The Bankfoot Apparition
In November 1984, my 3 year old son, my wife, who was 8 months pregnant, and I were driving north on the A9 when, at a point about one mile north of Bankfoot, roughly about one hundred yards north of where the well known speed camera is presently situated, I noticed, through the heavy fog which had alighted on the area, a car emerging towards us and flashing its headlights, presumably as some kind of a warning signal.
Shortly thereafter, I was horrified to see what appeared to be the figure of a man suddenly lurch into view straddling the centerline of the road. I immediately swerved violently to the left, trying to avoid the figure and, as I did so, my wife screamed – I remember thinking that I should stop, then thought the better of it, as stopping on any carriageway in thick fog was asking for trouble.
We then continued north, soon emerging from the mist as the Dunkeld lights loomed into view as we approached the village where we stopped in a layby to recover our composure. We have had many a discussion over the years as to what it was which had startled us, and my wife, who has always had an eye for detail which I sadly lack, has recently done a line drawing of her impression of the figure.
I certainly agree with her recollection as to the overall profile, but she appears to have captured aspects of detail which escaped me at the time, presumably as I was preoccupied with steering the car out of danger. I append her sketch of the figure for your scrutiny, but what immediately strikes me is the remarkable resemblance to a Covenanter, who were prominent in the area in the mid 17th century. Further, a little Google research reveals that two important battles involving them were fought fairly locally, near Pitlochry and Dunkeld during this period.
My conclusions are as follows :-
The apparition must have been seen by others, as witness the flashing of lights by other vehicles.
I have often wondered if the fact of my wife’s pregnancy, or the presence of an infant in the car at the time led, in some mysterious way, to our being more receptive to viewing these type of paranormal events? I recall reading somewhere that the presence of young children and infants appears to cause these phonomena to reveal themselves more readily.
It would be interesting to know if anyone has had a similar experience when driving. Do tell us about it.
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20 comments:
I love this sort of story.
However, I believe that there is always a rational explanation for sightings like these.
In this case I would guess that they saw a deer and a mixture of the fog, the dark rural setting and overactive imaginations made it appear to be a human figure.
Case solved. LOL
I would easily believe your post Gigits if it was me. I'm an urban gal and find the country quite scary sometimes especially at night (where are all the people? why is it so dark? Aargh) but from subrosa's post it was a local couple who wouldn't be freaked by something like that.
I think it would be a foolish person who would dismiss unusual things out of hand, because frankly there is too much evidence that sometimes there are things which do go bump in the night.
Or it could I've got an overactive imagination and I'm really guillable:-)
One of my jobs was as a back shift tanker driver, and I used to come down the A9 in the wee small hours four nights a week to Coatbridge from Nairn.
About 5 miles South of Dalwhinnie there is a large lay by, where I used to stop for a coffee from my flask and a leak. One morning in February I had stepped out to the kerb wheel to do my business when my blood froze in my veins at the sound of a stag roaring on the hill behind me. It was an unusual time of the year for roaring, but the thing that made me leap back into the cab and drive away was that it felt like he was right behind me and I could feel his breath.
A few mile further on where the dual carriageway ends, I caught in my headlights the eyes of a deer standing by the side of the road as if to cross. I slowed down preparing to stop as they can be very unpredictable, and as I drew closer the deer looked straight at me. It was a Royal Stag which was pure white with a hoary frost even it's antlers was caked in frost. The temperature gauge read -5. The Stag continued to stare at me with red bloodshot eyes until eventually with a toss of it's massive head it walked slowly across the road and jumped over a fence to continue on it's way.
I was still shaking when I reached Perth.
Having spoken to a gamekeeper friend he told me that stags do not in general roar at that time of the year. He also told me that a keeper he knows in Dalwhinnie has mentioned an Albino Royal Stag which has been seen by several people over the years, and that it usualy signified death. The next day there was a fatal crash on that very stretch of road when two foreign tourists died.
I was up near Dalwhinnie two weeks ago, on a walking weekend with a friend from Coatbridge:-)
That however is entirely co-incidental.
Key Bored Warrior, that was a great story, but also confirms my belief that the people in SR's post saw a Deer :-)
Supernatural tales of "death warnings" are particularly chilling for me.
A few weeks ago I was in our back garden having a smoke and I heard a terrible howling noise from nearby, it was like a cat's cry, but it was about 5pm, too early for cats to be making that sort of noise, and it seemed to have a human quality to it; strange, unintelligible words were mixed with the general din.
I called my wife and daughter and they heard it as well (so it wasn't the booze).
Later, I spoke to my wife about it and, knowing that she was of Irish descent, mentioned the legend of the Banshee to her.
