Supernatural Scotland

Roddy Martine has embarked upon a personal odyssey in search of the inexplicable and bizarre in every corner of Scotland. Time has no monopoly on the paranormal. From the days of Arthurian legend in the Scottish Borders to the prophecies of Highland seers in the twenty-first century, mysticism has never failed to fascinate. The past is always with us. We cannot escape from it, and we ignore it at our peril. In Scotland, with 2,000 years of documented history, we encounter reminders at every turn. Amongst the dozens of incidents recorded, the author tells us of the hostile presence at the Goblin Ha', the 37-foot vaulted chamber below the ruins of Yester Castle, which exerted enormous pressure on his chest and legs forcing him backwards - as well as extinguishing his torch and terrifying a dog. He investigates the mystery surrounding the burial of David Riccio, the murdered secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots, meets His Grace James IV, King of Scots, reborn as the playwright, A.J. Stewart, and reveals the terrible repercussions following attempts to steal cylindrical stones that have sat on the grave of the Chief of the Shaws at the Doune of Rothiemurchus, for 600 years. We are chilled by tales of the ghostly bagpipe music heard coming from Allenvale Cemetery in Aberdeen at midnight on Hogmanay, and intrigued by the controlling influence of the Jacobite songwriter Lady Nairne which lingers on at Ardblair Castle, in Perthshire. "Supernatural Scotland" is full of tales of ghosts and poltergeists, second sight, psychic phenomena, reincarnation, the small people and much, much more.