Argyll and Bute Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana
Former Owner
Location: Campbeltown - Glen Scotia Scotch Whisky Distillery
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This distillery is reputed to be haunted by a former owner who drowned himself in the nearby loch after being cheated out of a large amount of money.
Shorted Armed Mermaid
Location: Campbeltown - Kintyre Peninsula
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 18 October 1811
Further Comments: Watched by a farmer for two hours, this mermaid had a pale upper body and a red/grey tail covered in hair. Its face was human, with deep-set eyes and short neck. The creature combed the hair on its head with what looked like short, stubby arms before diving into the water and washing its torso.
Piping
Location: Campbeltown - Piper's Cave
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Something strange lured a piper into this cave from which he never returned. Hundreds of years later, the piper could still be heard playing his instrument deep below the earth.
Long Necked Creature
Location: Campbeltown Loch - Kilkerran Bay
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1934
Further Comments: Two local men reported this creature after watching it splashing around in the waters. They described it as having the head and neck of a giraffe, and although the body remained submerged, a dorsal fin could be seen.
Coat Tearer
Location: Caolas, Tiree - Loch an Air
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: One man had a lucky escape from a water horse that emerged from the loch. As the man fled, the creature paused to rip apart a coat that had been left behind, which gave the potential victim enough time to reach his home where his barking dogs drove the water horse away.
Milk Snatcher
Location: Cara Island - Old MacDonald house
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Pre twentieth century
Further Comments: The brownie that took up residence in the MacDonald's home would steal their milk and occasionally create loud noises. The entity had a reputation for hating any Campbells and would also spend time at Largie Castle in Tayinloan.
Dark Brown Cat
Location: Colonsay - Close to a stone dyke
Type: ABC
Date / Time: Cat in 1999, fox in January 2012
Further Comments: In 1999, a couple visiting the island observed a dark brown large cat, much bigger than a wild cat, roughly the size of a collie. Thirteen years later, the body of a fox was discovered on the island, worrying the locals as no foxes have ever been found here.
Macphie's Captor
Location: Colonsay - Unknown cave along the coast
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A mermaid kidnapped a man by the name of Macphie and held him in a cave along the island's shore. Macphie was given any item he wished for but remained unhappy until he managed to escape. The mermaid gave chase, but Macphie tossed his dog into the sea. Dog and mermaid fought until they both died from their injuries.
Weeping and Crying
Location: Cornaig, Tiree - Area near the mill dam
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Late nineteenth century
Further Comments: A man travelling to find a midwife for his brother's wife heard crying and weeping as he passed through this area. The same sounds were heard again during his return journey. The man's sister-in-law died in childbirth, and her two sisters would soon meet by the dam and mourn their loss.
Dog Attack
Location: Cornaigbeg (aka Cornaig Beag), Tiree - Land around Cornaigbeg Farm
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Pre nineteenth century
Further Comments: A group of men with a dog were watching over cattle when they heard strange sounds, resembling a herd of sheep, although nothing could be seen. As the sounds passed, the dog chased the invisible entity. The dog later returned but died soon after, its hair scraped off with skin ripped and bloodied.
Grey Old Man
Location: Craighouse - Craighouse Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-twentieth century
Further Comments: Seen peering out of the ruins, this grey haired old man was thought to have been involved in the building of the castle.
Weaver Beater
Location: Craignish - Unknown stream in the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A weaver carrying home a roll of cloth at night found himself attacked by a Glaistig. The phantom pounced as the weaver crossed a stream, and the man found himself remorselessly beaten with his own cloth until dawn.
Secret Ball
Location: Drimfin (near Tobermory) - Slope near a rock
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A postman decided to have a quick nap close to a rock known to be the haunt of fairies. The rock opened and a fairy appeared, inviting the postman to a ball. The postman fled and escaped to Tobermory, chased by fairies who probably did not like taking no for an answer.
