Dragons of Skye

It's very strange that traces of dinosaurs found in Scotland are all centred on the misty Isle of Skye. Every cool new information about the Jurassic period is found centred on the Isle of Skye, and it holds the most treasures that interest many working in paleontology. 

All of the dinosaurs found in Skye are of the Middle Jurassic. Skye is a time capsule, with multiple dinosaur species bones and footprints all over. They found some complete dinosaur skeletons there. Isle of Skye has folklore and legends about creatures such as dragons called Beithir. One lives deep underground beneath Dunvegan Castle. There are the fighting dragons on the rocky hills of Quiraing. Deadly dragons haunt the Loch Coruisk.  

The gathering of footprints belong to so many types of dinosaurs that scientists call it a "Dino Disco"! The Jurassic dance floor is a pattern which reveals that Skye was once a tropical lagoon connected to a larger continent. There's sauropods, stegosaurus, theropods including relations of T-rex. There's even the fossil of Dearc sgiathanach ("winged reptile" in Gaelic), which is the biggest pterosaur on record.  

Links: For more about Dinosaurs found on the island of Skye, you can get the book Jurassic Skye by authors Sarah White and Dugald Ross. 

BBC covered "40 years of discoveries on Skye".

Highland Experience shows where to find dinosaur prints.

Just for fun, Discovering Kelpies article "the Faery flag of Dunvegan Castle".

She Wolf Night 

     

June ghosts

June is filled with strange events that are unexplained and paranormal. Another post by Violet Dark placed a link to a number of British ghosts appearing in June. I shall place a link to that entry HERE. Many of these short descriptions on The Paranormal Database are brief, and I've dug a bit deeper. While many of them are just local legends that I won't bother mentioning, other stories remain a mystery and have no logical explanation. 

On the 11th June 1906, a celebrity named Lily Cove visited Haworth Gala. She was on a hot air balloon that malfunctioned, and she parachuted out. As she was descending, she was avoiding the reservoir because she couldn't swim so she directed herself to fall on the ground instead. Shocked onlookers were helpless as they watched her falling to her death. Her body was taken to the Old White Lion Hotel and kept in room number 7. Her funeral was held on the 14th June and she's buried in Haworth Cemetery. The superstar's ghost has been seen in the Old Lion Hotel, in the room number 7 especially, at the bar, in the village and she always visits on the 11th June. 

At an eerie land called Horsey Mere in Norfolk, the ghosts of children are heard laughing and playing. It's believed these are spirits of deceased kids from ancient time who were drowned, murdered or sacrificed, as their bodies were weighted down. The area is so cold and bleak even in Summer, and especially during the haunted 13th June where the children still play by the waterside. 

Here is a photograph of a 17th century English Civil War soldier, found on Telegraph. Another photograph of English Civil War soldiers watching a small child playing in the garden. It terrified his mother, and the story with picture posted a decade ago at The Sun. 

Cadbury Castle is the site where the ghost of King Arthur appears every 20th June. The fairy tale looking site in Somerset with the mystical hillfort surrounded by woodlands. Some believe that this place is Camelot. There's legends of phantom horses, ghost knights, King Arthur and even a dragon who guards hidden treasure in a cave. Excavations done in the area in the 20th century found very old Dark Age structures, placing it back to 5th and 6th centuries AD. It's also believed that the King and his knights never died either, and all under a long sleeping spell, ready to wake up for England's hour of need. On Midsummer night's eve a secret door will open at the side of the hill, then King Arthur, along with his knights, will emerge. 

In the same place, an ancient track leading from Cadbury Castle to Glastonbury Tor is the hell road during stormy nights, and a dangerous Wild Hunt. uses this!

Besides this, have spooky fun and enjoy the Summer Solstice!

Links:

Naseby phantom battle story read at Spooky Isles.

Ghost children of Horsey Mere story at Invisible Works.

Cadbury Castle pictures at The Modern Antiquarian.

More Cadbury Castle with maps and photographs at Tess of the Vale.

She Wolf Night    

Haunted Ochate

As many people this time jet off to sunny palm tree beaches, tropical paradise and faraway beautiful locations, others like to go sightseeing and exploring. Some remain within Europe to go on tours of ancient ruins, as they do in Spain. One of them is at Ochate, a lovely moss covered ruined ghost town but it's extremely haunted with a dark history. 

This ancient town of rocky dwellings was first recorded in the Dark Ages, during the 9th Century. The earliest mention was the Basque name Gogate (mystical meaning "the Cold Door," "Wolf's Door" or "The Secret Door"). This implies that there's a portal to another dimension. 

It also went by the name Ochaite.

Even though it's an abandoned ghost town today, it was uncannily abandoned many times before! It was first abandoned in the 13th Century for unknown reason. However some people like Antonio Arroyo and Julio Corral believe it's to do with bad harvests, trading route and violence. They don't mention anything paranormal to blame as reasonable people dispute this subject anyway.

 It was then repopulated 200 years later and abandoned again in the 19th Century as everyone in Ochate was struck down by a horrible illness, while others living in neighbouring villages were spared. This made people think Ochate was cursed, due to belief it was the Biblical plague and so the remaining survivors left. 

In 1981 a UFO was photographed above the ruins of Ochate. Many people have seen strange unusual lights in the ruins, and hovering above the place. These lights are seen flashing, hovering around the ruins always at night. Some believe these lights come from the ancient stone sarcophagi. 

EVP's have captured voices from unknown origin that tell visitors to "LEAVE!" and asking "Why is the door closed?" This may be entities talking about the portal? Ancient battle sounds including men shouting and clashing swords can be heard and picked up in the area. 

A landmark of Ochate is an eerie San Miguel Tower, which was part of a church, the site of a Lady in White ghost who appears there. She's either seen at the top of the tower or walking through the fields nearby. Meanwhile tourists have said they feel suffocated when approaching this tower. Besides her, there's another ghost called the Lady in Black, seen close to the tower or along a path leading to the ruins, often she takes an interest in tourists. 

She Wolf Night