The Green Lady of Fyvie
On the night a Scottish lord remarried, his first wife's name appeared carved on the window ledge outside, high above the ground. It's still there.
What was reported
Lilias Drummond was the first wife of Alexander Seton, the lord of Fyvie Castle. She died in 1601, and within months he married again. Legend says that on the wedding night, the couple heard sighing outside their bedroom window, and in the morning they found her name carved into the stone of the outside window ledge, far above the ground.
The letters, 'D. Lilias Drummond', can still be seen. Her ghost, the Green Lady, is said to walk the castle, and the house has other legends too, including a sealed room said to bring bad luck to anyone who opens it.
Explanations offered
No one knows who carved the letters or when, though it's thought it could have been done from a ladder or a scaffold. Fyvie is now cared for by the National Trust for Scotland, and its legends are part of what visitors come for.
- When
- Told since 1601
- Where
- Fyvie Castle, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK
- Witnesses
- Scottish folklore and visitors to the castle
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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