THE historical Celtic competition of Samhain, marking the top of the harvest season and the beginning of winter – or the “darker half” – was celebrated throughout a number of days round October 31.
Issues might have modified over the centuries, however one shared component that hasn’t waned is a need to scare ourselves and revel in some scary enjoyable presently of yr. How will you spend Halloween?
Listed below are some concepts to stoke the creativeness. Effectively, in case you are courageous sufficient …
Haunted homes
If the partitions may discuss, little question Bannockburn Home in Stirling would have a couple of tales to inform. It’s mentioned that stressed souls nonetheless roam right here, seemingly unable – or unwilling – to go away this historic pile.
Historical past and Horror Excursions provides a not-for-the-lily-livered glimpse contained in the empty halls and echoing rooms which have earned a fame for being amongst central Scotland’s most haunted areas.
The corporate additionally runs excursions of Fortress Menzies at Weem, close to Aberfeldy – mentioned to have its personal clutch of supernatural entities – in addition to guided walks round Dunkeld and Perth, shining a highlight on darkish tales of witches, ghosts, grave robbers, murderers and thieves.
Excursions run year-round. Ages 12+ solely. Tickets from £10 (grownup) and £7 (youngster). Personal excursions out there. Go to historyandhorrortours.com
Spirits of Scone
The grounds of Scone Palace in Perthshire have been remodeled right into a collection of themed zones for Halloween, together with the Ghostly Woods and Zombie Graveyard. Enter at your peril given the unsavoury types lurking within the shadows, not least a cannibal household and Macbeth’s witches.
Scone Palace at night time. Image: Peter Dibdin
If you happen to make it out in a single piece, choose up a memento T-shirt, beanie hat or tote bag from the Spirits of Scone present store. Sizzling meals is out there from the Fright Night time Cafe, together with marshmallow sticks for toasting over the Hell’s Hearth Pit.
Opens this weekend, then runs October 27 to 31. Not appropriate for youngsters underneath eight (under-16s should be accompanied by an grownup). Tickets from £15 (grownup) and £7.50 (youngster). Household tickets value £40 (two adults and three youngsters). Go to scone-palace.co.uk/spirits-of-scone
Thrills, spills and chills
Nothing says Halloween like a visit on a ghost practice, considered one of a number of fairground rides which might be a part of The Spooktacular at Silverburn in Glasgow.
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Be it issues that go bump within the night time – the dodgems on this case – or dizzying contraptions that spin round till you come near emulating that famed vomiting scene from The Exorcist, there aren’t any scarcity of ghoulish excessive jinks available.
Runs till October 31. A four-hour session prices £16.50 (grownup), £13.20 (youngster) or £49.50 (household of 4). Go to thespooktacular.com
The dodgems are a part of the enjoyable at The Spooktacular at Silverburn in Glasgow
If you happen to go all the way down to the woods …
The descriptive blurb for Cult on the Haunted Forest in Kelburn Fortress and Property, Ayrshire, is sufficient to ship a shiver down the backbone.
It reads: “A toddler has gone lacking within the woods. You might be tasked with discovering her, however as you enterprise deeper into the forest you’ll uncover an evil conspiracy and sinister terrors. Demonic worship, human sacrifice and unholy creatures await you.”
Gulp, not one for the faint-hearted then. Pay it a go to when you dare.
Runs till October 31. Ages 14+ solely (under-18s should be accompanied by an grownup). Tickets value £13.50. Go to kelburnestate.com/cult
Sink your fangs into lore
Collect spherical. It’s time for a creepy story. Legend has it that within the Nineteen Twenties, two poachers took shelter in a distant bothy in Glen Tilt, Perthshire. They lit a hearth after which, as one began to climb again out the window to fetch some water, one thing tore at his leg and began sucking blood.
Having managed to wriggle free, the wounded man and his companion went seeking the fanged assailant. But, regardless of an intensive search via the darkness, there was nothing – or nobody – to be discovered.
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Some wags may blame the midges. We aren’t so certain … Blood-sucking fairies often called Baobhan Sith (pronounced baa’-van shee) had been as soon as mentioned to have haunted the mountain paths and the low roads of the Highlands to prey upon unsuspecting travellers, pilgrims, and hunters.
Different eerie tales tied to the rugged landscapes of Glen Tilt, a part of the Atholl Estates which is residence to Blair Fortress, embrace that of The Whistler, the spirit of a shepherd mentioned to be heard – but by no means seen – as he coaxes his flock throughout the hills.
