Continuing the cryptozoological theme established by the post of September 2nd, I present another interesting oddity mentioned in Graham McEwan's Mystery Animals of Britain and Ireland.
This one takes us over to Scotland's Cairngorms, and specifically the mountain of Ben MacDhui (which at 1309 metres, is the country's second highest peak).
McEwan takes up the story:
For many years experienced climbers have reported a variety of uncanny experiences on the mountain of Ben MacDhui…These include strange auditory phenomena such as unearthly music, footsteps and voices; overwhelming feelings of depression, anxiety and fear; an urge to commit suicide by jumping from high peaks, and, of most interest here, sightings of a giant man-like creature, known in Gaelic as An Fear Liath Mór - the Big Grey Man. (McEwan, p. 171)
For a more detailed description of both the physical and psychological qualities of this intriguing creature we head over to Traci Anderson at pantheon.org:
The Grey Man is identified as a presence encountered both physically and psychically. In its physical form, the Grey Man is most often described as quite large and broad shouldered, standing fully erect and being in excess of 10 feet in height, with long waving arms. He is also reportedly olive complected or, alternatively, covered with short brown hair…
More frequently, the Grey Man is encountered in physical sensation, but without a true physical form. Sensations of this type include vast, dark blurs which obscure the sky, strange crunching noises, echoing footsteps which pursue the listener, an icy feeling in the surrounding atmosphere, as well as a physical feeling of a cold grip on, or brush against, the observer's flesh. There is also a high pitched humming sound, or the Singing as it is sometimes called, which is associated with Ben MacDhui and the Grey Man.
Additionally, the Grey Man has an extremely powerful psychic effect. Visitors to Ben MacDhui report a feeling of overwhelming negative energy. Occasionally this is described as extreme lethargy and despondency. More often, it is typified by acute fear, apprehension and an overwhelming panic, leading to suicidal thoughts or physical flight from the area. Generally, this fear is accompanied by the physical sound of echoing footsteps chasing the observer, and sometimes the sound of a resonant and yet completely incomprehensible voice which seems to be faintly Gaelic in nature.
Yikes! Needless to say I've just scratched Ben MacDhui off my list of the "Top 20 Places to Spend a Relaxing Weekend"…
Seriously though, what interests me most about stories like this (beyond the obvious fascination we have for tales of the unknown) is how they seem to straddle two 'camps': the strictly 'cryptozoological' (which occassionally presents itself as, more or less, scientific), and the occult/supernatural.
On one level then, the 'Big Grey Man' can be read as a potential Scottish Bigfoot or Yeti: A flesh and blood 'cryptid' that invites enthusiasts to photograph it, capture it on video, measure its tracks etc etc. Here we're in the realm of creatures that, though elusive, could yet be proven to exist. Looking at it from this perspective, our large grey friend sits snugly beside the lake monsters of Ireland (etc) in the category of '"enigmatic life forms waiting to be discovered".
When one takes into account the emphasis on "extreme lethargy and despondency" in the Ben MacDhui tales however, one seems to be opening a can of decidedly uncanny and 'occult' worms. One could, of course, put all this down to a peculiar kind of hallucinatory 'altitude sickness', but extreme feelings of dread and fear are fairly commonplace in descriptions of similarly weird encounters. It's interesting that 'witnesses' often couch their descriptions in terms that suggest an experience of something that "shouldn't be", something that has intruded on 'our reality', some kind of 'unnatural abomination' (like Michael Flatley perhaps).
I have no idea what all this means, or if (indeed) it means anything at all, but it's certainly mighty intriguing…especially to a secular, agnostic type such as myself.
As the High Altitude required to induce altitude sickness does not occur until after 1500M and the mountain in question attains an uppermost eminence of only 1309M, one cannot but conclude that science has no answer to the events on Ben MacDhui.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I seem to have soiled myself in terror.
October 18th, 2005 at 3:29 pmNow I realise why you always carry a spare pair of underwear (nice rhyming) when traipsing along the peaks and ridges of the West. ‘Tis “for fear of little men”, or, as is the case here, “for fear of big grey men”.
I seem to recall that you once spent the night on a lofty peak in Kerry. Did you not encounter anything queer?
October 18th, 2005 at 3:39 pmSo much did I encounter not wrought of mortal hand that I cannot bear to speak of the queerness of the night I spent mid the black rocks and mewling winds.
I was put to the pin of my collar to pay my laundry bill.
October 18th, 2005 at 6:49 pmYou think that’s weird? Sheesh lads get a grip, the “grey man” sure tis probably my old fella out collecting blackberries.
