Haunted Baldoon Castle

by Walter Bissell

The ruins of Baldoon Castle are located just outside Bladnoch, Scotland near Wigtown. Traveling down the only street in the one horse town of Bladnoch, visitors cross the river bridge. They take the first road to the left and travel only a short distance to the gateway of Baldoon Mains. The ivy-covered ruins of Baldoon Castle lay just beyond the old gate. This historic castle was owned by the Dunbars of Westfield from 1530 to 1800. Although the ruins are now deserted, you can still feel a heaviness of heart as you walk onto the castle grounds. The ghost of Janet Dalrymple Dunbar is reported to haunt the castle.

In the mid 1600’s, Janet, the eldest daughter of Sir James Dalrymple was betrothed to David Dunbar, heir of Sir David Dunbar of Baldoon. As was the custom, the marriage was arranged by her parents but Janet’s heart wasn’t in it. She loved Archibald, third Lord Rutherford, even though his family was virtually penniless. Janet’s parents had no use for poor Archibald. They forbid the relationship, insisting that she marry David. Out of duty to the tradition, Janet married David in the church of Old Luce, two miles from her home at Carsecleugh Castle. It was a hot summer day, but her brothers both recollect that Janet’s hands were “cold as ice,” as she walked down the aisle. “I don’t want to be with him,” Janet said to them.

No one is quite sure what happened later that night in the bridal chamber. There are several versions of the events that occurred. In the first, “the bride stabs her bridegroom in the bridal chamber and dies insane.” The second, “disappointed, Archibald conceals himself in the chamber, stabs the bridegroom and escapes through the window into the garden.” Local tradition adds a third version “it was the Devil who nearly killed Dunbar and who tormented poor Janet until she was demented.”

Sir Walter Scott describes his version of the events in his book, The Bride of Lammermoor. “The door of the bridal chamber was broken down after hideous shrieks were heard from within and the bridegroom was found lying across the threshold, dreadfully wounded and streaming with blood. The bride crouched in a chimney corner, her white nightgown splashed with blood, grinning and muttering and quite insane.”

Legend says that Janet never recovered and died shortly afterwards, on September 12th 1669. David Dunbar is said to have recovered from his injuries and would not talk about the events of the dreadful night. In time, he married a daughter of the seventh Earl of Eglinton and eventually died after falling from his horse in 1682. Archibald, Janet’s true love, never married and died in 1685.