Scottish Myths and Legends

[Music] thank you [Music] down Through the Ages many have expressed opinions about Scotland some it has to be said more complementary than others foreign but whether native Scott holiday visitor historian or travel writer won things absolutely for certain once experienced Scotland can never be forgotten [Music] at the height of the summer the rain can be driving under the wind bracing but even through the Mists the beauty and dramatic character of Scotland will shine to create a lasting impression and seemingly every step you take will lead you to Tales of magic and mystery steeped in Celtic tradition and oozing with challenges for the curious the myths and legends of Scotland date right back to the arrival of the Celts about 8 000 years ago who in more recent times have become synonymous with the classic storytelling tradition it wasn't until the Romans arrived in Britain in the 1st Century A.D the documentary evidence starts to appear as the emperor Hadrian built his now famous wall to keep the wild people of the north out of England news traveled fast of the fierce Warriors of Scotland naturally as few Southerners back then had the where with all two go and see for themselves the stories grew more dramatic with every telling Larger than Life young Braves Giants monsters and supernatural creatures all had their parts to play and when the marauding Vikings arrived complete with their own often incredibly bloodthirsty Legends the resulting mix got very interesting indeed so where do we begin a Magical Mystery Tour in search of the myths and legends of Scotland well for most people it has to be Loch Ness truly one of Scotland's most beautiful locations however for the majority of visitors who head for the water's edge it's the monster reported to live here affectionately nicknamed Nessie who's actually the main attraction foreign [Music] it may seem to be a fairly modern Phenomenon with various photographs of Nessie ranging from out and out hoaxes to the enticingly mysterious regularly appearing but the Story begins many centuries before the Advent of Photography with a very famous holy man fact it's impossible to go far in search of Scottish myths and legends without bumping into a saint by the name of Columba who was of Irish descent [Music] now in many respects there are very tangible links between Ireland and Scotland if you travel to the Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland you're bound to be told the story of the famous giant Finn McCool who took a great fancy to a Scottish giant s on the island of staffer as you would expect in such an affair of the heart Finn began to build a Causeway to get to the object of his desire thus there are similar rock formations on the Scottish Isle his lady love evidently started to build from her side too however when a Scottish giant who also had a soft spot for the giant s started hurling rocks at the mighty Finn all hell broke loose eventually Finn grabbed a huge piece of the landscape and threw it as far as he could but it landed in the sea which is said to explain how the Isle of Man Came to be and the causeway got no further than you see here [Music] Saint Columba as we already know was born in Ireland but when it came to reaching Scotland he got an awful lot further than Finn McCool ever did however it was a dispute over the gospels rather than a woman that motivated Columbus Scottish Adventure foreign who lived in the 6th Century A.D was a priest and a scholar and the Abbot of his Monastery in Ireland Saint finnian had traveled to Rome returning with a much prized manuscript of the four gospels of the New Testament Columba asked permission to make a copy but finnian refused so colomba wrote out just a little of the gospels every night in secret until he was caught and Saint finnian demanded he hand over the copied document but Columba fled with his prize raised an army for protection and eventually was forced to do battle with the king of Ireland who Saint finnian had called upon to retrieve the manuscript Columbo won the day but two thousand men were killed in the process and as a Penance the future Saint exiled himself from Ireland to set sail for Scotland in order to convert as many wild Scots to Christianity as his actions had been responsible for killing headless eventually with 12 companions Columba founded a monastery on the island of Iona which is still a place of pilgrimage for Christians to this day this was Columbus base but he traveled all over Scotland searching for souls to save and it was on one such Expedition that he found himself in the great Glen where Loch Ness lies and this is how the first recorded sighting of the Loch Ness monster came to be attributed to Saint Columba in 565. according to adaman's life of Saint Columba written shortly after the saint had died Columbus saved a man who was being attacked by the monster he cried out to Nessie Thou shalt go no further nor touched the man go back with all speed was recorded that this is precisely what the Monster did it might have been a good story for helping to convert the native Scots to Christianity but how much truth there is in the tale is another matter entirely [Music] the next rumors to surface came in the late 19th century but it wasn't until the 1930s that Nessie really began to make