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Fancy living next to a haunted stately home in Aberdeenshire?

A disused watermill located next to Leith Hall - rumoured to be haunted by the ghost of John Leith - is up for sale.

By Bailey Moreton

October 31 2023, 6:22 pm

A "haunted" Insch mill is up for sale. Image: Purple Bricks.

This disused watermill in Insch may need some DIY – and a brave soul – for anyone looking to make it home.

The C-listed building is currently on the market and comes with full planning permission to build a 4 or 5-bedroom home.

The rural Aberdeenshire plot is next to Leith Hall, a historic mansion which is rumoured to be haunted by the ghost of John Leith.

Another view of the Aberdeenshire mill. — The Aberdeenshire watermill is up for sale for offers over £140,000. Image: Purple Bricks.

Leith Hall was home of the Leith-Hay family for nearly 400 years.

The family patriarch was shot in the head in a drunken brawl in Aberdeen and taken to his stately home, where he died three days later on Christmas Day in 1763.

View of the Aberdeenshire watermill that is now up for sale. — The Mill of Boddam comes with full planning permission to build a 4 or 5-bedroom home. Image: Purple Bricks.

Leith’s ghost has apparently been seen wearing dark green trousers and a shirt, with a bandage round his head, appearing to be in great pain and moaning about his grizzly injuries.

Haunting apparitions of a family dog and children playing have also been spotted.

The original equipment inside the Mill of Boddam, the Insch watermill that is up for sale. — The old property still houses much of the original mill’s equipment. Image: Purple Bricks.

Legend has it that John Leith is not the only ghost on the property.

The house is also said to be haunted by his ancestor Charles Arthur O’Neill Leith-Hay, who died in a motor accident in 1939 when he was just 21 years old.