James Stuart was granted the title ‘Earl of Moray’ by his half-sister Mary Queen of Scots, and in 1561 started to build Castle Stuart. After he was brutally murdered, and the 2nd Earl of Moray also suffered a savage death, the Castle stood unfinished until 1625. It was then that James Stuart, the 3rd Earl of Moray, completed it. James married Anne Gordon, whose father, the Earl of Huntly, had stabbed James’ father, the 2nd Earl of Moray. It is said he built the castle for protection from his father-in-law. The Stuart and the Clan McIntosh were involved in an ongoing feud and shortly after James had finished the Castle it was attacked by the clan. Deciding it would be safer to flee, the Stuarts left the castle never to return. Twenty years later the Stuart king, Charles I, was beheaded at his London Palace of Whitehall. Castle Stuart suffered, fell into decline and gradually became a derelict ruin for almost 300 years until in 1977 Stuart descendents bought and restored the castle. The Battle of Culloden was fought nearby in 1745, and the ground is said to be haunted by the spirits of those who died there. Tales are also told of a sealed room which houses a foreboding presence, once uncovered by Canadian John Cameron in the 1930’s. His story told of a strangled wail, a fetid smell and a strange force with icy fingers that tried to grab him and pull him into the castle. The three turret room in the top of the East Tower is also reputedly haunted by gigantic blood splattered Highlander and a Devil with a skull face.