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The Böd of Urie was haunted by the ghosts of murdered childr...

Date 13 April 1973
Track ID 75086
Part 1

Track Information

Original Track ID

SA1973.61.A2

Original Tape ID

SA1973.061

Summary

The Böd of Urie was haunted by the ghosts of murdered children; they were heard by a carpenter repairing timbers.

Windhouse is the most haunted house in Yell. Hauntings are caused by an untimely death or murder. A man called Bruce was the father of illegitimate twins by the housekeeper of the Böd [literally booth] of Urie, on Fetlar. He smothered the children in a mire and their wails were said to haunt the böd, until the last Bruce of Urie, John, gave the rafters of the building to put a new roof on the established church in 1790. That silenced the noises.

Jeemsie Laurenson vouches for the truth of the story, as he had heard it from Willa May Ganson, who maintained it was true. Her ancestor Frank Ganson of Colvister had a son, James, who was a ship's carpenter. He agreed to repair rafters at Urie. He took a keshie [woven basket] of tools and his father asked him whether he wasn't afraid to go there. He nearly had to pack up because of the sound of infants wailing and corbies [ravens] flapping their wings. He saw white shadows at the doors, but prayed to be able to finish the job. The next day he admitted to his father that he'd had a bad night, but his father said he'd known all about it.

Item Notes

The chronology does not quite tie in with the information on the next track on the same tape (SA1973.061) that Frank Ganson's daughter married a crewman on the whaler Diana.

Item Subject/Person

Bruce family

Recording Location

County - Shetland

Parish - Fetlar

Island - Fetlar

Item Location

County - Shetland

Parish - Fetlar

Island - Fetlar

Village/Place - Urie

Language

Scots

Collection

SoSS

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good