headlines then through the 20th century as technology offered greater opportunities to look into the watery depths of Loch Ness the legend grew and grew in popularity although a definitive answer to the question over nessie's existence has never been found suggestions that Nessie is in fact a plesiosaur a throwback to the days of the dinosaurs are very popular while eels sturgeon and giant nematodes have all been cited as possible explanations however for those less pragmatically minded the much told Scottish legend of the Kelpie is considered to be altogether more imaginative a kelpie is a shape-shifting water horse that's believed to haunt the rivers and locks of Scotland as a beautiful white horse the spirit is to be found at the water's edge where it tempts unsuspecting weary travelers to climb upon its back then the creature Dives straight into the water drowning the rider who will be unable to climb off [Music] interestingly a similar legend that of the brook horse is part of scandinavia's legendary Heritage with the Welsh and Irish having their own version of the story and a link between the water spirit Kelpies and lake monsters especially in the case of Loch Ness and The elusive Nessie has been put forward on a number of occasions looking at Loch Ness in all its magnificent Beauty today and the imposing ruins of urkut Castle it'll come as no surprise that the Legends are bound here even if you do have to be aware of magical white horses nevertheless there's an altogether more Sinister tale of trouble for unsuspecting Travelers in 16th century Scotland which resulted in an alarming rate of disappearances that if Legend is to be believed even had the King of Scotland on the case [Music] foreign [Music] not far from the world famous golf course at Turnberry you'll find the seaside towns of gurvan and balance Ray with the latter's name originating from the traditional Gaelic meaning town by the beach [Music] it all sounds very pleasant but between the two towns along the shore at bernaine head there are stories told about a hidden cave which associated with one of the most gruesome of all Scottish Legends [Music] looking at this stretch of Coastline there's a certain wildness about it but back in the 1500s for almost a quarter of a century this was quite literally a place from which people never returned once they'd Fallen victim to the notorious cannibal Sawnee Bean foreign did not act alone with an equally evil woman he produced a brood of children and his incestuous clan is thought to have numbered as many as four dozen in total by day they would hide in their cave but at night the Lawless beings would Ambush passing Travelers kill them steal any possessions and then take their victims bodies back to the cave where they be devoured [Music] local people seem to have been unaware of a clan of murderers living close by but needless to say the regular disappearances did arouse suspicion and the innkeepers who were often the last to see The Travelers alive were considered Prime Suspects [Music] eventually the beans unorthodox lifestyle came to an end when they ambushed a farmer and his wife riding home from Ballantrae the man put up a tremendous fight but in The Fray the woman fell to the ground where her attackers cut her throat and to her husband's horror started to drink her blood [Music] when the farmer escaped news of the murderous Clan spread fast and a Detachment of troops soon arrived to hunt Sony Bean down when the cave was found it was littered with human remains and the beans were quickly rounded up and captured [Music] were taken to edinburgh's Tollbooth jail and executed without trial the following day like so many Legends there's no substantiating evidence and historians are dubious about the story to say the least however cannibalism was not unknown in this part of Scotland during medieval times and this could explain how the legend of Sony Bean first began [Music] so our journey has brought us to Edinburgh a city a wash with some of the best Scottish myths and legends and as elegant and cultured as these beautiful buildings appear today there's a darker side to Scotland's capital and you don't have to delve too deeply to find it foreign Bean there are two other names that have gone down in Scottish history for kidnap and murder but in the case of Burke and Hare the most notorious Body Snatchers of all time they had no intention of eating their victims because by 1827 corpses were far too valuable to be consumed [Music] university has a fine reputation when it comes to medicine but in the early 19th century Edinburgh like many other medical schools struggled to find sufficient dead bodies for the students to learn their craft from so when Edinburgh is anatomist in Residence Robert Knox paid Irish laborers birkened hair seven pounds for the corpse of a lodger who'd died owing rent he really started something [Music] at that time the usual sources of corpses for the Medical College were from the workhouse or The Hangman's gibbit and birkened hair saw an opportunity to make a great deal of money here's mistress ran a lodging house Burke and hair lured unsuspecting Souls often vagrants or prostitutes whose passing was unlikely to be noticed the victims were plied with drink and then suffocated so as not to leave any marks on the body and by