Neidpath is reputedly haunted by the ghost of a young lass, the ‘Maid of Neidpath’, who was written about by Sir Walter Scott. The ghost is believed to be that of Jean Douglas, the youngest of the three daughters of Sir William Douglas, Earl of March. She was born in 1705, and fell in love with the son of the laird of Tushielaw, which was owned by the Scott family. Her father did not think her lover, although a man of property, was of high enough birth for an Earl’s daughter and forbad them to marry. The lad was sent away from the area, and the Earl hoped that Jean would forget him. Jean was devastated and her health deteriorated. Her lover eventually returned, but by then she had become so ill that he no longer recognised her. Wounded to the core by this final hurt, she died of a broken heart. Her ghost then began to haunt Neidpath, waiting for her lover to return for her in death as he had not in life. Sightings of Jean’s ghost report that she is clad in a full-length brown frock with a large white collar.