Contemporaries believed William Wallace had supernatural powers

SCOTTISH hero William Wallace was believed to have “supernatural” powers by his followers, according to new research.

Historian Ron Halliday said yesterday that while little documentary evidence survived relating to the freedom fighter’s life, there were many tales relating to his supposed powers.

Mr Halliday said the tales throw new light on how Wallace was seen by ordinary Scots in his own time.

He said: “There are many stories about Wallace, but they’ve been washed out of the historical accounts.

“This supernatural side has largely been forgotten, but to understand Wallace better we should acknowledge it.”

In stories passed down by the poet Blind Harry and others, Wallace receives visions in balls of fire, meets ghostly f igures and even battles headless foes.

Mr Halliday said: “Of course, these things seem alien to us now, and that’s why they are ignored in the historical accounts, but it was seen differently in the 13th century.”

Mr Halliday said such legends helped explain Wallace’s appeal to people in the late 13th century.

Mr Halliday said: “The idea of Wallace the mystic has not survived in to the 21st century but that does not mean it should be forgotten.

“It would have inspired people to join him. They wanted to see him as a superman of his time, someone beyond the ordinary.

Mr Halliday (63), who has spent decades studying supernatural mysteries, describes the phenomenon in his book Famous Scots and the Supernatural.

PA. A stained glass window depiction of wallace from the monument at stirling.