50 Scottish Urban Legends, Myths and Folklore Tales

Welcome brave reader to the definitive list of Scottish Urban Legends, the most intriguing legendary myths and folklore stories revealing Scotland’s mysterious past.

Where is the most haunted road in Scotland?
Who got caught cheating while playing cards with the devil?
Which innocent rhyme can be used to summon a violent poltergeist?

Find the answers to these questions and much more… including the truth hidden within each of these historical Scottish myths and legends.

50 Scottish Urban Legends

On this page you’ll find a huge list of 50 Scottish Urban Legends, Myths and Folklore Tales. These include scary urban legends, creepy stories and Scottish tales of the unexplained. The history and origins behind each Scottish urban legend are also explored, bringing these myths and folklore tales to life.

Scotland has always been a land filled with magic, myths and mystery. Its rich history has created many folk tales and legends that have been passed down through the generations. Within these Scottish myths lurk true stories and unexplained events I have witnessed with my own eyes.

The true power of these Scottish tales lies in their ability to not only entertain us in the present but to forge a link to our past. From tales of great battles to pagan rituals that are still performed today, new generations can enjoy the stories and feel connected to the land and its people.

List of Scottish Urban Legends

Fear is one of the oldest and most primal of our emotions. And they say fear is a great teacher.

Some of these Scottish stories have morals to teach us, lessons learnt by our ancestors and told around campfires. Ancient warriors live on, still marching to the echoes of war drums beating with every re-telling of their accomplishments.

So gather around the fireside and read this list of 50 Scottish Urban Legends, including my own stories and experiences that I have revealed for the very first time.

Wick residents have shared their scariest paranormal experiences in a book released this week which has gone straight into a top 100 bestsellers list

John O’Groat Journal

AND for the more curious and braver readers, grab a copy of my book for a much deeper story and in-depth analysis of each of these tales and decide which of these Scottish Urban Legends are true… as well as where you can see and experience each of them for yourself… if you DARE!

Creepy Urban Legends: Haunted Homes

The House of the Binns
Legend has it that General Tam Dalyell, known as Bluidy Tam, was an opponent of the devil in a nightly game of cards at his home in West Lothian, the House of the Binns. The devil would always win, until one night Tam used a mirror to cheat and beat the devil. However, the devil discovered Tam’s deception and threw the heavy marble table they played upon through a window, where it sunk to the bottom of a pond. Nobody believed Tam. But two hundred years later the pond dried and there, at the very bottom, was a heavy marble table.

The Green Lady of Crathes Castle
Crathes Castle is a 16^th century castle located in Aberdeenshire. It’s also the location of many ghostly sightings, including by Queen Victoria. She claimed to see a child-like apparition alongside a green mist hovering in one of the castle’s rooms. The ghosts lingered for a moment, before disappearing into the room’s fireplace. When renovation work took place at the castle in the 18^th century, it’s rumoured that they unearthed the skeletal remains of both a woman and a child.

Annie’s Room
The Real Mary King’s Close attraction is a cluster of underground passages beneath the streets of Edinburgh. The Close had become partially demolished and then buried as a city-beneath-the-city. The mass of people living on top of each lead to extremely unsanitary conditions at the time of the bubonic plague. In 1992, Japanese psychic Aiko Gibo visited the preserved Close and made contact with the unhappy spirit of a young girl named Annie. According to the psychic, Annie’s mother had abandoned her once she had begun exhibiting symptoms of the plague. Annie was also upset because she had lost her favourite doll. Aiko attempted to comfort Annie’s spirit with the gift of a small doll, and since then hundreds of visitors have placed small toys and gifts in her room. However, in 2019 the doll went missing and is still lost to this day.

