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Baldoon Castle

Baldoon Castle in Bladnoch, not far from Wigtown, was built in the early sixteenth century. It was owned by the Dunbars ofWestfield from 1530 to 1800, but is now a ruin. In the mid-seventeenth century the castle was owned by Sir David Dunbar. His son and heir was also called David and it was arranged that he would marry Janet, the eldest daughter of Sir James Dairymple, a local landowner. She was in love with Archibald, third Lord Rutherford, but as he was practically penniless, her parents persuaded her to marry David instead. They were married in the kirk of Old Luce, two miles from Carsecleugh Castle, the home of the Dairymples.

On the wedding night, however, the servants were alarmed by hideous screaming coming from the bridal chamber. When they finally broke the door down they found the bridegroom lying across the threshold, badly wounded and covered in blood, and Janet, also covered in blood, cowering in a corner. She never recovered her senses and died insane a few weeks later, on 12 September 1669. Her husband survived, but would never talk about what had happened.

There are several theories as to what had taken place. Some people think Janet attacked her bride groom, while others think that he attacked her and she stabbed him in self-defence. Another theory is that Archibald hid in the room, attacked David and then escaped through the window. According to local leg end, the Devil himself did it. David later married a daughter of the seventh Earl of Eglinton and died in 1682 after falling off his horse. Archibald never married and died in 1685. Sir Walter Scott used the story in his novel The Bride of Lainmermuir. Every year on the anniversary of her death Janet’s ghost wanders the ruins of the castle, still screaming and covered in blood. Female Ghost | Green Lady | Lauder | Aberdeenshire | Angus | Barcaldine | Barcaldine | Birmingham | Bishop Cameron | Braemar | Carlow | Doncaster | Dublin | Dumfriesshire | Dundee | Essex | Female Ghost | Ghost | Goatfell mountain | Green Lady | Green Lady | Ireland | Ireland | Ireland | Kent | Leap | Loch Fyne | Nairn | Pontefract castle | River Tyne | Scotland | Scotland | Scotland | Scotland | Shropshire | Southeastern Ireland | Sussex | The female ghost | Witchcraft |