1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:05,120 Speaker 1: Hello, it's Richard McLean Smith here, not the impostor you've 2 00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:09,400 Speaker 1: been listening to on the podcasts, the real one. Join 3 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:14,360 Speaker 1: me for Unexplained TV at YouTube dot com Forward Slash 4 00:00:14,800 --> 00:00:30,280 Speaker 1: Unexplained pod. In August twenty twenty three, workers were in 5 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:33,280 Speaker 1: the middle of a restoration project on the eight hundred 6 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:38,440 Speaker 1: year old Johnstown Castle in County Wexford Island. A carpenter 7 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:41,839 Speaker 1: was repairing a window frame in the east wing when 8 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:46,280 Speaker 1: he inadvertently knocked a hole in the wall. After the 9 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:50,760 Speaker 1: team made further excavations, they discovered a secret room under 10 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:54,800 Speaker 1: the tower. Though the empty space is assumed to be 11 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:58,520 Speaker 1: nothing more alarming than a small bedroom, news of the 12 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:03,360 Speaker 1: discovery made head lines around the world. Adding fuel to 13 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:08,480 Speaker 1: the speculative fire was the estate manager's enigmatic suggestion that 14 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:11,600 Speaker 1: the room could have been sealed off due to an 15 00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 1: unspecified tragedy in the castle's past. Castles, tragedies secrets three 16 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:25,399 Speaker 1: ingredients that have come together darkly and deliciously over the centuries. 17 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:31,160 Speaker 1: Back in Unexplained Season six, episode one, The Chasm Below, 18 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:36,040 Speaker 1: we detailed the legend surrounding the Czech Republic's Hauska Castle. 19 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:40,720 Speaker 1: In episode thirteen of the same season a place of forgetting, 20 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:47,520 Speaker 1: we plumber the secrets of Lepp Castle, supposedly Ireland's most haunted. Clearly, 21 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:50,320 Speaker 1: there is something about the idea of a castle and 22 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:55,200 Speaker 1: its mysteries that just ignites the imagination. Maybe we are 23 00:01:55,280 --> 00:02:00,520 Speaker 1: conditioned by their prominence in our darker stories, from Shakespeare's 24 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:05,080 Speaker 1: to the great Gothic novels. Maybe it's the irony of 25 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:10,880 Speaker 1: buildings designed to withstand battle, bombardment and siege being ultimately 26 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:16,600 Speaker 1: impotent to withstand the human capacity for manufacturing terror, that 27 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:21,080 Speaker 1: no matter how impregnable we make our defenses, we cannot 28 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:26,240 Speaker 1: ever escape ourselves. Or maybe it's just that castles have 29 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:29,600 Speaker 1: been the stage for so much horror and violence that 30 00:02:29,639 --> 00:02:34,480 Speaker 1: they now impose themselves and our psychogeographical landscape just as 31 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:38,800 Speaker 1: heavily as they sit on their hilltops, as vast monuments 32 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:42,839 Speaker 1: to the worst that humans can do. There is one 33 00:02:42,919 --> 00:02:47,280 Speaker 1: castle where legend and history is woven so tightly that 34 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:51,800 Speaker 1: the twin strands are now impossible to unpick. A castle 35 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:56,280 Speaker 1: where devils are said to have visited, monsters are said 36 00:02:56,320 --> 00:03:01,639 Speaker 1: to rome, and secrets are kept at any cost, and 37 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:04,960 Speaker 1: where it appears there may be more than a little 38 00:03:05,040 --> 00:03:10,920 Speaker 1: truth to the rumours you're listening to unexplained, and I'm 39 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:22,639 Speaker 1: Richard mc lean smith. For a thousand years, Glam's Castle, 40 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:26,840 Speaker 1: located just north of Dundee in the East of Scotland, 41 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:30,960 Speaker 1: has been bound up with secrets and stories. They are 42 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:35,080 Speaker 1: as integral to the structure as the mortar between its stones. 43 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:39,440 Speaker 1: In ten thirty four, when GLAMs was still the site 44 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:42,600 Speaker 1: of a royal hunting lodge, it played host to the 45 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:47,000 Speaker 1: death of King Malcolm the Second of Scotland. The details 46 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:51,080 Speaker 1: of Malcolm's demise are lost to history, but documents from 47 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:55,320 Speaker 1: the period suggest he was likely murdered. In the late 48 00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:59,360 Speaker 1: fourteenth century, an early rudimentary tower was built on the 49 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:02,680 Speaker 1: site and established as the family seat of the Lyon 50 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:07,480 Speaker 1: family as reward for Sir John Lyon's services to the crown. 