The Big Grey Man

[dancin'hamster]

Has anyone heard of The Big Grey Man of Ben MacDhui?

Imagine climbing a high, craggy and cold mountain alone........fighing against snow-blindness, bone-aching cold, and tretcherous paths.......knowing that you are completely isolated.................then you hear heavy footsteps stalking your own.....

This subject gave me the willies when I first read about it many years ago, so imagine my surprise when I found a recent account of a sighting......

The Story ~

The first "official" report of a malevolent presence on the mountain was given in 1925 by Norman Collie, an experienced climber with all the credentials of a credible witness in the situation. As a professor of chemistry at the University of London, this was not a man for whom hysteria or fanciful imagination was usual.

Mr Collie claimed that whilst climbing Ben MacDhui unaccompanied in 1891, he had become aware of another presence following him, although he knew there were no other climbers around. He estimated from the sound that his pursuer was taking steps three or four times the length of his own.

Although unable to catch any real sight of it, a sinister impression of being stalked by a huge and menacing creature grew upon Norman, so he did what any sensible person would do in the circumstances and ran like buggery without stopping to look back, careering and tumbling down the slope until he reached safety at the mountain foot. He never went on the mountain alone again.

Since then there have been many further reports of climbers experiencing the presence of a shadowy figure that filled them with terror and pursued them as they fled. Some have reported being drawn as if hypnotically to the edge of dangerous ledges and precipices while others are believed to have been chased to their deaths, in their desperation to escape, over the edge of the cliff known as Lurchers’ Crag.

Actual sightings of the Big Grey Man have been rare, but "eye-witness" descriptions of his appearance describe him as being around ten feet tall, covered in hair, with very long arms and legs.

Huge footprints in the snow, not made by any human or known animal have been found and photographed. In 1965, prints were discovered measuring 14 inches and with a massive stride that covered around 5 feet, just as Norman Collie had estimated prior to his panic-filled descent down the mountainside in 1891.

Lastest Report ~

"Overnight, it was chilly in the hut. We played cards with the lads from Stoke already ensconsed there and crawled into our pits fully clothed to shiver through the night. Finally the day dawned when the weather had closed in completely, and the tins of stew were running low. We decided to take a day off and legged it off to Aviemore for beer, chips and more tins. It was admittedly quite late when we started back up the hill, and getting rather dark by the time we should have been back at the hut. The spindrift was still howling round our heads and our heavily laden rucksacks were buffeted by the gale. At one point the clouds cleared for an instance and we discovered ourselves just about to fall down into the Lairig Ghru – we’d climbed too far up. Turning east again we crested a rise then fell down the slope on the other side landing in a heap not too far from the door of the bothy. We burst in, shared our booty with the lads, played cards and turned in for the night.

Overnight, the weather turned worse, and I woke with a streaming nose and a shivery cold. I wanted to stay in my warm sleeping bag with a brew so John took himself off up the hill into the howling murk. By about 6 o’clock, it’s just starting to get dark and there’s a rattle of gear, a stamping of feet outside and John appears in the doorway. His red beard’s covered in ice, his eyes are wild and his face a rather pale colour. He tells us where he’s been during the day. He’d started up Cairngorm, dropped down to Loch Avon, up into Coire Etchachan and up Ben Macdui, then had a tough time fighting back into the wind back to the bothy. “But the odd thing”, he said, “were the footsteps. Every time I walked on, I could hear someone behind me. When I stopped, they stopped. I kept looking round but no one was there. It was pretty wild so I couldn’t see very far, but I could hear the footsteps. They would go on for a couple of paces after I stopped, then they stopped as well”.

He was quite shaken up. We sat thoughtful for a while, then Ian piped up. ”Must have been the Old Grey Man”, he whispered, “You’re having us on, aren’t you?”

John hadn’t heard of Fearlas Mor, and didn’t believe the stories either, when we told him, of how walkers on their own on the top of Ben Macdui would hear what he’d described to us. We didn’t tell him that people who met the Old Grey Man died shortly afterwards; he wouldn’t have believed that either, and I’m not sure we would have done either. Nevertheless, within four months John had fallen off a mountain, and died.

I met Ian in Chamonix the following year and told him about the accident. He shivered. “The Old Grey Man”, he muttered, “Nothing else”.

I laughed uneasily and we went our separate ways. I have yet to climb Ben Macdui by myself in winter. You never know what you’ll find up those mountains."

Hammy x x x

[Cufflink]

So what is it? A yeti-type creature, perhaps.

Or maybe the ghost of a yeti? Why not? Maybe the yeti as a species are all dead, and those that are seen are ghosts? Rambling again. I'll stop.

[Nxt2Hvn]

The only Gray Man story I have ever heard is about a Ghost in South Carolina....but of course that is because I live in the U.S.

Here is a link:

Link

Check it out... cool story.. but nothing like what you are talking about.

[RaZenKane]

Sounds intersting, maybe this was also a kodiac bear which reach on average 8 feet tall when on hind legs, the tallest recorded kodiac was almost 12 feet (not sure of the exacts) but wouldnt it be neat if they find some bones or a carcass of one of these (the grey man) ??

