THE GLAISTIG AT SRON-CHARMAIG.
The Glaistig attached to this house on Loch Faschan-side in Lorn was known asNic-ille-mhicheil(i.e.a woman of the surname of Carmichael), and was said to have been a former mistress of the house. She lived in a ravine, called Eas-ronaich, near the mansion, and when any misfortune was about to befall the family set up a loud wailing. On sunny days she was to be seen basking on the top ofCreag Ghrianach(the Sunny Rock), also in the neighbourhood. Before the old house was levelled, and the present mansion was built, she set up an unusually loud wailing, and then left. Fully a year before the event, she seemed greatly disturbed; her step up and down stairs, and the noise of chairs and tables being moved about was frequently heard after people had gone to bed. At Glen-Iuchair, a man, who was in the evening convoyed across the glen by agreysheep, was firmly of opinion his strange convoy could have been no other than Nic-ille-mhìcheil. No real sheep could have been so attentive to him. This attachment to particular individuals was also shown in the case of a poor old woman, namedMòr(i.e.Sarah), resident on the farm. When Mor fell sick, the Glaistig used to come to the window and wail loudly.
One evening at the cattle-fold, after the cows had been milked and before the herd and dairy-maids had started home with the milk-pails, a woman, dressed ingreen, was seen coming and trying the udders of the cows, as if to see whether they had been properly milked. The herd had his dog with him, and happenedat the time to be sitting with it in his arms. The dog sprang from him and gave chase, and the woman fled like a bird. This was at a place calledDoire nan Each, ‘the Wood of the Horses,’ several miles from the mansion, and the woman was believed to be Nic-ille-mhìcheil.