the next day had been sold to Knox ready for dissection on the surgeon's table it's thought Burke and Hare dispatched 16 victims in this way but when some of the medical students recognized the Body Snatchers 10th victim prostitute Mary Patterson having no doubt a veiled themselves of her services and investigation was launched there was a public outcry and when the body of an old Irish woman was spotted under the bed at the lodging house birkened hair were charged with her murder to save his own skin hair turned King's evidence and was released leaving Burke to hang for their dastardly crimes edinburgh's grass market today is very popular with tourists and absolutely delightful but when Burke was hanged close by 40 000 onlookers crowded into this area to witness the event planing to the last that surgeon Knox still owed him five pounds Burke was hanged and his body taken to the university for dissection but the crowd was still not satisfied with the outcome to avoid a riot the people were admitted up to 60 a minute to see true evil as the top of Burke's head had been removed so they could look into the mind of a murderer in an ironic twist many of the medical students removed pieces of Burke's skin to sell as souvenirs while Hair by all accounts died in poverty on the Streets of London Law and Order was always a dangerous business in Edinburgh as demonstrated with so many Spectators turning up to see Burke hang and today there's a bizarre custom that surrounds the spot where the old Tollbooth jail used to stand just outside the unmissable saint Giles Cathedral if you look down to the ground you'll see the heart of Midlothian a fine Mosaic of stones which marks the location of the much hated prison it said that local custom demands you spit upon the spot but as that would be extremely anti-social this is perhaps one urban legend that's best noted but not acted upon however not all of edinburgh's Legends are quite as gruesome as that of birkened hair and if you find yourself in the vicinity of greyfriars Kirk you'll discover a real Shaggy Dog tail the story of this churchyard has plenty of horrible history it is where the covenanter movement was brutally crushed ever since the emperor Hadrian built his wall the independent Spirit of the Native Scots was renowned the world over and they fought as fiercely to Worship in the way that they chose as they did for every other Freedom they held dear consequently when England in the person of King Charles the first forced a new prayer book on the people of Scotland in the 17th century there was a rebellion and the Covenant a movement was formed but as often proved to be the case throughout history the Scots would suffer greatly for their principles and when the covenanters were defeated at the Battle of Bothwell breek those taken prisoner were brought to this churchyard which was used as a makeshift to jail you can still see the old Covenant as prison sign Testament to the plight of the Thousand or so Covenant as left here for five months exposed to the elements and virtually starved many died as you can see at the martyrs Memorial but invariably it isn't the covenanters who bring tourists to this historic spot instead a very different Memorial at the gates of the churchyard appears to be the main attraction this statue of a sky Terrier called Bobby is actually a listed building thanks to Historic Scotland and the legend of greyfriars Bobby the name the little dog is better known by is a great favorite with locals and visitors alike the victorians were very partial to melodrama especially when there was a tragic ending and the story of greyfriars Bobby fitted the bill perfectly the dog belonged to a night Watchman called John Gray who died in 1858 and was buried in the graveyard at greyfriars Kirk the faithful Terrier is said to have spent the rest of his days Sat by his master's grave and as he outlived John Gray by 14 years Bobby became something of an Edinburgh institution when Bobby died in 1872 a simple inscription was carved upon his memorial saying let his loyalty and devotion be a lesson to us all it looks as if the most photographed dog in Edinburgh is as popular as ever [Music] now although John Gray and his faithful Bobby rest in peace here Edinburgh is well known for its ghost stories there have been some legendary Tales down through the ages of Supernatural manifestations all over the city we can actually start here in greyfriars churchyard where visitors to the Covenant as prison have experienced being pushed and pulled by unseen forces only to find themselves covered in cuts and bruises the following day some believe it's the ghost of George McKenzie the Scottish lawyer responsible for persecuting the covenanters who's buried in the churchyard While others think it's more likely to be the spirits of the unfortunate prisoners who starved to death here in such appalling circumstances [Music] there are a number of ghost walks that are offered through edinburgh's fascinating streets and these Excursions have become extremely popular tourist attractions he is a very brief look at some of the city's favorite ghostly Legends [Music] one of the most haunted destinations on any tour of Edinburgh has to be the castle where tales of the Paranormal have proved very mysterious indeed there was a time when French