As Halloween
draws near our thoughts have turned to the spooky and supernatural in
our collections. Notable items include handwritten notes about the execution of
the so-called ‘Witch of Monzie’ and the mysterious events that followed. These
were found in a copy of Reverend George Blair’s famous poem ‘The Holocaust, or, The Witch of Monzie’ published in 1845.
Kate McNiven
(alternately known as McNieven / Nicniven / Niven), the 'Witch of Monzie', was
nurse to the Graeme family of Inchbrakie, Perthshire. It is said that in c 1715 she was burned at
the stake, which would make her one of the last women to be executed as a witch
in Scotland. However other sources suggest that, if she ever existed, she must
have been executed around 1615.
George Blair
was pastor of Monzie parish, Perthshire around 1843-1844. His tenure was brief
as he was suspended and resigned from his charge. The two documents ('Colonel Graham of
Inchbrakie's Account of the Witch of Monzie’ and a memorandum regarding the
Witch of Monzie both by Grace Grame) were possibly used by Blair when writing
the poem. Their exact provenance and reliability are unknown. Interestingly one
implies that Kate McNiven cursed the Ministers of the Parish of Monzie before
her death. Perhaps the unfortunate Blair felt he was the latest victim of her
curse.
Another
Halloween related item can be found in the papers of the writer and hill walker
Syd Scroggie which include his account of the ‘Ghost of Moss Alasdair’ and its
encounters with Andrew MacIlwraith, Duncan Pitscotie and Robert Calder. Moss
Alasdair was said to be a ghost who dwelt on the Glass Cairn and pushed people
off, resulting in a series of fatalities. It seems that MacIlwraith and Pitscotie had an
odd encounter with a mysterious shepherd and his black dog on their way to a
rendezvous with Calder on the Glass Cairn. Meanwhile Calder, coming from the
other direction, discovered a skeleton and sensed another presence in the
cavern he was sheltering in. He commanded it to disturb the living no more and
after a flash of lightening the atmosphere changed. At the same time the shepherd his companions
were following vanished.
Scroggie
presents this as a true story. However was this an account of a real event or
is this manuscript a clever work of fiction by its author? We would be very
interested to know if anyone can shed any more light on this story .
Contact the archives or visit us to find out more about these collections and our local history books which contain more supernatural stories. www.dundee.ac.uk/archives and archives@dundee.ac.uk
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