On 17th August 1865, a freak rainstorm covered about 3 acres of Maxwelltown, Dumfries in froglets. A fortnight before, the tracks at Lanark Railway Station were covered in tadpoles after 5 minutes of rain.
Greenock Advertiser. 22nd Aug 1865. pg.2
The Scotsman. 24th Aug 1865. pg.4
Sarah Dalrymple, Countess of Dumfries (1654-1744) was said to have had suffered from a “distemper” that caused her to fly across the room and around the garden. Was it witchcraft? None could say. Was she definitely 100% flying about? Robert Wodrow was absolutely certain.
That Sarah could fly was apparently common knowledge at the time and after her death. In a pasquil (a satirical poem) lampooning the Stairs family, a poet had this to say about her:
The airie fiend, for Stairs hath land in Air,
verse from “Satyre on the Familie of Stairs”
Possess another daughter for ther share,
Who, without wings, can with her rumple flye.
No middling-foull did ever mount so high;
Can skip o’er mountains, and o’er steiples soare,
A way to petticoats ne’re known before.
Her flight’s not useless, though she nothing catch;
She’s good for letters when they neid despatch.
When doors and windows shutt, cage her at home,
She’le play the shittlecock through all the roume,
This high flown lady never trades a stair,
To mount her wyse Lord’s castles in the air–
Maidment, J. (ed) (1868) A Book of Scotish Pasquils 1568-1715 [sic]. William Paterson, Edinburgh. pg.179
Wodrow, R. (1842) Analecta: or, Materials for a history of remarckable providences; mostly relating to Scotch ministers and Christians. Vol. 2. Maitland Club, Glasgow pg.4
Thank you to @Flitcraft for letting me know about the pasquil.
Locharbriggs, north of Dumfries was traditionally the trysting place for all witches and warlocks in the area. The meetings were so terrifying and memorable for the locals they were used to tell folks’ age (I’m older than Tibbie Fleucher’s Hallowmass tryst).
In 1810, children in the Scottish Borders played “an old game” called “The Outs and the Ins”. Played without a bat, players ran between dools (bases). It may have been an older variant of rounders and baseball.
The first printed rules for rounders was in 1828
Cromek, R.H. (1810) Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway song: with historical and traditional notices relative to the manners and customs of the peasantry. T. Bensley, London. pp. 252-254