Bagpiper
Location: Duntrune - Duntrune (or Duntroon) Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This musician piped a warning to his MacDonald clan leader that he was entering a Campbell trap - as punishment, the Campbells' took the piper and cut off his fingers, leaving him to bleed to death. The bagpiper's warning, a wild and unusual tune, now drifts across the landscape.
Drowned Woman
Location: Feall, Isle of Coll - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: An unknown woman's body that washed up on the beach was buried locally, although her ghost started to appear at night. One local man spoke to the entity, who told him that her family lived in Uist. The man tracked down the woman's brothers and they took the body home; in return, the ghost gave the man the gist of 'knowing the thief' of any stolen item.
Giraffe's Neck
Location: Firth of Clyde - Cumbrae Islands - waters off Great Cumbrae
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: August 1911
Further Comments: A partly submerged creature with a neck not dissimilar to that of a giraffe, though it had the head of a camel, was seen in the waters by several fishermen.
Unclothed Man
Location: Fladda Chuain - Unidentified Hut
Type: Other
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A married couple discovered a male body washed up on the island. They stripped the body of clothing and buried him at an old graveyard. The husband would occasionally stay in a hut on the island. The dead man arrived at the hut at midnight, sat by the fire and warmed himself while mentioning his clothes had been removed.
Tall Woman
Location: Ford - Hill between Ardtern and Ford, in the Barbreck Valley
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: August 1910
Further Comments: Mr Pickop claimed to have encountered a phantom young woman standing on a rock as he climbed the hill to watch the sunset. The entity took the form of a tall woman with black hair and pale skin, wearing a short skirt and a dark tartan plaid. The entity disappeared off the edge of the rock. After the ghost story reached the press, at least one newspaper accused Pickop of fabricating the story.
Handprint
Location: Ford - Killinever Chapel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: Over the entrance of the chapel, the imprint of a hand can be seen. This was made by the resident ghost as it tried to grab a tailor who spent the night in the building, the latter character trying (vainly) to disprove the existence of spooks.
Charging Beast
Location: Gare Loch - Mouth of the loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1918, and pre-1527
Further Comments: Two fishermen out collecting lobster pots reported seeing an unidentified creature which rose thirty feet out of the water and charged towards them. They quickly rowed ashore. A sixteenth century text states that a water horse the size of a greyhound emerged and killed three men with as many swipes of its tail; the remainder of the group survived by running away or climbing the trees.
Tailor Terror
Location: Glassary - Old church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A once popular tale in Scotland has a tailor take a wager that he can spent the night in a haunted church; the tailor encounters a phantom, engages it in conversation while sewing a garment, and manages to escape. The old church was one location where the event supposedly occurred.
Clan Colquhoun
Location: Glen Fruin - Minister's Flagstone (stood by the Stream of Young Ghosts) and surrounding area
Type: Legend
Date / Time: February 1603 onwards
Further Comments: The Battle of Glen Fruin was fought between Clan MacGregor and Clan Colquhoun, and their respective allies. The MacGregors won, and legend has it that one overenthusiastic soldier murdered the Colquhoun prisoners at the flagstone. The bloodstains on the stone could never be removed, and the nearby stream became haunted; no MacGregor could cross it after dark without encountering Colquhoun ghosts. Grass is said to never grow where the Colquhouns are buried (although their mass grave remains undiscovered).
Stone Thrower
Location: Glen Lyon - Ford and ravine near (possibly wrongly identified) Caisle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early nineteenth century
Further Comments: Rocks and clods of earth were thrown at anyone who approached the area at night. The haunting ceased after one man, obviously upset at being targeted, shouted, 'In the name of God I defy all from the pit.'
Urisk
Location: Glen Lyon - Inbhirinneoin (Burn)
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Evidence that shows this part fairy, part human hybrid still to be in the area occasionally turns up. A barrow known locally as the 'Mound of the Dead' is thought to be an entrance to Hell.
Healing Waters
Location: Glen Lyon - Mineral Wishing Well
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: Once upon a time, people would leave gifts next to the well in return for it bestowing magical waters to the giver.
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