Duntulm Castle, Scotland

duntulm castle, scotlandOn the  site on which Duntulm Castle stands in the north of the island of Skye, there once stood an iron age broch  (dry stone structure of a type which is only found in Scotland) that was used by the Norsemen during their forays down the coast. In later years, a stone castle was built here by the Macleods, although it is thought that most of what remains of the ruin dates from the 17th century.

Duntulm Castle was abandoned in 1730 AD for the more comfortable nearby Castle of Armadale probably because of the ghosts that haunted it.

 

Indeed there are many ghosts said to haunt the ruins of Duntulm castle....
One of the main ones is that of Hugh Macdonald - the cousin of Donald Gorm Mor, chief of the McDonald's of Sleat. Donald Gorm Mor was a man who had many enemies, and of these, Hugh was probably the most deadly as he had long had plans to kill Donald Gorm Mor. Apparently, realising the full gravity of this threat, Donald laid siege to Hugh's Castle and although the latter was able to escape dressed as a woman, he was soon captured by Donald's men and taken to Duntulm, where he was locked up, and virtually starved, only being fed very poor rations of salt meat and fish. 

It is said, no water was given to him, and that he went stark raving mad and died a slow and agonising death from total dehydration.  Legend even has it that in desperation, he tried to devour his own hands! Ever since Hughes death, Duntulm castle is said to have been haunted by his painful screams.

Other apparent audible evidence of ghosts said to haunt this old castle ruin occasionally are the weeping  of Margaret,  shunned by her husband after losing an eye in an accident and also the hysterical screams of a nursemaid who 'accidentally' dropped a baby out a window onto the rocks below!