Witch! This was perhaps the most fearsome word encountered by Kathrin Key, resident of the small fishing town of Newburgh in Fife. Witches were powerful. They could curse and cure, make cattle sick, kill children and fly broomsticks. Their magical abilities came from the devil. Satan! Auld Nick! In order to gain that power, they [...]
Isobel Gowdie was a difficult assignment for us. Spooky Scotland has taken us to many haunted destinations. However, it seems that we pass through Auldearn on a regular occurrence to get to many other spooky sites: Cawdor Castle, Rait Castle, the Clava Cairns and Culloden Moor to name a few. On the surface, Auldearn appears [...]
Between 1563 and 1763 Scotland was a country in flux and the resulting paranoia fueled the Scottish Witch Trials. Belief in witchcraft was common during the Middle Ages, but the leaders of the Catholic church were largely skeptical, seeing it as folklore rather than something sinister. Lawyers were only interested in cases were harm [...]
The crowds gathered at Chanonry Point, a spit of land which extends into the Moray Firth, between the Black Isle towns of Fortrose and Rosemarkie. The curse proclaiming the downfall of the house of Seaforth was still ringing in their ears. Isabella, Countess of Seaforth, was undeterred. She would have her revenge upon the man [...]
At Spooky Scotland we were very excited to get the following article published in The Spooky Isles, a website with a large following. You can also read our article at Janet Horne, The Burning of the Last Witch in Scotland. Ignorance and fear make dangerous bed fellows! In the wake of the Protestant Reformation, a frenzied [...]