A noble assassin, an executed queen and a naked witch are believed to be some of the restless spirits said to walk the venerable halls of Holyrood Palace. Situated at one end of Edinburgh’s prestigious Royal Mile, Holyrood Palace has played a central role in the eventful history of Scotland’s capital. Officially called the Palace of Holyroodhouse, it was the favorite palace of many of Scotland’s rulers and is currently the Scottish royal residence of the monarch of the United Kingdom. However, in its past, the palace also provided the backdrop for a number of notably gruesome incidents.
When James VI of Scotland was returning from Denmark with his new queen, his ship nearly sank in a terrible storm. James had a deep belief in wizardry at the time and was convinced that the storm had been caused by witchcraft. His theories led to an event in 1590 that became known as the North Berwick Witch Trials, a notorious episode in the country’s history in which numerous people, of various ranks, were arrested on suspicion of using witchcraft against the king. . Many of these unfortunates were subsequently imprisoned, tortured, and ultimately executed. The North Berwick trials were the first major outbreak of witchcraft persecution in Scotland.
Agnes Sampson was one of the defendants in the Berwick trials. Known as “Keith’s Wise Wife”, she was brought to Holyrood Palace on specific orders from King James, where she was stripped naked and her body shaved. She was then interrogated in the presence of the monarch before being pinned to a wall with the help of a “witch’s bridle”. King James hesitated for a time before convicting Agnes of witchcraft. She was then taken to Castle Hill, an infamous place for the execution of convicted witches, where she was strangled and burned at the stake. However, some say this was not Agnes Sampson’s last, and it is still rumored that her vengeful ghost, known as ‘Bald Agnes’, wanders naked through Holyrood Palace, the site of the terrible captivity of she.
In the realms of the supernatural, the ghost of Mary, Queen of Scots is possibly one of the most ubiquitous ghosts. There have been reports of her appearing in various places in Scotland, including Stirling Castle and Craignethan Castle, as well as in England, where she was eventually beheaded; a particularly messy execution which took place at Fotheringhay Castle on February 8, 1587. She lived at Holyrood Palace between 1561 and 1567 and her wandering spirit is still said to visit the place. The ghost of Mary’s second husband, Henry Stewart, better known as Lord Darnley, is also said to haunt Holyrood. Apparently, the specter of her has been seen on numerous occasions wandering the palace grounds with a guilt-ridden countenance.
In 1566, the palace was the scene of a gruesome murder when David Rizzio, a young Italian courtier and private secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots, was brutally murdered by Lord Darnley and his henchmen. The impetuous Darnley had become terribly jealous of Rizzio’s close relationship with his wife. The Italian had been playing cards with Mary when Darnley, accompanied by several nobles, burst into the queen’s private chambers via a hidden stairway. Rizzio’s body was dumped down Holyrood’s main staircase after being stabbed 56 times. It is said that the ghost of the young Italian still haunts the palace and there is also an indelible bloodstain on the spot where he perished, apparently still visible to this day.