Mary, queen of Scots. Scotland's most "ubiquitous" ghost

Although the two never met, Queen Elizabeth I of England (and Wales) felt so threatened by the potential power of her Catholic cousin that ultimately she felt she had no choice but to have her put to death. But while every schoolgirl is reminded of this as she skips in the playground "Mary, Queen of Scots got her head chopped off", this categorically terminal punishment might have done for the Queen of Scots corporeal self, but it heralded the start of her spiritual life.

Mary, Queen of Scots, has become not only Scotland's most famous queen, but also its most ubiquitous ghost. There are stories of more than twenty sites being “visited” by Mary's spirit, from the place of her birth and the castles she visited as Queen of Scots, to the prisons in England where she was held captive, and the stairs she descended on the day of her execution.