glamis

The Horror of
Glamis Castle

For centuries, Glamis Castle has had a reputation as a place of strange and awful happenings. Events that strike terror at the hearts of all who experience them.

Introduction to the Early History of Glamis

Glamis Castle stands in the great vale of Strathmore in Tayside, Scotland. For many centuries, the vast fortified house with it's battlements and pointed towers has been the home of the Earls of Strathmore. Their family secret is reputedly hidden within the walls of Glamis, famous as one of the most haunted houses on Earth.

That there was some form of unpleasantness within the castle's walls is undoubtedly an historical fact. The castle is today the centre of a triangle formed by three biblically named villages, being, Jericho, Zoar and Pandanaram. These names, which may indicate the terror felt by it's minions; for, according to a Scottish National Trust Guidebook, the men who built and named them 'had at least some knowledge of the Scriptures and regard for the wrath of God'. That wrath, claim locals, was called down on Glamis for the sins of the first dozen or so lairds. In recent times, however, there is little to suggest that life at the castle has been anything other than pleasant and peaceful. While Michael Fergus Bowes-Lyon, the 18th Earl is well liked by his tenants, as were his immediate forbears, the conduct or at least one of their ancestors called into being what became known as the 'horror' of Glamis.

It is the obscure nature of the horror that makes accounts of it all the more terrifying. Indeed, no recent Earl has ever spoken of it to an outsider, except in enigmatic terms, and no woman has even been let in on the secret. It is passed on only to the Strathmore heir on his 21st Birthday.

Beginning of the Horror

The historical record of horror at Glamis Castle goes back to 1034, when King Malcolm II was cut down by a gang of rebellious subjects armed with claymores, the large broadswords peculiar to Scotland. It was said that every drop of Malcolm's blood seeped from his body into the floorboards, causing a stain that is still pointed out today, in what is called King Malcolm's Room. That the stain was made by Malcolm's blood is disputable, however, for records seem to show that the flooring has since been replaced. Nevertheless, Malcolm's killers added to the death toll of Glamis by trying to escape across a frozen loch, but the ice cracked and they were drowned.

Curse of the Chalice

The Lyon family inherited Glamis from King Robert II, who gave it to his son-in-law, Sir John Lyon, in 1372. Until then, the Lyon family home had been at Forteviot, where a great chalice, the family 'luck', was kept. Tradition held that if the chalice were removed from Forteviot House, a curse would fall on the family. Despite this, Sir John took the cup with him to Glamis. The curse, though, seems to have had a time lapse; Sir John was indeed killed in a duel, but this did not occur until 1383, and the family misfortunes are usually dated from this time.

The 'poisoned' chalice may well have also influenced events 150 years later when James V had Janet Douglas, Lady Glamis, burned at the stake in Edinburgh on a charge of witchcraft. The castle reverted to the Crown; but after the falsity of the charge was proved, Glamis was restored to her son. The apparition of Lady Glamis (also known as the "Grey Lady") as she is known, is said to regularly walk the long corridors even today.

It was Patrick, the Third Earl of Strathmore, who made the idea of a Glamis 'curse' widespread in the late 17th century: indeed, to many people he seemed the very embodiment of it. A notorious rake and gambler, he was known in both London and Edinburgh, as well as throughout his home territory, for his drunken debauchery. Facts covering his career and his character are festooned with folklore, but he must have been something of an enigma. For, despite his wild ways, he was philanthropic towards his tenants as least. The Glamis Book of Record, for instance, details his plans for building a group of lodges on the estate for the use of retired workers. Now known as Kirwynd Cottages, they were given to the Scottish National Trust by the 16th Earl of Strathmore in 1957, to house the Angus Folk Collection.

Two principal stories endure about Patrick. The first is that he was the father of a deformed child who was kept hidden somewhere in the castle, out of sight of prying eyes. The second is that he played cards with the Devil for his soul - and lost.

The first story is fed by a picture of the Third Earl that now hangs in the drawing room. It shows Patrick seated, wearing a classical bronze breastplate, and pointing with his left hand towards a distant, romanticised vista of Glamis. Standing at his left knee is a small, strange looking, green clad child. To the child's left is an upright young man in scarlet doublet and hose. The three main figures are placed centrally, but two greyhounds in the picture are shown staring steadfastly at a figure, positioned at the Earl's right elbow. Like the Earl, this figure wears a classical breastplate, apparently shaped to the muscles of the torso - but if it is a human torso, it is definitely deformed. The left arm is also strangley foreshortened. Did the Artist paint from life - and if so, does the picture show the real 'horror' of Glamis?

Click "Next" to continue to Page 2 of "The Horror of Glamis".