Go to atholl-estates.co.uk
The thrill of Halloween night time. Image: Mark Wilson/Getty Photos
Get pleasure from a spine-tingling tipple
Because the veil grows thinner this Halloween, you by no means know who may present up in your native watering gap. Everyone knows some hair-raising bars, however some have scarier regulars than others.
The South Bridge Vaults in Edinburgh had been inbuilt 1788 to deal with taverns, workshops and cupboard space. At present, the realm is claimed to be a hotbed for paranormal exercise, with many such tales hooked up to the pubs that now occupy the vaults.
Laying declare to the title of Scotland’s most haunted pub is The Banshee Labyrinth on Niddry Avenue which, because the title suggests, is claimed to be frequented by a spectre with a blood-curdling scream.
It has been prompt this ghost has hyperlinks to rich service provider Lord Nicol Edwards who lived within the neighborhood through the sixteenth century and is claimed to have tortured ladies he believed had been “witches”.
Close by neighbour Whistle Binkies is reportedly visited by The Watcher, an old school gentleman noticed a number of instances through the years. Regardless of his sinister moniker, although, he appears completely content material to eyeball fellow punters from a distance.
The pub’s different ghost, The Imp, is a little more hands-on, a mischievous entity that apparently likes to play pranks on the workers, corresponding to locking them in cellars, transferring issues round and stopping clocks.
Go to thebansheelabyrinth.com and whistlebinkies.com
The Coffin Highway
The Royal Marine Lodge in Brora, Sutherland, has a alternative of guided walks – led by knowledgeable native information Nick Lindsay – which might be good for this time of yr.
The Coffin Highway Stroll, lasting three to 4 hours, follows a path from the ruined church and graveyard at Clynekirkton in the direction of the banks of Loch Brora at Oldtown, via hillsides steeped in historical past.
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A shorter choice is the Graveyard Stroll, lasting an hour-and-a-half, which focuses on the cemetery at Clynekirkton, imparting fascinating nuggets about those that have been laid to relaxation there through the years.
Go to royalmarinebrora.com
Drive-in films
It’s a Halloween custom to terrify ourselves with a scary film or two. M&Ds at Strathclyde Park is internet hosting drive-in films from October 29 to 31. The programme options The Cabin within the Woods, Goosebumps and The Invisible Man.
An American Werewolf in London
The Catherine McEwan Basis Presents Halloween Lockdown Drive-In at Falkirk Stadium and will probably be screening basic films on October 29, 30 and 31. Select from Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, An American Werewolf in London, Hocus Pocus, Poltergeist and The Misplaced Boys.
For costs and timings, go to scotlandsthemepark.com and skiddle.com
A legion of phantom pipers
The haunting skirl of the bagpipes is the soundtrack to many a Halloween fable and nearly each a part of Scotland can lay declare to its personal variation on this.
Normally, a piper enters a tunnel or cave. The music will be heard taking part in above floor for a while. Then it abruptly stops. The person isn’t seen once more. In some variations, his loyal companion canine comes haring out alone, terror-stricken and utterly devoid of all its hair.
Ought to you end up at Clanyard Bay, close to Stranraer, or maybe Culzean Fortress on the Ayrshire coast, hear out for the eldritch sound of distant bagpipes.
Go to nts.org.uk and visitscotland.com
Culzean Fortress in Ayrshire. Image: Kieran Dodds/Newsquest
Otherworldly adventures
Alien invasion, creatures from the deep and a constellation of stars are a part of the much-anticipated Paisley Halloween Competition presents Out of this World, an illuminated path of installations and lightweight shows centred on the River Cart, Paisley Abbey and the City Corridor.
Among the many commissioned artists is Mike Jones who has designed a bit referred to as Orionids that seeks to emulate the breath-taking sight of a meteor bathe cascading over the river.
Studio Vertigo, in the meantime, has created two works: Nova, impressed by the magical Star of the East, and Ursula Lassos the Moon, a tribute to lunar beauty.
Runs from October 28 till November 1. Go to paisley.is
Scary faeries
The annals of historical Scottish folklore are full of fearsome tales of the fey, faeries that spirit away hapless people, by no means to be seen once more.
A alternative of two themed woodland adventures awaits in Luss. The Loch Lomond Scary Faerie Path is open through the day and geared toward households and youthful youngsters, providing a whimsical thriller to unravel en path to a magical pumpkin patch.
