Video: Five interesting Scottish castle ruins you should visit

Even in their decaying state, Scotland's castle ruins have more than a few stories hidden away behind their crumbling walls.

On the Totternish coast of Skye, Duntulm Castle is home to not one but two ghosts, or so they say.

The coastal fortress with sheer cliffs on three sides down into the icy ocean was the seat of Clan MacDonald in the 17th Century before they took up residence in the nearby Monkstadt House.

There are suggestions their peninsula home lost its appeal when a nursemaid accidentally dropped the Clan Chief’s infant son from a first floor window to the unforgiving sea below. Punished by death, the nursemaid’s ghost is said to wander the ruins joined by the tortured soul of the traitorous Hugh MacDonald who failed in plotting against a 1600s Chief.

Dunnottars dramatic setting helped it to be voted one of the nation's most romantic castles

If the paranormal isn’t a draw the defensive position that protected Dontulm Castle is worth visiting on its own. Excavation suggests fortification of the peninsula dates back to the Iron age, with improvements added by the Norse and the MacLeods of Skye.

Dunnottars dramatic setting helped it to be voted one of the nation's most romantic castles

Over on mainland Scotland, fewer castles have experienced an endlessly violent history as those protected by the walls of Urquart Castle overlooking Loch Ness. The last government garrison to leave after the Jacobite rebellions obliterated the castle, but just enough remains to be in awe of its wartorn history and idyllic surroundings.

Each castle in the video above has it’s own interesting features, like Castle Edzell which only fell into ruin because the Lindsay family fell into debt. The last Lindsay downgraded lifestyle to work in the stables at a local inn but throughout his family’s tenure at Edzell Castle, they were spared from skirmishes.