Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 8, 1897.djvu/236

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Ghost Lights of the West Highlands.

Mr. ———, a native of Islay, says: "One time lights were seen moving about at night on the rocks on the shore near Kilchearan (in Islay). Shortly after that, a vessel was wrecked there, and the body of a man was washed ashore at the spot where the lights had been seen."

"One time lights were seen on Lochandaal, between Bowmore and Blackrock. Not long after that, two young men were crossing the loch in a small boat, and at the place at which the lights had been seen the boat was capsized and the two lads drowned."

On another occasion "a number of lives were lost through the foundering of a boat on Lochandaal. For several nights before the accident people were seeing lights on the loch, and when search was being made for the bodies, young M. T., who was one of a searching crew, guided them to the spot where he said that he had seen the light go out of sight. Getting out their glass they soon discovered a body on the bottom, which they were able to secure by means of their grappling apparatus. It was the first of the bodies that were recovered."

A native of Lorn gives the following:

"Some years ago a vessel was wrecked near Easdale, and the captain and one or two of the crew were drowned. The bodies of the sailors were recovered, but the captain's had not been recovered some time after the wreck had taken place. One night one of the people of the place saw a light out from the shore, and drew the attention of one or two others to it. Thinking this strange, they carefully noted the spot. On the following day they went in a boat with grapplings and found the body at the very place where they had seen the light."

Another Islay case, identical in its incidents with the above, is: "Some time ago a light was seen for several nights, one after the other, at a little port (place where boats are drawn up) on the shore to the east of Port Charlotte. Many people saw it, including the reciter's mother.