Scottish Myths and Legends

by Rodger Moffet

  Major Thomas Weir was born in 1599 and had a significant military career as a covenanting soldier. He led the escort that carried the Marquis of Montrose to his execution and was captain of the Town Guard in Edinburgh until 1650. A tall stern looking man he was always seen carrying a black thornwood staff, carved with satyr heads wherever he went.

  Weir lived in Edinburgh's West Bow a winding street that ran from the Royal Mile down towards the Grassmarket. The street Links the two halves of Edinburgh perfectly; at the top the Castle, Courts, Libraries and Cathedrals of Edinburgh's high culture. Down via Victoria Street you descend into the bars, inns and the darker side of the city leading to the rear of Greyfriars Churchyard where the likes of Burke & Hare were known to stalk.

  In Weirs time though the street was a well known area where many of the cities most pious citizens lived. The Presbyterians who lived there were known as the 'Bowhead Saints'. Of all the Religious men who lived there Weir was considered the purest and one of the most active, frequently attending religious meetings and leading the company in prayer - never without his trusty staff.

  Thomas Weir lived with his sister Jean (though some refer to her by the less flattering name "Grizel"). It seemed like the perfect hallowed arrangement. All this was to change though when during one of Weir's many prayer meetings he suddenly appeared to be struck down by a strange illness...

  Without warning the Major suddenly began to confess of the most unspeakable crimes. He announced his incestuous relationship with Jean along with shocking tales of fornication with all manner of women and beasts.

  At first no one could believe it - Weir was such a pillar of the community that the provost, Sir Andrew Ramsay, refused to take it seriously. Then, when his sister Jean backed up his story by admitting to years of incest they had to arrest the Major. The trial began on April 9, 1670 and Jean told how the talent for witchcraft has been inherited from their mother, she revealed that Thomas bore the mark of the Beast on his body and that they frequently roamed the countryside in a fiery coach, popping down the road to Musselbugh and Dalkeith to do their devilish work.

  Jean warned the town authorities of the power of Weir's infamous staff. She claimed it was the source of his power and had been given to him by the devil himself. With such shocking evidence the assembled worthies took no time to convict Weir of witchcraft and he was taken to a spot on the cities boundary with Leith (just off Leith Walk near where Pilrig Street lies today) where he was strangled and burnt.

  As the rope was put around Weir's neck he was asked to say "Lord be merciful to me". Instead he apparently replied:

  "Let me alone, I will not. I have lived as a beast, and I must die as a beast". His sister was similarly unrepentant and there are tales that she tore off her clothes on the scaffold making the scene even more wretched and shocking. Major Thomas Weir was the last man executed for witchcraft in Scotland. As his body burned his staff was thrown into the fire. Witnesses said that it took an unusually long time to burn and made strange turning movements as it burned.

  With such a shocking history no one dared live in the old Major's house and for over 100 years it lay empty. Some who dared to spend the night nearby recounted the sound of revelry coming from the house and other strange occurrences. finally the house was pulled down in the 19th century.

  Many claim that the ghost of Major Weir still roams the streets and closes near to the West Bow, wile others claim that they have seen his devilish staff roaming the streets by itself searching for its master.

  Urquhart Castle and The Magic Well

  By Amanda Moffet

  Way back in the days before Urquhart Castle existed in the days when the Great Glen was just starting to have settlers - perhaps some of our Urquhart ancestors before the name of Urquhart was even spoken - and took advantage of it's abundant food and resources. It was a fertile valley which made life easy.

  Legend has it that these people had a magical well, a spring which Daly the Druid had made magical, which brought forth healing waters for all ills. There was a condition placed on using this magical well - after each use, the cover had to be placed back upon the well lest the well rise up and destroy the valley.

  Alas, one day, a mother had removed the cover from the well and was drawing the magical water. Her baby started to cry and when she heard, like all good mothers, she went to her child's aid. In her speed to do so, she neglected to replace the cover upon the magic well and although she may have had all intentions of doing so, by the time she realized she had left the cover off unattended, the well had turned into a roaring fountain of water, gushing forth water with such force that she had no option but to run with her baby, clambering up the sides of the valley.

