At a small loch between Broadford and Sleat, in Skye, called “The Lakelet of Black Trout” (Lochan nan dubh bhreac), thirty or forty years ago, the figure of a young woman with a coat about her head was commonly to be seen at night in the neighbourhood of and on the public road that passes that way. She went by the name Luideag, i.e. the Rag, or slovenly female. She did not answer when spoken to, and disappeared as silently and mysteriously as she made her appearance. The place is lonely and far from houses, and there was no conceivable reason why any one, much less a female, should nightly frequent it. An excise-man passing the way once spoke to Luideag, first in English and then in Gaelic, but she answered not a word. A man was found lying dead on the road at the place, and she never appeared afterwards.
Lochan Doimeig.
On the skirts of Schiehallion, the steepest and one of the highest hills in the kingdom, there is a small loch or tarn, near Crossmount, in Lower Rannoch, the vicinity of which about 50 years ago was the scene of strange terrors at night. The road leading over the shoulder of the hill to Weem lay along the shores of this lake, and, where it was crossed by a small stream that falls into the loch, those who passed the way after dark were scared by strange sights. After crossing the ford the traveller was accompanied for about twenty yards by a dog, a he-goat, a dark moving mass, or some other object, which, from the unaccountable manner of its appearance and disappearance, could not be deemed earthly. A native of Kilchonan, in Rannoch, who had been for some time in the south as a gardener, came on a visit to his friends, and had to pass in the neighbourhood of the loch. It was ascertained that at Cashieville (Cois-a-bhile), where he left the strath of the Tay to cross the skirts of Schiehallion, he had taken a drink of porter. It was fourteen days after before it was ascertained he never reached Kilchonan. A search was instituted; men gathered from Appin and Athole and Rannoch, and the whole country round about, and continued the search for three or four days, even as far as Glenlyon, but without success. One of the exploring parties when above Crossmount was met by a woman, who advised them to search round Lochan Doimeig, for she had dreamt last night she was cutting rushes there. Soon after a man met them, who gave them the same advice, and said he had had the same dream. On going round the loch they found the dead gardener lying on a green mound on the brink of the stream, already mentioned as crossing the road, in the attitude in which he had stretched himself to take a drink.
RETURN OF THE DEAD.
A former minister of East-side, Skye, was in his lifetime addicted to visiting his cattle fold. His whole heart was given to his herds, and after his death his ghost was to be seen revisiting his former haunts. An old man undertook to meet and lay the ghost. The two met and saluted each other in the usual manner. When shaking hands, however, the man, instead of his hand, offered the ploughshare. After that the ghost never came back.
In the same neighbourhood, about thirty years ago, a man died suddenly. His wife watched the cows in harvest soon after this, lest they should leave the fank or enclosure, in which they were put at nights to keep them from wandering into the crops. She had occasion one night to leave her charge and go to a shop two miles away. On her return she went to close a gap (beàrn) in the fold (buaile). She found there her late husband, who told her not to be anxious, as he was watching in her stead. Every night after this he was visible to anyone who chose to go and look for him. He even came to the house to ceilidh, i.e. to while away the time, a favourite recreation in the Highlands (λέσχη of the ancient Greeks) of spending the evening, by gathering in a neighbour’s house to listen to gossip and tales and idle talk. The dead man’s attentions at last made the wife resolve to sell all she had and go to America. On the day of the sale the cattle could not be gathered; they seemed to be taken possession of by an undefinable terror, and the sale and projected emigration had to be abandoned. A little bird hovering about was evidently the cause of the wildness of the cattle. After this day the visits of the dead man ceased.
DONALD GORM’S GHOST.
In 1616 a batch of West Highland and Island chiefs were brought before the Privy Council in Edinburgh, and bound over in restrictions as to the quantity of wine they were respectively to use in their houses. The narrative upon which the Privy Council proceeded is quoted by Gregory (History of the Western Highlands, p. 395): “The great and extraordinary excesse in drinking of wyne, commonlie usit among the commonis and tenantis of the Yllis is not only ane occasioun of the beastlie and barbarous cruelties and inhumanities that fallis oute amongis thame, to the offens and displeasour of God, and contempt of law and justice; but that it drawis numberis of thame to miserable necessitie and povartie, sua they are constrainit, quhen they want from their awne, to take from their nichtbours.”[46] Among these lawless and reckless chiefs was Donald Gorm Mor (Big Blue Donald), of Sleat, in Skye, the then Lord Macdonald of the Isles. He was prevented from attending the Council by sickness, but ratified all their proceedings. “He named Duntulm, a castle of his family in Trouterness (in Skye), as his residence; and six household gentlemen and an annual consumption of four tun of wine was allowed him.” He died that same year, and was succeeded by his nephew, Donald Gorm Og (Young Blue Donald). So far history; the following tradition is well known in Skye:
Some family document went amissing, and its loss was likely to be of serious consequence to young Donald Gorm. At the same time the figures of Donald Gorm Mor and two companions were repeatedly seen on the road leading to Duntulm Castle. Efforts were made to accost them, but the three figures passed those who met them in some mysterious manner without being noticed, and without giving any opportunity of being accosted. They were then seen to enter the castle. An old man of the neighbourhood advised that seven staves of pine (gathannan caol giuthais), according to others seven spindles of oak (seachd dealgun daraich), with fire at their points, should be taken, and entry be made into the room in which the ghosts each day took up their quarters. This was done, and the phantoms, Donald Gorm Mor and his two companions, were found drinking. To give confidence to the intruders, that they might hear his tale, Donald said:
“I was in Edinburgh last night,