The Paranormal Database

Sputnik?

Location: Ardgay - Moors in the area
Type: Other
Date / Time: October 1962
Further Comments: Three months after a shepherd reported finding strange wreckage, a team from RAF Kinloss visited the site in October and removed debris consisting of a box and some bottles. While some people believe the craft was a Russian satellite, others say it was an American spy balloon.

Potato Thrower

Location: Ardgay - Private house, exact location unknown
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The unsettled spirit here threw potatoes and other vegetables at a minister who came to investigate the disturbance - the entity was finally named as being the shade of a young baby who was killed by its mother.

Voyeuristic Maid

Location: Auchindarroch - Auchindarroch House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This grey lady is often seen just outside the house, either peeping in through the windows, or drifting over the lawn. Another shade, face covered by a hood, has been observed inside the building, while sometimes a strange and unrecognised perfume fills parts of the house.

Isobel Gowdie

Location: Auldearn - Exact location not known
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1955
Further Comments: Tried for witchcraft in 1662, Isobel Gowdie claimed she could transform into a hare and had met the queen of the fairies under a hill. Her phantom was spotted by Robin Green, a retired soldier, as he camped in the area.

Annie Fraser

Location: Aultsigh - Aultsigh Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The entity heard moving around the building is named as the young lass who was murdered by a jealous suitor who then concealed her body under the floorboards of the building.

Granite Stones

Location: Aviemore - Rothiemurchus churchyard
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: A legend says that five cylinder shaped stones mark the spot where the last of the Comyns family is buried. The stones vanish and reappear depending on how the House of Rothiemurchus is fairing, but if moved or taken by a human hand, that person is doomed to die. One story says the stones where stolen by a group of people who were later found dead in a car, the stones discovered standing upright nearby.

Mrs Boulton

Location: Ballachulish - Ballachulish House
Type: Manifestation of the Living
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: A woman who visited the house claimed to have been there before, though only in her dreams. To her surprise, the owner of the property agreed, saying that her visitor resembled a ghost that had been seen there several times! Two more traditional ghosts can be found here; seen approaching the house on horseback, a spectral rider dismounts before vanishing on the driveway, while a scruffy little man has been seen near the front gate.

Hovering Light

Location: Ballachulish - Castle Stalker
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Prior to a death of a Stewart chieftain
Further Comments: An orb of brilliant light was said to appear and hover over the castle just before the death of a clan Stewart chieftain.

Black Andrew

Location: Ballchraggan - Balnagowan (or Balnagown) Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Andrew terrorised the neighbourhood, raping and murdering the locals. They decided to act against the laird, storming his castle and hanging him by the neck from the highest window. Now his shade remains within the walls of the building, though he still harasses visiting women. A much gentler shade has been seen here, a young green-eyed girl who smiles fondly at passers-by.

Buildings

Location: Balnakeil - Balnakeil Beach
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: August 1980
Further Comments: A woman taking a polaroid photograph of the beach was amazed to see two buildings and a shadowy post on the developed image - no buildings were in the frame as she pressed the camera shutter. An analysis of the image suggested that it was an under exposed image of a farm.

Devil's Hand

Location: Beauly - St John's Priory ruins
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A stone doorway is said to display the mark of Satan.

Young Girl

Location: Ben Alder - Below the mountain, en route for Loch Ossian
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: April / May 2011
Further Comments: Having traversed old drover track on western shoulder of Ben Alder, a walker was looking for a suitable spot to cross a stream. The walker noticed the image of a smiling young girl, dressed in blue/green watery outfit, sitting on a slab of rock amidst the fast moving water. She was pointing to the water, enticing the walker to cross. The walker panicked and moved further downstream, crossing at a point where the water was calmer.

