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

GHOST TALES AND HAUNTED PLACES
shadow. At length the old man reached Claggan farmhouse,
where, in passing by the front, he received some
temporary relief on finding that his escort had disappeared.
But no sooner had he reached the farther gable than he
again was confronted with this eerie creature. Terrorstricken,
he turned back, and dashed into the farmhouse,
where he fainted in the arms of its occupants.
When he came to, the MacKays, who were tenants of
Claggan Farm, addressed him : " What was it frightened
you, John? Were you seeing anything?"
John then proceeded to tell them of his experience with
the strange dog. By this time he was so unnerved that he
asked three or four of the younger men about the farm to
escort him the remaining mile of his journey to Ardtalnaig,
where his sister lived. But MacKay himself had been so
moved by the supernatural nature of John's story that he
would not hear of anyone quitting his hearth that night.
Also connected with Breadalbain is the folk-tale of a
ghost that attempted to lie its full length in an open coffin,
in order to demonstrate to those concerned that the coffin
was too short for the corpse for which it was intended.
There had died at one of the townships overlooking Loch
Tay a man, whose body the local joiner had measured for
kisting. On the evening of the day on which the coffin was
completed, a footsore and weary beggar came to the joiner's
door, seeking a night's shelter. The joiner's wife informed
him that, although there was no room available in the house,
she had no objection to his spending the night in her
husband's workshop, so long as he did not mind the empty
coffin lying on the bench. The wood-shavings, she
observed, would make a soft, clean bed for him.
The beggar was too weary that night to have any qualms
about accepting such an offer on account of an empty coffin
and scarcely a moment was he on his bed of shavings when
he noticed a spectre, shrouded in white, climb up on the
bench, and attempt to stretch itself out in the coffin that,
obviously, was too short for it. The spectre then vanished
and the beggar decided to make the best of his shelter until
morning.
" That coffin is too short for the body you want to put in
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