Welcome to A Scottish Ghost Story A Day, Series 1, Castle Ghosts, brought to you by bagtownclans.com. The podcast that delves into Scotland’s most captivating and chilling tales. I’m your host, Derek McDonald. Today, we travel to the haunting Ashintully Castle, near Kirkmichael in Perthshire. Built in the 1500s by the formidable Spalding family, this imposing tower house stands amid dense woodlands and hillsides, its thick granite walls bearing witness to centuries of secrets, curses, and spectral encounters. Join me as we unravel the eerie tales that haunt the grounds of Ashintully, where tragic figures like Crooked Davie and Green Jean are said to walk, bound forever to the castle and its dark legacy.
Ashintully Castle rises in the heart of the Scottish Highlands, where rugged beauty and bleak history intertwine. The Spaldings, feudal barons with strong Jacobite ties and supporters of the House of Stuart, constructed this stronghold as both a family home and a fortification against their numerous enemies. In 1597, an attack led by the Earl of Atholl saw Ashintully assailed with firearms and fire itself, yet the castle endured. But beneath its storied survival lies a darker history: the Spaldings’ reign was often marked by cruelty, a shadow that still lingers in the apparitions said to roam its grounds.
Perhaps the most famous of these is Green Jean—sometimes called Green Jane—one of Scotland’s many spectral “Green Ladies.” Green Ladies are known across Scotland, often the restless spirits of wronged women clad eternally in green. Green Jean’s tragic tale has chilled visitors to Ashintully for centuries. She was a young woman whose only crime was her familial tie to a cruel and powerful uncle. According to legend, Jean was murdered in cold blood by her uncle, who harbored ambitions of protecting the family’s wealth by any means necessary. Some versions of the tale suggest that Jean may have resisted her uncle’s dark plans, leading to her untimely end. She was reportedly killed while wearing a green dress and, in an act of horrifying disregard, her body was concealed in a narrow chimney by a loyal but complicit servant. Since that day, the mournful sounds of her footsteps echo through the castle, her spirit endlessly retracing her final moments, as if seeking justice.
But Green Jean doesn’t linger solely within the walls of the castle. Many have seen her wandering the family burial ground, her figure clad in the same ghostly green, her face downcast in sorrow. The very color of her dress, forever associated with her tragic end, has become part of her spectral identity—a poignant reminder of her unresolved fate and the secrets entombed in Ashintully’s past.
Another spirit tied to Ashintully is that of Crooked Davie, a misshapen servant whose life ended at the hands of another member of the Spalding family. Davie was reportedly born with a hunchback, a condition that, in those superstitious times, was often met with suspicion or outright hostility. Whether due to his physical appearance or simply the whims of his master, Davie endured a life of mistreatment. The final straw came when, in a moment of cruelty, he was murdered by one of the Spalding lords. The ghost of Crooked Davie is said to linger near the place of his death, his hunched figure shuffling through the shadows. Visitors report seeing his twisted form in their peripheral vision or hearing the soft shuffle of feet—a telltale sign of his restless spirit. Crooked Davie’s story is a grim reminder of the vulnerability of those who served in such grand households, often at the mercy of their masters.
Another ghostly presence that haunts Ashintully is simply known as “The Tinker.” This unfortunate soul was a wandering man, a tinker by trade, who was accused of trespassing on the Spalding’s lands. Though his transgression was minor, he met a brutal end at the hands of one of the Spalding earls. In a chilling twist, it’s said that as he faced his execution, the tinker cursed the Spalding family, foretelling the end of their line. His ominous prediction came to pass shortly afterward when the family’s line dwindled and eventually disappeared. His spirit lingers by an avenue of tall trees, close to the spot where he was hanged. Some visitors claim to feel an intense chill or sense a deep foreboding as they pass through this area, a shadow of the tinker’s curse and his tragic fate still lingering in the atmosphere.
Beyond its spectral inhabitants, Ashintully Castle holds another intriguing secret: a hidden tunnel, rumored to lead to the now-ruined Whitefield Castle nearby. Tunnel legends are common in Scottish castles, often linked with escapes or covert activities from centuries past. While no one knows if the Ashintully tunnel is real or merely the stuff of legend, it adds an additional layer of mystery to the castle’s lore, conjuring images of hidden passages and clandestine movements that might have once echoed within its walls.
Today, Ashintully Castle may appear as a tranquil Highland residence, yet the ghosts of its past remain ever-present. Green Jean, Crooked Davie, and the Tinker are only a few of the spirits said to inhabit this ancient estate. For those who walk its grounds, their stories serve as a haunting reminder of the darker chapters in Scottish history, where betrayal, cruelty, and tragedy were often as much a part of life as loyalty and valor. Each ghostly figure at Ashintully seems to preserve a different piece of that history—a spectral archive of lives cut short by malice or misfortune.
So, if you ever find yourself wandering through the shadowy paths of Ashintully Castle’s grounds, listen closely to the sounds that drift through the trees and stone walls. A soft shuffle, a mournful step, or a shivering chill—each could be a remnant of Green Jean, Crooked Davie, or the Tinker, their spirits woven into the very fabric of the castle. Their tales echo through time, a stark reminder of Scotland’s turbulent and often unforgiving past.
Thank you for joining me today on A Scottish Ghost Story A Day. Until next time, I’m Derek McDonald. Stay curious, stay safe, and remember: not all that lingers in the shadows is forgotten.
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