Today I propose to take you to a place with a dark presence, a looming presence,

and a bleak beauty of a sort, unforgettable.

The soil is dark, and it's undoubtedly soaked in the blood of men. It's a place of heather, fissils, gorse, willowherb, foxgloves, pine, spruce, beach, aldern birch.

That being the ancient botany of the Highlands of Scotland.

All around is natural beauty, but it sits side by side with a terrible past.

Some folk who visit feel the past, see the past because it lingers in the air.

Before we get to the episode, another haunting, can I say thanks to everyone who supports

this channel by signing up to my patreon.com.

Site, if you've done that thanks a million it's that support that

practical support that keeps everything going if you go to patreon.com and follow the instructions

you will find that for the about the price of a cup of coffee every month you get early access to

all my content and you get exclusive access to some content including a question

and answer session. It's all on my website. The details are everywhere, readily found. There's

an address for it all down there somewhere. Okay, that's the advert over. Let's go to the place called

Collodden. Let's go to the place called Colloden.

Listen to this.

I quote,

In August 1748,

before the town council of Aberdeen,

11 men and women swore to the truth of a vision which they said they had seen in a valley, five miles to the west of the city.

On the fifth of that month, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, they saw three globes of light in the sky above, which they first took to be weathergalls, but which increased in brilliance until 12 men in clean and bright attire crossed the valley. Then were seen two armies. The first wore clothing of dark blue and displayed St Andrew's Cross on its ensigns.

The other was uniformed in scarlet and was assembled beneath the Union flag.

...