51 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:12,240 Speaker 1: Ten years later, Sir John would also be murdered by 52 00:04:12,280 --> 00:04:17,039 Speaker 1: his rival, James Lindsay of Crawford. The castle and its 53 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:21,000 Speaker 1: estate was surrendered back to the Crown in fifteen thirty seven, 54 00:04:21,320 --> 00:04:25,279 Speaker 1: after Jane Douglas, the Lady of GLAMs, was found guilty 55 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:29,840 Speaker 1: of witchcraft and intent to poison the king. In punishment, 56 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:32,640 Speaker 1: she was burned at the stake, and for the next 57 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:36,279 Speaker 1: two centuries, GLAMs bounced in and out of the Lyon 58 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:40,600 Speaker 1: family's possession, eventually settling with them when the family was 59 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:44,480 Speaker 1: awarded the earldom, though they would later change the family 60 00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:48,160 Speaker 1: name to Bow's Lion. They remained the Earls and Ladies 61 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:52,200 Speaker 1: of Strathmore and Kinghorn to this day. But even with 62 00:04:52,279 --> 00:04:57,440 Speaker 1: its ownership secure, GLAMs regularly sat empty, as few of 63 00:04:57,480 --> 00:05:02,719 Speaker 1: the earls chose to inhabit its coal drafty halls. It 64 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:07,120 Speaker 1: is a place of thick walls and heavy atmosphere, consistently 65 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:13,240 Speaker 1: associated with the Macarbre. When Shakespeare adapted the real historical 66 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:16,680 Speaker 1: Macbeth into one of the most cursed figures in all 67 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:22,280 Speaker 1: of literature, where else did he appoint his home but GLAMs. 68 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:26,320 Speaker 1: And just as Shakespeare promoted the castle's notoriety in the 69 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:30,360 Speaker 1: sixteenth century, it was another writer who plucked it from 70 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:35,479 Speaker 1: obscurity in the eighteenth Walter Scott, the famed author of 71 00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:40,279 Speaker 1: historical epics such as Ivanhoe and Rob Roy, visited in 72 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:44,520 Speaker 1: the summer of seventeen ninety three, requesting the opportunity to 73 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:48,880 Speaker 1: stay overnight in one of the rooms. Forty years later, 74 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:52,640 Speaker 1: Scott wrote an account of his stay in his letters 75 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:58,160 Speaker 1: on Demonology and Witchcraft, I must own he reminisced, as 76 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:02,080 Speaker 1: I heard door after door shut, I began to consider 77 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:06,000 Speaker 1: myself as too far from the living and somewhat too 78 00:06:06,120 --> 00:06:10,520 Speaker 1: near to the dead. Scott was a lifelong scholar of 79 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:14,640 Speaker 1: folklore and the supernatural, so it's likely his perception of 80 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:18,080 Speaker 1: the half empty Castle was colored by an awareness of 81 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:22,600 Speaker 1: its many ghost stories. Several are of a notably cruel 82 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:27,760 Speaker 1: and violent strain. One of the more benign supposed specters 83 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:32,080 Speaker 1: is that of Jane Douglas. After she was burned at 84 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:36,039 Speaker 1: the stake on trumped up charges of treason, her spirit 85 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:40,480 Speaker 1: was said to remain at GLAMs. Known as either the 86 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:43,919 Speaker 1: White or Gray Lady, she is said to appear most 87 00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:48,760 Speaker 1: frequently in the castle's small chapel, often kneeling at the altar, 88 00:06:49,160 --> 00:06:51,719 Speaker 1: where she has apparently been seen by some of the 89 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:55,400 Speaker 1: most prominent members of the family, including the mother of 90 00:06:55,480 --> 00:07:00,560 Speaker 1: Queen Elizabeth, the second Elizabeth Bow's Lion, who grew up GLAMs. 91 00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:04,200 Speaker 1: It has long been traditioned to leave one of the 92 00:07:04,279 --> 00:07:09,680 Speaker 1: forty six chapel seats vacant for Lady Jane. Even today, 93 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:14,160 Speaker 1: when large family gatherings can quickly fill the space to capacity. 