The MacDougall children loved stories of knights and castles, so their father began illustrating stories of the aristocrat cousins of the country bumpkin ghosts of earlier stories. In the stories, the castle ghosts had trouble keeping things tidy - much like the MacDougall children themselves - so as a result the armor was generally scattered all over the castle. "With a gauntlet here and a helmet there, it looked exactly like our house," said Meg MacDougall. "It's a miracle that we didn't go out dressed like the ghosts, too!"