Skaill House
Skaill House is a 17^th century mansion in the Orkney Islands. The house was built on the remains of an ancient Pictish burial ground and many have heard strange footsteps and unusual sounds throughout the house. Some have seen the ghost of an old lady wearing a shawl appear in doorways. Others have witnessed dogs barking at fleeting shadows. While undertaking restoration work, Norse skeletons were unearthed near the south wing and beneath the east porch. Previous work had discovered skeletal remains hidden beneath the main hall. Paranormal experiences continue to be reported at the site.

The Haunting of Castle Stuart
Castle Stuart is believed to be one of the most haunted castles in Scotland. When the Earl of Moray inherited the castle, he decided to rent it out, but soon discovered that people were too afraid to stay there. There were rumours of headless ghosts wandering the corridors, terrible screams from an unknown source and footsteps running up and down the stairs at night. The earl offered a reward to any brave soul who dared spend an entire night in the castle. Eventually, four local men, a minister, a Presbyterian church elder, a shoemaker and a large, strong man called Rob Angus stepped forward.

The minister had a terrifying nightmare of a large man covered in blood slowly entering the room and sitting down in the chair beside him. Upon waking he found that he was still alone, but his mind was never the same. The church elder witnessed an enormous blood-soaked man burst into the room and attack him with a dagger. He was found by servants in the morning fainted on the floor. As was the shoemaker, who had heard the door open and saw a menacing dark creature with cloven hooves advancing towards him. Rob Angus arrived on the fourth night and drank whisky with one of the servants he was friends with. “See you in the morning, Rob,” said the servant. “You will find me as I am, or dead,” Rob replied. And that was the last time Rob was seen alive.

As one of the longer Scottish Urban Legends, I have provided the full detailed account of what happened to each of the men that night in my book, as well as further hauntings at Castle Stuart.

The Ghost of Ackergill Tower
Ackergill Tower was a luxury castle hotel in Wick, in the Highlands of Scotland and its grounds have been the centre of many bloody feuds. It’s said that the Keith family, who owned the castle at the time,  kidnapped Helen Gunn, a woman known for her outstanding beauty. However, she had no interest in her abductor’s advances and died when she fell or jumped from a window while trying to escape, leading to a feud between the clans. The legend goes that the spirit of Helen Gunn lingers still and is often seen as an apparition with long black hair, wearing a red ball gown. Other sightings tell of her appearing at the castle as a green lady.

Cathedral House Hotel
Cathedral House Hotel is believed to be one of the most haunted buildings in Glasgow. In 1877, Cathedral House was built as a halfway house for prisoners returning to society from the neighbouring Duke Street Prison. Many criminals were executed at the prison, with 12 of those executions carried out in the 20^th century. Susan Newell, an inmate found guilty of strangling a paperboy, was the last woman to be executed in Scotland. She was hanged at the prison in October 1923. The most commonly reported paranormal experience is feeling an invisible presence brush against you while walking on the stairs. Other stories tell of the sound of two children playing on the top floor when there are no children present. There have even been eye-witness accounts of furniture moving itself around within the rooms.

Scary Urban Legends: Terrifying Travels

Scotland’s Most Haunted Road
The A75 Kinmount straight, stretching between Carrutherstown and Annan, is believed to be the most haunted highway in Scotland. In 1962, two brothers, Derek and Norman Ferguson, witnessed a mysterious out-of-control van swerving across the road, followed by strange screams and wild animals leaping at their windshield. Many drivers who have chosen to sleep over in the lay-bys along its route have ended up with tales of nights disturbed by all manner of phantoms and creatures. Other drivers have testified that a figure runs into their path, giving them no time to swerve. They have hit the figure, heard the bang, felt the bump… but when they stopped and got out to check, the body was gone. Unsurprisingly, the road has a terrible record for car accidents.

The Ghillie Dhu
The Ghillie Dhu, a lone male faerie with wild dark hair, inhabits the birch forests of Gairloch in Wester Ross. Generally a shy creature, it chooses to avoid contact with adult humans unless they invade the glades and groves of its forest home. However, it’s kind to children, with legend telling of its rescue of a lost girl, only to be rewarded by being hunted by a group of five men.

