Borthwick Castle in Midlothian is allegedly haunted by a number of ghosts, including Mary, Queen of Scots, who must rank as one of Britain’s most ubiquitous specters. The castle is also supposedly still haunted by the tragic spirit of a murdered maid, as well as an embezzling chancellor who died a horrible death.

The ancestral home of the Borthwick family, the castle is located on the edge of the Scottish borders, about 12 miles south of Edinburgh. It was built in 1430 for William de Borthwick, first Lord Borthwick, after he was issued a charter to erect a castle from King James I of Scotland. The Scottish pair had helped secure the release of King James while the monarch had been captive in England. The castle remained in the Borthwick family until 1650, when the owners were finally driven out by Oliver Cromwell’s forces.

The well-preserved fortress from the 15th century has two huge towers of imposing height. The walls around the base are 20 feet thick and the great room has a vaulted ceiling. In other times, the castle also sported a moat, a drawbridge and a portcullis. Borthwick Castle was converted to a hotel in 1973, however since February 2013 it has been a private residence again.

With a history that stretches back to Scotland’s troubled past, it seems only natural that Borthwick Castle has a spooky legend or two. A tradition in the castle was known as the “prisoner’s jump”. Prisoners at Borthwick were reportedly granted freedom if they could jump from the roof of one tower to the other. Their hands would be tied behind their back and if they cleared the 12-foot gap, they were free to go. Apparently, no one achieved this seemingly impossible goal, but fell and died about 90 feet below.

Mary, Queen of Scots, took refuge in Borthwick Castle in 1567 with her third husband James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell. James was the prime suspect in the suspicious death of Mary’s former husband, Lord Darnley. The newly married couple were being hunted by enraged nobles who wanted to see Bothwell tried. When the castle was suddenly surrounded by an army of 1000 men, the couple were forced to make a dramatic escape. To evade her pursuers, the Queen of Scots disguised herself as a pageboy and left the castle through a window in the Great Hall. His ghost is rumored to have been spotted in the vicinity of the castle, reliving the events of that action-packed night.

A bloody tale recounts how the Red Room at Borthwick was once the scene of a terrible crime. It is said that he is haunted by the ghost of a maid named Ann Grant. She was pregnant by a lord of Borthwick who later had her murdered. The story tells how she was seized by two women and a guard. The women held her while the guard cut her in the abdomen with his sword, killing her and the fetus. People who have slept in the Red Room have reported steep drops in temperature and the ominous sound of approaching footsteps on the nearby spiral staircase late at night. An invisible force has tried to pull the sleepers out of the majestic four-poster bed, while visitors and staff alike have allegedly witnessed a ghostly reenactment of the gruesome murder.

Another murder in Borthwick was that of a chancellor who had misappropriated funds from family coffers. When the Borthwicks found out, they reacted with the utmost brutality and burned the man to death. The ghost of the unfortunate chancellor is said to haunt the castle and the niches where he kept his safes are still visible on the walls of the Red Room. A priest was once brought in to exorcise Borthwick Castle, although the apparitions apparently still persist.