If you want a real dose of the heebs check this out - my sphincter has failed entirely at the mere notion of it.
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1577408.html
October 19th, 2005 at 9:51 amSpeaking of scary, do my eyes deceive me on clicking yon Creedence link to read that the band’s nascent form, the Blue Velvets “[u]nbeknownst to them…had their name changed by a label executive to the ‘Golliwogs’”?!?
Truly, the grey man of Ben MacDhui has nothing in the hideous monster stakes over the average music industry suit.
October 19th, 2005 at 10:39 amReaders should note that an evil genetic engineer not unknown to this blog is operating from a remote Mediterranean island to produce a Munro Monster to haunt every peak above 3,000 ft on the anglophone archipelago, most likely on payment of hideous sums from the Get-Orf-Moi-Land lobby.
Perhaps the grey man of Ben MacDhui is the prototype.
October 19th, 2005 at 10:44 amYou’re probably right ‘foolhardy’…I’d forgotten your Da was grey, 15 foot tall, and capable of generating profound feelings of dread, unease, and terror.
As for the details of your link: “David Copperfield says he plans to impregnate a girl on stage - without even touching her.”
I was struck by the title of his new show: “An Intimate Evening of Grand Illusion”. He’s not exaggerating! Impregnating members of the audience is pretty intimate!
October 19th, 2005 at 11:40 amSo is David Copperfield’s trick going to involve a bottle of Lambrusco, some rohypnol and the phrase ‘Honestly officer, i didn’t touch her’? If so i think you’ll find many ‘magicians’ perform this trick in the alleyways of Cardiff every saturday night.
October 19th, 2005 at 12:14 pmwhat part of the performance will be the “illusion”; the not touching her or the impregnation?
October 19th, 2005 at 12:20 pmHowever the illusion pans out, would anyone really pay good money to put themselves in a position where they could potentially get ‘preggers’ with David Copperfield’s child?
Carrying Satan’s spawn to term would surely be preferable to this.
October 19th, 2005 at 12:39 pmThe shame of attending a David Copperfield magic show can only be surpassed by providing purchase for his evil seed - even via a conception of immaculate proportions. The second coming indeed.
October 19th, 2005 at 1:47 pmAs for the admission price, good money or no, it could certainly be considered an investment of sorts considering the paternity windfall that, in this day and age, would surely follow.
As an aside, should Mr Copperfield manage to get a male member of the audience up the Damien Duff, now that WOULD be magic.
Foolhardy’s invocation of the spectre of a paternity suit [innvocation and spectre are appropriate language in this context] begs the legal questions
a) should proceedings against Copperfield be criminal or civil and, ipso facto
b) should the judge’s finding be made “beyond a reasonable doubt” or “on the balance of probabilities”.
Given the nature of illusion, this latter question is difficult. The only thing we can be sure of is that the child will be called Damian.
Another issue for the court is the possible abuse by Copperfield of his evil powers to impregnate the jury foreman or woman thus creating grounds for a mistrial.
October 19th, 2005 at 2:46 pmGiven his holy-ghost like powers of remote impregnation it is reasonable to assume that rearranging the genetic makeup of his magical offspring, thereby erasing any evidence of his “contribution”, is not beyond his abilities. The devious pup.
It is also worth considering that Mr Copperfield’s show may be a more sophisticated version of the old “I bet you 10p I can move your tits without touching them” trick.
If only I had thought of that.
October 19th, 2005 at 3:12 pm[…] d were found via the excellent Fustar. Check him out he and his cohorts are admirably well informed on such matters. This entry was posted […]
March 18th, 2006 at 6:03 pmReaders might be interested to know that after extensive research and several days and nights on the Cairngorm plateau during the winter of 2005/2006, we have made a short documentary film about ‘The Big Grey Man of Ben MacDhui’ and submitted it to the 2006 Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival.
We would be very interested to hear of any reader experiences relating to the legend of ‘The Big Grey Man’ in the ’sightings’ section of the film web site at http://www.biggreyman.co.uk
September 1st, 2006 at 12:53 pmmy dad’s a climber and i have refused to go up Ben MacDhui since the age of about ten because the place actually terrifies me. i’ve never felt so uneasy somewhere.
have never ’seen’ the grey man, and don’t intend to, but he’s there - i’m sure of it.
al.
June 11th, 2007 at 3:36 pmAlasdair, Was there any specific experience that caused you to be so afeared, or was it (like in most BGM experiences) just a feeling of dread and unease?
June 12th, 2007 at 1:35 pm