Angus: Take my word for it, my dear. There are ancient mysteries
here. Evil spirits haunt Tulloch moor.
Sarah Jane: Maybe. But I'm certain of one thing, Mr Macranald.
Evil spirits don't destroy oil rigs...
Terror of the Zygons, episode 1.
One day a long time ago, a man called John Clach-na-Harnich was walking across the moors at night, heading home through a storm. The going was heavy, and soon John was tired. Pausing for a rest, he heard the sound of pipes on the wind. The sound was so beautiful that John had to discover who the piper was, and he began to follow the music. Eventually he came to a house, and could hear the pipes inside. He opened the door. The house was filled with men and girls dancing to a reel played by the piper.
There are a number of such stories in Highland folklore where evil spirits, either of Celtic or Christian origin, transform themselves to entrap an unsuspecting passer-by. The Zygons, with their ability to become facsimile human beings, are an extension of these tales. The Highland setting of Terror of the Zygons enabled Robert Banks Stewart to also incorporate the two best known aspects of the area's folk history, second sight and the Loch Ness Monster, into his story.
Da Shealladh in Gaelic literally means `the two sights'; people possessing Da Shealladh are said to be able to see not only the world of sense (our world), but also the world of the spirit. They are able to see both the shades of the dead and etheric doubles or phantasms of the living upon the earth; they `see' the images of future events. Generally, this gift enables the seer to warn of an impending death, or to sense when one has occurred.
Seers are also able to predict future events and calamities. One of the most famous examples of this is the prediction of the Battle of Culloden of 1746, made by the Brahan Seer a century before the event occurred:
Oh, Drummossie Moor, my heart is aching for thee, for the day is coming when thy black wilderness will flow with the best of Highland blood... Heads lie lopped off in the heather, limbs are severed and lost, mercy has altogether deserted mankind while brother savages brother... Oh God, oh Culloden, I am dying with your dead...Let me die before that day, oh let me die.
While not quite on a par with this, the prediction by Angus of disaster for the oil company is another such example.
Of course, the most noticeable element of Scottish folklore in Terror of the Zygons is the Loch Ness Monster itself. There are many supposed monsters inhabiting waterways around the world, but Nessie is easily the most famous. Loch Ness itself is long and thin, 22 miles long but only 2 miles wide at its widest point, thus easily accommodating a monster whose length is estimated anywhere from 8 to 40 feet.
Nessie is usually described as having a serpentine head and neck atop a large fat body, with four flippers and a long tail. The first recorded sighting was made by St Columba and took place in the 6th century AD. The saint was crossing the river Ness when he saw some fishermen burying a man who had been seized by the monster. Hearing this, the saint ordered his companion to swim across the loch. When the man was halfway across, the monster appeared, scenting further prey.
Recorded sightings were sporadic until the 20th century, though apparently children had always been warned against playing near the edge. The first major sighting occurred in April 1933. A Mr and Mrs Mackay were driving alongside the loch when they saw something moving in the water. The subsequent newspaper report generated such curiosity that the monster became a topic of international interest. After this the number of sightings, whether real or imagined, rose alarmingly: about 3000 had been reported.
The monster, even if it does not exist, has been a tremendous boon to the Scottish economy. 350 000 tourists each year struggle to catch a glimpse of Nessie in the waters of the loch, and hope to be lucky enough to take the first decent photo, potentially worth a fortune. Scientific interest in the monster has also remained constant over the years. A huge number of expeditions have travelled to Loch Ness, but to date little or nothing has been found that helps prove or disprove Nessie's existence.
Sources: Robertson, R.M., Selected Highland Folktales, David and Charles, London, 1970. ibid.; also Thompson, F., The Supernatural Highlands, Robert Hale and Co., London, 1976.
Haining, P., Ancient Mysteries, Sidgwick &Jackson, London, 1977. Mead, Robin, The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 July 1992. ABC Regional radio report (Aust)
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