The annual visit of the Windhouse troll each Christmas is fo...
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1955.95.2
Original Tape ID
Summary
The annual visit of the Windhouse troll each Christmas is followed by a death in the house, until it is slain by a sailor.
The proprietor of Windhouse - now a ruin - died in the days when it was a big estate. His son and large family continued to live in the big house. Every Christmas Eve there was a great noise and whirlwind that shook the house between midnight and one o'clock. And every Christmas morning there was a death in the house. A daughter, son and serving maid all died. The householder decided he was not going to spend another Christmas in the house. They were preparing to leave when a shipwrecked sailor appeared. Undaunted by the story of the house, the sailor vowed to face the trow [troll, fairy]. When midnight came, the sailor found a great axe and pursued the trow, throwing the axe all the time until the axe landed at the head of the Mid Yell voe. The axe head was covered in blubber. The trow was buried on Christmas day.
Brucie Henderson can't say how many hundred years ago this happened but maintains that the heather at the voe head where the axe landed turned from black to green overnight. He heard the story from an old man named Lawrence Williamson.
Item Notes
Windhouse is famously the most haunted spot in Shetland and numerous stories relate to its past and to its supernatural history.
Recording Location
County - Shetland
Parish - Yell
Island - Yell
Village/Place - Arisdale
Item Location
County - Shetland
Parish - Yell
Island - Yell
Village/Place - Windhouse
Language
Scots
Genre
Collection
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Good