NAIRN VOICES: What are the most haunted places in Nairnshire?
Nairn Voices - by Nairn Museum Curator, Annie MacDonald
Halloween is fast approaching, making this the perfect time to explore some of the most haunted sites in Nairnshire, drawing from local folklore and legends.
Whether or not you believe in spirits, this local lore helps us think differently about the buildings and landmarks of this historic county.
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Rait Castle
Rait Castle has sat in ruins for centuries. The crumbling walls of this Medieval hall house hold a genuinely shocking ghost story certain to send shivers down your spine. Rait Castle originally belonged to the Comyn (Cumming) family, and the legend tells of a bitter rivalry between two clans: the Cummings and the Mackintoshes. It is said that the Chief of the Cummings invited the Mackintoshes to a great feast, promising to end their feud. Under the ancient laws of Highland hospitality, if hosts broke bread with their visitors, they would be bound to prevent any harm from falling upon them. Thus, it was a breach of this most sacred tradition that the cunning Cumming Chief secretly intended to slaughter his guests in cold blood at this banquet.
However, Chief’s own daughter secretly loved a young Mackintosh warrior, and so met with him, a distance from the castle beside a great boulder. This place is now known as “The Stone of the Maiden,” in honour of their tryst. She warned her lover of her father’s evil plan.
Thus the Mackintoshes attended the feast with their dirks hidden in their plaids. When the Cumming Chief signalled the start of the attack, the Mackintoshes turned tables on their enemies and stabbed their hearts with their daggers while they were still drawing their swords. The Cumming Chief realised that it must have been his daughter who spilled the plan, preparing the Mackintoshes for the ambush. He chased her to her bedroom, where she thought she might escape by lowering herself from a window. She held onto the window ledge by her fingertips by the time her father caught up. He drew his claymore, and struck down, severing both her hands! It’s said her handless ghost has walked the ruins of Rait every twilight hour since, weeping over the tragedy of that fateful night.
Culbin Forest
Under the tall pines of the Culbin forest, sits a whole village, buried in sand. It’s said that the village was buried after the local Laird, Alexander Kinnaird, disregarded the Sabbath. He would make the villagers keep working on a Sunday, while he indulged his vices. At the stroke of midnight on a Saturday in 1694, the devil himself appeared to Kinnaird, and challenged him to a game of cards. Kinnaird played cards with the devil, while a great storm raged outside, burying all his lands in sand.
The next day, only the tallest apple trees could be seen from the orchards, and only the chimneys of the houses peaked up through the sand dunes.
History tells us that the village of the Culbin was buried by coastal erosion from overharvested marram grass. However, many Victorian travellers report finding bones amongst the dunes.
Loch Leetie
It’s said that there’s a fairy bull who lives in the waters, and can be heard howling in the morning. Apparently this bull is at his loudest when the frost settles, so if it’s cold this Halloween, you may encounter some fairy cattle. Fairy and elf bulls are common in the lore of Nairnshire, and can be found as far back as the confessions of Isobel Gowdie, an Auldearn woman accused of witchcraft in 1662.
Cawdor Castle
It’s said that a widow wearing a beautiful blue velvet dress still walks the corridors of Cawdor Castle, mourning that her husband was taken from her too soon. Some believe this to be Muriel Calder, who outlived her husband, Sir John Campbell by thirty years.
Auldearn Battlefield
Auldearn Battlefield covers much of the farmland over the West of the village, including Garlic hill and many of the surrounding fields. The battle occurred in 1645, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, and saw casualties of between one and two thousand men. Many of the bodies of those who fell on the battlefield were buried in a mass grave and planted over with trees, known locally as dead wood. Tradition tells of a lone piper who still marches across the battlefield.
