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

GHOST TALES AND HAUNTED PLACES
Inveravve House is situated on the grass-lands that stretch
between the base of Ben Cruachan, on the east, and the
shores of Loch Etive, on the north, and away to the west
beyond the Gaehc township of Taynuilt. Within earshot
of it flows the River Awe, roughly a mile from the point
at which it pours the overflow of Loch Awe into the tides
of western Argyll. One afternoon in the mid-summer of
last year, when searching this romantic countryside with
my camera, I arrived at Inverawe House when the bees
were bumming noisily in the tall, flowering trees, and the
sun-flecked lawn seemed to have taken on the hue of faerie.
" Tell me something about Ticonderoga and the ghost
that haunts your home " ! I said to the late laird, during
a light conversation that took place between us.
"Tell you about Ticonderoga and the ghost?" he
responded. " You probably know more about them than /
do. But I can tell you this. The ghost was seen the other
night ; and the maids now dread going near the haunted bit
"
of the house where he was seen !
Where Vegetation will not Grow.
Both in the Highlands and Islands there are innumerable
places, said to be haunted, where vegetation will not grow
at all, or where only certain weedy vegetation flourishes.
On the Island of Pabbay, in the Sound of Harris, is the
ruinous remnant of a stronghold that in ancient times went
by a Gaelic name signifying the Old Castle. The large
stones lying in the sandy hollow below the ruins are said to
be associated with a conflict fought many centuries ago
between the MacDonalds and the MacLeods; and the
Islanders dwelling in the Sound of Harris aver that grass
will never take root just at this spot. Of the history of the
Castle, little is known, except that in 1559 the notorious
usurper, Iain Dubh, came thither after he had been dislodged
from Dunvegan Castle by Tormod MacLeod and his
followers, who had succeeded in persuading the warder to
surrender the keep to its lawful owner. Iain Dubh managed
to escape to his galley, moored in readiness by Dunvegan's
walls. He sailed for Pabbay, but on arrival was refused
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