Piper of Duntrune

This story not only helped get me interested in the paranormal but also contains a little indirect family history. (The latter is probably part of the reason for the former.)

For a long time the castle of Duntrune was a Campbell stronghold. Probably not the branch of the Campbell clan I hail from, but Campbells nonetheless. Most likely this story involves the royal Argyll branch.

In any case, the Campbells and MacDonalds were at each other's throats as usual.

The story varies on how exactly the MacDonald piper became a prisoner of the Campbells. The way I heard it on the documentary was that the MacDonalds took the castle and left the piper there with a small garrison as the main force went on for more conquest. The Campbells came back, however, and took the piper prisoner.

The piper was still allowed relative freedom within the castle because of the status pipers carry. He took to pacing the battlements, wondering when he might do when his master returned.

Eventually, he saw his master's ship on the horizon, and not knowing what else to do he took up his pipes to play.

His master heard the song wafting over the waves and thought at first that his piper was playing to welcome him home. Then the song began to change and he realized the song was a warning to turn back.

Unfortunately, the Campbells realized this too and seized the piper. As punishment they cut off his hands and let him bleed to death. Then they buried him under the cobblestones of the courtyard.

The other version of the tale can be found at Ghosts and Paranormal UK. Here the piper is a spy that is discovered and imprisoned in a tower. Again he sees his master approaching and plays a tune saving his master but costing him his life.

Personally, I prefer the first version.

The ghost is still around even though the body has been found and given a proper grave.

The story was thought to be entirely made up until the renovations unearthed a skeleton without hands under the cobblestones.

There's no explanation for why the activity is still going on. Perhaps because the hands haven't been found. Maybe because he was given a Protestant burial instead of Catholic, since as a MacDonald he would have been a Catholic. No idea.

And what activities are there? Ghostly pipe music, moving furniture, clocks stopping (at the time of his death? I've never heard if there's a particular time when the clocks stop), and sometimes people see a man standing on the battlements of the castle holding a set of bagpipes.

And it was just such a touching story of loyalty. I pray that his soul finds rest.

Visits from Relatives

I think most people with an interest in the preternatural have heard of relatives returning from the grave to give some comforting messages to those left behind. Some are credible, others... not so much. I dunno, usually when I hear about this sort of thing it brings to mind some New Age strangeness.

But it does happen, nonetheless.

There's one story about a British Naval officer who was seen by guests at a party held at his house. These guests expressed surprise to his wife, since they were under the impression that he was still on tour. His wife assured them they must be mistaken, his ship was in the middle of the Atlantic.

What she didn't know was at that very moment his ship was on it's way to the bottom of the ocean.

Personally, I haven't had a dead relative actually visit. A Great-Great Aunt (or something along those lines) did have a premonition that a younger relative and mother of small children had just died. So when the father came to fetch her to help him take care of the kids she was already packed and waiting on the porch for him.

A friend of mine had a much more detailed encounter with a recently dead relative, and a much more poignant one. It's a very good read. He posted the story as a comment on my Experience Talks post.

Maximilian Kolbe

I wonder how many people know about this man. He was a priest who lived in Germany when the Nazis came to power. He was sent to a concentration camp where he eventually died.

A story from his youth is rather touching.

Apparently he was a rather uncontrollable child and his mother didn't know what to do with him. (If he was anything like my brother, I can understand his mother's frustration.)

At any rate, he was worried about how his mother was worrying and went to a small altar of Our Lady of Czestochowa (I dare you to pronounce that). After a couple days of this Our Lady actually appeared to him holding two crowns. One was white, representing purity, and the other red, representing martyrdom. Our Lady asked young Kolbe which he would choose. Kolbe picked both.

A somewhat more complete account of this incident, and the rest of his life, can be found at Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

One of those 'what the heck' moment

My previous posts were of a rather serious nature. This one is just simply weird. And it happened this afternoon.

After finishing a meeting at a business building in town, I went out to my car. I hadn't noticed it before when I had gotten out because I was running a little late, but I noticed near a tree in the shadow of the building a mass of white stuff flecked with dirt and leaves.

It looked like a pile of packed snow.

No way. Sure it was the right time of year for snow, but not that much and there hadn't been any snow fall yet. Certainly not enough for a pile that size. My best guess was two feet wide and maybe a foot tall.

I went over to it to see if someone had pulled a prank. The pile rested in a depression, but the area was pretty open. There was no way I could see snow staying in that spot through a Minnesota summer.

So I touched the pile. It was without a doubt snow.

Perplexed, I went back inside and found someone to ask about it. The lady I stopped said she didn't know how it got there, but it had only been there for a couple days.

The mystery deepens. How could that have happened? It was far too warm for snow at the time.

How did it get there? I have no idea. But it definitely isn't normal.