The Old Man of Storr
Old Man of Storr on the Isle of Skye is a rocky pinnacle with a grassy slope one side and a steep rocky face on the other. Legend tells that this pinnacle was formed when a giant was buried in the ground and his thumb was left protruding from the earth. However, there is also a tragic second legend that tells the story of a hobgoblin-like creature called a brownie, who built it in honour of his dead friend.

MacKinnon’s Cave
Legend says it was in MacKinnon’s Cave on the Isle of Mull that Abbot MacKinnon spent time hidden in the 15^th century in order to avoid capture by the MacLean clan. While mapping of the cave, a tunnel was discovered which connects it with the nearby Cormorant Cave. This possibly explain the mysterious disappearance of a local piper who tried to beat the fairies in a piping competition, but was never seen again.

Fingal’s Cave
Fingal’s Cave is a cavern formed entirely of hexagonal-shaped basalt columns, similar to the shape and structure of the famous Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland. There are many legends surrounding the cave. It’s said it was named after an Irish giant called Fionn mac Cumhaill (alternatively Finn McCool) who has a fantastic (and long) legend attached to his name (which I’ll leave for the book readers to discover). The cave has excellent natural acoustics, which has given rise to a different legend about the origins of its name. James Macpherson, an 18^th century Scots poet, gained fame as the ‘translator’ of the Ossian cycle of epic poems. And he may have coincidentally identified a legendary hero for whom the cave was named. In 1761 he published the lengthily-named Fingal, an Ancient Epic Poem in Six Books, together with Several Other Poems composed by Ossian, the Son of Fingal, translated from the Gaelic Language. Some say the cave was named after this epic hero in 1772 (at the height of Macpherson’s fame) by Sir Joseph Banks. Before that, the cave was called ‘An Uamh Bhin’ or ‘The Melodious Cave’ in Gaelic.

Corryvreckan Whirlpool
Between the islands of Jura and Scarba, off the west coast of Scotland, unusual underwater topography and speeding currents have created a whirlpool which legend has attributed to Cailleach Bheur, the hag goddess of winter, who it’s said uses this area to wash her great plaid. This washing ritual signals the changing of the seasons from autumn to winter. Once she has finished, the plaid is pure white, which she then lays across the land as a blanket of snow. In another legend, there was a Norse king called Breacan who wanted to win the hand of a local princess, but her father insisted that he pass a trial first. To test his bravery, Breacan was tasked with mooring his boat beside the whirlpool for three days and three nights. To aid him, Breacan commissioned three ropes to be made. The first was made from wool, the second from hemp, and the third was woven from a maiden’s hair, whose purity would ensure that the rope was unbreakable. On the first night the hemp rope broke, the wool rope snapped on the second night, and the rope made from maiden’s hair broke on the third night. This resulted in the unfortunate Brecan dying when the boat was dragged beneath the waves. A surviving crew member recovered the body and, upon seeing this, the maiden who had supplied the hair guiltily admitted that she was not as pure as she made out.

Am Fear Liath Mòr
On the summit of Ben Macdui, the second-highest mountain in Scotland, lives a mysterious creature called Am Fear Liath Mòr. More commonly known as the Big Grey Man, he’s described a large creature around 10 feet tall, with broad shoulders, long arms and short hair covering most of his body. His presence is often felt as a dark dread, letting adventurers know that they are not welcome.

Glasgow’s Haunted Arches
Glasgow’s Arches was formerly a derelict area underneath Glasgow Central Train Station, said to be haunted by the spirit of a young girl.

Dumbarton’s Dog Suicide Bridge
The ornate Victorian Overtoun Bridge in Dumbarton has acquired a peculiar reputation for being the site of many attempted suicides, by dogs wishing to leap from the top.