Grey Figure

Location: Ben Hope - On mountain
Type: Other
Date / Time: 1998
Further Comments: While approaching the cloud line, a climber noticed a grey figure 20 yards (18 metres) in front of him. The figure was walking steadily, wearing old hiking gear. The climber tried to catch him up., but no matter how fast he went he could not close the gap between himself and the figure. The climber followed him to the top of the mountain, where he disappeared.

Fear Liath Mor

Location: Ben MacDhui - High on Mountain
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Popularly referred to as Britain's yeti relation, the Fear Liath Mor has been heard, seen, and felt by dozens of mountaineers over the past 150 years. The sound of snow being compacted by large feet has made climbers scarper back down the slopes; those who have seen the creature say it is more man than ape, but still covered in grey or brown hair, with long arms and a large head, and standing around twenty foot in height. During the Weird Weekend 2009, researcher Andy Roberts presented a compelling argument that the Fear Liath Mor is more a feeling of dread than a biological entity.

Four Legged Man

Location: Ben MacDhui - Rothiemurchus Forest
Type: Other
Date / Time: First entity in the twentieth century, the latter reoccurring to mark tragedies
Further Comments: Several people report having been chased by an invisible entity that 'felt' semi-human but could be heard pounding along on hooves. All the witnesses reported feeling extreme terror. An entity known as the Bod-an-Dun also haunts the area, appearing to mark a tragedy in the Grant family that once owned the land.

Cursed Stone

Location: Boat of Garten - River Spey
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: When the waters are low, an inscribed stone can be seen in the river - it is believed cursed, and anyone who meddles with it is doomed. Adding to the treachery of the waters, a white horse is said to patrol the river, looking for people to drown.

The Cook

Location: Boat of Garten - The Boat Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This brave man was murdered while trying to save a fellow worker from an assault. He now periodically appears in the hotel.

Future Train

Location: Bonar Bridge - Site of railway line
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: Two men walking through the area watched a train pass them by. This was, however, years before railway tracks had been laid through the area.

Woman with Child

Location: Broadford, Isle of Skye - Bay
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century
Further Comments: A doctor out for a walk along the coast watched a light slowly drift across the sea and land nearby. It changed into a cloaked woman holding onto a small child, before vanishing completely. When the doctor told his story at the inn where he was staying, the landlord explained that a few years previously two bodies had been washed up on the coast - that of a woman and child.

Mist

Location: Broadford, Isle of Skye - Broadford Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Mist like figures have been reported here in the past, as have a former housemaid, although the hotel now appears quiet.

Red Flying Squid

Location: Broadford, Isle of Skye - Coast near the area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 12 January 1952
Further Comments: Constable John Morrison kicked a squid he found on a beach, only for the creature to wrap a 180 centimetre tentacle around his ankle. The policeman managed to remove his boot and killed the cephalopod with rocks and a set of shears.

Famh

Location: Cairngorn Mountain Range - General area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This author is not sure if this is a joke, but... the Famh is said to be a strange dog/mole hybrid (Dole? Mog?), which possesses a vicious set of teeth and a disproportionately sized mouth. It lurks in the mountain range, shying away from human contact. The area is also haunted by a piper, who is seen standing on the tallest peaks, and is heard playing at night.

Treasure Under A Stone

Location: Carn Glas - Rock on the mountain
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Said to have occurred early nineteenth century
Further Comments: A man had a dream that if he went to the mountain on Monday morning, he would see a crow sitting on a stone, and under this stone would be treasure that once belonged to a Norwegian prince. Unfortunately, the man was impatient and set off early, arriving Sunday evening to find hundreds of crows, each sitting on a different rock.

Mean Old Dog

Location: Clachtoll - Main road through the village
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This phantom hound is said to harass those using the road late at night. It can easily be recognised by its pair of horns.

Fairy Music

Location: Clava Cairns - Stone Cairns
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A Bronze Age cemetery, the haunting sound of fiddling heard in this area has led some to say that the music is produced by fairies. A few people who have removed stones from the site are reported have returned them after suffering streaks of bad luck.