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Measuring a live bear to win supernatural power.

Date 14 April 1973
Track ID 28373
Part 1

Track Information

Original Track ID

SA1973.63.A3

Original Tape ID

SA1973.063

Summary

Measuring a live bear to win supernatural power.

Tom Tulloch was told the following story by a man whose father gained supernatural powers by spanning [measuring by hand] a living polar bear.

It was a belief among the Shetland seal hunters working in Greenland that if they could span a live polar bear, they would be imbued with magical force. Lowrie was one of the few to have done it. Years later, Lowrie and his son (Tom's source) were walking home from work in Yell when they were summoned to attend a woman gravely ill in childbirth. Lowrie laid hands on the woman, who recovered and bore a healthy son, who is a man of about 65 still living in Lerwick [in 1973].

Item Subject/Person

Lowrie, seal hunter

Recording Location

County - Shetland

Parish - Yell

Island - Yell

Village/Place - Gutcher

Item Location

County - Shetland

Parish - Yell

Island - Yell

Village/Place - Cullivoe

Non Scottish Item Location

Greenland

Non Scottish Item Location

A' Ghraonlainn

Language

Scots

Collection

SoSS

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good