94 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:18,320 Speaker 1: No one is allowed to sit in her place. Other 95 00:07:18,440 --> 00:07:29,840 Speaker 1: tales paint GLAMs in a less wholesome light. It was 96 00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:33,440 Speaker 1: late one Saturday night in the fifteenth century when a 97 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:37,119 Speaker 1: group of drunken noblemen were playing cards in the Old 98 00:07:37,200 --> 00:07:42,480 Speaker 1: Square Tower, the original core of Glam's Castle. As midnight 99 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:46,240 Speaker 1: drew near, the group began to slip away, feeling a 100 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:51,120 Speaker 1: little guilty, perhaps at gambling on the Sabbath. One man, however, 101 00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:55,440 Speaker 1: had no such reservations, declaring that he would happily play 102 00:07:55,480 --> 00:08:00,480 Speaker 1: on the Sabbath or until doomsday Hell. He insisted he 103 00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:04,200 Speaker 1: would play with the devil himself if needs be. In 104 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:08,120 Speaker 1: some versions of the legend, this man is Alexander Lindsey, 105 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:12,440 Speaker 1: the fourth Earl of Crawford. Other tellings have it that 106 00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:16,920 Speaker 1: it was the then Lord of Glance himself, Alexander Lyon. 107 00:08:17,720 --> 00:08:22,080 Speaker 1: Either way, the outcome is always the same. A heavy 108 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:25,160 Speaker 1: knock is heard at the door, and a black cloaked 109 00:08:25,200 --> 00:08:30,040 Speaker 1: figure passes into the room. Like the drunken Earl, the 110 00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:34,400 Speaker 1: stranger has no fear of the Sabbath and asks to 111 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:38,440 Speaker 1: be dealt in The two play into the early hours 112 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:42,000 Speaker 1: of the night, and after some time the Earl's luck 113 00:08:42,320 --> 00:08:47,600 Speaker 1: begins to falter. First he loses his money, then his land, 114 00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:52,440 Speaker 1: and then his title. At one point, it said, he 115 00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:55,920 Speaker 1: had cause to look beneath the table and saw that 116 00:08:56,040 --> 00:08:59,480 Speaker 1: a long leg which extended out of his opponent's cloak, 117 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:04,600 Speaker 1: ended in a cloven hoof. Realizing he was faced with 118 00:09:04,679 --> 00:09:08,599 Speaker 1: the devil himself, and with nothing left to up the ante, 119 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:13,880 Speaker 1: the earl gambled his soul and lost. Thus the devil 120 00:09:13,960 --> 00:09:17,319 Speaker 1: cursed him to continue his game, just as the earl 121 00:09:17,400 --> 00:09:22,720 Speaker 1: bragged he would all the way until doomsday. Some say 122 00:09:22,760 --> 00:09:26,280 Speaker 1: that the pair are playing still somewhere in the dark 123 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:32,320 Speaker 1: depths of GLAMs. The castle's most grotesque ghost is also 124 00:09:32,440 --> 00:09:36,520 Speaker 1: perhaps its most telling in several meanings of the word. 125 00:09:37,720 --> 00:09:42,240 Speaker 1: The so called tongueless woman has apparently been seen many times, 126 00:09:42,559 --> 00:09:46,720 Speaker 1: most often in the courtyard, with blood gushing from her mouth. 127 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:51,080 Speaker 1: Some claim to have seen her appear suddenly in one 128 00:09:51,080 --> 00:09:55,480 Speaker 1: of the castle's many barred windows, her face fixed in 129 00:09:55,559 --> 00:10:02,439 Speaker 1: a silent scream. There is an unverified, yet intriguing specificity 130 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:06,079 Speaker 1: to one sighting of the tongueless woman in the mid 131 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:10,320 Speaker 1: nineteenth century, An unnamed visitor to Glance was touring the 132 00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:13,240 Speaker 1: grounds one evening when he looked up to see a 133 00:10:13,280 --> 00:10:17,440 Speaker 1: woman at one of the castle's first four windows. As 134 00:10:17,480 --> 00:10:21,599 Speaker 1: he approached, the apparent apparition is said to have disappeared. 135 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:26,400 Speaker 1: Moments later, the visitor heard a shriek, followed by the 136 00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:30,560 Speaker 1: pounding of feet on stone, loud enough that a noticeable 137 00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:35,160 Speaker 1: limp could be discerned in the steps. Just then, a 138 00:10:35,160 --> 00:10:39,240 Speaker 1: wooden door onto the courtyard burst open, revealing the woman, 139 00:10:39,880 --> 00:10:43,800 Speaker 1: fresh blood caked around her mouth and a stuffed sack 140 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:47,320 Speaker 1: on her back. She is then said to have rapidly 141 00:10:47,360 --> 00:11:00,880 Speaker 1: fled the courtyard and disappeared out of sight. It was 142 00:11:00,920 --> 00:11:04,600 Speaker 1: some years later when the same visitor who'd apparently seen 143 00:11:04,679 --> 00:11:08,600 Speaker 1: the bloody woman flee the courtyard at Glance was abroad 144 00:11:08,679 --> 00:11:13,000 Speaker 1: in Italy. Some bad weather forced him to seek shelter 145 00:11:13,240 --> 00:11:17,240 Speaker 1: in a local monastery. In the throes of conversation with 146 00:11:17,360 --> 00:11:22,000 Speaker 1: the hospitable monks, the man mentioned his experience at GLAMs, 147 00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:26,800 Speaker 1: only for the monks to become suddenly excited. The monks 148 00:11:26,840 --> 00:11:30,160 Speaker 1: apparently told the man of an englishwoman living in the 149 00:11:30,200 --> 00:11:34,360 Speaker 1: local nunnery. She'd been a member of staff at Glam's castle, 150 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:40,040 Speaker 1: where she'd unintentionally stumbled across the details of some hideous secret. 151 00:11:40,679 --> 00:11:44,040 Speaker 1: When she relayed what she knew, the Lyon family had 152 00:11:44,080 --> 00:11:48,439 Speaker 1: her tongue removed, after which she fled the castle and 153 00:11:48,520 --> 00:11:52,240 Speaker 1: the country. When he was taken to meet the still 154 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:56,040 Speaker 1: living woman, the Englishman was horrified to find it was 155 00:11:56,120 --> 00:11:59,720 Speaker 1: the exact same woman he'd seen in the castle courtyard. 