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Evictions in Shetland. Evictions in Shetland were very cruel until the introduction of the Crofters Act in 1886. All the people in Upper Weisdale, around 300 in number, were evicted in one night. ...

A male witch got corn from an old lady by frightening her. Henry Ahint cashed in on his reputation as a witch, one time scrounging corn [oat] sheaves for his cow from an old lady who was afraid of...

A schoolteacher and his family were driven out of their home by a poltergeist. A schoolteacher moved to a certain area of Shetland, and he and his family were troubled by a mischievous spirit. The...

Instances of second sight in Tom Anderson's family. Second sight ran strongly in Tom Anderson's family. His grand-aunt would announce that such and such a person has passed away because she had he...

An encounter with poachers. A lad was returning to Nochty [Glen Nochty] after visiting his mother and was coming down a steep sheuch [defile] in the dark. There was black fishing [poaching] going...

The Devil tries Noah's wine and finds out its effects. Wine is a very ancient thing. When Noah went into the ark with all the animals he took some vines with him, and tended them for forty days an...

An old Traveller and his wife are given three wishes by a fairy, but waste them and end up with nothing. An old Traveller man and woman were sitting by the roadside having a rest and a smoke when ...

A pupil of the black arts offended his master by showing off, and was enchanted, but got the best of it. The captain of a ship took a simpleton away for a year and a day, and he came back much imp...

A couple were granted three wishes but wasted them. The following story was made up about Hughie Meek and his wife. Supposedly, they were smoking by the roadside near Birnam when a little man appe...

A family story about getting rid of a fairy changeling. Betsy Whyte's mother told her, as true, that when she was about seven or eight, she was hawking in Perthshire with her mother, Maggie. They ...