Scottish Ghost Stories!

[wullie m]

Seeing as its Halloween, anybody read R L Stevenson's "Tod Lapraik"?
wullie.

[Lachlan09]

That's a new one on me Wullie. What's it about ?


PS anyone here believe in ghosts etc ?

[Duthill]

Thats two days passed Wullie

[Lachlan09]

Do they still do guising in Scotland like when I was a boy, or is all that protection racket Trick or Treat nowadays there too ?

Coming to think of it, I can't remember penny for the guy in Scotland back then either.

I remember dressing for guising, going to neighbours' houses in wee groups at night, having to sing or tell jokes etc to hopefully earn a penny or two toward fireworks ! Hard graft !

[wullie m]

"The Tale of Tod Lapraik"! well I don't want to tell you the whole short story, but it concerns a weaver of this name, the Bass Rock at the time it was a Covenanters prison, and a kind of warlock. Witch burning was much in fashion at the time, East Lothian was the Scottish Salem. I hadn't read this myself before but found it in a book called "Scots, the Language of the People" by Carl Macdougall, it features the work of about fifty writers. Black & White Publishing £10.

Guisers still gaun aboot, trick or treat they call it nowadays. The young Darth Vader's & Maggie Thatcher's are not very keen on the singing and deffo' don't want nuts! all treat & nae trick. Lying on the flair with the lights oot usually works! wullie.

[Lachlan09]

"The Tale of Tod Lapraik"! well I don't want to tell you the whole short story, but it concerns a weaver of this name, the Bass Rock at the time it was a Covenanters prison, and a kind of warlock. Witch burning was much in fashion at the time, East Lothian was the Scottish Salem. I hadn't read this myself before but found it in a book called "Scots, the Language of the People" by Carl Macdougall, it features the work of about fifty writers. Black & White Publishing £10. I knew there was a reason I felt uneasy going through Tranent and Prestonpans ! It wasnae the gangs on street corners efter a'

Guisers still gaun aboot, trick or treat they call it nowadays. The young Darth Vader's & Maggie Thatcher's are not very keen on the singing and deffo' don't want nuts! all treat & nae trick. Lying on the flair with the lights oot usually works! Or gie the wee buggers Amsterdam-style homemade cookies

[wullie m]

I think East Lothian made Salem look like a tea party.

Tod Lapraik is apparently from Catriona, here it is,

softeditions.co.uk - The Tale of Tod Lapraik, by Robert Louis Stevenson

wullie