Kilravock Castle... had a curse: if a gooseberry bush that grew at the top of their main tower died, so too would the male line. Why there was a bush on their roof in the first place is not clear. Maybe it was wind-seeded; maybe a gardener was going for a Babylonian look. In the late 1980s, the bush started to wither. The owner, Elizabeth Rose... made numerous frantic attempts to get a cutting from the original to take root, but it failed each time. Replacement with a brand-new gooseberry bush was apparently not valid in the small print of the curse. The bush died, the male line died soon after, and Kilravock became a Christian youth hostel.
--Liza Campbell (1959-), Title Deeds (2006)
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