The female ghost

Braemar Castle is still used as a residence by the Farquharson family who have been in possession of the castle since shortly after it was built in the first half of the seventeenth century.

The female ghost that haunts Braemar is thought to be a particularly tragic figure who lost her life through a simple misunderstanding. It is said that over two hundred years ago a young couple came to the castle to spend their wedding night. In those days, of course, respectable young ladies were chaste and remained virgins until their wedding day.

Many girls were left in a state of almost total ignorance when it came to sex. The wedding night, therefore, was likely to be approached with quite considerable apprehension, even fear, on the part of the bride. What would be expected of her? Would she make a 'good' wife.?

The story goes that the young bride at Bracmar woke quite early on the morning after her wedding night to find that she was alone in the bed. She got up and searched the apartments surrounding the bedroom but could find no sign of her new husband.

She became very distressed when she could not find him and at once jumped to the conclusion that, having found her to be an unsatisfactory bed mate the night before, her husband had left her. Overcome with shame and confusion, the distraught young woman flung herself to her death from the window of the bridal room.

The poor girl had been sadly mistaken. Her new husband had not left her but had, instead, gone out hunting at crack of dawn while she was still sleeping. When the bridegroom returned from his hunting trip and rode back into the castle courtyard, he was greeted with the terrible news that his beautiful young bride was dead. How he must have regretted departing without letting his sweetheart know where he was going!

The ghost of the young bride is said to return to the castle whenever newly-weds come to stay there. Whom does she wish to warn? Does she urge young brides not to jump to hasty conclusions, or does she want to remind the grooms that thoughtless behaviour will only lead to heartache?

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