There are hundreds of places around the globe where ghosts are reported to have been seen, but there is no place on earth as guaranteed to be a ghost hunter’s fantasy as the top three haunted locations in Scotland. The grisly past that forged the country’s foundation left behind its own legacy of grief and pain manifested in the spirits that still walk the land, seeking their eternal repose.

The Top Three Haunted Locations in Scotland

1.) The Lunan Lodge is reputed to be the single most haunted hotel in Scotland, filled with the spirits of previous occupants who wander the halls. There are even a few who make their home right inside the Lodge Walls! The current proprietors claim that most of their ghosts are positively social-and a few don’t even seem to know they’re dead!

      The lodge started life as a minister’s private residence, and because its location placed it near the front line in the Scottish rebellion the manse was the likely location of hundreds or even thousands of death-perhaps some of which account for its current group of residents.

2.) The village and castle of Edinburgh are home to the echoes of many of Scotland’s dead, particularly inside the castle’s prison cells, the South Bridge Vaults and Mary’s King Close, the street that was used to quarantine and eventually entomb the victims of the plague. 

     Edinburgh Castle was built on rock that formed in 850 BC. The site was originally known as Din Eidyn, home of King Mynyddog, which was besieged and taken by the English in 600 AD. Unsurprisingly, the castle was also besieged during the Scottish rebellion when the Duke of Gordon declared his alliance with King James. This was the last major act of violence to take place at the castle, which has remained in peace ever since.


3.) In Dundee’s Caird Park sits Mains Castle, which has been home to many reported instances of poltergeists, inexplicable voices and an as yet unidentified dark entity which has been said to make its home in the castle’s six floor tower house-an astonishing number of spirits given the site’s relatively uneventful history.

     At one point the land surrounding Mains Castle belonged to the Stewarts until it was passed on to the Grahams in the 14th century. The castle itself was built in the 16th century, supposedly by a nephew of Cardinal Beaton named Sir David Graham, and sits directly across from the old graveyard of Mains containing the Graham family mausoleum.

Like many other haunted locations, this has become a major tourist attraction. Along with the ghost hunts one might expect, Mains Castle is home to weddings, funerals and an 18 hole golf course. 

This is but a small taste of the number of haunted locations scatter throughout the country. Are there more ghosts that call the bonny hills of Scotland home? Absolutely! All it takes is a savvy ghost hunter, a lonely spirit and a moonlit night, and it becomes easy to see why the wilds of Scotland are a veritable treasure trove for anyone seeking contact with the ever after.