Tales of terror in the Scottish mountains
Ben Macdui – the UK’s second highest mountain (climbed by Trail this issue, page 48) – has a long history of terrifying encounters. And it’s not alone...
When one person reports a sense of foreboding, an unwelcoming presence, a feeling of blind terror, it is easy to dismiss; but when many individuals recount similar experiences, it does begin to make you wonder...
A documented sighting of the Big Grey Man of Ben Macdui was recorded as early as 1791, by the poet James Hogg:
“It was a giant blackamoore, at least thirty feet high, and equally proportioned, and very near me. I was actually struck powerless with astonishment and terror. My first resolution was, if I could keep the power of my limbs, to run home and hide myself below the blankets with my Bible beneath my head.”
Local folklore probably pre-dated these documented reports; but the myth of the Grey Man was given some credibility in 1925 when a respected mountaineer, Professor Norman Collie, reported to the Cairngorms Club on a terrifying experience that left him fleeing the heights of Ben Macdui:
“I was returning from the cairn on the summit in a mist when I began to think I heard something else than merely the noise of my own footsteps. Every few steps I took I heard a crunch, then another crunch as if someone was walking after me but taking steps three or four times the length of my own. I said to myself ‘this is all nonsense’. I listened
and heard it again but could see nothing in the mist. As I walked on and the eerie crunch, crunch sounded behind me I was seized with terror and took to my heels, staggering blindly among the boulders for four or five miles nearly down to Rothiemurchus Forest. Whatever you make of it I do not know, but there is something very queer about the top of Ben MacDhui [sic] and I will not go back there again by myself, I know.”
Following these early reports were many more chilling accounts of a gripping, inexplicable fear and a compulsion to flee, sometimes over the edge of a cliff. Many detailed a grey figure and the sound of crunching footsteps, keeping the legend of the Big Grey Man alive today.
But reports of hauntings are not confined to Ben Macdui. Trail reader Peter Gregory told us about his own more recent experiences: “Me and my pal finished work early on a Friday and decided to drive up to Bonny Scotland to knock Beinn Bhuidhe off. Bikes loaded, wild camping kit in, we were off. Five hours later we were pedalling up the lovely Glen Fyne. With camp set (next to the old bothy), we decided to climb it there and then, as it was such a gorgeous evening. The walk finished, we got back to camp in the dark. As we sat having our celebratory drink, we could hear a child shouting. Our headtorches were off, and we sat there and saw no other light. As quickly as it started, it stopped again.
“The next morning we decided to have breakfast in The Old Smokery on the banks of Loch Fyne. As we were getting served, the old lady asked us if we’d had a good night, as she had seen us set off. ‘Oh yes,’ I replied. She then said, ‘And did ya hear Angus, the wee boy that haunts the bothy?’ At which point me and my mate just looked at each other and stuttered, ‘Yes, I think we did...’ So, fellow hill-folk, don’t let this little story put you off from camping there... just make sure you take a friend!”