Investigation Summary
A Scottish baronial-style fortified house built in 1625 by James Shaw in Ballygally, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, during the Plantation of Ulster. A Scheduled Historic Monument; the original Middle Scots inscription survives. The castle has operated as a hotel since the early 1950s and is marketed commercially around a 'Ghost Room' associated with a legend about Lady Isabella Shaw (or Isabella Brisbane Shaw), allegedly imprisoned and killed by her husband.
Historical analysis finds no primary documentary evidence supporting a violent death at the castle; available records suggest Isabella died c. 1668 (after James Shaw's death), and the multiple contradictory versions of the ghost story lack any primary corroboration. All paranormal claims derive from the hotel's tourism marketing and anonymous visitor accounts.