The 5 spookiest places in Ayrshire

Have you visited them?

Published 31st Oct 2016

Have you been to these spookiest places in Ayrshire?

1. Culzean Castle

Spend the ‘knight’ in this haunted castle – Culzean Castle, near Maybole has lots of spooks in and around the grounds. Listen out for the ghostly piper who heralds a marriage in the Kennedy family – they gifted the castle to the National Trust in 1945. There’s also a woman in a ball gown who floats along the corridors and a ‘White Lady’ – the ghost of a mistreated servant who can be found on the main staircase.

Culzean Castle | © iStock

2. Bennane Cave near Ballantrae

We’d love to have you for dinner – Sawny Bean set up home Bennane Cave near Ballantrae with his wife, after they fled Edinburgh. They robbed passing travellers by throwing them over the cliffs, but they soon discovered the bodies were a good source of food. It’s thought they murdered hundreds of people – but no-one can be sure as a proper excavation of the cave has never been done. Fancy that job?

Ballantrae Seascape | © iStock

3. An inn in Ayr’s High Street

Something wiccan this way comes – Maggie Osbourne ran an inn in Ayr’s High Street (where Marks and Spencer is now). Legend has it she took a dislike to a local family, cursing them and covering their house in snow. Only one member of the family survived, escaping at sea, but she conjured a storm and sank the ship. Maggie was finally caught and burned at the stake at the Malt Cross.

4. Loudoun Castle Theme Par

This used to be my playground – whilst the abandoned Loudoun Castle Theme Park near Galston, might not be haunted it’s still a spooky place to be. The park closed in 2010 and the rides have been left to rot in the eerie grounds of the ruined Loudoun Castle.

A bridge over the River Doon

Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight? Even before Rabbie Burns penned ‘Tam O’Shanter’, Alloway was said to be a place where witches and warlocks danced with the Devil - as he played his pipes. The Auld Kirk was where they gathered and is the setting for Burn’s most famous work and where a drunken Tam and his horse ran from to escape a witch. He escaped across a bridge at the River Doon because witches can’t cross running water. There’s nothing sinister about the cemetery today – but perhaps it’s more foreboding on a dark and stormy night?

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