eerie funeral processions

phantom funeral processions

Tales of supernatural funeral processions are told all over Scotland but especially in the Highlands. These processions can only be seen by a few, those who have the second sight, but to them they look as real as an actual funeral. Not everybody knows, that he or she has the gift of the second sight. These phantom processions usually indicate a death that will be taking place, some indicate one that has just occurred. They all lead towards a graveyard.

never walk in the middle of the road

It was customary never to walk in the middle of the road, especially in lonely places and at night for you would not want to walk into a funeral procession you could not see, the ghosts could force you to walk with them.

three men drowned in Loch Scavaig

A Skye woman once saw a funeral procession with several coffins but, and that was unusual, not walking on an actual road but across the hillside. This happened in Scavaig, a remote corner on the Isle of Skye. The woman died and two years after her vision three men drowned in Loch Scavaig. Their bodies were buried near the shore and later dug up again to be carried to the next graveyard along the very same path the woman had indicated.

a body wrapped in a grey plaid

Another supernatural procession was seen not far away from this in Strathaird, near the graveyard of Kilmarie, a man wearing a grey plaid drowned in the river. His body was found weeks later. That funeral procession had also been seen before it happened, a group of man carrying a body wrapped in a grey plaid.

a walk with a dead man

An actual hotspot for supernatural occurrences around graveyards seems to have been Portree. One night a man woke up hearing a call from his workmate, with whom he usually walked from The Braes to Portree. He got up and followed the voice, which after calling out again and again eventually took him to the graveyard there. Only then did he realise, that his companion was dead and he was hearing a voice that was not of this earth.

meeting your own funeral procession

Another moonlit night in Portree, a man ended up walking with the procession. When he asked whose funeral he was taking part in, he was answered “It is your own.”

Enjoyed reading this post? There’s more here….

The stories of this book have been discovered and gathered for my blog, Graveyards of Scotland, over many years. 

My main sources were historical travel guides from the 18th and 19th centuries, where the finds were scary, beautiful, funny, and sometimes, cruel. This unusual approach to a country’s history has produced amazing results. You don’t have to share my passion for cemeteries to enjoy this book; only a small number of the stories in this collection take place in graveyards, though they do all end in them, so perhaps it helps. 

Scotland for Quiet Moments is available as ebook, paperback and now as hardcover @Amazon ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

source and further reading about eerie funeral processions:

Ronald Black (ed.): The Gaelic Otherworld. John Georgson Campbell’s Superstitions of the Highlands & Islands of Scotland and Witchcraft & Second Sight in the Highlands & Islands. Edinburgh, Birlinn Origin; 2019