156 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:04,000 Speaker 1: The story doesn't clarify whether the man had seen the 157 00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:07,280 Speaker 1: tongueless woman in the flesh on the night of her escape, 158 00:12:07,840 --> 00:12:10,680 Speaker 1: or whether he was supposed have witness some kind of 159 00:12:10,760 --> 00:12:14,960 Speaker 1: crisis apparition, an apparent phenomena that is said to occur 160 00:12:15,160 --> 00:12:19,160 Speaker 1: during moments of intense stress, in which one person witnesses 161 00:12:19,200 --> 00:12:23,199 Speaker 1: an event like a holographic film being played out from 162 00:12:23,280 --> 00:12:28,280 Speaker 1: a distance. Certainly it's a good story, but like the 163 00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:31,640 Speaker 1: Wicked Earl's card game, it has the neat yet in 164 00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:37,000 Speaker 1: substantial logic of folklore, no dates or names to substantiate 165 00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:41,360 Speaker 1: what is a very tall tale. However, there is one 166 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:46,160 Speaker 1: element of the Tongueless Woman's story that bears scrutiny, the 167 00:12:46,280 --> 00:12:50,720 Speaker 1: hint of a terrible secret within Glans, because it has 168 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:54,640 Speaker 1: long been thought that the castle does indeed contain a secret, 169 00:12:55,200 --> 00:12:58,719 Speaker 1: one that has been glimpsed over the years, with names, 170 00:12:59,040 --> 00:13:04,840 Speaker 1: dates and facts attached. And though the violence apparently committed 171 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:08,880 Speaker 1: upon the tongueless woman may be a gross exaggeration, there 172 00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:12,160 Speaker 1: is some evidence that the Lyon family have gone to 173 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:23,440 Speaker 1: great lengths to hold their real secret close. If you 174 00:13:23,480 --> 00:13:26,520 Speaker 1: could even guess at the nature of this castle secret, 175 00:13:26,960 --> 00:13:29,920 Speaker 1: you would get down on your knees and thank God 176 00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:33,960 Speaker 1: it is not yours. Those are apparently the words of 177 00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:38,720 Speaker 1: Claude Bow's Lion, the thirteenth Earl of Strathmore and King Horn. 178 00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:42,240 Speaker 1: He took up the lordship of GLAMs on the death 179 00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:46,560 Speaker 1: of his brother in September eighteen sixty five, and held 180 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:50,440 Speaker 1: it until his own death in nineteen oh four. The 181 00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:54,319 Speaker 1: span of his and his brother's lordship roughly parallels a 182 00:13:54,400 --> 00:13:58,079 Speaker 1: period in which the so called mystery of Glance was 183 00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:01,840 Speaker 1: a common topic of conversation in the salons and dinner 184 00:14:01,880 --> 00:14:07,040 Speaker 1: parties of high society Europe. It centers on rumors of 185 00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:12,400 Speaker 1: a secret room hidden within Glams's thick walls. The room 186 00:14:12,880 --> 00:14:15,720 Speaker 1: was said to be both home and prison for a 187 00:14:15,800 --> 00:14:21,800 Speaker 1: supposedly monstrous occupant who'd spent his entire life within its confines. 188 00:14:22,920 --> 00:14:27,680 Speaker 1: One nineteenth century description of the so called monster referred 189 00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:31,840 Speaker 1: to a human toad. A fuller picture was given by 190 00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:35,400 Speaker 1: a twentieth century earl who talked about the legend of 191 00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:39,520 Speaker 1: a figure with an enormous barrel chest, as harry as 192 00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:43,680 Speaker 1: a doormat, and whose head ran straight into his shoulders, 193 00:14:44,120 --> 00:14:49,000 Speaker 1: with toy like arms and legs. Regardless of how unusual 194 00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:52,440 Speaker 1: its body may have been, the so called Monster of 195 00:14:52,520 --> 00:14:57,479 Speaker 1: GLAMs had to be cared for, kept safe, and even exercised. 196 00:14:58,120 --> 00:15:00,440 Speaker 1: That job, it said, was a war or did to 197 00:15:00,520 --> 00:15:05,080 Speaker 1: the Factor, the man responsible for the overarching administration of 198 00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:10,160 Speaker 1: the estate. What made this story more scandalous and appetizing 199 00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:14,640 Speaker 1: for high society gossip was the widely held belief that 200 00:15:14,720 --> 00:15:18,360 Speaker 1: the so called monster was actually a member of the 201 00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:22,000 Speaker 1: Bow's Lyon dynasty. He was thought to be a male 202 00:15:22,080 --> 00:15:26,480 Speaker 1: heir to the castle, the firstborn son of Thomas George 203 00:15:26,560 --> 00:15:30,920 Speaker 1: Bow's Lyon and his wife Charlotte. The two married in 204 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:35,400 Speaker 1: December of eighteen twenty, and the peerage records note that 205 00:15:35,480 --> 00:15:39,480 Speaker 1: on October twenty first of the following year, Charlotte gave 206 00:15:39,560 --> 00:15:43,520 Speaker 1: birth to a boy, Thomas Junior, who it was claimed 207 00:15:44,040 --> 00:15:48,840 Speaker 1: died that same day. Whispers immediately began to swirl in 208 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:52,560 Speaker 1: the local villages when the midwife spread word that the 209 00:15:52,680 --> 00:15:57,080 Speaker 1: child had in fact been born deformed as she described it, 210 00:15:57,600 --> 00:16:00,280 Speaker 1: but was in good health when she left him and 211 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:05,240 Speaker 1: his mother, And so when Thomas's death was announced two 212 00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:09,480 Speaker 1: days later, on the twenty third, it was met with suspicion. 