Scotland’s Standing Stones
On the west coast of the Isle of Lewis, the Calanais Standing Stones are a cross-shaped arrangement of stones believed to have been placed there over 5,000 years ago. In Orkney, there lies a Neolithic henge and a near-perfect stone circle known as the Ring of Brodgar. Machrie Moor, on the Isle of Arran, is formed of six stone circles. Legend states that a group of fairies gathered at the top of the mountain and flicked pebbles into the moor below, creating the circles we see today.

Scottish History: Disturbing the Dead

The Arthur’s Seat Coffins
The year is 1836. You are an Edinburgh schoolboy, innocently hunting rabbits with two of your friends on a warm summer evening when you make a macabre discovery. Seventeen miniature coffins, carved by an unknown hand and hidden behind three-pointed slabs of stone inside a small cave on the north-eastern face of Arthur’s Seat. Each of these coffins holds a small human effigy with intricately formed bodies and expressively painted faces. Each occupant has been carved from a single piece of solid wood. And this is just the beginning of the mystery… read about the investigation that followed in my book.

The Ghost Piper of Clanyard Bay
It’s said that there used to be an underground network of caves that extended out from Clanyard Bay where fairies dwelled. One day a brave piper decided to explore the caves in search of the fairies. He elected to take his faithful dog with him and play his bagpipes, so that others may know he was still alive. Locals waited as he entered the caves, the sound of his pipes getting fainter as the hours passed. Eventually, the sound faded completely. Suddenly, the piper’s dog burst from the cave with a terrifying howl. The locals gasped as they realised the dog had lost all of its hair. At night, they say you can still hear the sound of bagpipes being played deep underground.

The Mackenzie Poltergeist
In Edinburgh’s Greyfriars Kirkyard, the long-deceased Sir George Mackenzie has a reputation for being an extremely aggressive poltergeist. In life, Bluidy Mackenzie would bring the captives to a secluded corner of Greyfriars Kirkyard where he would painfully torture them, decapitate them and stick their heads onto the spiked gate.

The Ghosts of Culloden
The Jacobite Rising came to a bloody conclusion on 16^th April 1746 on the fields of Culloden. The Scottish forces fighting for independence were slaughtered in a brutal battle by the British army. Local residents have reported seeing a tartan-clad spectre who wanders across the moor, whispering a single word carried on the wind – ‘defeated’.

The Headless Drummer
During the rare quiet moments at Edinburgh castle, if you listen closely, you may be able to hear the lonely rat-a-tat-tat of a ghostly headless drummer. The mournful beat is said to belong to the Headless Drummer boy who haunts the castle.

Edinburgh Playhouse Phantom
In the 1950s, reports began flooding in of people seeing old Albert, a ghostly figure dressed in grey. Eerily, the very first account of meeting old Albert was provided by the city police department responding to reports of a break-in. They had spoken to the doorman dressed in grey overalls. But nobody worked there who matched that description and, upon searching, the building was empty.

The urban legends around this primary school are terrifying for two reasons. Firstly, because it was my own primary school. Secondly, because it was here that I witnessed my first unexplainable encounter that still haunts me to this day.

Aaron Mullins, Wick North Primary School, in Scottish Urban Legends: 50 Myths and True Stories

Bloody Scotland: Crimes and Killers

Three Bloody Strokes
In 1010, the Battle of Barry in Angus was an epic clash in which the Scots emerged victorious against the invading Danish army. During the battle, an ancestor of the Keith family was believed to have killed the fearsome Viking leader Camus. However another warrior claimed that it was actually he who had slain the great Camus. In order to resolve the dispute, King Malcolm II ordered the two men to fight to the death. Keith emerged victorious from the battle and, as he lay dying, his opponent admitted that he had lied. King Malcolm II stood over the body of the defeated warrior, reached down, and dipped three fingers into the pooling blood. He then wiped his fingers across Keith’s shield and declared Veritas Vincit, which translates to Truth Overcomes, which became the family motto.

