White Lady of Castle Levan
Castle Levan is reputed to have a ghost - not that we've ever seen her!
A former keeper of Castle Levan, Lady Marion Montgomery was convicted and sentenced to death by Mary of Guise (mother of Mary Queen of Scots) for torturing and murdering her tenants. This sentence was later commuted to house arrest (I don't suppose her tenants appreciated this leniency). However, on his return from military service, Marion's husband was so appalled to hear of his wife's behaviour that he imprisoned Marion and starved her to death.
In the 17th Century, Castle Levan was taken over by the Semple-Stewarts of the neighbouring Ardgowan estate who installed their son into Levan. It is during this era that a 'White Lady', assumed to Marion Montgomery, was reputed to haunt the castle.
Some have suggested, however, that the story of the White Lady was concocted by the young Semple-Stewart (weary of the idea of living in a stuffy old fashioned castle) as a means for persuading his father to stump-up the cash needed to build him a fashionable new house.
The castle at this point was left to fall into ruin as a kind of folly in the new manor house's gardens. Ironic, I suppose, but the Georgian-style manor house also fell into ruin during the late 20th Century while the old Castle was being restored. Happily, in this last year, Castle Levan Manor has been restored also, albeit as executive flats.