prisoners of War were kept in the Dungeons and if you look carefully you'll see the graffiti they left behind [Music] the castle boasts plenty of sightings of a headless drummer whose believed to be a French origin but in keeping with this musical note the most infamous of the apparitions here is a lone Piper who can sometimes be hurt even if he isn't seen [Music] Legend has it that there are secret tunnels running beneath the Royal mile from the castle all the way to the Palace of Hollywood at the far end way back in history the piper was sent to investigate whether this was true or not the idea being that he could be heard above ground and his progress monitored all seemed to be going well until after some distance he could be heard no more and the piper was never seen again well in human form that is nobody ever discovered what happened to the man however the ghostly laments of the Phantom Piper have been regularly reported around the castle and along the Royal Mile with many reported sightings foreign [Music] the Royal mile Edinburgh ghost Walkers will always watch out for a ragged little girl known as Annie the most famous of the spirits said to have come from Mary Kings close finding the narrow winding Alleyways that Edinburgh is so famous for can be fascinating and Mary King's close back in 1645 was boarded up when Bubonic plague hit the overcrowded City by all accounts there were plague victims still living just left to die and Little Annie with pustules all over her face is believed to have been one of them the sightings started 40 years later when a housing shortage forced the close to be reopened and today a reconstruction of what life would have been like in Mary King's close back in the 17th century has become a very popular attraction as people from all over the world come in search of Annie many bringing Gifts of toys to leave for the little girl to play with Ghost Hunters are also Keen to explore the Palace of Hollywood when they've completed the Royal mile but as it's the British Monarch's official residence when visiting Edinburgh the opening times of the palace are definitely restricted and ghostly apparitions are not usually known for being overly Cooperative when it comes to schedules nonetheless the three ghosts most closely associated with Hollywood are indeed fascinating and Mary Queen of Scots the most famous of the three has become one of the most legendary protagonists in Scotland's colorful history foreign became Queen of Scotland when she was just a week old but back in 1542 being of Royal Blood could be very dangerous and King Henry VII South of the Border in England saw this as an opportunity to take the crown of Scotland for himself foreign Edward was born five years later he tried to force a dynastic marriage between Mary and the infant Prince but in a bid to keep Scotland independent Mary's mother asked for the help of the king of France and the child Queen of Scotland was dispatched across the Channel with a betruthful arranged to the heir to the French throne the dolphin instead [Music] with an alliance with France Henry VII's avaricious designs on Scotland were thwarted and as soon as the royal couple were old enough they married in Notre Dame cathedral in Paris and when the Old King died Mary and Francois II were crowned the new king and queen of France [Music] then tragedy struck when Mary's young husband died shortly after the coronation and the tender age of 18 the widowed Mary returned to Scotland to claim her Birthright [Music] by this time Henry VII and his son Edward had both died and Mary's cousin Elizabeth the first was now Queen of England alliance between the two queens would undoubtedly have helped both of them but as Mary was Catholic and Elizabeth Protestant they each became Rivals for the others thrown [Music] but Mary's troubles really started when she married her cousin Lord darnley the second of the three ghosts in question at holyrood where the wedding took place darnley was a poor choice no doubt Charming until Mary was his wife but the queen quickly realized it was his lust for power rather than desire for her that had motivated his actions despite the stormy relationship Mary became pregnant but it didn't bring the couple together and matters deteriorated further when darnley amongst others murdered of the Queen's private secretary and closest friend David ritzio here at Hollywood quite literally at her feet the third of our Trio of ghosts is of course the unfortunate rizio and delve a little deeper into the story and the plot definitely thickens Mary was five months pregnant when this happened and many believe darnley was actually afraid that his own child if a son would Rob him of all his power so he committed the bloodthirsty crime in the hope that his wife would miscarry the history book certainly paint an unpleasant picture of darnley but there's another explanation for these tragic events there's been much speculation that Mary and rizio were lovers and the child she was carrying was ritzios and not darnley's making Revenge a more probable motive for murder whatever the truth the blood stains on the stone floor of Hollywood Palace where rizio felt his death as a result of 57 stab wounds have never been washed away Story Goes that despite centuries of scrubbing the blood stains always come back