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As night time falls, the Loch Lomond Halloween Encounter takes over. Geared in the direction of older youngsters and adults, it centres on a haunted woods expertise with lights, sounds and particular results. Be careful for faeries, elves, historical trolls and witches alongside the way in which.
Runs till October 31. Tickets from £8. Go to lochlomondfaerietrail.com
Going underground
Are you brave sufficient to enterprise into the previously plague-ravaged streets beneath Edinburgh’s Previous City? This Halloween, the Actual Mary King’s Shut is operating a collection of lantern-led excursions.
There’s been many unexplained paranormal happenings recorded right here through the years from disembodied voices within the darkness and unseen fingers reaching out to the touch guests, to shadowy figures noticed sweeping via the dimly lit rooms and passageways.
Runs October 29-31. Excursions final one hour. Tickets from £20.95 (grownup) and £13.95 (youngster). Go to realmarykingsclose.com
Stroll within the footsteps of Macbeth
Greater than 400 years after William Shakespeare first penned Macbeth – a piece reverently referred to in hushed whispers as “The Scottish Play” – it continues to captivate audiences on stage, web page and display alike.
The Macbeth Path round Scotland brings collectively real-life locations, historic websites and landscapes, alongside the areas used for the 2015 film starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard.
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On the map created by VisitScotland is Dingwall, the place Macbeth is claimed to have been born round 1005, and Forres the place the fateful scene with the three witches came about, in addition to Loch Leven, the Birnam Oak and Glamis Fortress.
To obtain a replica of The Macbeth Path, go surfing to visitscotland.com/macbeth
Meet a beastly bunch
The inhabitants of Blair Drummond Safari Park, close to Stirling, are gearing up for Halloween. Points of interest embrace a pumpkin patch, firepits for toasting marshmallows, a trick-or-treat path and big hay-bale spiders. There’s additionally a dinosaur forest and bespoke meals vehicles.
Runs till October 31. Tickets value £16.50 (grownup); £13.50 (youngster and senior). Pumpkins £3 every. Go to blairdrummond.com
Blair Drummond Safari Park. Image: Phil Wilkinson
Not all heroes put on capes
Brace your self. The fictional metropolis of Glasglopolis (you would not need to say that at the hours of darkness with out your glasses) is underneath assault from a wierd poisonous gloop as GlasGLOW returns to the Botanic Gardens in Glasgow for a fourth yr.
The sound and lightweight present duties guests with taking part in undercover reporters for the Glasglopolis Globe newspaper. They need to uncover the reality behind the bizarre goings-on and save the town’s annual pumpkin competition (a sure-fire journalism ceremony of passage as any rookie newshound is aware of).
With this yr’s GlasGLOW coinciding with the COP26 summit in Glasgow, the present’s creators have devised a plot that pulls on the worldwide local weather disaster. It should additionally incorporate much-loved components of earlier occasions, together with Marshmallowland, in addition to a bar and gourmand avenue meals village.
Runs from October 27 till November 14. Tickets begin from £20 (grownup) and £12 (youngster). Go to itison.com/glasglow
GlasGLOW returns to the Botanic Gardens in Glasgow
Creepy castles
What is the collective noun for a gaggle of ghosts? A fright? A spook? Maybe a ghoul gang? In any case, Inveraray Fortress on Loch Fyne in Argyll, is reputed to have at least 5 resident spectres.
Amongst their quantity is a younger Irish harpist, believed to have been killed by the Duke of Montrose’s males in 1644, who reportedly haunts the library and MacArthur Room. There’s a ghostly laundry maid within the Previous Kitchen and a piper within the Brown Library.
The gray girl is claimed to have solely been seen by daughters of a Duke of Argyll. One other apparition often called the “Galley of Lorne” has been witnessed floating away on the horizon when a Duke dies.
At Edinburgh Fortress, in the meantime, the macabre sightings embrace a headless drummer boy, a phantom canine and a former prisoner, rumoured to have perished when he was thrown from the battlements onto the craggy rocks beneath after hiding from his captors in a dung cart.
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Stirling Fortress has a inexperienced girl, considered a servant of Mary, Queen of Scots, and a pink girl, some say is a warfare widow who wanders on the lookout for her misplaced husband. Whichever one you spy, do not look her immediately within the eyes. Legend has it that those that do will not stay to see the daybreak.
