DNA spotlight
Baldoon Castle
The Dunbar Clan (with the same haplogroup as these samples!) had played a prominent role in Scottish history and had its ancestral seat in Dunbar Castle, one of the strongest fortresses in Scotland overlooking the harbor town of Dunbar in East Lothian. This all ended when James I of Scotland wanted the Dunbar estates for himself and imprisoned the last Earl of Dunbar in the process. James was struggling for power and attempted to launch pre-emptive attacks on his own nobles in 1425 - this ended badly with his own assasination. Baldoon Castle was a later gift from King James V to Archibald Dunbar amnd located about 1.5 miles southwest of Wigtown, Dumfries and Galloway. The castle became the property of the Dunbars of Westfield for nearly 3 centuries between 1530 and 1800. Little remains of the castle today - part of the south wall stands with three walls on its north face, as well as the remains of an entrance gateway about 50 meters to the north. The gateway dates to the 1600s and is of Renaissance style.
On 24 August 1669, Janet Dalrymple was to marry David Dunbar, the heir of Baldoon Castle. The ceremony were to take place in a church next to her home Carscreugh Castle (shown here). They had an arranged marriage and Janet was in fact in love with Archibald, the third Lord Rutherford, and told her brothers she did not want to be with David. Her brothers escorted her to the church and noted her hands were icy cold despite it being a hot summer day. On their wedding night screams and shrieks were heard from the bridal chamber. The door was locked and had to be broken down by force. The groom was badly wounded lying across the threshold whilst Janet was cowering in the chimney corner of the room covered in blood. She was grinning and muttering strange words. Janet never recovered her senses and died insane a few weeks later on 12. September 1669.
Her husband Dabid never talked about what happened. Some think Janet attacked her husband and he defended himself while others think she defended herself from him with a knife. Another local legend is the Devil visited the couple in their bridal chamber. Regardless David Dunbar went on to marry the daughter of the 7th Earl of Eglinton but died after falling from his horse in 1682. Archibald meanwhile remained heartbroken and died alone in 1685. Visitors to Baldoon Castle at late hours of the night have noted seeing a woman in a white nightgown drenched in blood as she wanders like a lost soul through the grounds. Wailing at her loss, she seems a woman trapped between realms unable to shake the horrifying and tragic end that met her in the final days. The only life that remains in the castle after hours is the ivy climbing the stony remains of walls and the ghost of Janet Dalrymple whose memory can still be heard shrieking in the dead of night ever since the tragic night in 1669.
Sample: Viking Ship Burial Balladoole Isle of Man
- Sample ID: VK170
- Year: 900 AD
- Sex: Male
- Location: 54.08,-4.68
Sample: Viking Age Orkney Newark for Brothwell
- Sample ID: VK204
- Year: 950 AD
- Sex: Male
- Location: 58.93,-2.75
Sample: Viking Gaelic Boat Burial Iceland
- Sample ID: VDP-A7
- Year: 925 AD
- Sex: Male
- Location: 65.5735,-24.0431
Sample: Viking Invader Ridgeway Hill England
- Sample ID: VK259
- Year: 998 AD
- Sex: Male
- Location: 50.67,-2.47
Sample: Viking Invader Ridgeway Hill England
- Sample ID: VK449
- Year: 998 AD
- Sex: Male
- Location: 50.67,-2.47
Sample: Iron Age Warrior Steigen Norway
- Sample ID: VK418
- Year: 350 AD
- Sex: Male
- Location: 67.94,14.98
Sample: Viking Age Skara Varnhem Sweden
- Sample ID: VK308
- Year: 1050 AD
- Sex: Male
- Location: 58.38,13.65
Sample: Nordic Lombard
- Sample ID: SZ4
- Year: 590 AD
- Sex: Male
- Location: 46.7940,17.8388