as a Grizzly Memorial to David ritzio and his untimely death Mary did survive as did her child a son who went on to become king of Scotland and then England when Elizabeth the first died unmarried and childless [Music] ironically darnley didn't fare much better than rizio and he too was murdered not long after his rival with Mary Queen of Scots very heavily implicated in the plot along with the Earl of Bothwell her next husband it was yet another disastrous marriage and eventually hounded by the Scottish Nobles Mary fled to England to throw herself upon the mercy of her cousin Elizabeth who kept Mary a prisoner for almost 20 years before having the Queen of Scots executed for treason Mary's bad luck dogged her to the very end because by all accounts the Axeman who beheaded her took three attempts to fulfill his duty so all three ghosts in this tragic tale died most horrible deaths and the legend of the Queen of Scots continues owing as much to myth and speculation as it does to Historic fact when it comes to the great Legends of Scotland from the nation's earliest Beginnings right up to the present day the issue of Scottish independence is key to so many of the Great stories the Epic Heroes of the history books have become Larger than Life and as you enter Edinburgh Castle Through This Magnificent Gatehouse there are two statues stood either side of you that really do have a story to tell foreign the first is William Wallace transformed into a household name by Mel Gibson in Braveheart the Blockbuster movie from 1995 that introduced this Scottish Patriot to a worldwide audience now although through generations of telling myths Legends and history all have a habit of getting a little muddled this is never truer than in the case of William Wallace but to set his story in context we need to take a quick look first at the Scottish Clans you don't have to go far in Scotland to find Tartan whether in the form of traditional clothing or on shortbread tins the McDonald's mcclouds Stewarts Gordons and Campbells to mention but a few all have Clan tartans dating back to the times when Highland Society was divided into tribal groups led by Clan Chiefs they were tough times and a chief counted his wealth by how many warriors he could muster rather than how much money he had and fighting between the Clans often over cattle Rights was brutal The Tartan Kilt was developed for the klansmen as an all-weather garment that doubled as a blanket for sleeping out in the wild and it identified their loyalties but by the 13th century the clans of Scotland were anything but United and this is where the legend of William Wallace begins to gain momentum when Edward the first of England set his sights on Scotland his brutal tactics left the Scottish Clans reeling in 1296 he stole the stone of Destiny from Scone Palace which was a precious artifact used in the coronation of Scottish Kings and took it to Westminster Abbey where he had it built into his coronation chair his vicious attempts to subjugate the klansmen almost succeeded not least because the Scots were still as busy fighting each other as they were the English then Along Came William Wallace who was able to unite the klansmen to fight together and his victory at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297 served notice that Edward the first had a fight on his hands if he wanted Scotland nevertheless within fighting and betrayal Rife Wallace Was Defeated at the Battle of Falkirk and although he escaped he was eventually captured and taken to London where he was hung drawn and quartered [Music] despite Wallace's heroic status today to believe that he was a paragon of virtue would be an oversimplification and stories of his own violent Behavior are given a good deal of credence [Music] the other statue at the Gatehouse of the castle is that of Robert the Bruce who some believe was implicated in the demise of Wallace however he rose to the task of driving the English out of his homeland and became King of Scotland in 1306. there's a delightful Robert the Bruce legend that still told to children to this day to encourage them to persevere no matter how hard a task might be when Robert the Bruce was hiding in the depths of a dark cave having been beaten by Edward the first and the English on six occasions he was in the depths of Despair ready to give up the fight for Scotland and freedom [Music] then he spotted a spider trying to spin away but the mouth of the cave but each time it tried to attach the first thread the wind blew the spider off course this happened six times and when the spider made a seventh attempt Robert the Bruce vowed that if it was successful he too would muster all his strength and attack the English for a seventh time believing that just like the spider he would be victorious [Music] this is where the well-known expression if at first you don't succeed try try try again is thought to have originated from and of course in the legend of Robert the Bruce when he fought the English at the Battle of balakburn in 1314 he did succeed and assured Scottish independence for many years to come now as we know hanging on to Scotland's Freedom wasn't always easy which Mary Queen of Scots discovered to her cost but moving on to the 17th century when England and Scotland had become a United Kingdom the rising of