  The other settlers, seeing and hearing the great commotion and roaring of the water, also took to the paths up out of the valley, knowing that all was now lost. Their homes, possessions, all were lost, but they managed to escape the rising water.

  One of those who escaped, looking back at their great valley filling with water almost as fast as they could climb, cried out in disbelief and anguish "Tha loch ann a nis!" - which means "There is a lake in it now!" That great valley of the Great Glen, draws it's name from those words "Loch ann a nis": Loch Ness.

  So, all I can say is this, if your over by Urquhart Castle having a look for Nessy, remember those waters around the Urquhart stronghold have magical healing properties, as I cannot find any reference to that healing well ever being covered again.

  So it was that a magical well and the careless action of that mother in haste produced the landscape and loch that the setting of Urquhart Castle takes advantage of.

  The Wizard laird of Skene's dance with the devil

  By Amanda Moffet

  Skene Loch is an eerie and forbidding place, particularly on cold evenings in the dead of winter - when the waters on the loch can freeze over. If you were to brave the icy conditions and venture down to the lochside and look across the frozen loch you might see what seems like a mysterious set of curved tracks embedded in the ice. Tracks which look newly made by a coach or carriage.

  You could put this down to a trick of the light but there's a local tale behind these strange markings. A legend that has passed down over centuries. This story is about the sinister local landowner who was allied with the devil … those with psychic powers swear they can still feel his presence to this day.

  So the tracks on the ice? are they a lasting reminder of the day Auld Nick himself paid a visit to his devil-worshipping friend the Wizard Laird of Skene.

  Alexander Skene, the 16th Laird, was the man the devil had come to Aberdeenshire to see. It was said the laird never cast a shadow, was followed everywhere by magpies or crows and had the power to reest, or glue, his enemies to the spot where they stood. On at least one occasion Skene was kept awake by neighbors enjoying a ceilidh. His reaction was to cast a spell on the revellers which made them unable to stop dancing - until their feet bled and they cried in agony.

  His mastery of the black arts had been learned while he was a young student at the University of Padua in northern Italy. One of the most famous seats of learning in Europe, Padua was noted for the views some of its members held on the then-controversial subjects of astronomy and necromancy. Many returned with "peculiar ideas" about the heavens and the black arts. The Wizard Laird went one step further and formed a pact with the devil.

  The wizard's coachman was named Kilgour and was well used to his master's eccentricities - but nothing could have prepared him for the night the devil came calling.

  Kilgour was ordered to prepare the coach and horses at midnight to transport his special guest from Skene House, the family mansion. But the laird made Kilgour promise that on no account was he to turn round and look at the stranger.

  As the coach and horses sped through the dark countryside, the laird told Kilgour to take the more direct route across the Loch of Skene. There had only been one night's frost and the coachman said such a journey would be impossible -
but the wizard told him not to worry, the ice was strong enough.

  The night would have passed without incident had Kilgour's curiosity not got the better of him. As they were approaching the other side of the loch he did what his master had told him not to do - he turned round. What he saw terrified him. For there sat the unmistakable horned, cloven-footed figure of the devil himself - Auld Nick.

  As soon as Kilgour turned to look the ice cracked, the devil turned into a raven and flew off and the coach and horses sank to the bottom of the loch. Whether the laird and his coachman escaped depends on which variation of the tale you hear.

  Sheena Blackhall, a poet and historian in north-east Scotland, spent part of her childhood in Skene and remembers local children saying that if they ran 100 times round the Wizard Laird's gravestone he would rise from the dead.

  Despite his supposed deal with the devil, the laird is buried in the churchyard in the village of Kirkton of Skene. The wizard lived from around 1680 until 1724 but his activities had such an impact on the superstitious local people that, even last century, fires were lit at Halloween to keep him at bay. The author William Somerset Maugham heard the story while recovering from tuberculosis at Glen O'Dee Hospital in Banchory, Kincardineshire, and used it as inspiration for his novel, The Magician, in which evil deeds take place at Skene House.

