“Anyone with an interest in the weird, creepy or just plain intriguing side of Arran should pocket this useful book immediately…lively and readable, offering as much value to the casual visitor as to the historian or archaeologist….a thoroughly entertaining book.”

The Arran Voice

Stone circles. Holy sites. Ancient carvings. Modern landscape mysteries. The supernatural. The spectacularly beautiful and rugged Isle of Arran has them all. This is an essential guide to everything strange, marvellous and possibly paranormal on this popular Scottish island.

Why in 1889 did the police bury the boots of the victim of the Arran Murder below high water mark?

What is the story of the rich eccentric whose collection of rare objects ended up at Brodick Castle?

Which modern building in Lamlash is reported to be haunted?

What happened to the miracle healing stone of St Molaise?

Which stone circles and burial cairns have legends of Celtic warriors and unquiet spirits?

What is the truth behind the history of Robert the Bruce on Arran?

Where can you find a dinosaur, modern rock art, a beach full of shrines and a fake stone circle?

Where have encounters with fairies been reported in the twenty-first century?

What is the connection between Arran, Star Trek and Thunderbirds?

Here are collected tales of folklore, witchcraft, magic, mermaids and ghosts, both historical and contemporary. Every stone circle, chambered cairn and standing stone is described, as are caves, old graveyards, castles, Viking sites, carved stones and ruined churches, all with walking directions and notes on access. This book will transform the way you experience Arran.

Review from The Arran Voice:

“Geoff Holder, who spent quite a long time on Arran last year while he carried out his researches, has made a marvellous job of his new book, The Guide to Mysterious Arran . Quite clearly, he has taken himself all over the island and talked to a lot of people, as well as doing an impressive amount of research. Anyone with an interest in the weird, creepy or just plain intriguing side of Arran should pocket this useful book immediately. Even the car-bound visitor with no intention of plodding round bramble-grown ruins or remote stone circles can have a lovely time parked in some picturesque place with Geoff’s book propped on the steering wheel and a bag of peppermints to hand. It’s the quick way to become an expert Arran-bore without so much as a midge-bite.

The book contains, for instance, a thorough investigation of the famous Grey Lady, who has been seen in Brodick Castle by at least four witnesses. A Mrs Munsey, who had the power of ‘automatic writing’ (she held the pen, but the spirits guided it) declared that the wandering wraith had conceived a baby by one of Cromwell’s officers when the garrison was stationed in the Castle. Disowned by her family and turned out of her home for this heinous crime, the poor soul committed suicide at the Old Quay where the wine barrels were brought in. Or so the spirit-writers averred.

Geoff is equally receptive to modern mysteries, accepting the structures that people make now as being just as much an expression of mystic spirituality as the ancient religions. He includes an excellent photo of Tim Pomeroy’s evocative stone-carvings of Croziers that narrowly escaped destruction when a storm-felled tree missed them by inches. He is meticulous in his exploration of hut circles, Iron Age forts and every form of early habitation, and provides a fascinating chapter on Holy Isle, which has so easily added Buddhist philosophy to its inheritance of early Celtic belief.

The book is a stimulating mixture of local legends and ancient tales of meetings with the Fairy folk, balanced by an admirably objective study of historic places endowed with their own special atmosphere. The many photographs are clear and interesting, and source material is identified in a detailed bibliography. Mysterious Arran will take a well-deserved place in the archive of the island’s history – but at the same time, the book is lively and readable, offering as much value to the casual visitor as to the historian or archaeologist. The Arran Voice is touched to see a credit for the small ways in which we were able to help Geoff last year, and we are delighted that his work has resulted in such a thoroughly useful and entertaining book.”

Copyright of and reproduced with permission from Alison Prince, The Arran Voice 2008

Read reviews and buy this book on Amazon.co.uk

A guide to everything supernatural, paranormal, folkloric and, above all, mysterious about the Isle of Iona and the nearby island of Staffa.

This third book in what they’re all calling “The Guide to Mysterious....” series is a comprehensive guide to everything strange, curious, supernatural, folkloric and weird in the Inverness and Loch Ness area,