How to hunt a vampire
FORGOTTEN SCOTS STORIES
His research into the astonishing but forgotten tales of Scotland have offered Jack Mclachlan a little light relief from working on his PHD.
But the jaw-dropping tales unearthed from the archives and posted online have also entertained and intrigued Scots during lockdown.
“In Scotland, we don’t get taught much about our own history,” said the 29- year- old St Andrews University student. “It’s mostly the First and Second Worldwar, key battles like Bannockburn, politics and historical figures. You don’t learn about the things ordinary folk experienced through the centuries. I became fascinated with these obscure stories that were big news centuries ago but forgotten now.”
Jack, who posts his finds on his website Old Weird Scotland, added: “The ethos is the Scots saying ‘ Tak tent o sma things’. Instead of focusing on major events, so I try to find less well- known stories.”
Jack, from Fort Augustus in the Highlands, started sharing his historical hobby online six months ago.
But it’s been during lockdown that his posts have truly captured public attention, as his growing fanbase is now informing his research.
“This was a way for me to share tidbits I thought people might find interesting. I never thought it would turn into a big thing, but it’s taken on legs recently. In March, all I saw on Twitter was Covid19. It was all doom and gloom but a lot of people use social media as an escape. So I decided to ask people to suggest locations for me.
“I’m working through about 150 requests at the moment. People say they lose themselves for an hour or so in the stories and that it helps take their mind off things. I was asked to look for something about Pitlochry and I’m told that the wild story I found became the ‘talk of the town’ that day,” he said.
Jack’s research involves scouring obscure history books, websites and digital libraries and newspaper archives.
His findings include the day a circus lion escaped in Pitlochry, the bizarre tale of a group of Glaswegian children hunting for “the Gorbals vampire” and the skeleton of a “merboy” caught by Newhaven oyster dredgers in 1770.
“You just couldn’t make some of these things up so I’m never short of things to post,” added Jack.“it’s a passion project for me of course but I’m really glad that other people are enjoying it as well.”
Here, Jack shares some of his favourite examples of Old Weird Scotland.