  The Skene family are said to have been a sept of the Clan Robertson. According to tradition one young clan member saved the life of King Malcolm Canmore by killing a wolf with his sgian, or knife. The king then granted him as much land as could be covered by a hawk's flight and the family received a charter in 1318 from Robert the Bruce. The line died out in the 19th century with the 20th laird, who was deaf. The reputedly cursed Skene House is now in a sad state of repair.

  If you think stories of warlocks, curses and visitations by the devil are fanciful nonsense then consider the words of Stanley Robertson, a former gypsy traveller who lived in the Skene area and claims to possess psychic powers.

  "The travellers say that if there is something demonic about a place, the frisson will rise up your back instead of down. That is why the hackles rise at the back of your head. And that is exactly the feeling I got when I once visited Skene House, my hackles rose and I had the feeling something very evil had taken place there."

  Fyvie Castle and the ghostly trumpeter

  By Amanda Moffet

  Fyvie Castle is haunted by the ghost of a phantom trumpeter who first made his appearance there in the 18th century. The trumpeter was a man called Andrew Lammie and he fell in love with Agnes Smith, the local miller's daughter. Agnes' parents did not approve of Andrew Lammie.

  Learning that Andrew and Agnes were meeting in secret the Laird, who himself wanted the girl as his mistress, had Andrew seized and sent in slavery to the West Indies. After several years Andrew managed to escape and return to Scotland to look for his beloved Agnes, only to discover that she had died a short while after he had been forcibly taken abroad. Andrew died of shock but before his death swore that the sound of a trumpet would foretell the death of every laird of Fyvie as a reminder of the terrible injustice he had suffered.

  Shortly after Andrew's death the haunting of Fyvie began and for many years afterwards the trumpet would be heard in the dead of night before the death of the laird. On several occasions the shadowy figure of a tall man, dressed in rich tartan, was seen by the castle wall, a figure which always disappeared when approached.

  Bluidy Tam and his card game with the devil

  By Amanda Moffet

  General Thomas Dalyell (1615 – 1685) was also known by the names Dalziell, Dalziel or Dalzell, as well as Bluidy Tam and the Muscovite de'il. He was a Scottish Royalist General in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.

  Born in Linlithgowshire; the son of Thomas Dalyell of the House of the Binns, Linlithgowshire; head of a cadet branch of the family of the Earls of Carnwath, and of Janet, daughter of the 1st Lord Bruce of Kinloss, Master of the Rolls in England.

  Legend has it that "Bluidy Tam" enjoyed on occasion a hand of cards with the Devil. During one of these games, the Devil losing threw the card table at the General. The Devil missed and the Table flew threw through the window and ended up in a pond on the grounds of the House of the Binns. This tale was passed down through generations of inhabitants of the Binns. In 1870 following a particularly hard drought, a Marble topped Card table was seen poking through the low waters of the pond. In 1930 the Mother of the present Tam Dalyell asked a local joiner to repair the legs on a table, only to find out that the - about to be retired - tradesman's first job was to retrieve said table from the pond.

  Outlaws on Pabay and The deal With The Devil

  By Amanda Moffet

  Pabay is a small island just off Skye. On Pabay are the ruins of a small chapel, built originally by St. Columba's monks. After the chapel fell into disuse and the monks left, it became a refuge for outlaws 'broken men' and robbers. They caused much trouble on the main island of Skye. Legend has it this bunch of criminals met their end in a very unusual way. They had, of course many enemies and their chief decided to rid himself of them all with the help of the Devil. The band made up a huge fire and roasted three cats alive chanting the appropriate spells, an infallible way of raising the Evil One if you get the spells right. It was told that several minor demons appeared, but the robber chief insisted that he would only deal with the Devil himself.

