The Paranormal Database

Figure on Stairs

Location: Inverness - BBC Broadcasting House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 2007
Further Comments: BBC producer Jeff Zycinski blogged that people believed a strange ghostly figure, thought to be female, haunted the (now removed) staircase in the building.

Big Angus

Location: Inverness - Castle Stuart
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 13 July 2002
Further Comments: A couple staying in the castle were woken up at night by their wardrobe door which opened and closed by itself several times while the small lights attached to the bed rattled and shook. The castle is reportedly haunted by Big Angus, who was found dead in the courtyard - it is not known whether he jumped or was pushed from the high tower window overlooking the yard.

Eastgate Mall, Inverness.

Foundry Worker

Location: Inverness - Eastgate Mall, Laura Ashley shop and Pizza Express restaurant
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2003
Further Comments: Blown light bulbs and fuses are all blamed on the shade of a former worker on the site, as are the movements of the doors when they open and close unaided.

Eden Court Theatre, Inverness.

The Bishop's Wife

Location: Inverness - Eden Court Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Wife last seen 1980s, child in the early 20 century, other in 2002
Further Comments: Committing suicide on the site in the late nineteenth century, before the theatre was built, the ghostly figure has since developed a green, post-mortem hue. The gardens are also haunted, by a little girl seen early in the twentieth century. More recently, an usher reported being yanked backwards by her shirt collar, even though she was alone.

The River Ness passing through Inverness, Scotland.

First Nessie Sighting

Location: Inverness - River Ness
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: AD 580
Further Comments: Contrary to popular belief, it was in the River Ness and not Loch Ness that St Columba drove away a water monster which had attacked and killed a local man. When told about the attack, the Saint asked one of his followers to swim across the river to fetch a boat on the opposite bank. As the creature surfaced to eat its latest victim, St Columba made the sign of the cross and the creature fled.

Orange Lights

Location: Inverness - Skies over area
Type: UFO
Date / Time: 06 January 2008
Further Comments: A witness photographs six strange orange lights as they passed over the town at night.

The sky over Inverness, Scotland.

Hot Water

Location: Inverness - Skies over town
Type: Other
Date / Time: 30 June 1819
Further Comments: After a small earthquake, hot water briefly rained down upon the town.

The Devil's Bed

Location: Inverness - Steadings Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: January 2005
Further Comments: A hotel bed which belonged to Aleister Crowley was purchased by the owner of this hotel; the room where it stands is reputedly much colder than anywhere else in the building, and a few times people have reported waking up because they felt the bed moving and shaking.

Tomnahurich Hill, Inverness.

Fiddler in a Timeslip

Location: Inverness - Tomnahurich Hill
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: One story told here is of a fiddler who fell asleep on the hill. He awoke in fairyland where he had to play for the queen. After several hours he was permitted to leave and was returned to an area near the River Ness. The fiddler soon discovered that one hundred years had passed since entering the fairy kingdom.

Prisoner

Location: Isle of Canna - Coroghon Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Isolated and ruined, the area is still home to a phantom female prisoner, once held in the castle by the laird.

Long Necked Creature

Location: Isle of Canna - Off the coast, and around surrounding islands
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: June 1808
Further Comments: This creature, mistaken for a rock when first observed, was seen at various times by up to thirteen fishing boat crews. It was described as between 70 and 80 foot in length (21 - 24 metres) and possessing a long neck which it kept underwater whilst swimming.

White Figure

Location: Isle of Canna - Sea, about quarter of the way between island and Skye
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Circa 1804
Further Comments: Neil McIntosh, steering a boat between the two islands in stormy weather, glimpsed a white human figure in the sea. McIntosh thought the creature to be a mermaid, although admitted he did not have much of an opportunity to examine it.

Figure in Wide Brimmed Hat

Location: Isle of Eigg - Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late 1990s
Further Comments: Two people walking up the hill spotted a figure behind them. The figure was taking long strides, and wearing dark clothing with a wide brimmed hat, not unlike puritan style, but bowl shaped. As the two people reached the top of the hill, they looked back and the figure had gone - it was impossible to leave the road due to a gully either side.

Fairy Ship

Location: Isle of Muck - Unknown beach
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: 1910?
Further Comments: Two children on the beach suddenly found a boy dressed in green standing beside them. The boy pointed to his ship a few feet from shore, which contained a small girl and a tiny dog. After the green people shared some small biscuits, they set sail, saying that others of their kind were coming.

Mermaid

Location: Isle of Sanday - Beach on north end of island
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Circa 1803
Further Comments: A mermaid perched on a rock threw herself into the sea when approached by two local men walking along the beach. After the mermaid entered the sea, the witnesses could see the creature's upper body resembled a woman.

Hybrid

Location: Isle of Sanday - Exact area not known
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: Folklorist Walter Traill Dennison recorded in 1893 that there were decedents of a union between a male selkie and a woman living on the island - you could tell who the offspring were because they had webbed hands and feet.

Island Covered in Buildings

Location: Isle of Sanday - In the sky off coast of the island
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 1840, 1857
Further Comments: This island, covered in fantastic white buildings, has appeared twice in the sky just off the coast. On one occasion, the mysterious land remained viable for most of the day. Some people believe it to be the Fairy Isle, while others say it was a mirage of a part of Norway.

Black Lady of Scar

Location: Isle of Sanday - Scar House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid-twentieth century?
Further Comments: This phantom woman, known as Black Lady of Scar, was reputed to have been pushed overboard by the from a ship on a passage back to Scotland from India. She had married the laird of Scar in India, but while travelling home with her husband, he decided that the marriage was a mistake and murdered her.

Black Eagle

Location: Isle of Skye - Exact area not known
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Seventeenth century
Further Comments: Scottish chronicler Martin Martin wrote about a black eagle that hunted deer. The eagle was not the largest bird in the area but would bring deer down by grasping their antlers and flapping its wings in front of its prey's eyes. The confused deer would then injure itself, allowing the eagle to feast on the prone animal.

Cro Sith

Location: Isle of Skye - General area
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: After attempting to round up Cro sith, fairy cows that normally live under the sea, a farmer was found dead after the fairy herdsman turned up and reclaimed his cattle, leaving only the trampled body of the farmer behind. Another cryptid that has made its home on Skye is the Biasd na Srogaig, a large creature that lives in lochs, possesses a single horn emerging from its forehead, and has long legs.

Rotating Light

Location: Isle of Skye - Loch Brittle
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1910s
Further Comments: This creature, which sounds very much like a bizarre submarine, possessed a long 'neck' that had a shining light from the top, which turned from side to side.

Ringing Bell

Location: Isle of Skye - Northeast coast, place once known as Ashig
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Pre-nineteenth century
Further Comments: A bell on a tree, hung by Saint Maree, would remain silent all week until dawn on Sunday mornings, when it spontaneously bust into life until sunset. The bell was removed and taken to another church but failed to ring unaided again.

Great Auk Returns

Location: Isle of Skye - Not known
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1850s
Further Comments: Years after shooting a mystery water bird, a hunter said the creature may have been a Great Auk. If correct, this is certainly the last sighting of a Great Auk, decades after it was declared extinct.

Headlights

Location: Isle of Skye - Road, but exact area not known
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s
Further Comments: Passing through the area in a car, the driver and other occupants spotted the headlights of another vehicle approaching them. They pulled into a layby to let the oncoming vehicle pass, but nothing came. They were in a remote area with no turning which the other vehicle could have taken.

Gruagach

Location: Isle of Skye - Small island east of Skye, was known as Troda?
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Pre twentieth century
Further Comments: Not much is known about the hairy fairy that once made its home on this island