the jacobites determined to restore the house of Stuart to the British throne started a whole new crop of Scottish myths and legends one Journey now brings us to arguably one of the most dramatic and beautiful places on Earth Glencoe [Music] but for the many Walkers and climbers that come here even in fine weather it always needs to be treated with the utmost respect when The Mists descend the mountain passes can quickly become treacherous so appropriate footwear and clothing is always essential however beautiful the day might be so when you hear the ancient Tales of ghostly screams echoing across the valley you might quite logically assume that it's the spirits of those lost on the mountains warning anyone following in their footsteps to take care but this is far from being the case in this beautiful Valley something truly terrible happened in 1692 it's gone down in Scottish legend as the massacre of Glencoe [Music] having already established that there was great rivalry between many of the Scottish Clans matters got considerably more complicated when the Stuart King James II was replaced by his son-in-law William of Orange James II was the great grandson of Mary Queen of Scots and when he fled to France many of the Highland clans were very unhappy about a king of Scottish descent being deposed by a Dutchman eventually with trouble Brewing North of the border the new king demanded each of the Highland Clan Chiefs swear an oath of allegiance to the crown by the end of 1691. foreign [Music] foreign landscape of Glencoe was home to the McDonald Clan of the chief makiyan an old man McKeon held out to the last but when he realized he was risking a battle he couldn't win as all the other Clan Chiefs had capitulated he hurried off to Fort William to take the oath and so begins a chapter of events that transformed an old man's error of judgment into a tragic Legend there was no magistrate in Fort William to officiate by the time mcgeehan reached in vagari in the winter snow it was January the 6th 1692 and the deadline had passed [Music] there'd been little love lost between the McDonald's and rival Clan the Campbells down Through the Ages and the Campbells welcomed the opportunity to obtain Royal backing to take revenge on their neighbors attacking them as Jacobite Rebels in February 120 Campbells arrived in Glencoe led by Robert Campbell and we and with no reason to suspect treachery the McDonald's provided them with Highland hospitality for 12 days the Campbells were entertained by the McDonald's but when the order was given to attack from signal Rock high up on the hillside the Campbell's brutally killed every McDonald man woman and child they could find while any who escaped froze to death on the precipices where they'd fled the Huts were then burned and the livestock taken and the legend of the McDonald ghosts of Glencoe began but when he comes to massacres and ghostly Tales there's one place further north that's very possibly the eeriest and most haunting location in all Scotland where the jacobite's dreams were finally dashed in the most brutal way imaginable on the battlefield of Culloden for many people the image of the legendary romantic Highlanders belongs to the Jacobite risings and the most romantic figure of all has to be the Bonnie Prince grandson of the deposed James II [Music] [Music] Charles Edward Stewart who was born in France landed in Scotland in 1745 determined to raise an army of Highlanders to march on London and restore the stewards to the British throne [Music] now ironically by this time there were many people South of the Border who supported the young Pretender as the Bonnie Prince was known William of Orange was King by virtue of being married to a Stuart Queen but when he was succeeded by her sister Anne who died childless it really was the end of the Stuart line and German relations the hanoverians were invited to take the United Throne of England and Scotland the first Hanoverian appropriately George the first was exceedingly unpopular and in 1745 his son George II was liked little better by his subjects [Music] there was every chance that a Jacobite Rising could now succeed and Bonnie Prince Charlie's campaign began very well indeed at the Battle of Preston pans near Edinburgh the prince defeated the English forces commanded by Sir John cope but failed to capitalize on the advantage the Jacobite stayed in Edinburgh for an inexplicably long time and it was November before they marched on England enabling George II to build a huge Army of more than ten thousand men under the command of his son the Duke of Cumberland even so the Bonnie Prince had ample opportunity to take London and got as far as Derby before his nerve failed him had he continued who can say what might have happened but instead on the false advice of English spies he retreated believing cumberland's huge Army was close by when it was in fact miles away [Music] foreign [Music] and so we finally reach Scotland's most legendary Battlefield Culloden Moore on the outskirts of Inverness where the Bonnie Prince's campaign that had started with such promise ended in tragedy after the Long March in Retreat North the Highlanders were exhausted and Culloden was far from an ideal place for them to engage the enemy battle the Scots were best suited to fighting on steep hill