The childhood home of the late Queen Mother, Glamis Castle, has been declared one of the most haunted places to visit in the UK this Halloween.
Located in Angus, Scotland, Glamis Castle has royal connections that go back over a thousand years, and grisly spot where Malcolm II of Scotland was murdered in 1034.
Even before the castle was built, there were warnings that the land was cursed, and its original location was changed from a nearby hill after workers claimed to hear a voice say: “Build not on this enchanted spot, where man hath neither part nor lot, but build down in yonder bog, where it will neither shake nor shog!”
Ghosts claimed to haunt the walls of Glamis Castle include the Tongueless Woman – a maid said to have been murdered after discovering a secret of the Earl. She is rumoured to appear with blood spilling from her mouth…
Reports about the number of ghosts in the castle vary, but there are believed to be around nine, including Thomas Bowes-Lyon, who was said to have been removed from the line of succession after he was born with a severe deformity.
While official records state that he died the day he was born, on October 21, 1821, it is rumoured that he survived and was kept hidden away by his family until he died in the 1920s, having been only allowed out to exercise at night.
Depictions of the mysterious earl also emerged in time. Jacynth Hope-Simpson in her book Who Knows? suggested the boy may have suffered a genetic defect given the child’s parents were cousins first removed.
Ghost writer Peter Underwood suggested Thomas had wasted arms and legs and resembled “an enormous flabby egg.”
