Customer Reviews

A Wee Guide To The Haunted Castles Of Scotland (WEE Guides)

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I very much enjoyed reading this book. However, I would have to agree that it is only good if you are going to go on a trip to Scotland (which I would definitely recommend!)

The basic haunting history of each site is good, although I personally would have like more information simply because it would be more interesting. One thing that did put me a little off was the mixups in some of the historical facts (twice in the book the author called Lord Bothwell, who married Mary, Queen of Scots, by his real name, James Hepburn, which is correct, but under Crichton Castle, the author calls him Patrick Hepburn, and the author spelled people's names wrong or differently, sometimes within the same sentence. Minor details, doesn't really take away from the book, just irks a historian :) ) but other than that it is a good book.

From my own experience in Scotland, most places that appear to be on private property are best viewed from far away, and when in doubt, just don't go up to them. If there is someone you can ask by all means do so, as most people won't mind so much in Scotland, but otherwise just use your judgement. Also, those that are said to be in a dangerous condition, they can be visited, but from personal experience be VERY CAREFUL (I almost got hurt at Duntulm Castle, could have been my own clumsiness but it is also a very ruined castle).

Great book, but with more info I would have given it 5 stars.

If you are not planning a trip to Scotland this is not a book you will find interesting. There are 133 sites listed on 86 pages so there isn't much detail and the ghost stories are very limited. If you are going to Scotland however, this book will give you a good start to planning your itinerary if you like to visit haunted sites.

For each site listed you get a short history of the castle and sometimes a short history of the ghost or ghosts. Sometimes though the history of the haunting is much too brief. In fact, sometimes the whole haunting is taken care of in one sentence. This is one aspect of the book I didn't care for. I was also put off by there being lots of information about the facilities at some sites while no mention was made of visitor infomation at other sites. Some of these castles are private and people still live there and on some occasions that is mentioned but a lot of the time there is NO visitor info or details about visitors being welcome or not.

Just a little more information would have made this a much better book. Still it was worth the price and it will travel to Scotland with me.