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Fife Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana

Princess Marama

Location: Anstruther - Johnson Lodge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This royal lady, said to be from a Pacific Isle, continues to walk around the building she spent the last years of her life in.

White Figure

Location: Auchtertool - B952 Auchtertool Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: May 1981, around 01:30h
Further Comments: Two occupants of a car screamed when they spotted a small white figure with thin arms trying to climb over a wall which ran alongside the road. The figure's face had no features. The witnesses later discovered another person had previously seen the white figure.


A folklore favourite - the phantom funeral procession.

Funeral and Piper

Location: Auchtertool - Pathway once known as Lady's Walk, heading towards the kirk
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Exact date not known, but one night in August (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Carrying a shrouded coffin at shoulder height, a phantom funeral procession led by a tartan clad piper crosses a field, heading towards the church from the direction of Hallyards Castle.

Devil's Apron String

Location: Ballingry - Rocks in the area
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: While on a mission to fill the loch with stones, the Devil, carrying the boulders in his apron, had a mishap; the apron string broke, the rocks scattering themselves over the landscape. The Devil gave up and returned home.

Ignis Fatuus

Location: Buckhaven - Around the coastline
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The will-o'-the-wisp here would both lead people off paths into the marshes and act as a beacon to boats, causing misery to both.

Educational Shade

Location: Buckhaven - College
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This college is reportedly haunted by a spirit nicknamed Green Jean.

Beware the Maukens

Location: Buckhaven - General area
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: It was considered unlucky for fishermen to see hares, known locally as maukens, as they were thought agents of witches and would bring about ill luck at sea. If a hare were encountered during a walk to their boat, the fisherman would normally just return home.

Maillie

Location: Buckhaven - House formally known as The Cottage, likely to no longer exist
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: Maillie, the wife of a smuggler, was murdered during a drunken fight in the house. Her ghost gained such a bad reputation that people would walk along the beach rather than along the road which passed by the haunted property.

Missing Items

Location: Burntisland - Private Residence close to Cowdenbeath Road
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2012
Further Comments: Items in this home would vanish and reappear in plain site after the occupiers had searched high and low. A shadowy 'thing' was seen standing over a person shortly before they were rushed to hospital with pneumonia.


A well-dressed phantom woman.

Scene of Murder

Location: Burntisland - Unidentified house (no longer standing) around half-mile from the coast
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Likely early nineteenth century
Further Comments: In a bedroom, a ghostly boy would be bundled into a wardrobe by a phantom well-dressed lady, moments before another ghost, this time of a tall, bearded man, walked into the same room and stabbed the lady through the heart. The scene was said to have played out to two people on separate occasions before the entire house was demolished and the site sown with crops.

Goblet of Gold

Location: Carden Den - Exact area not known
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A goblet of gold (or it could be filled with gold) is hidden in this area. Thomas the Rhymer declared that the treasure could only be found during a full moon by two brothers, one of whom would kill the other.

Wishing Bridge

Location: Carnock - Conscience Bridge
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: Named after a murderer who decided to confess to his crimes on the site, the bridge once had a reputation for being a place where wishes could be made.

Viscount Dundee

Location: Colinsburgh - Colinsburgh Castle
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: Late seventeenth century
Further Comments: Killed during the battle of Killiecrankie, Dundee appeared to Lord Balcarres shortly after his death. Edinburgh Castle also claims this event for itself.

Starving Boy

Location: Crail - Balcomie Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Locked in the dungeon some 500 years ago and forgotten about, this child starved to death. He has been briefly sighted around the castle (on one occasion, sitting upon the castle's flagpole), and heard playing an old tin-whistle.

Thrown Missile

Location: Crail - Blue Stone (outside the parish church)
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: The Devil, who may have been secretly involved in constructing the church, was angered by a local man. The Devil fled to the Isle of May and threw a stone at the church. The projectile fell short and remains in place to this day.

Seven Year Treasure

Location: Crail - Coastline
Type: Other
Date / Time: Unknown if still occurring
Further Comments: If one were to walk along this coastline before dawn every day for seven years, on the last day of the period, one would find enough treasure to ensure they lived comfortably for the rest of their life.

Dairy Farmer

Location: Crail - Entire neighbourhood
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A dead dairy farmer took to walking the neighbourhood; she would give chase to any locals out after dark and caused general mayhem. The farmer vanished for good after the local vicar wandered out and listened to her confess that, during her lifetime, she had watered down the milk she sold.

Eyes

Location: Crail - Private house overlooking the sea
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: These eyes are thought to belong to a former female owner of the house and are seen peeking out from dark corners at night.

Lady Mary Crawford

Location: Crawford - Priory
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The Lady Mary has been seen drifting over the gardens of the priory, searching for her many pets that she kept during life.

Man in the Golden Chair

Location: Culross - Abbey
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A secret tunnel near here was once believed to lead to a room full of gold and jewels, looked after by an old man who waited in a golden chair to hand over the wealth to whoever found it first. A piper and his dog were once sent in to investigate the tunnel - a short time later, the dog came out terrified and the man never seen again.

Lord Colvil

Location: Culross - Former home of Lord Colvil
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1728
Further Comments: Two servants at the house were said to have fled after seeing their recently deceased master Lord Colvil in the garden - the ghost called out after them. Colvil's brother-in-law, a Mr Logan, was also said to have encountered the Lord's ghost.

Witch's Footprint

Location: Culross - Stone on common land and/or first floor of the church steeple
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: This stone was used as a launch pad by a flying witch - her push off point is marked by her footprint.

Floating Monk

Location: Cupar - The Royal Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1978
Further Comments: Built on top of a Cathedral's burial ground, this hotel is home to a tall phantom monk that drifts along the corridors.

Pirates

Location: Dalgety Bay - St Bridget's Kirk
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Autumn (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Phantom pirates are supposed to haunt this ruined area.

Benedictine Monk

Location: Dunfermline - Abbot House, Maygate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This site is reputed to be haunted by a friendly Benedictine monk.

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