What’s the perfect story you’ve learn or heard at a Historic Scotland web site? Alongside the kings, queens and politics, there’s all method of fascinating folklore, handed down by the centuries in fantasy, legend and tune.
They’re the form of tales which have all the time been good for sharing across the hearth on darkish, cosy nights. So, because the winter wind whistles previous our window, we thought we’d begin January with 5 of the perfect. Collect spherical…
Origin tales
You’ll discover the Maiden Stone, a 3-metre tall granite cross slab, simply off the A96 just a few miles exterior Inverurie in Aberdeenshire. Native folklore accommodates many tales regarding the origins of this highly effective piece of Pictish sculpture.
One story encompasses a native lady, the daughter of the laird of Balquhain. Supposedly, the younger maiden made a guess with a mysterious stranger. The phrases? She may bake an excellent provide of bread in a faster time than he may construct a highway to the summit of close by Bennachie.
In an unlucky twist, the stranger turned out to be the Satan and made mild work of the hilltop highway. When he returned to say the maiden as his reward, she turned to flee. The Satan grabbed her and he or she was turned to stone on the spot.
Dancing with the Satan
The Satan pops up once more in one other tall story from the opposite facet of the Cairngorm Mountains.
Lengthy earlier than Ruthven Barracks had been constructed, the location was occupied by a fort which served as one of many “lairs” of the infamous Alexander Stewart, 1st Earl of Buchan. His ruthless use of energy earnt him the nickname “the Wolf of Badenoch.”
In line with legend, he was staying at Ruthven on a wild evening when a mysterious determine dressed from head to foot in black appeared on the fort gates. He challenged the Wolf to a sport of chess.
By morning, the storm was over and the unusual visitor had disappeared. However nobody within the fort was left alive. Servants had been discovered exterior the fort partitions, struck by lightning. The Wolf of Badenoch lay lifeless within the banqueting corridor. Had he misplaced a sport of chess to the Satan?
What lies beneath…
A fever had ravaged the island, and the 4 households who lived right here needed to be evacuated. When the roofs of their cottages had been dismantled, the construction of an historical church was found.
The island is a crucial place in Norse folklore. It’s related to the magical island of Hildaland, house to the mysterious Finfolk. These sea-dwelling shape-shifters are stated to come back ashore in the course of the spring and summer season months, with the purpose of abducting – after which marrying – unsuspecting people.
Worry not, because it’s believed one can esacpe the clutches of the Finfolk by exploiting their weak spot for silver. Throwing cash out of your pockets ought to distract them lengthy sufficient to make an escape. Perhaps we shouldn’t go for a cashless society simply but?!
A pleasant ghost
In the event you take a go to to Dryburgh Abbey within the Borders, you might simply catch of a glimpse of a spirit who was making “pleasant ghosts” cool centuries earlier than Casper got here onto the scene.
The earliest sighting of the abbey ghost, often known as “Fats Lips”, got here within the mid-1700s. A widow who was staying within the abbey vaults after the 1745 Jacobite Rising reported seeing the spirit, small in stature with heavy iron boots.
Fats Lips was not solely pleasant, but additionally quite helpful. The abbey visitor claimed that she went away someday solely to return and discover her room had been tidied by the ghost. Fats Lips had even managed to dry the ground by stomping round in his massive boots!
Tunnels and Treasure
Let’s end our journey in one other abbey, over in Culross within the Kingdom of Fife. The abbey was based as a Cistercian monastery within the 1200s and was house to a thriving neighborhood of monks and lay brothers till the Reformation of 1560.
The Culross monks had a status as producers of tremendous books, serving to to inventory the Chapel Royal library at Stirling Citadel. However, if an outdated story is to be believed, it’s not simply literary treasure that’s related to the abbey.
In the event you learn European folklore, it received’t be lengthy till secret passageways and hidden tunnels seem. They’re a standard function of myths and legends, most of the time linking historic builings like castles, nation mansions – and abbeys.
It’s stated {that a} gentleman in a golden chair is ready in a single such tunnel at Culross. Anybody who is ready to discover him will change into the recipient of all types of precious treasures.
Need extra lore?
Kilchurn Citadel beside Loch Awe. In line with folklore, ‘the Large Beast of Loch Awe’ will be heard cracking ice on the loch in winter
In the event you’re in want of one other folklore repair, you may use the Historic Setting Scotland web site or PastMap to discover a historic place near you. Likelihood is there’s a curious story related to it!
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