Haunted Dragsholm Castle in Denmark

The Dragsholm Castle in the north-western part of Zealand, Denmark, is one of Denmark's oldest castles built in the 12th century. The original Dragsholm Castle was built around 1215 by the Bishop of Roskilde. During the Middle Ages, the building was modified from the original palace to a fortified castle. The majestic castle is now a world famous hotel. Although used as a hotel today, the castle’s long and turbulent history has invested the premises with supernatural guests. According to reported sightings, Dragsholm may be haunted by more than 100 ghosts, but three in particular are renowned for their appearances.

The Gray Lady is just one of the ghosts residing here, the woman once worked as a maid. After her death the lady is said to return every night to ensure everything is in order. Despite of this, she is hardly ever seen and is the lesser known of the three ghosts here.

The other female ghost, the White Lady, is known to be the daughter of a previous nobleman. At a young age she fell in love with a local man who worked in the castle, and when her father found out he ordered his servants to imprison her inside the castle walls. Every night she returns and walks the corridors of the castle.

The third ghost is the famous Earl of Bothwell. James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, was a third husband of Mary, Queen of Scots. Bothwell is often depicted as a brutal, ruthless and ambitious man. He is accused of kidnapping Mary, raping her, and forcibly marrying her in order to be King of Scotland. He evidently engineered the murder of Mary’s second husband, Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, thereby precipitating the revolt of the Scottish nobles and Mary’s flight to England, where she was imprisoned by Queen Elizabeth I and eventually executed. When he fled the growing rebellion to Scandinavia, he was arrested in Norway and lived the rest of his life imprisoned in Dragsholm Castle.

James Hepburn, the Earl of Bothwell, was a prisoner in this castle from 1573 until his death in 1578. The story is that Bothwell became mad in his last years. He spent his final years in Dragsholm Castle, chained to a post half his height and died, insane and miserable, in 1578. His body was later preserved and put on display in a glass case.

It is said that his ghost haunts the castle. Every night, he comes and rides in the courtyard of the castle. Several guests and visitors have heard the footsteps of the horse, but when they look out no-one is there.