Edinburgh Fortress and Stirling Fortress are open day by day. Tickets should be booked prematurely. Go to edinburghcastle.scot and stirlingcastle.scot. Inveraray Fortress is at present closed, reopening in 2022, however is taking group bookings (minimal 30 individuals) till October 31. Go to inveraray-castle.com
Pumpkin choosing galore
Whereas a few of us nonetheless have a delicate spot for the common-or-garden neep, pumpkins have gotten ever-more common in relation to carving jack-o’-lanterns at Halloween.
Choosing your individual (PYO) is all the trend and there are patches bobbing up throughout Scotland. Standard spots embrace Arnprior Farm in Stirlingshire and Kilduff Farm, close to North Berwick, in East Lothian.
Arnprior Farm pumpkin patch. Image: Mack Photograph
Craigie’s Farm close to South Queensferry has round 20,000 pumpkins out there to select this yr, ranging in dimension from mini to mammoth. Among the many colourfully named varieties are Mars, Snowman, Knucklehead, Crown Prince, Harvest Moon, Polar Bear and Turkish Turban.
Different PYO pumpkin patches to take a look at embrace Cairnie Fruit Farm at Cupar, Fife; Westerton Farmers, close to Laurencekirk, Aberdeenshire; and Wester Hardmuir Fruit Farm, close to Nairn, Moray.
All run till October 31. For costs, reserving particulars and availability, go to kilduff.co.uk; arnpriorfarm.com; craigies.co.uk; cairniefruitfarm.co.uk; westertonfarmers.co.uk; hardmuir.com
Ghost excursions to make you leap
Writer and paranormal historian Richard Falconer leads guided walks via St Andrews, together with across the college and cathedral.
Sceptics might need to assume twice. Because the St Andrews Ghost Excursions web site warns: “Don’t come on this tour when you assume the paranormal is fiction. There are NO fictional tales. This is without doubt one of the high ghost excursions on the planet for a motive.”
Sightings and phenomena recorded on previous excursions are mentioned to incorporate the ghost of a nun, a white girl and the echo of horses’ hooves.
Mercat Excursions in Edinburgh is operating a collection of supernatural-themed itineraries this Halloween with an underground ghost tour of the haunted Blair Avenue Vaults, a spooky stroll via the Previous City and a go to to the forbidding tombs of the Canongate Kirkyard.
Go to standrewsghosttours.com and mercattours.com
Halloween household days out
If you happen to favor your Halloween to be extra healthful than grotesque, there are many family-orientated occasions to get pleasure from.
Pop alongside to the Halloween Pumpkin Path at Flooring Fortress, close to Kelso, which takes place on a meandering mile-and-a-half route via the grounds. Hold your eyes peeled for letters carved on pumpkins alongside the way in which to unravel two secret phrases. Runs till October 31.
Traquair at Innerleithen, Peeblesshire – Scotland’s oldest inhabited home – is internet hosting a Halloween Enjoyable Day subsequent Sunday full with wizards and witches’ workshop, ghost tales within the woods, a pumpkin treasure hunt and a cellar passage expertise with hidden surprises.
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Fortress Kennedy Gardens close to Stranraer is laying on a Halloween Competition that guarantees a fiendishly good time with the selection of exploring a pumpkin path or a witch and wizard journey path. Runs till October 31.
Almond Valley Heritage Centre in Livingston is welcoming guests for its After Darkish In The Witches’ Wooden occasion, from October 29 to 31, providing the possibility to discover a twilight world with unfamiliar beings, described by organisers as “foolish, scary, socially distanced enjoyable for all of the household”.
For extra info and costs, go to floorscastle.com; traquair.co.uk; castlekennedygardens.com; almond-valley.arttickets.org.uk
Samhuinn Hearth Competition
The darkish nights are nothing to be feared because the Samhuinn parade in Edinburgh – a up to date revival of the traditional Celtic celebration of latest yr that marks the arrival of the winter months – demonstrates.
The Samhuinn Hearth Competition on Calton Hill in Edinburgh. Image: Gordon Terris/The Herald
Organised by Beltane Hearth Society, it’s a spell-binding spectacle to witness, with mesmerising efficiency artwork, wild drumming, fire-dancing, thrilling acrobatics and crowd pleasing costumes.
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Anybody wishing to attend this yr’s parade on October 31 should pre-register. Actual instances and areas will solely be despatched to those that are registered.
Go to beltane.org and fb.com/beltanefiresociety
