Mysterious Britain & Ireland

Country and County: Highland

Fairies / Folklore / Folktales / Scottish Fairies / Scottish Folktales

Loch Ness Water Horse

James Mackinlay in his Folklore of Scottish Lochs and Springs (1893) tells of another creature that was said to lurch in Loch Ness. ‘A noted demon-steed once inhabited Loch Ness, and was a cause of terror to the inhabitants of the neighbourhood.

Black Dogs / Buried Treasure / Folklore / Hauntings / Legends

The Black Dog of Kildonan

In his ‘Memorabilia domestica; or, Parish life in the North of Scotland’, Donald Sage (born 1789 – died 1869) described a treasure legend in the parish of Kildonan with a phantom Black Dog guardian attached to it.

Fairies / Folklore / Folktales / Scottish Fairies / Scottish Folktales

John MacInnes And The Each-Uisge

According to Mr. J. Calder Ross in ‘Scottish Notes and Queries’ (1893) "John MacInnes found the labour of his farm sadly burdensome. In the midst of his sighing an unknown being appeared to him and promised a horse to him under certain conditions. These conditions John undertook to fulfil.

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Fairies / Folklore / Scottish Fairies

Tarbh Uisge

The Tarbh Uisge or Water Bull is a creature of Scottish folklore similar to the Each Uisge (Water Horse). Some sources claim they could only be found in isolated pools in the highlands, while others suggest they frequented the coastal regions of Scotland.

Fairies / Folklore / Folktales / Mermaids / Scottish Fairies / Scottish Folktales

Port Henderson Mermaid

There is a mermaid story associated with the small fishing village of Port Henderson which was recounted by John H Dixon in Guide to Gairloch and Loch Maree (1886). According to Dixon ‘Roderick Mackenzie, the elderly and much respected boatbuilder at Port Henderson, when a young man, went one day to a rocky part of the shore there.

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Articles / Folklore / Legends / Occult / Occult Biographies

The Brahan Seer

The Brahan Seer is undoubtedly the most famous of all Celtic seers although the reality of the 17th Century Coinneach Odhar Fiosaiche or Kenneth Mackenzie is hidden deep in legend. The roots of these legends may have come from a holy man in the 1600’s, about whom legends have grown with the years.

Folklore

Trotternish, Isle of Skye

The Trotternish area of Skye was once the haunt of Colann gun Chean (The headless body) who would kill those unfortunate enough to cross his path by flinging his head at them. The ghoul was banished to Arisaig where he caused mayhem until a young man managed to capture the ghosts head – only promising to return it if he returned to Skye.

Hauntings

Broadford Skye

According to tradition recorded by Alasdair Alpin MacGregor (The Supernatural Highlands, Francis Thompson) a doctor holidaying at an Inn in Broadford on Skye witnessed a strange apparition by the sea. He was walking along the shore when he noticed a glow out to sea the glow came closer and as it did so became the figure of a woman in a cloak carrying a child.

Hauntings / Scottish Folktales

Duntulm Castle

Duntulm Castle is now a ruined shell of its former glory as a MacDonald stronghold, its walls disintegrating year by year against the constant onslaught of the Atlantic winds. The site traditionally has a long precedence as a defendable stronghold: there may have been an Iron Age, and a Viking presence here, situated on the rocky promontory of steep cliffs overlooking the sea.