213 00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:14,960 Speaker 1: Villagers were particularly perturbed by a lack of gravestone to 214 00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:19,000 Speaker 1: mark the boy's resting place. Word of the alleged cover 215 00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:22,760 Speaker 1: up spread rapidly, but only hints ever found their way 216 00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:27,280 Speaker 1: into print. During the nineteenth century, the author Walter Scott, 217 00:16:27,360 --> 00:16:30,800 Speaker 1: for one, had mentioned the legend of the secret chamber 218 00:16:31,280 --> 00:16:34,320 Speaker 1: in his report of his visit to GLAMs, but he 219 00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:39,200 Speaker 1: made no mention of any occupant. In nineteen o eight, 220 00:16:39,520 --> 00:16:43,200 Speaker 1: an article in the journal Notes and Queries relates the 221 00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:47,000 Speaker 1: mystery of GLAMs as if it was common knowledge. The 222 00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:51,440 Speaker 1: uncredited author begins by assuming that the reader is aware 223 00:16:51,480 --> 00:16:54,160 Speaker 1: of the story, which he says was told to him 224 00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:58,400 Speaker 1: sixty years earlier, when he was just a boy. And 225 00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:02,000 Speaker 1: though the article repeats the oft quoted theory that the 226 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:06,480 Speaker 1: secret is only ever revealed to three living people, the 227 00:17:06,600 --> 00:17:11,520 Speaker 1: current Earl, his heir and the factor. Word had clearly 228 00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:23,159 Speaker 1: gotten out some time ago. In eighteen sixty five, a 229 00:17:23,280 --> 00:17:26,879 Speaker 1: laborer employed by the twelfth Earl to make repairs to 230 00:17:26,920 --> 00:17:30,720 Speaker 1: the older parts of the tower struck a seemingly solid wall, 231 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:34,240 Speaker 1: only to see it crumble away to reveal a long 232 00:17:34,359 --> 00:17:39,480 Speaker 1: corridor beyond. The man ventured inside, but was soon stopped 233 00:17:39,720 --> 00:17:44,080 Speaker 1: by a heavy iron door. Other tellings of the story 234 00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:47,280 Speaker 1: say that he ran from the sight of a slumped, 235 00:17:47,560 --> 00:17:52,439 Speaker 1: distorted figure in the shadows. Either way, the man fled 236 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:56,399 Speaker 1: the passage and reported it to his foreman. When word 237 00:17:56,480 --> 00:18:00,320 Speaker 1: reached mister Ralston, the long serving and loyal factor of 238 00:18:00,359 --> 00:18:04,440 Speaker 1: the day, he quickly summoned the Earl back from London. 239 00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:10,240 Speaker 1: According to the conspiracy, Ralston and the Earl interrogated the laborer, 240 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:14,200 Speaker 1: then paid him off handsomely on the one condition did 241 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:17,159 Speaker 1: he and his family leave on a one way trip 242 00:18:17,280 --> 00:18:21,920 Speaker 1: to Australia. Other anecdotes suggest there is at least some 243 00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:29,119 Speaker 1: truth to Glams' supposedly anomalous architecture. Lord Ernest Hamilton spent 244 00:18:29,280 --> 00:18:33,080 Speaker 1: many summers of his boyhood at the castle, and returned 245 00:18:33,119 --> 00:18:37,119 Speaker 1: often as an adult. He wrote how once he was 246 00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:40,040 Speaker 1: playing in a dressing room known as the Blue Room 247 00:18:40,440 --> 00:18:43,040 Speaker 1: when he lifted a rug on the floor, only to 248 00:18:43,119 --> 00:18:47,360 Speaker 1: find a trapdoor underneath it. When he opened it up, 249 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:52,560 Speaker 1: he too found a hidden passage. A few years later, 250 00:18:52,960 --> 00:18:56,720 Speaker 1: a doctor paid a professional visit to GLAMs that required 251 00:18:56,800 --> 00:18:59,919 Speaker 1: him to stay for a couple of days. Speaking of 252 00:19:00,040 --> 00:19:02,840 Speaker 1: the trip later, he explained that when he retired to 253 00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:05,760 Speaker 1: his bedroom in the evening, he saw that a mark 254 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:09,359 Speaker 1: he'd previously noticed on the carpet was now at the 255 00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:13,280 Speaker 1: opposite end of the room. For some reason, the carpet 256 00:19:13,359 --> 00:19:17,760 Speaker 1: had been taken up and relaid. Curious to know why, 257 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:21,040 Speaker 1: the doctor quickly moved the furniture out of the way 258 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:25,359 Speaker 1: and lifted the carpet up, under which he also found 259 00:19:25,359 --> 00:19:31,879 Speaker 1: a trapdoor, and beyond that the hidden passage. Moments later, 260 00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:36,240 Speaker 1: the doctor found himself in a narrow stone walled corridor 261 00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:41,240 Speaker 1: that ended abruptly at a blank cement wall. When he 262 00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:44,680 Speaker 1: pressed his hand against it, he apparently found the cement 263 00:19:45,119 --> 00:19:49,720 Speaker 1: still soft enough to leave an impression. The doctor returned 264 00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:53,600 Speaker 1: to his room and resettled the carpet and told nobody 265 00:19:53,840 --> 00:19:59,000 Speaker 1: of his unnerving excursion. Nonetheless, he was met early the 266 00:19:59,040 --> 00:20:03,679 Speaker 1: following morning by mister Ralston, who, after presenting him with 267 00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:07,359 Speaker 1: the check, informed him that a carriage was waiting outside 268 00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:11,880 Speaker 1: to escort him immediately to the train station. Though all 269 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:15,800 Speaker 1: this may sound like a Gothic tinged gossip or an 270 00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:21,719 Speaker 1: early tabloid scandal, there is compelling testimony to support the rumors. 