Lady Finella The King Killer
Lady Finella, a noblewoman and Scottish assassin, is said to have killed a king with a devious trick. Lured within a cottage in Fettercairn, the king pulled the head of the statue towards him, which triggered a number of crossbows, killing him instantly. She then made a desperate decision to avoid capture.

The Body of Netta Fornario
In November 1929, the body of 33-year-old Netta, formally named Nora Emily Fornario, was found in the centre of a field. She was completely naked, save for a mysterious black cloak. Her body was positioned to adorn a cross carved into the earth of the field. Her feet were covered in scratches and a discarded knife lay next to her body. It remains one of the greatest unsolved Scottish mysteries. Discover her last actions in my book.

The Burning Bishop
Adam Melrose was the bishop of Caithness. Based in Halkirk, at that time Caithness was part of the Jarldom of Orkney, which belonged to the Kingdom of Norway. Adam had upset the locals by increasing the episcopal tax that the husbandmen of Caithness must pay. He had declared that the tax would be a span of butter from every ten cows, instead of every twenty, doubling the tax due. Infuriated by what they saw as unfair demands, the husbandmen took their complaint to the Jarl, Jon Haraldsson. However, the jarl had his own agenda and used their anger to his advantage, declaring that: “The devil take the bishop and his butter; you may roast him if you please!” Taking the Jarl’s advice literally, that’s exactly what they did. On 11^th September 1222, the husbandmen gathered outside Adam’s residence in Halkirk and began to chant “Roast him alive!” They then smothered him in butter and did exactly that.

The Legend of Sawney Bean
During the 1500s, legend tells that Sawney Bean and his family inhabited the caves between Girvan and Ballantrae. For reasons unknown, the family became cannibals and would kidnap travellers who strayed too close to their territory. Alexander ‘Sawney’ Bean and his 45 member clan were supposedly responsible for over 1000 murders over a 25 year period.

The Provan Hall Murderer
There have been numerous reports of paranormal activity within Provan Hall in Glasgow. Ghostly apparitions have been said to appear within the buildings and at windows, each of which come with their own myth.

Dr Aaron Mullins, who lives in Troon, has drawn on his experience as a psychologist to add an edge to his version of famous Scottish tales.

Ayr Advertiser

Scottish Monster Myths

Jenny Wi’ the Iron Teeth
Glasgow, 1954, times are tough for a lot of people, and south of the River Clyde lies a group of tenements known as the Gorbals, an over-populated and poverty-stricken area of the city. According to local legend at the time, this impoverished area was the hunting grounds for a creature known as the Gorbals Vampire. One dark night in September, the police were called to Glasgow’s Southern Necropolis. There they found hundreds of angry children armed with a variety of knives, stakes and other pointed weapons. The young crowd had even brought dogs with them to hunt the 7ft tall vampire who they claimed had iron teeth and was responsible for the deaths of two local children. Thus, a legend was born.

The Monster of Glamis
Victorian folklore speaks of a monster kept inside a secret chamber deep within Glamis Castle in Angus. However, this was not a traditional folktale beast terrorising the building. Instead, it was believed to be the deformed figure of a child with royal blood that the world had been told was dead.

The Unicorn Woman
In 1671, medical professionals were presented with the curious case of a woman who had, what appeared to be, a unicorn’s horn growing from the centre of her forehead. The 11-inch long horn resembles the width and texture of a ram’s horn and is curled into the shape of a question mark. It can be seen in the Anatomical Collections of Edinburgh University.

The Blue Men of Minch
Legend tells of mysterious and elusive creatures with blue skin that live in the water between the Isle of Lewis and mainland Scotland. The Blue Men were also known as Storm Kelpies and they are said to skim lightly beneath the surface of the water, always on the lookout for unwary sailors so that they may sink their boats and drown their crew.

The Zombie Priest
Hunderprest, a priest at Melrose Abbey, had gained a reputation for regularly slipping in his spiritual duties. In particular, he had a fondness for hunting with dogs and a deep passionate lust for his mistress. In the spring of 1196, Hunderprest passed away and his corpse was buried in the graveyard at the abbey. But he did not remain buried for long.

