In 1964, a peculiar incident took place in Inverness at the Old High Church graveyard involving over 100 children who were convinced they were on a mission to exorcise a ghostly figure in black. The children had been frequenting the burial ground every evening for nearly a week, hoping to catch a glimpse of the alleged ghost. However, the police were called to disperse the gathering, and most of the children scattered when they arrived.
The church officer, Duncan Mackintosh, who had been observing the nightly gatherings, was bewildered by the children’s claims. Even the church elders were unaware of any ghostly presence in the graveyard. Liam Shand of the Highland Paranormal group proposed a theory that the mysterious figure the children saw could have been the bell ringer of the church, dressed in black, who would cross the graveyard each night at 8pm to ring the curfew bell.
The Old High Church graveyard holds a rich history, with the bell ringing tradition dating back to 1703. Despite the bell being silenced during World War II, it was later rung at 8pm every night, which coincided with the time the children claimed to have seen the ghostly figure. Liam Shand, a self-proclaimed skeptic of the paranormal, shared his own eerie encounter at the graveyard during a live stream, where he witnessed a strange mist-like figure hovering in the air before disappearing.
The incident from 1964 remains a mystery, with speculations about the origins of the ghostly sightings still circulating. Whether it was a product of children’s imagination or a real-life encounter with the supernatural, the Old High Church graveyard continues to be a site of intrigue and curiosity for locals and visitors alike. Perhaps, the next time you find yourself wandering through the ancient grounds, you might catch a glimpse of the mysterious Watcher that Liam encountered, adding to the mystique of this historic location.