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Scottish Myths & Legends

Donald
Merlin in Drumelzier
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It is said, according Scottish myth, that Merlin, the wizard from Arthurian legend, is buried in the Borders town of Drumelzier. However, there are many different versions of what actually happened...
Donald
The Beaton Doctors of Mull
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The Beatons of Mull, the famous 'Ollamnh Muileach', were a family of doctors, whose origins can be traced back to Béthune in France, and are said to have been very talented with a rather unique medi...
Donald
The Pharaoh's daughter and Scotland
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The story of how Scotland got it's name is an interesting one. Tradition has it that the legend starts back in ancient Egypt, where a pharaoh's daughter, called Scota, and two Greek princes formed...
Topics: Myth, Picts, Scota
Donald
Thomas the Rhymer
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Thomas Learmonth from Ercildoune (now Earlston), better known as Thomas the Rhymer was a 13th century Laird, poet and a supposed prophet. Legend tells us how Thomas the Rhymer went out walking one ...
Donald
Clach na Bratach
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The Clach na Bratach is considered to be the most precious relic of the Clan Robertson. It is a rock crystal charm stone and was unearthed when the chief's standard pole was pulled from the ground w...
Amanda Moffet
The man who escaped a hanging, a tale from Arran
While camping on the Isle of Arran we visited Brodick Castle which is on the east coast of the island. A castle owned mainly by the Hamiltons, it was used recently as a hunting lodge. In front of th...
Topics: Arran, Hamilton
Amanda Moffet
Ploughman's Charms
While I was in Biggar the other weekend I visited the museum and came across this interesting story, thought i'd share it. Whenever a ploughmn turned up a stone with hole in it he kept it and hung i...
Amanda Moffet
The Witches of Logie
This weekend we have been staying at the lovely Witches Craig campsite, just a stones throw (well maybe a few throws) away from The Wallace Monument at Abbey Craig. Next to the campsite are the remain...
Amanda Moffet
ScotClans to attend Lafayette seance 100 years after hi...
Tonight we are attending possibly the weirdest event I'm possibly ever going to go to - a seance on the place where the famous illusionist, The Great Lafayette died 100 years ago - today!. A centur...
Amanda Moffet
The Scottish Bodach
A Bodach is a mythical spirit or creature, rather like the bogeyman. The word is a Scottish Gaelic term for "old man". Historically its meaning is "mature person", from bod "penis" and the suffix -ach...
Amanda Moffet
Clan MacPhee/MacFie Descended from a Selkie
The origins of Clan MacFie/MacPhee and all it's name variations are said to be descended from a Selkie or seal woman. Selkies are a mythical people who can change from human form to seal form with ...
Topics: MacFie, MacPhee
Nadine Lee
The Legend of Twinlaw Cairns
The Twinlaw Cairns, Lammermuir Hills, East Lothian This weekend I visited my friends in the countryside, as I had heard there was going to be snow. Being from a semi-tropical climate, snow is still...
Amanda Moffet
Evil Laird Pringle and the Haunting of Buckholm Tower
One evening in the 1680s, as the light was starting to fade and the colour of day drained away turning eveything to grey an ominous dark character can be seen striding over Ladhope Moor with two lar...
Topics: Clan Pringle
Amanda Moffet
MacQueen's battle with the last Wolf
One of the visitors to our site has told us about a MacQueen legend. She found it on a microfiche taken from a book published in the about Clan MacQueen, which is now sadly out of print. There...
Amanda Moffet
The Kind Scottish Wulver
Wulvers are ofter called werewolves, but legend shows they are quite different. Said to inhabit the Shetland Islands off the coast of northeast Scotland. The ancient Celts believed that the Wulv...