The Demon Drummer of Cortachy

Cortachy Castle, Angus, Scotland

Before a death in the Ogilvy family of Cortachy, phantom drumming is heard at the castle — the ghost of a drummer who was stuffed into his own drum and thrown from the battlements by a jealous earl.

Cortachy Castle in Angus is the seat of the Ogilvy family, Earls of Airlie. The castle has been associated with the same death omen for at least three centuries: the sound of drumming that precedes a death in the family. The legend of its origin is specific and violent. A drummer in the earl's service was accused of having an affair with the Countess of Airlie. The Earl, in a fury, had the man stuffed into his own drum and thrown from the castle tower. As he fell, the drummer cursed the family: for every death in the earl's line, he would drum them out. The accounts of the phantom drumming are scattered but consistent across several centuries. One of the most cited comes from 1845, when a guest — Miss Dalrymple — heard drumming under her window at Cortachy in the early morning. She mentioned it to her hosts who went pale and asked her to say nothing to anyone. A member of the Ogilvy family died shortly after. Miss Dalrymple wrote her account privately in a letter that was published posthumously. A second major account comes from 1849, preceding another Ogilvy death. The sound is always described in the same terms: martial drumming, clearly audible but with no identifiable source. The current earl's family does not comment publicly on the tradition. The drumming has not been reported since 1900.