Halloween Folklore – The Devil’s Cradle
Auld Nick about his business…
Welcome back, friends. As promised, today I bring you another piece of strange Halloween folklore - this time featuring that international mischief-maker, Auld Nick (the Devil).
The village of Dollar can be found in the county of Clackmannanshire, in central Scotland, about twelve miles east of the city of Stirling. Despite its name, Dollar has no connection with the currency. It is thought the name may originate from Scots Gaelic, meaning “dark” or “gloomy”, or possibly have Pictish roots and mean “a water meadow”.
Not far from this little village lies Burngrens Glen, a wooded area with a stream that bubbles pleasantly beneath its shady boughs. Within this lonely glen can be found a stone shaped like a cradle - it is a place with a grim reputation, and rightly so, for it is believed to be where witches and warlocks gather to perform sinister rituals on dark nights. But the glen is also believed to have a worse visitor than even these dark-hearted magicians, for every Halloween it is said to be visited by the Devil himself.
People are advised to stay away from the area on the night of 31st of October. For it is then that the stone cradle is said to swing back and forth in mid-air with nothing holding it up. Seated snugly within it is “Old Sandy” - a local nickname for the Devil - enjoying being rocked by his followers from the witch cult. They spend all night with “Old Sandy” until sunrise sends them on their way, not to be seen again until the next Halloween night.
It would be a foolish person indeed who ventured there on that particular night of the year - and yet, according to local legend, someone once did. Here is his story:
One Halloween night, a young man who had been drinking with his friends and boasted in front of them that he would visit the stone alone. Taking a bottle of whisky to give him some Dutch courage, he soon set out.
The stone was not far away, so he reached his destination quickly. After a good gulp of whisky, he sat down on the cradle-shaped stone, determined to dispute its rightful ownership should the Devil appear and claim it as his seat.
Every rustle of a leaf, as the wind whistled through the glen, seemed to the young man to herald the Devil’s approach, so he took a few more gulps of John Barleycorn. However, due to the amount he drank, he soon fell asleep upon the stone.
His friends, who had followed him, approached the sleeping man. Shouting and making loud noises, they grabbed him and carried him, half-awake, to the burn. They dipped him in repeatedly, and every time he was immersed in the water, they yelled loudly. The young man, in his drunken and sleepy state - thinking a whole legion of devils surrounded him - was frightened almost to death. He screamed for mercy so pitifully that his friends soon stopped their mischief.
No sooner had the young man got to his feet than he rushed off up the glen and ran home, resolving never to drink again or attempt to toy with the Devil. For a long time, he did not know it had been his friends who had tormented him.
I wonder if anyone today would be brave enough to venture down into the glen on that night of black repute — and if they did, what might they see?
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog, my friend. As a token of my gratitude for your support, I have a few free scary stories for you to enjoy over this dark season - please visit the download section.
If you favour something more substantial, click the link below and pick up a copy of my latest book, Threads of Shadow. But fair warning - if you do, prepare to be horrified.
Until next week — stay spooky.
Sources
The Ochils: Placenames, History, Tradition – Angus Watson (1995)
Wikipedia
clackmannanshire.scot (accessed 10th December 2023)
