v. to transfer milk from a neighbour’s cow to another by magic. Spells were cast using a tether made from a human hair rope. A skill believed to be held by witches and Highlanders.
Facts for Farmers – Materials fror Land-owners about Domestic Animals, Gardens and Vineyards, Edited by Solon Robinson in Two Volumens New York, A.J.Johnson 1873
In September 1954, about 200 schoolchildren (some as young as 4) invaded the Southern Necropolis in the Gorbals, armed with sharpened sticks, stones, and penknives. When the police arrived, they were told that everyone was there to kill a 7ft vampire with iron teeth who had eaten two of their schoolmates.
Genuinely scared, the children patrolled the grounds looking for the vampire. The next night, another massive crowd of children scaled the walls after the gates were locked. Gravediggers, cemetery officials, and the police couldn’t keep the throngs of children out of the grounds. A journalist at the scene was begged by the children to help them: “Hiv ye come tae shoot him, Mister? Kill him sae we can sleep tonight!”.
One of my favourite cases of mass hysteria, the whole ordeal was blamed on scary comic books, and compelled the MP for the Gorbals to introduce the Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Eliz2/3-4/28/contents) the following year.
A poem read to the children “Jenny wi the Airn Teeth”, by Alexander Anderson about a bogle that eats naughty children may also have a lot to do with it!:
“…Jenny wi’ the airn teeth, Come an’ tak’ the bairn:
Tak’ him to your ain den, Where the bowgie bides, But first put baith your big teeth In his wee plump sides;”
Jenny wi the Airn Teeth, A. Anderson
References
The Scotsman, 18th March 2016.https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/gorbals-vampire-and-monster-hunt-shook-glasgow-1480233
Five “cursed” stones protect the grave of Seath Mór Sgorfhiaclach in the Doune of Rothiemurchus. Anyone molesting the stones is visitied by an Bodach an Duin (the spirit of the Doune) After several cases of illness and death, an iron grate now keeps the stones from being touched.
Victims of the Bodach:
1800 – English footman throws a stone in the Spey. 4 days later stone has returned, footman is found drowned.
1940s – Journalist lifts stone above head. Killed in car accident same day.
1978 – Mr Leslie Walker touches stone. Comes down with a 6 week mystery illness with high fever. A friend of Mr Walker rearranges the stones and dies of cerebral haemorrhage in the cemetery the next day. A third friend who was with them hospitalized with stomach pain.
An iron grate was installed sometime after 1983 for public safety.
John Fian, executed 1591, was said to have accidentally seduced a cow instead of a young woman he liked. He asked her brother to get “her private hairs” for a spell, but her mother (being a witch also) gave him hair from an udder instead. Sorcerer no, perv yes.
A old story goes that “wee Pechs” (Picts) from Rutherglen built Glasgow Cathedral using tunnel network under the Clyde to get to work. A piper and his dog tried to find the route but never came back. His pipes were last heard under Dalmarnock.
Abt. 1770, a supposed “merboy” was caught by Newhaven oyster dredgers and was shown at Leith races, giving weight to merfolk as a “true species” i.e. not all were mer-maids. It was apparently preserved and kept in the museum of Alexander Weir of Edinburgh
a “faked” mermaid skeleton, probably made in Japan in the 18th century.
Crossing the moor and links between Embo House and the sea, locals would see “spectral hosts” that would charge and repel each other. Many would not take the path near sunrise, when the apparitions, thought to be ghosts from the Battle of Embo, would appear.
The Laird of Tillicoultry punched a priest after an argument about not paying church dues. After the laird died, his fist kept bursting out of his grave, punishment for his sin. He was reinterred, but the fist kept rising. Locals rolled a giant stone onto his grave to keep it by his side.
This is said to be the origin of the Scots saying “Yer haund will wag abune the grave” –said to children who dared strike a parent. (The grave is in Tillicoultry Old Kirkyard)
