What is the Greyman of Ben MacDhui?

Called Fear Liath Mor by Locals, he Haunts a Cairngorm Mountain

Oct 28, 2009

Sightings are rare. Witnesses say he's about ten feet tall, hair, and has long arms and legs. All experients felt terror and malevolence when they sensed his presence.

Ben MacDhui is the highest peak in Scotland’s Cairngorm Mountains. Greyman is described as a physical entity like Bigfoot or as a ghost. Witnesses’ and locals believe he’s a malevolent entity stalking those who invade his territory.

Professor’s Encounter on Ben MacDhui

In 1925, Norman Collie spoke to members of the Annual General Meeting of the Cairngorm Club about his experience. He was descending from Ben MacDhui’s peak through a heavy mist in 1891 when he heard noises sounding like someone was walking in loose rocks behind him.

Collie dismissed it as an auditory hallucination, but the sounds continued. Collie felt inexplicable terror and fled from the mountain. He didn’t see his pursuer, but had an ominous impression of being stalked by something huge and frightening.

Kellas’ Experience with Greyman

Dr, A. M. Kellas and his brother, Henry, were close to Ben MacDhui’s summit when they saw an enormous figure approaching. They also fled from the mountain in fear.

Others said they felt similar sensations of panic without rational reasons while on the mountain. They had vivid impressions of a malevolent, paranormal presence scaring trespassers away.

Sensational 1943 Encounter with Greyman

Alexander Tewnion claimed he’d shot Fear Laith Mor with a revolver. He was ascending Ben MacDhui when a thick mist fell, so he climbed off of the mountain. He heard menacing footsteps behind him and recalled Collie’s experience. A weird shape appeared and receded before it charged at him. He fired at it three times, then turned and ran away. This seems to indicate that Greyman is a physical entity.

Greyman’s Association with Big Foot

Witnesses say Greyman has an olive complexion or is covered with short brown hair, evoking thoughts of Bigfoot. Footprints found on Ben MacDhui’s summit resemble Bigfoot’s.

The major difference between Greyman and Bigfoot is that the latter is usually sighted while Fear Liath Mor's presence is usually sensed and is accompanied by phenomena including eerie crunching noises, enormous dark forms blocking out the sky, gelid cold spots, echoing footsteps pursuing experients, high-pitched humming sounds, feeling cold grips on or brushing against people’s bodies and feelings of intense terror or panic.

Theories - What Might Greyman Be?

Some skeptics maintain experiences with Fear Laith Morare auditory and/or visual hallucinations or delusions of overactive imaginations. Panic is postulated to be caused by isolation and exhaustion. This doesn’t explain why so many witnesses who weren’t isolated or exhausted, as evidenced by their accounts, shared identical experiences.

There’s a phenomenon called the Brocken or mountain spectre and the Brocken bow, named after the Brocken Peak in Germany’s Hartz Mountains. It’s the apparent magnified shadow of the observer superimposed on surfaces of clouds opposite from the sun that’s manifested on foggy mountainsides, cloud banks, gaps between clouds or water drops. It’s an optical illusion that may seem to move because of the clouds’ movement or density.

The Brocken spectre can appear as a shape or figure. Heads of figures are often surrounded by glowing halo-like circles of colored light. Johann Silberschlag was the first to observe and describe it in 1780. It’s also experienced in other places, including Maui, Hawaii’s Haleakala National Park. The Brocken phenomenon doesn’t account for the feelings of terror and other phenomena associated with Greyman.

Perhaps more extensive research will discover a scientific explanation for Greyman.

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