Highland Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana
Echo
Location: Mallaig - Castle close to Mallaig, possibly Castle Tioram
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: If one called out 'Are you in, maiden?' close to the castle ruins, a voice would then be heard emerging from the building, repeating any phrase shouted by visitors.
Humped Creature
Location: Mallaig - Sea
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Late 1950s
Further Comments: The crews of two fishing boats were reported to have encountered a humped creature several metres in length moving through the water. A column of spines ran down the monster's back and it possessed a head like a tortoise with a large mouth.
Lady Fanny Sinclair
Location: Mey - Barrogill (or Barrowgill) Castle, aka Castle of Mey
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Eloping from home to marry a member of the working classes, Lady Fanny's family tracked her down and brought her home - she was killed jumping out of a tower window while trying to escape again.
Headless Figure
Location: Morar - Rocky mound (known as cnoc mor creige?) on the coast between North and South Morar
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A ghostly headless figure which would kill people who crossed the area after dark. A man by the name of Macdonall banished the entity after it killed his son (although the entity threatened to return once Macdonall's descendants had left the area).
Herder
Location: Morvern (aka Morven) - Mountainside known as Garlios
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The area became home to a Glaistig which specialised in herding sheep and cattle. The entity took the form of a small but extraordinarily strong woman and lived in a yew tree.
MacCoul Giants
Location: Munlochy - Area around the bay
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: These two large warriors once lived in the bay, though now in shadow form only.
The Rag Well
Location: Munlochy - St Boniface's Well
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: Rags are tied around the well to transfer ill health and bad luck away from the visitor and into the healing waters.
Blackened Remains
Location: Nairn - Area close to Hardmuir Wood
Type: SHC
Date / Time: 29 July 1852
Further Comments: The charred remains of John Anderson could only be recognised by the horses and cart found by his body. One witness said that John had fallen from his cart while burning, his horses remaining still, and that the fire had been extinguish with buckets of water within fifteen minutes of starting. The doctor who performed the autopsy believed the fire to be 'no ordinary combustion'.
Handless Girl
Location: Nairn - Cawdor Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Caught by a vicious father hugging her lover, the girl had her hands severed on daddy's orders so she could never hug again. Another ghost which is said to haunt the site is that of John Campbell, the first Lord Cawdor.
Marching
Location: Nairn - Country lanes near Boath House, off the A96
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 01 November 2014, around 23:30h
Further Comments: Three people walking their dogs heard the faint sound of footsteps and talking. As the sounds grew nearer, they realised that the footsteps were marching, and the sounds were accompanied by a drum. The three people walked, and then ran, to escape the sounds, but the sounds followed them. They stopped moving, and the marching passed them. The experience lasted for around two minutes, and no other person was seen during this time.
Peals
Location: Nigg - Nigg Bay
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The gentle peals of a bell are said to emerge from under the bay's waters.
Block of Ice
Location: Ord, Isle of Skye - Exact location not known
Type: Other
Date / Time: 1849
Further Comments: A half tonne block of ice, around six metres in length, fell from an empty sky.
Largest Ice Fall
Location: Ord, Ross-Shire - Farm of Balvullich, Estate of Ord, occupied by Mr Moffat
Type: Other
Date / Time: 13 August 1849
Further Comments: A large block of ice fell from the sky and is thought to be one of the largest ice falls ever. Said to have been almost twenty feet in circumference, the ice had a crystalline appearance, and appeared to be made up of smaller, diamond-shaped parts. Before the object fell from the sky, nearby occupants of the farm heard a massive peal of thunder.
Biasd Bealach Odail
Location: Pass of Odal, Isle of Skye - General area
Type: Other
Date / Time: Mid nineteenth century?
Further Comments: Biasd Bealach Odail, or the Beast of Odal Pass, was a shapeshifting entity which began to appear during the creating of the route. The creature would take the form of a one-legged man or a greyhound, and would attack users of the path at night (with one death blamed on the entity).
Protected Boats
Location: Port Henderson - Rocks along the coast
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Nineteenth century?
Further Comments: Local boat builder Roderick Mackenzie managed to sneak up on a sleeping mermaid and grabbed her by the hair. She requested that he let her go and in return would grant him a wish. Mackenzie wished that any boat he made would never sink, a tradition that was said to hold true throughout his career.
Moaning
Location: Portree - Bridge between Braes and Portree (may no longer exist)
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: Moaning, the sounds of a struggle, and shadowy moving objects seen at this spot were said to indicate a murder would soon happen at the site.
Funeral Procession
Location: Portree, Isle of Skye - Churchyard
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: One folktale says a man encountered a phantom funeral procession and felt compelled to follow it. When the ghostly entourage reached Portree churchyard, the man asked whose funeral it was, only to be told 'your own'.
Charles
Location: Portree, Isle of Skye - Prince Charles's Well, road between Portree and Uig
Type: Manifestation of the Living
Date / Time: 15 April 1746
Further Comments: The day before his defeat at Culloden, the shade of Prince Charles was seen by the well, crying 'defeated'.
Car Lights
Location: Portree, Isle of Skye - Road between Portree and Sligachan
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Lights of an incoming car has been reported along this road, although they suddenly vanish without trace. Some say the lights belong to a car which fell from the ferry (although there may be two different phantom cars).
Creature
Location: Portree, Isle of Skye - Woman's Loch, by Sithean Beinne Bho'idhich
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A water monster has been reported inhabiting the loch.
Fairy Cup
Location: Raasay Island - Exact location not known
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A man named Hugh joined a fairy party and stole a glittering cup. Despite being chased, Hugh escaped; the fairy cup ended up with the MacLeods on the island.
Black Walker of the Ford
Location: Rannoch - Amhulaich (pseudonym?), area near a stream and mill
Type: Other
Date / Time: Eighteenth century?
Further Comments: A miller venturing out for tobacco at dusk met a figure which identified itself as the black walker of the ford. What they discussed was never disclosed, but every night for around a year after the meeting, the miller would walk across the stream to a clump of trees, and cries and yells would be heard; on the miller's final visit, the cries were so loud, people from two neighbouring villages could hear the commotion. On one occasion when people tried to follow the miller, he warned them off, saying their souls would be in peril.
Kelpie Bridle
Location: Rannoch - Lochanna Cuile (location may have changed identity), near or on Rannoch Moor
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A man travelling from Pitlochry to Nether Lochaber rested in this area and found a horse's bridle made of pure silver which burnt hot to the touch. A wise woman told the man the bridle belonged to a Kelpie and instructed him to hang the object in his home on a crook of rowan. The man did as instructed and was blessed with luck for the rest of his life.
Tall Woman
Location: River Conan - By the waters
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early to mid nineteenth century?
Further Comments: The water was haunted by a tall woman dressed in green with a scowling face. The figure would either point at travellers, filling them with dread, or grab them and pull the doomed person into the river water to die.
Man in Green
Location: River Glass - General location
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This phantom green man was said to have caused considerable upset to the neighbourhood.
Records 201 - 225 of 260
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