The Paranormal Database

Princess

Location: Lismore Island - Area around Castle Coeffin
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The area was once haunted by a princess who had pined away after her Viking husband died in combat. The haunting stopped after her remains were taken to be buried with her husband's body.

Man Shaped

Location: Loch Anlaimh, Coll - General area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Strange sounds heard coming from the loch were blamed on the water horse. A shepherd once encountered a stranger by the loch who had water weed on his head. The stranger walked into the loch, resulting in people believing the water horse had taken human form.

Giggling

Location: Loch Awe - Just off A819, by edge of water
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 28 December 2014
Further Comments: A photographer setting up his equipment here heard voices and giggling, even though there were no other people around. He fled after something started skimming stones across the ice in front of him.

Secret Cave

Location: Loch Awe - Rocky outcrop
Type: Other
Date / Time: Pre twentieth century
Further Comments: A shepherd spotted a cave that he did not recognise and poked his head in to take a better look. Weapons and large chests filled the cave. The shepherd was momentarily distracted by his sheep and briefly looked away. When he turned back, the cave entrance had gone.

An old postcard showing Loch Awe.

Huge Monster

Location: Loch Awe - Waters of the Loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Sixteenth century onwards
Further Comments: The loch is another large body of water in Scotland that is said to contain a large beastie, this time reputed to resemble a twelve legged eel. The creature is said to come ashore during winter. Another version of the story says the creature resembles a large bull.

Drowned Rider

Location: Loch Bhasapol(?), Tiree - Loch and nearby moorland
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Eighteenth century
Further Comments: Upon discovering a horse on the moors, a man mounted the creature only for it to bolt and run at breakneck speed around the area. Both man and beast eventually plunged into the loch. The rider did not survive.

Hooded Woman

Location: Loch Craignish - Area near Barbreck (or Barbeck) House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Thought to be a member of the Clan Campbell, whose family graveyard is nearby, this pale young woman sits on a rock overlooking the Loch. She vanishes if approached.

Blue Boy

Location: Loch Eck - Coylet Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2018?
Further Comments: This young lad froze to death outside of the inn, and now leaves wet footprints on the floor as he walks through the building. The story was reported in the press in January 2018 when a hen party photograph was published which (debatably) showed the face of a young boy peeping from behind a small pile of wood.

Strangler

Location: Loch Etive - Highland Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s
Further Comments: Two women sharing a room reported an entity that appeared and tried to strangle them.

Ancient Galley

Location: Loch Fyne - Waters near Inveraray
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Appears to mark the death of a senior Campbell clan member, last seen 1913
Further Comments: This large phantom ship appears in the Loch, though its route takes the vessel over land. Three crewmen are visible on the deck.

Tall Serpent

Location: Loch Fyne - Waters of the loch
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: July 1570
Further Comments: This creature was reported to be the size of a ship's mast when it surfaced from the water. At a much later date, a carcass of an unidentified creature was found on the banks of the loch.

A photograph of Loch Lomond, circa 1960.

Hipotam

Location: Loch Lomond - Waters of the loch, especially where it is joined with the River Enrick
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1653 onwards
Further Comments: An early description of the loch stated it had 'waves without wind, fish without fins and a floating island' - this is thought to be a reference to the water horses, or hipotam, that swam in the waters, although crannogs, small artificial islands, would be constructed in lochs by wealthy families. A Mr and Mrs Haggerty spotted a humped back crossing the loch on 22 September 1964, while in 1980 another couple watched a head and neck emerge from the water before submerging thirty seconds later.

Angus

Location: Loch Lomond - Drovers Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Angus is the name of the phantom cattle drover who is said to occasionally unnerve people by screaming here. Another phantom is named as Anabel, a young girl who drowned in the loch.

Cursed Stairwell

Location: Loch Nell - Loch Nell Castle
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: The staircase was made from a tree considered holy, and a series of disasters befell all those who were involved in cutting it down and moving to the building. The castle is also home to phantom music.

Water Horse

Location: Loch Poit na h-I (aka Loch Pottie), Isle of Mull - General area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This saltwater beastie is said to swim these waters.

Frost

Location: Loch Sloy - Glen located south of the loch
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Pre twentieth century
Further Comments: A traveller passing through the area heard two Urisk calling out to each other, one shouting 'Frost', the other responding 'Kick frost'.

Dog Killer

Location: Loch Tuath - Area between Loch Tuath and Loch Cuan
Type: Other
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A misty female form once seen here had long blonde hair. The entity picked up the witness's dog and ran off with it behind a nearby rock formation; the owner gave chase and, turning the rocky corner, found the dog with its windpipe crushed and large pieces of fur torn away. The strange woman had vanished. Another version of the tale says the witness heard strange music and lost sight of his dog; the witness ran home, and his dog later returned stripped of its hair, dying after laying by its master's feet.

Stretching Horse

Location: Lochaber - Lochan na Dunaich
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Ten children caught a horse and, one by one, mounted the creature. The horse's back stretched to accommodate the children. The last child to try to climb on the horse had a bible in his pocket; the horse bolted as the child touched it, running into the loch. The nine children were never seen again.

Headless Horseman

Location: Lochbuie - Lochbuie House
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Prior to tragedy in the Ewen family
Further Comments: This decapitated ghostly figure was once Ewen of the Little Head. Ewen was killed in battle with a rogue laird and now appears in the area around the house to warn the Ewen family of impending doom. Another animal, a large black dog, is reported to patrol the grounds.

The Bean-nighe, or Scottish washer-woman, standing waist deep in water. Image by Wayne Lowden.

Bean-nighe

Location: Lochbuie, Isle of Mull - River by Moy Castle
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: 1500s
Further Comments: The Bean-nighe is a Scottish spirit, an ill bringer who would be seen washing the clothes of those soon to die. This creature has long breasts, slung over her shoulders, and if she were grabbed from behind, the Bean-nighe would say whom the clothes belonged; if yours, she could change fate. The owner of the castle, upon seeing the creature, tried to grab her but failed - he died in battle the following day. As if this entity were not enough to contend with, the area is haunted by a headless horseman.

Night Strangler

Location: Lochgilphead - Unknown council house
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1990
Further Comments: A house was blessed by the local priest after a woman living in the building woke and found herself being choked by an invisible entity.

A photograph of Loch Goil, circa 1960.

Brooding Presence

Location: Lochgoilhead - Private house close to the loch
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: November and December, 1989
Further Comments: A couple who moved into this house left after a couple of months having endured a 'brooding presence' which they felt to be a bad tempered Edwardian woman who did not want them there. On the night they moved out, one observed a crooked turret which was not visible during the day, while the other occupant was pushed out the door which was slammed behind them. Talking to people who had visited them in the house later, almost all felt something 'wasn't right' with the house.

Carmichael

Location: Lorne - House (no longer standing) by Loch Feochan
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A former mistress of the house, the ghost by the name of Carmichael took up residence in a nearby ravine. She could be heard wailing prior to a family misfortune and cried for weeks when it was decided to demolish her old home. She left the area when a new house was built.

Spanish Princess

Location: Movern - Kiel Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre twentieth century
Further Comments: A man with the ability to see both the living and the dead claimed he would watch as ghosts left the church at dusk and return at dawn. One of the ghosts, a woman, always lagged behind the others, and when questioned, the entity claimed to have been a Spanish princess whose body had been returned home, but one of her fingers had been left behind.

Lady

Location: Newton - Unnamed cottage on the shores of Loch Fyne
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1940s
Further Comments: This phantom woman is reported to stand at the back door of the cottage, watching the road. Walkers briefly see her before she vanishes.