She shrugged it off, but I could see the shadow of fear fall across her face.
Luckily, we are all still here...
I know Martin is reading the comments so thanks all for your contributions.
Driving to Onich from London we came upon the usual sign for the next nearest place; Crianlorich, 37 miles away, that was scary enough for this soft southern metropolitan type.
A friend of mine was driving home to Edinburgh along the A9 from a wedding in the north. Feeling the call of nature he stopped to have a pish. In midstream he noticed he was in the middle of a snake orgy - the local adders (numbering in the hundreds)had assembled to get it on - right where he was evacuating his bladder.
Scary place the A9.
You're right Observer, the couple who saw this are from the Inverness area and live in the country. They're used to countryside sights and sounds.
Jings KBW, I'd still be shaking the next day I should think!
Boo to you too Ted. I use this bit of road quite a bit, but I think I'll take old road now, although that can be a really 'dark' road at night, if that makes sense.
It may be a less scarey road once it's fully dual carriageway scunnert.
Aye Scunnert yer never far from a snake or a pool o pish on the A9.
This all reminds me of another incident that happened to me. We used to spend a lot of time at Loch Morlich caravan park in the summer when the kids were wee.
One night I was walking our dog up the single track road to Glemore Lodge when I hear the distinct sound of a horse galloping. Without looking behind me I called the dog to heel and made her sit as she was trained to do if traffic was passing. The sound faded into the distance with no sign of a horse. By this time the dog had raised her hackles and was emitting a low growl which I had never heard before. She absolutely refused to move another inch further along the road. I then started to return the way I had come, as I began to realise that something spooky had taken place my steps became quicker and when I reached the caravan I was quite breathless. Needless to say I told the family what happened, the kids insisted that a light was left on all night.
Sometime later I attended a nature talk in the hall at Coylumbridge, when it was mentioned that during the war Canadian lumber jacks worked in the forest there and that one of their gaffers had been riding his horse in the forest one night and was decapitated with a wire hawsser that was used for running the timber out.
My mother worked at the same time in the Timber Corps at Carrbridge and she remembered the incident.
One bright sunny day I returned to the spot to examine the area. Right next to the single track road but hidden in the trees is the outline of an old track. When I thought about it the horses hooves were not making the same sound that they would have on a tarmac road but the thudding sound they would make on a track.
A few nights after that my wife and wee daughter were making their way to the toilet block on the site when they screamed and came running back to the caravan shouting that the headless horseman was in the caravan park. I ventured out and had a look around and saw in the distance a stag nosing in the waste bins.
So Scunnert dinnae go pishing in the woods at night if yer up Glenmore Lodge way.
Another super story KBW, I think we should set up a blog entitled Scottish Stories to Thrill or tell me a title.
Rosie I have a mate who spins incredible yarns and we who know him know when one is about to arrive as he prefaces it with " I kid you not."
Good title huh?
I feel a book coming on ;o)
I travel past Bankfoot quite a lot and on yonder hill ( just at the new turn off) there stood a coo, it must've moved it's no there noo.
And another thing - I was walking up the Glenmore road into the wilderness early one morning intent on climbing Bynack More. As I wondered lonely as a cloud, a rustling, crunching noise started right next to me! I jumped the height of myself with fright - good job I did as it was a mad mountain biker with no bell, the Bstard! Creepy place that Ryvoan pass. Mind you, after a change of underpants - I had a grand day there and back and not a hoss to be heard
Although this is not a spooky tale from the Highlands, as a keen amateur photographer I used to be an avid reader of the Practical Photography magazine, one of their articles was giving accounts of strange photographic happenings.
The one I remember most was of a professional wedding photographer who, when inspecting the prints of a wedding he had recently photographed, noticed that there was a strange blurring next the bride in every photo she was in, but not in those where she did not feature.
He had his camera checked – nothing wrong, he looked for faults and scratches on the lens – there was none – he ran off a test roll of film which revealed no problems, and in the end he had to face the bride and groom with the bad news that their wedding photos were ruined.
When the bride saw them she began to cry, her father who had been seriously ill and died before the marriage always swore that he would be with her on her wedding day – was this his ghost?
All tosh really as there are no such things as goolies and ghosts.
Oh Derek I would have thought you believed in ghosts at least. I certainly believe Martin and Marion's story.
Thanks for yours - I believe it too. :)
As the A9 is one of the dullest roads in the Highlands, it is no wonder people's imaginations invent things to take their minds off the tedium. This kind of thing would never happen on the A82 or A835 ;)
I'm not too sure McChatterer, the A82 is a very dark road at night (if you know what I mean). I've never liked driving it alone.
But I understand what you mean, it's a difficult drive as well as many in the north.
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