A schoolteacher and his family were driven out of their home...

Original Track ID

SA1974.202.B9

Original Tape ID

SA1974.202

Summary

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 children's clothes were torn and they were pinched by an invisible force. A young servant girl in the house continually fell in the fire. A minister was summoned to exorcise the poltergeist but admitted that he faced a stronger force. A strong man held onto the girl to keep her out of the fire, but the next he knew he was on his back and the girl was in the fire. Someone said that a servant girl in another house, who had been in service in the south [i.e. Scotland], possessed a book with black pages and white writing. This was the Book of Black Arts and whoever used it must renounce all hope of getting to Heaven.

Tom Moncrieff heard the story from a woman born in 1830 who lived in the house where the woman was supposed to possess the book. She in turn heard the story from a man who had known the schoolmaster. The schoolmaster had to leave the district. The descendants of the girl with the book are still [1974] alive, and Tom doesn't want to say any more about what happened to her.

Recording Location

Item Location

Language

English, Scots

Genre

Story Information

Collection

SoSS

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good