Warning: this episode is a true crime and is focussed on a murder case. It contains descriptions of violence and may not be suitable for younger listeners.

Whilst wandering around Chapel Yard Cemetery in Inverness, Jenny and Annie stumble upon a gravestone which describes a brutal murder. As locals, they are shocked to have never heard of this story. Baffled and intrigued, they look back to Inverness in 1861 to try to understand what happened to a young hard-working man, David Cumming, on the night of his death.

What happened in the Rose Street cabbage patch in Victorian Inverness, and why did the friends of the deceased feel the need to write details of his death on his grave?

In this glittering episode, Jenny and Annie uncover the incredible 1869 gold rush in Kildonan, Sutherland in the Far North Highlands. Jenny explains the geology of how gold ended up deep in the Scottish Highlands. We have a look at the Victorian media hype that sent a lot of hopeful prospectors up to Helmsdale in search of treasure and find out about the fates of these folks panning for gold.

We find a wonderful poem called the Highland Gold Diggers Song and finish on learning a surreal folktale on how the first bridge over Dornoch was a solid gold fairy bridge.

In this episode, Annie and Jenny take a deep dive into some of the many mystical wells dotted all over Scotland. They visit the Munlochy Clootie Well, one of the largest of its kind in Scotland and unpick it’s pagan and Christian past, while also looking at the continuation of age-old traditions in the modern-day. Many wells are believed to have magical properties and what better way to explore these than with a witch trial! A fairy well on Arthurs’s seat in Edinburgh healed many but ended in the death of one unfortunate woman accused of witchcraft. Annie and Jenny explore what wells can tell us about Scottish culture throughout time. Listen in to find out more about both these wells and as well as Annie’s favorite well, The Burghead Well, and Jenny’s favorite well, The Cheese Well.

In this bonus episode, we look at the traditions surrounding the longest day of the year in Scotland. From the borders to the Shetland islands, the people of Scotland have celebrated the summer solstice for thousands of years. Jumping fires, burning bones, and warding of fairies, trolls and ghosts - the solstice is a time of light and celebration - listen in to find out more!

In this episode, Annie and Jenny enter the dark and mysterious world of the shebeen - the illegal Scottish whisky house! The shebeen was at the heart of whisky smuggling and illegal distilling in rural Scotland. We discover this almost-lost shadow of the whisky industry. We hear the intriguing tale of Eppie “Lucky” Thane, the hundred-year-old woman who ran a successful shebeen in Glen Nochty. From illegal distilling of whisky in the glens while avoiding the taxman, to smuggling the water of life into towns around Scotland this episode explores all corners of the illegal whisky trade in Scotland. We hear the intriguing tale of Eppie “Lucky” Thane, the hundred-year-old woman who ran a successful shebeen in Glen Nochty.

Enjoy two of the misfit legends found by Jenny & Annie as they researched Scottish coasts and waters. Jenny recalls a story of a strange folktale of a ghost ship from the mysterious Blawhooly Bay in the Scottish borders. Ghosts, ghouls, fairies and sea-beasts anchor their ship one dark night in order to kidnap a midwife.

Whereas Annie brings a story from oral history which tells of a mischievous kelpie who lived in Strathnairn, just south of Inverness.

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In this episode Annie and Jenny visit the magnificent Smoo Cave, a favourite on the North Coast 500 and a place that is dear to both. Join them in their expedition deep under the cliffs of the North West Coast to discover how love formed the caves, and evil has lived in them! From a dastardly murderer to a wee man in a box, Smoo Cave is packed with stories from the past, both real and mythological.

This episode explores the relationship between witches and water in mythology, folklore and a historical witch trial. Annie and Jenny read the 1644 witch trial of Marion Peebles, a woman from Shetland accused of witchcraft. The trial of Marion Peebles gives a unique and intriguing insight into the superstitions of Shetland in the 17th Century.

Next, Jenny retells the marvellous tale of the cannibalistic Cailleach of Arran, a sailor-eating giant who is foiled by a cunning French fisher. In the past, this story was considered vulgar and so was only told out on the open sea by sailors. Returning to Shetland, we look at the folklore of a witch of Yell, who had a vendetta against a sailor and used her sea-powers to punish him.

Jenny and Annie head to sea to explore the legends of the Blue Men of the Minch: supernatural men who are said to inhabit the strip of sea from the Outer Hebrides to the west coast of mainland Scotland. Jenny and Annie look at different tales taken from oral tradition and think about what these strange wee creatures from folklore tell us about the nautical culture of the Hebrides. Celebrating Scotland’s coasts and waters in a lighthearted look at mythology.

In this episode we explore deep time in an investigation into the geology and history of the Grey Mare’s Tail, a spectacular waterfall and nature reserve in Dumfries. Jenny looks into how creatures from 500 million years ago, found at the Grey Mare’s Tail, sent seismic waves through the geologic community. Annie uncovers a surreal tale of 17th century Covenanters seeking refuge and hiding at the Grey Mare’s Tail only to confront their worst nightmares.

Also, a place of feral goats.