Culzean Castle

Introduction

Pronounced as 'Cullane' Castle, Culzean Castle is mostly an 18th century property located on the Ayrshire cliffs of Maybole, Scotland. The location is extremely grand in appearance, as you can see from the above image, and is currently owned by the National Trust for Scotland. It is possible for people to visit the location on days out, and at one point it was even possible to visit the caves which run beneath the castle. Due to the presence of the caves, local legends do exist which take claim to not just ghosts being present here, but fairies too.

History

Although what you see of the castle today was of 18th century design, it is thought a castle has stood in this location since the 1400s. During this early time period, the tower house was referred to as Coif Castle, or Cove Castle, due to the many caves along the cliffs here. Although this is an early account of the tower house being named, it is possible that the structure could have existed during the 1300s. The name changed to Cullean Castle during the 1600s, and then it became Culzean Castle during the 1700s.

For the most part, the castle was owned by the Kennedy family. The Kennedy's supported Robert the Bruce during the Scottish Wars of Independence which led them to becoming first Lords, the Earls of Cassillis. The first of a long list of improvements for the castle occured during 1762 when Sir Thomas Kennedy, the 9th Earl of Cassillis, rebuilt the fortified tower house which stood during the late 1500s. After Thomas died in 1775, his brother David Kennedy took over, becoming the 10th Earl in the process, and called in Robert Adam to make further improvements to the castle.

The improvements Robert Adam made ran between 1772 and 1790, and even involved destroying a wing which was built by Thomas in order to build a drum tower. Robert Adam was responsible for the interiors, the home farm and stables, a kitchen block, a new three storey wing, a brew house, a milk house, and bedrooms. He even incorporated parts of the pre-existing structure into the current mansion. The oval staircase was added in 1787, and the west wing was added much later during 1879.

The Kennedy family donated the castle to the National Trust for Scotland during 1945, and asked for Dwight Eisenhower, who later became President, to be given the top floor apartment as a gift for his role in the Allies' victory during WWII. Eisenhower visited the location four times, once being while he served as president.

As mentioned earlier, there are caves located beneath the castle. These caves were used for smuggling between the 1600s and 1700s. There is even a legend that says these caves, as they run directly beneath the castle, once featured a passageway which granted access to the castle. There is no evidence found of this, although it was discovered that the caves do connect to some nearby caves further along the coast. Archaeological digs have been conducted in these caves which have led to the discoveries of items such as bottles.

Legends:

Now, usually in these posts I stick strictly to the hauntings. However, this time I feel it's necessary to widen the net just a little due to the two stories associated with the caves, one of which is related to a haunting and the other to fairies. I will then discuss the castle's hauntings after these legends.

The Fairy Boy

The first of these legends regards fairies. There is a story about the Laird of Co which dates back long before the current building existed. The story says that one day the Laird was walking around the grounds when he was approached by a small boy. The boy informed the Laird that his mum was sick and needed some ale. The Laird wanted to help the boy, and the boy's sick mum, so told his chief servant to go with the boy and get ale from the caskets.

The servant agreed to do as the Laird asked, but he found that upon pouring ale into the boy's cup, the cup would never become full. The servant recognised this as magic, determined the boy to be one of the fairies said to live in the cave beneath the castle, and refused the boy any more ale. The boy protested, and the Laird agreed with the boy; telling the servant that the boy would leave with ale even if it required every casket to be emptied. The next casket was opened, and with one drop the cup became full.

Years later, the Laird became captured during a conflict and imprisoned in a dungeon far from the castle. He thought back to the caves, and suddenly the door of his prison opened. The little boy from all those years ago walked into the cell and said 'Laird of Co, rise and go'. The boy gestured for the Laird to get on his back, and when he did, he was flown back to his castle. The Laird asked why the boy helped him, and the boy responded by saying he helped because the Laird had helped him and his sick mum all those years ago.

The Piper

The next legend is of a piper who is said to haunt the castle and the caves. The story is extremely short and simple. A piper wanted to explore the caves, but was concerned about if something happened to him. As a result, he took his dog and bagpipes with him. As he walked deeper into the caves, everyone could hear his dog barking and his bagpipes playing. The sounds suddenly stopped, and no one left the cave. Both the man and his dog were missing and were never seen alive again. It's said that on stormy nights, or the eve of a Kennedy family wedding, you can hear bagpipes playing near the caves. You can also alledgedly see a lone figure standing on Piper's Brae.

Other Hauntings

The staff of the castle say the castle is home to five spirits, although the general consensus of the internet is that there are at least seven. I've found a few, but nothing which is as concise as other locations when it comes to who these spirits are. The most haunted room is said to be the State Bedroom, which is a room the 9th Earl, Thomas Kennedy, is said to make his presence known in. A woman in her mid-20s has reported feeling someone push her in that room.

