The peat-fire flame : folk-tales and traditions of the Highlands & Islands

THE PEAT-FIRE FLAME
countryside in ghostly form. A certain man, more
courageous than his neighbours, set out one night for
the spot where this ghost was seen most frequently. In self
protection, he took with him a Bible and a dirk. With the
dirk he described a circle on the ground around him,
whenever he observed the ghost. This prevented it from
approaching any nearer to him. In course of conversation
with the ghost, he obtained from him the confession that
he had concealed his neighbour's ploughshare at a certain
spot, and that not until that ploughshare had been returned
to its rightful owner would he be at peace.
Sure enough, the ploughshare was unearthed at the spot
indicated. And never thereafter did this ghost scare the
folks of Lochaber.
Ghost Light.
When an Edinburgh doctor, who some years ago was
staying at an inn at Broadford, went out after supper one
evening for a turn along the beach, he noticed far out in
the bay a very bright light, which he took to be a flare
ignited by fishermen. But the light came smoothly and
steadily toward the spot where he was standing. The
doctor described it as being like a globe of light, such as
one might find on a lamp-standard in an up-to-date city.
Whenever the light touched the shore, it disappeared
and a cloaked woman, bearing a child in her arms, now
hurried across the sand in front of him, and vanished in a
moment.
The doctor now returned to his quarters, and questioned
the innkeeper as to whether he was aware of any strange
occurrence that might have accounted for this unearthly
experience. With some reluctance the innkeeper told him
that, several years earlier, there had been a shipwreck in the
bay, and that a woman and child had been cast ashore, dead,
on the beach, just at the spot he described.
This weird apparition—if such it may be called—has not
been seen often. But the innkeeper stated that occasionally
it is observed by the natives of the district about the time
of year when the shipwreck aforesaid occurred.
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