A TRUE STORY

He Is Coming For You

There is grisley appeal about this stark 13th century fortress standing forlornly in the midst of desolate moorland. It is located in the disputed border area between lowland Scotland and Northumbria on thewestern coast of Dnalgne, Scotland.
It was the chief strength of 'Liddesdale'.The most sinister looking castle ever built. It stood actually in a smaller valley off themain dale, and even without it's roofand it's interior in ruins, it retained a most grim and depressing atmosphere.
Many cruel episodes litter it's past.You get the sense, looking at thecastle, that it is waiting for something.Something Evil to come back!

One of the most impressive and oppressive of Scottish fortresses, Hermitage Castle consisted of a 13th century courtyard and large 14th-century keep of four stories, around which had been constructed a massive castle. At thevery top of the castle was a series ofdoors that led to a wooden fighting gallerythat projected from the castle. In the15th century a new rectangular wing was extended from the main keep.

The property was in a strategic position onthe borders and passed from Scottish to English hands on many occasions.Guarded by the Hermitage Water and bymarshy moor approaches, it was a very strongplace indeed -- it needed to be, for it wassupposed to dominate the most turbulent valley in the borderland.
One of its earliest and most unjust owners, the wicked Baron de Soulis, was a man ofill repute. He was said to havedabbled in witchcraft and was a magicianwho had sold his soul to the Devil. He once drowned a fellow knightby holding him under the watersof the Hermitage River that flowed southof the castle.
Many local children were apparentlyseized by Soulis and never seen again.The local people, according to one story, eventually rebelled and Soulis wastaken to an ancient stone circle called,Nine Stan Rig, about 2 miles northeast of thecastle. There he was wrapped in lead andboiled to death in a vast cauldron.

The castle passed to the Grahams, thenby marriage to the Douglas family. William Douglas, 'The Knight of Liddlesdale',was prominent in resisting Edward Balliol in 1338. He seized Sir Alexander Ramsey of Dalhousie, while at his devotions,imprisoned him in a dungeon atthe castle, and starved him to death.

Ramsay survived for 17 days by eatinggrain that trickled into his pit(which can still be seen) from the granary above.The Ghost of Alexander Ramsayreputedly haunts the Castle and was seen by numerous people over the years.
Cries, screams and anguished moans havebeen heard in the vacinity, which is hardly surprising when youconsider Alexander Ramsay's fate.

In 1353 Douglas was murdered by his godson, another William Douglas, after he had triedto block his claim to the lordship of Douglas. It is said at one time a neighboringchief sent a group of goodwill ambass-adors to Hermitage to propose cessation oftheir long feud. The lord promptly put the meninto a small room without food or water. All the men died and their ghostsstill stalk the ruins.

It is said that Mary, Queen of Scots almost died there in the 1566 of afever after riding over the moorland fromJedburgh and back, some forty miles, all inone day to see her future lover, the Earl of Bothwell. It is said that a regal figure believed to be Mary has been seen walking in the ruins of Hermitage.

Hermitage Castle is considered by manyas 'The Dungeon of the Supernatural',unhabited since the 15th century. Inside theeeriy and foreboding walls of HermitageCastle are the remains of the tortured victimsstill buried in the Pit of the Dungeon.The lower chamber next to the PITarea, was where 'something' was said to be buried,that no one will talk about.
Strange things happen there to this day. Strange sounds, flashes of lightsand camera malfunctions are causedby sudden and extreme heat radiatingfrom the walls of the castle.
It has the presence of latent Evil,an EVIL linked by a threadwaiting to be AWAKENED."

Song--Pure Dark




Actual Photo of Hermitage Castle