The castle withstood assaults by Coll McDonnell (Coll Ciotach) or of his son, Sir Alexander. McDonnell sent forward his piper in disguise to gain admission to the castle and report how best it might be attacked. The piper's disguise was penetrated and he was shut up in an upper room, but not untill he had had time to observe that the gateway was so constructed as to render attack disastrous without the aid of artillery. The next morning he saw from the window McDonell's army advancing to the assault. With a view to warning his master, the piper played the air then known as " Dunniveg's Warning" (now called "The March of Duntroon Castle"). McDonnell understood the signal and sheared off, leaving the piper to his fate. A hundred years ago it was commonly believed in the adjoining hamlet that the place was haunted by the ghost of a fingerless piper. This would seem to give a clue to the unfortunate man's fate. It is generally assumed that his captors heard him playing and ran up, slicing off his fingers with a blow of the sword as the quickest method of stopping the tune. Wild pipe music can still be heard in the castle.