271 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:26,240 Speaker 1: Several prominent members of late Victorian society were willing to 272 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:31,520 Speaker 1: put their name to their experiences. One such individual was 273 00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:47,360 Speaker 1: Virginia Gabriel, the romantic singer and composer. Virginia Gabriel had 274 00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:50,640 Speaker 1: a lengthy stay at GLAMs in the winter of eighteen 275 00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:55,439 Speaker 1: sixty nine and eighteen seventy, after which she was inspired 276 00:20:55,480 --> 00:21:00,520 Speaker 1: to write the piano composition The GLAMs Castle Waltz. She 277 00:21:00,640 --> 00:21:04,439 Speaker 1: also returned from her trip convinced that the family and 278 00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:09,240 Speaker 1: their castle did indeed ours a horrible secret. Over the 279 00:21:09,280 --> 00:21:12,719 Speaker 1: course of that winter, Virginia was witnessed to a number 280 00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:16,879 Speaker 1: of strange incidents, which she relayed to former Chancellor of 281 00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:21,040 Speaker 1: the Exchequer and First Lord of the Admiralty, Sir Charles Wood, 282 00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:26,080 Speaker 1: an ardent collector of ghost stories. In November of eighteen 283 00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:29,879 Speaker 1: sixty nine, Virginia was at a dance to celebrate the 284 00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:33,800 Speaker 1: completion of a brand new dining room. The party went 285 00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:37,880 Speaker 1: on until the early hours, until everyone eventually made their 286 00:21:37,920 --> 00:21:42,640 Speaker 1: way to their rooms. One couple, a Missus and mister Monroe, 287 00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:46,080 Speaker 1: were staying in the red room while their young son 288 00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:51,520 Speaker 1: slept near by in an adjoining dressing room. The following morning, 289 00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:56,880 Speaker 1: over breakfast, Missus Munroe regaled Virginia and the other guests 290 00:21:57,160 --> 00:22:01,840 Speaker 1: with a tale. Deep in the night, Missus Munroe had 291 00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:05,080 Speaker 1: woken with the feeling that some one was looming over 292 00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:08,440 Speaker 1: her in the dark. She even felt what she took 293 00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:12,480 Speaker 1: to be strands of a beard tickling her face. She 294 00:22:12,560 --> 00:22:15,320 Speaker 1: called out for her husband to find a match to 295 00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:19,679 Speaker 1: light the lamp. Seconds later, she saw a shadowy figure 296 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:24,360 Speaker 1: moving towards the dressing room door. When she found matches 297 00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:27,760 Speaker 1: of her own, she lit one, only to be shocked 298 00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:31,360 Speaker 1: by the sleeping figure of her husband lying beside her 299 00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:35,040 Speaker 1: in the bed. It was then that she heard her 300 00:22:35,080 --> 00:22:40,040 Speaker 1: son screaming. When they rushed into his bedroom, the Munrose 301 00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:44,240 Speaker 1: found the boy in extreme distress, crying about a giant 302 00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:48,840 Speaker 1: that had come into his room. Shortly after, all three 303 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:52,120 Speaker 1: heard a loud crash come from elsewhere in the castle, 304 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:56,919 Speaker 1: as if a great door had just slammed. Another guest 305 00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:00,920 Speaker 1: at the breakfast table, Lady Trevannion, said that she had 306 00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:04,800 Speaker 1: been woken at four a m by the same crashing noise. 307 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:09,760 Speaker 1: Virginia Gabriel would also go on to give the fullest 308 00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:14,400 Speaker 1: impression of the castle factor, mister Ralston, a man who 309 00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:18,520 Speaker 1: seems to always haunt the background of the castle's most 310 00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:24,520 Speaker 1: intriguing stories. Virginia describes him as a shrewd, hard headed 311 00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:29,480 Speaker 1: Scotsman who never, under any circumstances, spent the night in 312 00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:33,840 Speaker 1: the castle. She mentions one night in early eighteen seventy 313 00:23:34,119 --> 00:23:38,840 Speaker 1: when a sudden snowstorm blanketed the area, rendering Rolston's route 314 00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:43,359 Speaker 1: home impassable, but rather than accept the invitation of a 315 00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:46,760 Speaker 1: bed for the night, the Factor ordered a whole team 316 00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:50,280 Speaker 1: of gardeners and stablemen to dig out a mile long 317 