The Ghosts of Culloden

On 12 October 1911, a local newspaper – The North Star and Farmers’ Chronicle – reported a ghostly sighting. The article reads as follows:

“In the Highlands there still lingers a belief in ghosts. The latest story which has come to our ears is that an uncanny visitor from “the Great Beyond” has recently been seen at untimeous hours on the railway line in the vicinity of “Prince Charlie’s Bridge,” in the Culloden district. The apparition, clad in the garb of our ancestors, is said to present a most ferocious appearance. One party whose path the “spook” crossed claims that he gave chase – he was evidently courageous although superstitious – and that all of a sudden the unwelcome stranger “vanished in air”. The natives of the district state that it is the sceptre of one of the warriors who fought on black Drumossie Moor. Very likely!”

Our Personal Ghostly Encounters…

In early November 2017, Andy and I were walking in Culloden Woods at dawn. There was not a breath of wind in the woods, or indeed over all of Inverness. Everything was still and quiet. It was a beautiful, crisp sunny morning, with air so clean that it felt like it cleansed the soul…

Deep in the heart of the woods on the Jacobite Trail, and just at the entrance to Prince Charlie’s Bridge, there is a large stone beneath a very old tree (photo above). This stone is called the Lord President’s Seat. It was a favoured resting place of Duncan Forbes, Lord President of the Court of Session and owner of Culloden House. Duncan would meet with his love, Mary Rose of Kilravock Castle, which is not far from the Battlefield, and it’s said that he would rest here to admire the view on his way back to Culloden House. Back then these woods weren’t here, so he had magnificent views over the Moray Firth, Ben Wyvis and the hills and fishing villages of the Black Isle…

As we approached the Lord President’s Seat, we were no more than a few feet from it when suddenly a large tree directly to the left of us began shaking violently, shedding leaves at an alarming rate. Yet there was no wind, and no other tree was affected. It wasn’t any kind of animal, as it would have had to have been a dozen large animals to cause such a commotion. Yet it looked like something enormous was moving through it. Leaves fell around our ears from all parts of the tree, branches swayed left and right… while all other surrounding trees stood silent and still…

After around 20 seconds, the ‘ball of energy‘ moved diagonally across the path in front of us to the opposite side and into another large tree, this time slightly behind us. The energy was so evident in the branches that we could almost see the shape of it as it engulfed the tree. The violent shaking began once again, leaves shedding all around us, while the first tree returned to complete calm and stillness…

While each of these trees shook in turn, all else around them remained still and peaceful, yet something was there drawing attention to itself and certainly wanted our attention.

We waited until the second tree became still, and then everything returned to normality – a beautiful deep calm that had accompanied us during our whole walk along the Jacobite Trail that morning.

Andy, who isn’t one to be taken by flights of fancy, looked at me bewildered and intrigued and said “If I hadn’t just witnessed that myself, I would not have believed anyone who’d told me they’d seen it!“.

Whatever was in the woods with us that day did not leave us with a bad feeling. To be honest, we felt somewhat honoured that something had chosen to show itself to us. Yet it wasn’t until recently that we discovered that this is exactly where the ghostly apparition was reported to have been seen in the newspaper article from 1912.

Ten Years Earlier…

In Autumn 2007, during what must have been around the same time of year as the above incident, I was walking alone with my Border Collie through Culloden Woods heading north on the route back home. I stopped to take a photo in a very picturesque spot just after crossing Prince Charlie’s Bridge.

I immediately noticed that the photo showed a strange mist right beside me on the path. I was very confused, as there was no mist anywhere near me on that day. So I took another photo before moving off again, and this time the air was clear. This left me feeling very unsettled however, as I was very much alone in the words, with no one else in sight. I carried on walking with my dog, but had goosebumps and felt cold.

It wasn’t until I actually uploaded the photo to this post yesterday that I took a closer look at the shape of the mist, which in a way, I almost wish I hadn’t! I had never realised before that there is a very distinct skull shape in the mist in the top right corner of my photo. I was certainly not expecting that, and it left me really unsettled last night. I only intended to share the story about the mist itself. It had taken me an age to find the photo, and thankfully I had kept a record of it because the experience has always remained with me.

So this was taken once again in the same place beside Prince Charlie’s Bridge, but whilst the shaking trees were on the south side of the bridge, this was on the north side.

A Stange Mist on Culloden Battelfield…

In October 2018 we were delivering a private tour for a couple. We arrived at Culloden Battlefield first thing in the morning in sunshine.

While we were at the Cairn, a mist rolled in at the pace of a person running. The mist moved precisely up the Jacobite line, along the path which follows the blue flags and the Clan markers (photo on right). If you’ve visited the battlefield you’ll know the path.

All of a sudden the mist distinctly changed direction. It began ‘charging’ diagonally across the battlefield in exactly the same direction, and from the same start point, as the first Jacobite charge during the Battle. We stood there in awe, watching what looked liked hundreds of ghosts literally charging in front of us.

You can watch it yourself below… both Andy and I captured it on our phones, so both are included in the below video.

The Prisoners’ Stone. Having lived in Culloden for many decades, it has always felt like sacred land here. The sadness can be felt. There will no doubt be many other stories of the souls who still wander this area, but in this post we wanted to share our own personal experiences with you.

Living so close to where all of this history unfolded has affected me deeply for a very long time. I have walked through the Culloden Woods at dawn many hundreds of times, often around the Clootie Well, to find that tears were falling. The feeling was a depth of sadness that I couldn’t put into words.

One of the most sacred places in Culloden is the The Prisoners’ Stone in the centre of the Woods. This is where 19 captured Jacobites soldiers were taken to be executed in the days after the Battle. Eighteen of those men lost their lives in the most atrocious ways, but one managed to escape death – John Fraser – though it took him many months before he could even walk again. His life was saved by a young Hanovarian Officer who found him lying by the stone.

You can read, and listen to, his remarkable story here in our blog post – The Prisoners’ Stone.