[algernon the 3rd]

Sounds intersting, maybe this was also a kodiac bear which reach on average 8 feet tall when on hind legs, the tallest recorded kodiac was almost 12 feet (not sure of the exacts) but wouldnt it be neat if they find some bones or a carcass of one of these (the grey man) ??

Unlikely for the Scottish story as the only bears you get here are teddy bears or the ones in zoos.

[dancin'hamster]

Definately not a bear.............witnesses describe it as a huge man, possibly 10' or taller, with strong arms and a huge stride..........and it walks upright with 'an arrogant swagger'.......... so it's not a bear...........

[Agent_21]

And I thought it was just a legend. I'll be giving that place a wide berth in future then.

[dancin'hamster]

dang......no one want to come camping with me up on Ben MacDui then?

no..........?

[Cufflink]

I actually don't find stories like that frightening. Basically, because I know I'll never go mountain climbing.

Ghosts at the end of your bed, on the other hand? That's scary. Or in your PlayStation2. Or on the football terraces. Mind you, Maine Road was cursed by gypsies...

(or was that just an excuse )

[dancin'hamster]

Cuffy ~ did you know that the old 'ghost at the bottom of the bed' is a fairly rare occurance? You're more likely to see the 'ghost' of a family member who is alive and well in one of those weird astral wassits

Did that make you feel better?

Hammy x x x

*sneaks off to hide under Cuffys' bed with a large white sheet*

[Cufflink]

*sneaks off to hide under Cuffys' bed with a large white sheet*

Hide under my what-?

Good god, no, you mustn't look under there!

Erm...um...not for any particular reason, you understand. Just a bit dusty.

[Thistle]

I think I was about 7 when I first heard this one Hammy, it scared me enough that I still won't climb Ben Macdhui.....even though I 've climbed a few of the other cairngorms I give this one a wide berth.

[dancin'hamster]

*brushes aside several empty packets of jelly babies*

Anyhoo.........what the hell is it?

One female witness said she could hear angry shouting in Gaelic as the footsteps crashed towards her.

What on earth could send experienced climbers fleeing in panic, some tumbling headlong over ledges to their deaths in sheer terror?

Is it some kind of nature spirit?

Witnesses speak of 'panic' ~ the very word comes from the god Pan.........

Curiouser and curiouser...........

[Agent_21]

Or on the football terraces.  Mind you, Maine Road was cursed by gypsies...

I'd like to know if any ground is haunted. I vaguely remember Oldham's Boundary Park mentioned once. Blackburn Rovers unearthed a skeleton during ground improvements. Don't know what that was unless it was the Tomb of the Unknown Ref.

Just a thought - compare with battlefields. Small area of towns regularly populated once a week with crowds of highly volatile people. Emotional rollercoasters. Red cards. Last minute penalties. The next week ruined if your team loses - esp to the local rivals. It's the nearest thing to war....sometimes.

[Cufflink]

Tomb of the Unknown Ref.

Just a thought - compare with battlefields. Small area of towns regularly populated once a week with crowds of highly volatile people. Emotional rollercoasters. Red cards. Last minute penalties. The next week ruined if your team loses - esp to the local rivals. It's the nearest thing to war....sometimes.

Actually, Agent, you make a very good point there. And football is the new tribal warfare. I know there are replays for footie games, but have there been any ghostly replays?

[Seraphina]

Just to go back on topic for a second...

The legend of 'the Big Grey Man' actually interested me quite a bit, for obvious reasons But unfortunately...the stories are myths, stemming from a strange effect that the mist at that altitude creates.

Basically, the mist acts like a magnifying glass, making a hiker's shadow seem far larger than it actually is...if the hiker has his back to the sun, then it will indeed seem like a ten foot tall creature is striding through the mist ahead of him (the mist is thick enough that it actually displays the shadow on it, as though it were a wall).

Actual sightings of the creature itself are likely exagerations, or stories told after one too many pints I'm afraid there's no bigfoot in scotland...would be pretty cool though...most people who see the 'creature' ahead of them would likely turn and run like there's no tommorow without actually confirming what it was.

[moe eubleck]

people who met the Old Grey Man died shortly afterwards;

If this is the case, then how has the story been passed down?

[Mentalcase]

Moving this topic to the cyptid section.

[dancin'hamster]

Yer tiz (best Dorset accent)

A brief story from T C Lethbridge and Van der Post about sudden feeings of terror and unseen attackers ~

Lethbridge himself had a strange experience on the Island of Skellig Michael. He went off alone to look at the site of an old Celtic monastery. He then began to clamber down the cliff for a better look around. Halfway down the cliff, a strange an unpleasant sensation enveloped him…….the overwhelming feeling that someone wanted to push him down the cliff. The feeling was so strong that he became giddy and nauseas. He decided to turn around and climb back up the cliff, towards the ruins of the monastery. Back at the site, Lethbridge was suddenly and violently flung on his face. There was no wind, no animal, and no living soul around.

Laurens Van der Post describes a similar incident during his expedition in South Africa, at a place called Slippery Hills. In a natural amphitheatre, their guide, Samutchoso, knelt down to pray. He was pulled backwards violently, and tore both his knees. He was totally alone.

Hammy x x x

[xgaryedgex]

i'm full blooded native american mohawk indian, it sounds like the creature known in our lore as the windigo.