Yesterday BBC Scotland did a piece on the controversy for the regional news, a video of which you should be able to view at the link below. The folklorist Margaret Bennett is interviewed, and there are some good atmospheric shots of the site to go with it. I don't think there are any regional restrictions on videos like this, so you should be able to watch it wherever you are. If you can't watch it, though, there's an article that accompanies it, but the video is more in-depth:
Colin Wilson, of the Glenlyon History Society, said Tigh Nam Bodach was not a protected site.
He said: "What we would like to see happen is a site like this being especially considered in terms of the environmental impact of the scheme.
"Unfortunately it can be overlooked because it is not a scheduled monument.
"It is noted by Historic Scotland but is not scheduled yet."
And that's exactly the problem, really - it's never been investigated so it's not considered significant enough to be protected. As far as I've read, it's thought that the shieling itself is probably no older than the seventeenth or eighteenth century (and that's being generous), but that doesn't mean that the stones or the tradition itself are older.
One thing I turned up to see if anyone else was covering the story is this post by David Clarke, who notes a similar curse associated with the Hexham Heads - a pair of 'Celtic style' heads found in 1972. This story involved claims of a werewolf haunting anyone who possessed them. Funnily enough, Anne Ross is again involved, and once again she had a bad experience when the stones were brought to her house in Wales:
When I interviewed Ross in 1994 she told me the stones brought an “evil presence” with them: “There was no doubt the haunting was that of a werewolf,” she told me. “The thing took form very gradually, and when it actually became not just audible and hinted at but tangible and visible, something had to be done, because it was definitely growing…” (the house was subsequently exorcised, but that’s another story….)
Anne Ross, it seems, had quite the collection. More on the Hexham Heads here, which gives a bit more detail of Dr Ross' experiences.
I'm told that objections or comments may still be considered by the local council, even though the official window for commenting has now closed. Different councils hold different policies on that, so there's no guarantee, and some will consider anything they receive right up until the date. Details about lodging a comment/objection can be found here, with an email address given on the page that you can use to comment. The application number you need to quote is 11/00061/FLL.
EDIT: See also some photos of the Glenlyon History Society's gathering there on Sunday.
2 comments:
Well, you certainly don't need to apologise as far as I'm concerned, I think this is something to be concerned about and I appreciate having a source of information that comes from a Polytheistic frame of mind. It seems I can watch the video over here, but here at work I have no sound, so I'll watch at home when I can.
I also always appreciate a werewolf story, so thank you for that too. I had no idea Ross what such a thei...er, collector. I'm rather warmed by the fact she has paid for it.
Thanks, I'm glad I'm not blethering on too much :)
I remember Ross making some oblique references to strange goings on as part of her research - in at least one of her books, but I don't remember which. Who knew!
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