, which is the ancestral home of the Earls of Strathmore and the Queen Mother's childhood home, intend to rebrand the building as a family-friendly visitor attraction and promote its royal credentials instead of emphasising its spookiness.
The castle, near Forfar, Angus, is widely regarded among paranormal investigators as one of Britain's most haunted buildings. Spectres are said to include the Grey Lady, who prowls the chapel, a tongueless female phantom, and the ghost of Earl Beardie, condemned to play cards with the Devil until Doomsday for breaking the sanctity of the Sabbath.
Previously the castle has played on its supernatural reputation, hosting ITV's All Fright on the Night, a ghost-hunt presented by Uri Geller, the Israeli-born spoon-bender and paranormal showman.
But now castle bosses say they want "nothing to do" with the castle's paranormal reputation.
David Adams, the castle's general manager, said: "We don't encourage ghost-hunters, we don't encourage ghost-hunting TV programmes and we certainly don't encourage people who want to come in and do overnight stays to try to locate ghosts.
"We don't want anything to do with that. If you happen to believe that stuff, that's fine, but we don't. There are various myths and legends surrounding the castle but they are just that. There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that there are any supernatural beings in the castle."
Mark Turner of Ghost Finders Scotland, a paranormal research group, said he was astonished by the castle's new stance.
He added: "Glamis' reputation as the most haunted castle in Scotland is its unique selling point. Publicly announcing there are no ghosts at Glamis is like people in the Highlands saying there's no monster in Loch Ness."
_________________________________
Brief History of Glamis Castle
Glamis Castle is the historic seat of the Bowes-Lyons Family, the lands were presented to them as a gift by Robert the Bruce in 1372. The Bowes-Lyons family still own the castle as the earls of Strathmore, its members include the Queen Mother, who was born at Glamis and gave birth to Princess Margaret here. The main keep of the castle dates from the 14th century, and the majestic towers and turrets were added in later years.
The family chapel is haunted by a Grey Lady, who is said to be the spirit of Lady Janet Douglas, burned at the stake as a witch on Castle Hill, Edinburgh in 1537, on charges of plotting to poison the King. It is likely that the charges were fabricated for political motives. The apparition has been seen relatively recently in the chapel by a number of witnesses. She is also said to appear above the Clock Tower.
The ghost of a woman with no tongue is said to haunt the grounds, and to look out from a barred window somewhere within the castle. She runs about the park pointing at her mutilated face. There is no suggestion as to who she might be.
A young black boy, the ghost of a Negro servant who was badly treated around 200 years ago, haunts a stone seat by the door of the Queen's bedroom.
One of the more infamous ghosts is known as Earl Beardie, who is otherwise known as Alexander, Earl Crawford. Allegedly he was a cruel and wicked man, probably stemming from his rebellion against James II. His spirit is said to wander the castle, and there have been reports of children waking to find the figure leaning over their beds. He is also said to be gambling for all eternity in a secret room with the Devil, people have reported loud swearing and the rattling of dice. He is often mixed up in literature with the second Earl of Glamis.
According to legend the castle is as haunted as it is because of an ancient curse brought on the family by Sir John Lyon, who removed an ancestral chalice from their seat at Forteviot, where it was supposed to reside for ever. The castle is also mentioned in Shakespeare's play MacBeth, and the murder of King Malcolm the II is supposed to have taken place in one of the rooms. It is highly unlikely as the castle dates from the 14th century and the murder from the 11th century.
Probably the most resounding piece of folklore that crops up, is the story of a secret room somewhere within the castle, that harbours a dreadful secret. At one time a towel is said to have been hung from every window in the castle, but from the outside a window without a towel was visible, suggesting a hidden room.
The secret room has many tales as to its origin; the most popular is that it holds a monster. In 1821 the first son of the eleventh Earl is said to have been born horribly malformed. To hide this fact the story was circulated that the boy had died, and the infant was locked up in a secret room within the castle. The malformed boy survived, and in time a second son was born, who was told of his older brother when he came of age. In some stories the boy grows to become incredibly strong, and lives for over a hundred years. The secret of the hidden room had to be passed down to each heir on their 21st birthday. The 'Mad Earls Walk' on the castle ramparts is said by some to have been the place where the malformed Earl was exercised.
There is suggestion that a workman accidentally broke through a wall while making alterations to the castle, revealing a passage into the secret room. He was given a large sum of money to leave the country and keep his silence. In other tales the room holds the bodies of men who were enemies of the family, walled up and starved to death.
As we have mentioned above one of the most notorious characters in the castles history was Earl Beardie, a Lord Crawford, who was a cruel and indulgent man. One of the tales most commonly told about him is the loss of his soul to the Devil while playing cards.
One Sunday, Earl Beardie was guesting at the castle. After a heavy drinking session with the Earl of Glamis, he was returning to his room in a drunken rage shouting for a partner to play him at cards. Nobody wanted to play on the Sabbath, and finally he raged that he would play with the Devil himself. Inevitably there was a knock at the door, and a tall man in dark clothes came into the castle and asked if Earl Beardie still required a partner. The Earl agreed, and they went away to a room in the castle, slammed the door shut, and started to play cards.
The castle was rocked with the swearing and shouting from the room, and one of the servants, giving in to curiosity peeped through the keyhole. A bright beam of light blasted (in some versions) through, and blinded the servant in one eye. The Earl burst from the room and rounded on the servant for spying on him. When he returned to the room the stranger, who was the Devil, had disappeared along with the Earls Soul, lost in the card game. The Earl is said to play cards with the stranger in a walled up room, another slant on the secret room legend.
Source:
http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/
'Phantoms and Monsters'
Thanks!
posted by Lon at 2:20 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home