Meggernie Castle is a castle

Castle

A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...

 in the heart of Perth and Kinross

Perth and Kinross

Perth and Kinross is one of 32 council areas in Scotland, and a Lieutenancy Area. It borders onto the Aberdeenshire, Angus, Dundee City, Fife, Clackmannanshire, Stirling, Argyll and Bute and Highland council areas. Perth is the administrative centre...

, in central Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. It is located halfway up Glenlyon

Glen Lyon, Scotland

Glen Lyon is a glen in the Perth and Kinross region of Scotland. It is the longest enclosed glen in Scotland and runs for 34 miles from Loch Lyon in the west to the village of Fortingall in the east....

, where the river Lyon flows through on its way to join Loch Tay

Loch Tay

Loch Tay is a freshwater loch in the central highlands of Scotland, in the district of Perthshire.It is a long narrow loch of around 14 miles long, and typically around 1 to 1½ miles wide, following the line of the valley from the south west to north east...

. From the 1920s until the 1950s, the castle was owned by Sir Ernest Wills, 3rd Baronet

Sir Ernest Wills, 3rd Baronet

Sir Ernest Salter Wills, 3rd Baronet CStJ JP was Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire from 1930 to 1942.-Life:The son of Sir Edward Payson Wills, 1st Baronet, KCB and of Lady Wills Sir Ernest Salter Wills, 3rd Baronet CStJ JP (30 November 1869 - 14 January 1958) was Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire from 1930...

.

Architecture

Prior to the construction of Meggernie Castle, there is evidence that a thatched keep of some sort was erected on the site. The exact date of the erection of the oldest existing part of Meggernie Castle has not been determined, although some sources claim that it was John Campbell of Glenlyon who built it around 1585. However, there is a document known as the "Register of the Great Seal," in which King James VI grants to the Campbell family the ownership of land in the area to form the Barony of Glenlyon. The chief of this Barony is said to reside in "the Tower named Meggernie" and since this bequest is dated March 4 1603, this evidence ties in loosely with the construction date of 1585. The thatched keep had a slated roof added to it initially and additions were also made in later years. The walls of the castle are around five feet in thickness in keeping with its role as a defensive structure and in total the castle is five storeys tall. Each corner of the castle possesses a square tower which is bracketed out from the main body of building. The original castle had few windows and those that do exist are narrow slits in the wall. This style is entirely in keeping with the fashion of the day and can be seen in numerous other fortified castles and keeps constructed around the same time. The original castle keep has also had a more modern mansion house attached to it since its construction, although the style of this is still in keeping with that of the original building. Many architectural details of Meggernie can be clearly seen in photographs of the building, including the four small square towers at the corners of the keep, and the long, low mansion house which extends from one side of the keep.

The Haunting of Meggernie Castle

Several ghost stories surround Meggernie Castle, the best-known dating from the time that the house was occupied by the Menzies's of Culdares. An early Menzies of Culdares married a very beautiful woman much younger than himself. However, her youth and attractiveness led him to become jealous of her and he is said to have murdered her in a fit of rage. After concealing her body in a locked chest in one of the castle towers, he absented himself for some time and after his return spread the story of how his wife had tragically met her death by drowning whilst the two of them had been travelling in Europe. Although the locals believed the story, Menzies still felt anxious and fearful and decided to dispose of the body in the nearby churchyard. Having cut the body in two, he managed to bury the lower half in the graveyard one night, leaving the upper part still in the chest. However, before he was able to bury the upper half, he met with foul play and the next morning his body was found at the entrance to the tower where the upper part of his wife's body still lay. Although Menzies had clearly been murdered, nobody was ever tried for the crime and his death remains a mystery.

Most ghost sightings have involved guests staying at the castle who claim to have seen the upper part of a woman's body floating through the air. One visitor to the castle claims to have been awakened one night by the feeling of a red hot kiss on his cheek. When he sat up in bed he saw the ghostly form of a woman's torso moving away from his bed towards the wall, before passing through into the next room.

During restoration work at the castle in the mid 19th century, workmen are said to have unearthed skeletal remains of the upper half of a woman's body. These were removed for burial, but sightings of her ghost were reporteded after this occurred. Claims have also been made that the buried lower half of the body haunts the nearby churchyard.