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The Tragic Ghosts of The Drovers Inn

By Graeme Johncock

Established in 1705, The Drovers Inn is said to be one of Scotland’s oldest and most haunted pubs. Situated on an old drover’s road, there have been countless visitors over the last 300 years although according to the stories, not everybody made it there safely.

One young family who had been forced out of their home in the late 18th century were making their way south to a new life in the Lowlands. They weren’t far from shelter at The Drovers Inn when a bitter winter storm blew in from nowhere. The blizzard caused them to take a wrong path and instead of reaching a warm bed, the family were found days later, frozen to death. Witnesses have seen the ghostly group both wandering the road outside and cowering inside the pub, always accompanied by a bitter cold.

Another common ghost sighting is Angus the cattle drover, one of many who stopped here with their livestock on the long journey to Lowland markets. As people often do here, Angus drank far too much on his arrival and woke up late the next morning with a sore head and no cattle to be seen. His enterprising rivals had plied him with alcohol so they could disappear with his animals while the poor boy was sleeping it off.

Sheepishly returning to his chief without the expected bag of coins or any of the cattle he had left with, Angus was in big trouble. He was banished from his home and his clan, losing his family in the process. Forced to wander the Highlands in search of a new life, Angus had trouble moving on. In desperation, he travelled back to the Drovers Inn where he plotted his revenge.

He waited for weeks until the same group that had robbed him appeared once again. Rage consumed Angus and he could barely contain himself as he waited for the perfect opportunity to strike. That opportunity never came.

One of his rivals had spotted him and knew exactly what the young man was planning. They came in the dead of night, surprised Angus and hanged him from a tree beside the building. The murdered drover has been seen at night, dressed in his tartan plaid and wandering The Drovers Inn, searching for his revenge.

WORDS Graeme Johncock

IMAGES Sarah Afiqah Rodgers & Jack Anstey

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