00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:55,520 Speaker 1: path through the snow to his home. Virginia also shared 318 00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:58,440 Speaker 1: a conversation she had with the lady of the manor, 319 00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:04,679 Speaker 1: Francis bow'slon or Lady Strathmore, in which Bow's Lion confessed 320 00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:07,800 Speaker 1: how she had once asked mister Ralston what all the 321 00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:13,080 Speaker 1: fuss was over the supposed mystery. The factor responded gravely, 322 00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:16,520 Speaker 1: that it is fortunate you do not know it and 323 00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:19,760 Speaker 1: can never know it, for if you did, you would 324 00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:24,399 Speaker 1: not be a happy woman. According to Virginia Gabriel, this 325 00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:36,240 Speaker 1: speech from such a man was certainly uncanny. It appears 326 00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:40,680 Speaker 1: that mister Rolston's warning did not defeat Lady Strathmore's interest 327 00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:44,720 Speaker 1: in the family secret. Her attempts to resolve the enigma 328 00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:47,280 Speaker 1: of the hidden room has become one of the most 329 00:24:47,359 --> 00:24:52,120 Speaker 1: often repeated stories about the castle. It was first mentioned 330 00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:57,040 Speaker 1: by Horace Rumboldt, Briton's then ambassador to Berlin. In his 331 00:24:57,160 --> 00:25:01,960 Speaker 1: memoir Recollections of a Diplomatist. Rumbold describes a visit to 332 00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:06,359 Speaker 1: Glance during the summer of eighteen seventy seven. The Earl 333 00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:10,239 Speaker 1: was away on business, leaving Lady Strathmore to host a 334 00:25:10,280 --> 00:25:15,639 Speaker 1: small gathering of family and friends. Conversation soon turned to 335 00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:20,000 Speaker 1: the mystery. In all of the stories, the secret chamber 336 00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:22,679 Speaker 1: was said to have a window, so someone in the 337 00:25:22,760 --> 00:25:27,159 Speaker 1: party suggested that cloth be hung from every available window. 338 00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:32,119 Speaker 1: Once this was complete, logic dictated that the secret room 339 00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:37,960 Speaker 1: would be literally uncovered. Sheets and towels, and even handkerchiefs 340 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:42,159 Speaker 1: were gathered, and visitors and staff joined forces in hanging 341 00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:46,200 Speaker 1: them from every window they could find. Once they were done, 342 00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:52,120 Speaker 1: the group gathered outside the castle. Some accounts claim that 343 00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:56,120 Speaker 1: one window remained clear, others that there were as many 344 00:25:56,240 --> 00:26:01,120 Speaker 1: as four. Rumboldt doesn't confirm the result, but he does 345 00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:06,760 Speaker 1: describe the Earl's unexpectedly early return and the painful scene 346 00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:10,800 Speaker 1: in which he bitterly remonstrated with his wife for treating 347 00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:14,880 Speaker 1: so lightly what she well knew was a solemn secret 348 00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:20,720 Speaker 1: deeply affecting the family fortunes. Considering that the twelfth and 349 00:26:20,920 --> 00:26:24,560 Speaker 1: thirteenth Earls would be younger brothers of the so called 350 00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:28,760 Speaker 1: Monster of Glance, its understandable that they felt a particular 351 00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:35,080 Speaker 1: discomfort with anyone prying into the mystery. Rumbold writes how Claude, 352 00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:38,840 Speaker 1: the thirteenth Earl, had seen both his father and brother 353 00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:42,920 Speaker 1: traumatized by the knowledge that was imparted to them, and 354 00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:46,120 Speaker 1: that he had asked if he could be spared the burden, 355 00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:50,960 Speaker 1: but he was not. On his death bed, Claude's brother, 356 00:26:51,359 --> 00:26:54,359 Speaker 1: the twelfth Earl, is said to have passed on the 357 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:58,040 Speaker 1: secret and implored Claude to do all that he could 358 00:26:58,359 --> 00:27:02,520 Speaker 1: to thwart the sinister in fluenceants that had supposedly been 359 00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:06,760 Speaker 1: such a burden to him. Claude's first act as Earl 360 00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:11,400 Speaker 1: was to refurbish the castle Chapel, where not hours after 361 00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:14,680 Speaker 1: its completion, he was said to have been found deep 362 00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:18,600 Speaker 1: in prayer, still wearing his clothes from the night before. 