The Nine Maidens of Dundee
A farmer lived on a farm called Pitempton with his nine beautiful daughters. After toiling in the fields all day, the farmer asked the eldest of his daughters to fetch some water from the nearby well. Having been gone a rather long time, the tired farmer then sent the next eldest daughter to find the first. This continued until the farmer had sent away all his daughters, but none had returned. When he left the farm to investigate their disappearance, he discovered the dead bodies of his nine daughters discarded on the ground near the well. And there, laying in the blood of its victims, the farmer saw a huge dragon with a coiled, serpent-like body. What happened next in this legend is forever preserved in statue form in Dundee.

The Stoor Worm
In the Orkney Isles, it was believed that each Saturday, at sunrise, the Stoor Worm would wake from its slumber, open its mouth and yawn nine times. It’s said that a king was advised by a sorcerer that the beast must be fed a meal of seven virgins to appease his appetite. Failing that, the king must sacrifice his own daughter, Princess Gem-de-lovely. The king, concerned by the beast’s imminent arrival and distraught by the advice of sacrificing daughters, offered his own daughter’s hand in marriage (and the magical sword Sickersnapper, inherited from Odin) to anyone who could rid the world of the monster. Legends were born of those who tried.

The Loch Ness Monster
No book of urban legends would be complete without including one of Scotland’s most famous and enduring mysteries. You can read a more detailed account of the hunt for The Loch Ness Monster, and a host of other fascinating creatures from Scottish folklore, in my book: Scottish Legends: 55 Mythical Monsters.

The Boneless
A strange blob-like creature washed up on the shores of the Shetland Islands, bringing with it much malevolence and misfortune. It’s thought to bring bad luck for all who encounter it, and if you stare at its surface for too long you lose your mind.

Scottish Folklore Legends

The Saltire
The saltire. the national flag of Scotland, consists of a white cross laid diagonally across a blue field and is a symbol of great national pride. Legend says that in 60 AD, when Saint Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland, was about to be crucified, he refused to be placed upon a traditional T-shaped cross.

The Brahan Seer
Kenneth the Sallow (also known as Coinneach Odhar or Dark Kenneth) was a man gifted with an ability known as The Second Sight or Two Sights. Day or night, Kenneth could suddenly become struck with visions of the future, which often resulted in him predicting future events. The accuracy of his prophecies earned him the nickname The Brahan Seer. You can read a full account of his eerily accurate predictions in my book!

Wick North Primary School
You won’t find this personal story anywhere else, except my book. It was a warm evening and I was playing football on the ground in front of the school. From here you could see the windows into every classroom. It was nearly time for me to go home when I glanced up at one of the windows and saw what I thought was my old primary 5 teacher looking down at us playing football. She had long hair that hung past her shoulders and a white dress. I assumed the grey-ness of her figure was caused by the setting sun reflecting off the glass. I waved to her, but she didn’t wave back. She just kept on staring down at us. One of my friends asked what I was waving at, but when I went to point to the figure, she was gone. This is when realisation and a cold chill went through me. Read my book to see what my younger, terrified self did next.

Scottish Ghosts
A trio of personal stories unique to my book. One of the most commonly shared paranormal experiences that people have is seeing the ghost of a loved one. These deeply personal visitations can be both a comfort and completely terrifying. This is a story of three Scottish families and three ghostly visitors.

It’s Raining Fish
Scotland’s weather can be, at times, a little unpredictable. On rare occasions, this seems to include the ability to rain fish. On 21^st April 1828, Major Forbes Mackenzie awoke to discover that one of his fields was covered in small herring, about three to four inches long. This surprised him, as his farm in Strathpeffer was over three miles away from the sea, yet the fish were whole and healthy as if they had just been freshly caught.

