If you love to be spooked on Halloween, look no farther than Glamis Castle, said to be Scotland's most haunted residence. This massive red sandstone fairytale castle lies at the end of a mile-long tree-lined avenue, its many spires, towers and turrets reaching toward the sky.

Pronounced "Glams," this is the childhood ancestral home of Britain's beloved Queen Mum (Elizabeth, the Queen Mother), who died at 101 in 2002. The late Princess Margaret (Queen Elizabeth II's younger sister) was born at the castle in 1930, the first royal baby born in Scotland in more than 300 years.

Dating from the late 14th century, the castle has been added to and changed throughout the centuries and has an amazing history. Originally it was a hunting lodge used by the kings of Scotland. Mary, Queen of Scots stayed here, and so did Scottish novelist and poet Sir Walter Scott. It was immortalized in William Shakespeare's "Macbeth." During World War I it was used as a hospital for wounded soldiers. For more than 600 years and 23 generations, since Sir John Lyon was given Glamis by the king, it has been the family home of the Earls of Strathmore and Kinghorne.

"My family have lived at Glamis Castle since 1372," writes Michael Bowes-Lyon, the 18th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, in the guidebook. He and his second wife, a psychologist, and youngest son, age 5, currently reside here. Visitors enter the back door for guided tours through 10 principal rooms. Some 120,000 tour it annually.

The castle didn't have electricity until 1929, and one can imagine how eerie it must have been in the darkened passageways, holding a flickering candle or lantern to climb the 143 stone steps on the spiral staircase that winds to the top of its 17th century tower.

We first entered the dramatic, high-ceilinged dining room in a wing of the castle demolished in 1775 and rebuilt 1798-1801. Its table, circa 1850s and laden with valuable antique silver, china, cutlery and glass, can seat 36. The room's main feature is a massive oak fireplace; large family portraits hang on the walls.

Moving on, we entered a 10-foot hidden door and found ourselves in the castle's crypt, complete with suits of armor. Formerly the lower hall of the 15th century tower house, it's where the servants once slept and ate. From here they would nervously peer through a small hole in the wall to the dining room to see when to serve the next course.

And this is where the spooky stories start. Supposedly during the mid 15th century, the Lord of Glamis and Earl of Crawford were in a small room off the side of the crypt playing cards late on a stormy Saturday night. When the card-playing continued into the wee hours of Sunday, a servant chastised them for gambling on the Sabbath. The Lord of Glamis replied that they would play cards until the devil himself joined them.

Some folks think that's just what occurred, since after that the servants heard eerie noises coming from the room as the card game supposedly continued. One peered through the keyhole and was zapped by flames. Finally, 300 years later, those residing in the castle could take the disturbing sounds no longer, and the room was filled in and permanently sealed off. But that didn't seem to stop the ruckus. People say they can still hear them just before midnight on Saturdays.

The billiard room, formerly the library, was built between 1773 and 1776. Much like a typical mansion's family room, it has a huge fireplace, pool table, and a chess set and jigsaw puzzle on one table. Numerous books, tapestries and family portraits line the walls. Atop the piano, purchased in 1866, are family photos, including one of the young Queen Mum, then Lady Bowes-Lyon, playing this same piano in 1923, shortly before her marriage.

Also on the tour is the 60-foot-long 17th-century drawing room, with its curved ceiling and large family portraits. One wall has a painting of the Queen Mum as a girl in 1909 at age 9. More family photos are displayed atop the 1923 Steinway grand piano, including one showing Laura Bush posed with the Strathmore family when she visited the castle during the G8 Gleneagles Summit in 2005.

We also toured a three-room suite in the royal apartment — the sitting room and king and queen's bedrooms. This is one of the oldest parts of the castle, dating from the 15th century, and these private rooms were used by the Queen Mum after her 1923 marriage; she and King George VI spent part of their honeymoon here.

"She didn't like to have anything changed, and it's pretty much the same as it was since her wedding 87 years ago," noted our guide.

Until their deaths, she and Princess Margaret visited the castle a few times each year. The sitting room is warmly furnished with comfortable armchairs and a sofa, Chippendale chairs, family photos (including charming black-and-white ones of Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret as children), 18th-century tapestries, and a carved oak chimneypiece displaying Dutch and Chinese porcelain.

This is the room where the ghost of a mischievous pageboy has been noticed sitting atop a small stone seat just inside the door.

The Queen Mother's bedroom has a four-poster bed with a quilt made by her mother, Countess Strathmore, who also embroidered the padded canopy with the names of her 10 children and their birth dates, including the Queen Mum's.

In Duncan's Hall, one of the oldest and eeriest areas of the castle, the slaying of King Duncan by Macbeth is commemorated, although the actual killing took place near Elgin. "Macbeth" was written for King James VI by Shakespeare, who may have heard stories about Glamis Castle and used it as a setting in the play.

"There's no historic link between Glamis and Macbeth," said our guide. "Shakespeare gave them great publicity."

Then there's the legend of the "Monster of Glamis," which began when Lord and Lady Glamis, the Queen Mum's great-great-grandparents, had a baby, Thomas Bowes-Lyon, who died on the day he was born in October 1821. For years there was speculation that he was really horribly deformed and was kept hidden in a small room off the castle's chapel and fed through a grilled gate by a servant.

Perhaps the most chilling tale is that of Lady Janet Douglas, wife of the sixth Lord Glamis, who was falsely accused of being a witch and burned to death in 1537. Since then people believe that it's her ghost occasionally seen praying here. Because she is dressed in gray, they have dubbed her the Gray Lady. Completed and consecrated in 1688 with richly colored religious panels on the ceiling and paintings on the walls, the chapel is still used by the Strathmore family. Visitors are told to knock three times before entering so they don't frighten the Gray Lady — or get frightened themselves.

IF YOU GO

For information about tours, Halloween at Glamis Castle (Oct. 30 and 31) and activities throughout the year: www.glamis-castle.co.uk.

For general information about traveling in Scotland: www.visitscotland.com, www.visitbritrain.com, www.britrail.com

Sharon Whitley Larsen is a freelance travel writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.