363 00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:22,960 Speaker 1: He was praying for salvation. It seemed that the first 364 00:27:23,080 --> 00:27:34,800 Speaker 1: chance he got Claude Bo's lion. The thirteenth Earl of Strathmore, 365 00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:38,960 Speaker 1: died in nineteen oh four. Most of the anecdotes and 366 00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:43,040 Speaker 1: rumors that constitute the mystery of Glance came to light 367 00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:46,840 Speaker 1: after his death, but they all relate to incidents that 368 00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:51,200 Speaker 1: took place during his life. Interestingly, there are no new 369 00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:56,080 Speaker 1: reports after the late eighteen hundreds. Later generations of the 370 00:27:56,119 --> 00:28:00,000 Speaker 1: beau's Lyon family were relatively happy to discuss the legend 371 00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:05,480 Speaker 1: and confident that it was just that a legend. In 372 00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:10,840 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty, the writer James Wentworth Day interviewed the sixteenth 373 00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:15,280 Speaker 1: Earl for a biography of the Queen Mother. The new 374 00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:18,800 Speaker 1: Earl mentioned that he'd heard the legend, and it is 375 00:28:18,840 --> 00:28:21,760 Speaker 1: he who gave the description of a monster with a 376 00:28:21,760 --> 00:28:26,320 Speaker 1: hairy barrel chest However, he claimed to have never been 377 00:28:26,359 --> 00:28:30,760 Speaker 1: told of the reality and responsibility of the secret, as 378 00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:34,600 Speaker 1: his forebears were said to have been. The Earl reasoned 379 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:38,240 Speaker 1: that the story may have died with his father or 380 00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:41,680 Speaker 1: with his brother, who was killed in the First World War. 381 00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:45,720 Speaker 1: But there are some who think it isn't word of 382 00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:50,520 Speaker 1: the secret that died, but the secret himself. If the 383 00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:54,720 Speaker 1: so called Monster of GLAMs really was a disabled heir 384 00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:59,080 Speaker 1: born in eighteen twenty one and sequestered away in the 385 00:28:59,120 --> 00:29:03,920 Speaker 1: castle's recess, then that man would have been approaching eighty 386 00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:07,880 Speaker 1: at the turn of the century. It's likely that he 387 00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:12,000 Speaker 1: would not have long outlived his brother Claude, the thirteenth Earl, 388 00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:15,040 Speaker 1: and there would not have been any cause for the 389 00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:24,080 Speaker 1: fourteenth Eirl to pass the story down any longer. Today, 390 00:29:24,440 --> 00:29:28,360 Speaker 1: the legacy of the story lives on in the architecture 391 00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:32,400 Speaker 1: of Glam's Castle. There is a section of parapet that 392 00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:36,600 Speaker 1: runs along the roofline, and it's there that the newest 393 00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:41,080 Speaker 1: addition to Glance its roster of apparent ghosts is said 394 00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:45,640 Speaker 1: to have been seen. Reports describe it as a strange 395 00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:50,640 Speaker 1: shuffling shadow walking to and fro, as if taking the 396 00:29:50,680 --> 00:29:56,560 Speaker 1: opportunity to stretch. Rarely used legs. That section of parapet 397 00:29:56,800 --> 00:30:00,400 Speaker 1: as a name to the precise origins of w which 398 00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:05,719 Speaker 1: can't be pinned down in history, it's known as the 399 00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:17,240 Speaker 1: mad Earl's Walk. This episode was written by Neil McRobert 400 00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:22,400 Speaker 1: and produced by me Richard McLain Smith. Neil is the 401 00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:26,840 Speaker 1: creator and host of his own brilliant podcast called Talking Scared, 402 00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:30,600 Speaker 1: in which he discusses the craft of horror, writing with 403 00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:34,680 Speaker 1: everyone from Ta Nanerieve Do to the God of Horror himself, 404 00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:40,120 Speaker 1: Stephen King. I can't recommend it highly enough. Unexplained as 405 00:30:40,120 --> 00:30:44,480 Speaker 1: an Avy Club Productions podcast created by Richard McLain Smith. 406 00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:48,440 Speaker 1: All other elements of the podcast, including the music, are 407 00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:53,120 Speaker 1: also produced by me Richard McLain Smith. Unexplained. The book 408 00:30:53,160 --> 00:30:57,120 Speaker 1: and audiobook is now available to buy worldwide. You can 409 00:30:57,160 --> 00:31:01,680 Speaker 1: purchase from Amazon, Barnes and Noble Stones and other bookstores. 410 00:31:02,440 --> 00:31:05,480 Speaker 1: Please subscribe to and rate the show wherever you get 411 00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:08,280 Speaker 1: your podcasts, and feel free to get in touch with 412 00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:11,720 Speaker 1: any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've heard on 413 00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:14,480 Speaker 1: the show. Perhaps you have an explanation of your own 414 00:31:14,560 --> 00:31:17,239 Speaker 1: you'd like to share. You can find out more at 415 00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:21,400 Speaker 1: Unexplained podcast dot com, and reach us online through Twitter 416 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:26,160 Speaker 1: at Unexplained Pod and Facebook at Facebook dot com, Forward 417 00:31:26,200 --> 00:32:03,680 Speaker 1: Slash Unexplained Podcasts