  Eventually Satan rose from the earth and asked their will. The robber chief told the Devil to kill two men whom the chief feared. The Devil responded "The price of two lives is two souls". This worried the gang and an argument began. Now, the chief had been known to boast that if he could only get swords that would not melt, he would be able to conquer Hell and capture Satan himself. The Devil reminded him of this and accepted his challenge, offering to kill all his enemies if he won the battle. The Devil was to fight the band for their souls 'here on the shore where swords do not melt.' The robber chief was so arrogant that he agreed. A fearful battle ensued, the Devil and his legions overcoming all the bandits who were armed with claymores or broadswords but failed to harm the chief, whose sword had a cross hilt. Suddenly a great black cat jumped from nowhere onto the chief's sword arm, causing him to drop his blade. He was never seen again.

  The blackened stones where the evil fire was lit, on the beach near Ardnish can still be seen, proof to the truth of this tale.

  Tales From The Cuillins; The Beginning

  By Amanda Moffet

  The Cuillins or The Black Cuillins to be more specific are as dark as their name, a mass of pinnacles and sharp rock ridges violently indented against the sky. It is of no surprise that they play host to many legends. This one concerns how these mountains came to be formed in the first place.

  Way back at the beginning lived Cailleach Bhur ( The Hag of the Ridges ), this was also another name for Winter. She lived on Ben Wyvis and came west to boil her linen in her washing pot, the dangerous whirlpool of Corryvreckan. She was a fearsome and powerful person who had made Scotland by dropping into the sea a creel of peat and rock which she had brought with her from the north. After her linen had boiled well she would spread them to bleach on Storr. It was said that while the hag was on Skye no good weather was to be got at all. Now 'Spring' came here because the hag held the maiden he loved prisoner. The Hag would only release the maiden when she washed a brown fleece white.

  There was a great battle between Spring and the Hag, he fought with her, but she was stronger. He appealed to the Sun to help him and the Sun flung a spear at The Hag as she walked on the moor; it was so fiery and hot it scorched the earth where it struck, a great blister, six miles long and six miles wide, grew and grew until it burst and flung forth the Cuillins as a glowing, molten mass. It stood there for many, many months glowing and smoking. The Hag ran away and hid beneath the roots of a holly and dared not return.

  Even now, her snow is useless against the fiery hills.

  Merlin in Drumelzier

&
nbsp; By Donald Cuthill

  It is said, according Scottish myth, that Merlin, the wizard from Arthurian legend, is buried in the Borders town of Drumelzier.

  However, there are many different versions of what actually happened to Merlin, ranging from his own prophecy of a "triple death" to slightly more supernatural accounts of him being imprisoned in a tree and left to die by Morgan le Fay, another Arthurian legend, or being entranced by spiders and fairies who bound him in their threads until he completely vanished from human sight.

  The account which seems to be most prevalent, and perhaps most realistic, is the story of Merlin predicting his own death.

  Sometime during the 570s, the Battle of Arderyth (or Ardderyd) saw Gwenddoleu ap Ceidio take on King Riderch Hael of Strathclyde in a bloody skirmish. The specific location of the battle is unknown, with some believing that it was fought in modern day Peebles, whilst others have claimed that it took place near Airdrie, or even down in Cumbria, in the north-west of England. However, it was said to have been a particularly bloody and violent fight that saw the annihilation of Gwenddoleu's army. Merlin was the bard to Gwenddoleu and fought on the losing side. Legend has it that Merlin, witnessing such carnage, was driven into a state of insanity and fled to the depths of the Caledonian Forest. It was in the forest where he apparently met Saint Mungo (also known as St. Kentigern). St. Mungo, an apostle from the late sixth century, was born in the Fife coastal village of Culross and was the founder and patron saint of Glasgow. Merlin and Mungo spent a long time talking, and it was during this meeting where it is said that Merlin was converted from Paganism to Christianity. It was not long after his meeting with St. Mungo, Merlin had a sense of foreboding. He felt that something was not quite right and then suddenly he had a premonition of his own murder; what he described as a "triple death" where he would be cudgeled, drowned and stabbed.