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Carbisdale Castle
 
CARBISDALE CASTLE Submit a Tale here | More Tales
I would like to tell you about my family's experience at Carbisdale Castle. Our family traveled to Scotland during June, 1999. We toured London, then on to the Isle of Lewis to visit a friend for a few days. While we visited with Liz, she received a hostel magazine. I scanned the issue and discovered an article on Carbisdale Castle.

This hostel was the next stop on our tour. The article explained that the castle was haunted. It seems many years ago, a nanny named Betty was in charge of a small child at the castle. The child died while in her care and she is said to be seen wandering the halls at night looking for the child.

When we arrived at the hostel, it was late in the afternoon. After getting settled in our room, we decided to explore the grounds. The castle is a magnificent structure on a hill overlooking the beautiful valley below. The grounds had become overgrown with rhododendrons and evergreen trees.

As we returned from our walk, we noticed the clock tower, on the sphere as you enter the courtyard. The clock tower has a clock face on only 3 sides. We learned that the castle had been built as a settlement between the son of a land baron and his father's widow. The widow had requested much land and money but the son told her he would build her the most magnificent castle as her settlement and that would be it. She planned a very opulent palace but she knew the family of her late husband would be traveling by train by the castle as they came into town. She planned the clock tower to be visible on 3 sides but not on the side facing the train route hence the saying "she did not want to give them the time of day".

It was fun to learn the origin of that saying. We enjoyed our stay at Carbisdale Castle even if Betty did not pay us a visit!

JMcLean@innova.net