sides where they had a distinct advantage on home terrain over the English but at Culloden the battlefield was flat and covered a vast area [Music] the Jacobite Army was heavily defeated by the Duke of cumberland's troops and when astride his White Horse he raised his sword and ordered No Quarter to be given he signaled the start of an appalling Massacre foreign the injured Scots were slaughtered and even went back with his troops the next day to kill any who'd survived the night it'll therefore come as no surprise that ghostly screams groans and cries for help have been widely reported across the field of battle from those fateful days in 1745 right up to the present day foreign [Music] yet Bonnie Prince Charlie escaped the English and the story of how he managed to do this is very definitely the stuff of Legend [Music] foreign [Music] The Familiar tune you can hear is the sky boat song because so famous had the legend of what happened after cologne become it's actually been integrated into Scottish Folk heritage the lyrics tell of Bonnie Prince Charlie's incredible journey across the sea to the Isle of Skye in a small rowing boat with the lovely Flora McDonald a brave local heroine who dressed to the prince as her maid to help him to safety [Music] follow they will not dare speed money [Music] here on the Isle of Skye today a visit to dunvegan Castle is fascinating but interestingly the McLeod Clan Chief at the time didn't support the jagabites and was involved in the hunt for the Bonnie Prince nevertheless there are Jacobite relics here that once belonged to Flora McDonald [Music] how this came about is a legend in itself and what happened to Flora is far more interesting than what happened to the Bonnie Prince eventually Charles Edward Stewart escaped back to France despite there being a huge price on his head and in 1788 at the age of 68 he died poverty stricken in Rome having taken to drink the Scots he left behind suffered terribly at the hands of the English authorities who terrified by the wild Highlanders who almost got to London made Swift reprisals Clan chiefs were stripped of their Authority the wearing of kilts and Tartan in any form was outlawed while owning weapons or playing the bagpipes was considered treason and punishable by Death anyone who'd supported the Jacobite cause was hunted down including Flora McDonald who in the end emigrated to America to get away from persecution [Music] her time spent at dunvegan Castle on sky was purely a family matter as years later her daughter married the tutor to the young Clan Chief and lived at the castle so naturally Flora came back to visit leaving her possessions to her family here when she died but Flora's Treasures are not the only intriguing Relic here and the legend of the fairy flag of dunvegan is a Scottish myth not to be missed but how The Relic came to be owned by the clan MacLeod isn't altogether clear some say that a chief stumbled into a fairy hill where he fell in love with a beautiful Maiden who married him but on the understanding that after 20 years she would need to return to the fairy folk when the time came the distraught Chief held onto her gown and the fabric strip now known as the flag came away in his hands other accounts tell of it magically appearing on the crib of a sleeping infant Clan Chief while it's also been attributed to another McLeod Clan Chief who said to have torn it from the Hem of a she deviled skirt he fought while on crusade in the Holy Land [Music] the legend states that when the clan MacLeod is facing disaster waving the flag will bring them help from the spirit world flag can only be used three times so far it's been flown on two occasions the first time was when a clan Chief wild just a tiny child was mortally ill and the flag restored him to health the second time was in battle with a rival Clan when the macleods were being beaten but after the flag was waived they were victorious who knows if it will ever be needed a third time or if the ancient delicate fabric would turn to dust before it could summon Aid It's a Wonderful story so typical of the delightful myths and legends of Scotland that so effortlessly mix real history and mystery a backdrop of some of the most majestic scenery you're ever likely to see sadly we've now run out of time long before every Legend has been told because you'll discover Tales of mystery wherever you go north of the border and hopefully having explored just a few of Scotland's most traditional Tales you'll be inspired to come and see for yourself the places where magic still happens New Generation adds its own twist to the myths and legends of Scottish folklore [Music] [Music]

Channel: The Great British Channel

Views: 667,909

Keywords: Myths, Legends, mystery, Scotland, Loch Ness Monster, shape shifting, Kelpies, Scottish landscape, documentaries, Real or Fake, Stories, history of scotland, scottish legends, the stories behind, Liam Dale, Uncovering, Ancient Tales, Paranormal, beautiful scotland, fact or fiction, made up story, documentary, documentaries real stories, Believe it or not, true or false, Things you didn't know about Scotland, documentery, stories, myths and legends, myths and monsters, myths adn legends

Id: 9nLmu2ZBXSI

Length: 56min 11sec (3371 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 24 2023