The Böd of Urie was haunted by the ghosts of murdered childr...
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1973.61.A2
Original Tape ID
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
Genre
Collection
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Good