According to Legend, in the moors surrounding the village of Elsdon, lives the Brown Man of the Muirs. A man of dwarven statue dressed in brown, with bright red hair, and a ferocious glare. He is said to be a guardian of the moors and protector of the wild beasties who live there, punishing those […]
More often than not feuds happened between the clans because of a dispute over livestock. Cattle and sheep owned by different Clans would roam freely and would often graze together. The animals were marked by small cuts on their ears to show who owned them. Even to this day in areas like Lewis the […]
For a long time in the fifteenth century and beyond the families of Cunninghams of Glancairn and the Montgomeries of Eglinton were deadly and bitter rivals, a bloody feud that makes Romeo and Juliet looks like child’s play. It was described by John Lesie (exiled bishop of Ross who wrote the ‘Historie of Scotland’) as ‘the auldest […]
This mask could come straight from a horror film, originally it even had false teeth stitched into it’s mouth. It’s made of leather and the hair is all real human hair. This mask was first discovered in the 1840s in a cottage near Cumnock. Along with the wig and a sword it had just been […]
Isle Maree is a tiny wooded island on Loch Maree in Wester Ross. Loch Maree is the largest loch in the North West of Scotland and lies in a glacial trough. There are 66 islands on Loch Maree. Isle Maree may be one of the smallest islands on the loch but this tiny island […]
Dunphail Castle, a few miles south of Forres, Moray, was a property of the Comyn’s that was besieged in 1330. Five headless ghosts are supposed to have haunted Dunphail Castle near Forres. This was a Cummings Clan Castle and was under seige from the Earl of Moray. Five of the defenders of the castle (Alasdair Comyn […]
The ancient Clan Chattan possess a wooden chanter (finger pipe of the bagpipes) known as ‘The Black Chanter’ or ‘Feadan Dubh’. The chanter is one of the Clan’s most cherished possessions alongside their Green Banner and is kept at Cluny Castle in Badenoch—the Seat of the Chief of Clan Chattan/MacPherson. The prosperity of the House […]
Living in Edinburgh we know the ghost tours well. You can’t go through a walk in the city centre without crossing paths with one, combination of pale faced tourists and giggling people huddled in the the back of the group avidly listening to their tour guide theatrically telling ghoulish tales of what terrible deed happened […]
Scottish Gaelic in the United States truly is a marginalized language and culture, and it has been largely subsumed and reinvented on a very different Anglo-Scottish model. Thus, much of the discussion necessary to set the stage for expanded efforts at Gaelic culture and language recovery and revitalization tends to be a bit dark and more than a little uncomfortable. Such […]
Once upon a time there was a King who was so ill that he believed he was nearing death, a wise woman was called for, she said the only thing that would cure him was to drink from the Waters of Life. Questioning the wise woman the King learned that the Waters of Life could […]
