The Grey Man of Ben Macdui: Scotland’s Most Terrifying Mountain Legend
The Big Grey man of Ben Macdui. Both a hairy and hair raising sight…
The Cairngorms are a mountain range found in the eastern reaches of the Scottish Highlands, characterised by an Arctic-like plateau. They are home to the second-highest mountain in Scotland - and in all of the British Isles. Ben Macdui, meaning “MacDuff’s mountain.” It is a popular destination for mountain walkers, despite being reputedly haunted by a large, wraith-like being.
This entity goes by the Gaelic name Am Fear Liath Mòr (“the Big Grey Man”), but is also known as the Big Grey Man of Ben Macdui, or simply the Grey man. He has been encountered by many people, some of them quite experienced mountaineers, and all of them agree on one thing: he is terrifying.
He is rarely seen. Instead, people report a sudden, overwhelming sense of being watched, accompanied by the steady sound of footsteps crunching behind them. This is often paired with an intense feeling of dread or panic, sometimes strong enough to send even experienced mountaineers fleeing downhill. Those unlucky few who claim to have laid eyes upon it describe an enormous shadow, far taller than any man, looming out of the fog towards them.
The first recorded account of the Grey man was given by J. Norman Collie in 1925. A respected professor and member of the Royal Geographical Society, Collie recounted a terrifying experience he had whilst hiking alone near the summit of Ben Macdui in 1891:
I was returning from the cairn on the summit in a mist when I began to think I heard something other than merely the noise of my own footsteps. Every few steps I took I heard a crunch, and then another crunch, as if someone was walking after me but taking steps three or four times the length of my own. I said to myself, this is all nonsense. I listened and heard it again, but could see nothing in the mist. As I walked on and the eerie crunch, crunch sounded behind me, I was seized with terror and took to my heels, staggering blindly among the boulders for four or five miles, nearly down to Rothiemurchus Forest. Whatever you make of it, I do not know, but there is something very queer about the top of Ben Macdui and I will not go back there again.
It was Collie’s account, reported in the local press, that opened the floodgates. Other climbers soon came forward with their own stories. One climber, Hugh D. Welsh, said that he and his brother hiked to the summit in 1904. Throughout the day and night, they heard “slurring footsteps, as if someone was walking through water-saturated gravel.” Both men felt “frequently conscious of something near us, and a horrible sense of apprehension.”
Peter Densham was part of a rescue team working in the Cairngorms during the Second World War. He said that one day, whilst on Ben Macdui, he heard strange noises as a thick mist rapidly closed in around him. He then felt an increasing pressure around his neck and fled in terror before witnessing anything more. Densham later told a friend and fellow mountaineer, Richard Frere, about the encounter. Frere himself had experienced strange events on that lonely mountain, and also recounted how another friend - who wished to remain anonymous - had once camped on Ben Macdui, only to be awakened during the night by an inescapable sense of dread. Summoning enough courage to look out of his tent, he was greeted by the sight of a large, dark-hairy figure silhouetted against the moonlight.
In 1958, The Scots Magazine published a piece by naturalist Alexander Tewnion, describing his own encounter with the thing in 1943:
I spent a ten-day leave climbing alone in the Cairngorms. One afternoon, just as I reached the summit cairn of Ben MacDhui, mist swirled across the Lairig Ghru and enveloped the mountain. The atmosphere became dark and oppressive; a fierce, bitter wind whisked among the boulders, and… an odd sound echoed through the mist – a loud footstep, it seemed. Then another, and another… A strange shape loomed up, receded, then came charging at me! Without hesitation I whipped out my revolver and fired three times at the figure. When it still came on, I turned and hared down the path, reaching Glen Derry in a time I have never bettered. You may ask: was it really the Fear Liath Mòr? Frankly, I think it was.
To date, no one has managed to photograph the Grey man. However, photographer John A. Rennie claimed to have discovered a series of strange footprints in the Spey Valley. These were far too large to be human. He is said to have photographed them and published the images in a book, though I have been unable to locate any copies of these photographs.
So what is it that haunts the peaks and passes of Ben Macdui? Some researchers have suggested that the region is home to a Yeti-like being - a sort of British Bigfoot - that wanders the wilderness and makes the Cairngorms its home. Others have hinted that it may be a ghost: the spectral remnants of one of humanity’s primitive ancestors, forever doomed to roam this wild place.
The sceptical explanation is the Brocken spectre - a natural optical phenomenon in which your own shadow is projected onto mist and appears gigantic, often ringed with a halo. Combined with exhaustion, isolation, and the eerie acoustics of the plateau, it could account for some sightings.
But… not all.
The footsteps.
The pacing.
The shared dread across multiple witnesses.
Those are harder to shrug off.
One thing is certain: it takes a brave soul to camp on Ben Macdui, particularly at dusk, as the mists begin to draw in.
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I hope this strange tale has not put you off visiting the Highlands, which are a truly stunning region. If you enjoy my work, please consider picking up a copy of my book, Fireside Horror - a terrifying folk-horror novel told through short stories, available on all Amazon stores. I have enclosed links to the UK and US versions below. It are also available to order from Waterstones.
Until next week,
Stay spooky.
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‘A gem of a book’
Sources
Wikipedia
folklorescotland.com
scotclans.com/pages/the-fear-liath
