Fyvie Castle abounds with tales of restless spirits and deadly curses. Situated in a sprawling park north of Aberdeen, this former stately castle dates back to the 13th century and is one of the most haunted buildings in Scotland.

One of the castle’s best known ghosts is Dame Lilias Drummond. Known as the ‘Green Lady of Fyvie’, for wearing a greenish dress, Lilias has been witnessed numerous times since the 17th century. It is said to manifest itself in the corridors and on the grand staircase, having been seen by both staff and visitors. Apparently, she was once seen in a mirror by a tourist visiting the castle. The smell of roses is said to accompany their presence.

Dame Lilias was married to Alexander Seton, the then laird of Fyvie, by whom she had five daughters. However, he was unable to provide Seton with his long-awaited male heir. He died in 1601, at the age of thirty; some say under suspicious circumstances.

Shortly after Lilias’s death, Alexander married a beautiful young woman named Grizel Leslie. It was on the couple’s wedding night that a very strange and inexplicable incident occurred. The newlyweds had retired to bed in an upper room of the castle when Grizel was awakened in the early morning by a strange moan, a hideously unearthly kind of sigh coming from beyond the bedroom window. She woke up her husband and he went to investigate, but found nothing. However, the dream proved elusive for young Grizel as the moans persisted.

The next morning, Grizel went to check the window and got very scared. Inscribed in the same stone on the windowsill were the words “D. Lilias Drummond.” Had Lady Lilias returned from the grave and carved her name in stone? The room where Alexander and Grizel had slept is located high up and would have been difficult to access, so how the inscription got there is anyone’s guess. It can still be seen to this day.

Some say that Lilias Drummond’s ghost only manifests itself when a laird in the castle is about to die. Tradition tells of how she was seen one afternoon in December 1879 by Alick Gordon, the brother of the then laird, Colonel Cosmo Gordon, who was ill in bed at the time. In fact, Cosmo died shortly after and Alick took possession of Fyvie.