Ghostly hands in a distilleryGhostly hands in a distillery

Top 5 Haunted Whisky Distilleries

October 30, 2024
 / 3

Heard the one about the disappearing wallpaper or the haunted loch? Some of the world's best distilleries are home to all kinds of spirits… Join us on a distillery tour into the creepy and downright spooky as we look at the top five haunted whisky distilleries. 

1. Glen Scotia
At one point, Campbeltown was a bustling town with 28 distilleries. Come 1920, and financial hardship hit the town hard. Really hard. A mere three distilleries survived and Campbeltown became a ghost town. And Glen Scotia distillery became haunted…

In 1928, Duncan McCallum, then the owner of Glen Scotia distillery, went bankrupt, forcing the distillery to close its doors (the distillery reopened in 1933). In 1930, on the night before Christmas Eve, McCallum drowned in the Campbeltown Loch. Some say it was suicide. Current distillery manager Iain McAlister describes McCallum’s passing under “mysterious circumstances”. His spirit is said to haunt the distillery to this day. 

2. Bushmills
The world’s oldest licensed distillery is said to be haunted by a spirit called “The Grey Lady,” the ghost of a woman searching for her lost husband. As the story goes, an older married couple named George and Margaret lived across from the distillery in Northern Ireland.

One evening, George took their dog for a walk — something he’d do often. But on this fateful walk, he never returned home. Margaret searched for him near the distillery up until her death. Both visitors and staff have reported chills, cold spots and locked doors mysteriously opening at the 400-year-old distillery.

3. Glendronach
Speyside’s Glendronach imported a lot of Spanish Oloroso Sherry casks back in the 1970s. While unloading some of these barrels from a cask shipment, a distillery worker reported seeing a woman dressed in black and scarlet and wearing a full mantilla ( a traditional sill veil) escaping from a barrel. Since then, she’s been spotted around the distillery — particularly around Glen House. They say you know she’s around when you can hear her skirts rustling. Apparently, she appears easier to those who’ve had a few drams — especially single males…

4. Glenmorangie
If you’re ever touring the Glenmorangie grounds, look out for ‘the White Lady’ who frequents the distillery’s now decommissioned floor maltings. The White Lady has also been responsible for wallpaper peeling and broken windows without any explanation. Distillery workers have reported sudden drops in temperature and an eery feeling. Plot twist!

Some say the tale of the White Lady was a fabrication — a tale made up by distillery managers used to scare shift workers from dozing off during night shift.

5. Balvenie
The Balvenie is one of few distilleries in Scotland that have an active malting floor in Scotland. Part of the distillery’s warehouse was made from bricks of the long-ruined Balvenie Castle. The castle is said to be haunted by the ghost of the “Green Lady,” who followed the bricks to the distillery. Distillery workers have reported hearing the Green Lady’s footsteps as they work.


So keep an eye out for ghostly green, white, grey and Spanish ladies and the spectre of Glen Scotia’s Duncan McCallum when you next travel abroad.

If you want to get your hands on a bottle of the hauntingly good Glen Scotia 2013 Bordeaux Single Cask, then join Australia’s biggest whisky community free now

A bottle of Glen Scotia 2013 Bordeaux Single Cask on red velvetA bottle of Glen Scotia 2013 Bordeaux Single Cask on red velvet

Ready to receive world exclusive whisky?