Another haunted room is the Blue Drawing Room due to a man claiming to see one inkwell lid slowly close, and another slowly rise without anyone touching them. Other apparitions of the castle include a young girl who is said to run through the corridors close to the kitchen, and a black or grey apparition who is said to walk up the stairs from the ground floor to the first. An old man is said to sit in bedrooms at night, specifically the Earl's bedroom, while dressed in an old fashioned way.

There are also claims that the portrait of Margaret Erskine of Dun, wife of the 12th Earl of Cassillis, and later the 1st Marquess of Ailsa, has connection to paranormal happenings. Apparently her foot follows you as you walk past, and a strange mist moves across the stairs which starts from her portrait.

During the 1970's, the apparition of a woman wearing a ball gown was seen and during 1972, a 'strange and vague' apparition was seen by a number of people in a corridor. Another occurrence during 1972 is that some servants of the castle saw a shape in the dungeons, and it's thought that this shape was a Kennedy piper who was murdered at the castle. Plus, an apparition was seen coming down the main staircase in 1976. A white lady, who is thought to be a mistreated servant, has also been seen in the upper rooms. A disembodied male voice with a Scottish accent has also been heard.

Finally, it is said that the sounds of fire crackling and screams can be heard in the castle vaults on Sunday mornings. This is because of a historical account where Gilburt Kennedy, the 4th Earl, wanted to obtain new land and so he arranged for Allan Stuart, the commendator of Crossraguel Abbey, to be kidnapped. This occured during 1570, and Allan was taken to the dungeons of the castle, specifically to the Black Vault, where he was roasted near to death on a spit until he agreed to sign the Abbey over to the Earl. When the council found out about this, they fined the Earl £2000 and the Earl had to pay Allan a pension for life. The Earl was allowed to keep the Abbey though.

Summary of Hauntings

1. The Piper

2. A young girl (corridors near kitchen)

3. Black or grey apparition (stairs)

4. Mist (Oval Staircase)

5. Thomas Kennedy (State Bedroom)

6. An old man (bedrooms)

7. A woman in a ballgown

8. Strange and vague apparition (corridor)

9. Apparition (staircase)

10. White lady (upper rooms)

11. Murdered Kennedy piper (dungeons)

12. Crackling fire

13. Screams

14. Disembodied Scottish voice

15. Inkwell lids rising and closing (Blue Drawing Room)

16. Feeling of being touched (State Bedroom)

My Thoughts

As you'll know if you've read my other location posts, I usually do a 'summary of activity' section, but for this post I've had to adjust it to 'summary of hauntings'. This is because of the vast quantity of activity reported to be apparitions. It's also because I wanted to highlight if any of these apparitions overlapped, and I think they do. There seems to be quite the connection between apparitions/strange happenings and the staircases of the castle. I feel like the vague apparitions here could be the same one, but it's hard to know for sure with no detail on it.

The murdered piper could be the piper who went missing in the caves. It's odd that there are two piper spirits in the same location so I think there is likely only the one. Personally, having looked at a few other locations and the hauntings there, this location reminds me a bit of Souter Lighthouse. It's all very vague, too vague for my liking. As a result, I think there will be something here, but I don't think you'll get much if you investigated the location. The crackling fire and screams are interesting though as the man didn't die during that incident. This activity, if there is something to it, would help to support stone tape theory.

This really is one of those locations where you've got to question why there isn't more about its hauntings, and why more hasn't happened here, if the alledged hauntings are legitimate. Usually you get all sorts of stories about knocks and bangs, or the apparitions are identified in more detail than just 'a vague apparition'. It also makes me wonder if the vagueness of activity makes the reports more real. For example, there is ample opportunity for tales of shipwrecks and smugglers, but I found none of that in my research.

Thank you for reading to the end of this post! Also a special thank you to Damain and everyone who supports and follows The True Paranormal. If you want to follow, you can either subscribe for free to this blog which let's you have email notifications, or you can follow the Facebook page, X (Formerly known as Twitter) account, or Tumblr account. The True Paranormal also has a YouTube channel where I upload video versions of the reviews I do, along with footage from my own investigations. If you want to suggest anything, or contact me for some reason, you can email: thetrueparanormal1@gmail.com

The Sources I Have Used:

1. National Trust for Scotland

2. Visit Scotland

3. Secret Scotland

4. Canmore

5. National Trust for Scotland: Older History

6. Britain Express

7. Undiscovered Scotland

8. About Scotland

9. Scotland Starts Here

10. Kiddle

11. Maybole