Robert the Bruce and the Spider
It’s said that Robert the Bruce spent three months living in a cave somewhere in the Western Isles, struggling with grief and uncertainty. There he observed a spider building a web at the cave entrance. The stormy Scottish weather ruined the spider’s work on many occasions, but the tiny creature persevered and eventually completed its web. Inspired by the spider’s determination, Robert the Bruce found hope again and decided to carry on his fight. He is attributed with coining a popular phrase when he told his men ‘If at first you don’t succeed, try, try and try again.’

Queen of the Witches
Isobel Gowdie was the beautiful, crimson-haired wife of a farmer. She lived an unremarkable life in the Highland village of Auldearn, right up to the moment when she was accused of witchcraft. Unlike others though, Isobel did not deny the claims. Instead, she went into great detail about how she and her coven were given their powers from the Queen of the Faeries. She said they could fly on brooms, would often transform into animals and could cast spells on people using voodoo-like dolls. She disappeared without a trace before her execution.

The Flannan Isles Lighthouse
The Flannan Isles are an isolated group of uninhabited islands in the far north west of Scotland. In 1900, the lighthouse was at the centre of one of the most baffling mysteries. The three men who were charged with manning the lighthouse disappeared without a trace. When their replacements arrived, they found the lighthouse in perfect condition, everything in its place. It’s as if the men had simply blinked out of existence. James Ducat, Thomas Marshall and Donald MacArthur were never heard from again.

Charge of the Templar Knights
An enduring legend surrounding Robert the Bruce is that he won a famous battle thanks to the aid of a small band of Templar Knights. The details of the huge mysterious figures on horseback vary with each account of that day, but all emphasise the important role they played in claiming victory for the Scottish leader.

Dalmarnock Bridge Suicide Ghost
Dalmarnock Bridge is a 200-year-old road bridge over the River Clyde in Glasgow, thought to be haunted by the ghost of a man who committed suicide there. Many people have reported seeing a man looking forlornly down into the water, seemingly contemplating whether to jump or not. Afraid that they might be about to witness a suicide, they have approached the man, only for him to then leap into the air and disappear, never reaching the river below.

The Thistle
Legend states that King Haakon of Norway sent an army to Scotland with the intent to conquer the nation and claim it as his own. Under the cover of darkness, his army landed at the Coast of Largs and removed their footwear so they may sneak upon the slumbering Scottish Clansmen and stealthily kill them in their sleep. However, the Scots were protected by the land itself, as one of Haakon’s soldiers stumbled upon a thistle in the dark. His cry of pain alerted the Clansmen, who quickly defeated the invading forces.

The Glasgow Coat of Arms
Glasgow’s Coat of Arms contains four separate legends that make up its respective symbols and emblems,the tree that never grew, the bird that never flew, the fish that never swam and the bell that never rang. Read all about them in my book.

Hitting the Amazon top 100 bestseller charts in time for Halloween, the book includes some of Scotland’s most haunted places and unsolved mysteries.

Caithness Courier

Scottish Urban Legends: 50 Myths and True Stories

If you enjoyed this list of Scottish Urban Legends, then grab a copy of my book where each Scottish legend, myth, folktale and short story has been retold for a modern audience.

Within the book, discover the locations where you can see and feel these experiences for yourself, if you dare.

I realise that there are hundreds more Scottish myths, legends and true stories out there, and I would love to hear your favourites in the comments below.

You can also view my other books over on my Aaron Mullins Books page, which includes further collections of Scottish short stories.

Enjoy!

Aaron Mullins

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Aaron Mullins (@DrAaronMullins) is an award winning, internationally published psychologist and bestselling author. Aaron has over 15 years experience in the publishing industry, with expertise in business strategy for authors and publishers. He started Birdtree Books Publishing where he worked as Editor-in-Chief, partnered with World Reader Charity and taught Academic Writing at Coventry University. Aaron’s book How to Write Fiction: A Creative Writing Guide for Authors has become a staple reference book for writers and those interested in a publishing career. Find out more.